So, I got a call today from a tv production company in NY that is looking to do a documentary show on young people (under 30 or so) who live off the grid! She is hoping to get some contact names for people who live (or have lived) off the grid and have a story to share.  She would love to get some people who are pioneering it without running water or electricity and such, but is also open to hearing from people who have the amenities, but are ‘off the grid’. SO, if you are such a person, send me an email and I can pass on her contact information. (Too bad they didn’t do the show last year, before we had electricity! That week we had the 60 MPH winds and our fridge blew off the porch and our outhouse blew over would have made a great show :-))
Author Archives: Maria
Working on the Master Suite
I love how that sounds… “The Master Suite” 🙂
We have completely finished Kaia’s room, so we are trying to get our room done. It makes it feel like more progress to do one room at a time.
This past week I did lots of painting, oiling, trim work, and put the apron in front of the tub.
Here is the before picture:
And after:
The stove pipe has to be enclosed according to building code. But, there is still lots of space in the room, even though it looks crowded from the angle of this picture.
Here’s a better view of the tub:
And the pocket door to the bedroom (I LOVE the pocket doors! They are just so sneaky! Now it’s here… now it’s gone!):
We hope to build the vanity for this room this weekend.
And, here we are having some fishing downtime at the pond:
The frogs have started hatching and are singing loud, wonderful music on the warm days! Check out some of the eggs that are still to hatch! This is one of the smaller bunches:
Hooping progress
My hooping progress is slow going. I only get to hoop for ~30 minutes once a week. But, I make the most of that time and usually end up getting nauseas from all the spinning 🙂
So, here’s a little video for you. I was working on angle hooping and trying to get it to flow a little better. As you can see, at the end, I started getting a little dizzy 🙂 Damn that inner ear!
Poo
The house continues slowly. All the doors and trim has been hung, and lots of little carpentry details are getting checked off the list. We’ve ordered a Caroma Sydney 305 Elongated Dual Flush toilet for the downstairs bathroom. It’s a toilet that has two flush options, .8gal and 1.6 gal (depending on if it’s #1 or #2). We were initially planning on just using composting bucket toilets, but you know… you have to think of the in-laws and other company that may be squeamish about the poo thing. 🙂 I’ve also got the cabinets on order. We are getting some fancy schmancy stuff! We were going to build all the kitchen cabinets, but we decided it would be more worth the time and money to just purchase them. Well, we will actually be building upper shelves and be buying the lower cabinets. I’ll try to take some pictures this week…
I’m so gonna downward-dog your ass!
I’m so gonna downward-dog your ass!
When it comes to yoga, honey, I’m one Ashtanga crazy beyatch throwing my Sun Salutation all up in ya face.
Don’t you come in here posin’ because up in this Y, we yoga tough. This ain’t your mamma’s yoga, this is extreme yoga.
Monkey pose … bam! Flying Crow pose … bam! That’s right. I’m not even spilling my latte. You scared now? You should be.
Uh oh … Upward Facing Dog … bam! That’s right. I’m doing the dog. Uh oh … did you hurt yourself? Why don’t you take a break and see how the big girls play.
Why don’t you sit there and watch me reach a state of perfect peace? Check it out … Bam! Peace! Right there. Just reached it. I reach inner peace faster than any of these chumps circular breathing in here. I got so much inner peace it’s shooting out my nose. But I’m not done yet … oh no. Lotus pose … bam! Headstand pose … bam!
How’s that? You’re like all upside down and stuff. Firefly pose… bam! Baby, look at me. I’m a firefly. My ass is lighting up and I’m flying around in my backyard on my peace wings. Damn, I’m good.
Give it up, honey. Why don’t you try some Jazzersize or something, because in here, yoga is for the big girls. Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu – Chump!
Posted in the local paper, a spoof about the yoga attitude at our YMCA-
Election results
I’m just relaxing in bed, trying to get a little work done and received this… made me smile!
Status update
We’ve had a hard week. I began bleeding this past Sat. and had a full miscarriage on Monday. When I passed the amniotic sac I was able to see that there was no baby in there. It looked like the development stopped pretty soon after implantation and it just took my body a few weeks to realize that there was nothing growing. Which is probably why I was having such an easy pregnancy with little symptoms. We are all very sad, but hanging in there. It makes it a little easier to think that the baby’s spirit realized that this might not be a good body for him and decided not to come. It also makes it easier to know that we will meet this little one when the time is right. Kaia has been doing so great. When I told her that the baby decided not to come to meet us right now, I started crying and she went and got me a tissue. She keeps asking me if I’m sad and if there is anything she can do. Her teacher told me yesterday that during ‘circle time’ (when they go around and say what they are thankful for that day) she said she was thankful for her mommy, her daddy, and that even though the baby’s spirit went back to the spirit world, it would be back some time so she could meet him. She’s such an amazing little girl!
