I Fixed A Lamp...And It Only Took 5 Years

One of the problems I have  is that I am a terrible procrastinator. In fact,a few years ago I posted about how I was Queen of Procrastination. I have great ideas,and get all excited about doing them...however,I never seem to do them in a timely manner. It's one of faults and I completely own up to it.My intention is always wonderful. Getting intention into action is whole other issue.

Take for instance,The Lamp.

The Lamp is a lamp that my Mom gave us several years ago. It was a wedding gift for my parents,which makes The Lamp 67 years old. I don't ever remember The Lamp being used. It was always stashed in the "cubby hole"-- the area off my bedroom that had a door leading to it (those who grew up in Cape style houses or the like will know what I am referring to).

At any rate,Mom gave us The Lamp,and we used it. It worked great,then it died on us 5 or so years ago. Diagnosis: it needed to be rewired. Seems simple enough. Well,like anything else I have never done before, I looked up what I needed to do,and printed out the instructions. Note the date I printed it,so you can see that when I say I am procrastinator,you know I kid you not:

Judging by the date,I must have been in a New Year's Resolution mode (another thing which I never stick to,so I no longer make them).  So there it was. Fix The Lamp!!!

Time rolls by....2010,2011,2012,2013,2014.....and this whole time,The Lamp sits on my bedroom floor,as well as the shade. And it sits...and sits...collecting dust.

Four months ago,I finally pulled out the instructions to see what what I would need to buy to fix The Lamp- wiring,a plug,and a light socket. For four months,these items would hang out in the bedroom as well, though they did get moved from the closet,to on top of my yarn basket,to finally falling on the floor and being ignored.

Two days ago,I rolled up my sleeves and decided that 5 years was enough.

It was so pathetically easy.

Here is The Lamp with all it's replacement parts:

Here it is all fixed! I don't think it took 1/2 an hour to read the directions,figure out a couple things,and clean it up.

I also scrubbed the shade with a brush and some dish soap. I got most of the dirt off,though it still looks a bit on the yellow side.However, it's much much better than it was. Here The Lamp is in it's place of honor. Please note the Outlander book!

So there it is....The Lamp..which only took 5 years and 1/2 an hour to fix!!

Teaching An Old Dog A New Trick

I love to learn. I love to read about history,and how to do things that I have never done before. I am more of a cerebral learner,though,meaning that I am all about reading and thinking about what I have learned,but doing things hands on that I have never tired before really intimidate me. I tend to think about something for a long time before I can bring myself to attempt it. It doesn't matter what it is. I have to be mentally prepped for it. Strange,I know,but I is who I is!

I finally decided to buy a sewing machine. Zach and Rick both needed  new scout shirts,so all their patches need to be transferred over from their old shirts. I can do a bit of hand sewing-I can sew patches on a shirt,but it takes a long time and I usually wind up with the shirt sewn to my pants.I can sew a button back on,but I usually cross my fingers to will it  because I never know if it's going to stay put. Rick is an excellent sewer,and faster than I,but he has enough on his plate.It's something I have wanted to learn,because I would love to make my curtains,quilts,etc.

I bought the machine a couple weeks ago. I took it out of the box,and read the manual and found what was what and what goes where. That was enough for me for one day.

I figured out what thread I needed to buy,and that was an experience in it's self. Who know there was different threads for different projects! I thought thread was thread!!

Yesterday,I finally worked up the gumption to work the machine. I had my instruction book,and the red thread for the first patch. Was I actually going to sew the patches? No way! All I was ready to do was operate it and practice a simple stitch.

I put it on the table and eyed it for a couple of minutes. It sat there,mocking me. What? You afraid of me?? Wimp! !Come on,thread me,I dare you!!! 

I breathed deep,read the instructions for threading a bobbin,and began.

I did mess up starting the bobbin at first. I didn't thread it correctly,but I figured out my error and started over.

What do you know??? I actually began sewing. I had an old t shirt that I used to practice the basic stitch with. Lennon decided to get in on the action:

I was so excited by the simplicity of it,that I tried a few other stitch patterns-ones I didn't have change the foot for.

Take that,Brother CS6000i!! You did not defeat me!! Your mocking tone and Mean Girl vibe did not put me off!

Home Organization Binders

I had a home organizer binder for a few years now. It was a 3" binder,that was getting so very full that I had no room to put any more pages in it. It was also quite heavy. I had not only household organizing in it,but gardening and chicken info too. Well, now that we are expanding,I had to separate the home from the farm. My old binder was very boring. I perused various websites and found some nice ideas at http://strangersandpilgrimsonearth.blogspot.com/2013/03/keepers-at-home-home-management-binder.html. I liked the idea of photos and quotes,so I scoured the internet and made some pages of my own,thanks to her ideas. A great website for information pages ishttp://blog.worldlabel.com/2012/organizing-planner-the-harmonized-house-project.html. It has some info pages that you can download and just type the information right onto the pages! 

