So many things to do...

Hmmm

2011-12-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

Well...DH is encouraging me to start this back up again. We've done quite a bit over the last year - well mostly we paid other people to do quite a bit. /sigh. But some pictures are in order. So expect more posts soon. And in the meantime I decided to start up a tumblr blog - a scrapbook of escapisms. For goodness knows, I dig some escape. you can find it
over there in the links list ------------------------------>
cheers!

Time Flies.

2011-07-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Um...July? What? I thought it was February and I was just getting ready to go back to work. Well I guess I've been having fun. The little guy is almost 9 months old. And I've been busy with my new job for 5 months. The summer is cool but the days are still long. I'm slowly but surely getting into a work/baby/home balance. Slowly. The house is not completely destroyed. The baby is growing like a weed and happy to be into everything. The husband is content. The boss is singing my praises. And I, as always, am pondering what I can do to make things bigger, better, faster, healthier.

My main goals are squeezing in some exercise and the whole family eating better. It's challenging during the week with my schedule and keeping up with the LO. But today has been a good day. Slept in (7am!!). We read books, and played and cleaned the living room. We did some baby-proofing while LO napped. After lunch I took munchkin for a long walk. Then daddy has been kind enough to nap with him while I chopped everything I'll need for our leftover-soup for dinner later, and made a blueberry pie. Which is now in the oven making everything smell wonderful.

Since the boys are still napping I think next is laundry and picking up dog-poo. Yum! Maybe some weeding. Then dinner, bath, bedtime. And perhaps a movie before I cancel my netflix. What a day. Back to work tomorrow. /sigh. Cheers.

Back to work

2011-02-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm sad to say, is my last day of maternity leave. I've had 4 and half months, 3 and a half of which have been with my wee one. I've got a new job that I'm excited for, but my heart is breaking. I don't have much to say other than that. I'm going to make the most of today.

Miscellania

2011-01-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

My maternity leave is winding down. I have two weeks left. How fast it has gone...and I took a relatively long leave of 4 and a half months (and by relatively long I mean by US standards, not by the standards of the clearly more enlightened European countries where maternity leave is a year).

So what's a girl to do with such little time left? The LO is getting more agreeable by the day (most days that is) and naps a bit here and there and plays a bit here and there. I find in the evenings his long nap between 7:30pm and my bedtime is almost strange...my hands feel awkwardly free. I am sorely tempted to pick up the evil Warcraft addiction during that time. But what I *should* do is pick up some crocheting. Or some quilting. Or some learning to make fascinators. Or...or...or?? It's amazing how 2 hours of free time seems like so much now.

What I have been doing is cleaning, one room at a time. The bedroom was first...I've cleared out all clothes that no longer fit and either packed them away for post-baby-weight-loss time or sent off to goodwill. And I took down the celtic and asian hodgepodge of artwork that has adorned my bedroom walls for a dozen years. I searched high and low for replacements until it became an obsession. But finally I opted to frame some old botanicals and such that were sitting unused in the back of my closet. They look nice, though DH describes them as "granny".

I also replaced the curtains. I had a lovely batik fabric, which never pleased me as curtains. I bought some simple charcoal colored linen curtains at Ikea and altered them to fit as dummy panels. Charcoal will match better with any artwork and any bed linens. This change DH is pleased with.

So...off to another room and another item on my to-do list. Cheerio, bloglings.

Another project completed!

2011-01-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing I've learned by being a new mom, its that free time is a precious commodity. Before the LO arrived, I had oodles of free time and I'd fritter it away watching TV, surfing the net and doing generally nothing worthwhile. Now I value that time so much that I make good use of every moment. I'm actually...get this...*finishing* projects. Um...wow.

My latest completion is a quilt for my wee nephew. Well considering he's already almost as big as my 3 month old son I suppose "wee" isn't the most fitting description. But the quilt is wee, and so I felt compelled to finish it ASAP before the munchkin outgrows it! Now that my own LO has finally consented to nap during the day on his own, I've been piecing the top together bit by bit. And then my darling husband agreed to tend to him for a few hours the last couple of Saturdays so I could really crank it out. And at last its done, just in time for our visit to my brother's house today.

I love the way it turned out and I must give a shout out to Gypsy Junk for her input when I selected fabric. She discovered the monkey head fabric, which really makes it.

Welcome 2011

2011-01-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

Another year, come and gone...and what a doozy 2010 was! "The year of pregnancy" I believe I called it in an earlier post. And the last part of it has been what some baby books lovingly call the 4th trimester. It's been a bit of a rough go, I can't say my little one is an easy baby. But he's so perfect and wonderful that I'm sure we'll get through it and be no worse for the wear.

Every year I make resolutions and every year by the time February comes around I have forgotten them. I don't even remember my new years resolution for 2010. And I only remember 2009 because it was captured here on my little blog. So why do I continue to make resolutions? I don't know...the new year can't come without me pondering my life and where I want to be...who I want to be.

What shall it be this year then? Usually I over-commit...maybe that's why I don't remember my resolutions. This year I only have one...inspired by my wee bairn:

BE PATIENT

That's it. Patience. Not a virtue I have in abundance, to say the least. More of it would benefit me in all aspects of my life, especially in my fumbling attempts at new motherhood.

So there you have it. For 2011 I resolve to say to myself: "patience young padawan, for you have much to learn".

Happy new year.

Welcome to Motherhood

2010-11-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

Well, at long last the little one has arrived. He's a month old now, and at the risk of sounding cliche, motherhood is infinitely more rewarding and challenging than I had ever expected. He's adorable...bright-eyed, cuddly, already smiling and extraordinarily gifted at exhausting me...as babies tend to be. I'm totally in love.

I know it won't be long before he's squirming away when I try to hold him, but oh! If only the little devil would let us put him down for a moment! He came out with the natural ability to manipulate mommy and daddy into just about anything. When he is 2, 12, 22...boy will we be screwed! :)

In the meantime, I will rock my baby as much as he wants and gaze at his perfect little face. Any day that includes three square meals, a shower and enough time to check my email and take a nap...that day is a success. We'll worry about everything else later.

Better late than never...

2010-10-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, I purchased fabric to make my dear cousin a lap quilt. I chose the fabric according to her tastes, cut out the squares, and then stopped. I grew weary of sewing and took a very long break from that hobby. For fifteen years, those squares have been sitting in a plastic tub with the rest of my fabric stash. For the first couple of those years, I got a yearly plea/guilt trip from my cousin about her missing quilt. "Where's my quilt?" she'd say. To which I'd shrug and reply "I'll finish it someday".

Well, someday has come. During the process of turning my sewing room into the nursery, I discovered the squares and thought it might be nice to start a project that had nothing to do with preparing for the baby's arrival. And today, aside from a small repair to the edging, the Cousin Quilt is finished.

I'm rather pleased. This is my first quilting project in 5 years, since I made a quilt for my newborn niece. I'm finding myself having a renewed interest in sewing (or at least quilting) and I already have a quilt ready to piece for my new nephew who is scheduled to arrive near the Winter Solstice, and I almost have enough pink & purple scrap strips to make my darling niece a "big girl bed" quilt for her 5th birthday in February.

But in the meantime I shall wrap this quilt up, with a little note that says "Better late than never" and give it to my cousin as her winter holiday present. She'll be so suprised! I know she's long forgotten this project.

Speaking of late...today is my due date. Baby boy has been baking for 40 weeks and is not showing any sign of wanting to make his grand entry into this world. Even though he's not officially late for another day, DH and I are going a little crazy with the waiting. I have dreams about holding his little hands and cuddling him. I want to meet him, and start our lives together so badly. Has anyone ever been pregnant forever? I certainly hope he will not be as tardy as the cousin quilt. ;)

Nursery, continued

2010-10-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Well, the nursery is just about done aside from some small decorating details. Overall I'm pleased with the results.

I selected some pictures from an etsy shop that I think go perfectly with the fabric:

The rocking chair has been reupholstered and I think it turned out great:

I considered a big change in the fabric that would make it more matchy with the nursery, but in the end decided that sticking with the original style of the chair would be more appropriate and longer lasting decoratively speaking;

I'd still like to replace this shelf unit, but you know what? I've spent too much money. Baby boy will not care that he has an ugly non-matching IKEA shelf unit in his room. :)

Now I'm just patiently waiting. Or impatiently waiting as it were. I wish this baby would opt to arrive very soon. I'm eager to meet him and start our new lives together. I should probably work on some quilting projects to keep my hands busy while I'm waiting. Perhaps I will.

Finishings. Beginnings.

2010-09-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

I love finishing things. Such satisfaction. I'm the kind of gal that just loves checking items of the to-do list. Even small completions like using the very last of a shampoo bottle gives me a small sense of pleasure. What I'm not enjoying however, is finishing off my job at work.

I have three weeks left of working before my maternity leave begins. Aside from hoping I can make it that long, I'm totally overloaded and overwhelmed. I will not be returning to the same position...the job I've held for 8 years. So I must figure out a way to sensibly hand off this thing I've been doing for so long to someone I don't know. And I want it to be right. I want my people to have the right support. I want to know the projects I've started will be managed correctly. I'm kind of wearing myself out thinking about it. So I need to let go.

I'm going to start working shorter days and just accept that maybe this time its okay if every item isn't checked off the list. I've even started turning down work - something I never ever do. It's okay. Now is a time to start letting go of finishing and start beginning.

October 2nd, begins my new life. Hopefully, if baby boy is willing, I'll have a couple of weeks from that day until he arrives to nest, rest and ponder. And how I love October! It's my favorite month. Well, maybe tied with June...but it's still up there. Autumn! I love the smell of the dying leaves, the taste of the air, the heat of the afternoon and the chill of the morning. It gives me that sense of finishing. The year is winding down to its end, and in a few short months everything begins anew. And with baby coming, this Autumn will be more special than most. A new beginning for our lives as a family! I'm so very excited.

It is secret? Is it safe?

2010-08-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

I never was good at keeping a diary. A while ago I went through my diaries from childhood and found them so empty that I actually threw them away because there was nothing in them worth keeping. But lately I find myself wanting to write things that are more on the reflective side. Or the creative side. But the question is...just who reads this thing anyways? Who is my audience? Perhaps I should begin each post with "Dear blogger". Should I hide the blog under my mattress? In the underwear drawer? Naw...those are the first places people would look!!

I believe only my best friends and my husband are even aware of this little blog. But I also think we as a society are growing so accustomed to sharing ourselves online, that we get lulled into a false sense of security that only people we care to share with will witness our online selves. Those facebook posts with four letter words or questionable content; that picture after a little too much tequila; that profile picture of me, 6 months pregnant, flipping off the camera man. Will I now add innermost thoughts to the online version of me...for anyone out there in the twisting nether of the interwebs to see?

I suppose I shall, come what may.

The Nursery Obsession: A journey nearing madness

2010-08-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Since the very moment I found out I was with child, I became obsessed with how to decorate the nursery. Well, if I am to be honest...it's something I've thought about plenty even before I knew we were expecting. DH along with many others have made such points as "the baby won't even use the room for the first year" and "by the time he cares what its decorated as, he'll have outgrown it and you'll have to do it over" and "but, it's yellow". To these naysayers I have three words. I. Don't. Care. It's my first (and possibly only) baby, and I want the room to be just so. Or, at least as "just so" as a tiny room on a non-designer budget can be.

When we first bought this little house, we thought that one little bedroom in particular would make a lovely nursery. In the meantime we used it as a guest bedroom/sewing room/dumping ground. During each other room's face lift, it carefully and selflessly offered a home to all the furniture, artwork and miscellaneous goodies that needed a place to stay. You may remember this little gem of a room from such posts as this and this.

DH has been amazingly tolerant of my obsession with this room's important future. He talked me out of some rather silly ideas by suggesting that he install crown molding. *Splash*!! It's my hearts desire to have crown molding in every major room in the house so I wasn't about to say no. And let me tell you something...installing crown molding is a bitch. I will be eternally grateful to DH for doing it.

Here he is, hard at work:

And I gotta say, I love the way it turned out. He's so good:

Soooo, the next step. I get many "what's your theme?" questions from folks who are thinking of gift ideas and such. I had a most perfect theme in mind for a girls nursery...that involved toile (love) and gingham, and whimsical art work. I didn't have many ideas for a boy, until some swatches of fabric arrived (I ordered them when I thought we were having a girl...that's a story for another time). Among them was this fabric. DH said "hey, I like that one!" and I thought...maybe I can have my toile nursery afterall!!! Inspiration #1 was born.

Inspiration #2 came in the form of this antique rocking chair, which incidentally my mother has a picture of HER mother being rocked in it by my great-great grandmother. It's like 100 years old and aside from needing reupholstery is in great shape:

The fabric makes me think of a whimsical, fantastical circus that might have come to town back in the day when great-great granny was rocking her first baby in this very rocker. So I'm thinking a bit vintage, a bit whimsical, a bit circus.

My darling mother in law suggested that she make a quilt that includes the fabric of choice and some others that she let me help select. I'm making curtains and probably some cute little pillows and a gingham dust ruffle for the crib mattress. Sewing projects!!

I wrestled over the furniture decision in a very big way. My original intent was to find an old fashioned wood crib on Craigslist and pair it with a shabby chic style dresser (that could double as a changing table). But the safety factor of old cribs hindered that plan...as did DH's distaste for the shabby chic style of furniture. In the end we got pieces from this set, which will work nicely and the stain of the wood is just right.

I also debated for a long time over the choice of rug. DH wanted to carpet the room, which I refused. I would have liked something subtle and a bit old fashioned looking like this pottery barn rug, but it was too expensive. I'd hate to clean spit up off of a 400 dollar rug. In the end we went with this option. A bit contemporary for my "theme"...but I figure it keeps it from being too serious, is a fun pick for a kid, and has all the right colors in it. DH likes it which is always a plus. And the price was right.

So much progress has been made, and still a bit left to do. DH installed a light in the closet (he's such a rockstar) and is in the midst of painting it, and we've got some shelving to install in there. I've moved on to the next mind boggling decision....artwork. I've got some ideas for a direction that are keeping with the theme.

Phew!! Stay tuned...next time there will be pictures of the final product!!

Time

2010-08-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

It doesn't seem like its been over a year since my last blog entry, but low and behold it is. I've been distracted, initially by the lure of social networking (a.k.a. Facebook) and then by many other things that have taken up my time and energy.

In reflecting upon how time passes I've realized how little, in retrospect, the aspects of our day to day life matter. Sure, they seem of utmost importance at the time..."I have sooo much on my to-do list for the week" or "we are doing such and such this weekend" but when you look back upon the years do you remember those random weekends or to-do lists? Those particular stressful days at work that seemed so critical at the time? Those little obligations you rushed around for throughout each year? I find that I don't remember those things, which is almost surprising when I think about how much stress and worry I put into the details of day to day life.

In looking back upon years past, what really stands out are the more defining things. Where I lived, who my significant other was, where I worked...and of course the big events of the year. I can tell you about the vacations taken, if I moved, and if I changed jobs. I can tell you if I quit smoking, who I loved, who I lost. When considering any given year, its those things come to define that year for me. Not the little concerns.

When I think of 2004, the thing that defines it was our first trip to Europe. 2006 equals our wedding+honeymoon, and two moves to my memory. When thinking of 2007 I remember some important people I lost and buying our first house.

When looking back upon 2010, undoubtedly I'll think of it as the year of pregnancy. I found out I was pregnant early in February and we'll welcome our first baby in late October. Consequently much has been left undone this year as I navigate the waters of baking a baby...the joys of it and the array of discomforts. Little else has been in my mind other than this baby boy...looking forward to bringing him into the world and figuring out how the heck to take care of him without totally screwing him up.

So here I am. I've got no completed projects under my belt for this year (though the nursery - formerly known as the yellow room - is seeing some improvements; posts on that are forthcoming), my garden is overrun with weeds, and my laundry pile is literally up to my shoulders. I like to consider it practice for when the little guy is actually here and I have a better reason to let the to-do list go.

Yet something in me decided perhaps I should start this blog back up again. Perhaps I'll look back at my posts in a few years and instead of just thinking of this as the "year of pregnancy", I'll have more flavor and color to my memories of this time. For once time passes, you can't get it back.

