Archive for domesticity

Swatches

We’re getting our house painted.  Yay!  Poor thing really needs it.  And now we have a choice to make.  We conducted an informal four-person survey amongst ourselves and the results were inconclusive.
I had asked the painter to come over with five samples.  He only brought four, and one of them wasn’t even on my list.  [...]

continue reading "Swatches"

In a jam

I had my first experience with canning today.  I’ve made small batches of jam before in my bread machine, but they needed to remain refrigerated and only had a 2-month shelf-life.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t go through jam very fast, and would much prefer to have a supply that I could [...]

continue reading "In a jam"

What is it with me and the trees?

Two years ago, a relatively small tree fell in the back yard while we were out.
Last year, a real monstrosity of a tree was ripped up by a wind storm, twisted around, and deposited all over our front yard.
This morning, I heard an odd crackling noise, looked out the window and saw this:

My first thought? [...]

continue reading "What is it with me and the trees?"

Spring-Summer Saturdays

I don’t think I will ever tire of waking this way – open windows, sun streaming in, birds chirping.  It’s a late spring / early summer Saturday morning pleasure, and it goes well with a cup of tea, an engaging book, and a few hours of unscheduled bliss.

I had thought I might spend my day [...]

continue reading "Spring-Summer Saturdays"

Attack of the drooling zombies

It’s been a full few days.  Eamonn and I baked bread yesterday – a delicious loaf from the bread machine cookbook I could not live without, called Maple Buttermilk Bread.  I wish that I had altered the recipe in some way so that I could freely share it with you, but I did not.  It [...]

continue reading "Attack of the drooling zombies"

Preparations

Thanks, everyone for all of the quilt love yesterday. I can’t wait to spread it out on the sand, kick back with some new reading material, or a coloring book, and just relax the day away.  I’m choosing to ignore the less-than-sunny weather forecast for this weekend.  Denial? Maybe.  But it’s preferable to imagining a [...]

continue reading "Preparations"

Podcasts

I find that my time in the kitchen (both when cooking and when cleaning) goes by easily when I have something entertaining to listen to.  Sometimes I play music and dance my way through my tasks, but more often I like to put on a podcast or two and listen to actual people talking about [...]

continue reading "Podcasts"

Multitasking

I’m thinking that to live a creative life, you have to be pretty good at multitasking.

For instance, you could be standing on your dining room’s built-in cabinet for a Bench Monday picture, just after you put the chicken in the oven and just before the handyman comes to give you an estimate on painting the [...]

continue reading "Multitasking"

Peaceful puttering

I didn’t sleep very well last night, maybe fifteen minute stretches here and there.  I was too twitchy to sleep, constantly aware that at any moment the phone beside the bed could ring and startle me awake, my heart beating frantically out of my chest.  The phone does that to me.
It was an unusual night, [...]

continue reading "Peaceful puttering"

Dear Wealthy Benefactor

I don’t know if you exist, but I hope you do, because I have a project you could help me finance.  I am so looking forward to the idea of entertaining outside in the warmer weather, but there are safety issues that prevent me from doing so.  Allow me to elaborate:

We can’t use our bbq [...]

continue reading "Dear Wealthy Benefactor"