Blueberry Delight

The last few weekends have been so enjoyable. I think my relief at having a job and feeling more restful with a few months of no work travel has made me feel progressively happier. Paul and I have spent more enjoyable, quality time together rather than just chores.

Today we had early plans to meet up with some folks from my church at a somewhat local blueberry farm 45 minutes away on the backroads. Everyone came equipped with hungry tummies and busy hands ready to do the picking. Paul and I picked a gallon of blueberries each and had a great time with the group, chatting and eating and picking.


I had bought some mason jars last week in anticipation of bottling the berries to supply our blueberry pie cravings for the year, and I was suprised to see our 2 gallons, which should have been 8 quarts, actually turn into 9 quarts! Somehow our buckets must have been bigger than 2 gallons. I think that 9 pies is definitly enough for the year. Shauna is bringing me her steamer to church tomorrow and gave me some instructions on how to bottle fruit, so I'll be giving it a shot this week.

Last weekend we putzed around in the yard and worked on our own projects. Paul continued designing his Darth Vader costume.

And I worked on sewing the lining onto the backs of our curtain fabric.

Oh, yeah- and some embroidery too. I'm trying to build my embroidery portfolio one item at a time.

Tomorrow evening we have plans to go with Tracy to Jamie's house, and he's taking us all out on his boat for a ride around Lake Wylie.

A Blessed Weekend

This 4th of July weekend was an especially reflective weekend for me. As it is, it is one of my favorite holidays because it means so much to me that we are a free country. Watching the fireworks and seeing our flag always makes me so thankful to be where we are and for the sacrifices of many. It is also a subject of kidding between Paul and I because he likes to say that I feel I have an advantage over him as I am from the country that is proud to have kicked his country out!

This weekend I thought about many additional things that I'm thankful for, including my new job that I just started last week. I am one of the lucky few who finished a job on Friday and got to start my new job on the following Monday. With so many looking for jobs right now, it made me feel so thankful and also so sad. Saying that, the last few weeks were very stressful as we finished the house repairs, I was wrapping up my work at one company and the next week starting the stress of a new office culture that is drastically different from where I came from. I happened to run into one couple last week in my neighborhood as I was on a walk crying to vent some stress. They asked if I was doing good, and I was honest, saying I'm a bit stressed with my new job. The neighbor said, in a kind way, "you are lucky to have found one." I felt immediately ashamed, for I had forgotten that John had lost his job 6 months ago and has had no luck. How could I forget?

My weeken also involved having some good quality conversations with Paul and some time enjoying being at home together. He did the American thing for 4th of July and had a good 'ol BBQ for us.

And I honored his country tradition (in apology for kicking his country out) and made tea and scones for breakfast.We planted our newly arrived California Coast Redwood "Big Red III." If you recall, Big Red I died on transit to NC and Big Red II died last fall in the early frost and freezing temps we had.
At the same time, we ordered a Dawn Redwood, my favorite conifer in the world. I was stopped in my tracks when I saw one for the first time in all its splendor at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens. Actually Dawn Redwoods, once thought to be extinct, have a very intersting history. They are such an old species, perhaps the oldest living conifer, that this species is actually in the fossil record. A small grove was discovered to be still in existence in China in the early 1900s I believe, and it has since been in cultivation. Don't quote me on this, though. They are unique to the conifer family because they are deciduous rather than evergreen, losing their "leaves" in the winter, and growing in new spring-green colored leaves in the spring.

We also finally Scotch Guarded the couches. We've had them for a year, but found that even a drop of water stains this fabric, so we have hardly sat on 'em, waiting for the opportune time to protect the fabric. It's a bear to get these out the door so I wore my respirator and did it inside.


We also finally buckled down and picked a fabric for the bedroom drapes. We had fabric picked out for about a year, but waited so long it's being discontinued and the price has soared up. So we picked a different one that we both liked (amazing) and bought it there and then (4th of July sale).