Eastlake Lavender

2009-06-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to painting the office. When we moved in this room had dingy walls with holes, rotten windows, old granny curtain rods and the nastiest carpet we'd ever seen.

I had originally intended on painting this room green. But I couldn't find a green I liked that wasn't too matchy-matchy with the bathroom, which is right next door. A trip to the Legion of Honor art museum inspired me to consider lavender.

DH did a lovely job installing some baseboard that matches what we've installed in the rest of the house. It sets off the wood floor beautifully.

I love the new color. It's perfect! I hung some linen curtains and the light filters through so nicely. I do plan on putting blinds underneath, but the lovely blinds I have now are just a tad too big...so I'll have to find something else.

There's a bit of thinking on furniture to be done in this room. I'm getting the corner table from my mom that goes with my grandpa's too-small desk which I'm going to refinish and re purpose into a sewing table. Either that or I'll make that my desk and use my current desk as the sewing table. Something. I need to find a way to store my enormous computer tower on the floor so it's not so in the way. And shelves...oh boy. I'm not sure what direction that will take, but a replacement of my mismatched particle board collection is in order. We need lots of storage, as we have lots of books and media that we like to store in this room.

This is the last room of the house that needed painting! I have some trim to finish, but other then that the painting of the interior is DONE!

Dying for vacation

2009-04-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

I'm loving this weather, despite the fact that having no AC in the house makes me wilt a bit. It's given me spring/summer fever in a very big way. This morning as I walked from my car to the BART train, something in the breeze made me think of camping. I can't wait for camping!!!

In the meantime, our vacation fast approaches. Next week I fly to Boston to meet DH where he will be working that week. We are taking a long weekend to be tourists in the city. I'm so excited! I've never been to the east coast, not counting JFK airport. The forecast looks to be in the 60's and some sun, some rain....so we'll definately bring umbrellas. At least it will be warm-ish despite the rain so no problem.

I've got a little game plan for us, and my friends at work who are from Boston are going to give me some restaurant and bar names of local spots that they recommend. Did I mention that I can't wait? I LOVE traveling!

Spring Planting & Junk Beds

2009-04-07T08:16:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally got the majority of the warm season crops planted. Sunday I finished ripping out the very last of the winter veggies. We went to a BBQ at the lovely gypsy junk's house and I made a huge salad out of the last of the lettuce, spring onions, over-wintered carrots, beets, beet greens and some random stuff from the fridge. I also sauteed up the last of the sugar snap peas. Boy were they tasty!!

I turned all the beds well, amending with some yummy compost (alas, store bought. Our garden resolution for the year is to start actively paying attention to our composting). Then last night after work I planted corn, zucchini, beans, early girl tomatoes, cherry tomotoes, sweet basil, thai basil, 4 different kinds of hot peppers, spinich, romaine, arugula, mixed lettuce, swiss chard, carrots, beets, sunflowers, cosmos and zinnias. Phew!! The tomatoes, peppers, annuals and basil were all saplings I bought at the nursery. I started my seedlings too late this year...they need at least 3 weeks before they are ready to go out. Once they are, I'll mix them in with the rest or put them in wine barrels.

I have one wine barrel that is empty and I haven't quite decided what to put in it yet. The hops are starting nicely...at least the nugget and the new variety (forget the name) are. The cascade hops (which were our big producer last year) are doing nothing! We've added compost and fish emulsion etc...but nothing. Not sure what's going on there.

The yard is really coming alive!! This might be my favorite time of year. The "lawn" for lack of a better word has not yet turned straw yellow, and looks pretty with the tiny wildflowers peeking out of the grass. The beds are clean and full of baby plants. Everything is green and fresh. Bulbs are popping up everywhere. The air smells like lilac & freesia. I love it!! Soon the apple tree will be blooming, covering everything with white petals.

I told DH last night that possibly my favorite part of the yard is what I affectionately refer to as my "junk beds". The back patio has an L-shaped strip of soil around it at the foundation of the house. The soil is poor and chock full of nasturtium, which I like...though it takes some attention to keep from taking over. These are my junk beds. Normally I plan everything. The front yard I give thought to because people see it. The raised beds I plan out because they are edibles. The large backyard plantings I plan for because of the dogs. But no planning for the junk beds. I just throw shit in there and whatever works works. I love it, it's liberating to not plan for once. And they look gorgeous. Over the last couple of days I transplanted some flowers from the raised beds that were still going strong. I also threw in some soil mixed with black-eyed-susans, echinacea, bright yellow alyssium and some wildflower seeds. I wonder if they'll take? So much fun.

Well I guess I'd better actually work, before big brother decides to block blogger as well.

Almost Finished

2009-03-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

Bathroom Before (several before pics are available in previous posts):

Bathroom After:

I'm pleased how our little face lift came out. What we did:

- ripped out old shower doors & replaced with a vintage style l-shaped curtain rod
- repaired water damaged plaster
- replaced window
- sanded and painted all the woodwork & cabinet white
- repainted the walls to cover the institutional blue
- replaced the toilet with a new low flow model
- replaced the rotting mirror on the medicine cabinet
- replaced light fixture
- added beadboard

Still left to do:

- paint hall-side of door and reinstall vintage doorknob
- touch up of green paint
- paint new base under cabinet
- add robe hooks and large towel bar
- window treatment
- hem second shower curtain to complete the "surround"
- hang some artwork

:)

Yay.

Wainscoting

2009-03-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

The wainscoting is coming out nicely. We still need to add the chair rail, caulk and paint it.

Early Spring

2009-03-01T10:04:00.001-08:00

I love taking pictures of flowers, and with our new (to us) digital SLR camera, they come out sooo much better then with my old point and click!

On a less bright note, we have a hearty infestation of gray aphids. I've been pulling certain things that are crawling when I see them and hosing the rest with strong streams of water. And hoping that when I clear all the beds that they won't immediately return.

Moments after the rains

2009-02-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to have about an hour of daylight left when I got home from work today, and so I went outside to do a much needed doggy-cleanup and take some pictures.

Broccoli is pretty when it flowers, though I was sad that I overlooked eating this one:

I think the fava beans are happy. And lordy the tiny snapdragons starters that I planted last March are practically becoming their own forest. I've never seen such healthy snapdragons. I plan on pulling them out as they've kind of taken over, but now that I know they take such a shine to my yard I'll just start some new ones. Bulbs are peeking up all over the place, and the flowers in the eco-lawn seed are popping up happy as can be. Gee, I guess we should mow evenutally.

I've never had a fava bean, but I hear they are tasty. They smell lovely, like sweet peas and I love thier little black throats.

The rains should return tomorrow, but at least I got a moment to enjoy the yard. More rain is good, yes.

Let there be [bathroom] light

2009-02-15T11:19:00.001-08:00

Before:

After:

I'm pleased. We discussed getting a new medicine cabinet, but all those we looked at were chintzy or too big etc. Instead we replaced the mirror and clasps on the old one, cleaned it out, and painted it. I'm glad we did.

In other news I'm still not satisfied with the bedroom window treatments. I like the fabric, but not happy with the style of the panel. I'm going to get a new double rod and put sheers underneath, then add grommets at the top for some rings. I think that will please me more.

Well, I'm off to prime some beadboard and to visit with friends...not necessarily in that order!

Journey of bathroom painting

2009-02-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

The bathroom began blue. An institutional shade of blue. And it had a nasty spot in one ceiling corner from previous water damage (which DH skillfully fixed). We didn't like it.

And now came the question of what color for the walls? I suggested white, but we already went all-white route in the kitchen and DH thought it would be boring. So we discussed perhaps a light green. So after many moons of swatches hanging on the walls, we chose a very light yellow-ish green (after all the tile accents are yellow). Bad idea. It glowed. The room next to it glowed. Bad.

We quickly developed a new plan, a sage-ish green instead. I'd seen a lovely cottage bathroom in a magazine that had the white/sage/yellow scheme and I really liked it. And we are pleased. I love it.

Now I'm painting the trim and cabinet white, which looks lovely. Next comes the installation of the wainscoting. I can't wait to see how it will look!

Oh my it's February already.

2009-02-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

I realized I never did post a picture of the bedroom after finished so here you go. Note my lovely birthday present from Gypsy Junk in the corner. It looks very sweet with the candle lit inside of it! I have yet to finish the curtains (they need hemming and I need to decide upon the tie back situation) but everything else is done and I think DH did a particularly good job on the baseboard. He gets better every room. He's talking about crown molding. :)

I painted the hallway as well since last I posted. There is no point posting pictures of that, because it's pretty much the same color it was before (off white) except eggshell instead of flat and nice and fresh. I still need to paint the doors, trim and baseboard there.

We've moved on in earnest to the bathroom, fully prepped, and painted and now being repainted. The first attempt was too hideous for words. Every time I went in there I half expected an alien to burst out of my chest. Tooooo yellow-green. But now we've moved on to a sage color and we're both excited. It's gonna look sweet. Some before, during and after pictures will follow in other posts.

On the resolution front I suppose I should keep my resolution to make monthly resolutions (doing fairly well on January's) and make one for February. My resolution for this month is to stretch at least 5-10 minutes every day.

Well - busy weekend ahead!

For the love of dogs

2009-01-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

A very special friend of mine passed away yesterday, a pretty dog named Twist who I've been blessed with having in my life for over 13 years. A friend of mine emailed me this link and I think it's just the perfect thing. If you are lucky enough to have a dog, please remember to hug them today or take them for a nice walk and be grateful at how much dogs make the world a better place.

OHHHH NINE!

2008-12-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

Farewell 2008, I will not miss you for I am looking forward to another year...a better year!

I asked DH this morning what his New Year's Resolution will be. He said to "do more art". I think that's a good one, he draws and paints well and hasn't done it in years. Maybe I'll add that one to my list as well...something we can do together. :)

I suppose I could make a list like I usually do and it would sound much like most people's resolutions...eat better, excercise more, get up earlier, save money...blah blah blah. The fact of the matter is, that every year I keep making and breaking the same resolutions. I have some successes, some failures...but in general writing the same things down every year is starting to lose it's meaning. I know I need to do those things and why should I need New Year's day to remind me? Once, a couple of years ago I had a "mantra" instead of the usual giant list of resolutions. Though there was truly only a few weeks of thinking about that mantra every day, I still found it to be more effective in general then the big list.

Resolutions are hard to keep. A year's time frame is a long time for the human mind...research shows that habits are more often made and broken in about a months time.

With all this in mind, below are my "New Year's" resolutions...

1. Be less hasty. I need to slow down! I try to do everything at once...I rush impatiently through things, whether they be menial tasks or supposedly enjoyable hobbies. Consequently I am either dissapointed with the results or I don't enjoy things I should. I resolve to try and take more time and care when doing things, and be less focused on wanting results and wanting them yesterday!

2. Be a tourist in my own town. I love to travel. It's been a couple of years now since we've done any traveling and I am missing it terribly. I long for new vistas, new cultures, magical places (like the lovely Vernazza, pictured in my header...on the west coast of Italy). On our travels both abroad and in the USA, we have noticed that when people ask where we are from and we say the SF Bay Area, we often get comments like "OH! I've always wanted to visit San Francisco...you are so lucky to live there!". People come from all over to visit the bay area, and California. We have some of the most beautiful scenery, richest culture, and greatest diversity of anywhere in the world. I resolve to take better advantage of where we live and seek out adventures in my home town/state with the appreciative eyes of a visitor.

3. Make monthly resolutions. I think I'll have more success trying to build better habits on a monthly basis. Every month I resolve to think of a couple of small things that I can work on every day that month to improve the quality of life for me and my family and to be a better person in general. Build good habits, break bad ones! I strongly believe that small steps count. You cannot walk a mile without first taking a single step.

That said...my my January resolutions are:

1. Drink two more glasses of water every day then I do now. I am freakin' thirsty, already!
2. Buy or make a scrap pail for the kitchen and start using it!! We need to start composting our food scraps (or at the very least putting them in the green can instead of the trash).
3. Decide on and prepare what I am wearing to work the evening before. Frequently in the morning I waste time and get stressed out because I can't find the socks I want, or the shirt I was thinking about wearing is wrinkled and I don't have time to iron it etc. I think, especially considering the upcoming change in my office attire, that if I prepare thoroughly the night before that it will save me alot of time and stress in the mornings and allow for a better start to my day.

Happy New Year to you all! May you carry all the positive experiences from 2008 with you forever in your hearts, and may you cast off all the negative experiences from this past year and never look back.

Best!

Umm...not sure...

2008-12-30T15:42:00.001-08:00

We have been talking about how our very bright, very white kitchen needed some color. So I figured curtains would be good. Found this cute fabric that ties in the yellow tile with all our decorations (mostly red, yellow, black) very well. But now that I've bought, washed and cut it...I stuck it up there in it's approximate position and wonder if it's too dark. Thoughts?

Much Improved

2008-12-28T09:57:00.001-08:00

It may be difficult to even tell from these pictures, but the master bathroom is indeed much improved. The only thing that makes this bathroom a "master" is that it's attached to our bedroom....it's actually the size of a powder room. It has a shower of mint green 1950 era tile, which is actually in pristine condition. For that reason, and because we have a bit of an appreciation for all thing retro, we are keeping it, but we do not wish to keep much else.

The walls were super dingy and maybe used to be off white a long time ago.

The appliances are original "Standard". The toilet will be replaced for certain. We might leave the sink, as it will be hard to even find a pedestal sink that will fit in here. We did take the icky legs off, and I think I'll make a little skirt for it to hide the plumbing and make some storage underneath.

The 1950's linoleum actually wouldn't be half bad (it's certainly "period") if it wasn't rotten, crumbling in spots and filthy beyond getting clean with any amount of scrubbing. This floor will be replaced eventually. We are going to tile it...maybe with white octagon tiles...and add baseboard. We are thinking of doing subway tiles up the wall...but not sure about that. We are also considering adding some kind of accent tile to the white that will play on the mint green of the shower. They make old ceramic shaped tiles nowadays in clear glass in a variety of colors.

Generally we only use the "master" bathroom for peeing in the middle of the night, or if someone is occupying the bigger bathroom in the hall. We have started prepping that bathroom in earnest for it's little face lift (more on that later). But in the meantime, I simply had to make the little bathroom more presentable, and more pleasurable to use. So until we get around to new floor/toilet, I settled for a nice fresh coat of paint, scrubbing the floor, and some new linens.

I primed it first with mold resistant primer, and here you can see the cut in of the paint against the dingy primed walls:

And here is the mostly finished product:

This bathroom was a pain in the ass to paint, because of it's small size and awkward angles. I managed to get paint all over me and my pajamas, lol. I'd bend over to paint some corner and boom...my butt would hit some freshly painted section.

Still to do is to paint the door trim, a new shower head, some hooks behind the door for robes/towels, and maybe a small touch of art. But we already are much, much happier. If you don't look too close at the floor...it's actually a nice fresh little bathroom now! Hooray!

On to the main bathroom....

Winter Garden

2008-12-27T16:43:00.000-08:00

The garden is enjoying the rains we just had. It's mucky out there, but green. Aside from what I posted in my sidebar, here are some shots.

Huckleberry:

Sweet Broom (this was very unhappy originally in this spot, but has recently decided to start thriving):

Sweet peas, fava beans, carrots, beets and onions:

My new garden buddy, a xmas pressie from DH:

It felt good to get outside today for some raking, trimming etc. I don't like the cold and rain much, so I've been getting lazy and avoiding my early morning walks....which has been giving me cabin fever. I need to suck it up and put a jacket on in the mornings. Otherwise the poor doggies and I will both start getting fatter, and quickly.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday.

My, how time flies

2008-12-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

Well, it's only a few days now until christmas. I can 't believe how near this year is to it's close. I have a new computer finally, which ROCKS. I've been very busy at work and doing random things at home. I don't have a lot to say today, but here are some flicks:

The spread at the baby shower for Gypsy Junk:

Our house lit up with some pretty lights:

And possibly best of all, the shelves that DH built for us in the garage. This really opens things up for us, creating a ton of storage:

I love being able to get to all my sewing, craft and canning supplies easily rather then having to pull everything out of a dark closet to go through. We've been slacking on the home improvement lately, as we've wanted to do little else but sit with blankies and hot beverages watching Lost (into season 3 now). But I think I might continue on the little bathroom today amidst shopping etc.

