Author: Cabincrafted1

Tis’ the Season

We are but a week from Christmas and the house is just today finally decorated. When we had kids or a grand in the house, I was always anxious to get the decorations up, but this year the spirit has been lacking. After Thanksgiving, I did unwrap my collection of Tom Clark gnomes and Santa gnomes, put up the two foot artificial tree with the Hallmark mini ornaments that used to adorn my office when I worked and pulled out the quilted and cross stitched wall hangings that my very talented sister in law and step mom had made for us years ago. Then I stalled. There was no Christmas music in the house, we weren’t listening to it in the car. The CD player took a power surge sometime after Christmas last year and quit, I changed to an Iphone with only 4 g memory and it is full of my non Christmas music, we don’t have a radio in the house except one that gets weather stations and emergency info, so no way to play the Christmas CDs. Today we finally decided to go out to get a tree and run some other errand and while I was in a store, Mountaingdad found the radio station that plays all Christmas music this time of year and I began to feel some spirit. The same SIL and step mom over the years had also given us a collection of cross stitched and quilted ornaments. Before we moved to the mountains, we had a 5 foot artificial feather tree that I decorated in the den with all of those ornaments given to us and our kids. Two of the kids have taken their box of ornaments, the third one is stored here and for the past several years, I have tried different ways to display those beautiful hand crafted gifts. The first year, I draped the loft railing with cut pine swag and hung them from that. The next year, I bought a vine swag and hung them from it, then left the vine swag up year round, changing the bows securing it to the railing with seasonal bows. Last year after Christmas, it was taken down as it had gotten so dusty and covered with dog hair that it no longer was attractive. While visiting family last week, I mentioned to step mom that I was thinking of getting a huge wreath and putting them on it. She asked why I don’t just get an artificial one and secure the ornaments well enough that the whole thing can be taken down after Christmas and put in a big plastic bag to store it until next year. Today, I did just that. We bought a huge wreath, a spool of red, green and gold plaid ribbon to make a bow and once home, I secured the ornaments to the wreath and fashioned a large bow.

It was hung on the center post of the loft this afternoon. While we were out, we went to one of the local tree farms and selected an 8 1/2 foot tree and a new stand as our old one had the screw in pins that had become so bent they wouldn’t hold up the tree.

A walk on a chilly day to pick the right one.

Waiting for the tree to be cut and taken to the car.
Home, in the stand and watered.

Each year since we met in 1977, we have bought an ornament for our tree. Sometimes they are Hallmark ornaments, but in recent years, they more likely represent a trip we have made or are hand crafted wood, pottery or metal. The years that one of our children were born, a baby’s first was also added and we have been given a dozen or so by parents or grown kids since then. The tree decorating was always a family affair and as it is just the two of us now, we joined together to get the tree decorated, joking about a few ornaments that one of us doesn’t like and where it will go on the tree. There are ancient strands of candy cane yarn roping that always results in a joking playful fuss. The lighted tree top star failed last year and we had returned from a cruise with Son #2 and family with a huge dried starfish. That became our new tree topper and was used again this year.

While preparing to get the decorations up today, I remembered that I could play the CDs on my laptop plugged in to my speaker that I bought to play music from the phone, so we had Christmas music! I even unpacked the rest of my Santa collection for the first time in several years. The house is decorated, awaiting Son#1 and family sometime next week to have Christmas dinner with us on the eve, a turkey and ham purchased today, and to be here for Christmas morning. The decorations will remain up for the grands from Florida to see when we arrive here on January 2nd or 3rd from helping them move. Daughter and I will pack them away after the first of the year. I finally have some spirit, but I still don’t know what Mountaingdad is getting for Christmas this year.

December 17, 2014
Chores

After a weekend away, it was back to work. Bed and bath linens needed changing and laundering. Clothes from our trip also needed laundering. The house was in need of a serious vacuuming to rid it of a thick layer of dog hair and that also necessitated dusting. We definitely need to get our fall HVAC servicing so we have a new filter. They unfortunately aren’t ones we can go buy locally and the accumulating dust tells me it is time for a change. The kitchen was given a thorough cleaning and reorganization of a couple of drawers and cabinets. The laundry room where my outdoor boots are stored and where we feed the dogs was scrubbed. One of the closets and bedrooms being readied for daughter and grands is done. There are still some items in the other closet that I need to relocate and after Son #1 and family are here for Christmas, we will move the dresser from that room and eventually get twin beds so that the grands can share the room at least until they are comfortable living here.

We didn’t leave the house today except to let the chickens out this morning and lock them up this evening.

I finally got our Christmas cards addressed and signed, they will be mailed off tomorrow.

