EB

Otherwise known as, "An Opportunity to Brag on One of My Extremely Creative Friends".

EB (short for Emily Brown) is yet another person who I met in Colorado (one of the first, actually--she helped me shovel wood chips and spoke the entire first in an Irish accent). She is highly creative in several aspects--notably poetry, songwriting, and leatherworking.

She made this, which has been my journal for the past several months (the proceeds went towards my friend Tess, who was fighting spinal cancer at the time--she loves butterflies).

To say that I love this journal would be an understatement of the century.

It was also kind of exciting to find leaves that matched the cover. It made my little artistic mind very happy.

M-bar-M, or M-M, is EB's brand on all of her work. (Speaking of her work, you should check it out if you get a chance. Seriously.)







The following project has something of a story behind it. I had this canvas knapsack that belonged to my grandpa (on my dad's side) during WWII. It had been in a closet for ages, until it was pulled out for use by one of my brothers. They didn't use it much, so I grabbed it and made very good use out of it for about 8 years (from ages 14-22).

By last year it was starting to fall apart--the canvas was double-layered, but holes were starting to tear in the bottom and the straps were beginning to part from the back. It was to the point where I didn't use it at all, for fear that it would fall apart in my hands.

A couple of months ago I had the germ of an idea, and I texted EB to ask her what she thought. My idea was to send her the existing bag, have her use it as a pattern, and reuse the hardware as best she could.

This was the bag before:



(So floppy and sad....)

And this was after.

*screaming internally*

She did an incredible job, and every time I look at it I can't get over the sheer gorgeousness: how it was put together, the fact that she incorporated some of the original canvas (serial numbers ftw!), how much of the original hardward survived the process...I can't get over it.

I use it every day and love it to death. :3

Since getting this back I've handed out almost all the business cards she gave me, and know of at least one person who has ordered something due to my singing her praises. With that said, if you ever want a leather creation of great quality, go to her first. Not only will you be supporting a private entrepreneur, but all of her work is of incomparable quality and custom-designed to last a lifetime.

There's not many things that one can say that about. (And if you ever see M-M in stores, you'll know who makes them!)

Okay, I'm done bragging. For now....

Twenty-Fourteen: A Recap (Part 3)

October 2014

As mentioned before: my Aunt Amy and I had been talking back and forth about plans post-ranch, and she suggested (especially since her boss had offered the job) that I could apply to work at her office. My life motto at the time was 'well, why not?' (one good thing about the summer is that it seemed to make me a little more daring), so I sent in the application, had an interview over the phone, and was looking for a place to live. Amy or I would find a place online, and she would go check it out for me. By the time I was ready to leave the ranch on October 5^th, we still hadn't found a place. So I decided to drive to her place, stay for 2-3 days, finish up the application process, and try to find a place to live. That didn't give us much time, but it was at least something.

Wonder of wonders: the day after I drove there we found a little quadplex about 5 minutes from the office (I finally got pictures of it around Christmas).

Looking in the front door...

Kitchen area!

Living room....

There's a fireplace too!

Upstairs...

There are windows to open so that all the warm air will heat up the upstairs

Mine bed

The "craft room" (currently it's littered with fabric and the makings of a quilt)

The next two weeks were very fast paced: I drove home on the 9^th, spent the next week and a half packing, and my parents helped me move on the 20^th. (Happy birthday to me…) Mom and Dad stayed for the remainder of that week helping me move in and such, and on the 27^th I started working for State Farm.

The learning curve for State Farm has been a fairly sharp one. The first week was completely overwhelming, of course, but as of December 17^th I was officially licensed in Property and Casualty and am becoming more confident in what I can do at the office.

I will say that initially, when my aunt mentioned possibly working for State Farm, my reaction was 'ugh'. The idea of sitting for 8-9 hours a day staring at a computer screen didn't sound like my idea of fun, especially after spending most of my working life in moderately to extremely active jobs. So I thought that I would give it a year, and if I didn't like it at the end of the year then I could do something else.

But now I'm not so sure that I could uproot myself so quickly after doing so once. And the job is a lot more interesting than I initially gave it credit. There's a lot to know, and a lot to do, and each day brings something different to the table. I'm discovering that I really like the area—it reminds me a bit of home, though for some reason the first question I get when people learn that I've just moved is 'have you adjusted to the culture shock yet?' (If 'culture shock' is measured in 'lack of good dentistry', then no, I haven't quite gotten over that yet.)

