Our favorite little spook celebrated her first birthday earlier this month. We’re not sure how good she is at tearing into her gifts or gathering Halloween candy. Either way, we wanted to give her the hookup for both this month:

So I made a little trick-or-treat bag. Just kind of came up with the idea out of nowhere while waiting for a friend.

Michael’s had ribbon with cute little spiders on some sort of super clearance, so I grabbed a roll just for this bag. I thought it would be such a fun little touch. (Now to figure out what to do with the other 9 yards minus 2 inches of spider ribbon!)

The bag was wrapped up and shipped for the birthday girl. But you know what the only problem was?

Martin stated quite plainly, “Katie, that’s got to be the world’s smallest trick-or-treat bag. How’s she possibly going to max out on the candy?”

I guess we’ll have to make another bag down the road… preferably when our niece can actually say “trick-or-treat”.

Happy Halloween!

If you chat with us over on Facebook, you know the deal around here: today’s forecast calls for snow.

It’s almost noon, and the temperature finally just got above freezing. The race is on to get all of the piping and digging completed for the geothermal heating system before the ground decides it wants to freeze, too.

And no – we’re not 100% crazy. Martin was out in a t-shirt on Friday when I snapped this picture. Today we’re bundled up like big puffy snowmen.

Dig, baby, dig.

A few nights ago as Martin happened to be walking by me, I glanced at the back of his feet.

“Stop everything,” I shouted. He looked at me; he saw my eyes twitching as I watched his feet.

I didn’t even have to say a word.

“There’s another hole, isn’t there?” he said.

For the last 2 1/2 years, our little family has been on a self-emposed effort we call The No New Clothes Challenge.

2 1/2 years?! That’s crazy. That means that everything we’ve been wearing is that old. And yeah, it’s certainly starting to show. We counted four other spots where I had already darned that same sock with this tutorial. “Just throw that sock away tonight,” I announced. “I’m tired of fixing it.”

Martin agreed. (If anything, he can’t believe how stubborn I’ve been about making that sock last!)

The No New Clothes Challenge has to change at our house. Jeans are getting ratty. (Ever have that nightmare where the back of your pants burst open in public!? …how about when you’re out biking? Yikes!) Many clothes are getting stretched out, ill-fit, or faded. Little fuzz balls are making clothes show their age. (The clothes in the above summer photo can totally pull off a few more years, mind you.) The other day, I found myself repairing a sweater that I don’t even like because “I don’t want to buy new clothes.”

Taking on this challenge has been THE BEST thing we could have done. It just needs tweaking.

So I asked an always-dressed-so-awesome-like friend for her advice. She says:

Katie, I think this whole journey isn’t so much about running out and buying a ton of stuff, then stopping, as it is about learning to shop sensibly. As in take stock of what you have, then periodically buy the pieces you know will build a long-term wardrobe. And being mindful of quality, fit, versatility, etc., means you won’t end up just acquiring gobs of junk, which is what many women do. I think I end up shopping about once or twice a year, mostly to replace worn items. I know a lot of women who just buy clothes multiple times a month, then wear only half of it.

Then we agreed to purge: the old stuff, the unloved stuff, the over-worn stuff.

Still sporting a college jacket this summer.

My remodeling clothes could all be thrown out; my “I’m wearing these to the death” jeans and shirts became my new work clothes. And then I went shopping.

It’s been really difficult to remember and find my correct size. Either I have shrunk (completely unlikely) or American clothes have expanded since I last bought clothes. (Right before we started the No New Clothes Challenge, Martin and I were living in Germany where I had to learn a whole new set of sizes. So it’s really been about 3 1/2 years since I have shopped in American stores.) Culture shock!

The biggest tip my friend gave is this:

Have a list. What do you need? Put it on that list and stick to it when you’re shopping.

I’ll share the results soon. In the meantime, here are some favorite No New Clothes Challenge pieces to get those juices flowin’:

• How to alter knits and sweaters
• Finding your signature look
• Q&A I, Q&A II
• Mending the clothes you have
• 6 ways to make your natural beauty shine
• Is the No New Clothes Challenge worth it?

Now it’s your turn. How do you manage the clothes you have? Do you purge regularly? Have a shopping plan? Or are you still like me, darning away?

We finally got around to tearing down some of the old framing inside of the hangar this week.

Before we dive into that-which-makes-my-arms-into-gelatin, I’ve got to send a big shout out of a thanks for your advice on this post about figuring out a business direction with a splash of public speaking for storykeeping. I can see it now. You sighing. Hands casually on hips. “Now Katie,” you say. “Turn to your journal; you’ll figure it out there.” So I did. You were right. And here’s the deal – becoming an awesome (or at least much better!) public speaker is on my list for down the road. You know… when we don’t have stuff like this going on:

No. That’s not framing going up. It’s wood coming down.

