sirens, birds, organization and coffee

Baby down for a nap, frothy coffee by my side and mint milanos calling my name, I sit here, despite being in the center of the city, listening to the birds chirp, and reveling in the revival of my garden, green plants everywhere. My herbs surprised me, with the exception of the basil, by all growing back in full force and I will soon have to make another squirrel proof planter for my green beans and tomatoes which are fast outgrowing the little green house I got for valentines day. I am hoping to put my wooly pockets into action this spring as well. I think they will do nicely for some greens. The only thing to remind me I am not in the country is the occasional siren in the distance. I have finally been able to pick some flowers from my garden for my kitchen table and I need an idea for my long overdue craft night. I am thinking spring organization. We are over run with stuffed animals and I have not been happy with the prices/options offered on the internet for storing them.

I am thinking maybe a short curtain rod with ribbon hanging from it, sewn onto the ribbon clips that can hold stuffed animals. That way they are off the floor. I have started the project, one ribbon, five clips, now I just need to find a place in Isabelle's crowded room for the curtain rod, maybe I will just staple them to the door, we do after all have to fit another crib in that room. Hopefully pictures will follow.

Woolly Pockets

As I am sitting here listening to my daughter protest vehemently her afternoon nap, I am working out in my head Septembers craft. Woolly Pockets! Well actually vertical gardens is my real project, but to do those you need some very expensive items called woolly pockets to put the plants into. Looking into it further, really all you need is some weedblock fabric some grommets and some imagination. So this month I am going to buy myself a roll of $14 weed block fabric and sew it into pockets into which we will be putting basil, mint, thyme, lettuce, tomatoes, and all sorts of wonderful fabulous plants.

Here is my list of needed items
Roll of weed block
Roll of wool felt
Water proof fabric
Grommets (to make holes in the pockets to hang them from)
Nylon thread

Cut 2 strips of weed block about 5' long by 3' wide.
One strip of felt 5'x17"
One strip of waterproof fabric 5"x15"

lay the fabric on top of each other as follows
Nylon, weedblock,felt,weedblock.
Sew along the 5' seam and down the edges
turn them seam side in so that the nylon is at the back(this doubles the strength when hanging them)
Close up the open side and fold so you have a 5' x 15" strip.
Adjust the fold so that your pocket has one side that is 4/5" longer than the other side, and is backed with nylon.
Pin, and sew into place.
Depending on how many plants you want in this pocket sew dividers along the pocket roughly 12-15" apart.
Insert grommets along the top to screw the pockets into place on your wall or frame.

I have not done this yet, so as I work through it I will adjust the post accordingly.

Wish me luck. I will post pictures next Tuesday with my progress.

Blocks

New month new craft, yes I am afraid much as my husband predicted the rug has been pit on hold for more immediate gratification. So this months craft was building blocks. I was going to just buy them at a store but they were ridiculously expensive and me being me thought "sure I could make those". Well this time I was right and ta da! I have made five so far. They are super easy and can be made with square scraps of fabric or those $1 remnant squares from walmart (which is what I opted for, so many fun fabrics!). They take about five mins per block and it doesnt matter if they are not even as that adds to the character.

I am using a new mobile blogger so bear with me while I try to figure out how to post a picture of them.

Getting Control

Hello All,
It has been a while, and I am still in the struggle to figure out exactly what I want my blog to be. I am also struggling to occupy my mind now that I am at home full time. Much to Chris' chagrin, I have been occupying my time by creating new and wonderful projects to be done around the house. I think maybe blogging might be better for our pocketbook, and marital bliss. Since I dont seem to have the time or energy most of the time to do all the wonderful crafts I think of, I am thinking maybe I will post some of my ideas here and then at least someone might follow through!

First Idea
Felted Wool Ball Rug.
This one has as least had a running start, we are up to trivet size, but it takes a lot of time, and is quite monotonous. But eventually it will replace the rug in Isabelles room, maybe just in time for her 18th birthday.



Well I am off now to make some bread and figure out whats for dinner. I might even try my hand at the Tuscan bread now that I have found the flour, I just have to time the 9 hrs rising time just right.

Coffee

For the first time today I found that coffee really can taste different depending on the type. I sit here feeling like a wine conosure, a smooth taste with a hint of liqurish my decaf Zaragoza from mexico beautifully displayed with semicircles of milk breaking through the coffee foam. And I know why writers choose coffee houses to stimulate their creative juices. No more tasteless burnt starbucks for me my tastebud eyes have been opened.

- There are Minutes and moments, cherish the moments.

Minutes and moments

I found a card the other day, it said something I found simple but profound. There are minutes and moments in this life. Minutes are for cleaning, dishes and work, moments are those times you cherish, the punctuation in life that makes it all mean something, the times you don't forget. Sometimes I feel guilty for not cleaning, or doing laundry, or some other menial but needed task. I feel guilty for just sitting with my daughter and enjoying watching her sleep. But I know that all too soon these moments will be gone, so, I have to remind myself to cherish them, you never know when your moments will pass you by.



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Financial Situations

So I was reading my new Elle that came in the mail today and the first two articles that I happened to come across were both about what a dire financial state the writers were in. Now dont get me wrong I am sure that there are many people in America who are finding themselves in a difficult time but as I read on they were talking about buying a $150 t-shirt and complaining that they couldn't have a child because their income was only $100,000 a year. Excuse me, but when did making $100,000 a year become too poor to have a child? It made me wonder, do we really know what it means to be poor? and not only that but how long can people continue to be blind to the reality of money. I seriously doubt that most Americans have a good grasp on what exactly money is. Most people just believe that a credit card is something that just keeps on giving. They talk about their massive credit card debt like it is something that as long as they can keep feeding the beast with the minimum payments and not expect to getting burned in the end.

Also, when will people realize that this looming debt that the country is racking up is eventually going to have to be paid off. The government cant keep spending money that isnt there, the money is coming from somewhere and like Oil, it isnt unlimited. Other countries are going to stop giving handouts and then what happens. The politicians should stop taking about raising benefits and lowering taxes and start talking about raising taxes and paying off the debt or there will be a depression that will make this "state of being" look like a million dollar deal. People dont seem to be worried about this because the state of their government is much the state of their own financial situation.
Thats it for my ranting today, I am going to go watch casino Royal.