We had to put our heads together to see how we could get the 4 panels cut out of fabric and get the design to match up on all 4 panels. We got the last of the fabric on the bolt and weren't sure if it was going to be enough, so the store let us buy it with the allowance for us to bring it back (uncut) if we found we didn't have enough once we measured it out. In the end we had 4" left over! See top fabric, to the right of the blue tape.

Wow that was close!

Backyard Camping

Well by Thursday Paul had a bad cold, I couldn't stand the smell of the polycoating and it was too hot and germy to sleep in one closed off bedroom even with the windows open, so we improvised. I went to the grocery store to pick up some NyQuil and food we could BBQ since we still had no access to the kitchen. For dishes stashed in the laundry room I had two bowls and spoons for cereal- no forks and knives. So I bought some bamboo "sporks", a few bamboo plates, and skewers for shish kebabs. The butcher was kind enough to cut up some steaks into shish kebab size since I didn't have my meat knives handy, and also offered to cut my veggies too! He asked that I keep him anonymous as he isn't allowed to cut veggies.

The potato salad and green beans with garlic and sesame sauce were from the deli and were fabulous

We had a delish dinner and decided to enjoy the whole night out by bringing out our Mosquitogazebo, air mattress and floor fan. Although it took us an hour or so for us two to figure out how to assemble the Mosquitogazebo with all the poles and pipes (we nearly gave up), it was perfect with the breeze of the fan, the sounds of the frogs and crickets and to watch the millions of fireflies blinking as we dozed off to sleep. The only foil to the plan was that in addition to the regular humidity, a fog bank floated in in the middle of the night, moistening the sheets and bedding. Paul woke up towards the tail end of the fog to say, "Oh look at the mist everywhere." We had to turn off the fan because we were suddenly cold and had to bring out a few more blankets.

After Thursday we stayed at Tracy's house while they coated the last coat over the entire downstairs floor. We couldn't go in the house at all until last night. The floors look great! Other than one small area that looked like a towel got dragged through the coating. Hopefully they don't have to sand it all down and start over with the last coat! Yikes.

Floors, Signs and Birds

Being that I have had much nervousness and I might go so far as to say anxiety over the past year or so, I came to the hopeful idea that my problem might stem from lack of organization. Life is chaotic for me with the constant change in my work schedule and travel time, so I never feel I have a grasp on what time I really have available. The lack of fun time that's left after accomplishing the necessaries feels insufficient to do what I want to do, and I constantly feel frusterated and unsatisfied with my progress on to-dos and fun-having. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Of coarse! Probably everyone!

To combat my mind doing circles constantly trying to sort out how to fit everything in to the day or week, and wondering if I've forgotten something, I have talked to the most organized person I work with and the least organized person I work with. The most organized person suggested I organize my work and home life into whatever mode works best for me. Since I'm not organized at all, I don't know what works best! The least organized person I work with says she's being going through the same thing and now carries around a small notebook in her purse and she writes everything in it from meeting times, notes from meeting, hours worked on what projects and to-dos for at home.

I thought I could maybe make this work. An organizer is very categorized and doesn't leave enough room for creative note taking, plus it's bulky and I have to carry around a super-sized purse or backpack. My new little notebook is where I write my days out on a sheet or two and as things come up starting adding to-dos to different days such as buy birthday present, stop by the post-office, as well as fun things such as spin some yarn, work on painting Darla's sign... which is finished by the way!

It has worked very well because I will write things down as I think of them at work, the drive home or when I have lots of time to think: when I'm cooking. Now, I have my day planned out on paper (not in my head- this is key so I don't have to be thinking it all the time) before it gets there and if I start to feel nervous and wonder where my time is allocated, I just reassure myself by looking at my list. I feel very satisfied at the end of the day to see things crossed out, and anything left over, I just erase and add to the next available time.

