My kindle was out of juice, so I didn't have my reference photos and ended up snagging a photo off the shelves to paint. I turned out all right, but something went horribly wrong with mom's face, as evidenced by my husband saying 'is that supposed to be your mom?'. *facepalm* Plus the gouache is … Continue reading First Attempt at Gouache
Friday garden update time! These pictures were actually taken on Sunday because I do my blog posts on Sunday, so they're delayed a week or so. BUT! Behold, my green thumb. In the greenhouse! Tea, sequoia, vanilla orchid, coffee, bay laurel, mint, some seedlings, and an aloe vera that has had just a tad too … Continue reading Grow All the Things!
Looking at the warnings that we'll have rolling black outs all summer, and the fact that we have FOUR freezers now... we bought a second Jackery. We actually bought the first Jackery in March or so when it became clear black outs were a threat. Here it is: It came with four solar panels AND … Continue reading We Bought a(nother) Jackery
My debit card expires this month. I'd been waiting patiently for the new card, but it never arrived, and when I went to check the banking website this week, it says it should have arrived in May. There are no transactions I didn't recognize, and I don't activate a card until I'm holding it, so … Continue reading Bank Aggravation
This week we've been frantically pawning lettuce off on anyone who wants some because with how cool the weather has been it's been growing faster than I can eat it. It's raining today, so I didn't go out to take garden photos. That said, some of the strawberries in my tower died, and the ones … Continue reading Friday Garden Update – Strawberries!
Our freezers have been full for a while, and anticipating garden influxes, we decided that buying a good sized standing freezer would be our best option rather than try to fit another small chest freezer. We intended to trade the chest freezer it was replacing to my brother. I went to the nearest Menards on … Continue reading We Bought a New Freezer!
I've been busy this last week, even if I was feeling pretty awful. I got TWO of Holly's How to Revise Your Novel lessons done: And I'm plugging along on lesson 8. And then, I've fallen in love with watching artists paint in gouache, so much so that my husband is getting me a set … Continue reading Creative Update
Today is my Friday Garden Update, and the only real bad news I have is that deer bit off the top of some of my watermelon and didn't even have the grace to eat them, just dropped them on the straw bales and left them to die. *scowl* Sunflowers and chives are happy: Buckwheat is … Continue reading AGH! Deer in My Garden
I'm plugging along on the novel I'm outlining, working title 'Girlie'. Yes, my working titles are terrible. I never settle on what I want the final title to be until I'm done with the novel, and then it's a battle. The inspiration for this one, that I didn't save because I'm an idiot, is from … Continue reading Weekly Writing Update
It rained heavily for a few days here, and I went out after the second day and opened my driver's side car door. Water sloshed out. *facepalm* So off to the shop she went. I mopped up what I could with towels first, but they dried it all out and hunted down the drains that … Continue reading Car in the Shop Again
I think I need to consolidate my gardening posts into ONE post a week, so I'm working on that, and I am to drop them on Fridays. Here's my garden photos! Strawberries looking good: Green onions almost ready to pick: Happy Chives! Tomato beds have some flowers on them now! Lots of peppers and basil … Continue reading Friday Garden Update
Here's a random cute for you! I startled a baby bunny, and the foolish thing wasn't smart enough to be scared of me. I got both photos AND video! Some close ups: It wasn't even the size of my hand yet. Closer look: AND I GOT VIDEO. So go here for some cute video of … Continue reading Bun Bun in My Garden Has No Fear
I was gone over the weekend, and I came back to an explosion of growth in my vining seed trays! I mean, LOOK at this! They only have to get a tad bigger before I'll start transplanting them into the straw bales. I'll make mounds of soil for them to grow out of though, no … Continue reading Plan B Is in Progress!
I have my whole straw bale set up, and I planted it with potatoes aaaaaand..... They died. Rotted in the bales. *headdesk* So. Plan B. Grow ALL the vines! I'm hoping that growing a bunch of vining plants off the bales will help tear them up some. Here's most of what I planted, sans cucumber … Continue reading Well, the Potatoes Died. Time for Plan B!
