Busy Weekend and May Showers are Bringing the May Flowers!!

ACK!  After the warm lovely week of Wisconsin weather during our vacation, this week has turned cold and wet and rainy.  Right now it's only 51 degrees and wet wet wet. It's been raining most of the afternoon.  We turned on the furnace and also Steve lit the gas fireplace to keep us cozy this evening and chase away the dampness.

I am thinking we're going to need another vacation again! Since we got home on Friday we have been busy busy busy.  Of course my Mr. Stevieo Zoom Zoom wanted to get absolutely everything unloaded from the motorhome within 1 hour of arriving home.  We were in a flurry of unpacking, hauling into the house, and putting away the leftover food from camping--- plus the newest groceries we picked up on the way home.  We had the washing machine going, ran to get the mail that was being held at the post office, and carried in my quilting supplies of the newest project I was working on.

After supper I baked a few dozen cookies so I could have a box full to bring to the museum Saturday morning. Steve got together a cooler full of water bottles. We had a bunch of teenagers coming from the local high school history class to help with a cleaning day at the Calumet County Historical Museum.

This is my favorite recipe from my friend Hilary:

I split the batch into three portions, 

and mixed one with chocolate chips, one with Easter M&M's 

and the final third with white chips and sprinkles! (the favorite by far) 

It was nice to sleep in our bed in the house, but it's actually the same memory foam mattress that we now have out in the motorhome. I am glad we upgraded to that, because now it's comfy sleeping no matter which one we are in. The dogs were excited to be home, with their familiar toys and dishes, and to sleep on the floor next to my side of the bed.

We were up early so we could get dressed and over to the museum by 8 a.m. The school kids were coming by 8:30 and we still had to unload cleaning equipment and the Shop-Vac and find out from the other volunteers what needed to be done.

The museum has these two large buildings and....

a log cabin. 

Steve and the guys just replaced the cedar shingle roof a few weeks ago.

They had a chance to show a few of the others 

what a good job they did! 

The kids came and we set to our tasks. The buildings are unheated over the winter and everything was covered in a layer of dust and (dead flies) that needed to be sucked up with the shop vacs. Brooms were flying around, cleaning rags were busy, and the guys handled all of the heavy stuff that needed to be moved and organized.

Steve worked with the guys mostly in the other building moving around some displays and used our little trailer to move an antique sleigh from one portion of the museum to another.

The Museum recently purchased some used display cases from a store in Manitowoc. So we had an opportunity to move around some items and get items enclosed in glassed-in areas for protection and preservation.  The girls did a great job arranging all of the new displays, plus learned about a few things in the process. It was fun! 

I was able to mess around with my Fiber Department of spinning wheels, shearing equipment, and various fiber tools.   I got two new display cases in this area to start to set up as well.  More stuff to come, but for now it is taking shape.

There was a man's wool military uniform that I was able to seal up inside of a plexiglass display unit so it will be protected now from any moths or bugs

We worked hard all morning, and by noon we were winding down and putting away our gear. It was time to head on home and get in some rest after such a productive morning. Both of us crawled into bed for a nice long afternoon nap. I think we really needed it!

Saturday night I buzzed around the house for a while "de-kidderizing" because on Sunday we were due to have three of the grandkids come to visit. I put away my sharp weaving tools and scissors and electronics as best I can. I baby-gate off the tv and stereo/dvd equipment.  Once that was done, I filled up a nice big bathtub full of bubbles and soaked away the evening aches and pains.


Since we were gone camping during Mother's Day, we insist that our children (who are all mothers or married to a mother) spend time with their own families. I know that in the next few weeks I will get together with each of them for our own personal Mother's Day celebration.

I got a lovely handmade card and beautiful photo in the mail from Allegra and Mason while we were gone, that is now hanging up on the fridge. We will see them soon at one of Mason's T-ball games, but it was rained out tonight.

We prepared some food in advance so all we had to do was bring it out when they were here to eat. We chopped up all the makings for tacos, guacamole and salsa, I had shredded chicken with taco seasoning I prepared in the electric pressure cooker. Everything was ready for the next day. Less kitchen time and more grandkid time!

Sunday was supposed to be dreary cloudy and cooler. So Steve and I figured out a couple projects to do with inside of the house with the kids. Imagine our delight when the sun poked out and it was getting warmer and warmer. It turned into an absolutely beautiful day!

