Gardening

Finally. This past winter seemed like it never was going to end; last year, I started planting flowers the first week in April. Now it's almost May and our Kwanzan Cherry tree out front is just getting around to blooming.

The deck garden has now reached critical mass. I've bought so much dirt over the years that I worry about leaving it when we eventually move. I love you, dirt. [These are not all the containers I have. There are 3 more bins on the opposite side of the deck, plus several more pots waiting in the wings.]

Sprouting now are peas and lettuce. I know my lettuce is all clumpy and crowded, but over the years I have found that it's best not to try very hard when gardening. Just throw some seeds in there and water every once in awhile. Seriously, if you coddle plants too much they will laugh at you and then die just to spite you.

The hostas are popping up as well. I know that some people irrationally hate hostas; at the garden center this weekend I overheard a woman ask, "How about these?" when pointing to some, and the other person responded, "Ewww, no." You try growing anything in clay soil in a completely shaded area, and I guarantee you will also develop a love for these leafy plants.

The tomato plants I started indoors will be transferred into larger pots soon, as well some peppers. (At least I think that's what they are. Not labeling things just makes it more fun.)

It Always Takes Longer Than You Think

Anyone who has ever done a home improvement project knows that it always takes longer than you think. This is why I start laughing hysterically every time a real estate agent suggests that someone "just take this wall down" on House Hunters [apparently I have been watching too much House Hunters lately.] Chances are that wall has electricity and plumbing running through it, and is inhabited by a small homeless man with squatter's rights.

So, silly me, I thought I could "just replace that light fixture." After painting my craft bunker, I took down the round fluorescent light and found this:

Who paints a ceiling orange? No really, please tell me. [A crazy person, that's who.] Multiple theories were tossed about as to the use of this once completely dark-orange room, most of which involved human organs and illegal activities. I try not to think about it anymore.

I tried to paint over it with the color marked on the previous owner's paint chip collection as "ceilings", but that color was anything but "ceiling." I really didn't want to paint the entire ceiling, so I jumped at Jason's suggestion to paint a design over it.

Flash forward, and I am cutting giant snowflakes out of newspaper. When I got one I liked, I taped it to the ceiling and traced around it with a pencil.

Then I just filled it in with an artist's paintbrush with the wall color (Martha Stewart Whetstone Grey.) Huge props to Michelangelo, by the way, painting above your head is hard.

April Readathon: Update 3

Pages read so far: 152

I finished Revenge! I also read a chapter of A Room With a View (E.M. Forster) as a palate refresher and to make myself feel smart. As an actual palate refresher, I made some crustless quiche for dinner. Now, because it is really quiet in here, I am moving on to the movie watching portion of the Readathon. I just invented this portion, but trust me, it's real.

Soon, back to regularly scheduled knitting and painting things content.

April Readathon: Update 2

Pages read so far: 92
Of note: I have been to the gym and made this tasty (but cold) strawberry and pineapple smoothie for lunch. No chores have been accomplished, but I'm on my way down to start my laundry. (I know you were on the edge of your seat about that one. "But what about the dirty clothes, Sarah, WHAT ABOUT THE CLOTHES??")

I'm continuing with Revenge, which is a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. It swings wildly between boring and fascinating, and is currently hovering on gruesomely murderous. I will probably finish it today, just to give myself a sense of accomplishment. Why won't it be warm so I can go outside and spray paint stuff? (Hint.)

April Readathon: Update 1

Surprise! I am readathoning. I guess I could watch like 400 episodes of House Hunters in which 24-year-olds buy 2,500 square foot houses for $7,000, and feel bad about my house that is not good for entertaining, but hey, how about something different?

So almost 4 hours into this, not much reading appears to be happening, so this might just be a day of "Look at all of the boring stuff Sarah does on a Saturday when left to her own devices". So far I have read 40 pages. I started out with David Rakoff's Half Empty, which seems like the book of my dreams. Negativity and pessimism are my expertise! But I just can't get into it. I think I was expecting David Rakoff to be David Sedaris, which is not proving to be the case.

On to Revenge by Stephen Fry, which I am only reading because, Hello, Stephen Fry! Have you seen A Bit of Fry & Laurie? (Bonus points for Hugh Laurie.)

Now the TV has been turned on magically by elves, and I am watching the Cherry Blossom Parade. I also need to go to the gym and then swiffer (I love that "swiffer" is a verb) the pollen-and-cat-hair covered floors. And maybe I'll go to the thrift store. In short, not read while "doing" the Readathon. I may also watch a French movie, which is TOTALLY reading, you know, the subtitles.

Finished: T-Shirt Quilt

I actually finished this quilt on December 31, but it has been in constant use since then because we live in a freezer. Now, on March 27th, the cat is still huddling next to the space heater, and I'm still in my winter coat (which I sometimes wear while cooking dinner. What? I'm tough. Heating is for losers.)

