Sunday, August 12, 2012

Made Do

Today was yard sale day and we had so much fun! Even the mid-morning downpour did little to dampen the festivities. Once it was all is said and done, however, my stamina  took a giant nosedive. So much so that the thought of following through with the chicken dinner I had planned to prepare suddenly seemed far beyond my ability. So instead, I made do with a simple standby.....grilled cheese and soup. My only regret now it that I didn't serve it up on paper plates and spare myself the pile of dishes still awaiting my attention!




Saturday, August 11, 2012

Made Pizza

Gluten free pizza crust from Udi's.
Fresh basil from our dooryard.
Everyone makes their own!

YUM!!!




Friday, August 10, 2012

Made Some Time

Between caring for the yard and preparing for the yard sale I almost let the day pass by without spending any time with my sewing basket. So I reviewed my to-do list, eliminated a few unnecessaries (such as "scrub floor" and "clean fridge")  and had myself a little sewing sit down!




Thursday, August 9, 2012

Made For Quite a Night


Our local ruffians donned their "wolf suits" last night and made mischief of one kind and another. Prior to their ransacking of the neighborhood with rocks, rubbish, and lack of respect my intentions were to rise with the sun and get my work done. By the time the "wild things" had been rounded up and and the rumpus was put out, however, daylight was beginning to peek over the trees and I knew there was no way I'd get up at 5! The work will wait for another day.....




Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Made a Delivery

   Today we went on a secret mission. With our destination in site we secured the car under cover of a convenient tree.

 Two of our best agents were sent into the field.

Teamwork was key .....

to the successful delivery of the package.

Unfortunately the recipient's eye site was not up to par and the package had to be relocated or risk being compromised. Good thing the agents were so fast on their feet because.....

drastic measures were eventually required in order to assure the package was found! (That darn eye site again!)

But in the end success was ours.
The "eagle" has landed!


 

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Made it Easy on Myself

We love neighborhood yard sales in our neck of the woods. Not only do you get to offer up your trash as treasure for someone else but you get to hang out and gab with everyone while doing so. And hopefully, when all is said and done, you've carved out a bit more breathing space in the house and earned enough profit to swing by Chipotles for dinner (which can then be noted in your menu book under the heading of Family Fun!)

The only thing I don't like about yard sales is pricing the items. First there's the quandary as to what something is worth, then there's the effort needed to attach all those hundreds of little stickers, and finally on the big day comes the brain challenge of  tallying the items in each sale. 

This year, however, I decided to make it easy on myself.  No stickers. No awkward equations. No big finances. Instead, everything goes for 50 cents! Take three and get one free. Want the lot? No offer shall be refused and we'll even help you load your car. This should be easy breezy and oodles of fun!


 

Monday, August 6, 2012

Made Dinner Memories

 Years and years ago I worked as a kitchen maid. Not cook, but true to life kitchen maid. Think Downtown Abbey's Daisy (minus of course her much more desirable uniform and the unending drama) and you pretty much have my role. Washing, drying, putting away. Peeling, slicing, chopping. Measuring, pouring, plating. And at the end of the each day, creating a written record of the meals which were prepared and served.

Keeping such records is a habit I've continued on and off throughout my life. It's fun to look back and remember the foods commonly served when our house was peopled with much smaller and fussier kiddies. It's also been quite helpful when you hit a food rut since reviewing those oldies but goodies usually provides just the inspiration needed.

 Unfortunately, our family's diet has become quite restrictive these past few years. An abundance of allergies and intolerances mean that much of what was considered standard fare is now off limits. That means our oldies but goodies are therefore now just old and no longer inspirational. Most of our old recipe books are headed for the yard sale (or Savers!) Luckily magazines like Living Without and blogs like Leaf  Root Flower Fruit provide amazing alternatives. I just needed a place to start collecting of our new family favorites. 

A blank book fit the bill!

Successful meals we previously discovered were cut and pasted into the first pages.

But plenty of space remains for future entries!

And just so all this goodness will be easily accessible this index will be a handy work in progress!


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Made a Start

Thank goodness for a passing thunderstorm this afternoon! It broke the heat a bit and left enough of a breeze coming in the sewing nook window that I was able to start stitching a few linings into my batch of Hitty capes.

It was great fun to see them begin to take shape.....until, of course another storm came along and the electricity went out!



Saturday, August 4, 2012

Made My Way

Lest you think I've abandoned all care of our real life house in lieu of the little cottages, let me take a moment to assure you the declutter project is still in effect and in a big way. We've actually got a yard sale date and a promise not to bring any of the stuff back in afterwards! Thank you Savers!

 For several weeks now I've been tackling one cupboard, closet, or drawer a day but today was way too HOT for movement of any type. So I hunkered down in front of the fan and made my way through a pile of age old magazines. Some went directly into the recycle bucket but these have a new home waiting for them. Anything to make for a bit more space in which to maneuver before the yard sale is a very good thing!!! 




Friday, August 3, 2012

Made Them Glimmer

Seems a bit of fairy dust was the final ingredient needed to make me smile.
Oh so happy now!


Made a Day of It

 I browsed oodles of images of windswept cottages for inspiration and.....
  
....worked hard to learn where the fine line of just the right amount of distressing lies.
Obviously it wasn't here!

By sunset not only was the first little village completed.....

.....but a second alternative was as well!
(Although now I'm thinking a bit of sparkle might be fun...hmmmm?)


 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Made Some Painting Attempts

The first brushstrokes were taken today.
Then they were sanded off and retaken with a different color.
Can't seem to make up my mind.
Am hoping not to repeat the process tomorrow. 




Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Made a Visit to the Liibrary

My book request finally came in and not one moment was wasted getting myself down to the library to check it out.  Storm Tide picks up right where the first book left off and so far promises to be just as addicting to read. As a result, my attention for the rest of the day was split between cape stitches and Ogilvie's prose.....what could be better?!!!




Monday, July 30, 2012

Made Some Holes

A few holes like this.....
 
 
 and an assortment of dowel pieces like these...
 
 
 ....make for much cozier cottages!
Every cottage needs a chimney don't you think?
 
 
In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright. - H.W. Longfellow


And as an extra note....which I should have shared yesterday.....the brand of the mechanical pencil I was using is BOHIN. Apparently it's from France but I picked one up at the local quilt store. If I recall correctly it cost about $12 but came with oodles of extra white lead for lots and lots of refills. One of my best purchases ever!
If you decide to get one...
ENJOY IT!!!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Made the Mark

Actually I made many marks because I forgot the fact that before I can wield my needle I need a design in place. This used to be my very least favorite thing to do until I got an amazing mechanical pencil with white lead. Well worth the money!




Saturday, July 28, 2012

Made Progress

The Capes and Cottages project is officially in full swing.....well at least the cape portion is. Had a grand old time digging through fabrics looking for the perfect prints to use as liners. Once I finally settled down to business the matched pairs were easily cut to size and neatly stacked into an assembly line of sorts. I'm ready now to have at them with needle and floss!