I went shopping at JoAnn’s today for some Insulbrite to reflect heat for these potholders in the making. Shopping at JoAnn’s can be a huge mistake. I have plenty of quilting fabric, so that didn’t grab my attention, but just look!!!!
Category Archive: Shopping
Can you tell how plushy and inviting these fabrics on either side of the white are. They insisted on coming home with me. They weren’t inexpensive, but they were 1/2 off. Does that count? I would have loved a blanket out of such soft squishiness, but didn’t go that far. Instead, I bought enough of each for a mobius scarf, but oh, I would have loved to have purchased more and just wrapped up in it. (They really are gray as that was the only color they had, though black and even a brown would have tried to come home, had it been there.I had plans
Today, I had plans to make a quick trip to the auto repair shop to get an estimate for a cap that was broken. Then i would stop at the grocery store, pick up a few items, come home and clean the sheep pen that i didn’t get done yesterday.
God laughed because He had other plans. I did go to the repair shop for the estimate. In fact, I was there just before my 8.30 appointment. Once the mechanic got the car up and the wheels off, he found the car unsafe to drive and would not let me leave with it until they had the dangerous items repaired (They have known us for over 30 years so we trust them).
At 11.30, I went straight home, and talked with my husband. I relayed to him that the shop thought that 27 years and nearly 300,000 miles on that car was enough. They explained the things they felt had to be fixed in the next few months if we kept driving it as the main vehicle. This was not good news to me as I hate having to deal with cars and though I enjoy the fact they get me where I need to be, I don’t enjoy buying them. DH has been after me for the past 5 years to replace this one and I kept putting him off.
So to better deal with all this, we first enjoyed our favorite Mexican restaurant’s offerings. Then we set out to look at cars, really not knowing whether it should be a car or a small truck. We did know we needed something easier for DH to get in and out of and possibly carry a lot of feed bags or a dog.
Since we have had Hondas for years and years and years, we started and ended there. We chose a used car – 2015. Then instead of my car we traded in his which was only 17 years old and opted to buy this CR-V as a “family” car. We will keep my old car in case we need to haul sheep or ? until we do get a small truck. (I’ll try to get a better photo outside the garage when the sun shines again)
I am so thankful that God cares about these little parts of our lives. He had this car waiting for us at the price we were willing to pay. I never did get to the grocery store or get the sheep pen cleaned, and this was certainly not my plan for the day, but He knows what I need and when I need it. Before I knew what I needed, he set it all in motion. What an awesome God!
My day
Haltering babies: So much easier to tie them to the 2 x 4 and let them learn they aren’t in charge, than to let them pull you around.
My today
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Feed dogs at both barns
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Drive DH to gym and wait
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Ordered bird netting for berries
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Made day’s list
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Went to grocery store
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Went to office store
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Came home, made lunch
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Picked up co-op order
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Went to feed store to get more sheep collars
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Cheated and Napped
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Spent 2 hours working sheep with halters
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Put coats on some of them
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Fed, watered all sheep
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Watered in hoop house
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Picked and washed kale
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Picked and washed 2# cabbage and leaves
No one gets between these pushy, shovey, 150# girls at mealtime!
TIRED YET?
I still have a few things left on my list that didn’t happen – maybe tomorrow. But then some of these same things will appear on tomorrow’s list – like the sheep. This gives you an idea of why I don’t get much quilting or other hobbies done.
Early to bed tonight. I have 2 young men coming in the morning to help with the weed whacking (I think/hope they’re coming).
Impossible girl progress
The “Impossible girl” sock progress is slow but steady. The instep is now done and I am on the home run to the toe.
I started to lay out the beds for the potatoes and onions today, when I realized I didn’t have the twine I needed. I went to the hardware store and they directed me to the feed store. At the feed store, I found an employee who told me they don’t keep it out on the floor, only in the back room, until someone asks for it. How do they sell it that way?
So having purchased it, I made my way back home, where I found the sheep migrating (with help) over to the neighbor’s house. They wanted the back yard mowed down. Then the pasture seed arrived and we had a good visit with the people who delivered it.
Now it was suppertime for sheep. They know when suppertime is and as soon as the gate was opened, they were in a mad dash. Look at this lamb who has learned how to jump over the side into the feeder. This is one of my show lambs and I need her to stay relatively clean. The side now has another board on it, so she can’t get over it.
A shopping experience
Today was sunny, so I forced myself to go to the mall which is half an hour away. Why do I have to force myself to go where I once loved to go. I think it has to do with the traffic – both cars and people, plus I don’t need many things. I had to return 3 items of clothing that didn’t fit DH. The Nordstrom’s experience was absolutely delightful – the clerk there was so very kind and helpful. I will not darken the doorway of JCrew again. Maybe these clerks just see too many unpleasant people, or maybe they don’t care about their jobs. A shopping experience like today makes me think about how I treat people with whom I come in contact, because like them, I represent Someone.
I finished processing the split pea soup and I will be contacting Amazon on that. I just purchased a number of boxes of jar lids and had a 20% sealing rate. I popped all that didn’t seal into the freezer, so they are not wasted, but I think I may have encountered a bad lot of lids.
I managed to land sitting on the floor a couple days ago, rather unexpectedly, so I also worked a trip to the chiropractor into my day. What is it about an adjustment that demands a rest? Does it affect any of you that way?
The sewing didn’t happen and as the day was just not long enough to include it. But the laundry is done and the floors are swept.. Tomorrow is gym and a physical.
Did I mention that we did pregnancy checks on the sheep yesterday and we are looking at the first of February for lambing, which is good. I can sneak a few more things into this month before then.
And because I like to end positively, the closet shelves in my closet are now put up properly (when I originally put them up, I used molly screws instead of finding the joists) and the underground propane tank has been approved by the city, so we can now move forward on that. Life is good.