My home binder:

Here is an example of the beginning of the section for contact information:

In the home binder, I have the following sections:

-Contacts and Reference Information
 *Emergency Numbers
 *Family and Friends Contact Info
 *School Info
 *Medical Information
 *Website passwords
 *Utility,Insurance Info

-Homemaking Info
 * Daily,Weekly,Monthly and Seasonal To do lists
 * Homemade Cleaning Recipes 
 * Laundry Soap records ( how much I spend and how often I make it to see how much     money I save)
 *Essential Oil Information

-Blogging 
 *Ideas
 *Stats

I save ideas from magazines and incorporate them into the binder as well.



Farm information:

-Gardening

 *What is planted and dates

 *Square foot garden maps

 *Weights of harvests

 * What I sell and how much is earned ( New for this year!)

-Chickens

 *Number of chickens 

 *Egg records-gathered,sold,and how much earned

 * Feed records 

-Sheep

 *Health records,when it's time to trim hooves,etc

 * Record of feed hay and bedding hay,when bought and how much spent

 * Shearing Records-when sheared,how much collected

 * Yarn Records-weight and number of skeins spun, plants used for coloring,color records ( New for this year!)

-Goats ( new in Spring!)

 * Health records

 * Feed records

 *Birth records (2015)

 * Milk weight (2015)

 * Products produced ( milk,cheese,soap.etc) how much made,sold,and earned (2015)

Each binder is different for each person. What you want to keep track of depends on you! You will need:

-2" or 3" binders

-plastic paper protectors

-tabbed dividers ( if you wish to break down the main subjects more)

-stick on file tabs

To decided what subjects I wished to put in the organizers,I wrote everything I wanted to include  on a piece of paper. I chose the main topics,and then decided what information that I wanted to include in each one.

I have also made a binder for all the instruction booklets,warranties,and manuals for things  around the house,such as the computer,TVs,DVD player,fridge,oven,etc. I got tired of them slipping and sliding in the file cabinet. Now everything is in a page protector and is not going anywhere. I also made a binder for my knitting and crocheting patterns,and am working on one ( or more) for my family tree information. Right now I have several notebooks and folders that are jammed into the bottom drawer of the file cabinet,and I really need to free up the space.

A quick thank you to everyone who responded to my last post. You have no idea how comforting it is to read such wonderful,heartfelt support!

Preserving Fresh Carrots

As you may have seen from my previous post,we did pretty well with our carrots this year. We wound up with approx. 8 lbs! We love carrots,but don't want to eat them morning,noon,and night,so of course,we had to preserve them. The choices:canning,freezing,or sticking them in damp soil in a bucket.

I opted for freezing,and keeping some to the side for meals this week,as well as some for Richie.

Now,many folks may think one just throws carrots in a freezer bag and plops them in a freezer (by many folks I mean me...I actually never preserved carrots,though). It requires a bit more than that,but not much. You have to blanch the carrots. Blanching is putting veggies in boiling water for a short period of time,then putting them in freezing water briefly,which stops the cooking process.It helps keep taste,color,texture from enzyme actions,cleans the surface of any left over dirt,and helps stop loss of vitamins,

The size of pot you boil them in depends on the size of the batch you wish to process. I used a dutch oven pot. While the water was coming to boil, cut off the ends....

.....and peeled them. I also set a large bowl in the sink and filled it with ice water. Since we have an artesian well,the water is very cold,so I didn't need to use ice cubes. I 

What to do with all the peelings and ends? Compost them,of course!!!

I cut the carrots into thin slices.(some thinner than others!) You can julienne them if you wish.

I put them in the boiling water and then waited for the water to come to a second boil. At this point,I boiled the slices for two minutes. ( Julienne carrots or baby carrots require a different boiling time). 

At the end of two minutes,I took the pan off heat,and quickly scooped out the carrots with a slotted spoon into the ice water. I let them sit in the water for 2-3 minutes.

I then drained the carrots and refilled by ice water bowl for the next batch. You can reuse the boiling water again,if you wish. If not,use fresh water.

You want to get as much of the water out of the carrots as possible before you bag them.

Fill your freezer bag. I used a gallon bag. You should leave an inch or so of space at the top,but get as much air as possible out of the bag.  I had been pressing on the bag to let out air,so that's why the bag looks full.

Write the date on the bag,and plop in your freezer! Ours went into our deep freezer downstairs. We will take out what we need for meals throughout the winter.

Enjoy!