The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today... September 1st, 2008

Outside my Window... blue sky, a warm day but not too hot, a much neater yard now than this morning.

I am thinking...that there are only 27 days until the wedding!

I am thankful for... being able to talk to Andrew every night while we have been apart for so long.

From the kitchen... nothing. Breakfast is long over and lunch, well I guess everyone will have to raid the fridge.

I am wearing...work jeans and my Montana t-shirt. My hair is in a braid and I am actually wearing shoes.

I am reading...You Can Farm, very interesting, informative, and inspiring.

I am hoping...to check off everything on my to do list this week.

I am creating... lists, lists and more lists. Some I write down and others are just in my head. Trying to keep track of everything is challenging.

I am hearing... a gentle breeze. Everything is quiet after all the activity and yardwork this morning.

Around the house... Boxes in my room and more packing to do, a little bit of laundry to iron and put away.

One of my favorite things... mornings that have a little hint of fall, my favorite season.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... organizing, packing, preparing.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you... A pile of boxes all packed and taped.


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Colorful Corn

This is some of the most fun corn to grow. It is called Painted Mountain and is a colorful dry corn. We have been harvesting and husking it. We will hang it to dry around the house and it makes a beautiful fall decoration. Later we will take the kernels off the cob then grind it into corn flour. It makes pretty and delicious cornbread.

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For Today... August 18, 2008

Outside my Window... the sunlight is beginning to get that golden evening glow. A breeze is gently blowing the trees.

I am thinking... about how amazing and exciting this time in my life is.

I am thankful for...the garden growing well, the good day I had working, my family, and Andrew.

From the kitchen... fresh corn on the cob!

I am wearing... my three tiered denim skirt and a flowered shirt, bare feet and hair in a ponytail.

I am reading... nothing much, there's no time.

I am hoping... that the next six weeks go by fast but also that I have enough time to finish all my projects before the wedding.

I am hearing... a breeze outside. In the garden the rainbird sprinklers are going.

I am creating... a pile of boxes in my room as I begin packing everything up.

Around the house... it is almost dinner time. Everything is pretty neat compared to how it has been recently.

One of my favorite things... is bringing my basket down to the garden and gathering the fresh produce.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... working tomorrow as a mother's helper, finishing the hem on my dress, sending the last of the invitations, packing and organizing.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
Heirloom tomatoes... some from our garden, some from a friend's garden.

Another Shower

After I got home from Washington there was a bridal shower down here, too. Mrs Auringer put it on and it was lovely. The shower had a garden theme. Everyone brought food from their garden.

The ladies sitting around the room. Frances played piano music from Pride and Prejudice.


We played pin the bow tie on Andrew. Here is my attempt.

Another game we played was creating toilet paper wedding gowns.

There were five teams. Here are the lovely results. Some of the dresses started falling apart.

The cake was "dirt" cake in flower pots, they looked so cute. Here I am with my two mothers.


Opening gifts was so fun. The little girls were so excited and crowded around to help me. It was very cute.

Sunny Sunflowers

We have an abundance of sunflowers this summer. Last year bugs ate many of them as they came up. So we planted extra this year. They must have all survived this year! They are so thick and tall that they are crowding out some of the corn. They look so pretty out in the garden or a bunch inside in a jar.

Yardsale Finds

Another fun activity Andrew and I did was look for furniture for our place. We went to all the second hand shops. They have amazing ones up there! We also spent two days yard saling. On Friday we took Adam and Aleah and stayed in the local area. It was quite fun and very cute how much they like yard sales. On Saturday we took a trip to Spokane and went to yard sales, thrift stores, the mall, Costco and out to eat at a Mongolian grill. Spokane is a bigger city than I am used to so I am glad I wasn't driving. It is nice though that it has everything we would ever need to shop for. We had a great time and one of the best parts was finding a good deal on a table and chair set.

New Paint

Andrew and I really enjoyed picking out paint and painting some of the rooms in the mobile home on his place. It was fun to decide the color schemes for each room. We spent quite a bit of time over there working.


View of the house


Painting the kitchen. We chose a very dark purple, but then decided it was too dark.


I love the colors in both bathrooms. Dark red and sage in the master bath....


... and blue and yellow in the other. It was so fun to take some of the gifts over after the shower to see how they looked.


We finally decided to add some white to the kitchen paint and give it another coat. I like it much better.


The finished kitchen. The kitchen colors are purple, sage, and blue.

A Bridal Shower

While up at the Engell's Mrs. Engell put on a lovely shower for me. It was great time to meet many people from the area. Everyone was so friendly and pleasant. The shower was a dress up tea party and evryone looked beautiful.

Aleah with rag curlers

All the pretty teacups


Some of the ladies playing the game

Gift time

Some of the lovely ladies

Afterwards we did a little dancing!

At The Engells

In between all the busyness and activities it was fun to get to know my new family the Engells better. We had nice dinners together, did cherries together, did dishes, I helped Aleah make a dress, helped Adam get spots out of his white shirt, and shared a room with Aleah. Here are some pictures from at the Engells house.


Tickling

Juicing

Dinner Time!




Washing garden produce

Getting ready to ride

Setting up the volleyball net

Cherry Picking

One day while I was up in Washington we went cherry picking with the Pittelkow family. It was a lot of fun. The trees were loaded with cherries, it was easy to pick them. We picked bucketfuls of them.













The next few days we spent pitting, then freezing, drying and canning cherries.



Some of the younger kids got bored with cherries, so they began to sword fight. It was so hilarious, especially if you notice what the red apron says.