March Madness continues

Our house work is continuing, although at a slower pace (except the laundry attempt, which has completely stopped all together).  We have continued with the craziness and ripped out the carpet in the living room area.

We have started the minor construction projects that we need  to do in the entry.

And, we finished grouting the Nook table!

As a bonus, a couple of our house plants are staring new little shoots and vines.  Looks like a little bug or something, doesn't it?

And in the spirit of things growing, I have been giving a couple of the ladies at Harvest House Farm, a local community supported agriculture project, blogging tutorials so they can easily keep the community and their members updated on the progress of their second year of production.

Here they are working in the greenhouse.

Check out their new blog at

www.HarvestHouseFarm.blogspot.com

March Madness

I've been planning for the last week to get the tile for the breakfast nook cut today.  I hired my brother to help us out just so we could get the damned thing done.  He showed up around 10 this morning and we got right to work.  Dylan and Shaun cut tile, and stuck 'em all down to our table, while I ran the clean-up crew, washing dishes and cooking lunch for my workers.

Fitting the cut tile.

All laid out and ready to be gooey-ed down.

Getting on with the gooey.

We'll let that dry over night and tomorrow we will finish it up!  OMG by the end of this week, could Na'Nook finally be finished?!

The table didn't take too long to cut up and paste, so after lunch Dylan asked what else we were planning to do to this place.  We are expecting guests in April and I've been wanting to get the house nice and cleaned up, so I whipped out my list and we decided to plunge into some of my other 'To Do's.

First we decided to tear out some carpet.

Next week, wood floors!

Then, we decided to remove some walls.

That's right.  Remove some walls.  We're serious about our home improvement projects.

Whoa!  Didn't I say clean up?!

I guess that will give me something to do for the evening.

Anyway, although the entry of our house is now completely stripped, the overall finished effect will be much more roomy, open, and tidier, and really allow a lot more light into our somewhat dark 'living room'.  Not that our living room is that dark, but the walls are painted dark red, and that entry area was incredibly awkwardly fashioned anyway.

Tomorrow, we have furniture moving to do.  The living room carpet will come out and we'll tape off the windows and anything else that's important to prep the walls for texturing and re-painting.  Haven't decided yet if we'll stick with the red or move on to some other fancy color. (And finish off the Nook table with some grout.) By Thursday we should be able to install our wood floor and start on with the other projects.  I'm picturing some shelving, a small vacuum/broom closet, and a bench.

Big plans, big plans.  Pretty exciting, really.

Spring Things

Well, it's March now.  February flew by fast!  I now consider this spring.  The sun is shining bright, and every floor I've seen in the past week is covered in muddy footprints.  That has to mean spring is here!  And with all our developing plans for April, May, and the summer to follow, I can't wait till it gets in full swing!


To prepare myself for the warmer, but still slightly chilly days when I can wear a t-shirt and leave my jacket at home, I am crocheting a bright, bright, flowery scarf from some of my favorite drug, Noro.

 And lucky, lucky, oh so lucky me!  My favorite LYS (Local Yarn Store), Stix, just started carrying Noro's newest yarn, a beautiful tiny, thin, skinny, fine, VERY colorful, lace weight, made from 50% cotton, 17% wool, 17% nylon, and 16% silk.  The texture is awesome and the colors are awesome.  The colorway of the skein I chose just screams spring at me! 
Despite my excitement over my new yarn and project, Noro is notorious for a couple little things...  First of all, the yarn always seems to have a couple small pieces of grasses or twigs in it.  I can totally live with that.  Second, one ball of yarn has so many colors in it that it is almost impossible to see them all without completely unwinding the whole lot of string and laying it out for viewing.  There is always some surprise color in the middle that you just weren't expecting.  Most of the time, it's kind of ugly.  But I can live with that, as well.  
The third thing Noro is infamous for is having cuts and ties in their yarn.  Now, it's no secret that this happens quite often with many yarns.  It's a fact of life.  But, Noro has such unique color patterns that a 'cut and tie' can really throw a wrench in one's plans.  Imagine this... Knitting along with a beautiful mellow gray that is changing so gradually and gently into green that you barely even notice the change.  Now you are in the depths of an almost fluorescent bright lime green and you can already see the next color will be banana yellow.  You work through the flowing, natural color change so easily and mindlessly until, sure enough, there's that beautiful, rich, deep yellow.  Your mind takes you through the yellow to a vibrant orange or a snow white, or even back to the gray or the lime green, when all of a sudden, BAM!, purple.  Yellow, then purple!  Just like that.  No gentle transition, no flowing, gently mixing colors, just yellow...then purple.  Damn that cut & tie.  DAMN that cut tie!  Now your scarf gently transitions from orange slowly into gray, into green, into yellow... then without any transition... purple.  Yeah... That's my scarf.  And that I can't live with.

I have such a love/hate relationship with Noro for that very reason.  Now here I am unwinding parts of my ball of yarn to find another part of it to match the yellow where I was left off.  Then there's the possibility of that screwing up the rest of the color pattern... I'm going to be stopping and starting the rest of my project to get the colors to transition smoothly.   
But that's a risk I take when I buy Noro.  And I have to say, I love the yarn enough that I will gladly take that risk, despite the frustrations.  An untrained eye would probably never notice, anyway...
 Here it is... The Spring Scarf

In other news... The baking continues.  The house cleaning continues, although the laundry situation has reached a complete standstill.  Both parties are currently in negotiations.  The house projects continue. I made a whole list of 'To Do's today.  I highly doubt we'll be able to get it all done before we blow this popsicle joint, but at least we've got some organization now.  The climbing continues,  and soon to be outdoors (!!!!) due to the impending expiration of our gym passes.  Suka's allergies continue, although we are starting to get a better handle on them and his hair seems be holding it's ground for now.  Harvey's love of snow continues.  The snow has not continued.  It hasn't snowed for quite some time now, and the remaining seems to be losing it's hold quickly. 


