90F in the first week of April?

It was 90F yesterday. Yup. You read it right. Quite unusual for CT this time of year. Seems we broke a record set back in 1963 or so. It's going to be cooler today, thank goodness, only 78. I don't believe we got below 60 last night, maybe even warmer. We will be in the low to mid 60's next week, much more normal for this time of year.
Some people will have loved this. Not me. It's just too weird having mid summer weather without all the flowers, leaves on the trees, etc. Just plain weird. I mean, I don't mind 70's. Nice enough not to have to wear a jacket, but not hot enough for swimming. The greening factor has certainly sped up. Leaves are popping out on the trees, forsythia is nearly done blooming, along with the azaleas. My clematis, columbine, and tulips put on several inches yesterday. I can't wait to see them blooming.

I went shopping yesterday, since it was such a beautiful day out. So I spent it in an antique shop and gift shop. I spent more in the antique shop, of course. I love antiques, especially 50's stuff, Fireking, juice pitchers, enamelware, kitchen scales, kitcheny stuff, etc.

So what did I get? I bought this nice juice pitcher with great color, red and green flowers.



A very large enamelware pan/tub, not sure what it was used for, but I was thinking towels rolled up or magazines perhaps.

I also got a 1950's red and white sewing basket. I have a green and cream one that was my mothers, and I thought this would display nicely next to it.

I got some smaller things, like a sweet black velvet evening purse, with pink silk ribbon flowers and bead work on it. It needs to be cleaned up some, I see a few pet hairs and spots on it. I plan to display that on an antique dresser with the white church gloves stashed away.

Hmmm, let's see. A few little odds and ends, like the orange pitcher, turquoise mug and orange glass pitcher.

A small Boyd's Bear - she was asking to go home with me. :0)

I'll feature photos of these items in future posts. Perhaps that will encourage me to post more, you think? :0)

HAPPY EASTER!

A blessed Easter Morning, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Happy 100th Post!

(Max snoozing in one of his favorite places.)

Is this really my 100th post? Wow. I should have planned something to celebrate it. What could I have possibly rambled on about for 99 posts? I'm sure it must have been important stuff, right? Like, how tall my flowers are now. And now. How about now? Ok, maybe not quite that bad.
It's been a long slightly depressive winter for me. I didn't get out much. Well, that's probably my fault. So the day before yesterday, my hubby jigged work for the afternoon and we went for a drive to look at a house about an hour from here. (Jigged is probably too strong of a word - he did get permission) The interstate portion wasn't so bad. But the next 30 minutes through rolling woods on narrow roads wasn't quite as fun. Did I mention I get carsick? Oh yeah...
We finally came to the farmhouse. They never look as good as the pictures, it seems. We were a bit disappointed. The lot seemed smaller. Not much for pasture. In fact, maybe a big garden and a couple of apple trees would be about it.
Oh well. And then last night, a notification came in my email that there was a sale pending on the property. I guess it wasn't meant to be anyway.
We also decided it's just too far from work for him, especially through the winding woods. Kind of pretty over there though.
I have such hard time with property here, because, number one: it's so darn expensive!!
And, you get so little for your money. Especially if you want any amount of land. I was down to just one acre. That was all I was asking for. One acre. Like I could be happy on one acre. I was willing to try. Oh well. Sigh...
So we are back to the drawing board.

(This picture is of vole and/or mice tunnels in the snow beneath my bird feeders last month. We don't have any snow left now. Yay!)

It's hard to choose between the security of a good job, and living the life you really want. Since that life can't seem to be found here. My hubby keeps saying that if it wasn't for the job, he wouldn't live here. Not that CT isn't a beautiful state, it surely is. And I love the climate here. It's a wonderful growing season,

especially when one was used to to 3B and 4A gardening zones. 5B/6A just has so much more to offer. Did I mention
how much I love flowers? I just love to grow things. Must be that midwest farmgirl thing.



I visited a couple of new blogs today. I found one, Tales from the Coop Keeper, that I really enjoyed. She seems like a kindred spirit, living next to my old hometown, Hebron. I loved her video of the chickens. She talks to her animals like I do mine.

I started raking part of the front lawn (read: hill) yesterday, and realized that the overabundance of acorns from last fall have nicely embedded themselves in the soil. We had raked some up last fall, but ran over a lot with the lawn mower when mowing. Since we've never really had an acorn issue before, I didn't realize what that would do. Now we have more acorns in the topsoil than grass in some parts. Not cool.
SO....what do you think I was out there doing yesterday? Raking, and digging some of them out by hand. I know. The neighbors must really be wondering about me. That just isn't something one does here. At least, I haven't seen anyone else doing that. Of course, they all have lawn service which pretty much that takes care of stuff like this.

