Category : Blog

1718 posts

Surreal week

I don’t know if I even have words to create this post. As if 2020 hasn’t been horrible enough…

This past week has been one filled with tragedy. I’m sure most of you have heard of the senseless murder of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis and the ensuing riots.  Our city is burning….destroying itself.  I don’t live in the city proper but I live in the Twin Cities metro. Not more than a 20 min drive from the epicenter. I have friends and family that live in the city. I fear for them. The past 2 nights I feared for us as well. Hate groups meaning to cause anarchy (not effect to change) were said to be moving out into the suburbs in order to avoid the National Guard troops that have been deployed into the city.

I grieve for George Floyd. For his family. I can’t imagine that this is what he would have wanted to happen in his name….meaning the destruction of the city. Yes…raise our voices. Demand change. Rage against an unjust system that targets people based upon the color of their skin, ethnic group or religion. It hurts my heart. It makes me cry for them.

I grew up attending an inner-city church in a rough neighborhood of Minneapolis not very far from the riots. There were drug deals, prostitution, and violence surrounding the church yet we welcomed all. It was a place of refuge. Of love. Of faith. No judgement.

We are not born to hate…that is taught.

I choose love.

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T Tuesday: Memorial weekend edition

A long holiday weekend always seems to involve a lot of food. This was no exception. But first lets work up an appetite with a few projects around the house….technically outside the house.

I finally got all my containers potted and this group is looking good.  I decided to set the pots on ceramic tiles since we had them laying around. This should help keep them from rotting the wood of the deck.

Next I took some seed coasters my neighbor had given me a few years ago. She thought I’d likely craft with them. Since I was lacking on these type of seeds I decided to try to grow them instead.

We have basil, chives parley and thyme. I planted them in alphabetical order so I could remember what was what. :)

There is just all kinds of wrong with this photo. The socks with the sandals. The billion green ash seeds in the rock landscaping. And the pathetic condition of the rock in the first place.  Oh well…it is what it is this year. We plan to get this front section of the house re-landscaped and new steps poured but with the craziness in the world right now, we have decided to wait. That being said I’m putting forth zero effort to make these rocks look nice. I didn’t include a photo of the coasters covered with dirt because…why? it’s just dirt.

On to the food…lets do dessert first…since it was served up on Friday evening anyway. It’s a Fireball whiskey cake.

We brought it over to the neighbors for a little social distance bonfire in the driveway.

Saturday morning I got up early to get these ribs in the crockpot. It was supposed to rain much of the day so grilling was out of the question.

Don’t they look good? I also made coleslaw and twice baked potatoes from scratch. Just call me Halle Homemaker.

I’ve made a ton of cards over the past week. You can see some of them in my previous post. I have yet to photograph the batch I made today. Or the postcards either. I need to get to it since I have work tomorrow. I’m actually going to the building to help clean out lockers. Considering there are over 900 students at my school its going to take a while to bag and tag everything.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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Building a card stash

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been sending more cards. This, in turn, depletes my stash. Over the past week, I’ve been having fun creating some new designs using some scraps as well as previously created card bases.

I have an index card box full of precut layering pieces for cards. This comes in handy for quick card making. I also have a wooden cigar box filled with mini collages for cards or journal pages. Doing some of the mindless prep work ahead of time leaves more time for the creative process and doesn’t interrupt the flow of ideas.

I am also starting to pre-make some sentiment pieces. I grabbed my tag and mason jar punches to start. The mason jar is so darn cute. The punch itself is a bit finicky. It jams almost every single time. UGH!!!!

I am willing to put up with it though because…look how cute this is!!!! After I stamped the pale seafoam green I realized that it was beginning to look like an old-fashioned blue mason. I used a cosmetic sponge to shade in two colors of blue dye-based ink. Then rubbed the top of the jar on a gray pigment ink pad to act as the zinc lid.

I used foam tape to lift it off the page so I could add some sticker flowers to the jar. So fun!

I can 100% guarantee that you’ll be seeing more cards and postcards. They are really quite addictive to create.