The Olympics have finally come to an end, and oh man, I have been a busy little bee updating the Curling Blog and replying to curling related emails on a daily basis. 


Aaaaaaannnnndddd..... That's about it.  

Baking

I recently have been SO in love with this book.  It sounds ridiculous, right?  But really, I have been baking bread almost every day, and I have worked 8 to 9 hours the past 8 days in a row.  And STILL have time to bake amazing artisan loaves of bread.  Believe it.  And if you don't... just look at the bread I baked this morning just before work.

Yep, THREE loaves.  I went to work at 8:30 and let me tell you... I am NOT an early riser.  I know I probably come off a little like an info-mercial with all this 'Try it!  You won't believe it!' stuff, but seriously, five minutes and this book and you can have bread that looks just like mine!  And my bread looks just like the pictures in the book!  It's amazing.  And for all you health nuts, get the book Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day.  (Don't worry, I've got both books.)  A couple days ago, I made a pear tart tatine substituting the pastry dough for a whole wheat brioche.  This morning I whipped out those three loaves of seeded boule.  After work I cranked out a batch of dilled white rye dough to bake later in the week and threw a personal-sized loaf of olive and cheese stuffed brioche with cracked black pepper in the oven.  YUM!  So if you love to eat delicious fresh bread and think you can't bake (like me!) then buy this book!  It will totally be worth it!

Murder!

Does that look like a murdered amaryllis to you?!

I think it DOES!

The amaryllis was clearly PUSHED!

The problem is, this gorgeous plant was given to me for Christmas by my aunt.  It is quite customary for everyone of us to receive one of these large bulbous dirt clods every year.  I was so excited to plant mine (i'm not being sarcastic, I really love them!) and apparently the bulb was excited too, since it has been growing inches a day since I planted it two weeks ago.

I've been watering it and sending green vibes it's way, but other than that, I really haven't been paying much attention to it, since it is safely tucked around the corner in the breakfast nook. (Still not quite finished, so we don't really hang out there yet... just have to tile...)

I guess while we weren't looking, pretty much over night,  the damned thing bloomed!  Both stems at the same time... Which created a great unbalanced weight and our poor florescent flowers toppled off their precariously thin ledge, spilling their life giving soil all over my hand sewn nook seats.

AND.......There you have it.  Case of the horizontal amaryllis, solved!

In The Crafting World...

New happenings in my Craft Life.  VERY exciting!  The lace shawl I started in October is finally finished and all pinned out to block.  Now all I have to do is wait for the damned thing to dry, then I can wave it exultingly above my head and parade it around town for all to see.

  The three months of work were definitely worth it!

To finish the fix up of my sewing machine, I bought a new light bulb.  Viola!  Now I can see what I'm making!

(I know, I know.  The needle isn't threaded... I just wanted to take a picture.)

I've finally finished my projects for the Dave's Sushi Christmas Party Gift Exchange!   How fun!

For the man, the ultimate matching party set...

Beer can coozie, wrist band, head band, AND.........

WAIT FOR IT....(Drum roll here)....

The infamous Willy Warmer!

And for the chica on our list, Moustaches!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, Shaun, the dogs and I went camping.

Or tried to, anyway...

The temp was in the 40s, the sun was shining, we had our climbing gear ready to go, and it was a beautiful day!

So we drove past Norris to our favorite camp spot, Revenue Flats.

And then it started to get windy.

Our tent (thanks Fred!) blew up like a balloon and by the second night, it was blowing so hard we could barely even walk around.  And good luck trying to use the bathroom!

Eventually, by about 6 in the evening, the tent straight up blew over and we were forced to pack up and go home.  Luckily nothing got lost or broken, but it wasn't quite the climbing/camping trip we had planned.  Better luck next sunny weekend!

Twenty Ten

2010 in Montana.  This is where we live.

They're all car photos, but I think you get the idea.  Wow.

And aside from having some of the most beautiful January days and snowy mountains of all time, 2010 has really started off oh so right.

I have started going to yoga to become strong and flexible. I've started running to prepare for the fun runs of the summer and, possibly, the Headwater's Relay. I've quickly started working my way back up to the level I was climbing at 6 months ago, before we slid into The Summer of Lazy.  I've learned how to bake the most delicious bread in only 5 minutes a day.  I fixed up a sewing machine I bought for 7 dollars at the thrift store and it runs like a dream. I've started stretching everyday and can now touch my toes.  I've started my application for college and Shaun has started planning an awesome adventure road trip for us to get there.  We both finally got healthy and beat 'the Swine'.

So many amazing things have happened already and the days, the mountains, the sunrises, and sunsets have been so beautiful that it is impossible to not appreciate everything around us.

And with all that said, I feel pretty darned awesome, even if I have failed miserably at fulfilling my New Year's Resolution...to wake up early.  I just can't do it.  And it makes the days so short, but there is something to be said for late night runs and watching the lights of Bozeman twinkle from the top of Pete's Hill.

Bonus Photo

How old do you think that canned food is?  I know for a fact nobody  has lived in that house since 1994, and I'm preeeetty sure it's older than that.  At least 50 years older.  Yum.