Hooray for GirlieBeerz!

As many of you know, I have a weekly gathering with local friends. It's usually on Thursday and usually at City Steam in Hartford. It was roaming for a little bit but now it's more regular.

Every once and a great while, when boyz are busy us girls get together for GirlieBeerz. The times it has happened I come away so completely grateful to have found such wonderful women that I am so lucky as to have for amazing friends.

Thank you ladies for a fantastic pick-me-up night. :)

Progress, not perfection.

Well, after a bit of a funk and a lot of a breakdown I managed to get a lot done today :)

I finally had both time and the knowledge of Jake's papers so I could take him to get his toenails clipped. After a good long walk (complete with rocks) we went up to petco. The ladies were lovely and more than willing to hold him still until his nails were all set. It is such a relief to have that done.

I finished priming the fence - there are two panels left to paint but the paint is much more pleasant than the oil-base primer (awful stuff!)Then I carried the granite blocks up from the hill and laid them out at the base of the fence. Jake can be a digger so I want to discourage any of that.

I raked most of the front lawn and the patch in front of the fence filling in some of the stump-dents with leaves.

I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. There is still so much to do but it feels so good to cross a few items off the list that have been there for far too long.

Now I am tired but awake :) This week's work load is looking a little more manageable now. :)

Rest In Peace Blender

I killed the blender. hehheh.

I tried to get a photo of the smoke plumes curling out from the base, but my little camera just couldn't capture the essence of the destruction.

Of all the appliances that I've been waiting to have die, this wasn't one I was expecting. Although, now that it has died... I have to decide if I want a new blender, or a food processor...

hmmm.

heh heh.

cornucopia of goodnesses

Pumpkin festival, Burdicks, sleepover, long fall walks, getting cases of things, sleeping diagonally, an emailed photo from my man (smiling) and much more rounded out the weekend.

Since then I've primed/sealed 2/3 of the front fence, painted 1/3 (primer needs to be top-coated within 24 hours), made almond milk (SO easy), handmade skinless gyoza, moved back into the big bed so I could continue to sleep diagonally :D, and discovered that my dearest cousin Ben is moving to the area! In less than two weeks!!!

I'm sure I'm forgetting things. :) Oh! The weather! I painted outside without having to wear shoes! I've been wearing shoes for a couple of months because it's been so cold.



                                                   wahoo!! I adore fall!


          

I got a card I got a card!

I got a card in the mail today from my husband!

This is the best day evar! :D

Fall is my favorite.

I'm so happy it is fall.

Fall only really lasts two months and I love the whole thing. :)

I had such a lovely visit with my brother and we got SO much done. I have some in-progress pictures to post

soon but for the mean time I'll leave you with my treasure-full lunch - cider and a little bit of aged sharp cheddar (from the windsor cider and cheese booth the grace church sets up every weekend in the fall) whole wheat bread, a handmade cherry-wood bowl from Garlic & Arts (see earlier post) yarn in fall colors, felted (in progress) coin purses, and experiments in felted-balls, oh and honeycrisp apple slices (my new favorite eating apple). All in all a grand day.

He sent me flowers! + a project update - back fence work

I got a mysterious package in the mail and it was a beautiful bouquet of peach colored roses and some beautiful red flower that i don't know what it is. (anyone?)





We're making progress in the back (and by "we" I mostly mean Jason, with NO help from Jake so don't believe a word Jake says ;)

mmmmmmmmm - switching to beeswax candles

Oh, and I got myself a beeswax candle.

I might have to get rid of all my other candles and only use beeswax, it is just SO delicious.

The room still smells like heaven.

Four down, three to go! - front fence work

The progress continues!

Today we started putting in the stones for the front walk (and I got a few more

bags on the way home from the grocery store)

carried the granite blocks up from the back yard,

managed to get four of the seven stumps dug out (from the "bushes") of the front yard

got the rest of the fence posts for the front and back fences as well as the 2x4s for the shelves in the basement

put in the posts for the front fence and put up two sections! eee!

:D

oh it is starting to look so lovely! It's also pretty impressive that I've had more people stop by today than the entire rest of the time I've lived here - one was even just a lady on her way who stopped mid-turn, while on her cell phone, to yell out how much she likes what we've done. :)

I can imagine all the people who drive out from the sub-division across the street won't miss the eyesore that was the "bushes"

I really love this neighborhood. Just about everyone I meet has lived here for more than 15 years and says "we've got everything!" Of course the "everything" means completely different things to each of them (a state trooper, a town cop, and a military guy, or a construction foreman, an excavator, and a furnace guy :) ) I'm so thankful to have a safe neighborhood with people who love to live here.

It's good to put down some roots.

New life for the lawn

Home from house-sitting and the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival with a lovely stop in at East Heaven's Women's Tub Day with Joanna, picked up my Brother on the way back home.

So far we have cut down the "bushes" in the back, taken out two in the front, broken up half of the concrete front walk (turns out there's a whole layer of bricks cemented to the bottom of the concrete slabs) taken down a limb off of one of the trees in the front that was hanging down over the "bushes" in the front (see picture :D ) did a trip to the lumber yard for fencing, fence posts, sledge hammer, post-hole-digger (which I had intended to borrow, but now we have one we can lend :) ) had fantastic lunches and dinners, made fresh applesauce, and froze some apple slices for pies, amidst lots of fun and chit chat. :) It's so lovely to have another body around and to have it be my dearest brother AND to be getting so much done at the outside of the house.

When the colder weather sets in I can focus on some of the inside stuff and it's going to be so lovely to have so much done in the front and it's only October!

What a lovely day! Can't wait to do it again today!