Moving update: PACKED!

I sit in the floor of our nearly empty farmstead. Nearly- since we're leaving a lot of stuff in the house here. The packing took 2 days, and our stuff is on a truck headed to Houston. The kids are going nuts with the openness - currently they're bouncing a racquet ball off the walls in the dining room. Yes, it's 11:00pm. The Danes are forced to share the giant bean bag chair- they are very concerned that the bed has left, but at least they still have food.

Tomorrow we load the stuff we're to carry in a small Uhaul trailer to pull behind the Jeep.  We'll be driving the Jeep and the Crown Vic straight through starting Sunday. Hopefully, the dogs and kids will be so worn out by then that they just sleep 18 hours straight.

Tomorrow night is our farewell dinner. Last time to get together with the NC family and friends for a while. Hopefully, we'll get lots of visitors in our new home.

Need to schedule some cleaning and winterizing here, as well as Habitat to come out and pick up the extra junk we have. The animals have mostly been re-homed. Mom and Dad will be taking care of the barn cats, 2 chickens and Delilah the Goat. Dinkey is at the neighbors with Angel and will soon be joined by Sea Bass the Duck and his friend Quackers. The milk goats went to a friend that wants to start milking. Conan will go to the in-laws. The rabbit goes to a friend also. Whew!

I dread the drive. Once that's done though, I can enjoy the adventure! Our stuff will arrive next week, the kids start school on January 6th. I need a gym, a salon and a grocery store. Chuck is in the Houston office starting January 2nd. Oh, and there's a New Years party at one of his co-workers houses.

Bring it on.

Closing in 14 1/2 Hours!

Today, Chuck and I  flew out to sign papers on the new house. Yikes! The girls stayed home to take care of the dogs and finish out their semester in NC. It was partly cloudy and mid 70's in Houston today. It did rain a bit this afternoon, but much nicer weather than the last time we were here.

Houston Skyline in the distance right before we touched down.

LOVE the Texas space cow! Need to find a statue of this for the house.

We grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the new abode. We met with a guy about 3M window film- super neat stuff to protect against hurricanes, and break ins, plus blocking UV rays and keeping energy costs lower. He will also be changing out our locks.

 Our realtor came and we did the final inspection. Crap! We have fire ants. Added a lawn treatment to the to-do list. Really- lots of fire ants. Crap.

Then the security system guy came out and we got all that squared away. Woo-hoo. 

I poked all around the house trying to figure out where to put things. I walked all along the fence making sure it was sound so the dogs would stay in. I even checked on our citrus trees- yay! They look to need a good insecticide spraying as the leaves look a little sickly and munched, but the lemons and oranges will be ready to pick very soon! YAY! 

Lemon!

I spent quite a bit of time lounging on the sectional patio furniture. That's going to be an awesome place to hang out and drink margaritas- especially once the pool is installed.

After all that and getting checked into the hotel, we headed to Highland Village to eat at Escalante's. YUM! It Tex-Mex and very good. Service was great also.

  I had the Escalante's #4 margarita. It was dee-lish.

ESCALANTE’S NO 4

Herradura double barrel reposado tequila — hand selected from the Herradura distillery — blended with premium Cointreau liqueur

We had the fresh, made at the table guacamole- awesome! Chuck had the Del Mar and I had empanadas. Then for dessert we had their special tequila sauce bread pudding. Heaven! Definitely somewhere we'll go back to once we're Texans.

We're in the hotel now- the Ikea store across the street is taunting me. Closing at noon tomorrow. Then picking up supplies for the house. Hopefully, I'll get more pictures of the house tomorrow. Tomorrow night we celebrate at Taste if Texas! 

Surprise! We're Relocating. Houston, Here We Come!

We've gone and done it.  Chuck has accepted the head of Security, Risk, and Compliance position at a much larger division of his company, and we're relocating to Houston at the end of December.

Yep - you read that right.  We are fixin' to be Texan.

We went down on a house hunting trip, and it went something like this:

11/22 - Arrive in Texas, sans Madison.  She chose not to go, and stayed to watch the dogs.  Rent the best car $8 / day will get you.  Get to the hotel.  Nobody sleeps.

11/23 - Tour 12 houses in the 44 degree rain.  Wow, this Texas heat is a bitch.  Wipe windows with paper towels and Starbucks napkins when the Realtor's defroster fails.  Read the owner's manual and adjust all controls with no luck.  Switch seats so Chuck can fiddle with the controls.  Chuck kicks the guy's car under the dashboard.  Defroster starts working.  Fall in love with the 11th house.  Make an offer.  Sign papers.  Write checks.  Meet with one of Chuck's new Directs and his wife for some of the best Tex-Mex ever at Pappasito's.  Seriously - Filet Mignon and Crab-Stuffed Shrimp Fajitas?  Awesome.  For $33, it should be.  It is.