There has been no knitting or spinning today at all. I finished the body of my sweater in the car on the way to Norfolk on Thursday and started on the sleeves, two at a time only to discover after about 3 inches that I had picked up the wrong needle size. That was ripped out and begun again once we were at my Dad’s house and between my knitting there and on the way home, I have about 8 inches of both sleeves done and most of the decreases. If I can get the last few inches knocked out in the next couple of days, I will have another hand knit sweater to keep me warm this winter. I do need to go out and find a large button for the single button neckline and while looking, see if I can find some new buttons for my winter coat. While in Virginia Beach, DIL asked me if I could repair a pair of baby mitts that I had made when the 3 year old was an infant. For some reason, one of them unraveled about an inch and the I cord holding them together had frayed and nearly come apart. As I had my needles with me, I reknit the end of the unraveled mitt, cut and spliced the I cord and handed them back to her. She thinks they got in the laundry with a load of clothes and said she would hand wash them if they have any more kids that will wear them.

Instead of crafting, I’m off to a clean bed in a clean house, with my book.

December 15, 2014
Holiday Thankfulness

We have just returned to our mountain farm from a few days with family elsewhere. We were fortunate enough to have a neighbor farm sit for us so we didn’t have to board the dogs, find someone to deal with the outdoor animals and worry about the house in our absence. This is the first time we have done it this way and it was such a relief to not have to worry about it all.

Our adventure took us away from here on Thursday morning to the coastal area of Virginia, though I have to admit, we never even drove down to the beach. I don’t miss it at all now that we are in the mountains. We spent 3 nights with my 91 year old Dad and my step-mom in their home in Norfolk, enjoying some quiet visiting time, a decorated house, and great meals. Saturday we spent all day with Son#2, our youngest and his family. Mountaingdad took grandson to see a previewing of Night in the Museum 3 on tickets that Son #2 and DIL had won on a radio contest. While they were off riding the light rail into Norfolk from the city line and in their movie, Son #2 gave me my first cheese making lesson. With his help and guidance, I successfully made my first pound of mozzarella cheese.

We used the cheese as a caprese salad as part of our lunch and it was delicious. We will see if I can make it again by myself at home. I am excited to have taken this step in being able to prepare another food we eat and will be able make it with local milk. If I master this one, I may move on to other cheeses.

Once grandson and Mountaingdad returned and we had lunch together, we celebrated our Christmas with their family. As they had made most of our gifts and as I had made some of theirs we opened each other’s gifts. Grandson immediately put on his Steelers hooded sweatshirt and wore it all day. We, as a family, walked over to their neighborhood park for him to launch his foam tipped rocket with the rubber band launcher then all met with Mountaingdad’s sister and her friend, plus my Dad and step-mom at a restaurant for a big family dinner together. After dinner, Son#2’s family with us went to a Winter Wonderland and Christmas decorated petting zoo to see the lights, the animated displays and the animals; goats, chickens, ducks, alpacas, llamas, a pot bellied pig and ponies.

Unfortunately, Santa had already left, but as we wandered out from our walking tour, we stopped by one of the many fire rings that they had set up for making S’mores and enjoyed the warmth on a chilly night.

This morning, after attending the lessons and carols Christmas service at the church I attended as a child and in which both we and our son were married, we returned across the state to our own bed in the mountains.

It was a wonderful way to spend a long weekend, having quality time with my Dad and with our youngest son and his family, spending time with the grandchildren that we see too infrequently. Now that our daughter is coming to live here and we know that our neighbor will farm sit if we all go away, perhaps we will be able to reestablish more contact with those grandchildren too.

Lovin’ life.

December 14, 2014
Hurray, Schedule Met

Sweater # 3, the largest of the three, finished last night.

Sweater #2, for his little sister.

Sweater #1, for one of their cousins.

Her brother prefers sweatshirts, so he gets a Steeler’s T-shirt and Sweatshirt. His other grandparents are Steeler’s fans so also is he. The eldest grand wears sweaters, but insisted that he didn’t need one this year. Perhaps that is for the best as making another even larger might have me knitting on Christmas eve. It wouldn’t be the first Christmas eve that I was frantically trying to finish a gift. I remember an afghan, a smocked nightgown, and a set of cross stitched placemats with matching napkins. There is a long tradition of me biting off more than I could chew while raising a family and working full time, but somehow it always got done. I don’t remember ever having to wrap a not quite finished gift with the promise to get it finished. But now I’m retired and seem to have even less time.

The doll quilts and pillows. These for the same two little girls mentioned above.

