Ordinary Time

The last of our seed orders arrived today, which means tomorrow we'll be spending time getting seeds planted. Every year we change things a bit as to how we do this and this year is no different. I always find this time of year exciting because it means that consistently warmer weather isn't too far away. We're also trying a new to us seed company for many of our seeds this year, so I'll let you know how that goes. 

It is nice to have some warmer weather again. If course, it did rain all day, but that should help our drought and I felt as though I could watch the grass turning green. In preparation for the upcoming shearing and to make use of our new portable sheep fencing, G. has been working on halter training the sheep. Today was Clark's turn.  And since we're on the topic of shearing, I'm feeling a little trepidation about using these. K. often works the closing shift at Taco Bell. What has been absolutely mind blowing to me is that routinely people will place an online order, which means they've paid for it, and then never come to pick it up. I just can't imagine ever doing that. I suggested they call me and give me money to not fix them food. It would be less wasteful.  The storms today did mean a pretty nice sunset tonight. K. mucks the barn for me on Wednesday mornings. This means sometimes he texts me funny horse pictures. L. and G. are both taking history classes this...

When everyone got home from their classes today it marked the start of their college's spring break. There was some discussion at dinner about what we should do. A trip to the library was at the top of some people's list because they plan to curl up and read for fun for much of the week. There was interest in going to see the new Cotswold lambs at a nearby living history farm. Well, G. and I were interested in going to see the lambs. I'm not sure it was universal. And we've been talking about taking a trip to IKEA, so we'll try to do that as well.  When I'm not doing all the usual things I do in a week or adding in spring break activities, I'll be compulsively making things because it is the only thing that stops my overactive imagination from catastrophizing about current events. That should help me finish my second Melt the ICE hat that I am very close to finishing. 

Wednesdays do me in with my pattern class in the morning and then the online Equine Assisted Services course I'm co-leading in the afternoon. Today my co-leader and I finished up the individual meetings which took the majority of the afternoon. It was also the second day of these conferences, so I am really done with being on Teams at the moment. My condolences to everyone reading who spends the bulk of their working life on Teams.  Anyway, for a second day in a row I have no bandwidth to write, but tonight you at least get pictures.  This is origami by H. You may remember that H. adores origami and is extremely good at it being able to teach herself from origami library books. Her most recent book is about origami stars and snowflakes. I think it's pretty astounding. Look at the intricate folds in it.  Then on a completely unrelated topic, we had some very large boxes arrived this afternoon. These are very exciting as they are several things: portable sheep fencing, a sh...

It's difficult to use photos to show what has taken hours of work because it is very hard to tell the labor behind the picture. Here is what I have accomplished this week.  This is the muslin of the skirt front of the pattern I'm drafting. It has pockets and a fly zipper and I have all the pattern pieces for this drafted and ready to be copied in their final form. I have learned a lot. I'm thrilled to have this pattern. It's been a lot of work. I anticipate that as I go and draft more patterns that the process will become faster and easier. There is just such a steep learning curve at the beginning stages of learning to draft.  I always say if you want to know what my mental state is, take a look at my desktop or my kitchen. I think I'll have to add my studio to that list. Here is what my work table currently looks like.  It's driving me a little nuts, but I still have the back to finish tomorrow, so it makes no sense to clean up now. I'm crossing my fingers...

I don't know about you, but I need something a little lighter tonight. So let's play the first installment of...  Am I the Only One?!  The game show where I learn whether I am somewhat normal or if I truly do have a runaway imagination.  I'll list three actual, real life occurrences for me and you tell me in the comments if you do this, too.  1. I seen to be an optimistic and a cynic all at the same time. My optimistic side comes out every time I go collect the mail from the mail box. There is always a little fizzle of anticipation because you never know if this will be the day when I open the box to discover a letter with a large check for us inside. In reality, 99.9% of the time there is no mysterious envelope with a large check. But every once in a while (think decades here), there actually is a surprise check, so you just never know.  2. Along those same lines, whenever I'm in the vestibule where the cost closets are I always am sure to look through the fron...