Penny Sanford Designs

Where to begin?

I'm so behind in sharing stuff with you that I hardly know where to begin.  

If I wanted to blog about something lately, I did not have accompanying pictures to share. Or if I have the pictures to share, I've been too tired to edit them to upload and write anything. 

That is something for which to be thankful because it means I have been more active lately than I have been in many months of that stupid bronchitis. Today Gordon carried the oxygen-making machine back upstairs to the closet where it has been stored. I no longer need supplemental oxygen. YEAH!

We're planning a "freshening" project for the kitchen involving paint and a new floor and some re-organization. We've been moving Unc's wood-working out of the kitchen in preparation.

Yes, you read that right. In the 4 plus months I was sick and in bed most of the time, Unc moved into the kitchen with his carving. The kitchen is the center of the house, and he likes to be around people when he carves. I was unaware of how bad the kitchen was getting, and Gordon was torn between not worrying me and still keeping Unc close by to watch (and be sure he was not cutting off fingers).

I won't tell you how many of his tools and pieces of wood and carving chips and layers of wood dust were actually in the kitchen because I don't think you would believe me! I did not take any pictures of that clutter either!

This is also another step of the journey of turning the kitchen from Mama's kitchen to my kitchen. Those of you who have made such a conversion will understand the heavy baggage of memories, good and bad.  Off to work on the kitchen now...

Oh, the wild turkey (which is a female, Unc says) visited us one morning recently to check out the free fruit under the Mulberry tree! I was surprised how much they walk with a regal gait like a peacock!

Happy Flowers and Green Thumb Ladies

Here are some of the pretty flowers that have beautified the farm this spring.

It has been so rainy for so long, and I have had this ongoing bronchitis-like stuff, so Gordon or Unc brought flowers inside to cheer me up.

Some of the rain-drenched flower shots that Gordon snatched between rains are my favorite flower pictures from the first five months of 2009.

Now, looking back at these pictures from the past five months, as I share them with you, I realize how just a photo of flowers can brighten one's day.

For a good while we thought this bronchitis-like stuff might be triggered by allergy, so the only flowers I received from the yard (since I was house-bound by the chronic coughing) were photos of flowers blooming in the yard.

Each of these flowers in these photographs come with memories. Most happy, some bittersweet.

I remember one particular afternoon, about 18 years ago, when Unc, Mama and I went to Kay Emmon's homeplace in Carroll County to buy starts of this antique rose. (first two photos) That was quite an adventure finding her stately 1870-era farmhouse.

She "pegged" rose bushes to make baby plants. That method calls for pulling a rose branch down to the ground and putting a brick on the branch to hold it in contact with the soil so that new roots can form. After about a year, you can sever the branch and transplant the baby rose plant.

Other types of plants she started under quart jars around her yard. There were small battalions of little quart jars stationed at strategic places. It was quite a visual experience of color and little armies of quart jars and bricks.

That was  a magical afternoon, and we bought a number of antique roses and lillac and fragrant violets from her.

What are your memories of special Green Thumb Ladies you have met through the years? I have a cousin in California who sends photos of the roses cut from her yard.  LaNelle Renfroe Johnson must have roses in bloom 12 months of the year!

She sends her rose pictures to various family and friends. Those pictures are really a day brightener!

As for this bronchitis like stuff, the doctor put me on a different course of medicine yesterday, and it seems to be working. As soon as I now, I will share with you a very suprising cause of chronic bronchitis-like cough that has grounded me for well over three months.

A nice Mother's Day...except

I've had these photos edited and waiting to be blogged for several months. I don't know why I just could not get in the mood to blog them.

Mama would have been especially proud of the Legislative thing. Many thanks to our State Representative Bobby Howell of Kilmichael, MS. He has been a rare breed of state lawmaker!

The highlight of today:  waking up from a nap to see Unc with a LIVE weed-eater, walking through the den, weed-eater held high, on his way to the front to trim around the flower beds in the front.

All I could think of was the furniture in the hall.  I could see the stately old hall tree and wardrobe-turned glass curio cabinet scarred from a weed-eater's hungry twine.

It seems the grass trimmer is difficult to start, so, rather than walk around the house to the front walk, he decided to take a short-cut through the house.

I'm sorry to admit that I don't take such things in stride as well as I once did. The event erased all thoughts of what I had planned to do Sunday afternoon...like folding clothes and particular sewing tasks and which dog to wash when I took a shower this evening....