I'm planning out what I want to achieve for the next few months, and so here is a photo of my Kanban board. Two sections of the board are for my current novel in revisions, 'Murky Water'. The HTRYN Lessons are the class I use to evaluate and set up to revise my novel, and … Continue reading Planning on My Kanban Board
We've had JUST about enough of my dog getting tangled in the hose with his lead, so we finally folded and bought a hose reel. It's installed. It's hard for me to bend over and reel it up, BUT it's a lot harder to untangle and uncooperative dog from a hose. So, what do you … Continue reading Hose Reel
I have seven GreenStalk planters, and this is my first real attempt at growing in them outdoors. I tried indoors, but without being able to drain the bottom easily, I ended up with fungus gnats that killed everything. As a group. I planted the bottom tier on most of them with a vining plant. This … Continue reading The GreenStalks Are Taking Off
I have most of my plants in the garden now, excepting my replacement plantings for the potatoes. The potatoes are not potatoeing, so I'm looking at putting in watermelon and pumpkins and such in those bales to try and loosen them enough for another try next year. First, my green onions. I don't want them … Continue reading Planted ALL THE THINGS~!
It's warm enough now that I wanted to start hardening off my plants and evicted them from my closet. Of course, the smallest ones stayed under the grow lights because they're just babies, but the big ones? Especially the tomatoes? Out you go! On the left bottom, the rocks holding it in place. In the … Continue reading Moved My Plants Into the Greenhouse
Garden update time! I seeded six of my seven GreenStalk planters. The nice part was that I could sit in a chair or stand to do most of the work. I used wax pencils to write on them. Varying colors depending on the planter. The wax pencil is holding up to the rain and watering … Continue reading I Have Seeded the GreenStalks!
Okay, this totally needed photos! We already had this feeder on the existing Shephard's hook. My mom gifted my husband with this one: And so I got him a matching one because hummingbirds will fight to the death over a feeder: And of course, if you have hummingbird feeders, you have to have oriole feeders … Continue reading My Husband Put Up Bird Feeders!
Because the top of the wood box my husband made is particle board for now, he painted it to resist the weather a bit better. And then, he went through our wood pile of wood and brush and broke it down! The big, useful-but-won't-fit bits are to the side. Look how neatly it fits: Here's … Continue reading Updates on the Wood Box
My compost thermometer finally arrived, and you KNOW I immediately upon unboxing ran outside and tested my straw bales. These ones, as a reminder: Anywho, they were ALL over 100 degrees, and two topped out at the goal temperature of 140 degrees! They're peaking, so as they cool a little I'll be able to plant … Continue reading 140 Degrees for the WIN!
My apricot trees are blooming! Yay! They're blooming way to early! Not so yay. So, send some well wishes to the weather that we don't get a hard frost. Because I'd actually like fruit this year. Please be nice, Wisconsin weather!
My husband went picking through the pallets and wood left from the previous owner and made us a wood box. Total cost? Paint. He found everything he needed in either junk left behind in the garage or jars of stuff in the basement. He even found matching hinges! He still has to paint it, but … Continue reading My Husband Built a Wood Box!
The first three green stalks are up and ready! The brown ones are leafs and the white one is an original. Up close, you can see how the planting areas nest: I have four more to fill, and I have to clear the existing beds, but then I'll be ready to plant once it warms … Continue reading Setting Up for Spring!
The straw bales we ended up with were huge. Ridiculously huge. And it was immediately obvious that when they started to break down they were going to make a huge mess. So, we wrapped them in chicken wire! Which, I'm sure my UPS driver hates me. We had tires delivered the other week as well … Continue reading We Have Contained the Straw Bales!
This year, I'm straw bale gardening, because I want to grow a TON of potatoes. You know, because End of the World, and I like potatoes. My plan was straightforward: Buy straw balesEnlist help for physical labor.Pick up straw bales.Place straw bales.Condition straw.Profit.Me. And it was a disaster from the start. First, I could NOT … Continue reading Straw Bale Disaster
I have a greenhouse. It's shiny, and new, and I've been super excited about it, especially since the greenhouse I had last year BLEW AWAY while I was out of town. So basically this: Super stoked about this. Gonna put ALL my plants in this. Enter Wisconsin weather in the spring. There I was, minding … Continue reading In Which I Am Assaulted By a Greenhouse
The five dollar, cheap, dollar store shower curtain we purchased when we bought our house in 2013 finally tore and bit the dust. I had it hanging off the curtain bar with those little ring clips you use for compiling papers, not even proper hooks. So I was forced to go shower curtain/liner shopping. And, … Continue reading Ridiculous Shower Curtain
You might remember, that I had a small greenhouse before. One that took off into the wild blue yonder during a windstorm when I wasn't home. So... here's try number two. I staked this bad boy to the ground with ~30 stakes, zip tied the pieces together to keep the wind from tugging them apart, … Continue reading Greenhouse Attempt #2 and Garden Prepping
First of all, this was an APPROVED purchase. The husband APPROVED my purchase of more planters before I bought them. Anyway, there are seven of them waiting to be filled with dirt and planted. There are seven of them there... five of the originals and two leafs. And I have duplicates of some of the … Continue reading GreenStalk Plans and Stickers!
