The Prairie Patch

Well, today started out dripping wet. We were above freezing and it was raining a bit. Then it started to turn to sleet, and now we're in a full blown blizzard. My shoveled out sidewalk is no more, as probably four to five feet of snow has drifted across it.

But at least this side of the earth isn't having the weather/earth problems as Japan is. This is a very sad day, and my heart goes out to them and wow...all those continuing aftershocks that are quite large in an of themselves.

On a brighter note, I did get a wonderful goodie in the mail. I won one of Rusty Thimble's wonderful giveaways.


Oh my gosh, they're so much cuter in person. The camera doesn't do Brenda's talent justice!

In other news, I'll be starting up a regular monthly contest over at the Sunburnt Cow for new online artisans. Please check out the post, and if you'd like to be a judge, please email me. Also, if you want to be one of the contestants, stay tuned to the Sunburnt Cow blog.

Additionally on the Sunburnt Cow, I'll be starting up link parties, which will occur every Wednesday. In this link party, you'll be able to link up blog posts mentioning items you have for sale. This is unlike most link parties in which you can't hook up anything for sale.

Over on my All Thumbs Crafts blog, I posted a tutorial on how to make burlap frames without the use of wood. As many of you might notice, these "frames" are also in my giveaway.

There's another new link party, and the theme this week is all about crows. I don't have much in the way of prim stuff yet, though I'm slowly building up a collection. There is one crow item that I made, so yay! I can participate!
I have a couple in my home and have sent a couple as gifts. I myself won't be burning it. It's hard to want to burn decorative candles like this. Or maybe it's just me - lol!

In other news, today is warming up, and we're in the 20s, though we'll be plunging back to below zero again as the high tomorrow. Yesterday my son threw out some water for me that I had in my candle making pan. (I don't put that water down the drain, since it might have some wax in it). Anyway, the water froze by the time it hit the snow, so it didn't make a single divet or dent. It just slicked on as a sheet of ice. Yep, that's cold!

I'm really happy with all the support of my first link party, and my oh my, what goodies people have and are sharing. It's so much fun to see everyone's stuff! Thank you so much for joining in on the fun!

I'll be having another giveaway soon. It'll have three winners with multiple chances to win. Stay tuned. I have to finish a few things before I can show off what the prizes will be. Would anyone be interested in a rag quilt as a prize?

Well, I need to skedaddle. My shoulder is hurting big time. It's easier to type than to mouse with my right arm. Last night I thought I was going to go through a phase where I would lose the use of my right arm again, so I need to baby it. The trouble is, I just can't. I have soooo much to do! I don't make a very good patient - lol!

When did the weather forecast snow here? Today? Ugh. This is what our sidewalk looked like after the blizzard of a couple days ago. I guess the question is...where is that sidewalk!?!
My son did shovel the sidewalk yesterday - just a tiny little path the width of the shovel. It's one of those cheap plastic shovels, so it doesn't really do the job all that well. We now have a path amongst snow that's over our knees in height. Ah, the joys of drifting snow. At least today's snow isn't drifting so much. It's actually quite pretty. It's the kind of snow that's real powdery and glittery; it almost looks fake.

I put up another tutorial on my All Thumbs Craft blog: how to make dessert looking soy tarts. I kinda wish they were edible - lol!

In other news, it looks like the linking party will be a go tomorrow. The coding still looks wonky in draft mode, and since I put the link party to begin tomorrow morning, it's not showing how it will look exactly. We shall see! At least Deb of Paxton Valley Folk Art made a pretty button for it - just as she did for the Sunburnt Cow.

Speaking of Deb...wow, what can I say! She made the sweetest post about me, which touched me tremendously. Thank you, Deb. You have been so sweet, kind, and supportive of me. :)

Trish over at Me 2 U Primitiveseven wrote about my blog, mentioning how helpful the seo tips have been. She's new to this blogging world, and I'm really excited at how enthused she is in getting her name out there.

Stay tuned tomorrow...hopefully this linky party will come along nicely!

I've been busy the last few days tending to my various blogs and compiling some Q and A's for an article I'm doing, as well as writing up some blog posts for featured artisans over at the Sunburnt Cow. I don't like doing the usual Q and A, cuz that can be boring when you see the same questions over and over again. Thankfully, one of the participants said it was nice to be asked questions that were different from the norm. (And being an Aquarian, I am different from the norm - lol).

