Animal Updates Week

Since it's been so long since I've blogged about any of the animals (due to unforeseen cirumstances sheer laziness), I figured I'd dedicate a whole week to the animals.

We'll start with goats because that's the most logical thing. I'm not sure why that is, it just is.
Here we have Theo (L) and June (R) munching on some hay I just gave them. I should have taken pictures before the hay, because well, that's really all they care about. Eating.


I dried June off at the beginning of the month, and I have to say I don't miss milking. I do miss the milk though! March will come soon enough, so I'm not rushing it.


Theo had to get a little closer to the hay. I'm really surprised he just didn't lay down in the middle of the pile and eat. I thought about selling Theo, and I placed several ads with varying degrees of responses (mostly scammers and some that wanted meat, which normally wouldn't bother me), and not too long ago I got an email from the lady that bought June's doe kids this spring. She's interested in keeping him at her farm, and using him as a stud in return for his room and board. I'd still own him and I would use him to breed June. I was so excited to work out this agreement! It's a pain in the butt having Oberhaslis sometimes, because not many people own them. It's hard for me to find a buck, and it was proving hard to sell one as well. Theo will be leaving sometime this month to go to his new digs.



Yes, Theo. You're going to live on a beautiful farm with lush green grass and lots of goatie friends.


June doesn't really care one way or another, as long as she still gets her hay.

A Great Holiday

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! This year we went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. We piled ourselves, the kids, my brother, and 2 of our dogs in our vehicle and headed down Tuesday evening after work. Here's a quick recap of our holiday:

Since we got to my sister's house around 1:30 AM, we did some napping later that day to catch up on our sleep.


I managed to break out my camera to get a few shots. I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I'd like, but I tend to forget I even have my camera when we're visiting family. Too much excitement!


Thursday we headed over to Mom and Mark's house. The men chatted.


The women played Mall Madness. Have you ever played it? If not, I'd recommend buying it. It's an old game, from around 1989, but it's a blast to play even if you're not a mall-hopping teeny bopper. :-)


We ate. Lots. The food was delicious as always.


Friday morning we went Black Friday shopping and got good deals on several things we wanted, then we went back to Mom and Mark's for more visiting.

Unfortunately we had to come home on Saturday. I would have kidnapped my sister, but we were so crammed in the car as it was she would have had to sit on the roof, and I didn't think that was safe.

We had a great trip. The kids all had a great time playing and totally wore themselves out. Kylee, poor thing, got a fever on Thursday afternoon and kept it all weekend. The kids slept this morning until 9 AM!!! That's a first.

After looking at pictures of myself, I've decided it's probably time to cut my hair. It's looking a little blah.

And can you believe it's almost December already? Now it's really time to kick it in high gear and get ready for Christmas!

Pyrex...How I Love Thee

A few years ago I was browsing the kitchen section of a local thrift store and I saw this Pyrex bowl. It was pretty and I liked it right away, but I didn't know if I should buy it. I put it down and walked away and then saw someone else go pick it up and look at it. Immediately I cursed myself for not holding on to it. They put it down, so I walked back over and picked it up. It was mine, darn it.

I got it home and realized just how much I loved it. It was so pretty. I started looking online at vintage Pyrex and knew I found something I wanted to start collecting. Pyrex comes in so many colors and patterns and they're so pretty (most of them). I've picked up a few more pieces and I wanted to share.

I bought these bowls all at separate times. The yellow one is in perfect condition, the color is bright and not faded or worn at all. The red one is the most faded, and it's actually more of a pinkish red color than the picture shows.


My mother in law recently scored these Pyrex Pixies (see, even the name is cute!) at a moving sale. I got them for next to nothing! I'm in love with the color, and they're in perfect shape!


She also picked up this yellow refrigerator casserole dish at the same place. I found the small green refrigerator dish at the thrift store.


MIL also found this awesome bowl. It's not Pyrex, but I love it just the same. It's actually a York bowl, and from what I could find on the net it's from the 40's. York Pottery was eventually bought by Pfaltzgroff.


This bowl is heavy and solid. I can just imagine the women who've used it to mix their food over the years. It's neat thinking I'm using something that has been used for decades by other women (or men, I'm not sexist). It has a pretty swirl on the inside.


And here's the York keystone.


MIL also got these 2 individual casserole dishes. Isn't there another name for them? I can't remember what it is. They make me want to cook up some single serving lasagnas!


Here are two divided casseroles I have. I'd love to find a lid for the one on the left. The one on the right is the Verde pattern.


MIL also scored this large green mixing bowl. I'm pretty sure my mom had one just like it, but I don't remember if it was green or not. I love the handles because they make pouring easy.


Then I have these 2 small individual bowls, not sure of the pattern on these.


I'm not quite as in love with these two, because they're just a little boring for my tastes. The left one is Town and Country pattern, and the right is Copper Filigree.


Here's another dish that I like, but don't love. It's a casserole in the pattern Gold Acorn.


There are many many devoted Pyrex collectors and sometimes I just browse through their collections (online) and drool. I especially love the pink stuff. Here is one website with some patterns and years of production, and here's another good one for vintage patterns.

One day I'd like to have a kitchen full of these vintage Pyrex pieces. It just makes cooking and baking more fun when you have pretty bowls!