Our daughter Erin and husband Waylen with three grandkids Chelsea, Clayton and Claire showed up at noon to spend the afternoon with us. Waylen and his buddy Jason wanted to go to an event, the annual Beer Fest taking place at the Calumet County fairgrounds. We have a microbrewery in town that sponsored this festival with hosting other microbreweries from the area. For a $40 ticket wristband you can sample as much as you wish of any beverage on tap.

We had a nice little lunch with the kids out on the front porch.  We left the grownups to eat at the diningroom table while the kids ate in the sunshine.  Little Claire, our youngest grandchild is now old enough to sit at the little table and chairs.  Chelsea and Clayton are now up to a larger table and stools.

Smart Finnegan knows exactly where to hang out

catching any dropped bits of chicken tacos! 

(Binney hides out in the corner until the grownups leave,

then she comes out to see Chelsea) 

We took the Little Red Wagon down to the hardware store. I wanted to get some geraniums and spikes for four of the flower pots around the house. We also needed a new bag of birdseed.  Loaded up little Claire so the kids could take turns pulling the wagon.  (I ended up pulling her back home!) 

 We did a little video clip of their walk:

We have such a cute little hardware store in our town, it even has a small Pet Department with fish, gerbils, lizards, and birds. The kids enjoyed looking around and their their favorite thing is to put a dime in the sample box and choose a piece of Brach's candies.  No hard candy for Claire... sigh.

We also went home with a great big purple ball

 for the dogs in the big backyard, 

because I think Claire took over the little blue ball? 

We kept the grandkids busy at the house with projects! Put to task with helping us to plant the geraniums and then help water all of the flowers around the house.

Grandpa even got into the act... we put in geraniums and spikes and ivy in the two new pots that I got last fall from Craigslist.  These are on each side of the garage door.

Then we put more geraniums and ivy and spikes in each of the big pots on the front steps too. Soon they will grow and bloom some more and the ivy will cascade over the edges of the pots.

We also planted my two Mothers Day gerbera daisies from Steve

and to top it off, my lilac bush is in full bloom! 

That lilac bush was pretty gnarly and twisted and overgrown when we bought the house 5 years ago.  With careful pruning each year and shaping it, a little more each year, now it's a nicely rounded shrub. It gets more and more blooms each spring!   I have started a white lilac out back, and hope it grows as well. 

The kids really enjoy doing the watering with the cans, drawing from the two rain barrels I have, one on the house and one on the garage.  Even Clayton, a kindergartener, understands the rain comes off the roof, through the gutter, down the pipe and into the barrel. He told me so!

The kids each brought me a hanging basket for Mother's Day, along with an assortment of their artwork for the refrigerator. Steve put up brackets on each side of the back door for the flower pots.

Clayton helped his grandpa with projects on the motorhome while Chelsea was was busy keeping little Claire occupied in the backyard. Erin and I relaxed in the sunshine for a while and just enjoyed unwinding.

They even planted the Easter Lily they gave me last month,

and each one earned a popsicle for their efforts!

After Erin retrieved the two guys from the Beer Fest (where they had a LOT of fun) it was time to have a quick dinner before heading on home.  Those stinker kids remembered these hot dog cutters that I had out in the motorhome.  So we got them out for some "play with their food" fun! 

Here is a silly video of them in use:

Erin loaded up the kids, 

the guys and headed on down our driveway.

As they rode past the house, Grandfaddah and I waved goodbye

from the front porch windows, as usual.  

It was a great day! 

Yarn Stash Enhancement Quest and a bit about my Loom Room

Today dawned rainy and windy...  but warm.. oh so warm!  We were going to reach 70's by the afternoon, and the weatherman forcast some SUN!   Wheeeeeee

After my sweetie and I had our coffee this morning, he trekked off to work at the park while I hopped in the car on a QUEST.   I had a phone call from a weaver down in Milwaukee who had a pile of weaving yarns that needed a new home.  She was moving soon and wanted to get rid of them....  She had called the local weaving guild down there, but they said they didn't have room to store any donations.  She called fellow weavers in Beloit, Jim and Norma.  They passed on my name and number. She called me with her plight.   I offered to come and get them, and if it was stuff I couldn't use, I could pass it on to members in my guild up in Menasha.

With coffee cup in hand, off I went... the GPS led me right to her house.  Easy Peasy 90 miles.  She was so thankful I could take this off her hands, because next stop would be St. Vinnies! Her husband helped me load up the trunk, and off I went to hit the interstate and head on home.

