Miscellany.

What do you think I should make with the fabric I found at the thrift store yesterday? There's not much of it, just two pieces maybe 16 or 18" wide and 45" long, but it's enough to do something. I think I need a cute swing for the front porch, and then I could make cushions for it with this.


Y'all, my wonderful new upholstered Chairy still stinks. I mean, it STINKS. Like chemicals and damp. I've had the windows open and the ceiling fan running for days to try and air it out, I've taken the cushions and set them in the sun for the afternoon, and I've tried Febreeze, which, if anything, made it stink worse (chemicals reacting with chemicals?)! I'm ready to call Bassett and complain, but I wondered if there were any other remedies I should try. I don't know, maybe my nose is just too sensitive. To think I could have just gone with a thrift store chair if I wanted something stinky--!

Thanks to everybody who has signed up for the Cottage Giveaway, which I can't link to apparently, but which is below if you scroll down a little. I'm finding so many new great blogs to read--what a pleasant bonus!

It's not easy being green...

What color are you? Why is there never a "rainbow" option? 'Cause I like them all!

GREEN

You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

Mixed feelings.

So I saw that Jerry Falwell passed away today. Talk about mixed feelings.

Mr. Falwell was a highly-regarded figure at the Christian school I attended in the mid-1980s. He may have been the first person who made me realize, as a teenager, that there were going to be people in the world identifying themselves as "Christian" who see that title far, far differently than I do.

Or it may have been Pat Robertson who made me realize that. At any rate, people like Falwell, or Robertson, cause me lots of brain strain as I try to wrap my mind around the gospel they preach, the politics they practice, and the good they do (they do do some good, right? right?) and how all of that fits in the same box called "Christianity" that I store my beliefs in.

So here's what I wish for Mr. Falwell: that when he woke up in heaven this afternoon, his mind was blown by the hugeness of God--the amazing loving Presence that is far, far, FAR beyond any label or creed or rule that we tiny humans try to box God up in. I hope his soul was opened so wide that the wind of God's love scoured it right down to bare earth, and will blow through it forever and ever.

Because that's what I hope for myself when I wake up in heaven.

More links.

I've updated my "favorite blogs" list over on the side, alphabetizing and adding a few more I enjoy. Check them out if you're in need of inspirations or smiles!

I'm also heading over to update my book blog right now!

Updates.

I've added a few recipes to my long-neglected recipe blog the past couple days--check it out!

Fresh Sweet Corn

Monday stuff.

I came downstairs and pulled up the living room blinds this morning, and who should be looking right at me from one of my hanging baskets?

Can you see Mama (or Papa?) Mourning Dove?

There were two birds in the pot, but by the time I got the camera, only one had its head up.

I had to water my pots, though, and although they sat and watched me water the other two, when I started to tip the pitcher toward their pot, they took off, twittering in a very irritated fashion. I don't know if they had started to lay eggs or not, but they may not come back now that I've interfered.

I feel bad, but bird nests in my hanging pots really skeeve me out. I don't want baby birds anywhere that close to me or my front porch. Baby birds are the creepiest things I can think of. That's why I'll be making Todd check the pot for a nest tonight--if there are baby birds in there, I don't want to see!

Speaking of creepy--yesterday we took a drive out into the country west of Suffolk to search out some antique stores one of Todd's co-workers told him were out there. It was not a fruitful trip! Toward the end of the day, Todd dubbed these places "shacks of crap," which is both succinct and accurate. I never thought of myself as an especially fastidious person, but the shops along the way were some of the filthiest, scariest shacks I've ever seen.

Picture a cheap outbuilding erected in, oh, 1929, with several extra rooms tacked on over the years but otherwise left completely untouched. Now fill that shack wall-to-wall with every sort of old crap you can think of, and let it just moulder in the dirt and damp. Now, attach price tags more fitting with the upscaliest of upscale boutiques. Hire yourself a couple old guys in seed caps to run it, and you, too, can do business in rural Virginia. You can sell boiled peanuts if you need to actually keep a money-making item on hand.

I wish I was exaggerating, but sadly, I'm not. The last place we stopped actually replaced the Jefferson Ave. flea market at the top of my list as the nastiest place I've ever set foot in.

