Busy Busy!

  It is headed for 99 degrees today, so I was outside at the crack of dawn picking things from the garden. Today is preparation day for the Sabbath. I will clean the house from top to bottom, cook for the four meals we will eat between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday and somehow fit into the mix, processing all of this wonderful bounty before the sun goes down. Why then you ask, am I sitting at my computer instead of making progress on the tasks at hand?

Well, I needed to cool down some, (I got a headache from the heat while in the garden...) and I wanted to show you all why I might not be as timely as I usually am getting return letters written!  I have been working pretty hard to get caught up on outgoing mail and by the end of tomorrow I should be up to date. But I have had to put a lot of time in the garden and  the kitchen recently, so I am later getting things out than I like to be.

  I have received some wonderful mail goodness in the last couple of days, but I am going to have to wait to post them until after I finish the tasks at hand. I also have a couple of fun projects to talk about... One is a project I am working on with my pen friend Country Dirt at  www.penpalling-dad.blogspot.com. We are writing letters back and forth taking on the role of a fictional brother and sister in the year 1876. I will be writing a blog entry on this project in the near future. The other project is going to be a "Summer Fun" mailart call, the details will be posted in the next few days, but for now it is back to the kitchen to process all this produce... anyone want to lend a hand...?

                                                         Until next time, I'll see you in the mail!

A Busy Little Homestead

  The days are shorter, the fall leaf turn in progress and the nip in the air reminds me that I am no longer on my beloved mountain in Costa Rica. Mid October through early November are chaotic at our house. My husband works in the election industry as a consultant (non-political) and we cease seeing him around the house about mid October. His job demands leave little time for him to play his role at home so my son and I take up the slack.

  On our little homestead fall is a busy time, harvesting the last of the garden's produce, preparing the beds for fall planting, smoking peppers and cheese, dehydrating and canning, the kitchen is busy and soon the larders will be full to the brim with goodies to eat all winter. Unfortunately, between my husband being MIA for weeks and the garden/kitchen chores, I have not had time for my personal pursuits. I have a stack of letters waiting to be responded to and an artistamp First Day of Issue to finish, they call to me...

  The guys are out hunting this week so I am here to hold down the fort alone. The garden is mostly planted, the kitchen chores are still in que, but I am at a point where I can take a day or so and turn my attention to "my stuff". Hopefully, I will be mailing out some delinquent letters and finishing up my artistamp project today and tomorrow. One point of work stoppage still seems to be that I can't find a card stock that I like for my FDOI mail out. I guess if I am ever going to get it out I am just going to have to settle on what I can find locally and then work on a better paper source for the future. I am very excited about my little artistamp, I can't wait to see it in final form, stuck to it's First Day of Issue cards and in the mail box to all my snail mail friends. So hopefully very soon, I will see you in the mail!