Oh, speaking of which, my son and I had wonderful birthdays. This year was certainly better than last year's b-day for me. Last year for my b-day, I spent all day crying. Just one of those "Ick, what a waste my life has been" moments. But since discovering an attitude of gratitude, which is still with me, I'm a lot more content. Sure, this confounded computer still takes a long time to load a page (upwards of ten minutes if I want to click the follow a blog option), which makes my work go soooo much slower. But hey, at least I have a computer! Anyway, last year's b-day was one of the worst, especially since the only people (aside from my son) who wished me a happy b-day on the actual day were my ex-fiance (the lawyer) and an ex-boyfriend who turned out to be a cad.

This year, I was happy, and while we couldn't really do anything special like going out (lack of car and lack of civilization), it was still fun. I did get to do something special and immerse myself in about eleven hours of the last season of "24." Another tear jerker, as they always are. I didn't even do any work, so that was a plus.

Lately, the weather here - up until today - has been very pleasant, with highs in the upper 30s and lower 40s. About a foot of snow melted, which was nice, though it does make things slippery. Last weekend, we had 72 mph gusts of wind, and today we're getting pretty windy, too, though not as bad as last weekend. We're also getting a few inches of snow. Probably an inch has fallen in the past hour. Temps with wind chill are below zero again. This inclement weather is supposed to last only for a couple days, then we'll get back up to the 30s. Yay!

A client of mine wondered if I might like to ghost write a book with her. I initially said yes, but I'll have to see. I've been a ghost writer for others, without any credit, which is kinda sorta what I don't want to do any more. If I can have some credit, using a nom de plume, that'd be much better. I used to blog for a couple guys who were regular fixtures on CNN financial news. They loved my work, but since I'm a total ditz whenever you start mentioning numbers, I had to quit that project. I couldn't figure out if I was re-writing their interviews in a coherent fashion since anything to do with financial stuff in incoherent to me! Then I wrote for one of those overnight millionaires about positive thinking, but you can only repeat certain mantras over and over without it becoming boring or me feeling like I wasn't adding anything more. I tend to want to write succinctly, and I kept thinking: "Okay, I just wrote about this last week. Why do I have to keep writing about the same stuff over and over again?" That's why I'm so excited about my various blog projects because it's always something new and different! Anyhoo, I guess I just have to see what the project is all about that my client/friend is asking me to do.

Well, I have the package already to send off to the giveaway winner. It's too slippery to walk to the post office today and tomorrow, so hopefully by Monday the roads will be in better shape. I'll be able to send Deb's package off then, too.

Here's a few pictures to tickle your funny bone. I wonder if you can tell what it is from the very first picture.








It's Tessa having one of her many "zen moments." She usually gets right up when she hears me getting up, but in this instance, she was really zoning out, and I was finally able to take some pictures of her. I was so surprised that she let me.

Got any funny captions for the above photos? I'd love to hear them!

I have been busy, busy, busy the past couple days. I received a big writing job over the weekend(15 pages single spaced), but I finished it up this afternoon. Only took a few hours, which was really cool, since I made my weekly income goal. If more writing work comes in, all the better!!

Worked a lot on my other blogs this weekend: Sunburnt Cow, Handmade Teddy Bears and Raggedies, and Craft Supplies Sales and Resources. Busy, busy, busy looking around for content and trying to make at least two posts a day on each one, especially the selling blogs. I'll be starting more selling blogs soon because I like challenging myself and helping people get their products noticed. If I can help in any way to drive more traffic to their shops, all the better!

And oh, I have over 60 followers! Whoot! As promised for every increments of 10 followers I get, I'll add another goody to the giveaway.

A bar of prim soap in the winner's choice of fragrances and colors that I have.

I'll also be having another giveaway within a week after this one ends because I'm having so much fun meeting all of you! The waiting time won't be as long - maybe a couple weeks. Ideally, I'd like it to be an Easter theme, so I want to get the winner her goodies well before Easter!

Well, we had some nice weather for awhile - up in the 30s and over 40 one day last week. Now we're down to 50 below zero tonight with the wind chill. I don't believe it got up over zero today - without the wind chill. Had a big ol' snow drift we had to wade through this morning to get to the dogs' bathroom area. Wasn't expecting that, although I knew we had snow overnight.