The Florida family’s gifts will be mailed off today for them to open on Christmas day, then pack for their move to Virginia. Generally, we leave here on Christmas day and drive to visit them for a week at Christmas. Next year, we will get to witness the Christmas morning excitement, hopefully with them and our Northern Virginia family who generally spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with us before driving to visit her family on the coast.

The only other request is for mittens, but they weren’t asked for to be delivered by Christmas and will be made to match/coordinate with Sweater #2 for the granddaughter who will be moving here the week after Christmas. She is Florida born and raised and may find Virginia winter a bit chilly for a while. Her mittens will be my flight and drive back project, as she won’t need them until she gets here. I couldn’t get them done in time to mail today anyway.

Today she would need them. It is mountain snow flurrying with strong gusty winds that penetrate all my layers except when I am wrapped in a fleece and my barn coat. Today I needed my long johns under my jeans, but didn’t think it would be that cold.

For now, I will return to my sweater, the body is nearly done except for the bottom ribbing and knitting and adding the sleeves. That will be my project for the next few days and perhaps I will have it ready to wear by Christmas. It is after all a lovely shade of green.

There are two more hand knit gifts this year, but the recipients often read my blog, so they shall remain . . .?

December 10, 2014
Creeping Deadlines

This month is flying and so much yet to do. We still don’t have a tree. Maybe next week. As I was going to bed down the chooks last evening, and to collect 5 very cold eggs, I was being gently pelted by small frozen pellets. Our table sits in front of the French doors to the back deck and we watched during dinner as the stained wood was coated and turned white. We weren’t really expecting much in the way of bad weather last night, the Nor’easter that was pounding up the coast to New England wasn’t going to hit Virginia too hard and we were catching only the westerly edge of wind and moisture, chilled by our winter temperatures. Awakening this morning with it still heavily overcast, the cedars, pines, and other firs looked like they had been sugar coated.

All fog and frosting and totally enchanting. After feeding pups and me breakfast, it was chicken chore time and on my way back from giving them their morning portion of grains and kitchen scraps, a glance in the same general direction showed a beautiful mountain phenomenon.

The clouds breaking up but clinging to the hollows in the mountains, producing a floating ridge. The sun will quickly melt the frosting on the trees, but it made for a beautiful holiday scene.

Last night I knitted until my hands were cramped, but met my yesterday’s goal of getting the body of grandson’s sweater finished. Today’s goal is the hood and a desperately needed bath. It has picked up dog hair and dust as it has been lugged around the house and in the car in an effort to get it completed.

The hood is a simple 9″ long stockinette rectangle the width of the neckline plus a few stitches. It should be done in a couple of hours then stitching up the seam to close the rectangle into a hood, stitch up the underarms and a quick wash.

The missing gift that is in the mail was near here according to tracking, perhaps to arrive today, so the box of Christmas that must be mailed away should be ready by tomorrow.

Back to the knitting goal. Must get on it.

December 9, 2014
Progress

Today, after a trip to the fabric store, I finished the two doll quilts with pillows. These are my first two quilts that weren’t made from a kit and the tops are made from my scrap basket, many of the blocks from dresses that I made for one of the grand daughters who will receive a quilt for her babies for Christmas. That granddaughter is getting a doll bed for her babies from Santa. Each of these little three year old girls, different families, will also receive a little dress-able soft doll with doll PJs for them. The girls each have a hand knit sweater from us, very filled with love gifts.

Boxes, tags and another roll of wrap were also purchased today and the gifts that need to be sent off soon are wrapped, except for an item that hasn’t come in the mail yet and a grandson sweater that is close, but will still requires another couple of days of dedicated knitting. Hopefully the missing gift will arrive, the sweater finished and a box packed for mailing by mid week.

We still have some closet clean out to do, a tree to get and put up and the month seems to be speeding by. I better get back to the knitting.

December 7, 2014
An Odd Situation

We own two vehicles, though we rarely leave the house without each other, it is comforting to know that there is a back up available if one breaks down or needs servicing or on the rare occasion we go in different directions.
Son#1 and family, living in Northern Virginia with public transportation to anywhere they need to go, don’t have a motorized vehicle, bicycles yes.
About twice a year, to facilitate them being able to visit both us and DIL’s family on the other side of the state without totally breaking their budget as train and bus fares are much higher during the holidays, we loan them my car.
It seems strange to not be able to hop in my car and go off without too much thought. Of course I can take the other one, but I don’t like to leave Mountaingdad feeling stranded. He has the BBH but that is not transportation in a cold rain, dark of night or snow and ice, nor can he transport more goods than his paniers will hold. He is off alone right now, I am quite comfortable staying here by myself without a car and wonder why I don’t like leaving him alone. Perhaps the two extended hospital stays he has had since retiring here, both that should have been much shorter, but extended due to negative reactions to meds the hospital administered or due to his immobility after breaking his humerus near the shoulder. I don’t hesitate to go off to babysit or help one of our children for days at a time if he has a car or worry if he is away on his bike or in the car, even for hours or overnight.
Today I stay home and clean and wrap gifts that need to be mailed. To make the two doll quilts still waiting on my sewing table.

