i like pink

I finished up my little pink room over the weekend. Mr. Lucy thought it looked so good he suggested I paint the rest of the guest house the same pink. I might just do that.

I cleaned up the outside of the guest house too, I put away the garden tools and ladder and dog leashes that were strewn about by the front door, and replaced them with a pretty French white iron garden table, and I potted some pansies and placed them on top.

I planted some pansies in the yard in November, and they are thriving despite the frosty nights, it's so nice to have a little color for the winter.

I found some unusual varieties for my little table, including a black one, and another that is blue and bronze. I added some other blue and yellow ones to lighten it all up, and it looks purty. I'll have to take a picture and upload it.

~02:26 p.m.|Wednesday, January 22, 2003 email me!

do paint fumes give you brain damage?

I didn't paint my chairs yet, but I did do some other painting.

We have a small guest house, that I think used to be a tack shed. There's a hitching post out back, anyway. So the previous owners turned this tack shed into a guest house, and strangely, put up a wall, to create a tiny, narrow room along one side. We hadn't really thought much about why they did this, and I just threw the last few boxes that I didn't want to bother unpacking in there and shut the door. A couple of weeks ago I decided that keeping my art supplies and bookbinding stuff in our shed wasn't really working out, as my space was being slowly overrun with all sorts of garden equipment, and it was too cold and dark to work out there in the evenings, and all my stuff was getting dusty and dirty. So, I thought the perfect solution was to clear out the little room, which although it's only about 4 feet wide, had a built in workbench. I've been clearing out boxes and cleaning out cobwebs, and I made some discoveries. The workbench had some mildew and potting soil on it. There used to be mylar stapled up to the walls, because I pulled out about a hundred staples, all of which had little, torn bits of mylar still attached. I also came across some rooting compound and liquid fertilizer. And there is a washer/dryer hook-up, which consists of various outlets and hoses and, of course, a water spigot. Hmmm. The only things missing were black gro-lights. These people were not gardeners, we have no landscaping whatsoever, except what grows naturally. So the only conclusion I can come to (not being an expert in this sort of thing), is that they were growing something illegal. Our next door neighbors mentioned once that there were often strange smells coming from our direction. Interesting.

That was a long story to say that I cleaned out the little room (hereafter to be known as the 'Pot Room') and painted the workbench white and the walls pale pink. I got some of these to put randomly on the walls, and I may paint a glaze over them, or maybe not, we'll see. I don't usually care for wallpaper, but these are really pretty and fun.

And speaking of wallpaper, I really liked that wood veneer wallpaper Vern used on Trading Spaces Saturday night. I kind of wish I had a place to do something like that in our house, but it doesn't really go.

~10:29 a.m.|Wednesday, January 15, 2003 email me!

getting ready to paint

So I had a chat with the Ace Hardware paint man, and I'm going to try what he suggested on one chair and see if it's what I want. He suggested using all water-based products, since I'm starting with bare wood, because once you use one type of product you sort of have to always use the same thing (i.e. if you use an oil based stain, you have to paint on top with an oil based paint). I'd rather not have to deal with paint thinner and all that sort of stuff, so I'll try first with latex paint. I got a quart of primer, and quart of a honey-colored paint, and a quart of white paint at Dunn Edwards yesterday. I used their paint for my kitchen, and I was impressed. It went on really smoothly, and covered in one coat (after I had primed the dark red walls), and I used barely half of a half gallon for my kitchen and hallway. Plus, did you know that they give you a 25% discount with your AAA card? Which is a good thing, because it's a little expensive. Even so, I've spent less than $20 on paint for my chairs. I don't think that's too bad.

~04:25 p.m.|Tuesday, January 7, 2003 email me!

help please

I hope it was a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for everyone. I have been enjoying myself mostly away from the computer :o).

