HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

I've had a birthday since I last blogged and wanted to show you my birthday gift from Chuck. These wonderful clotheslines are what I've been wanting for the last 5 years. There just wasn't a good place to put them at our old house - so I've been waiting until the most important stuff got done here. It's the best gift ever and I am thrilled. It's really the pick-me-up I needed after all this other @#$#@!! stuff.

I don't hang everything out but the sheets, bedding, towels - that kind of stuff are just wonderful to smell after a day of drying in the sun and wind. The ultimate for me is crawling into the sheets at night. You know what I mean.

And now that I have the clothesline I'm going to work on updating my Blog a little. Make a little more interesting. I have some ideas if I can just figure out how to do it.



There's not a lot to report on the water disaster. The last of the contractors have been thru and it looks like we can expect them to get started on repairing the drywall next week. We have a nice guy to work with and he doesn't have a lot of other jobs going right now. Best of all, he lives just up the street.

In the meantime, I've moved my machine and stuff back downstairs. I spent a couple of days cutting and laying some extra carpet in another area just outside of the family room. I'm hooked up and working a few hours a day.

It's not perfect, but works for me.







The lighting isn't the best. But with the help of extension cords, lamps and an extra long cable cord I have everything I need to be productive.






And I don't think I ever posted a picture of my 'fabric room'. The original owners intended to finish this area as a bedroom, but Chuck lined all the walls with shelves. It was just enough (barely) to hold all of my stash of quilting fabric, wools, dye materials, patterns, etc. I am one lucky gal to have that guy!!!










My friends Jean and Betsy are coming for a visit on Tuesday. I am so excited to see them again. Last time they were here, I was so inspired with all the projects that Jean has going on that it took a couple days before I could settle back down to reality.

Jean and I are going to meet in Spring Green, WI in October for the Boxwood and Berries Retreat. We're going to the second session so we may miss a lot of the girls that were there last year, but we'll get to meet an entire new group. Can't have too many friends!!! The projects sound fantastic. I know it will be 4 days of nonstop work, laugh, share and eat. I can't wait.



Then, Labor Day weekend our Kansas City family will be here for a couple of days. We haven't seen much of our kids this summer so we're really looking forward to some down time. The girls have been on 2 vacations - Cancun and Disneyland so I know there will be lots to talk about.

Well, gotta go. Have lots to do to get ready for Tuesday. Lunch needs to be special for those two. And they are seeing my 'farm' for the first time. Jean thinks I should name it so I hope she can come up with something that we can go with.

Til next time.

DIFFERENT TOPIC!!!!

I was going to give you an update on the sewing room situation, but honestly, I'm tired of thinking about it. Last week was filled with people in and out looking, estimating, recording, etc. Today the guys got the floor out and now I'm just waiting until someone can start replacing the drywall. Things will move slow as we have been told that the recent wind and high water situations between here and Cedar Rapids have a lot of their staff booked for a couple of weeks.



In the meantime, I've setup a little sewing area in my kitchen. My machine on my old teacher's table and a make-shift design board made of 2" styrofoam and started working on the quilt I wanted to make for the sunroom. I just needed some creative time. Improves my whole outlook.




Do you have Japanese Beetles in your garden?
I didn't know what they were when I first saw them, however, they were making short work of the leaves on my raspberry bushes. When I visited our local nursery they informed me that the beetles could do major damage and there were only a couple of ways to kill them. Burning or drowning in dishwater. The alternative was this 'beetle trap'. Sounded too good to be true.



I wasn't in favor of spraying or trying to catch them. So we put this up at the far end of the garden. The beetles are drawn to a scent and fly in the bag, go down thru the trap, and can't get back out. The bag fills in about a week and they live thru it. It's creepy, but this is the 3 rd bag of beetles that we've trapped. I rarely see any on my garden - they were getting very fond of my green beans that were just starting the blossoming stage.

Speaking of green beans - here's mine. I planted pole beans this year. They are heavy producers and easy on the back as you can pick them while standing. I picked 3 yesterday and there are 100's of tiny ones, so I'm hoping for a bumper crop.


My squash are all over the place. It's hard to see them here, but I planted the yellow butternut and I have dozens. I'm excited as they are our favorites.




