New Nursery, New Baby and Apology. In that order.

So it's been awhile. I know I've been a terrible blogger. But I've been busy making stuff. Nurseries, baby clothes, and most importantly, a whole baby! Yes, I'm a new mommy all over again. And it's kicked my creative butt back into gear. My first project was her nursery. I turned my hubby's "throw your shit on the floor walk in closet room" into a lovely nursery my baby can grow into! I painted, stenciled, refinished furniture and picture frames and even sewed her crib set! Don't forget accessorizing! So if I can figure out how to add pics from my iPhone app, I will give you the visual tour!

Proper protective equipment is a must (especially while pregnant!)

Here is the before picture- I had planned on refinishing that rocker as well but it just turned out to be too much work. 6 layers of lacquer is damn near impossible to remove. =/

I started planning out the colors based on this cute fabric I found at Hawthornethreads.com. Its an amazing fabric site because it has entire matching collections to choose from and even a tool that lets you find a fabric in another collection with the same colors! How cool!

This is me being OCD, planning out the entire set before I bought the fabric. =)

Fabric arrived! Squeee!

Took an old dresser that used to be my dads. It was ugly as sin, but a piece of furniture my beloved Granny gave me so I couldn't part with it. Sanded the whole thing down and antiqued it using black spray paint, sand paper and finishing spray.

It doesn't look like much here, buuuuut......

The finished product was gorgeous with a few decorative knobs! (Don't mind my over run garage! Men!)

I found this piece on craigslist. I needed a low dresser I could turn into a changing table. I don't have pictures, but the door on the side was made into a mini closet (for mini clothes) by installing a dowel rod. Awesome, huh??

Onto the room itself! I painted three walls a light (silver) grey. Its barely noticeable in pictures. (I had great help- my 10 year old daughter!)

And one wall in a dusky lilac color. I didn't want anything too purple. I wanted it to be classy, something she can grow into.

Stenciling. One picture does not do the process justice. This was a verrry tedious process. I used the same color as the other three walls to stencil.

Finished!!

I painted some clearance picture frames and framed these beautiful xrayed flower pictures I found at Hobby Lobby. If you didn't notice, I put the black handles on upside down so I didn't paint the screws.

New light and old dresser. A couple cheap accessories to pretty it up a bit. There is a frame I need to hang behind the reading light, and I want to add a table skirt to the light table itself.

The crib. Not shown: Quilt and dust ruffle. They're on now, but I don't have a picture. Another picture framed by a cheap finished (by me) wood frame.

Closeup of crib set. Its a crappy cellphone picture (little did I know I'd be blogging about this, sorry) but hopefully you can see the details. I believe the collection is called "Sew Chick" by Benartex. They had run out of the matching green/yellow for the piping/ties, so I used the color match tool on Hawthornethreads.com to find a matching replacement! Awesome!

So there you have it! I wish I had more pictures of the process, but I've been so excited about how it turned out, I wanted to show the world! I did purchase a new glider for next to that reading lamp since the rocker didn't exactly turn out, but that was the only expensive buy! I know I don't have curtains yet (and still don't), but I can't decide if I want a lace, a coordinating Sew Chick fabric, or just go with blinds. Suggestions are welcome!!

And in Other News

And by the way, (and seemingly much more importantly), I'm pregnant! So I'm just a producer of life on all accounts! Yay for productivity! Anyways, my youngest just turned 10 a couple weekends ago, so this is making me a teeny bit leery of starting allll over again!

You thought you were going to get a political rant, didn't you! Well, maybe later. Living in Findlay takes all my political steam out of me and turns it into fairy dust. It's exhausting. But I do have some thoughts on the healthcare bill. I know, a day late and a dollar short, eh?

This is my new condensed version of what I put together last year for my seed starting. I got an Aerogrow garden for Christmas that I put kitchen herbs in, and when I realized they sold a seed starter kit, I found a used space saver version that I transplanted the kitchen herbs in (top shelf), and used the larger garden to start my seeds (middle shelf). The bottom shelf just holds my supplies: books, my special guano hydroponic fertilizer, watering cans, etc. And also on the top shelf I have all my seeds, my planner as well as a thermostat. Off to the right I have plans for a eraser board to keep track of my planting, transplanting, re-transplanting, and direct planting. But that might be pipe dreams, I have a lot of those.

