Chats on the Farmhouse Porch: Valentine Time

It's time to chat again! Well, actually, it's past time... and I'm a bit late. This week has kinda been that way with extra things to do and I seem to be a bit late for everything. Well, truthfully, I was early for my dentist appointment yesterday.... and then he was running late! Oh well! I can't win!

Come join me! I'm enjoying a cup of Timothy's Breakfast Blend, the sun isn't quite over the hill yet. It's peaceful. You can visit with other folks on the porch at Patrice's. Just click on the picture, and just like that you will be virtually connected to Patrice's porch! 

1. Did you do anything special for Valentine's Day?  We sure did! We went out for dinner. We are usually homebodies, preferring something simple at home, but at the last minute decided it would be nice to eat out. One thing that we love about our new home is how close we are to restaurants. We were seated in the restaurant 6 minutes after leaving our house! Wow! Any other place we  have lived has been at least 20 minutes from a restaurant, usually further. 
2. What was the last craft item that you made? I'm not sure if this counts as a craft item, and I don't have a picture because I have already delivered it, but I made a foam play tray for therapeutic riding. WARNING... this gets kinda boring. You may want to skip to the next question and answer! The therapist was struggling with a little boy who was putting together some shape puzzles. He was sitting backwards on the horse and the puzzle pieces kept sliding off the horse's back. She said she wished she had a tray. Being a creative person, she took a wood puzzle, dumped the pieces and let the boy play with the shapes using the puzzle board to hold them. We talked about what a tray might look like. I had some 1" stiff foam; the blue foam that you can buy at the building supply store for insulation. I cut two rectangles from the foam, about 15" X 10". I cut the middle of one out, leaving a 1" frame. I glued the frame piece on top of the other. Then, deciding it looked kinda ugly, I cut a piece of material just a bit larger than the tray opening. I put some craft glue along the edges and poked the fabric between the base and the frame edge. I used another piece of material to wrap from the bottom around the frame edge, poking it in the seam where I added more glue. I stitched some velcro on the back so the tray will stick to the saddle pad a bit. I took it to the riding center yesterday. The therapist wasn't in - so it will be fun, next week, to see what she thinks and whether it works.
3. Are you planning a garden? Are you swamped with seed catalogs? Yes.... and no.... maybe.... maybe not! We had a beautiful garden at our other house. Here, we have deer and bunnies. Last year I had a container of tomatoes, one of squash and one of peppers. I'm thinking I want more but, in order to get a garden going we would need to put up an 8' fence, or two fences, one being at least 6' and the other about 4 feet away from it. It seems like a lot of work! But, I do love gardening. I do love looking at fun vegetables in catalogs; like purple carrots, or some sort of exotic beans. There is nothing nicer than heading out to the garden at 5:30, picking some sort of vege, and having it on the plate for dinner at 6:30 (or 7:30... or more likely, at our house, 8:00 PM!)
4. What cosmetics do you have in your purse? I laughed at this one.... purse? Where is my purse? I can never find it. Oh wait, here it is. Cosmetics? What do they look like? Oh wait, I do have a chap stick! Sometimes I don't even have that in the purse! As you can tell, I'm not a huge cosmetic user! My mother never went out without lipstick on. I can't even find one. I'm thinking it might be nice to try to 'dress my face up' a bit.... maybe some day I'll remember to buy and try using lipstick when I go out in the world!
5. When there is a room to be painted in your home, who does the painting? Hubby and I are pretty good about tackling projects like this together. Like you, I do enjoy painting. What I don't like is getting ready to paint; moving furniture, finding drop cloths, getting the brushes and roller together, etc. Hubby is much more of a perfectionist than I am. He is great at cutting in at the ceiling and the baseboard. He doesn't have to use masking tape. I enjoy the speed with which a room can be transformed by slopping the paint on with a roller. Unfortunately, I also get paint all over me, the floor, the baseboard.... just about everywhere! At the moment, I don't have any painting projects in mind... except to finish the last chair! And actually, I did complete it, but neither hubby nor I liked the color, so I had to sand it down and repaint it. It has been so cold that the spray paint hasn't left a nice finish. I'm waiting for a warmer day to get a second coat on it before I do the stenciling.

I have enjoyed stopping by for a chat. I see two horses staring at me. They are telling me it is time to get dressed and get out to feed them! I'll see you all next week!