About Tricia

I am Tricia. Momma of nine, homeschooler, artist, foodie and maker of all kinds of things. It's a pleasure to share here our family homesteading adventures, the things we make, and what inspires our days. Read more about my family and work here. Thanks for visiting!

Author Archive | Tricia

These days…My weekly journal

By on August 13, 2012 in Weekly Journal

For an explanation on each picture, scroll down to the bottom of this post.

This week:

finally admitted to myself and accepted the fact that I am starting to feel very uncomfortable and need to slow down.  I am figuring out ways of working on the projects I have left on my list but also realize that some may not get done and it will all be fine.  I am starting to feel the need to be closer to home as we reach my 36th week of pregnancy

I was continually surprised and amazed by the delicious meals Nick is serving us in order to keep me off my feet and help out with cooking duties.  I honestly didn’t even know he had it in him but his food creations are so delicious.  In this picture he made me a perfectly cooked tilapia on a bed of portabello mushrooms and sauteed kale

the kids have become very committed to my resting and keeping this baby in the oven for another 4 weeks.  They have been cooking, cleaning, taking care of the animals and taking care of each other in order to allow me to rest

the kids oohed and aahed at the well digging truck as I spent 5 hours in my bed crying over the new well that needed to be dug.   We spent two days with very little to no water and were hoping that we just needed to repair the well pump or tank but the whole thing had to be dug up and a new well had to be drilled.  We were initially told they would have to dig down 60 feet but in the end it was actually 126 feet which means our water table has gone down significantly.  I am usually the one who handles things like this but I was so unglued by the whole thing that Poppa kept me in bed all day and gave me permission to fall apart which I completely did, crying the entire afternoon while the rain came down outside my bedroom window

was forced out of the house that night by very dear friends who figured that getting me away from the window (seeing the earth being drilled and the well dug) and out of the house would be good for me.  We went to one of my favorite seafood restaurants right on the ocean and I had some wonderful snow crab legs and a whole lot of iced tea to drown my sorrows.  In the end it really was exactly what I needed.  The rain never let up that day but we had a great time and lots of great conversations and I came home to water in the pipes and the possibility of taking a shower

had one very energetic day in the kitchen.  I made the kids kale chips for the kids, one of their favorite snacks, made a few jars of rhubarb jam and 16 jars of corn cob jelly  (recipes to follow on Friday and Saturday and Sunday)

pulled out a pile of fabric remnants from making the rag rug for the nursery and a pile of Poppa’s old shirts I had been saving to reuse the fabric and started cutting squares for a quilt for my baby bean.  After a few minutes at the cutting table with the rotary cutter I quickly realized that I could not stand that long without starting to feel pain and took the project with me to my rocking chair where I cut all the squares the old fashioned way, with a scissor.  I hope to be working on this quilt this coming week and it makes me happy that I am using all stashed fabric which makes for a free quilt.  I am also using up those old suit shirts that remind me so much of Poppa

spent two afternoons with Alexandra and Lewis searching for their first house.  After many, many dissapointing houses we came upon the perfect one.  The next day they signed the lease.  It is a small but oh so cozy house.  I loved the airyness and all the light that comes in every window and I think it will be perfect for them until they buy their own.  I was a big girl and did not cry.  I am actually pretty excited for them and look forward to visiting and watching as they make their first little nest

let the girls go in the kitchen all by themselves as they made their first cookies without my help.  Their oatmeal raisin cookies did not turn out as pretty as they would have liked but they taste wonderful and were nice and chewy

had the priviledge of watching a beautiful child who was visiting us, fall in love with one of our chickens and her first encounter with a freshly laid chicken egg.  Our chickens are very patient with children as you can see.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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Stash Bash

By on August 9, 2012 in Knits and Crochet, Sewing and Crafts, Stash Bash

I’ve never met a crafter without a stash of some kind. This year my goal is to use up all the craft supplies I have spent money on that are taking up mental and physical space in my life.  Join me here every Thursday for a Stash Bash. 

Thank you all for your comments and emails yesterday.  I do not know what is going on with the comments section of my blog but I am trying to fix it.

This week, my stash bash project is a baby blanket but…its not for my baby.  Poppa came home a few nights ago and asked me if I could make him a gift for one of his employees who is having a little baby boy.  I looked at her registry and noticed that she liked fluffy, furry blankets.  I immediately remembered that in one of those bags of fabric I packed up to sell and declutter my fabric shelves was some blue minky which I have had for over 5 years since someone asked me to make them something minky.  I have never had a use for it because I prefer natural fibers.  I was so happy to find a use for it and I found some cute and funky alien flannel to go with it.  Now, I need to pull out that organic sherpa fabric to make a blankey or two for my own little one.

I also started some cozies for some mason jars that will hold salves and things like hair brushes and baby things in the nursery.  Once I know exactly what will go inside of each one I will embroider a label to go on the front.

I have been planning a renovation of a small room off of my bedroom that I want to use as a new nursery and had the work planned for today but unfortunately we had a big problem here on our farm and had to use alot of our reserve funds to fix it (more on that horrible day tomorrow).  I am hoping we can still get it done somehow before the baby comes but we will have to see and I keep reminding myself that my baby will not care about the decorated nursery, all the baby will care about are the arms that will hold and comfort.  This keeps me from crying over the whole event.  I am kind of picky about how things are when I bring a new baby into our home and I had what was the perfect room to me all planned out and when things don’t go my way, it is hard for me to get over it.  God has a lot of work to do on me.

So what have you been up to? I love to see what you come up with. I have added the Mr Linky to the bottom of this post for you to link up your Stash Bash projects.

Here’s what to do. There are no rules. 
Just use what you have and try to not buy new supplies, unless you need it to complete a project that you are making from stuff you already have in your stash. 
Take a picture of your project or progress and blog about it or post a picture to flickr.
Then come back here on Thursdays and post a link to your post.
Don’t forget to link back to the Stash Bash so others can find us and get encouraged too.
Fair enough?     

P.S.  Its so nice to hear from other stash bashers so if you visit some of the links don’t forget to leave them a quick little comment.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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