right now

right now

Jan 11, 2011

washing rocks and other nonsense...

I am deep into "spring cleaning" mode, and it occurred to me as I was washing ROCKS that I may be just a teeny bit weird!  But then my kids walked in from school and Loch said, "oh, good thing you are washing those rocks, they were getting dusty"... I thought to myself either I'm not weird, or I'm warping my kids since they apparently see nothing wrong with it!


Truth be told, they are actually the rocks from a vase of water that had evaporated so they were scummy and needed it.  I have an obsession with rocks, they are everywhere in my house, in vases, scattered on bookshelves, I even have a couple of slabs of slate that are on my coffee table.  So my rocks are my chotzkies.

one can never have too many rocks!

I am officially caught up reading all your blogs, that took some time but it looks like you all had wonderful holidays from the photos I saw!

Since getting a dirty look from the mailman with my "hold mail" stack of seed catalogs upon our return, I have been pretty anxious to get planning and ordering for the Spring Garden.  Slight problem:  whenever I have a project that I LIKE doing, such as garden planning, sewing or the like, I need for my "space" to be uncluttered and pleasing when I begin.  So.... I started by rearranging the living room and then that morphed into tossing huge amounts of "stuff".  I only have one bedroom left, but that is the one that is destined to become both a sewing space AND office AND my bedroom - so now I am going to start tackling that tonight and hope that then I will be able to start my garden planning.  The joys of less than 1000 sq ft...

So let's review:  I can't seem to plan my garden unless my bedroom is clean??  yep, wierd...

Good news from the week since we returned:
1.  I got the other side of the duplex rented.  I'm sure you can imagine what a stress this has been, not too many people are looking to move during the holidays/middle of winter.  Since we are a one-income family, I was not looking forward to carrying 2 mortgages with no rental income.  Our new renter is a really nice single military gal with a 6 year old boy and an Australian Cattle Dog - how perfect is that?  My boys will love having someone their age next door and we are overjoyed about the dog, LOL... that's the one herding dog breed we haven't had and we only allow ourselves 2 dogs at at time!  If you come for a visit, beware of the ankle biters circling you!  Seriously, we are very lucky to have found such a nice person as a tenant and are looking forward to moving day in February.

2.  I got a new "old skool" washing machine!  Hubby ripped apart the LG front loader as soon as we got in from vacation and he easily found the problem:  needs a new bearing and spider shaft.  I researched online and found that the bearings are only 19.95 but are terminally backordered because this is a huge problem with this machine, and the spider shaft is 104.95, yikes!  Under normal circumstances, I would order the parts and fix the darn thing but we decided that $125 is too much to spend on fixing it AGAIN, and we were spending $15 a week at the expensive laundromat.  This is the 3rd time the LG has needed fixing, and no guarantee that it won't take a dive yet again, since that seems to be a common theme with these washers.  I am now the proud new owner of a $299.00 basic super capacity top loader no-funny-business-no-digital washer.  It has pretty much been running all week, I love the loud sound of it, it means it's working!


Scheduled for the rest of the week:  finish cleaning bedroom, come up with a plan for a sewing space, try to repurpose some things for craft storage, write Loch's packages for school next year (he is eligible for 2 gifted schools, so he needs a separate app for each, ugh!), write down some goals for the next year, and get to those seed catalogs before they start reproducing!  Oh shoot, the mail is here again...

I also wanted to thank Apple Pie Gal for the wonderful gift that was waiting for me when we got home! She and a few others have been huge inspirations for me to get moving on my desire to sew - apparently she is bribing me over to the dark side with temptations of fabric creations :)  ...


She obviously remembers my massive influx of peppers last summer!  A cute pepper coffee sleeve, and a  perfect patriotic little wallet!  I know just what I'm going to put in it too... that is going to be my new "sewing purse", where I will keep my craft store rewards cards and sewing stash money!  Hubby is cringing now!

p.s.  I am loving reading everyone's seed orders this year, it's keeping me motivated and it looks like it's going to be another fun garden year watching everyone's harvests!

