beauty and the beast

My loot from the market. The flowers and honey are from Halsey and Ross of Hickory Green Farm, the tomatoes are from Pleasant Fields Farm, cucumbers from Greenwood Farm, rosemary foccacia from Manakintowne Specialty Growers, and million dollar pound cake from the Dutch Oven Bakery. It's all for grandma and grandpa's birthday dinner tonight, should be a great start. I always wish I had more time to shop for us at the market, but I can usually manage to scoop up the last of some good things around noon each Saturday.

Now for the beast.


That's our house there, suspended in mid-air. Missing is the big beam supporting the house where that big hole is, but as you can see below,


the beam had to go. I still don't know how Kevin replaces beams under the house without it falling down, but of course that's why he's the expert and I am NOT.

Basically, this sums up my feelings on the renovation project:

labor cost of tearing up old porch, getting rid of skunk den and rebuilding: zero dollars.
material cost of replacing termite eaten beam under the kitchen: thirty dollars.
value of a husband who can fix anything: priceless.

And I leave you with this shot (no pun intended).


Just two of MANY bottles like them that we've found during all stages of gutting, repairing and renovating this 1930's farmhouse. The glass is raised into letters on the sides of the bottles that reads, "Pain King". Gee, I wonder what was in those?

the Squirrel Hunter

There he is, the lucky man who won my baby bootie/hat set and handmade hemp basket in last week's raffle at the market. I knew as I donated the items that perhaps they would go to the most unlikely of winners. I was not dissappointed. As he pondered aloud what he might do with them, he decided that the basket would be good for carrying home the dead squirrels he so likes to hunt. The guys selling orchids next to me thought that was an all out riot and didn't let me forget it the rest of the morning. But as my squirrel hunter walked away he mentioned something about having a wife. In fact, I think she's the soap vendor, and so I said, "Please give them to your wife, she'll know what to do with them!"

Now I ask you, if you knew that my items were in the raffle along with a necklace from another vendor, and you were a big, burly squirrel hunter, would you have bought a ticket?? Oh well, I suppose he's just showing his market support.

If you're in the area, come see me tomorrow. Here's the link to the market page showing the full vendor lineup. I have a new tent as I seem to have broken the other one. It's blue.

In other exciting news, the wheels in my head have really been turning about carving out a little workspace of my own and it's actually coming to fruition. After coninuing to read "The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck, M.D. I've come to the conclusion that shoving myself in a disorganized corner of our bedroom is not demonstrating good self-care. It in fact is sending the message to me and everyone else that I don't deserve to take up space. On the contrary, I know full well that that's not how Kevin or anyone else views my business, it's my own battle in my head I've got to overcome. And in turn, my lack of organization and self care negatively impacts the family in small and insidious ways when that are not at all my intention. The tides are turning.

So the plan is in place. I reorganized yesterday, cleared out a set of shelves (gifted from an attic Kevin was tearing off someone's house) and moved them into the girls room which they desperately needed. I spotted a $50 old kitchen farm table at my favorite thrift/antique store which is going to be perfect as a table for my computer, filing, jewelry-making. I'm planning on rearranging more furniture in the fireplace room which has little traffic this time of year, and will bring some of it up to our bedroom which once and for all may actually be a normal bedroom, sans business and computer. My work table will go in the fireplace room and I'll use a chair that's already in there. I'll have to figure out different shelving for that room for my knitting stuff and the second set of old shelves I clear off will also go to the girls. They'll get an organized, picked up room and have a greater chance of keeping it that way as a result.

But for now, I have alot of loose ends to tie up before tomorrow and some wonderful kids to take swimming. You should see that bright pink cast in the pool--it's like a beacon, I can see her coming from a mile away! Okay, maybe not a mile.

Mayberry

Atlas, a recently sheared alpaca made his rounds, Mary's red onions looked so good I wanted to buy one even though I'm allergic to them,


and a great crowd of well over 800 came out to enjoy the market despite early morning sprinkles. It was another one of those days where it seemed everyone I knew was somehow connected to someone else I knew. But the kicker was when a woman who I've worked with as a PT for 13 years came up and told me her granddaughter was one of the vendors right next to me and that her other grandchild in Wisconsin had one of my hats and she just realized today it had come from me.

I don't use Mayberry as a derogatory term, I've just found it startling over the past few months how interconnected it seems we all are. Or maybe this is normal for people and it's just me who's finally getting out there and participating in life. Whatever the case, it sure is fun and I'm meeting some great people. Like Halsey, of Hickory Green Farm who not only keeps sending her friends my way, but she also gives me some of the most amazing cut flowers week after week and as an added bonus, a dozen eggs today. Her sunflowers have exploded,


and if she doesn't let me give her something in trade I'm going to have to resort to sneaking jewelry into her purse.

The chocolate dipped booties are gone, definitely a hit. And hats, hats, hats. I know what I'll be making this week!

Market Report

In just two days the market opens and I'm surprisingly calm. Busy, but calm. My whole table is setup in the fireplace room (as we call it) just to see how much I have, if I can spread it out a little more than usual, and beacause I haven't set it up since last November. I've discovered I have enough to look respectable. I also need another card-size table just for jewelry. I'm short some of my bigger pieces, some of the more special purses and such, but I'll be making more as the summer progresses.

For now I wanted to give you the link again to the market so you can check it often, as they will be posting weekly updates from each of the 43(!) vendors. Also, if you visit the market you can sign your name on their email list and receive weekly updates from Cricket (market manager) as to what each vendor will be offering for the week.

I realized too that many of you have never seen me at a market or show, and that I don't have time to list everything I make in my Etsy shop. So here are a few pictures to tease, and hopefully the folks who are local can stop by to visit!

Belts for little girls:



Belts for big girls:


And a smattering of jewelry:
(there's more :))


And I almost forgot, an overflowing bowl full of headbands. I'll start on the keychains next. Hope to see many of you there!