My Bit of Earth

Poll: Gratitude

Looking through old family pictures tonight, and found this one.  Two very manly-men (my Dad and Grandpa) riding the "double-decker carousel" just to make me (a little girl at the time, riding the pony in back/center) very happy.

Today, what's making you grateful?

Would you like some tomatoes with those chairs?

As we were moving into the house (was it really less than a month ago?) Nice Mother-In-Law found this pair of chairs in the basement.  They were old and wobbly and kind of a nasty dark-colored wood.  I'll be the first to admit I was a little skeptical when she brought them upstairs and insisted on cleaning them up, but eventually they grew on me.  They moved from the porch to the living room, and, once there, I decided they were just the thing to flank our little chessboard table.  With some paint, of course.

I actually originally thought of painting our dining room chairs (not here yet, but on the way) this color, but, well, you have to be committed to have "Tangerine Peel" chairs as part of your permanent decor.  But since these guys were freebies anyway, it didn't seem like as much of a risk.  If I hate 'em in two months, I can put them on the curb and someone will gladly take them, I'm sure.  In the meantime--voila--cute chairs!

And what are those things on the chair to the right?  So glad you asked!  They are the first tomatoes of the summer!  A bit late this year perhaps--according to Nice Grandpa's "first tomato by the 4th of July" rule--but sampling proved that they are tasty all the same.

The Hacienda del Hosta

The other night Sweet Husband and I were out for a walk, when I joked that our little house needed a name.  Every house needs a name, right?  I mean, "Tara", "Ingleside", "Orchard Slope", "The Burrow", "Bag End"--really, all the good stuff happens in houses that are loved enough to be named.  (Bonus points if anyone can name the stories all of those houses were in, by the way.)

As we were brainstorming, we were trying to think of some sort of architectural or natural feature that makes our house unique.  We weren't coming up with anything, when Sweet Husband said something along the lines of, "The only thing we have are hostas."

And that we do.  The former owners of our house loved hostas.  I am not quite as fond of them perhaps, but I have to admit they work quite nicely in the shady parts of our yard. 

 

So I started playing, "House of Hostas....Maison de la Hosta....Chez Hosta....Casa del Hosta.....Hacienda del Hosta....wait, maybe that's it....."  

And I think it just might be, because--like it or not--it's stuck in my head now to the point that it would take something way catchier to get rid of it.  Henceforth, there you have it: The Hacienda del Hosta.

Living the Dream

I keep a list of ten things--some serious, some silly--that I want to do before I die.  I update it once every couple of years, or whenever I think of it.  I like to go back and giggle at the stuff that was important to me way back when.  

For several years running, one of the things on the list, among chickens and learning to play violin, has been, "Have a whole room full of bookshelves, all full of books."  I'm now checking this one off because, as of Tuesday evening I have--if not an entire room--at least a really big wall full of bookshelves that are (mostly) full of books. 

This wonder was built by one of Sweet Husband's art school friends, Mr. Jeff McGee (who has also made the coolest life-sized "puppet" I've ever seen, as well as lots of other beautiful stuff).  I initially thought it might not be enough space, but (as you can see from the sparseness on some of the shelves) I think the "one in, one out" rule I was planning to institute can happily wait a few years.  

Also, please note the especially lovely topmost shelf....all Harry, all out and pretty for the world to see.  (Except that my American edition of Order of the Phoenix has gone AWOL in the shuffle--drrrr!)  Now about those chickens....

Outtakes

Random House Bits

1. This house has no straight lines.  That is, where the wall meets the trim, where the wall meets the wall--nothing is straight.  I'm told this is normal for a hundred year old house, but it makes painting the spots where one color meets another a nightmare for my little perfectionist soul.  I think it all has to be a metaphor that I haven't yet been able to put words to, or maybe just some sort of Zen exercise in "letting go"....

2. I love having floors that I can scrub.  A little something funny looking on the tile--no problem.  A little grimy spot in the corner of a stair that looks like its been collecting dust for fifty years--get me a bucket and a rag.  A paint-y paw print on the hardwood from where Moe has walked through paint, again--totally fixable....  

3. And while I'm speaking of them, the dogs are settling in nicely.  Moe keeps trying to steal Porter's bed in the confusion.  Porter keeps letting him know that she isn't that confused.  They really want to investigate the yard more fully, but we have to get a fence up first.  Sadly, the previous owner's stand of prairie grasses is also going to have to come out.  Sweet Husband threw Moe's tennis ball in there yesterday evening, and Moe came out covered in burrs.  I'm thinking of planting some sort of perennial milkweed or other butterfly attracting plants instead....

