Hiking up the Mountain

Jeff was off work on Monday (his usual 'weekend') so we made a plan to hike up Sugarloaf. It was an easy climb and it was a beautiful day. I seriously love it here, it's so easy to do active, physical outings when there are so many places to choose from! This 'hike' is a quick one if you want it to be, we didn't stay long at the top because it was pretty windy and we weren't dressed very warmly. We went after Adrian's nap and still had time to grocery shop before going home for supper!

living like no one else

Remember how I said we are working on getting out of debt so we can one day live debt-free? Well, when I got home on Sunday night we were discussing our financial plans and decided that we wanted to speed up our progress. Our car payment was the next debt to go. Jeff drives a truck with a stick which I don't know how to drive and that doesn't fit all of us very comfortably. Or, he did until several hours ago. I love craigslist. He listed the truck last night around supper and sold it before lunchtime today. He immediately went to the bank and paid a huge chunk of our car loan. We've been grinning all day. Well, almost. I'm sure it will sink in over the next few days that we are a one car family once again but for now it feels pretty darn good. I know it is all worth it in the end. We have to "live like no one else so later [we] can live like no one else." If purposely living with one car will get me there then I'll do it.


Once Jeff sold the car, I worked on some sewing projects. After Adrian's nap, we went to the Isle and walked through the woods. There were plenty of deer to be seen, It was so peaceful. I almost stayed home when Jeff offered to take Adrian with him either way, I thought it would be nice to sew without interruption. But then, Jeff reminded me that we won't have many more days like today to wander the outdoors. I'm so glad I went, he is absolutely right. Seriously, it snowed a few days ago. And that wasn't the first time.

To top it all off we had Chicken Paninis for supper. Yum! I just reread that post (from just over a year ago) and I can't believe I used boiled chicken. Yuck. It's amazing how much I've learned about cooking in a year, and I still have so much to learn. At the time, I had made soup and boiled the chicken to make the broth. I probably used a whole chicken and didn't need all of the meat so I saved it and didn't use it in another soup. I always, always buy bone-in, skin-on chicken. Waaay tastier. And I almost always bake it, even for soup, so the leftover meat actually has some flavor. I rub it with salt, freshly ground pepper, and garlic. Sometimes I brush it with bacon fat. It is so good, trust me, and don't think about how bad that is!

It's been a good day!

What a blast! I spent the weekend in Appleton Wisconsin (and Oshkosh, and Green Bay...) with these ladies. I didn't go for the shopping (and that's what the trip was for, I mean seriously) but I had so much fun! I haven't laughed that hard in way too long! These girls are some serious shoppers, we actually went to 3 different malls in 3 different cities one day. Yikes! Talk about shopping until you drop! For all the different shops and department stores we visited, I only bought from Once Upon a Child which is a consignment shop. Ironic isn't it? Adrian needed mittens and boots which I found there along with a beanie and a clip-on tie that I just couldn't pass up. I think most of the other girls bought enough to fill up their cars and had most, if not all, of their Christmas shopping done. That must feel good! I, on the other hand, have only just started.

This weekend was the first time I was away from Adrian overnight. Holy cow, that's crazy when I really stop and think about it. I acted like I was ready to run out the door but when it came right down to it, I was ready to bawl like a baby. Jeff said he did great all weekend, he didn't even ask for me. Way to break my heart! I'm glad he was good though. Jeff did say that one evening, our friend Paul came over and when he opened the door Adrian went flying over and seemed slightly disappointed when he saw who it was.

By the way, Jeff is basically the best husband ever. I came home to a clean house and Adrian was in bed (although honestly, I had to get him up to say hi). Then, today he washed dishes and did laundry. I was kind of like 'what the heck??' but believe me, I wasn't about to complain. It's been a good couple of days!

Feature Me Friday

I have been wanting a reminder like this to help kick my butt into gear. I love to make things (surprise!) but I too often find excuses not to. The bathroom needs to be cleaned, bread needs to be made, groceries need to be bought...I mean really, I need to do all of those things but they will get done sooner or later no matter what. If I don't make a point to sit down and create, it gets put off for days, or weeks, or months. Okay, probably not months, I don't think I would last that long!


(I don't think this really "goes" here but I wanted to put it up so here it sits for now.)