A Nice Night

When I got home from work today I went outside with the dogs and fed all of the animals. I made sure everyone had fresh hay and feed (for the chickens) and collected my meager 4 eggs for the day. David came home when I was heading inside, and he went straight to the couch where he got under the covers and commenced to shiver. And shiver. Poor guy was dying had a 100* fever. He promptly fell asleep, and I had some quiet time with the dogs.

I thought about what to have for supper. Sometimes all I want for supper is a bowl of cereal, but sometimes I'm in the mood to really cook. Tonight was one of those nights. I mixed up some dough to make some bread, and got one of our homegrown chickens out of the freezer. Then I got out the pasta machine.



The results of my handiwork....a nice bowl of chicken noodle soup, with homemade stock, homemade noodles, and homegrown chicken. Plus, fresh baked bread hot out of the oven.



Sometimes it's nice when I get the house all to myself. Well, technically I wasn't alone, but David was sleeping so I might as well have been. I figured out how to get the internet up on the Wii, so I could surf the net and catch up on some blog reading while I was waiting for bread to rise.

It was a nice fall night, and hopefully there will be more like it (well, except for the sick husband) this winter.

It's that time...

I've been thinking about Christmas crafting lately, so I've made a few things for my Etsy shop.

I made a few of my felted Santas.


I also made several strands of these Christmas lights! Each strand comes with 5 bulbs.






They're in my shop!

Becky's Birthday Present

Last year (or was it the year before?) I gave my sister Becky a purse I'd made from a felted sweater. After using it for a year (or two?) it was starting to get a little worn out, so she asked me if I'd make her another purse for her birthday. I love making gifts and I was flattered she liked my purse so much, so I agreed.

Becky found a sweater she loved at her local thrift store, so she mailed it to me. I felted it in the washing machine and prepped to tear it apart make it into a purse. Felting sweaters (actually, it's technically called fulling in this case), allows the fibers to be woven together to form more of a fabric instead of the woven sweater. This means the sweater can be cut up without it unraveling. The sweater has to be a natural fiber like wool, angora, etc.

Isn't it a pretty sweater? First I laid it out so I could get a feel for what I wanted to do with it.


I turned it inside out and cut the sleeves off, since the sleeves get turned into straps. I realized that the purse would be a little small if I simply made a straight cut at the base of the arm holes.


I realized that I could make a deeper purse if I turned it so the side seams of the sweater were on the front and back of the purse.


I cut the shoulder seams out, and this is what I got. I made a straight stitch across the bottom of the sweater to form the bottom of the purse. The sides weren't straight, since the sweater was made wider at the top than the bottom, so I simply stitched the seams a little tighter.


After I stitched the seams to pull the sides in, I trimmed the excess fabric.


Then I cut the lining out of coordinating fabric. I don't follow a pattern, I just trace the sweater and make the lining a tad smaller.


Then it was time to make the bottom wider, instead of just being a straight seam with pointy corners. I don't know the technical term for this, sorry! I just took each bottom corner and folded it so the seam is like pictured below. They were right when they said a picture is worth a thousand words. Then, I stitched straight across the corner, about an inch an a half back from the tip of the corner.


Then when you turn the purse right-side out, you can see how this gives the corners a nice finished look and makes a roomier bottom for the purse. I did the same thing for the lining.


Then I sewed the lining inside the purse.


This is the purse before I added the straps. It's coming along nicely.


I cut one sleeve straight down the seam and laid it flat so I could cut the straps out. I cut 2 straps out of the sweater, then cut 2 strap liners from the liner fabric. I made the strap liners slightly narrower than the sweater fabric so it would have a nice finished look.


Then I sewed the lining into the fabric straps and turned them right-side out, then pressed with an iron.


Then I attached the straps to the purse itself, which was one of the harder parts of making the purse. The sweater fabric kept wanting to bunch up, but I eventually figured out how to attach them so it wasn't too noticeable.


Then I added the magnetic snap closure, which I probably should have added before I sewed the lining inside the purse. Then I hand sewed in a pocket for the inside of the purse, because once again I forgot to do it before the lining was sewn in! Oops. Then I attached a little iron-on "Katiegirl" label so it could be all professional-like.


And voila!! One sweater turned sweater purse!


I kinda wanted to keep it for myself, but I sent it to Becky like a good little sister. I have several sweaters waiting to be turned into purses, so I'll just have to make myself one next!

Our Two Weird Dogs

Elmer and Buford are good dogs. Really, they are. But they're weird! They're pretty entertaing and I sometimes manage to snap pictures of their weirdness.

The other day I was in the basement walking on the treadmill (yes, I do believe Hell did freeze over!), and I brought Buford down with me so I could keep an eye on him. I gave him a rawhide bone to keep him busy, and I put the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs so Elmer couldn't come down. Elmer was pretty upset about it, so he camped out on the steps to be as close as possible. Looks comfy, right? Not so much.


I don't really think Elmer feels things like steps in his side. I caught him napping in the sunshine between the kitchen and dining room, and I don't even think he cared he was laying on the step down.


And yesterday I saw him napping on the couch, resting his chin on the coffee table. He was sound asleep.


And Buford....he loves apples. We bought a bushel and a half of apples a few weeks ago, and they're sitting in bags on the mud room floor. Buford has decided they make good snacks, so now and then he'll go in and grab one.


Elmer is always curious about the apples, but he hasn't figured out how to get one for himself.


He makes short work of them!


He's a good puppy...most of the time. :-)


Brotherly love...


And Scooter loves Buford, but only when he's sleeping.

Scooter got some custom made non-slip booties today. I'll show you how I made them in another post.