The Project List

Earth Day. Time for an update.

2011-04-22T15:27:00.001-04:00

Earth day. Sounds like the perfect time to update my long neglected blog.

I’m not going to go into much detail, mostly letting the pictures speak for themselves.

The beautiful Max, taking a break from egg-laying to cruise the backyard for bugs…

Seedlings, most of which have lost their labels. I know there is ruby chard, some cucumbers and a couple types of summer squash. Oh well…I’ll just throw them in the ground somewhere and see what happens…

Cedar fence boards make EXCELLENT raised beds. Right now they only have decomposing straw in them that the chickens have enjoyed scratching and turning…

The Freedom Rangers, which we are raising for meat, are now about eight weeks old. About two more weeks and they’ll be ready for processing. I love raising these guys…

White potatoes growing in a cardboard box. Time for more mulch!

Edible flowers (violas and pansies) lining the front walk. Garlic is in the bed to the left, and gladiolus and nasturtiums are coming up next to the steps.

The front beds are coming along, though I am desperate for mulch. Between a lack of time and a lack of a truck, getting it has been a challenge. Peas are up (though possibly too late), blueberries, pomegranate and crabapple are doing great, dwarf corn and squashes went in today.

Row of red potatoes growing in leaf mold, covered with chicken wire to keep the chickens from scratching them up. I roll the wire up every evening every evening when the chickens are put to bed.

That probably covers the garden for now. Things are looking a little ratty, but that’s because my time has been taken by many, many other projects that I need to document soon.

I hope everyone is having an amazing and productive spring – I would love to hear about your projects, too!

Life and choices.

2011-02-26T22:23:00.001-05:00

I came back up to SW Virginia so that I could get my ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) recertification, and sure enough as always happens when I spent time around my fellow medics, I started getting that burning feeling in my gut that I want to, I need to, go to medical school.

So I am sitting here once again researching what it would take to go back to school this late in life.

But then I think about all of the things that I do, all of my hobbies, ideas, travelling, all of that. If I went back to school I would have to give all of that up. For about TEN YEARS.

Nope, sorry. Not going to happen.

I managed to get myself totally overwhelmed this month and not only neglected my blog, but my entire household started suffering for it. Several projects are getting put away for a while – like my mom always says, “You CAN do everything, just not all at once!”

So here’s what’s been going on since my last post…

Mushrooms.

The oysters have hatched! We got a nice flush of oyster mushrooms that I unfortunately didn’t weigh. There have been some further harvests since then which is nice, especially since I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started that project and have pretty much neglected them the whole time.

I have a much better idea now of how to do this, and will make some major changes to the next attempt at the project. Right now, though, its going on the back burner. The buckets of mycelium as well as my cardboard propagation project is all going to get mixed into the garden beds, and with luck we’ll get some oysters growing among the garden plants.

Easy fix for scratched floors.

I made a new discovery! Well, not really. I’d read it on some blog, somewhere, didn’t believe it, then tried it out of desperation and it worked!

While moving furniture around in my “studio,” I scratched the heck out of our beautiful, old hardwood floors. Instead of crying, I grabbed some walnuts, crushed them in my hand, rubbed the crushed walnuts over the scratches and voila! The scratches appeared to, well, disappear!

Aside from the dogs wanting to spend the rest of the evening licking the floor (I guess they also think walnut oil is yummy), it felt like a miracle cure. Whoohoo!

Chicken update.

Several of my hens are currently laying beautiful eggs. Max was the first, and here she is sitting on her “nest box” that I made out of a Rubbermaid type of container (it was originally their brooder box).

There is nothing like picking an egg out of the nest box that is still warm from the chicken’s butt. Yes, that sounds very strange, but it is truly a magical experience.

Kraut experiment.

Ooooh…I think this is going to be good.

I mixed cabbage, thinly sliced onion, sliced carrot, and beets with a basic brine and have it sitting on my counter, fermenting. One week later it is smelling amazing!

Oh, and in the background you can see a cotton bag I whipped up to make some sprouts. It was an experiment, but you can bet I will never grow sprouts any other way ever again. It was incredibly easy.

Shopping bag class.

I am super excited to be offering an intro to sewing class called “Don’t Fear the Machine!” in which we’ll be enjoying tea and cookies (gluten free, of course!) and making this wonderful shopping bag.

We won’t be covering any technicalities in the class, just experiencing the act of creating with fabric on a variety of machines, from my modern computerized Husqvarna to a 100 year old Singer hand-crank. Date and time will be announced soon I hope!

So that’s about it for now. There have been tons of other activites, but I will save them for another time.

Welcome Spring!

Oyster mushrooms. New chickens. A mess.

2011-01-31T18:32:00.001-05:00

Oyster mushrooms.

Its started!

One of my several containers of oyster mushroom spawn mixed with used coffee grounds has finally started pinning! This container is actually only one week old – very impressive.

At some point I will post details of this experiment.

But first, I have to figure out what’s going on with two of my buckets:

Do you see those crazy cauliflower looking growths? I was thinking that those were the beginnings of oyster mushrooms, but seeing what’s going on in the picture prior I feel pretty confident that these are *not* oyster mushrooms starting. However, I have absolutely no idea what it is!

So I’m going to let them continue, and I’m also going to post to one of the mycological forums to see if someone can identify it for me. Its certainly pretty – I just hate to think that these two buckets will be failures. We’ll see though…

Chickens.

Our new additions are adapting beautifully! Pete, the rooster, has developed quite a…uh…fondness for one of my barred rocks, much to her dismay. The little hens are finally starting to wander around and hang out with the other hens. Certainly not a big happy family yet, but I have hopes that they’ll get there.

A friend of mine is starting to get eggs from her hens, so I’m hopeful that we’ll start seeing some soon, too.

A mess.

Definitely feeling a bit overwhelmed today. We have *way* too much stuff. But it is all good, usable stuff…lots of reference materials, lots of fabrics and projects-in-process. Nothing I really want to get rid of…

Storage is our biggest issue. I have no doubt that if we had proper bookshelves and a hide-a-bed or murphy bed that we would find ourselves in a great position. But as it stands right now we are covered in boxes and just general crap everywhere.

I am seriously considering converting our screen room into a real room – maybe an office for Jason. He is fairly against the idea – after all, we both enjoy sitting out there in the spring and summer. But we are definitely short one room, and that might be the way to take care of it.

Plans.