11/24 - Offer is accepted.  Sign more papers.  Schedule home and termite inspections.  Drag Chuck and Willow to an IKEA store the size of Greensboro.  Chuck takes us shopping for cowboy boots.  Buy a rhinestone collar for Butter the Bulldog.  Dinner at Taste of Texas.  Willow's burger is the size of her head.  Dessert bigger than all 3 of us can finish.

11/25 - Home inspection at 8am.  We all tag along.  Goes well, add a couple of items to an addendum for the seller.  Write more checks.  Sign more papers.  Lock mortgage rate and closing date of 12/26.  Today was a work day, so Chuck went to the office and picked up his badge.  Elevator was broken in the parking deck, so we led an expedition of lost visitors down the swirly ramp to the basement.  Chuck in the office for about 8 minutes.  Pace yourself, big guy.  Dinner at Pappadeaux.  Chuck eats 6.7 metric tons of crawfish, and we all share a cheesecake that's better than Hot Doughnuts Now.

11/26 - Fly home, heads spinning, disappointed only in the lack of armadillo sightings.  Wait for amendments to be accepted, schedule moving company, clear conditions on mortgage, acquire homeowners.  Buy post-its to mark everything in the house for move / stay / throw away exercise.

And that brings us to today.  Here's a pic of the home we plan on making Stately Herrin Manor:

Lots to do in the next 30 days, but at least it's over the holidays.  Hoping we'll get down there without issue, and the spare bedroom will be ready for visitors day one.  Will we see you down there?

I'm a Rifleman!

Ok- Butter is adorable, my sewing is coming along nicely and farming is farming; more about that later. Today's motivation and blog worthy news is that I qualified as a Rifleman at our most recent Appleseed event! Woo-hoo! 

Do you know what the Appleseed Project is? It's so cool- and every American should know this stuff. Check out www.appleseedinfo.org to read all about it and maybe sign up for one yourself. No clicking for you? Here's a summary... An Appleseed is an event put on by volunteers that aims to teach Revolutionary War History and traditional marksmanship skills. The history is the same stuff we should learn in schools- but it gets glossed over. It's important. It's our heritage. Everyone should take the time to truly hear it, understand it, and be thankful for it. 

The marksmanship part is basic. They teach key techniques you can alway use and build on to become a better marksman. Towards the end, you shoot the Army Qualification Test, and if you score high enough, you can become a Rifleman. It's not easy. I'm so thrilled that I got it. The score is equivalent to an expert score in the Army. 

Now I've got this patch- I'm a rifleman! The other patch is Chuck's. We both made it this weekend. M went with us one day, and plans to go back and qualify after some practice here. 

Butter the Rifledog? Tactical support- she'll keep your mat warm.

See- she's still adorable. growing more and more dense everyday. She's almost 6 months now, and had her spay surgery and cherry eye surgery 2 weeks ago. That all went well. She's finally out if the cone- she was not a fan.

Plbbbt!

In the Great Dane bed.

Butter? How do you fall out of a bed that big?

New toy- I made that!

I've been trying to get some sewing in but it's been busy. Between the kids school, the animals and the rest of the stuff that must be done I haven't gotten a whole lot accomplished. And, I've taken very few pictures of the the things I have finished. Here's what I do have to show... 

Butter's new owl- no squeak so she can have it night. 

T-shirt for Chuck- "Molon Labe"

Corner Monster bookmarks

Coasters- I made sets of these for Mother's Day gifts

I know I've mentioned it before, but I hate ironing. That and hemming are the worst parts of sewing. On that note, I got an AWESOME iron for my birthday. Having good tools makes the yucky tasks much more bearable. The Oliso iTouch has mechanical feet that pull in when you touch the handle and extend when you let go so it can sit flat on the ironing board and won't tip. This is a fantastic feature if you are constantly having to steady the ironing board when the Great Danes come by. It also heats quickly, has a good weight and a very smooth ironing surface. 

 

Oliso iTouch

On the farm we're getting about a gallon of milk a day. We should have fresh lettuce soon and peas won't be far behind. We had a farm visitor a couple of weeks ago- a Luna Moth. I love these guys- they only live for a week as an adult moth and do not eat in their adult phase. They only fly at night. This one roosted on our screen for a day. Hopefully it laid some eggs nearby. 

Luna Moth

That's all for now- hopefully there will be more time for fun stuff when school gets out in a couple of weeks.

I Love Spring!

Farming season is definitely here! We've been busy around Lazy Danes Farm. So far we've planted lettuce, peas, carrots, tomatoes, basil and peppers. Still to plant are beans, cucumbers, corn, okra, potatoes and whatever else catches my eye at the farm store.  I'm also hoping to put in a couple of peach trees this year, but haven't felt like digging the holes yet.

Baby plants! Awww.

