Snag Resolved!

The septic issue has been resolved. Instead of paying the $20k we offered, we'll be paying $23k, If the septic costs us the full $10k, we'll need to scrounge up some more money.

In addition, I'm officially off the job hunt. I quit my horrible job a few weeks ago, without much notice, and have been desperately hunting. I am not a person that is unemployed for long. I apply  for jobs like it's a full time job when I'm not working. I devote a full 40 hours each week to either interviewing or applying. Needless to say, I usually am out of work for no more than a month. Well, John and I discussed it, and it makes more sense that I don't work and fix up the house. We need to have someone available during business hours for paperwork, septic work, electric stuff, etc. Plus, I'm more of a handyman than he is.

If I get the work done in two weeks, instead of three months, we'll have saved far more money than I would have earned. Plus, realistically, if I can come up with enough money to pay off my credit card (I need about $200 per month to get it paid off in a reasonable amount of time), I'd rather focus on school than working. I currently make about $40 per month for writing articles, I can make another $60 per month helping out at my sister's house. I'm hoping that my craft stuff and house sitting will make up the remainder. That means I need to get my butt in gear when it comes to getting my shop up and running.

A Big Snag

We found out that the septic tank can't be certified. Either we need to install a new septic immediately after we buy (otherwise we can't legally reside in it), or they need to put in a septic for us.

Basically, in our county a residence must have a certifiable septic to be bought or sold. Due to the fact that the trailer isn't affixed to the property, the property can be sold as vacant land instead of a residence. Vacant land doesn't need to a have a certifiable septic tank, but it commands a much lower price due to that fact.

So, initially we all agreed on $28k...when we thought there were two working septic tanks (one for each hook up), not one tank, which doesn't work, for the two hook ups.

We offered them either $20k as is, or the initial offer of $28k if the septic tank is brought up to code.

I called around and getting a new septic could cost between $3,000-$10,000 depending on how much work needs to be done and how much of the digging we can do ourselves. I contacted our realtor and told her what we wanted and we should hear back from the seller on Monday!

Closing Time!

I can't be the only one who loves Semisonic, right? Well, this isn't about Semisonic's hit; we're closing on the house!

It's official: December 1st we will be closing on the house!

Living Room

We have a lot of work to do though. Part of the living room floor needs to be rebuilt.

Love the wallpaper!

The kitchen has no oven... and most of the floor needs to be rebuilt.

Paneling!

And the second bedroom's carpet has hideous orange mystery stains.

All said and done, we're estimating about $7,000 worth of work including all the electric issues. I'll post more pictures once we close on the house.

For the first weekend I'll likely camp out in front of the wood burning stove without electricity. We currently live in a house without heat (or insulation, or windows and doors that seal), so I think spending a night in a sleeping bad by a hot stove will be pleasant by comparison.

The first box has been packed and the storage unit is have empty. It's really happening!

A Happy Opportunity

We may have found our new house!

I know that I'm very lucky. My grandfather has offered to let me borrow against my inheritance for a particular property. Why bother with the bank at all? Well, my inheritance doesn't go very far with the recovering housing market.

This house though, is very economical and within the inheritance amount. The bank won't even lend to us with how cheap the property is.

Here's the good: It's on two acres (my preferred size), it has two complete hook-ups, which means we can live on one hook-up while we build our other house, it has a huge single wide trailer currently on it can be made livable fairly easily, the kitchen is huge, and the lot is relatively clear of cactus.

Here's the bad: The floor needs to be rebuilt in half of the kitchen, along one wall in the living room and in the spare bathroom. Additionally, there's a whole in the ceiling (but the roof looks fine), it needs a new cooler, the kitchen has no counter space (but is big enough to build an island), the carpet in the second bedroom needs to go, the property needs to be fenced and...oh yeah, there's no electricity.

Okay, well, there's electricity to the box, but the electricity from the box to the house has been cut because it wasn't up to code.

So we have an electric inspection in a few days. We're going to get an estimate on the repairs involved and then hopefully next week we'll be ready to make an offer!

I'm so excited. I've been looking at houses for so long (3 years!), I just keep anticipating getting a call from my realtor that someone has bought it our from under us. That shouldn't happen though, because she has the only copy of the keys. Still, in the back of my mind, I'm worried about someone buying it sight unseen.