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T Tuesday: 2020 garden edition

Hello! I totally missed last Tuesday. I had intentions of posting but alas, it never happened. Unfortunately, that has happened more often than I’d like to admit. Instead of dwelling on failures… let us move on to something more celebratory.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the lot of you for all the birthday wishes. It amazes me how much a tiny gesture, a word from a friend, Facebook friend, or even a casual acquaintance can put a smile on my face on my birthday…especially during this crazy time. So, thank you!

I received a text from a friend and former coworker the morning of my birthday telling me she may or may not have left something on my steps out front.

Clearly she did…a fun little basket of goodies for me.

Now fast forward to Friday of last week… Mr. G came home a bit early and tilled the garden for me. The forecast said a rainy weekend ahead so we were in a time crunch. While he tilled, I mowed the lawn…except for the patch of creeping charlie…ugh…allergies stink.

The shed garden or big garden is fully planted.

Like the new top on the gate that Mr. G installed last weekend? Much better than the crummy one I bashed together last year after a deer jumped the short gate.  The crabapple trees were stunning this year.

So much so that I had to use the smaller one as a backdrop to my trio of containers on the deck.

I’m so excited that everything seems to be sprouting.

It was a super busy day. I had taken a walk before I started work for the day too since all the sitting I do isn’t doing my body any good.

Check this out!! Almost 20,000 steps in one day! That is just crazy to me. Remarkably I was hardly sore at all on Saturday morning. I even got up at 6am and went for a walk to loosen up…which I think really helped too. Now if only I could do that every day!!

I can’t remember if I had mentioned this in a previous post but this year I am taking a cue from my MIL who always had lovely, prolific gardens. Both veggie and flower.  I am keeping a record of what and when I planted, harvest dates, etc.

I’ve added the potential first harvest dates to my calendar so I’m aware of those as they come. I am hopeful this will help me in the long run. I plan to note what did and didn’t work. Throw out any old seeds that didn’t germinate or that we didn’t like the product. Every stinking year I forget the kind of green beans that we like vs don’t like. I hate the green beans that are “fuzzy”..ick. It’s a texture thing. I feel as if they get stuck in my throat. Gross.

After all the seeds have sprouted I’ll share another overview of the garden. Right now it’s a little boring if I’m honest. I still have a few containers I want to plant but I simply ran out of time and energy. And then the rain came…we got over 5inches. Not sure how much more than 5 because that’s all our rain gauge holds.

Just a little bit of coffee before starting the day…13 days left of distance learning for the school year.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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Butterflies everywhere

I’ve been sending so many more cards and little care packages since the stay-at-home order began. I had to order more stamps and really needed to make some new cards to replenish my stash.

These are my favorite type of cards. Little bits of scraps, snippets from magazines and whatever else finds its way into my scrap bin.

In 2015, I wrote an article for Sew Somerset describing my process for mini-collages such as these. I now see them all over YouTube in the junk journal community. They call them clusters.

Without even realizing it, most of my recent creations featured butterflies.

collage postcard collection

Even most of these collage postcards I made for my MIL.

One even found its way onto one of the tags I made from the off cuts of the postcards.

Maybe I just have mom on my mind. She was nuts about butterflies. They always make me think of her.

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T Tuesday: outdoor weekend edition

This past weekend was beautiful for weather. Just perfect temperature, no humidity and no bugs! Amazing!!! I spent a good share of time outside getting my hands in the dirt. Still not the full garden but more containers and prep for the in ground planting.

I transplanted my tomatoes into larger pots to further develop a strong root system before planting in the ground. I’ve been setting the tomatoes along with the pepper and cucumber plants outside in the shade each day to acclimate them to the wind and fluctuating temperatures. Fingers crossed that they do well. 

I have my ever watchful supervisor while I’m outside. 

I planted a few containers as well plus the bare root rhubarb plants that came in the mail. It says that it takes two year before you can harvest anything. Bummer…I was really looking forward to some rhubarb goodies. (the bottle greenhouses will be serving as my drink reference this week)

What do you think of my bamboo trellis? I was just planning on a standard tepee like structure but then I got the idea to plant some radishes in the pot as well as snow peas. I came up with  this design so the climbers should stay in the center and the radishes can be on the outside edges…in theory at least. I wanted to plant snow peas but then realized I didn’t have any…they are still in transit so I went with pole beans. The next morning I found the stupid snow pea seeds. So I planted a couple of those as well. I figure I’ll keep whatever flourishes the most.