Cheers, all. And Happy Holidays

Distractions

2008-12-03T08:24:00.001-08:00

There have been many. Time is flitting away. I haven't been accomplishing what I need to accomplish. Work has been the primary distraction...I know for sure that I have a job, which is nice. But my days just got very very busy...which is nice, albeit problematic - longer hours, and not enough time for xmas shopping on lunch breaks. /sigh.

Then there are the more pleasant distractions. Turkey day being one of course. Then I've developed some new addictions. Then there is "Twilight" (the books, which I haven't been able to put down until I finally finished them) and "Lost", which DH and I have decided to get hooked on, 4 years late. We are trying to motor through 4 seasons on DVD before season 5 starts in January.

And now at long last, the new computer has arrived and I'm sure that the juicier graphics and lag free playing will make WoW a refreshed vice for me. So what time does this leave for painting and other household endeavors? Not much.

It hasn't been a total waste of a couple of weeks though! I did some gardening which was nice. And I made curtains for our bedroom which turned out cool (they have yet to be hemmed though). DH calls my fabric choice "space age" and he likes it. And DH built shelves in our garage! I'll have pics soon. But for now, unfortunately, work is calling.

Garage Door

2008-11-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

Before:

After:

Endless Projects

2008-11-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

So I have no pictures. Mostly because my home computer is acting up SO badly, that I can't seem to send them to myself at work for blogging purposes. I desperately need a new computer, which I think I just might order a new one this week. After all the warcraft expansion is released today, and I'm jonesing for some Wrath of the Lich King. Unfortunately with the way my computer is behaving I'm concerned that it won't be able to even run the new program. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed! I'm thinking of going through Dell again.

Hopefully the Lich King will not keep me too occupied to keep working on my endless projects! The bedroom trim is painted. I pulled the tape off this morning and it looks lovely. There are some touchups I need to do on the baseboards etc. Then I need to install some curtain rods to hang my makeshift curtains from until the fabric arrives for the new curtains. I'm thinking some type of roman shade or plantation blinds for under the curtains....but the windows seem to be an odd size and I'm getting concerned they may require a special order. The door replacements are outstanding, as are some questions about bedside lighting (i want sconces, but we need to think about a new bed)...but those things are small and can be done anytime. I'm just excited to have our clothes and furniture back in the bedroom again!!

Bathrooms are next. I've decided that rather then getting totally hung up on doing everything at once I'm just gonna paint shit. Our tiny master bath will take a day or two to paint but I'd been putting it off thinking that we should do a new floor and toilet at the same time. But those are things DH must do and he has lots of things on his list aside from these. So why should that stop me from painting??? I have the paint for the master bath already - using the same paint I've been using on all the trim in the house. It will be white. I do plan on scrubbing the shit out of the floor, and making a curtain to hit the underside of the corner sink, and I think I'll replace the medicine cabinet as well. Then when DH has time we'll go ahead and do tile, a new toilet and some more lighting.

The main hallway bathroom we are going to get into pretty quick. I have talked DH into removing the yucky shower doors and I have ordered a shower curtain ring from a Vintage Tub company online. It should be here in a week or so. We are going to pull out the crooked tile baseboard, install new baseboard, install wainscotting to the level of the sink's tile (chair level) with a little trim on top. The trim, vanity cabinet and wainscotting will all be painted white. The walls and ceiling will be painted a very light yellow-ish green. This was at DH's insistance. I wanted a vanilla cream color or something else. But he put his foot down on this one....he wants green dammit! New towel racks, toilet paper holder, lighting and a low flush toilet are also in order. Not sure about the medicine cabinet. I'm considering adding trim to the existing mirror instead. It's still quite serviceable otherwise. We also need to regrout everything...ugh. I've ordered some new shower curtains that I think will possible go with the new color scheme *fingers crossed*. And I need new bath rugs desperately, mine are getting funky.

Soooo much fun! I'm really on a mission to have the rest of the interior of the house painted by new years. I want it all off my to-do list!!

Progress in the bedroom

2008-11-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

What's that?? Oh, honestly. You guys really do have one track minds!!! The progress I speak of is in regards to painting, silly!

Here is a "before picture of the bedroom - after I've removed most of the furniture. Please forgive the unmade state of the bed:

Here is a picture of the contrast of the primer against the dinginess of the 1958 paint job:

Here is what it looks like after the ceiling has been painted off white, and the walls a light grey color called "Portland Whitebed". The result is quite subtle. I almost wish I'd gone with the next darker color on the paint chip. But it's pleasant and cooling and DH really likes it. Regardless it is a huge improvement:

I still need to touch up the line where the walls meet the ceiling, and paint the trim. DH started installing new baseboard last night. YAY! I will be making new curtains for the windows, and the closet doors will be replaced either with curtains, or new doors. I really want Japanese style doors, but I've been pricing them and they are incrediblly expensive. I got one quote for....$1700!!! I don't think so! So it will probably be curtains.

Just to the right of the closet out of the picture is our teeny tiny "master bath". That will get a new door as well. But I'll get into that more in a seperate thread when I finally start on that room (which will be next).

One nice thing about the color of the walls is that its very neutral, it will be most conducive to a change in decor/linens should I desire one. I imagine Joe will be done with the baseboard by the weekend. I have extensive family plans over the weekend, so I figure over the next week the baseboard and trim will get painted and then we can finally move our furniture back in. It will be nice to have all our dressers etc. in one place again.

The pumpkin party at DH's parents was fun. I simply must show you a picture of their amazing garden. This is but a small snapshot. They are retired so have plenty of time to tend to it. Plus they get full sun allllllll day, and they've been working on their soil for 15 years. Amazing.

Well that's all for me today. This week is eternally slow. I should have pictures of baseboard for you next week.

Moving on...

2008-10-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

The light seems to have changed this morning, I smell winter's approach. It's supposed to rain this weekend. And I am glad. I look forward to a weekend indoors. I have no costume planned for Samhain (Halloween, All Hallow's Eve...whatever your poison ;) and I suppose I'll just hand candy out to any trick-or-treater's that brave the rains. DH's band has a show on Saturday that I can't say I'm terribly excited about, but will probably attend. It is a costume party...whatever shall I do? My usual fall back of Ren Faire costume isn't what I have in mind. Maybe a witch?

DH's parents are holding their annual pumpkin drop party on Sunday, which I am excited for. His family is so nice (lucky me!) and his parents friends are quite friendly and fun to be around.

I primed our bedroom last night with mold resistant primer (if you recall we had a mold problem in there last winter). That stuff is pretty nasty. It smells unfortunately toxic. This weekend I plan on painting the ceiling and at least the first coat on the walls. Then I'll be painting the trim over the following week. Then DH can do the baseboards!! YAY!

I'm debating a bit on window treatments and a replacement for the closet doors. When shopping with the girls I found the cutest navy blue batik cotton with little bubbly circles on it. But it's 10 bucks a yard. I imagine I'll need about 10 yards, so that's 100 bucks. I think I'm gonna go there...buying curtains isn't any cheaper really. They didn't have enough...so perhaps I'll have to stop by and order it tomorrow.

Joe and I have also been debating about the kitchen curtains. We both agree that the kitchen needs more color, but we aren't sure about having the curtains be the red fabric that I found. It might be a little too dark. It's a pretty bright kitchen though, so it might work, but we'd have to see it in action before we actually decided. So here's what I'm gonna do...I'll buy the fabric with enough yardage for the curtains. If we hold it up to the window and decide it's too dark, then I'll make chair cushions out of the fabric and stick with white curtains. If we like, then I'll make the curtains and do something else for chair cushions. :D

Fun! Oh...I should go work and stuff.

Cheers...

Daylight is waning...

2008-10-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

Every day the sun is setting a little bit earlier. They say it will finally start to cool down and, *gasp* even rain soon! This last weekend I spent Saturday shopping and playing video games. But Sunday, I spend working on the front flower bed. The left half of the bed is now done - tan bark gone, soil turned and drought tolerant perennials and bulbs added. I also added a couple of perennials in the back yard

Before:

After:

I reused some of the "granny brick" (much to DH's dismay) to set around the spigot and sprinker valves, and I plan on lining it with cloth then putting gravel in there for a small spot to wash off garden tools, hands etc. I think it's cute and a nice way to re-use something that would have gone to the dumps. He hates the granny brick. But I won this one. :)

I hope to complete the other front bed next weekend, before it gets much cooler and before the rush of holiday's begins. Starting the first weekend in November, I have something going on just about every weekend. And gosh, I haven't done any canning, or started my apricot liquor yet! There just isn't enough time in the week for everything I want to do.

Well, I guess I'll "work" now. Strange environment we have here now. It's 8:30am, and I'm the only person in the office. I think morale is a bit low. Not long now until we find out our fates. Keep your fingers crossed for "transitional" status!!

Autumn Activities

2008-10-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

I love this weather. Love it! The brisk mornings and hot afternoons are very satisfying to my senses. Now the painting is done I've turned to the yard in hopes of getting a few things done before the weather turns again. I've been seeking a birdbath, and finally I found one that pleases me. And I got it 10% off, because of a small chip it has on it's facade. It's stone, but is glazed so that it almost looks like metal that has aged so much that it has a dark rich patina to it. I love it. It looks distant and naked in this picture, but as I plant more and the yard grows over the years it will be more at home. The birds haven't discovered it yet, but I hear a Water Wiggler will do the trick.

After long thought about what to do about our dustbowl of a back yard "lawn" I decided to overseed it with this stuff called Enriolawn which is a mixture of hard fescue and drought tolerant perennial ground covers like clover. Supposedly once established you only have to water it a couple of times a month in the summer. We'll see how it goes.

Boy was it hard work! I thatched the lawn first (though I probably shoulda rotatilled it and started from scratch), then spread the seed, then mulched it with peat moss. The rich brown of the peat moss is actually a rather nice change from the hay-yellow. There is enough seed left over to overseed the front yard. We are ripping it out next year, but in the meantime this hopefully will green it up a little.

Speaking of the front yard, I also started working on removing the tan bark, turning the soil and planting in our flower bed. I got about half done with one of the big beds. More very hard work.

The part I did looks SO much better!! (forgive the shakiness of the picture, it was almost dark). I planted Lantana, Lavendar, Rosemary, Wormwood and Dwarf Periwinkle. All of which is drought tolerant. I also planted a good number of bulbs. I have a good many more to plant! I already look forward to their appearance in Spring.

I had planned to do some canning this weekend...namely apples, which are falling off the tree and the dogs are enjoying all the spoils. But I never got around to it. Maybe this week or next weekend I shall get to it. And the persimmons are looking very close to ready.

On other fronts, I finally got around to installing this light fixture which I've been carrying around with me for about 8 years. I bought it when I painted a bedroom in a rental house those many moons ago, but didn't have the heart to install it in someone elses house. It really was too small for a bedroom anyways. So DH kindly installed it for me in the hallway. Why this picture flipped sideways when I posted it is a mystery, but it does little to impact the prettiness of the fixture itself.

So anyhoo...the next couple of weeks will be taken up with finishing my fall gardening, and starting to work on our bedroom! I've already ripped out the baseboard (DH was groaning), washed the ceiling and about half the walls. I also have moved most of the furniture out. I did all that a couple of weeks ago, but now I'm ready to get moving. We'll finish washing it tonight and perhaps start priming over the next several weeknights.

Busy Busy Busy!

More..and more.

2008-10-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

It got cold! Or at least it did for a minute. Last night was the first night we didn't sleep with the windows open, and we were still chilly. This morning we turned on the heater for the first time since last winter. I was freezing!

But this morning as I sat on the front porch, drinking a piping hot cup of coffee, painting thoughtfully, as the breeze blew through to my bones...the wind chimes sang to me of autumn... and I decided that I minded not.

We are finished...with all but some touch-ups. The tape is off the windows. It looks gorgeous. I'm satisfied. Here are some more details:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

And if you recall a previous post, you can see the porch is much improved...though the porch floor needs some work. We plan on tiling it with some nice rustic slate:

Finally some more time for gardening, and moving on to the next projects...of course! Stay tuned for our fall projects.

Ah fall....

Let there be light...

2008-10-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Some small details...

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Another Busy Weekend

2008-10-06T11:34:00.001-07:00

After a crazy week we departed into a crazy weekend. I came down with a nasty cold Thursday night and have been down with it all weekend. Unfortunately there was simply too much happening to really take any time to rest. I'm not sure if I just worked through it but I'm feeling a bit better today.

Saturday was my aunts memorial service and reception. That made for a busy day...sad too...but we tried to focus on celebrating her life. Hopefully the luck we've had as a family will turn now...just as summer is turning to fall.

Sunday we finished the second coat on the house. We are very close now...close to finishing that monstrous project! Only trim and touch-ups remain, which we will be working on over the next week and weekend. Finally! It looks great IMO. I'm in love with the new color.

Finally now that the painting is winding down I was able to spend a little time in the garden. I took a half day this morning to recover from seeing Gogol Bordello (my friends, if you are not yet in love with this band, then you simply must open your heart to them), which was FANTASTIC! The best show I've seen in ages. Anyhoo...this morning I felt better then I expected so got two of the beds planted. All the beds will get crops that will reportedly either produce in winter, or will overwinter nicely and produce in very early spring.

These beds got carrots, onions, sweet peas, beets and fava beans. I couldn't bear to rip out the snapdragons which I've read will overwinter.

Over the next week-ish, I'll be harvesting the peppers, tomatoes and sunflower seeds so that I can start working on the big beds which will get a bunch of cool crops.

I'm so pleased with the way the plants look against the new house color. This border bed is particularly pleasing to me right now with the mums coming into bloom. I just received about 100 bulbs which will be planted in various places, but several will go in this bed for some early spring color.

Anyways...this post is rather scattered in its stylings and its because I'm in a hurry...you see I only have a half day off and I must get to preparing to leave for work. Ick.

Cheers...

Downtrodden

2008-10-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading--treading--till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through--

And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum--
Kept beating--beating--till I thought
My Mind was going numb--

And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space--began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here--

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down--
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing--then--

Emily Dickinson, 1896

Before and After

2008-09-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

I don't have the energy to say much. We painted our asses off this weekend, and even hired an out of work friend to help us yesterday (smartest thing we've done in a while). We finished all the priming and then did the entire first coat of paint. Unfortunately it will need a second coat, but such is life. That will go fast, and then we have to paint the trim and a few roof spots and we're done.

Before:

After:

Yay.

Priming and other endeavors

2008-09-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

We had a 3 day weekend, with Friday off, so that we could join my family in sprinkling my dear Auntie's ashes. We embarked from Alameda and sprinkled her ashes just past the Golden Gate where her DH was laid to rest. Afterward we had a long and leisurely family dinner with drinks and it was a lovely day. Her official memorial is in two weeks.

Otherwise....we primed. Yes at long last some actual color is there to behold, albiet a couple of shades lighter then the topcoat will be. It looks lovely considering it's only prime....or maybe that's just because the surface it covered was so truly horrific.

We got the garage wall and half of the front of the house covered with the prime. It has to be cut in first of course, which is a bit time consuming. But we are JUICED now that the very slow and horrible parts of painting are over and we've reached the fun part! DH has band practice tonight so I will be finishing priming the windows and then tomorrow we'll try to knock out the rest of the house front...hopefully by midday saturday we'll be starting on the top coat. Could it be that we'd be done by the end of next weekend? (not counting the window trim /sigh)

We'd have gotten the entire front done had we not taken a much needed day off yesterday. I went to Faire as planned and it was quite fun as always. Great company and yummy beer, rum and foodies. I also scored some excellent loot - smelly soap, yummy teas, new perfume oils, a lovely picture for framing, and a new green ren skirt. I'd been eyeing green skirts for some time. I love my current costume which the lovely Seamstrix Art fashioned for me, but it's been some years now that I've been wearing it and I wanted to spice things up or have an alternative option to choose from, especially since in the last few years I attend more then one faire. The skirt I selected would look lovely as a new overskirt for my current costume, would work nicely as an underskirt for the belly dancing costume I'm putting together, and would also be versatile should I choose to create a new ren costume of a different flavor in the future - I've often thought of doing something either hunts-woman or celtic themed and the new skirt would work well for either.