And speaking of the Jeff Ave. flea market, guess where our first stop was on our way out of town? Todd stops by here every Sunday morning in search of old tools and cheap DVDs, but I'd never returned after my first trip last fall.

I actually found something interesting this time, though.

This tole tray is enormous--I'm actually not sure what I'm going to do with it--but it was five bucks! I saw five or six tole trays later in our "shack of crap" tour that were selling for $50-80.

I also got a 1941 Webster's children's dictionary that has some great illustration plates...I'll try to scan and share some later this week.

I'm feeling frustrated because after days of babying my right shoulder, I yanked my left shoulder blade out of whack this morning trying to unzip the side pocket in my yoga pants, of all the dumb things. So my afternoon task of sanding, priming and painting my table is going undone after a couple abortive tries. It's extremely frustrating. So I need to tackle a few things on my to-do list that don't require arm movement. Hmmm...

Happy Mother's Day!

I sang the praises of my terrific mother-in-law last week, so let me give equal time to my own mom today and tell why I'm grateful she's my mom.

My mom is one of the kindest, most empathetic people you'll ever meet. She has the ability to put herself into another person's shoes and really feel what they're feeling. I wish I could be half as kind as she is.

She is also wonderful at making people, especially little people, feel special. We always had awesome homemade birthday cakes and fun little treats at the holidays. She's great at coming up with just the right special little touch to make a day or an event feel important, even if it's just a plain old day.

Plus, she lugged me and all my books back and forth to the library for years, and didn't get too mad about the overdue fines. She made all my clothes when I was small, and sometimes made my dolls matching outfits. And she makes the best potato soup and crescent rolls in the world.

Those are just a tiny handful of reasons why I'm grateful she's my mom! I love you, Mom--hope you're having a happy day!

Give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away, now...

My first giveaway ever, and very overdue! Kim at One Woman's Cottage Life has set May 26th as "Cottage Charm Giveaway Day" and each participating blog will be giving away a wonderful prize on that day.

This dovetails quite nicely with the second anniversary of my blog, and since I was thinking about doing a giveaway to celebrate, I decided to hop in on this and have fun with all the bloggers who are playing along!

In honor of anniversary #2, I'll be giving away two prizes. The first prize is a general fun cottagey selection, photographed on my lovely taupe carpeted floor for extra appeal:


Included in this prize are: six cards handstamped by me in shades of pink, green, and purple (envelopes included); a small notebook altered into a garden journal, again by yours truly; a packet of forget-me-not seeds (my very favorite flower to grow); Yardley Aloe and Cucumber soap (smells fresh and springtimey); about two feet of pink gingham wired ribbon; and two cute matching floral saucers from a friendly neighborhood garage sale.

Prize number two is for scrappers, paper crafters, or just lovers of ephemera.

Tucked into a small portfolio hand stamped by me are: six handmade cards in vintage colors (envelopes included); assorted pages from a vintage cookbook, an old spelling book, and an old French grammar book (these babies are OLD!); five vintage bingo cards; two pages of vintagey-looking labels; two faux antique advertising stickers; and a collage page of typewriter keys. Oh, and a paper clip with a tiny butterfly on top.

So what do you have to do to win a wonderful prize?

Simply comment on this post! Please provide your e-mail address if you don't have a blog, or if you don't have e-mail access through your blog--and specify whether you want your name entered in the drawing for one set or the other, or both. That way if you're not a scrapper, you don't have to worry about winning the paper prize, for instance. I'll be happy to enter you in the drawings for both prizes, though, if you like them both.

But wait! There's more!

For each comment you leave on this blog on any post I write between today (Saturday, May 12th) and Friday, May 25th, I will put another entry for you into the pile. So if you leave three comments on three future posts, you will have your name put into the drawing three times. On May 26th, I'll draw the names and notify the winners via e-mail.

I think that covers it, but if you have any questions, post them in the comments. I'm excited--I hope you are, too!

Be sure to check Kim's blog at the above links for the full list of bloggers participating--there are some wonderful blogs to discover, and some great prizes to win.

How does your garden grow?

Finally, some garden pictures!

So we planted five bushes last spring, that were castoffs from some friends of ours who were trying to "de-bush" while we were trying to "re-bush." Three boxwoods went across the front, what I believe is a pyracantha (?) went by the mailbox, and then we had this bush left over that I had Todd and my brother stick in the small square bed between the front steps and the driveway.

