Thrifty Thursday

I'm thrilled to be joining Lady Cordelia this week in *Thrifty Thursday*.
I'm a thrift/antique store junky, and love nothing more than to stumble upon little hidden, often overlooked treasures.
While visiting my family, my Aunt and I stopped in "Habitat Thrift Shop" in Marysville, Kansas, where I found all sorts of goodies. My favorites though were these three giant balls of fabric, all sewn up and ready for a rag rug. 
Just shy of the size of a volleyball, and marked down from $4 a piece to only $1, these were an amazing deal. I was beyond excited to find out that they're made of vintage feedsack fabrics.
These take so long to stitch up, I can hardly believe that they were only a dollar!

I've been meaning to make a rag rug for a while now, I just can't decide between the crochet route, or the old toothbrush method that my Great Grandmother used to do. I've never done the toothbrush method, but I just might have to try my hand at it. It seems simple enough based on the many online tutorials.
And if that fails, I can always rip it out and start with the crocheted version, right? Or leave them balled up and sitting out on display, they're so pretty just like this!

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Whoopsie! I've been informed that Thrifty Thursday will now be hosted here, in case anyone else was interested in participating... Sorry for the confusion!

Yarn Along...in "Black Hawk" Nebraska

My aunt thought it pretty funny that I took a picture of my knitting project in front of Willa Cather's house. Once I explained *yarn along* to her though, she thought it very neat and helped me "stage" the photograph! It was extremely windy, and the scarf kept blowing down off of the sign. 

Would you believe it if I told you that I was still working on the same old scarf? I must be the slowest knitter ever. Well, that and I keep letting life get in the way. There's a tiny voice in the back of my mind reminding me that I won't need to have this finished until there's cool weather again anyway...so I blame her.

The Knitting did come with me on our family trip, and I managed to add about a foot to the scarf, despite having pretty busy hands with Lotte during most of our stay. 

She does ok in the car, but needs constant entertainment. Let me just say that "patty cake", "peekaboo", "here's the church" and "oh little playmate" have officially been sung too many times this month. No...this year. 

She was really good though, so I shouldn't complain too much. Travelling with babies could be oh so much worse.

Because I knew that we'd be visiting family in Kansas and Nebraska, and was hoping to stop in Red Cloud NE,  I started re-reading two of my favorite Willa Cather books, "O Pioneer!" and "My Antonia". 

 character Antonia Shimerda was actually Annie Pavelka, nee Sadilek. She is standing on the left.  Frank, the brother standing, is one of my ancestors. In the book, he was somewhat crazy. In reality, he was actually not crazy but deaf.

As it turns out, some of Cather's characters are my ancestors-and they lived in  and around Red Cloud and Guide Rock. (In the book, she calls the town Black Hawk to protect the true characters).
I knew this before I visited, but I was really happy to find photographs of the actual characters from Cather's books. And of course, pictures of Willa Cather herself.

I've just started reading "song of the Lark" again because right now i just can't get enough of her books. I'm hoping to dig up some information on some of those characters as well. 

Unfortunately for the boys, this was the highlight of the day. A water pump on the back porch of Ms. Cather's house, that was for display purposes only. It was such a hot day, and they moaned and groaned over our silly pilgrimage the entire time we were in red Cloud. At the time I wanted to bop them, but in hind sight, I can remember being taken on what seemed to be insignificant field trips at their age. I really can't imagine any other little boy acting differently than they did.

Lotte behind Willa Cather's house, next to the Hollyhocks. 

The Harling house where Antonia (Annie Pavelka) worked as a maid.

The grave of Willa Cather's Parents.

Last but not least, the sweet little depot where all the immigrant families first arrived.

It was so neat to imagine the very same people in her books actually going about their lives in this little town. I'm honored to have been able to visit.

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Joining Ginny this week in YarnAlong.

P.S Happy Independence day!!

Back in our Groove

I believe that unpacking is probably my least favorite part of travel. Not only does it mean an extra few loads of laundry, but also damage control on those few things that should have been done before the trip even started.

