Tulip House

Bridemaid Dresses Revisited

2012-01-19T15:13:00.004-06:00

So, the cleaning/finishing projects purge continues at Tulip house. I opened a drawer the other morning, thinking to organize it. I found not one, not two, but three quilts worth of started blocks. The one pictured below must have been started about 8 years ago. I think? Maybe? It's been at least that long ago since I made pale yellow bridesmaid's dresses and ended up with tons of leftover fabric. It's been so long ago, I can't even remember how or why I had all the lavendar fabric. I think that's just a little too long for projects to lay around, taking up space in a drawer. I can now add one crib size quilt top to my growing stack of finished projects. This one will also go to the quilting ladies at church, because as far as I know, I have no grandchildren on the way, so have no need of a crib size quilt.

Old Shirts

2012-01-16T16:03:00.008-06:00

Before:
My husband gets lots of new work shirts every year. And they don't seem to wear out, so they accumulate. Eventually I motivate him to clear the old ones out of his closet.

Old shirts become this:

After:

And this:

And unfortunatley we can't get a camera out in this house without the pup getting involved in the picture.

The bottom quilt is a full size and the top is a baby quilt. Both will go to the ladies at church to be finished and sent to some worthy cause.

Now that those are finished and out of the way, maybe I'll work on a little fancier quilt that has been started for simply ages.

More Knitting

2011-02-21T10:17:00.003-06:00

Cute blue hat. Tried a new pattern, turned out too small for me, so probably selling this one. Made from worsted weight Redheart yarn.

Valentine Sweets

2011-02-21T09:58:00.002-06:00

These are the cute little candy heart boxes I made for my family for Valentine's Day. I bought the mold at the thrift shop back before Christmas. Someone told me they had a bunch of candy molds at the thrift shop so I made a special trip to town to check them out. Not much for Christmas molds which is what I'd been hoping for, but I picked up quite a few Valentine things, this heart box mold being one of them.

I had three of the kids here for supper the day before Valentine's and I filled the boxes with no-bake cheesecake filling. They were a big hit, except for the complaints that they didn't hold enough filling. The teenage daughter even took the extra heart to have for breakfast at school the next morning.

Gloves

2011-01-31T10:31:00.004-06:00

Gloves with lovely long cuffs made from sock yarn. They knitted up much faster than I thought they would. Now I want some in every color of the rainbow.

Cabin Fever

2011-01-31T10:21:00.003-06:00

I'm pretty sure winter is going to go on forever. This is surely the beginning of a new ice age. Global warming was just a ruse. There have been too many days off. Seed catalogs are only a vicious reminder that the garden is covered in three feet of snow. What's a girl to do? Well, when I find myself turning itty bitty matchboxes into jewelry boxes, then I know it's time for an outing of some sort.

Just for fun

2011-01-27T17:22:00.004-06:00

Pistachio cake with hazelnut flavored frosting. Made it for my hubby and daughter because they've put up with all my foul moods this winter. Plus I wanted to play with this butterfly pan.

Happy Feet

2011-01-12T15:14:00.002-06:00

After knitting a pair of socks and swapping them for an apron, knitting a pair of socks and having them end up too small and giving them to my mother, knitting a pair of socks and having them end up too large and giving them to my daughter--- finally, finally I have a pair of my very own wool socks that are so soft and cozy I never want to take them off.

Winter crafting

2011-01-03T21:22:00.005-06:00

Winter is most certainly here, and with it the crafting bug. I haven't been as busy doing things as I should be. In fact I've been downright lazy, but I'm going to change that with the new year. Ok, I'm going to try. If I keep posting projects here, maybe it will motivate me to keep doing more.

My first project I did this fall when my work hours got cut to winter hours was my "genie bottle" It's just an absolutely useless little dust collector, but I had so much fun making it. Took various found parts, glued them together and painted.

Once again I managed to get the pictures in reverse order, and I wish I had thought to take a "before" before I got the primer on all the parts. The lid and the base are glass and the body is a hollow hunk of metal that I believe must have been part of a lamp.

Mulchy's Magnificent Iris

2010-05-21T13:06:00.001-05:00

Spring colors

2010-05-07T04:05:00.001-05:00

Visit to the exotics

2010-05-06T11:57:00.004-05:00

I was at my friend's farm the other day and had the chance to wander around and take a few pics of the exotic birds and animals they raise. I don't know what all these birds are. I do know I'm not fond of having emu's follow me around everywhere and I do know the white peacock was even more spectacular in person.

Bouquet

2010-05-05T09:22:00.001-05:00

Just cute

2010-05-04T06:02:00.002-05:00

Poppy Bud

2010-05-03T05:50:00.003-05:00

This photo was taken on 4/29 which seems really early for poppies to have big ol' fat buds like this. Usually they bloom with the spirea right around memorial day weekend. I'm going to have to watch these and see if they bloom extra early. There are three big buds, the rest seem to be coming along more slowly.

Pretty Pink

2010-05-02T05:43:00.002-05:00

Buddy's

2010-05-01T05:30:00.001-05:00

Those of you who have known me for awhile will remember our old dog Buddy. When he passed on, I buried him beside my pickup. Any time I came home from work, he was there to greet me before I even had the door open, so that's where I had the man with the back hoe dig his grave and I've turned it into a flower bed. I always plant purple petunias on it and I've finally gotten purple tulips growning fairly well on it. It was not great soil to work with!

PS! Don't anybody tell my daughter her picture turned up in my blog!

All done blooming

2010-04-30T05:26:00.001-05:00

These tulips and hyacinths may be all done blooming, but the cool weather has kept them so lush and green!

Lemon Balm

2010-04-29T10:02:00.001-05:00

I planted lots of lemon balm last year because I never have any luck getting it to survive the winter. I thought if I planted lots, I'd at least get a plant or two that survived. Well, of course, it ALL survived and it's growing like crazy.

More Apricot

2010-04-28T09:54:00.001-05:00

Not bad pictures considering the way the wind was blowing them around.

"Apricot Beauty"

2010-04-27T16:48:00.002-05:00

Just getting ready to open. I always take a lot of these to work with me to put on the tables. Customers tend to ask, "are they real?" The blossoms when fully open can be as much as 4-5" tall!

Happy, happy, happy!

2010-04-25T15:46:00.001-05:00

You are my sunshine

2010-04-24T15:52:00.003-05:00

Bee Been Here?

2010-04-23T15:42:00.001-05:00

Three Musketeers

2010-04-22T09:23:00.001-05:00

White

2010-04-21T09:16:00.001-05:00

Up close and personal

2010-04-20T09:11:00.001-05:00

Finally!!!!

2010-04-19T09:51:00.002-05:00

I finally got time to post the first tulips of the season. Wish I could remember, or find where I wrote down what these are called.

Berry, berry Good!

2010-02-28T17:17:00.004-06:00

I've been trying to eat more fruit lately. Trouble is, I don't really like fruit very much, so I've been trying to come up with great ways to fix it to sort of disguise the fact that I'm eating fruit. I had some frozen blackberries in the freezer, and part of a bag of mixed berries, so I decided to make a cobbler the other day.

I used my peach cobbler recipe that I got off the internet or tv somewhere a few years back. Like all tasty recipes it starts with a stick of butter. Melt that while the oven is preheating.

Mix together about a cup of flour and sugar and some cinnamon and a little baking powder. In the peach cobbler recipe, you use the syrup off the canned peaches for liquid to make the batter. I just used milk for this. Pour it all on top of the melted butter.

Hmmm, get the pictures out of order. See it fresh and warm out of the oven....

And then see the frozen berries dumped in on top of the batter and butter.

A close up of that yummy juicy goodness.

Mmmmmm.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T14:45:00.004-06:00

In spite of it being Valentine's day, spring is nowhere in sight. Spring does not seem to be just around the corner, and in fact this is what it's doing at our house today.

Church was cancelled due to the fact that the pastor could not get here, and the street to the church was pretty well drifted shut anyway. So, with nothing better to do today, I finished my knitting project. I got a pattern for a lacy scarf off the internet and it took me forever to get it figured out, but finally I have a scarf for a friend who's been wanting one. And it's even pretty Valentine pink. I have yet to figure out why this very loosely knitted thing won't lay flat, but I think it's very pretty curled into itself the way it is.

