Fluffington Farms

Getting There and Surgery

2012-01-14T00:38:00.004-06:00

Well I've gotten some things added to the destash page so don't forget to check it out! www.buymorefluff.blogspot.com

Now on to the surgery. I brought Cinna home in November. She is a beautiful loyal amazing little doxie who had the worst breath imaginable. I kinda figured that she was a super slick cat box raider. I was wrong. A few days ago she yelped when I touched her mouth, but she has a habit of yelping when a sudden movement or touch startles her so I didn't think anything of it but then the next day it happened again The kids were petting her and she yelped when someone touched around her mouth. Hmmm. Went and got the husband to hold her down so I could take a look and I see this. Not a very good picture but it's the inside of her mouth and that thing on the top is a stick. So we went and got our supplies, some antiseptic, tweezers, oragel, and a towel to wrap her in. I numbed it and went to work. It came out fairly easily but what surprised me (other than that the stick had obviously been in there for quite a while) is that the reason she was yelping was not the stick. Nope, one stick she could handle. But little miss jump in the chair to scout for leftovers must've snagged a hot wing at some point because behind the stick was a chicken bone wedged at a diagonal with one end stuck on the stick and the other sunk into her gums. The first picture shows the side of the stick that was stuck against the roof of her mouth and of course our bonus
item, the chicken bone. The second picture is the side of the stick that you could see when you opened her mouth and yes, the red stuff on the bone is where it had stabbed into her gums and lodged. So that was gross. But it's four days later and already her breath is better, she is more active, eating better, and all around happier.

How things change

2012-01-12T23:44:00.003-06:00

It's funny, when I started this blog it was supposed to be about my rabbits, about my fiber, about shop happenings.. but really it's become much more personal than that and though it wasn't originally intended to be that way I'm glad it has.
There were periods of time that I haven't blogged, the strain of a growing family, financial woes, and the pure destruction that 5 or 6 kids bring with them have seemed too depressing to actually post about, especially on a blog intended to promote fiber-y goodness and such but I don't think that they are as separate as I'd once wished them to be. I am a fiber artist, I am a person struggling through life, a mom, a wife. I've made mistakes and grown through them. I've fallen down and had to pick up the pieces more than once. I am by no means perfect.
However, I'm still standing and though I've realized that while at this point in my life I just can't run a full blown fiber shop I just can't throw it all away either.
So. Where am I now? We're well settled into our house, the move did not go well but it we did make it through. We had a beautiful baby boy in July which brought our total up to 5 and now we are fostering an extra so currently we have 6. I still have my bunnies, even at the worst point I couldn't give them up, thought we are down to almost all satin angoras now, which I'm actually pretty pleased with, though I do sometimes miss my germans. Even at my worst I couldn't put away my wheel or carder so I've got an immense stash of yarn and batts and such that have been patiently waiting in their cedar lined closets to be loved. I've learned to really really knit, and kind of/sort of crochet. I've struggled with postpartum and the absolute crazy that has always come with the first three months of every single one of my pregnancies. And mostly I think we're all in a good place now. We still have bad days, the house is still in desperate need of an addition and it's horribly messy about five minutes after I finish cleaning it every day without fail but I think I'm finally getting to the point that I can deal with it. One benefit to being here in this house is that I can relax a little. It's a happy house. So this year is going to be about doing what I can with what I've got and putting the rest on a shelf to be dealt with at a later time. Here's hoping that this year will be better than the last.

It's almost here!

2012-01-12T23:19:00.002-06:00

My fiber destash page is nearly ready! It will be here and I should have at least part of the list with pictures up by February.
I'm also hoping to be blogging more by then, I've missed it so much.

It's been a while

2011-11-10T01:54:00.002-06:00

Wow, where to start. Life is crazy and beautiful. This week marked milestones for me, first I left the house and went to a purely social just for me visit for the first time in a year and then today I pulled out my wheel and completed a yarn for the first time in six months. I didn't realize how much I had missed it. Soon I will have some clearance spinning fibers and yarns and some nice buns that were born in april for sale. I need to let some of it go. I'm still struggling. I'm not perfect. But I am moving forward . Things are as settled down as they ever will be. Five children makes everyday an adventure and I am doing the best that I can.

Fluffy , Feathery, Bundles of goodness!

2010-08-06T10:31:00.003-05:00

Our baby chicks arrived yesterday from Cackle Hatchery! We've got six hens and 1 rooster each of Cuckoo Marans, Salmon Favorelles, and Americauna. They are the cutest little things I've ever seen though it seems like a few of the Salmon's are hell bent on suicide. All in all it's going well, the kids are in heaven, I'm in love, and the husband is taking it pretty well all things considered.

Chaplin Creek Fiber Festival

2010-08-03T11:01:00.004-05:00

This weekend we went to the Chaplin Creek Fiber Festival and it was awesome! They had a historical days thing going on at the same time and we got to see mounted shooting, the historical village, and lots of other neat non fibery booths. We had a really great time, the weather was beautiful and the people were friendly. I can't wait to go back next year.

When we're traveling we usually try to stay at a small family owned place but we had a hard time finding that kind of place around Franklin Grove so we ended up going to the comfort inn. For a chain hotel it wasn't bad. The receptionist gave us a discount when we told her that we were in town for the festival and we stayed in the whirlpool suite and got to make it into a nice mini vacation for us.

On the second day vince finished his second weaving project (a nice rug) and I worked on spinning some of the merino/angora roving that I had dyed. It had been calling my name since I'd put it out in my booth and finally I just couldn't take it anymore, it had to be spun. It's spinning up nicely and I can't believe I waited so long to sit down and play with it.

I also picked up some amazing Merino Fleeces with the kind of crimp that makes you drool, not that I needed more fleeces but sometimes you just can't help it.

My amazing wonderful husband is weaving!

2010-07-26T15:32:00.003-05:00

Vince sat down and finished his first project on his new 32 in. Rigid Heddle loom! It's a pretty wrap that will be perfect for fall with 100% wool used as the warp and bushed mohair and sparklies used as the weft. It came together really nicely. I love it so much that I snuck on etsy and started shopping for some new yarns for him, and he liked it so much he started pestering me for yarn so much we had to run out to the store and get him some to tide him over until what I ordered gets here. Crazy. I may have created a monster but in a good way.

My Beautiful Biscotti

2010-07-23T12:48:00.003-05:00

Look how pretty she is! This is right before shearing, and her fawn color just looks awesome with all that wool. Biscotti is scheduled to be bred to my man jazz sometime late fall/early winter if all goes well and I am so excited about the babies. Biscotti is one of my favorite girls and I always mean to get her out to a few shows but I rarely make it.

Anyway, just thought I'd share her bunny wonderfulness with everyone today.

Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival

2010-07-16T13:34:00.004-05:00

We went to the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival June 4-5 in Indiana and had such a great time. I procrastinated and did not reserve us a hotel room and the husband totally surprised me by thinking ahead.

We had so much fun there and got to meet people that I'd been talking to online forever, the selection was huge and I bought quite a few little things for myself there. I spun a beautiful yarn straight from willum on the first day and the second day he was the raffle prize and went to a really nice new home.

That night I started trying to talk to the husband about where we were going to stay and he got this smile on his face, so I knew that something was up. He just kept driving until we got to this hotel, and it looked pretty run down on the outside, I'll admit, I was a little worried but when we got inside it was much nicer and as he was talking to the front desk I realized that he had called ahead and reserved us a room! My husband is so not usually the type to do that sort of thing so I was almost in shock (and a little worried). They gave us our keys and we headed towards our room, imagine my surprise when we opened the door and walked in!

It was a cave!! He had booked us the Cave Room at the Greenwood Indiana FantaSuites!!! I'd never heard of them before but it was the most awesome place we've ever stayed. It was difficult to get pictures since due to the cave ambiance it was pretty dimly lit in there but I moved the lamp around a bit and managed to get some good shots. The bed was comfy, the jacuzzi was almost big enough to swim in, the shower was huge, the cave paintings on the walls made me smile, it was just awesome. Too good for words.

So now of course the husband is in charge of researching and picking out where we stay at all future fiber fairs, it's something that he seems to enjoy doing, and obviously he's good at it. I can't wait until next year, I think we'll try out a different suite next time :)

Wonders babies are here!

2010-07-13T14:27:00.001-05:00

You can see pictures of them here.

Fiber U - Lebanon Missouri

2010-07-12T16:53:00.005-05:00

It's been much too long since I've been on here and I've accumulated quite a few things to blog about!

This weekend (july 10-11) We headed out to Fiber U in Lebanon Missouri to vend and see all of our fiber friends. We had a really great time and the festival went well for it's first year. I sent some very nice alpaca fleece from Big River Alpacas off to Ozark Carding Mill to be blended with Milk Protein for a super nice roving while we were there and my husband bought himself a 32 inch Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom. My friend Maggie from Robin Ridge Rabbitry came along and the three of us each put in an entry for the Fancy Kitty Bench Picker that they were giving away with the agreement that if any of us won we would share it and on Sunday when they called a name it was my friend maggie!! So now I have a beautiful new picker sitting on my kitchen table and I've been playing with it since I came home!

I really hate chain hotels and restaurants and the husband knows it, so we try to avoid them when at all possible. Once again he came through and picked a place (one of his official festival duties) for us to stay that I just loved! We headed down to Richland, just a bit down the road from Lebanon to The Cave Restaurant and Resort. We had a nice dinner at the restaurant, which is actually inside of the cave! The food is simple but good, it definitely fills you up and the medium rare steak that I ordered was perfect, just warm in the middle and cooked on the outside exactly like I like it. Then we headed down to our little cabin, which was super convenient, very rustic and absolutely perfect for us :) The Cabins have a full kitchen stocked with utensils, silverwear, dishes, and everything else that you could need plus a full sized stove, sink, fridge, table and chairs, ect. I was so thrilled, we sat out on the porch and watched the sun set, accompanied by the two friendly dogs that live on the property. It was such a great place to stay and so quiet and private. We had such a great time and I woke up totally refreshed and ready to face the second day.

Lastly, on the way home we got a little hungry so we stopped in Rolla for a bite to eat. Our gps led us to check out a little place called A Slice of Pie and though the town had just been hit by a storm that took out the traffic lights and many local businesses power too they were still open and so friendly, we bought two slices to snack on for the drive home and as soon as we started in on them wished that we'd bought a few more. I got the blackberry crumb and Vince got Pecan and both were really really good.

And that's all for today. Next post will be about our trip to Indiana for the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival, I had meant to blog about that quite a while ago but sometimes life gets so crazy!

crazy

2010-06-20T15:41:00.002-05:00

wow has everything been crazy. It's all better now. Got an extension on our move out date so we are packing and hopin g that renovation s keep on schedule. Everything is mostly good and I'm really working hard to stay on top of everything. More later (like pictures from the indiana trip)

Back in the saddle!