Snowed in. Tomato pickles. Farmcar. Oyster mushrooms. Sewing.

2011-01-11T20:50:00.001-05:00

We're home, in the middle of Snowpocalypse 2011. The city is pretty much shut down, and the city’s 10 salt/snow trucks aren't able to keep up. The roads are treacherous and I am so glad to be in our warm, comfortable home with our animals. We are some of the lucky ones.

So while we've been snowed in, I've had the opportunity to catch up on some of the projects that have been "needin' done".

Tomato pickles.

The first week of December I had set up a batch of green, unripe cherry tomatoes to ferment. It was purely an experiment after successfully fermenting sauerkraut (YUM!).

Here’s the before, with green tomatoes, several whole cloves of garlic, lots of dill seed, five whole cayenne peppers, and a brine of 4 cups water with 3 tablespoons kosher salt. I covered it with a brine-filled ziplock bag to hold the vegetables under the brine and let it sit.

After two weeks, it looked like this:

The tomatoes started turning to a duller green, but the peppers were still beautiful. It smelled strongly of garlic and dill. I tasted one tomato and thought a pepper had exploded in my mouth. It was HOT!

I was a little afraid at this point – they smelled great but were much too hot.

This past weekend, I checked them again and they were absolutely amazing. The heat had mellowed, and they now have a slightly garlic-dill tang with a bit of heat. The are luscious.

Processing fermented foods kills the wonderful microbes that are so healthy for you, as well as mushifies everything. It will keep for many months refrigerated, unprocessed, so I packed them into glass jars that’s where they went.

Farmcar.

Farmcar finally died. I can’t complain – she had almost 220k miles on her and had treated me exceptionally well.

It was still sad when the tow truck hauled her away for donation.

We are now a one-car household…with a little two-door Honda Civic. Another great car, but will definitely be putting a crimp on my projects. I can’t fit two full size bookcases in her like I could in Farmcar. We’ll find a way to make-do.

Goodbye, Farmcar.

Oyster mushrooms.

On December 18th, I mixed some oyster mushroom sawdust spawn (from Fungi Perfecti) into used coffee grounds. I have four buckets of the stuff down in the basement as well as two small containers in the kitchen. Aside from a slight bloom of mycelium on the surface, they weren’ t appearing do much…

…until yesterday.

See all that white-ish stuff? That’s oyster mushroom mycelium. That is Good Stuff.

This has been yet another of my experiments, and so far it looks like its going to work. I’m hoping to see some actual fruiting take place soon – no idea how soon, anywhere from days to another two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed!

Shower curtain.

It doesn’t take much to make a big improvement, especially in a small room.

I’d found a duvet cover at a Goodwill that I frequent and absolutely fell in love with the print. From it, I made a shower curtain for both the master and hall bathrooms. The hall bath is in sore need of repair – its going to be a massive project. But in the meantime, a pretty shower curtain made a huge difference.

Before:

After:

There have been some other things going on, a new crocheted hat and scarf for example, but I’ll save you from those.

Are you working on any projects? How are you spending your winter?

Love to you all!

The start of a beautiful new year…

2011-01-01T16:29:00.002-05:00

I made a change to my thought process regarding the oncoming new year. I decided that instead of focusing on all of the things I hope to accomplish in the new year, I will focus on all of the things I DID accomplish in the old one. Its funny how changing ones viewpoint on something so seemingly small causes massive positive repercussions throughout my world.
No, I did not lose all my weight and get in shape.
But I did:

*	become a Paramedic
*	become a homeowner
*	go to Italy with my mom – a dream we’ve had for 10 years.
*	move to Atlanta
*	get a puppy
*	get egg-layer chickens
*	raise, and process, meat chickens. From day old chick to the roasting pan. Delicious, and a joy.
*	become a much happier, healthier, positive person
*	enjoy a blossoming of my relationship with my husband. We are closer now than ever before in our 15 year history.
*	meet some incredible people that I am proud to call friends, and reconnect with some friends that I hadn’t seen in well over a decade.

It would be ridiculous to look back at 2010 and not be proud of all the accomplishments. And this doesn’t even take my husband’s massive accomplishment into account; he went back to Berkeley to present his thesis, and is now a full fledged PhD. I am so incredibly proud of him.
And I didn’t completely miss my goal…my weigh in on Friday put me down almost eleven pounds, and my fitness level is much better than it was. I am doing it, and that’s what matters.
So this year I’ve decided to make one huge goal for myself, one that is shared by my husband and that will have a ripple effect thoughout our lives.
My plan is to pay off our debts…everything except the mortgage.
And I even have a plan B. If it takes two years, I will be fine with that, but we are going to do everything in our power to get it done in one.
Its going to be a wonderful year.

Goals for the next year.

2010-12-24T11:52:00.000-05:00

I'm not much of a resolution maker; so much opportunity for failure doesn't inspire me. Instead I prefer to call them goals, and it doesn't have to do with the New Year per se, but rather using January 1st as a convenient time-line starting point.

My #1 goal is to get our debts paid off. Between both of our incomes, we should be able to do it without a problem, though there is no doubt that there will be some serious frugality games.

I'm actually looking forward to these "games", which is how I'm choosing to look at it. Does that seem a little odd?

The amazing Tuscan Peasant Soup with Rosemary and Pancetta

2010-10-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/tuscan-peasant-soup-rosemary-pancetta.aspx?nterms=52492

At the urging of my darling husband, I am posting a link to this most amazing creation.

Here's a little hint that I learned about during my recent trip to Italy:
If your beans are tough, throw it all in a blender! It turns into the wonderful thick, creamy soup...it would be perfect with a crusty rustic bread.

Trust me, this one is good enough for even your most important company!

Home.Farm’s true beginnings!

2010-07-15T19:47:00.001-04:00

So, today was a big day for us here on the HomeFarm. I can’t quite explain what was so special about today…maybe loading the FarmCar up with HomeFarm’s first bales of straw…maybe the finishing of a never-ending table-building project…I just don’t know.

Doesn’t matter, really – all that’s important is that it *felt* like a big day for us!

Here she is, the famous FarmCar, loaded with five bales of straw fresh from the Standard Feed & Seed Store in Atlanta. As you can probably imagine, after unloading her FarmCar is completely head to toe in straw remnants. I haven’t had time to vacuum her out yet – that’s a job for another day.

Two bales are now in the bed seen on the right of this photo. They will stay baled, but I will be piling the tops with composted manure and watering them for two weeks. After two weeks, the straw will have heated up and cooled down (hopefully) and something, probably greens, will be planted on top.

