Tag : T Tuesday

346 posts

Here I am, once again, at dark thirty writing my T stands for Tuesday post in between getting kids up and making lunches. Perhaps of these days…weeks…years…I’ll get the habit of preplanning these things. I think it’s my personality though to wait and see where life takes me.

T Tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

Today I wanted to share a couple of things I did this week to repurpose items that would have been thrown away or in this first case, composted.

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making apple cider vinegar. I’ve read numerous posts on this old fashion technique. Usually this time of year we have apples coming out of our ears from our neighbor’s trees. This year happened to be a poor production year with their trees.

Homemade apple cider vinegar t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

I did have a couple organic store bought apples that we’re definitely past their prime. Not wanting to completely waste expensive apples, I decided to experiment. The recipes or tutorials I read used peels and cores but I’m certain that using the whole apple will work just fine. I sterilized my quart mason jar in the dishwasher then filled it with the chopped apples. I used spring water to completely cover the apples. A scrap of cloth was placed under the ring to allow it to breath. I placed it in our basement storage room while it does its magic. Hopefully by Christmas, I’ll have some homemade apple cider vinegar.

The second waste not piece of this post was using a paper scrap in an unexpected way.

t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

The scrap started as a misprinted Christmas letter from last year. Then it protected my journal from paint and sprays, glues and inks.

t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

Now it’s the base of a new art journal page. Who know where this page will take me.

Do you use any “throw away” items in unexpected ways? I’d love to hear about them…

 

 

During the process of putting the garden to bed for the winter, I drastically trimmed back my herbs. Now I am crossing my fingers that the plants themselves will overwinter.

Anyway I decided to make some smudge sticks as I have heard that burning sage helps deter mosquitoes.  Worth a try.

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I found a spool of heavy duty cotton button thread in my stash and set to work.

Smudge sticks

I likely could have made 4 bundles but honestly they were a pain to make. It will be interesting to see if they work next summer.

I’m linking up once again with Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday

vintage look tea

my beverage is coffee again. Soon with the weather changing I’ll be back to tea to stay warm.

Lots on calendar today including 2 doctor appointments.

What are you doing today?

Today for T stands for Tuesday I had to share with you a laugh I got yesterday while I was out and about.

I was thirsty and decided to splurge a bit on a bottle of Kombucha while at Target. I love the stuff but it’s a bit hard on the wallet.

LOL edition

I opened the bottle then laughed so hard sitting there in my minivan at Target.  I’m sure the people around me though I was crazy!

LOL edition

This Tuesday is like most for me these days…busy, busy, busy.

I have done a bit of crafting and art journalling. I made a wreath
last week…

art journal snippet

And here’s a little snippet of an art journal page that I have yet to post about.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

Today for this edition of T stands for Tuesday I thought I’d share a DIY project made from recycled pieces of the kids old play set.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

I read about worm tower composting on Pinterest. It looked like a great solution for my raised bed garden. Most of the links I saw used a PVC pipe instead of wood.

Since we had scrap cedar laying around it seemed like a perfect use without spending any money. Mr. G did the construction and drilling of the holes for me after I explained my idea.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

The holes let the worms migrate in and out of the tower to spread the compost throughout the raised bed.  Isn’t that awesome…they do the work for me!

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

We even had an old handle in the shed from the sandbox cover. A perfect fit for the lid.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

Now it was time to  install … I dug down to the bottom of the box…well truth be told the box doesn’t have a solid bottom….just landscape cloth. I assume eventually that will rot away.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

I back filled all around the tower and attached it with one screw just in case some critter decided to try and mess with it. It looks like it’s always been there.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

Now all I needed was some composting worms.  Amazon.com never ceases to amaze me with what I am able to order.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

This was a strange bin to find on my front step a few days later.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

I started saving kitchen scraps after ordering my worms. The paperwork that came with them said they also enjoy paper and cardboard. I grabbed a couple handfuls of shredded paperwork and started layering the material in the tower.

recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

Honestly I was worried about getting the worms…would they still be alive? Yep…red and wiggly. I have no idea if they will survive a Minnesota winter  in the garden and worm tower. From what I read they do have a good chance of survival.  Only time will tell.

Do you compost? I’d love to hear about your system.

I’m quickly linking up with Elizabeth and Bleubeard this morning.

National Coffee Day

Coffee for T stands for Tuesday works for me!

T stands for Tuesday

Before I head off for another action packed Tuesday I had to share with you my colorful carrots…

not so colorful carrots

Look what happened to the purple ones when I peeled them!!

I’m not sure how often I’ll be participating with T stands for Tuesday in the coming months. Tuesdays are super hard for me if I want to do more than post and run. I hope you’ll still stop by from time to time…I’ll do the same for you…

Ah here we are…the end of summer. Gardening is all but done. Leaves are turning and falling at a rapid pace around here. The birds and critters are frantically storing food for the long winter. IMG_0614

I ripped out the plants from the home gardens yesterday. I still have plants in my in-laws garden that will come out next weekend.canningI’ve been canning like crazy. More spicy beans and salsa. I’m really looking forward to breaking into those jars come the dead of winter!!

I also have to share my colorful carrots.carrots

Aren’t they pretty!! I sampled a couple and they are quite tasty. These are going in my next beef roast dinner. YUM!

My important phone call I mentioned last week came but not with the results I had hoped for. Such a bummer!!! I really thought I had that job! I even had gotten a tour of “my work space” at the end of the interview.

BAH!! Anyway…moving on…

Since I don’t have a regular gig to go to, I’ll continue to do my on-call subbing. At least that leaves time for art!

I’ve actually done a bit of creating! Will wonders never cease! IMG_0617I completed one art journal page and just need to put the  final touches on a second. Waiting for paint and glue to dry. The above page isn’t my favorite but I was just happy that I still had the drive to create.

I’ll be meeting with some friends for breakfast today…real casual. Likely head there after working out…seriously casual. :) Not exactly sure what the rest of the day holds for me…other than a shower. HA!

What are you doing today?

For this Labor Day, we hosted a gathering to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday. Of course there was more than plenty of food, wine and dessert. I have a hard time scaling back the menu.T Tuesday birthday edition

I didn’t remember to nab a photo of the before…only this small after shot of empty wine glasses so I could keep up appearance here with T stands for Tuesday. I won’t scare you with the rest of the dirty dishes. I love hosting…I just wish there were fairies or elves that would clean up while I slept.

Anyway, back to the celebration. My FIL and I have a long standing joke that gets played out each year on his birthday. He made fun of me taking photos of “weeds” during some downtime at one of Big J’s lacrosse games several years ago.  I said they were wildflowers but he saw weeds. So in response to his teasing, each year I give him a handmade card with a photo of a weed on it for his birthday.

Happy Birthday thistle card | Halle's Hobbies

Mr. G helped me with the words this year.

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OH how we love puns.

I’ll be mowing today…hopefully pop by knitting and *fingers crossed* receive a very important phone call. More on that one next week.

What are you doing today?

PS….mom’s cataract surgery went well!  She got a bit mixed up with the drops the first day but I made her a new chart which made things much easier for her. She’s had two follow-up appts and she can now see 20/40 with no glasses and passed her drivers license eye test with flying colors.

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