The job is sedentary, yes, but I've been making up for that in walking 4-5 times a week. Usually I can get in at least two miles over my lunch break, and if the sun is still up at 5 I can go to a little state park nearby to squeeze in another mile or two. I've found a place to ride horses, and the owners are incredibly nice and welcoming people--basically they say 'come over and ride whenever you want whatever you want!' and it's great. There is also a little mare on one of my walking routes, and I would desperately like to find the owner (partially to see if they would mind my playing with her, and partially to find out why she still has one foot shod while the rest are barefoot. Anyway.).

It's a little strange living alone, to be sure, though after the initial shock of quietness it's really not too bad. It's nice to be able to come home, cook a little dinner, work on some projects, and shut everything down by 9 PM. The only issue is the possibility of turning into a hermit…but I'm so peopled-out by the end of the day that it's nice to not have to interact with anyone (unless I go ride) On Thursdays I've been invited to attend a women's Bible study, and most weekends I spend cleaning the house or cooking for the rest of the week (I try to cook ahead so I don't have to worry about lunch prep) or going for a hike or plugging away at whatever project I happen to be working on.

Speaking of projects, I've begun what I'm informally referring to as 'the year-long project': a quilt that is completely hand-pieced. It's in a hummingbird pattern, and based off of an antique quilt top that my mom is currently finishing. I didn't have the actual pattern, so I drew one looking at pictures and working off of the measurements Mom gave me. All the fabrics are somewhat old-fashioned: small floral prints, larger floral prints, polka dots, muted solids, etc. I've mostly been cutting out the pieces for now…but it's going to be something of an undertaking. The biggest thing to remember is to not get in a hurry, and to realize that it's probably going to take the better part of the year just to piece it. I've thought about making it queen-size…or maybe just a lap throw to start. We'll see. XD

And that just about brings us up to date…I'll try to blog when I think of it. I haven't been taking any pictures lately…to be honest, when it's just me and I don't have a subject (usually it was the dog, or a horse, or people at the ranch) every picture I take seems kind of dull. It doesn't help that 90% of the time for the past month it's been gloomy, rainy, cloudy, and cold out. I'm not complaining, mind—but just letting y'all know why there are no pictures.

With that said, keep a weather eye out, and I'll try to come back before another 8 months lapse again!

Maple Syrup

 Finally, after an experimental batch, we have maple syrup! 

Well...first we had maple sugar. This was because the first batch was put on too high of a temperature all night long, and it crystallized before we could bring it into the house to finish it off. I had read about how to finish the syrup, and completely forgot about that part in my excitement to get a result.

Thankfully the trees have been flowing a LOT, and I was able to get a second batch up and running within the same day.

To finish the syrup, we strained the sap (which had turned an amber color and while thick wasn't quite at that gooey stage yet), poured it into a pot, strapped a candy thermometer to the side, and let it come to a boil.

It actually started boiling at around 208 F, and hovered there for about half an hour. In that time the color darkened slightly and, when allowed to dribble off a spoon, the free dribble turned into a sticky drip.

Once the temperature started rising above 210, no matter how low I turned the stove, I immediately poured the stuff into a jar to let it cool.

And boom. Maple syrup. Easy peasy.

I don't think it will ever darken, but the consistency and flavor are AMAZING so I don't care. I also may or may not have put some on my bacon later....<.< >.>

Now it's time for 'Crazy Things People Say When They Find Out You're Making Maple Syrup'!

The #1 question I've gotten so far when talking about the evaporation process is: "You don't have to add anything to it?"

Answer: No. The sap is mostly water, with a small percentage of sugar. Boiling (or cooking) the sap evaporates most of the water and leaves the sugar behind. The smaller the ratio of water to sugar, the thicker the result (hence the term 'syrup').

Oh, and here is a conversation I had with a guy at the gym (we'll call him D).

D (after hearing that I had collected 4 gallons of sap in one day): Wow, I bet you're going to make a killing with that.
Me: Well...no, not really. *proceeds to explain the evaporation process and sap to syrup ratio*
D: Heck, if it's that much work I'd just go to the store and buy some corn syrup.
Me: *outwardly* But that's not the point!
*internally* DO YOU KNOW HOW TERRIBLE CORN SYRUP IS?! AND HAVE YOU NO APPRECIATION FOR DOING THINGS YOURSELF??

