Ordinary Time

Tonight we went to the Kane County Cougars baseball game using the free tickets from our library's reading game. Since it was their next to last game for the season, we were cutting it kind of close. We had fantastic weather, good seats, the Cougars won with some exciting moments in the game, and J. came extremely close to catching a foul ball. His fingers were on it, but he couldn't quite grip it and it ended up a row behind us. He did catch one of the balls they were throwing into the stands after the game, though. Everyone had a great time. L. with the ball J. caught A couple of after game fireworks. K. took a lot, so I've edited them down a bit.

I'm dithering and need some input. I wanted to use up the scraps of handwoven fabric from the jacket I'm making to add some design elements to the big blocks of dark denim. I tried it out today using invisible thread to secure it to the fabric. (This is a practice piece, not the actual jacket.) I was kind of thinking I would go for a loose design, but having done the trial piece, I'm wondering if it's too loose and just looks a wee bit sloppy. The rest of the jacket is pretty classic in its lines. So what do you think? Is this cool and striking or just odd and sloppy? I've been staring at it too long and have lost all perspective or design sense. 

I've mentioned before that I am easily bored by dinner options, so we tend not to repeat a meal in the sane month. We also are routinely trying out new meals as well. Tonight was one of those nights. I had bought some chorizo sausage on a 2 for 1 deal and thrown them in the freezer. They'd been in there for a while (meaning a few months, in case you were thinking years), so I decided to look up recipes which use chorizo sausage. I found Papas con Chorizo (potatoes with Mexican chorizo) and decided it looked pretty good. L. opted to make it for her night to cook tonight.  Everyone liked it. We served it with corn tortillas, Mexican corn, and diced red bell peppers. It was decided that it would be even better if there was some crema to go with it. I looked for crema when I was at Aldi, but it's an ingredient that is very hit or miss if it's going to be available. This week was a miss. At the end of dinner, J. commented that it would be good with a fried egg on top, to whi...

There has not been much to share this week. I've done exciting things such as clean the kitchen (multiple times), comb snarls out of several horses' manes, laundry, and repeatedly drive back and forth to the library. At least it feels as though I repeatedly drive back and forth since I'm currently in a go every day phase at the moment. None of it warrants a blog post.  Today's big event was some of the horses getting their annual teeth floating and vaccines and the sheep all getting their yearly vaccines. I did get this cute picture of Clark while he was waiting for the others to be done.  I also spent quite a bit of time sewing because that has become my go-to avoidance activity this week. I sew while I watch The Great British Sewing Bee and it does a lovely job of blocking out current events for that moment of time.  Plus, I'll end up with a jacket. Eventually. Sewing with handwoven fabric is a wee bit slower than using commercial cloth because there are some extr...

When the apple trees are dropping apples and you have to grab the good ones while you can. If you want to can apple pie filling, that is. This is because only evenly shaped apple fit in the peeler/corer device and I really don't want to peel dozens of apples by hand. So this morning H. picked, G. spun the apples through the peeler/corer, and I took off any last bits of peel and blanched them. We'd done twelve cups of peeled, sliced, and blanched apples by noon.  Then I spent about four hours in the after turning them into pie filling and canning it all. I ended up with 13 pints of caramel apple pie filling to store. Well, there are 13 pints sitting there. I actually ended up with 9 pints to store because four jars didn't seal. The masses are thrilled because this means I need to make pie this week to use them up. I am not thrilled because I really wanted them all for later and making pies was not on the week's to-do list. It really seems as though the failure rate for B...

Because this is a lot even for me. I'm going to start with my decisions as to what I'll be making for the holiday market.  First are guest towels.  I finished my exploratory warp and hemmed and washed everything. Here are what I've decided to make. A red patterned towel, though I'll probably make some in a forest green as well. They will be one of three patterns. This one: And these two: All the towels are hand hemmed. There will also be two types with border patterns on a natural color. Trees: And a red flower-like design: After I weave a bunch of the guest towels, I'll put on a striped warp and make more napkins like these: I'll probably weave a variety of patterns.  Now that I've done the trial run, I'm happy to take orders. I know some of you have expressed interest.  Along with weaving, I needed to do some dyeing because I have a couple of Sheep and Fiber classes coming up and I needed to replenish the fiber I use to teach spindle spinning. Over the...

