Currently: September 24, 2017

Weather: 

Fall has arrived...sort of. It's been a bit fickle around here, floating back and forth between warm days and decidedly fall days. I don't mind that it's somewhat clinging to summer. I need a few more days of niceness. Today it was a mix of both. The temperatures were nice...in the mid- to high 70s, but it was cloudy and breezy with rain off and on. I had enough time to harvest the cabbage from the garden and do a little spot checking on my remaining crops and then spent the majority of the remaining day indoors.

Watching:

Since we live in the middle of nowhere, getting network TV is a trick. We don't have cable because of the high cost, so we do a lot of Netflix instead. We had watched a couple of episodes of NBC's The Good Place a while back via their website, but watching on a computer screen isn't as nice as on the full-sized television. So...I was really happy to discover that the first season of The Good Place is now on Netflix. The second season is coming to regular TV, so we'll perpetually be a season behind, but at least we can still watch. I'm quite enjoying it and it's nice to have a show that we can watch together.

Reading:

I have finished my first read for RIP XII! Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was a good read. It was a bit out of my normal wheelhouse, but it is incredibly imaginative and reads super smoothly. Riggs manages to keep the narrative aimed at a preteen/early teen reader set, but still keep things fun and entertaining for the (*ahem*) older reader as well. I was pretty pleased with this one.

I have now moved on to the second book in the series, Hollow City. I'm about 1/2 of the way through and this one is reading just as easily as the first. I have a feeling, should this continue, that this will be one of those series where I'm sad that it ends.

Listening:

I did a little more Pandora this week and I think I'm going to have to change tactics. My station is playing good music and it's all stuff that I indeed do like, but it hasn't yet suggested anything new for me. It's all bands and songs that I've heard before. I'll have to branch out and find a way to explore a bit more.

Learning:

It was more farm learning this week. I spent a few days wrangling piglets who kept wanting to find ways to escape their pens. They have now been well corralled. In addition, the vet came out on Friday and helped us to castrate a few of the boys who will become butcher hogs next fall. He taught us how to do it ourselves, so now I'll be on the action end of the scalpel for the next batch. We'll see how that goes. Initially, I had told Gary that I wasn't going to do that part. But...after watching him try to wrangle the boys while the vet did his job, I quickly decided that being on the outside of the fence was the better idea.

Making:

Turnips and rutabagas have been finished. I pulled the onions and potatoes as well. The potato crop was disappointing and my sweet potatoes were fairly nonexistent. I wound up with two the size of carrots and that's it. Bummer. However, my green onions went gangbusters, so I have about sixteen freezer bags of sliced green onions all put up.

Today, I pulled the majority of the cabbage. Since our pepper crop did crummy and I'm still letting my carrots grow, I had to make a run to the store for a few supplies. I then spent the afternoon and evening making freezer slaw. I have four gallon bags put up and will be working on doubling that tomorrow. Then I have to decide what in the world to do with the remaining cabbage heads. I still have six jars of sauerkraut in the cellar, so that is not on the agenda this year.

Thinking/Feeling:

This week, the general feeling around the house has been exhaustion. The little guy has continued to teethe, but also seems to be going through a growth spurt. It's been restless nights for all three of us as he has decided to wake up several times throughout the night. He also and tosses and turns even when he does decide to go down for the count. We're hoping this is a short-lived stunt, because we could all use some good sleep around here.

Wanting/Needing:

I am getting really excited for the renovations we're taking on in the next month and a half. We had the house measured last week for the hardwood and tile installations we're planning. I have to contact our flooring guy tomorrow to get one more piece of the quote, but then we're almost ready to roll. I am really looking forward to having the upstairs flooring complete. It should make a huge difference in feeling like we're moving forward with making this house a bit more complete and a bit less of a project.

Loving:

I haven't used it much up to this point, but with today's adventure into freezer slaw, I'm seriously loving my food processor. I still have a lot to learn about it, but it made slicing up all that cabbage so much easier and faster. It easily saved me an hour or two. Thank goodness. At this point in canning season, I will take all the help I can get.