Sigh. I think that doing anything 'the old-fashioned way', just for the sake of doing it and enjoying the process (and the results), are lost on a lot of people that I interact with on a daily basis.

Tapping Maple Trees

It's been a while since I've posted a project...and seeing as how spring is coming (or it's SUPPOSED to be coming, at least) the latest project involves a brave attempt to make maple syrup.

Needless to say, I've never tried to make maple syrup. But a couple of weeks ago I mentioned to Mom, "Hey, what if we tapped our trees for maple syrup?" She kinda shot the idea down, and I forgot about it for a bit. Then, a lady from church posted a picture of HER maple trees that she had tapped and how much sap they were getting.

So guess who decided to jump in with both feet? :P I read articles for a few hours, perused a book we have in the Forgotten Arts series on the subject, and thusly armed went to the store. We didn't have any spiles (taps), so I had to make do with copper tubing and flexible rubber hose. Then I sent an all-points-bulletin out to Facebook asking people for their empty soda bottles. The result of this rather cobbled-sounding combination of tools can be seen below:

Yes, that is baling twine. Don't laugh.

It didn't end up TOO ghetto, I don't think. Dad drilled the holes and put the spiles in, and I was in charge of tying twine, cutting tubing, etc. We did discover that putting tape around the middle of the copper tubes would prevent sap from leaking around it--initially we were losing about half the sap we would have collected just from leakage.

Today we tapped 4 trees, and tonight while I was collecting the sap I noticed that two trees weren't producing anything. So we ran outside (this was at sunset) and quickly tapped a larger tree in the front yard and added another spile to the tree that was producing the most. Even with only 2 trees producing we got 1 1/2 liters of sap:

The depressing part is that it takes 10 gallons of sap to make 1 quart (yes, I said QUART) of syrup. And it all has to be boiled down outside unless you want the inside of your house to feel like syrup sneezed all over everything. But in the meantime I'm excited to give it a shot, and we'll see how much sap we can collect!

I've also read that sap can be used for brewing tea, coffee, or beer. While beer isn't up my alley, kefir water most definitely is, and I think it would be an awesome taste sensation. So here's to experimentation!

Five-Minute Friday: Choose

From Lisa-Jo Baker, the Gypsy Mama: "On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else's agenda. But for fun, for practice, for joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker. We love to just write without worrying if it's just right or not. For five minutes flat."

GO

Choose. It's a word that's been haunting me for weeks and months now. I have so many directions that I could potentially go with my life in the next few months: go to Honduras, move out, get a real job that actually pays something, buy a horse (just kidding on the last one...maybe)--the possibilities are, while not endless, numerous. 

And paralyzing.

For fear of not 'choosing the right thing' I've been sitting back, waiting, working 6 hours a day 6 days a week, occasionally making things to occupy my restless hands, avoiding making any solid decisions because I'm afraid that by choosing one item out of many that would cancel out the remaining options. That it would cement my course and make it impossible to re-orient myself should I decide to do something else.

Other people have told me 'you don't have to worry about being stuck'. Or that I can 'always change my mind'. But how is one to learn fidelity if one is always changing their mind?

STOP

(Wow. I kinda stink at this sort of thing. XD)

I'm Making a Comeback....

...with Etsy!

I've had an Etsy shop since 2010, and sold a few things here and there. It was never enough to really make a lot of money, but it kept some of my hobbies afloat and was a fun way to dabble in feeling like I had my own business. Sometime in 2012, though, I lost momentum and allowed my shop to lie empty.

Fast-forward to last year, and I discovered an interest in bookbinding. My first project was kinda mediocre (I mean, it was pretty, and I still use it, but I had no idea what the heck I was doing):

And last summer I made a couple of journals for girls at the ranch. These were softcover, leather, filled with cardstock (something of an annoyance, in retrospect, but nice paper can't be found everywhere), and awoke a desire to actually make something NICE.

So since coming home from the ranch I've made 10 journals and 8 scrappy scarves--which may not sound like much, but they're both somewhat time-consuming projects tucked around working in the day--and am going to start putting them slowly on Etsy. 