So, will Hawaii Five-O or won't Hawaii Five-O have a new episode on tonight? It's getting really ridiculous with their constant repeats. As much as I love looking at Alex O'Loughlin, I won't sit through watching an episode they just aired a couple weeks ago. Grrrrrrr. I do like the show for sentimental reasons and started watching the reboot because of that. I remember when it first aired. I lived in Hawaii at the time as a wee little girl. We'd run in to the cast members all the time in the store. Even spent the night at Al Harrington's house with my mom and his family. I vividly remember watching through the chain link fence a scene being shot in the intersection in front of my daycare. That was really cool; I remember Jack Lord was there. In his off time, we'd always see him running around with a Panama hat on. I miss Hawaii sometimes.

Three deer came up to our yard to munch yesterday. A couple years ago, we had around 20 deer in our yard at one time. That was sooo cool. Didn't see any in our yard last year, so I was happy to see them yesterday. Unfortunately, we have all those little deer "berries" they like to leave behind.


The deer looked up when my son lifted Tessa up to the window and she started to bark at them.

Well, it's around 40 below zero right now with wind chill. We've had it colder, but for some reason today is colder for the dogs. They can hardly stay out for a minute, and then they have to hobble back into the house. The poor things. The puppy was crying for about a minute after she got in and holding one of her paws up.

We had a lot of wind over the weekend - gusts of up to 60 mph, and I believe it! The screen door was securely latched and locked, but it rattled all day. All this blowing caused a lot of drifting snow. We did get some additional snow, but I'm not sure how much with all the drifts. The place that we had walked on and crunched down a lot for the dogs has disappeared, so we gotta crunch, crunch some more!

Take care all of you who are in the path of the storm coming up. Stay warm and stay safe!

Thank goodness I posted the much prettier photo Shelia had on her giveaway post at Seasons of Thy Heart than my attempts at photography; otherwise, y'all wouldn't be able to appreciate how very beautiful it is. (Though no picture could do it justice). Anyway, here are a couple photos of some of the gorgeous goodies Sheila sent:




I think they're blurry because I had to hold my arms higher and my shoulder just hasn't been the same since my injury. I'm sure there must be something in the camera manual to help stabilize...just gotta find it.

Anyhoo, here are pictures of our snow. The first one is my chicken-less chicken coop. (Hopefully when the warm weather arrives again, I can get chickens). It's all recycled material. The bulk of the building is an old outhouse!


My back porch...what back porch...lol!



Note how I "primmed" up the side of the house with the chipping paint. Haha! Yeah, it's all on purpose - lol! Actually, we can get some major hail storms, so paint doesn't stay on the houses all that nicely. (You should see the sidewalks)!

My outhouse and an outbuilding. (Most of the houses here have a working outhouse in the backyard). I haven't used mine yet!



Another angle of my chicken-less chicken coop made out of an outhouse.



Here's one of my foot prints. I guess I should say leg print because the snow came up over my knee when walking around taking these pictures.


My dearest puppy Tessa, who is now sleeping on my lap. After all, posing for pictures and barking at mommy standing outside taking pictures makes a puppy very tired!



I guess technically she's not really a puppy anymore, since she's 13 months old. And here's our 12 year old "puppy" Sage. He was a rescue dog from the mean streets of Detroit. (We think he was used as a bait dog for the pitbull fighters). We've had him since 2001. He knows he's very loved, but sometimes he gets very skittish. I'm sure it's due to a lot of horrible things that happened to him before we got him.

Whew, it's been awhile since I've written in here. Been busy sewing a couple rag quilts. Hopefully I can get some pics up soon. I don't know why, but I hate taking pictures. I guess I better get over that if I want to sell things on Etsy, huh?! I need to take time to read the manual that came with the camera, so I can take better pics and not have such an aversion to taking them.

Anyhoo, I've had an early Christmas with getting my lovely giveaway gift from Sheila at Seasons of Thy Heart. She was so sweet and put several other gifts in there and has really made a wonderful holiday for me. (We've shared several emails, and she's a wonderful person). As a single mom, I haven't had any gifts for awhile, and this year has made up for all those years. I even got a few wonderful gifts from an online Christmas swap over at Chickens in the Road. I'll take some pictures soon...I promise! Really, truly!