Planning:

I have a few lists put together of all the things I want to accomplish around the house, on the blog, with our farm website, and other tasks. It's been really nice to have a visual reminder and to be able to add things as I think of them. I'm also a super huge fan of being able to check things off as I go. I love being able to see my progress.

Once I get through canning season and can officially call the garden complete for the year, I'm planning on going on a few blog tours. I have some reading to catch up on for sure. I'm really looking forward to reading some of the posts for recent Top 10 Tuesday and Top 5 Wednesday topics. I also have a feeling that they will introduce me to some new books that might just strike my fancy. No matter how ridiculous my TBR pile gets, I still very much enjoy discovering new potential reads.


What about you? What does your "Currently" look like?

Currently: September 17, 2017

These weeks are going buy too quickly. We're inching closer and closer to winter. Gah. Summer went to dang fast. I demand a redo. Come on...just four more weeks. No? How about two? Please...I'm being reasonable. Ugh. Fine. I'll soldier along and try to get all of my outside work done before the inevitable snow arrives.

Weather: 

The chill has arrived. Our little glimpse of Indian Summer was apparently just a tease. We dropped 30 degrees like it was nothing. Today it's hovering between 50 and 60. The sun finally came out this afternoon and made it slightly better, but I'm wearing jeans and a hoodie. It's a sad state of affairs. I already miss shorts weather.

Watching:

I've always been a sucker for British comedies. It's my quirky sense of humor I guess. I loved The IT Crowd and am terribly sad that there weren't more seasons. This week, Netflix wisely recommended Black Books. It's been fantastically awkward and weird and lovely.

Reading:

I finished Tatiana De Rosnays' A Secret Kept earlier this week. It was a decent read, but just didn't have the power that her Sarah's Key carried. Still, it was a good book and I enjoyed reading it.

I'm now reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. It's my initial read for the RIP (R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril)Challenge XIII. I'll be posting an official sign up post for the reading event tomorrow.

Listening:

It was mostly a quiet week. I had Netflix running in the background while I did canning this week. No Pandora or Spotify, unfortunately.

Learning:

Well...out of necessity, my fence repair skills are improving. I woke this morning to a cow mooing outside my bedroom window. I got out of bed and looked outside to see...nothing. So I wandered into B's room. I looked out his window and found myself staring Southern Belle directly in the face. I bribed her back in the pasture with a bucket of corn and went back inside.

Not five minutes later, I heard Gunner growling upstairs. Tada...cow in the front yard. Same cow. Ugh. I got her back in once again and went to find the spot where she piled through the fence. She had gone under the barbed wire and pushed through the tensile net. I don't know what motivated her...she's huge...but her escape was marked by hair lodged into the barbs for a good three foot stretch.

I did a quick fix with the existing wires while holding B. It was decidedly awkward. Then I headed in to shower and get ready for the day. Hmm...nope. Cow. I called her around the garden and coaxed her in yet again while making sure the horse didn't take advantage and let himself out. That done, I went into the garage for some pliers and wire. I tightened up the fence in four spots (admittedly it's nothing perfect thanks to my wimpy hands, but it should do the trick) and wound twine through the spot to act as a visual deterrent. Thus far, no cow in the yard again. Thank goodness.

Making:

The canning continues. I processed so many beets this week that my kitchen looked like a grisly crime scene. In the end, I yielded 17 pint jars of sliced beets along with 4 half-pint jars and 34 cubes of puree. The truly sad part...that was only half the beets. Gary has been feeding them to the pigs for the last couple of weeks.

Root vegetables are up next. I now have a laundry basket full of turnips sitting on the front step ready for processing. Yesterday, I pulled the Brussels sprouts that were ready and got them processed and bagged for freezing. I also cut up the watermelon and pureed some cubes.

I'm behind of where I wanted to be this week, but at least there was progress. I have absolutely got to get through the turnips and rutabagas this week. I also need to pull the onions and potatoes and start them curing. The good news is that we aren't forecasted for a freeze yet, so I still have some time to keep this endeavor moving forward.

