November 29, 2015 Ramblings

Fall decoration on top of one of our speakers

It's hard to believe November is nearly over already.  Time seems to be speeding way to fast lately. I did manage to get some fall decorations out for the month. We've had lots of projects we've been working on this month. It seems like our paychecks could just be sent directly to Menard's as often as we're there. We found some awesome deals there on Black Friday.  I almost never go shopping on Black Friday but we decided to brave it this year as Menard's deals were so good. I bought a couple Christmas presents too. We've gotten very spoiled living in a small town.  I think there were maybe 4 or 5 people ahead of us in line and we were complaining about having to wait so long. It's hard to remember the lines we use to have to stand in while living in Metro Detroit on a normal shopping day and during the holidays there seemed to be miles of lines.

Menu from Teresa's Cozy Corner Facebook page

Matt and I had Thanksgiving alone this year as Jordon went to his girlfriend's mom's house for the day. He said they'd come on the weekend and requested (okay nearly demanded) that I make the whole Thanksgiving turkey meal for him. He apparently was missing mom's cooking. I thought I'd made a ton of mashed potatoes but we ran out and he was complaining he didn't have enough. We had them over again this morning for breakfast. Matt had tried a baked caramel french toast recipe when he was hunting a couple weeks ago and had gotten the recipe so I made that and bacon this morning. Needless to say there were no leftovers, not even for the furkids.

As I mentioned, Matt went hunting a couple weekends ago and got a deer!!! I have venison in the freezer finally,  not as much as I would like but I can't complain. I have venison recipes dancing in my head while I try to figure out how I want to use the meat. Matt plans on using some of it for jerky but that will be a project for next month.

View from my work window to my neighbor's messy deck with a light covering of snow

We've had snow a couple times so far this month but nothing that accumulated or stayed. The most we received was a light dusting.  We've had some beautiful snowflakes though that I enjoy watching while I'm working as you can see from the picture above. I use to want snow on my birthday (November 21st) and on Thanksgiving as a child.  I rarely ever got my wish but this year there were snowflakes dancing in the air when I got up on my birthday.  I was as excited as a kid when I saw them.

padding down and starting to lay the flooring

flooring connected to the hallway that we did previously

Completed floor from Matt's phone

Our big project this month was removing the carpeting and putting down the wood laminate flooring in my office area.  My office is a huge open area between the dining room and living room. Matt pulled up the carpeting and put down all the matting one day and then got all the flooring in the next day.  He did an awesome job on it. We didn't add the base boards as we'll be replace the ceilings and walls with drywall next year and will do the moldings then. After Matt was done with the flooring I did a deep clean on the room, washing the walls and everything, before putting everything back in. Only 2 more rooms to re-floor and I think those can wait a bit.

November is the month I pick for my Mary Jane's Farm tea exchange every year.  I picked two Tazo teas this year and made fall leaf coasters in three different colors. I fell in love with the pattern when I saw it and thought it fit with my fall theme. Everybody liked them. One woman said her kids took them and threw them up in the air and let them fall down, like they were playing with real leaves.

I finally have the desk done. I need to do the door on it and I think I'm going to put a shelf in that area. It was originally a computer tower compartment but I'm thinking I'll put a shelf in it since I'm using it for my sewing desk. I used a mahogany stain and the color in the pictures doesn't do justice to the beautiful color it came out. I'm very pleased with out this project turned out. The top came out so nice and I was able to get all the scratches off. This is the solid wood desk that I picked up curbside for free.

My scarecrows showing off my rug for me

My last project of the month and I should finish it later today is a twined rug.  I warped it and started it a couple weeks ago. Since then I haven't had a chance to work on it so this week I've been working on it a bit each day.  This was made with recycled flannel sheets. One set was a solid blue and the other was a cream color with a floral pattern. You can't see the floral pattern at all, just bits of color. It should be nice and cozy on the feet for winter. I have about 4 inches left to do before I take it off the loom. I may keep this one although I'm not sure where I'll put it. 

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2015

It has been a busy couple weeks for me. I've had to be in the office several times in the past couple weeks for training and I've been picking up some extra hours at Walmart. With the vet bills being so high lately I need some extra income. In addition, Mendards finally opened here in Jamestown!  I'm so excited. I hadn't been over to check it out as the crowds have been insane so Matt took me over Saturday for my first look. The place is HUGE. They built this one to be the Midwest hub and therefore it's the largest one in the Midwest now. Menards being open is another reason for needing extra income. We can finally start some of the renovations on the house that need to be done. We picked up an ice maker installation kit and a new water filter for the fridge. We've had repeated problems with the ice maker not working. Whoever installed it kinked the copper line so Matt's replacing that and the filter was due to be replaced. It's so nice to have some place we can buy the supplies now when we need them instead of having to order them online or drive 100 miles to get them. Next will be new flooring in my office area!

PETS:

Tip and Lacey

Tip has actually been doing well and is stabilizing out from the phenobarbital. He has an occasional wobble of the hind legs but otherwise has been doing well. No seizures thankfully. Because the medication makes him hungry, we have to be careful when leaving the house that nothing is within reach that he can get. He's pulled cast iron skillets off the stove while we've been gone to lick them. The idiot pulled a bag I left on the counter down and tried to eat a grow pod for cilantro I'd bought to replant. Nothing is safe so it's like kid proofing the house again, except it's furkid proofing.

Oreo hanging out with me at my work desk

I nearly lost my beloved Oreo last weekend to a GI infection. I initially thought it might be cardiac failure as she was wheezing a bit. She will be 16 years old next month so as much as I hated the thought of losing her, I can't deny it's not going to occur at some point. She stopped eating last Friday. I tried everything I could think to get her to eat something. I even went to McDonald's and bought some french fries and she turned her head away from them she was so sick. Last Saturday she wouldn't even come out of the bedroom. I'd worked all day last Saturday so didn't realize her condition until I got home that night. She did show more interest Sunday and came out of the bedroom but still wouldn't eat. I honestly didn't think she'd make it but she's resilient and after the vet gave her an anti-nausea shot and some medications along with a special food for intestinal issues on Monday she's make a nice recovery and is begging to eat to make up for those days she didn't.

CRAFTING:

back of desk before sanding

I started sanding the desk this weekend and got the first coat of stain on most of the desk before I ran out of stain. I had so much stain left over from my table and chair project that Matt and I figured a small can would be more than enough. I'll be making a run to Menards today to buy a larger can and plan on finishing the area that I didn't get to last night and then hopefully do a second coat later tonight after doing a light sanding. I had originally bought an antique walnut stain to use because my selections were so limited at Walmart but after seeing a picture on Pinterest of someone's redo of a table using mahogany stain I decided to go mahogany instead. Matt wasn't too sure about the mahogany until he saw the rich color after the first application and he really likes it.  It's such a nice rich, warm color. Pretty much my entire day Sunday was spend sanding the desk down. I used an electric sander for the first time and boy did my arms and wrist feel it that night. Thank goodness for Motrin.

I finally finished the Amish Toothbrush Rug!!!  I was so excited to finish it.  The shape isn't quite perfect, but it was my first one. It ended up being 37" by 33" in size. I need to take a picture of this on the wood flooring so it will pop more as the colors appear faded in this picture. I'm very happy with this rug. I crocheted a scalloped edging in the dark pink to finish it off, which is hard to see in the photo. It would be a great rug for a baby's room or little girl's room. I'd hoped to have enough fabric to do a second one but nearly ran out of some of the colors while doing it.