Five grape plants! My Stark Bros. order came with the four grape plants I had ordered, and I have them neatly tucked away, the bare root one potted so it has a chance to wake up. Aren't they preeeeeetty? Just think of all the tasty grapes! I have more coming, but these are here a … Continue reading What’s Better Than One Grape Plant?
I intend to turn two of the less accessible beds into grape beds this year. I intend to wrap them like I do berry canes, so I've been keeping an eye on what grapes are locally on sale as well as what I've ordered. Tractor Supply had them in stock, and one grape plant had … Continue reading An Errant Grape Plant
I've had fairly good germination - only four tomatoes haven't come up. The peppers are in process, and the basil has several types where the seeds are a LOT older than I should be trying with. But, here's some photos of the starts AND my plants. A shot of the room as a whole: First … Continue reading Seeds Starts Are Going Well!
I sat down this Saturday and worked out what I would plant where, including my Greenstalk planters. Did you know that you can plant CORN in a Greenstalk?!? I'm super excited about the options involved. A lovely person in the Greenstalk Facebook page came up with a chart for laying out what you planted in … Continue reading Garden Planning
Ya'll... ya'll, I couldn't wait. I found a Mother's Day present for my mom, and it was PERFECT, so I went in with my brother and went ahead and ordered it, not realizing that the town it was in was ReedsBURG not ReadsTOWN. Readstown is not terribly far... a hike but not impossible. Reedsburg is... … Continue reading Super Early Happy Mother’s Day!
I've been working on making rice pasta, and while the recipe I found makes a good dough, I can't seem to roll it thin enough that it will cook all the way through when I boil it. So. It's time for a pasta machine! Now, before you're visualizing some hugely expensive endeavor... it's not. In … Continue reading Pasta Machine!
I'm going to preface this with the fact that this is an OFF BRAND endeavor - it is neither Clean nor Sweet. There is swearing. That said, my best friend and I started a Let's Play! If you're not familiar with them, these are YouTube videos where a person or several people play a game, … Continue reading In Which We Start a Let’s Play
And the final purchase I made in this batch of 'publishing' purchases was an embossing tool with my logo. It is GORGEOUS. I ordered it from this listing on Etsy, and it's both well made and promptly delivered. The box: It's blurry, but it's this logo: The embosser itself is pretty good sized: Why is … Continue reading Shiny New Embosser!
I have a bunch of sites that send me emails that I signed up for... mostly because they have seeds for sale. One of them sent me a nifty email advertising garden planners and a seed sale, so you know I wandered in and browsed, which is definitely what they were hoping for. I did … Continue reading Some Nifty Garden Planners
It is THAT time of year. The time of year where garden planning becomes less wishful thinking and more action. So on Friday, I started my tomatoes, peppers, and various types of basil! I'm going a little unusual this year and planting hybrids too. Normally I plant everything heirloom, but this year it's not a … Continue reading Started My Seed Starts!
I was SO EXCITED to post about my logo and stamp last week that I ENTIRELY FORGOT TO LINK THE ARTISTS. *facepalm* So, here goes. This is the logo: This was done by AmbellicaDesign on Etsy, and you can find them here. It will be coming as an embosser soon, so I'm excited to see … Continue reading Forgot to Credit
It's NOT cancer. *confetti* The first biopsy didn't have enough 'good' tissue for a clear biopsy and came out inconclusive. This one is perfectly clear. NOT cancer. So not only is the surgery done, and I'm recovering well, but I know that it wasn't even cancer so I don't have to stress about anything they … Continue reading Biopsy Returned!
This last week has been nothing but surgery recovery. I basically slept continuously Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, just waking up for medications and to drink or eat something. Those days are kind of a fog. I lost part of my stitches on Tuesday, which is not a surprise, and it's something I warned the surgeon … Continue reading Recovering Well!
Okay, ya'll, I'm really stoked about this. I commissioned a logo and an author stamp. The logo for, well, everything, and the author stamp is my face for the 'author' page in my book and signings. So, ready to see some shinies? First of all, here is my logo: One of my gaming friends did … Continue reading I Have a Logo and a Stamp!
I decided to try making a Vtuber channel with my best friend, starting with the new End of Dragons expansion for Guild Wars 2. A week ago, we did a dry run to figure out how all of the equipment works. Saturday, we tried it, spending about three hours recording and working on the game. … Continue reading VTuber Fail
Today is the day I go and have the probably-not-cancer tumor removed, so there's no post. Wish me luck!
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