This is my favorite way to make t-shirt quilts: Use a 12.5 inch quilting square to cut out the central design (super easy when you use a clear template), and iron each square to some light fusible interfacing. Otherwise, the material will shift around while you're sewing. Then, cut 2.5 inch strips of sashing. Sew together. If you were really dedicated, you could finish the quilt top in a day.

This took me a year to finish (no, no, not of constant work. 5 days of quilting plus 360 days of procrastinating) because quilting is my nemesis. I bring it on myself by using thick batting and choosing a quilting pattern with tons of right angles. I think it turned out great, but I will never quilt something like this again. Thin cotton batting it is from now on. I'm too old for this.

Finished: Kitty Pi Bed

You know how when everyone has a kid they're always like, "Look how awesome my kid is! I know everyone always says that, but my kid really is awesome."?

How about I just show you these pictures and let you decide if my cat really is awesome or not? Also coloring your decision will be that she is super lazy, scratches our chairs, whines for food, and is terrified of raccoons. She is also adorable, so what does that equal, like average awesome?

Anyway, I made her this bed. The yarn is wool and is from Finland and I knitted it on really big needles then I put it in the washing machine to felt it. If you are super into details you can click here. It's Friday! Look at my cat! Time go buy dirt for my deck garden.

Out.

Finished: Knotty Gloves

I seem to have an ongoing trend with my knitting, in which I finish seasonal items during an inappropriate season. I now have my first pair of gloves, just in time for it to be 73 degrees. (Not that I'm complaining about that.)

People who don't knit, upon learning that I knit, often ask how long it takes me to finish a project. The answer? I have no idea. I started these gloves in December of 2009, and knit most of them during an insane Lost marathon, in which I watched over 100 episodes in 3 months. Then I stopped because gloves are so. freakin. fiddly. Are you aware, for example, that we have TEN fingers? Look at your hands; you'll think "10? It doesn't really look like all that many." Then, try to do ANYTHING 10 times. Say your name 10 times, fast. Do 10 push-ups. Give birth to 10 children. Still think 10 isn't really all that many?

I do like these gloves. In fact, I might even love them. I have freakishly tiny hands, and never in my life have owned a pair of gloves that actually fit. Usually the figures just curl over at the ends, giving me crazy monkey hands.

The stats: Yarn = Tess Super Sock & Baby (Purchased at MD Sheep & Wool 2009); Pattern = Knotty Gloves (free on Ravelry); Needles = Size 1 double points (from a thrift store, but I think they might be Boye). Raveled here.

Interesting fact: Through these gloves I discovered that what I always believed to be size-2 needles were actually size 1. Twist!

Home Improvement: Shower

A few months ago, I got an IM of doom from Jason: "Something is wrong with the shower. It's leaking through the floor." Sigh. Eventually we figured out that some of the 26-year-old tiles were coming away from the wall, and water was getting behind them, running into the bathroom below. Luckily Jason figured this out almost immediately, so we didn't have any ceiling damage to deal with.

So, you know me. We could have just patched the tiles, and that probably would have fixed the problem; but that's not how I roll. New shower time!

Again: you know me. Why pay someone to do something you can do yourself? I think at this point Jason was groaning, but with all that "in sickness and in health, in demolition and renovation" stuff, he sort of had to go along. Before, the shower looked like your basic builder-grade installation from the 1980s.

Then it looked like this:

And finally:

(Yes there is a sock on the showerhead pipe.) At this point money was pried from my cold, stingy hands, and some guys showed up to finish the job. Overheard conversation:

Russian tile installer: I like these subway tiles.
Korean tile installer: Oh yes, American housewives, they love subway tiles.

Um, thanks?Drum roll....... the after:

At some point we will have to install a shower door, because the shower curtain gets sucked into the shower when the water's on. But right now we're just happy to have a working shower, and one that makes you feel like you're in a castle.

Upon seeing the final product, I said, "Wow, that shower is way too nice for this bathroom." (Remember, the rest of the bathroom looks like this.) If you give a mouse a cookie...

Trippin'

I ordered the seeds for my garden (a.k.a The Deck Farm) this week. This is truly the best time of year for gardening. In my mind, my garden is a lush oasis that provides a bounty of vegetables, and it is always 74 degrees and stink bugs don't exist. I have totally forgotten about the time last summer when I picked a green bean and a green squishy worm was burrowing into it.

If I lived in a fairy tale (or in that commercial where all the cat food is spiked with LSD), I would have an awesome witch garden where all the fruits and vegetables were the wrong color. This would be possible because these things actually exist.

Pink Blueberries (image source)

Blood Oranges

Purple Green Beans

Apple Green Eggplant (image source)

Purple Broccoli (image source)

Red Pineapple (Photo © Flickr user hellochris)

Black Tomatoes (image source)

Purple Carrots

If you want read about more, click here.