adventures of the miebs family

Thursday, February 9, 2012

another building project

i often hear people say something along the lines of if you can build a house together, you can stay together. and, you know what - IT'S TRUE! when we were building our house back in 2007, i was pregnant. we were newly married. our first "baby" (bulldog), kage, was tragically no longer with us. we were experiencing major life events, all in a few months time. i really think the pregnancy alone put us into another category when it comes to stresses-over-all-things-house-buidling-y.

we agreed on a floor plan. we compromised on closets and doorway placements. i got my way here (house), he got his way there (garage). isn't that the way it should be?! he trusted me not at all when it came to paint color. or the stone color for the fireplace. when ordering our cabinets, we met at the store, and naturally, 7 months pregnant, i was running late. he told the sales dude which ones i would pick. the gorgeous hickory ones on display. and which ones did i choose, you ask? do you really have to ask? of course i picked those. mindmeld, benji and i. we were, and still are, a nice blend.

we're building a cabin. so far, i've spent countless nights, looking over ben's shoulder at possible layouts. we know it's going to be 16' x 24' and we know where it will be built on our 5 acres. we just haven't figured out ALL the other specifics just yet. oh, and i think we determined where the wood stove would go. maybe. baby steps, here.

it's a lot to process. it's a lot to take on. i know there are going to be weekends were i don't see my husband. (and if i'm real lucky, maybe i won't see jb either!) ok, alright, that wasn't nice. he's been quite the turkey these past few weeks. can you believe a 40-pound human could make you shed tears when you're finally alone and can feel ok about showing weakness?!

ben had pointed out our property on a map before, but i still had yet to see it in person. it's not accessible by roads but by snowmachine or four wheeler only. or if you have a float plane handy, just get dropped off on our yet-to-be dock. it's all very magical, huh?!

well...

while i've spent plenty of time on four wheelers, i can count on two hands the times i've been on a snowmachine. see, i'm not a huge fan of the cold. yes, i take my kiddos out in it, i suffer through so they can get out their pent-up energy. but, that's, like, 30 minutes to an hour - at most. and when i'm cold, the truck's nearby or the house is steps away. well, to view the property, there was a little more to it.

from where we parked our truck to the railroad tracks was 15 miles. from the railroad tracks to the property was another 5 miles. see, i know. these are not big numbers. i run 5 miles. but in the cold, despite it being a gorgeous day, when you're traveling at speeds of 50 mph or so, with just layers of fleece and poly pro and other stiff, scratchy material between you and the air, you're gonna feel that nip.

i'm just not built to ride snowmachines. i'm not made to handle hundreds of pounds of metal between my legs. i don't like the jarring and the way you have to hold the throttle with your thumb. i start to feel arthritis coming on after, like, 2 measly minutes. i'm a huge weenie. i wear socks and slippers all day long and my feet are still cold - and that's in a house set to 68 degrees! so obviously, they're gonna turn to ice (if not, dust!) by being out in those temperatures. my hands and fingers were cold too, but my dear, sweet husband knows this (obviously) and installed hand warmers in my arm rests. ha! arm rests on a snowmachine? yes, yes we do.

ok, so i got cold, didn't have the best of time, physically. but the scenery? made it all worth it. just next time, i'm requesting to be put in a bubble.

the guys unloading.

supplies:

chainsaw, snowshoes, a bolt cutter to clear the trail and shovel that broke at first scoop.

(note for next time: bring metal shovel)

you like benji's big-a$$ red sled? that was his birthday present last year.

i'd give you 100 guesses, and you still wouldn't guess how much that piece of plastic cost.

{but, i'm not bitter.}

thumbs up!

uncle bob is ready to ride.

benji, finally got his woman out for a ride.

he's excited, i'm dreading it.

sunrise

i jumped off to snap a picture, and i sunk.

it had to be captured.

oh and look, it happened again at another spot.

only this time, much deeper.

i'm 5'7'.

and the more i kicked, the further down i went.

have you heard about all the snowfall this year???

the sinking did place me at an ideal perspective:

cruisin right along

it's fun watching your uncle from this angle.

you're able to capture this...

and shots like this...