You know how I’m always repurposing things, saving stuff forever, trying to live a greener life. Well Mr G gave me a challenge. He wanted his “garage shoes” repaired since the back seam had completely come part. Other than that, they are still decent especially for outside working shoes.

Look at me….I’m a cobbler. The repair turned out WAY BETTER than I had ever hoped.

This year I decided to buy myself a little something for my birthday. Have been wanting a dot grid notebook for a while. I love making daily lists and wanted a little something prettier than the kids leftover spiral notebooks. Plus this is about half the size.

I started using it right away. I will likely make it a bit of a hybrid notebook/journal. Such as the page with the cupcake. I cut it from the birthday card my in-laws sent me. I wanted to remember the card but didn’t need the entire thing…plus my to-do list will be pretty short that day. Something needs to take up that space. ;)

I also ordered these washi stickers just because they were so cute. I’m sure they will make their way into my journal, cards and art.

We are getting takeout for my birthday. I do have to work (from home) and wash a load of clothes but other than that…I’m calling in lazy.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: left the house edition

Welcome to this weeks edition of T stands for Tuesday…the one where I left the house.

After weeks of working from home and only venturing out to do a quick curbside pick up of groceries or take out, I was pulled from my normal distance learning position to support our districts frontline workers childcare. We had been told when this all started that we may end up in the rotation but had been spared until now. Most of the workers who generally fill the childcare positions have been furloughed. That leaves us to pick up the slack.

Murphy was definitely having fun with me today… check it out.

I did not sleep very well at all because I was worried I wouldn’t wake for my alarm…like that has ever happened. I got up at 5 am had a bit of coffee, gathered my things and headed out to the door. Turned the key in my van…click, click, click. Dead battery. Great. It hadn’t been driven in weeks so I guess its not a huge surprise.

I head back inside to regroup and figure out what I’m going to take to work only the handle doesn’t turn. I’m locked out. Swell. I found the right key on my ring…wasn’t even sure I had one for that door… and got back in.

Mr G told me to take his car since his trunk was empty and I was planning to go to Home Depot BEFORE starting childcare at 6:45am. Ok…all is good there. As I pull into the Home Depot lot at just after 6 am…the sky opened up and a deluge of rain came down. Since my plan was to get mulch, compost and potting soil…from the outdoor garden center…that was a big no thanks.

Since I now had some time to kill and I realized I never ate breakfast I drove to Starbucks. As I’m waiting in the drive thru for the drink and muffin I realize my phone is at home…on the arm of the couch. UGH. I quickly drove home, grabbed the phone and made it back to the childcare site by 6:40am.

And now I get to start mt actual day of work….

I wore one of my homemade masks during my time. I had 10 littles in my charge….kindergarten and 1st graders. Herding cats is all I can say. I am exhausted. I definitely know that I do not want to work in elementary school again. Middle school is great!!!

Gosh, I’m even more tired reliving that…LOL

On Saturday I moved our compost bin to a location that makes more sense. It’s old location down by the neighbors chain link fence just wasn’t working for me. It was often half under water and I had to walk through a patch of creepy charlie to get down there. Did I mention I’m allergic to creeping charlie? And I often…most of the time…am barefoot.

So here it is….relocated and edged with flagstone veneer from a fireplace. I traded a friend for it several years ago thinking I’d be using it to ring a firepit. That never happened but this as an equally good use of some of the stone. I trenched the pieces about 2 inches down. 

Not bad for a mornings work.

Mini-me is all set to go do some target practice. We discovered the back seats of the Jeep folded down super easy so now she can transport it herself.

Lastly I leave you with a bit of humor I saved that made me laugh this past week.

 

Tuesday finds me back at distance learning from my livingroom. I’m not complaining one little bit. Our governor has extended distance learning for the entire state for the remainder of the school year. I know its the right call and am thankful he did this. But I’m not going to lie…I felt like crying when he said the words. So many emotions.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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