I may attend again on the last weekend, depends on how things are going. But if I don't I cannot complain of being bereft of the joys of the shire.

Check!

2008-09-17T07:50:00.001-07:00

Final coat on the eaves, gutters and roof of porch overhang - CHECK! We busted ass and got them finished over the last two days. There are some fascia that remains (easy compared to eaves) that requires being on the rooftop to do. So DH will be working on that tomorrow (I don't go on the roof, I don't like it). I'll be doing some touch ups today and believe it or not this means we can start with the house primer this weekend!! The house primer is tinted dark, just a shade or so lighter then the house paint, so even though it's primer, it will be a dramatic step. Overjoyed! The end almost seems in sight now. And of course I'm taking a day off this weekend...but whatever I deserve it, and I'm going to FAIRE! I *heart* faire. Huzzah!

Eave-il

2008-09-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings bloglings...I'm afraid another weekend and come and gone. And what, you ask, do I have to show for it? Sadly, much less then I'd hoped. It does seem that everything takes quite longer then we plan for. The good news is that I've completed the first topcoat of paint on the eaves and gutters. The bad news is that the second coat is only about a quarter done, and we'd scheduled to have it done by the end of the weekend.

Further good news is that the second coat goes much faster then the first coat. Further bad news is that my right wrist has taken a large dump on me. It's been bothering me a little ever since last weekend when we used the sprayer. Something about holding the trigger constantly on that large vibrating tool (shuusshh...you guys are dirty, honestly) aggrivated my wrist. It hasn't been too bad over the last week, but Saturday after about 4 hours of painting I realized that I had a problem.

This latest development is very dissapointing. Not only did it slow my own progress significantly...the things I would normally do during "down time"...e.g. working on painting inside or playing video games...were off limits because they'd only aggrivate it further. After some resistance I went to the store and bought a carpal tunnel wrist brace so that I could try to get some more work done without making matters totally worse. I hate the idea of wearing the brace, I have this fear of becoming dependant on things like that...I know a certain someone like that. But enough of that, because no one really takes that kind of talk seriously anyhow.

It's still achey today and I'm a little worried about working (keyboard and mouse), but I've brought the darned brace to work and plan on treating it otherwise with advil and ice.

I'd like to close this morning with a wee poem:

Ode to my Stalker

Oh stalker, I hear of your passing by
I blame you not for your curiosity
I'm told of your waving and smiling
Enjoying the sight of our monstrosity

Why do you not stop for tea?
Your driving on I can't understand
Could it be that you truly fear
We'd put a paintbrush in your hand?

Realism bites

2008-09-11T11:08:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have created a schedule. Not my usual one where I assume we can get 5 times more stuff done then we actually can. This one is realistic, accounting for other things that are going on and how we never do anything as fast as I'd like. This schedule shows us finishing painting the house around October 12th.

I suppose that's okay, it's on the two of us and we only have weekends plus about 1.5hours to work most weeknights. But it's kind of discouraging. I'd hoped to get more done this year. I haven't even started my winter seedlings or prepped my beds for the winter crops. At this rate we won't get the front yard done this year for sure. Or the fence. Or most of the things on the list. So I'm trying to let go.

If we finish the paining by mid October, then I'm hoping we can handle the Master "suite" (for lack of a better word) by year end. That's the next most important section to be done. And if we can finish that, then I suppose I'll be satisfied and leave the other projects for another time.

Welcome to the Maskerade

2008-09-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I woke up bright and early Saturday morning and masked everything. All the windows and doors. We had (as planned) purchased a small paint sprayer to prime the eaves with. We had to exchange it (not as planned) because apparantly we bought a model that will not spray latex paint. We also didn't get any further work done on Saturday mostly because I was trying to figure out how to use the damned thing and besides, poor DH was down for the count with food poisoning all that day (also not as planned).

Sunday he felt slightly better and we used the new sprayer to prime all the eaves and the ceiling of the porch. It worked quite well, contrary to horrific reviews we'd read on it. The thing with this little sprayer is that you MUST follow the directions and you MUST clean it periodically or no dice. It's pretty tiring to use however, my arms started to get very sore, and my right wrist hasn't felt quite right since, especially when using a computer mouse.

As you can see above, even the prime is an improvement over the horrific, peeling, rotten mauve that was accosting my eye-balls previously. I don't believe we'll use the sprayer to to the top coat however. Despite the success of the priming experience, the extensive masking and cleaning that is involved with using the sprayer is almost not worth it IMO. It served its purpose and the coat of prime got up in all the little cracks of the eaves where the oreo cookies were coming out.

I've already begun on the top coat as well...by hand. We're going with white at DH's insistance, though I kind of think that a dark chocolate brown on the gutters would be nicer. We'll see how it goes. Unfortunately it is clear already that we'll need two coats of the paint despite the prime underneath. /sigh. I swear to you this paint job will never be done. Ever.

In other fronts: last week on vacation Gypsy Junk and I canned something like 9 pounds of my fresh grown tomatoes from my garden. We came out with just under 6 jars (see above) and it was good fun.

It's not fun to be back at work. I have a new project which will be very challenging and we are going through the usual (for this year) shakeups with the latest development being a new CEO.

The worst of all news, which most of you who read here already know, is that my darling Auntie died Sunday from brain/lung cancer. I've been terribly sad, and now I'm feeling rather numb. Oh yes, another funeral to plan for our family. Far more then our fair share IMO. She was such a really neat person too...tons of class and compassion and intelligence and strength. She had a very interesting history, perhaps I'll speak more of it here later. I hope that somewhere in the great beyond she and my dad are sharing a bottle of port together.

Ouchie

2008-09-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sore from all this painty work. The rule of painting the outside of a house is: soffets and facia (eaves and the little strips along the roof) first, then cut in the house color (around the windows, base and eaves), then paint the house color, then do the rest of the trim last. So we started with priming the eaves, with the plan of following that with painting the eaves with the top coat, then moving on. However I'm running into an issue already. Some of our eaves are rotten in places that you replace when you replace the roof, which we aren't doing until after Uncle Sam pays us next year. And our roof is okay for now but was laid improperly on top of several old layers of rotten roof. So where the edge of the eave meets the gutter is an ugly dirty gap that isn't supposed to be there, and the back of the gutter and the front of the eave needs to be painted there. And when you run the brush along it, lots of junk that looks like Oreo cookies falls out...gets in your hair, your freshly spread paint, and on the brush. It's super icky and not at all good.

So the solution? I told DH that I want to spray the eaves instead of hand painting them. We were leaning away from spraying because we've been told by experts that it's not the best method for stucco (doesn't get the paint in the texture well enough), plus you have to worry about masking things better, getting paint on your roof, your car, your neighbor's car etc. So our plan is to borrow a paint sprayer this weekend from a friend, and spray the eaves and the eaves only. We will still handpaint the gutters (to save the roof from overspray) and the trim, and will still roll the house. I think this will solve the icky oreo cookie gutter problem.

I'm a little nervous about using the sprayer. I have a feeling this is going to be something that I make DH do...don't look at me that way, he'll enjoy it! I'll take care of the masking of the windows and maybe start cutting in or priming trim while he's busy spraying. :D

Is it ever gonna be done? Like, ever? Ever?

"I'm not dead yet!....

2008-08-31T13:25:00.001-07:00

...I think I'll go for a walk!" That's the story with this plant, if you recall from a previous post, we had cut down this diseased bush with the intention of figuring out a way to remove it's stump so we could plant something different there. However, the plant feels happy and has other ideas. It is bringing forth new life from the wreckage. Who am I to argue with mother nature? The new growth is healthy and non-diseased thus far.

The camellia stump has shown no such come back, which is good because I have plans for that spot, so that spot is still coming out. And when I get bids for some random things I'd like done in the yard, removing that stump will be one of the things.

The other thing (or shall I say person) that is not dead yet is, well, me. I'm exhausted! We are both feeling it, but mostly me ;). We have finished most of the prep: Sprayed, scraped and sanded the entire house; washed the whole house down and painted it with peel stop primer. Now we are doing the last of the prep. Sanding here and there, restoring rotten window trim, fixing the broken porch railing, removing fixtures...etc. before we start priming. We bought the paint and primer today. The paint store guy tinted our primer dark enough that we'll only have to do one coat of paint over it (hopefully). Here's a little picture of the front as of today. Note the color patch where I 'marked my territory', since another neighbor is painting and I didn't feel like doing the color waiting game again.

Numerous neighbors have come up to tell us how rad we are and how they've been watching us work our asses off and are very impressed. Everyone so far loves the color choice. I got into a long conversation with one neighbor about how ugly the house is during the prep phase and it led to a discussion of yards wherein I apologized for how hideous our yard is and explained that we'll be ripping it out and replacing it with a garden soon. The lady got all excited and actually high-fived me and said they were planning to do the same, which was kind of nice to hear.

Anyhoo - I suppose I should be doing stuff...so off I go!

Cheerio mateys, happy Labor Day!

Progress

2008-08-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

We've been working our little asses off prepping the house. We've finally finished the scraping and sanding which is the hardest work. So of course it finally cooled off today! I must say, DH is a mad dog! He barely takes breaks even when working in the hot sun. What a stud! I'm lucky to have such a hard workin' hubby. Today should be easier...caulking, patching and painting peel stop primer. A nice rest from the back breaking work of scraping and sanding peeling eaves!

So I decided since we won't be working as hard today, that I might as well add another project. We moved half the furniture out of our bedroom last night and I've already patched and sanded everything in there. I need to finish ripping out the baseboard, wash the walls, and then prime with mildew resistant primer (this is where we had the mold problems in the winter time!). I figure on doing that over the next couple of evenings, after which I can paint that room. So outside during the days, and bedroom at night. Projects! Once that's all done we'll only have the office, the hallway and the two little bathrooms to be painted and we'll be DONE painting! I wonder if I can finish it all in the next couple of months? That would be nice.

Okay, enough dallying...off to work!

Post 1 - "The Good"

2008-08-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

Camping in Calaveras Big Trees along the Stanislaus River:

Jellies at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (I wish I had a better camera here):

Sunset on Carmel Beach:

Post 2 - "The Bad and the Ugly"

2008-08-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a little taste of the pain of prepping our house to paint. This doesn't even show the walls! It's pretty brutal. Suffice it to say, none of the previous paint jobs were done properly and we are paying for it...especially in this heat.

But when all is said and done, hopefully we'll have a nice little green cottage...a non-craftsman version of this beauty. (BTW the neighbor's went with light green, the SAME light green as our light green patch that I showed in a previous post in fact! It looks fabulous, but we are happy just the same as we kinda like the loden green better).

OMG - I don't think we're ever gonna finish. And when we're done, moving on to the front yard before the rains start. I've got a good game plan in mind and have been googe-image searching cottage gardens and xerioscaping and driving/walking around looking at other yards. I have it pretty figured out. I think I'm gonna hire someone to do some of this shit though. We have so much to do! I don't feel like digging up the lawn myself, or having poor Joe replace the water main with copper (we figure, while the yard is dug up, might as well). So much work!

Hmmmmm.....

2008-08-18T08:24:00.001-07:00

Which green to pick? We've determined either option is sufficiently different from our neighbors' greens to go with. Right now we are leaning towards the darker color "Villita" which is kind of a loden green. Keep in mind all trim will be white. The other color, "Lemongrass" is lovely but I'm concerned it might look a little washed out once it's on the whole house. DH actually likes the darker one too and is happy to go with it...we are just a little nervous I guess! It's pretty dark...though I know outdoor paint looks lighter once its all on there. My friend suggested, and I agree, that the darker color is very Oakland/Berkeley cottage...and would go nicely with the type of garden we are planning for the front. Any and all opinions are welcome.

Vacation begins on Friday! I swear that I'm as excited for this vacation as I have been for either of our European jaunts. We are starting off with a weekend of camping with friends (many thanks to the beauteous Gypsy Junk for watching my doggie doos). Then we return for a day, then we are off to Monterey and Carmel for a two day anniversary trip (thanks here to the beauteous Jenny for the doggie duty). Other then that we plan on working on the house. A Stay-cation. I'm sooooo excited. Did I mention I was excited? If we manage to get all the prep and priming done by the end of our vacation I'll be pleased. Then we can paint the following weekend.

In closing, here's a lovely shot of my hubby-kins with miss Bendeja, looking proper.

Bloom Sequence

2008-08-14T08:13:00.001-07:00

I love sunflowers! Next year I'm gonna plant way more of them, and this time in places that get more sun. I have quite a few more that are blooming in slow motion because they don't get enough. Not much else to report. Very tired this week. I've been staying up later then normal getting my Olympics fix. I'm a "Phelps Phan" like the chick on the stupid wireless phone commercial! Anyhoo....this weekend will be devoted mostly to prepping the house for painting. We are back on the green tip...despite it all. Our next door neighbor told us he was planning on re-painting his house soon and I put up a bunch of color chips and Joe still likes the two green options best - even better then tan, which is what I expected him to like! So now it's between a nice Loden green and a lightish green called "lemongrass". White trim...despite some rather vocal advice we've had to the contrary. We like the clean and crisp look of white trim.

Maybe I'll have an official color decision to report next week. Or pictures of paint swatches or something. Until then...

My oh my..

2008-08-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

...another weekend come and gone in a flash. The windows were finished this weekend...well mostly finished. DH is taking the day off today and the guy is still there and needs only to do some stucco patching and caulking etc. My favorite part now is the new garden widow in the kitchen. You can see above how it was just a run o the mill window. Below shows the transformation. I love it! I feel like I had an addition put on the kitchen because it's so big!

The neighbors keep coming by and complimenting us, which feels good. Now we simply must decide on a freakin' paint color!! Lots and lots to do still, inside and out. I don't know how it will all get done before the weather changes.

Speaking of which, when I woke this morning I had a realization that its a bit darker then it's been at that time in the morning. And I noticed the sun setting well before 9pm again. I smell fall approaching! I do love fall...I love the breeze and the smell of the air, and the crisp mornings and ren faire and such. But I really have work to do! And to top it all off the family struggles continue. This has been some year. I must really focus now...I need to get on top of all this stuff.

Have a good week everyone!

Best Laid Plans

2008-07-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Our best laid plans for the outside paint color on our house have gone awry, I'm afraid. I was so pleased that we'd arrived at the conclusion of sagey-green with white trim...something we could actually both agree on! (he likes grey, I like red, or chocolate brown or yellowy-beige). Anyhoo, we were in the market yesterday when we heard a chipper "hullo, neighbor" and thus we met Michelle. Neighbor of two doors down, wife to Jason (who happens to be the guitarist for the Dance-Hall Crashers) and mother to two lovely tow-head girls. She was quite nice but in the course of our conversation we learned that she too was planning on house-painting, and that she too had sagey-green in mind. I suppose it wouldn't matter so much if the house in between us wasn't already green with white trim (a spearaminty-green). Three houses in a row painted green with white trim might just be too much. /sigh.

So now we are trying to think of other options that we'll find mutually pleasing. The current winner is a rich tan with white trim. We both like it...it would look good. The only problem is, it would totally match our living room! Would that be wierd, to have the outside of the house and the living area matching? Heh. Almost like an optical illusion! We must choose soon...because the windows are in (most of them). And they draw attention to the fact that our house is a dirty peach with peeling mauve trim (UGH, wtf was grandma thinking??).

The picture at the top of this post is the before of the front window. Here is the after. I must say I'm pretty pleased.

I'm taking a week off in August for camping, and then working on the house. Perhaps we'll accomplish the painting that week? In the meantime there's plenty to do inside.

My other garden

2008-07-28T10:45:00.001-07:00

Upon arriving at my mother's house Saturday, she said "go look at your garden". Oh yeah! The other garden! I'd forgotten in the haze that has been the last few months. The week before my dad's funeral, I looked upon my mothers back yard with despair. The deck is rotting, and at that time the flower beds were full of weeds and cigarette butts (yes my brother has been sharply scolded). I had to make it look decent for the reception for my dad, so I went and spent 40 bucks on annuals, a couple perennials, and some compost and then worked my little hiney off cleaning out the boxes, amending the soil and planting the plants. I also sprinkled a HUGE can of wildflower seed that my mother had stashed. She'd been too busy with dad to get to the yard this year. Wildflower seed is about all the gardening she ever does, she prefers desert landscape.