{uncle bob, gettin rather cocky}

yep, it was only a matter of time.

hehehe

whatta good sport!

gorgeous day

from our property, looking out to the lake and mountains in the distance.

the property next to ours used to belong to ben's granddad. he sold the large parcel, with cabin, and the family built a new cabin right next door to the old one. their new place is from a log cabin kit, with large windows, complete with leather furniture inside and granddad's wood stove from the old cabin. they now use granddad's cabin as a bunk house. plenty of space for sleeping. at the new cabin, it looks like that is where they hang out, cook meals and maybe play a card game or two, while sitting around their large circular table with big, cushy over-sized leather chairs on wheels. must have been some feat to get all that furniture in there.

we're still debating on how we're gonna get our lumber back there. snowmachine the 20 miles with trailerful-o-wood or load it on a train in anchorage, have it dropped at the 5 mile railroad location and still have to snowmachine a trailerful-o-wood, supplies, tools, nails, windows, doors, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

granddad's {former} cabin

i'm currently looking for a black and reddish-orange sign that states

BEWARE

BEAR

...but i think they only make those dog ones...

inside granddad's cabin

looking pretty great for being built in the '50s

a balmy 28*

back of the cabin

standing with our backs to granddad's cabin, looking out at the lake.

our property is to the right.

a smaller cabin built by granddad and a friend that previously was on our property,

but now has found a home on the lot to our right.

Friday, February 3, 2012

cabin fever

we're goin a little nuts in the north. subzero temperatures and 70 mph winds don't mix. (well actually, i don't even like them separate.) even the husband had a week off 'cause it was too damn cold to be outside for their 8 hour work day.

you can only scribble with crayola's for so long. puzzles can only be put together so many times. and i don't have the patience for daily play-doh squishing. that's like a weekly activity - at max. thomas is boring, cars and their haulers are boring, both kids have ants in their pants, so movies are out. so we needed to mix things up.

so.

we retreated to the garage! tonka trucks and scooters. bouncy balls. running rampant and splashing {dylan} in the truck grime from our outing an hour earlier. sucking on an old kibble. yuck. of course, she would be my little dirtball. couldn't have been the boy. we went inside almost immediately after that. but before...

there was this.

and these old shoes

{jackie's old shoes, tear}

and races.

dyl's the girl of many faces.

and check out her hair.

i hope she keeps the red, but the grow out concerns me!

beloved projects

i have a sewing machine, therefore, i am a sewing machine. right? ok, so not always. but, over the holidays, my ol' kenmore was put to work. as were my digits. lots of pining (and poking) and ironing, a few seam ripping sessions, but mostly, success.

the first project was the quilt for my father. merry Christmas! funny story, shortly after dylan was born, my dad and sue came to visit. as a gift (ha!) he brought me a large bag of old t-shirts, some threadbare, to be made into a quilt. at the time, i remember thinking ah yes, 'cause you know i'm gonna have so much free time with a newborn and a 2.5 year old to just plop down at my sewing table and knock this right out. yep. well, as it went... 20 months later, the blanket is finished!

in my defense, i never attempted to start it. didn't even pull out that bag-o-tees until the first week of december. ben and i sorted through the plethora of graphics. (see, didn't i tell you he always gets pulled into my projects?! it's the ~~damn~~ math portion! gets me every time.) we decided on a size for both the back logos and for the few front pocket logos that would work for the entire layout.

my initial plan was to do a mixture of square sizes, like 9x9 with 4.5x4.5 intermingling. but thankfully, there were only four pocket-sized squares so we piled them in one square and did the rest of the quilt with large 12x12 sized squares. (i think. i can't actually remember if that was the ending size.) ok, guess the specifics aren't exactly needed. i just knew this flannel quilt needed to be big. better to be too big than not big enough. ben was able to wrap this around his shoulders, lay down and still be covered. perfect, comfy-cozy.

the majority of the tees were aeroplane (as my grandpa jack would say) themed. it's funny how i hear his voice in certain situations with certain words. bat-trees is another one {batteries}. miss him.

you know how hard it is to find non-girly, non-flowery, masculine fabric?!

this is the best i could do.

