What Did She Do Today?

She Refinished a Dresser October 22, 2010

I found a very bright yellow dresser at a second hand store, and after a little discussion, paid $22.00 and put it in my car. 

I'm bad at remember "before" pictures, as I always want to dive in to a new project, but the whole thing was the color of the drawers, and here it has been sanded, and partially primed.

One of the drawers was not an original, and was a poorly done attempt to match the original, so I decided to remove it and place a piece of wood, covered in my kitchen fabric, in it's place, to make a perfect spot for pint canning jars and a basket.

I sanded, primed and then put a coat of green paint, followed by a coat of aqua.  While the aqua was drying I rubbed some paint off, to reveal the green undercoat.  I then sanded to remove more aqua, as well as getting down to bare wood, in a couple spots.  The drawer pulls were taken off a dresser that belonged to my Great Grandparents.  I love that the cool old, solid wood dresser, with glass knobs, had it's home in the shop, holding Great Grampa's screws, and such.  It's a beautiful piece of furniture and will find it's way into a home again, but for now it is still in the the old shop that has housed it for decades, and the knobs look great on their new dresser.

This lovely piece of furniture has found a spot in the entry way.  It will hold the box for our keys, a drawer will be devoted to mittens and hats, and the rest will be a "junk drawer".  Yes, sad but true, I realized that I have 5-6 various junk drawers in this house.  Quite silly, as it causes much time spent searching when I need an elastic, thumbtack, or any other sort of doodad, that isn't valuable enough to really have it's own place, but should not be thrown away, for fear I will need it as soon as I do.  I'm hoping this central "junk drawer" will allow for better organization and less time spent searching.

My cousin is married to a lovely fellow, who has a beard.  Why do I tell you this?  Because for Halloween, she wants to dress her 16 month old son as his father.  She got the idea when she saw a bearded hat on Etsy.  She contacted me, back in July, to see if I thought I could make such a hat.  Sure, I can do that...then I promptly forgot. Well, earlier this week she checked in, so I pulled out some yarn and started to whip up a hat.  The hat pattern is Rib-A-Roni, and can be found on Ravelry. 

The beard was something I just figured out as I went.  I started by picking up and knitting the beard, onto the hat.  After trying it on Mini who has a 19" head, and The Baby who has a 17" head, I decided that there needed to be flexibility in sizing, as Eli has an 18" head, and I have no idea how the proportions work out.  So I removed the finished beard, bound off, and then sewed buttons into the inside of the hat.  The seed stich for the beard is loose enough to just slip over the button, without the need of making button holes, so the beard is fully adjustable.  It is going to be mailed off tomorrow, and should be in PA in time for his Wednesday Party at Day Care.

The bearded ladies were amused with the hat modeling, and were a huge help in figuring out the sizing.  The hat is made of Galway 100% Worsted Wool, and the beard is Malabrigo Merino, so it's super soft.  If he doesn't mind wearing it, it should make a very warm winter hat/face gaurd.  But since the beard comes off, it could be a great winter hat for years to come.

 

She's Not Even Sure She Believes What She Did Today September 2, 2010

First of all, hear me out on this one.  I made paper towels today.  That's right, paper towels.  So, before you click away thinking "This chick has gone too far", please let me explain.

Okay, about 6-8 months ago, not sure now how long, Husband forgot paper towels at the store, when he went grocery shopping.  He didn't get back for a couple weeks, so we made due without them.  We decided to see if that was just a less than messy couple of weeks, or if we really could go without that extremely handy little item.  Sure enough, 2 weeks later, on his next trip for Peanut Butter (almost the only thing we were buying at the Grocery Store, at that time) we skipped the towels.  They are pricey, afterall, so cutting out the cost was the driving factor.  Why spend money on paper towels, when there are fun kitchen items to scoop up at the antique store, or fun ingredients to purchase for this foofy canning, that I'm all into...or an electric bill to be paid, oh, yeah.

After about 3-4 months of this, we did find there were times that using a hand/kitchen towel, seemed like over-kill, so I thought about making up a light weight, simplyecloth that would be "disposable", should it be used for something particularly gross, or messy, and that stains wouldn't matter.  I'm not super concerned about the appearance of my dish cloths, but if I could have a "paper towel" that could keep my good kitchen linens lasting longer, and looking prettier, why not.