4. My little sister is a fabulous human being.  Truly, she is the most helpful eleven-year-old I know.  And she's really keeping me laughing at everything.  Yesterday, we were painting the stairwell ceiling, and she was holding my paint tray down below.  Just as I took the first stroke with a roller, she looked up and said, "Don't drip on me!"  Simultaneously, a big drip of paint landed right on her cheek.  We dissolved into fits of giggles....

5. Ditto for Sweet Husband.  As he is actually going to live here too, his motives are less pure than Sweet Sister's, of course, but, really, he's been great.  (Although when I caught him looking at real estate last night, and he joked that it was "just in case we want to move again", I told him I'd forward his mail to his new address.)

This is the part where....

First, this is the part where I say THANK YOU...

...to our Nice Mommies who came up and scrubbed and lifted and organized and made beds (and were patient with our impatience)...

...to Nice Brother who carried lots of heavy furniture (among other things, a washer and dryer down basement stairs that are really more like a glorified ladder)...

...to Sweet Sister who is still here helping me paint and pick out things (truly, she has better taste at 11 than I will ever have)...

...to Thoughtful Friends who painted and brought food and cold drinks (enough said)...

...to Nice New Neighbor who came over and helped us push beds up onto the roof so we could get them in through the bedroom window (hundred year old houses are not necessarily conducive to modern-sized beds, one of many things I've learned in the past few days)...

...to everyone who has been sending nice congratulatory notes and comments here and on Facebook and via email (I haven't had time to respond to much of anything, but I do so appreciate all the good juju you all are sending my way!)....

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Second, this is also the part where I (figuratively) sit in the middle of the floor and cry.  Because tomorrow we might finish painting, but there are still tons of boxes to haul away and little things to go get and even a few boxes to unpack still.  And I can't even think about the yard yet, because there are tomatoes starting and lettuce to be harvested and weeding to be done and once I go outside I'll never come back in.  And then eventually someone will have to go get groceries.  And curtains.  And a fence. 

Then there's the fact that I'd forgotten how that first few weeks in a new house it always feels like you're hemorrhaging money.  Not to mention that I have blue paint in my hair, even after three showers.  Not to mention that we still have our whole entire old house to clean, and I could make a sweater with the dog hair that's collected there, behind the washer and dryer alone!  (But will not, because that would be even more disgusting than the fact that the hair was is there....)

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But last, this is the part where I take a deep breath, trust that we'll get it all done somehow, someday, and go to sleep in my pretty little new house.  And that is the good part indeed!  Pictures soon, I promise!

Gentle Reminder: It's Strawberry Season (With Knitting)

As Martha would say, consider this your gentle reminder--it's time to be eating strawberries.

We went out with some friends, via scooters, to Lawson Brother's Farm last weekend to "pick-our-own".  Sweet Husband and I picked just a little over seven pounds, but I still don't think it made enough jam.  But, really, is there ever enough strawberry jam?  

Next year I think we might shoot for fourteen pounds though, or maybe somewhere between fourteen and ten or eleven.  Our seven pounds only made about twenty jars of jam, which is just not enough, especially when you want to share.  (The recipe I used is here, and it's also on the back of the pectin packet.)

In other news, I finished a knitting project.  This is kind of more amazing than it sounds, because lately I seem to be having trouble keeping my mind steadily on...well, much of anything!  However, I have no photographic proof of said project because I taped it all up in a box for shipping to its recipient before I realized I hadn't taken a picture.  As I said, scatterbrains!

Anyway, it was three cute little  baby "Bibs O'Love" from Mason-Dixon Knitting.  Super easy.  All garter stitch, so I didn't even have to keep track of rows.  Very sweet--in cream and green with little frog buttons--all rolled up and tucked into a little box.  Will make again!

Three Things Making Me Happy Today

1. Paint colors.  This blue is exactly the color I was thinking of for the spare bedroom.  And I'm considering this plummy color for the bathroom, although I think it might be too dark?  But it looks so pretty with that green.  Then again, maybe we should just extend the living room grey into the upstairs hallway, and paint both bedrooms light blue and the bathroom slightly darker blue?  Ehhh, this is hard!  (But it's so much more fun than "Apartment Cream".)

 

2. This video.  Sent from Sweet Husband via his newly updated g-phone.  (Mine is still not updated, by the way, if the Google gods are listening.)  I know it's blurry, but Moe's "WTF?!" response to Sweet Husband's efforts is darling.

3.  NIN and Jane's Addiction.  Live tonight, with Nice Sister-and-Brother-In-Law and Nice Friend.  Thanks again for the tickets Nice In-Laws!

Gone Packing...and Shopping!

So, pending uber-final approval of everything, we're moving in just a little over two weeks.  Crazy to think, yes?  

