Settling in

Is it wrong to want a vacation from moving? Unpacking was the easy part; finding places for all the things we unpacked is not so easy. It's also hard to put things away when your living room looks like this:
I'm pretty sure the cat is around here somewhere...

I've been tackling my long list of projects one by one. First up was to get my vegetables in the ground (or rather, in the dirt in plastic bins) because I got a late start this year. Beans, zucchini, green onions, and peppers have all sprouted. I'm excited to see these plants actually grow instead of withering and dying in 110-degree heat, like last year.

I also planted some flowers. I can sort of see how gardening might become addicting. Aren't the black leaves on this one great?

Here's the one room I have finished: my craft storage room. I'm not calling this my craft room, because I doubt any actual crafting will happen there because of lack of a window. On the walls I installed some eye screws and ran hemp string through them to serve as my revolving art gallery. I think this would be a really great way to display kids' art, since they seem to be mass producers.

In knitting (spinning?) news, last week my knitting group held its monthly spinning off-shoot. Just look at all those wheels! Somewhere many sheep are enjoying their summer haircuts.

Summertime

Summer unofficially starts on Memorial Day, which this year also happened to be mine and Jason's birthday. Whenever I tell someone that my husband and I have the same birthday, they usually say something like, "Really? That's cool/weird/neat/a coincidence!" What it really means is that every year I'm going to have to make my own birthday cake. The conversation usually goes something like this:
S: What kind of birthday cake do you want this year?
J: I don't know, what kind of birthday cake do you want?
S: Are you going to make me a cake this year?
J: What? I have to make my own birthday cake?
S: What? I have to make MY own birthday cake?
And then I bake a cake, because Jason says something like, "You are better at baking than I am. Your cake would turn out much better." (Apparently a statement he intends to use to get out of baking anything until death do us part)

That was a long way to say that I made an ice cream cake this year, and even though it turned out tasty, next time I'll remember to freeze the cake before layering in the ice cream. (Whoops.)

Yesterday I went strawberry picking, and came back with nearly 7lbs. Half have gone into the freezer, and half will go into my mouth. (But not all at the same time.)

There was also spinning! For years I have put off spinning for fear of acquiring yet another fiber hobby. But, many of the ladies in my knitting group are also spinners, and they made me do it. I believe there were threats of violence. So, I borrowed a spindle and mooched some fiber, and got to work.Above are my first and second attempts - not too bad! But, man, is this time consuming. I don't know if I will ever become addicted to spinning, but I am glad to be learning. When we run out of oil and the rest of you are cold, I will be wearing cozy hand-spun-and-knit sweaters.