Thinking/Feeling:

Old. Seriously. I turn 39 today. Gah. I never had issues with my birthday until I turned 36. Something about being closer to 40 than 30 has made me just feel...ugh. I had honestly come to terms with 38, but now I have to reconcile myself to a new number. The saving grace is that I have a good handful of friends turning 40 this year, so they're helping me to feel better about it. After all, they all look pretty wonderful and are still having fun at 40.

Wanting/Needing:

We started cleaning the garage this week and Gary has begun constructing shelves along the back wall. It will be so nice to start organizing things. The plan is to get everything that's in boxes gone through and sorted (keep, toss, sell) and put those items we're keeping into organized totes that will go on those new shelves. Once the garage is sorted, we'll attack the basement. We have a couple of metal shelving units that will go down there so that I can organize things that will stay inside (like fabric). It will be so incredibly fantastic to be able to access things again. With any luck, we're also hoping to create a small informal sitting area downstairs. Things to look forward to for sure.

Loving:

I like weird things. Seriously. But when I like something, I really like it. For example, when I buy clothing, I buy multiples of the same item if I really like it. My jeans are all the same. My shorts...same. The shirts I bought last week? Different colors of the same brand and style.

Well...apparently it's no different with my cosmetics. A few years back, I picked up some Burt's Bees lip balm. Nothing special, just something for my poor chapped lips. But...they come in different flavors. So...obviously I now have a small collection. Out of the thirteen shown in the picture above, I own nine of them. In addition, I have Pumpkin Spice and their newest, Cucumber Mint (it's delightful). I also have their Flavor Crystal Lip Balm in Sweet Orange and Tropical Pineapple (spoiler alert, I'm not a fan). Seriously...what kind of person needs that much lip balm??? But hey, I like variety I suppose.

Planning:

We're moving forward on the flooring plans. The new downstairs carpet gets installed in ten days. We ordered our tile on Friday. I should have a call tomorrow to schedule when they will come out to measure for the upstairs hardwood estimate. I'm ridiculously excited about floors. Adulthood is weird.


And now, if you'll excuse me, my child has decided that my shoulder and elbow are chew toys and Gary has walked through the door with a cake. I'm going to go enjoy Sunday evening with my family.


What about you? What does your "Currently" look like?

Return to the Land of the Blogging...

Hey! Did you miss me? I've been slogging through the world of no sleep, late nights, and a new super cute snuggle buddy.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram or Facebook have already been somewhat inundated with pictures of this adorable little guy. But...for those of you who don't, here's an introduction.

Brecken Stephen was born a day before his due date on March 15th. He came into the world via an unplanned C-section after 15 hours of labor. Due to some issues with regulating his temperature and sugar levels, he was life-flighted to Children's Hospital in Fargo where he spent 5 days in the NICU. It was a fairly traumatic experience, but we were very lucky. Our little guy is a good and strong fighter and he was able to come home relatively quickly.

Since he's been home, he's put on weight like a champ. At 11 weeks old, he now weighs about 13 lbs. and is in the middle of the pack at a length of 23 1/4". As was the issue with his birth, he still sports a relatively monster noggin. He ranks in the 98th percentile for head circumference at a nice 16.5". But...studies have shown that kiddos with big heads end up being relatively smarter, so we'll take it. 

He's a fantastic baby and a very happy kid. We love him to bits. He keeps a pretty regular schedule, is a great traveler, and is growing a little personality all his own. He's a wonderful adventure.

Now that we've gotten ourselves fairly settled in and we've developed a good daily routine, I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. Before I disappeared, we were working on discovering my 2016 Book of the Year. We'll be finishing that off before moving on to other things. I'll continue to blog here about family life, crafts, and books.

