Heather's House

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My friend Heather sees the beauty in all things.

Heather's House from Militia Chick on Vimeo.

xoxoxo

Thrift Score.... and bruiser drives the truck?

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Today, I went(with the neighbors dog) to the thrift store! Then I wanted to go visit my Aunt (who is so awesome) but I got totally lost on the way to her place cause all the street signs were bent ajar, and the numbers on the houses were not consistent.

I stopped to ask directions 3 times on one straight road.

The third time, I was asking some 100 yr old man at a nursing home about using a phone, when i turned around I see my truck was driving away with the dog in reverse, down the nursing home driveway and out into the street, and up on someones lawn- people on the road were slamming on the breaks & slowing down - i was running and screaming, chasing down my truck - luckily before it could hit the person's house, it hit a uphill patch of grass and it forced the truck to slow/stop reversing.

A lil' video of da' adventcha ::::



xoxoxox

A Day (or two) In The Life

On October 5th I turned 33. Not a big deal really except that it marked a ten year anniversary of something that would change my life forever. This of course led me to think in slightly different terms then usual - basically that silly deep contemplative junk that comes up while I am doing something like shoveling donkey poop, i think: WOW Whoooo woulda thought I'd be doing what I am doing right now back when I was 23...!
This is why instead of doing a ten year soul review (cause it's not like I'm having a near death experience just a birthday), i thought I'd do a day in the life! This is actually a day and 1/2....
*
Pictured at the top is what happens every morning. I sleep with my cat toots every night and in the morning I wake up with her either snuggled under the covers by my belly, or on top the covers by my belly. Always keeping me warm. I tell her that she is a "fish in the ocean of love" while petting her head, she lays back and looks like she's swimming through an invisible ocean and smashes her face against my hands.
Now that it's cold, before doing ANYTHING I get my fire started... I get dressed, eat a lara bar and prepare to greet outside and feed all my animals!

JuJu the donkey and all the chickens get fed a little corn (the chickens also get food scraps), and JuJu gets her 'flakes' of hay (mixed grass hay, never gluten grain hay)...

While all my babies are eating and happy, I take the time to shovel all the donkey shit. Unlike many other areas of my life, I am quite maticulous about keeping the animals fenced area clean. She usually poops in the same place over and over as if she's potty trained but my daily shoveling sometimes throws her off (i think JuJu thinks i am saying it wasn't a good spot to poop in.)

Each day I take the bucket of donkey poop and dump it in the organic gardens I am building. If I have really good energy I keep going with mushy rained on & trampled top soil from the fenced in area too. I usually max out at ten buckets in a day, cause dat' shit is heavy!

On this particular day, while building up the garden JuJu the donkey also went into HEAT again! When donkeys go into heat they make this attractive face (pictured below), while making smacking, chewing and breathing sounds. Some drool can happen from time to time. Chewed food falling out. Tail up. Alot of pee'ing.

After I've taken care of everyone I sit down at the computer to check on emails, stalk ya'll on facebook, check on my store, and watch music videos. ;) I spend time at the computer throughout the day, especially while resting and cooking (i cook all three meals a day).

A RARE thing that happened on this day was I cleaned my house...

only cause after the cob project it was a dangerous (broken plate pieces) and scary (donkey poop cob dirt smeared all over) place.

The tempature also dropped so drastically at the high elevations inthe mountains here, I had to carry all my plants in one by one... gawd I love my plants. So much. Most of them are herbs i use for cooking everyday. I set them up on little round logs so they could reach the light of the window.

Since basil is seasonal and had already died, i took the old peaches I had collected from a neighbor's tree to plant in that pot in hope's that next year at least one of those seeds will sprout a new tree. :)

A daily thing now too is splitting all the logs I have here. This is the stack I did in one day...

Lately, my gravity fed water has been getting clogged with silt. Since the spring water has now been boxed in I can't see exactly why this is happening but there's a good chance some North Carolina crawfish are playing around in there...

I have to blow the pipe.

A neat trick I learned, instead of shoving a long wire up there to unclog it, if i put my hand over the pipe and blow air up into the pipe hard enough the clog come out and tons of water rushed out. Sometimes so fast it hits my face before I can pull back.

I try to walk in the woods everyday. Which isn't hard to do cause I am surrounded. I think it is when I feel most relaxed, most energetic, most healthy and happy.

For my birthday me and Bort took a small trip to Waynesville, NC to go to my favorite thrift store ever! We thrift scored big time, I even found a winter coat that's washable and almost matches my donkey. :)

Next door to the Second Blessings thrift store this little town actually feeds their homeless and poverty stricken everyday. It's pretty awesome. I always wanted to help there but my stupid auto-immune disease won't let me touch the food.

Me and Bort also stopped at the lake there, called Lake Junaluska. All the times I lived near that lake and I had never sat by it. It had quacking & laughing ducks and sparkles reflecting off the surface.