The beautiful thing about this method is that the bales will continue to degrade and compost, and next year I will have some beautiful stuff to spread in this box.

As for the rest of the bales, they will be going toward making some new beds. More on that tomorrow!

Peanut Butter Doggie Treats

2010-07-14T20:37:00.001-04:00

So, I am definitely back on the project-doing bandwagon, only I keep forgetting to take pictures! I apologize for not keeping updated, and will certainly try harder from now on.

Dexter, our miniature pincher, was about out of his favorite Trader Joe's peanut butter dog treats. Seeing as we are on a very tight budget right now and I absolutely refuse to go shopping, I did a little bit of research. Peanut butter dog treats, it turns out, are incredibly easy to make. Plus, we happened to have all of the ingredients!

Here’s the recipe I used. It is a combination of several recipes on the web, just adjusted a bit for what I had on hand:

1 1/2 cups	organic whole wheat flour
1/4 cup	organic old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon	baking powder
3/4 cup	1% organic milk
3/4 cup	organic all natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon	molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine everything in a mixer and stir until smooth. Dough will be stiff and not sticky, but should still be pliable.

Roll dough to approximately 1/4” thickness and cut with an appropriately sized cookie cutter, or into whatever shape you desire.

Bake for 22-25 minutes.

Store in an airtight container or freeze for longer storage.

Dexter absolutely loves these – hopefully your pooch will too!

And so the Project List begins again!

2010-06-30T22:18:00.000-04:00

My move to Atlanta is official, and though I still spend quite a bit of time in southwest Virginia, this is my home now.

Each time I come down, I bring more of our stuff with me. This time I was a car-full of plants and a couple of my old chairs that I adore.

I love this house, and now it it starting to feel like home. Our living room is now a mix of all kinds of mismatched furniture, and I love the bohemian feel it's getting.

There is still much work to be done, but I feel comfortable here now.

Tomorrow it's back to work on my table for over the washer and dryer. Unfortuantely, I haven't tracked it's progress, but I will try to start now.

Love to you all!
Petunia

New home, new projects!

2010-06-03T22:40:00.000-04:00

Okay, no more excuses!

I am officially finished with school and am a Nationally Registered EMT-Paramedic. I have some finalization to do with state paperwork, but there really are no more excuses to be found. Time to get some stuff DONE!

Now that I am pretty much moved into our new home, I've got to add some major projects to the list. Most of these will be furniture building/refinishing since we're pretty short on some major pieces as well as cash. I will be using many ideas and patterns from the Knock-off Wood website and hope that you will follow along with me. There will also be various refinishing projects from my thrift store excursions, and I'm sure lots of cooking, sewing and whatnot.

Here's a list of my priority projects:

Major:

Table and hutch over the washer/dryer
Kitchen island
Entryway bench and shoe rack
Bookshelves
Platform bed
Sofa console
Falconry mew and perches
Kitchen ceiling fan
Porch ceiling fan

Minor:

Oil painting magnet board (repurposing)
Floating shelves (refinishing)
Rocking chair (refinishing)
Side tables (refinishing)
Corner table (refinishing)
Triple pleat curtains, living and dining rooms
Roman blinds, living room and kitchen

So, lots to do, lots to do! This is going to be a very exciting and busy time - I hope you'll join me!

I'm almost back!

2010-05-04T10:49:00.000-04:00

One retest to take tonight, and then school is O-VAH! There are a couple more tests to take this month before I am truly done and can call myself a paramedic, but the major stresses are over and I can get back to adding some creativity to my life.

So get ready, because here we go!

Love to you all,
Petunia

Putting it on hold for a while...

2010-03-19T13:32:00.000-04:00

Okay, so there are a few things happening right now that are interfering with my posting.

1) School is coming to a close - we have six weeks until our finals and then national testing. I'm simply having to buckle down and focus.

2) I can't find my camera, and my camera phone is just not cutting it. So, incidental posts aren't happening either.

3) We just went through a huge closing ordeal on our new house which has completely thrown everything else off.

Essentially, things are good - real good, in fact - just very busy. So I apologize for not posting, and once I'm all tested out, I promise to start posting projects again soon!

Love to you all,
Petunia

Scrap pincushions, and scrap bags, too!

2010-02-25T20:09:00.001-05:00

I’m such a dork.

So today I just couldn’t stop; I made one more pincushion and a few more scrap zipper bags. The bags are perfect for makeup, pencils, and general purse organization – I love carrying them and they always make me smile.

The offer has been expanded – if you want a pincushion or a bag, just let me know and it’s yours!

By the way, if anyone wants a tutorial on the zipper bags, just say the word. They are completely reversible and so incredibly easy. Just a really great almost-instant-gratification project!

Love to you all,

Petunia

Scrap Pincushions – scrap obsession

2010-02-25T14:33:00.001-05:00

I can’t explain it except to say that I’m desperate to use up all our little scraps of beautiful fabric that we’ve been hanging on to for years. And I do mean years – maybe 20 or more in some cases. I’ve also been struggling with focusing - I can’t seem to focus too long on any one project.

So I found the perfect little super easy project: pincushions! The actual tutorial for the ones I made is <here>. They’re so fast and easy – when I’m done for the day and it’s time to relax, I turn on some junky show in the television and whip up a little cushion. So far three have been made, and guess what – they’re free to whoever wants one!

Just send me your name and address and I’ll throw one in the mail for you!

All my love,

Petunia

Sewn Shopping Bag – Finished!

2010-01-21T23:37:00.001-05:00

I had the luxury today of a cancelled class and instead of studying as I should have, I sewed.

And it felt so good!

In fact, I’m thrilled – I finally had time to finish the sewn shopping bag that I’d started a few weeks ago.

Here’s a picture; the blue plaid is the one that I bought from Target on clearance. The obnoxious one is my copy:

Regarding the fabric choices...

…Mom and I dared each other to use up our stash of scraps. We’ve got an outrageous sum of oddball fabrics, so we’re just putting things together in somewhat random order – it’s really quite fun – goodness knows I like things gaudy!

Love to you all,

Petunia

A lovely little book acquisition…

2010-01-20T00:12:00.001-05:00

Not much crafting going on these days whatwith everything else happening, but I did manage to make a sweet little purchase today:

It’s a book, published in 1909, with the most wonderful little illustrations throughout. There’s nothing about this book that I don’t love, and I’m hoping to incorporate it into my life somehow.