So, I've accomplished nothing today. It is almost midnight and I still have not quite relaxed enough to seek sleep. These little "episodes" just don't roll off of me like they once did.

Several folks over on Facebook suggested being thankful it was not a chainsaw! We have several chainsaw stories of similar shock value.

Another suggested being thankful it was not a lawnmower. Yep, we have lawnmower and tractor stories that still haunt my dreams.

There is a book begging to be written from this journey Gordon and I have been traveling the last five plus years! I'm not sure whether it belongs in the humor section or the horror section!!!

Somehow I have the sense that Mama is saying,
"Oh, Penny, I understand!"  Then she turns aside and tries to hide her laughter.

We women all understand, don't we?

What a Week!

Just prattle tonight, folks!

We finished a pesky project that has been lurking around for 14 months. It was not fun, but it is over. I'm so thankful for that!

So tonight, we celebrated with some of that delicious pizza from our local Independent grocery store. I drooled about it here. It is the first time we have savored this pizza in months!

We've been enjoying some wonderful food from the freezers as we try to eat all the home grown vegetables and such before gardening season hits full tilt. We are also trying to cut down on our grocery expenses.

I doubt I will ever get tired of yellow squash and corn on the cob. SO delicious. The beautiful corn we froze in the shuck and put it in two pillowcases late last summer. We did cut off the ends of each ear of corn.

We had never before frozen corn on the cob like this, but our friend Dot Ward recommended it, and it is the only way we will ever freeze sweet corn again! 

Regardless of the delicious food we have been eating from the freezers this year, there was no fresh pizza among the frozen treasure.

That simple pizza was such a boost to our spirits that together, the three of us have washed dogs, cleaned floors, washed and folded clothes...several very productive hours. There is a sense of peace from seeing routine household jobs completed. 

Tomorrow is a new day. A clean slate. I will choose to face it with expectation that God will sprinkle the day with blessings as large as bringing a big project to a close, or as small as a piece of pizza or a piece of home-grown corn, still fresh after months in the freezer.

Considering all the suffering in this world, we have so much for which to be thankful!

A Quirky Day

So, twice today I have put the TV on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, gotten into the program (same episode), and one or more of my fellas has invaded my sewing nook to ask me something, show me something, etc.  Before I knew it, Gordon had changed the channel to something else and then hid the controls.

No, he really HIDES the controls. I am convinced of that!

Tonight I thought i was home free. Gordon was deep in thought in his computer nest, and Unc was in a cloud of flying carving curls and Dremel dust in the kitchen. Yes, I said kitchen. That is where he likes to carve and leave the proof of his labor on the floor.

Seeing Unc and Gordon happily involved, I sneaked the television remote to my sewing nest tonight and found Law and Order again. The episode I missed earlier this afternoon had surprisingly started to run again. Yeah! I was going to find out "who done what"!

About the time the show reached the part of the program that I had not been able to see earlier in the day...my nest was invaded again...by the same tresspassers, accompanied by some four legged invaders.

Ahh, such is life, and I am thankful my two fellas WANT to show me things and ask questions, etc.

Life would be very empty if they were not around to get in my hair! So I am thankful for the different sound made by every foot or paw that patters in search of me.

It has been a quirky day. It still is being a quirky day, so I'm going to post this short post with these two pictures and call it a day. 

My Big Boy Mackie is crawling on top of my hand sewing, wanting to snuggle. That is the priority.

To me: a resort, a CIA front operation, a therapist couch!

To you, this may look like just a simple space with a view and a sewing machine.

To me, this is a therapist's couch, a 5 star spa resort, a CIA front operation and a mental brainstorming white board.

There is old paneling to be painted. Old windows to be scraped, re-glazed and painted. Work tables to be covered in perky oil cloth. Shelves to be painted. Paint, paint and more paint!

So much redecorating work to do now and an even more exhaustive list of changes to make as we can afford it, have time to DIY it and have the courage to tackle the bigger projects.

Today Gordon and Unc spent three hours helping move furniture, bringing up sewing stuff from the studio where Gordon and I lived for five years.

Then the sweeties helped me clean up behind ourselves. Gordon has cooked dinner and Unc just brought in a frosted coke! Simple to you, but priceless memories being made as far as I am concerned!

