A face on a tree

This is the tree my husband hung my engagement ring from 12 yrs ago.
Today we put this face on the tree. My cousin had it on her tree but sadly she had to cut her tree down. She sent me the face and we finally put it on the tree. My husband assured me it would not harm the tree.

Seven Things--a bonus!

I have a Monday bonus seven things! I am excited.
My daughter took TEN things from my home that she can use. YAY!!
*Spatula
*Measuring spoon
*Can opener
*Ice cream scoop
*Metal whisk
*TWO pizza cutters
* Grapefruit knife
*Veggie brush
* Stadium blanket.
The stadium blanket is from hubby's work. He has been working some night shifts and his company picnic was Friday. Everyone received a stadium blanket. Yes, it's nice but how many blankets can I really have?? My Daughter will find it useful!!
I know they are only small things but they were items I had many duplicates of and I'm just glad to find a good home for these items. :)

Seven Things week 3

I found my seven things this week. Seems I am concentrating on the kitchen area! That's ok, we combined two households so we have a lot of duplicates, and some stuff we just never use. Kind of a crappy picture but it gives you an idea of what the stuff looks like.
*Mr Coffee Iced Tea maker. I really liked this and used it a lot, but not in the last year or so. I use the cold brew bags and they are just as good.
*White 2 piece Hummingbird candle holder. I bought this about 8 years ago. I had a candle sitting in it but never used it. Time for it to quit collecting dust here.
* Two angel food cake pans. I used them a lot when we were first married. Not so much the last few years. And who needs two of them anyway??
* A vegetable serving tray with a cover and bowls. I used this rarely and it too was just collecting dust and cluttering up my kitchen.
* A big white serving bowl thingy. Never once used it.
* Glass chip and dip bowl. Again--we never used it once.
*Four books, nothing special. I got all four of them for a dollar. Never read them.
So that's my list for this week. I'm sure next week I will have more kitchen items to find a new home for. My cupboards are looking good and a lot of this stuff was on top of my cupboards.
I'm glad to give them a new home and give someone else a chance to use this stuff.

Seven Things week 2

Here are my seven for this week.
*Mr Coffee coffee maker. DH took it to work. Neither of us drink coffee. My mom bought this for us for when we have company. We used it two or three times.
*A rice and veggie steamer that we have had for at least 12 yrs. I used it once. Time to go!!
* Round wood chip and dip thing from Crate and Barrel. We received this for our weeding from friends and used it exactly NEVER.
*Ice cream scoop, whisk, Marinade measuring cup. Never used the marinade cup and the scoop and whisk are one of many.
* 3 Hummingbird suncatchers. I have many of these and it's time to get rid of some of them.
*Log house night light. I bought this when we were first married and it's been collecting dust for all these yrs.
Not a whole lot that is sentimental, but I'm glad to be passing it all on.

The compost pile

I didn't know I already had a compost pile. Actually, it's my husbands compost pile. He started it 14 years ago. We have been married 12 yrs.
I always knew he threw the lawn clippings and leaves, and sawdust and ashes back behind the garage. I just never paid much attention to it ever.
Until now. Earlier this summer we added another shed to our yard. We put this one out behind the garage. Where the "pile" is. Hubby has never turned this pile until this summer..
So I decided I wanted a compost pile. I took over the duties and have been adding food scraps and I have been out there turning the pile. It smells like it should--earthy.
As I'm turning this mess that the husband created, I come across green lawn clippings--deep inside the bowels of the pile. So I am out there each day turning and mixing and getting the big pieces of wood and branches out.
It's a lot of work but oddly, I am enjoying it all.
I am hoping for a "steaming" compost pile this winter. I don't believe it ever steamed when the old man had control of it!
I am also looking forward to having less trash to put out every week.