Now that the holidays are mostly over (although my Christmas cards are now officially New Year's cards, and will hopefully be all sent by next week, which is better than last year, when I just sent out Valentines cards), I'm getting back to the decorating thing. I am wanting to do some major spring cleaning/decluttering, but first I have to finish my kitchen projects. I need some advice. I got these chairs:

which are, obviously, unfinished. I want them to look like this:

These are from Pottery Barn, and the description says something about a 'honey colored undercoat' and a creamy white, slightly distressed finish. I suspect that this involves more than just slapping a coat of paint on. I know how I want it to be, but not how to do it. I want them to be very smooth, with a waxed finish, and slightly sanded corners, with a honey undercoat showing, like the Pottery Barn chairs. So far, I looked at some white paint, and I don't even know which to get. Should I use an oil based paint? Or will latex work just as well? Should I stain it for the honey color, or use paint? And what shade of white? I can't tell from the chips, they all have a different cast to them. I want it to be warm and creamy, but not yellowish or ivory. I went to a wood working store to ask their advice and the man was most unhelpful. I showed him the after picture, and he could only tell me that furniture makers all have their own techniques, some of which are very secretive. I didn't expect that he would know the Pottery Barn top-secret furniture finishing procedures, I just want to know how to get my chairs to look similar.

Anyone a wood finishing expert? I'm going to try Ace Hardware this afternoon, where they were so helpful the last time I was there I was going to have to get violent if one more person asked if I needed help. I love Ace, but it was a little out of control last time I was there browsing for birthday/Christmas gift ideas. Every person (and there must have been a dozen or so) working that day asked me if I wanted help.

~11:11 a.m.|Friday, January 3, 2003 email me!

random stuff

Even though there's only 2 more days to go, this is a fun and charming advent calendar (link via quidnunc).

It seems that Bear is against Christmas. He has now chewed through the Christmas lights. He has bones to chew on and rope toys, but he prefers plastic buckets, wood from the wood pile, and electrical wiring, apparently. I'm not sure what the solution for this could be. He can't be bored, he has a brother to play with, a huge yard to run around, and plenty of toys. He has a dog house and porch to sleep on during the day, but he chooses to crawl under the house and roll around in the dirt (he comes inside to sleep at night because despite his bad-dog behavior, I am a big softie and can't stand the thought of him out in the cold). It's lucky for him that he is so cute and affectionate.

I still have a few herbs growing outside that seem to be withstanding the frosty nights. Rosemary, thyme, oregano and sage all continue to florish, although the basil and chives succumbed once it went below freezing, and my attempts at growing them indoors only led to a bug infestation. I love using fresh herbs, and there is still a lot I can do with a more limited supply.

Since moving, with the long commute, I don't do much cooking during the week, but I still like to cook on the weekend. One recent treat: Marinated, Grilled Portobello Mushrooms. This recipe is too easy for a whole page in the recipe section, so I'll just share it here: I drizzled two big Portobello mushrooms with lots of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and then tossed them with a bunch of chopped, fresh rosemary, thyme and sage. I stuck them in the fridge for a few hours, and tossed them a couple of times now and then. Then I heated up the grill pan, and grilled them for a few minutes on each side. After I took them out of the pan, I crumbled a little Gorgonzola on them, and let it melt. They're good on a sandwich, on on a salad, or just to eat by themselves.

~02:43 p.m.|Monday, December 23, 2002 email me!

patterns

These look like a lot of fun. I love vintage fabrics, and can you ever have enough handbags?

~08:58 p.m.|Friday, December 20, 2002 email

snow!

It's snowing right now! R sent me pictures since I am at work.

Sadly, my digital camera sucks for close-up pictures, but I uploaded a very bad picture of the little pins & tins I've made for everyone at work. I used various Altoids tins, these in particular are the round Sours tins, each one has a different sort of theme, and the pins inside match the outer decorations. I threw the tins into our wood-burning stove to blacken them and melt the paint off, then I made new labels to fit the round part in the center of the lids. I sealed the labels with melted beeswax or acrylic medium, depending on the look I wanted with each one. I like how they came out, and so far everyone seems to like them too!

I think it's probably wrong to be so happy about chocolate, but I'm so glad to have found a source for my favorite chocolates. They are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.

~01:06 p.m.|Friday, December 20, 2002 email

blah

So much to do, and not a lot of energy to do it all. It took me two days to get my tree all decorated, but it looks lovely. I hung a wreath on the porch railing-a gift from R's uncle's girlfriend. And Bear thought it was a snack for him. So now there are shiny bits of this and that scattered around the yard. He was exiled yesterday to his doghouse, but I relented and let him sleep inside last night, because it was pouring rain. I was hoping it would turn to snow, and everytime it went silent during the night I was up peering through the blinds thinking that maybe I would see some snowflakes. It never got quite cold enough for more than ice-y rain. More links and pictures coming to the Christmas page, but probably not for a day or two.

