homesteading, Seasons

Moving Out

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My tree has a new home! I contacted a nursery, malls, the local Boys & Girls Club, friends at Microsoft. I posted to our local parents email list and the Seattle freecycle group. But in the end it was the landscape service providers for our neighborhood who had a space tall enough for a 12 foot tree. So late last week, on a day with rain (despite being forecast otherwise), this beloved family member moved out. The Tree has been launched into a new life, out of the nest. Impact Property Services, our neighborhood’s landscape services company, has an office …

Caitlyn, sewing

Waiting for Summer

Last summer we discovered (with hardly any surprise) that the sun hat I bought for Caitlyn from the Point Defiance Zoo at least three years ago was too small. She immediately requested a big floppy sun hat like mine. I used a pattern from Amy Butler. Completely coincidentally, Caitlyn picked an Amy Butler fabric for the exterior. This new hat fits her exactly right now. Should have made a medium. I think she likes it. Now, we just have to figure out how to keep it on her head. Save

Caitlyn

A new first

Caitlyn brought home a packet of homework from school yesterday: ten pages of number writing practice, with space to draw a picture of what each number means. She sat at her table (as opposed to lying on her belly on the floor or sitting on her bed) and used a pencil (as opposed to markers or crayons) for the numbers and did the whole thing, all at once, without prompting. It’s a first, and I know it won’t last. The first page had no drawing (for zero) and for the last several she wrote out a word the proper number …

Introspection

Things that Make me Happy Today

Baby eagles having everything in it’s proper place hidden object adventure games with Caitlyn (we just finished Treasure Seekers on the iPad) being told by a client to give myself a raise the possibility of peanut butter cookies realizing (again!) the importance of flow this list of 10 important things to remember when being creative (especially item #2: “Don’t wait til you know who you are to make things”) remembering I can put boxes under the iron board to elevate it to a reasonable working height finishing something (pictures to come, should the sun ever come out again) starting something?

homesteading

My New Surrogate Cow

 

I haven’t made cheese or yogurt yet with it, but I think I may have found a replacement milk! Golden Glen stopped producing bottled milk back in January and I’ve been searching for a comparable substitute, or at least hoping one would materialize for me. PCC replaced Golden Glen pretty quickly with Straus, although I did have a week or two with Organic Valley‘s paper cartons. Organic Valley’s milk, though, is ultra-pasteurized. Straus’ isn’t, and the milk comes in glass bottles, but it comes from California – which works great when I’m visiting California, but it’s a bit far for …