lalaleighlou

10:57 am: Garage Sale today!
I am sitting at my garage sale and hoping for some more folks to stop by. I've sold a few things, but I'd like to see everything go by the end of the day. If I have more stuff left over tonight, I'll set it up tomorrow, too. It would be lovely to have made $180 by the end of the day. Dave from Wave-o's is coming by to drop off this month's dog food early -- tonight -- so making enough to cover that would be a Divine gift.

06:43 pm: Today, I am thankful for:
1. My sweet hounds, who make me smile.
2. My son, who makes me laugh a lot.
3. Having spent the morning with my Honey and son running errands and chatting in the park.
4. The hammock Honey recently bought for me. Laying in it after dinner tonight was luxurious.
5. My wind chimes.
6. The faeries, who gave me inspiration for painting my son's room.
7. Having a sunny patio upon which we enjoyed dinner tonight.
8. Nettles, which make rice taste so very good.
9. The sunshine and the cool breeze and the quiet moments of this day.

01:26 pm: Today, I'm thankful for:
1. Having a day of quiet with my son. It's just the two of us at home all day, and he's in a companionable mood.
2. Having enough money in the bank to pay the bills, buy all organic foods, eat out a couple of times a week, buy paint for our whole home, update our technology regularly, buy new clothing, and more.
3. Owning a copy of The Secret.
4. Living with the two most endearing hounds I've ever met.
5. Having time to write.
6. Having a Divine agent and loads of inspiration.
7. Having interesting and exciting writing partners.
8. Having had the opportunity to have lived with my father-in-law for the past couple of months.
9. Being healthy and strong.
10. Having a room of my own.
11. Being married to a strong, dramatic, funny, and sweet man.
12. Having a superb sewing machine and the money to buy all the materials I need for my next quilting project.
13. Knowing that I will have a signed book deal for publication of my first novel within the year.
14. Living in a luxurious home with a cute garden.
15. Being a part of the Wordos writing group.
16. Having had the opportunity to have worked with David Lang.

04:47 pm: Writing and Journaling...
I've started a new journal that is focused on writing. Check out candacehunter. That journal is mainly public, as is thelayherbalist.

Blessings!

07:35 pm: Progress!
One more challenging piece left to go, and when that's done I'll have achieved a first draft of my novel.

I kindly ask for Inspiration and Clarity over the next few days. I would very much love to finish that last piece before the weekend is through.

05:39 pm: Writing, writing, writing...
Ah, after a weekend of writing, I feel like I could...well, truth be told, I could use another three days at least. I made really beautiful progress over the past two days. I worked on both of my major projects and today I'm feeling only marginally annoyed; I don't want to quit. It's a drug, really, writing is. My tolerance just keeps rising. I can spend eight hours or more in a day writing easily now, and then get up and do it again the next day. I bet I could do at least three to five straight before I came down again. Maybe more. Mmmm, can you imagine, that kind of freedom? It is coming so very soon. I can hardly wait. I love my job!

04:57 pm: Racking and Tasting
I just took a taste of the first of my Double brew. It fermented farther in the keg, so we racked it to a second keg and are carbonating it tonight. It's tasting much like a Scottish, though not quite as earthy as could be. Yet, it is good and I'm pretty pleased overall with it. I would have liked to have let 'er stand a few more months, but tomorrow is the Scotch Ale Brewing Party and I cannot have a dry tap, ya know!

We racked the nut brown today, too. It's on it's way to being a downright good brew. There is an earthy finish that was kind of unexpected for me. The texture is more silky than one would expect from such a light beer. I think the licorice root had a good deal to do with that. I like the bitter much more so than I usually do. It's tamed considerably, of course, and is near to nicely balanced, I think. I'm getting really quite excited at the thought of brewing with little to no hops. This is my first tarry in that direction, and I think I'll stray a while longer down this path.

And, we've begun to drink ye'ole perry. It is good. Darn good. The carbonation is too high because Honey didn't weigh the honey that we used to prime it. I'm kind of bummed about that, but I know how to pour so that I don't lose any and I'm pretty confident that the bottles we used are quite strong enough to hold it. All in all, though, I would have to say that I'm darn happy with that experiment. I hope that the Pear-tree Lady will have more pears to share next season!

Now, I must organize another brewing party for next weekend...I need more Porter, stat!

09:26 am: Enough already...
It is still frozen out there. It looks like Minnesota, for crying out loud! I'm starting to feel increasingly annoyed by the frigid weather we've had. Sure, the house is warm and sure, Minnesota blood still runs within my veins so I can take it, but honestly, I did not spend all that energy and time and suffer all the blows it took to arrive here just to live through another blast of artic air. The ground is frozen...actually frozen. The horse, the horse isn't sinking in where there was mud a mere week ago. There was a layer of ice on her water about a half an inch thick and if this keeps up much longer I'll be carrying water from the house out because I won't be able to break it open for her any longer. How many of my beautiful Rosemarys and Lavenders are going to be damaged by this? What about my Angelica? Will she be okay? I just planted her last fall. Did her roots go deep enough already? And the strawberries that are still outside...will they survive? They're new, too. Are the pipes to the barn frozen just above ground, or are they going to be burst as soon as the ice is melted?

I am thinking warm thoughts and asking for this winter to break in more ways than one.

04:20 pm: Today, I am thankful for my clothing.
I stopped at Chico today on a lark.

I knew that there was going to be a really good sale at some clothing shop for me and that I was going to get a couple of pairs of slacks that would feel really good. I set out for Old Navy, and upon seeing Chico next door decided to check it out first.

Wow, they had an excellent sale. I bought two pairs of stretchy pants that look pretty nice on me and a long, sweatery-jacket that is warm and comfy. It so beats the not-nearly-giving-enough jeans I recently bought at Old Navy and the old, ripped, dirty not-so-quilted-anymore flannel I've been wearing. I'm going to try the slacks I bought over the next couple of days. If I really like them, then I think next week I'll stop back and see if the sale is still on and if there is anything in my size amongst the slacks. I could use maybe one more pair.

I was so happy that the whole experience was so good. I felt mainly like I belonged in that store today. It was wonderful. And, I saw several other ensembles there that were in the general style that I like. That was kind of inspiring, too. This is so very much a good step in the right direction for my new look. :-)

09:04 pm: Brewing...
I received Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner for the Yule. (Thank you, Honey!!!)

I am so stoked about this book. Any book containing a chapter entitled "Psychotropic and Highly Inebriating Beers" has got to be good, eh? Yes, my first herbal brew is likely to be a Nettle Beer, from the chapter entitled "Beers and Ales from Sacred Medicinal Plants," mainly because I have been wanting to do a Nettle brew for a long, long time. But, I am already thinking about what effects Yarrow or Wild Lettuce combined with alcohol may achieve. And, Wild Rosemary...I'm wondering if I might be able to find a few seeds...

Ah, so it looks as if 2007 may just be a year of brewing. I am looking forward to tasting the fruits of this winter's seeds.