Of course, first I have to read it. But then it might constitute a costume inspiration as well as some music studies. We’ll see. And, of course, I have to find a use for the illustrations.

Love to you all,

Petunia

I haven’t gone missing…

2010-01-15T23:13:00.001-05:00

…I’ve just been overwhelmed!

It’s been an amazing past few weeks, mostly good, a little sad, and way too much to keep track of.

No crafting has been going on, so I haven’t left anything off of this blog…but it will pick up again soon, I promise!

And keep your fingers crossed with me – we’re in contract on a wonderful little 1939 bungalow. Of course, what does that mean?

Lots more projects!!!

Anyway, just wanted to poke my head out and say hello and I’ll be back soon!

Love to you all,

Petunia

Another Sweater Pillow – with how-to!

2009-12-28T22:31:00.001-05:00

I just couldn’t stop this evening. I needed another project, something simple and straightforward that I could finish tonight.

Do you ever get that feeling? Fortunately, I had just the project and I even had everything I needed to get it done. Now *that* is rare!

I decided to do this sweater pillow in an envelope style. The bottom of the sweater had some great ribbing that I wanted to use, and there’s the added bonus of being able to remove the pillow insert and wash the cover.

Supplies:

1. One wool sweater, put through the washer and dryer several times to make it shrink and felt. I found this one at Goodwill.

2. Store bought pillow form. Even cooler would be to use an old decorator pillow from the thrift store. Reuse at it’s finest!

3. Sewing machine and matching thread. No need to be perfect here – the stitches shouldn’t show at all.

Process:

First, cut apart the sweater. Cut up both side seams, cut off the sleeves and across the shoulder so you end up with a rectangle. It’s okay if there are some shoulder seams showing – they may or may not be there when you’re done measuring.

Next, sew the tops of the rectangles together, right sides together – NOT the ribbed bottom edge. Press the seam open with a steam iron.

Now it’s time to play with the positioning of your envelope opening. Lay the fabric down, right side down, lay your pillow form on top, and fold over the top and bottom to create the overlap you want. You do want substantial overlap – the stretchy fabric will pull once stuffed.

Once you’ve determined how much overlap you want, remove the pillow form, and re-fold the fabric with right sides together.

Keep in mind that the fabric stretches, and this is a *good* thing. Measure your folded fabric to be sure that it is slightly shorter than your pillow form’s dimensions. I used 16” for my 18” form.

Now, the sides of the fabric need to be trimmed to one inch wider than your previous measurement (to account for ~1/2 seam allowance).

Now, pin up those sides and sew’em up! Turn it inside out, stuff in the pillow and you’re done!

I love these pillows. I’ll be making several, and am saving the cut open sleeves – eventually I’ll make a patchwork bedspread or blanket out of them…it really will look sharp!

Love to you all – and goodnight!

Sewn Shopping Bag – in progress

2009-12-28T19:13:00.001-05:00

The primary goal today was to get the house cleaned. After that, there had to be some project that wouldn’t cost me much energy (I’m still recovering from a little cold).

Ah-hah!

I’ve already posted a little about this project, but it might be good to start putting it all together now.

Some time ago, I bought these wonderful hobo bags from Target, on sale of course, with the thought that they’d be great shopping bags. Well, they are *perfect* for groceries! Their size, shape, weight and style are exactly what I wanted. I could never understand why reusable shopping bags had to be ugly – well, they don’t.

I’m not crazy about the blue plaid that the bags are made in, and I knew I’d want more than I was able to buy, so I set about copying the pattern…

The white yellow paper is the paper and tag board pattern that I made from the original. The plaid is the original bag. The white is the mock-up, which was perfect on the first try.

Just before Christmas, Mom made up a bag with scraps that we had lying around. It was a beautiful bag, and the woman who received it was very pleased. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it…

Tonight I went ahead and started sewing up another bag that I had cut out previously. The fabrics are terribly obnoxious, but that goes well with my personality. All I completed tonight was the outer body – tomorrow I need to go buy more rotary blades and will get it completed.

Honestly, I’m not sure what’s more obnoxious – the bag or the cat!

Love to you all…

Catching up from the holidays…

2009-12-28T11:53:00.001-05:00

It has been an absolutely wonderful past couple of weeks, even with Mother Nature trying to throw us for a little loop. I won’t go into the details, but here are some highlights…

I got the sweater pillows sent off to my sister’s for their Christmas presents. The purple one turned out great – I had a quick inspiration on how to decorate it, and I’m very pleased with the result:

Our tree looked lovely even if it was a little bare. Our ornaments have been lacking the last few years, but a little trip to Target yesterday took care of that for next year. It was still a beautiful sight…

Godfrey had to be in the middle of it all, of course…

Jason roasted a duck and vegetables for dinner – it was his first duck and it was *delicious*. I am so lucky!

He loved his present – much to the terror of the dog!

I simply have to include this picture of a parsnip from the garden. We didn’t thin them enough, I guess, because in my stepfather’s words, “That isn’t a parsnip, it’s a housing development!” And a slightly crude one, at that!

Well, I’ve got about two week left of winter vacation before I start my last semester of classes. And believe me, I am very eager to take advantage of every moment.

Today is all about getting my home picked up, some sort of project, though I have no idea which one, and some studying in preparation for classes.

I love my life.

Thanksgiving. Bird Watching. Bread Baking. Sewing. Snow. Cookie Making.

2009-12-05T15:26:00.002-05:00

It’s been quite a couple of weeks around here, what with finals and the beginning of the holidays…
But my second to last semester is finished, and I can spend the next month being creative, and dangit I’m jumping in head first!
My husband and I celebrated our fourth anniversary the day before Thanksgiving and I was thrilled to have him up here for an entire week. It’s hard living in separate cities, but it’s only six or seven more months and I’ll be able to move down there…
My sister and her family came to visit for a week during Thanksgiving and we had such an amazing time. They are a beautiful, incredible family and I am so proud that they are part of ours.
For Jason’s and my anniversary, which is always the day before Thanksgiving (whatever day that falls on), we had a wonderful dinner – yes, we like any excuse to eat!