Yawza!!
We started putting the finish oil down on the floor and MAN!! is it gorgeous!!!
But first, here’s a picture of our new front yard! Kaia loves the running room (so does Suki and the chickens!)
For the floor, we sanded it down to 220 grit. The large floor sander only went to 120, so we went over it one last time with a hand sander. Then we wiped down the walls, vacuumed, and ragged off the floor. We used the One Coat oil and applied it with a lambs wool applicator for the first coat. Look at the color!!
Then Toby went over it with a buffer. It was pretty funny to watch him try to control that thing!
Then we wiped off any excess with a soft cloth. The wood feels very smooth!
My favorite part was the landing at the top of the stairs. We have all kinds of woods up there. #1 is our only piece of tropical wood in the floor. It’s Cocobolo. #2 I believe is Cherry. #3 are Black Walnut, and #4 is Spalted Maple.
And here is the landing once it has a coat of oil. Beautiful!!!
This piece really changed colors once the oil was applied. It’s very pink. I’m not sure what kind of wood it is. Any thoughts?
Tomorrow, we will put on another coat of oil. This time we will use the Biopoly for a harder finish. Buff and rag off and it’s done!!!
The babies
They are a month old now. Cutie pies, eh? We are getting the black one with the strip on her head. The little calico reminds me of johnny depp in pirates of the carribean, with the black eye make up 🙂
Attempting…
…to take an afternoon nap…
Yes, that is a cat on my head!
chickens out of the garden
OK my chicken friends…
So , I need to throw some seed down on the dirt yard, but I’m thinking the chickens are going to be having a field day with that. Any advice? They don’t stay in their coop even if I close them in (I have crazy jumping chickens!).
I was also wondering what to do when I plant my garden. I really don’t want to have to fence the whole thing in, but won’t they eat up the seeds and seedlings? I seem to remember some of you have free range chickens that have access to your gardens. How does that work?
Thanks for any advice!
getting a yard
Yesterday was a busy day at the house. We started by cleaning up the mess made by 50 mph winds the night before. As you can see by the insulation on the roof, a good bit of our insulation was blown off the roof and strewn, in little pieces, around the yard! So the morning focus was to put it back on the roof. The top floor was finished with a layer of plastic, then a layer of drainage mat. We got some locust boards from a local guy and put those up in a ring around the edge as a way to hold down the layers, and hold in the dirt once that is put on. You can also see that we have some landscaping going on in this picture… leveling all the dirt piles that we made when digging out the foundation.
Here’s a better picture of the locust ring on the top floor.
And here is an in progress shot of the dirt moving. He will come back out tomorrow to finish, but it already looks amazing!!! We have a great yard for gardens and play!!
They should finish laying the floor tomorrow. It’s looking amazing!!! They used a piece of Black Walnut to delineate the entry way to the room and the closet. You can see it in the picture below.
Here’s another angle. I can’t wait until oil goes on… that will really bring out the colors!
The Winner Is:
NICOLE!
Yahooo!
I will be sending a care package shortly! Now I just have to figure out a way to get it to Canada fast enough to include all the goodies I want to make!
Thanks to everyone who left a comment. Maybe I can try to do one of these give away’s each season or something. It’s fun!
The ladies
It’s been a while since I’ve posted pictures of our chickens, and since they have molted and gotten their new feathers (and are looking so pretty), I thought I’d show them off.
This is all of them (L to R): Ralph (Black Australorp), Faye (Speckled Sussex), Rudy (in the back is another Black Australorp), Spike (Buff Orpington), Honey and Sweetie (Americaunas).
Faye probably has my favorite feather patterns on her. I just think she is beautiful! (That’s Honey, the Americauna, next to her). Faye is the chicken that survived Suki’s (the dog’s) attempt to carry her to the front porch so we would know she had gotten out of her coop. Now they are completely free range, but they still lay in their laying boxes since that is where they learned to lay their eggs. They also put themselves to bed every night! Very easy chickens!!
flooring
The hardwood floors started going in today. Only the upstairs will be hardwood. The downstairs is concrete. We found some black oak, locust, and cherry to add to the walnut, maple, red and white oak. It’s going to look soooo amazing when it’s all finished!
They started in the closet:
Happy Birthday To Me!
This past Sunday was my birthday and it was fantastic!!!
Woke up to breakfast in bed, then laid in bed and relaxed/read until 11am.
Went down stairs and had chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream with cherries on top for lunch.
Went to the Spa and had a hot stone massage and facial.
Went out to dinner at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge (truffles and gourmet brownies)
Followed by Salad for dessert 🙂
Got taken out to Hot Springs for a dip in the mineral springs.
