Snow!

I decided to check the Weather Network website last night to see what it's supposed to be like the rest of the week. They're calling for "light snow" on Wednesday. Well I got quite excited by this forecast, so I immediately delivered the news to Bruce.

He just kind of looked at me.

Okay, so I understand that not everyone is the same way. And sure... I'll chime right in and curse the stuff come March along with everybody else. Hell. I'll probably be whining by the end of January.

But really, I love snow around this time of year, leading up to Christmas. It gets me all excited. I love the Christmas season. As it happens, I had started a little Christmas craft earlier that very afternoon...

I decided to crack out the ol' craft supplies and recycle some old greeting cards I've received into tags to use on Christmas gifts this year! Here's what I've made so far:

Fun, huh? Gotta love recycling and using materials you've already got! I've been having a BLAST!

Here's hoping some snow falls on Wednesday! Woo hoo!!!

It's been a while.

It's been a while since I mentioned my beloved charity yard sale, hasn't it? Well don't you worry. I'm still sniffing out fabulous finds pretty regularly. Here, let me show you a couple of recent gems.

Decorative dried corn! Woo-hoo! Got it just last week. My parents had something like this hanging on the living room wall for a while when I was a kid. Hadn't thought of that in years but I always liked it when I was little. So you can probably imagine how excited I was when I saw this... being the ridiculously nostalgic person that I am and all. I haven't decided yet if I want to hang it in the living room, or the kitchen. We'll see.

Tea cup and saucer! Have I mentioned that I've really gotten to love tea over the past year or so? Well, I have. I'm really into tea, especially when it's chilly outside. And tea just tastes better somehow when you're drinking it out of something like this. Pretty, huh?

I broke the handle about a month ago, unfortunately, and I keep forgetting to buy some super glue to fix it. D'oh!

See the purple glass ashtray draped in dried Gerbera blooms that my Mary Poppins jar is sitting in? I mentioned it in my recent post about my desk. Found it a couple of months ago... and again. My parents had one just like it when I was a kid. I was pretty excited when I found this one, too.

Annnnd.... two of these ceramic wall hanging bird things. They are so ridiculous and I LOVE them. They hang in the bathroom and make me grin like a fool everytime I look at them. Not sure what Bruce thinks when HE looks at them... that I'm a nutcase, no doubt. HA!!


So yup. There ya go.

Moral? Fabulous yard sale finds. Gotta love em!! :D

Adventures in houseplanting.

I LOVE having plants in the house. They're pretty and they liven the place up and just plain make me happy.

Trouble is, keeping the things alive seems to be a bit of an issue. I'm trying, and I think I'm learning... but damn. Is it just me, or is successful houseplanting a little tough to "get the hang of"? Sheesh. The aloe vera I blogged about back in March has long since perished. Same with this beast. Killed them with kindness, I guess... I'm pretty sure I ended up over-watering both.

So I bought some new plants, and plant food, and am trying my hardest to only water them when I think they need it. Which honestly is still a bit of a puzzle... short of shoving my finger in the soil and busting the roots all to hell, how exactly do I know for sure that a plant NEEDS water, anyway?

But, I do think I'm making progress. My new plants, for the most part, seem to be doing okay. I've started watering them from a basin beneath the pot instead of from the top, which appears to be working well. I can even see that the plants have grown... that's gotta be a good sign, right?

Anyway, let me introduce them to you.

First, a big leafy number I saved from Wal-mart. Saved. They had a whole bunch of them marked way down because they were clearly on the brink of death. This guy is looking MUCH better these days than he once did, that's for sure...

Next, my African Violet, which I also saved from Wal-mart. The blooms on it are pretty well spent. It's grown a little in width since I got it, so I'm pretty confident I'm not killing the poor thing. Someday I'm gonna get brave and try to start a new violet plant from one of its leaves. I've read it's quite easy to do.

Next up is a "Gerbera" I got at the Stupid Store. It had really pretty daisy-like blossoms when I bought it, which later wilted... normal, or so I've read. This plant was growing like CRAZY, until last week I noticed that the roots were growing out from the holes in the bottom of the pot and it looked ready to tip over at any moment! So -- get this -- I REPLANTED the sucker into a bigger pot last weekend! I have no idea whether or not it'll live... I guess we'll see. Unforunately, it isn't much to look at when there aren't any flowers...

Which brings us, finally, to the plant that currently has me absolutely puzzled. It's a "Calandiva" apparently, which I picked up a few weeks ago at Sobey's. The thing didn't look too hot when I bought it in the first place, so I saw it as a bit of a challenge I suppose. Honestly, I have no idea whether it's dying, or thriving!

Check out the big leaves on the left. They don't look good at all... yellowish and turning brown and obviously withering away. But look at what I noticed today....

All kinds of new, baby leaves! And buds that weren't there before! Certainly encouraging, but what the hell is going on with the rest of the plant?? I'm thinking those lower leaves should be removed? Or, should I just let them go and see what happens? A puzzle indeed. Suggestions are welcome!

So there you go, my latest adventures in houseplanting. Quite a challenge, as it turns out... but definitely a fun one. Wish me continued luck!

Speaking of surroundings...

Up until last month, I was crafting here, there, and everywhere: sometimes while sitting on the living room floor with newspaper spread across the rug... other times, the kitchen counter served as a good work surface. And while this here-there-everywhere approach did work, it often left little piles of half-finished projects and materials, well... here, there, and everywhere! Most crafts take some time to complete, you see. Such little piles are pretty much inevitable.

So over Thanksgiving weekend Bruce went camping and I had the place to myself. Ahhhh....

I decided to take the opportunity to get some heavy-duty cleaning done. I tackled the kitchen and cleaned and organized it from top to bottom. It was great.

I also set myself up a little art nook in the space beside the fridge and in front of a window!

This is where I craft now. I'm a bit of a neat freak and having a specific spot for my half finished projects and stuff is really nice! It kind of gets the creative juices flowing too, everything I need is right there!

Moral of this story? Get yourself a nook, a spot that's yours to do whatever it is you love. It does the spirit good!

And see what you can do about setting yourself up with a better view...

Hey, I can see the sun shining.... hear pitter-patters on rainy days.... and if I crane my neck enough, a little slice of mother nature too. So I guess this story has two morals, actually...


Sometimes ya just gotta work with what you've got! :P