The hazards of getting organized

Hello,

My name is Lola and I'm a hoarder.

Of all things crafty.

Even after a major cull when we moved out of The Little Green Cottage, there were still boxes packed and left to their own devices since we moved into this house. So it was I finally undertook the MASSIVE re-organization of my work room. I even caved to the finger breaking assembly of Ikea storage units. Forget pretty, I need function!!! I've been slogging away in the chaos for days. 

Oops, forgot that big box in the furnace room! Oops, there's more sawdust covered boxes in the garage! Did I mention it's MASSIVE? Today it came down to a final couple of boxes in the garage. After slaving all day and creating more upheaval (it gets worse before it gets better), I started to get a headache from sucking dust and a bit of vertigo from the overwhelming state of things. "Oh come on Champ! You can do one more box! It's the last giant box of fabric, all you need to do is put it on the shelves in an orderly manor. Easy peasy," is what I said to myself.

Famous last words.

It's my own fault, in fact I was surely asking for it. What does one expect leaving a box of cotton and wool yardage in a garage next to a wood pile?

Of course they chewed through the best wool, and by "they" I mean mice. Now I'm not one to run shrieking or jump onto kitchen counters upon seeing a little whiskered fellow, no, not I. However, I would like to add that I like to keep a respectable distance between myself and those pesky critters. They are welcome to come and go outside as they please, but inside is my domain and I'd thank you kindly to stay the heck out! Perhaps the mice were confused about the garage. Let me just set this straight right now for all you mice, the garage is off limits too! Especially my box of fabric! Of course there was a shocking amount of tiny mouse poo and the whole thing smelled that unmistakable smell of mouse pee. I now have 30 yards - give or take - of fabric to wash, dry, fold and find space for. Thank goodness the mice were out and about for the day when I discovered their nest.

I may just break into that bottle of whiskey I got for Christmas.

Angel Baby

We have a new baby in the house! Pony Girl got her very own kitten and named her Angel. I forgot how much work the little ones are, thank goodness she's so cute. She's still getting used to her new home and family, a little shy and she likes to hide. So now we are a 2 cat household. Angel and The Buddha Cat... it sounds like a 70s detective show or a Cat Stevens album. 

Welcome to the family Angel!

Animal House

A tale of the little green cottage, a wounded sasquatch, butterflies, a broody hen, a leaping stag, and a wild pony.

Life has been a little wild around here lately. The Engineer had his first surgery late last week, all went well and he is beginning to have less pain and hopefully beginning the healing. He's already talking about bowling again, "Sasquatch" is his bowling name and no, he wont be bowling with his injured hand, his bowling arm is just fine. It may still be some time before he's 'pickin' the banjo again though.

This last week the cottage has been taken over by animals. We had some caterpillars, we watched them turn into chrysalids and then watched them turn into painted lady butterflies. What an amazing process to see up close! I highly recommend doing this if you have some small ones at your house. Pony girl loves bugs and she completely loved watching them change and then letting them go. I did too! We ordered our caterpillars online from here.


That sweet girl there is Tweet Tweet, she is the most docile of our ladies and tolerates Pony Girl's shenanigans with great aplomb. This week I noticed some changes in her and it finally became clear that we have a 'broody hen' in our midst. A 'broody hen' is a hen that wants to set on the eggs until they hatch. The hen's body temperature rises and she will stay on the nest constantly. If she has no eggs of her own, she will often set on other hen's eggs. Now, we have no rooster in the hen house so...Tweet Tweet is setting on the ever unhatchable clutch, even when no eggs are present, she will not leave the nesting box poor dear. This can be a dangerous situation, even fatal, for sometimes a hen will not even leave the nest for food or water or to relieve herself. So, out I go 5-6 times a day to get her out of the nest, put her on cool ground to hopefully lower her body temp, make sure she is eating and drinking. This has not yet broken her broody and we may have to resort to moving her to a well ventilated cage away from the nest and her two gal pals.

Ah, the majesty of the leaping stag with the cuteness of a sweet fawn! I thought I would also share this wee dress that started the whole blue and orange business. This little number has been waiting around and chastising me all week for not finishing it. As I was making it up, I fell for the orange and blue combo big time! I'm hoping that the Fraulein and I will be spending some quality stitching time together this weekend and this dress will be leaping into my little shop.

No menagerie would be complete without a wild pony. Spring has her sprung with a herds worth of energy. Her enthusiasm unbridled, she jumps for joy and I can hardly keep up.

May you jump for joy this weekend and go wild!