Pictures will be posted if we decide to put in an offer!

Swales

I have a bit of really dedicating to research. When I get in the mood to learn about something, I really commit.

Today on a local Facebook gardening group, someone posted a video which linked to a cool page about "greening the desert". Basically, at one point, huge swales were built in the Sonoran desert (where I live!) and one of them has become an oasis.

Being who I am, I went in to hard core research mode. I found the coolest swale guide! It even includes a list of saline tolerant plants!

As you can probably tell, this is a big deal to me. Living in the desert is hard. Growing in the desert is hard. Raising livestock in the desert is pretty impractical, to be completely honest.

We have a few problems that are unique to living in the desert, besides just the lack of rain. We get about 10 inches of rain a year. Let that sink in. Now, getting so little rain means 1. our soil is very salty and 2. our dirt is hard packed and water just runs off (erosion!) without really absorbing and redepositing in our water table.

So what's a swale? Well, the easiest way I can explain it is: A swale is a trench (filled with organic matter) with a berm (full of plants of varying root depths) beside it. The swale is supposed to help catch water and allow it to seep in to the water table and prevent run off and the berm with plants helps to prevent erosion as the water sinks down. Trees are planted nearby to help prevent evaporation while the water is still filtering into the ground. The swale helps water the plants that grow along the berm (further inhibiting erosion by helping to establish strong root systems) as well as helping water the trees. Beyond this, it helps create a fertile area for plants to grow and improves the local water table. This is all great. Modern agriculture is rough on the land, but by creating swales and  by planting  in the berms, perhaps it can help the desert thrive? 

So I did more research. Swales are actually pretty highly recommended regardless of annual rainfall, but swales in the desert need to be built differently because we do not have steady rain year around, but instead intermittent flash flooding over about 3 months.

I've reached out to a few local homesteading groups in the hopes that some have first hand experience. As we're hoping to find a property with a well (or install one after the fact), it'll be really important to manage our water table efficiently. I can't think of anything worse than running out of water in the desert.

So When are You Having Kids?

I get asked a lot about babies. Maybe it's because I'm in my twenties, maybe it's because I'm a woman and feminism hasn't really gotten that far, maybe it's because I'm engaged to a man who already has a kid, or maybe it's because I'm engaged at 21.

It surprises a lot of people to find out that I'm engaged already. I know that I'm really young to be getting married, which is why I'm not getting married right away. From the time I got engaged (and we set a tentative date) to the time we plan to get married is almost two and a half years. This really confuses people, and I think it has to do with babies.

Anytime I tell someone I'm engaged, I frequently get a "Are you getting married young because you want a big family?" type question. When I tell them no, I'm not planning on breeding (and I do use the word breeding,) it's too often followed up with the a "Why are you getting married?" type question. This kills me.

I think a big part of why people are shocked to find out I'm waiting so long to get married is because of this baby based assumption of wanting a big family. My fiancé's son will be almost 4 by the time we get married (and who knows how old he'll be once custody is figured out). People like to remind me that if I got married sooner, our kids would be closer in age to their brother.  Even after I've told them I don't want kids.

This always leads to my favorite conversation of "But what will you do without kids?"

What will I do without kids? Anything I want!

Literally, anything I want. If I want to be irresponsible and quit my job without notice, get drunk on a Tuesday morning, and then fly to Hawaii and live there until I'm broke, I can.

Alternatively, if I want to start my own business, take the trip of a lifetime, switch careers because I'm miserable, or retire young, I can do that too, and without any guilt.

Don't get me wrong, those people who want children should by all means have as many children as they can afford to raise! This isn't about me thinking all women should be sterilized or that parents are throwing their lives away when they have kids. That's not it at all. I know there are people who dream of having to children, and who live for them. They aren't wasting their lives by having kids, they're living out their dream! That's awesome. Everyone should live for their dreams.

My dream just doesn't involve children. It doesn't involve pregnancy weight, morning sickness, alcohol abstinence, poopy diapers, tantrums, or stepping on legos. That all sounds awful.