Happy Feet

2010-02-01T11:03:00.003-06:00

Warm wool socks that actually fit, AND fit inside my shoes. Yep, my feet are indeed happy. Hope I have enough yarn to make another pair.

Adding Some Color

2010-01-18T11:29:00.005-06:00

I don't like January very much. It's almost always cold and gray. Everything outdoors is either brown or snow covered. The pretty Christmas decorations have been taken down and put away and the house looks so drab. My kitchen is the room I spend the most time in and it has very poor natural lighting and frankly, the electric lighting isn't that great either. It's all just dull in the winter.

Last week, Jenn over at The Thrift Shop Romantic (sorry, I have NO clue how to post a link.)
had a great post about the little things that bring joy to our lives and make a house a home. Her post inspired me to add a little more color and joy to my kitchen. Things that make me smile when I see them.

Since it was time to give my houseplants a little TLC, I thought why not put them in prettier pots? I went to town for potting soil and discovered that NOBODY in town carries flower pots this time of year. So I took the same old plastic ones and gave them funky new paint jobs. And... the best part is, it's way cheaper than buying new planters!

Then I was trying to come up with clever ways to use some of my pyrex collection. This bowl was the perfect size for my coffee filters and looks great alongside my coffee mug. Now I smile every time I open the cupboard door.

And this corner which is dark and drab beyond belief brightened up a bit with some lime green candles and a stack of brighter colored cookbooks.

Socks in Progress

2010-01-10T07:58:00.006-06:00

We've had blizzards and sub-zero weather and all sorts of things to keep a body indoors in the last few weeks. I've managed to finish up quite a few projects, and I've finally gotten to haul out my sock yarn that's been sitting here, patiently awaiting use, for at least six months.

I started knitting socks last winter. What can I say? I'm hooked! I knitted a pair of top down socks from a pattern I got for Christmas. They were a disaster that fit my husband about right. So I went to the good ol' internet and found a pattern for toe-up socks and I quickly realized that is THE way to make socks. I made two pair out of worsted weight yarn. They are perfect for running around the house, but too heavy to fit into my shoes. So, this summer I ordered some sock yarn that was on sale. At the same time I also ordered some lovely cotton yarn to make a prayer shawl and for some reason I felt compelled to knit for a good cause before I knit my socks.

But finally, the day arrived! Just let me say, these are going to be the softest most awesome socks and I really hope I got enough yarn for 2 pair.

Oh this is Sad!!!

2010-01-08T12:16:00.002-06:00

Eight months without a post to this poor neglected little blog? I should be ashamed of myself, for I have no good excuses. I did sort of make it my New Year's resolution to post here every Saturday. We'll see how that goes.

I know they're weeds

2009-07-21T20:46:00.002-05:00

They're just plain old common wild sunflowers. They smell bad and they're a nuisance to the farmer, but they're green and growing and blooming in my yard. How much happier plant could I ask for? All this joy with absolutely no input from me.

2009-07-08T06:44:00.003-05:00

Tuliphouse decked out for the Fourth.

More roses

2009-06-15T07:32:00.005-05:00

These are wild pink roses that periodicly threaten to take over the entire front of my house. When I moved in, they ran along nearly the whole front, rarely bloomed and were generally just a breeding ground for rabbits. I've hacked them back, again and again and again. Last night I went out and worked at pruning them again. After 20 minutes or more you couldn't tell that I'd done a thing, but I had a bushel basket full of clippings. Except for the brief three days in June that they bloom, I wish they'd just go away.

Pansies

2009-06-13T17:00:00.002-05:00

It's been cold and rainy here for what seems like months. It's probably only been a week. It's been depressing but the up-side is that the pansies have been loving it. Usually by this time we've had hot weather that has burnt the pansies to a crisp before they really got a chance to bloom. This year, they've been adding lots of cheer to my garden.

I've been remiss.

2009-06-12T12:30:00.003-05:00

Here it is, flower time and I have practically nothing posted. Shame on me. And if anyone actually reads this blog, sorry. I'll try to do better.

These gorgeous yellow roses aren't actually in my garden. The grow beside the sidewalk next door and I get to walk or drive past them every single day. Ain't I lucky? :)

Bedazzled

2009-05-27T10:28:00.005-05:00

Dazzling was the only word I could think of when I walked around the corner of my house and saw and smelled the spirea in the sunshine this morning. A photo cannot capture the way the breeze was gently tossing the branches and wafting the aroma thru the air. Nor can the camera capture the buzz of the insects that were getting as much enjoyment out of the blooms as I was.

Iris

2009-05-26T21:53:00.004-05:00

This is the beginning of a tale of a friendship garden. I'll tell you more as the summer goes along. My friendship garden is a flower bed filled with things from gardeing friends and family.

This iris rhizome was sent to me by a dear on-line friend from the other side of the country. She was thinning out some irises in her yard and she sent me something like three roots. And they have had a rough start in my garden. The first year, the cat dug them up. The next year, the dogs covered them too deeply with dirt when they were digging out a rabbit nest. But slowly, they've perservered and multiplied. In spite of being in a spot that gets beaten by the sun and whipped mercilessly by the wind, these iris are spectacular this year.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T07:00:00.005-05:00

There's one flower that's just perfect for posting today. Here's what we around here all call, "memorial day poppies". I didn't tahe this photo this morning, it's from several days ago. This is the first poppy that bloomed. It was so big and lush and I got so excited because I haven't had decent poppies in several years.

White tulip

2009-05-24T20:47:00.003-05:00

A very cool spring has been great for the tulips. They lasted much longer than most years. Alas, on Tuesday it hit 90º with a strong wind, so what tulips I had left blooming were finished after that. I realized I've been spending lots of time outside enjoying and haven't posted many pics, so I'll try to catch up this week.

A spring favorite

2009-05-14T21:26:00.004-05:00

Here is one of my favorite pictures I've taken so far this spring. I think grape hyacinths are such cheerful flowers. The best part is that they are totally care free. I plunked these little bitty bulbs in the ground about 6 years ago and every year they just put on this fabulous display. In the immediate background you can see the peony stalks shooting up and further back, the pink tulips, and then just miles of prairie.

Happy Happy

2009-05-13T11:27:00.002-05:00

Aren't they just gorgeous?

My Favorite Time of Year

2009-05-10T13:49:00.003-05:00

Tulip Time

Ahhhhhh! Tulips!

2009-05-02T19:05:00.003-05:00

Or Maybe Not Spring

2009-04-25T14:15:00.005-05:00

Yesterday morning I got up to tulips just ready to bloom. This morning, I get up to THIS WHITE MESS!

The plum tree was just about ready to burst into bloom when it got coated with white crap last night. Notice the green of the leaves beneath the mounds of snow.

Luckily by noon it was all thawed off and the tulips joyously burst into bloom, welcoming the sunshine however brief it may be.

This afternoon the garden was dry enough I was able to plant some snow peas, radishes, lettuce and beets.

Then I sat and soaked up the sunshine like an old Hereford cow.

Spring!

2009-04-24T07:43:00.002-05:00

Snow drifts are thawed off. The daffs are blooming, the tulips are budding, the birds are eating the dog food. Mud puddles are drying up. Yes, spring is here!

April Fools!!

2009-03-31T18:20:00.006-05:00

How did that old margarine commercial go? You can't fool mother nature.

Maybe we can't fool her, but she can sure fool us.

Three days ago we had a lovely spring day, the grass was greening up, the hyacinths were poking some leaves up out of the soil. Chives were greening up even faster than the grass. And then the forecasted blizzard arrived. We didn't get a lot of snow, not like some places, but here's my front step.

And here is the arbor where on Saturday I had big geraniums sunning themselves.

Still Winter :(

2009-03-10T16:08:00.005-05:00

I want it to be spring!! Now!! I'm not a patient person, this weather is driving me nuts. Here are a couple pictures of the kind of crap we've had lately.

Good grief, some years I've been out planting onions and radishes by now. In fact, I distinctly remember 14 years ago, I had onions and some other cool season things planted out alreay. February had been super nice, I had some of my garden beds dug and had put some seeds in the ground. (Call it that pregnant woman nesting instinct.) Then there came a lot of back to back spring snow storms and the birth of a squalling baby boy. April came, things thawed out and I had a garden up and growing! That ain't happening this year!

This is as close as I am to anything resembling gardening this year!

Nicotiana plants, started way too early, but aren't they a gorgeous sight!!!