When all was said and done the back deck looked decent and pretty and I'd forgotten about it since. But mom has been watering it regularly and I neglected to consider what 2 months of desert sunshine would do. It's glorious! I simply must include a bed that can have summer wildflowers when we redo our front yard.

In other news most of the windows are in. I'll have some juicy before and after pics for you later this week. Until then please enjoy:

Little projects and a wee harvest

2008-07-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely weekend, the weather was fresh and smoke-free. We did bbq and go see the new Batman (wow, I like it!) with some friends. Other then that it a great time for a few little projects around the house.

The first of which being the other front yard shrub that we decided needed to go - the overgrown camelia. We were slightly more reluctant with this one, as it was quite healthy and had probably been in that spot for 20 years or more. But it's placement was poor...it overgrew onto the porch, rotting the porch railing. And to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of camelias (we had tons when I was growing up, as our land was fairly shady - and I tired of them) and would not turn to them willingly unless I had a very very shady yard to work with. And we are planning on putting a new garden window in the kitchen window above it.

So out it went. And once it was gone I felt less bad about it. The best news is that DH has finally completely come over to the dark side. Or the green side as it were...he came in the other day after raking the front yard and said "I'm so f'n sick of lawn". YES. He's seen the light and has agreed to let me rip up the front yard and replace it with a garden. I've been plotting and will start drawing plans soon. We are waiting until after the windows and paint, and just before rainy (crosses fingers) season so it will take less to get it established. The only argument now is fenced vs. not fenced. I prefer the former, he the latter. We had a rental house that had a wee picket fence around the front yard, and I liked it.

In other projects, I decided to refurbish some old patio chairs my gramps made a long time ago.

They were pretty rough, so I washed and sanded them thoroughly.

I've managed to get one of them painted and I think it turned out pretty nice. I still need to fashion some cushions for them:

I also took an early morning trip to Home Depot, only for a bag of mulch, and found just the right chairs to go with my patio table...on sale! For 13 bucks each. Holding out for the right deal is the way to go. Finally I have an actual patio dining set. It inspired to me rearrange my patio set up. See my new dining room? I just need the umbrella...which again, I'll wait for the right deal to buy one:

What better way to enjoy a new patio set then with a bbq? And for the bbq we enjoyed a wee harvest. Other then zucchini and lettuce, my garden has not yet been a big producer. But it is my first real expiriment and so I'm enjoying what rewards I'm getting. And though this harvest was indeed wee, DH and I both thought the corn tasty, and the cherry tomatoes and carrots were amazing...in my humble opinion. The carrots especially!

Heehee...that's almost my entire corn crop...I have 4 or 5 more ears that I can pull off and then its done. I don't think I'll grow corn next year. I'd need to plant it much differently to make it healthier and in order to do that I'd block sun from other beds. Or perhaps I'll sneak some into the front yard? I'm planning on a mostly ornamental, drought tolerant cottage garden for the front. But I do plan on throwing in some edible perennials in the spots of brightest sun and leaving some small spaces here and there to plant veggies and annuals each season. Yay!

Well well, here we go back to another week of working. BLECH! I so wish I had a couple more days off. It will be a long week. And then a weekend away (visiting mom). Then next week DH is traveling for work! He'll be in the Boston area (jealous!) all week. Poor thing is so nervous! But I am too...a whole week w/o him! I'm going to be lonely. Perhaps I'll paint a room to keep myself busy.

Cheers, everyone.

Friday!!!!!!

2008-07-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

YAY!!! The weeks have been long lately, so I'm so glad for a friday again. I've had a bad crick in my neck all week and it's been hella bumming me out. It's not better yet either...I'm hoping that maybe tomorrow it will start to improve?

We have some friends coming into town tomorrow and I'm excited about that. I'm gonna make chili for lunch! YUM! Other then that I plan only on cleaning house, gardening, and possibly going to see Mamma Mia with Gypsy Junk (maybe Sunday afternoon??). I'm also kind of looking forward to the new Batman flick which looks fairly savage. We rented the prequel to it for watching tonight after housework.

Not much else to report I'm afraid. I've done next to nothing this week due to my neck pain. Maybe next week will be more eventful. I think I'll make zucchini bread tonight. I have a feeling that dipping zucchini cheddar bread into my chili tomorrow will be extra yummy.

yawn

2008-07-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

Back at work. Blech! Ah well. At least there's plenty to do to make the day fly! I am moving. My boss will be in town alot and has requested that I move upstairs. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it. The pro's are that it is a change of pace, and much more light. I'll be in the only cube on that floor and it has a huge window behind it and a wall of windows in front of it. Which means, house plants and vitamin D. The con's are that part of the cube area includes 3 printers. And it's not great for you to sit so close to printers. The other cons are less space overall, and MUCH less privacy. So the con's kind of outweigh...but se la vie.

We went to Sac this weekend for a friends birthday. I took what was left of my last harvest of zucchini and used this lovely grilled zucchini recipe, which was quite the success. Very simple, and very tasty. Though by the time I got to the grill I was already fairly hammered and so I think I could have cooked them longer to really do it right. There were no complaints though! And nevermind the 4 or 5 slices that now live in the bottom of Dan's bbq. :D

I'm wondering if the zucchini are done. I don't see any new ones except for my mutant ones (recall my post about needing two plants to germinate properly). The summer squash are seeming pretty done as well. They were okay. I think they needed more room to stretch. The fruit was tasty, but rather thick skinned. The corn is done. I'll harvest them this weekend and grill the ears. My wee little crops LOL. I don't know if corn continues to produce or if it's just one crop period, but I suspect the latter. I harvested the beans and I think I left them on too long. There were a few that were good, but most were just not right. We kind of grew more food then the two of us could eat. Well that's not exactly true, let's just say my gardening eyes are bigger then my lazy-cook ways can handle. The 3 sisters beds which were glorious to look at in early june are now haggard. I'm thinking of pulling everything and trying to start other warm crop late, just for kicks. I don't want them to be completely empty until Sept when I start my cool crops in there. Maybe I could get some eggplant to produce?

Anyhoo - I'd better get to packing my desk.

Infestation!

2008-07-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

My backyard has a terrible infestation of white flies! :( I noticed some on the nasturtium and the geraniums a few days back and have been meaning to take care of them. All of a sudden they have infiltrated everything, and I mean *everything*. OMG. My organic gardening pest control book suggests sticky traps, insecticidal soap or garlic oil. It calls for predatory wasps and beetles inside greenhouses, but I don't think those will work outside! I plan on taking a trip to OSH and the closest nursery to my work to check it out. My friend who has indoor organic gardening experience suggested something called "don't bug me". So maybe I'll pick some of that up!

It feels dirty somehow, to be so infested!

Summertime...

2008-07-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

...and the living is easy. I have lots of pictures from the yard and garden to share. I had posted this one of a squash blossom in the side bar, but thought I'd include it here because its a rather nice picture and there's a little green bug to spy. I need to look that fellow up in my garden encyclopedia:

The corn is almost ready to pick and eat! YUMMMY...I'm gonna roast these ears on the bbq grill. I've learned alot this year about gardening, and as usual the lessons come from making mistakes. One lesson this year is that corn likes to be planted in a square or circular plot so that it can germinate (is that the right word?) each other properly. I just planted 4 in a row which I've been told is wrong and why only a couple of the plants are succeeding.

The hops are doing quite well and have lovely wee lil flowers. I discovered yesterday that the cascade plant has spider mites and got to educate Joe on the matter. Per my organic pest control book we'll need to use some insecticidal soap to rectify the matter.

The zucchini is still producing like mad. It's a strange success story. Half the fruit is misshapen, round and small with yellow tip. According to my in-laws its for a similar reason to the corn...you're supposed to plant more then one zucchnini plant for them to really grow properly. But the fruit that is healthy is phoenominal. Here's a big boy for you:

I pulled all the lettuce that had bolted and added some peppers. I'm going to plant more lettuce seed too though I think I'll wait til later in the week when the heat wave is over. The zucchini is doing well, but I can't really say the same for the peppers. They seem stunted. And the tomatoes look lovely, but it seems to me that by this time last year I had red tomatoes, and so far I have only green ones. Likewise the sunflowers and echinacea seem stunted. I am realizing that the main beds simply don't get enough sun for certain specimans. I suppose the tomatoes will be okay, if late. But I'm not so sure about the peppers.

It's okay though, as I've said before, I usually learn the most from gardening mistakes - and next year some new beds will give us more room in the sun. And as my father-in-law says "the yard will teach you what it wants". My In-law's garden is amazing. They planted all their small plants less then a month ago, and the plants are doing better then mine already...and I planted mine in March and April! They told me not to feel bad, because they said they've been working on their soil for 15 years. Also their back yard gets more then 10 hours of direct sunlight a day. But still...it's like the freakin' garden of eden they got going on over there!!

Enough coveting of my neighbor's garden, then. Here's some before and after shots of the removal of a nasty rotten bush that was in the front yard. We still need to pull the stump, and then once it's gone we're probably going to replace it with some Ceanothus, which is a california native...aka wild california lilac.

Well kids, that's all for now. We had a lovely long weekend although it wasn't long enough. And now it's time to work again.

Formatting Annoyingness

2008-07-01T08:22:00.002-07:00

Does anyone else notice that blogger steals your paragraphs? I find it very annoying...it all runs together and no matter how many times I edit it trying to fix it back blogger just smashes it all together again! Bah!

Formatting Annoyingness

2008-07-01T08:22:00.001-07:00

Wee Things...Ginormous things....

2008-07-01T07:58:00.001-07:00

What do you get when you plant sunflowers in a spot that gets not even a fraction of the sun that sunflowers need??

Wee sunflowers:

Can you see it? It has a few wee sisters as well. Wee, Wee, Wee.

Now, perhaps only to make me feel better about how wee my sunflowers are, my zucchini are ginormous! I'll check a little zucc one morning and then go look at it the next day and it's quadrupled in size!

Mmm!! I love zucchini, one of my very fave veggies. I made a delicious zucchini cheddar bread that we took camping with us, and we only brought a sliver back, it was a hit! Now I think I'll have to make my famous zucchini casserole for dinner one night this week with these bad boys.

I'm feeling very very tired. For no good reason I suppose other then stress. I sure was sad to have to come back to reality from camping this weekend. Camping was great as usual, though a tad smokey. Driving through Mendicino was alarming...you could see the road and that was about it! Luckilly it wasn't so bad up in Humboldt, although I was sad to not be able to see the moon and stars at night. It was great fun though...terrific company, magnificant trees, spending time in the river, night hikes, rum drinking etc. I took almost no pictures because I was too busy having fun.

In house news, the windows are pretty much a sure thing. DH's buddy gave us a professional quote from his company and when we researched it we realized it was a very good deal. It's still hugely expensive, but we've socked away for it, so fuck it! Windows it is! I'm excited. I'll have to take some before and after pictures.

Hmmm...what to do for the fourth? Anyone have any interesting plans?

Cheers

Busy Busy Busy

2008-06-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

My, oh my what a week its been so far! Work is b.r.u.t.a.l. But then I again I mostly like it when it is. Lots to do means that I'm not bored, and I *hate* being bored at work. But this particular work is very high pressue, plus I have all kinds of family related work right now. Yikes! It will be like this likely for about a month, then things should settle down a bit.

We are camping this weekend, in the Avenue of the Giants. I feel like I should be looking forward to it more. I'm tired and I just want to be at home. But I know once I get there I'll be glad to be away from everything. It's a nice place, we're going with nice people, and hopefully I'll have some nice pictures when I get back.

In house related news....we are very close to getting new windows! Thanks to Uncle Sam and Gramps we have the money socked away to re-window our entire house. We are nervous about it though, it's a very big investment! DH's friend is a window guy and we've seen his portfolio and it looks really good. He's taking a half day today to meet with the guy and I have to email him a list of questions/wants etc. before he leaves work so I'd best get to it.

Oh...one last thing though, we spoke to our neighbor about the fence...woohoo! I feel so much better about the situation. An old Mexican couple lives there, and they speak no english. But their grand-son owns the house and we finally got to talk to him last night. He's very very nice (and very cute! *cough*) and he's completely on the same page as us. He's not quite ready to do the new fence yet, because his others fences are in much worse shape and he wants to do them first. But we agreed that we'll chicken wire our side, and prop it up with a post. And then we offered to give him what's left of our chicken wire so he could do his side. He's actually going to build a small chicken wire fence within his yard to keep his dogs away from our fence altogether. Then when time comes to build a fence, we'll split the materials and he'll build it. He's in construction and says it will be no problem. Plus he said if we want he'll give us a deal on expanding our driveway when we're ready for that.

Oh...there I go jabbering again...I guess it's okay since this *is* a blog afterall. Hi-ho hi-ho, it's off to work I go!!!

Angel Island

2008-06-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Angel Island was fun! It was nice to be cool after the little heat wave we had. It was downright chilly when standing right on the water. We rode our bikes around the island - only 4 miles - but taking our time and stopping at all the little historical landmarks and buildings and ate a little picnic lunch. Then afterward we ate an early dinner at Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur.

The only thing that would have made it better IMO is if we had been walking rather then riding the bikes. Can I be real and say that I *hate* riding the bikes. Because it hurts! And I'm not talking about the muscle hurt from riding up hills and such. I don't mind that kind of pain, in fact I like that kind of pain. It hurts my butt, really really bad. And I mean bad. Immediately I'm uncomfortable and within about 20 minutes it's like I'm literally bruised and I can't even rest upon the seat at all without it being very painful. On flat ground or downhills I just put my wieght on the pedals and stand up, but on the uphills where you need to sit and pedal it was just too painful. I ended up walking my bike a good part of the time.

DH likes to helpfully point out "nobody else seems to be having any trouble". "Yes, dear. That's clearly true" I reply, as dozens of women and girls of all ages fly by me on all sorts of bike seemingly pain free. His comments don't make it hurt any less however, and only serve to make me feel like a giant wet blanket.

I don't know what the problem is. I used to ride when I was a kid constantly and I don't ever recall having this trouble. I've tried three different seats now and this latest one is the worst yet actually. The problem is that the bones in my butt, the ones you sit on where your legs and pelvis meet, get very bruised somehow by the bike seat. To the point that it hurts badly for several days after even a short ride. Maybe I'm jointed different then most people, or maybe I just have an unusally bony butt? I can't figure it out. I'm not a pain wussy by any means IMO, and I've been told I just need to build up calluses so to speak and get used to it. But the experience makes riding completely unpleasurable so I don't see that I'm ever going to ride enough to get used to it. Ah well. I guess I'll just walk. Which sucks because DH hates walking and loves biking so its going to be hard to get him to do anything with me.

Happy Summer Solstice!!!

2008-06-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Here is to the upcoming warm midsummer night under the light of a full moon. Too bad DH will be off with his band buddies. But I plan on gardening 'til dark this afternoon then dancing under the moonlight in my yard with my poochies! I need to do some weeding and mulching and maybe plant a few things. The garden is doing well. The spinich has completely bolted but I haven't pulled it yet because I think it's flowers are kind of pretty! The cilantro that I thought never sprouted all of a sudden appeared growing *through* a tomato plant. It's flowering too and it's gorgeous. At the farmers market they were selling bunches of it with flowers on top so I'm guessing it flowering doens't spoil its flavor. The leaf lettuce is holding up well, I must have chosen a good variety for heat. Maybe it will hold out until the tomatoes are done! They are a peeking out finally:

And I'm so very glad I threw some snapdragons in with the three sisters as they've been a highlight! The beans are almost ready, the corn is doing amazing and the squash and zucchini are producing faster then we can eat, though we are battling powdery mold on them.

