It's been a while

It's been a wild, crazy summer. I've had so much going on, both professionally and personally, that something had to give and, unfortunately, what gave was my blogging time. I have had so many ideas I wanted to write down, or started to write down, but never got to complete. There are so many things I want to get done and only so many hours in a day. Getting into all of the details would be far, far more than one (or even 8) blog posts could handle, so I won't even attempt it. I'll just highlight, and say that most of the changes have been really good. Also, I didn't stop writing entirely. I feel a little silly admitting this, but I wrote a book. It's a lighthearted piece of fluff, but one I think is good enough that I'm now working on getting it published. (Wish me luck!) So that's been sucking up any potential blogging time I might have had.
So what are the big changes and highlights? First of all, there's work. I got a new job! This has been one of the best changes in my life since Miss B was born. I interviewed for this job mostly because it was away from my old supervisor (who was bad enough, and crazy enough, that I actually had to file a complaint against her with HR sometime in the last year--and the problems didn't stop, I just tried to keep my head down until I could find a way out) and because I would get a small pay raise. Well, the new job is better than I expected. I'm actually really enjoying it as a job. The tasks are fun, and my coworkers and supervisor are really supportive and friendly. I've worked with them before, so I did know that going into the job. But it's refreshing, after hating work and being so stressed out about it for so long, to have going to work suddenly be pretty good. And that small pay raise? It turns out that moving up a level the way I did entitled me to a 10% pay raise, rather than the $.50 or so that I thought it would be. Now, I keep thinking of this quote, but my raise is nothing to sneeze at. It's enough that when Shane told me his campus job from the last two semesters is only taking on grad students this semester, we were able to be happy about it rather than stressed. We don't *need* the money from that job anymore, and now he gets to be home with Miss B more which makes finding babysitters for his class time much easier. He's still working his weekend job, and we're staying afloat. It's a good feeling.
Miss B herself is thriving. She's 10 months old today! I can hardly believe it, although my thoughts keep turning to the upcoming 1st birthday party. I'm excited to plan it. We're going to ask the grandparents not to go crazy on gifts, and tell friends that gifts are unnecessary, because she's turning 1 and doesn't have any expectations and won't remember it anyway.
We've finally got some of her sleeping problems settled. She's been in her own crib for several months now, and I miss the co-sleeping less than I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, sleepy baby snuggles are awesome. But she was pinching and scratching and kicking us toward the end there and we were being driven crazy. So the move into her own sleeping space has been a really great thing for all of us. She still doesn't want to go to sleep, and usually wakes herself up several times after we put her in bed, but once she's out we get only two wakeup calls during the night, to eat and be changed.
She's thoroughly mobile now, on the cusp of walking. She has a baby walker which she can push around the living room and has quickly gotten really good at it. And she can stand for at least 30 seconds on her own. I've seen her eyeing distances between furniture like, "Hmm, could I walk there?" before she decides that the answer is "no" and drops to a crawl.
She calls us by our slave names, "Mama" and "Dada". She even started calling one grandmother "Nana". Very exciting. It adds an extra level of pathos when I'm trying to make dinner and she crawls over to me, pulls herself up to stand clutching my leg, and says, "Ma! Mama!" because she wants to be held. Since she's so very curious I've been trying to get her involved in cooking as much as possible. She loves it. I'll pick her up once I've got all of the chopping and prep work done, and describe what I'm doing and why I'm doing it as I add ingredients to a dish. "See the onions? See how they're getting lighter and softer? They're almost ready." Yesterday she helped me make bread and was fascinated with the whole process. I let her eat a couple of small bites of dough and when I was kneading it she got some flour to play with. It's working really well for us to do things this way. She so wants to be like the big people that making her feel involved and important is going to be key as she grows up, I suspect.
As always, the summer garden had highlights and low moments. My potatoes were awful because it was the rainiest, wettest summer on record and they just didn't do well. Neither did any of my squashes. I got one--one!--zucchini. Thankfully, a friend got quite a few so she shared with me, and I grabbed some from the farmer's market. Others of my plants did really well, though. Carrots and lettuce went crazy. We had at least one big dinner salad each week this summer, with enough leftovers to be lunch the next day. So we worked with what we had, and I'm filling in now with farmer's market produce to shore up supplies for the winter. Because it's Fairbanks, and as cliche as it has become to say, winter is coming.
Last day for the market is this Saturday. I'm sad, but excited too. I love autumn. All of the gorgeous colors, the different foods we're eating now. It's glorious. Here's a picture I took on a bike ride last weekend:

Beautiful. I live in such a gorgeous place.
That being said, we're working on eating up all of our stores of food by next May, because we're planning to move. Out of Alaska. There are so very many reasons why--Shane can get a better job in another state, I want to be closer to my parents, etc.--but it's still not an easy decision to make. I have a running "pros and cons" list in my head and it comes out about even for both moving and staying. Shane is more excited to move than I am, actually, and without his enthusiasm we would probably stay here. As it is, I'm trying to think only of the positives and not what I will miss so much about Fairbanks. Perhaps we'll come back to live here again someday. At the very least, we have friends here so it won't be a permanent goodbye.
Right now it is definitely the busy season. I'm trying to preserve as much good, local food as possible, trying to get out for bike rides and walks as much as we can while the weather is nice (I love our bike trailer), and at the same time trying to focus on indoor pursuits. I haven't knitted, well, anything in the past two years, so I want to correct that. I've had a sweater which was half finished when I got pregnant and then realized that I wouldn't be able to wear it for about a year anyway so I never finished it. I'm doing so now. Then I want to make a couple of toddler hats (I found an adorable and warm pattern from a Norwegian woman whose last name was my maiden name--distant relative perhaps?), some baby mittens, and maybe some baby sweaters and baby boots (we'll see about the boots--she's got mukluks which would be much warmer, but will they fit during the early part of winter?), as well as some items for Christmas presents.
I also interlibrary loaned a whole pile of books which I've been frantically trying to read before their assigned due dates. Most of them, I've had to request a renewal.
As if all of this wasn't enough, I started a workout program on Monday. T25, so it's supposedly only 25 minutes a day. But then I have to factor in procrastination (I pick up all the toys in the living room so that I can actually workout without stepping on something potentially dangerous) and shower time. The workout is kicking my butt and just what I need to really get back into shape. Walking and biking have been great, but I need more core work and the only work my arms have gotten is lifting and carrying the babe. It's not nothing, but I'd rather not get hurt because I was neglecting to work my arms and shoulders.
So that's what I've been doing the last few months. What about you? How was your summer?

Shopping in my house and more sewing projects

All of the activities before which I thought were "nesting"? Yeah, that's been nothing compared to the overwhelming need to get things done and cleaned and ready which seized me at the end of this week. In part, I think, it's because I finally finished the book series I was reading. I wanted to get that done before Baby's arrival because, while I love the books, they wouldn't have been fun to read out loud. And I plan to do a lot of reading aloud to her. Such a list of good books to read aloud that I've got in my head! It starts with "Pride and Prejudice". (I figure we'll get into board books a little later on, when she's more active than a potato.)
It is, of course, starting to get dark around here. The piss-poor way this house was set up, with the biggest windows on the North side, doesn't help. Even during the weekends, in the daylight, I would find myself wanting a bit more light to read by. But I didn't want to turn on the power-sucking, huge overhead lights.

(I hate these lights.) I've been thinking for a few weeks that we really should get a lamp for the living room so that we don't have to depend on those horrible overhead lights. I thought that I'd look at Value Village the next time we went (which we'll need to do for our Halloween costumes) and then realized that there was a perfectly good lamp in our bedroom which we almost never use. It's small, and it's one of those ones with a clamp to hold it onto something. It's been clamped to Shane's desk everywhere he's lived since before I met him. I pulled it off, then looked in it and realized that most of the reason it gets used so rarely is because it's got a blacklight in it. So I went searching in one of the hall closets for our CFL lightbulbs and what did I find? A different clampy lamp. One that looks a bit nicer and is a little larger, far more suited to the living room and my needs out there. I didn't even know we had this lamp, and how bad is that?