A happy little broccoli plant.

Just transplanted into bigger pots, various seedlings under the gro-light.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T16:30:00.005-06:00

Or if you're not a fan of cupcakes, help yourself to a cookie.

Soon, very very soon, I will actually have a garden related post. I promise!

Trash Picker

2009-01-20T09:29:00.004-06:00

Last week you met Our Lady of Perpetual Stench. This week let me introduce you to the Trash Picker, aka Flash the Wonder Dog. The mutt is at this moment whining and pouting because he cannot go outside because it's trash day. He and the garbage man have a running fued. When left to his own devices, Flash will tour the town and see what's in everyone's trash. And my trash man is more patient than I am and has been known to pick up behind Flash. I am not so easy going. I was not happy the week before last when Flash brought home someone else's bag of trash and "inspected" it-- all over my front lawn. So, they stay in on trash morning. And oh the whining and crying that is going on this morning! Last time I tried to tie them up, Lady chewed thru the rope and came to find me on the other end of town.

Another Sweater Post

2009-01-12T21:59:00.004-06:00

Seems like I told somebody somewhere that I'd post some more pictures of knitting porjects. I don't remember who that was. So, the rest of you will have to bear with me. This sweater was knitted specifically to be a spring/fall sweater, only I didn't get it done until winter was upon me, so I have not had a chance to wear it with the skirt that it goes with. And even when the weather does warm up a bit and I can wear sweater and skirt together, I can't find shoes to go with the skirt. And then I can't wear the whole outfit and be seen in public with any of my children because they will roll their eyes and say "you're not wearing that???" "Yes, I am wearing that." "You just live to embarass us, don't you?" "Yes, I do."

For those of you who care about such things, the sweater is made of Cream n Sugar cotton yarn. It makes a nice soft sweater, but I don't recommend using this yarn for sweaters because I don't like the way it is wearing. The skirt is cotton sateen. I was too lazy to sew it myself so I had mom sew it for me. Thanks mom.

Our Lady of Perpetual Stench

2009-01-06T19:14:00.004-06:00

I was sitting here at the computer and suddenly thought the end of the world as we know it had come. The supply of available oxygen had finally run out. The vapors swirling around me would surely end all life.

And then I realized.......those "vapors" were emitted by That Dog. Actually, being emitted at fairly regular intervals.

I ask myself, how can something smell that bad and still be alive? What do they put in dog food that creates that kind of stench? What does she eat outdoors (because she is an outdoor dog) that makes such a gaseous cloud?

And all the while she has this expression on
her face that is just the picture of innocence.

Ha! If I knew how to edit and add to photos,
I'd add a big green gas cloud above her. And
notice too that she seems completely content
to lay on my dirty laundry. Just drapes herself
right over it so she doesn't have to lay on that
hideous cold carpet!

First Sweater

2008-12-31T14:29:00.006-06:00

In the last year and a half or so, I've gotten into knitting. I learned when I was a little kid, and absolutely hated knitting. I tried picking it up again as a teenager and didn't like it much better, though I did manage to finish a sweater. The sweater ended up fitting my brother not me, so of course that sort of put me off knitting again for a long time.

I picked up the knitting needles again when I was pregnant with one of my children. I don't remember which one, that's all been years ago. But I do remember knitting slippers for everyone. Ugly slippers, but warm. And then because knitting goes so slowly for me, I gave it up again and took up with my first love- crochet.

Then Darling Daughter #1 came home from college wanting help with the scarf she was learning to knit. So I sat down and knitted a scarf with her. And promptly gave up knitting again.

Fast forward a couple years and for whatever reason, I got inspired to make another scarf, and suddenly all the pieces fell into place and I was knitting and it was fun. The first sweater I made doesn't look great, but it's warm and I wear it a lot. It's worsted weight cotton yarn that has worn quite well. I wear it nearly all year long except in July and August. Of course it is made in my very favorite color. :)

Beads and Baubles

2008-12-15T14:07:00.009-06:00

I finally got the big tree put up. Of course "big" is a relative term in our house. We have a living room so tiny a tree barely fits and I was tripping over my husband all afternoon Saturday while I decorated it.

It would seem that over the last couple years I've accumulated quite a few purple ornaments. And I put every last one of them, plus some gold ones on the tree. Decided not to put anything on there but the purple and gold balls and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Of course that means I have a huge box full of icicles, and gold and white themed ornaments.

The tree itself has a little story. My dear step-daughter wanted a Christmas tree. Her father, being the less than enthusiastic Christmas sort of person (ok, let's be honest and call him the Grinch) bought the cheapest artificial tree he could find.

A year later when I came on the scene, I said, "Next year we're getting a nicer tree."

And next year we had the same old tree because I couldn't afford a nicer one. And the next year I was unemployed and so on..........

So, last year as I dragged out the scraggly little thing

again. I decided, it's got too many memories now to

get rid of it. I just challenge myself to fluff and assemble

and decorate the puny little thing so you don't realize

how sad the tree is. It's sort of like Charlie Brown's

Christmas tree.

And it's been very fun accumulating those purple

and lavender decorations. Some of them came from

the thrift store I always shop at. The clear lavender

ones were an after Christmas clearence when I was

shopping with my daughter. And this fall, that same kid

who wanted the tree in the first place mailed me a

package that contained a dozen great big ornaments

all in shades of lavender and purple.

Vintage t2t

2008-12-14T08:32:00.004-06:00

This little picture frame, about 5x7 around the outside, was this weeks craft project. I've had it in mind for quite some time. Last weekend I went thru some boxes and culled some ugly, old or broken jewelry for this.

Originally I had intended to totally cover the picture frame, but I ran out of gold stuff to cover it with. Anything I would have added next to those big brooches on the two corners would have detracted from them. And I really like the goldish wood showing thru.

Kibble..... and uhm, Christmas decorations

2008-12-13T13:58:00.003-06:00

So, I get home from work last night and decide, I'm gonig to do it. I'm going to quit procrastinating, climb the ladder and get the rest of my Christmas decorations out of the attic. So, I climbed the weebly wobbly ladder and pulled the boxes down out of the attic. I was impressed with myself. I didn't drop anything on my head.

There are all the boxes, spread around the kitchen floor. Did I mention the attic door is over top of my kitchen table? What were they thinking???? I opened the box that has assorted Christmas do-dads and nic nacs in it and start dispersing those around the house when I came across this white poinsettia topiary.

This little thing has seen its better days. I threw it together a few years ago with odds and ends left from a different project. The whole top-heavy thing sits in a clay pot filled with rocks because that's all I had the night I made it.

At least I thought it was a pot full of rocks. The thing fell apart when I took it out of the box. Sure, there were rocks in the bottom of the pot, but on top of the rocks was..........dog food??????? What the??????????

I have no idea how it got there. Was I desperate for more ballast in the pot at one point? Did one of the kids slip it in there for a joke a year or two ago? I'm completely baffled. And to add to the mystery, it's not even a type of dog food we buy. It had to have been at least three years ago or more that we had a sack of that type of dog food.

I'm getting ready to set up the tree this afternoon. I'm wondering what other odd surprises I have in store.

Tagged and Another Tree

2008-12-10T18:30:00.003-06:00

I've been tagged by Needless to Say over at http://justbecauseyoudontneedit.blogspot.com/
The whole idea I guess is to share 7 random or wierd facts about me and tag 7 other people.

1.) I'm left-handed. I don't think that's weird, but about 90% of other folks do.

2.)All things mechanical fascinate me. I love finding out how things work. I'm the only woman I know who knows, cares and understands how an internal combustion engine works.

3.) I do all my own home repairs. I own power tools (lots of them) and know how to use them. I don't think this is weird, but my neighbor ladies do.

4.) I collect vintage jewelry.

5.) I'd collect cars if I could afford to.

6.) I have three daughters and they've all totalled a vehicle. I find that disturbingly odd.

7.) I hate curtains, drapes and blinds. If it were up to me, my windows would all be naked. I want to let all the light in and I want to be able to see out! I lived in a basement apartment once and it nearly drove me bananas because I couldn't see out.

Now I know I'm supposed to tag 7 other folks, but I don't know 7 other folks much less 7 who haven't done this recently, so I'll just tag one.

