Fall Harvest

Our freezer is full of fresh pumpkin puree (I'm pretty sure a from scratch pumpkin pie will be a must this Thanksgiving) and lots and lots of fresh marinara sauce, the cats are super snugly (it's just because the house got colder, but I like to pretend it's because they just really, really love me), Kneaders is selling their Pumpkin Steamer again, and the trees in our yard have turned yellow and red.  

I'm pretty sure we've hit Fall perfection.

We went up and gathered our last harvest from the Farm and our backyard garden.  It was kind of bittersweet.  Bitter because we really love to garden.  Sweet because.. well... I think one of the main reasons we really like to garden is because we can really only do it a few months a year...  By the end of the summer the idea of weekly fertilizing and weeding gets kind of old.  

But the last harvest was fun! Doug really rocked at tomato growing this year and just on that last harvest we filled an entire Costco bag full of tomatoes.  I wish I'd taken a picture- it was sweet.  Doug got to pick his pie pumpkins for eating, and I got to pick the decorative gourds and mini pumpkins I'd been growing all year to decorate the house this fall. (Can you tell who's the engineer and who's the designer?!)   

I am once again bracing myself for dark nights and driving in the snow... but for the next few weeks I plan on fully enjoying every Fall.  ...And probably a few more Pumpkin Steamers, because man, those are good. :)

Autumn Adventures

Well, I have to admit, we did benefit from the government shut down.  Since there was no one working to collect fees on the Alpine Loop, you could enjoy the area for free.  And, more importantly for us, (I'm really just fine paying the $3 or whatever it normally costs) because it was free everyone was talking about it. So we actually remembered to drive the loop at the peak of the Fall!  WOOHOO!!! I have this on my to do list every single year, but we never remember at the right time.  And it's so worth it.  I mean look at this! What could be better?  It was so fun to take the camera out and try out some beautiful landscapes.  

Summer

Flowers from our garden :)

I'm in love with Summer.  Our house is constantly filled with fresh air from the open windows (I know it's not 'in vogue' to have a swamp cooler instead of AC, but I seriously love it), I don't have to drive in snow, and we get to grow our garden.  It's pretty much perfect.

This summer has been so full, but not with much to blog about.  My pattern business, Sweetbriar Sisters, has taken off- which has been so exciting. But I am keeping my word and only blogging about it on my craft blog.   My health has been pretty bad (you know you're really sick when you wear a 1' hole through your sheets from being in bed so much... and then you buy another set only to do it again... I seriously need to find an industrial strength sheet company...) but seriously, what's new about that?  So no blogging there.  That pretty much leaves gardening.  We do actually have some pretty exciting news about our garden.

It didn't completely suck this year.

Our raised beds in the back yard

I know, I know.  Pretty exciting.  You've got to understand, Doug and I love to garden.  But despite our enthusiasm, our garden plants usually stay about the exact size as when we bought them.  Or die.  In the Spring, people look at my cart full of pumpkin plants at the store and say, 'Wow- you much have a huge yard to grow that many!'  And then I laugh.  Because, let's be honest, 3 of those pumpkin plants are gonna die, and the last one won't grow bigger than 1 foot long.

But this year was different!  This is Doug's 2nd year growing a plot in the community garden out by his office and we've learned a ton from the farmers there.  We learned about soil and fertilizers and ground covers and so much more.  And with all that knowledge, 2013's pumpkin plant got all the way to 3 feet long! :)   (for those of you unfamiliar with pumpkin plants, it should get to like 20'.  But we'll take what we can get!)

Cut Flower Garden!!! (check out that 3 foot pumpkin plant on the bottom!)

Ok, so we stink at growing pumpkins.  And corn.  And peppers.... But our tomato plants did alright.  And I continued with my cut flower garden, which wasn't too bad (nothing like stopping by a friend's house with a bouquet of flowers from your garden!).  And for some strange reason, even though we don't get much out of it, we still just really love gardening.  Maybe by the time we're retired I'll actually be able to grow a full sized pumpkin. :)

Tomatoes from our garden!