I made a couple to try, and they have worked well.  Today, I spied the fabric for them, so I grabbed it, and my serger, and set out to make as many as I could, while I tended to the water baths for the newest round of Tomato Butter, that I canned tonight.

These are not square, they are not perfect, they aren't even all the exact same size.  This project was 'Fast and Dirty".  I just eyeballed the lines, and used my serger to cut the fabric, instead of cutting out squares and then serging the edges.  The serger worked great, the cloths will not fray, which is why I didn't just rip them in squares.  I didn't want frayed edges, that can drop little strings while being used, or in the washing machine.

In the time it took to water bath 20 little jars of the butter, I made up 20 "paper towels".

The fabric I used is, what I consider to be, the perfect weight.  It's 100% cotton, made in the USA, thin, white, with a little texture.  I bought it at Joann's in Newington, where they labled it "diaper cloth".  I think it was about $1.00 a yard, or something like that, maybe on sale, or with a coupon...either way, it's not very expensive.  It has held up to many washings, has been used and abused over the past few months. 

When I hear about people making more permanent options for the temporary things in our lives, I often hear folks bringing up the concern for the "extra water and electricity used to wash them".  I heard that about cloth diapers, a lot.  These are so lightweight, that you will never need to start a load for just them.  They could be thrown in with any load you are already running, without maxing it out.  If you don't care if the stay white, it also doesn't matter what load you throw them in with, either.

Oh, two other little comments, I'm not espousing that anyone "should" do this.  I did this because it worked for us. I will not scoff at you, who purchase paper towels.  Also, I do not see myself making my own toilet paper...I don't.

Tomato Butter.  I like this batch, it was yummy, but it does not hold a candle to my first batch, made with the brandywine tomatoes from Stout Oak Farm.  I'm going to be tracking her down, because I want to make at least one more batch of this stuff, and I really want those lovely heirloom tomatoes of hers.  I also think that using 3 different varieties of tomatoes helped the layers of flavor that the first one posessed.  The flavor of this batch wasn't as mature...oh, doesn't that sound fancy, and all foodie-like.

 

She Made Dishwasher Detergent August 8, 2010

There are some tasks in the home that fall to my husband.  I believe this is because he is more regimented that I am.  He thrives with a schedule...of course I might too, if I didn't buck the idea so much, but I'm not going to get into that right now. 

So, Husband does some of the tasks that happen every day, like laundry (we use cloth diapers), and loading the dishwasher.  We both wash dishes, but if I load the dishwasher, he reloads it anyway...he has a system, so I just let him do it.  For this reason I haven't given much thought to making my own dishwasher detergent or laundry detergent.  I'm not that involved. 

After reading a few blogs that discussed how much cheaper it is, and knowing we were spending a fair amount of money to get the "natural" option that supposedly left out all the horrible chemicals, and in the convenient single load blocks (for the dishwasher), I figured this would be an area that we could shave some spending.  Tonight I made up a mix, and we'll know in the morning if it worked.  I read several recipes online, and this is what I started with:

• 1 Cup Borax
• 1 Cup Baking Soda
• 1/2 Cup Kosher Salt (but I'm going to research this, I might skip it next time)
• 4 packets of Sugar Free Lemonade Kool-Aid  (This is for the Citric Acid it contains.  I'm going to look into ordering citric acid if I decide to keep making this, as I'm not keen on the idea of buying the Kool-aid)

We put in 1 Tbs and will see how it works out.  I will be adding White Vinegar to the rinse cycle, as recommended in all sources, for sparkling glasses, but I need to buy some, so we tried it without for now.

I'll keep you posted.

I also went to a fabulous talk on composting today.  It was another one of the Greater Seacoast Permaculture Meetup group meetings.  I am really enjoying the group.  I've attended meetings on Chickens, Beekeeping, Making a Solar Dehydrator, and Composting.  The speaker was Rian Bedard who is involved with hauling compostable matter from area restaurants to a facility that composts the waste, so it can be reused in gardens and landscaping throughout the area.  What a brilliant idea.  We learned a little more about large scale composting, but he brought it down to a home/backyard level, that was very practical for us to start at home.  He helped with some trouble shooting.  The discussion was wonderful, with all the experiences that were shared.  I'm now determined to get to work composting the chicken bedding.  We have used the birds as our composters for the past 3 years, so we don't have a lot of kitchen scraps to get rid of, but I'd love to turn the bedding into composted manure for use on the garden.

If you are interested in these topics you can check out the Meet Up Group.  