Debi (What's Cook'n in Junk)

And now for the promised tree photo. I got my second Christmas tree up today. It looks a little sad and dilapidated in the picture, but it was sure pretty when I came home after dark this evening. It's in the front porch where everything looks sad and dilapidated, so it fits. Usually I have a coffee can or vase full of drying flowers sitting in that spot.

Hmmm. Guess I'm not adding any pictures to this tonight. Not sure what's going on, but the pics won't load, so maybe tomorrow.

Deck the Halls

2008-12-10T10:22:00.005-06:00

I was off to a good start with decking the halls, but after getting a tree outdoors lit and a little tree up in the kitchen, I've realized that any other Christmas decorating requires some housecleaning first. And I'd rather do anything than clean house! I hate shopping during December, but I even went and stayed with my daughter this weekend and went shopping rather than clean house. I had this morning off from work and it's been much more fun to sit here and catch up on my e-mail and everyone's blog than it would have been to clean house.

So, here's a couple pictures of my kitchen tree, or the jewelry tree as I'm calling it. I didn't have near enough aqua colored ornaments for it, so I just started adding rhinestone jewelry to it. I really like the way it turned out. After it was all done I found some satin ribbon that would have worked better than the ric rack, but I'm not redoing it.

Another project

2008-11-28T07:19:00.008-06:00

I can't imagine what would happen if I only had one project going at a time. I worry that I'd go into a tailspin of boredom, or that I would actually have time to keep the house tidy. Since my bathroom project has wound down to a near finish, I decided to tackle another project that has been bugging me for years. The Hallway.

Too big to be a hallway, too small to be a room. Dark and dingy and too ugly to be a part of my house.

A couple years ago I peeled the wallpaper off the bottom half of the wall and painted it the same color as the kitchen backsplash. The color coordinated pretty well with the wallpaper above, but I still didn't like the look.

And the wallpaper above was so old and dirty and dingy. One day I decided to paint a few different colors on the wall to see what I'd like in there. The Man suggested forest green after he came home and saw all the splotches of color on the wall. Well, forest green just doesn't go with the rest of my house. I settled on a teal, but was waiting to get more of the bathroom done before I bought paint.

On those home shows they talk about paint being the cheapest improvement you can make in your home, but paint isn't exactly cheap. Then I decided the ceilings better be painted first so I did the bathroom ceiling in white, and the hallway ceiling in a color called "Sand dunes" that I've got elsewhere in the house. The horrible grate in the ceiling was rusted and brown, so I painted right over that. It's not quite the eye sore it was before.

Under the wallpaper I found one wall painted with flat green paint and another wall painted with gloss white. Weird. But that's the way this whole house has been.

Scraping, sanding, staining and varnishing the woodwork is going to be an all winter project since I'm dealing with at least eight layers of paint.

More pictures to come when I get the halls decked for Christmas.

More Bathroom Photos

2008-11-22T12:35:00.006-06:00

The essentials are done! Things are done enough to put the toilet paper holder back up.

And the mirror is back up. That's not necessarily a good thing, now I have no excuse for not doing my hair!

And the shelves have been moved back in after 6 months of sitting in the hallway. Nothing as inconvienient as having your eyeliner in the hallway, your mirror in the living room, and ponytail holders, in the kitchen.

The baseboard has been put on. I see from the picture that I do need to sweep the floor though!

With luck, this afternoon I'll get the ceiling painted and the rest of the window trim put on. I still need to hang the towel racks too.

Bathroom Project Update

2008-11-18T15:35:00.005-06:00

I know I posted earlier this year about my bathroom remodel project, so I thought I shoudl update and give you some pictures to look at. It's coming along slowly but surely. As big a pain in the butt as it's been, some good things have happened. 1) our bathroom is now much, much warmer in cold weather 2) I got the table saw running again 3) hubby found the missing piece of the router and fixed it last night so I can use it again. Hooray!!!!

I tore all the old stuff off the walls, pulled out the old insulation (I was quite surprised to find any in the wall), reinsulated with modern insulation. Tore out a big heavy cupboard that was hung using three big finishing nails. Very interesting. There were several layers and colors of wallpaper. Most of the bathroom was originally built using used lumber. I used more used lumber to fill in missing studs. In one corner of the bathroom, the wallboard was nailed to NOTHING in the corner. The only thing keeping the corner together was paint.

Putting up the new boards meant draining and moving that water heater- twice. I worked all of one day and didn't get near finished, so I had to reconnect the water heater and start all over the next time I had a day free to work. The boards are pine carsiding, stained with "pickled oak" stain. Basicly just white stain. I want to keep the whitish look of the new pine, I don't want it darkening to that dull gold that pine gets after a few years, so I'm hoping this white stain will do the trick. After the stain is on, then I'm topcoating with varnish

I have more pictures on the camera. They will have to wait for another day to be downloaded and posted.

Garden Post

2008-10-16T17:36:00.006-05:00

It occured to me that it's been awhile since I've done a garden post. We've had some rain that has kept some things growing and rejuvenated a few things that I thought were finished. We've yet to have a killing frost which is really odd for mid-October.

The Autumn Joy sedum looks like it should this time of year. I love this plant. It's so pretty, and it has some fond memories for me. When I was eighteen and away from home living on my own, a country girl living in town, I could look out my bedroom window and the landlady had a flower garden out there. I don't know what all was growing in that garden but I remember the sedum being so beautiful. When I got down and gloomy (or tired of doing homework) I'd stare out the window at that sedum.

Summer squash, this is yellow crookneck, should not be producing fruits in my area at this time of year. They should be frozen dead. But..... this plant did not even start blooming until Labor Day! It just sat and baked and complained about being watered with tap-water all summer until we had some rain. I took this picture maybe a week ago. We've since had just enough cold to kill off the top of this plant.

The cosmos have been just radiant. I really like this "tire-d" flower bed. :) Next year I may grow entirely cosmos in it instead of trying for three different kinds of flowers. These cosmos have survived being stomped to bits by the yellow dog. They've been baked to the point of near extinction, and seem to just keep coming back. Love 'em!

Marigolds. You can't beat marigolds for just blooming on and on despite whatever kind of lousy weather, soil or growing conditions they have. I used to grow a lot more marigolds than I do now. I think I will have to start planting more of them again. They are so easy and so cheerful.

Project #6

2008-10-10T09:47:00.004-05:00

Saturday there was no time for projects. I had to work a couple hours in the morning and left directly from work for the city. Why you ask? To be a hair model for a young friend of mine who is a cosmotolegy student extrordinaire.

Sorry I don't have before and after pictures. By the time she was done snipping, it was quitting time and everyone was in a hurry to go. We didn't think to take an after picture. But it really doesn't look much different than it did to start with. She trimmed the ends and gave me some layers. Unless you're really into hair, you don't even notice. She got some experience with long hair and I hope, got an excellent grade.

Project #5

2008-10-10T09:29:00.005-05:00

STARCHING FINISHED DOILIES

Ok, I've been a little slow getting projects posted on here, but rest assured I have been doing projects steadily. And Friday's was starching a doily I had finished a couple weeks ago. Actually this would be project 5 and 7 because on Sunday I did one more and I'm going to put them both in one post.

I can't even tell you how long ago I started this lavender oval. I found it crammed in a box of non-crochet stuff. I'm thinking I started on it about 3 years ago. Was half done with it. I suppose I set it aside to work on something more interesting. Or it could have gotten set aside for the summer when I'm really not into doing needlework, and then I forgot about it. Anyway, it's finally done.

These doilies and a couple others I have will be going with my mother to some craft shows. Hopefully they will sell, because I sure don't want them laying around my house. I love to make doilies, but I hate having them around. I don't want to dust under or around them. I went to work for a lady on Wednesday who had a doily or dresser scarf or some annoying thing setting on absolutely every single flat surface in her home.

This is a really poor picture of this lovely aqua blue doily. I bought the thread because it goes with the color of my kitchen. But when it comes right down to it, I don't want this in my kitchen. I"ve got sort of a vintage modern theme going on and victorian doilies just look silly in there.

Project #4

2008-10-03T07:54:00.003-05:00

Ok, I have to confess, I didn't really do a project yesterday. I went to the doctor and had a suspicious spot taken off my left hand. I'm a lefty, now with stitches in the top of my hand. So I didn't much feel like doing a project when I got home yesterday. And then to top it all off, while I was making supper, I sliced into the first finger on my right hand with the chef's knife. Stupid. I've been cooking for a living for years, been cooking in general since I was nine and then I go pull a stunt like that. So, both hands are sort of sore this morning.