2010-05-26T16:22:00.002-05:00

Literally and figuratively! I went riding for the first time since before the baby on sunday and I am still sore! The shop is open and I am slowly getting updates done. I am attending to all of the things that I hadn't for so long. I feel good and I'm so happy to be back!
The spindies shop on etsy is looking great and the paintboxes are getting better every month.
www.spindies.etsy.com
and I'm carding up dreamy batts in larger quantities for my shop www.punkjordane.etsy.com

a trip down the stairs

2010-04-26T18:01:00.002-05:00

Well I'm up and moving again but really sore. I went out to water rabbits the other day and took a spill on the stairs. It was raining and I forgot how slick those steps can be. I guess laying in the mud all that time until I caught my breath and managed to make it back to the house must've gotten me sick because I've felt like crap for the last couple of days on top of the horrible muscle soreness.

and more

2010-03-31T23:51:00.002-05:00

Lost one of my girls today, same mysterious swollen spot and sudden death. Pulled every cage out of the shed, scrubbed every inch of it, put husband on a ladder to get down any webs, searched for holes and cracks, checked screens for holes, disposed of current bale of hay, cleaned and scrubbed the cages individually, I think it might have been a wasp or something ( are rabbits allergic to wasp stings????), found a small nest/hive thing on the porch right by the door and now it is gone.

I just hope that we killed or removed whatever it was, I don't think that I can handle loosing another one of my fur babies. This month has been a hard one.

My glasses seem to be holding together this time, won't be able to get a new pair until... well, eventually I'll get a new pair.

My little darlings somehow broke (or otherwise it magically broke on it's own) the mouse pad on my laptop so I had to go out and buy a new mouse (after a major meltdown)

soooo have had laptop six 1/2 months and so far it's keyboard has stopped working properly, it's screen has been shattered (it's now hooked up to my other monitor), and the mouse thingy no longer works.

My husband shattered a crock on the porch this morning and I promptly sliced my foot on it, then when I went to yank out the chunk in my foot I cut my finger. Yes, this is getting somewhat comical. I could go on, there's actually more but really, I don't even want to think about it.

On a good note, while out and about we drove past a christian resale shop and to my amazement I saw a human powered push mower sitting right out front. I had to stop but I didn't really have any money, was down to my last $10 before we got the next paycheck but still, I had to stop and look. I've wanted one soooo bad for at least the last year. I made the husband go and look, knowing that he would come back and tell me how much it cost and we would drive away but there was no price tag on it and I guess he felt sorry for me because he went in to ask about it and the man followed him out and they talked and then husband came over to the van and tells me, that it's a donation. and I'm like, what? and he explains that the wonderful person who donated it just requested that the person who took it made a donation to the church's childrens charity. Well, we needed $5 in gas to get home so I scoured the van for change and donated $5 plus all the change that I could find and brought home an awesome new mower. we stopped in at his uncles on the way home and replaced the missing bolts and then we oiled all the moving parts once we got home and it's so awesome!
One of the neighbors came over to check it out with her kids and they were so interested in it everyone wanted to try it and soon enough my whole back yard had been mowed! Everyone thought that it was so neat, even the husband is converted.
now, I know what one of those mowers actually cost new so I'm thinking that we are going to sell our old gas guzzling beast of a mower and then I'm going to go up there and put half of what we get for it in that donation box

Anyway, that was my bright spot in a long month of horrible, I'm really hoping that it's a sign that the coming month will be better.

catching my breath

2010-03-27T23:59:00.002-05:00

Well, the keyboard is still messed up and it's my laptop so I'm not sure what is going on there, but no one has thrown up for two whole days and I am halfway through the laundry pile. Getting my now very late angora of the month clubs done and ready to ship on monday (barring anyother catastrophes.
Paid $450 to get the van fixed and it seems better now, but I guess after spending that much it had better be!

and I got my potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce and a few other things in the ground finally!

Off to bed with me.

looking up

2010-03-25T16:34:00.002-05:00

Well, the internet has been paid enough to stay on for another week, the bank issue has been resolved in a mostly satisfactory way (even if I did have to resort to tears), and no one else has died on me so maybe things will start getting better.
My mother in law has gotten me a beautiful new rug so that our floor is not just plywood anymore.
My computer keys are still acting funny, though shutting off the computer and then turning it back on really seems to make it better for short amounts of time.

Off to make the kids lunch and then tackle the mounds of vomit covered laundry that four puking kids have created, I estimate about 15 loads, minimum.

It gets worse

2010-03-24T13:16:00.004-05:00

Last night one of my german hybrid bucks died. Vince brought him in after dinner with what appeared to be a sting or insect bite on his left upper lip and I stayed up until 4 am trying to keep him going but he appears to have had a severe allergic reaction to the bite.

My keyboard is barely functioning, I can't figure out what happened or why but it is really difficult to type and the keys are not functioning properly.

My bank has charged me a huge overdraft fee when I had a positive balance and now I have to go attempt to straighten it out.

My internet will be shut off tomorrow if I cannot straighten out this bank thing.

I'm down and still being kicked. The husband ate my sausage this morning, right off of my plate and I almost cried.

wow, thinking about digging a hole to hide in right now.

I Surrender

2010-03-23T16:13:00.002-05:00

That's it. 3 of 4 kids are throwing up. This means that we are under strict stomach flu protocal. Rule #1 no dehydration, lots of fluids. Rule #2 Do not puke on mommy (no matter what else that means you will be puking on) Rule #3 Do not put your bucket down for any reason (not for hugs, bathroom breaks, eating, nothing)
Those are the stomach flu rules. My stomach has a hair trigger and they've all learned that if they're not careful we'll be cleaning up my mess to go along with theirs. Now we all know that if they're sick it's only a matter of time until I get sick too. Not Good. I had thought that somewhere along the line I would get better at this part but it still hasn't happened.
Gosh, I really can't imagine what else could go wrong this month, but I'm sure that I'll regret saying that soon.

wow

2010-03-23T00:28:00.002-05:00

It has been such a hectic month. You know, the kind of month that kicks you in the teeth over and over again so that you finally get to the point that you know that something good has to be headed your way??
I'm still waiting, but I'm hopeful.

As of tonight I am caught up on 99% of the computer stuff. All packages are shipped, most emails, convos, and other communications have been answered, excepting my angora clubs. I've gotten a few rabbits sheared but have more to do before I can send everything out.

Hopefully I will get to it all tomorrow.

This month started out with my little man Cassius getting pneumonia, then he had an allergic reaction to the penicillian, and shortly after we started to recover from that my darling husband stepped on my glasses and smashed them into three peices..... so I'm pretty much blind right now, can't see well enough to do very much on my own, though they are currently drying from my third attempt at repair. This time I've used superglue as before but added tiny bits of toliet paper to help the bond and tape to hold them together until the glue is good and dry. Possibly this might work which means I might be functioning at above 50% as early as tomorrow.
I hope so, there's a feeling of helplessness and nakedness that comes with the loss of my glasses. My eyes are getting worse every year and I worry that I will be blind by the time I'm in my 50's. Deep fear.

For now I'm trying to be happy with what I do have. I have beautiful children and a bountiful wool room. My bunnies are healthy and for the most part so are we. I have adequate garden space, some of which is already planted. and some days, I have my sanity.

hmm

2010-02-27T22:41:00.002-06:00

Today is better. Sometimes I let things get a little out of perspective and I start to freak out a bit more than I should. Being a mom, and a wife, and a person is hard. Being someone who isn't exactly mainstream is a bit harder and I am often so driven that I start to loose track of things.
I've been very introspective lately, whic is odd in itself because usually I'm so busy with kids and fiber stuff that I don't have a chance. I am constantly amazed that I have become that person who says things like "In Bed!" or "Don't look at me in that tone of voice!" . That I am someone who can create something as wonderful as yarn (which is much more... important than some might think) or children (also, very important :)
That I am so young and still so old, all of these things, and where my life has taken me are a source of wonder and it gets overwhelming sometimes.
I think that I will go and spin, and contemplate, and think happy peaceful thoughts. The kids are in bed and the husband has offered to feed the rabbits.

We all have bad days

2010-02-26T15:19:00.002-06:00

today is a bad day. I am feeling burnt out as a parent, a teacher, and an artist. I look around and I am overwhelmed. We are broke, my children are misbehaving in ways that are beyond the normal range (at least in my mind) and my "office" behind the couch has turned into a sorry mess of bags and boxes of wool with no sense of order or hope of finding what I need. My box of stuff needing to be dyed and/or carded is overflowing, I have a basket of unfinished yarns, and the list goes on.

Wow. I don't usually let it get to me but today, I just wish I could go back to bed and sleep until someone fixes it. I have wool block (figurativly speaking). It's funny how most days I get through by thinking of my larger goals and telling myself that if I don't finish something that day I will get to it tomorrow and then some days like today it all seems so far away.
This comes on the heels of realizing that this might not be the year we get to put a down payment of a nice chunk of land. Instead we will be buying a new stove and fixing whatever it is that has gone wrong with our van. It's a big setback and it's hard to swallow. I'm so desperate for change, to be out of this tiny house, to have someone willing to babysit, to have well behaved children, to have time to sit down and enjoy myself for more than 5 min without something falling behind.

I think today we will go to the park and try to take a break. Maybe tomorrow it won't all seem so bad.

What a week

2010-02-25T21:46:00.002-06:00

Well this week we learned that rabbit shows aren't so bad, That ivomec won't kill a child (but it will make you wish he was potty trained), and that when you fall behind even a little bit it will take at least twice that amount of time to fully catch up.

Today started out really horribly, when I was attempting to pack orders and the husband was napping someone stole a pack of chocolate pudding and a cup of water and when I went in to check on them they had made chocolate pudding paint and covered most of a bedroom with it....
Which interrupted maggies game of math blaster and caused a chain reaction of badness and punishment that kind of threw the whole day off.
By dinner time we were mostly back to normal and the husband and I were sitting in the living room eating and watching the kids at the table ( no more room at the table for us now) and just being in love with how wonderful they are I heard a funny noise. A kind of squeeking chirping noise. So I get up to go look and guess who's standing next to phinny's chair begging for butter beans?? Not the usuall suspects. Not the cat or the dog. Nope. It's Charlene. Charlene is a guinea pig and often she is let out to have a little stroll around the house by the kids and then left for a bit longer until suddenly I'm sitting on the couch and something bites my toes. Charlene likes toes (or maybe she doesn't like them). but today our fat little piggyness was sitting there begging just like a tiny fat little dog. Too cute. She's the kind of pig that has no fear. Not of cats or kids or bunnies or anything else that I can tell.
Oh well, I'm tired. What a week it's been.

title here....

2010-02-19T20:59:00.002-06:00

Today I actually accomplished something! I shoveled out both compost bins, 12 wheelbarrow loads full and then flipped what wasn't done cooking yet and then the husband changed all of the rabbit cages.
Then I brought in every single one of my girls and groomed, did toenails, and ivomec.
Tomorrow I will (hopefully) get to the boys.
Then I came in and bathed two of the kids. Now I am covered in bunny fuzz and badly in need of a shower but I did get something noticably done.
Of course, that means that I didn't do anything done in the house today but still.
Sunday is the peoria show! Will be there with bunnies to show and some for sale.

