Garden Update

Our garden is growing! The tomatoes have reached the point where they need to be stacked. So we went the free route, grabbed some twigs and yarn and made our own.

The peppers have their blossoms which means the fruit is on its way.

In Producing

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?

We have a balcony this year which means we have a garden this year! If you have been following tus for a while you know of my love of gardening. Example A: our garden in Lincoln. Example B: the produce from our Lincoln garden. Needless to say, I pretty much said yes to the current apartment FOR the balcony. 

This year's garden includes container friendly varieties of: peppers, tomatoes, peas and carrots. I also threw in poppies and moss roses for the beauty of it. The seeds were ordered from Seed Savers Exchange. I fell in love with them when we started the Lincoln garden. They are very helpful in seed selection, growing tips and provided guidance as the growing season unfolded. 

As soon as the seeds arrived I got busy planting as I was about two weeks behind. The peas, carrots and poppies are outside growing in the brisk 60ish weather. While the tomatoes, peppers and moss roses would prefer a warmer start inside. 

Below baby pea's are seeing their first morning light. 

The peas, carrots, poppies and moss roses are up. Here's for hoping for the peppers and tomatoes (they are pretty much the staple of this garden). 

In The Robust Smell of Dirt

Treasure Hunt

On Saturday we went on a treasure hunt, partly because it was Saint Patricks day but mostly because I had just ordered seeds and I was anxious to get my patio garden growing. I was on the hunt for anything that would raise the pots off the hot cement. Scott apparently wasn't fully aware of this quest. After a few hours he said, well I could build something like that at work and bring it home. Problem solved! As we were walking into the building, I looked into the recycling bin. (Trust me people throw out all sorts of stuff, good stuff, new stuff!) Volia! An ironing board that only needed a zip tie to be fixed. I had my raised platform for FREE with no hammer nor nail. I must admit that it was actually Scott who saw it working. What would I have done without him.

Here are some photos from our treasure hunt and the start of my patio garden.

In Finding the Pot of Gold

The Pot Calling The Kettle Black

As I walk around the house picking up all the little messes from the week I grump that Scott is the problem. Me! No, never, I am anally organized! And then I found this....maybe I have a problem as well.

In Weekend Cleaning

Entryway Catchall

We needed something to collect the keys and mail that get placed (and clutter) the kitchen counter. I saw this nifty wall mount at The Container Store and knew just what to do...add yellow chevron. I had been drying to try this stamping method of using a block, yarn and oil paint. The only tricky part was getting the chevron right (use both sides of the block).

I added a little dry erase board my sister sent us. It's attached with magnets, making a perfect take and go message board.

Love everything about the last photo. The message is from Scott.

In Happy Organization

Regis and His Booties

Needless to say, they didn't fit.
 
In Silly Dogs

Christmas Eve

Christmas just isn't Christmas without snow. We tried our best to get into the Christmas spirit but when you walk the dog in a light jacket, the lights inside are not twinkeling.

We put up a little tree this year, ever thankful for the space to allow such fun, gotten from road-side-stand about three blocks from our building. After Thanksgiving we leashed up the dog and headed out. It was a funny walk back with Regis scared of the 'thing' nestled on Scott's head and shoulders.


On Christmas Eve Day we baked a ham, made home-made cheesy scalloped potatoes, buttermilk biscuts and green beans. It was fantastic; we are leftover all weekend.


This Christmas I made sure we had tickets to the National Cathedral's Christmas Eve service. (They must be reserved online around the begingin of November!) The service was a tad too long for my United Methodist soul. One can only sing so many verses of Silent Night.



Merry Christmas from the O'Banion's!

In A Blessed But Snowless Christmas

Latest Reads

I just finished this book; it was so good I couldn't put it down, fumbling through all 273 pages in less then two weeks (a record for this slow reader).

In the book Kristen reflects on the first year, as she and (then fiance, now husband) Mark started a 500 acre horse-powered farm from scratch. The author is soft and whimsically taking you on the journey and adventure. I found myself so enthralled with the slaughter of an animal, the potato planting or sugaring the sugarbush (which apparently is a grove of Maple trees that will produce many hundreds of gallons of raw syrup), reality would jerk me back in with the honk of a horn or the ding of the stop request on the city bus.

Mark, the husband, grew up farming and living on the land. He and his 'magic circle' could live off from nuts and berries found in the woods only to stumble upon a farmer offering him food and shelter. This is his 'magic circle'; he has faith that everything will work out for the greater good. He believes in not using plastic, using all of the animal and fixing/re-fixing/re-re-fixing machinery until it works well. He reminds me of my Grandpa Leonard; always thankful for what he had, content in not wanting.

Kristen is my kindred spirit, or at least I hope I can live up to her spirit. She knew little to nothing about farming and managing a CSA to support a family and farm; however her soul wanted the adventure. When her body said this is enough, her soul pushed on. I don't think Scott and I will be starting a full-diet CSA anytime soon, but her determination is admirable and can be applied to everyday life.

After reading the book, my soul is even more anxious to be without traffic and people. Settle down soul, be patient and wait for the plan.

So if you are looking for a book that inspires you to grow a garden or take a leap, this is the one! 

In Great Reading

Sad Day for Ruby

About a month ago I was working on Ruby, my computer an Apple..Ruby...Red Delicious..get it?, and I started to hear a clicking under the keys, and then the spinning wheel of death appeared. I screamed out loud, whole electronic soul was about to disappear. I tried to shut her down with no luck, I finally took out the battery, hopped on Scott's computer and made the first available appointment with the genius Mac doctors.

We carefully escorted Ruby into the store to discover that in fact her hard drive had disintegrated into thousands of little pieces. At this point I said a little 'Thank You' prayer to the makers of Flicker for allowing me the comfort of knowing that most of my photos were safe on someone else's server. We were told that we could pay $100 for a new hard drive and have Ruby's body up and running within minutes. OR We could fork over $240 to verify the hard drive was the only problem. OR We could put that money towards the new desk top we are saving for.

We chose the later, so now we are a one computer family. Scott needs the compter in the evenings to do digital illustrations for school; so it is just me and the dog chilling out. At this point I would like to say that I have gotten more reading, sewing, baking, cooking, crafting, anything done but the sad truth is that I have just gone to bed earlier.

In the end it's not so bad only have one computer, but I now know that we really do need a new mattress.

In Making Lemonade

Wallpaper

I LOVE the look of damask/chevron/color blocking wallpaper, but living in an apartment makes it impractical to put up. So I made my own version with fabric and empty frames.


Start with a blank wall.


Cut your fabric in the dimensions of the frames and arm yourself with tacky glue. Pull the fabric taunt against the piece of cardboard in the frame, glue and press. Repeat.


Viola.



In Temporary Solutions