With this heat the last few days I've been watering a bit more then I should probably with the drought we've had. I know that I haven't cut back the requested 19%, but I don't really see how that's possible considering that we already conserved. I plan on picking up a few buckets for the sinks (to catch water while it heats up) and I bought a toggle switch for the shower but unfortunately it would not fit. I need to find a low-flow shower head with a shut off valve that is the kind that is on a hose that you can take down and hold in your hand. I find it's much better for dog washing, even though we only do that a few times a year it's still worth having.

Anything that has not gone in the raised beds is or will be generally drought tolerant or mediterranean climate friendly (I love this book that DH got me for xmas), but I find it interesting when you read the fine print that in general most drought tolerant plants are drought tolerant "once established". So some of the things I've planted definately exhibit this need and I've realized that I have to water much more often then I hoped, at least this season I suppose. I read an article a few weeks ago about how Xeriscaping can be a misnomer because often those gardens require more water then a lawn of a less thirsty strain of grass would. At the time I found it a bit contrary (it was on a blog where people argue about stuff), but I'm kind of starting to see their point a little bit. I've mostly talked DH into redoing our front yard next year, but it did occur to me that were I to landscape it as desired, using the recommended plants for our climate, that the first year or so it would probably require watering much more often then we water our grass/clover patch that we have today. I wonder if mid-drought is the most prudent time to make the change. Hopefully we'll have a wet winter this year!

Anyhoo - Sunday I have a date! YAY!! I have managed to agree to drag DH away from his motorcycle to take the ferry to Angel Island for some bike riding and picnicing! I'm so excited! Hopefully the air will be clear I'll have some nice pictures for you come Monday.

Stuff

2008-06-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

Cascade Hops:

Corn (and squash, and beans and snapdragons)! They have earwigs all up in them though...we are going to spray them out with the hose, then put out traps of wet newspaper. I guess they normally eat aphids, which is good...but they also eat corn silk which is bad! We were out in the yard tonight and I told Joe I wanted more raised beds and it occurred to us to put matching ones to these against the retaining wall (which would be directly to the left of the photographer in this picture). It's the perfect spot, making use of the last truly full sun area of the yard, w/o impeding on the clear path through the yard that DH and the dogs favor. Excellent, it will look rad too with a little path of stepping stones in front of the beds winding toward the hops and the side yard.

Yellow room! It's done, yay! Well...almost done. I'm painting the doors this weekend and DH is putting in a new light fixture. Moving on to the bathroom next I think.

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. Cheers.

Valhalla

2008-06-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm tired. Faire was fun. Here's a summary of the events:

Camped and played with friends:

Met new people, wandered around the shire, and generally drank too much (at least I did):

Enjoyed the majesty of Lake Tahoe:

Enjoyed the serenity of the forest:

Scored cool loot:

The end, time for bed.

Huzzah for Faire

2008-06-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

The Valhalla Ren Faire weekend fast approaches! (as if you reading, didn't already know that!). I'm very excited, I do love faire and it's yummy's and frolicking. Camping is included which is even better. I need the smell of trees and Tahoe is one of my favorite places on planet earth. I am a bit nervous going with a group of people I don't know so well...friends of miss Gypsy Junk. It's not that I've never met them, it's just that I tend to get a little social anxiety around people who aren't in my inner circle. It's all good though. It will be fun no matter what, and she and I are having fun planning our foodies and such.

I'll go and visit mom first. Carson is a quick drive from Tahoe, and I feel bad being so close without dropping in. Poor mom is all alone now, after all these years. :(

So back to faire. What shall I shop for?? I love shopping at faire! I always spend a stupid amount of money just on beer and food. But WTF, I only go once (or twice) a year and I actually set money aside for it. So I'd like think I'll be shopping for (beware, bullet points imminent)

yummy smelly soap
yummy tea
any cute decorative gardeny whatnots
perhaps a new necklace, my current go-to necklace is a year old now - though I still love it
always on the hunt for potential new costume, or current costume additives
possibly some faire shoes - i currently wear icky rotten birkenstocks...uh oh, did I throw them away after last year???

That's right. Faire, bitches.

Rock on

2008-06-02T08:32:00.001-07:00

The rocks, at last! I believe I've worn out every single possible rock joke this weekend possible...so aside from the title I'll spare you. I'm so glad they are finally in, it's starting to look so much more finished out there! I had searched craigslist etc. high and low and the only rocks I found were either lava-rock (ick) or they were in far away places, and DH's truck won't hold more then 1/2 ton so it would have required mucho gas and effort. So instead we purchased them from the landscaping supply place right down the road and had them dumped in the driveway. This is 3/4 of a cubic yard which at first sight seemed like there was no way it would be enough. But it stretched out nicely. We have a couple of thin spots, but nothing too bad.

We had great fun this weekend! We BBQ'd with friends on Friday night at home and used our outdoor fire pit for the first time. It was soooo fun! Then Saturday we had a nice breakfast and played disc golf at Lake Chabot with DH's friend that stayed with us. Then we rocked for a while (oh sorry...I promised no rock jokes), then we went to the Cherry festival with some friends. I bought this lovely solar light there, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working. Hopefully it's just the batteries or something, because there's no way for me to return it:

Yesterday I got up early and went to the nursery and planted a few plants - just for fun! Then I went and bbq'd with more lovely friends while DH worked on the electrical in our garage. We are now ready for the new garage door to be installed! I must call Sears and arrange it. Here's another pic of the rocks - this time dry. Not so pretty as when wet, but still lovely IMO.

Now back at work. But it's okay because it's another short week which ends with camping and Faire in Tahoe, one of my favorite places on the planet. I must work hard this week. New projects are coming my way and I'm still trying to get caught up. Here's to a fine week for you all.

Mystery Tree

2008-05-29T08:05:00.001-07:00

A garden mystery of sorts...when we first moved in we noticed these two little shrub-ish trees growing in the shade of the apple tree. By the way they sprouted up along the fence line, in an almost univited fashion, we kind of assumed they were "weed-trees" so to speak. You know the sort...they sprout up among fences and are extremely hard to eradicate. Even though we could tell they weren't quite the insidious weed-trees we were thinking of we did discuss removing them to make way for other things there.

However, I'm glad we didn't. Last fall their leaves turned a glorious shade of yellow and brightened up the garden tremendously not to mention provided a nice layer of mulch for the winter for the bed below them. I told DH that I wanted to keep them for the yellow alone. Then come spring they sprouted the nicest reddish leaves that turned to green as they matured. And then in a final gift of color...they bloomed! That was unexpected! The flowers are a lovely coral color:

Now I notice my back neighbor does have one of these trees in his yard, so I suppose these two did grow as "weeds" in a way. But I do think I'll keep them. I have no clue what they are...any ideas?

I so look forward to the weekend. Yard work, painting and BBQ's await us.

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

As you know, my dad's memorial was this weekend. It went quite well. Many loving family and friends were there. Many tears and memories and laughter were shared. I think we succeeded in celebrating his life and I think he would have been happy in how we honored him.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we (me, DH, my brother, his wife and daughter, and my mother) drove a couple hours south of Carson on 395 to sprinkle my dad's ashes in the Eastern Sierra per his wishes. The weather cooperated and the day was beautiful. We had a nice picnic and a nice walk and many sweet memories and thoughts shared. Dad would have loved it.

We got lucky and the weather cleared up just enough for the 108 to be open...so the hubby and I drove home via Sonora Pass - the second highest pass in the Sierras. The lower part of 108 is well known to me. I have many happy memories of trips to summer camp, camping at Dardanelle and visiting my friends cabin from that area. But the high country I had no recollection of (I'd been there before, but probably 25 years ago). I must tell you my friends...I've traveled extensively in the western half of the U.S. I've been to Hawaii. I've been to Europe twice. And nothing I've ever seen surpassed the beauty of Sonora Pass that day.

Perhaps it was the feelings of the weekend, or the state of the weather. But from Devil's Gate on 395 in the East all the way until the gold country in the West every square foot of it was simply breathtaking. I do wish we hadn't been so eager for home. We didn't stop to snap a picture until we were well past the pass and the snow. It was not an easy nor a fast drive, but it was worth every moment. A fitting close to a weekend in memory of my dad. He loved places of natural beauty and it was he who taught me to stop and take in vistas and the smell of trees.

And now what? I suppose we just go on, as people must. I keep reminding myself how prepared and ready he was to die. He was truly at peace, much more so then any person I've known who has gone. In the last few months of his life he dictated a journal to one of the hospice volunteers. "Reflections to my loved ones" he titled it, and some excerpts from it were read at the memorial. He spoke alot of what it was like to be handicapped, how all things must come to and end, and how he felt the meaning of life was love. The very last line in his journal tells of his readiness to move on. "On bad days, I frequently pray 'come lord death, with your sweet embrace and indescribeable comfort'."

Are we there yet?

2008-05-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been eternal. I'm feeling very very tired, and sad, and longing for the events of the upcoming weekend to be over. So I'll keep this post brief and focus on a couple of good things in life:

Hops that are now 6 feet tall:

The flourishing 3 sisters beds, mind you that one snapdragon is like 4 feet tall:

The joys of watching SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer:

Tuesday will be a good thing. My day of rest, of letting everything sink in. I look forward to painting and gardening (despite the above pictures some areas are getting pretty raggedy and need some attention) and camping and faires beyond that.

of sunset and sunsets

2008-05-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

The warm air and fiery sunset last night almost took me back to younger days when I lived in the valley. The only good thing about summer in the valley is summer nights. When you can wear shorts and a tank top without a sweater and feel perfectly comfortable while running through orchards and drinking beer on canal banks. You can even take a swim (but not in the canal, please...that's very dangerous not to mention icky) in the wee hours of the morning and not even get a chill.

Some of the mixed lettuce bolted, just in the last two days of heat. I ripped it out and harvested a huge crop from the rest of the mixed lettuce for our salad's last night and for DH's salads while I'm gone over the next few days. Only the mixed lettuce seems to be bolting. The rest is standing its ground. When it's all done I'll just rip it out and start fresh I think, so I can have lettuce with my tomatoes. I'm thinking sometime next week I'll plant a few more things...I left myself a little more space then I needed. More peppers are in order I believe. And more flowers...yessssss....I love flowers.

I leave this morning after my 10am meeting for mom's house. It feels strange and empty to say "mom's" rather then "mom and dad's". I'm going to help her *clean* (oh my how they've let things go there) and make the arrangement for dad's memorial service...catering, schedule, obituary and such. Not necessarilly a very pleasant weekend. But busy it will be, and I've considered a few distractions for when the planning, cleaning and listening to mom start to wear on my mind. I brought some piano music for practicing, a couple of movies for mom and I to watch, and my current book "Children of the Mind" which is part of the Ender Quartet by Scott Orson Card. And my sis-in-law and my darling niece Keianna will be around for visiting. That little girl has been a true ray of sunshine in our darkness. It's easier to accept the sun setting when you have the dawn on your shoulder.

Until next week, my friends. Stay cool and drink margaritas.

Holy Lettuce Crop, Batman

2008-05-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

We have lettuce, possibly more then the two of us can eat. We eat alot of salad though, so hopefully we can put a nice dent in it before it bolts or gets eaten by critters. Speaking of bolting...I'm wondering how long a crop of lettuce can last in warm weather before it bolts. Does harvesting it regularly have any hindering effect on it going to seed? I'm pretty inexperienced at "seasonal" gardening and the last two years by the time my tomatoes and peppers were ready, the lettuce was long gone. I suppose I could just start a new crop over when this crop is done. We eat enough salad that I'd like to have lettuce year round if at all possible. Any thoughts or suggestions anyone? I do need to start reading up more on proper seasonal gardening techniques. I find that so much is written about gardening with the seasons for places that actually *have* seasons, unlike our blessed climate. So some things don't apply I suppose.

Staying busy is the name of the game today. I painted a third coat on my spare bedroom. According to Martha, often yellow is one of those colors that needs 3 coats. So I said to myself "Mary, quit being lazy!!" and the third coat is lovely and just what the dr. ordered. My hands and back are appropriately tired.

I also gardened my butt off this weekend. I weeded and trimmed like crazy. I moved some sunflowers that were in too much shade. Then I forgot to water then and they died so I planted some more sunflower seeds. Fuck it, it's early yet and they might just take off. While I was at it I direct seeded some Black-eyed Susans, Jupiter's Beard, and Ox-eyed Daisies. Maybe someday I will regret planting such invasive wildflowers in my yard...but then again maybe I won't. We'll just have to see. I do enjoy the cottage garden feel such specimens afford. The garden overall is feeling pretty darned good. The hops and veggies (save the peppers which are doing nothing yet) have more then tripled in size since my last pictures I posted. We meant to get some gravel this weekend...but were undecided enough on the manner of gravel procurement that we ended up putting it off for a couple of weeks.

I miss my dad terribly. I cannot believe it has only been a week since he died. It seems like a year (It being a year to the day since we lost Aaron is just insult to injury at this point). I think about him all the time. The other day I even picked up the phone to call him and then remembered that he's no longer here and that I can never talk to him again. Ever. However, my tears have forsaken me...this at a time when I most need them. A surreal numbness instead has taken their place. I had thought not to talk or write about this. I'd thought this too personal for a blog which I strive to keep cheery and light. But those who read here are not those I'm afraid to share with. And who among us has never felt pain and loss?

At least my garden is doing well

2008-04-30T08:24:00.001-07:00

When things are sucking in general, I think it's important to find anything positive to focus on. Which in my case is the garden. The veggies are all doing well. We ate some of the lettuce the other night even...so fresh! I can't wait until I can bbq ears of corn out of our garden. Grandma's Nasturtium is over the top...I think I need to trim it back because it's choking out some other things I've planted. I don't know when I'll get to that though. And the hops...my how they've grown! DH built a little trellis for them and I helped him put it up the other day. The only things that are not doing well, suprisingly, are the marigolds. Who'd have thunk you could kill marigolds!! I certainly have never managed it before. But this time I am. A bad batch? Who knows. I might rip them out and replace them with new ones. Or Zinnias! Or something. Whatever. Deep breathes.

Sicky Girl

2008-04-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Sick again! Do I blame DH or do I blame Mom? I guess it doesn't really matter. What's done is done and I feel like crap. What's the worst part of being sick for me is that I have a hard time laying around and doing nothing. I feel like I should be doing *something*...cleaning, painting, weeding...whatever! I'm going to go home early from work today and lay around. Maybe I'll do laundry which doesn't take much effort and yet will still cross an item off my all important to-do list.

A dear friend is getting married this weekend and there will be much partying to be had. So I hope to be feeling much better by then!

What else is there to report?? The spare room needs a good deal of touch up. I guess the dingy-est walls in the world are hard to cover with such a light color. And unfortunately I've run out of paint! I don't want to spend 30 or 40 bucks on another gallon, so I've been using the bottom of the can and I'll probably buy a quart. Rather then do a third coat, which it doesn't really need everywhere I'm just going to hand-paint over the corners and spots where the coverage isn't the best. Hopefully it will be satisfactory in the end. Now that all but touch ups are done I must say it looks alot better and I'm really satisfied afterall with the shade of yellow that I chose. It's screaming for curtains and artwork though! It's all coming together in my minds eye however! I think I'll probably have to buy some fabric and blinds, and some picture frames. I'm not going to invest much more then that though, because this is a spare room and would likely get proper furnishings someday should a small person come around to occupy it.

The garden is growing, growing, growing! The plants have all increased in size dramatically other then the hot peppers which I believe need more heat to really take off. I'll have to post some pictures, especially of the hops which are getting huge. They have some shoots that are literally crying for something to climb on, so DH and I (assuming I feel up to it) are going to build a trellis for them tonight.

Maybe I'll take some pictures today. It's supposed to rain, which I'm glad for.

Yellow things

2008-04-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Daffodils....

Sunrises...
(btw...don't you totally want to go where this pic was taken??)

Lemons....

And then there is.......my spare bedroom...

It looks pretty good in the above picture...but check out how it glows in the morning sun:

It almost reminds me of...dare I say it....(*insert here my best Deathklok death metal voice*) GRANDMA'S KITCHEN!!!!