Another thing that I'm hoping will help anxiety levels is I have found a home for Fairy. Her constant need for attention and screaming has made being home unpleasant so that I was not looking forward to weekends. Darla has two kids and a few dogs and a husband that loves birds. Fairy has gone to Darla's as a trial run to see how everyone adapts, including Paul. She gravitated towards her new home from day one and has been riding around on everyone's shoulders. If she calls out for attention, she's got 4 people there with someone being home almost all the time. She is quite catered to and Darla says she seems very content. Paul has had a hard time with parting with her, but he knows that this is probably best for her and best for me.

We shipped Fairy off to Darla's last week prior to the warranty folks coming in to repair our floors. Clementine went to her babysitters yesterday and Paul and I are living in the sewing room and laundry room until tomorrow night when we head to Tracy's for the weekend while the polycoat dries.

We have no access to upstairs because the floors are stained by the stairs, so we are sleeping downstairs in the office/sewing room.

The laundry room is by the office and we can get to both through the garage. So we have our clothes and a temporary kitchen set up for breakfast in the laundry closet.

And the laundry sink to do the dishes in..

I finished the sign for Darla last weekend in anticipation of the floor upheaval. I wanted to get it done beforehand so I could hand the sign off with Fairy. Darla got a two-for-one deal! The sign I painted for Darla's husband's landscaping business might open up some additional painting work I'm hoping. I have my contact details painted on the upper left hand corner of the sign that will be attached to the landscaping trailer cruising around town. I have my business license and am continuing with my embroidery work but look to bring in some painting work as well.

I hope you all are enjoying the summer! Congrats to my cousins Heidi and Tory for graduating and going on the the next stage in life!

Memorial Weekend

The grand hoorah before my parents left to go back to California was to go to the mountains for the weekend. We stayed in Black Mountain, NC and then spent time between Black Mountain, Asheville and Hendersonville. Hendersonville was having a garden festival for the whole weekend and we had a blast walking around downtown checking out all the vendor boothes displaying garden goodies like birdhouses, chainsaw-carved bears (see below) and unusual carnivorous plants (see below).

Paul couldn't resist coming home with a bear carved by Mountain Dan

And, I myself, was drawn into the mysterious trumpet plants that lure insects in to trap and devour. Thanks to Mum for my beautiful birthday presents!

I don't know if everyone thought they were so beautiful by the end of the day, what with them having to sit on our table for lunch....and on Paul's lap for the ride to our B&B. The car ride was quite crowded with the bear, the plants, Dad's pruning shears and other trinkets.

Plus, we were sitting here in the car for awhile because I didn't print out directions to get to our B&B. And what's worse? I forgot the name of the place! Luckily I had my computer and we found a wireless zone in downtown Hendersonville, so we sat in the parking stall surfing my email for the confirmation email to then get an address to then search google maps.... Mom meanwhile checked out her map and dad has his GPS unit on his phone ready for action.

We finally found the place, Black Mountain Inn, and first order of business was to get the Triffids, as Paul dubbed them, comfy in the wash basin in our room. They need to be in water at all times because they are bog plants.

The next day we visited an abandoned junk yard and had fun searching around at the discarded antiques.

I found some lovely future planters...

...and mom and dad checked out the dishes and golf clubs, respectively.

We hit the shops of Black Mountain pretty hard.

Dad had found a fly shop in this small town, hard to believe, but sadly it was closed for the whole weekend! He came by to double check each time we walked by just in case they decided to open.

After a hard days work shopping around Black Mountain, we headed back to our frequented coffee shop, The Dripolator in downtown Black Mountain.

On monday we went to Asheville and had some fun looking in shops there, and then came home Monday night.

Triffids in place on the deck.

May Adventures

Ah what a month- busy but fun! My parents are still with us, holding strong, despite being roped into helping me plant trees, vacuuming, making dinner cleaning floors and dishes. My dad has made shelves for nearly all our closets too.

