Tag: life

life:: wine wenches rock

Why do wine wenches rock you ask?

Because they have a recipe for fun::

~take about 30 women~

~ mix with about 30 wine glasses ~

~ add LOTS of paint ~

~ sprinkle with sangria ~

~ add a dash of rubber chickens ~

~ stir in a whole barrel of laughter ~

and you will end up with a great evening with the girls

(and some really cool wine glasses too!)

the real scoop to make your own wine wench glasses::

wine glasses

rubber gloves

rubbing alcohol

cotton balls

craft paint

brushes

stencils (an option for the painting-impared)

1.  don your lovely rubber gloves FIRST, then wipe down your wine glass with the cotton ball soaked with rubbing alcohol so that the paint will stick  (it also erases mistakes – very helpful if you add too much sangria to the artist)

2.  paint to your little heart’s content

3.  dry it using one of these methods:: air dry for 21 days (not very practical)

or the easy-bake oven method:: air dry for 1 hour then pop it into a cold oven on a cookie sheet.  Turn the oven to 350 degrees and set the timer immediately for 30 minutes.  When the buzzer goes off after 30 minutes, turn off the heat and let it cool completely in the oven for a couple of hours

to be on the safe side:: hand wash only 🙂

Have wonderful weekend wenches!

Savvy?!

life:: being green

In celebration of Earth Day last month, I got to thinking about what more I can do in my own life, and I want to share with you some of the ways that I have gone green.  As you may or may not know, I made a New Year’s Resolution to be even more green.  We are more than a quarter of the way through 2011 and I am happy to report that I AM being more green than before!  (Please don’t ask about some of the other resolutions…the Great Spring Craft Quest has been deferred to spring 2012 ~ I just couldn’t get enough stuff made to hit the craft fair circuit and I feel soooo guilty about it!)

Anyhoo, to be more green this year I have done a tidy little list of things that I hope will make a difference.

1.  I am on year 2 of making my own laundry detergent from low impact products (washing soda, bar soap, borax and white vinegar)

2.  We make a trip to the recycling center EVERY WEEK with paper, plastic, glass, and metal.  Along with this, I have started to buy more bulk staple foods at the grocery store to cut down on packaging and I no  longer buy the newspaper either. (So much of went straight to the recycle bin, it was shameful!)

3.  We have added insulation to our home to lower our energy use.

4.  We have changed all but 4 light fixtures in our house to CFL bulbs.  (I am working on those last 4 – but can’t find bulbs that fit yet.)

5.  I am learning to do my own canning of fruit and veggies from our garden.

6.  We are going meatless 2 to 3 evening meals per week.

7.  I am trying the art of bento for lunches and I LOVE IT!  (If you haven’t seen bento lunches – check it out – it is a great way to use leftovers, eat meatless, go lean, use less packaging…really it’s great! Gee, do I sound like an over-zealous commercial pitch?) My favorite places for info and inspiration are lunchbots.com and justbento.com.

8.  I have stopped buying almost all commercially made cleaners and mix many my own with simple ingredients like baking soda, salt, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and aspirin (did you know it helps whiten laundry?)   I still buy dish detergent and bleach but I try to use them sparingly by diluting with water.

Here are some pix of what I have been up to in my quest to go green.

~laundry supplies~

For each large load of laundry:: 2 T of  washing soda & borax mixed 50/50 on the left, 1 tsp of grated bar soap on the right, and white vinegar for the rinse cycle instead of fabric softener

I found a wooden clothes drying rack at the thrift store just yesterday for $2.  I use the outdoor clothesline as much as I can in the warmer weather and now I can skip the electric dryer during the winter.  Yay!

~lunch~

~carpet refresher and fridge refresher~

glass cheese shakers full of baking soda:: 1 in the fridge, 1 in the freezer, 1 hidden in each bathroom, and 1 to sprinkle on carpets before I vacuum

~canning supplies~

I started small – only 2 jars on my first try ~ but it worked! It worked!

Now if I only were able to work from home and deep six that awful 40 minute commute to the city every morning!

Celebrate Earth Day everyday!

food:: easter cheeseball

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday.  Easter was fantastic in my world.

We spent the day with my parents, and my brother’s fab little family.  We cooked a delicious meal,  laughed and talked and of course hunted for eggs.  Who knew that a bunny could lay eggs?!  My 4 year old nephew was quite perplexed with that issue…eggs come from birds in his opinion.

the dynamic duo on the hunt…

I love Mom’s hydrangeas – they are always so pretty.

this was my contribution to fun food for the kids…

easter egg cheese ball::

1 small package strawberry cream cheese

colored sugars

graham crackers

Make sure the cream cheese is cold and pinch off an egg-sized hunk and roll it in your dry hands to shape.  Then roll it in colored sugar on a plate.  Make sure to keep cold, or it will sweat and melt the sugar.  Spread on graham crackers (I used cinnamon grahams).  Easy and fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

life:: enjoying spring

You may remember that when spring had finally arrived, I took a garden walk with Cali.  Now you may think it is odd, but yes, we do take walks and bring our cats long.  We live out in the middle of no where ya know 🙂  Way back in time, our Midnight walked with us every evening in good weather, and she seemed to enjoy it like a dog would.  It was a tradition that just kind of stuck, and we taught Cali to walk with us last year when she was a kitten because we missed watching Midnight explore further away from the house.

