Seeking calm

These last few weeks have been crazy busy. Busy to the point of madness. Insanely busy. So busy that when my head does finally hit the pillow I cannot fall asleep (even though I am dead tired) because my mind is racing with all of the things that must get done the next day.

If I'm screaming but you are only reading this and can't actually hear me scream, did I actually scream?

I'm doing a huge art festival this weekend for Old Red Barn Co. and my family is traveling with me. We will be staying in a cute historic inn and plan on just trying to relax as much as we can.

As the boys (Razor and Blade) are up on the roof at this exact moment hammering in what I hope are the last of the remaining shingles and I spend the rest of the week preparing for the festival, listen closely. Do you hear it? Yep, that is me screaming. I told you I really was.

xo-dana

P.S. The photo is of the front of our barn. Why a barn photo? Because I love barns and I thought it would send me into a peaceful, calm, zen like state.

Quilts and such part III

I found this late last week at a thrift store. I am always drawn to patchwork and this one is chock full of really old fabric. Often old quilts like this are musty, smelly, dusty or just plain icky smelling. But this one is clean. No bad smell. No random pet hair. Just wacky, crazy prints, a few ripped seams, and, well, this . . .




But, I have already taken the quilt top apart from the batting and backing. I have repaired any worn seams and it is nicely pressed waiting for my next move. Wonder what, and when, that may be.

-dana

Love is a simple thing

Jezebel is easy to love.

-dana

Sheesh!

Enough squash already! Sheesh! This is just one of what feels like thousands of batches of zucchini bread. I have frozen it, fried it, sauteed it, grilled it, baked into bread, pickled it, made it into casseroles . . . you name it, I've done it. I thought I'd include a recipe for patty pan squash and bacon. Never seem to take a photo of it because we are too busy eating it. It's yummy!

Patty Pan Squash & Bacon
Cubed patty pan squash (or any summer squash would be just as good)
5 strips of bacon cut into 1/2 pieces
1 medium diced onion

Place squash, bacon and onion into large frying pan over medium heat. Saute until the onions are slightly caramelized and the bacon is cooked. Salt and pepper to taste. Would also work with your favorite sausage.

As much as I love this though, I'm squashed out!
-dana

Swap goodies

I have recently swapped with some other bloggers and wanted to share the goods!

First, I participated in the Summer Fun Swap hosted by the ladies over at Sweet Goodness Swaps. My partner was Rebecca and here is what she sent. Wowza!!




Rebecca crocheted the beautiful bag and lined it with a vintage pillowcase. She also made the fabulous fabric flowers! Did you notice the vintage orange and yellow scarf? What about the pineapple embroidered napkins? Check out the little crafters package of ribbon, embroidery floss and vintage buttons . . . all topped off with a silvery glittery "D". Also, the bag contained some pampering goodies that I love too! And, did you see the adorable hinged basket that it all came in? Oh, and the vintage orange and yellow pillowcase? That will make it's way into a future quilt for sure. Thanks so much Rebecca! Be sure to check out her blog here so you can see what I sent her.

I also swapped with the super sweet and talented blogger of Mama Said Sew. Christy was so kind to send me a generous package filled with these . . .





I should point out that in addition to the beautiful pearl bracelets for my daughters she sent some candy for them too. However those disappeared before I could photograph them. I just about did a back flip to see the green Katie Jump Rope fabric!!! It is the first I have seen in person and now it is sad to say that I'm even more obsessed than I was before!!!!!

Thank you sooo much Christy! I think I single-handedly ate the spiced walnuts in one sitting. That does not mean I could eat a whole cake! Thank you very much.

Seriously. I don't even like cake very much.
dana

Razor-isms Volume 1

First, let me set the scene: Breakfast table at approximately 7:00am. Razor is packing his lunch and making waffles for us all. A huge coconut cake is sitting on the counter (leftover from Razor's birthday on the 24th) because he is putting some in his lunch to take to work. I grab a fork and take a bite of said cake.

Boo: "Don't eat all of the cake Mom!"

Me: "As if!"

Boo: "Seriously, Mommy. Save some for us."

Me: "I couldn't eat all of this cake if I tried. Plus, I would never try to. Thank you very much."

My Entire Evil Family: "Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Giggle, giggle, snort, snort, snort.

Me: "hmpf!"

Licious: [After she stops laughing and whopping it up] "I'm on your side Mommy. You would never eat all of that cake. That cake is huge." [Now remember she is only 5 years old]

Razor: [Walking over and putting his arms around my shoulders] "Girls, your mommy is in oblivious . . .!

Now at this point he continued to ramble on about me and the cake. However, I'm stuck on the "in oblivious" part. What? Yep, two separate words. Like your "in California", he was saying I was "in oblivious".

So anyway, this conversation went on about the absolute inability of me being able to consume huge portions of cake, especially coconut cake cause the whole reason we had it as our wedding cake was to appease Mr-In-Oblivious-Man. It's his favorite not mine. I will point out, however, that my sweet, darling, 5 year old daughter stood by my side till the end!