What I am going to post is what I've been working on in the evenings. I've been using up some odds and ends of cotton yarn making dish rags. I'd like to say I'm a generous soul who gives these all to folks who need them. Well, they all go in my towel drawer and get used by me. And I'll admit to being a slob who is not good at laundry and who is allergic to bleach, so my dishrags get trashed pretty fast.

I'm off to a full days work in another town today. May try to get some knitting done during the long boring afternoon hours. I'll see how my hand feels. I want to try a dishcloth knitted on the diagonal.

And tomorrow I will regale you with my story about breakfast with the elders.

Project of the Day: Day 3

2008-10-02T07:47:00.002-05:00

Glass totem/candle holder. Eventually I hope to have enough of these to have candlelight along the edge of my patio (which is also currently under construction). Base is a casserole dish lid, then a scented candle jar, salad plate, whiskey bottle, candle jar lid, flower vase and lastly the little candle holder on top.

Project a Day: Day 2

2008-10-01T08:43:00.003-05:00

Ok folks, here's yesterday's project. I've had these trowels laying around for at least two and a half years now. They were in a box of stuff I bought for $2 at a farm auction. That pretty green check ribbon has been laying around for nearly as long. Got that on a shopping trip with my daughter, specificly to make some autumn decorations. And I always have silk flowers laying around, so I finally got it all put together. Oh, and the cute little mini apple garland came from the thrift store yesterday.

It would be really fun if this wall was as big and blank as it looks in the photo, but it's only about three feet between a window and a door above an old cabinet.

And here's some fun stuff I got at the thrift store yesterday. I don't usually buy silk flowers and such there because they are a little overpriced. Yesterday, I happened to be there when they unlocked the door. Monday's they are closed for restocking and Tuesday at 10 the old ladies stand in line waiting for the door to open. I found out you can find a lot more "good" stuff that way!

I've never had a lot in the way of autumn decorations, so I was happy to find the cute ceramic turkey and the little glass votive holder turkey. At least I think it's a votive holder, not sure, but I'll be using it for a toothpick holder.

I was thinking about using the muffin tin for something crafty, but that's the kind I really like to bake with, so it's going in the cupboard with my cake pans.

The fabric in the background is about 3 yds. I was thinking I'd use it to reupholster some kitchen chairs that have white vinyl on them. After I looked at it in my kitchen I'm not sure. It's got more black in it than I really want in the kitchen, but the man likes it.

The Challenge

2008-09-29T14:41:00.004-05:00

So, what does one do when one is unemployed? Joyously, temprorily unemployed? Well, if you're like me, you decide you're going to get a lot of "projects" finished. My dear friend Rose suggested that I go for a project a day. So, for the next 18 or so days until I started work again, I'm challenging myself to finishing one project a day, taking pictures, and posting about it. Some of these projects will be crafting, some trash to treasure types, some remodeling stuff. Who knows, you'll just have to drop in and see. :)

Here is DAY ONE:

The topiary-actually the first topiary because I have two other partially done. I've had the tiny little pinecones on the shelf for several years. I picked them up when I was working at our county historical museum. After I got all the pine cones glued on I realized I had some little spaces that needed filler and thought I'd put pheasant feathers in the spaces, but that was too many feathers and all my dried plant material was too big. So, I went for a little walk around the yard and came up with some rose hips, some daylily seed pods, some morning glory seed pods and some yarrow. The yarrow and morning glory seed pods I spray painted gold before tucking them in the little spaces.

I can't decide if this thing is finished or if it needs something more. Any opinions or ideas are welcome.

Meet the Mongrels

2008-09-28T22:16:00.010-05:00

I may have mentioned my mutts in other posts, but I don't think I've formally introduced them. Here are my helpers.

Meet Flash the Wonder Dog who is part Basset Hound and part Beagle and who knows what else. Flash belongs to a friend of mine, but has come to live at our house indefinitely. We got off to a rough start, but I'm very attached to him now and he's very devoted to me. Or at least he's very devoted to going for rides and eating donuts from the gas station.

And Lady the Bug who seems to be mostly yellow lab, but is much needier and more nervous than the average lab. She wandered into town and Flash brought her home. Nobody else wanted her, so I fed her and here she has stayed. She's very social, loves little kids, but doesn't much like my old neighbor man even though he lets her drink out of his birdbath.

They are of no help what-so-ever in the garden. Flash gets bored when I start gardening and wanders off to parts unknown. Lady insisted on putting herself between me and whatever I'm working on, hence the name Lady "the bug".

I can't even begin to tell you how many plants they've mashed, stomped on or used for bedding. But I can't imagine life without a dog.

30 and holding

2008-09-27T00:49:00.004-05:00

No, I'm not talking about me being thirty. I'll admit to being forty and proud of it. No it's The Beast that's 30 years old this year. My favorite set of wheels. My gardening pickup. My junk hauler. The reason my husband sometimes shakes his head and rolls his eyes and says I don't listen to him. He didn't want me buying another vehicle and I went ahead and bought this one anyway. It's mine, mine, mine!

This old Ford had been sitting under a shade tree for at least 15 years when I bought it. Before that it was a service truck for a farm implement repair shop. It runs pretty good. I had to have some work done on the brakes, but otherwise, it's a great set of wheels. Well, as you can see, the day I took the picture I had a tire off that had gone flat. I don't drive The Beast every day unless one of our other vehicles is in the shop.

But I'm rambling and not getting to the "holding" part. At the moment I've got The Beast pretty well loaded up with junk. Aluminum cans to go to the recycler, demolition garbage from my bathroom, assorted lumber I pulled out of the dump that's good enough to use. Just odds and ends like that. Well, then we've had a little rain. The other day I walked past and noticed a funny smell. I got to looking and since The Beast is parked on a bit of a downhill slope, the box had gotten a lot of rain water in it and, wonder of wonders, it wasn't draining out. The rain water was getting a bit smelly and slimy like a stagnant pond.

A thirty year old pickup box was still holding water!!! In my world, things like that just don't happen. Heck even my ten year old Ranger has enough holes in the bed that it won't hold water.

So I had to start it up and turn it around so the water would drain out the back. It probably held about 80 gallons. Wish I'd have had my camera handy to get a picture of the waterfall!

My Apologies!

2008-09-24T14:29:00.002-05:00

My apologies to any of my friends who may actually read this blog. I had good intentions of posting at least several times a month and then my internet connection when to hell in a handbasket, and while it's still not repaired, I have learned to work around the problems.

Then my computer had problems and I had to take it in to the shop and I don't even want to talk about what that cost me!

And most recently. Monday night while I'm trying to write my news column, my keyboard bit the dust. Luckily a friend of mine had a couple old keyboards laying around, so I got up and running shortly. My old keyboard had well worn keys that had lost a good bit of their bounce. This one is still nice and springy and I really like it. My husband says it's ugly. Why you ask? How can one keyboard be any more or less ugly than any other? Some kids really had a lot of fun with a blue permanent marker on this keyboard. Use your imagination. But, I don't see an ugly keyboard, I see the sheer joy some kids got out of coloring all this with marker.

Anyway, I will be posting here soon. Got some pictures on my camera, and the bathroom project progresses, so stay tuned for new posts.

Gladiolas

2008-07-30T22:10:00.011-05:00

One of my all time favorite flowers. Certainly they are easy to grow, showy, most times colorful. What more could a person want in a summer flowering bulb?

The only picture I have of my great grandmother has her holding a big armful of glads, a flower she was well known for growing. Even in her elderly years she always grew them.

I love all the colors of glads one can find in a catalog, but my all time favorites, because they always do so well for me are these white ones.

Fruits of the Spirit Garden

2008-07-28T12:45:00.012-05:00

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

Welcome to my little "fruit of the spirit" garden. It used to be my "front door" garden. But I had some bricks laying around that were an odd size and I didn't know what to do with them. For years I've been wanting some stones with words or some similar decorative item for my front door garden. So, I thought, why not use those bricks and once I decided that, the idea popped into my head to paint the fruits of the spirit on them. Well, it turns out, I'm one brick short, I think I'm missing gentleness, but eventually I'll find a similar brick and put that in there too. These are not the best pictures of this little garden, but you get the idea of it.