Tonight, after the yogurt came out of the dehydrator, several trays of carrots went in.  I love that the food preserving time of the year is upon us!  I have big plans over the next couple weeks...if I can keep my fingers in tact.  I really need to be more careful when I use the slicer.  Ouch.

I'm behind on my camera maintenance, which is why this post is photo-less.  Hopefully I'll get my act together tomorrow.

She Built a Music Wall with Mini July 24, 2010

I've wanted to do this for a long time, since I saw it on another blog...but I can't remember which.  It was one that I got to in a round about way, one day.  Sorry I can't be more specific, but the blogger had a "Music Tree", which she then disassembled and went the wall route, and was happier with it's usability.  Mini and I conquered this together, with her telling me where to position, testing as we went, and handing me the screws.  At one point she even helped with the screw driver, before finding the scissors I brought out for the rope...she then transitioned to "Threshing the Grass".  I love her vocabulary, thanks in large part of full immersion in the Little House on the Prairie series.

 

The entire project cost 50 cents.  That was the price for the copper pieces.  Otherwise it's a collection of old pots and pans just laying around.  I attached some pieces with screws, some with rope for a better cymbal sort of sound, and some with pipe fasteners.  The wind chimes were from a bedroom decor we had a number of years ago.  I found it while cleaning out a cabinet!  All bits a pieces we had laying around from other projects.  There are a couple wooden spoons that I got for free at a yard sale, for banging and clanging.

The wall is positioned at the bottom of the side stairs, in the hopes that she'll be able to go out and play, on her own, from time to time.  I think it's important that she have some freedom to go outside on her own.  She currently enjoys some bubble blowing on the stairs, and now she can bang out a tune if she wants.

 

She Painted....A Lot June 8, 2010

I mentioned two things recently. 1) How much I love the "Make and Do" list over at Progressive Pioneer. 2) I had some projects 1/2 done that I wanted to wait to share, until they were done. 

Inspired by the Make and Do list, I worked on painting a great little yard sale find.  Truth is, I bought this a few weeks ago, for $3.00, but seeing the cool chairs on the list, I finally pulled out the paint and got to work.  The little cabinet is 100% wood, including the back.  I figured it would be a good, painted in exterior paint, for the garden.  I need some place to put my little hand tools, fertilizers and natural sprays, like the garlic and cayenne pepper sprays, and the Messina deer deterrent, that sort of thing.  I primed with an oil base primer, just like my painter friend told me to, and then I painted it with one of the coop colors.  I wanted to bring the colors from the animal yard to the garden.

I also painted my fence today.  With another coop color.  I wove little branches in the fence, and I love how it looks!  The Tomatillo are planted along the fence, as I recall them getting very tall and a bit wild.  I think that will be fun on the fence.  I have 3 varieties of Tomatillo's, Verde, Pineapple and a purple.  Should be fun to make salsa this summer!

 

The coops are almost completely painted, as well.  I'm really getting tired of painting, but I do love how things are looking with a fresh coat!

Tonight, after my second day of working outside all day, I was at a loss of what to do for dinner.  In the end we dined on popcorn, cucumbers, cheese and Ice Cream.  I did not use the recipe from the Make and Do, but it did remind me that I had cream from the farm, waiting to be turned into Ice Cream.  I used our usual recipe, which is from Nourishing Traditions.  Yesterday we had meatloaf made with Moose meat, rice and spinach, peas and green onions.  I say this, in defense of tonight's dinner.

I still need to make a batch of Play Dough... before she gives me more ideas on Friday!

Things are going really well in the garden this year.  I'm quite excited.  All my seedlings are in the ground with the exception of a couple pepper plants.  I have about 6 more veggies to seed.  I'm expecting to have everything in the ground by Friday. 

On thing I've realized.  Row Covers are not attractive.  They are super effective and worth living with the appearance, but I'd really rather have lush, green, beautiful plants showing.  My solution, is to plant a bunch of different clusters of plants in containers around the garden.  I figure if I have 20 tomato plants under row covers, I can get away with have half a dozen out in the open. 

 

I love how cool the wisteria looks in the old box I found for a great price, at a yard sale!  The tires, to the right contain potatoes, that are doing GREAT!  We already have the second tire on, and will be ready for a third, soon.  On the left is a 4x8 bed that is sown with bush green beans!