The bush is a menace--not knowing what it actually is, I just named it the "sticker bush," because each of its innocent looking oval leaves has a vicious barb on the tip. Since I couldn't really get in around it, the whole bed just became overgrown with weeds.

So I had Todd yank it out last week. Then I had to decide what to do with the little bed. Todd had brought home a bunch of oddly-shaped brick pavers from a garage sale a few weeks ago to make a pad for the garbage and recycling bins to sit on, and he had a bunch left over. Not enough to brick over the whole bed, but--and this is why I love having my mother-in-law around with her brilliant ideas--enough to make a little pad in the middle of the bed to hold some potted plants, with room around the edges to plant some little odds and ends that would grow up over the bricks and maybe make them look like they'd always been there.

Since I love it before-and-after shots, here's the "before" of the corner bed, right after we planted the bush there last March. Just picture the bush bigger and the bed weedier to get an idea of what it was like last week!:

And here's the "after":

You can incidentally see what we've wrought in front of the house too, where there was once a pile of dirt and grass. Makes me feel proud!

A better view of the brick pad itself:


Here's the birdbath Todd bought me for an anniversary present a few years ago. There was a huge bunch of ugly blue bachelor's buttons obscuring the view, and Viv very nicely yanked them out and divided them up and put them elsewhere, so I could plant smaller things in front. (I was surprised last year at how...BIG...some of the perennials got. And I don't think I've learned my lesson this year, either!):

Any hopes I may have had that my stone bunnies would scare away the real bunnies were dashed when I saw what they've been doing to my purple basil the past few nights. I like bunnies, but I LOVE my purple basil--time to do battle!

Most everything is growing along very happily, apart from bunny damage. A few items are out of the path of the sprinkler hose, so I have to keep an eye on those and make sure they don't keel over, but the babies from last year are growing up nicely, and this year's babies will be taking over before I know it. It's fun to imagine what the bed will look like by the end of the summer.


The happy little garden gnome thanks you for visiting his garden!

Janelle needs...

This is too stupid and fun a pastime not to share, although everyone's probably seen it on other blogs by now. I just spotted it tonight. You go to Google and type "[yourname] needs" and copy the first ten sentences that sound right or are funny. My list is greatly aided by the fact that there is/was (?) a person named Janelle on the show Big Brother who apparently spawned a lot of Internet discussions. And I even found some blogs from other Janelles who've done the same little game thingy. Weird to think of other Janelles out there, using my name all willynilly.

Janelle needs to win. Janelle needs to take one for the team. (sounds ominous)

janelle needs a liiiifffeee! (obviously)

Janelle needs an investment banker so that way she won't have to steal what she wants. (that's what I tried to tell the judge, but he wouldn't listen!)

Janelle needs a perm. (not ever again in this lifetime)

Janelle Needs To Keep Her Buxom Level Down (I would if the insurance would pay for it!)

Janelle needs new panties. (true dat, but I'm in denial over the necessary size increase)

Janelle needs to start participating. Soon. By tomorrow... or else.! (no thanks, I'll just sit over here and smile pretty.)

Janelle needs some better allies. (totally)

Janelle needs to face up to either choosing Kevin or a child if she wishes to have her marriage restored to what it was when they said I do. (ummm...? Yikes!)

Janelle needs to go - the sooner the better. (yep, it's late and I am off to look at magazines in bed!)

Projects.

Well, we have been busy, busy, busy around here for the last week or so. I asked my mother-in-law to come down and help me whip my flowerbeds into shape, and she very, very kindly obliged me--driving nine hours from Ohio all by herself and letting me work her like a slave for five days. What a blessing!

We gardened for the first three days she was here, and did a world of good, but I don't have any photos just yet, as it's sprinkling just enough to be annoying and get the camera lens wet. And every time I thought about snapping some pics while we were working, my hands and feet were caked with mud, which made going for the camera problematic.

The past two days, we turned our attention to the curtain situation in my study, and came up with a couple of tab-top curtains, plus a cover for my thrifted ottoman, and I'm so happy with how they came out:

The camera flash blew my lovely teal walls into a horrible bright blue, but please ignore that and admire my new pretties!

