Anna’s Nest is run by my friend Anna. No, really, that’s her name. She has so much creativity (so does her husband!) it’s a little scary. But now the world benefits because she is offering her fabulous creations that are ever-so-reasonably priced at her etsy shop. Check out her website and enter to win a groovy handmade doll! Perfect for the babies in our lives. And she promises more giveaways in the coming weeks.
Good luck, Anna! How about something winter-y themed in the shop?
After my post about the garden, oh so long ago, I feel I need to update the garden situation. Okay, there isn’t much to update. But! When we were putting the garden to bed (I love saying that, it sounds like I am such a gardener!) we decided to put some compost from our compost bin on top and mix it all in. So John got the shovel and started stirring (maybe the word is “turning”?) the compost and filling a bucket. Lo and behold, there are worms! Right there in the compost! I was giddy. Nothing says, “You are doing the compost thing correctly” than a buncha worms. I stirred them into the beds with my garden claw gold.
Now, here is our highly effective, very efficient way of doing compost: build some sort of structure right outside your back door, then proceed to throw all your random bits of carrot peels, watermelon rinds, eggshells and whatnot in there while standing on the porch, leaning over the railing. Your aim will improve after a while and you won’t spill so much on the ground. Occasionally put in your grass clippings, some leaves, and all your dead flowers. Spent grains from homebrewing, teabags with no metal, and espresso pucks are good additions too. Try to remember to check for free coffee grounds when you visit Starbucks. You don’t even have to buy any coffee there. Stir the compost and water when you remember. Wait about 5 years. Voila! Compost! Black gold! And little brown worms. Lots of little brown worms. (I am sorry that I put 5 incomplete sentences in a row.) Please forgive.
Oh, and don’t forget to put a mousetrap nearby.
I never have sewn a Halloween costume, though. Yesterday was awful. It started out bad and just got worse as the day progressed. Finally when the children were home munching their candy everything seemed to calm down. Before that, everyone around here, children and adults, were edgy, grumpy, stressed, you name it. Bah. I don’t care what kind of quasi religious roots Halloween has, I don’t like it. There’s no “alternative,” it’s all about candy and costumes. Even the “harvest parties” at area churches are about candy and costumes. It’s not like Christmas where you have something else besides vast swaths of consumerism to focus on if you choose. BTW, this morning, after reading yet another article about how people are not spending, I’ve decided that the new way to keep up with the Joneses is don’t.
Anyway, I made my niece a purse for her birthday. This was fun because I added beaded fringe. Who doesn’t like beaded fringe? I wasn’t going to purchase any new fabric for this but when I evaluated my stash (which isn’t that big, all things considered) I didn’t have enough of it in anything that matched. So we went to the store and I got all the supplies for under $10. The sad truth is, though, that a homemade purse cannot compete with little tiny plastic fairy toys that have flowers for hats. *sigh* Next year it’s back to college fund contributions. Next time it’s my turn to sew something for myself again!
It sure is a good thing I don’t have to rely on my own garden to feed my family. We would have starved to death a long time ago. My tomatoes are finally starting to flower! Of course it will probably freeze overnight within four weeks, so they are pretty much a loss. I planted 6 red cabbages, one of which looked promising, and today I discovered what I believe are cabbage aphids on it. I looked under one leaf and it was just covered with grayish powdery bugs. Freaky, and gross. The eggplant is doing well, that is, if you don’t take into consideration the fact that it has no fruit. Pretty flowers, though. The red bell pepper died. The parsley is finally doing well, yay! The zucchini took over the entire bed and was doing fairly well, I am getting 2-3 zukes a week, which doesn’t seem like much compared to how big the sucker is. Today, though, after inspecting it, I am pretty sure the powdery mildew is setting in. The leaves are starting to turn silvery. I am hoping it makes it through another couple weeks so I can get a few more zucchini from it. And finally, the watermelon. It has stalled. The vine quit growing, but that’s okay because we have one fruit on it, the size of a baseball. I am pretty sure that is not going to go anywhere either, except straight to the compost bin.
The good news is that a friend of mine is part owner of a fruit orchard on the western slope and tomorrow I am getting a box of freshly picked organic peaches, lower than retail price. And these are the freestone kind so I won’t have to destroy the fruit trying to remove the pit! Tomorrow I’ll make peach jam, it should be a nice cool day for it. I’ll also be getting a box of organic gala apples in a few weeks, 20 lbs for $25. My daughter eats an apple every single day, and usually one other person will too, so we can go through 12 apples a week. Raspberry picking this week. Things are looking up.
Today we bought one of those car adapter charger thingies so we can listen to the iPod in the car! We also had a meltdown over a pair of shoes. This family member has complete opposite taste in shoes than what I would pick for them, so agreeing on a style that is a good price is very difficult. Very, very difficult. It was much easier when they were babies and I just chose one kind of shoe and they wore it all the time! Wait, why can’t I still do that? Oh, right. Because there is P.E. and church and never the twain shall meet.
I wouldn’t mind simplifying my own shoe selection. I’ve often thought about doing that. Really I’d like to simplify the whole wardrobe deal but short of joining a monastery I don’t know how it’s going to happen. Didn’t I read somewhere that we wear 20 percent of our clothes 80 percent of the time? I wonder if that included only in season clothes. Of course I am not going to wear the 50 percent of my clothes that are for cold weather during the summer. Pfui. And what is someone supposed to do with a statistic like that? Get rid of 80 percent of your clothes? Wait, isn’t that also true about church work? That 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work? I might have to think about this some more.
Okay, enough bloviating from me. Here’s a picture of my beautiful red geranium, the flower that makes me happiest during the summer, which right now has so many blooms it’s crazy. John took this a few weeks ago during a rain storm. The marigolds are happy, too. It’s one little happy flower frenzy in the front yard.
Have a great week!
The Olympics are barely over and coverage has started ad nauseum around here for the DNC happening in Denver this week. I would not be caught dead downtown in the next 5 days. I can barely navigate my way around on a normal day, let alone when there are a zillion extra people and all those road closures.
I’ve seen some pictures of the venue, though. When Obama is talking about change, somehow I don’t think he meant transforming the Pepsi Center into a Las Vegas casino. But maybe everyone looks good surrounded by flashing purple lights? Everyone is talking about “history in the making…” but is it still considered history if he loses? The last time the Dems convened in Denver it didn’t work out too well for them.
Hopefully the city has all the bases covered. Unfortunately, who could have known that the Democrats would be so demanding of limos? And that our little cow town would be so short on them? How do they expect me to take anything they say, especially regarding the environment, seriously? It was supposed to be a “green” convention. I guess the kind of green they were talking about turned out to be money.
Thankfully, oh, so thankfully, I have an awesome priest who always puts things into perspective. May God have mercy on me. Would that I would spend half as much time thinking about higher things than the kind of eternally trivial nonsense that goes through my brain most of the time.