LOL. So the yellow is slightly brighter then it looked on the paint chip. I'm not by any means afraid of color (as they would say on HGTV), but I do tend to forget that paint looks a shade or two darker on the wall then it does on the chip. DH was like, "DAMN, that's yellow!. Heh. I think onces it's done and all the stuff is back in it, and the trim is painted and there's window treatments then it will look fine. And if not, that's the beauty of painting. I can simply paint it a different color.

I've always wanted a yellow room! When I was a wee lass, around the age of 12 I got to move into a different room in our house - a cooler room, with pretty white lace curtains and accross the house from my parents and brother. It was like freedom...AND I got to paint it whatever color I wanted. I strongly toyed with yellow, but ended up going with light blue (blue is still a favored color of mine for bedrooms). But now at last I have my yellow room. Hopefully it won't blind me when I'm trying to sew in there.

OMG I'm gonna cry

2008-04-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

DH just called to tell me excitedly that the birds were gone from the nest in my fern. The babies had been getting big and covered with darling little feathers. We thought at first that they had flown away to be happy little birds - then while still on the phone he said "OH NO". He found the baby birds, both of them, dead in the front yard. /cry. We don't know what happened. He said they looked like they had been pecked to death and they were quite a mess. Best we can figure is that they were unsuccessful at their attempt to fly away and jays or something must have gotten to them. I'm so sad! Nature can be so unforgiving.

Driptacular

2008-04-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

It took a day of planning, a day of working (and getting sunburned) and about 10 trips to OSH. But the drip system is IN. It still needs some tweaks - a new sprinkler head here, some drippers there - but the raised beds can now be watered with the turn of a switch. We didn't put the timer on yet - but eventually we will. The system runs along both sides of the patio beds (I need to install watering devices here - I tried bubblers, but they put off too much water. I think I'm going to replace with drippers. Then over our retaining wall - unfortunately the cement went too deep to go under it. Then it t's off and one branch goes behind what I'm calling the three sister's beds, and in the other direction it's going to our main raised beds. We are now ready to install the gravel in our walkways, and then other then planting, maintaining and harvesting - I think that we'll be done with projects in the back yard for a while - at least until after the house is painted.

I also managed to get a nice chunk of the spare room done - the ceiling! My least favorite part of painting, behind the sanding. I bought the yellow paint and it's very cheerful. Tonight I need to caulk a few little spots on the baseboard (we are getting lazy and not replacing the baseboard in this room) and then tape it off so I can paint the walls. I should be done by the end of the week - at least with everything but the trim. Yay! Then I will have a sewing room, which will be good because I have some projects I'd like to start on.

I want to make a patchwork duvet cover. I figure that it will be like making a quilt with out the tying and batting part LOL. I have tons of quilt scraps, some of which came from fabric from my great-grandmother's dresses. And I've always had kind of a love affair with calicos. I don't want any color scheme or pattern. It will be completely 4 or 5 inch squares of whatever random fabric I have and whatever fabric catches my eye at the fabric store. Harder this way with no pattern, because you can't do strip quilting (Have I ever mentioned what a genious Seamstrix Art is?)...but fuck it - I like the old fashioned random squares quilts alot and I wants one. And making it duvet cover style will please the hubby.

The other crafty project I need to start on is chemo caps for my auntie. She has brain/lung cancer and her hair should start to fall out from the treatment next week. Gypsy Junk suggested it, and I checked with my cousin and she thinks it would be VERY well received. I'm going to go now - and finish my project audits hopefully soon so I can search for patterns.

Morning moments in the yard

2008-04-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

I woke early today - I wanted to get to work early because I'm leaving around noon today to head to San Jose to visit with my aunt and take her to her radiation appointment and dinner. Consequently I was on my walk and watering my yard earlier then normal.

About a week ago I frightened our nesting dove away, so that I could water my plant. I got peered into the top of the plant expecting to see the egg - and instead found two little baby birds! Very very very little - I watered around the nest anyways, but was concerned that I had made a mistake and they were too small to not have her warmth atop them, even for a few minutes.

I've wondered this morning whether they were okay, since I hadn't even heard a peep yet. So I stood on a chair in side the window and pulled the curtain back. I guess I startled her, because she flew off and left the two little babies there - very much alive and staring at me. PHEW! I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out well.

I ventured to the back for watering and found a hearty snail making it's way towards my sunflower seedlings. I think not little snail! I hucked him over the fence, prompting a stern admonishment from Noke, our neighbors blue nose pitbull pup. It's actually the first snail I've seen - there's been a few slugs after rain, but no snails! I don't even have any type of snail protection going on. I suppose now I'll sprinkle some sluggo and buy some copper tape for the top of my raised beds.

On to watering - I love standing out there watering in the brisk mornings! And today I had a little visitor. As I watered my tomatoes, a little hummingbird approached me. He was silvery with a nice ruby throat. I stood very still as he got closer...and yet closer! I raised the hose a little and watched with glee as he danced in his little shower. He then flew up to perch on the lilac tree and shook out his little wings - then returned for another spray! He must have been about 2 feet from me. It was soooo cool!

I think I'll buy a new hummingbird feeder this weekend. Mine is old and even hot wash didn't get all the clogs out. They don't even look at it.

Happy Friday everyone!

Hops and Apple Blossoms

2008-04-10T08:27:00.001-07:00

OMG we're gonna have so many apples. The tree looks so pretty, just a week or so ago it was barely budding.

DH's hops are sprouting quickly. We can almost sit and watch them growing. There are two varieties - Cascade and Nugget. The above pic is of the Cascade...I think. Hmm. I know the Cascade Barrel is on the left....alphabetical order ya know ;). But I can't remember which picture was of which barrel. Ah well. Suffice it to say we love our wee little sprouts and though you can't tell from this - DAMN the little leaves look like weed.

I spent a little time out in the yard yesterday afternoon deadheading and examining the progress. I've had such a busy week that I hadn't had much time to be out there other then to water in the mornings. Things are coming along pretty well. The tomatoes have tripled in size already and the lettuce is much farther along then I thought. Also to my joy, the carrots that I had given up on are sprouting. I plan on ordering some late flowering bulbs and some more seeds to plant. Gypsy Junk cracked me up when she told me she put all 5000 love in a mist seeds in a single flower bed. And here I was following the directions on the seed packets! But she's definately having more success...wee little sprouts galore - so perhaps I'll be more liberal with my seed spreading - at least with the wildflowers! I figure on filling in the blanks in the border bed around the perennial shrubs I am planting with bulbs and self seeding perennial flowers and wild flowers, and maybe some nice grasses. I want some Jupiter's beard, Ox-eye daisies, Black-eyed Susans to start. Yum.

Okay - off to audit people's project files. That's my task this month and let me tell you I'm probably not the most popular person in the office right now.

Ciao.

Reasons I like my neighbor

2008-04-07T08:01:00.001-07:00

I should carefully clarify and say that I like my back neighbor, and specifically his yard. Now most of my neighbor's are nice. The ones on the left are quite friendly and not bothersome at all, but their yard is quite boring, though well kept. The neighbor's on the right are very nice as well and have an adorable puppy. But their yard is quite ratty and they have a zillion people and cars parked all over the place, and let their kids throw trash on my lawn. But I digress. What I like about my back neighbor is his yard.

It's not really very fancy, but it adds interest to my own yard in many ways. The first and foremost being the array of mature fruit trees. There are lemon, orange, apple and persimmon, all providing a lovely backdrop (above) and all hanging over the fence enough to provide us with a ton of fruit. Let's just say y'all better want some apples come fall, because we'll have tons and when my dogs eat them, they get diarrhea, so I have extra special interest in picking them over letting them drop.

I also love this ratty old shed he has. It is so sad and decrepit, but it's very serviceable for him, and it's quite visually interesting to me. I especially am enjoying the juxtaposition of the chartreuse persimmon leaves against the shabbiness of it's rooftop.

Lastly I am thrilled that he has a rowdy patch of honeysuckle which spills profusely over my fence and frames this darling little outdoor fireplace, and grandma's clothesline pole (which we are keeping btw). As with the shed and persimmon tree, I just love the fresh new life of nature contrasting with the rustic old human elements.

In other news, of the to-do list variety:

Dirt pile gone - check!
Chamomile and Clover seed spread - check! (fingers crossed that it works out)
Spare room patched and sanded - check!
Gramp's tax extensions - check!

Yay! I love crossing things off the list. :)

I am busy studying the raindrip set up for the backyard....plotting it out and such. It seems pretty darned easy to set up. My one concern is that given how pathetic the water output in the back is with a simple sprinker - I'm not sure we have enough PSI to support a drip system. I'll have to figure out how we can check that. My hope is to be ready to install the drip system next weekend and do the gravel soon thereafter.

Happy Monday y'all!

Found it...

2008-04-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

The flower I was looking for is "Sparaxis" aka Harlequin Flower. Yay! I knew they were out there somewhere! They are not related to daylilies. They are of the Iridaceae (Iris) family, and native to South Africa. I found a website that listed all spring flowering bulbs then I took the ones I didn't recognize and googled them until the right one came up. Here's some pics. Ima gonna order me some. We mostly had the variety in the second picture in our yard. I so enjoyed them as a kid. It might be nostalgic, but I kind of want to put some things in my garden that remind me of my beloved yard when I was a kid. Our yard was *rad* and was my favorite place, the catalyst for my imagination, my escape from everything, and by far the best part of my childhood.

What are these??

2008-04-02T08:36:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid, we had some of these bulbs that poked up through our lawn every spring. They weren't exactly like these, but I can tell they are of the same family, just a slightly different color. Ours were redder with black mottling and we had some that were pink as well. They come up every year and their greenery is very sturdy. I just loved them as a kid and I want to plant some in my yard. My mother told me they were crocus, but don't think that they are, as every crocus I've ever seen or planted has been different then these, different shaped blooms, more delicate foilage and an earlier showing. But I don't know the name!

I grow weary of killing....

2008-03-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

...seedlings! I killed some more, this time because they were too wet rather then too dry. And those that weren't dead were doing nothing. So I planted them all outside. Perhaps I will pay for my hastiness, perhaps not. I also picked up a handful of other plants at OSH. Altogether I planted: corn, beans, zucchini, basil, oregano, chives, onions, echinacea, sunflowers, cilantro, thai dragon peppers, jalepeno peppers, another tomato plant (compliments of the local real estate agent, they left it on our porch), and of course...the hops (DH planted those)! I also planted in the border bed an iris plant that had been sitting in a plastic pot for several years. All the plants that I planted a couple weeks ago are definately getting bigger and happier. And the dogs look pretty happy, don't you think? They are chewing on rocks...their favorite.

We didn't get everything done on the to-do list, but still a nice dent in it. The big pile of dirt is almost gone. We built up the back border bed and then I mulched the shit out of it to help keep the weeds down. I need another couple of bags of mulch though, I had to spread it pretty light. Hubby's parents are re-doing their raised beds and walkways and will have a bunch of leftover landscaping cloth when they are done. So we can't really do the gravel in the walkways until they give us that. Sweet of them, we've been spending so much lately that it will be nice to have one less thing to buy.

Other then working in the yard over the weekend, I did quite a bit of housework, and hung out quite a bit with friends. Cheapskate had a show on Friday night at some punk rock squat house which was fun. We were all joking around about how old we felt compared to the youngsters in attendance. Being in that atmosphere brought back some interesting memories of the old party days, especially of our wild parties we used to have at the Probe House. Ah youth....

Wow, thursday already

2008-03-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

This week has gone very fast and I, unfortunately, cannot claim it's been a good week. But that's okay because the weekend fast approaches and I plan on spending most of it in our beloved little back yard. Our lilac tree's are starting to bloom. :) I really really really love our little yard. Did I mention that I love it? It's certainly not big, but I feel very comfortable working with what we have and letting the yard teach us what it wants and what will work. There's just a simple list of basics for me that I want (for now, until we have acreage someday) and this space already has- or has the potential for- all of them, despite it's diminutive size. And we haven't even begun to start on the front yard! I have plenty of ideas for out there as well. I've been waiting my whole life for this opportunity! Our *very own* space. We can do whatever we want with it!

This weekend, assuming I can overcome my moodiness and lack of motivation, we will be finishing off the pile o' dirt, starting on the gravel walkways around the main raised beds, over-seeding the grassy areas (front and back) with clover and chamomile seeds, and setting up the hops. Because we are planning on painting the house this summer, we opted against setting them up the way DH wanted, in the raised beds climbing up the wall on twine to the roof. So instead we are setting up a little trellis for them in wine barrels. Next year we can always move them around and I had been planning on getting some new barrels anyways. We got two barrels for a good price from a guy on craigslist who works for a winery in oakland. The barrels are stained red from wine and smell really yummy.

Oh, and then there is the spare room. I've reaching the sanding stage. My ultimate least favorite thing to do is sanding. So every night I've looked in there with a sigh and then sat my ass down on the couch or computer chair and been entirely unproductive. We shall see how far I get on that.

May your thursday and friday be swift, and may your weekend be sunny and leisurely.

Ciao...

Here birdy, birdy...

2008-03-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

So, I have this big raucous squirrel foot fern hanging on my front porch. The other day, we caught a glimpse from the corner of our eye through the kitchen window of something moving on the front porch. Joe opened the curtains for a better look and his movement startled away a couple of doves that had been loitering there. "uh-oh, I wonder if they are thinking about nesting in my fern!" I said, and we mostly forgot about it. The next morning as we were leaving for work we noticed one sitting up there. I touched the plant's bottom and for a moment it was like The Birds movie! They were flying around all crazy by our heads. I crept up on the railing and peeked into the plant and didn't see any eggs. I decided that when I got home that night I'd put some chicken wire or something over the plant to keep them from building their nest in it. I've had this plant for a long time and it was a gift, so it has sentimental value...I figured nesting birds might kill it, or I wouldn't be able to water it!

Well I was too late. Last night I ventured onto the porch. I didn't see any sign of them at first glance, but prodded the plant first before sticking my head up there. Wise choice! The two love-birds again created a flurry of wings and cries about my head. I squealed and ran inside, then peeked out at mama bird who sat stunned on the porch rail. I shooed her away and got up and peeked in the plant with my headlamp. Low and behold a precious little egg...just one! I should have taken a picture of it. I wonder if she laid more today. I did get a picture of her through the window, warming her little egg(s). At night her mate comes to join her and they sleep in there together. I hope my fern survives the ordeal.

Go Go Gadget Garden

2008-03-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Despite some unfortunate events over the last week, DH and I still managed to finish what we started on the raised beds. Bright and early on Saturday I took the better soil that I saved on each end of the ginormous pile and filled each raised bed to between 1/3 and 1/2 full, tossing out any bits of grass and rocks as I went (see how the pile has shrunk!!?). The soil here is rich, but clay-ish. We then went and got 9 bags of compost from Evergreen nursery. It was a bit spendy, but worth it. The stuff we're using has chicken manure, earthworm casting, sea kelp and something else in it - I forget...but it was good shit. We filled up the beds with that yummy-ness and Joe turned it thoroughly. His parents say it's too early to start anything, but I couldn't wait so I bought some stuff and planted it: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green bell pepper, crookneck squash and some flower companions for them. I also direct seeded some greens and carrots. They look so cute, don't you think?

It seems like every time I take a picture it's late in the day when the sun is gone! But I assure you both these spots get at least 4 hours of sun a day and will get even more as the sun crosses higher in the sky and spring begets summer.

My seedlings that I started inside are not faring so well. I've managed to kill a whole flat which contained sadly, my tomatoes, basil, eggplant and jalepeno. As with last year, the sunflower, zucchini, corn, echinacea and sage are doing well. The rest are spindly and pathetic and not making any progress at all. I also recently started some onions and beans, but only one each of the little pots sprouted. I never do have much luck with the starting inside. Perhaps if I had a grow light it would make it more worthwhile. The sunflowers will go outside soon, as I can tell they are growing weary of their small peat pots. The rest have a while to go.

Last year I had a lovely show of black eyed susans after spontaneously scattering some seeds. I think I'll do the same again this year. They are so pretty that they bring me joy every time I gaze upon them. I see some teeny sprouts where I scattered wildflower and butterfly garden seeds - but the soil there is so clay that I'm not sure how successful they will be. We will see! This is the first year of many years of gardening lessons to be learned from our darling little yard. Oh, I almost forgot! DH ordered some year old Hop Rhizomes that will be here next week. We need to find a place for them to creep. The obvious choice (against the bedroom wall) won't work because we need to keep it open for painting. We are talking about a couple of big wine barrels with the bamboo tripods in them. He can't wait to make some home brew with home grown hops!