I must say, when the dogs come trying to "help" me when I'm weeding and mash a prized plant in the process, it's real hard to remember gentleness and self-control even when they're written on bricks in front of me. I've never had as much trouble gardening with a dog as I've had with this yellow dog. Flash the Wonder Dog learned to stay out of the flower beds. Good old Buddy learned to just lay down behind me wherever I was working. Sometimes I tripped over him, but he wasn't a problem while I was working. Lady-BUG is convinced she should be between me and whatever I'm doing, whether it's weeding, or trimming grass or planting.

Caught this picture of an Easter lily just before it opened. When they're not forced for Easter, but just allowed to grow in the garden, Easter lilies bloom in July, just after my other lilies do. I have several around the yard, and they were all salvaged from the after Easter dumping of the lilies from church over the past couple years. This one is from two years ago and this is the first time it's bloomed. Well worth the wait.

Tomorrow: Gladiolas

Summer "Vacation"

2008-07-22T17:06:00.013-05:00

Ok folks, here's the answer to that dreaded question I mentioned awhile back. "What did you do on your summer vacation?" Well, I don't get vacations. So sometimes I take a day and call it my vacation. Sunday was IT. I arranged my schedule weeks in advance so as to have nothing going on this past Sunday so that I could go with my mom and my aunt to a family reunion. And, wonder of wonders, we got my son and one of my daughters to go along with.

We set off on Sunday morning with coolers in the trunk, mom driving, aunt in the front seat, me and DS in the back. Drove 100 miles or more down the interstate and met DD at a gas station and then she climbed in the back seat with us. What a load!!! Mom said the car handled a little funny. I said that was not surprising with over a quarter of a ton of weight crammed in the back seat! We drove on down the road a bit to the little town where the reunion is held.

When I say little town, I mean truly little, like say 500 folks, but bigger than the town where I live. This town is big enough it still has a grocery store and a hardware store and a school. We got to the town hall where the reunion is held and I said, "I've just got to take a picture of this for my less rural friends."

For those of you who aren't familiar with farming, that's a combine without the header (the part that cuts the grain) sitting beside the hall. I couldn't resist taking this close-up with the reflection of myself (enlarge the picture and look closely at the center) in the window glass.

Once all the relatives arrived, the street was very quiet and nobody ran me over while I stood in the middle of Main Street taking pictures.

Looking west on Main. Yes, that is a guy on a Harley cruising down the street.

Looking East on Main.

And then there was the cute little beauty shop. Now I'm used to small town beauty shops being tucked away in little old buildings or remodeled garages or some obscure little corner of town, but I must say, I don't think I've ever seen one quite as cute as this.

The Catholic church caught my eye because one of my inumerable hobbies is photographing old country churches.

And the repair shop down the street grabbed my sons attention because well, tractors and other things with big engines always grab his attention.

Oh, and I did take a few obligatory photos of relatives, but honestly, people pictures just don't interest me much. I mainly took the pictures of relatives to send them to my long lost brother. I intend to label each person in the picture and write a long and rambling misive about the reunion that will bore him totally to tears. But the joke is really on him, because by his continiued absence from anything family, he's missed out on knowing some truly wonderful people.

Anyhow, that was my vacation day for this summer. If I'm lucky, I may find a mini-vacation in August, but I'm not holding my breath!

My Weekend Projects

2008-07-20T21:44:00.006-05:00

Here's pictures of a couple of my weekend projects. I have other projects I did and I'll get those posted eventually. Here's the yummy edible projects though. The "present" cake was for my aunt's 71st birthday which we celebrated today at a family reunion. The cake was chocolate with raspberry cream filling and chocolate satin frosting. Yummy! And it got RAVE reviews with the relatives including one gal who said she'd drive the 150 miles between us to get one of my cakes. I just had a blast doing this cake. Started the fondant ribbon days in advance and learned that one should build a ribbon from the bottom up, not the center out like one would with real ribbon. Live and learn. Probably would have helped if I'd read some instructions. Oh, and the cake wasn't near as lopsided as it looks in the picture. It's the way the picture is taken and the curve of the plate that makes it look that way.

The other cake is for a friend's wife's birthday. It was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I haven't gotten any reviews on that yet. I wasn't especially happy with the way it turned out, but I'm guessing they thought it was cute. I did find out that although I love cream cheese frosting it's kind of a pain to work with as far as icing goes. I believe I'll use a different recipe next time. Don't know if all the writing in the picture is visible, but it says "It's all downhill from here."

Flower Power

2008-07-14T08:46:00.004-05:00

Nothing makes me smile like flowers. I went out with the camera this morning and had lots of smiles.

Cosmos, lily, daylily,yellow rose, and yarrow with glass totem.

Six a.m.

2008-07-13T15:46:00.004-05:00

Six a.m. is just a magical time of day for me. I love getting up and being out and about early. I've always been that way and life just does not go quite a smoothly for me if I sleep in. Watching the sunrise is a special event every time I get to do it. When I was in jr. high and high school, my brother and I got to watch the sunrise nearly every morning because we'd be out at the end of the driveway waiting for the school bus, rain or shine. If we weren't at the end of the driveway, the bus driver didn't even bother to stop, so we saw a lot of sunrises in those six years.

Then I grew up and began gardening and wouldn't you know it, I find six in the morning the best time of day to water and weed and dig and all those things. The only drawback is that I work three evenings a week. Being up and out in the garden by six and not getting home until after 10:30 make for a long day, so I tend to sleep till seven or eight and wake up groggy and disgruntled and don't get a damn thing done. So, last week I started having my dear husband get me up when he leaves for work at 5:30.

It has been so worth it. The past week, the mosquitos have been dreadful, but I put on long sleeves and watered and weeded regardless. And I've seen some marvelous sunrises, seen the birds divebombing and teasing my poor dogs, heard the traffic out on the highway three miles away in the still morning air and just generally enjoyed the mornings. For the most part I haven't even missed the extra sleep. And if I do get tired, I take a nap around noon. You wanna know something? There's not a thing that goes on at mid-day that's important enough to stay awake for.

How did you spend the 4th?

2008-07-09T13:03:00.005-05:00

If I've been asked this question once, I've been asked a hundred times this week. It makes me feel like a kid back in grade school on the first day back from summer vacation with the teacher demanding a two page essay on "What I did on my vacation". Other kids always wrote about where they'd traveled and who they'd seen and made it all sound so exciting. I could never figure out how to make the fact that I spent my summer feeding hogs for dad or pulling weeds and watering grandma's garden exciting. But, to me it was all fun. And I still find those sort of home-body things fun (althought I LOVE to travel too) And my answer is the same today as the few short sentences of that dreaded essay. "Not much. Stayed home. Didn't do anything."

Truth is, I very much enjoyed having a Friday off of work without having to go anywhere. The last Friday I had off was for my daughter's graduation and that involved traveling and buying high priced gasoline. Before that I don't remember the last time I had a Friday off. I work every weekend. Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday night.

It's not really honest to say I didn't work though. I had an order for a baptism cake, so I baked that in the morning while it was cool, and decorated it in the evening so it would be ready first thing Saturday morning. Love doing cakes. I just wish people would sometimes order cakes in the winter time when I want to have my oven going.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I made another glass totem too. Not sure how I could forget that since the darn thing is sitting in the middle of the kitchen. I was working on fixing one of the kitchen drawers and figured as long as I had the glue out, I might as well put together another totem. So I did, and now I don't know what the heck to do with it.

Peonies

2008-07-04T15:25:00.003-05:00

Is there anything as gorgeous as a peony in full bloom. With our odd weather this year, these beauties bloomed right up till the end of June.

In Search of a Good Night's Sleep

2008-06-25T15:46:00.003-05:00

Ok, I'll warn you right now that this post is going to have nothing to do with crafting, gardening or small town life. It's strictly a "woe is me" pity party. But, I figure there's folks who can relate.

I better start out by telling you that Monday night at work I set a box down and threw out my lower back. Did that towards the beginning of my shift. It was a long painful six hours before I got to go home. Needless to say it took a lot of Tylenol to get to sleep Monday night.

So, last night, Tuesday, I take a book to bed at a decent hour, thinking I'll read for a little bit and then get a decent nights sleep. I had finished my last book "Plainsong" which I highly recommend, but this one isn't as interesting to me so I knew I'd put it down and actually sleep. Hubby came in about ten and said goodnight. He said he'd turn my light off when I fell asleep. What a sweetheart I've got. Well, he fell asleep with the television blaring in the living room. I fell asleep shortly after he told me goodnight, and was sleeping like a rock when he woke up and shut the tv off.

