tiny bits

Oh man, I was so hoping to get lots of pillows made and plants planted this week, and then I got knocked out by this ridiculous cold. No one wants a play-by-play of someone else’s minor illness, so suffice it to say that I was sick enough to stay home from work for two days, and even a week later I am a snot and cough machine. Blech.

Still, I couldn’t let the week pass without trying to make a few small improvements. I have lots of containers just begging to be filled with green, so I made a good start. I’ve had succulents in the past, and they seem to survive pretty well in our environment, which can be a little harsh. At least until they are subject to extreme neglect, which has happened before (i.e. oops, I forgot to water them for the whole winter, and left them out to freeze). So I’ve been collecting a few here and there.

olive oil

We buy olive oil by the can at a Middle Eastern/Eastern European/Russian market. I loved the color of this can, and it’s been sitting and waiting to be repurposed. So I filled it with some of the succulents.

I also discovered a nursery just up the road from us that sells all sorts of native and drought tolerant plants, so we are slowly adding some trees and shrubs to the yard, but it’s still too weedy to show off just yet. In the meantime, I picked up a couple of strawberry plants and this crazy bright geranium, which just had to go in this black pot I got on sale at Target a few months ago. I love the contrast of the flowers with the black. I have never been able to photograph bright reds and pinks, so this isn’t a perfect depiction of the color, but it’s a deep, deep fuchsia, with lots of blue undertones.

porch garden 2

Another mix of succulents.

succulents

I filled up my old birdcage with lots and lots of different sorts. I’m not sure how well this is going to work in the long run, but so far everything seems happy enough. I stuck a few of the dangly (that’s a word, right?) varieties in from the outside, and I’m hoping more will make their way through the bars of the cage.

birdcage

I finished up with three of these hanging pots along the front (from Ikea), I thought the green bean plant looked nice with the lacy edge. Maybe next I’ll learn the actual names of my plants.

green bean

 

I’ve got some more pots to fill with herbs and maybe some more flowers. But now I need another nap. Pixel agrees. Or maybe he just wants some of my blueberries in that bowl.

porch bed

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rate the runway

I have many things that I would like to talk about, but I’m too busy sniffling with the worst allergies I’ve had in several years. What the heck is blooming that is doing this to me? I don’t like it one bit. I get no sleep because I can’t breathe. I even went to to the doctor for the first time in nearly two years, and he gave me a prescription for Zyrtec, which seems to have made my taste buds non-functioning. The sole purpose of this entire paragraph is just to illustrate how grumpy I am right now, was I successful? Also, thanks for all the shorts love, I really like to respond to comments as much as possible, but I just haven’t had it in me to deal with e-mail either. I’ll get to it eventually, so please don’t think I’m being rude and ignoring all the nice comments and good advice about the blue birdcage.

So, this is just a quick drive-by post to discuss Project Runway (and to let you know that I am grumpy and sniffly and tired. And my eyes itch. And I have comments to reply to.). How about that Leann? Yes, I called it way back in the beginning. She is definitely my favorite. Her last two designs have been really great, I thought.
Rate_leanne_508

I don’t think this picture does her design justice, but I thought it was really pretty. I loved Korto’s look too:

Rate_korto_508

Too bad about Stella, although she was kind of on borrowed time, anyway. It was a close call between her and Joe this week, but his drag queen outfit was so good a couple weeks ago, I think that may have helped him stick around to see another week.

Who do you think will make the final three? I’m going to go with Leann, Korto and maybe Terri? Discuss please.

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necessity/invention

I only have two pairs of shorts that fit anymore, a black pair and a white linen pair. The black ones are a kind of dressier fabric, so not really conducive to various weekend activities, like cleaning out the chicken coop. And white linen, well, also not the proper attire for that either. When I checked my clothing budget for the week, I only found about 56 cents, so I got creative. Despite the fact that I only have two pair of shorts, I have quite a few pair of khaki pants. I’m not sure how that happened. I wear khaki pants once, maybe twice a week, but I don’t think I really need the 6 pairs in my closet. So, I took the ones I wear the least (pretty much never), and cut them off. My first thought was to just leave the raw edge. Then I considered tidying them up with a hem, but then I had the brilliant idea to bind the edges with some red calico. It might be kind of nerdy, but I think I like it.
Shorts

The obligatory macro shot of the binding:
Hem

Oh, and while I have your attention, notice the birdcage in the top picture. I’m still on my spray paint kick, and I decided I didn’t like the original color of my birdcage. I may have gone a little crazy. Is the blue too much? I had also considered white or yellow. I think I better have another poll.

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solicited advice

First of all, I’m so excited that my internet friend Yvonne (which is how I refer to her to my real life friends, who think it’s a bit weird that I exchange gifts and magazines and important things like pop-tarts and jus mix with someone I’ve never even met) is featured this month in a beautiful spread in this magazine. If you live under a rock and have never visited Yvestown, you should go there right now and see all the beautiful eye-candy on her blog. Gefeliciteerd Yvonne!

Lrlamp Okay, now I could use some decorating advice. I recently bought this lamp at an antique mall, and I need to get a shade for it. I’d could use some opinions from you very tasteful and talented readers. I’m thinking a nice big drum shade would be cute, but should I go with white? natural linen? I was even thinking maybe yellow, but where would I find something like that? Would I have to make it myself? The lamp sits on a table between two wing chairs that will soon be slipcovered in natural linen, and the curtains that will eventually cover the windows behind them will be white and this green fabric which I got for $5/yard. The walls will eventually be painted a very pale periwinkle blue and the settle you may have seen before is covered with this fabric and has throw pillows out of this fabric as well as the orange cushion I made and a yellow cushion I made from a couple vintage placemats. I want the room to be very cheery, light Delphiniumsand fresh, sort of like this. I have my own inspiration photo of delphiniums. I really need to get all my ideas together in one spot. Now that the wallpaper is stripped, and I’m in the process of selling my piano, which takes up a lot of space in the room, I’m nearly ready to finally finish this room.

Now the second request for advice: I also got this awesome birdcage at the antique mall. I want to use it in the living room as well, but I’m not sure yet just what to do with it. Should I paint it? If so, Birdcageshould I go dark or white or a color, like turquoise or yellow? Should I leave it as is or decorate it somehow? I love what Heather has done with this birdcage, but I don’t know if I could get the same effect with silk flowers of which I’m not really a fan. I just don’t know.

Thanks in advance for anything you can come up with. And just because he’s so darn cute, I’ll leavePeteylamp you with a picture of Petey, who must be involved in whatever I’m doing, and couldn’t manage to stay out of the frame when I was trying to take pictures of the lamp.   

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