She Crossed Some Big Things Off Her To Do List June 4, 2010

The roof is on the Rabbit housing!!!  I'm so very excited about this.  I have to paint and it's done!!  The rabbits seem happy with the new roof that will keep them dry and should allow good air flow so they don't get too hot!  This was a huge thing on my to do list, and is such a relief to have it done.

Another item on the list, also rabbit related.  I had a hutch that had a run and a housing area.  The housing area had a solid floor, and the run had a wire floor.  Every rabbit I ever put in the hutch used the house as a bathroom...I realize this is because some animal that was in it before we got it probably used it as a bathroom, but it was VERY inconvenient.  Today, I pulled the thing apart, removed the plywood floor and replaced it with a wire floor!  Now they can use it as a bathroom, if they want to, and it will not become a mess, or cause hutch burn!  It is getting a new coat of paint in the next few days then I'm moving someone into it.  I'm not sure who yet, but I'm glad it's now usable housing!

Final to do list item, completed today, the door for the chicken run!  Wow, I've used a lot of exclamation points in this post already!  I'm just so excited!  I built the run last fall, some time, and meant to add a door then, and frankly it's been a bit of a pain to not have a door in it.  We put Mini over the wall to get the eggs that are occasionally laid in there, instead of in the nest boxes.  The reason for the delay was in part due to the ole' "I'm not sure how to start, so I'm just going to wait, for now" that I often struggle with, and in part due to not having a door, and not wanting to buy one.  I finally found one FREE on the side of the road.  It needed to be scraped, and cut down to fit, which I did, and now it's painted and up.  I love it.  I can now give the birds the weeds from the garden, and caterpillars I find, much easier. Oh, and here is the coop almost fully painted.  I painted the right end wall, that you can't see here, and after I finish the trim on that edge, it will be done!  I'm about 1/2 day of painting away from being able to cross "Paint Chicken Coops" off my list. 

I really should have listed each coop individually, so I could cross them off as they were done, instead of having to wait until they were all done...hey, that's a good idea, I'm going to change the list.  I really love crossing things off.  I'm one of those people who will add things to the list, that are already done, so I can cross them off...true, I do.

 

I had an amazing lunch today!  Fried Egg Sandwich (Thank you Josephine for the yummy egg), on homemade bread (Thank You Husband for the Yummy bread), Swiss Chard (from the garden), Cucumber (Nippo Brook Farm, Thank you Abe!), and Strawberry (Warren Farm) Salad, with a dollop of yogurt (Brookford Farm).  A glass of Portsmouth Tea Company Chocolate Cream Truffle Tea, in a very cool glass that I purchased last Saturday, for 25cents...for 3!

Miss Muscovy is not having an easy time of it.  I called a truce, but now the chickens are giving her trouble.  She's all puffed up, in frustration, because her bunk mate decided to commandeer her nest while she was taking a quick dip in the pool.  I love the noises Muscovy Hens make, it's a cute little huff of a squeak.  After taking the picture, I did kick the intruder out of the nest and put Miss back in. 

The garden is doing pretty well.  The rain, followed but such a beautiful day, has things bursting with hope and promise!  Here is the promise of Strawberries!

And look at the happy carrots!  My Carrot crop last year was a abysmal at best, so this is a real encouragement for the fledgling Gardener!

She Planted an Herb Garden and Fashioned a Makeshift Outdoor Sink, Made Violet Jam, Froze Duck Eggs, and is Quite Exhausted May 24, 2010

I just realized how far into May we are.  The 10 day forecast shows great weather, so the time for serious planting has begun!  I was in the garden most of the day today, and it feels so good.

The Herb garden is very exciting.  I have never had an herb garden, because so many are perennials, and I wanted a more "permanent" location before I started planting them.  I have one, now.  A lovely raised bed made with beautiful stone wall rocks.  It's the home to:

• Thyme
• Basil
• Lavender
• Sage
• Lovage
• Cutting Celery
• Parsley
• Chamomile
• Bay
• Rosemary
• Tarragon
• Chives

I will be getting some oregano from a friend who has some to spare, along with some mint, and maybe bee balm from my mom's surplus.  Seems like a good mix.  Does anyone else have anything they like in the herb realm that I don't have listed?