However, I'm also starting a new adventure. We're growing our farm. The second blog that I mentioned a few months ago is under construction along with a website. The website is live and growing every day. I hope to get it and the farm blog fully functional within the next two weeks. I'm planning to try and blog here about twice a week and once over on the farm page. Stories about our farm and homesteading adventures, our animals, and other home projects will be featured over there. I'd love if some of you would like to join me. You can find us at Crooked Tree Ranch. Pay us a visit and stay tuned for some pretty great things.

Thanks for being such patient readers and supporters. I'm looking forward to this new chapter and exploring all of the possibilities that this new life is affording me. It's a pretty fantastic ride so far. I hope you'll be able to enjoy some of it with me. It's good to be back.

Making Plans

Yes...the blog still exists. I've been hemming and hawing about writing simply because I didn't know quite what direction I was planning on taking. Honestly, it's still a bit of a craps shoot. But, I've flown by the seat of my pants plenty of times before, so why should now be different?

Where I've Been

It's actually been a bit of a crazy fast two months. Life moves too swiftly sometimes and the days just start blurring together. 2016 has been interesting, to say the least. My life is so incredibly different than it was just a year ago...in a lot of good ways. I'm happy. Really happy. And after a few years of a lot of stress and indecision, that is a wonderfully good thing.

I got out of a relationship that wasn't good for me. Things had been fading for the last couple of years and I had been struggling to keep it together, but it became clear that neither of us was benefiting from being with one another. It was painful and terrible and somewhat messy, but leaving was the right thing to do. And in the end, I found someone who truly values me for who I am and who treats me incredibly well. He is kind and generous and loving and I am incredibly lucky to be able to be with him.

I also discovered that getting out of a profession that I didn't love was one of the best things I could do for myself. It was a decision that wasn't completely voluntary thanks to some medical issues, but I made some major changes that let me leave that life behind. At this point, I can honestly say that I don't miss dentistry. I do miss some of the people, but I don't miss the constant stress and the physical pain that came from trying to make every day work despite my illness. Luckily, I was at one point smart enough to prepare for the fact that I might one day not be able to work in the field, so I don't now have to feel like it owns me. I worked very hard for the thirteen years I ran my practice and now those years have become something that was a good investment.

Where I'm Going

As for where I go from here in the professional department, that's still a bit up for grabs. My good investment is paying off in more ways than one. Life has arranged itself in a way where I am stable enough to not have to work in a formal profession for the foreseeable future, so I can take my time and decide what I really want to do when I grow up. I've been attending college courses for the last two years and working on my English and accountancy degrees, but...I think I may shift things slightly once more. I'm good at accounting, but (much like dentistry) it just isn't something I love. Writing, on the other hand, has never failed to be something I enjoy. I'm considering taking next semester off, but I plan to continue to pursue some form of English education (and potential employment) -- formal or otherwise.

In the meantime, I have myself a pending new job. It's one that I'm terribly excited for. In just a few months, I should officially have myself the job title of Mommy. Amazing really.

I've always wanted to be a mother, but it just wasn't in the cards. (I'll likely write more about that at a later date.) After a trip back to Idaho to clean up some details from closing the business this past summer, I found myself terribly nauseated on the flight back to Minnesota. The feeling continued for days afterwards. A week later, I was surprised to learn that I was, in fact, not getting sick, but pregnant. It was a bit of a shock, but a really good one.

It's been a pretty good pregnancy thus far. I really can't complain. We've been getting excited and slowly accumulating things in preparation for his arrival. We still have a lot of work to do, but we're plodding along.

The house we live in is an old farm house that we have been planning on renovating. Originally, that was intended to be a slow-paced project, but a few things have needed to be accelerated since there will be a new baby in the house. Part of the new journey for the blog had been planned for following our home improvement projects, so now we're getting a bit of a jump start on that.

Right now, the projects are primarily focused on stripping wallpaper from two of the bedrooms and repainting. We'll be putting flooring into what was the storage room so that it can become our bedroom and the room we're currently in will become the nursery. The color palette for his room has been all picked out and he'll be decked out in foxes. (I'll share more about the house and our plans in a later post.)