The carrots really aren't ready yet, but I couldn't resist pulling a few. My sister was here yesterday with her 2 little grandsons so we pulled some up for them to take home. The soil here is perfect for root vegetables; more of a sandy loam so the carrots are growing nice and long. The ones I pulled yesterday were about 6-7 inches.




Just for fun I planted a hill of several different gourds. Here's a little bumpy one that is growing up a rake handle and covering this little bird house. I have 3 or 4 different kinds so far. The other vines are my Sugar Pie Pumpkins. I always use fresh pumpkin for my pies in the fall. There is such a difference in the taste. The ones specifically for pie have a finer texture and are sweeter than jack-o-lanterns. Other years I have had to go as far as Des Moines to find them. I'm excited that I'm going to have in my garden this year. I have found 3 so far. One of them is on vine that has climbed up one of our arborvitae so it's hanging about 6 feet off the ground!!


And look at these!!!! I didn't realize my garden was home to these lilies. I first became acquainted with the Naked Lady while I lived in Des Moines. A friend of mine pointed them out to me one day when we were walking in her neighborhood. They are actually an Amaryllis - Belladonna Lily. The excitement is that they are a huge surprise if you don't know that they are there. The bulbs come in the Spring and look very similar to other lilies. The difference is the leaves all die down and are gone. Then, in early to mid August within a couple days, bare flower stalks shoot up about one and half feet with these beautiful trumpet shaped flowers. They are a pale pink. I cut one stalk and put in water in the house and it lasted for 5-6 days. Believe me - I have the area surrounded with sticks and labeled. I'd like to move them this fall so they are by themselves and I can watch for them. They are pretty lost right now in all the other lilies in the back of the garden.

Well, that's about it for now. Tomorrow I'm off to Iowa City for a routine check on my feet, and Wednesday, The Club is meeting for a birthday lunch in Cedar Falls. Can't wait. I haven't touched on the picnic we went to last weekend. I took pictures, so maybe later this week, I'll have a chance to get those out.

Isn't this weather great!!!!! Until Later!!

Back To Square One - The Renovation!!

I have taken lots of new pictures of the garden and some sewing projects I've finished in the last couple of weeks and had planned to share those with this posting.

We had a family reunion picnic today in Charles City and my plan was to come home and write up a new post. By the way - we had so much fun and saw relatives I hadn't seen for awhile - but anyway, when we got home, Chuck needed to leave right away to the mow the yard in town so we grabbed up the picnic basket, etc. and darted in the house. Of course, I had to go the bathroom right away.....On my way there I thought I heard water running and wondered to myself if I had left the faucet in the bathroom on after getting ready to go. I stepped thru the door and into WATER, WATER, WATER. The water was gushing - I mean gushing out thru the lavatory doors!!!! The water line under the sink had burst and apparently for 4 hours or so water had been running wide open..... Need I say more -- the bathroom is directly above my sewing room. I called out for Chuck. He shut the water off and we went directly downstairs. It was raining!!!!
These are small pictures but if you click on them they will enlarge and you will be able to appreciate the story more.







Ceiling tiles had dropped onto the furniture, water standing everywhere, furniture soaked, books and audio tapes wet, and on and on and on. I won't go into detail anymore. I finally got someone to come - the first guy got here at 8:30 - the second guy @ 10:00. The have ripped up all the trim around the edge of my new floor and are still working to get things dried out down there. They are certain the floor will have to come up. The water ran into a heat run from the bathroom; heat runs aren't intended for water so it leaked out at every connection. At least one wall and the soffit will have to be replaced as there are huge water bubbles coming out. Oh, it's not all bad. My sewing machine was not affected-no water leaked in the part. And my fabric was safely stored in the other room - so that was ok. The painted cupboards wiped off easily, however - my nice oak buffet looks like it will have to re-veneered...It could have been worse - it's just not a convenient time.







Things look sort of like they did when we first moved. I had almost everything in the storage put away - now all the sewing room stuff is moved in there. Looks like it's back to square one for me.

Not sure when I'm going to be back on. I'll try to keep you posted. It's going to be a hot muggy week coming up so I'll probably just stay down stairs and muddle through. Go figure..... My next post will be my garden pictures and the sewing projects!!!! It's 2am an I need to get to bed. I think the guys are loading their trucks up.