~02:44 p.m.|Tuesday, December 17, 2002 email

more christmas

I decided to do an all Christmas page, because I just love Christmas so much. There are a few links there now, and I'll be adding to it everyday. Please let me know of any interesting Christmas links you come across!

~04:08 p.m.|Thursday, December 12, 2002 email

cake

Now I want to learn how to decorate cakes. Because I don't have enough hobbies already.

~09:28 a.m.|Tuesday, December 10, 2002 email

lots of pictures

Finally I got around to uploading the picture of my pumpkin arrangement:

It was easy to do the arrangement, although I would have liked a little more green stuff to fill it in to make it look fuller.

I've also been getting ready for Christmas. I found some fun lights at Wal-Mart, and ended up getting some white swag lights and some red, green and white garland lights. I worked hard last weekend to get them up, only to discover that I was a little short. I was still happy with the effect, and stood back on the driveway admiring my work. Then I decided to run down to the store, and on my way passed our next door neighbor's (we can't see them from our lot because there is a little hill between us). I was a little deflated when I saw their light display-lights all around their fence, and their fancy light posts and icicles all around the house and somehow they had even gotten lights all the way up in their huge (maybe 30 feet?) pine tree. I wanted to sneak a picture tonight, but they weren't on. Show offs. Here is our house:

Last night I decided I better start on my Christmas cards, since I never even sent any out last year. I played around with all my stuff and this is what I came up with so far:

I don't think I'll send out more than ten or fifteen, so I should be okay. I only have a couple of scarves to knit, and a Christmas tree to buy and decorate and and and...

~10:21 p.m.|Monday, December 9, 2002 email

holiday report

Thanksgiving was lovely, we ate too much and were lazy. I was only lazy after the food was made, before that I was crazy busy. I have a picture of my pumpkin arrangement, which I will upload tonight. It came out pretty, but I would have liked it to be a little fuller, next time I'll get more greenery. It was so windy I didn't want to go outside to try and find stuff in the yard or along the road to add, so it just had to be a little sparse. Also because of the wind, we didn't get to fry our second turkey. It was especially disappointing since I searched all over for a giant jug of peanut oil (I finally found it at Smart & Final). We'll definitely try it sometime soon, though.

~03:55 p.m.|Wednesday, December 4, 2002 email

Bear the dog

I keep forgetting to show you all our new dog. This is just after we got him in August (he's 10 months old in this picture):

I wonder how it must be for a big dog to go so quickly from being a cute little puppy to big gangly dog. I'm not sure if he realizes just how big he is now. Every now and then Big Rlikes to pick Bear up, and let him sit in his lap, and Bear is just happy as can be.

For the most part, he's been a pretty good dog so far, but he's had a few Bad Dog moments. R put in some plastic Malibu lights around the big oak tree in the middle of our driveway, and Bear, with his strange attraction to all things plastic, thought he hit the new toy jackpot. It wasn't long before all six lights were scattered around the yard. For that he got tied to the hitching post in the back corner of the yard. Now we have some really pretty metal solar lights around the tree, sturdily cemented in place.

One night I was knitting, and Bear and Reggie were bouncing around the living room. Ideally, they need to work on their 'indoor behavior', and be calm when they're in the house together. We have plenty of room outside for them to run and play and have a good time, but in the evening, if they want to be inside where it's warm, they need to settle down a bit. I finally had enough, and sent Reggie off to the bedroom, and tied Bear to the chair so he would lay down, while I went into the kitchen to do the dishes. I really wish I had taken a picture of what I saw when I came back. It wasn't funny at the time, but now I can laugh. There was yarn spread out from one corner of the room to the other, three or four skeins worth, I think. He spent the rest of the evening outside, alone.

The funny thing is, he's learned what he's not supposed to do, but he can't seem to help himself sometimes, when left to his own devices. So when he's been playing around in stuff he knows he's not allowed to get into, and he gets caught, he just walks himself over to the hitching post, and lays down and looks remorseful. Half the time we don't even have to tie him to the tether.

~10:05 a.m.|Wednesday, November 27, 2002 email

more decorating news

I forgot to post the picture of my finished scarf before:

I like it a lot.