Two random scrap tops, but my backing fabric is too busy for them, so a trip to the fabric store must be made to finish the project.
Tomorrow, he will stay and watch football on TV while I go resupply our wrapping station with boxes, ribbon, tape and tags and get the fabric needed to finish the doll bed quilts. For now I will return to knitting and try to finish the third Christmas sweater, second The Wonderful Wallaby, this one for one of the grandsons, the one soon to be moving here. Pictures of it will be posted once it is finished. Since a package mailing is in order to them, I really must finish.

December 6, 2014
Happy Chaos

Our household is in turmoil, but happy, giddy turmoil. About a dozen years ago, our very young adult daughter left Virginia and moved to Florida. The why is unimportant now as are all of the ensuing dozen years. For a few years now, she and her family have longed to move back to Virginia, this time away from the coast and to the mountains near us. Much has had to be done to allow this to happen and much still must be done for all of them all to be here, but daughter, two grandskiddos and the dog will be here before school starts up again after Christmas. SIL will stay in their house and his jobs until they get a firm offer on the house and then he will transfer his job here as well. For now, daughter and grandkiddos will live with us, and though we have the extra bedrooms in the house, we have been using most of both closets for storage.

Yesterday, in delighted anticipation, I tackled a major clean out and reorganization, finding items that we moved here 8 years ago and didn’t even remember having. Large shopping bags were lined up in the hall and items I never use went into a bag for donation. Party items that are rarely used were relocated by reorganizing the hutch, jelly cupboard, and kitchen cabinets to find places for it all. One of the closets held the boxes of Christmas decorations. When we moved in, they were stored in the basement, but when the basement finishing began, they moved to that closet and have stayed there. The under-the-stairs closet in the basement was cleaned up and space made to store those boxes back down there, empty now of their decorations, but full after the holidays. Dresser drawers that held seasonal linens were emptied, some of them stashed in another big plastic bin in the basement closet, others such as table cloths and napkins folded and stored in part of the hutch. A shelf is going to be added to one of my base cabinets in the kitchen to allow for more organization.

Bags and boxes were donated yesterday and more will likely follow. Closets and drawers are being made available. Holiday decorations that were being neglected are being displayed. Excitement is in the air.

We hope for a quick successful sale of their home so SIL can come up too, for a job opportunity that has evaded daughter in Florida will come up, that we will get to know those grandkiddos better than twice a year visits have allowed and we are grateful that all three of our children will be back in one state.

Yesterday and today have been perfect weather for working in the house. The sky is like a dark curtain hanging over us, raining off and on for days now. The creeks are roaring.

The chicken pen, having a slight downward slope from the gate has been treacherous to enter to let them out and close them up. Though it is gray this morning, I uncovered one of the huge round bales of hay and threw down a layer from the gate to the pop door of the coop and a fresh layer in the coop. This is always new entertainment for the chickens as they scratch through it looking for treats and spreading it farther and farther away from the gate, but at least I will be able to enter the pen without fear of falling.

Two days ago, we came home to find this…

half of the wood that Son#1 and I stacked in the snow at Thanksgiving had toppled. I don’t know if something tried to climb it or if as he suggested, the ground thawed in the rain just enough to cause it to shift. It has been much to wet to want to go out and re-stack it. If we get a dry day, I may begin on it . . . or wait for him to come back at Christmas to help me.

For now, I must get back to household preparation to keep my excitement under control. I booked a flight after Christmas to go down and help her drive back with the kids, the dog and a trailer of kids clothes, toys, sports gear and hopefully bicycles. The rest of their goods will be moved upon sale of the house.

December 5, 2014
Effort, Disappointment, and a Delicious Surprise

Mountaingdad and I began our morning with a group of others from our county to form the core group of Preserve Giles County to oppose and fight the proposed pipeline. We met for two hours, introduced ourselves and I found that this made me very emotional as we each spent about 5 minutes giving our name and why we were there. It was the first time I have introduced myself to these people and talking about the fact that I was born here, my grandfather was born here and though I grew up in the eastern coastal Virginia, retired here. That our home is a labor of love, Son 1 spending two years of his life doing carpentry and stone work on our house. I installing wood siding, beadboard, cedar and doing flooring and baseboards. That we are invested financially, physically and emotionally in the home we built. The meeting was productive and will move on to a point where we feel we are fighting as a group, not as individuals with a common goal.