Right now we're living in a box city, so cooking and gardening and knitting and all the things I usually blog about are just a little bit difficult.  Which is to say, I'm going to be splotchy here for the next few weeks, as I concentrate on more pressing matters....like furniture!

As my poor friends who've heard about it non-stop can attest, one thing I'm really excited about--major props to Barack and Congress for the tax credit--is getting to replace some of our old furniture with pretty, pretty new furniture. (Seriously, our old couch is literally splitting into shreds.  If it were legal, I'd light the thing on fire and dance joyously as it burned.)  

To that end, we did a bit of window shopping this weekend. I'm sure the sales people we talked to thought we were hilarious.  And indeed, we have definitely become "those crazy dog people".

Me to Sweet Husband: "This couch looks like it will hold up well to Porter's naps, but what about Moe digging in the cushions?"

Sweet Husband in reply: "And do you think it's tall enough that he can squeeze under it to get his own ball when it rolls under there?"

But despite the "dog friendly" issues, I think we just might have a living room picked out.  We'll probably make the bookcase/tv thingy ourselves (because IKEA is STU-pid and won't let us order it online) and paint it to match the walls, which are a really pretty light grey.  And, of course, imagine a few funky throw pillows on the couch, and tons of books and yarn littered throughout....

Anyway, what d'ya think?

Of Schwinns and Starships

Would you look what followed us home yesterday?

Such an awesome find!  I was looking at the garage sale ads in the paper Friday afternoon, when I found one for a "Vintage Bike Sale".  A guy from Wichita--Geoffry Benzing, check out his artwork, which I absolutely love, here--apparently collects these old bikes, tinkers with them, then sells them.  We got these two for a song.  And they are so old-school-cool!  Sweet Husband's even came with a bell (which I'm planning to steal at first opportunity).

In other news, we went to see the new Star Trek movie last night.

I'm not a hardcore Trekkie by any means.  I remember watching the original movies with my Dad as a kid.  I love "The Next Generation".  But I never really got into any of the other spin-offs, and I don't go to conventions or speak Klingon or anything like that.

Nonetheless, I was practically squealing out loud with delight many times during the movie.  They did such a great job with the characters.  Kirk was Kirk.  McCoy was McCoy.  Spock was...not quite Leonard Nimoy, but the differences--rather than being annoying--were interesting.  There were several references to the original movies, for example, Spock gives one of my favorite lines ever from "The Undiscovered Country" ("[W]hen you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.") 

But what's really fun is, with the way they started it (it won't be too big a spoiler I don't think, to tell you that time travel and a sort of "alternate destiny" is involved) they're now free to basically re-write the stories of the original characters.  And I can't wait!  

Art in the Park

A quick shout-out to the Lawrence locals--don't forget to stop by Art in the Park this weekend.  Sweet Husband and Nice Friend Calley will be there, among over 150 other artists selling their wares.  I can't speak for anyone else's work, but some of the pretties that SH and Calley have made are definitely worth making the trip!

Art in the Park runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in South Park (12th and Mass).

(And while you're downtown anyway, another friend of ours has a fun show going on at Henry's on Eighth.  You need coffee anyway, right?  So go check it out!)

A Walk in the Cemetery

As much as the idea of being buried gives me the heebs, I love going for a walks in pretty, old cemeteries.  Strangely, there is one kinda-sorta near our house that I hadn't yet visited, so tonight I decided to rectify that situation.

Isn't it amazing how many questions can arise from a headstone?  For example, who is leaving fresh flowers for Elizabeth Watkins, who died over 60 years ago?  Who is buried under the headstone that's been rubbed blank by time and the weather?  Did the mama and baby we found with the same death date die in childbirth, or in some other way? 

But, on the other end of the spectrum, isn't it incredible how much of a person's story can be told with just a few words and dates?  

A Wonderful Weekend AND ASPARAGUS WEEK!

Do you ever sit down on a Sunday evening and think, "Holygosh, this has been the greatest weekend ever....?"

Friday night started with a walk downtown for friends and sushi and Sylas and Maddy's homemade ice cream.  'Nuff said.

Then yesterday, I went to visit Nice Grandma and Nice Other Relatives.  While I don't want to discount my visit with them--which was quite nice--Wamego (the teensy little town Nice Grandma resides in) is becoming a joy to visit in-and-of-itself.  Not only is there a yarn store and a pottery gallery, but there are three wineries.  And one of them is a winery/photo gallery/law office!  (Truly, I walked in a little dazed--I did not know such a magnificent combination was even conceivable!)

While I was visiting and tasting, Sweet Husband was A) working on jewelry for his upcoming sale (more on that later!) and B) going on the inaugural "Douglas County Scooter Demons" scooter ride. 

By the time we both got home, we had our very first severe weather of the season.  