A couple weeks ago I got a free sink, that needed legs. I did that, and Husband dug a hole where the sink will sit, that is about 4 feet deep, down to the drain pipe that runs the perimeter of the house.  Dad then brought gravel and rocks from another part of the property, and we unloaded them into the hole, which is now filled with rock, making a great dry well for the sink.  We will not be putting any crazy chemicals down the drain.  It's just nice to have a sink to wash up after animal duties, or to clean waterers, that sort of thing.  I'm so excited!  I'll take pics when it's plumbed and the drain is in place.  I even put a little shelf under the sink so I can store my apple cider vinegar (the animals get some in their water to help keep them healthy) and some cleaning type items. 

I did some other outside chores that will be posted about later, when the project is finished, but  after all that, it was time for dinner and getting the kids to bed.  All the chickens from Saturday's butchering, have been resting in the fridge, and are now in the freezer in the basement.  That is a fair amount of work.  Each bird was rinsed in cold water and then sealed in a seal bag system, the name of which escapes me now. 

Since I was in the kitchen and was poking about in the fridge and found the violets that mini and I picked a few days ago, with the goal of making jam, I pulled them out, and got to work.  I made 5 adorable little jars of jam.  It's very yummy.  There is a very lovely flower essence that goes perfectly with the local honey I used.  I'm excited to share it with the family tomorrow.  I'm going to try a batch of the crackers that were suggested, by Soulemama, as a pairing.  

 

It turns out that there are some great health benefits to eating violets.  I'll be a bit more aggressive with picking them next year.  Also, in my checking the web for information, I found out the flowers are not the source of propagation.  No need to feel guilty about picking every last blossom, in the field, because there is a second flower that is very small and not much to look at, that comes out in late summer.  This contains the seeds needed to keep the plants spreading.  Fascinating.

Oh, freezing eggs.  I almost forgot.  I recently found out that you can freeze eggs.  My friend Rob is freezing them in bags of 6.  I thought that seemed very cool, since winter leaves the chicken eggs a little thin, and the duck eggs, even thinner.  I'm going to do up some bags to pull out for scrambles or quiche or custard this winter, but I also thought having them in singles would be great too.  Make for easy baking.  It turns out the best containers I had for freezing the larger duck eggs was this little cupcake pan I bought for Mini's first birthday party.  One duck egg fit exactly in each cavity.  I love how it centers the daisy perfect.  Behold, my frozen egg flowers!

She Found a Satisfying Cold Cereal Option May 6, 2010

I love cold cereal.  There is just something about the mix of cold milk and a grain that is really satisfying and comforting to me.  However, I haven't eaten cold cereal in months, because they all seem to contain something I would rather avoid, sugar, HFCS, Soy, GMO blah, blah, blah.  Well, the other day I was at a friend's and he offered me a snack.  Rolled oats, honey, cinnamon and milk.  Hmmm.  I'll try it, afterall, he's eating it too, but I can't say I had high hopes, going in, with the idea of rolled oats, raw.  It was pretty yummy, and it got my wheels turning.  I've tried a few different things, since then, at home.  I always have the rolled oats and milk, but I've had different add ins, and I found a fabulous combo today.  So fabulous, that I have ended my search for cold cereal options, at least my concentrated search.  If I stumble across something, or a whim catches me, I'll try something else, but I have something that works!

Amy's Cereal Concoction

• A hearty handful of oats, rolled, not instant, just plain old rolled oats.
• A generous dollop of plain yogurt, mine is from Brookford, and if you've never tried their yogurt, and are close enough to do so, I highly recommend it!
• A sweet drizzle of Maple Syrup.  I use Grade B, nice rich maple flavor, from Sugarmomma, again, highly recommended.
• Then pour on the milk, to desired.  I like lots of milk, so that the stuff in the bowl is fully covered, but do what you want.  Oh, Brookford Raw milk is my milk of choice.

Now eat it.  yum!  I'm considering adding some crushed almonds sometime, but the above was delicious, satisfied my desire for a cold cereal, and if I had used my rolled oats from Maine it would have been completely local...but I didn't. 

The second coop has been started.  I still have to do another coat of trim, one wall and the doors.  This one is very time consuming.  Partly because of the kind of wood it is, and partly because of all the trip.  I'm excited to almost be done with it, because that means I'm more than half done.  The last 2 coops should be quicker than the first two, so that is exciting.  I painted instead of going to the opening day of the Exeter Farmer's Market. 