I was also eyeballs deep in a huge writing project that took all last week to complete. It was a client I hadn't written for in a couple months, so it was nice to get back to working for him. His work is sporadic, but when he needs some writing done, he usually sends large chunks my way. Also, the Aussie woman who owes me so much money paid another installment today, so she's slowly but surely getting current. At the rate she's going, though, it probably won't be until spring when she gets down to owing nothing - lol! But at least she's chipping away at it.

Yesterday we had about a foot of snow dumped on us. It snowed all day long. It was pretty, but it was kinda dicey walking in it. I went to the post office yesterday, and the wind was blowing that snow almost horizontal. At least it wasn't below zero...that happened later. Ah, winter in North Dakota. Definitely a sure bet on there being a white Christmas. We have a couple feet on the ground now and are due for another inch or two in the next couple days.

We're in the start of a two or three day blizzard. I kind of like blizzards, just as long as the electricity stays on! Wind chills will be getting to about 40 below.

Our water went out today, thanks to the mayor of this town firing a state certified water/sewer specialist in favor of her grandson. He doesn't take care of the water and sewer system like he should. When I walked to the post office today, I went by the water tower and saw that no one had been there to do the daily checks. There were no new footprints - in fact, none at all - in the snow, and we've had the current cover of snow for a few days now. Tsk, tsk. At least the water was thawed out within a few hours.

Been busy crafting. I've decided to open my Etsy store on Friday. I can't wait, although I'm a little nervous, of course. There are so many awesome artisans on Etsy, but at least I'm having fun making things. Did a couple experiments that didn't turn out so great today...bah!

Went to the post office today to get a couple different size boxes so I know what to charge for postage. Also sent out some gifts I made for a Christmas exchange through a forum I follow. Sent a couple bars of soap (the cranberry-orange bar and a primitive snowman soap I made yesterday. Forgot to take a picture, but I'm making more)! Also sent one of those shabby chic jeans pillows I made a few days ago. Ee gads, postage costs a lot. My exchange buddy lives in Canada, and it cost $14 more to send it to her than if she were in the U.S. When did postage get to be so high!?! The cost of gas isn't that high, is it? I guess not having a car is keeping me kinda clueless - lol!

While I was at the post office, I stopped by the second hand store and picked up a few things. There was a nice queen size sheet set in a light sage green that I bought. I can use all of it for backing for a lot of quilting projects. In fact, I'm working on one right now that I wasn't sure what I would use for the backing. Now I do!

I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving! (Well, those in the U.S. Those not in the U.S. can have a lovely Thursday! *grin*)

After the days' long blizzard, we now have snow today. It's quite pretty outside. We're supposed to get up into the 40s and 50s in the next few days, so the snow will melt. I'm kind of glad, cuz I'm just not ready to have the land blanketed with snow for six months!

Tried my hand at a stocking last night - never having made one before. Oopsie - made some mistakes, so I'm going to rip it out today and do it better. I know what I'm doing now...I think!

I'm fortunate that my little town has a second hand store, so I often get a lot of items of clothing that are only 25 cents. The stocking I tried making last night is from a denim shirt that had a nice trim along the bottom. I'm putting the trim along the top of the stocking, and it looks pretty good. I can't wait to get it done and see how it turns out!

Finished up one of my quilted Christmas table tops that I'll be sending to a relative for the holidays. I might make one and try to sell it on Etsy. We'll see how much time I have. I just can't believe the holiday season is almost upon us! Where did the year go???!

Welcome to the Prairie Patch. I haven't had a blog on blogger before, though I had signed up a year or so ago. I finally decided to take the plunge and start blogging.

What will this blog be about? Oh, a little of this and that - much like you find other blogs. Don't know if anyone will find my slice of life interesting - lol!

As I write my first post, we're experiencing blizzard conditions here in the northwest corner of North Dakota. I'm not ready for winter just yet, though. Ugh! It'll probably mean 6 months of freezing and frigid weather, which can make you stir crazy after awhile. At least later in the week, the temps will be above freezing, so it will melt off the six inches of snow we're supposed to get. I hope so, so I can do some more washing and drying the laundry outside. I haven't had a washer or dryer for over two years now. It does get tricky washing bed linens and blankets in the winter without the outdoors to dry them!