Spring Sale!

Spring cleaning is just around the corner - if I can keep my focus long enough to do it. Once the weather turns nice I'm pretty much on auto pilot walking out the door to enjoy the nice weather.

Part of my spring cleaning strategy is to reduce the amount of "stuff" in the house to make more room. Theoretically more room will make it easier to clean and I'll be more motivated to follow through with my big plan.

So lowering the amount of inventory that I have in my shop makes sense, uh, I think.

Most of my items don't take up a whole lot of room, but the ones that do the most right now are my crocheted items. So beginning today and running through April 24 everything crocheted will be on sale at 20% off in my shop.

Just click on my shop link in the sidebar or go to the link below. Then click into the "Crochet Home/Fashion" section of my shop to see all of the great deals that are going.

www.etsy.com/shop/myhumblejumble 

Beaded Coasters

Lacy Crocheted Scarf

Amigurumi Owl

Kindle, Nook, Nexus 7 Case

Country Mouse Crocheted Doorstop or Bookend

Kindle, Nook, Nexus 7 Sleeve

Universal 10" Tablet Cover

Maine Maple Sunday

We were in our local warehouse store a couple of weeks back. Since I've related to you before that I have a hard time making decisions, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I couldn't make up my mind whether to buy a quart of maple syrup or wait a little longer.  We were running low, but weren't in crisis yet. So I waited. Then it happened, I used the last drop.

That was about three weeks ago. Maine Maple Sunday this year wasn't until March 24 this year. So I was really anticipating going to one of our local farms to get some. The big day arrived and we went to pick up our grandson, Alex, to go along. We got to the Bacon Farm in Sidney, Maine on a typical windy March day  with a little bite to it. The last time we visited this farm was probably seven years ago, and we were surprised to see how much they had expanded their operation.  We were pretty surprised that we had to wait almost 30 minutes in line to get in the door too, but it was worth it.  The closer we got to the sugar house the more intense the maple fragrance was. As we walked through the door, the steamy warmth from the cookers enveloped us. The line circled around the room past the maple sugar demo area right to, yes, a table where a man scooped vanilla ice cream into little dishes and a woman poured fresh maple syrup over them. That was my next target! We all agreed it tasted awesome and continued on past the people who were spinning fresh maple cotton candy through the door into my next target area - the shop. Stocked full of all sizes and shapes of maple syrup containers I picked up a half gallon so I wouldn't have another crisis too soon. Alex chose a maple whoopie pie and bag of maple candy. I have to admit I couldn't resist taking a couple of whoopie pies for me and gramps too.

We wandered through the crowd taking in the sights of the tapped trees, barns and fields and a couple of ducks skating on the last remnants of ice in the farm pond. Back in the truck we all agreed it was a great way to spend a couple of hours and headed home.

I'm so glad I didn't pick up that maple syrup at the warehouse club. Lesson learned - buy local!

Me and Alex checking out the sap production

Inside the sugar house

Sugar house steam

Demo area

Brrr! that's cold

Buy local!

Waiting for Spring

When our family was young we actually enjoyed winter. Our two boys kept us busy trying to occupy the winter months with some fun activities for the whole family. We all got excited when the ice froze solid enough on the lakes to enlist the help of friends and haul our ice shed onto one of the nearby lakes and set it up for the winter fishing months.

The "siding" of the shed was made from those sheets of aluminum that our local newspaper used for printing somehow or other, and we bought really cheap to cover the shed frame. There was a tiny wood stove that we paid about twenty dollars for that occupied one corner of the shed and kept us from freezing and losing fingers to frostbite after checking our fishing traps (we thought it was fun back then). A window on each of three sides gave us the perfect view to watch for flags after we finished setting out our traps.

We'd pack up the truck every Saturday or Sunday morning with all of our equipment, firewood, and food and head out to the lake. I'd haul an entire meal out with us on our sled and cook over the tiny wood stove while the kids fished, explored the lake or ice skated on a shoveled off area. And of course there was cribbage for the grown ups. I don't ever recall catching an extraordinary amount of fish, but we always had a great time together. Exhausted by the end of the day, we would all load up the sled and trudge off the ice on foot, no snowmobile in our budget. We'd barely have the truck warmed up and the kids would be sound asleep for the entire trip home. This would continue throughout the long, cold winter months in Maine for our family and many others. Then spring would arrive and we would haul the shed back off the ice for another year.

Now winter means something different to me than it used to. As I get older, I enjoy staying indoors during the winter months, cozy and warm. Go ahead and call me soft, and I'll say "Yes" emphatically. Yes I am.

I'm so looking forward to those first spring days when I can bundle up and find a nice sunny spot out of the biting spring wind and take my sketch pad or my kindle outside to draw or read and enjoy the fresh air with the warm sun on my face.

But it's good to have those great memories. I'm so glad that we had those times together.

Photo on Echo Lake 1984

New Blog!

Where to begin. I've been procrastinating about starting my blog all winter. Why? Because as my blog name implies, my mind is always in a jumble. Too many ideas floating around in my head. What should my blog be about? Time will tell. I was never good at making snap decisions, always over thinking what the best answer should be. And to tell the truth, I still don't know what this blog will be about.   So follow me down the path on our journey to who knows where!