Drew – Asbery's Echoes

Busy Times

Drew decided out of the blue that he wanted a pet in the house. I thought we were finally past that and even though I sometimes missed having a four legged critter around, the work entailed kept me from not missing it too much! Then all of a sudden Drew started asking again. His choices, a hamster, a fish or a kitten. I said no to a fish. Cleaning out a fish tank is not my idea of fun! A hamster only lives for a very short time. And we had this beautiful little kitten living outside already. Plus, mice control! So, we now have Milkweed inside. Millie for short. Milkweed is one of five that we brought home from my folks’ to raise as their momma disappeared. We bottle fed them all. One didn’t make it, two disappeared and unfortunately Drew ran over one with the Mule. A hard lesson for him but he pays a lot more attention now when he’s driving something. So now I’m busy with a kitten in the house. Oh the messes she makes. Especially when I forget to put my threads away for the night.

Peace Be To This House – designed to be a Christmas ornament but I love it so much I plan to frame it. It’s teeny tiny – stitched on 40 ct and so very sweet.

A sampler I stitched years ago and decided to finally frame. Simple Joys, Simple Life.

Sweet little freebies from Pinker n Punkin Quilting. Perfect for ornaments for the kids. Now to decide on how to finish them.

Which leads to stitching! I’m always busy stitching! I’ve framed a few that I dug out of my finished pile to enjoy and I’ve stitched some new things. I am caught up on orders which is a great feeling. Now to work on the kids’ ornaments for last year and this year. And maybe get a jump on next year’s too!

Making gifts for birthdays and Christmas is keeping me busy too. I made two sets of these Advent Christmas ornaments. One for the grandkids and one for Drew. We’re all ready for December 1st!

I’ve cleaned out my bedroom closet and have a pile of clothes that no longer fit. Now to decide whether to keep them or give them away. I don’t plan to gain weight again but I’m still a little leary of getting rid of them all. And Drew and I cleaned and organized the bathroom cupboards. I have this goal of getting each room picked up and organized. Unfortunately neat and tidy is extremely hard for me! But I’m working on it!

This past weekend we had beautiful weather and decided to take advantage of it and spend time at my folks’ cutting down trees and splitting wood. For some reason I always dread the thought of this but once we get started, it’s work that I really enjoy. Their timbers were destroyed after the storm that went through earlier this year and Dad has been wanting to get some of the downed trees taken care of so that’s what we worked on. Some of the trees were already down, some needed to come down. Joe did most of the downing and cutting while I used the splitter to split the logs and Mom, Dad and Drew stacked the logs on the trailer. We were all tired by the time we were finished last night, and cold too as the wind had picked up and the temperature dropped, but it was such a great feeling to have gotten so much accomplished! And boy did I sleep good!

Drew and Rambler took a nap while waiting for the work to get started!

The garden is cleaned off and put to rest for the winter. The chickens have been cleaned out and bedded down for cold weather. The flowers are all sleeping. I love this time of year. I love all the seasons and am thankful I live where we get to enjoy each one. But I love this season the best. I enjoy the darker days and the time we are able to spend slowing down. A time for lamps and soft light and blankets to cuddle up in. I look forward to the holidays but even more, I look forward to that time after the holidays. It’s almost like we’re being given permission to settle in for a time. To be calm and quiet. To reflect on what has passed and to get ready for the what is to come. It’s my favorite time of the year.

Deep Freeze

It is cold and white in our neck of the woods. We are experiencing the longest stretch of cold weather we’ve had in a long, long time. I think today it’s supposed to get up to 1 degree. Just walking to the mailbox this morning was brutal! And we have lots of snow on the ground, with ice underneath. It is not fun to be outside right now and it’s been so hard for Drew. Last week he took his little pop up tent, loaded it with blankets, warmed up a bowl of soup and had his lunch out there. He lasted about 20 minutes each time which surprised me and it was a nice break for him. He’s struggling with being cooped up in the house.

We did some watercolor painting using watercolor pencils on our homemade paper and that was fun. Drew wants to make more paper now but I told him we needed to wait until we could do it outside as we had water everywhere. We plan to try our hand at coloring the paper using natural dyes like onion skins and red cabbage. Something I hope to do at Easter too when we dye eggs. Something to look forward to!

