February 2012
7 posts
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Cold Frame Fun
We are about 6 weeks from our last projected frost. Time to get the transplants started.
Since all of our south-facing windows face trees and are therefor blocked of the glorious sunshine, we needed another option. So we made a cold frame (keep in mind functional is not always beautiful). We scrounged up some transplant trays, laid out our seeds, mixed some soil and got started.
We...
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Whew…
What did you do this weekend?
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To Live With Less
Right Now
We’ve got quite a bit of stuff. It’s really awesome stuff. It’s antique hand-me-down stuff. It’s big old chunky wood furniture with history and character. It’s a dining room table that can go from a two-person setting to a twelve-person setting just by adding a few leaves. It’s a few rather large antique trunks that still have bits of canvas on...
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La la la. Here we were going about our lazy Sunday… coffee and knitting, records and pancakes. It was raining and cold outside, so we started a fire. It was all very nice and cozy.
And then, WHAM!
We decided to do some (pre)Spring Cleaning. The contents of our kitchen cabinets were strewn about, we took the doors off our one and only closet to put in a bookshelf and after...
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Little River Canyon
We’re outdoor people.
When the sun is out and the day is crisp, we get the itch to get outside. To feel the warm energy of the sun, the unevenness of the ground, the textures of this wonderful Earth. To appreciate the stillness of the woods, the steady rush of high rivers.
I read a post a few months ago about how being indoors is both boring and at the same time...
January 2012
13 posts
4 tags
Sunday, Lazy Sunday
As our tunes suggest, our Sundays are often lazy. There is usually a lot of mellow music, knitting, endless cups of tea, lots of reading and napping.
Megan is trying to read a book a week (a book. one made from trees, mind you.) and so far she’s a book ahead. A book ahead! We stocked up on all of last year’s best sellers at a used bookstore and we’ve been plowing through...
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Physics Lesson
Megan: (Flailing around the living room before work this morning.) Kaylon, this is my sexy dance.
Kaylon: Oh, wow, that’s great.
Megan: Whoa, I almost fell. I just about sexy danced my way to the floor.
Kaylon: Yeah, there’s nothing sexier than falling. Gravity is the sexiest of all the forces.
You heard it here first: Gravity is the sexiest of all the forces.
[photo...
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a new endeavor: wooden rings
I wake up, put on my boots and button down and I head to the shop.
I grab a chunk of wood and make a few of these…
After sawing, drill pressing, sanding, staining and polishing, I look at the details. Is the shape right? Do the stain and paint blend? Have I sanded smooth enough? Is the lacquer right? It’s a satisfying process, challenging and meditative. When I feel...
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What's that giant ball of light in the sky?
It’s winter in the wee cabin, I love books and soup and all that but we had a rare gloriously sunny day and I have a long list of things that need to get done before spring. That list just got a little shorter. Garden beds expanded….check. Taunting dirt pile moved…. check. Back still functional….check. It will undoubtedly go back to the gray day + soup circuit by...
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Old Man Winter has thrown many wet, gray and chilly days our way, but we’ve been embracing them with open arms. Staying in, staying warm and keeping our hands busy with some sewing, knitting and carving projects.
There is a perpetual pot of soup on the stove that fills the wee cabin with delicious smells. There are books to read, card games to play, football playoffs to watch...
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Whittling: A Lost Art
Kaylon: (Holding up in-progress whittled stick.) Can you guess what this is supposed to be?
Megan: A miniature log?
Kaylon: Grrr.
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Oh, hello there. It’s been awhile, no?
The end of December is such a whirl of celebration for us Tuttles. It starts with our anniversary on the 19th. Then my birthday on the 21st. Then Christmas. Then Kaylon’s birthday on the 27th. Then we go to Florida for New Years and the Kraft annual tradition of breakfast tailgating for the Gator Bowl game.
Next year, we’re going to...
December 2011
9 posts
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Yesterday, We Turned Two!
So we spent the day in Chattanooga, Tennessee shopping, picnicking and dancing in the streets.
ps. Last year’s post.
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A Place Called Eddies
About a month ago (a month ago!?!? what the?!?! the last 30 days have flown by!) anyway… a month ago when we had some friends and family in town we took them to a place called Eddie’s. Most of the year, it’s a plant nursery, but around the holidays they fill it with about 150 decorated Christmas trees. It’s pretty amazing and also pretty ridiculous.
The trees are...
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Marion's Tree
We started decorating Grandmother’s sister, Marion’s tree in Grandmother’s side yard on Thanksgiving weekend and finally finished it off yesterday. I think decorating her tree is going to be a new tradition. For two people who say they’re not big fans of Christmas, we’re getting more and more into it every year. As I type this we’re hanging out...
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And the winner is...
Poppy Rose, email us with your shipping info (madcaptuttles@gmail.com) and we’ll send your wine stopper on its way. Thanks!
***If you didn’t win, no worries. Christmas tree baggies and Christmas tree wine stoppers are 25% off from now until Christmas when you enter the discount code Madcap Reader in the ‘message to seller’ box at checkout.***
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Giveaway!