(and i can't believe that mix up of squares!!! i'm just now seeing this! at the top, that blue and orange need to be flipped! all the times ben and i scoured this, making sure the surrounding, "touching" fabric and tees, matched! gah!)

dylan approved.

back of the quilt.

if he didn't like the bold colors of the front, the back would be a nice compromise.

(turns out, he liked it all!)

i just love standing back and admiring the finished piece. it's such a great feeling. kinda like in the middle of mowing the lawn. you glance to the other side of the yard where you were, and then to the other side where you still have to go. (i'm having a flashback of the sesame street NEAR and FAR episode. tell me you know what i'm talking about.)

accomplished. love that. don't get enough of that feeling. but, it's all relative. at the end of the day, the kids are fed, watered and bathed. they're in clean jammies, lovies within arm's reach. they're alive. and {majorly} loved. that's a pretty great accomplishment. hey, mom, that pollyanna moment was especially for you.

ok, here, you'll see 9 finished headbands, but in all, i made 30. they were all different; so much fun placing the random fabrics together. i gave away a lot but still have plenty more to put together and send away... takers? i made sizes to fit my girl all the way up to this girl. jb was my model for a few, as there are several little ladies in my life. (but, don't tell ben that his son was modeling flowery headbands. please.)

in between the sewing, i did a little baking. we made sugar cookies, gingerbread boys, peanut blossoms, caramel corn and went through tubeS of sprinkles. we vacuumed a lot, too. while my hands were consistently sticky and gooey and because i usually had two kiddos up on our high stools, i couldn't get to my camera. however, when i was slopping the popcorn balls together, i convinced ben to snap a quick shot of the delicious mess. need to make more of these with extra marshmallow and less confectioner's sugar. next time.

ben bought me this 30-count container of thread for Christmas. how thoughtful! the man went into jo ann's - by himself - during the holidays - no less! whatta guy. he's a total triple threat. and what a great gift for the kids, too, i guess. they love dumping them all out, placing them back in. jack even placed all the reds in a clump, the greens over there, the browns and grays in a line. look out. that's eerily like someone i know. {me}

playing nicely.

duey, you pick up dese ones wight dere.

a chinful of thread.

already learned this much needed carry.

i predict seeing this pose, but with dirty, dusty rocks, this summer.

ok, so this was more ben's project than mine. while i've helped many times in the past, this year was all him. his friend, jerry, came over to help with the process of cutting. (did you catch that? ben and jerry. oh, how i love saying that.)

a moose will likely last a year, for us. we don't eat beef, unless someone else is serving it. at our house, we eat moose tacos, moose chili, moose in our lasagna and manicotti. this year, we ordered a few pounds of chorizo burger that i brown and then mix with scrambled eggs and cheese, served into a spinach tortilla shell. best part about it - it's something the kids enjoy too!

this moose provided 260 pounds of burger, 50 pounds of roasts (great for the crock pot), 30 pounds of steaks, several pounds of bacon burger, breakfast sausage and the chorizo.

frozen solid meat from one moose.

shot near mount susitna, on new year's eve.

so this isn't my creation, even though i've made play capes in the past. my girlfriend has been actively selling, setting up holiday bazaar booths at local venues and even selling on etsy. i love supporting local crafters. she's done some really cute capes with applique, this cherry one in particular. and, i love that it's reversible.

for a girlfriend that knits, i decided to construct a knitting holder-type-roll-up-thingy. got it? the holder has 4 sections with 3 pockets in each, in varying depths. this gal will hold an assortment of needles, including those little (and large) hook dealies. {can you tell i'm a knitter?} she may even hold a small roll of yarn.