What the sewing machine sees...

When my husband and I made the decision to buy our house, this was one of the deciding factors. Our house sits all by itself inside of a public park. We've got lots of neighbors up on the street side, but we're the only ones whose driveway is in the park. There are public walking trails, softball fields, a playground (not that we have kids!) and a lot of privacy in the winter. In the summer, this place is hoppin! We thought it would be great to have all of the amenities of the park. Some things have been great, but having strangers 10 feet from the front window at all times of day and night has not been all that wonderful. Just one more thing to add to the list of "wants" for our next place...PRIVACY!

Bliss..

I have to admit, I'm taking a cue from some blogger friends and writing about my cat today.

My husband got Bliss for me for Christmas three years ago. He was a stray that a friend had rescued and raised. This is just one more example of how awesome my husband is- he was not a cat person at all, but knew how much I wanted one.

Bliss has grown up to be one of those aloof cats who really just wants to be fed and left alone. He'll act all cute and friendly until you try to get close and cuddle with him. Then he'll run off and give you the evil eye from the corner. Later, he'll come running back and beg, sometimes loudly, to be fed. He'll follow me to the food container and point at it, all the while meowing.

You can see his awesome mittens in the first picture. Bliss is polydactyl, but only on the front paws. One paw has three extra toes, and the other has two. When he plays with toys, it looks like he has oven mitts on.

As much as I love our dog, I'm still a cat person. I'm hoping that when we have our barn, I can have a couple of barn cats!

Barnheart....

I find that lately I've been really anxious to move into the next phase of my life and make my dreams of rural land a reality. Winter always makes me a little bit melancholy, and periodic visits to my parent's place (neighboring barn shown above) make me yearn for a simpler life. I've had enough of driving into the city every day for work, enough of having loud, inconsiderate neighbors, enough of the mentality around me that the only path to happiness is found by buying things. If I hear one more person tell me that they absolutely NEED another purse, another pair of shoes, a bigger house, a newer car, I think I may scream! There is more to life that the pursuit of material goods.

My husband and I have been talking about the necessity of downsizing in order to live our dreams. We're currently in a house that's about 1000 sq feet, with no basement or attic. All of our belongings are literally stacked around the house in boxes because there's no place to store them. I think I can reasonably down size a great deal of what we have. The hardest decisions to make will be which books and which boxes of fabric will have to go.

I'm ready.

Daydreaming of spring...

I'm ready now. Bring on the warm weather, bring on the sun!

Perfect....

I am SO proud! Another new skill...here are my homemade dinner rolls. The thumbs-up on the left is my awesome mother-in-law, who guided me but made me do it all by myself...the middle is me...and on the right, my husband gives his seal of approval. I really enjoyed making them from start to finish- there's a certain sense of pride when you know you created something edible from scratch.

Growing and snoozing...

It seems all Bunny does is run around, eat, and snooze. That's ok with me! She even likes to sit and watch me at the sewing machine. I think she likes the noise it makes.

I'm headed out tomorrow morning to buy seed trays for my seedlings (that I won't start for another month or two at least!) I saw them in the store already, and I just can't wait any more. I wish it were Spring now! Last year I recycled some cardboard food trays and cut-up milk jugs to start my seedlings indoors in, but I'm hoping to plant way more veggies this year than last and need something more substantial.