Giant bag o' wool to brighten my day

2010-02-18T13:23:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-14T19:45:00.002-06:00

I am so sick that I want to curl up and die. Of course, as usually for some unknown reason no one in my house is able to do anything without my help. I swear they are not usually this helpless but the second I can't handle everything it all falls apart. It's ridiculous and it makes me angry and being angry and sick at the same time is worse than just being sick.
Everytime I start to feel better and get my hopes up it comes back worse the next day. Oh I hurt and I'm tired and my stomach, my stomach obviously does not want to be associated with my body anymore.

Babies

2010-02-11T11:32:00.003-06:00

The first round of breeding has been completed, but we are still accepting on our waiting list.
We have had two litters of English (both fully reserved) and 1 litter of satin (there are still some available).

In april we will start round two of our planned breedings for this year.
We have planned
a litter of German Hybrid (76.75% German) that should have alot of color and awesome density.

1-2 litters of french, our breeding buck this year throws sables, seals, brokens, and other wonderful color variations so it should be a real rainbow of french babies.

1 Litter of English from a fawn doe and choc. tort buck

Possibly a litter of satins carrying fawn.

To be put on a future waiting list please email me at fluffingtonfarms@yahoo.com and let me know if there is a specific color of breed that you are looking for.
You will then be notified of babies available and given first pick according to your place on the list and what you are looking for.

buckling down

2010-02-08T16:06:00.003-06:00

Today is catch up day. My printer is out of ink and the husband got called into work so I can't go get ink and ship today as I had planned. So Instead I am trying to knock of some of my to do list.
I've so far gotten my desk clean. 3 hours. Wow. but I did finish ripping up all of the carpet in my living room except for what my desk is siting on. In a moment I am going to take this huge pile of fibers and start spinning. I want to finish two yarns today minimum. Then I'm going to tackle the scary pile of boxes of fiber next to the desk waiting to be sorted. and then...... Hmm, that's where the to do list gets a bit overwhelming. But either way, I am going to accomplish something today.
I guess blogging doesn't really count as an accomplishment, not in the clean house, clean children, well organized fiber stuff sort of way that the husband seems to think that I am capable of.

The polls are open!

2010-02-04T23:14:00.002-06:00

come on over and vote for your favorite yarn from the Fluffington Farms Spin Along!
Please only vote once, the polls close on the 11th at midnight.

Also pictures of the new babies are up on the meet the buns page.

Natchwoolie

2010-02-04T12:21:00.002-06:00

As some of you might know, Natchwoolie (brenda) has suffereed a terrible loss. All of us in the fiber community are hurting for her, and to help see her through this difficult time Spindies is auctioning off some wonderful benefit fiber with all the proceeds going towards her support. Please come check it out, place your bid, show some love.

A day of birth and death

2010-02-02T12:30:00.002-06:00

This morning my beautiful mr. blue died. my husband went out to check on everyone this morning since it was cold and snowy and he brought him in because he wasn't acting right. After two hours he died in my arms and I am heartbroken. Not sure what went wrong, he didn't touch his food or water last night but before that he was his usual perky piggy self.
After it was over I got up and washed my hands and went in to do a check on my preggo's and tigerlily was having her litter. As My blue boy went out of this world her new babies were coming into it. Now usually new babies would have me jumping up and down excited but today, it's just not the same. So we have the babies I have been waiting for, finally. But my boy is gone.
What a horrible day.

A few more Testers Needed

2010-01-31T13:35:00.002-06:00

I am looking for a few new testers for bath and body products.
For this you need to be able to give dead honest opinions and thoughts about the products you will be trying and have no serious allergies.
For more info just email me at fluffingtonfarms@yahoo.com

Today

2010-01-30T17:55:00.002-06:00

Today I am shearing. Trying to get caught up and get the last of Jan.'s bunnies done so that I can start on Feb.'s bunnies. It never fails to amaze me how something so huge and fluffy can go to something so little and scrawny.

Boys for Sale!

2010-01-29T11:49:00.001-06:00

I've just posted a few boys for sale on my sale page. 1 Satin Buck and 3 English Bucks. Transport may be available. Please email me for more details at fluffingtonfarms@yahoo.com

The Dunes

2010-01-25T19:20:00.002-06:00

Well, for some reason I thought that it would be a good idea to help chaperone an overnight pool party at a hotel for 12 kids on Saturday. Just my cousin in law Brenda and I with a large group of unruly children.... Didn't get to sleep until 5 am and I swear I am still worn out. But on the way home we were driving by the dunes and we figured that since we were in the area we would go for a little hike. 2 mile hike on 3 hours of sleep might not have been the best of ideas but the kids had a blast and I am still in love with the beauty of the dunes. Can't wait until summer when we can play in the water.

Finally Catching Up!

2010-01-25T17:39:00.002-06:00

Just finished a small update in the spindies shop and now I'm getting ready to start on the etsy shop

Cage Building.... Bah Humbug!

2010-01-16T19:41:00.003-06:00

Building cages for the rescue bunnies today, right now the husband has taken over cutting wire for the roof so I get a break. We are using recycled wire so luckily my only expenses were j-clips, tools, and time. The bunnies are settling in pretty well and most of the matts are off.

Did it again

2010-01-15T22:12:00.005-06:00

Went on a rescue mission tonight and brought home three boys. They appear to be English or English Crosses. One has a dropped ear and the other has two completely floppy ears, the last one seems normal. I've been cutting off the worst of the matts since I got home and though it will be alot of work to get them in good condition again it makes me smile to think that they can now move thier tail freely (they were totally matted to their backs) and stand comfortably now that their feet aren't covered in rock hard matts. I've also finished with the worst around legs and necks so that they can actually start to move like rabbits again. Hopefully will finish completely tomorrow.

Too Cold

2010-01-05T22:13:00.000-06:00

Well I finally did it and caved to the cold. Still waiting to finish rebuilding cages before I install the automatic watering system and changing frozen water bottles 2-3 times a day, having to keep newly sheared bunnies inside for a week or two even w/ their coats on, and practically freezing to death every time I went out to check on them got to be too much so I went and bought the feared heater for the bunny shed. I've been so afraid of putting a heater in there. It would kill me if it caught fire, however I've already lost a litter to the cold and I have four rabbit due to be sheared this month and as much as I'd like to they can't all live inside until their wool comes back. So I bit the bullet and made a stand in the middle of the shed and put the heater in. Again I am thankful that I insisted on putting the shed where it is. It is on the back side of the house with about a foot of space in between the outer wall of the shed and our house. On the other side of the wall, inside the house is our bed. I sleep against the wall and I can hear every little thump. I can hear a waterbottle falling off of a cage at 2 am and while the husband isn't always thrilled about my "that thumping sounds funny, we need to check them" obsessivness I am once again thankfull that they are so close because of course, before we put the heater in we installed a super sensitive extra loud smoke alarm at the same level as the heater and against the wall near my bed. We also spent about 45 min running the heater in the house to see how hot it got and once it was going hot dropped and threw bits of fuzz and hay at it in various ways to see just what would happen. Mostly nothing though one lucky toss did manage to get some angora into it and onto the heating part, it just kind of sizzled a bit until it was gone, not even any smoke and def. not any sparks or flames. Still, I am a bit nervous about it and I wouldn't leave it running unless I was home. So though I am anxiously checking them more often that before they are now warm and cozy and seem much happier.
On a less stressful note both passion (satin) and marigold (english) are in the house in their maternity suites hopefully getting ready to gift me with some beautiful babies. I am about 75% sure that marigold is not pregnant, but I brought her in anyway because I would rather be safe than sorry. Passion on the other hand I'm pretty sure she is, though I've never been very good at feeling for bunny babies unless they're actually jumping around in there.

The newest bunny adition

2010-01-03T15:04:00.002-06:00

Look how cute she is! Still working on names

what a day

2009-12-30T20:36:00.002-06:00

When I'm working w/ fiber I get pretty into it, I turn up the music and kind of get lost in the wool. So today I'm finishing up the mystery batts, and I'm really into it, the baby is napping, maggie is on the couch doing math, the other two are playing in their room.... and then I realize that it is suddenly too quiet. So I get up to check on the kids walk back to their room, and they aren't there. So I head to my bathroom which is generally where they go when they want to destroy something and they're not there either, so now I'm a little worried, I yell for them and when I get no answer I ask maggie who just shrugs at me. Now I'm more worried, the house is not a big one, there's not that many places to hide. I make maggie get up to help me as I'm walking throught the house yelling for them and then I hear a noise and turn around. after 15 min. of searching I realize that they are in the dog crate the husband dragged into the house for me this morning (to put a rabbit in for a few hours). When I asked them what they were doing, why they didn't answer me Amadea told me that they were playing sleepy puppy. The panic kind of killed my wool blending groove but I'm glad that they're okay.

Look at him grow!

2009-12-27T15:43:00.003-06:00

My little man, Cassius.

Look at her go!

2009-12-23T16:43:00.003-06:00

This is my daughter, Magdalena, spinning for the first time! I started her out with some nice superwash and she is learning so fast. I credit most of that to my babe, which is heavenly to spin on.

Is this some kind of sign?!?

2009-12-22T01:13:00.004-06:00

So anyway, I'm mixing up this little powdered bit of flavoring into my glass of water because I wanted juice but was out and was too lazy to make tea right then, and I stir it all up and walk away for a min. and when I came back it looked like this.

I had to take a picture to show the husband because I just knew he wouldn't believe me and it really kind of freaked me out. Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a skull?? Is that not weird?? This is my drink, that I just stired up and the foam forms this pattern randomly?? WTH?

Today's little bit of Joy

2009-12-20T23:18:00.002-06:00

So I'm in the laundry room, switching laundry, it's right before bedtime and the husband is in the bathroom with the kids presumably getting teeth brushed. Now my son, Phinneas will be 2 in Jan. We are kind of sort of potty training. He regularly takes his diaper off when he has to go. He regularly sneaks/climbs into the bath tub and goes...... Yes, that's right, the bath tub. (he will ocassionally go on the potty for my daughter, but is currently refusing to do it for me. ) Anyway, he was running around with no diaper because I hadn't gotten around to tackling him to strap a new one on yet and they're all in the bathroom and then my husband comes into the laundry room carrying his pants.
And I look at him kinda funny and say, problem? So he says, I got peed on. Apparently he was using the bathroom and phinny seeing daddy and wanting to be a big boy, deciding to stand there and pee too. Except that he's short and can't reach the potty standing up... Sooo, he peed all over daddy's leg.
Now I thought this was hilarious, vince, not so much. But I was laughing so hard I almost fell over.
So there's a little bit of joy for the day, and I personally consider today's episode a step in the direction of potty training!

Come and join the spin a-long

2009-12-19T19:04:00.002-06:00

I am hosting a mystery fiber spin a-long! It's a surprise but I can tell you that all batts will have the same fiber content, they are sparkly and wonderful, and there will be a surprise at the end for one lucky person! If you've bought from my shop before you can get your first batt free (just pay shipping) but everyone is welcome to join in. There are listing to join in my etsy shop www.punkjordane.etsy.com

On another note:
I am finally getting around to posting picutres of all my buns. The links to the pages are in my links section. As of now I've got all of my French pictured.

