Last Day of March

Tomorrow is Flash Your Stash Day. If you would like to sign up click HERE.
I am doing it because I think I need a reality check.
I am scared but it needs to be done.


Orange & Yellow



April Project Spectrum colors are Orange & Yellow. I have been working on some things for my color swap pal. They are turning out nicely can’t wait to show you. At first I was thinking I was not sure about those two colors, but now I am into it and it feels very fresh and Springy.


What Animal Where You in a Past Life?

You Were a Zebra

You tend to see life in black and white - clearly without filters. You enjoy being part of a group while maintaining your individuality.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

I was anxious and could not wait till this weekend to felt my rose purse. Here it is all pretty and posie before felting.



I stuck it in the washer as directed. I checked it after 10 minutes it did not look like much happened. So I stuck it back in for 10 more minutes.



It was over felted, Ooops. I suppose it is not that bad, but I am not happy with the results. I think it was better looking before felting. I might make another one with smaller needles and finer thread and not felt it. Maybe use a plum background and pink roses. For now it is a FO I am not pleased with.


The Good

Now that I have covered the bad and the ugly with that hairy mess of a rose bag, lets move on to some good news.


The 15 acres we put an offer on came back with a counter offer from the seller. We accepted the counter offer. Yippee! Now we are looking at house plans and looking for a contractor. There is an awful lot of house plans out there. Hopefully hubby and I can agree on one.

Sunday Already

I finished knitting the felted rose purse motif. Now I am just working on knitting the handle. I am hoping to get this felted, blocked, and sew in the lining next weekend. I am anxious to see how it looks after felting.

Yesterday I picked up some things for my color swap pal. The colors for April are Yellow & Orange. The deadline for the swap is April 15th. I am having a blast finding things for my pal. Her name is Jo and you can see her over at Wildpeculiarjoy.


Cooking


I brought some double chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting sprinkled with green sugar in to the office for my employees last Thursday. They turned out great very moist and tasty.


House Hunt

We went out last Thursday after work and checked out some property for sale. It is 15 acres reasonably priced. The land is perfect it is all flat and would not need to be cleared before building on it. Also there are pretty good views of the mountains in two directions. There is a neighbor behind us that has 15 acres. The property is easy to get to and is off a paved road. It is about 15 minutes from the office. Across the street is a Pecan orchard. We put an offer down and are waiting to here back. They have till Tuesday at 5pm. Here are some photos of the property:


Looking on to the property from the main road.


View to the Northeast.


View to the East.


Neighboring Pecan Orchard.


Gardening



Here is a photo of one of my irises in bloom. They do very well in my yard. I planted about 8 different kinds a couple of years ago and they keep coming back twice fold. Today I plan to go to Lowe’s and pick up some plants to replace some of the dead ones and clean up the yard a bit. As you can see in the photo I have some weeding & clearing to do. Need to get the yard back in shape for when we put the house on the market.

Our First Alpacas

Let me introduce you to our fist alpacas. We have contracts on four pregnant females. They are all due to have there babies in the next couple of months. We are purchasing them from a ranch out in Oregon. They will stay boarded there until they safely have their babies & are rebred to males of our choosing. It is not safe to transport them until at least 60 days after they are impregnated. So we are looking at transporting them home in August. That gives us plenty of time to get set up for their arrival.

Tasha


Tasha was born in 1998 and classified as a Bay Black in color.
She is due to have her baby April 23.


Emmy Leigh


Emmy was born in 1998 and classified as a White in color.
She is due to have her baby June 15.


Satine


Satine was born in 2002 and classified as a White in color.
She is due to have her baby June 19.


Teresa


Teresa was born in 1998 and classified as Light Fawn in color.
She is due to have her baby June 19.


Well there are our Mommas. So exciting! The place where we have them boarded plan to send us photos of the babies when they are born. I so wish we could have them here to see it our selves but there will be plenty more to see through out this adventure. If anything it is keeping us motivated to get situated and ready for them to arrive. The realtor is taking us out to look at some land properties after work tomorrow.

Stupid Question of the Day

I drove up to our community mailbox to mail some bills and I saw a woman standing there. She approached me as soon as I got out of the car.

Lady: “How do I mail my envelopes my key does not work in the outgoing box?”