Pasta sauce made from the tomatoes from our garden!  It's pretty much Heaven on a plate

Stacey Reunion 2013

I can't believe it's been almost a month since we went out to Ohio!  We had such a fun trip (and a very busy small business to come home to, which is why I'm just getting to this now) and got to see all of my family but one brother.  Good times!

Have you ever seen a happier Grandpa?

Fairy Gardens!  These were so fun- everyone made one and we'd find 'thank you' gifts from the fairies for making them such nice homes :)

Doug and my dad (and probably a few other brothers- I couldn't keep track) installed a new zip line in the front yard, complete with a full safety harness so the little kids could ride, too.

Jello Competition!  Doug and I organized this one, and it was awesome!  

Figures

Do you ever feel like you accidentally asked the universe to make something bad happen?

I'd just gotten off the phone with my dad, who'd been going through the stressful process of buying a car. It was the first time I'd seen the process of buying-a-car-on-a-deadline-because-mine-just-died-and-I-need-to-go-to-work-tomorrow from an adult perspective.  Suddenly our current "Replacement of Our '92 Subaru Plan" seemed like it might need a little tweaking.

So that night I talked to Doug.  I'd always thought that we'd just run that car to the ground and then replace it. But after talking to my dad I was thinking we'd probably save as much money and a LOT of stress if we started looking for a good deal now so we'd have plenty of time to find something at a great price.

We had the money saved up, and it seemed responsible and definitely less stressful.  So we decided that's what we'd do.  And we'd start looking right when Doug got home from his business trip.

So Doug left for his trip.  And about 20 minutes after he left I got a call from him stranded on the side of I-15.  Because the car died.

Figures.

So Doug found a last minute ride to the airport (from someone willing to pick him up on the side of the road) and I organized the towing of a car, the location of which I was only vaguely aware of because Doug had been in a hurry to catch a plane when he called me.  And the process of buying-a-car-on-a-deadline-because-ours-just-died began.  :)

A month or so later,  we have our new car and the stress is over.  But seriously, I never want to have to make that big of a purchase on a deadline again!  Sometimes the realities of being an adult are just no fun at all.

Kitchen!

Remember how we started our kitchen redo... like 7 months ago?  (wow- when I actually count out that time it seems even more crazy!)  Well, we finished- finally! So here are the pictures I promised to so many of you so long ago.  Life got a little crazy in the middle there :)  

We've had quite an eventful few months.  My little online pattern business has gone to print and my pattern line can now be found in stores!  It's been SO exciting, but has also required a LOT of hours in printing, folding and stuffing patterns.  Often only to be followed by unstuffing, reprinting and restuffing the same patterns because we'd made some little mistake. (I'm so excited to get better at that part so it doesn't suck every minute of our time away from us!)  But in just the past month I feel like we've made huge strides to get into the modern sewing/quilting world and it has been a lot of fun!  Now we just need to mold it all into our Chronic Fatigue business model so I don't kill myself off...  All in good time, right?!

All in all, it looks like it's going to be a pretty exciting Summer.  I think Summer definitely becoming my favorite time of year!

The monogrammed pot holders might be my favorite part

New floor!

railing no longer has a mustard yellow oak finish!  Woohoo!

CFS Awareness Day

Remember last year when I was too sick to do anything for CFS Awareness day?  Well, I learned from my mistake.  Over the past year I've been writing awareness posts when I felt well enough and scheduling them to be posted throughout this week.  The first one popped up today and I can't believe it's already coming up to May 12 again!

So this year I'd like to officially invite you to take part in CFS Awareness month with me!  Head over to my Sweetbriar Sisters blog. (I put them over there so they can be shared without inviting the world to read our personal blog) You'll find new posts all week long full of custom made CFS awareness images that are just begging to be 'Pinned' and 'Liked' and 'Shared' :).

Thanks so much for all your support.  I really can't believe how lucky I am to have so many friends and family who have supported me through this crazy time in my life!  You guys are the best.