The sudden lack of sound woke me up. The cheese puffs I'd eaten before I went to bed were sort of giving me indigestion so I got up and got a drink of water. Went back to bed and my back was hurting, a lot. It's hard enough to sleep on a good night on my ratty old mattress. My hips are wider (considerably wider) than the rest of me, so when I roll over on my side, it throws my back all out of alignment. So, I had a tussle with the pillows, arranging them this way and that till I finally got to a place that would work.

That's when the thunder and lightening started. So, I'm enjoying the lightening show. My bedroom has windows on the south, west, and north sides, so I get the full effect of storms. I was dozing off when the first rain drops hit the window. That jolted me wide awake again because I knew I had to go put the bucket under the drip in the bathroom. (See previous post on bathroom renovation).

By now it's about one o'clock and I've had about an hours worth of sleep. I did finally doze off. Woke up later trapped between my pillows, tossed and turned some more and fell asleep again. That was ok till the wind picked up about four.

There was more thunder, lightening and rain, but mostly the sort of noisy wind that rattles the windows and howls around the corners. The kind of wind that keeps me awake. By this time I had tossed and turned until I was wrapped in my sheet like some sort of flannel mummy. I picked up my pillows and waddled with my sheet and all into hubby's bedroom. Due to his chronic, continuous terrible back pain, he has an air mattress. Most of the time it gives me a back ache, but I thought since I had a back ache already, maybe it would be comfy. And his room is on the opposite side of the house from the wind.

Yep, the air mattress was comfy and the man wasn't even snoring for once. But....... his bed sits in addition number two to this house (the addition that was rather shoddily built). Although I could hear the wind buffeting the windows, I could hear all the creaking and popping that goes on in the attic when the wind blows. And there was a strong breeze coming from the ceiling fan.

This time I dragged sheet and pillows to the sofa. If all else fails, the sofa is always comfy, that's why I bought it. Beat the pillows into submission again. I'd just gotten comfy when the man decides it's time for him to get up! He always sits and watches tv for a little while before he goes to work. So, he sent me into his room. By this time the wind has really worked itself into blowing and it's howling around the window air conditioner. Of course all this traipsing around the house and flopping here and there has done nothing to help my spasming back.

The man finally left for work at five, so I parked myself in his recliner, opened the drapes, turned the tv to a music channel, and prepared to watch whatever sunrise we were going to have with all the storm clouds drifting off.

Ha! Didn't see a bit of the sunrise. I stretched out in that recliner, the pressure was off my hip, and I was out like a light for three hours. It was broad daylight when I woke up. We'd had .32" of rain, the clouds were gone and the wind was gone.

Needless to say, I went to see my chiropractor today, because I am NOT going to spend another ngiht like that!

Bowling Ball Project

2008-06-17T13:33:00.004-05:00

Bowling balls. Who knew they could be such a great accent piece! I was just tickled pink to get one at that auction I attended a couple weeks ago. Then I got home and said, "What the hell am I going to DO with this thing?" I've got quite enough "stuff" cluttering up the place already.

So I let it set for a day or two and then came up with the idea to add it to my old windmill tower. I've always wanted a small windmill for my yard and one year my darling husband ordered me one from a mail order catalog. After assembly, it became clear that this lawn ornament was not designed to stand up to SouthDakota winds. The blades didn't last long, but the tower has endured because I have it anchored to the ground with fence posts.

Anyway, here are some pics of the finished product. Or perhaps in-progress photos because I haven't decided that I especially like the color.

I'm thinking I'd like to paint the tower black perhaps. I'm open to suggestions.

Salvaged Purse

2008-06-16T12:33:00.003-05:00

Just thought I'd post a picture of a purse I rescued. It was a black clutch that I covered with black and silver lace, a piece of hand crocheted lace, and some flowers, all odds and ends that were cluttering up a drawer. I use it as a nice spot to store my nail polish, nail file, etc. Got the idea from a Mary Engelbright book.

Bathroom Project: part 1

2008-06-12T21:15:00.005-05:00

I did all this a couple years ago, in December. And while I was at it, I wrote a sort of diary about it as follows:

True and Distressing Tales of a Do-It-Yourselfer

Chapter One, or “Why My Husband is Peeing in a Snowbank”

It’s midnight. It’s December. My husband is standing outdoors peeing in a snowbank. I know what you’re thinking, and no he didn’t just get home from the bar. He’s not a drinking man.

He’s standing out in the snowbank because at 8:30 this morning I thought I was going to do a load of laundry. Silly me. It’s Monday. I should have known nothing could be simple and straight forward.

I’ve lived in this house for four years and the stool has never flushed right, but hey, it eventually does what it’s supposed to, so no problem. Right? Well, this morning was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The washing machine hit that spin cycle and the stool backed up and over flowed and the bathtub started filling up.

By the time I discovered the problem and got the washing machine shut off, of course the water was running down thru the trap door into the dirt crawl space under the house. It was also saturating the two cotton rugs, various towels and newspapers on the bathroom floor. Ish.

Nothing was draining. We’ve had a cold spell lately so I thought it was possible, not probable, but possible that the sewer line could be frozen. So I heated up the old tea kettle and poured water down the washer drain pipe. Water level in bathtub rose by approximately one kettle full.

Heated another teakettle full. Poured it down the bathroom sink. Level of water in the toilet rose. This continued thru out the morning. The water level would go down a bit and I’d pour more boiling water. I finally couldn’t stand the thought of the laundry sitting there half spun out. I put the drain hose in a five gallon bucket and let it finish it’s cycle.

It was a lovely day. While I was considering the thought that our sewer line was clogged beyond belief, I was shoveling the front step in my shirt sleeves. Finally I called my dear husband at work and told him the story. His first thought was to call someone to fix it! Huh? Who’s going to pay for that?

Well, there are no plumber type guys around here anyway. The husband is at work, that leaves—me. Our sewer line has no cleanout trap, so the only solution is to pull the toilet off and go from there. So, I got out my trusty shop vac, sucked water out of the tub and carted it outdoors, around the snowbank, and dumped. Sucked more water out of the tub, carted outdoors, etc, sucked water out of the toilet, etc. On and on it went till things were dry. The shut off valve for the toilet was corroded beyond use by years of water leaks, so I had to shut the water to the whole house off. Aw, too bad, can’t do dishes.

Took the toilet off, got the plumbers snake out and started working on the sewer pipe. The water level in t he pipe did go down completely after awhile. But I needed a shut off valve so I could get water on to the rest of the house, so I decided I better make a flying trip to town. Thirty five miles, one way. Took the old valve into the hardware store with me, and got all the parts I need. As long as I was in town, I finished my Christmas shopping. Got home, just barely ahead of dear hubby.

We get to work putting things back together. Every single piece the guy at the hardware store had given me was the wrong size! So not only are things not draining, we’ve got no incoming water until tomorrow. And I don’t care what kind of balmy day it was out today, it’s darn cold when you’re doing your business in a bucket on the porch!

Noon, Day 2

Doesn’t seem like much has gotten accomplished this morning. I started my day by checking in at my favorite on-line message boards, then got to work at 7:30. Where to start! First things first, I had to put shoes, coat, hat and gloves on to take the slop bucket out to the compost pile. Back inside, I had to move all the plumbing tools out of the bathroom and go out to the cold garage and get carpentry tools. Again with the shoes and coat and hat and gloves. Thank goodness it was in the upper 30’s. Then I started ripping up old vinyl floor covering. At that point I realized I was going to need a putty knife. I left my putty knives at the church when I was working on a drywall project (which is still a work in progress). Once more, I put the shoes and coat and hat and gloves and trek over to the church for my tools.

It was a nice morning for a walk and I’m happy to say the sunrise was spectacular. There were a few whispy clouds that changed from purple to hot pink to soft orange as the sun came up over the hill. Ripping up old flooring is dirty dusty work I found. The sort of dirty dusty work that could really use a shop vac to suck up the mess. So, on again with the shoes and coat and hat and gloves to empty what’s left of yesterday’s water from the shop vac. Back inside I work away at the floor, pausing often to ponder how it’s all going to work.

