Switching Gears

Ever have too many things going on? Of course you have. That's why you're wasting time on the Internet right now. You need a breather!

Well, I definitely have too much going on. All good things. But some good things must come to an end (or at least be transformed into other good things that seem a bit less self-absorbed and a bit more in line with passions and career goals).

To that end, I have finally come to a very definite decision regarding my online presence. Right now I maintain two blogs (this one more faithfully than the other), post nearly weekly on another, have Facebook and Twitter accounts, write using two email addresses, and, believe it or not, also maintain an actual physical REAL life to boot.

Ummmm . . . doesn't this seem just a little silly?

And all of it is about me. Me, me, me, me. I've been feeling a growing conviction that this is unhealthy and ultimately inconsequential. Very few people, my family excepted, will have significantly changed lives as a result of knowing that much about me.

Instead, I'd like to use my online energies to promote the place I love to live and the writing I hope to publish and reach a wider audience.

So here's the deal.

If you want to continue to hear about my family, see pictures of my sewing and home improvement projects, and continue our friendship online, please do friend me on Facebook.

If you want to join me at my new blog, focused on my writing and my beloved Michigan, please follow me over at A Beautiful Fiction. I think I may also have a feature eventually on what I'm reading, so The Books I Should Have Read will be incorporated in some way in that new space.


So I say goodbye to this space, but hopefully not to you. And I say hello to a new chapter somewhere else. Thanks for reading. Hope to see you over at A Beautiful Fiction or on Facebook.

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What I'm Loving Right Now

1. Canning jellies made with wine. (I didn't stop with the red wine and strawberry wine jellies! I followed them up with fresh herb jelly made with white wine and raspberry wine jelly.)

2. Eating water crackers with fresh chevre from the farmer's market topped with red wine jelly. It's pretty unbelievable.

3. Contemplating the rehaul of the backyard shade gardens and embracing my nefarious black walnut tree.

4. That I am a mere two weeks away from my awesome hiking trip to Pictured Rocks with my sister and only a month away from being up at beautiful Lake Louise.

5. That tomorrow we celebrate Father's Day and my husband is an amazing dad.

6. My new squirrel-proof birdfeeder that is being mobbed by finches and chickadees.

7. That I have survived nearly six months of no fabric buying and am optomistic about the next six months of sewing from the stash (which is still unnaturally enormous).

8. Fairly decent success with the general upkeep of the house and an "end" in sight with the laundry (which never really ends, of course).

9. That I found four intact (though incredibly filthy and lead paint laden) screens when I cleaned out the garage. Some sanding and paint and I will have a lot more air circulation on the main floor of the house. Score!

10. That Calvin took all the pictures you see in this post with his camera.

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Canning Fresh Summer Strawberries

Oh, I have been busy in the kitchen.

One flat of strawberries, some fresh lemons and lemon juice, a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, and a bottle of Chardonnay have yielded a delectable collection of treats. From top to bottom we have berry wine jelly, red wine jelly (both great with cheeses or as glazes for meat), quick strawberry lemon marmalade, and natural strawberry jam, and along the sides is strawberry lemonade concentrate, which I made more tart this time around because it was sickening sweet last year and required the addition of a lot more lemon juice when you mixed it up to drink.

And I still have two quarts of strawberries left.

All the recipes come from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. They are super easy and most take less than 30 minutes (once you're in the swing of things) with the exception of natural jams, which take longer because you have to make applesauce first and then cook the whole batch longer because you don't use pectin. That recipe probably took 90 minutes from start to finish. The easiest by far is the red wine jelly, which is just a bottle of wine, a little lemon juice, fruit pectin, and some sugar. It takes about five minutes to whip up the mixture and 15 minutes to process.

I hope you're taking advantage of the local fresh produce in your area! Get out to the farmer's market or the farm itself and then get cooking!

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This Post Is About Sewing. Really.

If you want to know why I'm doing this...

Click here.

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Surrounded by Flowers

Early June is such a great time for the flower gardens.

Bonica Rose

Carpet Rose

Lavendar

We have scads of clematis this year.

Clematis Jackmanii

Clematis Niobe

The hanging basket by the front door.

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Cool Green for Summer

A sweet little pairing of skirt and shirt in cool greens.

I love the flounce in the back.

Also looks good with a garage sale jacket!

For more about the inspiration and the challenge this week at the Sew Weekly, click through here.

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Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been busy here lately. Moisture, mold, and slugs (yes, slugs) in the basement forced an operation of sorts that involved my husband, rotted pine paneling, irredeemable carpet, asbestos-laden tiles, various saws, lots of salt, a breathing apparatus, a shop vac, a drill, lots of pounding, and cans upon cans of black spray paint. I occasionally ventured down when asked for my opinion on the proceedings, to hold something up while he drilled or nailed, or when I heard crashes or choice words at high volume. I also removed the rain barrel and replaced the downspout to direct the water about seven or so feet away from the foundation of the house

After about ten days, this is what we ended up with.

Totally new media shelving, hidden access to the wall and floor to check for any further problems, and a bit more peace of mind about what's living and breeding in our basement.

And during that time we were also preparing for Calvin's superhero birthday party at the park, which went off today without a hitch.

The kids made superhero masks so they would have superpowers for the games.

In retrospect, I should have brought more than one pair of scissors. Der.

Superhero teams tying up villains

Superman cupcakes made by yours truly.

The park we went to has a massive playground and a big tricycle track (complete with about 20 big wheels) for kids to race around. It was a hit.

This week I've also been finishing up my catalog for work, and on Thursday when I was in the office and I was coming back from lunch I happened upon a garage sale at which I found some Merrell hiking shoes.

They had obviously been wore once to a very muddy place, but the insides were pristine, so I have to think that they were worn only once or twice. How much did I pay for them? $5. For shoes that are normally around $100. Some warm water and a scrub brush and they look as good as new. And why am I in the market for hiking boots? Because my big summer adventure is coming up in four weeks. Here are a few hints.

My sister and I will be hiking at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the UP (that's Upper Peninsula to you non-Michiganders) on beautiful Lake Superior. Have I mentioned this already? If not, I can't believe I haven't because it has been on my mind for months. I'm giddy. I haven't been there since a hiking trip in 1999 (eek! 13 years?) and I can't wait to spend some alone time with my sister away from our kids and jobs and homes and concerns. This is to be our First Annual Sisters' Hiking Trip. Keeping my fingers crossed that there might be some solar flares that week that will send some aurora borealis our way!

In the meantime, life goes on in our home. This week Calvin and I walked through almost every room in our house (except the basement rooms, as they were under demolition/construction) and discussed what needed to be done to keep them clean. Next week we will start assigning chores to all three of us and make a chart that will keep us more mindful of our house. This was precipitated partly because I'm finding myself more and more irritated with clutter and laundry and dishes piling up, and also because on a trip to my parents' house last week Calvin said, "I like Grandma and Gramps' house. It's so clean."

?!

That hurts. But it was also a great opportunity to point out that part of the reason our house is so often messy is because we (yes, that includes you, Calvin, if you can possibly believe it) don't put our things away where they belong. So, yeah, we're all going to be working on that.

But it's not all work around here. I'm currently sewing a summer nightgown, Calvin's enjoying his birthday presents, we're writing, Zach's scheming about a new blog, and we're finding time here and there to relax and enjoy one another's company.

But seriously. It's June already?

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