First DIY Project

Hi y'all!  First thing I want to share with you is this great find from one of our local thrift stores.  I went to the mission two weeks ago to search for some white ironstone that I've been collecting for some time now.  I found a really cool platter that I looked up on-line while I was there, I paid $4 for it and it was listed for $54.  Score!!! I was very excited.  As I was making my way to the check-out, I thought I'll just go by the furniture to check it out, you never know what you can find, right?  I'm looking and I'm looking and then.....it called my name - Cindy, come look at me..... It was a really cool wicker chair that was pretty old looking and black.  But it had pretty good bones and it was only $4.99.  I'm thinking, Score Again!!!  So here is my first on-line DYI project.  Turned out pretty good.  Don't look at the table or the surroundings, I'm still working on it and I'll share that as soon as I get it done.

 

 Last week I went to my niece's house and helped her and my sister-in-law can.  We had such a good time.  I was a bit nervous, I've never canned anything really.  I've watched friends can before but never assisted.  It was pretty cool.  I also bought some of my own canning supplies to get ready to do this wonderful thing on my own.  Well, not really, I'll either be doing it with my daughter or my niece and sis-in-law again.  So I'm not an expert yet, I'm a canner in progress.  Buts it's so cool.  It's amazing how excited you can get about such simple things isn't it?  LOL.

 

Also, this past week, I went to a knitting circle with my sis-in-law and same niece.  My niece taught me how to knit.  I've crocheted since I was knee high to a grass-hopper, but let me tell you, knitting is a whole other ball park.  You would think, oh I can do this it's got to be close to crocheting, but no.  First problem I had is the way you hold your fingers to let the tension of the yarn go through them to the needles.  It's so different.  Then just remembering the difference between a knit and a pearl, man!  My poor niece deserved a medal after the other night, she was so patient.  After sitting with me and then letting me go at it (I was planning on following a pattern to make a dishcloth), she looks at it and says, "why don't you just practice knits for a while and then pearls for a while?"  I just laughed and told her I thought that was a good idea.  I know this may sound funny, but I've wanted to learn to knit most of my adult life.  I've just never taken the time to learn, so I'm very excited about this as well.

 

I've decided for myself, I'm still never too old to learn new things.  I hope you will agree that you can learn new stuff too no matter where you are in life.

 

See you in the funny papers!

 

 

 

 

 



A Brand New Start

 

Happy New Year!  I really took some time off during the Holidays, didn't I.  Like all of you, I was very busy and then had to recuperate a few days.  For my family and I, this was one of the best Holidays we've had in a long time.  My brother and sister-in-law had moved home from Virginia and were here to spend Christmas with us for the first time in many years, yay!!!  We had a lovely time.  Then we got to spend the evening with my brother and sister-in-law from Louisiana a few days later, yay!!!  I really enjoyed the time spent with all of them.  Now if we can just get those LA folks to move back home...

 

The New Year is about brand new starts.  I really had my brand new start at the end of August, 2012.  I made some serious decisions about my health that started me on a path to being healthier both physically and mentally.  I haven't felt this good in years, actually its been about 15 years.  And, I'm looking forward to continuing this process in the new year.

 

My daughter and I are putting in a garden.  One at her house and one at mine.  I'm excited about this, I've never actually had my own garden, but I've had a neighbor out in the country where I lived before, that used to teach me all about it.  He also supplied me with veggies and taught me how to put them up every summer.  He was a dear man, kind of like a grandfather to me.  He lived on the corner and every time I'd drive by, he would flag me down just to talk and see how I was.  I miss him dearly.  Everything I know about "country" ways, I learned from him, his daughter, and my closest friend, his granddaughter.  I guess I was and still am part of their family, that's what they always told me.

 

Back to the garden.  We are going to get in to canning this year which I'm very excited about.  I never had time to explore that aspect of the garden due to working and raising my little one, then getting sick.  So, that is the new "country" way that we will be working on.  So if any of you have any tips, advice, recipes, jars, canning equipment, pressure cooker, etc...............LOL.

 

I will keep you posted on our progress.  Right now we are reading seed catalogs and preparing our list.  Drawing up garden plans. Saving paper towel and toilet paper rolls......I bet you are wondering about that one.  You can cut the roll in to the size of a seedling pot, cut slits in the bottom, fold them in like a cardboard box lid, start a seed in it, when it grows big enough to put in the ground, just plant the whole thing.  You don't have to take it out, the roll dissolves. Cool, huh? 

 

I should close now before I write a book. I hope that your new starts will be as successful as mine has been so far. 

 

See you in the funny papers!