I'm kind of excited to be re-opening Etsy, but I'm also depending a lot on Facebook, word of mouth, and the ranch this summer for selling. But if you want to go see my shop, please do!  The shop is a little sparse at the time of this post, but I'll have more stuff up over the weekend and upcoming week.

I also have a page on Facebook where I post upcoming projects, made-to-order projects, and other little personal tid-bits one won't encounter on Etsy. I actually prefer my Facebook page because I can get a little more personal.

One of the reasons I hadn't posted to my Etsy for such a long time was because of my online stalker--he knew of my Etsy, and I knew that he was probably watching it. Obviously that was weirding me out and unacceptable. But I've gotten to the point now where I'm not going to let the possibility of a creeper situation arising freak me out, because I know that if he REALLY wants to find me, he can. 

Last summer was an especially scary example, where he actually called the office at the ranch and asked for me. In the ensuing brouhaha I was issued a radio, told not to go anywhere by myself EVER, and given contact people for dealing out beatdowns should the guy try to come to the ranch. It was terrifying and epic at the same time.

But back to Etsy: I'm not particularly concerned about him seeing my items. And before anyone gets worried: yes, I take precautions and don't post personal stuff where un-okay people can see them. That's been my policy for years, and it's not going to change. If he decides to creep on a public shop, that's his problem. All I can do is maintain a professional shop and try to make some money.

But back to the page/shop...go check 'em out! I love visitors!

A new addition....

I mentioned in passing earlier that I now have a car, and here she is in all her sleek and silvery glory.

(Isn't she purty? :3)

I went car-shopping with Mom and Dad on Monday--I've been looking online for months and originally had my sights on a manual Toyota Corolla. I love driving manual, and was just really hoping to have one of my own. The only problem: apparently no one within 4 hours has a nice, 4-door, manual car for sale under my price range. -.- So I just had to drive automatics...I didn't mind THAT much, but I was a little disappointed at first.

Mom and Dad were looking for another vehicle as well, so while they drove some cars I tried out a Corolla and a Yaris. The Corolla was fun and felt kinda sporty, but the size kind of put me off. I'm rather used to larger vehicles and usually drive the truck or van, so it was a little disconcerting to have the ceiling so close to my head.

The Yaris was a no-go from the start. It felt sporty as well, but not nearly as well-built or (relatively) solid as the Corolla, and didn't have hardly any amenities. I was leaning towards the Corolla when the salesman mentioned in an off-handed manner that they had just gotten an '04 Toyota Camry in that weekend, and it hadn't been detailed yet but we were welcome to look at it.

The moment I sat in the driver's seat, I breathed a sigh of contentment. While not a luxury car it was still practically spotless (even before detailing) and had a great solid feel. Plus my head didn't feel like it was about to brush the ceiling.

 A few moments later I started to drive off, with Mom and Dad along for the ride, and we all looked at each other when there was an immediate, distinct rumbling sound. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, and we stopped for a moment to ask the salesman what in the world was going on. As it turned out, the previous owner (a lady in her 80s) was terrified of getting stuck in the snow. Her precaution manifested itself in these incredible snow tires--they were brand new, with an abundance of tread, and they sounded like an airplane taking off as we drove across the parking lot. (Once we got off the lot and were going a little faster it abated, but it still rumbled a bit.)

A long story short: I was highly impressed by the car, and best of all it was exactly within my price range. I'm not comfortable with spouting off the intimate details of exactly what that range was, but I was able to pay with cash. Biggest check I've ever written in my life, let me tell you right now. O.o The ease of mind from not having to worry about a payment and the pure satisfaction that comes from being able to do something like that is well worth the check-writing, though. Many thanks to Dave Ramsey and my parents for fostering the saving tendencies of a squirrel, that's all I have to say about that. :P

They detailed the car and I drove back down on Tuesday to get it. It was weird, but while writing the check and taking the keys it still hadn't quite clicked that I had bought a car. But once I sat in the driver's seat and started following Mom back home....it all clicked.

This is MINE. No one helped me buy it, no loans were necessary. That, my friends, is a feeling that you can't even describe. And I love it. Of course, my savings are somewhat decimated at the moment, but that's just an opportunity to keep on saving. XD