The one very fragrant dirty diaper that seemed to miss the last load and got left in the basement, right in front of the washer. The window that should have been closed, that let in a small colony of insects. The basket of laundry that got folded, but never put away. The tomatoes that didn't get watered for almost an entire month because the assigned waterer didn't realize they were there. 

Yes, waterer is a word now, didn't you know?

I always come home from these long road trips, inspired by the many decor, home, garden and cooking magazines that I read during our more-than-one thousand-mile drive. My notebook is littered with lists of recipes, gardening tips, plants I want to try growing and craft ideas 

Regardless of my good intentions though, some of those recipes never get made, some of those plants don't get planted for a few years, and the craft ideas are often the first thing to make it to the back burner. 

Usually, it's because I've realized the reality of my laundry load, or something of that nature.

The one thing though that does seem to help kick start some form of organization is getting a week's worth of loose menu planning. I say loose because we haven't actually been on our big grocery shopping trip yet, and i'm going based on what's in the freezer, and what produce we have from the reduced rack from a very quick dash into an all-night, way-too-expensive grocery store. 

That being said: here is our week in advance.

Because of my really massive dry erase marker, some of this is only readable by me. I'll translate:

Sunday: Grilled pork chops, potato salad, coleslaw,corn on the cob, mint Juleps. 

Monday: Chicken (ended up being cream of broccoli soup with some chicken in it.)

Tuesday: Away. We were supposed to be away today, but due to some illness in 2 out of 3 minions, we're waiting until Thursday. 

Wednesday: Beef and Noodles. (Okay, this is my aunt's recipe that is amazing. It's made with fresh rolled noodles and roast beef. I'll post the recipe later.)

Thursday: Runzas

Friday: Beef Tacos. (because there will be leftover roast!)

Saturday: Mesquite Chicken (Maybe.-I'm not feelin' it right now. But there will be chicken..because we already have it!)

Produce that we have that we need to use up in these meals or throughout the week: 

Broccoli, peas, green beans, tomatoes, strawberries, green peppers.

 Hopefully next week has a little more variety after our grocery trip...and realizing that we have a lot of chicken and beef going on this week


Do you meal plan? I'd love to see yours!

Weekending {home sweet home}

This week we finally loaded up our car for the long ride home. We waved farewell to our sweet little cabin that my Grandpa built with his own two hands, and kissed him and Grandma, and the rest of our Kansas family goodbye.
Each time I go back it gets so much harder to leave. My heart aches as I watch the red dirt roads disappear behind us, and I try my hardest not to cry...but leaving Kansas is never easy.

Not only do I miss my family, but I miss being in the country. I long to be surrounded by nothing but fields of wheat, wild flowers and prairies, and being able to see the night sky in all it's splendor. 
I miss the sweeping clouds that will march through an afternoon sky on a whim, completely overtaking the sun and any sign of light, convincing us all that it's actually the middle of the night, rather than the middle of the day.
I don't know if I've ever felt anything closer than the hand of God, than being below, and center, at the mercy of the sky when those purple clouds roll in.

I do know though that we have a home here in Ontario, in the city, and whether or not it's permanent, and even though it's lacking in my beloved windmills, it's still a home. A good, safe and happy home.

This is where we met and fell in love, this is where our children were born. 
I try to remind myself how much we've been blessed with the home that we've made here, and the family that we have. We really are, truly blessed.

{This Moment}

. . . . . . . .

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

                Sitting on the porch with family, watching the storm roll in across the Kansas summer sky....

{This Moment}

. . . . . . . .

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

Posting from Kansas this time...Lotte got to finally meet her Momo and Poppie. 

(Maternal Great Grandparents.)

Back...with Sugar

After taking a slightly longer break from the online world than intended, I'm so very glad to be back!
My studio/art space is much more livable now, although not completely finished. I'm satisfied with it's current state, for now anyway.

We've had some busy, hectic days lately, but life has been rich.
Children have an uncanny way of throwing a bit of sugar into every situation, no matter how sour, exhausting or stressful life may be. We are so blessed.