Who are you to tell me?

Seems to me that everyone lately wants 2 cents into my life. My question is Who are you to tell me what to do with my castle, my body, my life etc.

We live in what I thought was a free country at least last time I read the Constitution. Now a days it seems like the federal government, state governments and even the local governments are trying to tell us what to do.

Lately in the news I've been seeing articles from NYC trying to ban certain types of food, California is another big one on that. It's my body! If I wanna eat a double sized movie popcorn and finish it off with a Big Gulp Slurpee (though I could see no instance where I would want to do that) its my body! Who are you to tell me what to put into it!

However I have seen some outfits on some people that should be illegal in all 50 states!

Now I read about small towns trying to fine and even jail people for non comformist lawns? http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/14/property-maintenance-law-in-new-york-village-may-expand-mayor-says/?test=latestnews
Let's face facts, we are preppers. We are really big on the comformists front. We reuse, repurpose and think outside the box with our properties. My township ticks me off because they have deemed I'm not legally able to have chickens (even though you can have chickens in the city of chicago on a postage stamp lawn) because I don't have 8 acres. Tell me, even free ranging do 3 or 4 chickens really need 8 acres to roam and how the hell do you find them or keep them safe if they are roaming 8 acres?

We grew 200 sq feet of wheat last year. Just an experiment to see if we could and what kind of harvest we would get. To most people that's a eyesore on a suburban lawn. We usually have various projects going on around the farm including wood to spilt, barrels that are being fixed into something new, etc. My point is I bought the property, it's mine. It's MY CASTLE! Who is the town, state etc to tell me what it looks like. Out of respect for my neighbors and myself I try to keep it looking cleaned up and maintained, mowed etc, but there are times when it's not.

My neighbor has flipped out for 3 years because I have no plans to reseal my driveway. Can he report me for that under these new laws? (of course this the neighbor who mows every 2 days, we have a special name in this house rhymes with Rain all?)

I know big rant today, but seriously govt and people should keep their noses where they belong!

Repurposed Mittens from A Sweater

Or...Sew along with Beth.

I know mittens are something we don't want to think about with just coming into spring. I like to have tons of pairs around since they get wet and then your hands get cold. These are great for shoveling snow, walking the dog, or just bringing in firewood.


A wool sweater shrunk up in the wash works best but I have even gotten away with using 50% wool ones. I happened to have this one that Bear nicked a large hole in. It went into the sewing pile to be used for mittens.

First cut your patterns.

You will need 2 pieces of each of these..They are rather simple shapes to eyeball.

and 2 of these as well...

Once you have your pieces cut, then comes the fun part. Pinning them together.

Here is a picture of one pinned. You will need to pin the other one opposite since you don't want to end up with 2 left hands or 2 right hands.

I am using some hand dyed wool and cotton thread to stitch these ones together. Don't you love my camp table by the way! The Grey Knight built it for me and it folds up to be carted around where we need it. Right now its serving as my folding table for laundry.

Now with the magic of the internet....A finished pair for you to see what you will end up with!

Of course this one comes out fuzzy and with the lighting they dont look like the deep purple they are. II'm a firm believer that winter clothes and footwear should be bright to help with the winter blues.

If you do this project and get stuck. Feel free to email me at bwilliams0113@hotmail.com!