The Oldest Girl Doing Her Thing

By now everyone knows the oldest girl is back from college for at least another month and a half. While she is here, she is always willing to help me with whatever project I am doing at the time. She has really been a big help so far and I will miss her when she goes back.

She has two more years of learning to do before she transfers back home to get her masters or better. She started off in a dorm and found out real quick that was not for her. Then she moved to an apartment and the same happen in about the same amount of time. I guess it's hard to grow up in the country and then be thrown into city living like that. Now when she goes back in August she will be moving into a real house with a real yard where she is planning on having a garden and a chicken or two for eggs.
Her major need is furniture. We all know that college kids don't have much of anything and what they do find on the side of road is wore out and ready for the dump.

Instead of going through the expense of buying new like some kids do with rich daddy's, she decided to make her own, so she went down and raided the barn.

She found an old night stand and hideaway sewing machine a friend of mine gave her years ago, then sanded and painted them both.
  

Here is the cool part, she rebuilt the sewing machine cabinet it into a vanity with mirrors and working lights. She kept the old leg switch so she can adjust the intensity of the lights when she is fixing her face and hair.

When closed it will double as her desk. 

She also found a big desk at a garage sell for free and cut it down to a bench. Then she stuffed the top to make it a pillow where she will sit at her window and read.






Now she is looking to make a bed. She is wanting an old fashioned rope bed, but I don't think that will be comfortable enough for her. In a few weeks I will have enough corn husks to stuff it with but that may be going too far back in time.

I am really proud of her for reusing old junk and making it into something usable again. All she actually bought was a light and gallon of paint for all this. 

Condiment Caddy

I found something like this on Pinterest and thought it was something I could use so I built it.

It's a Condiment Caddy that holds whatever you need so you don't have to take up table space. Plus you can have two or three of these things at the bigger parties so everyone can find their forks, napkins and whatever else you choose to put in it.
It's a very simple build that will keep people out of your house rummaging through drawers looking for a spoon. And you will never again have to hear the question, "Wheres the forks?"

No big deal, I just thought is was kinda neat. This will come in handy on the 4th.






That's all I got for now.
MDR
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A Full "To Do" List

The weekend "To Do" list started off small and easy earlier in the week. I am not so naive that I thought it would stay that way, but I was hoping.

The Mini Farm is growing again and with that so are the things to do. We have spent a lot of time playing around and all that did was put off the things that needed to done. A procrastinator I am not, but I sure liked not "Having" to do as much. Instead I did what I wanted to do.
We added some new little chickens, a rare breed the wife says, for a new market. They should be laying in a month or so. Plus we added some heavy breed chickens again to keep the market we already had. More little goats are in the pasture and chicks are hatching out everywhere. We also have some turkeys in the incubator and are waiting to see how that turns out.  

People are coming by for tours again and I am happy to have them. The place looks amazing.

The gardens are going better then ever.This picture is of the cucumbers climbing the outside of the garden shade. Last year this alone was more than I needed in pickles, relishes and everything else we could think of. As a matter of fact I just ran out of sweet relish this week from last years harvest.

Tomorrow I go and pick up some meat rabbits. We have always raised and sold show rabbits so this time I want to do something different. They will be going into a Rabbit Tractor and will be pasture raised. I hardly ever see meat rabbits for sell around here so I am hoping to start a small market for them. 

I also found a couple of nice little things on Pinterest I was wanting to build this weekend. At lunch today I stopped by the big box store and picked up a couple of items to help me do just that. I will show the pictures of the finished product when they are done.

Other than that, I have a major amount of maintenance to get done this weekend, wasps to kill and some organizing of a few things that are driving me crazy. 

Enjoy,the weekend
MDR

The Little Things

 I just finished making the wife's outdoor serving trays.

Last weekend we were at the flea market and she came across some she wanted to buy. Eighteen bucks each for scrap wood nailed together was a little out of the price range for me and we passed.
So she said "You can make me some."

And that's what I did. She wanted three different sizes so they stack for easy storage. I decided to give them a burnt finish for that nice rustic look.

The wife put on the clear glossy finish to make them look professional and I think she did a great job.
The small one is big enough to hold a bottle of wine and two wine glasses for that romantic late evening out on the swing.

Now on to the next item on the list. 

Get In the Zone

 Being back on track and with a new focus, I find myself once again flooded with new ideas. If I don't watch it, I will right back in the same pit of stress I just crawled out of.

 Add in my new past time of Competition Chili Cooking and now things are busier than they were before. Plus all the work I neglected over the summer and couple that with repeatedly being told everything I do is wrong and it's all my fault has the stress levels on the rise again. But fear not, there is hope and I call it Refuge.   

Do you ever get into a zone? You know what I'm talking about, kinda like that thousand yard stare sort of thing, but while your doing something. I guess the best way to describe it is like being lost in your own world and everything around you does not exist or even matter until you snap out of whatever it is you are doing. It's a zone where hunger pains do not exist, where you could go for hours without eating and only until you stop do you realize you are in need of a drink, food or even sleep as far as that goes. In that total state of "doing" you are free. Free of all the worries and problems you might be going through. It's a calming place where you and only you exist and time has no meaning.
So have I freaked you out yet? No really, I bet everyone reading this can relate one way or another to what I am saying either by doing gardening, reading, wood working and so on.

Recently I bought a shop, no I did not build it but bought it. It's the first shop I have had for several years and the first real fully functioning one ever. I had the building delivered and that day I went to work on building shelves and work benches. It has already made things easier and it was well worth the money. That shop is my refuge. When I walk in there all worries stay at the door. That is where I get in that zone I described above.

This past couple of weeks I have been building stuff for our Chili Booth. October 6th we will be doing our first trial run at setting up the booth and cooking our chilies for judges, a mock run so to speak. The judges will consist of around fifteen family and friends. This will help us out and get us ready for our first real event the following weekend.
Even though it's a mock event, the top three winning chilies still needs some kind of recognition so last night after work I walked in and zoned out.
It has been a really long time since I built anything small. My wood working tools are old and rusted, sandpaper that is so old it crumbles when used and most of the blades are twenty years old or older but still cut. I found out real quick I don't have as steady of a hand as I once did nor do I have the best eye sight I once had.
But in the end I really don't think that it matters that much. As long as I found my happy place and enjoyed what I was doing stress free.


Not a bad job I don't think for some scrap wood and a bunch of old tools. I still need to complete the ones for second and third places and then put some sort of finish on them. I haven't decided on paint or stain yet.

 I don't guess I have a moral for the story but I can tell ya this, get up and find something to do and when you are feeling stressed, get in the zone.



Thanks to all that entered the T-Shirt giveaway and if you haven't done so it's easy. Just go to the post below and leave a comment that you want one. The drawing will be in less than two weeks so hurry.