Kids are so amazing

2009-12-09T15:18:00.002-06:00

So anyway, last night I put a roast and veggies and such in the crock pot, when Maggie (6) asked me what I was making I told her that it was a roast and we'd eat it tomorrow, and she asked, Ooh, the one with the gravy mommy? So I said sure, I'll do the gravy for it too.
Fast forward to today, did not feel like doing anything. I'm getting ready to carve up the roast and feed everyone and she reminds me about the gravy... and I said in my best whiny kid voice, do I have toooo? and she looks at me and smiles and says, I can do it mommy! So I figured what the heck? She's watched me cook enough times. I got her out what she needed and set her up at the stove and stood by watching as my magical beautiful daughter proceded to show me how it's done. she put butter in and once it was melted started with her little handfulls of flour until she thought it looked right, she remembered how to brown the flour/butter and then started added the juicy stuff from the roast and stirring and before I knew it she had made a wonderful gravy for the roast all on her own! This kid never fails to amaze me. and all I can think is, this is why I teach my children. This is what it's all about. These little things, which are huge accomplishments. I am so thankful for the opportunity to stay at home with my monsters, to take things at our own pace and explore everything and anything that interests us. To have a husband who supports (and usually encourages) us. My children inspire me to try new things and re visit old. They keep me motivated and filled with wonder, They inspire my creativity, and re affirm my lust for life.

A few of my favorite things ( 3 in particular)

2009-12-08T22:51:00.003-06:00

This post is an ode to some of my favorite things to eat.
#1 is Rouge River Blue, it's a cheese, and not just any cheese, it's quite possibly the best cheese in the world. I spend most of my summer longing for it and when it starts to get cold I start pestering the wonderful man at the cheese counter about when it will come in. It is a seasonal cheese and despite my best efforts to stock up I have to go months without it every year but it is totally worth the wait, I would rather eat this cheese with bread and honey or a good oil than almost anything else on earth. I never get sick of it, I just love it more.
#2 is Mo's Bacon Bar from Vosges, Salty and Sweet and everything you could ever expect a candy bar to be I don't eat alot of candy but this is definitly one of my go to chocolates. Note: Their D'oliva bar is a tie, it is equally awesome!
#3 is Chuao's Firecracker Bar This is the single best chocolate experience of my life. There's just nothing like it and there's no describing it. It is a taste explosion. Amazing.
Anyway, that's it for today, happy holidays!

She fought the bowl and the bowl won

2009-12-01T11:45:00.005-06:00

I have a few rabbits that dig in their food bowls, eat their food bowls, dump their food bowls, or do a combination of the three. I have tried different bowl, feeders, and crocks at different heights and positions and nothing has made this better. I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until I sheared in Nov. and saw that a few of the worst for it were looking a little skinny. So with renewed determination I started looking for a way to stop this, because not only is it costing me money in wasted feed but it is starting to hurt my bunny babies.

I tried to do some research on the internet for a solution but no one seemed to have one. The only helpful tidbit I could find was to get something that was less wide and taller than the feeders and crocks that I had. So yesterday I was in Petsmart, picking out some new toys and a concrete perch for my little lovebirds and in the ferret section there was this neat little crock that attached to the side of the cage. It holds 10 oz. of feed and is skinnier and taller by far than any of my feeders. So I bought two of them just to give it a try with my two most difficult rabbits. Mr. Blue (a french), who has eaten his plastic food bowls that attach to the side of the cage so that he can better dig the feed out and waste his feed and Wonderbunny (a german hybrid) who eats a few bites and then tears her metal j-feeder off of the cage and attacks it every single night no matter how I try to attach it. I brought the feeders home and attached them to the cages, filled them with food, and left them overnight. This morning I went out to check because I figured if these bowls could make it through one night with those two they should last forever with the rest of them and I am happy to report that I have two angry bunnies and two intact feed bowls! No feed spilled either! The way that they are shaped they can't get their feet in there to dig and they attach well enough that they can't pull them off.

I am thrilled. Wonderbunny was so angry that she demolished her cardboard box (I put smallish boxes in for them to eat/play/snuggle in) So ha! I will not be outsmarted by cute fuzzy critters of any sort!

On another note, people suck.

While at petsmart I brought this home

Why, you might ask? Surely not because I needed or wanted another cat! No, it's because some low life peice of crap dumped her out in the dirt lot next to petsmart and it was freezing and she was scared and I am a sucker. This is her in the pocket of the robe that I wear to take care of the bunnies when I am too lazy to put on real clothes and it's cold. She stayed in there the whole time I was out with them and does not like to be away from us. She's a tiny little thing, not old enough to be weaned but she's eating well and I think that she will be okay. What kind of person does this crap?!? I am so angry, what makes someone think that it is okay to drop a pet (that was probably born due to their lack of responsibility in the first place) out in the cold, feet from a busy road to fend for itself. This time of year we always end up with a few extras, I do my best to get them to the vet and get them fixed and find them homes, though there's been quite few cats that have stayed permanantly because we couldn't find them a good place.

Please everyone fix your pets. EVERY pet should be fixed if you aren't a breeder. No excuses. By not fixing your pets you are creating generations of possible unwanted or mistreated animals. Barc is possibly the best pet related program on the face of the earth. Barc helps people who can't afford it to get thier pets fixed. No residency restrictions, no hoops to jump through, just the help that you need. The impact that they are making in reducing the number of stray and unwanted pets is amazing. If you are thinking of making a donation during the holidays please consider Barc

We're reading!!

2009-11-24T17:04:00.002-06:00

Today was an amazing breakthrough, my daughter, who recently turned six is learning to read. We're homeschooling of course and technically she would have been in kindergarten this year. We've been working on writing and letter sounds and such for a while now and being a beginning homeschooler I have had my worries about how we were doing in general (made worse my certain members of the husbands family's lack of support) and I haven't been pushing too hard because I figured it would all click when she was ready. I've found that when we start to have a hard time with something it's helpful to switch to another method and with her reluctance to try to sound out words in books (she seemed really intimidated by the thought) I decided to let her work through it on the computer. We started playing the games on starfall and today she started doing the little reading "books" on there and she totally got it! So after computer time was over she still wanted to practice so I got out one of the I can read books (level 1) that I had gotten a few months ago and she just started sounding out the words and putting the sentances together and it was magic! We've done it, we've learned to read, all on our own with no excessive amounts of homework or "boyfriends" or early morning hour long bus rides! I am thrilled and so is she, I just can't wait to show the husband when he gets home from work!
AND that's not the only breakthrough that we've had today! My son phinneas (who will be two Jan. 23rd) went on the potty! We've been trying for a few weeks and he wanted nothing to do with it, absolutly refusing to even go near the potty and I was getting really fustrated so we decided to switch back to cloth diapers since I got a bunch of nice pocket diapers at cotton babies a while back and they are still to big for little Cassius and I just got some really wonderful diaper inserts from Purple ducks on etsy. So anyway I put him in the cloth diapers and then he decided to take it off and I asked him if he needed to go potty and first he shook his head no but then he nodded so we ran in there and I put him on it and he went!
What a day, I will admit, sometimes having four kids this young and the business and everything else going on it's hard. The bad days are really bad, but then there are the really good days like this when everything is working and I'm getting the house clean and fleeces washed and kids taught and it all comes together and it's like, wow, what a sense of accomplishment!
Now here's hoping that tomorrow goes smoothly, we will be making pies and anything else that we can make ahead for thanksgiving since the husband will be at work all day and I will be cooking and handling the kids all day by myself. I can't remember a thanksgiving that I didn't have some sort of meltdown and that's even with the husband helping But I love being able to have his mom and whoever else shows up over and serving this giant meal that I made from scratch and all that.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Bah Humbug

2009-11-19T15:16:00.007-06:00

I am sick again! my sinuses have decided to rebel and I'm in a rather foul mood at the moment. Today I am washing wool, just finishing up a nice charcoal grey/brown shetland fleece and then I am going to start on a super nice looking but horribly rammy smelling white fleece.

I am also working on a little basket to store some of my excess stuff in. Not sure what will go in it yet but I've finished the bottom and now I am starting up the sides. I am making it out of scraps of the things the kids outgrew this year!

And I am starting to prepare for the upcoming years fiber fests! I am braiding roving and dying fibers and figuring out what I will run short on so I can be sure to get more. The best part about being sick is that the husband handles the kids and mostly no one bothers me so I can actually get stuff done as long as it doesn't involve alot of moving around.

Here's some dyed angora as it rinses (it's drying right now).

After the dust settles

2009-11-17T12:13:00.002-06:00

Sept/oct was such a traumatic time for me and my family. Being in the hospital, separated from my kids, not able to go home and then having our little man early. Then the almost full month of driving an hour and 45 min. to the hospital and back everyday to see him and the struggle to get him off of oxygen and ready to come home really took it out of me.
Now, after almost a month of having him home we are finally starting to settle down, I don't think I will ever recover from the stress and trauma of that time, but I think that I am finally starting to move past it.
I still kind of can't believe we all made it through in one piece and though I have always been pretty laid back when it comes to the kids I will admit I am still pretty anxious about Cassius. He spend alot of time in the sling or in my arms. Even now he's chilling out on the boppy in my lap as I type.
I've been taking my anxiety on the dyepot and creating some really beautiful stuff because of it and I think this whole experience had helped me grow. Being able to pour all this emotion into my yarns and fiber has been an immense help and I am starting to to plan for next years fibers fairs and other fun events.
After coming through all of this I feel like I can handle anything and it is pure joy to be at home with the family. I think that I appreciate it all so much more now.

And the Winner is.....

2009-11-08T13:12:00.002-06:00

Congratulations to 4dogsmom who won my big birthday fiber gift pack!! I had a ton of fun putting this together and I am sure that she will love it!
On another note cashmere and soysilk have arrived and will be in the shop very soon but if you just can't wait to get your hands on some let me know and I will get you hooked up early.

Today is my Birthday!!

2009-11-01T17:33:00.003-06:00

Today is my birthday! I am having a sale in the shop http://www.punkjordane.etsy.com/ 15% off of any $25 purchase and 15% and free shipping off of any $50 purchase, plus every purchase enters you into a drawing for the giant 8 oz. fiber goodie box! This box is 8 oz. of art batts, hand dyed rovings, and other fiber goodies.

There's a bunch of really awesome stuff in the shop right now and if you're looking for angora I am in the middle of shearing so I have tons, if you don't see what you are looking for just email me and I can let you know exactly what I have fluffingtonfarms@yahoo.com

Just soaking up the baby goodness

2009-10-25T12:37:00.003-05:00

Well my little man is home and I am loving it. I'm still a little anxious and he spends the majority of his time in his sling because I can't bear to be away from him but we are all doing well. The kids adjusted to having him much better than I thought and so far there hasn't been any major jealousy or other badness. I am starting to get going dying and carding and spinning again, and I've got a ton of things to post about as I have time so there will probably be more than one in a day sometimes. Anyway, here is a picture of my guy. We named him Cassius.

The roughest month of my life

2009-10-04T13:57:00.002-05:00

Well, I know that I kind of disappeared for a while, At the beginning of September my water broke early ( I wasn't due until nov. 9th) and I was put into the hospital. On the 17th I had the newest addition to our family, Cassius Sullivan Shaw. He weighed 5lbs 1 oz. and is mostly healthy.
I haven't felt much like blogging (or anything else) lately. He is still in the nursery and we are making the almost 2 hour drive to the hospital on a daily basis.
This has been a really hard last month and right now we are just trying to get through each day.
I am slowly trying to get everything back to normal though right now I'm kind of just going through the motions.
Hopefully this nightmare will all be over with soon, it's taken it's toll on all of us.
Thank you everyone for you thoughts and well wishes.

