Lowe's and sheep shearing

So we're in. We moved. It was a little crazy. My sister had scheduled movers for Wednesday and everything worked out fine as far as that went, except... we didn't have everything packed. So Thursday and Friday were spent taking car loads of assorted kitchen and closet items to the new house. But in the end everything worked out well and we got it done and we're settling in nicely!

I went to Lowe's the other day to try and get some new hardware for their futon- it was lost in their last move. Kind of a funny job you may think to be handed off to a 20-something year old woman, right? Well truth be told I am kind of handy, my years in architecture school taught me well, and I've used all sorts of tools and fasteners. So I've become a little bit of the handy man LOL... anyway, I get to Lowe's and I'm looking for the right kind of bolts and this older gentleman comes up to "help" me. I pretty much know what I'm looking for but I'm taking my time to try and figure out the right pieces. So then he starts suggesting what he thinks I need, with this kind of amused smile on his face the whole time... a woman in the hardware store, hm, go figure? So I picked out my pieces, said I would try those and he kind of laughed and said "oh you're just a regular Martha Stewart, aren't you?" Yeah, you always see Martha hanging out in the hardware store on her show... men!!

My brother-in-law's parents came down for the weekend from Ohio. Apparently they read my blog occasionally so I have to say lots of nice things about them;) Anyway, they were telling me about some friends of theirs, a couple in their mid-40s who retired from their engineer jobs and recently moved to Maine. They bought some land on the coast, built a super earth-friendly house that is completely off the grid, and have opened a bed-n- breakfast. They raise sheep and chickens, and when the sheep get sheared, the wife spins the wool and knits things to sell. She attaches tags to each of her items, and the tags have a picture of the sheep whose wool was used! The husband makes soap and they sell their things at craft shows. I was just so amazed by their story and way of life- I told them that those people were my idols! Imagine retiring at that age and living such a simple life! I can feel my blood pressure decreasing already...

Okay I feel like I have a lot to do today... not sure what that is, but I should get started!