Needless to say, I put the other lamp back and used the one I'd found in the hall closet instead. Now I have a decent-looking and comfortable place to read. If I need to put my feet up, I use the exercise ball. Frequently, the cat jumps into my lap and enjoys the quiet reading time with me.
My horror at not even realizing we had this lamp lead me to clean out that closet a bit more. I realized that in the past I've looked through the upper cabinets but there are lower cabinets which I've mostly left alone, thinking that I knew what was in them. Clearly I do not. And it turned out to be a bit of a gold mine, mostly in terms of things that we can get rid of. Some holiday decorations which were given to us, and which we've never actually used, filled up half a bag.
What really surprised me, though, was a thing whose origins I don't know, and I can't even guess at what it once was. It was a big white sheet of waterproof material, torn in several places, and with definite corners and a long zipper. ???? It's about the size of a full-size sheet, but I don't know what it is. I suspect it's something from our old roommate, and I'm probably the one who kept it thinking that it would be useful "someday". That day has come. :) I've been needing some waterproof material for some of the baby projects I wanted to get done, and this saves me from buying it. What a fortuitous find! Sometimes, my packrat tendencies do pay off.
Through one thing and another, I ended up having an entire free Friday because I didn't have to work. Shane has class on Thursday nights until 9:00, so I had an entire evening to myself, with nothing planned. I spent half an hour trying to read but my mind kept wandering to the projects I wanted to get done. I'd planned to do them the next day, on my day off, then realized that it was silly to push them off for no good reason. On went "Ghostbusters", out came the serger and all of my materials: two old sheets, the waterproof material, two pillowcases, and a cloth drawstring bag which I found in the closet with all of the sheets and realized was perfect for re-use. It used to hold a set of sheets, but no more.
If you're wondering where I got all of these old sheets and useless pillowcases and such (perfectly reasonable), wonder no longer. Some were left by our old roommate, and some were given to us by my in-laws, and due to their age the fitted sheet has since died. (By that I mean, Shane managed to put giant holes in them.) The top sheets were still just fine, though, because Shane hates them so they end up getting pushed to the foot of the bed, crumpled rather than torn. The pillowcases...well, some of those were given to us, and some we found in the couch after we got it. I have no idea what they were doing in there, but whatever. They've come in handy. Since the fabric for all of these thigns was still good, and I always have grand plans for projects I want to do, I saved them. It wasn't until I got the serger last Thanksgiving, however, that I really had the means with which to do anything. So now, out they all came to finally become useful rather than simply taking up space.
The first thing I wanted to do was to make some wetbags for holding dirty diapers. Because of the dog, we need to keep these off the floor, in some sort of container that will both cut down on smell and be hard for the dog to get into if she does get ahold of it. The pillowcases and the waterproof material were what I used. Cutting the material was by far the hardest part, both because the only space I have to use is the floor, and because my little "helper" kept swiping at my hands when I tried to cut the waterproof material. (His fort.)

So be kind when you see the finished projects. I'm still a very novice sewer, and I didn't have the best working conditions. Also, I used black thread on everything, no matter the color, because the serger is such a pain in the ass to change thread that I didn't even bother. I don't think any of it looks bad, though, so if you do you can keep your mouth shut. Overall, what matters the most to me is simply that I got these things done.

For the wetbags, I cut out waterproof material in the size and shape of the pillowcases, then sewed three edges so that they became, essentially, waterproof pillowcases. Then came the hard part, sewing the waterproof material into the pillowcases. The first one I did looks worse by far, but really only from the inside.

There's a bit of puckering because the waterproof material wasn't quite as wide as the pillowcase. (Thanks cat.) But since this is to hold dirty diapers, who cares? When I was out and about on Friday, I stopped at the craft store to buy a couple of zippers and sewed those into the tops of the wetbags.

I now have two wetbags which can be thrown into the washing machine along with the dirty diapers. Woo! The only thing I have left to do is to figure out how I want to keep them off the floor. I'm thinking I should do something to hang them in the closet, but I'm not certain what the best way to accomplish that is yet. I'll figure something out, and most likely I'll find whatever I need for that project around the house. :)
Remember the small drawstring bag I mentioned? That got made into a small wetbag as well, for in the diaper bag whenever we go out and about. By the time I did it, I was getting much better about sewing in the round. So it actually turned out quite well. From the outside you can't even tell that it's anything other than a small-ish drawstring jersey bag.

I've been wanting to make some curtains for our closet, since that will be Baby's "room" for the first few months. Just something light so that we don't have to worry as much about turning a light on in the bedroom when she's sleeping, but which also won't really be much of a barrier so that sound and air will travel freely. I knew exactly what sheet I wanted to use for this project, too. An old white topsheet was perfect. Basically all I had to do was cut it up the middle, serge the sides and bottom (both sides so that they would match, and the bottom because it was way too long) and then flipped the top down to make a tube through which to slide the curtain rod. (Also bought at the craft store--I spent a grand total of $16, and I got a set of pins as well.) I hung them up using sticky hooks, so they won't damage anything in our apartment. Overall, I'd say it looks pretty nice.

My final, and most ambitious project, was to make a nightgown for myself. Shane thinks it's silly, but I wanted something in which would be really easy to nurse. At the very least, when we have family visiting or go visiting other places, I'll need something that I'll be comfortable in. (I usually sleep either, um, naked, or wearing a big old t-shirt.) Anyway, I had a grand design in my head and thought that it wouldn't be too hard. And I was right! The hardest parts were simply that I don't have a great method of cutting out material, and that jersey is hard material to work with.

Also, I was making this for an approximation of my post-pregnancy body so I had to guess at some things. For a pattern, I cut an old t-shirt (with a number of small holes in it, so it wasn't in donatable condition) and used that to approximate my dimensions. As you can see, I drew on there some pattern ideas for the top using a Sharpie. Mostly, I wanted to be sure I knew where my boobs would be so that I didn't accidentally cut too little fabric.
The belly part was easy, I just put a few gathers in under the empire waist. I put one in at the back, too, (just one) that I think looks rather nice. Overall, the skirt was the easiest part.

Which means that the top is the hardest part. How to get things just right? How to make it look nice, or even decent? My first idea was to have two flaps overlaying each other so that I could just pull one aside at a time, but I didn't like that idea so much. So I did a scoop-neck instead. It's pretty low-cut, but that just means it'll be easier to pull aside for nursing.
I also wasn't sure how to make the edges look so nice. For some things, like the bottom and the armpits, I really don't mind having the serged edges show. But for the neckline? I figure that, at least, should look cute. So I cut out some very long strips of the sheet and braided them together. I'm still in the process of hand-sewing them on. They'll also serve as the straps, since they're sturdier and less prone to stretching than one thin strap of jersey material would be. They'll still be easy to slide off my shoulders, though.

When I showed Shane my project he thought it was rather silly that I felt the need to have a nightgown at all. (Until I reminded him about feeding the baby around friends and family, at least.) Then he said, "Wait, is that a sheet?" I said, "Yeah, would you rather that I had bought fabric for this?" He said, "No, but I still reserve the right to laugh at you." Fair enough.
The nightgown is far from perfect. More than a short glance will show some places where the sewing could have been done better. But, considering my lack of experience with the serger and the fact that this is the most ambitious project I've ever tried, I feel pretty good about it. (I'd post a picture, but I'm still 9 months pregnant so it looks pretty silly on me at the moment.) Maybe I'll try making more nursing clothes for myself? I do still have about half a sheet of material left....