My Grandma

Today my dear Grandma would have been 98 years old. She died of natural causes in January of 2005, a half a year before her 96th birthday. I miss her very much. We were always very close.
The past 10 yrs or so of her life she had Alzheimers and Dementia. It was hard to see my sweet Grandma going down hill. Little things in the beginning. Then bigger things.
My mom went to her house every six weeks. We lived about 7 hrs from Grandma. Grandma wasn't keeping her tiny house clean, or herself, or her refrigerator and food. She wasn't paying her bills either or car insurance. She had a couple of car accidents where thankfully no one was injured.
Then in 1999 she moved out to my dear Aunts house. I used to go visit them every 3 months for a week. I did that for 5 years. It was sad to see my grandma not remember who I was. All my life grandma had been there for me.
The last time I saw my sweet grandma was July of 2004. I have lots of pictures of her with me and DH and my son. She didn't remember who any of us were and I cried a lot that trip.
So, when Grandma died, I got her ashes. I still have them. DH needs to build a box for them so they aren't in the heavy cardboard box from the mortuary.
I have such very good memories of my sweet Grandma. I'm glad I have the memories, they will live forever.
This is a great book if you are dealing with anyone with Alzheimers or Dementia. It helped me to understand and cope with how my Grandma was behaving.
The 36-Hour Day : A Family Guide to Caring for Persons With Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss in Later Life by Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins

Wood Crochet hooks and yarn

I love wood crochet hooks and I love yarn.
About five years ago I was visiting my Aunt and she and her husband were making wood crochet hooks! So I came home and told dh that I wanted to make wood crochet hooks. DH turns pens on the lathe and he helped to turn some hooks, I did the rest of the work. Creating the hook, sanding, waxing the hooks. It gave me great pleasure to create wood hooks and to work beside my husband in his shop. I have made about 100 or so wood hooks and I have some in various stages of doneness. And I have given a bunch of them away too, to fellow crocheters. It is still fun to find a new wood that we haven't used yet on a pen or hook.
DH even bought me a mini lathe and gave me my own space out in his shop.
Last week I spent a few minutes out there and worked on a hook--it felt great. I haven't been out to the shop to work on anything since I was pregnant with my boy.
Now, about my yarn. I collect yarn. It's an obsession with me. I found some wonderful Lion brand Homespun baby yarn at the dollar store in the spring of 2005. I bought about 48 skeins of it. Then I sent dh to buy more, then I went back to buy more!! I was embarassed to be buying so much yarn, but at a dollar it was a steal!! I ended up buying about 300 dollars worth of yarn at the dollar store.
So, what did I do with all that yarn? Well, I made baby blankets for women on a message board I belong to. And I made some memorial blankets for women that had lost their babies born too soon. And I made blankets for the hospital. And I ran out of yarn! But I found a place online that sells it inexpensively with virtually free shipping. So I ordered a bunch. And DH won some on E-bay.
Guess what? I only have some white and some yellow skeins left. I am finally done making blankets 18 months later. I am burned out with crocheting baby blankets now.
Time to move on to those needlepoint chair covers for my mom. I have completed two of them and have two left. I'm hoping to finish them by spring.

The log house

No, it's not a cabin--it's a house. And I live in it. Though I have to admit for the first 2 yrs of our marriage we used a wood stove to heat the place. Then we got a gas stove.
I grew up in the third largest city in my state. When I got married, I moved out to the country--and I really did not like it. It took me a good year to get used to living out in the middle of nowhere. But now, I wouldn't and couldn't live anywhere else. We even contemplated moving and decided we couldn't. I'm glad to stay here.
My house has 2 loft bedrooms that Dh closed off for the kiddos. Master bedroom and bath, office, kitchen, living room another bathroom/laundry room. No basement, no linen closet. But it's home, my home and I like it .
We've done a lot with the almost 3 acres we live on. Lot's of trees and plants and flowers planted. We tried a veggie garden and the soil is so sandy that nothing grew well. We'd have to haul in a ton of black dirt to get a good garden.
We have a lot of birds and wildlife living around here too, and that's great for bird watchers like me.
My two new goals besides the weekly seven are to make a great compost pile and cut back on my kilowatt usage. The house used about 1480 kWt last month and I want to lower that if I can!

Seven Things

I started this blog because I want to keep track of Seven things (http://seven-things.blogspot.com//) each week.
It's a community project to declutter your living space. I am excited to be decluttering my house.
I have my first seven items to find a new home for.
The first week.
I have:
* a 3 piece bamboo steamer ( mostly steamed veggies with it) I tried to give it to SIL but she was not interested. I already have a smaller one that is more suitable for my family
*2 glass vases. I kept a small one and a big one. Don't need anymore than that
*3 plastic drinking cups
*2 ice trays I was going to use to freeze DS homemade food
* 1 stand up grater--the type you can also use to measure--never used it
So, I will deliver them to Family services in hopes someone else can use them.

I also starting composting today and already have a bunch of stuff in the pail! Mostly old potatoes.