I'm still hard at work on the kitchen. This weekend I finally painted my stencil:

I knew I wanted to stencil a quote on the wall, and I searched and searched for a cool alphabet set, but I was having a hard time finding one in a font that I liked, and when I did, they were about $40 for a set that was either upper or lower case only, not both. Then I found this site, which is just about the coolest thing ever. You just tell them what you want your stencil to say, and give them measurments for the length and the letter height, and choose a font, and they make it for you. What I especially liked was that they make the stencils in such a way that there are no 'bridges', which make stencils look so stencil-y, so when there is an 'O' or an 'A', the middle is completely seperate from the outside. I think it was only about $25, including shipping for the whole thing, too.

Still to come: drawer pulls, curtains and kitchen chairs!

~08:44 a.m.|Thursday, November 21, 2002 email

thanksgiving planning

Random cool website of the day: the human clock

I'm having family over for Thanksgiving, so I'm trying to actually plan ahead a little bit, and maybe even get the majority of my grocery shopping done this weekend. We're sticking with the traditional menu, and I'm making my special stuffing (secret ingredients include dried cranberries and toasted pecans). Mr. Lucy has wanted a turkey fryer since we moved here, so I'm letting him be in charge of that, although I plan on roasting a turkey too. So we will be a house full of turkey, but can you ever really have too much turkey? Not me.

I want to try to do an arrangement like this. I have a pumpkin, I just have to find the right stuff to fill it. In those instructions it says to just fill the pumpkin with water, but it seems like it would be a better idea to put a container inside to hold the water, so it doesn't get smelly.

~09:33 a.m.|Friday, November 15, 2002 email

knitting

With the colder weather lately, I just want to sit by the fire at night and knit. Does that make me an old lady? I'm not particularly good at knitting, or very fast, and I only know how to do the very basic stuff: casting on, knitting, purling, increasing and decreasing, and binding off. Still, it becomes an addiction once you start working on something, it's so hard to stop once you get going. So far I've made two scarves and I'm now working on the sweater I started 12 years ago (when I obviously didn't find knitting to be so addictive, and managed to set it aside for all those years). It's a Vogue Knitting Magazine, Very Easy Very Vogue pattern, and for some reason I quit once I got the front done. I think I just wasn't feeling too sure that I was doing it right, and looking at it, I'm thinking that I may have to undo a bit and re-knit it. I don't think I understood the binding off concept very well at the time, because it's shaped a little funny, plus I want it to be longer. Anyway, I've started on a sleeve, and when I make a little more progress I'll post some pictures.

In the meantime, I just finished a scarf with this yarn:

The colors are a little off in the picture, it's more of a dusty purple and chartreuse (not royal blue and forest green, which is how it looks on my monitor). It was really fun to do, I just made a rectangle, and it's all garter stitch. I used big needles, and it just took a couple of evenings. I wear it all the time and get lots of complements.

We're going to have a little knitting club at lunchtime at work, and I think we may all do this scarf. It seems simple enough that I (a beginning knitter) will be able to teach other (super beginner) wannabee knitters how to do it.

~03:03 p.m.|Wednesday, November 13, 2002 email

decorating talk

I took pictures of the kitchen last night, yay! I'm glad I did, because looking at them I see how bare the room is. Not that I want it to be cluttered and full of stuff, but I realize that the things I still want to do won't make it too cluttered and busy.

Once I get the ceiling painted, my next project will be curtains. This is when I'm grateful for my high school job at Hutchison Drapery. I worked there my senior year, and learned how to do just about any kind of window treatment you could think of. I want something pretty simple, possibly in a blue & white linen toile, but I think finding just the right fabric is going to be much harder than actually sewing the curtains. I'm thinking of maybe a folded-over self valence, and little pinch pleats with rings or ribbon ties. Because of the plate shelves I think I may have to try to find little hooks to screw into the shelf. I think a regular rod won't work because of the corner. Over the sink I could probably use a regular rod. I did see some swing arm rods at the hardware store yesterday, and that might work, because you only have to mount them on one side. It's time to hit the fabric stores!

On Saturday I went to Summers Past Farms again. They are going to think I'm some kind of weird herb groupie if I keep this weekly trip up. I picked up a bunch of herbs and some other little pretty plants, and put them all in pretty pots for the greenhouse window above my sink. One of the classes they have every now and then is on planting a Fairy Garden. I've never taken the class, but they have all these cute little accessories, so I decided to make my own Fairy garden. I got a little fence, and a little stone bird (I think it's a partridge, but it's old, and you can't really tell, I just thought it was very charming), and added them to a terra cotta planter I have, which I filled with English thyme, violas and chamomile.

~10:56 a.m.|Tuesday, November 5, 2002 email