This weekend...

Guess which kid is PRH. That poor little mouse in pantyhose is PRH's friend, Dave. Hysterical. Anyways, what are your plans for the weekend? PRH and I have a hot date tonight with a bucket of Kilz and a filthy mudroom. We pulled all of the 2 x 4s (which were actually 2 x 2s nailed together...argh) off the original siding and now said siding needs to be painted. PRH is finishing up the dryer installation as I type this. Wooo hoooo! Things are moving right along. Don't forget that the giant barn sale starts first thing tomorrow morning. I'll be in and out for most of the day, so please stop to say hello. And don't be shocked to find me looking like an absolute lunatic, with a donut in one hand and a ring of powdered sugar around my mouth...that's my norm lately. Fair warning. Happy weekend, everyone!

Please donate to the Owego Flood Relief Fundraiser, if you can.

Let's talk Halloween...

I'm sorry...I absolutely couldn't wait any longer to start talking about Halloween. Costumes are my absolute favorite things to make for EZ E and Kicky and I had so much fun making the costumes for this month's Parents Magazine (all of the Parents costumes have detailed instructions, btw). So what to be this year? EZ E initially wanted to be Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I was thrilled about. We watch the movie pretty regularly, and I've spent months fostering an annoying habit of making Mr. Fox-inspired clicks and whistles. Sadly I think I took all the whistling and clicking too far...EZ E's back to Spiderman or Buzz Lightyear or some other superhero. Kicky could care less, so I have complete creative control. Muwhahaha! OK...I'm off to start Kicky's costume. Here are a few costumes from years past.



owl costume
flower costume
Mr. E costume

The fine print: I didn't use patterns for these costume, so I unfortunately don't have any to share. I just kind of wing it when it comes to costumes and have found that kiddos don't really care.

On the list...

We found this beautiful pin packaging in the farmhouse and it's now hanging in my still-being-weeded-out studio. What a flipping chore. Eventually we'll both have studios in the barn, but studios can't happen until that poor building has a roof (any roof sponsors out there?! Ha!). I digress. I'm planning to spend today chipping away at the boxes in my little room, and am hoping to get it to a point where I can actually work in there. A few more things:

• If you're local, don't forget the giant barn sale this weekend.
• Our Flood Relief Fundraiser hit the $3000 mark yesterday. I'm thrilled!
• The people who guessed crab apples were exactly right. PRH used them to make cider.
• I've been a pinning fool lately. Are you on Pinterest? It's rather addicting.
  
• I have a project in Victoria Woodcock and Ziggy Hanaor's latest book, State of Craft, and can't wait to see the book in person.
• PRH, Rachael Hetzel, Ben Entner, and I have an exhibition coming up at SUNY Brockport in a few weeks. The opening reception is at Tower Fine Arts Gallery on Tuesday, October 25 from 4 to 6 pm. I'll share more details once it gets closer.

Slowing down...

The kiddos and I spent the whole day at home yesterday. It was as quiet as a day can be with a 2-year-old and 4-year-old. While they read books, I allowed myself to wander around the house aimlessly and think. The weight of the last few weeks has started to sink in and the quiet helped me get a handle on things again. Do you ever just wander until you've found space to land?

Party time...

October is a busy month at our house. Kicky's 2nd birthday is quickly approaching, so I'm trying to get my plan together. We're having a teeny tiny family get-together, but I still think it needs to involve mini invitations, a piñata, and a little house. I l.o.v.e. parties! Here's a round-up of some of my favorite party moments around our house (with links to each fiesta).

Rachael age 30:

Kicky age 1:

PRH age 34 and 34:

EZ E age 4:

EZ E age 3:

New Years Eve:

EZ E age 1:

Get ready...

It's time for our annual barn sale this coming weekend! Here are the details:

• October 1st and 2nd- 9 am to 5 pm
• 5835 State Route 38, Newark Valley, New York 13811 (my parents' farm)

Prepare yourselves for tons of industrial antiques, furniture, vintage pyrex, McCoy pottery, old school maps, mid century lighting, and loads more! Here's a reminder from last year. Also, if you're looking for an apple festival, it's the perfect time to visit upstate NY. We hope you can make it!

Cider-making...

Ahhhh...our very first weekend of apple pressing is over and we all had so much fun! For once in my life, I'm not being sarcastic; the whole process was genuinely interesting. PRH and my brother, Pete, pressed 6 bushels of apples on Saturday, and then friends came on Sunday to press 8 more bushels. That's about 480 pounds of apples, peeps. Yowser! I thought you all may enjoy a look at the whole thing.

This is PRH on Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, feverishly picking more apples.

I'm pretty sure he had enough...

but one can never be sure...

The guys rinsed all of the apples in the kids' baby pool, poured a peck into the grinder, and metal knives ground the apples into little chunks. Here's Pete chopping up apples...

and here's Kicky, waiting to see what happens...

EZ E wants in on the apple squashing action...

This is what the apples look like after they're ground, but before they're pressed. The wood tubs are lined with mesh bags that catch the apple bits. Once a mesh bag was filled, they'd fold it, put a wood board on top, and squish the whole thing flat...

EZ E and Kicky loved watching the juice flow...

And here are the 'fruits' (or should I say, 'fruit juice') of our weekend. Our mudroom is full of huge glass jugs (carboys) of apple cider, most of which will be made into several types of hard cider. PRH is insanely happy and I don't think apple cider has ever tasted better. This is exactly what we imagined when we bought this place.

If you can, please consider making a donation to Owego Flood Relief.

This weekend...

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, my friends. By the end of the weekend, our front porch will officially be apple-free. PRH and my brother are making cider. We also have to replace several broken farmhouse windows, round up educational toys/games for EZ E's school (they lost everything), paint the downstairs bathroom, and install a gas dryer (we've gone without a dryer for 2 months).

Living without a dryer for 2 months, however, is nothing compared to what folks in our town are still experiencing. I received an email today from a woman who lives in Owego; her home flooded and they've been documenting their experience here. The photos are heartbreaking. On that note, our Owego Flood Relief fundraiser is still going strong. We've raised over $2500 so far, and Renee has generously extended her gift certificate offer until Monday. Give $20 or more to Owego Flood Relief and send nobiting {at} gmail {dot} com an e-card (it's an option at checkout) and she'll send you a gift certificate for $20 towards any print in her shop. All donations benefit the Tioga County United Way. A HUGE HUGE thank you to all who've helped so far! I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Meet Velma...

PRH went out into the barn for something the other day and came out holding a kitten. We have no idea where she came from and were surprised to find her alone in the barn. She's very friendly, is sweet with the kiddos, and, as you can see, Kicky is absolutely over the moon excited (it's all in the toes)! Our girl LOVES animals. EZ E was a little disappointed that Velma wasn't a blue cat (he had asked my cousin for a yellow kitten, but said that if she couldn't find one, he'd be willing to settle for a blue kitten). We still have to canvas the neighbors to see if anyone's missing a cat, but the babes have named her Velma and are hoping, blue or not, that she can stay.

Shelter...

We've found the most incredible birds nests here and they're too beautiful not to share. See the hydrangeas in the nest below? It appears to be a popular building material around here.


We found this little nest on a visit to the farm before we bought it. It was sitting in an old wine barrel by the back door, so I tucked it under a tree and found it again when we moved in.

I found these two (below) stacked together, a two-story bird apartment. More hydrangeas.

This may sound like a silly question, but can you identify birds by the nests they've built?

If you can, please consider making a donation to Owego Flood Relief.