On my way back to Chilton, I managed a stop in at Trader Joes on the north side of Milwaukee.  Two cases of Two Buck Chuck wine somehow found their way into the back seat of my car, along with ten more jars of that sinfully delicious cookie butter, and three tubs of olive taupenade for muffeletta sandwhiches.

The rains let up on my way home, and by the time I was lugging these treasures into my house, the sun was shining!   I had to play a few rounds of fetch with the dogs, to make up for leaving them home all morning alone. The sunshine was infectious and sooo enjoyable!

Some of those large cones in the back are 5-6 pounds of cotton and wool... and there is even a small drop spindle and ball winder and warping tools.  It sure was a bumper crop of good stuff! 

I had to lug in the contents of this box in four smaller separate loads because it was sooo heavy! It was over 100 Handwoven magazines and a couple weaving books too. 

The funny part about this box of 100+ magazines is that I used to own these same issues in a complete set before we moved away from our old house. During my down-sizing, I gave a bunch of them away, sold a few on Ebay, but first scanned in the most desirable patterns and ideas before I got rid of all of them.  Scanned in for reference is good.  But having the actual magazine is nice to page through for inspiration. These aren't ordinary magazines that you look at once and toss...  they have patterns, materials and technical instructions that make them sought after many years beyond publication.

Remember, when we were selling the house, our plans were that we were going to live full time in the motorhome. There was NO room for that many magazines, not to mention hauling their weight around for something that I would not be using all of the time.  Reluctantly, I passed them on to friends after scanning the best of the best.

Well, here I am now the proud owner again of all the most-desired issues of Handwoven Magazine from 1980-2001!

What goes around, comes around?



Now I have to find spots for all of it .... I have a "Fiber Storage Room" at the top of the back stairs in our house.  It is quite full now, but I am sure I have room for more once I get in there and reorganize it a bit.  The next course of action is to start weaving it up into usable sell-able products!

My Loom Room is on the main floor, in a large room off the dining area, facing to the south.  I love the natural light in the room, and the hours just fly by when I am in here creating.  Sometimes, I hear a noise at the door and it's Steve coming home at 4:20 when I swear it was just lunchtime or 10 a.m. or whatever.  That is what weaving does to me.

Here are a couple of my rug looms along the west wall, and a smaller folded up table loom on the floor between them.  I take that loom out on the front porch or along in the motorhome when travelling.

On the other side of my Loom Room along the east wall is a tall hutch cabinet that had been built in on the wall in our diningroom when we bought the house.  Since my dining set already has both a hutch and buffet, we carefully detached and moved this hutch into my Loom Room. I keep the most-often used items handy in the hutch in the Loom Room... and settle into my newly refurbished rocking chair with my spinning wheel for relaxation.

On the south wall, between the looms to the west and the hutch to the east, are the big windows facing south is where I keep my prized 100 year old treadle sewing machine....  under the leaded glass portion which makes rainbows all over the room!

The beautiful piece of machinery is in perfect working condition and I use it weekly, if not daily.  I was reading about the history of Singer sewing machines.  When a family back in 1914 was deciding to buy a machine like this, it was a real serious investment.  It was akin to purchasing a family automobile when the yearly income was considered to what we spend now for a car compared to our wages nowadays.

When the machine is all closed up inside this "Drawing Room Cabinet" it looks like any ordinary piece of antique furniture....  I just love it!

But when you open the lid, push a button, the machine magically raises up out of the innards of the cabinet like on elevator!  Then you open the doors in the front to expose the foot powered treadle, make sure the belt is lined up and the rows of the drawers on the left hold all the supplies needed.

I can only imagine the thrill of the lucky woman who was honored to own this machine brand new the day it came into her home.  Heck, I am probably just as thrilled to have it 100 years later! Thanks to my sweet friend Paula, who gave it to me! 

Well, back to my day... as I unloaded the new fiber things, I was rushing a bit because I had to get to an appointment in Manitowoc by 2pm.  Just as I was rushing around like a chicken with her head cut off....  the door bell rang.  AHHHHHH

My sweet darling Steveio sent me flowers for Mother's Day.... 

We will be celebrating Mother's Day with our daughters Erin and Heather and their families tomorrow during the Bark in the Park game at the Appleton Timber Rattlers event.  Our son Dan and his family are off camping this weekend... it's their first time out in their new travel trailer!  From their facebook posts, it looks like they are having a great time!