My Poll

I really want to continue to do polls (look to the right of the page --->), but it's no fun if nobody participates.  Of course that means I have to know more than three people on the internet.

Quandry...

I have made another craft, but I can't show it yet...I'm going to be excited when I can though!!

Also, I'm making progress on the cleaning front.  Laundry is done.  Dishes are partially done.  Bathroom is clean.  Bedroom is organized.  I've come to the conclusion that I need to have a yard sale, or more specifically a book sale.  And if I'm being honest, taking stuff to donate frightens me a little.  Why can't it be like a baby at a fire station -- just drop it off in the darkness so nobody knows whose it was.  Or like a flaming bag of poo -- ring the doorbell and run.

Of course, there's always The Terrible 20: Sarah Palin History Lessons.  I believe that the media has enough footage of any celebrity/politician/has-been (not that Sarah is all three) to make them appear as the media wants.  I believe responsible journalism is all but dead.  So Sarah Palin said something silly, so what.  Why is that a national focal point?  *steps off soap box*  But whatever you believe, you have to admit these are hilarious.  I especially like #10, and I've sat through enough history classes to know that Sarah Palin isn't the only person out there who "thinks" these things...  No child left behind, wha?

Craft Nite: Purse 101

So Sunday afternoon was "Craft Nite".  We made purses.  We started at 2pm and were done at 9pm.  Not sure why it took so long, but it was fun.  And there was really good pineapple salsa!

The finished product?  Looks a little something like this:

Yes, that's cowboy fabric with a polka dot ruffle!  I'm a little dissatisfied with the ruffle.  I think it's too tall.  I may take out the seams and shorten it so it stands up more.  And the vinyl was really hard to feed through, but I learned a little trick -- put some wax paper on top so that the foot slides over the vinyl better.

Here's a little crafting action:

Sorry Ashley, the file is too large to email...feel free to borrow steal it from here.

Necklace? Oui. Ooh La La!

Some of you know I dabble in jewelry making.  I'm not particularly good at it, but I spend a lot of money on supplies.

Today however, oh today.  Today was drastically different.  Today I made a darling necklace for less than a dollar!

As advertised, so darling!

Close up of pendant

Here's how I did it.

You will need:
1.) 1 yard of polyester cord, $.20
2.) 2 wooden beads, $.13
3.) 1 ceramic flower heart charm, FREE!
4.) superglue
5.) electric cooktop

14 Easy Steps:
1.) Rummage through your mother's personal belongings until you find something cute that she never wears.
2.) Steal Borrow said item without asking permission.
3.) String your acquired item onto your cord.
4.) Attempt to put both ends of the cord through one wooden bead.
5.) Discover that the bore of your bead isn't large enough.
6.) Ponder solution...
7.) Find superglue, and, although realizing that during your last encounter with superglue you managed to superglue the container of superglue to your bathroom counter, decide to superglue two beads together.
8.) Gingerly superglue two wooden beads together to create uni-bead (dun dun DUN!).
9.) Allow glue to dry.
10.) Thread cord through uni-bead (dun dun DUN!).
11.) Tie knot at desired necklace length.
12.) Cut off excess cord.
13.) Seal fresh cord ends by melting them on your electric cooktop.
14.) Call your mother to confess the theft borrowing of her belonging, promise to return it, and, mostly jokingly, ask if you can have it when she dies.

I left the knot ends long because I liked the way they kind of draped, but you can do as you desire.

Good luck!

My Patchwork Garden

I was working in the garden today and got to thinking about how we planted it.  When I was a kid Dad insisted we drive steaks and stretch string to make perfectly straight and evenly spaced rows.  They all went the same direction.  There was no haphazardness.

This garden looks like a patchwork quilt.

Right to Left (click on the photo to enlarge):

*The brown row is Mom's herbs
*The two blue offset rows are my peas (first harvest today!)
*The green row is onions
*The red rows are tomatoes
*The teal rows are watermelons, honeydew, cantaloupe, pumpkins, summer and winter squashes, and various zucchinis
*The purple square is empty space Dad's trying to convince me to plant more melons in...
*The two blue rows are trees Dad has temporarily planted
*The orange row is the asparagus bed, which also has garlic in
*The white line way in the back is three green bean rows
*The five yellow rows in the front are corn (with sunflowers mixed in)
*The two purple rows perpendicular to the corn are Swiss chard and kale
*The white square is where two additional plantings of corn will be (planted in stages to extend harvest time)
*The tire in the front (and one to the right of the shot) has potatoes planted in it
*And anything that's pink is a row of flowers -- sunflowers, marigolds, zenias, bachelor's buttons, and poppies

I like this way better.

Geraldine

Geraldine is my new camera.  She arrived today via surrogate.  I can't take a picture of her with her, but this is some of what she's taken so far:

That's right folks, she has a photobooth function!  Be prepared for lots more of these kinds of photos...  Sorry.  Also sorry about the up-the-nose shot.  The picture to the right of it cracked me up.

And in other photo news, check out these fancy bug photos.  No, go back and check them out.  Don't just keep reading.  Don't lie and tell me you looked either.  Go look at them.  Now.