Drove home and slept like a baby!
And guess what Toby got me for my birthday? Continue reading
more detail work
Sorry for not posting about the house in a while… there’s just lots of little details getting done. But, here’s some pictures…
Kaia’s room is close to done. A little more painting, some oiling of the shelves and window frames, and cleaning of the floor (oh and the bookshelf and hanging the closet doors… then it’s done :-)) Toby’s mom came up and did some painting today… doesn’t the door look great??? this is one of the antique doors that we got from the Habitat Store for $2.50! it’s a pocket door that slides into the wall! Cool, eh? The floor to ceiling book shelves will go in the corner behind Doris. Oh, the there’s Kaia’s new magnetic chalkboard (that was definitely not non toxic paint). She said she thought it looked like a window looking out of her palace. We’ll probably put a wood shelf under it to hold chalk and erasers.
Here are the stairs. The oak treads and risers are down. I just need to give them a light sanding and finishing, and touch up the wall paint. But, I’ll wait to do that until after the handrail and spindles are in and the upstairs is finished.
Today, the guys worked on getting the upstairs subfloor ready for hardwood flooring. They went through 19 belt-sander belts trying to sand it down to a more even flooring!! Here’s the pile of the hardwood that we got from the local hardwood floor dumpster!! Mostly oak, but there’s some black walnut, red oak, maple, and a little wormy maple and a piece of curly maple in all kinds of widths! It’s going to be the coolest looking floor.
Care Package Give-Away
I was just the lucky recipient of a lovely care-package from Two Frog Home. It was full of love, attention, and friendship, and it felt so wonderful to open this gift from a far away friend that I’ve only met through the computer. So, I’d like to continue this expression of friendship by offering a home made care package give-away from Dirt Under My Nails! If you want to be in the running to receive it, just leave a comment by 5pm Friday, Feb 8th (and be sure your email address is included). I’m sure something herbal will be included, something edible (although if the winner is international, I will leave out the perishables) and more!
Good luck!
May I have your paw in marriage
We are proud to announce the marriage of Kaia and Max! The blushing bride wore a white, sparkley princess gown with pink slippers, and the groom… well the groom was none to happy about his white veil. Seems his bride made a last minute change from his elegant black tux with tails to a shiny polyester veil with cheap elastic.
The Bride kept a smile on through the whole ceremony, but as you can see, the groom is not the happiest about the clothing mishap, though he still looks quite stunning.
After the ceremony, the groom spent the rest of the evening sitting on another woman’s lap, sulking while his bride danced the night away.
Ring for Sale
In order to help finance the adoption of my kitties, I’m selling a ring of mine. I thought I’d check to see if any of you want it before I put it on Ebay. It’s a really beautiful ring made of 14K yellow gold, and is in great shape. The design is called “Josephine’s Knot” and you can see another picture of the ring Here. It is a size 6, but can be resized by the designer, Walker Metalsmiths I’d love to get $225 for it, but I’ll entertain offers.
“The Emperor Napoleon Bonapart employed many Irish soldiers known as The Wild Geese. He is known to have also patronized Irish culture by employing a court harpist and may have commissioned Irish craftsmen also. The empress Josephine was a favorite of seaman and the name of this knot comes from a nautical tradition, although the knot was used a thousand years earlier. The Josephine’s knot is a lover’s knot as it intertwines separate links to make the whole pattern.”
Max settles back in…
Max seems to be having little trouble settling back in to life in the cabin! We’re glad to have him back!!!
Isabella’s kittens
Isabella had her kittens last week (on the 17th). This morning they opened their eyes, so the breeder took some pictures for me. There are two female kittens. We are getting the black and caramel one along with Isabella, probably in the end of March! Wohoo
On the other cat front, we got Max back today. We asked the family that was caring for him while we build to watch him until Dec. or Jan. when we hoped to have the house done. But, now it is more likely march, so we didn’t want to ask them to keep on caring for him, especially since she was having allergies. So, we’re off to pick him up this afternoon! I’ll post pictures when he’s settled in.
slow and steady
Progress on the house has been a little slow this past week. We got snowed in and no one could make it up our drive, and Kaia was ill this weekend. It’s also been bone chilling cold! But, I got out there and sealed and caulked the tub today. It looks fancy!!! All the window trim is up and the stairs will get finished this week (temporary steps come out, real treads and risers go in.) Then the upstairs floor and trim can be finished and the Master bedroom will be done!!! So, we could potentially move some stuff in there, just for a little extra elbow room.
Two of the stones in our new soapstone wood stove have cracked and I’m having a hell of a time getting them replaced. Our local stove store seems to have gotten stupid over night now that we want to replace something and not buy it. I’ve been trying to get one stone replaced since mid-dec. and the other stone broke this week. Anyone else have broken stones with soap stone stoves?
