Hair

Oh hello. I'm just spending some time gardening on a sunny afternoon. R-dog is supervising to make sure none of the passers-by try to invade our property. Unless they want to pet him, in which case they may stay as long as they like.



But this post is mostly about hair- and fur. See those lighter colored patches of fur? It's that time of year: R-dog is blowing his coat. Even with daily brushing, little tufts appear.




They look like fluffy little puffs when I pull them off. I can get handfuls.



As for me, I have something going on with my hair. It appears to have decided to be wavy. I'm fascinated by this because I've always had very straight, straight hair. Now...

I had been noticing lately that my hair seemed to tangle more easily. I thought it had to do with my conditioner.

I don't like blow drying my hair when the weather gets warm, so the first time I let it air dry this year- this happend.





Sorry for the randomness of this post. For something homestead related, see my strawberries just starting to come in?

Rain Barrel (for real this time)

Look what I have to show you!









We ordered this rain barrel from our local urban watershed association. They delivered and installed it for us, so for once we didn't have to do anything to get this project done! All I have to do is turn the valve at the bottom and I can fill up my watering can.




With the constant rain we've had the past couple weeks, I've had plenty of water from the barrel for my plants and seedlings.



I understand that in the winter with freezing and thawing it's easier to just bypass the barrel altogether. I don't know if we'll have to clean it out or any other upkeep issues. Seems pretty easy.


Of course there is one drawback...it's a giant black barrel (133 gallons to be exact) sitting right out in plan view by the sidewalk. Basically I'm just going to have to embrace it since there's no real disguising it. I did just order some Indian Grass seeds- I will plant those around the barrel (and get rid of the bush). They won't really hide the barrel, but at least they'll add some visual interest. Bonus: I chose a native grass instead of a non native ornamental.

Pedal Pale Ale: Keg Ride 2009

R and I attended the annual "keg ride" on Friday held by Bike Pittsburgh and the East End Brewing Company. The concept for the ride is so ridiculous, but a ton of fun. Basically kegs of EEBC beer are strapped onto bicycle trailers and delivered from the brewery to a bar with all of us bike riders in tow. The bar is not disclosed beforehand, so it's a mystery ride. Another perk is that registration is free and we each received a ticket for one free beer upon arrival.


So that's the pedal pale ale keg ride. They've done it for a few years now, but this was the first time that R and I went. We're told the number of riders has doubled each year. This year there were 450 of us!

Here's R before the keg ride began. Showcasing some standard Pgh blight in the background.

It was the most bizarre and surreal experience to be riding in such a large pack. We took up the entire lane of traffic. I was somewhere in the middle most of the time and couldn't see the front or the back of the group- no end in sight!






People came out of their houses and businesses to gawk at the scene. At one intersection we crossed, there was a man who had gotten out of his car to watch. He wanted to cross the street and said he'd been waiting 15 minutes! Luckily some of the keg ride was on trails so we weren't tying up all the city traffic for tooo long.

It's too dark to see, but it was solid with bikes all the way accross the bridge.

The view of downtown going accross the bridge shown in above picture

Me after the ride. I was much happier than I look! I got quite a few complements on my yellow wire baskets.

Our destination was OTB Bicycle Cafe on the South Side. I grabbed this pic from their website since it was so crowded when we were there.
We ordered food with names that involved spokes and handle bars. The food was very good. We'll go back and we LOVED being out at the bar with no smoke! Being at a bar that crowded really made us appreciate the recent smoking ban.

Upholstery Class

I signed up for a class on furniture upholstery with the community college. So this is what I've been up to Thursday evenings for the past few weeks.




I really enjoy getting to see all the insides of the different chairs. I had no idea what the construction of different furniture was before starting this class.




This is the seat cushion to my chair, and a classmate's wingchair in the background. My chair has lots and lots of button tufting.





Here's what the underside of the button tufting looks like. The buttons are attached with a very durable upholstery twine and knotted around a piece of "cotton" (it's actually synthetic but it's still called cotton) to keep it secured to the seat bottom.



Underneath the fabric is a high density foam with a layer of dacron over top. Holes for the buttons are drilled through both layers and the pattern is scored so the fabric can really settle into the creases.

Neat isn't it? I hope to make lots of progress on my chair and maybe even finish it this week. I can't wait to reveal the before/after!

Reflecting and Renewing

I've been feeling a little out of balance the last couple weeks, so I've been taking some time to reflect. For me the changing seasons always seem to be a good time to re evaluate priorities.

I feel like a line was crossed and inspiration pics became burdens and project ideas became obligations.

Too many plans, too many things that I want done right now. No time to enjoy the process or feel good enough just to be taking small steps towards having the home I want.

My home can be a demanding mistress since she's an old fixer upper. I've had to step back a little bit and focus on other things that are important to me.

The most helpful thing for me to do when my house and all her needs gets to be too much is simply to get out- time to do other things, see friends, do something that doesn't involve a project having to get done.

I took my camera with me during my day last week to help me enjoy the moments during my day.






This experience really helped me appreciate the interesting places I go. Most importantly it helped me feel less stressed by the projects that need to be completed at the tiny homestead.

I'm already starting to feel a little excitement for a couple projects around the house. I'll be sure to take some time to get out of the house to do other things though. And I'm going to keep taking my camera with me- I keep capturing great little moments and places.

House for rent- must be tiny

tee hee, I have a vacancy for a very specific tenant:



I had soo much fun making this little home. I imagine that it will be home to lumpkins or gnomes. I don't think it's suitable for fairies, but I could be wrong.