I still need to make some changing pads for diapering Baby, but I have plenty of the waterproof material for that. The only thing I'm not certain about is what else I want to use. Should I just use a layer or two of the flannel, with the waterproof material either under or in between? Or should I get a couple of towels at Value Village and use those? Should I do a different one for the diaper bag, since we might need to change her diaper on a hard surface, or will that not matter too much? I'll have to think about it some more, but quickly since according to my doctor I could go into labor at any time now. (Yay! But my due date isn't for another two weeks, and she also wouldn't be surprised if nothing happens before then. She told me to "just hang on and don't get discouraged.")
I didn't do this yesterday, but I did make more dog booties this year. I mostly used materials I had leftover from last year, like the velcro, elastic, and canvas (so much of that left). Since I didn't have any fleece for the insides, though, I used some more bits of the flannel sheet which I'd cut up for baby wipes. The purpose isn't really to pad her feet, but to keep them from getting frostbitten in the cold, so the flannel will work well enough. And this year I learned from my mistakes: I used two layers of canvas on the bottoms. Hopefully these will hold together better. I'm always looking for ways to improve the design. One day, perhaps, I'll be able to make some dog booties which last for more than one winter's worth of walks and runs.
If winter ever gets here, that is. Almost Halloween and no snow? Even worse, it was so warm that it was raining for a couple of weeks, even at night. What the hell? It's actually nice to have frosty days once again.

Showered

This last Saturday, my friends threw a baby shower for me. It was actually held at my apartment, and I consulted a lot with the friend who was organizing it, so I guess I sort of threw it for myself too.
I'm not sure how I feel about baby showers and wedding showers and such. I know a lot of minimalists decry the tradition, and having the attention on me makes me uncomfortable, but I do also understand that some people love the tradition and don't feel right about things unless a woman has a baby shower or wedding shower or whatever. And I'm not opposed to it, necessarily, just because I feel awkward about being the center of attention for doing nothing more than procreating. Yeah, it's a big deal to have a baby in one sense (yay, babies!), but in another...women all over the world do this all the time. It's special, and yet it's not. I think this, and the blatant consumerism which is encouraged by baby showers, is where my ambivalence comes from.
Part of what makes a shower awkward for me is the expectation that people will bring gifts. Not only am I the center of attention, but I really, really hate the idea of making my friends feel obligated to give me things. So I tried to make that very clear, but no one seems to have taken me seriously since they all brought gifts anyway. I'm not complaining here, they gave us wonderful and useful things. Books for Baby (good ones, too, like Dr. Seuss books and The Berenstain Bears), bibs, socks, a blanket with monsters on the fabric. The mustachifier. Even baby wash/shampoo, which is always handy.
Shane has been complaining for a while that we don't have any bath toys. Seriously. He's kept an old squirt bottle which used to hold body wash so that he can play around with squirting water in the shower. My ridiculous spouse will never grow up. Well, now he's got some bath toys. I'm pretty sure that I will never get to give our daughter a bath because Shane will be so excited to play with the toys that he'll take over. (Again, not complaining!)
The biggest thing we got was one that I was starting to get nervous about not having: a carseat. This came from Shane's parents, of course, (his mom came up for the shower) and I feel a little guilty that they spent so much money but, at the same time, incredibly, unspeakably grateful to them. It's the carseat I wanted, which is a combination seat and not just a strictly infant seat like some. This one will be good until about the time Baby needs to move into a booster.
Being among the first of our friends in Fairbanks to have a kid means that a lot of the bigger items can't come second hand. I didn't really have to decide about how I'd feel about a used carseat because it wasn't an option at all. When I first got pregnant, I thought perhaps we could borrow an infant seat from our friends, until it turned out that they were also expecting another little one. It's going to be the same thing when the time comes for us to need something like a highchair, and a slightly bigger crib. However, for those things I have zero qualms about buying used.
Anyway, the shower was such fun. A bunch of fun ladies gathered together for an afternoon/evening to chat and eat and have a grand time together. The spouses and boyfriends and a few other people gathered at someone else's house to play cards. I got to have a hilarious moment when Shane was gathering stuff together to head out because he told a friend over the phone that we had a bottle of rum which he could bring. I said, "Hey! I wanted that for the baby shower!" I got a dropped jaw and stuttered, "Wh...what?" Until I started laughing, that is, and he realized that I was joking.
Instead of playing baby shower games (have you ever looked at those? they're horrible!!) my friend bought some stuff so that we could make a quilt. Everyone decorated squares with fabric pens. Mine, of course, said, "Welcome, tiny overlord." My friends have skills, though, and they did some really adorable squares. We joked about writing very adult messages on there, things like, "Don't drink and drive" or "Never sign a contract without reading the fine print". Like horrible baby names, I think it's much funnier to joke about that than actually do it.
My poor dog didn't understand what was going on at all, so of course she got nervous. She spent a good portion of the party thrusting her head at me for reassuring pets. The cat simply hid in a cabinet in the kitchen. Our friend had to bring her 2-year-old, which of course no one minded (she's adorable!) and had brought some balloons as decoration. The 2-year-old couldn't get enough of those balloons. When I fed our pets, I thought perhaps that people had been around long enough that I could lure the cat out of hiding and it seemed like it would work, until the 2-year-old started banging on the balloons and cackling loudly. Nope, cat was back in the deepest recesses of the cabinet. So I fed him in there.

At the end of the day, when everyone went home, I went for a walk with the dog and my MIL, then we watched "Despicable Me" (she'd never seen it before!) and went to bed. It was a lovely ending to the day. Shane woke me up when he got home and we chatted for probably about an hour in the wee hours of the morning. For some reason, I love those moments. The quiet house, the lateness of the hour making it seem sneaky and forbidden but we're up anyway, alone in our little world together. I hope that feeling carries through to when I'm waking up at night to feed and change Baby.


I still need to clean out our closet so that we can move the baby stuff in there. Shane keeps saying, "I'm waiting until the last minute for that," and I keep trying to convince him that, at 32 weeks, this is the last minute.


We had our first snowfall this morning. It didn't stick around, but it's a clear sign that winter is almost upon us. So many things are changing, but they're good and happy changes. I'm excited for the new season, and the new direction my life is going to take very soon.

One old sheet

Trying to re-thread my serger makes me think of this silly quote: "Like Sisyphus, I am bound to Hell." My serger was a hand-me-down from my MIL, who bought a new one in the last year or so and gave me her old one. (She was under the impression that a new one would solve some of the frustrations she had with the old one, only to find out that, no, those are simply serger frustrations and had nothing to do with the age of the machine.) I'd pulled it out a few weeks ago determined to get some of my projects done, only to end up (45 minutes later) frustrated and angry with the machine, with not a single thing sewn. I put it away for a bit, knowing that my MIL would be in town this weekend, for my baby shower, and that I could ask for her help re-threading it then.
Well, thankfully it wasn't just me. I mentioned the serger problems to a friend who does quite a bit of sewing and she commiserated with me about what a pain in the butt sergers are to thread. So I felt a little less incompetent. And my MIL did help, which took about another 45 minutes of threading and re-threading and re-threading...until we finally got it working properly. Then we had to rush off and get her to the airport. :)
Even after all of that, I only managed to do about half of what I wanted to get done before one of the spools ran out of thread. Shane wanted to go across town to the beer supply store anyway so he could start a new brew, and it happens to be right next to the craft store so we went together and I got new thread. (I even had a couple of 40% off coupons which I got to use!) Which meant having to re-thread the serger, again and again and again.... I got it working and a few small items later, another spool ran out of thread. I'd seen it coming, though, and bought several spools of thread, so it was no big deal except for the re-threading. Shane was in the living room working on his bike (the derailleur cable broke, so he was putting in a new one) while I was re-threading the serger and he kept laughing at me while I was cursing the machine and yelling at it. "You're threaded, dammit, WORK! Oh, you sonofabitch machine...." Not that Shane was really any better, either, muttering to his bike and sighing over the cable. But we both prevailed and got our things working.
In any case, though it took most of an afternoon, I got the projects I'd had waiting finished. Wooo! All of them came from one old, queen-sized top sheet. The bottom sheet had ripped horribly (Shane's fault, of course) several years ago and I kept the top sheet because it might be useful "someday". And it has been, don't get me wrong. When we had to cage our cat after he broke his femur last year, we used this sheet in the bottom of the recovery palace. When we've needed a dropcloth for non-greasy projects, this sheet has been pulled out. But it's nothing that I feel bad about cutting up, either. So about half the sheet has now been cut into small-ish pieces for several different projects.