Remember that belt I made for Adrian? I have a confession to make. It doesn't really look like you think it does. It actually looks like this:


Yeah, I know. The image in your mind was way cuter. You see, I ordered striped fabric to make a few belts. I ordered a half yard of several different prints thinking that I could use the width of the fabric for each belt. It turns out the stripes actually go the opposite way that I had originally thought so my idea wouldn't work at all. Bummer dude. I emailed fabric.com and they are so fabulous that they told me to keep the fabric they had sent me and refunded me the amount as well. (I only like portions of the stripes, not the entire piece of fabric so I really have no use for the other two.) I happen to love the fabric I used for this belt although I'm not sure what I'll end up using it for. (I think it's Brady Bunch by Michael Miller.) Anyways, that's how I ended up making Adrian's belt even though I don't really like it. I do, however, love the two belts I just listed in the shop:




And with that, I'm off for the weekend! The ladies in the area are going on their annual weekend shopping trip and this will be the first time I'm leaving Adrian for the night. I think you will all agree that I'm long overdue!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Wait a minute...

I thought I ordered a pattern for a stocking...


Oh wait, yes I did...


I think this is one time I'm glad that I'm so indecisive. I don't have the fabric to make the stocking anyways so it's no big deal that my actual pattern will be delayed. Off to email fabric.com!

I Voted!

This week is flying by! Okay, so it's only Tuesday but I'm going out of town this weekend and I keep thinking that trip is weeks away rather than days away!

I went to "the Dome" this morning with Kate after walking over to the elementary school to vote. Did you vote yet?? I feel slightly ashamed that I didn't even know who I was voting for. I basically just voted straight party. I keep telling myself I need to research the candidates...next time though, for sure! It's kind of pathetic really, I mean seriously, these things are kind of important! There's a nice old man that lives across the hall from us that has been giving us his paper every day since we first moved in. I appreciate it so very much but I don't always read it. Then, on the days that I do (today was one of them, although it was yesterday's paper) I think to myself, why don't I read the paper more often? I'm so clueless about what is going on in my dinky little town (that I love).

Yesterday, I said I would share some pictures from downstate. If you haven't seen them on facebook yet, here they are:
From Three Cedars Farm:




Matt and Wade share an October birthday:



Carving (and eating?) pumpkins and hanging out with Jeff's family:




These two (that's Auntie Katie, Jeff's sister) adore each other, I wish I had gotten a better picture of the two of them!




I was slightly better about remembering to take pictures this time, but oddly enough I have way more from Jeff's family than the time with my own. Usually it's the other way around, so I guess it's time to balance it out! Also, the pictures from the cider mill were stolen. (Eek!) Various people from Jeff's family took those and I forgot to bring my camera that day so I swiped them from facebook. Thanks! ;)

Happy November!

Adrian wouldn't eat the leftover breakfast casserole that I tried to give him for lunch but he gobbled down the spaghetti I made for him. He was ready to lick the plate and I'm sure he would have had he thought of that!





I didn't mean to completely neglect my blog last week, it just sort of happened. We were out of town for the weekend and by the end of the week Adrian and I had nasty colds going on. In fact, I thought I had gotten the flu after I lost my breakfast on Saturday morning. Thankfully, I did not. I drank an (natural) energy drink to help with my cold but I chugged it down and immediately felt nauseous. I won't be doing that again. Still, it made me think of my mom. I don't remember her getting sick all that often but, then as a kid, I probably wouldn't have noticed unless she was in bed all day. The truth is, she probably did get sick but she still had to take care of all of us kids! I guess it takes being a parent to truly appreciate all my Mom has done!

Our weekend downstate was wonderful. It's awesome to be able to see both of our families in the same trip but on the other hand, I hate that we always have to divide our time. I think I'd have to be there for months in order for it to feel long enough. As it is, even a long weekend (nearly 5 days) felt super fast. I'll post pictures tomorrow. On a related note, we will be downstate for Christmas! Jeff has been telling me that there is a good chance that he'll be able to get a few days off but I didn't want to believe it until he knew for sure. He came home the other day with the great news! I'm already dreading all the running around but I know it will be worth it if we get to see our families for Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas, I've been saying for months that I want to have our Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving and I finally ordered the first thing! I've seen tee pees a few times on various blogs and I remember my sister Jen talking about how cool it would be to make one for her kids. As I was browsing on Amazon for ideas for Adrian I saw a tee pee and flew over to fabric.com to see if they had any patterns. They do! The one I ordered says it's big enough for one kid and an adult. I'm so excited to make it and give it Adrian! He is always crawling into the tiniest spaces to play so I know he's going to love it!