Saturday we got the call that our deer meat was ready for pickup in a neighboring town so we dressed warm and headed to Washington. I have to say it was nice to get out of the house even if it was originally for a drive to the locker and back home. But on the way our daughter called and talked to her dad about a smell they had in their master bathroom and what it could be. Jeremy had to work and wouldn’t be able to look into it until Sunday. As we would be so close to their place anyway we decided to head over there after picking up our order and see if Joe could help.

Joe decided the issue was a snow blocked vent on the roof and he wasn’t sure he could get to it without help so we spent the afternoon playing with grandkids and made plans to head back over the next day. So a weekend of staying home and keeping warm ended up being a fun weekend spent with grandkids! We had a lunch of tacos and taco salad and I took a dessert I had made. Then I had the grandkids color some plain seed packets I had and we picked out some flower seeds to put in them from my stash of seed I had harvested in the fall. Their great grandma has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and we thought she might enjoy a little bundle of flower seeds, homemade body butter and a rice bag Abby had asked me to make for her. We know the kids’ Great Grandma and Great Grandpa very well as Abby married a local boy and we’re a small community. I’ve known them both my whole life. Caroline worked as an associate in the high school library when I was going to school there and she was there when Abby and our two older sons where there. She is a wonderful cook and always has a big garden. We’re praying she can enjoy a little gardening this summer.

I always enjoy watching Joe playing with the grandkids. He loves to wrestle and play games with Braxton and it’s been so many years since we’ve had a little girl in the family that it’s fun to watch Joe playing with little Bayah. She is this sweet tiny little thing that loves anything pink, her books, and her dolls but she couldn’t wait until after lunch because she told me was going to jump on pillows, stand on a blanket and punch Grandpa! She is definitely small but mighty. She has no idea just how small she is!

Making Paper

We decided to try making paper today. Drew had lots of help from Possum until the blender was turned on. Then Possum high tailed it out of the kitchen! Drew started out gung ho but soon lost interest. That might be because I didn’t know what I was doing and had to try three or four times to get what I thought looked like paper! We have two sheets drying now and hopefully tomorrow we will have some homemade paper to try our hand at watercolor painting on. Next time maybe we’ll try coloring the paper and/or adding some dried flowers. I always enjoys a project that can be done all with items we have here at the house.

Gone Again

It’s cold here in my neck of the woods. And snowy. We have lots and lots of snow this winter. I just came in from taking care of the chickens and my toes are cold and my cheeks are cold. I was doing pretty good until I decided I needed to shovel off the patio as we got another skiff of snow this morning. I love love love winter and snow but these zero and below temps are not fun. It’s even cold in the house since I refuse to turn the furnace up. We just layer, pile on the blankets when we’re sitting down, and this year I’ve made rice bags and boy do they help!

Last week was tough as Joe was gone most of the week. And this week is the same. We have gotten so spoiled over the past year as he hasn’t had to travel. Last week he was only 45 minutes away which even though he’s not home, we at least know if absolutely necessary he can come home or we can go to him. This week he’s out of state. The only positive to that is he’s there to hand over the account to someone new so he shouldn’t have to go again. Yeah! The last time he was there was last year. We weren’t sure he would be able to get home due to the quarantine and the state shutting down. He made it home and the next day everything shut down. Scary times!

We had been so used to him traveling. He had slowed down considerably over the years but he still was gone quite a lot. But over the past year, he’s been home. All the time. And after an adjustment period for all of us, we settled in and loved it. He’s slowly been going out and to accounts and been gone during the day for part of the week and that’s as it should be. But again, it was an adjustment as we had gotten to used to him being here all the time. There have been so many negative aspects of this pandemic but being able to spend so much time together has been a blessing that I have cherished.

Another positive of the pandemic has been homeschooling. Something we had been thinking about doing became necessary at the end of the last school year and then we decided to carry on this year. While challenging, very challenging some days, it’s been fun. A fun new project we started at the beginning of the year was a nature journal. And then the darn winter weather hit and getting outside and exploring really isn’t possible right now. There is just too much snow and it’s too darn cold. So, for now we’re taking what we study in Science and our Mammals unit and we’re transferring that into our nature journals. As you can see, Andrew drew his food chain but then he decided to embellish his journal with a turtle with a food bowl in its shell. I never know what he’s going to come up with!

Winter Days

I’m sitting here munching on dehydrated apple chips from the apples we picked at a friend’s house this past fall. They sure taste good on this cold, foggy winter day! I’m thankful I broke down and bought a dehydrator. I got it thinking we would make beef jerky and so far, that’s the one thing we haven’t tried!