The first is that I wanted to make reusable cloth baby butt wipes. If we're going for cloth diapers, might as well go all the way and use cloth wipes, right? And it's not like they're hard to make. Even for a beginning sewer such as myself, these were ridiculously easy. I cut out squares of fabric and simply serged the edges. That's it. We now have a nice stack of baby wipes, which can get washed along with the cloth diapers. As for what goes on them and makes them wipes, from what I've read all you need at first is just a bit of water. (After all, it's more than we adults do for ourselves!) You can add a bit of baby wash to the water as well, but it's not totally necessary, especially for newborns. We'll figure out what works best for us once she's here. But this is one less thing that we need to buy.

And to be clear, I'm certain that there will be times and circumstances for which we'll buy disposable wipes and diapers. I've accepted that fact. But with all of this planning and prep, we'll have to buy far fewer of those items than the average family, which will not only save lots of money but will prevent garbage as well. I like both of those things.
The second item I made was a rice heating pad for my back. It's not aching as much as it was at one point, but I figure it's hard to go wrong with having a heating pad on hand. Apparently a lot of nursing mothers end up with aching backs too, and, well, life causes aches and pains. Now we can fix ourselves. [Picture to the lower left is halfway through making the heating pad. I sectioned it so that the rice doesn't all fall to one side.]

I used a lot of rice yesterday. Not that it's terrible, since rice is so cheap, but I still cringed a little. The final item I made was a rice draft dodger for under the front door. There's a decent sized gap and in the winter we can feel a draft at foot level. We had a towel that we put in front of the door, but this is a more elegant solution, and easier to deal with. Since it was so long and I knew I'd use lots of rice, I also stuffed it in a few places with fabric scraps from my earlier projects. It's not much, but it displaced a little bit of the rice and, again, kept me from throwing that fabric away.
I'm so excited to have the serger working that I'm wondering what other things I can make? Beginner projects only, of course. One idea is to make a couple of baby changing pads for around the house, but for that I need to buy some towels from Value Village first. (Also, if I don't get around to actually making a cute little changing pad and instead just have towels on the floor, it's not a big deal to us, so this isn't a priority.) We also don't have anywhere to put said cloth diapers and wipes yet, so I'm thinking of going to the craft store and finding some water resistant/waterproof fabric and an embroidery hoop to line an old pillowcase (we have lots of those, too). It would look something like this and I could just throw the whole thing in the washing machine with the diapers. Also, since it would hang in the closet, it would keep things off the floor and out of temptation range for the dog.
In the meantime, I'm going to work on making some baby socks. I'll post the pattern later, if I can get it to work, but I'm basing it roughly on the sock pattern I used for my Forty-Below Socks (which are the knee-high socks in one of the Stitch 'N Bitch books). Of course, I'm using much, much thinner yarn and size two needles for these socks, rather than sweater-weight yarn and size 5 needles as I did before. We'll see how they turn out. If it works well, I know I'll have plenty of yarn leftover so I'll make a few pairs as gifts for friends and family who are having babies.

Crafting Projects, Part Two

I absolutely loathe the trend of dressing pets in people clothes, but around here it can be a necessity. I do have a little coat for the dog (which I bought in black to blend in with her hair, but am now kicking myself for not choosing something like red--for visibility, since she only needs to wear the coat when it's, duh, dark and cold) and I've bought booties in the past but they've had two major flaws. The first set of booties I got for her had this lovely stretchy Velcro which kept them on her feet. I loved it. However, the fabric that was used was super thin. All four of them had gaping holes in them by the time we got home from our very first walk with them, and one of my girl's paws had a scratched and bleeding pad. I was NOT happy. The second set of booties I bought were made of a thick canvas-y material with fleece inside for comfort and warmth. They were very sturdy. However, they didn't have the nice elastic around them so within three walks we were down to only one booty left, the others thrown off her feet and lost in the snow. Cue grinding teeth as I'm supremely frustrated.
I have not been able to find any booties for sale in this town which combine the best of them both. So, making my own was the only way to go. The fantastic M, as well as showing me how to use a sewing machine and troubleshooting all of my problems and just generally being amazingly helpful, gave me some scraps of fleece she had from a different project so that I didn't have to buy any. I used the canvas from my sandwich wrap project (I have so much left--what possessed me to buy a full yard??!!) and I was fairly quickly able to make the booties. I'm sorry, I don't have any pictures of the process. But here it is in words.
1. I cut very long strips out of all my fabric (ten total, since I made one extra "test boot"). They were probably only about 3-4 inches wide and easily 9-10 inches long. What size you need will depend on the size of your dog and their feet--I have a cocker spaniel, so these are pretty small. However, it was easy enough to eyeball what I thought I would need. I even ended up making them a bit thinner after I made the first test boot.

2. Put the fleece over the canvas and sew them together at the two thin ends. These will be the top of the boot so be sure not to sew these two seams together, just attach the canvas to the fleece.

3. Sew a long line of Velcro near the top of one of the canvas sides. The elastic will go on the opposite side, so that it wraps around the dogs' leg and holds the boot up securely.

4. Cut the elastic, about as wide as the fabric. The easiest thing to do is to sew the elastic into the side seam. As with pretty much every sewing project ever, this is sewn mostly inside out. So, bring the two thin (already sewn) ends of the fabric together (fleece out, canvas in) and tuck the elastic into the first side you'll sew, the long edge. Keep a little tail of elastic out, but most of the elastic should be on the inside, the canvas side (which will be the outside when you're all done).

5. Sew up that edge, elastic and all. I did an edging stitch with another straight stitch over the top to ensure sturdiness.

6. Sew up the other long side, but be sure not to catch the elastic. You want the second side of the elastic to be free.

7. At this point you should have a longish tube with elastic and Velcro on the inside. It sorta looks like a boot, success! Turn it right-side out, with the fleece on the inside. Almost done!

8. This is a good time to test the boot a bit. Make sure it fits your dog's foot and that the elastic is long enough to reach the Velcro but not so long that it will still be loose.

9. Once you've ensured a proper fit, sew a little bit of Velcro onto the end of the elastic. Make sure that you use the side which will attach it to the other bit of Velcro!
I used a fairly soft double-sided Velcro, so it didn't matter to me which side faced in or out. However, if you're using scratchier stuff make sure it won't accidentally catch the dog's hair.

The finished product:

The pads of a dog's feet are, apparently, resistant to frostbite down to about -35. However, that doesn't mean they don't get cold. Even worse, when a dog's paws are cold they can get scratched and torn more easily. The urgency I felt in making these booties was because I've taken my dog out walking in the past and she's come home with all four paws bleeding. She loves her walks and runs (I cannot emphasize that enough) so keeping her inside all winter would be just cruel. These aren't for fashion, they're a matter of safety for my beloved girl.
As you can probably tell from the rather grimy appearance in that photo, we've used them several times already. The dog hates them when we're in the house, comically lifting her paws way too high to walk, but she forgets that as soon as we get outside. The only problem left is that they don't have any grip on the ice so she slides around a bit. Small price to pay, in my mind, for the fact that she doesn't cut her paws anymore. And we haven't lost a single one!
At the end of the trip, my MIL very generously gave me her old serger. In case you don't know, a serger is a little bit like a sewing machine but not quite. They're a bit different and apparently the serger makes fantastic seams, better than those of a sewing machine. If you look on the inside of your t-shirt, that's a serged seam. I realized after making these booties that they probably could have been mostly done on a serger, with the Velcro added by hand later. If When I need to make more, I'll probably do it that way.
These projects which I did are, of course, not nearly all of the projects I have waiting. I found a super cute pattern for an apron, I want to make these reusable "paper" towels, I love the idea of these potholders, a kitchen wet bag (for dirty kitchen towels and such), and so many more. Hell, I'd even love to learn to quilt. (Because of this one, and this one, and this one!) But a sewing machine, even a good used one, isn't in the cards just yet. We'll see what I can accomplish on a serger, however. (She said with a mad gleam in her eye....)

