in the works

I do have several projects in the works. But the exhaustion that comes with the first trimester is resulting in a slow-pace for home improvement. And I am terribly behind in the homemade birthday gift arena. But I am motivated so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I keep busy with the first-rate pursuit of feeding myself. I love these pre-cut baguettes from Fred Meyer. They make the perfect little snack topped with gouda cheese & tomato or almond butter & avocado. Mmm.

my garden

I posted on my other blog about planting the seeds for our garden. I wish I had taken a picture of the seedlings before the transplant, as proof that they actually existed in the likely event that they all die.
Well Saturday I transplanted all my precious little seedlings. I was telling Richard that it really does amaze me that you can plant a tiny little seed that carries the information and capability to produce a plant that will provide you with many fruits or peppers or what have you. It blows my mind, to be honest.
This year I planted everything from seed and we'll see how it goes. I'm really excited, but at the same time my optimism makes me prone to disappointment when things fail.
You may remember these cans... it is the chocolate mix I put in my skinny-boys milk to add calories. Anyway, they were piling up and I read in a book about using something similar to protect the seedlings. I cut out the bottom with my awesome Pampered Chef can opener. If there are in chilly nights in the future I can just put the lids on the cans and "Voila!" Protected.

The red stuff you see is cayenne pepper. It's purpose is to keep predators away. (In our case, it would be our dog.)

the clock

I re-painted this canvas to make a clock that matched my other canvases for my bathroom. Last step for the bathroom, a new shower curtain!

Cornice

We have an arched window in our living room that for the first two years we lived here had blinds hanging from over the top of the arch. I can't really explain how bad it looked, but eventually they quit closing and so when I painted the room I took them down entirely.

I couldn't decide how to handle the arch shape because we wanted blinds in the window. I finally decided to just hang blinds in the rectangular part of the window and cover the arch altogether with a cornice. My sister Lori had made a couple for her apartment and came and spent an afternoon helping me construct it.

If you really want details let me know, but here are some pictures of the process.

glad to be back

Well, since all my major life-changing events are out of the way I have the chance to get back to my second-rate pursuits.

My homemade gift challenge has been just that, a challenge. I hit a major obstacle in February with my brother-in-law's birthday. He is a married twenty-something in college. I went grass-roots and tried to think what he enjoys most in life. The best thing I could come up with was food. His wife was doing student teaching all day leaving him on his own for lunch. I put together some lunch-size meals for one and froze them. From what I've heard, it was a hit.

Calzones

Homemade Chili

Enchiladas

baking

It was the birthday of a co-worker and he requested an Angel Food Cake with orange frosting. I have never had success with frosting so I went for a glaze instead. I'm not here to give a great recipe for a glaze. I just got mine from a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

I am just here to say what I always want to say on this blog:

If I can do it, you can do it.

just some more blocks

The homemade gift train keeps on chuggin'. These were for my brother-in-law who is a middle school teacher. I hope they can find a home in his classroom.

card club February

Richard said this card looked very "spring-ish". I didn't do that intentionally, but I won't deny that it was probably my subconscious speaking out.

another homemade gift

I made this apron with the help of Krista. (And the sewing machine of Krista's. Thanks.) It was pretty straight forward and I think it turned out so cute I had a hard time parting with it.

Re-do

Remember these? No one told me they were ugly. But I figured it out and decided to try something different. I'm painting part of my bathroom that navy color, it is the same paint I used for my little bedside table. I'm trying to tie the brown bedroom and the blue bathroom together a little. I'll post pictures of all that later. Anyway, I repainted the canvanses navy and mod-podged some specialty paper from the scrapbook store on top. It took less than an hour if you don't count drying time. I got the idea from something similar my sister did in her bedroom.