Not us. Nope. We are do it yourselfers. Much rather buy our own second hand lawn tractor and mow this hill ourselves. Besides, it was more cost effective this way, and we do a much better job than they do. They go too fast, miss parts, and do burn outs in the lawn whenever they turn. And they would probably just run over the acorns too.
Plus, I needed the exercise. I felt it last night, too, with aching arms from raking. An Advil did the trick, and I slept better than I had for a long time.
I think there are more acorns out there that need me. By for now!

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog so much. What is it with winter anyway? Seems I just don't have the wherewithal to think of anything interesting to post about. I sure hope that changes soon! While I am having my coffee this morning, I am catching up on the bloggers that I follow - I feel like I've missed so much!
It is snowing today. We haven't had that much snow this winter. Funny thing, when they predict winter storms, they seems to go around us (literally!) or just not come at all. I guess that's ok, less shoveling to do for me. ON the other hand, I could really use the exercise, lol!
What have I been up to? Well, mostly house hunting. I spend hours a day on this computer searching for a suitable home so we can take advantage of that tax credit for first time home buyers. It will certainly be a blessing to us next spring when we file our taxes, I can tell you that.
But, since market values are down, so is the available housing. When the prices were inflated, there were tons of homes on the market, with people hoping to take advantage of big gains on their homes. Now, people don't seem to be selling unless they absolutely have to. Great.
Combine that with the time of year, and things are just not too lively out there. If anything really good comes on the market it gets snapped up in a day! So one must be diligent and patient, I guess. Kind of like fishing, huh? :0))

The other thing I am doing is working on a quilt top. I got it cut out, and the blocks made. Now I just need to square them up and sew them together. I hate the squaring up part, because then it's obvious that some of them aren't quite the size they should be. And since I can't add fabric, I need to size them slightly down. Oh well. The main thing is that they are all the same size, right? And even more important, is getting it done. Yes!
I am doing Cottage Square Quilt by Fons and Porter. It's an easy quilt design, all squares. This photo is just the 8" squares. I have the 3" sashing blocks sewn together and added to these blocks already, but I will have to upload those photos for my next post. I am hoping that by posting about this quilt, it will motivate me to actually finish it! Anyone out there great at starting projects but not finishing?! Yup, that's me. Now I'm waiting to get to the store to buy new blades for my rotary cutter. Great. Now that I'm on a roll, I'm out of blades. Oh well, once it quits snowing and I can get up my driveway, I can get out to the store. Perhaps tomorrow.
In the meantime, I can curl up with a cross stitch project I always have on the go, or read on of my library books. I am just finished "Miss Julia Delivers The Goods" by Ann B. Ross. There are several in the series, and I need to go back to the first book, as they are written sequentially. I also just read Miss Dimity and The Duke" by Nancy Atherton. I really enjoyed both authors and will be reading more by them.
(I just realized that there is no way to underline the titles of these books. Why isn't there an underline?? Do I have to do this in Html mode? Can someone give me a clue as how to do that and if it's possible? Thank you!:0))
OK, gotta run. Laundry is calling. Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

It's been too long since I last wrote on here. We had company over Christmas and I must have talked myself out!
Also, I have been spending most days on this computer looking for at housing. We are gearing up to buy a house (yippee!), hopefully by April, when our lease agreement here expires. It's been difficult, because we've been vacillating between buying a house here in CT or buying one in ME. Since my hubby is 57, we are thinking much more strongly about retirement now, and where we'd like to be. The hard part is, he still has to keep his job here in CT So that means boarding here during the week and commuting home on the weekends. And in the northeast during the winter, that can be tricky.
If housing just wasn't so expensive here. If we just didn't have a dream of a house with some land. Then we could probably find something here to suit us. BUT, being the farm girl that I am, I still want one last kick at the can. After renting for the last 15 years, we are SO READY for a home of our own again. It seems we've waited forever. I am afraid if we don't get something now that is somewhere near what we are dreaming and hoping for, it will never happen.
On the other hand, it will be very hard to be away from my hubby for 5 days a week. I've done it before when he worked out of state, and it was hard. But, there is a light at the tunnel, however far down the tunnel it may be, called retirement. And with the tax credit available, low interest rates and housing prices at an all time low, it seems like now is the time to buy. But where???
And why Maine, you ask? Well, it' 4 hours closer to both sides of our families. We are now 9 hours away from all family. It's been hard. Our parents are aging, the grandkids are growing up, and we are missing alot of holidays and family events. This is a complex decision, with many factors.
The biggest factor is money. Our dollar goes quite a bit further up there in housing, but, we have to add on the cost of board and travel.
So what would you do? Buy a modest home here for the next 5 - 10 years, living away from family and putting off your dreams? Or would you buy your retirement home now, and commute, living for the weekends? Where do you draw the line of being practical and what your heart wants?
How can you have both?
Hmmm... well, that is where I am at for now. Wish me luck on finding a home. Wherever that may be.