Who’s Gabbing and Who’s Gushing

Welcome to #110! Beautiful weather, busy times, Summer is here! I walked out the other day and saw this beautiful sight:

It took my breathe away. These Fairy Roses are so dependable and pretty ... Read more →

Enjoy this little cottage note from Deb!

Dear Friends! Welcome, Welcome! So glad to have you join us for week # 110 of the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop! I love stopping by each week to catch up on what's doin' on your homesteads. I don't always leave a note, but I do read your posts faithfully... So thank you from the bottom of my farmgirl heart for sharing here each week! Wishing you all a very Happy Memorial Day Weekend doing what cha love with who you love ... Read more →

Are you up to your dirty FARMGIRL fingernails in spring planting and piled up projects? Feel like playing hooky? Turn off those cell phones and join me at the MJF BEACH FARMGIRL BLOG for a day of The Cottage Life! ... Read more →

A little celebration of a favorite friend, Mig. I found this beautiful picture on her website. I just had to share! She is teaching me how to see the world with different eyes. Thanks, kiddo. I love you (those are her favorite words) and they are making a big difference in my world ... Read more →

A moment from this week. No words. A Soulemama tradition. Feel free to link up! ... Read more →

We are very much enjoying roasted pecans on our salads lately, so I started making my own (vs. buying them already roasted). Here, a 3.5 oz. bag of honey roasted pecans costs $3.99.

These are so simple to make. It's just pecans and honey. I did cool them on parchment paper, which kept them from sticking to the pan. The recipe is here: Honey Roasted Pecans

Although these were absolutely delicious, they remained sticky after cooling. I'm looking for a recipe that leaves the pecans with a crunchy coating. I think I will try a few more versions of roasted pecans.

Yesterday was very strange. It was cool early morning, but no rain ... Read more →

Apparently, the children of the neighborhood have decided that I look like a good boss.

In the past week and a half, I've been approached by three of them (one boy, two girls), asking if maybe I had a job for them? And would they get money, or not? And what kind of work would they do, if they did work for me?

I'm not opposed to child labor. I worked a lot when I was a kid: berry picking in season, odd jobs in the yard, babysitting, working as a farm hand. Working is good for the soul. It gives you purpose, and some pocket money. It is much better than sitting inside, glued to some TV set or video monitor, twitching your thumbs on a control pad of some sort.

However, I do start to feel a bit like Fagin when the under twelve set start coming by in multiples, asking for a job. Maybe there's a rash of playground gambling debts?

Anyway, I will likely employ one or two of them helping in the gardens this weekend ... Read more →

Facebook used to be all about tracking down people I went to school with, and seeing whether my exes were married yet, or liking pages just to be in with a chance of winning a picnic hamper of margarine. It used to dominate my day in the early stages and then I began to get it under control by only friending people who are currently actually in my day-today life, unliking lots of pages to reduce the amount of traffic on my newsfeed and, lately, installing the Waste No Time app on Chrome to restrict the number of minutes I can spend facebooking.

Twitter is less popular among my real life friends but is still regarded as an essential tool for businesses and bloggers to spread the word about themselves, plus there's the star-struckedness element of being able to follow Famous People like Russell Crowe (exciting until you realise that he mainly tweets about his punishing exercise regime). Once again, a time-eater but with the added "danger" that you can somehow convince yourself you are networking and being productive rather than gossiping with people you only just saw at the school gate.

Perhaps because I am an "all-or-nothing" person, social media has become a burden for me ... Read more →

Welcome to Random 5 Friday, where you may link up a blog post with 5 random facts about you, your day, your pets, your kids, whatever!

Here are mine this week ... Read more →

These days when I get up in the morning, I no longer look for clean jeans to put on. Usually the pair I put on in the morning is on the edge of gross. Ya see, if I put on the clean ones with in five minutes of being at the barn they are covered in calf slobber. And just a little bit of poo. This is a totally different way of being for me.

I can be a bit of a girly girl. I try to be nicely dressed every day. Even if it's just to go to the feed store for a case of dewormer. I rarely leave my house without makeup. Particularly mascara and lip gloss. I just do not feel dressed without a spritz of perfume! Silly? Yes, totally and I know it. I realize the irony in my lifestyle choices ... Read more →

Okay, so technically, it was a shower, and it really wasn't with the kitchen, but my new friend from the kitchen. Two words- Baking Soda! Yes, that is what I said. Good ole' Baking Soda! Here's the scoop...

I have naturally curly hair. It wasn't always as curly as it is now. When I was little, it had a wave to it and would hold rag curls well, but it was not curly. My hair got curlier after each pregnancy. I reckon it's a hormone thing. Anyway, curly it is, but for a very long time, it was also very frizzy and truly had a mind of its own. A light rain and I looked like Rosanna Rosanna Danna. Remember her? Humidity played havoc as well. Up until just recently, frizzy curls lay upon my head. Then after seeing a post made by a friend on Facebook, that changed.

The Curly Girl Handbook has changed my life! Okay, so maybe just my hair, but oh my giddy aunt ... Read more →

I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks because we listed our current home for sale and received a decent offer within I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks because we listed our current home for sale and received a decent offer within the first week. The first of 3 contingencies has been completed (the inspection) and we’re waiting on a copy of the inspector’s report with the “minor” things that were found. (They ALWAYS find something). I will say that I definitely DID NOT APPRECIATE coming home to find the back doors unlocked, lights left on and things not returned to their rightful places. They obviously sat at my kitchen table and could not be bothered to push the chairs back in (they were left 3 feet out from the table turned every which way). The kicker was the bits of tissue paper left everywhere in the house ... Read more →

TA DA! Introducing Miss Duck Egg! I posted on my Facebook page earlier today that I'm feeling like quite the chalk paint rock star after giving a major up do to a large vintage china cabinet that's been hibernating in my basement for a few years.

Here she is with out her door on. I love the openness to the cabinet this way and I can imagine it filled with all sorts of purty things. Towels, linens, quilts, china books etc...

But, I have a thing for swirls of any kind and I love the grill inside the glass door ... Read more →