As pretty as it was, I could not wait to get back home to my own lil' pond, and the quiet of my cabin.

I read. Alot. Usually before I go to bed, or by the fire, when evening comes, or when I am sick of the internet during the day. I get used books online, from friends, or borrow from my local Spring Creek Volunteer Library.

Was my average day as exciting as you thought?
Is it as exciting as I thought it would be when I was 23?
*I imagine 23 year old Leslie sitting outside the All Natural store on Magazine St. in New Orleans. Her eyelids shimmer with pink glitter, her lipstick is red, and her head is shaved on the sides. She's eating the daily special which happens to be a vegan Jambalaya (her favorite), she has no idea what is going to happen in a week or two. She is a successful artist, she's young, educated, what could go wrong. Her Italian artist boyfriend gets up to go use the bathroom...
and 33 year old Leslie comes to the table and sits in his place.

She says "In ten years you will be a recluse living in the woods in the mountains near Asheville, NC. You will never have returned to New Olreans, even this deli will no longer exsist. In the Mountains you will be surrounded by animals you love and love you, in a cabin, in a place so remote it will shock people. You will buy only hypoallergenic toilet paper, cook all your meals, and use a toilet that composts poo. You will know how to identify trees by their bark and plants you can eat in the forest. You will never eat this Jambalaya again."

23 year old Leslie will frown hard about the Jambalaya, but smile a big grin about all the rest. She will say "That sounds really fucking cool."*

DIY: Reversible Silk Scarf Summer Top

Hey Ya'll! I figured out a way to make the easy silk scarf halter top reversible --- that way you can have two summer frocks in one... yay! Double the hawtness, and just as simple to put together as the one sided version...

Check out this instructional slide show to get the quick DIY steps on how to make it reversible::::



PS- if ya find anything wrong with the video let me know, I am STILL on dial up internet temporarily and have a hard time previewing videos in particular...

Xoxox

DIY: Turn a Hillbilly Prom Dress into a Summer Dress

Holy beau-tee-ful mou mou-ness! I found this long prairie style gown at a local thrift store, and fell in love with the cotton fabric, the little late 70's flower pattern, and the layer of see-through material on top - not to mention the frill on the bodice with pink buttons!

Only thing is, no one really sports big long mou mou's anymore so I thought it would be great to take the focal point of the dress (the frilly chest area) and turn the rest of the gown into a smaller summer dress.

***

STEP 1 : I measured the dress for the length I wanted it, more of a mini dress. I measured from the top of my shoulder to where I wanted the dress to hit on my thigh - leaving a small amount of room for the hem line.
STEP 2: I used scissors to cut off the extra material (which is enough to make a whole 'nother skirt or dress!
Step 3 : I then turned the dress inside out so that I could make the other measurements, for my waist, chest, hip - then marked it with straight pins so that a new seam could be sewn.

NOTE: I had originally wanted to keep the sleeves on but because I had to take in many inches of fabric, I ended up removing the awesome see-through sleeves. In the end I liked this better anyway (not to mention i had no idea how to put them back on!)
STEP 4 : Sewing time! This is where I used all my measurements and straight pins to make all the new seams - the new seams will be along the right and left side (where the original seams are), and then to hem the bottom.
The new seams will depend on whether or not the dress fit you to begin with - if it already fits your size, all you'd have to do is hem it into a mini dress for summer fun!
YAY!!! This is the finished upcycled summer dress..... sooooooo not a mou mou no mo' ! In fact, this shit is so cute it's almost punk rock. I left frayed edges where the sleeves used to be for a more punky look.
Check out all the angles... (the frill makes it awesome from the side!)
Time for a party. :)
Xoxoxo

DIY: How I Made My Halloween Costume

All the materials for my Halloween Costume were organic, locally sourced, thrifted and things I already had on hand.
Whether you are making a Halloween costume or a holiday dress, the possibilities are endless & pretty easy... try copying a "pattern" to trace by using something that fits you well that you have in your closet. Make sure to allow a quarter inch extra around all sides for making your seam, and that the fabric's stretch is similar.
I started with a very simple pattern, then added leg warmers & arm warmers by sewing simple tubes.
The bow was from scrap organic fabric, that is also locally woven here in Asheville NC. I only sewed it in two places- one line along each side seam to hold it in place. I added some long sleeves since the weather on Halloween was supposed to be pretty chilly :)
For the paw claw gloves I simply traced a very wide line around all my fingers stretched apart - then made the tips pointy and sewed inside the lines. I LOVE my paw claws!
The finished product below included a wolf hat purchased as a gift for me from a local toy store a while ago, all organic outfit, organic leggings from a local shop, fair wage thigh high socks, fair trade & local lace-y bra, and thrifted 80's pumps!
I was dressed up as HUNGRY LIKE A WOLF, by Duran Duran!
Hope you all had a happy, fun and transformative halloween...

What did you dress up as? Did you upcycle, recycle or reuse?