It’s been a quiet few days around here. It’s cold and there’s lots of snow on the ground. I enjoy these days and would enjoy them even more if Drew did. He needs to be able to get out and run. Being cooped up is not for him. We’re planning a trip to the library later this week. We have to make an appointment to be able to get in. Hoping to find some books for our mammal study we’re starting and hoping to find a good book for him to read. With all the books in this house that his siblings read you would think something would grab his interest but so far nothing.

I’ve been busy stitching orders and am finally caught up so last night I switched things up and stitched a chicken. No reason. Just ran across the free pattern, had some fabric begging to be used and ran with it. A little bright spot in the kitchen to cheer us up on these cold winter days!

Drew learned to run the snow blower and got to put it to use over the weekend. He thought it was fun to try and bury me in snow! We went on a road trip before the snow hit. Joe showed us where they hunted for deer and told us about the hunt! Drew and Rambler must have gotten bored, they both fell asleep! There’s been a lot of fort making going on and I’m ready to have my living room back! And then there’s Possum, just enjoying being King of the Castle!

Snowdays and Forts

Last Wednesday was a snow day, Drew was sick and we kept him home on Thursday, another snow day on Friday, and no school again today due to ice and cold. We went from warm, almost springlike days, to frigid cold, wind, snow and ice overnight. That darn wind even blew some siding off of the house. And so much ice. I love snow, but the ice is just plain hazardous.

I think it was Friday when Drew said he wanted to build a fort. I am all for fort building but he builds them in the living room, doesn’t want to take them down for days and I get sooo tired of them. So, I told him to build one in his bedroom. When you have a bunkbed and no actual bed on the bottom you have the perfect spot to build a fort! The only problem with that as far as Drew is concered is it will mess up his bedroom. When Eric moved out Drew asked to move into Eric’s old room. Which I was fine with but it has also brought on an interesting issue.

Drew has never been one to keep a clean room. He could destroy a clean room in seconds flat. No joke! So, when we started moving things into his “new” room, he surprised us when he decided to be very selective in what was moved and what was not. And he now keeps his room picked up at all times. He even goes in and cleans and vacuums it on his own. It is wonderful! But, the issue is, all of the things he didn’t bring into his “new” room are still piled up in the old room. He’s not ready to get rid of them yet but he doesn’t want them making a mess in his room either. So, after 30 years, I finally get a spare room and it’s full of Drew’s stuff. We did get a bed set up in there so we do have a place for Aaron or Eric to sleep if/when they stay. But the room is a disaster that needs to be tackled.

Back to the fort. Drew spent time building it and making it just the way he wanted it. It had room for him, his dad and me to sit in it comfortably. He built little cubbies for each of us to hold our things, phones, slippers, whatever we wanted to bring into the fort. We played games and took a nap in there and I thought yeah, he can play in this all weekend. It will give him something to do. And, I was wrong. It was fun while it lasted but it was messing up his bedroom and he just couldn’t take it. I went to fix supper, Joe headed out to do chores and down came the fort. Every single thing was picked up and put away so his room would be nice and tidy. I do wish this desire would manifest itself to the rest of the house as he really doesn’t care how messy he is everywhere else. I do love that he wants a nice clean cozy bedroom. And yet, I wish he could have left that fort up for a couple of days at least. It really was fun!

A Productive Day

We were supposed to wake up to 6″ to 8″ of snow on Saturday. Instead we woke up to ice. Ice everywhere. I was so thankful Eric came home Friday night before the nasty weather started. He needed an oil change, he had two tires leaking and his door handles weren’t working right. Well, his dad changed the oil and replaced two leaky valve stems but the door handles we picked up at the salvage yard awile back were the front handles and not back handles so that means Eric will have to come home again some other time. Yeah!!!! So what to do on a cold and icy day? Well, I had started the process of mustard making and that was ready to be finished.

Gotta let these sit for two days to absorb all the moisture.

Oh my goodness – the beautiful colors, smells and taste of Homemade Lavendar Mustard. And it was so very easy. I’m positive I’ll be making this again and I’m thinking it will be a perfect Father’s Day gift for my dad as he loves mustard.

