Category : Blog

1717 posts

T Tuesday: late June garden edition

Last week for T stands for Tuesday I promised an update on my garden this week.

T Tuesday late June garden edition

It’s flourishing! Tons of blossoms. I think we are just at the cusp of production.

T Tuesday late June garden edition

There are already jalapenos on the plant…

T Tuesday late June garden edition

and roma tomatoes…. come on fresh salsa!

T Tuesday late June garden edition

The deck box garden is doing really well too.

T Tuesday late June garden edition

I ended up pulling up the horse radish that was growing in here since there is another plant in the big garden space and planted my Egyptian walking onions instead. I saved the bulbs from the top of the plants last year in a paper bag in the shed. They overwintered out there will seemingly no ill effects.

T Tuesday late June garden edition

The planters along the railing are also looking great with the herbs and green onions. I’ve been thinning the green onions by using them…so nice to have those fresh green literally right outside my door. I couldn’t be happier.

T Tuesday late June garden edition

It meets Marvin’s approval as well.

Over the weekend I adding a little bit of ambiance to the deck with a string of lights.

T Tuesday late June garden edition

We have yet to try them out at night but I think they will be a lot of fun.

I also noticed some birds have been very busy….T Tuesday late June garden edition

I do remember seeing a chickadee hanging around here quite often. I’d have to bet he is the guilty party.

I’m also going to continue to share my CSA box each week as I really believe that its well worth the cost to bring fresh organic veggies to your table each week…provided you have enough people to eat all those veggies.

CSA week 2

Week 2: cilantro, basil plant, kale, green onions, garlic scapes, mixed spring greens, head of leaf lettuce, strawberries, carrots, kohlrabi, broccoli and white turnips that are eaten like radishes. Can’t wait to see what the next box brings.

Today I’ll be finishing a commissioned seamstress project. I was asked to shorten some curtains and sew lining fabric behind the thin linen for some actual light blocking.

What are you doing today?

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2016 Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt

Somehow I totally missed Rinda’s post announcing her annual Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt.

2016photscavhunt

Better late than never, right?!  I am WAY late in starting this but I have a feeling I’ll do ok. Check out the list…

1. A “wild heart” – a naturally occurring heart (like the rock above, but it doesn’t have to be a rock)
2. A footprint or pawprint
3. A skeleton, bone or x-ray
4. A book or magazine read during 2016
5. A porch or deck
6. A camper (caravan)
7. A family gathering
8. A drawing, art project, artistic photograph, scrapbook page, greeting card, or art journal page created by you.
9. Someone playing with, in, or around water.
10. A bicycle
11. Fresh produce
12. A window
13. The moon
14. A buffet of food
15. A team logo
16. A map showing a trip taken during the time period
17. Twins
18. A supermarket cart, basket or trolley full of groceries
19. A seasonal cocktail or beverage
20. Someone laughing
21. A photograph of you with a newspaper or calendar page from the time period covered in the Hunt. Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.
Alternatives – if you’re having trouble finding any of the above, you may substitute from this list (but you may not substitute for item #21):
alternative 1: a lighthouse
alternative 2: a baby (human or animal)

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Frugal frame fix

Frugal frame fix. Say that five times fast!

Last summer I picked up a cool frame at an occasional shop not too far from here. I had the thought of stringing wire or perhaps even chicken wire (dang, just thought of that now) to create a changeable photo gallery piece.

Frugal frame fix

I’ve reserved one section of wall for family photos, caricatures and memorabilia in the game area of our family room.  This is an always changing wall, which I love.

Frugal frame fix

Since the wall is so busy and colorful on it’s own I felt that black frames were the way to go.

Frugal frame fix

Of course I never remember to wear gloves….

Frugal frame fix

I’m pretty sure at any given time I have paint on me somewhere…whether its on my hands, nails, hair or clothes one just never knows.

This morning I got my supplies ready so I could finally get this project off the game table.

Frugal frame fix

I stapled the bent wire across the frame on the back then curled each end to lock it into place.

Frugal frame fix

Easy peasy right… One would think so. This was only after making my first mistake did I realize that I had to staple to the side wall of the frame…not straight down.

Frugal frame fix

Crud…the staple went right through the front of the frame. Oh well, nothing a little bit of black paint won’t fix.

Frugal frame fix

Perfect.

I’m thinking I may keep a box of favorite photos right here so it will be easy to switch them out.

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T Tuesday: CSA edition

Last week we received our first box of produce from our CSA. What a bounty!

All of that came from the 3/4 bushel box on the table.

Loon Organics CSA week 1

Another really cool feature is a “swap box” at the pickup site. If you see something in the box you’d rather have, you can swap it out for something in your box. That’s how I ended up with 2 bunches of radishes. I swapped the second bunch for a bag of arugula.