I don't quite have a plan for when I transplant into larger containers, maybe I can keep them in there until its time to plant into the garden. I haven't looked that far ahead, since I just got the first set of seeds in the Aerogarden yesterday. I am still going to keep my downstairs operation set up, and I really had plans for that metal shelving unit being a perfect aquaponics unit, and I have to admit I cringed a little when hubby brought that ugly thing upstairs, but honestly it will only be there until the melon and squash get in the ground, I don't plan on a continual planting of those crazy things.

If you're wondering what I started, I took an educated guess (since I knew I was running out of time, and there was none to spare for research, I figured I could trust 3 years of practice!) I started the Tigger Melon, Black Beauty zucchini, both tomatoes (Purple Russian and Fox Cherry), 5 color Peppers, Chinese Lantern, Both Little Gem and May Queen Lettuces and my Red Creole Onion. I think probably i could have started my cukes since I did my zucchini, but I think I just forgot. Maybe I'll go do that now. Those will be my favorite crop this year, as well as the popcorn/baby corn.

The ground still isn't dry enough to work up, and this year I plan on mixing in some "Mel's Mix" since I got that industrial sized bag of vermiculite, and my compost is looking wonderful this year. That's mostly why i started my onions indoors. I'm not sure if I plan on harvesting this year, as long as I get something to put in the ground, maybe I'll have a winter harvest at best, but next year they will be perfect! I have these new interesting strawberries that I'm looking for a safe place for... Last year I had my asparagus, strawberries and rhubarb planted along the garage, and protected by some wimpy decorative wire thing that only really keeps rabbits out, but not dogs. After my asparagus was attacked by asparagus beetles last year, if there was any hope at all for it coming back, it was erased by my psycho digging dog. Not even one sprig came back. Eck.

So that's where I am. My Dear Garden Diary entry for today. See you again soon!

Garden: Late Start as Usual!

I just ordered $50 worth of Heirloom seeds from Baker Creek's website. I requested a catalog sometime last year, and was completely stoked to receive the gorgeous thing early this year! I wanted to buy everything, but after much toiling (and possibly detrimental delay), I narrowed it down as best as I could!

Here is a preview of several of the more exciting fruits and veggies I hope to be displaying later this summer! Eeek, getting giddy just thinking about spring!

Purple Russian Tomato

Chinese 5 color Hot Peppers

Tigger Melon

Cosmic Purple Carrot

Mexican Sour Gherkin Cuke (Just bigger than a quarter!)

I know I'm getting a late start, but it's actually planned! My hubby bought me an aerogarden for Christmas, which I planted an herb garden in, and some of those herbs germinated within 3 days! The hydroponic nutrients, rich light source, and constant movement of water is just the right recipe for starting seeds! So this year I'm scrapping my downstairs operation, purchased a seed starter kit for my 7 pod aerogarden (I bought a smaller corner 6 pod garden to transplant my herbs into so I can use the larger kit), and plan on starting my garden this way this year! I still may need my downstairs operation, but I'm kinda thinking about turning it into a straight up hydroponics system. I purchased some vermiculite and hydroponic nutrients (which I need for my aerogarden anyways), so I practically have everything I need, I just have to put it all together.

I'm also rolling around an aquaponics project, complete with fish and everything, but don't want to bite off too much again this year. I'm still planning on doing the rain barrel this year, which is yet another project! I think I need to keep it to one big idea per year! I can't deny that I get all my best ideas from Patty Moreno, the Garden Girl! The aquaponics idea is from a video on her site, check it out!

Monsanto in the News...Again! Please Watch!

Very important news for us all. Without food we cannot sustain life... Please watch and do what you can.

Garden: 2010

I'm getting ready to begin my 2010 garden (again, slightly late, but I have a plan this year for my procrastination) and was going through pictures to post up from last year's yeild. Nothing. Couldn't find my pictures. But I did find these 2 from my cellphone...