For Thanksgiving, Mom and Suvetta put out the good linen and dishes, we all pitched in with the cooking, and it was absolutely lovely…

The other day, just as the weather was turning, the birds came out in full force. I throw seed on the ground just outside my french doors so I can get a close look (and to entertain Godfrey), so I planted my butt on the floor with the camera and tried to get some shots. None came out terribly well – I need a better camera for that – but I thought these were rather pretty:
Red Bellied Woodpecker…

Tufted Titmice…

Black Capped Chickadee…

There are two things that I’m really excited about now – one, I am back in the studio sewing. No pictures of current projects, but I’ll tell you that I’m working on a fitting block dress. I’ll explain more when I post pictures.
The other thing is that I’m back in the kitchen. Yesterday I started a loaf of sandwich bread using Michael Ruhlman’s recipe from his blog. Mom baked it last night, and I’m about to tear into it for lunch. Reviews to come!

Then today after I came home from work I made chocolate chip cookie dough which will rest in the fridge for a day or two before being baked. I also made some spritz cookies with the cookie press – now I just need to glaze them…

I also have cut-out cookie dough in the fridge and will probably bake those tomorrow. Yes, it’s cookie time – we’re getting ready to make our gift baskets. What a great excuse, huh?
I almost forgot something huge – an extremely generous coworker and avid deer hunter gave me an entire deer, skinned, gutted and moderately butchered. It was unbelievable! Beautiful, beautiful meat that Mom and I spent several hours finishing and vacuum sealing. We made a roast that night which Mom and Bill didn’t care for, but I absolutely *loved*. It was incredibly mild, but I guess they don’t like venison at all. No problem – Jason and I will enjoy it, and we won’t have to buy any red meat for at least a year. Now *that’s* the way to do it.
To top everything off, I woke up to snow this morning – a beautiful white blanket of snow…

Anyway, aside from my stress over finals, it’s been a lovely couple of weeks.
Now on to our regularly scheduled program…

The Creative Life

2009-11-28T22:02:00.001-05:00

As this semester draws to a close, I've come to the realization that I am done with school. It is time to use the education and degrees that I have, the life experience I have obtained, and the talent that I have been blessed with.

This blog will be undergoing some changes, some refinements, and may be moving to wordpress.com to help me express those things. The next sememster will continue to be somewhat sporadic, but I will use that time to refine my goals.

One more semester and I will have the best job in the world, and will be ready to finally live my life.

It's a beautiful thing, and I am looking forward to living The Creative Life.

Getting a little Out of Control!

2009-11-13T21:13:00.001-05:00

Well, my living space is getting a little out of control again – it’s amazing how quickly it happens.

Before I do anything though, I have to start the day off right with a nice pot of green tea in some wonderful vintage tea-ware:

1. No worries, though. Even after a full day of clinicals, I can still put in 5 minutes instead of the usual 10:

1. Kitchen:	done!	5. Hall & Stair:	done!
2. Dining:	done!	6. Bedroom:	done!
3. Patio:	done!	7. Office:	done!
4. Bathroom:	done!	8. Studio:	done!

-> Vacuum:

done!

2. Schoolwork!

I think the clinical will count as my schoolwork for the day…

…especially since Godfrey decided to force the issue…

3. Craft!

I have not been happy with the afghan I started for Hubby:

So I’m going to switch gears completely. Same color scheme, but instead I’ll use a bastardized Granny square, loosely following the instructions at Lion Brand 8-color Afghan. I played with it a little tonight, but didn’t get enough finalized that was worthy of a picture. I’ll be sure to post one once I’m happy with it…

Off to bed now – I’ve got an early start in the morning…

Listening to: "Plan 9 Channel 7" by The Damned

Custom Fabrics Galore!!!

2009-11-08T07:57:00.001-05:00

Spoonflower is a site where you can print custom fabrics as well as purchase fabrics that others have designed. It’s wonderful! Not cheap, but wonderful nonetheless…

Now I’m all inspired to make some lined garments, just for an excuse to have fun, unique linings for a little suprise…

Garden clean-up

2009-11-07T16:18:00.001-05:00

Our garden is slowly getting put to bed for the winter and we made another big dent in it today. Mom rode around in the mower and mulched all the leaves that have coated the grounds and I continued to clean out and layer the beds.

First, a pile of composted goat poop from our three goats. Beautiful stuff. Then a layer of half-composted chicken poop from a local poultry grower. Finally, a thick layer of finely chopped leaves…

We are also attempting to overwinter our artichoke plant by burying it under a big pile of mulched leaves. We’ll see how it works out – I’d love it if the plant would survive!

This morning I also got another bucket of parsley cut. Mom said she wanted parsley, so I grew her parsley! We’ve had three or four cuttings from what I planted, and I’m hoping to get one more before winter really hits and kills it. We’ve got enough dried for a couple of years, I think…

I’m not sure what else I’ll get accomplished today since I have to do some studying and I’ve got to be up early (4:30am!) for a 24-hour shift tomorrow. It’s been a good, productive day, though! I’m on a roll…

(Listening to: "The Root Of All Evil" by Abney Park)

An entire day!

2009-11-06T22:25:00.003-05:00

This is a thrilling, rare experience – an entire two days OFF!

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’ve got tons to do. It’s a great opportunity to get caught up on some schoolwork for one thing. But I simply refuse to let this beautiful fall day go by without enjoying it a little bit.

1. 10 Minutes a Day!

1. Bedroom:	done!	5. Studio:	done!
2. Bathroom:	done!	6. Hall & Stairs:	done!
3. Kitchen:	done!	7. Patio:	done!
4. Dining:	done!	8. Office:	done!

--> Reorganize CDs:

DONE DONE DONE!!!

I have added a new region to my 10MaD – the patio. Until winter hits, it could use some daily attention, too.

2. Craft: Toiletry Bag

I’ve gotten pretty tired of having loose toiletries floating all over my suitcase (yes, I use a real, vintage suitcase) when I go out on my 24 hour shifts.

I used this tutorial from Craftster.org as a guideline for making a new toiletry bag. The square shape in the tutorial wasn’t appealing to me, so I went ahead and let it have the angled sides that naturally occur when you use a simple rectangle for a pattern. The fabric is stuff I have had laying around for years – and it worked beautifully for this project.

The tutorial is fantastic – I only got confused when I tried to not follow the directions (though I still don’t really know what she means when she said to “pivot” at the zipper). But it’s okay – it worked out in the end and didn't even take very long.

3. Fix the Sun!

Oh my gosh, I did it! I finally fixed my wonderful, beautiful sun.

Mom gave me this pillow many, many years ago. 20? 25 years? I don’t remember. He’s a beautiful hand painted sun with his eyes open on one side and closed on the other.

