Rainy Day Ramblings: Inspiration Comes With The Rains

So... I said I was going to utilize this blog more and promptly disappeared for months. Well, what can I say? With the gorgeous NW weather that comes during the late spring and lasts through much of the Summer came a million little and not-so-little adventures, and a general lack of wanting to be glued to this glowing box. And with the seasons first real rain comes the inspiration to go inward and reflect a little on the season's changes and blessings. Most things seem a little far out of reach to touch today, but with the addition of some photo blogs soon, should be easy to recant later. BUT... the most recent, and most exciting of changes in our world, is finding our dream rental in Alpine! I've been wanting a place of my own out in the country forEVER, and have been casually looking since our move from Fall Creek into Eugene, nearly 2 years ago. We'd been spending a good amount of time out in Alpine this Summer, since we have good friends out there and Justin and I have been helping our friend process his honey for the past several weeks, so we decided to take a look around that area. It's such a quaint, little farming town, with an actual feel of community, and it's lovely, lazy lolling hills are pretty easy on the eyes, so we were pretty determined to find some place in that area, though we did look around the Cottage Grove, and Fall Creek areas, with little to no success, when the almost-perfect house came along. It was pre-turn of the century, two stories, on 4-5 acres surrounded by a tree farm, off a dirt road. It had a ton of gardening potential, as well as room for goats and chickens, all of which was very important. I thought for sure it would be way out of our budget, but it was surprisingly cheap for what it had to offer, so we were seriously considering going for it. Something didn't feel completely right about it though. I mean, depending on the farmers, tree farms can be pretty toxic areas. And the landlords folks lived right behind us, not completely out of site, and aside from the HUGE oak trees in the front, the house had absolutely no native plant-life in the immediate vicinity. But it was a heck of a lot closer to the dream than our current in-townhouse, so we were willing to settle, feeling like it might be the best we could find. Then we saw it! The red house! It was just an ad on craigslist, but something about it spoke to me. It was red, my favorite, it had a huge deck, surrounded by trees, on an acre, with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, for the same amount as the white house. Thing was, we had to wait almost a week to see it, and even though we tried and tried to find it on google earth, it became apparent we'd have to suffer and wait. Finally, the day before the day we were scheduled to go see it came, and the lady gave up the address! We all (Joey, Angela, Justin, and I) piled into the car to go see it, and I fell in LOVE! The yard was HUGE, and a perfect balance of open and wooded, with fruit trees, a bamboo forest, oak, birch and pine. I knew immediately this was my home! I just knew in my bones it would be mine. Joey said she had a really good feeling I would get it also, so i just knew it must be! The next day, we go to meet with the lady, and she's perfect! She and her ex-husband had built the place 27 years ago, and two of her 3 children had been born there. The place had been a barren open field and they had planted all the lush and gorgeous trees and plant-life there. When she and her husband, who still lived on the land behind us (she moved to Seattle) had separated, she had taken to renting it out. She was extremely heart-broken that the last tenants that had been there for 5 years, had just mowed over her many garden beds, had torn down her rabbit hutches, and basically destroyed her yard in her eyes,  so we thought it was perfect that we basically wanted to turn it into food and medicine, with some chickens, and possibly goats. Plus, she'd homeschooled,  and I was going to be homeschooling. She had been a housekeeper as well, and had a good friend who was a stained glass artist. There were all these amazing similarities, and we/I felt a great connection. She said there were more people coming that day to see the place, but I just knew the place would be ours. She wanted to rent the place as soon as possible, as she had to get back up to Seattle and work, so she was planning on making the decision that night and calling the next day. Yay! We wouldn't have to wait very long to find out we'd got it!

She didn't call that night... I am terrified...

She didn't call the next day either! So we decided to give her a call.... She hadn't made a decision yet, she would call when she did.

Days pass and she doesn't call! My heart is BROKEN!!! I loved that house so much! I just knew it was going to be mine! We had such a great repoir! What was wrong??? Maybe she decided to take a few more days to decide... maybe she decided to check our references.  We waited...

She NEVER called!

We almost gave up. But we didn't...

Justin called back the next week to ask what she had finally decided, and she told him she had decided to go through a property management company, and that they were coming that day to decide if they were going to manage it. She told him that she had just had a really, really bad experience with the last renters, and since she was so far, she just wanted to know it was being taken care of. Justin said, okay, but if it would sweeten the pot, we would sign a 2, 3, or 5 year lease, and she said, thanks, she would take that into consideration.

Next thing we know, she's calling our references! Then she wanted more references! Then, she wanted other reassurances... that we would be able to make rent, etc. We gladly gave her everything she wanted, plus some, and NOW...

THE HOUSE IS OURS!!! I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so excited!!! It's beautiful and perfect and it's OURS!!! :):) We'll start moving around the 15th! Pictures soon to follow!!!

In other news, I'm making herb stuffs! I wildcrafted some things, tinctured some other things, made poison oak tea, nettles/oat straw nourishing infusions, and am salving and tincturing more later this week! Yay for me!!! I wanted to start this journey earlier than this, but with said Summer hecticness, had not begun my herbal learnings as soon as I'd wanted. I was feeling a bit bummed at myself for this, so decided to just get over it and do something about it, and it was great! Empowering! Uplifting! Inspiring! And surprisingly easy! Plus, it just feels good! Like, physically! :) Yay for plants!!! I love, love, LOVE them!!!

