Pocket Pause

December 20, 2012

A Corgi Secret Santa? Yes, Please!

We recently participated in a secret Santa – corgi style! Hosted by Kelly from Corgi Butts, this Secret Santa was strictly for corgis and a whole lotta fun!

Pocket was pretty darned stoked when she found out that the package from UPS really was for her! (she thinks all packages are for her) She had a great time opening her supremely awesome presents, and i felt a little bad for having sent maybe not as awesome of presents….. but then i did just buy a farm and have limited cash on hand… no excuse i suppose. They were some of Pocket’s favorite things though!

Do you see the “woah, i’m totally stoked” expresion on her face? haha! Anyhoo – i hope my little Corgi friend, Kipper enjoys his new toy and baths with his new, all natural shampoo – because i KNOW Pocket is going to have an AWESOME TIME with her new toys at her new farm next week. We can’t wait to try them out!!!

Thank you, Sadie-Corgi and your mom!

ps – check out Pocket’s awesome new trick, “Balance”

Have you ever participated in a secret Santa gift exchange? Awesome, embarrassing, fun, or lame?

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Filed under Dogs/ Corgis, Pocket Pause

Tagged as corgi, gift exchange, secret santa

December 19, 2012

Welcome to Our New Farm!

And heeeere we go – the beginning of our great journey! It even came with snow!

We’ll see how long i put up with that pool table in the middle of the room….. It’s a pretty swell place with a laundry list of projects… already! I think i’m in love. Though i could do without the dead mouse in the toilet.

Was your home “move in ready” or did you have to use a little (or a lot) of elbow grease?

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Filed under The Homestead

December 17, 2012

Farm Update: “Before”

As some of you may have heard/red: we signed our closing papers on Friday and should get the keys to our new farm today! Expect this blog to be a bit on the quiet side for the next few weeks as we pack, renovate, festivate and get settled. It is my plan to post updates along the way as we transform this roomy, retro house into a homey, welcoming farmhouse. I can’t wait to utilize all the light from the many windows (that need to be replaced) for my photographs and finally get back to posting about homesteading, vs coping with apartment life.

To begin – here are some “before” shots:

We have many projects ahead of us around these 17 acres and two floors, and hopefully many years of many laughs and smiles. I hope you’ll join us for the journey!

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Filed under The Homestead

Tagged as before and after, homestead, kings valley, monmouth, oregon, pedee

December 14, 2012

Fiber Friday: My First Mittens!

I coined 2012 as the “year for wrist warmers” earlier in the Summer… and have yet to knit a pair. BUT i knit my husband a pair of mittens for our evening walks instead! I’m not completely satisfied, but he is and that’s what counts.

Read on for the pattern and my suggestions/reflections.

Firstly, i find knitting for others a bit challenging, as i can’t use my own body parts as a reference as i knit. Luckily i live with this gift recipient, so i was able to borrow his hands on occasion. Secondly, i really hate knitting swatches. A lot. Despite both of these hangups, i tried out this free pattern by Martha Stewart for a pair of traditional mittens for my dear husband who gets such chilly digits.

The pattern reads quite easily and is not challenging in its construction. The gray stripe looks a little wonky on these mits because i used some handspun yarn that wasn’t quite the same gauge – they’d be tighter and smoother along the wrist if i’d better matched the yarn thicknesses. I like the little curled cuff and made it a bit shorter than the pattern called for. My major complaint with this pattern is the directions on how to decrease for the fingers. There isn’t any. I guessed and decreased one like a sock and the other like a hat, and don’t love the results with either. I’m also quite displeased with the holes at the join between hand and thumb, but that’s probably more my fault than the pattern’s.