On the other hand, I also don't dream of those "magical" moments, like when my kid learns to walk, develops a personality, when I teach them how to do things from tying shoe laces to driving, seeing him or her graduate and start a life for themselves. I won't experience any of those great moments, and that's fine. They also all sounds awful, to be honest.

You know what I'm going to do instead of have kids? Have a house that is as clean or as dirty as I want it to be (with the exception of when John's son is over). I'm going to have a farm, and sell crafts, and file taxes, and work really hard but not know quite where my income is coming from for most of the year. I'm going to take a vacation as often as I can, anywhere I want. I'm going to work as long as I want to, but I'm going to retire as early as I want to and can afford it. I'm going to get married and I'm going to build a life with my wonderful husband (and his son).

Why should I need to have kids of my own to validate my life?

Credit Improvement!

John's credit score is now only 20 points from letting us qualify for a loan! All it took was a month of purchasing (about 50% of his credit limit) and paying of 95% of that amount.

Why only pay off 95%? Well, we were advised that we shouldn't pay the whole thing off because it may not have been recorded as having been used. From what we were told, credit is only recorded once a month. If the bill is paid off and then not used during the time of recording, it's as if the card was never used.

We also learned that you aren't supposed to use 50% of your credit limit. It's better to use 30%-35%.

Either way, we're pleased with the progress. Due to work schedules, we won't be able to move in January, but we may at least qualify for our loan by then.

Spicy Lentil and Black Bean Soup

Although our weather is just now dipping in to the 80s, I felt it was soup season yesterday. It was rainy and it was a chilly morning. This is a hearty and filling soup that has the perfect amount of spiciness. It tastes even better reheated!

I started with a recipe from Cook like a Champion. The recipe I borrowed was Lentil and Black Bean with Andouille Sausage (see link). It sounded great! There were just a few problems:
1. I don't know what Andouille Sausage is.
2. I don't like celery.
3. I've never seen smoked spices
4. This didn't have the Mexican flare that most of my cooking does.

Growing up in the southern Arizona, my mouth was taught to prefer Mexican food over all else. So, here's my version:
1.5 tblsp Olive Oil
1 pound Spicy Herb Sausage (from my sister's pigs)
3/4 of a large White Onion, chopped
10 Mini Sweet Peppers, chopped
2 heaping tsps Minced Garlic (I buy mine in a jar, if using fresh use 2 cloves)
2 tsp. Paprika
1 can Diced Tomatoes and Habaneros (juice and all)
1 cup Dried Lentils
4 cups Beef Broth 
2 cup water
1 can Black Beans (juice and all)
1 can Sweet Corn (drained)
1/2 cup jarred Green Chilies
Seasoning Salt and Pepper to taste

In large pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil. Brown sausage. Once browned, remove sausage with slotted spoon, leaving juices and grease in pot. Set sausage aside. Add peppers and onions. Sautee until onions become translucent. Add in garlic and paprika, stir for a minute or so, mixing spices in with veggies. 

Dump in tomatoes and habaneros. Add lentils and 3 cups of broth and 2 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Stir occasionally. Add drained corn. Leave on med-high heat (continue periodic stirring) until  lentils are tender - about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

While lentil mixture cools, add 1/2 of the black beans,  1 cup of broth, and the green chilies to a blender. Pulse a few times. Once pot mixture is no longer hot, put 1/3-1/2 of mixture in to blender. Pulse until mixed but not liquefied. Add blender mix back to pot. Put pot back on heat, add remainder of black beans and sausage. Heat until warm and serve.

I like mine with sour cream and cheese!

Marginal Improvements?

You know why scientists do double blind studies? So they can be objective, of course. So they can't "think" they see the changes they want in the test group. I don't have that benefit. I think that I'm having improvement in my cavities.

Before

After

My gums look healthier! I'm not sure what that red spot is in the center, but it seems to be fading. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I did have some dark spots along the gum line. They're fading!

Before. Lots of inflammation along the eye tooth.

After: Less inflammation. If you look closely there's still a dark line along the gum line.

Cavities aren't quite gone yet, but definitely healthier gums, which I think is a great start.

First Craft Fair Weekend

I just finished my first craft fair weekend! It was great. Everyone was so nice, I had a lot of fun, but man, I'm exhausted. Working full time, going to school full time, plus the craft fair. It's been a crazy week.

