:Rafter M Ramblings

At this time last year, I was about ready to explode and every week at church at least two people would come up and exclaim, “You’re still pregnant!?!”

Yes, I was still pregnant.

I was still pregnant until the end of May.

Sadie was due on the 12th.

Anyway, they gave me the customary Mother’s Day flower anyway since I was almost a mother, but I didn’t feel like one yet.  I felt like a giant whale waddling around trying to keep my belly covered with my extra-long shirts.

This year was much nicer.

I got 3 chocolate-dipped strawberries.  Anything with chocolate is good in my book.

I didn’t share either.

I’m sure you’re wondering where the “rap” part of this post is…well let me give you a brief introduction.

There’s a single guy in our church named Ian who was homeschooled…

…Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.  He doesn’t seem to care what people think of him, which is a good thing.  He comes up with the funniest stuff.

Like at Holly’s wedding (see previous post) last night…he was one of the MC’s, and when the dancing started, the other MC said there was a special guest who needed a dancing partner.

Ian’s grandmother!  He came out in the zaniest costume that made him look like he was a little kid in a sling on his “grandmother’s” back.  His grandmother was an inflatable doll with a wig and a dress on.

Hilarious…you had to be there.

All that to say, he made a rap for the mothers and played it in church, and it also happens to be on YouTube.

Here you go…enjoy!

No Comments

Since I was 14 years old I’ve been designing houses for fun.  It all started when my dad was working for a log home building company and I fell in love with log houses.  The first house I designed had a huge prow-front and massive kitchen with the fridge on one side and the sink at the other side, with an island in between.  Lots of walking.  It had two lofts.  One was the master bedroom and one was a whatever room.  With a bridge between them and a spiral staircase in the middle.  They were both open to the floor below which meant you could see across from one to the other.  Hmm.  There was one other bedroom and no bathroom on the main floor.  And did I mention this house was about 2300 square feet?  LOTS of open floor space. LOTS of wasted space.  Cathedral ceilings.  Yeah, ridiculous.

I have since gotten a little better at designing houses for families instead of basketball teams, I hope.  I’ve amassed a binder full of sketches on graph paper and spanish and chemistry notes, most of which are trash, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of them since they’re a chronicle of my progress as a designer and I like to look back at how amazingly awful they were and what terrible rooms I visualized in my head while I was daydreaming in math class.

Sometimes in my dreams (at night) there’s a house that’s really cool and I try to look around at all the rooms while I’m there so I can remember it when I wake up.  I usually have to go through the house at least twice, but I start to wake up near the end of the second tour and then I have to make up the rest as I draw it out the next day.  They usually end up being mansions.

It is so much fun designing houses for people that if anybody asks me to draw one for them, I start asking them a zillion questions about what they like and what they visualize in their heads and put all the pieces together in my head, then fill in all the blanks as I draw it out, and I feel complete again.

Sometimes people ask me if I’ve drawn up my dream house.  I have to say no because there’s no way to design a house without seeing where it’s going first, unless you just want want to plunk a box down on the ground and call it home with no thought for views or sunlight or privacy or prevailing winds or landscaping.  I will design my dream house once I see where it’s going to be built.  Until then, I practice.

I’m not in too much of a hurry because I still can’t decide if I want round or square logs, and I have to resolve the chinking problem (to chink or not to chink…Darryl says no, I say maybe yes).  Then I see how cool straw bale houses look and I want to build one with round walls in some places and little surprise stairways and gardens.  And then I don’t know what to do.  So I practice designing strawbale houses too.  My MIL wants to build one in Saskatchewan so now I’m playing with designs for her.  Here’s a couple I did yesterday.

They are not to scale or anything but they’re designed for passive solar heating and protection from the cold north winds in Saskatchewan.  That nifty stone wall in the master bedroom (in both plans) would have hot water pipes from the stove or whatever other heating option is used so that the wall gives off heat.  Perfect for cold winter nights.  Both houses also have wraparound porches and roof overhangs to protect the walls from driving rain.

