Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music....

 The porch is offcially done.....all 23 days of it and still.....
I need to move these out and find a home for them plus there's another rug to lay down but officially I am calling it done....
I have lots of room for more books (gardening) and pots for under the potting bench..........
The little black radiator is  my heater for the winter.....I have to keep my plants nice and warm....

Lots of room here............
and here...........
To celebrate I made my favorite Fall soup.........Penzey's brat, beer and cheddar
I don't have one of those fancy "boat motors" they use to puree things so I get out my antique which works just as well.  I don't like to "drink" my soup....I like it hearty so I don't do a lot of pureeing. 
I also made a Magic custard pie  which I have made for years when I want a quick dessert and this takes 2 minutes...literally.  It takes longer to pre-heat the oven! LOL!
BEFORE BAKING
AFTER BAKING
Yum!!!!  Tomorrow I'm on to the kitchen!  What do you have planned this week?
Happy Trails!




 







Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Happy Fall.....it's finally here!



I am so happy...the temps are down and I went out and mowed yesterday....
The leaves are starting to change..... 
The Fall clematis and mums are in full bloom now.... 
There are still plenty of blooming flowers.......... 
and a few new ones! LOL!
Today is change sheets, laundry, iron, cook, bake, clean frig, finish off porch and  pay a few bills.  We'll see how much I get done.  Ha! Ha!  Happy Trails!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

YOP Week #12

Another busy week doing all sorts of cleaning and clearing out and going through things...getting ready for winter, I guess, although it's still hot here and I still have outside work to do once it cools off which is this week from what they say.  It's not bad...86 but this next week will be in the 70's and that's much better!  In fact, I prefer mid to low 60's for really working outside.
Here's my progress for this week...........
It isn't done....it still needs the ear flaps but it's one Christmas present almost finished. Below are all my preemie hats so far and September's are on the right...all done for this month.
I work on my socks during my breaks....1 round per break so it's slow going although yesterday I knit while I watched the Iowa game.  Someday these socks will be done and then I'll be so sick of them I won't want to wear them! LOL!  Not really.
Last night I pulled out my rug to work on but it's hard on the hands so it's slow but I got a few rows done.  It's crocheted with a big size P hook.  In fact my fingers are sore this  morning as I type.  Bulky yarn and I do not get along well.  Remember the chair pad?
I'm still dilly-dallying around about the cross bookmarks.  I didn't like the dishcloth cotton yarn and the filet crochet version I was attempting so I picked this up Friday at Wal-Mart....
I have size 10 bedspread cotton but it seems so tiny.  This is size 5 and I also have DMC perle cotton in size 8 and all kinds of crochet hooks except the ones they recommend.  So today I will "fiddle" with them and see what I can come up with.  I think it would be nice to use the above as it is Christmas colors and that's probably when they will all get done.  I have to make at least 10 or 11 of them.  But I'm looking forward to it if I can get the right thread/yarn and hook.  I'll keep you posted. (These are for the "cross" bookmarks I am making for my daughter's Bible Study group).
This is Day #21 of the porch cleaning and reclaiming as it was pretty much a storage garage before.  A few more pieces of excess furniture to remove, more books to bring in.  I plan on my gardening books to be under the the potting bench and I moved the plants to this little stand next to the West facing windows where they get afternoon sun.  Once I plant the mums outside I'm hoping to have a little indoor garden out here.  There are things you can grow inside such as herbs, lettuce and I think cherry tomatoes but not sure.  Things that don't need pollination but I'm thinking tomatoes do.
Anyway...that' s the plan. 
The plants I left on this unit are plants that like indirect light not full sun and I am using it for some books although I need to get some plastic place mats to put over the metal grating or the books fall through.  I had 4 leftover tiles I used that I had but need the place mats now before I can put more books there.
 This is my indoor grill.  Originally this porch was a deck so the brick wall was the outside of the house but my dad enclosed it so now it's inside and I can grill 24/7!
This is my grilling area and that's my celery plant......
This cupboard was falling apart and I practically had to rebuild it yesterday but inside are jars of seeds I saved and on top are my plant and grilling supplies.
 Underneath the table is a plastic pail with charcoal that I refill from a large garbage can filled with charcoal in the garage.  There's also a small handled "grill" for grilling veggies and smaller items under the table.
This is a potting bench I got at Home Depot years ago in a kit that I put together.  The green bin for soil though is cracked so I'm on the lookout for another one that size.  I'm thinking of putting my gardening books underneath the bench or pots or both.  The barn board with the chickens used to hang in my kitchen 40 years ago.  I painted it and it has nails that used to hold egg baskets that I also still have! LOL!   I threw out a bunch of old pots and plastic containers and there are even a pile of books to get rid of.  It feels good and I have a nice porch.  Now I just have to do the rest of the house!  The kitchen will be next as I have cupboards and drawers to clean and clear.
What have you been up to this week?  I'll be by later to check!  Have a great Sunday.  Happy Trails!