peas get to climb

Saturday will be a "dog condo" building party (we'll be building some kind of shelter for the dogs to get in out of the rain when we leave them out and a storm pops up before we can get home...there will be at least two different structures) at our house so I told Adam I would be going over to the garden to weed last night instead. He told me he'd come with me. We stopped at Ace to buy some poles and twine to string up some lines for the peas to climb. I throught the green beans would need it to but they don't have any tendrils so we didn't put any up for them...seems weird to me.

While Adam and James were pounding the poles into the ground and tieing up the twine, I got busy with the "claw" a weeding implement. It is circular with twisted blades. You punch it in to the ground and twist it. It loosens the dirt and makes it much easier to pull the weeds out since the roots are already loosened.

At one point, Adam was walking around holding his hand funny. He hit his finger with the mallet while putting a pole in. A couple minutes later, he was back to work...but James was now doing the pounding while Adam was the one handing him the poles. When they were done pounding, James started tying off the twine and propping the peas up on the lowest tier. Adam took the claw from me and I got to work pulling the weeds while he clawed the dirt.

The misquitos were everywhere! I was down there with them and they were loving it! A picture of an elephant covering itself in dirt came to mind...from a nature show I watched once. They do that to keep the bugs at bay. So I took my gloves off and started rubbing dirt all over my arms. It worked pretty well too.

Adam only did a certain amount of rows since we were running out of time before the storm was moving in. He finished clawing and took some pictures before we completely lost our light.



The garden in the foreground is the smaller of the two. That one got completely weeded and it looks great! The garden I'm kneeling in is about twice the size of the front one and the furrows are run different directions from each other. You can see all the grass and weeds popping up between the furrows. We'll have to go back on Moday after work to finish up.




Because Adam was so calm and continued working, I had no idea that he had really hurt himself with the mallet. This is what he did. OUCH!! He kept his hand out of the dirt so it didn't get dirty. When we got home, he soaked it in peroxide and cleaned it up. It still hurts my stomach thinking about it. I hope he heals up fast, poor guy!

temporary curtains

When we moved back in, Georgia, our neighbor's dog was there to greet us...every single time we passed by our dining room window, stepped outside, made a noise in the dining room or living rom, or any time she is bored. She barked all the time! I didn't have any curtains or blinds on those windows so I threw up some fabric. I love the colors in the fabric but I didn't look at it all unfolded before I bought it. When I got it home, I was very disappointed in how much it looked like an old lady's couch. Oh well, I bought it so I had to use it.



I didn't want it to look like I had just throw a sheet up so I put pleats in it, every 3 inches or so...I eyeballed it so I'm sure it's not perfect. At each pleat, I inserted a thumb tack. At the time I put them up, the curtains weren't tied in the center, since we needed to block Georgia from seeing us. But we have since put up the fence and she can't see anymore so I tied them in the center so we could get light through that window again.


Closer view of the tacks. I've been pretty happy with this setup. You can't really tell that its tacked into place unless you get really close and look. However, I always knew it was temporary which is why I didn't bother with a curtain rod or sewing them into actual curtains.


But now that Gerogia can't see us anymore and now that my sewing machine is fixed, I can finally sew curtains out of this fabric I bought at the thrift store a couple years ago for $10. I got enough to make 7 long curtains (and the leftover odds and ends). I've always loved lace curtains...and soon, I will have some. :o) What do you think of the fabric?

jar brain

I just had to show this to you! You see that one jar with a whitish thing on top of the orangish stuff? That is what I have dubbed "jar brain". It's from the seal breaking and little beasties getting in and multiplying. I have no idea what organism makes this monstrosity but I know I don't want to eat it!

Well, let's take a close look at jar brain, shall we? It is so wrong!!! It's thick and fleshy...feels like a tongue, only much more slimy.

So, yesterday's count was 97 jars and 155 cans. Plus a bunch of empty ones that will get recycled. We're hoping that we can take the metal cans to the recycler for a little bit of money.

The cans are interesting as well. Some have burst open and there is nothing left in them. Some have gotten tiny pin prick holes in them over the years and the contents have dehydrated in the can....some come out black and moldy. The apple sauce dehydrated and came out in this little discs.

The mold on some of these was so bad that the cans were actually fused together.