A common phrase in Kansas this time of year is, "Well, I hate the destruction tornadoes cause, but....did you see the storm last night?"  (That last part in an awestruck and Christmas-morning-excited voice with a blissful smile to accompany it.) 

Truth of the matter is, if you don't get just a little turned on by the electricity in the air...the smell of the wind...the drop in air pressure...that moment the sky turns green...you won't make it in Kansas very long.  And last night was incredible!  Sweet Husband and I had the windows open and the news on, and  oh it was awesome!

Then, last but not least, this morning, we got up early and went to Pendleton's for some asparagus pickin'.

About a month ago, I got this crazy idea that I should have an "Asparagus Week" when my little, spindly, green friends came into season.  Sweet Husband--being the lovely, indulgent man that he is--concurred.  So, without further delay, I'm pleased to announce that this will be ASPARAGUS WEEK at My Bit of Earth.  

That's right folks, we picked FOUR AND A HALF POUNDS of beautiful asparagus this morning, and every night this week I will be cooking it up in some extraordinary fashion, then posting the recipe the next morning.  Our pee will be stinky, but we shall be very well fed!

The House

A Ride and a Camel, but not a Ride on a Camel

Sometimes when it's nice on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, we'll just hop on the scoot and drive somewhere.  Sometimes we start with a destination, sometimes not, sometimes we make it, sometimes not--you know.

From top left and clockwise....Sweet Husband on the scoot (I know, the helmet is a trip, but it keeps his brain safe so I love it)....burning fields (I love the smell this time of year--keep thinking of going on one of these tours, but I haven't made it happen yet for one reason or another)....a possibly pregnant cow....a camel (Yeah, I know a camel!  In the middle of a field--so weird, made the whole drive!).

I Have An Announcement Everybody, I Have An Announcement

*Ding, ding, ding.*  (Think spoon clinking on wine glass.)

I would like to announce that this year's garden will be getting a late start and much limited in scope...due to the fact that, just yesterday, we signed a contract to buy our first house!

*Happy dance!*

Of course, we still have inspections and appraisals and all that fun to get through before it's really-truly a done deal--as a perpetual worrywart I have to give that disclaimer--but there's no reason to suspect that it won't all go well.

And it's so adorable!  It's about a hundred years old, but the current owners have really given it some love.  Beautiful hardwood floors, two nice porches (a big one in front, and a screened-in one in back), a cast iron tub in the bath, very pretty concrete counters in the kitchen...and the garden, oh my god, the garden!  It's heaven--established herbs and asparagus, fruit trees, veggie beds already in place, a little section of prairie....yay, yay yay!

Moving date is June 12th!

Barefoot Bloggers: Savory Palmiers (And Good News!)

This month's Barefoot Bloggers bonus recipe (picked by Becky and being posted a day late by moi) was the Contessa's savory palmiers.  I made them for an office Christmas party, hence why they were photographed on my desk via g-phone.

But I'll get to them in just a sec.  Because, see that piece o'paper peeking out from underneath the plate there?  That's my very first winning case!  *Giddiness.  Happiness.  Glee.*

Back to the palmiers. Although the recipe calls for pesto sauce to be sandwiched within the puff pastry dough, I don't believe in pesto in December.  (Pesto needs fresh basil.  Fresh basil needs warmth.  Plastic wrapped basil sucks.)  So instead, I used a pre-packaged spinach-artichoke dip and roasted red pepper dip.  While these didn't quite bake up as pretty as I would have liked, they still tasted mighty good!

For the recipe, read on....

Sweet Husband Goes to a Basketball Game

This evening, my very nice co-worker asked me if I would like his basketball tickets for tonight's game.  Sweet Husband is behind on his work for an art sale he's doing this weekend, and I had a gingerbread house to make--so, of course, I said, "Absolutely!" 

(As you might imagine with that whole national championship thing, Jayhawk basketball tickets are expensive and wicked hard to get hold of.)

In fact, this was Sweet Husband's first KU basketball game, and as such, pictures were in order.  I truly believe there can't be anywhere as cool as Allen Fieldhouse to watch a game.  Although I know the small size contributes to the astronomical ticket prices, it makes for a phenomenal experience.  There isn't a bad seat anywhere, and it is so loud.  (In a good, "Yay school spirit" kind of way.)  Although I'm told by my basketball expert friends that this will probably be a "rebuilding year", it's still way too much fun to watch our guys play. 

From left to right...Sweet Husband, the pretty new banner hanging in the rafters, and Baby Jay.

Decking the Halls

From left to right...a pretty bow and bells that have been around since my very first Christmas...my version of Martha's yarn tree...a pretty little wreath I picked up on our wine tasting trip.