The disappointment came when I realized that of the 5 1/2 quarts of broth that I made with the turkey carcass, even though they were chilled overnight in the refrigerator with plenty of head room in wide mouth jars, all 4 that I put in the freezer, broke the jars and all 4 quarts of turkey broth are ruined. The remaining quart and a half were used to make gravy for turkey we have eaten since Thanksgiving. To try to salve a disaster, the remnants of the thighs and the meatier parts of the wings that weren’t really done enough to suit me are currently simmering in another 3 quarts of water. The meat will be made into pot pies and casseroles, the broth frozen in vacuum sealing bags this time for use in soups and future gravies.

The delicious surprise came just a few minutes ago as I went to collect eggs and do a quick survey of the garden plot after last week’s 20 something degrees and the wet snow. The row cover over the garlic had blown free from one end and I wanted to re-secure it. There was kale that had perked back up, not a lot, but certainly enough for a meal, maybe my favorite African Chicken with Hot Greens. And a berry bucket of turnips that weren’t large enough to harvest a few weeks ago. I’ll bet they are as sweet as honey after last week. We will enjoy them within the next day or two as well. The chard is gone, the wormy cabbages went to the chooks with the turnip tops that were too wilted to try to cook. With any luck, we will get one or two more meals of kale, then I guess it too will be pulled for the chickens or heavily mulched with hay for maybe some spring regrowth.

The chooks laid just enough eggs while the kids were here to provide us with a delicious breakfast each morning and to make the pumpkin pies. Yesterday there were only 3 and today 6. It seems that the dozen hens are not really going to be laying enough for me to sell many this winter, but should keep us fulfilled.

Love our life on our mountain farm.

December 1, 2014
It is too quiet

Our family has left to return home in my car, full of pork, chicken and vegetables, canned and frozen to supplement their budget as they finish the last couple of weeks of first semester. DIL#1 has only one more to her BFA. Son#1 returns to work and spends any time he can budget to work on his PhD. Grandson#1 plods along as a reluctant 4th grader. He is so bright, but such a footdragger. It was so great having them here for more than a night or two and look forward to a few more nights with them here at Christmas. Not having Grandson#1 rough housing with the pups or begging for someone to come to the basement to play ping pong with him is already missed.

They always appreciate the good food that we grow and I prepare for them. Son#1 always gets a few tasks done that we either can’t do or find difficult. This trip we got the weatherstripping back up on the garage doors, he does most of the work, I am the gofer and holder. He reconnected a downspout to a gutter that gets damaged every time we have accumulating snow. Come spring, the end of the snow and the restaining of that section of the house, we will have to hire a real gutter person to come and fix that whole section, putting snow spikes on the upper roof at the same time. That is yet another error on the contractor’s part, not making the upper overhang longer than the lower one or at least putting the snow spikes on that upper section of roof. Son#1 and I got the load of firewood stacked and this morning, he, Mountaingdad and I switched the futon from the loft to the basement and brought a double recliner up to the loft. Having the futon in the loft gave us an extra bed before we finished the basement and added the 4th bedroom down there and the loft is where I sit and knit or spin and Mountaingdad watches TV and writes. Having the seating here and the extra bed in the basement greatroom made more sense, we can put 4 people down there and 4 on the main floor of the house, so two of our kids with their families. If we have all three kids and families, we will put the adults in the bedrooms and have a great sleepover for the 5 kids in the rec room with pads and sleeping bags.

When our daughter lived at home, she made a rule that I couldn’t begin to decorate for Christmas until the day after her birthday which is November 29th. Sometimes that is only two days, sometimes a week. I would comply except to maybe put up the outdoor wreaths. After the kids left, I pulled out the first couple of boxes of decorations and put out the holiday linens, the wreaths, and my miniature village. There are two large plastic boxes of Santas that each must be unwrapped, the shelves thoroughly dusted, statues places and though I love them, I dread that and later putting them away after Christmas. We will wait to get a tree for a few more weeks and then decide whether to to go to a cut your own location or try to find a live tree that can be planted after Christmas. We have a small grove of them between the house and the barn from Christmas past. Until we decide, I always put up a 2 foot artificial tree with Hallmark mini ornaments and lights on my jelly cupboard between the dining room and living room. The decorating will continue for a few more days, saving the tree and enjoying the rest.

Love my family and our mountain home.

November 30, 2014