There was no table fee, and after my initial yarn purchase (which I can make many scarves and headbands from still), I've made a profit of $14. That doesn't sound like much, but between display stuff for my table, supplies, and lighting, I ended up spending about $70. I'm just happy to have made a profit after three days. It gives me hope I could actually make money doing this.

Oil Pulling Update 2 and Crafting!

I'm up to about 15 minutes now on oil pulling! I've also started taking 2000mg of Vitamin D3. I'm not sure which vitamin D is best to take, but that's what I found on sale. I'm experiencing a little less sensitivity to cold things.

I've also noticed that I'm less hungry after oil pulling. Normally I'm starving in the morning, but after oil pulling I've got no appetite for a couple of hours.

No visible cavity reduction yet, but it's only been a few weeks.

As for my craft fair, things are going really well!

Slytherin Headband

I've sold two scarves! I would've sold a third, but I wasn't done with it at the time. I'm going to be doing a lot of crocheting this week.

Yesterday was the second night (out of 12) and I broke even! Of course, today I'm going to the store to buy some lighting so my table isn't quite as dark, which will put me back in the red, and there isn't a table fee, but still, not too bad for two nights.  I'm trying to talk the venue in to doing a holiday craft fair.

I currently sell at a local non-profit community center. They hold plays a few times a year to earn money. Everything is organized and run by volunteers and they don't receive any state or city funding. I really like this place. They do good work for the community and a lot of the kids are from low income families. They can't all afford to do sports or summer camps. Instead they do the plays that raise the money. It's wonderful. I think they should do a holiday craft fair and make people pay to set up tables. Our huge street fair that we have biannually down town charges $150 to set up your own table for two weekends. If they were to charge $40 and ask for donations as well, they could earn quite a bit of money and help support local artists. Plus $40 is pretty on-par with other small craft fairs around town. They could even bring in food trucks! Food trucks pay a lot of money to set up at our downtown craft fair.

I'm hoping I don't get roped in to organizing it. It's all volunteer and I don't want to be volunteered. I don't have the time to do it.

Speaking of time, I'm really hoping to quit my job. I shouldn't, since we're working on getting a house, but they just don't pay me enough at work to justify the misery.

Oil Pulling Update!

I've been faithfully oil pulling 3-5 days per week for the last month and I'm seeing some improvements. I can't say my two or three small cavities (all right along the gum lines on two teeth for sure and possibly a third) look better, but my teeth look better over all. I know longer have dark stains on my front teeth and they feel smooth, not rough like before.

Silly face, but shiny teeth!

I've given up my daily soda habit as well. I used to drink a 2-liter every two days or so. I'm down to a glass if we go out or special occasions (about once a week). While this is also likely healthier for me, I did it for my teeth. In addition, I've started taking 2400mg of flaxseed oil daily. Some websites recommend fish oil, cod liver oil, or flaxseed oil because of the omega 3s. I used to do keto (an ultra low carb diet) and flaxseed oil was one of the recommended supplements, so that's what I have on hand.

My current oil pulling routine:

• Oil pull with cold pressed coconut oil for 10-12 minutes right after waking (I haven't worked up to 20 yet) - spit in trash.
• Rinse and swish with warm water - this is okay to spit in the sink.
• Take 2400mg of flaxseed oil.
• Brush teeth as usual with traditional toothpaste (fluoride).
• Rinse with alcohol free and non-fluoride mouth wash. 

My new plan is to introduce a new homemade toothpaste.

I found this blog post that also shows healing: Regrow Enamel and Heal Cavities Naturally from Marvinsblogsite. He thoroughly documents his experience with many pictures. He didn't even oil pull and seemed to have healed a pretty significant cavity. He recommends fish oil, a daily multivitamin, Vitamin-D, Calcium supplement, and drinking copious amount of water during and immediately after a meal as well as nightly mouthwash (though he doesn't specify what kind or give any details). At the end of the post he also cites some research and links for further education (something I really appreciate!). 

I'm going to introduce vitamin-D and a calcium supplement next time I have some extra cash.

Credit Card Success!

John's credit card finally came in the mail! I'm so glad. I was a bit worried he would be denied.