Crafting projects

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, when we went to visit my in-laws, I decided that I needed to take advantage of the availability of a sewing machine. I've had so many sewing projects which I've wanted to try out but, without a sewing machine, haven't been able to. I'm a terrible sewer, not having had much practice. I can barely say that I know how to run a sewing machine, and to call myself a novice still implies a bit more experience and knowledge than I have. I think I've only used a sewing machine maybe three times before? Still, with excellent help from my BIL's girlfriend, M (who has been teaching herself to quilt and sew and makes AMAZING, beautiful things) I managed to get through my projects. I figure that if I could manage to do these, pretty much anyone else can too.
The first project to tackle were simple drawstring bags, which I wanted for use when I go grocery shopping. Since I do so much shopping from the bulk section, and since the plastic bags break after one or two reuses, simple drawstring bags seemed like the best option. I loosely (very loosely) followed these instructions and made seven drawstring bags of various sizes.

I used fabric I already had, from an old set of curtains I had made (by hand) for our cabin. They don't fit any of the windows in our current apartment, however, and the fabric had merely been sitting taking up space while I tried to think of what else I wanted to do with them.

On the advice of M, this is the stitch I used on the inside, then a straight stitch over the top to make sure it's extra sturdy.

This is how the top looks from the outside, the puffy area is where the drawstring goes through.

And, the finished product, before putting a drawstring in it. It's a square! (I just had my iPod and couldn't figure out how to get a decent picture of it looking like a bag, rather than a square. Sorry.) I found that the easiest way to thread the drawstring through is to attach a paper clip so that there's something firm on the end to grab.
I've now used these bags several times at the store and they're fantastic! I even bough flour yesterday and used one of them. I was a little worried that flour might come out the top so after drawing the string tight I wrapped it around the top of the bag, under the drawstring, and tied it tightly. This, and keeping the bag upright, prevented any spillage of flour. When I got home I transferred the flour to a glass jar and the bag will go in the wash. Since flour and water makes paste, I'm going to turn it inside out, get as much flour out of it as possible and then put it (still inside out) in the wash. If it still makes paste and gets gunky and gross, I'll be sure to update this to let everyone know.
My second project was a set of sandwich wraps. I saw an idea a while ago that I thought was fairly brilliant, the only problem being that it still uses plastic. There are hundreds of tutorials on how to make these sandwich wraps (the link above is just for Google search results) and some of them use plastic, others don't. I didn't want the plastic but I did want something sturdier than simple cloth, so I used canvas instead. I tried to find oilcloth and couldn't. Oh well.

I made these about as simply as possible. They're just squares over squares. I did a simple straight stitch to attach the canvas to the other fabric, then folded over the edges (twice, so the true edge of the fabric was tucked in) and sewed those down.

I put Velcro on two opposite corners, one small strip on the inside edge of one corner and a much longer strip on the outside of the opposite corner. (I used double-sided Velcro, very easy to use.) The reason for the longer strip is so that it can be adjusted to fit a variety of sandwiches. Whether square or round or sub-style, these wraps will work.
I actually got to try it out the first Monday we were home, since we didn't have anything in the house for lunch except sandwich stuff. It worked well, although it did leak a little. It was because of the sandwich I made, which has pineapple. (Honey ham, a bit of mayo, pineapple slices, and basil, NOM! So good!) I think that for anything less wet than pineapple it will be just fine. And it certainly kept my sandwich together, which plastic bags don't. (I have also occasionally used our Pyrex containers, but unless I have a round sandwich those sort of fail.) Project success!
The final project I worked on were dog booties, but that will have to wait for a second post since this one is so long already and that one's a bit wordier than these were.

Socks!!

That pair of socks that I've been knitting for, well, forever? I finally finished them! I don't think the boys in my house quite understand what a feat and accomplishment this is for me. I ran back to the bedrooms shouting, "I finished it! I finished the second sock!" and they both emerged from the rooms laughing at me. "You don't understand, it's a whole pair of socks! And I made them! Me! Socks!" They wouldn't stop laughing and Shane said, "Boy, days from now, the authorities are going to find our two bodies and be like, wow, it looks like they were strangled by...a pair of socks." I told them that I would never do that to my socks. "However, that doesn't mean I wouldn't shove them down your throat and choke you to death with them."

I haven't worn them out and about yet because they're too thick to put in my regular shoes! They'll be strictly boot socks. However, when I wore them in the house the other night I ended up getting over-warm. Shane said, "Oh, good. Now your feet won't be ice cubes the whole winter!" Truth.

My cat certainly loves them. He won't leave them alone. I think that's just because of the yarn, though. He tried to "help" me knit, by which I mean he would watch me for a while and then swipe at the yarn a whole bunch.

Here he is, with a stolen knitting needle.
I think that with the leftover yarn I'll try to make a sweater. Just watch me take four years to make it!

No moose this year...so far

First of all, as a hunting trip this one sort of sucked. Not one of us ever saw a bull moose. Not even a young one. The regulations for which moose could be hunted were pretty strict this year, as they were last year too. To be legal, a moose had to have antlers that were at least 50 inches OR had four brow tines on each side. Those are big old moose, and usually the old ones are smarter because, well, you don't get to be old in the wilds of Alaska unless you are smart. So everyone expected to see lots of young males running around, since this is the second year when they can't be hunted. But no. Lots of cows and calves (even I got to see a couple), but not a single bull. The only explanation that anyone could come up with for this is that it still hadn't gotten cold enough to force the males out of the high country. The mamas with their babies come out earlier, while the males hang back until it starts to get quite chilly. The guys did try to get up into the high country one night, but it was so rainy and miserable that they just ended up getting stuck in the mud a whole bunch. The actual hunting time that day was about 45 minutes, rather than the several hours they usually spent each evening. (Dawn and dusk are the best times to hunt moose. We were staying up past midnight each night. So...guess which end of that timeline never got hunted?) The guys have decided that they might try to see what the regulations are in our area and perhaps go north a bit the next time Shane is home. We'll see. I'm guessing it won't happen, but it might.
As a vacation, this trip was really fun though. We had rainy, windy weather some days, but other days were lovely and sunny. I took the dog for long rambling walks around the hills when the guys went hunting. She loved all the off-leash time, and she was wonderful. Her instincts said, "Run in the long grass!" but her spaniel loyalty said, "Stick close to Mom." So she'd run into the grass a few feet and then back out onto the trail, tongue hanging out and stub tail wagging. I find it hilarious that my dog thinks she knows the way, and that she'll protect me. Every walk, I think she covered about 3 times the distance I did, so she slept VERY well every night.

There's still a lot of evidence of the fire from five years ago. That was the first summer when Shane and I were dating. The first time I visited his family, I came up from Seattle for about a week. It happened to be the week right after they finally let people back into the hills to check on their property. So my first visit out there, the cabin had scorch marks and the outhouse had a hole burned through the back. The only thing which saved the whole place from going up in flames was that they keep the land immediately around the cabin, outhouse, and generator shed fairly cleared. Good thing, too. But seeing how dramatic the evidence of that fire still is brought back a lot of memories.

Yes, there is a phone booth in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't work, but it does make a nice marker so I didn't get lost!

We saw fresh moose tracks on one of our walks and I thought about following them, but I didn't have a rifle with me nor did I get a hunting license. So even if it had been a legal bull there wasn't anything I could have done about it. Still fun to see, though. I could see just where it had gone through the long grass.

Other than the walks, this trip was all about lots of time together. Watching my in-laws' dog chase moths was the highlight of two evenings. The stupid creature didn't realize that there was glass between him and the light-seeking moths, so after throwing himself at the window a bunch he resorted to licking it. Apparently, moths are quite tasty to him. We played games (Dominoes are always a favorite), read, watched a few movies (the cabin has a generator), and I got some knitting done. Those socks I've been trying to make for a while? One is finished! I just need to sew up the toe part (which means I need to buy a yarn needle, since I can't find the ones I have). But it fits my foot very well (having small feet, that's often a problem for me) and it will be super warm this winter.

