Weekly Round-Up

Weekly Round-Up

This week I….

... Helped my sister Chrissy move into her new house

... Finished my temp job.  (I really enjoyed it, much to my surprise.  The pay was pretty dismal, but then I compared it to how much I make crafting and then I felt better.)

... Showed Arwen how to use the compost shifter.

... Had friends over for BBQ and gluten-free beer.  (It wasn't bad, apparently.)

 Obviously, she knows Belovest can cook!

... Harvested our first strawberries!

Quotables: Flannery O'Connor

At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.

-- Flannery O’Connor, “Novelist and Believer”

Happy Memorial Day!

Thanks to all who served, and to those who continue to service.  May God bless, protect, and reward you!

Sunday Thoughts: St. Therese of Lisieux

There is in the Community a Sister who has the faculty of displeasing me and everything, and her ways, her words, her character, everything seems very disagreeable to me. And still, she is a holy religious who must be very pleasing to God. Not wishing to give into the natural antipathy I was experiencing I told myself that charity does not consist in feelings but in works; then I set myself to doing for this Sister what I would do for the person I loved the most.

– St. Therese, Story of a Soul

Friday Before Memorial Day Trivia

Did you know today is the most popular day of the year to close on a house?

I know this because I've been temping at a title company and today was a zoo and a half.  (And all week, everyone was saying: "Just wait until Friday.")

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

Don't throw away.... eggshells!

Belovedest found a link with unusual ways to use egg shells.

It didn't list my favorite thougth: art!

I haven't tried this, but I think it would be fun.  Although I suppose I'd have to collect egg shells for six months first!

Making Progress on Alex's Book!

I finished the drawings and now I'm thinking about how to assemble it....

I have some ideas....

Today I'm Grateful For...

Friends.

And their cute kids.

(Ann S. also has a cute kid.  She just never seems to bring him when I have a camera in hand.  Maybe we'll have to plans something....)

Lately, It's Been Raining...

Here's why the Ren Faire was canceled and what we wish we could send to California.

If you look closely, you can see the rest of the road on the other side of the impromptu lake...

My parents took this photo last week, just a half mile or so down from their house.

The problem is that it has been raining off and on ever since and more rain is expected this afternoon, so even though the road was passable again soon after the photo was taken, the usual systems to deal with excess water are getting, well, water-logged.

Weekly Round-Up = Garden Update

This Weekly Round Up is a garden update

My husband cleaned the rain barrels.  I decorated them, and he installed them.  (Yes, I get to do all the fun stuff!)

BEFORE

(It was actually much more disgusting than this photo--this is after rinsing it out.)

AFTER

We learned the hard way how to make PVC pipe tomato cages.

Not this:

Unless you are making this:

But instead this:

(More in a later post, hopefully.)

We did soil testing. 

Bottom line:

If Nitrogen is the Food of Plants

Compost on!

Compost is slow.  Our soil is still lousy.  This is going to take awhile….

And our tomato seedlings are coming up!

There is something really lovely about little green leaves reading for the light!

Today we are off to the Ren Faire to sell some bottles of Charlemagne Beard Oil.

Sunday Thoughts

God doesn't have what you need.  God is what you need.

-- Eric Butterworth

Rather bold, yes?  Presumptuous, even.  But it's true precisely because it is universal.

Ren Faire Canceled

.... due to weather.

So now I have a completely free day.

If I recover sufficiently from the rigors of my temp job, maybe I can get Alex' book done....

GPS Cover

My husband and I just toss ours in the glove box, but my dad wanted a cover, complete with a facing of microfiber cloth.

I couldn't find any microfiber cloth at the fabric store, so I stopped by an eyeglass shop and picked up one uses for cleaning glasses.

The design is more my mom's than mine.  What I had thought up was much more unnecessarily complicated.

Decorating Rain Barrels... Or Cheap and Easy Reverse Stencils

All you need are scissors and name tags!

That is, presuming your design is small enough.

This idea can easily be adapted to all kinds of sturdy objects, particularly outdoor stuff and items that you aren't worried about the labels damaging whatever surface they are applied to.

I wanted to spray paint our rain barrels, but I also wanted to leave a bit of the blue showing, as the plastic is such that you can kind of see through it to tell how full the barrels are.

1. Draw and then cut out your petals.  If the edge of the design includes the edge of the sticker, it will be much easier to separate the sticker from the backing.

2. Apply your name labels.  Don't stick the whole thing down firmly--leave a bit so you can easily pull the label off.  Make sure to apply the stickers so all of the not-stuck-bits are in the same place on the petals, as there will be a blurred edge in those places and if ALL the petals have the same blurred edge in the same place, it will look like it was done on-purpose.

3. Spray paint everything.  Let it dry completely.

4. Peel off the name tag labels/stickers.

5. You can carefully scrape off the residue or let it wear away eventually.

6. Enjoy your pretty flowers!

Quotables

The past is dead.  The future is imaginary.  Happiness can only be in the Eternal Now Moment.

-- Ken Keyes Jr.

Getting Ready for the Ren Faire

We're going to be selling Charlemagne Beard Oil at the James Arthur Vineyard Ren Faire on Saturday.

I have a little tray that Dad and I made so I can wander about the Faire calling out "Beard oil!  Free smells!"

The only question that remains: Iron or not? 

Gift Card Holder

This is not a tutorial because this project requires a video.  This post is just a "Look, I made this!" kind of post.

The book that inspired me to make this was Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms by Alisa Golden.

Tissue Paper Bowl

How can you not love a project with only three supplies?

Even better: All three are either free or something you have on hand.

You need:

A plastic, disposable, clear take-out container

Tissue paper, the kind that comes with presents in gift bags

Glue

Paint (optional)

Nail file (maybe)

Sealant (optional)

(Okay, scissors and something plastic to cover the table might not come amiss either.  But basically—three items.)

Gather your supplies.

A Fashionable "Did You Know?"

The first color photograph in Vogue was this place setting, published April 15, 1932.

My first thought was: Vogue did place settings?  Now there's a publication that has adapted.....

For more on Vogue, an exhaustively detailed and wonderfully obsessed book is In Vogue: An Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine by Norberto Angeletti and Alberto Oliva.

Weekly Round-Up

A few quick things before I head off to graduation at the school where I teach. 

(I always think of Grandpa G. at graduation because Grandma G. graciously and generous gave me his doctoral robes.  It was such a kind gesture and I’ve always been grateful to feel that in some small way I’m carrying on the work he did in education.)

…. Belovedest had a 30-mile, 45+ minute detour on gravel roads Thursday in order to get to work.  Lots of flooding in our area.  I’m grateful that none of it is in our basement.

 

From the State Patrol Twitter Feed

… I finished grading!

… Thursday I did voice over work in Omaha, plus had lunch with my dear friend Anne M., PLUS surprised Conner at his President Wax Museum school project.  Remember the Abraham Lincoln tie I made?  I got to see it in action.

…. Dropped off some metal recycling.  I made $8.23, in part because of 45 pounds worth of office furniture that I intercepted from the trash.  It’s not a lot of money, but I also know whatever I bring is getting recycled instead of ending up in the landfill.

… We did LOTS of gardening stuff!  Here are some tomato seedlings that are coming up.   We’ll be posting soon on decorating rain barrels, doing soil tests, and making tomato cages.