One thing I love about strawbale is its versatility.  You can make a curved wall wherever you want, and put a little diamond-shaped window in it, or embed some colourful glass bottles into it.  Walls can be fluid and irregular.  There doesn’t have to be any harsh corners or angles and you can create something that’s fun to live in as well as being functional.  I think having curved walls makes it feel like you’re living with nature instead of away from it since nature abhors a straight line and curves feel more soothing to the eye.  There’s nothing new age about it.  It just feels better to be in a house with curved walls.

There’s not many curves in these two houses because they’re designed to be easy to build, though I don’t know how easy the curved window walls would be, and I’m still practicing.  I’ll get bolder with house shapes as I play with more plans.

So there ya go.  If you’re wanting a beautiful home (or gymnasium) designed, write me with your wish list and I’ll see what I can do.  Don’t be surprised if I e-mail you back with an exhaustive list of questions.  It’s all part of the process.

3 Comments

This is what our driveway looked like last week.

This week, there’s no snow in the middle, and it’s a lot wider too.  Not quite so muddy.

I think spring is coming.

About three weeks ago last year it was about minus 20 and we spent a sunday afternoon making Banner pull us up and down the driveway on a toboggan.  There was no dirt in sight.

We wanted to do the same thing this year, but there wasn’t even enough snow on the driveway to make a good snowball.

Not that I’m complaining.

I miss seeing my garden.  It’s still buried under 6 inches of snow, but I can see the edges of the raised beds where the snow has melted a bit.

The willows are budding everywhere.  I snapped these last week while I was waiting for Darryl to get ready to go somewhere.

Sadie and I went for a walk the other day when it was gorgeously sunny out and I took this photo so you could see how close to spring we really are.

I know I keep talking about spring here, but that’s only because this year is so unusual.

This year we didn’t see moose around here either.

Until a couple of days ago.

She was standing right by the road below our house when I drove by so I jumped out and got a few pics.

Moose are such ugly, graceful animals.

Speaking of ugly, check out the prices for these burgers.  Inflation’s really hit us hard here in K-town.

Speaking of graceful, check out the timberwork my husband did.

Here’s some closeups.

He’s so talented.:)

He’d be happy to do timberwork all the time, but condos aren’t usually built of timbers nowadays.  Try concrete and I-joists.

Speaking of eyes, Sadie loves to look at herself in the mirror.

I put a hanky on her head and she left it there.  Didn’t care at all.  She went for a ride on her zebra so she could show all her stuffed friends.

I know this post was a bit scattered, but I just had some recent photos to share and they weren’t really long enough for their own posts.

I know you don’t mind.

Maybe the next one will be more cohesive.

Maybe.

Maybe I could talk about spring.

3 Comments

Sorry I haven’t written to you lately.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks.

Spring is arriving already.  We haven’t had any snow worth mentioning and the temperature rarely drops down to negative numbers.  There’s even green grass sprouting up under the trees.

All that is good.

But if we get a good frost sometime before spring actually arrives, all the budding trees will die!  Another sign pointing to a food shortage in 2010.

I’m not a doomsdayer, I’m a realist.  God gave me a brain so I could use it, and it’s helped me in the past.

Last spring we built up our pantry with staples that we use all the time, like flour, rice and canned tomatoes. We had no idea we would need it a few short months later when work was really scarce and we had next to no income for 3 or 4 months.  We just thought it was a good idea and I sure feel good knowing I can make yummy meals from scratch without running to the store for ingredients.  We’re building it up again now and planning a better garden for this year.

Another sign of spring is the mice.  They’re awake and they’re everywhere.  One unlucky fellow found a way into the wall behind the kitchen sink and couldn’t get back out.  For the last couple of days the putrid smell of rotting mouse flesh has been radiating out several feet, so every time I walk by or have to use the sink my olfactory senses are ravaged.

The fan above the stove has been on for two days straight.  It helps a bit.

In other news, I finally got my hair done!  I seriously have not had my hair done for…ever.  I did chop it all short one year and dyed it blond (that was fun), but it wasn’t exactly a professional job.  The cut cost me a dollar.  My sister dyed it.

Nope, this time I wanted the real thing.

All I ever did with my hair was pull it back.  It was too long and boring to even bother with straightening or trying to make it look like I’ve had it done in the last century, so I didn’t even bother.  Not that I had the time to tame it anyway.  It took hours to blowdry, but it dried on it’s own overnight.  My arms turned to rubber and started to fall off if I ever tried straightening it.  It just took too darn long.