See you tomorrow.
Bowl cozies, scraps, and puppy
The bowls are now ready to top stitch. However, I’m have to get the light above the sewing machine replaced first. It seems the ballast is bad.
The cotton scraps are all finished though I will admit that the “large” pieces that went into the color buckets were getting smaller as the day grew longer.
Daisy is and will be a puppy for another year. We are lucky she found an egg carton to destroy. Even though she has bones, she still loves to shred anything she can find. We know that and we are the adults(?) here, so if it gets chewed, we have ourselves to blame.
Yes, I did big damage at Costco and will not be going again this year. But we have dog food and dog treats and sheep treats, and even some people food. You didn’t know Costco sold sheep food? That’s because you might not know how much they love the little animal cookies.
Coats and shoes
Look how pretty those white coats show up. Give them two weeks and they will no longer be white until washed again.
Today the coats that we took off yesterday were washed and marked with the size ready for wear next time.
And we went shoe and boot shopping. This is all we came home with. Is it really necessary to have all those psychedelic colors on street shoes? It was difficult to find comfortable shoes that were “plain”. I utterly failed on the boots as I need something very “farm” practical that zips up. Another day, I’ll look again.
I was going to make red socks, but since we’ll be doing some travel, I decided on something happy that would have an easy to remember pattern. So this is what I have chosen. I haven’t started them – only selected the pattern and yarn. I made this yarn up last year in another pattern. I absolutely love the way it wears and washes and dries in the regular wash.
We received word that an acquaintance in Santa Rose, CA was burned out yesterday in the “out of control” fires. They had to leave with what was on their backs. Two of their married children in the area, also lost their homes and everything inside. Fires are so devastating because so many tangible memories are turned to ashes. We are very thankful that all members of the families were able to get out safely.
Grapes and shopping
The grapes are all cleaned with another 6 gallon bags of grapes in the freezer waiting until we need heat. Then we’ll put them in the dehydrator and make raisins. And we made 10 quarts of split pea soup.
Mid-morning it was off to Whole Foods shopping for items unique to Whole Foods. This is a half day trip for us as we spend an hour getting there and then a couple hours looking at everything and another hour getting home (usually). Today we stopped unsuccessfully at a shoe store.
And of course since we were gone over lunch time, we treated ourselves to an oversized burrito. They are huge! Then it was home for a rest and time to feed animals.
However, today we were special. We have a rental where someone is imagining things and acting on them. So I tried to put out fires that weren’t burning. Just because one thinks something, does not make it so. Rentals are NOT fun. I’m hoping for a better tomorrow with perhaps some creative work.
Is responsibility obsolete?
After the gym yesterday, I decided on a trip to the chiropractor, which I had been putting off. I was able to get in quickly because someone cancelled. I texted my Monday helper asking her to feed the puppy and give hay to the sheep as soon as she arrived, only to find out that she had no plans to come. She has arranged to do something else for the next few Mondays, but she would be happy to make it up another day. (I really don’t think the animals want to wait)
Now I use this as an example, but it is not unique. The plumber, the fellow who is clearing out some of the blackberries, and so the list goes on and on. Appointments are made, work is to be done by a specific time and nothing happens. I am told this is the new reality. Don’t expect anything, because people will get to it eventually when they have time . Then why do they make appointments or think I should pay immediately? Using this logic, shouldn’t I be able to pay them when I get around to it?
Is this unique to where I am because there is a shortage of people wanting to work? OR am I just way behind in reality? I learned that when people are waiting for you and you don’t show, you are stealing their time.
I did the chores that I could and DH and I made a quick trip to Costco before I came home to a one hour phone conference that lasted 2 hours. Finished the animal chores and had no energy left to make an October “to do” list. But then maybe that’s okay. October will be for catching up – cleaning piles that have been building over the summer and house cleaning that had to wait until gardening and canning were finished for this year.
I still have grapes to pick and apples aren’t here yet. We made over 50 quarts of grape juice and while we enjoyed some, there are still more than 40 quarts for the winter. The rest of the grapes will go into the freezer to be made into raisins as we have the time. We are out of split peas which should be in by the end of the month and then I can process those. Meanwhile, we will take a week off for traveling this month and I will work on finishing bits and pieces of projects nearly done. With some extreme luck, I may tuck some knitting into the month.
Ankle brace and long ago
I spent two afternoons getting this ankle brace fit. I somehow injured the tendon that goes by the ankle and so for at least the next 6 weeks, I will be wearing this. It does slow me down some. But hopefully it will give the tendon time to heal.
This afternoon, I was looking for felt that I think I have to finish the twinkling snowmen wall hanging when I found a box that was put away long ago and I wasn’t even missing. In it were some unfinished projects. Imagine that! One was labeled as a quilt that a daughter was going to make. However, she only chose fabrics and didn’t actually start. So that was easy, I just put the fabrics back with the other fabrics. Project done. 
Then there was this Fall pattern with pattern pieces pinned to it and not put back together very carefully. So I will try to figure out what was going on here and possibly finish it. The pattern is dated 2001, so I know that it is not older than that and might be 2-3 years younger.
I did make a trip to the grocery as it has been so very dry that we are having to supplement this for nectar from flowers so the bees don’t starve this winter. 
Then I went to the bee supply store. The item on the left is a “J” hook to use when looking inside the hive and the thing on the right is a “bee protein patty” which I’m guessing has peanut butter in it. The screen is for making the entry hole smaller to keep the yellow jackets from storming into the hive and stealing.
We froze a few more bananas for “nice cream” which we enjoy on hot days.
And, because you asked, this is what the cucumber chips look like when they are ready to eat.