This jar project has definitely been an interesting adventure!

Meeting Grandma Sutton

We have this horse boarding barn just outside our subdivision. That's where I was able to gather pecans in October. e mentioned that his mom lived behind the stables but I had never been back there. I keep seeing her garden (a small corner of it) when I bike by so I finally pulled down the dirt driveway to get a good look at it. She was working in the garden and I felt like I was snooping so I was going to sneak back to my bike but I thought her garden was beautiful and I wanted to tell her so, so I walked over to her. I startled her and when she spoke, it sounded exactly like my own grandma's voice. I have never thought that anyone sounded like my grandma before so for a second, I was startled too.

I told her I loved her garden and she began telling me about it and telling me about how life used to be on the farm there. She has 4 of her children still living on the original farm, though that land has been split by a major highway that didn't used to be there.

She was very proud of the water fountain that her husband made for her not too long before he passed away, late last year. She pointed it out to me and told me I should look at it. It was nice.

Half of her garden is volunteer. She throws her kitchen scraps on the ground, buries them in the winter and veggies come up...and when she is thinning her flower garden, she has a separate place to put those trimmings and lots of stuff grows there as well.

She invited me to come back anytime I felt like it. I think she was a bit lonely, even though her kids live right there. I really enjoyed my time with her in her garden. I will have to go back and visit soon. I got her name before I left. She said her name was Stella but that everyone calls her Grandma Sutton. Seems fitting to me. She gave me a mega cucumber for helping her weed. That was from the volunteer part of her garden.

A very enjoyable visit indeed!

patriotic cake

I was asked to bring a cake to a family dinner party this weekend. I quickly decided on making a patriotic cake. I was concentrating on trying to finish my cabinets this weekend so I cheated and went the boxed cake mix route and even bought the tubs of frosting too. It's so against how I like to cook but I felt it was necessary in order to get this cake done.

This cake looks way more complicated than it is. You just use a large star cake decorating tip and do swirls, starting in the center and working out. You put one here, here and there...wherever. Then you can fill in the gaps between them with little squirts of frosting. That part didn't turn out so well for me but I do like the roses.

I only did the top because the cake was too short and on a curved plate so it was nearly impossible to do the side.

But the real surprise was when you cut in to it. Hence my name, patriotic cake. It has been a few years since I've decorated a cake and it was a lot of fun! Turned out better than the last cake I made too.

Here's my past attempts at cake decorating:

This one was very small, it was for Isaac's first birthday.

This was actually the last one I did. The yellow and green were literally melting and I have no idea why...the other colors were fine. It was so ugly!

Ths was to celebrate Maria getting accepted into an art program for school.

Some turned out better than others but they were all fun to make. I do enjoy decorating cakes, no matter my lack of skill....I just don't like eating them so much.

bathroom cabinets

Just a warning, there are lots pictures...

In October 2010, I just got back from my bike trip and my bike was broken so I decided to tackle a house project. I chose to redo my master bath cabinets. I got started and realized I didn't have a before picture. So with one door already undone, I took the before picture.


I chose a color as close to the tiles as I could get. The color is called "parmesan", a slight off white. I sanded the doors and bases. I didn't completely strip off the staid, just enough so the paint would have something to hold on to. Then I rolled on a wood primer. I think it took 3 layers before I was happy with the coverage.





I had to get a picture of everything just painted white because I waited months before getting the courage to apply the glaze. The guy at Home Depot told me I should practice before putting it on the actual doors. That most people weren't able to do a good job so if I practiced, I could get hired to do it for others. That's not my goal but it was my goal to not comlpetely ruin my nice paint job.


I finally took the plunge and glazed my first door (without practicing first). It's really easy. You paint a layer of glaze on. It doesn't have to be uniform but you do need to work it in the crevices. Then you take a rag and wipe it off. The longer you let it sit, the more it sticks to the door. Here's the first glazed door nextto a painted one for contrast.


After that pic, I went back and wiped off some more glaze because it looked too heavy on the glaze for my tastes. Handling the doors was making my hands sticky and I managed to get my finger prints all over the last door. No problem, just put a new layer of glaze down and wipe it down. All evidence will be gone.