I'm pleased. I started the second sock, but I need the needles that are still in the first one so I couldn't get very far. Now that I know I can actually make these socks, it's motivation to get the second one done more quickly. (Like, I'm shooting for less than 8 months this time.) And then I can move on to challenging myself with other things. There's a sweater I really wanted to try making....

Notice the cat? He was trying to swipe at my leg as I put the sock on.

We didn't get showers the whole time we were at the cabin. Blech. I did get fed up and gave myself basically a sponge bath one night, but that's not a good replacement for submersing yourself in hot water. You can imagine how lovely it was to take a shower when we got back to my in-laws' house. Washing my hair (twice) and, oh, that moment when you go from bear legs to bare legs? Lovely.
One other very exciting thing happened. There was much excitement about the new baby in the family. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend got a puppy! They've been wanting to get a dog for a long time, and Megan's had the specific breed she wants picked out for over a year. So they have an as yet unnamed Wheaton terrier. The poor little guy was super nervous around so many strange people, but he was very excited by the presence of the other dogs. Unfortunately, my parents-in-law's dog, who's sort of hit-or-miss around other dogs anyway, didn't like him. He kept almost nipping the puppy and growled at him sometimes.

It was nice that my dog, who is rather ambivalent about other dogs, wagged her tail at the puppy, they went through the whole sniffing thing, and then she mostly ignored him. Shane and I were very careful, too. When one of us was playing with the puppy, the other was paying lots of attention to our girl. So she never got jealous. (It would have been totally misplaced jealousy anyway. As much as I love puppies and kittens, we're not in the market for either and won't be for quite some time.)

As much as I hate being back to work, and having Shane off at work again, it is nice to be home. Our cat was extremely mad at us. He even swiped at me several times last night, which he hasn't done in a long time. Not even when he was injured. But hurt feelings apparently count for more. He wanted to be petted, but he also wanted to show how mad at us he was. So he'd let us pet him for a few minutes, then he'd swipe at us or just get up and stalk away. Shane stayed up just a bit later than I did and he said that as soon as I fell asleep the cat was crawling all over me and snuggling in close.

Yesterday was sort of accidentally/intentionally a "get things done" day. When I got home from work I told Shane that we absolutely had to go to the grocery store, and that we needed to figure out our meals for the rest of the week. Shane mentioned that the house was looking a little, well, overgrown and that we should also do some dishes and laundry.
It was off to HG Market first, where the only thing we bought were beans, sadly. They were out of almost everything else. When we talked to one of the managers we found out that their demand has really, really dropped off for the summer. More people going to the farmer's market, plenty of people out of town. Also, it's not exactly peak animal slaughtering time (that's usually in the fall, and then again toward the end of winter to cull out animals that won't be useful for the upcoming summer) so they didn't have much in the way of meat. Disappointing. Next time they get deli meat, I think I'm going to stock up in a big way and then freeze it in individual sandwich portions to make it easy to thaw.
Also, if you go to HG, they would really appreciate it if people would stop using their rewards credit cards. They started a FB discussion about it, since they get charged a 5% transaction fee for those cards. That's something I guess I knew (at least, that those cards charge more) but I admit that I've used my airline mileage card there often in the past. No more. Debit or cash now, since those are much cheaper for them. I was actually surprised by the number of people on FB who said, "That's simply the cost of doing business. Deal with it." Wow. And if the business costs too much, they're going to quickly be OUT of business. What a callous attitude. I hope the wonderful folks at HG come up with a solution quickly.
They've had veggie boxes going for a long time now, sort of like a CSA, but we've never ordered through them. For the summer, I'd rather go directly to the farmer's market. But I think that as soon as that starts closing down I'm going to start ordering a veggie box. It'll be an adventure, at the least ("What will it be this week?") and will probably expand some of my tastes as well as challenging my culinary skills. (What on earth does one do with kohlrabi?)
After we got home from the stores, Shane immediately set about doing dishes, then making dinner. Mmmm...shrimp fettucini alfredo with peas, and beans on the side. I helped with the dishes while trying to also get laundry sorted and started. While Shane made dinner, I was fertilizing and watering my plants in their buckets, popping in to help whenever Shane called, "Can I get a hand?" It was both frenetic and frantic, and I'm almost surprised that we got as much done as we did. It doesn't sound like much when it's written like this, but just this was over half an hour of running around for both of us.
I finally got a chance to go out and weed, but not for long. My potatoes already needed to be hilled, so I was tearing up dirt from wherever I could find it and packing it down around the plants. Last time I was weeding I accidentally pulled up too much dirt and found that I already have at least one fist-sized potato. (Don't be too impressed, I have tiny hands.) So that should be a bumper crop this year. :)
Just as I was about to move onto weeding the peas, Shane called out that dinner was ready. So I quickly yanked the worst of the weeds (I've got some flowers on my peas!) and ran inside to wash my hands. But I realized that everything outside was quite dry from the heat and said, "Be right back, I'm gonna set up the hose."
After dinner, we still weren't done with our productivity. I still had more laundry to do, mostly thwarted by the upstairs neighbor who washed a pack of cigarettes in one load and had to re-wash it. But I'm loving the heat for laundry time. Things air-dry so fast! I didn't have a full dryer load of stuff (kitchen towels, socks, etc.) so I ended up line-drying a sheet. It was surprisingly simple, considering my lack of space. I used two slacks hangers, one on either end (duh), and hung it on the shower rod in the bathroom. Ta-da! It was perfectly dry by the time I got up this morning and I'm thinking that I might always start drying sheets this way, as long as we have room for it.

The final thing I did was baking. I didn't make bread, because it ended up being another really hot evening. But I did need something for breakfast, so I made some oatmeal/barley scones. They didn't need to bake for very long, they're easy, and they're delicious.
All that, and we still managed to watch the first two episodes of "Game of Thrones: Season 2", plus an episode of "QI".
Tonight, I feel, might be almost as busy. I need to finish the weeding and also finish the planting. Yep, I still have a few plants I haven't put in the ground yet. It's atrocious. I keep thinking I have more time than I do, but it's pretty much the end of June. Where has all the time gone?! We've only got about 2, 2 1/2 months of summer left. Eek! So much to do between now and then. And I've only gotten a few veggies so far, exclusively from the plants I have at work, so I'm getting nervous that my garden won't be as productive as in past years. (Which really isn't saying much to start with!)
I really should be enjoying summer. It only comes once a year, and it's a fabulous time around here. Despite my complaints about the heat and the mosquitoes (bastards!), I really do enjoy it most of the time. But yesterday I stumbled upon an Australian slow living blog and seeing all of her lovely pictures of their autumn/winter, I suddenly really craved that time of year. You see, it's my favorite. (I almost said favorite month! Which is pretty much true here....) I love when the air is crisp, when you need a sweater but not a jacket, when mittens and fingerless gloves come back into play. When it's time once again to start mulling cider and making pumpkin or apple pie. When homemade soup seems like the best idea ever, and the leaves are turning colors, falling, and covered in frost in the mornings. I love the now low-slung sun, the lengthening of shadows. I love it all, and I'm so excited that it's coming up.
However, this longing did push me to do one winter activity now. A friend of mine is an absolutely amazing knitter (and gardener too--he's one I turn to for lots of advice on gardening and house plants) so I asked him if there's a time he and I could get together so he could help me with reading a pattern I'm having trouble with. I was so excited about this project and started with high hopes, but I had trouble reading the pattern so I put it down. It's been sitting in the living room for months, not being worked on. So after seeing the blogger's lovely pictures of her own knitting, I contacted him. We're having a coffee "date" next week so that he can help me. Since it'll be a little shrug, it will be light enough for summer but cover enough so that I can wear some of my tank tops to work.

The Fountain of Youth?