This is a picture of my basement "grow-op" setup. Not too pretty, I know, but it's simple and functional. It did get me some good starts last year. This year I have a new method to start and am planning on turning my basement operation into a hydroponics setup. Shouldn't be too difficult. I will keep you posted, though. You can see my pulley system in the above picture, but what is not visible is my timer and heater.

This picture is the small (but tasty) yield that sprouted up in the short week in July we visited Canada. When I left there was nothing much to speak of, but when I returned, we had a nice little harvest. Keep in mind I use Mel Bartholemew's Square Foot Gardening System, which allows for smaller yields sporadically over the season instead of a ton of veggies once, at the end of the growing season.

I am ordering from a catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this year. These seeds are (obviously) heirloom, non treated, non patented and guaranteed to be 100% GMO (genetically mutated organism) free. The selection of seeds they have is amazing, dating back hundreds of years. Check out the site for yourself! Its good to find a company out there that is defending our ability to have and store safe seeds. With companies such as Monsanto taking over the seed stores, it might not always be this easy.

The Thanksgiving Letter (back by popular demand)

The Thanksgiving Letter (back by popular demand)

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It's been awhile

Seems to be the topic of most of my last posts here.... But it has. I've been distracted. With summer mostly. Summer is the most calming and blissful season of my life. I try not to spend a moment fretting about anything, outside of how I'm going to find time to read in my hammock today.

Aah but here goes it, politics has penetrated its' way into the cracks of my delirium once again. And the summer winds down. I spent the week bringing my children home from school for Obama's speech to them, since their superintendent avoided adult responsibility and waited till Friday evening to decide to "leave it to the teachers" whether or not to air the speech, but only with parental permission, before school started Tuesday...

...

(Another post entirely.)

And then defending the health care overhaul has been a full time job in itself. I refuse to spend any extent of time on how insane I think this country has turned- I can only hope it is a minority and includes the vocal crazies around here- it's not just depressing, it's scary to think what I hear everyday is anything close to a majority. I was involved in the FACT based outrage that was post 9/11 and the war on Iraq, the death of thousands of our brave young troops and the rest of the desecration of the position of President of the United States that was G.W.Bush, and while that has turned the crazy right into a raging hypocrisy, I was never so afraid of crazy people actually harming the President as I am right now.

Because in this case the angry people are being fueled by Glen Beck, who laughed about assassinating Nancy Pelosi, and Rush Limbaugh, who... well... is Rush Limbaugh. I've seen more blatant lie and subtle misinformation based disrespect for President Obama than I ever saw in my days of working in the Far Left, Bush Years.

I'm done going on and on. An example. I hear this kind of crap actually coming out of people's mouths and see it in editorials (just better grammar) every day here.

From Yahoo!Answers:

Resolved Question
Does anyone else realize that obama is evil?
reasons
1 socialist
2 globalist
3liar (said to make "change" we need "new" players and the
entire cabinet are clintons cabinet and his number 3 is hilary
herself)
4 gets rid of thousands of jobs by shutting down factories
in the North
5 SUPPORTS ABORTION
6 wants to get rid of dont ask dont tell
7 went to germany during his campaign and stated he was a
citizen of the globe
8 want universal healthcare and says he is not private
interest (his wife was a lobbyist for a healthcare corporation
7 hours ago

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Even his own
mother realizing this!

Asker's Comment:
haha

...

Other questions he's still waiting to find out the answers to, in case you thought you might feel the need to reach out:

• Do dark faded black jeans look good with all black chuck taylors and a tight T
  shirt ?
• Why are my questions so random?
• My girlfriend is straight dancer at a lesbian bar and i have a thing that bothers
  me.?
• Ever snorted caffiene?
• Can you tell me about legal drugs that ARE NOT on my list?
  

I'm Serious. These people own guns. Somehow. Scariest thing? They are immune to reason.

I spend so much time fending off yelling fits from the above type people that I have yet to have an intelligent conversation about health care reform. I'm open to reason, I promise. I just want to hear some.

Eve's Wedding 08/15/09 (192 photos), by Sarah Peterson

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