Carrots, beets, bok choy, garlic scapes, mixed spring greens, spinach and radishes all in week one! AND the basil plant in my deck box. I knew from seeing the boxes last year that we’d likely get one so I didn’t bother planting any…just left a spot for it instead.

CSA basil plant

Between the CSA, our home garden and the garden space at my in-laws, we should be eating super healthy this summer!

I’ll update you on my gardens next week. They are growing like crazy. I’m so happy to walk out there every morning to see the growth. I don’t even mind having to pull a few weeds and use the watering can to hand water the spaces with our collected rain water.

I hadn’t realized until just a few days ago how much my focus changes to the outdoors in the summer. Likely because our winters are so long and sometimes harsh that we tend to spend as much time as possible outdoors.

Mini-me and I are off for a small adventure today since J is at work!! He got his first job and is at his second day of training today.

What are you doing today?

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Grad card with a tip

We have another graduation party to attend so another handmade card was in order.

grad card with a tip

The speckled background wasn’t my original intention so this is where my tip comes in.

I had extra embossing powder surrounding the Congratulations stamp and for the life of me I couldn’t get it all off.  I decided to embrace the imperfection and expand on it, making it part of the design. I heated up the card stock then lightly sprinkled more embossing powder over the card. I heated it from underneath as not to blow it away. Easy peasy.

grad card with a tip

I added some iridescent embossing powder as well for a celebratory shimmer. I really love how it turned out.

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T Tuesday: progress edition

Welcome to T stands for Tuesday…grab a your favorite cup and stay a while.

T stands for Tuesday

This summer I’ve been tackling projects and items long overdue on the to-do list. I’m drowning in half finished goals. It’s really beginning to drive me a bit crazy. I start my morning or my 3am bout of insomnia with thoughts of how my day is going to go and then BAM…I get hit with a curve ball or worse yet, am distracted and start another project.  I haven’t even finished a pot of coffee lately, which is totally out of character for me. (Ah ha…just there….see how I worked in a beverage reference) :)

But seriously, the frustration with myself is mounting. Every “not used daily” surface has something in progress all over it and that’s not even mentioning the outdoors. I think I have too many ideas and unfortunately have enough stuff around to get started but either run out of steam, ideas or gumption to continue. I even totally blew up my blog over the weekend and am still working on fixing it. UGH! The blog backup I used definitely didn’t work the way I thought it did….I could not recover what I lost.

I am feeling a bit of accomplishment with both a personal project and a household one.

I completed the cover on my heART journal just yesterday.

heART journal T Tuesday progress edition

Here are the inside pages. The earliest page was from Feb 2014. Good grief…talk about taking a long time to to 6 pages.

heART journal T Tuesday progress edition

Mini-me and I did get her room painted. Here’s an old before and the after side by side.

T Tuesday progress edition

What a difference. She’s had the green and stamped flowers since we moved in 13 years ago. It had just been painted so we just left it as is. Definitely time for a change.

T Tuesday progress edition

We’re slowly going to be replacing the accessories such as the fabric bins in the cubbies. Mini-me had yet to decide what color she wants for her accent color.

T Tuesday progress edition

It’s definitely more sophisticated already. Agh…my baby is growing up!

So today…I’m going to try my best to finish a thing or two I’ve started. Wish me luck!

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: early harvest edition

Since school has been out I feel as if I’m busier than before. Not sure how that happened. Yesterday we went to my in-laws house to plant in their garden. I had 3 tomato plants yet to plant from the ones I started back in March. I also planted summer squash, green beans and snow peas.

So where does the harvest come in, you ask. They have a huge strawberry patch and wanted us to pick. Mini-me and I picked nearly three 5 quart ice cream pails full.

I also harvested some rhubarb so I could make a batch of muffins. Mini-me and I are the only ones who will eat rhubarb, so I’m cautious on how much I pick. I baked these muffins in the afternoon.

rhubarb muffins

I’m really not much of a baker. In fact I don’t like to do it at all. Too much measuring. Rules to follow. Not my thing. But this recipe, which I slightly adapted from the original on allrecipes.com, turned out perfect in looks, texture and taste.

Rhubarb muffins

  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups diced rhubarb

sugar crumb topping

  • 1 Tbsp melted butter
  • 1/3 cup organic cane sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Using an electric mixer, combine first 5 ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Then add the dry ingredients.  Again mix until thoroughly incorporated. Lastly toss in the rhubarb. This may be easier done by hand unless you have a large paddle on your mixer.

Place muffin liners in pan and fill each nearly to the top. Next melt the butter and add the sugar and cinnamon. (next time I think I’ll add some rolled oats for more texture) scoop a bit on topping on each muffin.

Bake at 350°F for 25 mins and enjoy.

rhubarb muffins

Today will be spent painting mini-me’s room. She’s picked out a very sophisticated grey. I’ll share some before and after photos when we’re done…hopefully next week for T stands for Tuesday!

What are you doing today?

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