He got this little hole a long time ago – at least 15 years ago – and only tonight did I get around to fixing him. I love him so much and can’t wait to get him hung up.

Can you believe he’s been sitting in this sad little plastic bag for more than 15 years?

And all because of this little, bitty hole. I was so terrified of it getting bigger that I just put him away…

And of course it took all of 10 minutes to get that little hole mended. Now he’s sitting on my side table waiting for me to install a hanger in the ceiling. It’s so good to have him back!!!

It’s been a good day. I guess I’m on the right track…

Falling behind – Catching up

2009-11-02T22:15:00.001-05:00

Getting a little behind in some of my obligations, so I will be focusing a little more on the work and a little less of the fun for a while…

1. 10 Minutes a Day!

1. Bedroom:	done!	5. Bathroom:	done!
2. Office:	done!	6. Studio:	done!
3. Kitchen:	done!	7. Hall (5):	done!
4. Dining:	done!	8. Stairs (5):	done!

--> Sewing desk: done!!!

2. Schoolwork!

Got my 12-lead views with their reciprocals memorized. It’s a start!

3. Project!

Alas, no project today. But I did get to go to dinner with Mom and Stepdad and I haven’t done that in a long, long time. We’ll count that as today’s project, how’s that?

Good night!

Plant tags/markers out of soda cans!

2009-11-01T16:09:00.002-05:00

I only have a short time today, so I decided that a quick and dirty project would be just the thing.

Some time ago I saw this great idea for plant markers made out of soda cans. Last year I made several and they were adorable. Unlike the ones in that link, I made them larger, punched a hole in the top, then attached them to think wire that I curled and made into stakes. They truly were wonderful – I wish I had pictures of them!

So I’ve been collecting soda cans (I don’t drink soda often) and today I started prepping them.

So here’s Godfrey watching over my preparations. I have a boatload of aluminum cans, all washed. I’d already taken the tops off of several some time ago, but you can see the can opener there waiting for the rest.

Once the tops are off, then I cut off the curved edge on top and on the bottom, leaving me with a flat sheet of aluminum. Be sure you use kitchen shears to cut that metal – it will dull a regular pair of scissors before you know it!

Here’s as far as the prep work got today. There are a few sample finished tags there, but that’s all that will be done until we get started with our spring garden and I know what we’ll be planting.

And look what I just found! This person is using scrapbooking craft punches to fancy things up a bit. I love this idea and will certainly be using it!

It’s the little things in life!

Getting better!

2009-10-30T22:01:00.001-04:00

My cough is almost gone! I actually slept through the night last night with only two coughing fits. My voice is almost completely back and my energy is getting back to normal.

The great news is that my camera is here and all set up to start taking real pictures. I’m still not worrying about getting that beautiful studio-esque shot, but hopefully we can at least get away from all the blur!

I didn’t get much done today, but I’m not too worried.

I did get some wonderful banana cinnamon muffins made…

And I helped Stepdad get our coldframe into the barn…

And I started mowing the leaves, but the mower broke, and I wasn’t up to raking them…

Otherwise it was an absolutely beautiful fall day. Look at the last remaining colors behind the goat barn..those trees look like golden spears. It’s incredible.

I did do a very little bit of cleaning, and of course laundry. But I’m tired now, and I’ve got to be up at 0400 for work tomorrow, so its off to bed I go…

Goodnight!!

Not too demanding.

2009-10-26T21:06:00.001-04:00

Well, I’ve been fighting with a cough for a few days now, and yesterday I was awful hoarse. Today, though…today I have no voice at all and I’m starting to get a headache to go with it.

I’m definitely a little under the weather, so we’re going to take it real easy.

1. 10 Minutes a Day + Laundry

10MaD today isn’t going to be timed. Just a quick pick-me-up in each room with a sweep/vacuum and I’ll call it done.

1. Bedroom:	done!	5. Dining:	done!
2. Office:	done!	6. Bathroom:	done!
3. Studio:	done!	7. Hall (5):	done!
4. Kitchen:	done!	8. Stairs (5):	done!
-> Laundry:	done!

2. Applesauce!

Mom and I were both buying apples left and right for a while, and we ended up with a bowlful that were starting to go bad. Well, we can’t let that happen, can we?

So first thing this morning I set out to make applesauce. I love applesauce. Unsweetened, of course. And since this was a tremendous variety of apple types, I just knew it would make an excellent sauce.

Here I’ve got my bowl with lemon water to put the sliced apples in to keep them from browning. Behind that is my scale – love that thing. On the other side of the cutting board is my bowl full of apples to be used – I had exactly enough to do a half-batch.

Peeled, cored and weighed apples on the left, and happy goats on the right!

Everyone with even the slightest interest in cooking needs an immersion blender. So much easier.

All done! Six pounds of prepped apples gave me four pints and two half-pints (ran out of pint jars!). Beautiful color, amazing flavor.

And boy, do I need a real camera. My cell phone really isn’t adequate for this…

2. Schoolwork

Nope, none today. Just couldn’t bring myself to concentrate. I’ll be paying for it tomorrow though…

3. Craft!

I got the mock-up of the Target bag done! I’m very excited – it came out exactly right on the first try. That never happens! But I’ll take any small victory I can get.

Unfortunately, my mock-up was made out of an old white hospital sheet; guess I should have gone ahead and used good fabric. No problem, though – I’m just glad it all works and looks good.

Above, you see the original bag with the pattern I made from it. The white fabric is from an old hospital sheet – perfect for a mock-up.

And here’s the twins! Sorry for the horrible picture, you’ll have to trust me that they’re identical. I’m so proud!

Been a good day.

A day off…

2009-10-23T21:08:00.001-04:00

And so much to do!

1. 10 Minutes a Day

before: Today’s 10MaD will end up being a 5MaD. Not up to doing the whole bit, so I’ll just cut it in half. It will still make a difference.

1. Bedroom:	done!	5. Dining:	done!
2. Office:	done!	6. Craft:	done!
3. Kitchen:	done!	7. Hall:	done!
4. Bath:	done!	8. Stairs:	done!

after: So what did I learn today? Well, five minutes just isn’t enough time. I ended up stressing out more than if I had just taken the full 10 minutes. Interesting. But it did make a difference.

I suppose that with 5 minutes I was able to get everything picked up. With 10 minutes, I am also able to do additional work, be it scrub the tub or organize a drawer or cupboard. Its the difference between treading water and swimming toward land I guess.