Then my friend got her hair done and I began imagining what I would look like with an amazing haircut like that.  I got her hairdresser’s number and sat on it for a month until I finally had time to go.  I went last saturday.  Darryl took Sadie with him so I had 2.5 hours of pampering.  I even got a hand massage.

My hairdresser (yeah, I think I’ll keep her) did an amazing job with the colour (I got foils to add some dimension to the boring brown colour it’s always been) and I gave her free rein with the cut and she did an awesome job.  Not high maintenance or too edgy, but definitely not boring!

I wish I had a picture for you, but I don’t yet.  I will do my best to get one soon!

I have another picture for you instead.

Hannah asked me the other day why there’s no photos of her on here.  I think she wants to see herself on the net somewhere other than facebook, so here’s a shot of her.

Oops, that’s not a very good one.  Sorry.

How about this one?

I won’t post a current picture of her but just have a look at the first one again.  That’s pretty close to what she looks like right now.  Only she has another 3 months to go.

Yesterday the horses got out.  I went to water them once Sadie was asleep and they weren’t standing at the fence waiting for me.  There’s nowhere to hide in their pen so I grabbed the halters, found where they got out and followed tracks down the driveway.  A lady in a van drove in right then and said she had two horses in her yard.  Yayy!  She gave me a ride up the street and I caught them easily and led them home. Sadie was still sleeping.:)  I had to put them in the big pasture until we can get the fence fixed.

Then I went to Hannah’s house and we made 2 batches of bread, but they didn’t rise properly and came out a little heavy.  I let Hannah keep them.  My bread recipe needs to be adapted for her house, somehow.  I was told the granite counters may have been a problem because they’re too cold for bread to rise properly on.  The second rise was on a warm stove though.  Who knows.  Bread is very mysterious.

Well, I will try to have more photos next time.  I have to go brave the kitchen to get it cleaned up.  Luckily it should only take a couple minutes.  Then I have to go make sure the horses are still there before Sadie gets up.:)

Then I have to set some mouse traps.

2 Comments

So I figured out how to get Sadie to eat food.  That’s a lie.  Someone told me how to get her to eat food.

(in case you weren’t aware, I tried feeding her homemade pureed foods since she was 6 months old, but she didn’t like any of it)

In all the stuff I read about feeding babies (even government publications…gasp!), not once did I read that I should try mixing breastmilk with the food!  I had to hit myself in the forehead for that.  Several times.  It seems like such a no-brainer.

It works.

In this case, I was feeding her sweet potato, but she kept sticking her thumbs in her mouth right after a bite and got it smeared all over.

She didn’t seem to want to eat any more of it so I dumped the last couple of baby spoonfulls on the tray and let her play with it.

She ended up shoving a lot of it into her mouth anyway.  (I’ll have to remember that trick)

On another topic, I went shopping to the thrift store and picked up a skinny belt that would fit in Sadie’s jeans cause she’s taking her time growing into them.  It’s leather and has the snaps so you can remove the buckle.  I cut it in half so it wouldn’t drag along behind her and put some new holes in, then snapped on my belt buckle.

Voila!

Baby belt fit for a cowgirl!

We had to resist buying her a cute little belt buckle when we went to our favourite cowboy store, the Cowboy’s Choice.  There was a half-sized silver buckle with an “S” on it.  Perfect.  I think she might get it for her birthday, and maybe a really cute cowboy hat too.  The hat had a flexible brim built in so it would probably fit her until she’s five.

Some new Sadie Stats:

-she’s 7 1/2 months old

-she has 6 teeth

-she’s starting to crawl a little bit but still prefers pulling herself along the floor and picking up every stray dog hair on her sleeper

-she pulls herself up on everything

-she can’t get back down half the time

-she falls sometimes but it doesn’t usually hurt her

-she’s not afraid of the vacuum

-she’s afraid of dogs barking and little kids screaming in her face

-she’s pretty good and easy to entertain even when she’s waaay tired

-she pooped three times in one day (sorry, that’s never happened before so I had to stick it in here)

Notice anything in particular in this photo?  Like behind her head?