This was our 14 year Miss Midnight (and Crush our turtle):

Wow – seeing that picture sure makes me miss her.

Anyway, Lexi has now taken her first garden walk with us.  It is so cool that our cats will enjoy the day with us.

Until now, Lexi has been content to stay on the deck or the stairs and not ventured out into the yard.

She kept making sure Cali was within close reach.

we checked out the flowers…

and shrubs and then called it a day…she had enough of the outside world and wanted back in the house very badly…

again I ask you..who sleeps like this?!

It was incredibly cute that the whole out-door experience tuckered her out so quickly ~ or is it their coping mechanism?  When in doubt ~ sleep on it. 🙂

life:: benches are a place to find peace

After this post we took a break from garden projects for awhile.

A little refresher of the “before”

Now that that we have gotten back on track, check out the new and improved version of the bench:

It had sustained quite a bit of damage on one end, but my honey fixed it up great!

He is pretty pleased with both of his red benches too 🙂

I can see ALOT of time spent relaxing on these benches this summer.  What a way to find peace and quiet!  The day he hung the swing, I watched clouds float by for almost an hour.  The only reason I left was that the wind had gotten so cold that my fingers and toes were getting numb!

Every day is a gift and I have so many gifts to be thankful for and so many more to come.  I am so glad to have a wonderful family to spend it with.

life:: spring has sprung!

Cali & I took a walk around the yard this evening and wanted to share some pix of all the great stuff that is still alive in our gardens 🙂

~garlic~

 

~strawberries~

 

~parsley~

 

~daffodils & iris & allium~

 

~blackberries & raspberries~

(the blueberry is really iffy…and oops! a sneak peek of a recycling project…)

 

~hyacinths~

(yeah, they need to be moved this year)

 

~snowball bushes~

(they are culprits that have over-taken the hyacinths)

~and EEEEEEWWWWWW…the remnants of a shredded deer in our yard~

And my goodness, there were LOTS of deer remnants to be cleaned up!  I left that mess for the boys – I am too delicate of a flower to touch that OOOKY mess the neighbor’s dog left behind…

 

So,here is the recycling project::

a couple of benches that just needed some TLC

they were inherited last fall when our good friends moved to Hawaii…they were sanded and painted

and look at the porch swing now!

That man of mine does a smash-up job, doesn’t he?!!!

The other bench is still being tended to in the garage and should make it’s debut at the front entrance in the next few days!

The swing will be quite pleasant to sit and ponder his veggie garden, which by the way is now tilled and rained upon and looking quite ready to plant.

Just a few more short weeks and we shall be farmers once more!

So, thanks for joining me & Cali on our evening jaunt around the gardens.  Have a lovely weekend!

Smooches!

 

life:: eat pray love crochet

I have jumped on the bandwagon.

I try not to, really I do.

My mother always taught me to not be a follower…

Never saw the movie.

Thoroughly enjoying the book.

Thanks for stopping by!

life:: treasures from Panama

If you have been stopping by to visit for awhile now, you might remember that my wonderful, incredibly cool Mom is a research scientist for a zoo.  She just got back from 2 weeks in the jungles of Panama.  Cool, no?

She was out tromping around trying to find rare and endangered plant species to save from extinction.  Like I said, cool!

My Dad flew south to Panama towards the end of her expedition and met her in Panama City to enjoy a couple of days relaxing and taking in the culture.  I may be 42 years old, but yes, my Mommy still brings me care packages back from every trip she goes on.  Isn’t she incredibly sweet?!

~ These are my treasures from Panama ~

She said she bought this blue quartz necklace from a “real rasta man” in the market after watching him work for a while.

 

The woman selling these handbags seemed to really amaze Mom, she was captivated by her traditional Panamanian clothing.  Sure wish she would have already shared her photos from the trip!  As soon as she does, I will try to get permission to post a few here 🙂

Isn’t he just adorable?  I need to find the PERFECT PLACE to display him in the house.  Maybe he will go to work with me instead so I can see him all day long, hmmmmm…

This is my favorite piece of all ~ it glows from inside!  I hope you can imagine what it looks like.  I really tried to capture it’s luminescence.  I must have taken 30 shots to get this one 🙂

Of course, Grandma LOVES to bring back treasures for her grandson as well.  She told my son that this was a traditional tribal bracelet.  I think I may have found a new challenge in this bracelet.  I may just have to construct a copy!  Can you just imagine all the beautiful colors that are floating around in my head?

New-to-me craft idea alert!

 

This was the masterpiece of the treasure trove!  A miniature chess set that closes up to hold all of the hand-painted pieces inside.  It’s stunning and gorgeous and he love, love, LOVES it!

The Spaniards…

versus the Incas.

 

How cool is that?!

 

I know I have been off-topic for a few days, but I haven’t been too productive in my hooker therapy.  I have been volunteering with teen leadership workshops and my home life has been quite hectic.  And now with the weather warming up, my husband expects me to help him in the yard ~ imagine that!

I plan on lots of photos when my newly emerging flowers bloom and of course I am still scheming afghan patterns to share.  So thanks for stopping by to visit about the other parts of life, I will not stay off-topic for long!

I’m off to get beaten in a game of chess ~ hope your weekend has been wonderful!