Me: (thinking-is this a trick question) “ You stick it in the mail slot”

Lady: “OH, he he, I am from Florida they bring the mail to you there”

Me: (thinking-you are from Florida; I was thinking another planet) “OH”

Lady: “I wonder why they do not come to our homes for the mail”

Me: “Over population, Lack of funds, Understaffed for the amount of work, Not enough minutes in the day to hit every single home in between the hours of 9 to 5”
(thinking-was she asking me a question or was she just wondering out loud)

Lady: “OH”

I jump in the car and wonder how long she had been standing there before I helped her out. Maybe we are all aloud to have one stupid question. Just be careful you don’t waste it on something really stupid. 8)


ABC meme



I found this on some blogs, thought I would give it a whirl

A-Age: 33
B-Bed size: Queen
C-Chore you hate: picking up dog poo
D-Dessert you love: chocolate cake
E-Essential start your day item: toilet paper
F-Favorite actor(s): Jodie Foster, Angelica Huston
G-Gold or Silver: silver
H-Height: 5'1"
I-Instruments you play: French Horn
J-Job title: I own a dental office, I run the business end
K-Keeping track of your day: Phone & Computer
L-Living arrangements: husband, 2 dogs & a cat
M-Mom's name: Marie
N-Not liking right now: my thighs
O-Overnight hospital stay other than birth: pneumonia as a child
Q-Quote you like: Carpe diem it is latin for Seize the Day
R-Right or left handed: right
S-Siblings: 1 older sister 1 younger brother
T-Time you woke up today: 5:30am
U-Unique habit: I always park in the same area at places I frequently go. Also I prefer right sided spots
V-Vegetable you hate: beets
W-Worst habit: I’m a numbers girl. I prefer even numbers. When I see a number I am constantly dividing it or doubling it in my head. (don’t ask, I have no idea why)
X-X'rays you've had: Right Foot & ankle, Left Hand, Right cheek bone
Y-Yummy food you can make: chili, brownies, waffles
Z-Zodiac sign: Taurus

Endless House Hunt

Well we went back to house #1 and I took a look at it again with an open mind. This time it looked much better to me.



I decided I liked this room the best. The living room is to the right side of this room. I can picture the room with a cute sofa maybe wicker with a fluffy cushion, perhaps maybe an oversized chair also in the room. The cat lounging on the fireplace ledge and the dogs lying at my feet. Of course I would be relaxing working on my latest knitting. After a bit of talking with the hubby we were in agreement that we would need to add a master bath to our bedroom & remodel the kitchen slightly. We put an offer on the house.

Unfortunately the sellers were not as motivated as we were told. We did a bit of counter offering back and forth most of the weekend and never reached a reasonable price. We decided to move on & let it go.


Maybe Build a Home



Chris and I are now looking for land to possibly build a home on. All the homes we have seen so far we would have had to do some remodeling. So we thought we might as well look into building what we want in the first place. I would love to have a wrap around porch. I am a southern girl at heart. The downfall of building is that it will take some time from start to finish. Also during the process to stick to the budget and not go crazy when picking out things for the home.

Stay tuned we are signing contracts this week on our first alpacas. I will tell you about the ones we chose. 8)

Lucky Charms

I was trying to think of some good Irish sayings and I drew a blank. All that kept running through my mind was “Where are me Lucky Charms?” So I looked up some stuff on the internet and found a better one.

“Live Free. Dine Well. Drink Good Beer.” That sums it up me guess.

I will drink to you finding your own pot of gold. Whether that is money or a big pitcher of beer you make the call.


House #1


Chris came home yesterday and went on and on about house #1. He really likes and thinks it will work for what we are planning on doing. So, being the good little wife that I am. I told him I would go look at it again. We plan to see it this weekend again. This time I will keep a more open mind about the interior of the home. The property is perfect and already set up for livestock. I will let you know. I am bringing the camera.

Count Me In For Color

I joined two new groups.


The First one is Project Colorswap. This one is hosted by Lynn over at I Was Knit Together in My Mother’s Womb. Looks like a lot of fun. Check out the link in my side bar.


I have been following the Project Spectrum hosted by Lolly Knitting Around. I was not sure how I would be able to participate with already so much on my list of projects. Joining the Project Colorswap I have got my colors covered each month. Both will be starting in April for me. The colors in April are Orange and Yellow. So I will be on the look out for things in those colors.


House Hunting

Chris and I looked at two houses yesterday after work. They both are move in ready and in our price range. They are both completely different from one another. Of course Chris thought house number one was better and I preferred House number two.