I cannot tell you what it feels like to look across the room at this little simple sight.

It is hard to cull stuff I've seen all my life, like Daddy's indoor/outdoor thermometer. I think the thing looks horrid, but it is going to be very hard to take off the wall.

That paneling I have hated all of my life, but painting it will be difficult, and totally removing it would be much too painful for the moment.

One day I want a sewing/design studio that makes my heart stop.

For now nesting, going through generations of accumulation in a family of verifiable pack-rats, making do with what we have, redefining our space with paint and re-purposed furniture... makes my heart go pitter-pitter-pat-pat.

I suspect at the end of our journey of turning this old farmhouse into our own home, the small moments will have gilded our nest with golden memories.

OH, can you figure out how this corner of our life is my CIA front operation?  *impish giggle*

Fabric Pregnant with Anticipation

The fabric and I are both pregnant with anticipation! If I could paint my emotions, that painting would look like this fabric plus more. Lots more.

Gordon brought in from the Post Office a package of the most beautiful yellow fabric from Stitchin' Heaven. Pulling back the grass green tissue paper that made the simple fabric shipment a delightful Spring treat, the yellow yardage flooded my spirit like a ray of sunshine peeping, then crashing through the clouds.

The fabric is pregnant with possibilities. As one Internet friend wrote me this week, she gets her fabrics out to pet rather often until the fabric "tells" her what it wants to become.

I'm sure she is not implying anything supernatural about that. I know that my favorite fabrics have, to date, been impossible for me to cut into.

The third picture is of a piece of fabric I have been saving to make a Thangles quilt. The Thangles program began and ended in 2008. I bought the little monthly kits, but have not yet started the quilt. It has not been time.

The fabric told me today that a small part of it was ready to be made into a collar slipcover for Jenny B.

Yes, I'm pregnant with anticipation for Jenny B, our new Westie.

She is 10 months old, and we travel to another state to pick her up. A 4.5 hour trip, give or take. Jenny B is not a rescue. She has been well bred, well tended and well loved.

I've been packing our bag for tomorrow, full of toys with the scents of Charlotte, Lillibeth and Mackie. Annie's scent will be on at least one of them.

Annie's scent will be on the knitted shawl that I cannot wash since wrapping it around Annie's sick little body as she snuggled with me, day after day, up until the end. Jenny B needs to know the beautiful little soul who came before her.

Now to sleep. Early tomorrow today, we pack the van with pillows and comforters and toys and water and harness, collar and leash.

I'll make something special for little Jenny B during the 4.5 hours to pick up my new fur baby! Something from this happy blue and white checked daisy fabric.

If you have human children, please don't sneer, and please don't pity.

This is right where God wants us to be, right where God knows we are, and right where God planned for us to be at this time.

A little bundle of fur is bringing life and sunshine and love into the life of a middle-aged couple and their 83 year old relative, pushing out the grey clouds of two recent deaths. The other dogs understand.

Bustin' Out

The fruit trees are bustin' out in bloom. Actually, the leaves are developing now to protect the fragile blooms from surprise cold snaps. It looks like we will have heirloom peaches and apples and pear to eat and put up this year!

The Spring Cleaning Wench is bustin' out inside the farmhouse. Nope, no pictures unless a covey of DIY network shows come calling WITH tool boxes and supply trucks and muscle power!

The quilting bug is bustin' out. That particular little bee has managed to log some stitching time every day for about a week. Not much time each day, to be truthful, but real progress, nontheless! Pictures taken. Editing and blogging will be forthcoming.

The doggie fever is bustin' out in more than one of us, although I am the only one to admit the excitement. Too soon for details. I can tell you that dog toys are being gathered from hiding places, washed and sorted for necessary repairs. Dog bones are being gathered from separate hiding places and inspected for appropriateness. That's all I can say at present.

A hummingbird was sighted by a friend in the county, so hummingbird feeders will be going up this week.

So what kind(s) of moss are pictured on this branch? I'm totally fascinated with it!

Buzz buzzing off to sleep now.

Dog enemas, a 100 year old family mystery & pans with patina

I can just imagine (if I had a 9 to 5 job) walking into the office this morning and when asked what we did this weekend, I would reply, "Oh, we gave all seven dogs an enema!"

Yep, we did.

No, honest. We really did.