14 comments:

  1. Just so you don't feel to weird, I wash our rocks, too. ;-) We have them in glass vases with lucky bamboo growing in them and they do get grungy and slimy...
    Yeah for the new washer, hope this one won't cause you any problems.
    I've been getting quite a few seed catalogs in, but have decided to only order from one. That one carries only organic seeds and I'm really looking forward to seed starting.

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  2. I'm glad to finally find out what a new old school washer is! I hope you have many problem free washes ahead of you.

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  3. Sometimes old is just better! As you had the misfortune of learning...booohissss! However younger men are another story!

    Does letting my dogs play with rocks count for cleaning them? I didn't think so either but at least you are getting your stuff out of the way and can then focus on all sorts of fun stuff like seeds and sewing! wooohhooo! I am ordering mine on Friday!

    And you are very welcome! xoxo

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  4. I'm laughing at your rocks cause I have a big bowl of rocks in my living room too and a fish bowl of shells and both need a bath! I have an antler like one in one of your pictures too. We must like the the same things for decoration.

    It must be nice to have a working washer now. I'd hate to have to go to the laundromat here cause that's where all the creepy people hang out.

    Very cute wallet and folder. I've been looking at heritage seeds but can't decide on what I have room for cause I haven't built my new gardens yet. I may just wing it and hope for the best.

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  5. Hahaha, I love the washing rocks! Hysterical. You are one busy gal!! I like the new washer, sometimes the "newer" gadgety stuff just isn't as good as simple ones.

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  6. When you say "your bedroom" a question comes to mind...but I will not ask it because it might be too personal!!!!!! But does that make me a bad person just fore being curious? LOL! (And if you have no idea what I'm referring to then no harm no foul I guess.)

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  7. I am just like you. I would have washed those rocks. And I need my space to be clean before I can focus on work. Although, I don't move the furniture to clean every week like you!

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  8. Oh I'm so happy to see other "rock washers" out there!

    Thomas, it was just a slip LOL... I guess with hubby not here 8 months out of the year things become "mine"! Posession is 9/10's right?! Actually, other than the bed, the room functions as my office/craft space so save for a few hours if he's not working nights, it's pretty much mine. :) And you a bad person? HA - NEVER!

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  9. I can so identify, Erin. If I'm going to start a big project, I have to clean and neaten up FIRST. I had a friend who was just the opposite. If her house WAS clean, it kept her from messing it up by creating. We're all different, aren't we?

    Love you new header photo. (Somebody help that kid!)

    Our stackable washer and dryer unit has one more breakdown before it goes out! I'll never have a front loading washer again and the water saving feature on it is a bunch of hooey. The dang thing has always leaked out the front door so how can that be water saving, I ask you?

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  10. I just love your new photo...I got 5 more catalogs in the mail yesterday!!

    I had a lemon of a washing machine about 10 years ago and it was an expensive one too! I finally purchased an old used washing machine from the repair man for $50. and it was the best washer I ever owned!

    I hope that you are enjoying your hubby :)

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  11. So glad you're back home and getting everything going for spring planting. Wow, those are a lot of seed catalogs!

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  12. Yay to the new washer! I amy be going back to the old school types myself some day. I like the idea of using WAY less water, but the clothes don't always come out clean in mine, sometimes stuff is pulled out with dry/dirty spots.

    Love your sewing gifts, too cute!

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  13. Erin, I am with you. I can not order seeds with all the holiday mess and the cleaning that did not get done before out quick Christmas trip to Florida. Yes, it sound weird, but I can not think clearly until my kitchen cabinets are reorganized, the Christmas decorations put up in the attic (yes, they are still displayed for all to see)and my storage room is tidied up (that's where the seed starting shelf is...buried under a tone of junk everyone seems to toss there). Oh well, as Mama Pea wrote, maybe tomorrow.

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  14. Erin-I'm so envious of your "basic" washer. I HATE my super duper efficient washer-it takes forever to do a load, and Don has been complaining non-stop that it doesn't do a good job of cleaning (doesn't use enough water to get rid of the stinky stinky). Sad to say, we are HOPING the damn thing dies so we can go back to the plain old washer that actually did a good job.

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