Gardening isn't all I've been up to though! I did start on another room...the spare room which will be a guest/sewing room until such time there is a small person to occupy it. It's pretty freakin' dingy and has spots that need some serious plaster and patching. Blech. But it's only a few evening's of work and I'll be able to start painting it. The color will be "Fun in the Sun" which is a warm, light yellow. A color I like, and may be a wise choice for the future? We will see. Here's a little before for ya...burn these images into your brain so that you can marvel with the cuteness of the "after" room. ;)

Well, that's all I got for now. I hope all is well in your worlds. Until next time fair bloglings.

Rattled...

2008-03-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

...my nerves, that is. It's been a long week. I haven't much to say other then, here's to hoping next week is less of a pile of crap.

Cheers.

Huzzah for Raised Beds

2008-03-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

Greetings Bloglingas. I haven't much time today. My frequent absence last week from work has provided me with much to do today! It will at least make the time fly. Much progress was made in the yard over the weekend. Thanks to Gypsy Junk for the use of her rotatiller. I leveled (mostly) the patch where the beds were to go on Friday and shoveled the remains into piles. See the huge pile of dirt? Oooh my aching back (and arms, and even butt!):

Then DH built the beds on Saturday:

Then yesterday we dug them down a little and leveled them. There are two other beds as well, but we are debating how close to the house we can put them, since they are wood set in dirt and all. I think they'll get set about 6 inches out from the house at some point this week. Also this week I will fill them with some of our dirt, compost and some other goodies and start putting some plants in those suckers! Then I'll put a new border in front there, and add liner and gravel to the walkways around the beds. Yay!

Time is moving quickly! Mid March already? I have promises to keep, and rooms to paint before I sleep.

O.M.F.G.

2008-03-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like an idiot and a genius at the same time? I felt that way when locating the cause of the musty smell in the spare bedroom. I was cleaning it out to prepare it for painting when I caught a distinct whiff of said smell...coming from the old vacuum cleaner that we'd taken to storing in that room. This old vacuum used to live in the garage until a few months ago - right about when we started closing the door to that room (for heating purposes) and the smell surfaced. It does need a bag change. And it was his Grandma's vacuum. Nasty nasty. Anyhoo - the vacuum has been moved back to the garage (yes I will buy bags for it this weekend) and the smell is gone! WOOHOO! It's not mold! We are so relieved! Because eventually, hopefully, that room will be a nursery so we were extra sensitive to whatever mystery toxin might have been causing the odor. Now there isn't anything to worry about!

Feeling slightly better today. Here's to a productive weekend in the sun! I have tomorrow off people. Na na na na Ha ha ha ha! :b

Ick to Sick

2008-03-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

This cold is brutal! I am seriously under the weather. The aches, pains and sore throat have passed thankfully, but now the sneezes and runny nose are in full effect. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be free of this by Friday when my long weekend begins. I'm about half done lifting the layer of 'sod' (really a grass, weed, dead stuff mat) for disposal. DH said he'll help me work on it tonight. I don't have the energy right now to work on it for more then 30 minutes at a time, but I really need to get it done before Friday so I can spend that day tilling and leveling the remaning soil. I am sooooo excited at the prospect of having raised beds! Hopefully I'll have good tidings to report come Monday.

Happy Hump Day.

yawn...Monday

2008-03-03T08:32:00.001-08:00

Greetings bloglings! Another week greets us. DH got me sick so I had a tickle-throat and cough all weekend. I actually didn't feel all that bad so I didn't rest up as I should, consequently I have a sore throat today and I stayed home from work.

We took about to thinking about the aforementioned musty smelling bedroom and the unexpected crop of mold we found in our own bedroom. After much researching and talking with our families and our friends who work in construction etc, we are pretty sure the mold that cropped up in our bedroom was surface mold caused by high humidity and low ventilation in that room this time of year. I used bleach and water to clean it and opened up all the window and blew fans for several hours. The musty bedroom however is another story. No visible mold or mildew. We inspected the roof and attic and there are no leaks or moisture issues that we can discern. DH's dad does not believe the smell is mold. He says it's "old house" smell. I can't say that I necessarilly agree, otherwise why wouldn't the other bedrooms smell that way when they are left with doors and windows closed?

However, we are going to attempt his suggestion of giving the walls and floors a thorough cleaning and painting it...which is fine because that was all on the to-do list anyways. I'm just going to do that room sooner then I planned. He thinks that will make the smell go away. I'm not so sure. But really...the only place we haven't been able to inspect is inside the exterior wall and when we replace the window we'll have our chance. At that point should we find any issue (or should the smell not go away after cleaning/painting) then we will probably take more aggressive action.

Otherwise this weekend I didn't do too much - some cleaning and I starting lifting the grass (for lack of a better word) in the area where the raised beds are going to go. I'm concerned it won't be done in time for next weekend. I still need to till and level it after the grass is gone.

I also planted some seeds and a couple plants. And I took a trip to Sac to game with my homies. Which was certainly fun, but probably was what prompted my cold to take a turn for the worse. Now I shall mope and drink tea and hopefully this afternoon I'll start to feel better.

Happy Monday.

Sunset - Fairmont Ridge

2008-02-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

Foiled in the Foyer

2008-02-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

I finished the painting the front door last night. The door itself turned out pretty good but I must say that overall we are both displeased with the foyer. My intention was to have the foyer be a nice very light beige with the same white trim color that is going in the rest of the house. However the beige I chose doesn't contrast quite right. It's too white-ish and not the right tone and consequently it just looks like mis-matched whites. DH would prefer to extend the brown paint from the living room into the foyer, but I think that would make it too cave-like in that tiny little space and that the living and dining room being that color is enough. What do those of you who have seen it in person think?

I don't really plan on re-painting it soon, but I was planning on using the same paint in the hallway, and now I'm thinking selecting a new color is in order. Darnit, I'm grouchy today!
It's only Wednesday and this week at work has been crappy. I'm going to visit my parents this weekend - it's always nice to see my dad...but I'm bummed about missing the warm weather we are scheduled to have.

I think I'll take next Friday off. I intend to build our raised beds that weekend, and I think it will take more then two days to do everything it entails. We got the clover and chamomile seeds in the mail so I'll be seeding the grass areas, both in front and back as well that weekend. We are both excited about the prospect of the alternative to traditional grass, and I think our neighbors will esepcially appreciate it seeing as we rarely water our grass so it dies in the summer and looks hella ugly. The clover is much more hardy and drought tolerant, and it enriches the soil with nitrogen. AND it has wee little white flowers. The kind that bees like - not so good for bare feet - but otherwise adorable. From what I've read it grows very quicky and can eventually take over what little regular grass there is now. Gypsy Junk...I still need to borrow your tiller and seed spreader if that's okay with you! Oh and I should probably take back my chicken wire, as I need some to line the bottoms of the raised beds. I can hardly wait until next weekend!!

I think we have a mole/gopher! Ugh. I found a small tunnel and the dogs seem to like to paw at it and dig little holes around it. I suppose I need to buy a trap. I think there are sonar ones that just drive them away...but I'm skeptical. Obviously no poison can be used. My friend at work told me that they (they live on a small organic farm in Marin) use these traps you bury that have little claws that come out and grab their necks and kill them. Icky, but poison free. Ooh...maybe I should just release a gopher snake in the yard! Somehow I think that my doggies would kill it.

Well gee - I guess I should work. /Sigh. I'm not feeling the mojo this week. But I have a list of lame stuff to do so off I go to do it. Hasta la vista, baby.

Another fast moving weekend

2008-02-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

What, monday already? The weekend was excellent. I finished Sophia's blanket on Thursday night. I can't tell you how relieved I am to be done with it. Incidentally, little Sophie turns 11 monthes old on the 1st of March. /sigh. Never again will I tell someone that I'm making them something until it's done and I hand it to them. But it turned out cute for the most part. I still need to wash and block it.

The Stitches West convention was fun. It was overwhelming the color and texture to be had every which way you turned. I saw gazillion things I might have bought, but I had given myself a budget and bought only a small necklace at a wonderful notions booth (by far the best set-up of any booth in the place) and 1100 yards of a gorgeous wool/silk/something blend in a warm variagated tone. The picture is a bit flat and doesn't do it justice. But it was a deal, as it was marked and priced as 400 yard skeins and when they weighed it up they realized it was 550 yards each, but still only charged me for the 400 yard price. I normally don't buy pricey yarn as I only dabble in the needle arts and I have a large stash of woolease and acrylic. But I plan on learning to knit this year, so I'm going to save this gem for when I'm ready for a solid knitting project. According to the girls there is probably even enough for a sweater.

Aside from yarn related endeavors, I had a pretty busy weekend. We had two lovely evenings on Friday and Saturday night hanging out with some friends. I worked on prepping the front door for painting...boy is that door screwed up - it really should be replaced but we have too much else going on right now so I'm just giving it a face lift. I need to caulk some weird cavities it has this evening and then it will be ready for painting. I also continued working on prepping the bathroom for painting. The first step is to scrape all the old paint off of the tile with a razor blade. I mean seriously dude...haven't you ever heard of taping things off? The previous painter of this bathroom has created tons of arthritis inducing work for me. WHO paints like this??? Sloppy!!

Ugh. I'm still debating on the wall color too. I've narrowed it down to a couple different greens that DH liked. You never can tell sometimes until it's up on the wall. One green I'm concerned might be too yellow and the other I'm concerned might be too minty. But I'm overthinking it. Paint is cheap, and if we don't like it I can re-do it. I want to get it done soon. Many rooms to paint still! And our spare bedroom has a strange odor and I'm starting to get paranoid that it's mold hiding somewhere. We might have a specialist come take a look.

DH installed a ceiling fan in our dining room on Saturday. It was a bitch from start to finish. Finding a fan that fit in the room and hugged the ceiling was a pain. We finally found one that we mostly agreed on. It took a while to install, mostly because it had a strange humming that was almost unbearable. It was fine until we'd put the base on and the base would rattle. We were on the verge of taking it down and returning it, when DH fashioned some little rubber braces that helped keep it steady. Also once the fan blades were on that seems to weigh it down a little. In the end, it is quiet and works perfectly and we like the way it looks, even though the oiled bronze finish was a little starker then I originally envisioned...I actually think it works with the kind of warm ecclectic decor we have going on. Note the skateboard gallery I hung on the dining room wall to please DH, in homage of his skateboarding skills. He could have been a pro skater had he focused on it - and I'm not just saying that because he's my honey. All his friends say its true as well. He is magnificant on a skateboard.

Well another week is here and I have a to do list. The weather should be clearing up today! Yay! Ciao...

Time...

2008-02-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

How can it stand still and move so swiftly at the same time? Sometimes I just can't wrap my mind around it. I glance in the mirror and see how it has passed. Suddenly I realize how badly I don't want to grow old and wither, but there is no way around that! I worry about all the time I've wasted...yet so often I just find myself spending free time sitting aimlessly in front of the computer or the TV and spending work time mindlessly delivering work that is too easy for me. What is next? But enough of that. I will cast this gloom aside and rejoice, for it's Thursday - usually my most productive day of the week at work...and almost the weekend.

The full lunar eclipse last night was groovy. I tried to take pictures of it, but alas my camera is not up to snuff. I think that perhaps at some point I need to invest in a good camera. I'd like one of those digital SLR hybrid deals with some special lenses. My point and click is great for so many things, but it's already far outdated mega-pixel wise. Maybe if I read the instruction manual, I'd better understand how to manually adjust it and take pictures at night or closeups. But still I don't think that would sate my desire for a new one. I've been thinking about it for a while. Hey Gypsy Junk - do you have any brand or model suggestions?

I'm eager for the weekend. I believe the girls and I are hitting up Stitches West one day or the other, which should be fun. Other then that I'm fixin' to be deep in the vortex. I simply MUST finish painting the front door and we MUST install a new light fixture in the dining room. It's funny how when you get out of the habit of working on stuff every single day, that it's hard to get started again. It should rain all weekend though, so if I manage to not spend too much time in front of WoW, then hopefully progress will be made. I'll let you know how we do. :-D

Day to Relax

2008-02-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

Dundracon was great fun, and very tiring. I played in games both Friday night and Sunday morning - and enjoyed some board/card games in between. My friends tried their darnedest to coax me into a Sunday evening game...but I felt done. I can only handle one uber-late night in a weekend (and even that's a stretch!). The weatherman said that today is the last day of nice weather for a little while, so I wanted to be fresh and enjoy a day in the yard.

I finished moving the edging to create a new border bed at the back of our yard. It's not perfect (gasp) but I've decided to let that go. I based the measurements off the fence, which you'll see in the pictures, is decrepit and probably not entirely straight in places. However it's good enough and a damned sight better then the way it was before. We plan on putting hardy, drought tolerant perennials in this bed, and I think a potting table will sneak in there as well.

I pulled the oddly placed granny brick from the middle of the yard and reused it. This ran smack in the middle of where there was a step up in the retaining wall to the back of the yard. Not a very sensible place for a border. Either side of the odd border is also a slightly different level. Our plan is to level the ground to the right of the line and install two north/south angled raised beds for vegetables. Eventually I think we'll put another bed to the left and there will be a nice gravel walkway surrounding and in between all the beds. Aside from the patio, this is the part of the yard that gets the most sun.

As you might notice, what this yard needs most is a new fence. But we aren't quite ready for that yet. Plus the aged fence has a strange mossy patina to it, which I find visually pleasing somehow.
Half the yard will still be taken up by grass for the time being. It's good for dogs and kids to play on and it's fairly shaded by the lemon, persimmon, apple and lilac trees. The notable exception being an area against the house where another raised bed will go for more edibles.

I need to get these beds installed fairly soon! I started some seeds inside - some herbs, tomatoes and peppers. I need to start some lettuce too, but I'm thinking maybe I'll seed that directly outside. It should probably go in soon, but I don't have anywhere to put it yet where it won't get trampled! I have carrots, eggplant, beans and squash that all say on the packet to seed directly in to the soil as well, but when it's slightly warmer. So I've been researching bed design and so far I like this article by Sunset. I'm pretty sure I can build them all by myself, if DH will help me use the saw.

Speaking of which, he just got home so we're gonna eat some din din! Until later. Happy dead president's day.

So many things to do...

Hmmm

Time Flies.

Back to work

Miscellania

Another project completed!

Welcome 2011

Welcome to Motherhood

Better late than never...

Nursery, continued

Finishings. Beginnings.

It is secret? Is it safe?

The Nursery Obsession: A journey nearing madness

Time

Eastlake Lavender

Dying for vacation

Spring Planting & Junk Beds

Almost Finished

Wainscoting

Early Spring

Moments after the rains

Let there be [bathroom] light

Journey of bathroom painting

Oh my it's February already.

For the love of dogs

OHHHH NINE!

Umm...not sure...

Much Improved

Winter Garden

My, how time flies

Distractions

Garage Door

Endless Projects

Progress in the bedroom

Moving on...

Daylight is waning...

Autumn Activities

More..and more.

Let there be light...

Another Busy Weekend

Downtrodden

Before and After

Priming and other endeavors

Check!

Eave-il

Realism bites

Welcome to the Maskerade

Ouchie

"I'm not dead yet!....

Progress

Post 1 - "The Good"

Post 2 - "The Bad and the Ugly"

Hmmmmm.....

Bloom Sequence

My oh my..

Best Laid Plans

My other garden

Little projects and a wee harvest

Friday!!!!!!

*yawn*

Infestation!

Summertime...

Formatting Annoyingness

Formatting Annoyingness

Wee Things...Ginormous things....

Busy Busy Busy

Angel Island

Happy Summer Solstice!!!

Stuff

Valhalla

Huzzah for Faire

Rock on

Mystery Tree

Memorial Weekend

Are we there yet?

of sunset and sunsets

Holy Lettuce Crop, Batman

At least my garden is doing well

Sicky Girl

Yellow things

yawn

yawn...Monday