Not ready to blog about the actual experience. I'm too pooped, er... make that too tired.

Yesterday, I found a packet of 100+ year old letters from my Great Uncle to his mother, my Great-grandmother about his adventures in Texas. He was rather mysteriously killed after he had just sold his cattle herd.

The money was never found. Private investigators were hired, and there are significant questions that remain unanswered about his untimely death.

Last week, I found his picture and a very old shed buffalo horn that he had found in the Panhandle of Texas. Lots of fun tidbits to share in a future post about his interesting story.

Gordon has been scanning oodles of pictures from my elementary through high school years. He is getting a kick out of the pigtails and freckles!

I've been scrubbing some Vintage aluminum baking pans my grandmother and mother used. The scrubbing has become addictive as that soft silver patina has emerged. Those pans are now calling for me to cook things I have never tried before (like from-scratch biscuits and refrigerator rolls).

Unc and Gordon have been cutting, hauling and stockpiling wood for the fireplace. It has been unseasonably warm the last three or four days, and we have opened windows and doors to fill the house with fresh clean air.

The mosquitoes have even made a meal off of me for two straight late afternoons! It's just February 9th! As I mentioned in a Twitter update earlier today, I guess I have contributed to the environment by providing a hearty meal to at least ten of the buggers! It was a last meal for two of the evil little vampires!

Over to the right, you will see the area called "Fly on the Wall". That is where you will see short little updates about what is going on in my day, even if I don't have the umph to write a blog post that day.

Annie feels better, so I feel better. I have been very worried about her. We're going to snuggle now and enjoy a good rest. 

 

What went up won't come down now!

You've seen a cat in a beam of sunlight, purring vigorously, flipping and flopping on its back, enjoying a good belly scratch from its human, just the ultimate picture of contentment.

That was me yesterday.

It was one of the coziest, most fulfilling days I have enjoyed in a very, very long time. No deadlines, unless you count the 5:30 p.m. start of the Superbowl. Gordon, Unc and I worked well together as a team, quickly dispatching the necessary daily chores, and then tackling a little bit more deep cleaning in the kitchen.

Then I settled in to make my special lasagne for my fellas. It used to be one of the dishes I was "known" for, sure to earn praise every time.

Goodness, it felt so good to cook in my own kitchen, even if the kitchen is in transition. No longer a makeshift kitchen that shared counter space with porcelain slip and molds. A real kitchen. Fully functional with many of my own pots and pans already incorporated. My women readers can understand what I am talking about, right?

I was practically singing as I assembled the lasagna.  Gordon and Unc were fantastic to help at every opportunity (slowly stirring the simmering pot of reducing sauce or washing up cooking dishes as I finished with them, etc.)

The lasagne went into the oven a little before the game started, and it taunted us with those fabulous smells for the early part of the game.  Unc and Gordon were into the game, and they were commenting on that congenial level of man-speak that strums contented chords in my soul.

I settled in a recliner with two Westies, watched the birds put on a performance around the bird feeders as I also kept an eye on the football game. My mind wandered over paint choices for the kitchen walls and cabinets, and I played with a craft that included lemon, orange, lavender and cloves...something to share with you later.

Happy, happy, happy!

Truly, it has been years since I spent a day as nourishing to my spirit as yesterday. No stress!

So why, in the early evening, did I become dizzy, the room seemed to shimmey in my eyesight. My head began to hurt considerably, and my vision blurred?  My blood pressure was up in a rather dangerous range. It has continued like that for all of today.

Today, my doctor has increased my bp medicine for a third time and has added an additional bp med to try and get this irritating bp down where it should be.

Do you have experience with belligerent blood pressure that refuses to stay in a "normal" range, even after stressors are under control?

The "swimmey" head and blurred eyesight and terrible headache has been happening most afternoons. Not every day, but the majority of days. I've taken my medicine religiously. Getting more rest as prescribed (but that is boring). Diet, no caffeine, etc.

See the beautiful happy yellow squash picture? That is what happens when I try to  take photographs when my bp is up. I can't pull a tight focus. I can't sculpt into porcelain any of the tiny details for which I am known. It is uncomfortable to read fuzzy words on a page or on a computer screen.

Right now, there are a gazillion things I WANT to do, but my silly body is just not cooperating! How long will it take for medicine to finally force my bp into submission?  Any advice or experience in this area?