House number one is an adobe style home and was very strange and eclectic inside. It was nice but I think it would take me several years messing around in the interior with decorating and such to make it feel homey and comfortable for me. The house is sitting on 9 acres of land. The land is all sectioned out in different fenced areas and there is a great large barn on the property. The lady that is living there now has lots of animals. She breeds cashmere goats & also breeds Maincoon cats. The cats are kept in different rooms in the air conditioned barn. She also has several dogs and many horses. Oh and one llama she said came with the property. The view looking out from this property is BROWN. This place looks like the desert. This house is a 30 minute drive to the office.


House number two is on 11 acres of land. The interior of the house I can work with. The guy that built the house was a contractor so there is a nice kitchen and some nice qualities to the house. Although there are a few things we were not sure why they did, like putting those sliding glass doors on the garden tub. Also they did not maximize on the awesome views. Several little things here and there that we could change with time, but all in all I am comfortable with the house and could throw my furniture in there and not worry about it. The land has a few separated fenced areas and also one horse corral. The property has a couple of outside buildings mostly for storage of feed etc. There is a lot of wilderness around and predators that we would need to make sure to have proper fencing around the perimeter. The view looking out on this property is Green, lots of trees. This house is about a 25 minute drive to the office.

I think we are going to keep number 2 on our list and keep looking to see if any other homes that fit our needs come on the market. Looking at these houses both Chris and I feel very good about our decision to let the other house we had an offer on go. Both of these would be a better choice than that one.


Weekend Trip

We are about to sign contracts on some alpacas and we decided we should go take a look at them first to make sure they are the ones we want. It is a big investment and we need to make sure we are happy with our choices. You know how photos can look on the internet, you think you are buying a Great Dane and a Poodle shows up at your door named Butch. So we are scrambling to make last minute travel arrangements to go look at some alpacas on the weekend of the 25th. Of course that is probably Spring break for some area of the US. Hopefully we can get a reasonable price on tickets. So some time in about 10 days we will be purchasing our first alpacas. So Exciting!

Cosmo is not as excited.

WIPs

These are my current Works in Progress:

Felted Rose Purse


This felted Rose Purse Pattern is in Book Number 130 of Dalegarn (Dale Of Norway). It is an accessory pattern book. I am using Heilo yarn for this project. I am using three skeins of black 0090, one wine 4246, & one tartan green 7562. It is 100% Pure New Norwegian Wool. I still have one more row of the rose motif.


Surf & Turf Table Runner


I am making a table runner out of the TLC Essentials in color Surf & Turf. I am using a pattern out of my little box of scarves. It is the Chevron and Feather scarf pattern. I am just making it wider. I think it shows off the color nicely. I usually do not like acrylic yarns but I am in love with this color way and being able to throw it in the wash if it gets dirty will be good for a table runner.


Dew Drops Scarf


This pattern is from the book Exquisite Little Knits. I bought 1 skein of Makula Cashmere in color Enchanted. I cast on and this is as far as I got. This yarn is so soft and lovely. I think it is the perfect yarn to wrap close to the skin. I almost wish I did not like the cashmere because it is so pricey. Thank goodness pattern only calls for one skein.


Bridget


Bridget – Jo Sharp Book Number Two
This is my next big project knit.

I am using Donegal Tweed Homespun in color 880. I am in love with this sweater. I think it should be a good challenge for me

I made a swatch and checked my gauge. It looks like I am right on target. I believe this yarn will do nicely for the pattern.

Well that is what I currently have on the needles.

Introduction

First I would like to introduce you to my kids.


This is Brandy she is our oldest. She is a Bassett Hound. She takes hound to a whole new level. It is definitely all about filling the belly for her. She is down right stubborn. She was our first and let us just say we did not know what we were doing when we brought her home. She will be 12 this year and still a handful.



This is Haley. She is an Italian Greyhound. Haley is all about the cuddle time. If you have a lap she would like to sit with you and whisper sweet nothings in your ear. She is a little timid at times and gets cold easily. When she runs she looks like a deer. She is very fast. She is a very sweet addition to the family.



This is Cosmo. He is my baby boy. He just turned 3 years old and he will always be my baby. He can do no wrong in my eyes. I brought him home from the pound when he was just a little whipper snapper. When I am stressed out he is the one I look for. One look at him always brings a smile to my lips.


That’s my kids. They all get along very well.
Our lives have been much fuller just having them in it.

Hello

I am starting a new blog because in a way I am starting a new chapter in my life. My husband and I are in the process of moving to the country and becoming alpaca ranchers. I plan to use this blog to journal about our transition to the country. I will also journal about all my knitting, and crafting endeavors. Stay tuned, I am fixing this blog up so it looks presentable.