2. Harvest gourds

My big project today was the get the gourds harvested and do a little work on cleaning up the garden. I’m still a little sick, so I wore out quickly – but I did get those darn gourds in. And they’re beautiful! I’m really hoping they’ll dry and not rot…

The fall vegetable garden is always so depressing and ugly. But look, there’s treasure under those dead vines!

Not a bad harvest. The cannonball gourds are a kick – I’m looking forward to making baskets out of those. And some of the luffa are huge! If they dry properly, they’ll be very useful – nothing like home grown scrubbies!

All lined up and pretty outside the greenhouse. The larger luffa are hanging in the goat barn.

3. market bag

I bought these fabulous bags at Target when they were on clearance. I think I’ve got six of them. I’m sure they were designed to be purses, but they’re perfect grocery bags. Now I want more so I’ve got to make them.

I made the pattern a few weeks ago. I only have time tonight to cut out the first draft (thus the white fabric) and will try to sew it up on Monday. That’s fine – it’s a start!

4. menu/food

I managed to get food together to get me through my 36 hour shift starting tomorrow. If we’re not busy, I’ll get a menu for the rest of the week together at work.

5. string the black peppers:

I’m not sure this is going to work, but I thought I’d give it a try. They certainly look pretty…

They’re Hungarian Black Peppers and we really didn’t get to experiment with them as I would have liked. The weather didn’t give us a very good pepper harvest though we had beautiful pepper plants. Supposedly they make a good spicy paprika when dried, so if this works that’s probably what I’ll do with them.

Lovely day. Hope to have more like this!

Never enough time!

2009-10-20T17:09:00.001-04:00

But instead of complaining about it, I’m gonna just go with it…

Work with me, here, okay?

1. 1o Minutes a Day

1. kitchen	done!
2. bedroom	done!
3. dining	done!
4. bathroom	done!
5. craft/living	darn it…
6. office	done!
7. hall (5 min)	done!
8. stairs (5 min)	done!

2. Schoolwork: Done!

3. Laundry: Done!

3. Craft? Nope, not today.

Okay, that’s not what I expected…

2009-10-13T23:03:00.001-04:00

I have a little more time today than I thought – I guess I’d read the schedule wrong.

And I am *not* complaining!

1. 10 Minutes a Day

I’m going to experiment a bit today. Since I am quite caught up and have several other things I want to do today, I’m scheduling some areas to only take five minutes. Let’s see how that works.

1. Office:	done!
2. Bedroom (5 min):	done!
3. Kitchen:	done!
4. Dining (5 min):	done!
5. Living/Craft:
6. Bathroom (5 min):
7. Hall (5 min):	done!
8. Stairwell (5 min):

2. Finish Laundry: done!

3. Study: done!

Today’s assignment was to *learn* two registry sheets and review medication dosages. Well, I got one down pat, so I’ll take it.

4. Gym: done!

My doctor made it quite clear that I need to be working out. managed to put in 30 minutes on the elliptical and about 45 minutes lifting weights. Not too shabby.

music: The Damned (again)

Recap…

2009-10-12T15:51:00.001-04:00

10 Minutes a Day:

1. Bedroom:	Done!
2. Bathroom:	Done!
3. Office:	Nope, not today…
4. Kitchen:	Done – including the top of the freezer!
5. Dining:	Done!
6. Living/Craft:	Nope, not today…
7. Hall:	Done!
8. Stairs:	Nope, not today…

Laundry:

Whites:	Done!
Colors (incl. uniform):	It’s in the dryer!
Rugs:	Done!
Sheets:	It’s in the washer!

Other:

I did find time to sketch out a bracket design…

…and even got much of it cut out on the scroll saw; unfortunately, my one saw blade broke about halfway through…

Oh well. I’ll go order some blades now.

Music: The Damned

What to do today?

2009-10-12T12:50:00.001-04:00

Well, there’s always 10 Minutes a Day to start…

And there’s a pile of laundry…

And schoolwork…

That might be it for the day.

Sweater pillow!

2009-10-11T18:46:00.001-04:00

Had a little time to just chill last night so I decided to throw together a sweater pillow.

What’s a sweater pillow, you ask?

Well, I went to the thrift shop and bought some old 100% wool sweaters. When I got home, I washed and dried them a few times until they became very felted. Each washing made them softer, denser, and of course smaller.

I cut it apart and sewed it together again, this time with a pillow form stuffed inside.

I didn’t remember to take photos of the step-by step, which I’ll remember to do with the next one, but here’s a bad picture of the finished product. Okay, almost finished – I want to move the flower a little away from the corner…

It’s a fun, cheap and rewarding project. I’ve got several more to do before they end up in the Atlanta apartment…

later…

Okay, so I moved the flower and it’s much better. It still needs something…I’m not sure what…but I’ll call it done for now:

Fridge/Freezer doors: DONE!

2009-10-10T13:19:00.001-04:00

My wonderful husband got my fridge/freezer doors switched to the other side for me this morning with much glee from me – its going to make life so much easier!

Garden Huckleberry Pie

2009-10-09T18:42:00.001-04:00

Today has simply *flown* by.

10 Minutes a Day hasn’t happened yet, and I am not sure that it will today. And honestly, I won’t be upset with myself – it’s been a wonderful day.

Spent a few hours this morning working in the garden. It’s been a rough year for it, and now I’m trying to get it cleaned up and prepared for winter. One of the chores today was to figure out what to do with all these Garden Huckleberries.

Amazingly, one plant gave me 9 cups, or 3.5 pounds of beautiful purple-black berries. They were very easy to harvest, though pulling off all the little stems took some time. I found two recipes, one pretty complicated, involving cooking them in baking soda and rinsing, and another that simply simmered them for a while and added sugar.

Goodness, I had more than enough berries, just from the one plant (there are four more out there) so I figured I’d try them both.

Unfortunately, neither recipe yielded satisfactory results. The first recipe had a residual baking soda taste and the second was still too bitter. Of course, that could be because I simply couldn’t bring myself to use all the sugar that was in the recipe.

I’m looking forward to experimenting with these things more. There is a blueberry pie recipe out there that I’ll try next to see if the garden huckleberries will work for. We’ll see – maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.

Fortunately, the berries are supposed to get better after a light frost, so the rest will wait until then.