I attached the tabs with a motley collection of old buttons I had around:

These curtains were directly inspired by the door curtains posted at Daisy Cottage, one of my very favorite home decor blogs. I was trying to find a red check, but ended up with a yellow check, and thus recreated her curtains even more closely than I'd intended. So I figured I'd go all the way and include the red rickrack at the bottoms, too. On the window curtain, the length is eked out with some red material and the rickrack runs along where the red and yellow fabric meet. We did the same thing on the ottoman, and used a floral I picked out for my living room curtain on the top, since it went quite well with the study curtain fabrics, even though I bought them about two years apart. I guess I just can't get away from muted red and green and yellow no matter how hard I try!

Anyway, Viv sewed and I pressed hems and seams, as I can't sew worth a lick. And it all came out wonderfully.

Tomorrow, a few garden pics, if the sun shines.

Happy May Day!

If there's anything more fun than picking flowers and making tiny bouquets, I don't know what it could be. I have a bunch of tiny bottles, blue, green and clear, gleaned from various yard sales, and I line them up on my kitchen window sill and put a blossom or two in each.

This bouquet gets the special spot by my computer, though (at which I spend far more time than at the kitchen sink) because it has my very first rose of the year, plus a sprig of summer snapdragon, which is a perennial I planted today, plus a purple flower that I planted last year and have no memory of what it's called. The purple really clashes against the peachy-pink of the rose, though--I love it.

And the rose smells wonderful, which adds to my enjoyment as I sit at my computer desk.

I never hear people talk about the mysteries of buying a home and trying to figure out the plants that come with it. Our home's first owner was a guy who planted a few shrubs and odds and ends of flowers, the second brief owners did their utmost to decimate every shrub out front, and then I came along...trying to replenish the previous owners' destruction, and also to figure out the odds and ends the first owner left behind.

The rose, for instance--I'm sure it's some sort of hybrid tea, but I have no idea what. Next to it in the bed is a miniature rose that has had every pretty red sprig of new growth chomped off by the bunnies. Again, I have no clue what it is. Mysterious bulbs were unearthed when we put in the front boxwoods--calla lilies that refused to sprout again in the spots we moved them to. A tree is rising in the side beds that looks like nothing I've ever seen before, and there are several other mysterious stumps that are putting out sprouts after being chopped down two summers ago. And I found a bulb down by the creek happily sprouting white flowers of a type I've never seen before. How did it get there in the woods?

These little mysteries are what keeps life on the ridge interesting.

Updated my book blog.

Listening.

I'm wondering if my relationship with my CDs is typical or not.

Sometimes I buy one, listen to it non-stop for months, and pull it out regularly to have another fling with it.

Sometimes I buy one, like it, listen to it sporadically, and then forget all about it for years.

Sometimes I buy one, get distracted, and don't even bother listening to it for anywhere from 6- 12 months. Then I pull it out, give it a listen, and fall in love with it. Or sometimes not.

Sometimes I buy a whole mess of them, and end up not liking any of them. (Okay, this only happened once, but it was a lesson learned about going outside my genre.)

And now we have MP3s, which add a whole new twist to the experience. You can just buy a song instead of a whole album. This makes me worry that artists will completely stop trying to make their albums cohere into one whole work. And I haven't quite gotten a grip on how to organize my songs now. And what do I do with all these CDs I've ripped? And oh, this MP3 player that I asked for and my beloved DH bought me almost a year ago, and which I've listened to maybe once, because it feels like such a niggling chore to upload songs, put them in groups, and then take them off again and put on new ones. Oh, the guilt of that little blue gadget! I will master it, I promise, honey.

Anyway, what inspired this late-night post is that I'm listening to the MP3 version of an album I've had for years and years, and which falls into the second of my categories above...I listened to it every now and then for the first few years I had it, and now I'd say it's been three to five years since I've listened to it. And yet...as soon as it started to play, it took me right to the era when I did listen to it, usually late at night like I am now. It's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan, which I bought unheard, solely because I liked the title, in an age before I could listen to it on the Internet or in one of those kiosks at Barnes and Noble or Borders to see if it was worth the $15. So it was quite a gamble, at a time before Sarah became as well-known as she is now.