It's been forever

2009-09-04T22:31:00.002-05:00

I seriously didn't realize that it had been so long! It's pregnancy hormones, I swear! I still don't feel very talkative. All is well but I am tired and ready to be done being pregnant. Will try to do a real blog post soon.

Goin Crazy

2009-07-25T12:47:00.002-05:00

Well I have kind of retreated lately, the pregnancy hormones are not treating me well. I am bouncing from one extreme to another and it is really taking it's toll. I've still got morning sickness - of the never ending nausia variety. I've got bunnies for sale, new fibers dyed, and tonight I am going to pick up a bunch more fleeces if all goes as planned. But I am waiting on my camera to recharge so that I can take pictures.
I have been super stressed lately. We still haven't decided what curriculum we are going to use this year, but other than that things are going well. We've been without tv since june and it's wonderful. My kids have always been imaginative but yesterday I found them acting out the movie "The Incredibles" and they were doing a pretty good job of it! They even got little phinny involved and he was loving it.
We are getting ready to paint the kitchen in bright colors. And I got all the stuff I need for some bunny shed renovations that will make my life easier as I get bigger and it gets harder to do my chores.
We are 99% sure that the baby is going to be another boy. With the girls I am calm and lazy and get super huge. But this one is just like with phinny, except worse. The hormones are baaad. I am anxious and hyper without really accomplishing much. I've really only gotten big in the belly area. I'm a little nervous about the prospect of having two boys so close together. I can only imagine what it will be like when they are old enough to team up. Phinneas by himself is a tornado.

Look what I found!!

2009-06-30T13:25:00.004-05:00

Please ignore the horrible mess in the background!! My vaccum is broken and I just couldn't wait to take pictures.

Okay so I found this wheel. It's pretty, seems to be in good condition. It's missing the thing that connects the treadle to the wheel, the drive band(s) and part of the flyer. I think that it is fixable.

It has made in Canada Stamped on the bottom but no other identifying marks. I want to clean it up nice but I don't know what to use. My neighbor (who is very handy) is making me a makeshift piece to connect the treadle to the wheel so that I can give it a test run and decide what to do with it. It does not seem to have an orifice, which is really confusing me, and I can't find anywhere that would adjust the tension either. All advice is appreciated. I am just so happy that I found it, it's so pretty!

5 days old

2009-06-27T00:18:00.003-05:00

These are my new little guys. I still don't know if they will make it but they are 5 days old now and I am hopeful. We are still forcing momma to feed them but I am making efforts to encourage her mothering skills.

4th of July Sale

2009-06-24T11:38:00.001-05:00

4th of JULY Sale!!

First: All purchases starting today 6/24/09 are going to be entered in a drawing. On July 4th I will draw names for prizes. Prizes will be #1 2oz. of hand painted mulberry silk brick, #2 2 oz of handpainted milk protein roving, #3 4 oz. of handpainted bamboo, #4 Firestar Sampler pack.

Spend $10 or more and get Free shipping from now until the 4th all items 4 oz. and smaller, 50% off shipping to Canada and overseas.

Free gift with any purchase $20 and over.

Name that bunny contest, will soon be posted on the blog, prizes will be angora rabbit wool.

Shop will be updated with a new item (sometimes more) every day, check the shop daily, surprise discounts and new items might appear out of nowhere.

Yarn is buy one get one of equal or lesser value 25% off

punkjordane@earthlink.net
www.fluffingtonfarms.blogspot.com
www.punkjordane.etsy.com

Rough Going

2009-06-23T14:14:00.002-05:00

Well yesterday we had a litter born early. She had them on the wire and I found them in time to save some I hope. She's a first time momma and wants nothing to do with the nest box. We finally had to remove it because she kept tipping it and destroying the nest. She isn't feeding them so we are having to hold her a few times a day so that they can eat. Three of them look really good, considering. The other one is hanging on but I don't know for how long. He is much tinier than the rest but he is determined to eat so I am rooting for him. I am doing everything that I can to save the ones that are left and I hope that some of them make it. They are Mr. and Megans babies and with all the difficulty we had convincing Mr. to breed in the first place I don't know if we'll ever get him to again. Keep your fingers crossed, I will post pictures in a few days if they make it.

Been so Busy!

2009-06-16T22:42:00.003-05:00

Hello All! I have a Free Shipping sale going on in my shop http://www.punkjordane.etsy.com/

I have been so busy soaking fleeces and dying up silk and bamboo and milk. But I am loving the new dyes and the results that I am getting. It's inspired me and I am spinning some new stuff too! My bunnies are getting big and I am behind on taking pictures of them but I plan to get it done tomorrow. I am sooo sleepy but I have accomplished alot in the last couple of days and hopefully I will have the energy to keep going. I feel so serene lately, like no matter what happens I can handle it. I am so blessed to have the friends and family that I do. I feel so lucky to be able to do what I love everyday.

It's finally over

2009-06-12T22:40:00.002-05:00

Well my little media scandal is finally over and I just want to thank the over a hundred people who stood up for me and Angoras and handspinning until they apologized! I am exhausted but for the first time since wednesday morning feel like I can breath. I am so proud of the fiber community as a whole for pulling together on this and even the many local people who made their voices heard. I hope to put this behind me as a lesson learned not just about evil reporters but about all the wonderful people out there willing to stand up when something isn't right and defend a little guy. It's so difficult to put into words the range of emotions that I have been through or the depth of my gratitude to all of you. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys did this wonderful thing and I am so grateful. What a wonderful world that I live in to coexist with you all.

ummm....

2009-06-05T15:43:00.002-05:00

Well, my babies are growing nicely. Active and cute and momma has really settled down in the last few days. New pictures of them are at www.meetthebuns.blogspot.com I got a ton of stuff done today and updated the shop www.punkjordane.etsy.com free shipping has been randomly sprinkled around the shop. I was lucky enough to be included in the spindies co-op, so now you can find some of my things there too! http://hyenacart.com/onestore.php?vid=3017&category=14 Tomorrow I will be at the Desoto Farmers market with some bunnies and my fiber and yarn and maybe some herb plants too, then I will be heading over to Illinios to pick up this years shearing of a cheviot flock. I seem to be mostly over the yucky morning sickness part of this pregnancy, which means that it's probably a boy. I can't wait to find out! I've been playing a bit with my new mx dyes and so far I am loving them! Though I am going to have to find a special storage space for them because now all of my dye stuff has taken over the kitchen! The garden is going well with tons of green tomatoes and tonight we will eat a salad with lettuce and radishes that my maggie has been in charge of. I am still behind but feeling less horrible about it which means that I can actually get some things done.
I bought lotion the other day from Crazy K Bath and Body. This stuff is awesome. It's their Shea & Macadamia Nut Body Mousse and I got it in the Cuban Coffee Bean Scent. It's super rich but the real reason I love it, aside from the killer coffee scent is my husband. He has fair skin and if he goes outside, even with sunscreen he burns and then, even worse, he peels. I've found that if I slather this stuff on right after he comes in not only is his burn much more tolerable but there is no peeling! He says that it really makes it feel better and any time that I can convince him to indulge my lotion/body cream addiction I'm happy.

Overwhelmed

2009-06-03T11:23:00.002-05:00

The last few days have been rough. I feel so overwhelmed. Messy house, misbehaving children, horrible wool eating dog. And an ever growing list of to do's that is really starting to freak me out. I think it's mostly pregnancy hormones but I am having a rough time. The husband was wonderful yesterday, helping me make a dent in the house after I spent an afternoon crawling around underneath it trying to reconnect the a/c wires that one of my darling kitties helped to disconnect. So I decided to make him something wonderful for dinner. This is perfect for more towards summer when the garden provides half of the meal or more but I just couldn't wait any longer.

Tomato salad:
cut up four large tomatoes into slices or chunks
cut up a large hunk of mozzarella into slices or chunks
tear up a good handful of fresh basil leaves
mix it all together and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil

Serve with Fresh bread and wine. Homemade bread is the best but for store bought my vote goes to LaBrea Bakery Rosemary olive oil round loaf (commonly found at schnucks) . For the wine we had Bella Sera 2007 pinot grigio. Which is my favorite wine for light summer dishes, especially those with fresh tomatoes or a light pasta. The kids get white grape juice.
My three monsters will clear thier plates and want more everytime I make this and my maggie always helps to prepare it.
It's nice and quick after a hot day in the garden or doing other labor that does not leave you in a cooking sort of mood. This is best eaten outside somewhere shady and wonderful so that you can lay back and relax afterwards.

It's starting to feel like summer

2009-05-31T23:45:00.004-05:00

Well it's hot, I am frazzled it's starting to feel like summer! But today while staking up some of my tomato plants and weeding the flower garden I noticed that I have tomatoes on two plants! Then I saw that my hollyhocks have opened up their first blooms! So my day, while hectic, was pretty wonderful. I am exhausted, but in a mostly good way. Hopefully tomorrow I will get to play with some of my new dyes. Also, there are new pictures of the babies at http://meetthebuns.blogspot.com/

They're Here!!

2009-05-27T10:25:00.002-05:00

My babies are here! Five perfect little bunnies. Four are dark and one is light and one of the dark ones is a bit of a runt but I am very pleased. Momma has turned into a bit of a psycho, she is very displeased with any thought of my handling the babies or even watching her and she grunts and squeeks nervously the whole time that I am within sight but she is taking good care of them and I'd rather have an overprotective momma than a bad one. The babies look like they are ready to burst after thier morning feeding and are pretty acitve for two days old. I will start updating the Meet the buns page at about four days so that everyone can watch them grow with me. I can't wait to see what colors they are, wether they are boys or girls, and hopefully at least some of them will have gotten that wonderful satin sheen from thier momma and the upped wool production from thier daddy.

We're Expecting!

2009-05-25T10:47:00.002-05:00

Somehow I lost track of time! I woke up this morning and started my day, feeding the kids, getting my coffee, sat down at the computer and saw the date..... Jumped up and ran to the bunny shed. Now on the 23rd I checked both girls and was 99.9% sure that my french girl was not pregnant but I was having a really hard time deciding on my Satin girl. So I put my buck back in with them in thier playspace outside and the French doe was very receptive andhopefully this breeding took. My little satin passion though was not, she grunted and squeeked at him and he left her alone. I had planned on checking again yesterday but somehow got sidetracked so when I realized the date and ran out there I first checked the French, definitly not pregnant (or at least not from the previous breeding) so then I go to check Passion. Passion is usually such a sweet girl, running to the front of the cage for love and treats. I reached my hand in there and she crunched up in the back of the cage, when I tried to feel her tummy she made unfriendly noises at me and almost tried to bite me! So I grabbed her out and sure enough, big hard baby belly, you can feel where her milk is coming in, and she is not feeling very friendly either. Soo I started rushing around setting up the nusery cage, brought her in and right away she started nest building activities! I usually like to bring them in a few days before so that they can get used to the different cage but time just got away from me. I am really excited though! I remembered just in time and should have baby bunnies by tonight! Will post pictures as soon as they're here.