Currently, we have about 11 weeks to get our act together and have everything somewhat prepared. Wallpaper has been removed from one of the rooms and it's ready to paint. We're moving boxes around to clear it out and then the fun begins. Once that paint is finished, I'll start removing wallpaper and painting the other room, while flooring is installed in the first. After that, it's furniture moving and assembly. With any luck, things will start really coming together over the next month.

In addition to the house projects, I'm taking an active part in running our farm. We raise Belted Galloway cattle (Oreo cookie cows) and Berkshire pigs (black pigs with white feet that have superior meat quality). We're likely adding some poultry and lambs in 2017. I'll be in charge of our blog (coming soon...) and our marketing/social media presence, in addition to helping with the day-to-day activities required to keep our little herds going. I'm very excited for what the next year could hold for us in that direction. It has some great promise and it's a life I really love. I'll be sharing bits and pieces of that here on this blog, but will mostly be directing that information to the upcoming new farm blog. (Keep an eye out for that in the next month. I'll be posting about it here.)

My goal with this blog for now is just to keep it going. I'm going to be making myself a new posting schedule to keep me in line and (with any luck) should be able to start having things to share over the next few weeks. The plan for now is to try and post at least once a week. Writing will be centered around a hodgepodge, per usual. There will be project posts, to be sure, but there will also be posts about books as in the past along with some farm stuff, some mommy stuff, and ... just life in general.

I realize that this has been a long and full post, but I needed to get myself caught up a bit so I had a place to start. If you've stuck with me this far, thanks. I'm really looking forward to sharing some of this new and crazy life with you. There is so much that it potentially has in store. Life is truly amazing. You can never quite predict what you're going to get.

Bout of Books 17: Update 1

Well...this week has certainly not gone according to plan. Yesterday was insanely busy, so I actually didn't even end up reading a single page. I'm heavily disappointed by that. Yes...I am participating in Bout of Books. No...I haven't read at all yet. Yes...I missed last night's Twitter chat. (Another devastating realization today.) But...let's hope that things will start getting back on track starting tonight.

Yesterday morning I woke up around 8:30 with a splitting headache. I ate some breakfast and was about to go back to sleep for a short nap, when I was informed that the pig was giving birth. We had anticipated that we had 2 or 3 days until this was going to happen, so it was a bit of a surprise. So...for the next five hours, I helped babysit the sow and clean off piglets, making sure she didn't crush them.

We wound up with ten, but she did manage to lay on one later in the day when we were out getting some supplies, so we now have nine. (Pigs are notoriously super terrible mothers in case you didn't know that.) In addition to the surprise births, we ended up with a runt who had her side cut at some point during the birth. She needed cleaning, bandaging, and she is now a temporary indoor piglet. Say hello to Pippa.

(She's not always this docile. She's a fiesty one.)

Once we got everything reorganized in the pen, it was after 8pm. We had originally planned to move the sow into the barn into a specific segregated area, but her jumping the gun led to a change of plans that required some creative construction. Once things were somewhat settled outside, I made a mad dash inside to get started on school work, since yesterday was also the first day of fall semester. Cut to me being up until midnight working on first day crap. (I sincerely hate the "you have to do all of this junk on day one or we'll manually remove you from the class" move. Professors...it's a dick move. Also of note...I hate it when you post some vague syllabus that doesn't tell me anything about what assignments I need to do when. I do have other classes. I need to be able to plan.)

After that, I fed Pippa and crashed out. I woke up at 3am to feed her again and then we were up at 7:30 so that we could get ready to go into Bemidji for the morning. I fed Pippa, got ready, and then our expected four-hour venture into Bemidji wound up taking nearly eight. There went another day. I'm now finally sitting down to post this update (which is really more of a whiny rant and was supposed to have been done yesterday) and then I will actually start some reading. First up, American history...specifically thirty pages on industrial capitalism. Sounds riveting, doesn't it? After that, it's some psycholinguistics. Maybe I'll even get in some leisure reading tonight. We shall see.

Now...let's see if I can actually make something of this Bout of Books...