This is a great start! John has a plan to pay off some of his smaller debts using his credit card. Hopefully this will improve his credit faster and we can be out of here before next summer. Our summers are brutal and I do not want to be moving, much less fixing up a place, when it's 115 degrees out! It's not happening.

The credit counselor said that it'd probably take us about 8 months, but our loan agent is optimistic and thinks that we could be good to go in as little as a few months. I don't want to try to move during the holidays (not that we do much decorating, but it'll be tough to recruit moving help between work schedules, kids' vacations, and holiday plans.

We're going to check John's credit score in January. If his credit is anywhere near 650 we'll reach out to the loan officer again and see what he says.

Homestead Lifestyle Plan

It occurred to me the other day, that I've yet to really say what my homestead plans are.

This always makes me laugh!

My goal is to eventually go 100% off grid. I may be dreaming, given that I live in the desert and finding lots with wells are rare at best, so I may need to accept that I'll be on grid for at least water.

By 2020 (that seems a long ways away, doesn't it?), I want to provide 80% of my family's food. I'm not going to grow my own wheat or grind my own flour, but I'd like to provide 95% of our meat and 99% of our vegetables.

Step One: Buy a house and plant a garden. Seems obvious, right?
Step Two: Procure meat rabbits.

New Zealand meat rabbits!

Why meat rabbits? Well, John doesn't care for beef or pork (or dark meat for that matter). I don't know what's wrong with him. Anyway, that means we eat a lot of chicken breasts. Chicken is great, but I've heard it can be tricky to butcher and prepare correctly. My sister has had a few hens that have become dinner. She says that it didn't go well. One stank, the other two were dry and grisly and eventually went to the dogs. Meat rabbits on the other hand are all white meat and typically taste like chicken.

John is worried that he won't be able to kill the rabbits because he raised a bunny as a kid. I can respect that. Rabbits are small enough I could easily kill and clean one myself. My sister raises pigs and she said I could have all the pig fat I'd like to make ground rabbit in exchange for some meat. Whoo! Everything tastes better with some pig fat. We recently started deep frying in bacon grease. It's so good. It adds a richness to fried chicken that makes it even more satisfying. It makes my mouth water thinking about it.

I've found a woman in a nearby town who has offered to teach me how to kill and butcher rabbits in exchange for crochet lessons! I also found a butcher nearby who can get me rabbit meat. I'm planning on breading and deep frying some of it and turning the rest into shredded meat for enchiladas.

I'm not at all worried that I won't like it. I'm not picky. If prepared right, anything can taste good. John is a different story... I hope that preparing it in a way that imitates his favorite chicken recipes will make him enjoy it.

In addition to delicious rabbit meat, we'll get rabbit hide which I can tan to make moccasins, trim crafted items, line pockets, and make blankets. I want to avoid wasting as much as possible.

Step Three: Chickens.
My sister loves her chickens. I love her chickens. They're sweet, smart, and friendly. Although she's has trouble getting her chickens to taste good once cooked, her chickens are really layers, not fryers. I want layers. I'll be happy to try cooking one if I have too many, but my real goal is to keep them for their eggs.

Step Four: Dairy Goats!

My sweet mother-in-law-to-be has offered to buy my a dairy goat! I'm hoping it will be a wedding present. I want Nubian goats.

Look at that face!

Nubian goats are great because they're good milk producers and decent meat producers. Originally I had been leaning toward Nigerian Dwarfs but then I realized that I'd have to do something with the bucks...and they aren't worth feeding for meat. With bucks being about 150 pounds full grown, killing two a year should keep us rolling in meat (in addition to rabbit). John is even more skeptical  about eating goat (it's supposed to taste like a slightly sweeter beef), but he's more than happy to help me clean and dress goats. The good thing about keeping larger goats is they can hang out with the dogs. Big goats=safer goats when it comes to dogs. Plus Nubians are supposed to be smart and child friendly! We're very iffy on how to most humanely kill them. John says a guillotine sounds like a good idea (most people advocate slicing the throat) as a gun has the possibility of not killing it immediately, damaging the meat (I want to save the neck!), or missing completely and injuring another animal/window/etc. I'm not sure how we'll explain having a guillotine on the homestead though.

