feeling industrious

Maybe it has to do with the fact that our family will soon be expanding, but we have been on a rampage of productivity around here these last few weeks. I should say that Chris has done most of the hard work, not the least of which is motivating me, but we are pretty excited about a few projects in particular. This weekend, for instance, we've already bottled Chris's first batch of home brew, and we have our first batch of tomatoes processing in the canner as I write! The beer should be really fun--a smoked porter--it's just too bad that I won't be able to enjoy it. I have a pretty strong feeling that none of the 46 bottles Chris filled yesterday will last until March! At least this way he can work the kinks out of the process and be producing perfect beer by the time I can partake. The tomatoes are so gorgeous, and I don't know if they'll look the same when they are done boiling away, but I sure hope so. We had about a 15 lb. collection of red, orange, and white tomatoes which layered beautifully into the mason jars. The orange and white tomatoes in particular are some of the most delicious I've ever tasted, so I keep hoping it will stay warm enough long enough to get at least one more batch out of them. Harvests have been disappointing this year because of the lame weather we've been battling all summer. Those are a couple of the fun, little projects we've been up to, but wait, there's more!

Chris has been spending time out on our dear friends', the Roses, farm, learning how to do a major woodworking project. He's building a crib. A custom designed and built crib of maple and cherry woods that will be our very own heirloom piece of furniture to use and pass along one day. I'll share pictures when it's done, because I know it will blow you away! I guess I should explain that Bill Rose is a professional woodworker, not to mention a general handyman, vegetable gardener, patient teacher, foodie, musician, and a all-around happy, nice guy. And on top of that he's married to a similarly awesome woman, Kim, who also happens to be a professional interior designer. I pretty much want to move in with them every time I go to their farm. We're so lucky to have such great friends.

If you've seen our tiny house, you're probably wondering just where we're going to fit this aforementioned crib. The two bedrooms we currently have are chock full, so luckily we've started finishing the upstairs expansion...finally!!! This is of course the biggest thing we've undertaken recently. We actually aren't doing the work ourselves, we've hired a fabulous contractor who completely understands our limited financial situation, and even specializes in working on a budget. He's fast, efficient, and does quality work, and we couldn't be more excited about having that upstairs turned into a usable space. It will be our master bedroom, but with a semi-separate nursery area on one end. We also can't wait to turn our current bedroom into a formal dining room so we can actually have people over to eat for a change. I know we'll have to re-evaluate the room situation before too long, but it will be perfect for us for a while at least. I don't have myself organized enough to add pictures right now, but I'll post some very soon, sans the long babbling narrative. Cheers!