2009-05-23T22:47:00.003-05:00

Today was pretty okay, we got up early and headed to the farmers market. Sold some yarn and met lots of nice people AND There was a wonderful woman named Kelly who sells Fresh baked bread and other goodies and her stuff is to die for! She has a website http://www.mamasweettreatsandbreads.com/ . We ate almost a whole loaf of her asiago cheese bread while we were there, it was just to good to stop. Then we came home and I worked in the garden and turned some of the compost and did a good cleaning of the bunny shed. Then I let the buns out in thier playgroups for some excercize in the play area. Everyone was well behaved and really seemed to enjoy the time outside and I got to spend some serious time just loving on them. I love how the personalities are so different, some them like Passion and Tigerlily (who have side by side cages) totally stick together. Some like my Sammy and Mr. Blue Stay within petting reach of me or the kids at all times. Cass is bent on making sure that everyone knows that she is in charge of her space in the grass and that she does not want company. Puff and his sister both tear around like wild things. I could sit in there and watch them all day and I couldn't help but pull out the camera for a bit.

Marshfield

2009-05-21T10:32:00.005-05:00

Saturday we went to the Marshfield fiber fair and it was awesome! We had so much fun, I got to see old friend and meet some new ones, I found a few things that I just couldn't live without but I did better this year, actually brought some of the money home instead of spending it all. Very proud of myself for my restraint. It was great though and I am so happy that I decided to go. I am really considering bethel but god, the stress that comes with getting ready for a fiber fair, I don't know if I can do that more than once a year! I have been back to the dye pot a bit today, and have totally fallen in love with milk protein fiber. If you've never tried it before you seriously have to.

Getting behind again

2009-05-16T22:22:00.008-05:00

There I go, getting behind on the blog again! On the 9th I went to the Indian Springs wool day and I had such a great time. I found a nice mohair fleece at a bargain price, got to chat with friends and see the beautiful Angora goats and really enjoyed myself. The goats were awesome and friendly and I am in love with mohair all over again. I can't wait for next year!

Getting it done

2009-05-06T13:04:00.002-05:00

Well the last few days have been hectic. I am working hard to get everything ready for Marshfield on the 16th, http://www.hfafiberfair.com/fairarchives.htm It just won't stop raining and I have been washing and dyeing wool like crazy so I set up the old box fan at a slant and my fibers are drying quickly (but not quick enough) there. I feel like I am going crazy, the house is a mess, the kids are on the warpath, and I keep running out of hours in the day. I have wool in the bathtub, wool in the sink, wool in the outside utility sink, wool in dyepots on the stove, wool hanging from cabinets, wool on the fan..... Good thing the husband is working a double today! Between the kids fort building activities and my wool he might not be so thrilled. Tonight I have to pack orders, once the house is clean and I have a space to do it, and at some time I have plants that need to go in the garden. Did a pretty good cleaning on the rabbit shed last night and shoveled compost and printed up new labels for my stuff at marshfield. So excited to be going again this year. But really nervous as always. I always do best under pressure though! The etsy shop is a bit low or not stocked with certain things www.punkjordane.etsy.com if you are looking for soemthing in particular just email me punkjordane@earthlink.net Most likely I have it, I'm just trying to get things situated.

My first batts

2009-05-02T19:51:00.000-05:00

Well, the morning sickness has been overwhelming and I haven't gotten much done lately but I did finally get pictures of my first batts. 7 oz. of alpaca, cotswald, silk, angora, merino, and two colors of firestar. I have already gotten a good portion of it spun up and now I am getting ready to recard about half of it and add in more of the same alpaca that I have dyed purple. Then I will spin it all up and ply the lighter one with the darker one and have a pretty purplish alpaca blend yarn. Right now it's probably about 60% alpaca 40% other goodies and it's just so awesome. It's the first of some yarns that I am spinning for some alpaca owning friends and I am so excited to get this one done and start on the next one.

the garden

2009-04-28T12:43:00.003-05:00

This morning I woke up early and got 40 (yes, I counted them) more tomato plants in the ground. Then I had a conversation with the peppers and remaining tomatoes about being patient and not dying before I planted them. My carrots and radishes are looking good, my cabbage and brussle sprouts and other spring goodies are coming along nicely, and I am getting ready to plant another round of peas. I realized last year that If I plant the peas on the other side of the house and I keep planting in sucsession that I can have peas all summer long even though they don't like the heat. The beds that I have at the back of the house get shade for most of the day and it stays cool enough that even my lettuce doesn't really bolt over there. I've been sprouting morning glory seeds for the last few days and they are just about ready to plant. I never had much luck with morning glories until a friend told me how to sprout them and now I have the most amazing display every summer when I wake up in the morning. To get big healthy morning glories the best way is to ignore the directions on the seed packet and get a damp paper towel. Spread the seeds out on the paper towel, fold it up and put it in a ziplock bag. Label the bag and forget about it for between 3-6 days and then when you remember and open up the bag you will have morning glory seedlings ready to go in the ground. Mine are just about ready and that means that tonight I will have to get out there and get the sunflowers planted so that I can put the morning glories at thier feet. Oh well, it is time for me to shower and head off to my friend Anne's house for a day of spinning and fun!

They did it!!

2009-04-25T14:28:00.004-05:00

Well today, because it's hot and I had nothing better to do in the heat I decided to try to breed my new French buck with my Satin doe. They did it so I should be expecting a litter next month. Then, just for the heck of it I decided to put my Satin buck (the one who just won't do it) in with my new French doe and who would have guessed, he did it too! So now I am expecting two litters! I really did not expect Mr. to ever be interested in a girl, it's been over a year of trying but I guess love was in the air today. I am so happy! I have been shoveling compost for days now and have gotten lots of stuff in the ground. When it cools off tonight I might try to get some more tomatoes in, they are ready and I need to get it done. I am now on to planting flowers, melons, herbs that didn't make it through the winter, and extra this and that. I am so happy though, my mint, chocolate mint, lemon balm, tyme, and sage all made it through and are starting to go nutts. My rosemary looks like it is considering coming back to life, the pumpkins are sprouting in thier usual spot though I have no idea how I get pumpkins that I didn't plant in the same spot every year. I swear I picked every single one of them last fall. I also have tomatoes on the side of the house that come back every year, though they always come up late. I have tons of weeding to do in the flower beds and tons more compost to shovel and disperse. I wanted to add another raised bed behind the house and fill it with hollyhocks and other misc. but I am running out of time and It's hard to get it all done with phinneas getting into everything. The weather has been hot and I need to go get all the fans out so that I don't roast. Morning sickness has me on the couch quite a bit lately but I have been tearing through books like I used to before the kids so it's not a total waste of time. There's yet another cat that someone moved away and left behind so I am planning another trip up to get animals fixed. It will have to wait though, this spring has not been kind to the unowned kitties and so far we have had one get snakebit and almost die and then this newest one had a disagreement with someone and has horrible gashes around his eye and one that is in the inner corner. I am putting stuff on it and it looks as good as can be expected but he's lucky, just a hair to the right and he would have lost his eye. This year only brought in a few cats, each year it is less which makes me happy because I know that it is due to me and of course www.barcstl.org I could never have done any of this without them. When we moved out here there were at least 30 cats that lived in or around the dumpster. Thier spay/nueter program has reduced that # greatly as I have gotten them fixed through them and then paid their shots and other things on my own and found most of them good homes. This year we have had three tom cats and a single female kitten found. One of the Tom's and the little girl I already found homes for but need to get fixed and the other two boys will get fixed and then probably just stay with me, They are the ones that have been injured and I don't see them ever being content as being indoor housepets. Then of course there's Opus who didn't come from the neighborhood but found me all the same. It is hot and much easier to sit at the computer and type than it is to venture out and try to work. The heat makes me sick and lazy and the kids are restless. Maybe we will go outside and see if we can arrange the sprinkler in a way that it doesn't soak the laundry on the line.

Another day of excitement

2009-04-22T14:35:00.003-05:00

Well, first here is a picture of my new girl, a lovely little lilac tort. French doe from Celtic Hare Rabbitry. Her name is Megan May and she is a sweetheart! I am so happy with the buns that I got from her, if you are in the Ohio area and looking for french I would suggest getting ahold of Vici.

Yesterday I went to visit my friend Kati, she has new angora buckling and the most adorable little shetland cross lamb that I have ever seen. He is more puppy than lamb, I just wish I would have thought to take pictures while I was there! We got to spin together and catch up and she let me borrow one of her drum carders! I made my first batt today, well actually half of my first batt. I wanted to see how a color/fiber combo would work it's two different shades of firestar, blueish silk, white angora, purpleish cotswald, and purple, blue, and white superwash. I love it so much that I decide to wash up some white alpaca from a friend and as soon as it is dry I plan to recard and add a bunch of it in and it will be the first of a bunch of really awesome yarns that I am spinning for them. I am so proud of myself! I picked up the drum carding pretty quickly with no mishaps or issues so far. AND I searched last night about cleaning it and saw that someone is using a shop vac to clean thiers so I am going to try it when I am done, I would be thrilled if it realy is that easy. I plan to add more silk and more sparklies to the batt when I add in the alpaca but I am really pleased with how it is turning out! I will post pictures as soon as the alpaca is dry and I get to card it in.

Sheepy goodness

2009-04-20T19:52:00.005-05:00

On Thurday we went to visit my friend Debbie at Redbud Lane Farm. We took on of our French babies out for her and got to see her lambs. She raises the most wonderful Shetland sheep and a bunch of other critters too. I don't get out there very often to see her, they are about 3 hours from me but everytime I go I am struck by how horrible it is that all of my favorite people live so far away from me! Seriously, if I lived closer she wouldn't be able to get rid of me. Of course I got some scrumptious fleeces while I was there too, If you are looking for Shetlands in the Missouri area she is the person to go to, her sheep are loved and it shows. They all come running when "mom" calls, they are friendly and tame and as a handspinner the fleeces are to die for. I can't wait until we have the space to bring one or two home. It was a really great day and I was so glad to have made it out there, I can't wait to go back and visit again and hopefully I can convince the husband into it sometime this summer. By then I will have gotten a chance to spin up some of those awesome fleeces and there will hopefully be a new baby donkey to ooh and aah over.

Too good not to post!

2009-04-20T00:07:00.003-05:00

While digging in the garden this afternoon I noticed that my green onions were doing really well so I yanked a bunch up, enough to share with the neighbors and have plenty for myself. sitting there looking at my bunch of rather large, delicious looking little onions I decided to go in search of a recipe that would show them off and found this one. We had it for dinner tonight and I didn't think to take pictures but it was wonderful. Everyone loved it and I was so happy to use my onions! One thing though, before you add cream and 2nd cup of mushrooms the soup should be strained through a colander to get out any stringy onion bits that didn't get pureed enough. Other than that it was a perfect seasonal recipe and I am very very happy with it.

INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons butter
6 bunches green onions
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
5 cups vegetable broth
2 cups small mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup heavy cream

1. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, melt the butter and add the green onions, along with salt and pepper to taste. Saute for a few minutes, until the onions are softened, then add broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add 1 cup of the mushrooms. Puree in a food processor or blender until smooth, then put the soup back in the pot, add the cream and the remaining mushrooms, and heat gently (do not boil) until the mushrooms are tender.
3. Serve warm.
Serves 4

Our little vacation

2009-04-19T09:31:00.007-05:00

As I said before, I am catching up so posts are just a little bit out of order. On the 7th we loaded up the van and left for Ohio. We visited family, hit some local attractions, and of course picked up a few new buns. It was a really awesome trip. The first picture is my new boy, His name is Bluman and he is from Celtic Hare Rabbitry, I also brought home a pretty little tort. doe but I don't have pictures of her yet. Both of them are super sweet and just beautiful. We went to the Cleveland Zoo and they have the most awesome rainforest area, we saw Lake Erie and Amish Country and picked up some maple sugar candy for me. We also had a very unfortunate wrong turn onto the Ohio turnpike, which resulted in our being lost for hours. I wish we would have had more time but we did have alot of fun and by the 12th I was ready to get home so we loaded back up into the van and started our 9 hour drive. We got home around 4 in the morning and I was so relieved to be home in my own bed. Next year I am thinking maybe Florida, But it depends at least a little bit on the buns that I can find along the way.

Shearing day

2009-04-18T12:28:00.007-05:00

Okay, obviously I have fallen behind so my next few post will possibly be a bit out of order. So much has happened and I have horrible violent morning sickness so it's hard to get much done. On Tuesday we went to shearing at Big River Alpacas, Mariposa Farms Alpacas and some others were also there. We had so much fun! My husband got to play photographer and I got up close and personal with the alpacas and loved every minute of it. The shearer was so efficient, finishing an animal in about five minutes, at first I was stunned. It all went so quickly, everyone worked together and really it went so much more smoothly than I had imagined. It was a great day, alpacas are usually a bit standoffish and I really got to touch them and examine fleeces and I feel like I learned alot. The babies were my favorite though, after shearing they are so tiny!I brought home fleeces that I saw come off and couldn't keep my hands off of and I learned that alpaca spit smells like poo. I have tons of spinning work to do and have already started washing fleeces. It was the most awesome day and I hope that I get invited back next year!

I caught it

2009-04-03T14:47:00.002-05:00

Well, it's happened again. We've caught babies. I am thrilled, though maybe a bit surprised. Vince of course is hoping for another boy, I think I would be happy with either, though I do still have tons of super cute girly stuff. I can't wait until all of this horrible morning sickness stuff is over and the nesting kicks in. I get so much done when I am pregnant, I don't even need the coffee because hormones take care of it for me!
On another note, I got some new stuff posted to the shop today, stuff I was working on the other day. We got Vince's aunt to take the kids Wednesday night and headed off to the lake house for a day to ourselves, It's been a long time since we got to do much of anything just the two of us and it was nice to reconnect and just spend all day together. It rained on and off and I opened up the sliding glass doors so that we could listen to the rain and the birds and we curled up and watched the squirrels chase each other all over the place. I guess I really do need to take more time here and there for that kind of thing, it's not often that I slow down long enough to relax like that. I have also been working on a little sweater that I found a pattern for, it will be the first real thing that I have knit from a pattern and though I am only 40 rows in it is looking good so far.
Today I have a list of things to do, I have been shopping online for a new van, we are planning to buy one before Monday and I am so anxious to have a vehicle that will fit all of us again. The house has gotten messy again and I am working on it in between other stuff, trying to pack because we are heading up to Ohio to see family for a while. Hoping to leave on the 7th because I want to be able to make it to the Farmers Market meeting that night. I need to be better organized. I say this every day, yet it just doesn't ever seem to come together quite the way that I had planned. Guess that I have rambled on enough for the day, I am going to try to get everything done so that I can work on some experimental yarn that I had an idea for.

Catching up

2009-04-01T09:43:00.003-05:00

Well I've been so busy that I have been a bit neglectful of the blog. So this post is going to be all about good news. First the phat fiber boxes went out, I got one and blogged about it because it was awesome and here are some links to people who got a box with some of my samples in it and liked them! Farm Girl Chic , Marcie's Variety , and Black Tie Fiber Arts . Next comes a link to a blog, she was my 100th customer so of course I sent her some extra goodies, now I find myself reading her blog regularly, I think we would like each other quite a bit if we lived closer. Electric Tree. Also I am going to be participating in the new local Farmer's Market! Our opening day is May 9th and I can't wait! They are using pictures of my yarn and buns on the flyer and I should be added to the blog soon too! I am so excited at the prospect of meeting local knitters and fiber people! So anyway, life is good. Phinny seems to be doing fine, though we still have a few appointments with specialists left to go. We are going to be making a trip to Ohio in April and I am gearing up for that and trying to get over the anxiety that leaving my buns for a week involves. I know that they will be in good hands, my neighbor is going to be taking care of them for me and she has helped out enough to know what she is doing. Today I am washing wool, so far I have a cheviot fleece soaking in the tub and I am working on a cotswald in the sink. Maybe i'll get the dye pots going too. I am thinking of destashing some special project angora but I am not sure how to price it yet. I have been saving it forever but I just don't think that I have the time or ideas to make it into something awesome. Hope to post pictures of my wool progress tomorrow.

So much

2009-03-27T10:34:00.001-05:00

I have so much to do! Today I am repotting seedlings, some of which I am going to be offering for sale though I am still a bit nervous about shipping even after talking to the post office people about the best ways to ship. I am going to be dyeing up a ton of wool today and maybe experimenting with bamboo too and maybe if there's time I will make some new art yarn rovings. Today has an awesome start, I feel very ambitious. Tomorrow I am going to meet a woman about a horse, if all works out I will be riding for her a bit and I am really excited if a little nervous. I realize that I have not ridden in a ring in quite some time, mostly because my buddy finds it mind numbing and turns into a rodeo horse after about 10 min. which usually results in our having to run hills for at least an hour before he becomes managable again. So now I am worried about how sloppy I might have gotten and wishing that I had gotten a chance to get up there to ride a few times this week. I would feel better about things if I had. I always have liked the horses with a few issues, the ones that no one else wants to mess with and those type of horses have found me throughout my life and provided hours of intense thought on problem solving, even more hours of intense riding time, and not just a few injuries. I know that it will all be fine, but I am still so nervous to be meeting someone new! So today I will throw myself into work and hopefully deal with it so that tomorrow will be okay.

I got my Box!!

2009-03-20T10:32:00.010-05:00

Well, after a really horrible week I got my phat fiber box today! It is full of nothing but awesomeness, like x-mas in a box! Two of my teenage neighbors were there with me to open it and though they have no real interest in fiber they were amazed. It really is that good!

It's Been a While

2009-03-19T16:39:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I last posted. Right now my life has gotten very complicated and it is a struggle just to maintain. My little man has had a seizure and we do not know why. He is going to see a specialist on the 25th but this waiting to find out is killing me. I started spinning again last night and finished a very pretty yarn. As stressed as I am I didn't want to touch the wheel but it has been exactly the soothing that I need. Will try to post more tomorrow.

Getting it done

2009-03-04T15:27:00.002-06:00

Well today I finally broke into some of the brown crossbreed fleeces I have been saving. I decided to try a new technique for washing that I saw somewhere to keep the locks all nice and orderly. I have taken little bundles of fleece, made sure that it is all facing the same way and tie it up all neat. So far it is going well and I am really happy with how little vm this fleece has and the awesome crimp. I plan on spinning some of it and maybe if I can bear to part with any of it, selling some once it's washed too. I have posted a bunch of new stuff to the shop and if I can get around to taking some more pictures have lots more to come! I am feeling really ambitious today! I think it's the awesome weather we are having, it's warm enough today for open windows! My little ones are being angels today, cuddly and sweet. My little man has spent most of the day being held by me and I'm tempted to dig out the sling and see if he minds it because I just don't want to put him down. Maggie and I are working on making a drum together, right now we are waiting for the paint to dry and she is trying to teach amadea to write her alphabet, which is amusing to watch at least. My Magdalena is such a boss! Sometimes I just look at her and cannot believe that she just said what she said how she said it! But I think all of them take a bit more after me than I might have liked.

The Great Garden of '09

2009-03-03T20:56:00.004-06:00

Today I transplanted a ton of seedlings into their second pots and planted a 2nd round. The garden is going to be awesome this year! I made about a million paper pots and mixed compost and topsoil until my kitchen floor was covered in dirt. Now I am hoping to have tomatoes in may! Other than plant stuff I haven't gotten much done, right now I am going through and checking to see what seeds I have tons extra of and putting them on etsy. 99% of my seeds are heirlooms that I have been saving for years, every year I try a few new varieties but I have alot that were passed down from friends or grandparents. I like to think that my girls will grow up and have gardens and grow them too and remember where they came from as they watch those perfect tomatoes ripen and grow. I am off to bed, it's been another long day....

Officially Phat!

2009-03-01T22:13:00.005-06:00

Well today I bandaged up the fingers so that I could get some work done. It stil hurts and I have some amazingly huge blisters ( I know, gross) but I am coping. I have finally finished my phat fiber contributions!!! Yea me! I had meant to take more pictures but honestly I put so much work into them that by the time I was done I just wanted to put them in the box to be done with it. I am exhausted, spun two yarns today and got a bunch of other things done too on top of the last of the phat stuff. It's been a long day. I am saving things up for a huge March update so that when the phat boxes come out my shop won't be empty. So far I have two art yarn rovings and four handspuns done plus fiber in natural colors and I am hoping to get a bunch of stuff dyed up in the next few days. Then I will start updating like crazy! The husband has grudgingly pitched in, sanding yarn sticks for me and keeping me (mostly) sane. I really do like working this hard. It's so awesome to have a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day and luckily my yarn does not unspin itself in the way that the house seems to unclean itself. Oh well, I am off to take a nice long soak in some of my bath salts and try to relax...

Not exactly my best day

2009-02-27T21:14:00.002-06:00

Today I burnt my hand in bacon grease while cooking breakfast. That was around 9 am and I still can't remove my ice pack for more than a few moments. So taday has been alot of sitting on the couch and crying. However it has come to my attention that I needed to work on my international shipping rates so I am planning on spending some of my night doing that.