Along the same lines of the rabbits, I want to not waste the goats. The hide will likely be turned in to jackets, boots, gloves, etc. I've never tried organ meat, but I have a friend who loves liver and can either teach me how to cook it, or I can always gift it to her. "Merry Christmas! Have some goat livers!"

 

Loan Snag

Great news: we qualify for the loan. Bad news: we don't qualify for the loan yet.

We make a small enough amount of money, I have good credit, John has good work history and income, the only problem is that John has awful credit. We're stuck where we're at for 6-8 more months, depending on how well John handles his secured credit card. Of course, by then it'll be 100+ degrees out. I do not want to move when it's that hot, and I also don't want to  pay to cool a larger house if I can wait it out here just a few more months.

Ugh.

A Little Melt Down

I had a little melt down yesterday while trying to bake a cake. When I closed the oven door, my kitchen floor shifted, rocking the book case that I use as a counter, and throwing my freshly completed cake batter and my hand mixer on to the ground. Cake batter covered the cabinets, the clean dishes sitting on the bookcase, and broke my hand mixer.

It's hard living with 12"x28" of counter space. I cook, bake, and can. It's so difficult and frustrating having no counter space and trying to do anything. On top of that, we're stuck for at least another six months. There's no sense in moving somewhere else for just six month. Plus we couldn't find anywhere cheaper that would let us keep our dogs.

I just hate feeling helpless.

Beginning the Loan Process

Some may wonder why I've started this blog when I'm not really on a homestead yet. Why should I start it now? Well, John and I are beginning the loan process! We no longer live paycheck-to paycheck, but it's been really hard saving up money for a down payment. Well, I was doing research and found out that the USDA has a zero-down home loan program! If you're looking to move to a rural community and are lower-middle class or poorer, you likely qualify.

We found a loan officer to work with, I work with a very sweet woman who happens to be a Realtor on the side, and we completed the beginning of the loan process! The area want to live in qualifies, we are within the income requirements, and only have one problem: John's credit. One awful girlfriend ago, John ended up in debt over needing to break a lease. He was slammed with fees and fines and like any 20-something guy, he hid from it. Well, now it's come back to bite him in a big way. Our loan officer has directed us to a credit analyst who is going to advise John on the best course of action.

Our plan is to have his credit up high enough to qualify for our loan by January. We live in the desert. We don't want to be moving and fixing up a house when it's 100 degrees out! If we qualify in January, that gives us until mid April to find a place and fix it up. Hopefully that's enough time. If not, we'll hold out through the summer (our utilities bills are way cheaper where we currently live then anywhere we want to buy) and buy this time next year.

Oil Pulling

I'm undecided on whether or not oil pulling is hippy bullshit or really cool alternative oral care. I'd read about oil pulling a few years ago and had given it a shot in addition to brushing my teeth. The results? A lot less staining and yellowing. My teeth looked pretty decent. For someone who drink at least 44 oz of soda 5 days a week as well as a ton of iced tea, my teeth looked really white! But then I fell out of the habit.

For those who don't know about oil pulling, you essentially swish coconut oil (or other oil) in your mouth for 15-20 minutes first thing in the morning. That's it. No brushing, no flossing, nothing.

I noticed recently that my gums were receding a bit and I had a dark spot or two along the gum lines of a few teeth.

There's no attractive face I can make to show my gums.

 I still drink a ton of diet soda (it's my one vice), but after oil pulling for about a week, my teeth are pretty white!

I look a little hung over, oops.

As opposed to a dew months ago:

My friend and me at a concert in July.

What got me started again was reading this post from Trina Holden's blog. She recommends organic, cold pressed coconut oil, but I don't like the taste of coconut and already had some regular refined coconut oil in the cabinet. When that runs out I may try organic, refined coconut oil, but I really don't like coconut enough to swish it in my mouth for 15+ minutes.

A First Taste of Entrepreneurship

Late last night I posted a photo of my Slytherin scarf in progress on Facebook

The caption said "I've missed knitting"

When I woke up early this morning, I had three requests. This really gives me hope that I can actually earn money doing this. Will I be paid less than a homeless man? Yes, but that's alright.I knit because it's soothing and I love it. A lot of people complain because I'm robbing people who try to earn an hourly wage crafting. I think of it more in terms of a farmer. The amount of time put in to tilling and prepping the soil, planting the seeds, removing the weeds, fertilizing, dealing with bugs, and harvesting essentially means that when you're paying a few dollars for some carrots at the farmers' market, they too aren't really earning a livable hourly wage - depending on the affluence of the shoppers.