We’re tearing everything down in our future hangar loft home for a couple of reasons:

1. The present framing doesn’t go to the ceiling of the hangar. It sort of flat-lined at the traditional eight foot tall ceiling – which looked pretty funny when you’re looking up there from inside of the hangar. Why not have an awesome arched ceiling inside the loft?

You remember this cluttered shot from back when we started:

2. Worst of all – the present framing was not designed to block fumes, temperature differences, or noise from the hangar. The hangar is a working environment. Who wants to be trying to take a nap in the dead of winter and wake up to the sound of a drill press as the heat from your home leaks into a moderately heated hangar? Not me.

This was demolition day if you recall:

3. The present framing cannot work with window plans we made. Framing is a fine art of structural support systems. You can’t just cut in and plop a window in there.

You might remember our window plan that we marked with black spray paint. The windows are taking advantage of the structural shape of the hangar:

So the big question of the day…

Where does that leave us now?

It leaves us with tired and gelatin-arms, quite ready to start installing windows. YEAH!

Can you see our pile of wood ready to be reused? Look to the right of the ACF-50 sign. Fabulous, no?

This is why I’m gelatin-arm-Katie. Each of those pieces of lumber was jam-packed with 4 inch long nails. Martin and I pulled them all out with a hammer, crowbar, and pair of old pliers.

(To give you a little perspective, this pile of nails could completely fill a plastic grocery bag if it didn’t weigh a million pounds.)

We still have the future bedroom to tear down one of these days.

It’s not such an intense priority since the window has already been cut out in there. It’s also not as important as the project we’ve got going on outside.

Here’s a hint: it involves a backhoe and a scramble to beat the first snowfall which could come any day.

Sharing the pages of your journal is a brave thing to do. So naturally, it moves me each time someone opens her heart to share what she has done with a Gadanke journal.

I thought we’d take a peek at some of these books.

Thank you to these four ladies for their bravery and beauty!

This writing prompt journal (one of the very originals!) belongs to Tricia:

She blogged, “As I get older and my memory less dependable I feel compelled to document the ~~MeMoRiEs. I think it will be fun to look back upon later. So I am trying to decide which vehicle I would more likely use with a degree of regularity!”

This {Something Serious with Something Silly} journal page belongs to Katie:

She blogged, “I’m having fun with my ‘Something Serious with Something Silly’ journal from Gadanke. [...] I find it very relaxing to sit at night for 5 or 10 minutes once the baby is asleep and doodle and colour and write in multi-coloured pens. Something rather childish after a full day of being a responsible adult!”

This prayer journal belongs to Meri:

She blogged, “I have been adding a couple pages a day, and have been having so much fun testing new techniques or honing old ones. Love that the Gadanke journals are pocket size, so I can carry it anywhere without being cumbersome and getting some good thoughts and prayers and verses down where they are easily read.”

(More of her pages and the thought process behind them here.)

And last, there is Jane sharing peeks of her {Become} journal on Twitter:

She does her best journaling at the coffee shop, she says. (That’s where these pictures were taken.)

Have you shared peeks into your Gadanke journal or seen any floating around the web? Let us all know on Twitter or Facebook, or shoot me a note at makingthishome at gmail.com.

I’ve been stumbling my way through the week, trying to understand the direction I want my journal business to grow. There are little dreams I jotted in a journal back when I was a freshman in college. There are the bigger dreams I’m crafting today.

I want to get involved with the local community – the parts of the community that have nothing to do with aviation. It would be so much easier if I had kids or went to a traditional work place; you can connect with people when you have something that puts you in the same boat together. So it’s been a journey, a journey that is slowly filling with friendships and possibilities.

This weekend, I was asked to be the guest speaker at Delta Kappa Gamma, the teachers’ sorority that consists primarily of retired teachers.

I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have experience with public speaking… which you probably caught onto after this video.

It was so awesome talking to these women about the importance of documenting our stories!

Now here’s where I’m pausing, trying to figure out which direction to focus my energy. As you know, time is an insanely limited resource around here between building Gadanke, building a home, building Martin’s business, and finishing Martin’s education. It’s overwhelming just to think about it when we get up each morning.

These sweet gals had other great ideas for me. I handed out business cards and extra business cards because they had some other organizations that they were involved in. They wanted me to come to.

Speak at The Daughters of the American Revolution’s meeting. Give a presentation to the Historical Society. Speak to the local schools and get kids excited about journaling! (Apparently an elementary school principal has already been fully briefed on me and why he needs me – haha.)

That sounds so boastful. I’m not trying to sound boastful. I’m confused.

That’s where the pie-in-the-sky dream list from college comes in. It blends with my current hopes and dreams. It also clashes with the limited energy I have.

You know what I wrote almost ten years ago?

Give a speech somewhere awesome and huge. Like a graduation ceremony.

A huge part of me really wants to charge into the public speaking path. Another part says no – focus where I am. So I thought I would just put this out there, put my thoughts in public print instead of just deep in a journal. And also fire a huge THANKS to the fab gals at Delta Kappa Gamma. What a hoot!