In livestock news- the baby goats are ready to go to their new homes. Yay! We have 2 does and 2 bucks that are for sale. Does $50.00, bucks $25.00.  They're all 3/4 Nubian, 1/4 Nigerian.  The does should be good milkers- I'm getting over a gallon a day right now from Scarlet and Petunia. We made our first mozzarella of the season - it was gone as soon as it had cooled enough to eat. YUM!

Brown doe with blue eyes, blonde buck with brown eyes

Brown male with brown eyes- neat face markings, brown doe again,  black doe  with brown eyes

Now, how about a look at the cutest Bulldog ever! Butter will be 5 months old on May 6th. She goes for her last puppy check up this week and we'll make an appointment for her spay then. She's growing so fast and is deceptively heavy. She only has a few more puppy teeth to lose, too.

Look how much Great Dane she covers now

Bully tongue! 

"I found a stick!"

Sun bathing

"Hey,Mom- what's that thing in front of your eye?

"Can I bite it?"

"Fine- Cheese!"

 For the girls Spring Break we took a day to bake treats for Chuck's team and deliver them over lunch. (The key to happy-at-home-kids is lots of activities.) We decided on peeps cupcakes- devils food cake, butter cream frosting, jelly beans and Peeps. They were very cute and yummy, plus we only ate one each ourselves out of 24 cupcakes. Win!

Not much sewing recently, but that should change now that all the birthdays are past. I did make the girls a bulldog t-shirt and bow for easter, and an in-the-hoop purse for one of their friends birthday. I'm hopping to get cracking on some leashes, collars and bandanas for our furry friends.

Better get busy!

My Little Pony Customs

The girls have been watching My Little Pony (a little obsessively) recently and wanted all things pony for their birthday this year. M did decide she was too grown-uppity for an outfit, and wanted a quilt instead. Here's the disclaimer- I have never quilted before. In fact, I avoid it because I really like "finish -in-a-day" projects. Anything for your kids though, right? 

W still likes all the attention she gets by wearing her one-of-a-kind, mommy-made-this, creations so she wanted a My Little Pony dress.  She chose Princess Celestia for the body and the 6 main ponies are all around the skirt. I really like to make the t-dresses for her. They're easy, comfortable, and she doesn't have to dig for matching parts before school. (And can finish in a day)

My Little Pony dress front

My Little Pony dress back

For the quilt- I winged it. There was no pattern, I just knew needed 13 panels with pony appliqué, and 12 without, a front border, a back piece, and batting in the middle. I cut my squares 10 1/2 x 12 1/2 to leave plenty of room to get them hooped either direction in my 5x7 embroidery frame, plus leave a seam allowance. 

I embroidered all the panels first- each one took 45 minutes to over an hour. They stitched out really well with no drama. Then, I arranged all the panels in the the middle of the floor to make sure it looked random enough and stitched them all together. 

Next, to assembly. I eyeballed the finished panel section, decided on the black circle border and cut 5 inch wide pieces to go all around. The back is the circle fabric with an orange border. After I got the front all stitched I stretched it out and used it to get the measurements for the back. 

Lastly, I sandwiched in the batting, stitched it shut except a 1 foot section, turned it, pressed it, topstitched the edge to close it, then quilted the seams. 

Honestly, it's a Monet- looks good at a distance. If you look at it you can tell I'm not a quilter. But- M LOVES it, and that's what matters. 

My Little Pony Quilt

My Little Pony Quilt

And as parting- here is a picture of Butter.  

Butter in her pillow nest

Woo-hoo, we have milk!

The time has changed, the weather is warming up and we have fresh goats milk in the fridge- spring is so close! Scarlett is giving us close to a 1/2 gallon a day while still nursing her kids. We'll start Petunia milking in another couple weeks as the kids wean- they'll be ready for new homes in mid-late April. I suspect the doelings will be good milkers like Ebony (their sister).

Digging in to a fresh bale of hay- Yum!

Petunia's white male, Scarlett's brown female

Petunia's brown male

Dinkey says Hee-Haw!

Pearl

Luke helping Chuck with work

Butter is 14 weeks old now. She was 16 pounds at her last vet visit. She sleeps through most nights and is doing really well with her potty training. 

Laying in a sunbeam

Princess Buttercup says "Hand over your chicken and candied bacon sandwich!

Hanging on the porch

"I got a stick"

Baby Goats and Butter is 12 weeks old

All the baby goats are here and (finally) doing fine. Scarlett's udders got congested again and made it difficult for the kids to get milk. Chuck and I were able to bottle feed them for a couple of days and now they're back with their mom and doing great! Petunia is doing well with her first kidding. Fresh milk for us soon!

Scarlett's Girl 1

Scarlett's Girl 2

Petunia's Boy 1

Petunia's Boy 2

The newest doggie addition is doing great, too! Butter is 12 weeks old today and is continuing her rigorous puppy routine of eating, sleeping and playing.

Napping with the Danes

She quickly learned by the heater is a good place to be

Outside time

Look at that belly!

Now- I need some spring.