I have always been the sort of person who thinks that people should age gracefully. Everyone can, at the very least, think of celebrities who've failed to do so in the most obvious and, often, horrific (not to mention public) ways possible. Plastic surgery does not make you look better, you just end up looking like a science experiment gone wrong.
On the other hand, there are celebrities who've aged gracefully. Think of Betty White. She has a beautiful smile unmarred by Botox and "lip enhancements" and such ridiculousness. I hope I look that good when I'm her age.
Here's my dirty little secret, though: just because I want to age gracefully doesn't mean that I want to do it right now, or anytime in the near future. Since turning 29 earlier this year, my imminent 30th birthday has loomed before me. Holy crap, I'm almost 30! How could that have happened? I don't feel that old! I haven't done all the things I wanted to do before I turned 30! It's looming so large that I hardly ever think "I'm 29." It's always, "I'm almost 30." I should be enjoying my last year of my 20s, but I can't. It's just too overshadowed by the prospect of turning 30. From there it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to 50 and suddenly I'm wondering where my life has gone so fast?
I'm not nearly the first person to feel this way, and I won't be the last. 30 often represents the leaving-behind of youth. I will no longer be a "young person". Any wild oats I want to sow, any rashness or foolishness should be done with by the time a person turns 30, right? Otherwise you just end up being kind of sad. Like a Peter Pan who ages everywhere except in the mind. Clearly, an obsession with youth is unhealthy.
One of my friends, when we were discussing this briefly said, "Whatever. You can turn whatever age you want to be. Next year? Next year we'll celebrate your 27th birthday again." That just feels like cheating to me. And again, a little sad. I'm not going to lie about my age. Just because I don't want to be my age doesn't mean I won't own up to it.
One thing about getting older that's totally come true is the fact that my young appearance is now working for me. When I was younger, I hated it. I've always looked a few years younger than I am, and my shortness never helped. When I was 18, people still thought I was 14. Exactly what every new "grownup" kid wants, right? When I complained, adults smiled and said, "Oh, just wait until you're my age. You'll love it then."
And I do. I tease Shane about the few gray hairs he has in his sideburns (he claims I gave them to him) knowing full well that there isn't a single gray hair on me. (No, I don't dye my hair, nor do I obsessively check. But I do handle my hair, of course, and Shane wouldn't hesitate to turn the tables and make fun of a gray hair if he found one.) So when I started noticing some fine lines around my eyes over the winter (likely from squinting at the computer screen, against the low winter sunlight, and against snow glare) I sort of freaked out a little bit. Internally. No one, not even Shane, was privy to my little pout over this fact of life. But it was there. I'd look in the mirror in the mornings and sigh.
Unexpected salvation came when I ran out of my locally produced and farmer's market purchased face lotion. I wasn't very keen on the lotion anyway, so I was happy to be done with it. It had almond extract in it, and when my skin was particularly rough it stung. On the drive home after New Year's, Shane used it on his nose where he had a cut and the skin was all rough and dry. We called it "wake up lotion" because it stung him so bad. No need to fear falling asleep at the wheel, just smear on some wake up lotion!
I didn't want to spend $17 on a tiny container of organic face lotion, and even less did I want to spend $10 on toxic chemical lotions. (Yes, even anti-aging lotions. As much as I hate the signs of aging in myself, another part of aging gracefully is trying to accept that some things are inevitable.) Looking around, I found a rather large tub of organic cocoa butter for about $8. So I bought it, not really knowing what I was getting. From the word "butter", you can imagine what I was picturing. And that's not it at all. Cocoa butter is a solid, and the directions on the (plastic) tub said to microwave it every time I wanted to spread it on my face. What a pain in the butt! But trying it out, I was really enjoying it. It does a great job of moisturizing my face without making it oily, and it smells like chocolate. So when the smell lingers, and I put on my minty Burt's Bees lip balm, I end up smelling like mint chocolate. Not a bad way to fall asleep. :)
But the microwaving, and in plastic no less, wasn't fun. So after looking around online about what to mix with it I bought some jojba oil and did a double-boiler style thing to mix the two. I must say, not a wild success. I think I put in too much of the oil and not enough of the butter, so I'll try mixing it again at some point. I also saw online that adding aloe gel can help, so if adding more cocoa butter doesn't help I'll probably try that. For now, I'm using it as-is, even though the oil has separated from the cocoa butter solids and it's formed little beads.
The reason I'm talking about my near-failure is because you know what? The stuff totally works. Those fine lines around my eyes? They make an appearance every now and again but for the most part they've been plumped up by wonderfully moisturized skin. It's a lovely thing. Instead of looking tired, sagging, and lined, my eyes are looking brighter. My eyelashes are even looking a bit longer. I didn't mention my disappointment about the appearance of lines to Shane, but I did exuberantly shout that "they're gone!" and he said, "Girls are so vain." In this case, yes I am. And I'm not afraid to admit it.
Aging is inevitable. I know the day is rapidly approaching when those lines will show up and stick around. One day, I'll realize that they're mostly from smiling and laughing, and that will make me happy because I'll know that I've lived my life joyfully. I'll flip through my memories of all of the good times that caused those lines and add a few more as I smile all over again. But for now, I'm just going to be happy that this has worked. I'm going to try to enjoy the moment, and the last vestiges of my youth, while I can rather than anxiously dreading the aging process.

Trying to pick up those odds and ends

I'm trying to recapture my excitement about some projects that have fallen by the wayside, before I get too excited about others. I have a bad habit of doing that, which is why my desk is like the Graveyard of Forgotten Projects. (And it's messy. Very, very messy.) Since Fairbanks tends to get March backwards (in like a lion, out like a lamb) this is the perfect time to sit at home and finish up those winter projects.
I don't usually watch that many movies and TV shows. We have a few shows that we watch on Hulu and such (mostly while working out), but for the most part we don't have that much (non-internet/work) screen time each week. Since we don't have TV access, we also tend to wait until the end of a season before renting/borrrowing from the library/begging friends for the DVD. We can almost always find what we want that way.
However, we do tend to watch shows and movies when we're doing other things. When Shane is making beer, we turn on a movie we've seen before. (Neither of us has bought a DVD in years, but we still have an extensive collection.) While I love having something to do with my hands during another activity, I find knitting and crocheting by themselves to be very boring except on very rare occasions when I have something big on my mind. (All right, the other exception is when the cat is stalking my yarn. That is quite entertaining.) I can't read while I knit (at least, not easily--trust me, I've tried!) but watching something while I knit is just about the perfect combination. So this week I've been watching more movies in an effort to get back into some of my knitting and crocheting projects. I'm finally making some progress on those socks I've been talking and writing about making for forever. They're looking great!
I also need to make more plarn hanging baskets for my plants from old plastic bags. While this isn't a project I've put off for too long, it is one that needs to be done soon so that we have enough space for all of the plants I want. And sort of alongside this, I need to actually turn all those plastic milk jugs I have sitting around into planters. It's just one of those small tasks that I've pushed off because I've been busy.
My goal of making sandwich wraps hasn't happened yet either. I've got the materials, but I haven't done anything with them. Part of this is because I don't have a sewing machine but since I know how to sew by hand, or could borrow time on a sewing machine (several friends have them, including my next-door neighbor), this is really nothing more than an excuse. I need to make some time for these soon. Summer is the season of sandwiches in our house. They're low-energy, quick, delicious, and they don't heat up the house. There. I've listed some good reasons to get my butt in gear on this project.
As if all of these projects weren't enough, in the next couple of months I need to start working on my spring/summer projects too. I need to find some more big things I can turn into planters for work, and some more tires (I'll be checking the transfer stations for those) or other good potato growing containers. I've been thinking about making a Value Village/Salvation Army run to see what I can find, too. I have a few things to donate anyway, so it can serve double duty. In addition to the planters, I'd love to find some metal spatulas for things like flipping pancakes. We only have plastic ones and they kind of suck. The grip part of the handle is coming off of one, and so it's always gross since food and dishwasher water can get stuck down in it. Another one Shane actually accidentally burned the handle off of by leaving it too close to a hot burner. It's about half as tall as it was. Which, I think, is as good a reason as any to not get plastic kitchen utensils. Anything that can potentially melt when it touches a hot surface is not really something I trust around my food.
I'm not worried about metal scraping off non-stick coating because we only have a few pans like that, and we tend not to use them that often. When we do, we only use wood or silicone utensils with them. For pancakes and bacon, nothing beats cast iron. We have a nice cast iron griddle that I use for our weekend breakfasts.
While I was watching movies and knitting one of the socks, Shane was next to me on his laptop applying for jobs. He told me he applied for one in Sydney, Australia, and in the same breath said, "I won't be getting this job, don't worry." An hour later, that comment was confirmed when he got a rejection email. He laughed about how quick the response was, until he realized that it was the middle of the work day for them. Still, he said, "It's like someone had their finger on the 'reject' button just waiting for my application." And I was totally thinking that this story was funny, until I saw it all typed up. Now it just seems sort of sad, and like a little portrait of the total job market at the moment. Don't worry, though, he applied for a bunch of other jobs. Hopefully something turns up.

