HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Our plans changed slightly but we just rolled with it and it feels so right!  Slept in way early as the Lumberjack took off today.  That in itself made me a very happy valentine!  We got cleaned up and headed into town to have breakfast.  Something we dont do often...breakfast out that is.  We love dinner out and honestly we equally love to eat breakfast out.  Its just so danged over priced in my opinion as we have all the making of what we like right there at the cottage!  Then a few errands for some much needed supplies to work on the kitchen.  I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in there even though it is just ONE wall that is nearly complete.  Hoping that by ends day tomorrow it will be finished and I will share the pics of before and after of that area alone.  As I sit here now it is snowing and blowing wildly outside and Im glad we decided to change plans from evening to morning.  Lumberjack is working away on the said wall and im about to watch a little hulu while I wait until I am needed in there. I did take some time today and be a little creative with the window in the wall.  Tess was recently in Costa Rica and brought me home a piece of drift wood and I knew exactly what I wanted to make of it.  A gorgeous glass bead suncatcher.  Im loving this window.  Maybe a seat there at the counter to enjoy it? Be well friends!
Lisa

The kitchen.....

Oh this kitchen project is wearing on me so terribly.  I feel like my entire life has been shaken up and turned upside down when that area of our cottage is in dissaray.  And a mess it is!  I have no countertops...no shelves...nothing.  Just piles and piles of stuff everywhere and its driving me nuts.  No meals have been made in there for two days now and will not probably until the weekend when at least one wall where the countertop and shelving is and will be finished.  Poor Lumberjack is working so hard to finish this area.  He can sense the tension in me and I feel so bad for him.  He feels so bad for the mess im having to work around he left work an hour early tonight and stopped for a surprise for me.  An early valentines gift.  Photo coming tomorrow.  Another Alex and Ani bracelet.  One of the collector series and one I have been eyeing for some time now.  I love him so very very much.  I am so blessed to have him!!  Well im going to go and try to give him some help.  Not that there is much I can do but I can be there for support none the less!
Be well,
Lisa

Up WAY too early this for this gal!  A ct scat early in Pa was first on the agenda.  THAT wont happen again at that time of day.  It was all worth it however.  Lunch with Tess where she gave me a souvenir from her recent trip to Costa Rica...a piece of drift wood.  Just wait to see what I do with that one!  A trip to the amish greenhouse just to take in some warm humid air and smell the greenery.  A few other errands and finally home.  I am not planning on doing much of anything other than maybe some knitting this evening and enjoying what is left of the sunset!
Be well,
Lisa

The daybook.....February 9, 2015....

http://www.thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

                                                            The daybook for
                                                   Monday February 9, 2015

Outside my window.....Heavy grey skies...fog...and a dropping temperature with lots of moisture in the air to turn to ice this evening.

I am thinking....Oh just how much I am ready for spring.  For all things greening.

I am thankful for.....Balance.  Feeling a little unbalanced the last two days and a few hours with a loved one can help to just reel that back into place.  Ready to be home tomorrow and focus deep, and give myself the space to just press in.

I am wearing.....Skinny jeans, low boots, brown plaid flannel shirt, and a warm cozy tan vest.

I am creating.....A table top water garden...photo this week.  Still the purple shrug.  And a kitchen to be completed very soon!

I am going.....To be taking inventory of a summer wardrobe very soon!!  And getting of so many things from winter as they are just too big anymore!

I am wondering....Just exactly how soon we can hit the trails with the bikes.  OH how I have missed this over the winter!!!

Quote of the week....Breathing DEEPLY.  The future has SO much to behold and I am ready for it ALL!

I am reading.....The same but with the addition of the seed saving book I resort to every year this time with starting seeds indoors and out in anticipation of harvesting my own for another year.

I am hoping.....To continue the morning yoga routine that I started last week.  It was amazing what just 15 minutes first thing in the morning can do for the soul!

I am learning.....Alot about myself really.  Seeing how "I" function and how the word of the year rhythm flows within me in so very many ways.  This week....I took a look and saw that I am really an all irons in the fire kind of woman...I mean ALL at onced!  Then after the fire is burning I stand back and process just which ones to pull out and put aside until later.  Lumberjack just smiled at this revelation I had...apparently he has known it for all of our nearly 30 years!  It works for me and Im not complaining and im certain it will not change.  But it was nice to calmly stand back and see how it flows.

Around the farmstead.....Goat is definately due and soon.  The cow barn roof is mostly complete.  The sides are to go on soon.  The kitchen...ugh the kitchen!  We started working on the walls and floors.  Im simply in love with the design but the mess..ugh!  Leeks have sprouted as well as the chinese cabbage.  More things going outside into the ground this week as well as more seeds started indoors.  The chooks that hatched are doing very well and still one hen sitting contentedly on her little nest.