Pry bar in hand, I start on the rotted floor boards. Ha! The floor boards run underneath the wall, so I call dad to have him bring his reciprocating saw. While I’m waiting for him, I pry up what boards I can and pull out the rusty, equally rotted nails. The sub floor doesn’t look great and I sit on the edge of the tub. If I stare at it long enough, maybe the problem will go away! No, the problem’s not going away. Rot is rot and I really don’t want to lay new boards over it. The trouble is, the sub floor is old 1x12 lap boards that run diagonally across the floor joists. There’s not really any way to replace them without pulling up the whole entire floor. That’s not something I want to do very bad, and when Dad gets here, something he flat refuses to even consider.

As I’m hanging head first down in the little hole we laughingly refer to as a “crawl space”, I discover that some dolt in the past has cut out a 2 ft. section of floor joist to install the sewer pipe. And then we wonder why we’re sinking! Of course there’s plumbing and wiring running every which way so it’s impossible to get in there and reinforce things.

Enter Dad. Let me explain that dad is an old cowboy with attitudes that match. He’s a pretty good furniture builder, but when it come to fixing houses, he’s something less of a perfectionist than I. My plan is to replace the rotted floor boards with the same kind of lumber, which I have on hand, then sand donw and varnish the whole thing. Dad’s idea is to just cut a piece of plywood to the right size and throw some cheap linoleum over it. No, no, no! Douglas fir may not be the ideal wood flooring, but it’s what I’ve got, and I will have wood floors. Why would I want new linoleum off gassing fumes in my house if I can avoid it? It wouldn’t be so bad if I could get real genuine linoleum, but I’ve priced that and I couldn’t afford that even if I won the lottery.

We compromised on the sub flooring. Cut out the most rotted section and replaced it with a chunk of plywood, reinforced underneath with 2x4’s. Not the perfect solution, but it’s about all we can do. Nothing more to be done without plumbing parts which won’t be here until the hubby gets home from work.

10 pm. We have running water!!! Hurray! No toilet until tomorrow. Boo, hiss!!!!!!! DH had to build a piece to go from the toilet into the sewer drain because of course they don’t make parts that size anymore. Imagine that! So, with a piece of this and a piece of that and some super duper glue and a prayer, he made a collar (I think it’s actually called a closet something or other) that should work.

Day 3

9:40 am. Time for a coffee break! The tongue and groove flooring is installed- properly I might add. The collar that DH built last night to go between the toilet and sewer pipe is installed and the hose clamps tightened.

Good thing I’m bendy. At least I always thought I was bendy, darling daughter #3 came home from science class and informed me that I am double jointed. Whatever. Fact of the matter is- I was hanging head first in the crawl space again this morning. Oh, my sinuses! Had a ratchet with 3 extensions on it that just barely reached the screw on the hose clamp that is around the rubber boot that is around the sewer pipe. The object of the game was to get that tiny little socket on the little screw and tighten the hose clamp around the new fittings. It’s a very good thing I have very long arms, because it took one arm, threaded amongst the various plumbing parts under there to hold the hose clamp in place and the other arm to run the ratchet. As usual, I got myself into a predicament, accomplished what I needed to and had no idea how to get out. Right arm was stuck! It took some wiggling around to get loose again.

The toilet bowl is properly installed and bolted to the floor. A good mornings work if I do say so myself. I spent a half hour scraping Decades of caulking off the base of the tub. Those do-it-yourself shows on television never show you things like that. “And the list of tools you’ll need is: hammer, chisel, razor blade, utility knife, putty knife, younger knees, and an extensive supply of swear words.”

When I’ve had enough coffee, and applied enough linament to my shoulders, I’ll be getting out the belt sander to start refinishing the floor. I have to do the little strip between the tub and the toilet bowl before I put the toilet tank back on, otherwise there will be no room to work. At least I have a pot to pee in again! And I’m going to try running the washing machine. We’ll find out just how clear- or not- that sewer line is.

Stay tuned for Chapter 2- or What Do I Work on Next?

My Summer Project

2008-06-10T10:39:00.004-05:00

I've started renovating my bathroom-- finally! It's something that's long past due. I wish I'd have thought to get "before" pictures, I guess I have to settle for "near the beginning" pics. The wall was covered with old fiberboard, several layers of wallpaper, and just lately, several varieties of fungi. So, as terrible as these pictures look, it's a big improvement from what it was a week ago.

This whole thing started because it's been raining into the bathroom. Now that I've got the wall torn apart we can see the leak is not where we thought it was. Now we're not sure where it is, so we're waiting for another rain to see.

I'll be replacing the window along with re-doing the wall and sill. I've been dreading this project for a long time. Now that I've got it started it's nice to find that it's not as bad as we first thought.

Latest Junk Finds

2008-06-01T16:52:00.005-05:00

First things first, here a more tulips pictures from my garden. A gorgeous white peony flowered tulips. Wish I had a whole bunch of them, but ended up with just one out of a mixed bag of bulbs I bought. The hot pink beauties edged with white came from my parents house. I need to get them split now that they've multiplied nicely. They are SUCH cheerful looking tulips. They show up a little redder in the photo than what they actually are.

Now, on to junk. I went to an auction yesterday and spent $5. I came home with two big lamps, two end tables, a bowling ball, two laundry racks, and a five gallon bucket of assorted "stuff". Oh, and a set of four old tv trays. It's been years since I've seen the likes of these things. I brought them in the house and DH just fell in love with them. So, for now he gets to have them for "his". When I get sick of moving them around, I'll do something creative with them.

Glass Totem

2008-05-05T14:50:00.005-05:00

As promised, here's a picture of one of my new glass totems. It has a candle holder on the top. I thought it would be nice for the patio on a still summer night. And the tulip of the day.

Pheasant Tail Wreath

2008-05-04T20:14:00.006-05:00

This is a wreath I put together on a whim one day for my big blank wall. Some of the tails in the wreath are 24-30" long so that gives you an idea how big this thing is. It's plain and simple and I just love it.

Tomorrow: I will try really hard to get some photos of my new glass totems posted.

What's a blog called Tulip House without some tulips? Here are a few that are blooming in my yard this week.

My Latest Wreath

2008-04-23T20:51:00.002-05:00

Over the years I've made lots and lots of wreaths using pheasant feathers. I've made a few Christmas wreaths, a Halloween wreath, and dried floral wreaths. This little baby is a combination of EVERYTHING. I had a twig wreath form hanging around that wasn't a size I normally use and the other day I just started gluing things on. I'm not sure yet if I'm finished with it, but it's hanging on the wall as is for now.

Never Throw Things Away

2008-04-16T10:30:00.006-05:00

My family accuses me of being a pac-rat. Well, ok, I admit it. I am. I'm ok with that. And if I weren't I could never create wonderful things that make them go Wow!

Five years ago or so, my mom decided she wanted some floral swags for her livingroom. So, we went and bought flowers and vines and I made her a pair of gorgeous swags. Last fall she finally got tired of them and thought I might want them (because I'm a pac rat). They were still in perfectly good condition. I threw them on the floor board of my (seldom driven) pickup for lack of anywhere better to store them.

Yesterday I stop in at mom and dad's for a visit and find a pair of mom's old boots setting on the porch. Dad told me to take them home and throw them away. Mom can't wear them anymore but she's very attached to them.

So, here's what I've done with Mom's boots, swags, and some roses left over from my daughter's wedding several years ago. They will go on either side of the folks' fireplace. I need to take out the pinkish flowers and add in yellow to tie into the print over their fireplace, but until I get to town next week, this is how they look.

Spring Baby Afgan

2008-04-14T16:53:00.006-05:00

I inherited a lot of worsted weight yarn from my husband's grandmother. Mostly there are one or two skiens of a color, so I've been trying to put together nice color combinations of these yarns. I think this one turned out well.

Orange Creme Delight

2008-04-12T14:24:00.006-05:00

Contrary to what is says over in the "about me" column, this blog is not about the prairie or gardening or anything related. This is the place where my imagination and creativity can run amok and my husband and children don't have to listen to me say, "wanna see what I did?" This is my place to remind myself that I'm clever and creative and share it with some folks who might actually think so too.

That said, here's yesterday's project. Orange creme cupcakes. Actually they're a new recipe I tried for white cake and frosted with a lightly flavored delicious orange buttercream frosting. The photography, well, I enjoy taking pictures and I'm slowly getting better at it. I have a lot of fun, but not always spectacular pictures.