And I liked it. I didn't fall in love with it, but it completely suited those quiet, semi-depressed nights that I had a lot of at the time. Her voice is like coffee with cream, and the songs have an edginess under the mellow. Listening to it now, I realize how well it holds up. Unlike some of the other CDs I've splurged on over the years. So thanks, Sarah.

Now will someone come and make me some playlists for my MP3?

It came, it came!

I got my lovely chair today! Now I need to whip the rest of the room into shape!

So what I'm going to do is find a nice coordinating fabric and get some wonderful person to sew a new cover for my thrifted footstool, and a curtain for the window.

I was going to do a valance over the window, but decided last week that maybe one pretty side panel, pulled over into a swag on the left side, would look better, since there is literally two inches of wall between the window and the corner.

Then I have to paint my thrift store table white or off-white, which I think will look much cuter and show off its shape.

THEN I have to clear all the lingering bits and pieces out of the other side of the room. I don't know why it's taking me so long to get my act together with this room re-do--I think I need longer to think things over than I ever used to before. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

The Georgia O'Keeffe poster is coming down, too--the colors are too purply-pink for this room. I'm going to cover my two big bulletin boards to make one of those French ribbon memo boards, I think.

We're finally getting some wonderful rain today, which will make the grass even longer and the trees even leafier. We're getting a little pinchy-faced about our next-door neighbors, who have weeds/grasses in their yard that are easily a foot tall now. I'm not a grass nazi by any stretch, and our grass is a little patchy-looking out front, but sheesh, take five minutes and mow the front, for heaven's sake. Lovely people, but apparently not yard-proud.

I forgot how bad new upholstered furniture STINKS. How in the world can inhaling that be good for anyone? I had the window open and the ceiling fan on till the deluge began and I had to shut it. Then I spritzed on a tiny bit of Febreeze, but I think that stuff may smell worse than the original stink. Chemicals creep me out!

Home again.

I'm home from a short jaunt out to visit my brother's family. Todd took off for North Carolina to windsurf with the COWS (Central Ohio Windsurfers) so I thought I'd have a little trip for myself, too.

I was especially happy to get to spend some one-on-one time with my niece Marissa, who I simply haven't gotten to see as much as I did her older sister Natalie when she was a toddler. Marissa is almost two, and whip-smart. The amount of words she knows, and the sentences she puts together are just astounding. She also gets this little smile and amused look in her eyes that looks exactly like her dad did at that age.

Here's Miss M:

And her big sister Natalie is thriving in preschool, asking millions of extremely intelligent questions (at least in her doting auntie's opinion), and living a rich pretend life. Here she is dressed up as a bride (I was the groom, later we had a baby--it felt a little weird):

So that was fun, to get to see these gorgeous girls and spend some time with them and with my brother and sister-in-law.

Today I finally went out and bought some of the plants I've been dreaming about: the bronze fennel, the green and gold thyme, the purple basil. Also some Shasta and Gerbera daisies, and some other cutting-garden type flowers. Also some pink and purple vincas to scatter along the front of the bed, and some pale pink vincas in hanging baskets for the front porch. I've planted about half of them. It was a large chunk of change, and there's still so much I could buy--!

Well, Todd's finally home, so I'll sign off.

Plans and plots.

My friend Cheryl gave me this little pitcher last week, and it's the perfect size and color to hold the tallest of my johnny-jump-ups, plus a couple straggler pansies and some lemon balm. Thanks again, Cheryl, I love it!

I went to my favorite nursery today and salivated over the herbs. I wasn't in the mood to buy and plant yet, just to look. I've been perusing my herb books and found a few that I'd like to grow, but I'm not sure how far afield I'm going to have to go to find them.

I love thymes, I have several different varieties growing out front, and they're starting to sneak through the rock wall very picturesquely, which is what I was hoping for. I found another variety today that I HAVE to get...it had the happiest green and yellow leaves and a fabulous lemon smell. But it wasn't lemon thyme...I can't remember the name. It was darling.

They also had a gorgeous purple basil and a Greek columnar basil; I think I'm going to get both of those. I planted a plain old basil last year, and it loved the hot, hot sun out front.

Also a bronze fennel that was SO pretty. I've never grown fennel before, and I think this one would make a wonderful contrast to all the green herbs and perennials.