When it rains heavily, the pony stall tends to get filled with water which means the ponies need to move into the barn aisle for a few days while it dries out. They don't like it; I don't like bailing water out of the stall; no one is happy. J. decided that perhaps if there was a gutter along that side of the barn, the water could be drained away and the pony stall wouldn't flood. So today he added a gutter.  You can't even really see it, can you? What I love is that he put it on so that it blends with the light panel and makes it virtually invisible.  The downspout still needs an extension at the bottom to move the water away from the barn.  This is a better view where you can better see the gutter. So that was the barn, then it was time to move onto sheep. Actually that should be a sheep, singular. Clark is the only sheep with horns and because of the way they curve, we have to keep an eye on them, otherwise they would grow into his skull. As you might imagine, this i...

It's just me binge watching the Great British Sewing Bee (because I have teens who know how to find these things), compulsively making things, compulsively reading non-demanding books, with maybe a bit of rage cleaning thrown un for good measure. Sometimes I read the news because I should stay informed, but an never very happy to be informed, so go back to my previous activities. On the plus side, I've been very productive... many things made, many books read, and my house is generally tidier than it usually is. But, boy, I really wish I did not feel the need to keep the state of the country out of my mind. How are all of you holding up?  And for the curious who are not on Facebook, here is where I found a home for my new spinning wheel. I only had to find a home for the table which used to be in this space, and I was able to do that since it was a little smaller. 

We've been working on making it possible for Y. to learn to drive. She will need to go through various state agencies to make this happen because there is just no way we can pay our of pocket. This has been one of my summer occupations. We are making progress, I think, but it is an extremely slow process.  To anyone who thinks I'm naturally patient, I'm not, but I can fake it when I have to. This morning was one such example. After a very long conversation on the topic, the final question I was asked was whether or not Y. has her permit or her license yet.  I'll just pause while you ponder that. I've been pondering it all afternoon. And then taking multiple deep breaths.  So while I can make a good pass at being patient when necessary, it does mean that my margin for being patient in other parts of life is extremely co-opted. I realize any filter I may have had is virtually non-existent at this point in my life.  And here's my public service announcement for the...

First the clarification. I hope no one was concerned for me yesterday due to my post . That wasn't my intent. I've known the end of homeschooling was coming for the past sixteen years. Because I knew it was coming, I have been actively working to fill my life with interests outside of active parenting (I'll always be a parent, even if my grown children) and homeschooling. I can appreciate the fantastic times we've had (and have yet to have), but I can also be appreciative of having a bit more disposable time. There is a reason my farm and business is Bittersweet. Most things in life are both at the same time. Now the advertisement. Feel free to pass this along to whomever you think might find it useful.  The start of a new school year can be a time of big transitions, especially if you are sending a child off to college. Transitions can be challenging. With this in mind, I'm offering a special package of book three sessions but only pay for two for parents who have ...

Yes, you read that correctly. I am sharing a photo of G. and L. before they head off to school.  School being the community college where J. works. And this was yesterday, I didn't get a picture of Y. this morning, but it wasn't her first ever day of school because she took classes last year. Technically it was L.'s first ever in-person day of school because she took an online Introduction to Archeology class over the summer. But you get the idea.  They are all taking dual enrollment classes which give them both high school and college credit. This is what D. did his last two years of high school as well. Needless to say, with these three being the youngests life is going to look a lot different at home this school year. Those with classes go to school with J. first thing in the morning, stay all day, then come home with him at the end of his work day. There are a lot fewer people around during the day here at home.  The other significant change is that after years, we wo...

I bet with that title you were thinking along these lines, or maybe even these, though I would have used the group term, flock. Instead what I brought home today was added to my herd of spinning wheels. This lovely wheel came home with me today.  This is a great wheel, also known as a wool wheel or a walking wheel. It's kind of large. I have wanted one for quite a while, both because I wanted to learn to spin on it, but also because I happen to think they are the epitome of spinning wheel coolness. So when you see a functioning one with all it's parts on sale in your town for less than it costs to take everyone to the ice cream stand, you don't pause and think, "I wonder where I'd put that." No, the appropriate response is, "When can I come pick it up?" So bring a reasonable human being this is what I asked and picked it up earlier today.  Then, I was very self-controlled and did all the house-type things that needed to be done before I allowed mysel...

I'm sitting here listening to the second round of storms that are passing through, and we might possibly have a third round coming. We desperately needed the rain, so my only complaint is that it could rain a bit longer. J. happened to be walking Kenzie in the forest preserve behind our house when the first round rolled in and got some videos. There are three videos with the storm growing in each one.  He and Kenzie made it back just as the rain was beginning to fall. This next video is from our back porch. Some people were excited and went out in the rain. (Not during the lightening part of the storm, by the way, for my safety conscious readers.) And after the storm, the second round at least.