The other good news is that I pulled a wonderful potato harvest today. All the sweet potatoes came from a grocery store potato – not bad for free! And I can tell you for a fact that they are super yummy! The red potatoes gave an excellent harvest, though the whites were a bit disappointing. Honestly, I can’t complain for never having grown potatoes of any type before. And they all taste so good…

Music: Siouxsie & the Banshees

Nothing doing, today…

2009-10-08T08:02:00.001-04:00

Today is spent doing a clinical and then class, so I’m afraid nothing new is going to get done.

I am pleased to report, however, that my work is paying off. Coming home has been so much more pleasant. The house has been clean, it smells wonderful, my table project greets me every time I walk in the door.

I am eager to continue like this. The payoff is so well worth it.

Recovering from distress

2009-10-06T16:01:00.004-04:00

This has been a rough few days, and I apologize for not writing. I haven’t been able to do much toward my goals, but hopefully things will start to turn around now.
Today I will be working on 10 Minutes a Day as my break during the massive load of schoolwork that I have due tonight. As usual, I don’t expect to get the entire house done, but whatever can be done will be a good and welcome dent.

1. bedroom	done!
2. office	done!
3. kitchen	done!
4. bathroom	done!
5. dining	done!
6. living	done!
7. hall	done!
8. stairwell	done!

I’m starting to think that the craft area of the living room may need it’s own time, but we’ll see what happens. As it is, I’m terribly impressed at how much nicer things area already. I am able to make a little more progress each time, and without tiring or getting bored or overwhelmed.
Thought I wasn’t going to get any craft time, but ended up with an odd hour with nothing to do (unbelievable!). Well, that’s just enough time to finish a project that I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

Now doesn’t that make a HUGE difference? Wow – I love it, and so simple to do.
Yay! Check one off the list!
Music: Interpol

Daily recap

2009-10-01T16:12:00.004-04:00

1. 10 Minutes a Day + Laundry
- Done: Bathroom
- Done: Bedroom
- Done: Kitchen
- Done: Dining
- Done: Living/craft
- Office
- Hallway
- Stairs

Since I had already done so much on my last 10 Minutes a Day, I was able to scrub the bathtub and clean the outside of the fridge doors! All within the allotted time! That's pretty nifty and it sure feels good.

2. Schoolwork
Got what I need to do done, but didn't get to review or move ahead. This semester is kicking my tail.

3. Fix The Sun
Well, I didn't get to the sun, but I did get several sweaters washed for the sweater pillows. Forgot to take before pictures though...doh! But that's a fair trade.

Not bad! I'll give the day a B+.

Love to you all,
Petunia

Plan for Today

2009-10-01T09:35:00.001-04:00

1. 10 Minutes a Day + Laundry
2. Schoolwork
3. Fix The Sun

Music: Abney Park

Love to you all,
Petunia

A little revision.

2009-09-30T20:44:00.002-04:00

I think it's safe to say that 10 Minutes a Day *every* day is unrealistic. After all day in the ER on a clinical, I am in no shape to clean. So we'll revise that a bit - my goal will be three times per week. That sounds reasonable.

And silly me bought yarn for Hubby's afghan. I've got so many projects that I have everything I need for - what am I thinking buying stuff for another one? Well, it's done, and honestly I'm excited about it. So oh well.

Today's grade: C-

Love to you all!
Petunia

Daily recap

2009-09-29T23:14:00.003-04:00

Well, I didn't get all the way through my 10 Minutes a Day project, but I did make a big dent. I'm pleased with that. I'm sure it will take a little time to get into the swing of things.

Tomorrow is going to be tough - a clinical in the morning, then I promised my step-dad that we'd grill a good dinner.

Well, I'll do what I can and be satisfied.

Love to you all,
Petunia

10 Minutes a Day

2009-09-29T10:25:00.005-04:00

The very first project in a couple of different ways.

This project is based on FlyLady.net's method of cleaning and organizing. I followed the program several years ago - they were still pretty new - so I'm not sure how the system has evolved. I do know the basics, and I know it's effective.

As a project person, as well as a full time employee and full time student, my house is a wreck. It's usually the last thing I want to worry about even though I know it should be the first. I hate "living in chaos" as flylady puts it, but I never feel like I have the time to do otherwise.

The point of the system is to break the chore of housekeeping in small, managable bites. Very gradually you get things in order, gradually you see improvements. It's not a huge undertaking and you aren't expected to DO IT ALL RIGHT NOW which is how I usually feel.

So I'm going to apply this concept to everything. And I'm starting with my house.

Here's how it works:

1. You are only allowed to spend 10 minutes cleaning each room EVERY DAY.

2. One cleaning component per day does not fit into that 10 minutes, but it shouldn't take longer than an additional 5-10 per room, if that.

I'm starting in the kitchen. I set the timer for 10 minutes and did everything I could do within that time. I did not rush, I did not expect to get it all done. And I didn't. Though I seem to have made a greater dent than I expected to.

Today, my major job is mopping. We have tile floors everywhere except the bedrooms. For these floors I have to soak them, then come back later to mop it up.

So I do need to get a lot of school work done today before class. So here's the plan:

- 10 minute cleaning of a room
- 5-10 minute soaking of the floor
- 50 minutes studying
- 5-10 minute mopping up the floor
- repeat

Done for today:
- done: Kitchen
- done: Dining
- Living
- Hall
- done: Bathroom
- done: Office
- done: Bedroom
- Stairs

Love to you all,
Petunia

The Rules

2009-09-29T10:16:00.001-04:00

I've spent the last week thinking of some rules for The Project List. The following should be adequate:

1. One project must be completed per week.
If the project is a major undertaking, such as The Costume, then one definable portion must be competed per week, such as The Corset for the above said costume.

2. A minimum of one hour must be spent on a project every day.

3. 10 Minutes a Day does not count into rule #2. That one is above and beyond.

4. The point of this is to have fun and to improve my life. That's a worthy goal.

That should cover it! If I think of more, I'll add it. But rules aren't the point of this game.

Love to you all,
Petunia

A List of Projects

2009-09-22T18:09:00.000-04:00

I recently came to the conclusion that without some deadlines, nothing is going to get accomplished.

And I also realized that most of my accomplishments I never acknowledge, so I feel that I've accomplished nothing. I suppose that I need a creative outlet. As a generally non-social person, I need a little bit of show-off time.

Our culture says that it is okay to deride yourself, but heaven forbid you pat yourself on the back.

I'm done with that.

Love to you all,
Petunia