Strawbooty Shortcake
How to create laughter in the home after being snowed in for days with a sick child?
Read Strawberry Shortcake books and replace every ‘berry’ word with ‘booty’.
“Once upon a time, Strawbooty Shortcake joined her booty best friends for a picnic. After they had eaten, Strawbooty sighed with happiness, “that was the booty best picnic ever!” she exclaimed. “Oh Strawbooty, our picnic’s not over yet” Rainbow Sherbet said, “Bluebooty’s going to read us a story”. “I brought my favorite book for fairy tales” added Bluebooty Muffin……”
Exploring the Solar System
Toby has done an awesome write up on our new solar hot water system. Click “more” to read it.
Continue reading
Trim
All the trim is going up!
Here’s the design we decided on for the windows. Isn’t it classy. I think it goes really well with all the other angles in the house. For the windows, I am going to finish them with a wood finish from Earthpaint made with beeswax, linseed oil, pine resin, and citrus distillate. They are going to look fabulous! The door trim, and floor molding are going to be painted white.
These are windows in the master bedroom. The larger one doubles as our door onto the living roof ‘patio’.
This is one of the windows in the stairwell.
Earthpaint article
Tiling the tub
Toby’s mom, Kaia, and I worked on finishing up the tub today! I love this kind of work. It’s instant gratification. We got the larger tiles almost 2 years ago free from some place that went out of business. The color was a bit 70’s disco orange. So, I went to the local tile place and got some marble and glass tiles (the little ones) to spruce it up a little. Came out pretty nice, eh? Tomorrow we will grout and seal it. I’ll post more pictures when it’s done.
Oh, the local paper, the Asheville Citizen Times, sent a photographer out yesterday to take some pictures of us and the house. They are doing a story on the company that makes the Earthpaint that we used on our walls and woodwork, and wanted some info from people who have actually used it. After the photographer left, I realized that I had wood glue all over my coat, Toby had soot from the wood stove on his face, and Kaia had red eyeshadow on from an earlier “dress up” game. HA! I wonder how good they are with an airbrush 🙂
Mate Cocido
Last May, when I flew up to NH on a trip, I sat next to a really interesting woman from Paraguay. She was probably in her 80’s, but she was a spry little lady! We talked about family, raising kids, traveling… but mostly we talked herbs. She talked a lot about Mate, which is a major drink in Paraguay. She mentioned a couple of different recipes that her parents made with the Mate when she was a kid. Mate terere was one, which is mate made with cold water and lemon, or cold juices. But, the one I really wanted to try was Mate Cocido. She gave a detailed description of how you take the mate leaves and cook them with sugar on an open flame until it caramalizes. But, once I left the plane, I couldn’t remember all the details.
Anyway, today, what do I get in the mail, but a package from this woman. She bought me a pound of Mate when she got back to Paraguay and sent it to me with instructions on how to make Mate Cocido! Isn’t she great!! I can’t wait to try it!
In a pan put 6 tablespoons of yerba mate leaves and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Cook gently while stirring and brown the sugar. Be careful not to allow it to burn. Turn off the stove and pour 2 cups of water (or a mix of water and milk to make a total of 2 cups) over the mate and sugar. Strain out the herbs and enjoy the drink! (If it’s too strong add more fluid)
I read a recipe on the internet that also suggested adding a little dried orange peel to the caramalizing process. Mmmm, sounds good!
Issabella cat
We took a drive this weekend to visit friends and get a little vacation from house and jobs. It was very relaxing and nice to do a little catching up. (We’ve been a little antisocial since the house building started.) During our weekend, we also went to visit a Devon Rex breeder. Max is a Devon and we plan to get him a friend once the house is done. (I’d love to adopt a cat from a shelter but, I have allergies to most cats, except Devons. They have a different coat that doesn’t bother some allergy sufferers).
So, meet Issabella:
She’s a 3 year old Devon Rex (as you can see by the pixie face and the wavy fur) and she is a total love bug! It was hard to get any pictures of her because she kept rubbing all around :-) Issabella has had a few litters of kittens and the breeder is planning on placing her in a home where she can live the rest of her life as a pet. So, YAY, we get to take her home! And guess what!?! She is due to have her last litter of kittens this Wed. (That’s why she’s in an enclosure. The pregnant mamas are kept separated so they can have their kittens in peace.) So, we may get one of her kittens, too! I’ll post pictures when they are born. I’m really excited. I’ve missed Max dearly while we’ve been building the house. Having him and other devons in the house will be great! They have such personalities!!! Not like aloof cats at all. They are more like puppies who follow you around, demand a spot on your lap, and love to talk. Daisy the Curly Cat is an adorable blog of a devon rex if you want to see what I mean about personality.