Plant happiness

Yesterday I said that my basil was starting to sprout. Today it's my bean and peas! If all goes well, I will have some lovely, fresh, homegrown produce before summer arrives. However, I'm still looking for more ideas for big planters so that I can start tomatoes and some more bean/pea plants.
I need to be more on the ball, and make some more milk jug planters for my indoor herb garden. However, I did get one of those plastic bag baskets made (I'll post a picture later), and a hook put in the ceiling to hang it from. I'm going to make a second one to hang down from the first basket as a sort of lower level. I've got the "plarn" all set to go, but haven't had time to actually sit down and work on it.
Even the Christmas cactus and the amaryllis at work are getting into the act--both are all set to bloom again. Since last year was the first year for the Christmas cactus to bloom, I'm quite pleased that it's put out more than one flower this year. As for the amaryllis, I'm just hoping that it blooms before the Botanical Gardens ask for their plants back. (Also, how fitting is it that the amaryllis is about to bloom just as I'm starting rehearsals for "The Music Man"? If you don't know why that's fitting, go rent or borrow the movie.)
Bliss is when a plan comes together. When I told Shane the rest of my grand plans (like borrowing a stud finder so that I can put more hooks in the ceiling) he said, "But I don't want to live in a conservatory! Don't you have enough plants?" I told him to deal with it, it's just the one room (the dining room) and he doesn't spend much time in there anyway. :)

Seeds!!!!!

My seeds arrived! I'm so excited, can you tell? In fact, I already planted a few (basil) in another milk jug pot. When starting seeds, it's good to keep them warm. Some people put them on top of the fridge for that purpose. I think that the milk jug will be easier, though. I placed it in a spot on the table that gets plenty of sunlight, made certain it had enough water, and put the top back over it to get a little greenhouse effect going.
One project today is to start some of my seeds at work. I ripped out my old tomato plants a couple of weeks ago after they stopped producing. So into those pots I'm going to plant two peas and one bean plant (these plants will use different nutrients from the soil--plus, they fix nitrogen into it so the soil will be better for tomatoes or something next year). Of course, I want to get more large pots to plant more things in. And I need more tomato cages. But the Botanical Gardens are going to be taking their plants back in the next week or two so I'll have plenty of space.
The only seeds or starts left that I wanted to get were some strawberries and some sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are like regular potatoes because they don't actually have seeds, you need a little part of the root itself to start them. And I don't really trust the ones from the grocery store. (They're usually treated so that they don't sprout, so it would be hard to grow from them.) Strawberries take a year before they start producing, so it's best to buy small plants rather than seeds. We'll see what my budget says about how many I can get. I'm trying not to go over a total budget of $100 in materials for my garden this year and I still need to buy more dirt for planting. If I can find some large pots to upcycle as tomato planters, that would be awesome. Anyone have great ideas for free/recycled things to use as planters or cages?

Reusing plastic milk jugs

I've been wondering for a while what to do with our plastic milk jugs. It's not economical to buy milk in half-gallon containers (which, by the way, instead of being coated with wax the way they used to be, are now coated in plastic or a petroleum wax-like substance) and there's nowhere around here which does reusable containers. I think that they can go into the recycling on campus, but I'm not sure and in any case I was hoping to find inspiration about what to do with them instead, before they get trashed. I know they can be used as mini-greenhouses for plants, so I saved a few for that purpose. But, to be honest, summer is just so far away still. It seems like a lackluster and unnecessary project right now. Even today, when it's sunny and above zero and spring seems to be calling, I know that summer is still so far away. (We'll probably dip down into the -30s or -40s again at least once between now and the end of March.) I wanted to do something with them now. Have I mentioned before that I'm impatient?
I got inspiration from my one hanging plant. I've had this poor vine for three years now, and not only have I never transplanted it, I've let the soil in the pot slowly leak out the bottom when I water it. It was root-bound, and fading fast. It was the perfect project. Last Friday when I came home, I grabbed two of the milk jugs and cut the tops off at two different points. One was cut open near the top (leaving some of the plastic handle on) and the other one near the bottom. The top of that one will be saved for use as a greenhouse this summer.
For the bigger section, I poked several large holes in the bottom using a screwdriver. Then I poked two holes (up and down) with a large nail, and one in each of the corresponding sides of the smaller portion of milk jug. I used zip ties to attach the two pieces together and voila! One planter and an attached water container, making it suitable for hanging indoors.

The bottoms of the local milk jugs have a bump in the middle of them. To ensure enough room for water to gather, I made sure that the bump was going opposite ways on the two sections. It leaves a little less than an inch of space under the planter for excess water. I still need to be careful not to over-water, but that's always true.
That's all I really needed to do to get it ready to plant in. I put a layer of soil in it, then gently put my vine in and filled in around it with more soil. For the first watering I poured some over the top like usual, but for future waterings the opened portion of the handle on the side will make a wonderful spout so that the water goes directly to the roots.

To hang it up, I found a...well, a cord thing which I bought a while ago intending to use for hanging plants but could never find the proper pot to put in it. Nothing worked with it and it's just been sitting there for over a year. But the hooks on it made it perfect for hanging this container. I poked a few more holes in the top of the container for the hooks to go through (not too high, so the weight of it all pulls the hooks through the plastic, but not so low that I'd have a hard time actually getting the hooks through it) and that was really it. Very simple, and now I can train the vines to go up the cord rather than just hanging down in front of my other plants. If I hadn't already had the cord on hand, I would probably have used an old wire hanger. The other thing I've thought of doing (and will probably try next) is to crochet a little basket-type thing out of old plastic bags to hang the planter in. I'm a little worried about how sturdy that would be, though. When I try it, I'll let you know.
I must say, even Shane was impressed with me. I think he thought that me saving the milk jugs was another silly project that I'd never get around to actually using. Ha! I showed him.
I also want to get more hooks. There are some holes in the ceiling where it's obvious that a previous tenant used to have hooks for hanging plants so I don't need to worry about damaging the apartment. This will seriously help me fit more plants into our tiny space and I'm wondering what to plant next in our little indoor garden. I'm thinking two planters of assorted herbs, and maybe one of lettuce. Two of lettuce? It would be so nice to have fresh, homegrown lettuce before midsummer.
I asked my boss about the potential of hanging some at work (we have so much space which would be perfect for them!--lots of light, no other uses for that space, etc.) but because of the liability issues (what if they fell on someone?) I can't do it. I might try to sneak one or two in at the windows, though.
For summer, I'm going to substantially increase the amount of gardening space I have by making more of these planters and hanging them up under the eaves around the garage. I'm thinking strawberries would be wonderful and easy. :)
Now I'm itching to get my hands on more milk jugs! We go through about a gallon of milk per week, a little bit less if I don't need to make yogurt. So it's not like I have a bunch waiting to be "butchered" into planters. I've asked a friend who works at a local coffee shop to save a few milk jugs for me, since they go through about 30 per day. If I get too many for using as hanging baskets, I can always save some to start plants in, or just to use as regular pots around the house.

*It's actually been over a week since I did this project, but I wanted to add the pictures and because of our technical difficulties I had to wait. This plant already looks super healthy and happy with its new home.