It's A Crazy Life.....

I just found a great blog that has all kinds of neat-o giveaways!!  Like this one:

Whimsy Couture Pattern Giveaway!!

I love making all kinds of cute little clothes for my munchkins.  I don't have a lot of time to do it and I don't really follow patterns all that well.  =)  But I still enjoy working with fabrics and putting pieces together and coming up with something cute or beautiful for my kids.  And I love when they wear it somewhere and can say with pride that "my Momma made this!"

(my own Momma is probably going to roll over reading this as I always swore I would never be a sewer or make clothes for my children the way she did when we were little.  Her best friend is probably already doubled over with tears in her eyes, since she tried to teach me to sew many many moons ago with less than very little success!)

Anyhoo, Whimsy Couture has some cute, classic, vintage inspired patterns available for download at their Etsy store HERE.  I love the Apron Twirl Peasant Dress or the Apron Double Layered Ruffle Skirt.  I can totally see my girls wearing a matching set of these!

Well, I've never won anything yet, but I sure hope I win this giveaway....my mind is already picking out the perfect fabrics!!

Remember a while back when I admitted to being a chocoholic?  Well, I'm doing it again.  One of the blogs I follow, CrAxY HoUsE, is doing a review of Anna Shae Chocolates today.  Oh my goodness!!!  Not only are these beautifully handpainted chocolates, the flavors they offer sound divine! Strawberry Chardonnay Marzipan?  Dark Chocolate Cherry?  Gianduja & Lavender Ganache?  Rose Cream?  Rhubarb?  Not only different, but delicious!  Sign me up!!

CrAzY HoUsE is hosting a giveaway of these delicious sounding chocolates!  They are giving away a 24 count signature box of Anna Shae Chocolates!  Head HERE to check it out!!

Go HERE to check out more the delicious sounding chocolate flavors!!

My second update since starting this!!  (I missed the Tuesday update since it's been a crazy week - I'm a day late and a dollar short all week!)

Plant Something
This week we planted some rhubarb that we picked up at Menards.  Also planted a new climbing rosebush.  Put in some onion sets (100 of those - more to be planted in two weeks), and some raspberry bushes.  We transplanted some flowers in the front yard and a lilac bush to the side yard to start a windrow.


Harvest Something
We harvested some asparagus!!  It is in it's second year, so there wasn't a ton or it and it was tiny and super tender.  DH ate it raw, right out of the garden and the kids munched on it too!
Preserve Something
Bought some berries and froze them.  Nothing that is in season here yet.
Waste Not
Reused some seed packs from last year to start new seeds.  Saved plastic bags from various places to use as garbage bags. 

Want Not
Bought freshish berries from the store.  New shoes for the kids.

Build Community Food Systems
Blogging and sharing on a community message board's gardening thread.  Also, the raspberries we planted came from friends at church and some of the rhubarb came from a neighbor at the farm.
Eat the Food
As mentioned above, DH and the kids tried the super fresh right out of the garden asparagus (I cooked the rest of it later).  Also have been eating blueberries, corn, saurkrat and broccoli out of the freezer from last year's garden.

Perhaps it began with Laura and her Rocky Ridge Farm.  Or maybe it was Anne and her beloved Green Gables.  Or perhaps, even, Scarlett and beutiful Tara.  Or maybe it stems from an interest in history and the way I was raised.  Whichever it is, I've always had a name for my home and property.


Growing up my parents were involved in a group called the SCA, or the Society for Creative Anacronism.  Basically, they dressed up, make up pretend names and pretended tha  they lived during the Middle Ages.  I think it's kind of like a grown-up tea party.  I personally, was never really into it and just got dragged along until I was old enough to voice an opinion.  Anyhoo, because of this, my parents acted as a Scottish lord and lady and their "manor home" aka our house, was called Wildweed Manor.  =)  Mom says they named it this because they could never get anything to grow besides weeds.  Even though I thought the whole Middle Ages thing was dumb (can we get a bit of teenage attitude in that statement, please?) I thought it was cool that they named our house.  We even had a sign that said "Welcome to Wildweed Manor" in gaelic.  Pretty cool stuff, that.


And as an avid reader, I fell in love with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Rocky Ridge Farm in Missouri.  I enjoyed reading about Anne's adventures around her green-gabled home.  The beauty of Scarlett O'Hara's Tara plantation, both in words and on the movie screen really stayed in my mind.  And as an adult, reading of Broch Turach in Scotland, the home of Jamie and Claire Fraser of the Outlander series sticks there.


I have always been intrigued by the fact that these old manor homes, especially in the Brittish Isles, had names.  Or that the southern plantations were named.  As a teen, I would think, "why would you ever name a home?"


Now that I'm an adult (or at least masquerade as one most of the time) and a homeowner and land owner, I totally get it.  Giving a house or farm or land a name totaly gives it a personality.  It adds character.  It gives a house life and breath and helps to make it a home.


I must admit that even my first apartment had a name - I called it Garden Court.  I think the complex had a boring name like Bay Manor or somesuch.  But my little one bedroom overlooked the center gardens and they were beautifully kept in the summer.  I'm not sure I ever told anyone about my little pet name for the apartment.  =)


When we bought our house and one acre, I searched high and low for a name that would fit our little homestead.  You can choose a name based on family history or ethnic background.  You could choose it based on location.  Or characteristics of the home.  I thought and thought and thought.


Finally, I found the perfect name!  I've always been very big into my own Scottish/Irish heritage and wanted something to honor that.  I also decided to use the location of the house.  Thus, Auburn Glen was born.  Auburn, as we are located between two towns/villages, the closest of which is Auburn.  Glen, reflecting the great glens of Scotland and my heritage (sorry Mr. CrazyLife....I guess we left out your heritage there!) and while we aren't particularily in a glen, we are surrounded by farm fields, so I figured it was close enough.  The final straw was that is flowed and had a bit of poetry to it.  I cannot imagine a house named without a thought to flow or the poetry of the name.


Does anyone else name their home or land?  I can't be the only crazy person out there who does this?  Am I?