Thursday night, Adam told me I could go get the hinges for the cabinets. That was all I needed. I was going to finish this project over the 3 day weekend if it killed me! Friday night, I finally got the bases glazed. And I went and got the hinges as well as the twine I needed for the handles.

I was hoping to find already made rope in the color and size I wanted but that didn't happen so I bought twine in the color I wanted. I cut off a small length of 6 pieces of twine and played around with it until I liked the rope. You remember that rope braid that took me three weeks to learn? Well, that's what I used to make the rope.



Saturday morning, I walked my dogs for 2 hours, then Adam asked me to help on a tow. Three hours later, I was at home again and decided to do my grocery shopping. When I got home, Adam had decided he wanted to go to the church 4th of July party. So we went and we enjoyed ourselves. I really wanted to call my dad but I had learned that morning that I needed to make dessert for the family dinner for Sunday so I baked a 2 layer cake and did the dishes and by then, it was already 11:30. Sigh. Not a scrap of work done. Sunday was spent at church and then we went over to the family dinner where I unveiled my cake (that'll be another post). We were there until late and I got to call and talk to my mom and dad. Monday morning, we woke up and got the dogs fed then made a couple sides for a bbq we were going to. We got our sides made then headed over to our garden for some weeding. Most things are poking up out of the ground now. It's so exciting! We then headed straight to the bbq where we chatted, ate and swam in their pool. It was lots of fun. It started to rain really hard so we had to go rescue the dogs who were trapped outside in it. So, Monday at about 4, I finally actually got to work on it!

I drilled my holes bigger for the handles on all 6 doors.


I made what I thought would be enough rope. Turned out to only be enough for 4. Looks like real rope, huh? I guess that's why they call it a rope braid. ;o)


I made the two knots so the handle would stay in place. Then I taped the edges and slipped them through the holes.


Once I got them through the holes, I pulled upward to tighten the knot on the front side. I then removed the tape and unraveled the rope. I tied the knots on the backside. I pulled each of the 6 strings individually, otherwise, there would be loose strings. Then, I took 3 in one hand and 3 in the other and pulled apart to tighten the knot as much as I could.


Then, I applied glue into the knot and on all sides of it and cut the extra length of twine. The glue dries clear so you son't notice it.


I did run out of rope so I had to make some more. But finally, all had their handles attached.


I ran upstairs and put the new hinges on the doors. I went to put the first door on the base and realized I had bought the wrong hinges!! Nooo!!!!!! I took them all off and ran to the store to get the right ones. I got there at 7:30, they closed at 8. I put the new hinges on...the right ones this time. I had to detach some of the doors and rearrange them so they would close right. Adam had to help me figure that one out.

I stood back and survey my work...Do you see it too?? There are two fake drawers on top that needed handles too!


All the while, it had been raining and the dogs were being clingy. Jasmine and Tucker were helping me out...then Bear joined too. I ran back down stairs and made some more rope. Ran back up, drilled the holes (with Adam's help because I kept catching nails and it wouldn't work for me). I attached the handles and was so tired that I didn't even sweep up the saw dust all over the room.


Close up of the handles.


Left cabinet


Right cabinet.


Woohoo! 8 months later, it's finally done!!! I finally finished a project!! It feels so good and the fact that I like how it turned out is an even greater feeling.

Now, what can I glaze next? ;o)

a couple rides

Ok, so I'm getting behind again. Seems to be a recurring problem for me. I guess I'll see what I can do to catch up again.

Here's a couple of rides I went on in the last few weeks.

These cute guys are on my regular route. I love going by there. 3 miniature donkeys and a herd of 15 or so cows. I love the colors of them all. Neutral, my kind of colors.

On Memorial day, I went for a long ride. I think this one was 50 miles long. I ended up finding really heavy winter coveralls in the middle of nowhere so I balled it up and toted it home, along with a handy elastic thingy to help hold it down found somewhere else on the side of the road.

This flag (minus the pole) was getting whipped around the road as people drove over it. It, I'm sure, had been attached to someone's car but it blew off it's flag pole. I saved it when no cars were going by and found a stick to put it on. It actually stayed on my bike the whole ride. I liked having it there. :o) It's been displayed in our living room ever since.

I love clotheslines and this one really caught my eye! The owners were standing outside so I asked permission to photograph their line. They laughed at me, thought I was a little weird but told me that I could.