We actually got money for christmas this year so we bought all 9 seasons of Little House on the Prairie on DVD from Costco.  It was a great deal and we love the show.  Darryl gets teary-eyed on half the episodes.  Awwww.

Well, Sadie’s up again so I guess that wraps it up.

Later.

1 Comment

Do you like antlers?

Do you like them in chandeliers?

Do you like them in houses?

Do you like them decorating chairs?

How about antlers instead of handlebars on a bike?

Ever seen antlers on the fashion runway?

If you answered yes or no to any of the above questions, click this.

And this.

Some people think they’re out of style.

But when your decorating style is “Mountain Lodge”, you are required to have antlers in your house.

1 Comment

I’m still collecting ideas for turning adult clothing into toddler clothing.  Isn’t this darling?  It’s made from a man’s shirt.  It even has the buttons down the back so you don’t have to do much sewing at all.  I found the tutorial here.

This summer Sadie will be walking and I’m sure she’ll need lots of outfits since they will get dirty in 5.8 seconds as soon as I take her outside.

I need to stock up on elastic thread.

No Comments

This year I will be dreaming of a white christmas.  It rained a few days ago and melted half the snow we got, and now the driveway is frozen slicker than snot on a doorknob.  It’s as treacherous as last year’s freezing rain storm.  Once you get off our driveway, the roads are bare, so I guess I can’t complain about having no snow like everyone else, but it would be a heap prettier to have fresh snow on the trees.

Sorry about the language.  I’ve been watching the Beverly Hillbillies again with my brother (he lives in Williams Lake, ie. Hickville).

Here’s our family christmas photo.

It came out a bit yellow, so I worked with it instead of trying to change it.

I spent the whole first week of December decorating the house, minus the tree because we were getting it that weekend.

For this, I cut some straighter willow branches and spray painted them white, then stuck them in a large, clear glass vase with a rope light coiled up in it.  Then I hung some matching ornaments on the branches with wire hooks.

If you need a reason to keep those old sock stretchers around but can’t find a use for them, here’s one.

Wrap them in ribbons or wire and hang them up!  Now I can justify keeping them.

The day of the tree hunt was completely gorgeous.  Cold with clear, blue skies.

Sadie was a good sport.  Darryl had fun toting her around in his jacket.

I have no idea who this was.  I couldn’t see him half the time.

This has got to be the cutest tree ever.  That one-year-old boy picked it out.  He thought it was a huge tree.

We caught Sadie joyriding with this punk.  At least she picked a cute one.

And here’s my handsome hubby tying our tree to the roof of the 4-Runner.

For all of you who remember that we sold our 4-Runner this summer, you aren’t going crazy.  This one is actually my dad’s and used to be my brother’s.  We’re selling it for dad though so if you want to buy it, call me!

Here’s my tree, decorated!

Yes, that’s an outhouse.  With a deer inside.

I made these felt stars last year.  They have dark green felt on the back side.  It would be easy to embellish them with buttons or stitching, but I didn’t trust myself not to wreck them.  And they looked cute enough just like that.

Darryl bought this one at the fair one year.  It’s perfect.

Sadie loves the tree, but she leaves it alone cause it’s prickly.

She loves the ornaments too.

Well, I hope you are having a marvelous christmas.  We finally have internet in our house!  You may think that’s a funny statement, but we’ve been going outside by the barn to check e-mail for the last month.  That’s also why I haven’t done a lot of writing on here.  Now I should be updating you a lot more regularly.:)

Mele Kalikimaka!

3 Comments

Sadie is learning to get around now.  She spends lots of time on our slippery floor playing with toys and slapping the floor with her little hands.

She’s so cute!  I love these pj’s on her.  And her butterfly socks too.

She can’t quite crawl yet, but she gets her little bum up in the air a lot.

Speaking of cute little bums, I had to get a naked baby shot.

She’s been eating things sometimes now.  Her first food was egg yolk and she loved it!

After about 4 times, she stopped liking yolks so much.  We tried sweet potato next, but she didn’t like that at all.

I have some cute pictures of her playing with the christmas tree, but they’re still on my camera.  I’ll post them soon!

1 Comment

Sorry about the lack of posts lately.  This site hasn’t been letting me post anything.  Lord willing, I’ll post some new pics and stories soon!

No Comments