In the midst of this, Heather came out for a surprise visit and I had no idea she was coming. She called mom's cell phone to chat supposedly and asked if she could speak to me. As we were talking I could hear her echoing from the front of the house and couldn't figure out why. Then as I turned around there she was in the kitchen!! We had a marvelous visit, scrapbooking of course, going for a walk, out to BBQ for lunch and more scrapbooking. She was with us from a Friday to a Monday the weekend before Mother's Day.

Craft day at the Teague's: Dad is fly tying, Mom, Heather and I are scrapbooking, and Paul in the background is modifying a Darth Vader helmet.

Sadly, Heather had to get back to work for a busy Mother's Day at the restaurant and that little thing called school. But we marched forth with our fun-having, and for Mother's Day we went to a house in Bishopville, SC where we had heard that the guy that lives there has a massive topiary garden in his 3 acres. He allows anyone to stop buy and visit and you can donate money in his mail box to the cause. Mom had heard our neighbors talking about it so we hunted it down and went. It was very cool indeed!

Pearl Fryer has been an inspiration to the neighborhood so that the adjoining neighbors on the street have taken up the craft as well.

Mixed into the month of activities, I had a few work projects, one being inundated with mosquitos that loved to hitch a ride on the ceiling of our car. Every time we opened the back door to load equipment in and out, a few hundred would fly in. We ended up spraying the inside of the car with OFF and running the A/C full blast because they really don't like that.

I also started painting a landscaping sign for a friend at work who is helping her husband get his business to take flight. I volunteered to paint the sign that will go on the back of their equipment trailer in exchange for me putting my website address on it. I am still determined to get my embroidery and painting business up and running.

Getting started in the photo above, and half way through in the photo below..

Plus, I found out I passed the PG exam so I am an official Professional Geologist for the state of North Carolina, and a week later found out we all got laid off (starting in another few weeks to a month). But, my whole office has gone for interviews with the new contracting company and I have another interview scheduled with a different company in a few weeks. So I am hopeful. It was a real blessing that I found out about my test results just in time to put it on my resume, and it was a miracle that I passed in the first place!! I have so much to give thanks for. The results came out about a month earlier than expected so the whole event feels like my own little miracle.

We have so many more pictures but most of them are on my mom's camera as she is the real photo documentarialist in the family (is that a word?). I will try and post more at a later date... I must get to bed for I have a 5:30am appointment with my colleagues and "the river" to collect surface water samples (in Virginia for the week). Good night to yall!

Visiting with Mom and Dad

Wow it has been nearly a month since I had any news to post. Well, not really, it's just been one of those crazy months with so much to say that it's easier to avoid saying anything! In synopsis, I was in the field for 3 of the weeks, during which I found out I am on the brink of losing my job along with everyone else in my office, as our new contract will maintain 50% of the work we had for the previous 5 years. Our office got the bad end of the stick and most likely will be eliminated. We are all hoping that the new contracting company that gets the other 50% of the work comes in and hires us all. We are all waiting to hear what happens on the magical day of April 24th when the new contract gets signed.

Meanwhile, I've had a birthday and my parents have come out for a 5-6 week visit during which we celebrated my birthday and her 60th! Needless to say there has been lots of distraction and plenty of cheer in our house despite the looming liklihood of unemployment. My parents have a way of making any time a good time, and so it has been so good for the soul to have such comfort around.

We've spent much time in the yard (here they are supervising me turning the compost pile)

I took a day off of work on my mom's birthday and we did some countryside sightseeing and went out to lunch...

... and scrapbooked of course. My Dad is tying flies for fishing.

Plus, a real bonus is that my mom has made dinner for us everynight when we get home from work and my dad has been busy doing projects around the house such as building shelves in the closet (happy thought indeed!) hanging pictures, and supervising contractors that are still doing warranty repair work on the house. We really needed the help and it has been enjoyable and a big relief to get some of these things done.

This week I'm back in the field, and my parents and friends Liz and Ed, who came down from Vermont on Friday, are heading out to Charleston for the week together.