Sometimes I feel a bit guilty, as though I'm robbing those other people, but I want to earn money. I'm charging the same as the average Etsy seller. Fairness and profit don't usually go together.

Scrap Yarn Blanket

Where we currently live has no vent system. Luckily, we live in a relatively temperate climate, but it gets cold at night in a trailer with no insulation and no heater. Last year our space heater went out. We have a small one we turn on in the bathroom while we shower and get ready, but the large one bit the dust. It's probably a good thing though as it was expensive and got warm enough we (or one of the dogs) could have burned ourselves.

I love to knit and crochet. It also means I have an insurmountable pile of yarn - or I did. After using up as much yarn as I could for my scrap blanket I can now fit all of my yarn into one big tote, and I have this blanket:

Picture on our Queen size bed, but would fit a King.

I even added a cute border to use up more yarn!

Cute border

This is actually a modified granny square pattern (as some may be able to tell from the border). Instead of building out from a center point, it's done corner to corner in diagonal. I don't learn well from videos, so I used directions from Crochet Spot. Great pictures, easy to read directions, and photos for both left and right-handed hookers. What could be better?

I did mine with three strands of yarn, and a large mystery hook I found in my car. It has no identification markings on it. It's larger than a K (the larges hook I have that has markings), but not much. Regardless, I wasn't following a true pattern so I just grabbed it because it seemed like a comfortable size for three strands of yarn. As for the weights of my yarn, they're all over the place. It was just whatever I had. As I ran out of one strand, I would just tie another right on (hence the random stripe width). It worked out nicely, and I'm actually really pleased with how the finished piece looks.

For the border, I once again used three strands, cream, tan (or variegated browns) and dark brown. I hadn't included any of those colors in my blanket so I thought it'd make a nice contrasting border. I did a traditional granny square pattern (3dc in each space around) and no modifications needed to be made. It was really simple, just like adding on to any regular granny square. To finish the edge off, I single crocheted three rounds along the edge to give it a nice defined edge. It also gave the blanket a little firmer shape, so it isn't as easily stretched and misshapen.

The nice open weave of the granny squares has made this a nice light blanket for the cool evenings we've been having. It's actually a really heavy blanket (weight wise). I think this winter it will be nice because it will weigh down the rest of our blankets and not be as likely to slip off without us noticing. I hate when my top blanket slips to the floor and I  don't realize it. With how heavy this one is, we'll know.

On an ironic note, I actually had to buy one cream skein and one tan skein to complete the border. I did use 85% of both skein at least. I also went and bought new yarn the day I finished this blanket. In my defense, I am planning to sell what I make with the new yarn.

Trailer Park Garden

Right now, I live in a small trailer park. Unlike most people though, I'm incredibly fortunate to have a small yard. Last spring we put in grass because our yard was made of silt and dust, and our dogs did nothing but carry that fine powdery sand into the house. 600 square feet, three dogs, and pounds of sand ground into the carpet and I finally had enough. As non-desert friendly grass is, it was a worthwhile sacrifice. Currently our washing machine drains into the yard and it waters a good portion of our 100 square feet of grass.

The grass needs to be trimmed!

A few weeks back, I planted sugar pumpkins! Sugar pumpkins are the pumpkins used to make pumpkin pie or pumpkin cookies.  In the shadowy corner is my pumpkin patch.

My pumpkin patch is surrounded by chicken wire to keep the dogs from accidentally trampling them. To my surprise, morning glories popped up and grew along my chicken wire.

Volunteer morning glories!

With the crazy amount of rain we've been getting (almost 4 inches in one day!), my pumpkins have taken off.

The largest leaf is as big as my hand.

 No flowers yet, but hopefully I'll have pumpkins by the time Thanksgiving rolls around!

New Blog!

I'm really excited to start this new blog. I'm hoping it will help me stay focused on working toward my dreams. Read all about what this blog will be and where I'm starting out on the About page.