I just wandered along, brushing and stroking and smelling...so much fun. The mints smelled like heaven, and I think I'm going to do some peppermint and something else to contrast with it in one of my flower boxes out back on the deck. They're built into the benches in the seating area, so you have to fill them with something or they're just boxes of dirt, which is hardly an accent. I tried to grow flowers in them last year, and the sun was just so iffy. I wonder if white impatiens and dark green peppermint would do well in the same box. It could look wonderful...theoretically, anyway.

The weather remains cloudy and unsettled-feeling, and my face remains swollen and tender. I'm usually not one to cry for the sun, but I'm missing it!

Tuesday musings.

I think the pollen and weird weather have finally overwhelmed my sinuses--today I feel like I'm breathing through a sandbag placed on my face. I always seem to go along fine in the spring and fall pollen seasons, until one day my nose says, "Okay, that's it, I've had it!" Today may be that day.

I went to the library today and managed to find a few books that looked appealing, but my outstanding overdue fine is such that I couldn't take 'em out. I had 35¢ in cash on me--not quite enough to pay it! Foiled again in my quest for reading material. I started The Great Gatsby last week, but lost the book somehow in the midst of our living room emptying. Can you believe I had four years of high-school English and was an English major in college, and still have never read Gatsby? Shameful!

So I've been contenting myself with a couple gardening books, dreaming about what could be. That's kind of fun, but I'd kill for a really, really good mystery! (So to speak.)

I made another Simply Recipes recipe for dinner yesterday--Chicken Marinara, though I would think of it more as chicken parmesan. It was very delicious, and I served the extra marinara sauce over penne. LOVE that blog.

Many of us are thinking about what happened at Virginia Tech yesterday. I've only been a Virginian for four years, but it was apparent from the start what a special place VT holds in many people's hearts here. I keep thinking about my own college days and how a campus feels like a safe little oasis from the world outside. Seems like there are no safe places anymore. I can't imagine how terrifying yesterday was for the students and professors there. Let's keep them all in our thoughts and prayers.

BANGboomBANGbangBOOM!

Ka-POW! Boom boom boom boom BOOM!

Ai-eeeeeee!!!!!

Bambambambambambam!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Auuuugghhhhhh!!!!!

BAM! Ka-POW! BAM!!!!!

p-shing, p-shing, p-shing!

BANG!

Aaahhhhhhhhhh!

RatatatatatatatatatTAT!

Ka-POOOOOWWWWW!!!




Can someone explain to me why men love these kinds of movies?

Just wonderin', while the walls rattle.

Rainy day.

Is there anything as wonderful as green leaves and grass in the spring? We're having a rainy day today--the first in ages--and the backyard is so green, it makes me catch my breath every time I walk into the kitchen or dining room and see it through the windows.

I tried to capture some of it through the kitchen window, but it doesn't really convey the GREENness of it all. It's gorgeous.

Yesterday we finished getting the front flower bed weeded and put down some landscape liner in the parts where we won't be planting, at least not anything small. This week I'm hoping we can get some mulch for the whole thing, and then I'll be ready to plant.

Our front bed is huge--it runs across the front of the house and down along the side of the yard, and last year was the "establishing" stage, where we made the rock wall border, filled it with dirt, and added some plants here and there: herbs by the front walkway, perennials here and there, annuals along the front. Nothing except the herbs really looked or did very well.

This year, I can see that we've created something. The perennials that turned up their toes for me last summer are coming back, and the perennial herbs have been in full leaf for at least a month. The pansies I put in last fall are blooming their hearts out, and there's definitely a plan in sight. I can see where to go from here. It's so satisfying, after mostly muddling around cluelessly last summer and ending up with not much of anything to show for it.

And now it's raining, and everything will be even better for it. And I can sort of see what needs to go into the bare spots. A fabulous feeling.

Today I'm washing towels, and putting away the last of the stuff we had to move out to have the carpets cleaned, and I also baked some oatmeal cookies from this recipe at Simply Recipes. I used dried cherries instead of raisins, almonds instead of walnuts, and added a little almond extract to the dough. They're delicious! Todd is working industriously in the garage, humming away with Barenaked Ladies. It's a good day to stay inside and be comfortable.

Happy birthday to my sweet sister-in-law, Tracy--it was great chatting with you today! I'm glad you were born and found your way into our family!