Now off to play some D&D! :D That's another newness in our lives, thanks to Isabelle. My now 10 year old daughter is turning into a real geek. And, I love it! ;) Good night all, and thanks for visiting! Come back soon, as I promise I won't wait as long to post again, this time.

Pics of the Week: Events

Scenes from the Mutaytor, Beats Antique, Abney Park, Faerie Balls, the Author and her besty at KMRIA, and Knights of the Realm.... Enjoy!

My New Earth-Friendly Housekeeping Operation!

I did it for about 7 years before I took the job on campus, at the No Cash Clothing Stash, and now that the Stash is kaput, I'm at it again! I've created a new website for it here and would very much appreciate folks in the area spreading it around a bit! Not looking for more than 4 or 5 jobs a week though, so I'll post an update when my schedule's full! Thanks and enjoy a fun and fitting Faun Fables song..!

Pics of the Week/Critters

Kitties, Birds, Bees and Nutria! Enjoy!

Pics of the Week/Flora and Fauna

So, the other part of my blog that is dedicated to my photography will have some of my favorite recent pics, most likely with a theme... This week is Flora and Fauna! Enjoy!

Pink Fawn Lily

Oregon Grape Flowers

Trillium are some of my fav's and always great models!

Tricolor Fungi (perfect for St. Patty's day) 

I don't know what this little flower is, and I had to really tweek the light to kind of get the black spots to show up, which really brought out the dew drops on the grass blades around it, so I'm pretty happy with this one, though I'm usually fairly against using my editing tools to "fix" my pics.Would appreciate any info on this plant!

'Glowing' Crocus! Didn't even tweek this one... 

I also don't know what kind of tree this is... maybe another kind of plum? Really beautiful against a rare late winter, clear, blue sky here in OR.

Plum Blossoms

Teeny tiny mushrooms!

I ♥ bryophytes!

Glowy, moss covered, faerie forest... ♥

I ♥ Moss and Lichen! 

Freebies of the Week!

Welcome to my recently renovated blog!! So very nice to see you! Sit down and pour yourself a cup of tea! Perhaps not in that order... 

Each week, I think that I shall dedicate a portion of this blog to all the freebies I collect over time, entitling the posts my "Freebies of the Week"! Maybe they'll be freebies I've actually acquired during that given week, or maybe they'll just be one of my past freebie favorites, featured for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy and do read on...

This week we planted some herbs and things from seeds we'd found a few months back in a free box, or that had been given away at Isabelle's school on Dr. Seuss's birthday, or had been found sprouting in our sink (garlic), in pots that had been given to us, or dug out of the trash, filled with recycled potting soil! :D 

Next, is my avocado tree that we grew from a pit, that got a new, free home this weekend, as it'd outgrown it's last pot. I think it shall be very happy, and grow, grow, grow, to be a lush and wonderful "guacamole" tree someday, in it's brand new home! Thanks Spider! :) 

Below that, is an awesome, kitschy wood painting my BFF Angela found for me at a thrift store! Not free to her, but free to me, so it counts! And it's just too cute to not include! It's my favorite! Rowrr!

Angela's daughter Grace, gave me this beautiful horse painting she'd been given by her "Big Sister", which has made a wonderful addition to our living room with his friend "Rowry" up there. Lovely, piercing eyes...

And lastly, the beautiful, stained glass star on the right, in the below shot, was made for me by my good friend Joey, that she tried to give to me for free, but I demanded to donate a bit of money for. It's important to support your local artisans folks! 

Also, not yet featured, but acquired this weekend for free, is a beautiful hunk of Salvia from Jack and Joey's garden, along with some more planters, a few succulents, and a bunch of freshly plucked rooster feathers for my hair doo-hicky's I'll be making soon!!! Thanks Jack and Joey!! And, yay free stuff!!! It's a beautiful revolution!

Update

This blog is about to undergo a serious overhaul, in order to make it a bit more streamlined and focused on some of the changes that I will be undergoing. Some of the categories this blog will soon mainly consist of will be...

• Still DIY stuff: ie. making and doing shit myself, dumpstering and freeboxing things, and general tips on making something out of nothing. I will probably gather a list of resources for single mom's in particular, as this has been one of my goals for years.
• My Herbal tutelage: I will be blogging my progress in Kiva Rose's herbal correspondence course as this is a huge, exciting thing for me, that I feel has been in the making for the past few years, but I am only just now starting to fully embrace. Lots more on that later...
• And finally, Photography: I've been taking a photography course all this term and am taking 2! next term, so I'm super excited to kind of chart my progress with that here as well!

And, you know... there will probably, occasionally be personal, ranty, and/or, political stuff every now and then as well, but far, far less, as I try and really focus on the tasks at hand. And I will probably try and figure out a way to sort of "back log" all previous entries, as this is a whole new chapter in my life! K! Thanks for reading! And stay tuned!