I have been weighing the bunnies every week, and I was quite amused when I weighed Josie's 3 for the first time, last night.  They are about 3 1/2 weeks, and they weigh what Clementine's Crew weighed at 5 weeks and Calliope's weighed at 6 weeks!  They are little chubs!  It's funny, because we get so excited when we have a litter of 11, but Jessica and I were discussing the matter, and have decided we really would prefer litters of 7-8.  The large litters, Molly's 10 and Jessica's doe kindled 14 live, require more tending on our parts, or it feels that way.  We want them all to live, so we worry, where when the litter is a nice respectable 7-8, there is little to no worries.  They all seem to thrive, or so has been our limited experience.  It will be interesting, as I continue to track weight gain, whether the 3 stay that far ahead of the others, or if they will level off and all be able the same at some point.  I love processing through all this stuff.  It's so interesting.

Still no camera, and I didn't borrow mom's, but good news, my camera is covered on an accidental plan at Best Buy!  This means I can get a new camera, at no charge, because I bought their little extended warranty when I purchased the camera!  I'm hoping to get over there tomorrow.  The very cool thing about all this, is that the warranty expires on the 31st of this month!  Normally the warranty runs out days BEFORE the event, not after.  I like this scenario much better.  

The duck incubation is done, and all the incubator ducks have been given to the Mama Muscovy.  She's doing a great job.  I couldn't have gotten away with this if the weather hadn't been so nice the past few nights, but she has the 5 that are almost 2 weeks old, and her 10 muscovy babies, and 14 Cayuga from the incubator.  If I counted correctly, that is a total of 29 ducklings! 

She Built Some Stuff April 9, 2010

I am coming into my own in the area of building.  First, I put the dividers in the growing pen, then Friday I built a work bench!  I have been wanting a bench between the two bays in the garage to hold the feed, and other random animal items, as well as to have a place to work when I want to do stuff in the garage.  I finally dove in and just did it!  It's perfect for my needs.  I used my very own circular saw.  I've always borrowed dad's tools except for maybe some screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a hammer...one benefit of having parents who live next door.  I'm starting to purchase my own little arsenal of tools so I can be more self sufficient with the building of things.  There is lots to be built on a homestead, that's for sure!

After it was done making the bench, I worked off it to make the first 2 nest boxes for the (hopefully) soon to be broody hens.  I

Oh, that reminds me.  I never shared about the new member of our Dorking flock.  We have a beautiful Silver Gray Dorking who has come over from Yellow House Farm.  Since the Dorking is such an endangered breed, much needs to be done to improve their gene pool...it's still a bit shallow.  The work has begun and they are improving with each generation, however the White Rooster I had was part of a generation who has not done well on the farm.  Joseph felt I would have better fertility results if I used the completely unrelated Silver Gray Dorking.  Since Dorkings are all the same, they just vary in color, it's okay to breed a colored Dorking to whites.  You will get mixed colors, but you will get some whites and you can use them to breed back to white.  But at the end of the day, color is only second to vigor, so if using this Silver Gray will give my flock increased vigor, I can work on color later.  That is the plan.  Here is the fella...

Garden update: I planted the carrots, shallots and bunching onions today, as well as filled all three of the new raised beds with soil, almost finished the herb raised bed.  I ran out of stones, but Mini and Husband gathered some more for me so I will be able to work on that tomorrow! 

Rabbit update: Josie's little crew of 3 seem to be doing well.  Hyacinth seems to be nesting, so I'm hoping she has a lovely new litter in the morning.  I'll let you know!

She Found an Amazing Website and Did Some Sewing March 11, 2010

I stumbled across a website last night that has my head spinning!  I love the idea of building things with wood.  Wood is beautiful, smells so nice when it's cut and has a very soothing effect in a home.  But honestly, I'm impatient.  Impatient with myself, mostly.  Impatient with the business of figuring.  I like to cut, screw, even nail...not so much the gluing and waiting, but I can do it, but the figuring really bugs me.  I have an idea, but then lack the know how to translate that into a functional finished product.  

It really is the lack of patience with the process because I have the mind for it.  Numbers are fun to me, and spatial relations thinking is not a problem.  But sitting down and figuring it all out, and what to cut, and what angle and on and on and on. 

This this website, it's basically how to make your own kit, then how to build it!  This is phenomenal!  I found several projects I really want to give a try.  I really needed to find this site in late Fall, not early Spring!!!  There isn't a project for rabbit housing on there, so I may need to just bookmark for now, but this is a very inspirational site!

Well, maybe I could make something small, now...like this very cool frame!

 

I was contracted to make a shopping bag, and I finished it up tonight!  I hope Tina likes it.