It’s our very first giveaway on the blog!
To thank all of you lovely readers for following along on our Madcap Adventures, we’re giving away one of our handmade goodies from our shop (here).
Up for grabs…
One of our Christmas tree wine stoppers made by Kaylon (seen here).
OR one of our Christmas tree knit baggies made by Megan (seen here).
All you need to do to enter is...
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our thanksgiving in snapshots
This Thanksgiving we were thankful for…
-wonderful friends that came all the way from Austin and Raleigh to visit.
-wonderful family members that welcomed them with open arms.
-good cooks in the kitchen.
-musical talent around the bonfire.
-crafty talent in the workshop.
-no one hurting themselves with the guns.
-Twister!
{{all snapshots swiped from said...
November 2011
12 posts
2 tags
snow day
Our snow day went exactly as planned…
Kaylon MADE the baguette using this easy recipe [here] and it was delicious!
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refresh
After a looooong and crazy week of working in retail, I was delighted to look out the window and see everything blanketed in a thin layer of white on my day off. I plan on watching the snow fall, adding logs to the fire, making a big pot of coffee and an even bigger pot of soup (who am I kidding, Kaylon’s making the soup!) and curling up on the couch with my pups and my knits....
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Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving! It’s a pretty big deal around here and the preparations have begun. Friends and family start trickling in this weekend so we’re going to take a little blog break to jump all in to the festivities. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! If you don’t have any plans… come on over!
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it is entirely too early for a christmas tree...
The thing is we had these branches in the yard that we needed to get rid of. And we didn’t want to waste perfectly good branches and twigs, right? So Megan had an idea for a twiggy wreath and a tee pee Christmas tree.
And Kaylon looks thrilled about it!
First, the wreath. Break off some twigs, cut out a cardboard or plastic lid circle and hot glue. Tie a canvas bow and ta da!
...
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these monsters...
These monsters made an escape yesterday and totally ignored our calls to come back. They had a great romp through the woods then finally came running when they heard us shaking the jar of dog treats. They were so pleased with themselves when we all four came back inside completely out of breathe and completely out of dog treats. Monsters.
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turning wood
I have recently started to turn some wood. Do not read I am good at turning wood. It’s just when you walk into the shop there are new tools or skills to learn and the lathe is the current tool of choice.
This is what I’m making.
These…
become this…
Available here (Shameless plug)
My Grandfather made me a bat that I still use to hit ping pong balls. It was the...
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The radical theory that...
life can be simple.
Do not read that as an easy life. Simplicity is not ease. A man with a pile of wood to heat his home and an ax to cut it is a simple proposition, but it is hard work; hard work I deserve after a life spent on the couch watching cartoons.
A day of work and a freshly chopped woodpile helped remove that funk.
It also earned another day on the couch.
I’m not...
The List
There is an ever growing, everchanging list of things that need to be done aound here. I will now bore you that list.
1) Rake and mulch leaves.
2) Finish wine stoppers for etsy.
3) Make folding table for sale.
4) Chop firewood for the stove to keep from freezing.
5) Get the property ready for thanksgiving.
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the dream we're dreaming... →
Start a Self-Sufficient 1-Acre Homestead
Your 1-acre homestead can be divided into land for raising livestock and a garden for raising fruits, vegetables, plus some grain and forage crops.
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things we do for fun: cave dwelling
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the mentone home tour
Last Sunday we ooooh-ed and aaaah-ed at these views and that bunk-style sleeping porch on the Mentone Home Tour. We drank cider, ate cookies, chatted with the homeowners, then we tossed these adirondack chairs off the mountain and sold them some new ones.
October 2011
15 posts
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things we make: owly
Last week Kaylon dusted off the lathe in the workshop, got a quick lesson from Uncle Beau and has now added turning wood to his repertoire of hobbies. Wine stoppers are the craft du jour. He made an owl so I hopped on the owl bandwagon and used {this pattern} for the brim of yet another knit hat.
Don’t you just love owls?
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This was the first time in a long time that we took a trip to Jacksonville that did not involve a wedding, an epic birthday bash or a New Year’s Eve celebration. It was a low key, relaxed visit and it was great.
We watched football with old high school friends, played on the swings with a friend’s new baby, we drove by this old oak and because we had...
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a mess of fall photos
This is what has been happening lately…
Pumpkin carving!
AND… A ton of front porch sitting. Since adding the benches and an old table and one of our adirondack chairs to the porch, we’ve been spending a lot of time out there watching the ridiculous motorcycle trikes go by, watching the sun go down over the brow, listening to the hound dogs howl as the train goes through...
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because megan can't wait any longer...
Earlier this week, Megan Googled “When does eggnog hit stores?”
It happens every year around this time. Megan rushes into the grocery store and makes a bee-line for the dairy section checking for its arrival. This girl LOVES eggnog.
So thanks to our friend, Garrett, who found us a home-made recipe, we had ourselves a little Fall Times cocktail hour last night with pumpkin spiced...