Then Joe helped me pull Drew’s bed out so I could finish painting his room. This kid and all his treasures. After getting the room done and everything moved back the way he wanted it, he went through the house, through cupboards and drawers, all the nooks and crannys and he “shopped” for things to decorate with. It’s funny what he chose to use from around the house. My old roller skates, some of Grandma Houseal’s dishes, old Sucrets tins, whatever he could get his hands on. Gotta love him!

Then sweet Humphrey got a nice clean rearranged home. Drew decided on a camping theme this time around. With white bedding so he’s camping in the snow! We found some timothy hay and something called Nature’s Salad for him and also scattered some carrot and celery pieces around the cage for him to find. He was one happy camper when we put him back in the cage and he explored for ages. Then he knocked his camper over, decided not to bed down in the timothy hay and instead made a new nesting area and promptly fell asleep!

Not a good picture but this little guy is constantly on the move. I have yet to get a decent picture of him!

We had bacon and eggs for breakfast so instead of crushing the eggs up this time around and giving them back to the girls, I let them dry all day and crushed them up and put them in a jar. Since then I’ve added egg shells two more times to the jar already. Those shells will go in the ground this spring along with the tomatoes we’re going to plant. It feels good to get started planning for spring even though we’re living in an ice covered world at the moment!

Stitching Keepsakes

Now, a few months ago my uncle gave us a vintage camper. A very very old, very very well used vintage camper. It has a whole story behind it. And it’s going to take lots and lots and lots of work to get it usable. Well, Drew absolutely loves it. He talks about it all the time, reads about vintage campers, asked for vintage camper books for Christmas, I think he dreams about vintage campers! So when I told him I wanted him to draw me a picture of course he drew one of the camper that he named Ruby.

Here’s Ruby, the little vintage camper. She’s been spiffed up with the power washer and Drew and Rambler decorated her for fall! Oh she needs soooo much work!

A friend of mine shared an article with me about taking a child’s drawing and turning it into a keepsake. I had seen this before and at the time I thought it was a good idea but then I totally forgot about it. Well, I’ve joined a group on Facebook that is more of an embroidery group versus cross stitch and I have been wanting to try my hand at this form of stitching. Specifically the split stitch that Lori Brechlin uses. (Lori is an absolutely brilliant designer of all things handiwork and primitive!) So all the stars were aligned and I jumped in! Here’s Drew’s drawing:

And here’s my progress so far:

This has been such a fun project. And Drew is loving it! He’s planning on hanging this in Ruby when we get her done! I think I’ll have to have the grandkids draw me pictures next so I can make keepsakes for Abby!

Drew Might Have Made Me Cry

I might have cried a bit when Drew handed me this Sunday morning. I wasn’t feeling good and I slept until 9:00. Something totally unheard of with me. I’m usually the first one out off bed. I came out to the living room, sat down and Drew handed me this. He couldn’t wait any longer! The portrait cracked me up. I’ve never worn a side pony in my life. I haven’t worn earrings since he was very little because he wouldn’t leave them alone and I was afraid he was going to rip my ear. I don’t have black hair. But, he did an awesome job. I didn’t know he could draw so well and he was so excited to tell me he drew my red shirt with the flowers on it! And then I turned it over.

He can be such a sweet kid. I do tell him to go outside when he’s being loud. And I do tell him he has to drive slow when he’s driving the mule. Although his dad is a very good driver and I never tell him to slow down! I love that Drew thinks he protects me! And yes, we made an agreement. If he doesn’t have any meltdowns getting ready for school in the mornings, he can get another fish. One fish, not two. But he really wants two – and he didn’t want me to forget that! He put so much thought into this and it made me cry! I love you Drew Henry!

Stitching Time

I finally got some stitching time in for me. It took me forever to get these three done – Sheep Heap, Goat Load and Hen Pecked. I had to stitch two of the Goat Load for others before I could finish one for myself! I will admit they came out pretty darn cute when they were finished into cupboard keeps. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these three now. I’m thinking they would look cute framed but finding the right frame could be a challenge. They may end up in my HUGE pile of to be finished projects for now. We’ll see.

Then I started this one last night. I love bringing these little characters to life with my needle and thread. I swear that sometimes they talk to me as I’m stitching! To sit and stitch in the evening – there’s no better way to relax and unwind after a busy day. I know for sure I would simply fall asleep in my chair if I didn’t have something to do with my hands. A day without stitching doesn’t happen often for me and I usually have Drew snuggled up right beside me. Although those days are starting to be fewer and fewer. I’ll miss it when he decides he’s just too old to sit with him mom anymore.