As the conversation/argument/me-prevailing-and-proving-my-point came to an end, this same sweet and darling 5 year old loudly proclaimed: "ENOUGH YOU PEOPLES!!!"

I'm off to exercise. That ONE bite of cake will go straight to my hips.
-dana

Like the new skylight?

As I mentioned in my last post, Razor and Blade have been putting a new roof on our house. It has been a huge undertaking due to the fact that the house is 50+ years old. In newer construction the entire roof is covered with plywood and then tar paper and then shingles. Well, back in 1950 when this house was built, instead of large sheets of plywood, the entire roof was covered with plank boards. A large majority of the plank boards are fine but there were several sections that needed repaired. Plus, the boys pulled out each and every 1950 nail and then drilled and countersunk screws in all 65,799ish planks. I'm gonna steal Razor's joke here and say . . . now our house is totally screwed! (Good one honey!)

Well, the roof is still not done but Blade tells us that the hard part is over. Aside from several small things left to do they only have shingling left. The boys estimate that they can finish it up on Saturday. But, then you and I both know how men are at time estimates. We'll see.

Sheer poetry in motion I tell you. How do you unroll plastic anyhow?
dana

Seriously?

Can it seriously be nearly a week since I last posted? Seriously? Yep. Just checked the calendar and it seriously has been almost a week. There are several reasons for that and I'll list them in no particular order (seriously. I'm gonna. Are you ready?):

1) our beloved dog is gone and we are sad;
2) I wanted to keep the photos up of the cutie pie 6 month old so that his family and friends could easily find them;
3) I want to be sure that I'm living life and not just taking pictures of it and/or writing about it;
4) Razor and our buddy Blade were roofing our house;
5) Licious had to have her vaccinations and due to her ITP that has had me stressed out; and
6) Last but not least, this little 1 pound 4 ounce creature showed up at our house last Tuesday morning.










We named her Jezebel.

-dana

Cutie Pie!

Thank you Paula for letting me photograph little J! He is a beautiful boy!
xo- dana

Rock hound

Licious is a rock round. Has been since she could walk around outside. Everywhere she goes she is looking for pretty rocks. And I mean everywhere. At Disney World, did she look all bright-eyed at the mystical performance of lights, color and sound that is Disney? Not so much. She looked at the rocks in the stone path and tried to pry them out.

The other day when we were tubing she took a minute to spy these rocks and stack them. Beautiful and serene. Maybe she is on to something.

xo-dana

Garden update

These gourds crack me up how they send little shoots straight up to the sky. They are looking for something to climb I suppose. Cute little devils.




The pumpkins. Growing but showing signs of the squash vine borer bug. Razor performed surgery on the plants last night. I asked but it was a big jumble of words like "cutting" "splitting" "slicing open" "squishing bugs" "little white worms". Eekk. I stopped listening and just nodded my head in a convincingly interested way.

-dana

Splish Splash

Took the girls to a slow moving river for some tubing fun. It was freezing cold but that didn't matter once they realized how much fun could be had.







Just a change of pace from the normal pool.
-dana

Coasting

I'm loving these coasters that I made a few days ago. Each side of each coaster is completely different than any other. The back side on each is made with a 5x5 inch square of oilcloth (my newest obsession!)

Now these little beauties are on all coffee tables, side tables, desks and night stands throughout the house. Even parted with some for my dear friend Renee (and her awesome family). She had me over for dinner while my family was out of town after all. I couldn't go empty handed.

Some of these 5x5 inch squares were a result of a fabric swap I participated in. Jen over at her blog What's New hosted the swap and it was great fun. I ended up with 500 different 5x5 fabric squares. Now I'm working on a patchwork quilt with some of the squares. You know you'll be seeing pictures of that!

later-
dana

Anyone wanna swap?

I'm sitting here browsing blogland and am so inspired by the creative-ness that I see. I happen to know this lady that makes some killer sugar scrub and goat milk soap. She has been making a ton of it in preparation for several large shows coming up. It would make a fabulous trade. Anyone interested? Leave me a comment and we can swap some swag.

-dana

Life goes on

After yesterday we needed a diversion.

Break out the Easy Bake Oven!

Does a light bulb really cook this stuff?

While I'm on the topic of "stuff", what exactly is this stuff?


Took the girls to the bookstore yesterday. Boo got Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. She has read it 4 or 5 times but now has her own copy. I gotta say, it is a great book.


Licious got
The Bug Club published by Barron's. I knew that she could read it and when we came home she did! Watch out kindergarten! Here she comes!

When it stops raining I'll get some new shots of the garden to share. You'll be amazed at how big it has gotten.

Later-
dana

Sad day

This blog is normally cheerful, happy and light. I debated talking about this but it didn't feel right not mentioning it.

Hershey was hit by a car this morning. Razor found her and buried her in a far corner of our yard.

Such a terribly sad day for us here. Each of us loved that little dog. Alot. She fit so well with our family. That she is gone . . . is . . . well . . . shocking.

Half chihuahua. Half pug. We called her a "chug".

She will be missed.

-dana