A day in the life of

2009-02-25T10:18:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I am pretty boring. I know it, I've come to accept it.... Lately I have been trying to pick apart my days so that I can figure out a way to get more done, of course, I've been unsuccessful. Maybe I just need stronger coffee. My average day: Wake up between 7:00-8:30 (Phinneas is my alarm clock in the morninings and throughout my day)I Feed phinny and then I make coffee, feed kids, dogs, cats, myself, and check on rabbits. by 9:00 I am seated at me computer with a giant cup of coffee checking emails and planning my day, sometimes if the coffee is especially good I am also spinning on the drop spindle at the same time. Usually by 10-ish I ask the kids to clean up thier dishes and shut the tv off, the radio comes on and I attempt to clean the disaster that we call home, by 11:30 I have at least got the kitchen cleaned up enough to start dying or washing whatever wool I had prepared the night before and I do that for at least 20 min. Next I am on to whatever I did days before and I take what's dry and either put it in a bag for later use or photograph it and package it up for sale, then it's back to the computer to post whatever I just took pictures of and I usually knit or crochet or spin while sitting. Then I finish up whatever wool project was going on in the kitchen and lay it out to dry. We start working on school and go until we are hungry and then it's time for lunch. After lunch phinny gets fed again and takes his nap, on a nice day it is straight outside with the girls and the dogs to change rabbit cages, shovel compost, or otherwise work on the gardens. by 4:00 we are inside and phinnny is waking up, we finish up whatever school stuff we had been doing and get anything that needs to be mailed ready to go, I tend to slow down, get the kids a snack and we play or read or do something together. I also try to groom at least one rabbit a day. sometime between 6:00- 7:30 we have dinner, sometimes the tv comes back on if channel 9 has something interesting on and I get out the beast and try to work on spinning for a bit, the kids pick up thier toys and are supposed to clean up thier rooms. We do baths for the ones that need it and then brush teeth and read stories and tuck in, I sit down to feed phinny and try to get some reading time in for myself, usually I end up reading out loud because he gets upset if I don't. Phinny is in bed by 10:30 and I get whatever wool I want to work with tomorrow in to soak and try to finish up any projects that are almost done. I feed the rabbits and sweep out the shed, I fold the days laundry, and do the other things I didn't get to during the day until I am tired and then I crash. Today I am trying to finish up my phat fiber samples, I have run out of some bags that I had planned on using and I am having trouble with writing up the labels but I have some really neat stuff and I am really excited about sending it in!

It's not me, It's him....

2009-02-23T21:07:00.003-06:00

Or rather, it. The other day I got a chance to spin on my friend Anne's wheel. It is a beautiful double treadle and it is the only wheel that I have ever touched besides "The Beast". It was a totally diffferent creature. I only spun on it for a few minutes but it was enough to tell me what I needed to know, the problem is not me, and my ever growing severe dislike for the beast is at least somewhat justified. It is just not the wheel for me. However I am not even near financially able to get a different wheel at this point so I took my experience with "the good wheel" and went home to make some adjustments to the evil one. I realized that other than the horrible noises it makes and the problems with the take up, The thing that made it unusable was that the drive band was popping off every time I would treadly more than two or three times in a row. So I went home and looked at it some more and figured out that the drive band actually has nothing to do with me, it's a design defect. So I started looking around the house for something to try to fix the problem and after looking everywhere and not finding anything usable to stop the bobbin from sliding all over the place, causing the drive band to pop off I decided to wrap some roving arond the empty space to keep it in place. It works, and the pressure on the bobbin not only keeps it in place (and that means that the drive band stays put) but somehow my yarn is now winding on the bobbin like it is supposed to. I know that it is a temporary fix, eventually I will have to find something more permanent to hold the bobbin in place but for now it's usuable, at least on the biggest ratio thingy. See the huge amount of normal looking yarn on that bobbin?!? I spun that! and the damn drive band didn't pop off once while I was doing it! I still plan on saving up to buy a new and decent wheel, but at least I can do more than plying on this one until I do.

My Great Camel Adventure!!!

2009-02-22T09:47:00.007-06:00

Okay so about a week ago I came across a man

in possesion of a camel and after talking for a while this wonderful, nice man he offered to let me come and attempt to get some fiber off of said camel. So I thought long and hard about who I could possibly tell about this potential adventure, I don't know alot of local handspinners and I was just so excited I had to tell someone, so I told my friend Anne, who lives pretty close to me and we had been emailing for a while but we had never actually gotten to meet and we decided to go on our great camel adventure together.

So as the day was approaching I was starting to worry, I realized that I have never even touched a camel, and I couldn't find any information about how to remove the wool from a camel, not to mention that I had never met Anne in person, so anyway, I was kind of freaking out.

The day comes and I am prepared. I have scissors, and brushes and we meet and head out. Turns out Anne and I have so much in common that we talked non-stop all the way there and back (and it was a four hour round trip). So we get there and The camels owner was nice enough to have caught him and brought him into a trailer to shelter us from the brutal winds blowing that day. As we approached the camel, I was a bit intimidated, trying to figure out how we are going to get this fiber off of him and into our bags without angering the camel, I walked up and started petting and it was SO soft! So I grabbed a small handful and gave it a light tug, and it came right out!! So we started just plucking away, just like he was a giant rabbit! So here's where I am thinking, oh thank god Anne is with me, Because she also has rabbit plucking experience, and we are standing there plucking this camel, practically jumping up and down with joy over how soft and wonderful this fiber is and how amazing it is that we can pluck it off just like a rabbit and how awesome this camel is. So after we were all done and had taken some pictures we thanked Roy and started on our long trip home. When we got back we split the fiber 50/50 and said our goodbyes and agreed to talk again soon. I am so excited to have met Anne and I can't wait for our next adventure. When I got home I weighed my fiber and I had 12 1/2 oz.!!! So that means we got roughly 24 oz. of the softest camel fiber that I have ever felt and all we had to do was drive out and pluck it. Who would have thought it would be so easy?!? It came right off! Just like a rabbit(albeit, a couple hundrend pound rabbit) It was arguably the best day that I have had in a long time and I am still so excited about my fiber! Oh, but what to blend it with?

The Highlight of my day

2009-02-20T23:15:00.001-06:00

Today I was sitting on the floor playing with some alpaca and my little one came up and asked
" that 'paca mommy?" and I just had to smile, how many two year olds know the difference between alpaca, angora, and wool.

Tomorrow

2009-02-20T22:51:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow I am going on an adventure! I am really excited, seeing as I have not left my house for anything other than groceries/necessities and family stuff for more than six months. Yes, I know that it sounds kind of pathetic but I really hadn't thought about it much until just now. I am just so busy with the kids and the buns and stuff that I usually forget to make time to do anything for myself. Either way, tommorrow I am doing stuff and I can't wait.
Today was a lazy do nothing sort of day, I didn't really accomplish much, unless you call yelling profanities at my printer until it knew exactly how I felt about it accomplishment. I am tired and hungry and too lazy to make food......
Oh well, I suppose we all have days like this. On Sunday I plan to get some wool of a bun or two and groom a few others and attempt to clean some of this mess. I think that I have forgotten what my kitchen table looks like underneath all of that wool.

Motivation

2009-02-19T16:38:00.003-06:00

Today has been awesome! I woke up this morning with the kind of motivation that I have not had since...... hmm, the beginning of last spring. Oh well, I got so much done today, I am so proud of myself! First I got out our brand new blower and groomed every bun except the babies, then I updated the Etsy shop in a big way and got everything that I posted packaged up all nice and ready to go. Then I sent messages to some of my previous customers about the mailing list that I am starting, then I finished two yarns that I have been putting off for a while. The best part? The day is not yet done and I've still got enough of a coffee buzz to keep going!A couple of things that I wanted to cover today. First I want to thank Jacksbluejane for telling me how to oil the wheel. I can actuallly treadle slowly now! Before it was so hard to treadle and the instructions said nothing about oiling before use and I would have never known. Also Sara from spiderweb specialties who twisted my drive band around and now it is not popping off! However, because it is suddenly so much easier to treadle I have to learn to treadle this beast all over again because it's a totally different wheel and the take up is once again a major problem. But this time I have a bit of past experience to go on and I confident that I will relearn it and maybe not hate the beast quite so much! Next, If you would like to join the mailing list for my shop and recieve emails about updates and secret sales you can email me at punkjordane@earthlink.net with mailing list in your subject line and I will add you in! and lastly, the picture is of my beautiful Opus, who maggie decided might be cold going outside and somehow managed to get a sweater on him! It just made me smile so I thought that I would share. OH! almost forgot (the horror) I got the best thing that I have EVER spun (except angora and camel) in the mail yesterday. Butterflygirldesigns has these butterfly bits, which are little samples of her full size batts and I ordered some and I cannot say enough good things about them. I LOVE them! Seriously I am using them as a reward, last night after struggling with the beast until I was actually yelling at it and on the verge of tears again I sat down and spun one of them on my drop spindle and the world was right again. I have shown everyone that has passed my way how pretty they are and it has actually inspired my neighbor to want to knit again!

Another Wonderful Day

2009-02-16T14:12:00.008-06:00

Today has been another wonderful day! My oldest is spending some time with grandma so I am getting so time with just me and the little ones. The weather is nice and we've had alot of fun. I even got some bonding time in with my new Satin Doe, who has not yet earned a nickname but I really really love her. I think that she likes me too, so let's hope that Mr. (my Satin buck) will think she's nice enough. He is the bunny that just won't do it and I am very fustrated with him. I haven't introduced them yet, I want to get her in better condition and then when I pluck her I'll introduce them and hope for the best! I sold my English Doe Fudge Cake today and she is on her way to her new home to be a house bunny. So I am getting ready to go and order our new tattoo equipment and then maybe some goodies for me too! I am just in the best mood, though the house is kind of scary messy and I don't really feel like doing anything about it. I think I will get my phinny down for a nap and then head out to the shed to love on the buns. I am posting new stuff to the esty shop today too so keep an eye out and We still have one French baby and an English Doe for sale that you can find on our meet the buns page and our for sale page.

What a wonderful day

2009-02-15T16:26:00.002-06:00

Today was awesome. I met sara from spiderweb specialties and learned so much in just a few short hours, oh I wish she lived closer! She took home a few buns and I can rest easy knowing that they will have a great home. Yesterday I met Deborah from Mariposa Farm and found a wonderful fiber friend and realized that some of those beautiful alpacas that I met earlier at
Big River Alpacas were hers! AND on Friday Maggie from Robin Ridge Rabbitry came out so we could do some bunny stuff. The most awesome part is that sometimes I feel so isolated out here, with no other fiber people and then, just when I am feeling so all alone I get to meet a whole bunch of really awesome people who share my interests and the world is right again. I am thrilled, life is good and tommorrow I am heading out to buy a new shop vac to use as a blower because I really do need one. Oh, and I had meant to post this yesterday, but I got carried away trying to catch up on rabbit chores and then didn't get time. The picture is from my garden. I HAVE FLOWERS! What an awesome valentines day gift - to walk out side and happen to notice that my crocus are starting to bloom. It just made my day. My garden loves me. I'll have to remember that and see if they bloom on the same day next year, really how cool is that to get the first flowers of the year right on valentines day? Such a beautiful thing. I guess that's it for the day, I have one rabbit halfway sheared and another that I would really like to get to today.

Too cute!

2009-02-15T11:06:00.006-06:00

I just had to share some pictures of my girl tigerlily in her little coat! She looks sooo cute! I plucked her the other day and I was just too worried that she would be cold so I made her a little bunny coat out of some sweat pants that didn't fit maggie anymore. She is all warm and snug now and while I don't think that she is altogether pleased about the whole situation I just have to smile everytime I see my pouty little bunny in her little coat.

Looking for

2009-02-15T10:59:00.001-06:00

I am in hot pursuit of a used battery operated tattoo gun! If anyone has one for sale or trade please let me know as soon as possible because I am getting ready to take the plunge and buy one and I would rather find it used. More coming shortly.