I plan to keep it on the back porch and all I have to do is keep the moss nice and moist. Even R admits that this little abode is adorable!



See the "flagstone" front porch?



This is where I got the shale for the "flagstone" porch. It's a trail at the park where R-dog and I walk a lot.


The breakdown:

• 1 unfinished birdhouse from Micheals (used 40% off coupon) = less than $2
• paint already had = $0
• planter already had = $0
• moss from the yard = $0
• small paint brush = $1
• tiny terra cotta pots = $1.50 for set of 4
• bag of mini gravel = $3
• time = about 2 hours total
  

since I had most of the materials this project was ultra-super-cheap. My favorite kind!

steps:

1. paint birdhouse
2. fill planter with dirt
3. add house and moss
4. make path with mini stones
5. arrange stones on porch (I didn't even glue them, but I may get around to it eventually)
6. set up mini planters with twigs from bush in the yard- they'll stay green for a long time after being cut. fake would also be a good option.
   

Crates around the house

My last post was about cornbread and taking a fresh batch of it to a pot luck tucked into a Clementine crate. But why stop there? I have lots of uses for my old crates.



A crate keeps things together in the laundry zone.




Pull back the pantry curtain and there's a Clementine crate of oils and vinegars.



Here among the paint cans Clementine crates store paint brushes and such.




Here's some more basement storage, but you can also see that one of the crates was painted and used as a gift basket before being used for storage.

There are lots of baskets available to buy, but I love using Clementine crates because it's recycling, they're free after eating the delicious fruit and they're stackable.

In fact, I'm hooked on them- stop by Julia's Hooked on Friday's to see what other people are hooked on this week.

Cornbread and Clementines

How's that for a tasty combination? No really, I'm not talking about eating them together.


See? It's a clementine crate filled with........






cornbread!


Yes, I do have a cornbread mold the shape of ears of corn. :)


We had a get together to attend this weekend and my friend was making chili so of course I offered to make some cornbread to go with it. The clementine crate was the perfect size for a batch of cornbread. It's perfect for taking to a casual party too since it's nothing special or fragile.

The cornbread was a hit and there were no leftovers. Below is my recipe. It's a good basic recipe and a good starting point to experiment with adding cheddar cheese, dill or other extras.


Homestead Cornbread

2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups milk
2 cups all purpouse flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour (optional- use all purpose if no ww flour)
1 cup cornmeal
4 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine the eggs and milk.

In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to large mixing bowl and combine with wet ingredients.

Pour into greased muffin tins*. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Serve warm.

*I've always made this using cast iron muffin tins and they come out nice and moist. I strongly recommend them!

The one that got away

Oh the torment of craigslist! I can't believe that I missed out on this:



You have to look past all the stuff on it, but it has great potential.

See the sides are glass too:


The cabinet is metal and was used in a nearby hospital about 100 years ago. Currently it was being used at a doctor's office.

I leave craigslist unattended for a few hours and this is what happens. Ugh, and they were only asking $100.


I can just imagine my fabric and yarn stacked neatly on the shelves. Scrapes and tools could be stowed away in the drawers and cabinet space.


Images: Pittsburgh craigslist and Anna French

Spring is coming after all

So it's still 18 degrees out, but I just saw the The Inspired Room is doing a looking forward to Spring party today. So I decided to change my tune because I DO have something to look forward to! Last night I planted some seeds in those nifty Jiffy seed poufs.


And here's more of my seed stash.


I bought the seeds and the Jiffy pellets yesterday at KMart. Their seeds are on sale, so most of my packets were .95 cents. The organic ones were $1.25, I think. The pellets were 25 for $1.99. Love them.

Spring- please hurry!

I keep begging with the tv weatherman that he will have good news for me. No such luck yet. Hurrumph!

Now, I like winter. I like snow. R-dog loves the cold, so I like seeing him enjoying himself. BUT I hate the short days and I'm just tired of being cold.

The good news is that my blueberry bush that I got last year is setting out some leaf buds. I'm hoping to also see signs of the crocus bulbs I planted last Fall coming up soon.

I need more evidence that it will in fact get warm again!

I'll just wait out the rest of winter here in this little Montana cabin. Perfect.


image: Papoose Creek Lodge (I think!)

Update: Kitchen Floor (still shiny)

It's almost been one month since I painted and stenciled my kitchen floors. Original post is here. The good news is that they've been holding up really well!




I took this close up this morning. See? No scratches! I was cautiously optimistic about it at first, but now I'm quite confident that it will hold up fine. We were careful with it the first few days- I wanted to make sure the finish really had time to dry. But we aren't holding back anymore. R-dog is in and out the back door several times a day, and as you can see he's not a delicate dog.



I'm still loving my floor and finding it to be very user-friendly. It doesn't show dirt and is also easy to mop up (not like the old vinyl that dirt was ground into).




If I could do it over again, I don't think I would really change anything. The whole project took one weekend (for more info on the project check out the original post).

What I could have done to make the project easier:

1. Purchase a ready-made stencil since cutting out my own pattern took some patience.
   
2. Do a simpler pattern or just a border. The project would have been done much sooner.
   
3. Add more coats of poly for extra durability. While it wouldn't make the project easier upfront, cleaning and maintaining the floor would be easy for the months and years ahead.

Below are the bird images that I used to create my stencils. I just blew them up to the size that I thought fit my space best.