In the kitchen.....So last week was a very good week in the kitchen.  Lots of yumminess in there.  Roasted veg...meats, and the best Roasted Root Vegetable and barley cold salad with the best tangy dressing!  This week....its going to be good cooking but I may not have many photos to share as the kitchen is in a major disarray!  Oh how my body has craved homemade Aioli and fresh cilantro lately.  Just giving it what it wants!!

I am pondering.....It is official!!  Deposit has been made...consultation done...and appointment scheduled!  That wrist will never be the same!!  Excited!!!

One of my favorite things....Coming home to a cold house and making it instantly warmed with the wood heat.  I do always tire of the dirt about now but im holding on a little longer until I get truely frustrated with it!  Going to just savor the heat and look away from the dirt!

Plans for the rest of the week.....Coffee in just two hours with Missy at Panera (waiting not so patiently on the coffee so starting this blog entry and finishing later), A very important confirmation this afternoon then lunch with the kimble women, A cat scat on Wed am then lunch with Tess afterwards, Friday a full day out and about shopping with the girls, Saturday Valentines day!!  A special day with the love of my life!!  And another church on Sunday!

A peek into a day from the past week....

                         
                                                        Breakfast dates!!

The weekend.....

What a lovely weekend.  I asked for a do over on fb from saturday to sunday and was truely blessed with one!  Saturday I was up and out of here quickly in the morning.  A visit to my sisters, met the lumberjack at lowes for some supplies for the kitchen makeover.  A few errands alone then met a friend at starbucks for coffee before a trip to the mall.  Home and made us some pizza and started tearing into the kitchen.  Im already in love and we have hardly done a thing.  The peeps have all hatched that are going to.  Nine in total.  Thinking we are going to let mother nature do her thing now as we get started working on some projects inside and around the cottage.  The hens can set and hatch what they can for us for meat in the fall.  The cow roof is almost completely finished.  A quick homemade pizza was made and we crashed very early.  Up this am and could not make coffee because the kitchen has been terribly torn apart so mcdonalds black coffee it was...yuck but hey it was hot and coffee so im not going to complain.  Some more work on the kitchen wall then cleaned up to meet the Kimbles at Earth Dog Cafe for dinner.  Home and some time to visit before they left and we tore back into it.  Carrying in the wood for the evening now and ready to call it a day.
Be well,
Lisa

OOOHHHH blogging early in anticipation of the lumberjack coming home with a truck load of skid wood ready to go on the kitchen walls.  This is going to be a VERY LONG process but I am ready to get started!  Emptied out the cabinet and took the things off of the wall in a small space in hopes of getting started this evening.  Barn chores are complete for the night so he wont have that to do.  Dinner is in the over baking...Irish Lamb Stew!  The house has been cleaned...not so hard in such a tiny space but getting a little cluttered.  Going tomorrow to order a building for larrys tools and to store some of this stuff in until we get the addition this spring.  All pups have been walked...even spooked a very large and lanky red fox not but a few feet from the cottage!  Definately going to be keeping an eye out on him.  Had more chooks hatch so were up to nine with nine more on their way out.  Actually planted a plot of spinach into the ground this afternoon!!!  Felt absolutely amazing.  I had all of the makings for the terrarium and took time this afternoonto get it planted up.  Im thinking it needs a light of some sort...will work on that soon enough.  Also finished the swap project and am ready to deposit it into the mail first thing monday morning! Also took some time to set some more seeds...chives, parsley, dill, red bull onions, and dakota tear onions. Well going to run and hope we can get a little of this wall up!!  Pics when the first wall is completed!
Be well,
Lisa

AN AMAZING ARTICLE THAT SPEAKS MY HEART!!!

I just wanted to take a minute and share here for anyone looking for an amazing article on FOOD!!  I am SOOOOO over all of the lables...yes all.  I shared momentarily ago on FB this very article with the caption of my own...

From Fb:

OMG....I want to love on this womans writing! For real everything in me screams Y-E-S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so done with the labels...the categories...the yes this no that...if people would just love what they eat. Eat it slowly...savor it! I am all for eating seasonally but I do NOT want to carry even that label so I hereby dump it!! And all labels for that matter. Food is life and meant to be eaten and enjoyed all of it much as life itself is! I have lost over 12 pounds and have had NO labels no restrictions except feeding my body what it desires listening...savoring...enjoying the food and the company slowly. Ok im done...off the soap box...but give it a try give up the lables and love yourselves enough to move on and enjoy!! Get outside as she says enjoy the life you have!


AND I MEAN EVERY WORD!!  Here is the article for you yourself to enjoy:

http://www.beckyphipps.com/blog/2015/2/4/punch-clean-eating-in-the-face

Its all real right there!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously GO READ IT!!  And give up the labels yourself.  What freedom there is in it!  I shutter to think of all the money we waste on seminars...workshops...foods...supplements...and the such.  And the people making all of this money the bloggers...the companies..makes me sick!  If we would just stop looking to someone or something to "fix" us and stop seeing that food is our enemy!!!  Anyways im done with the soapbox for today.

Be well,
Lisa