elliemoon

LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY

a box of guitar strings on a rock, some shrubbery::

and the broken string::

does that set the stage? it should now be obvious that, on this day in particular, the thing i learned was a bit more exciting than the usual gems, like last nights: "never bank on a diaper containing only urine simply due to lack of offensive odor" or even last months unexpected: "don't ever assume a fence is not electric just because it is small, appears to be made of plastic and is in the center of a field far from any noticeable power source."  

removing and replacing strings! i've been playing the guitar off and on since i was 17, but in all of those mumblemumble-teen years, i have never changed my own strings. that job has always fallen, just about solely, into the hands of my little bro. but this time, i was determined to go it on my own::

not so scary after all. with a little long distance moral support from my older brother, and some youtube perusing, i got it accomplished. yes, there may have been a few frantic texts to my little brother before all was said and done but still, success in the end. very satisfying indeed! now, back to attempting barre chords....

CRAFTERS BLOCK

i had some time last night to finish up a pair of leg warmers and then immediately used those finally free needles to start another pair of socks::

not that you need to be thinking about winter gear or holiday gifts, but thats sort of my point here. i have at least three or four new projects in the wings that are ready for action. supplies have been collected, instructions have been read and reread, fantasies of myself completing and prancing around the house in them have been screen written, edited and readied for sundance, etc. and yet, here i am knitting socks. i've got to pull it together here. some of these projects are time sensitive and i'm over due for a little branching out.

{(if only the patterns i were talking about were as exciting as i'm leading you to believe. well, some of them are. the bloomers? yes, quite possibly the bloomers could excite. the gardening smock? maybe not the gardening smock. but who knows, maybe the idea of a gardening smock excites you....such is the life of a crafting junky/premature old lady....we're so often misunderstood....i myself have misunderstood quite a few)}

anyway, now i've blogged about it. lets see if that gets me going. 

oh, and thank you kindly for not mentioning this. but just for the record, i gave myself a 52 week deadline and one of my "ready to go" projects would help me meet it. tonight's the night. was that convincing? 

SQUEEZE YOUR WAY TO HAPPINESS

this years lavender laboring pillows are in the works! good thing too, as i have some friends in need! here's part of this years harvest::

cut, cut, pin, stitch, stuff, stitch, repeat::

this is, by far, the best smelling project! 

 

HATS OFF

my mother in law had a crochet magazine with her the last time she visited and she let me steal a couple of interesting patterns. i got started right away on this one, partly because it was the smallest:: 

it was relatively quick and the results were not so bad::

in fact, i wound up liking the style of this sun hat a lot more than i thought i would (i'm always skeptical when it comes to wearable crochet patterns). the only problem? i used a soft cotton yarn, and so, without constant adjusting, the brim falls down flat. i've got a few ideas for rectifying the problem and i'll post them if they're successful. this pattern was in the summer issue of crochet today. 

THE DOMINO EFFECT

thanks to amy's recent post, which featured a link to this amazing song, i finally took my guitar down from the wall, dusted it off, tuned it up and started playing again. kai got into the spirit as well and so we've officially started guitar lessons. he has 'E' and 'G' down! after witnessing kai's new skills, owen wanted in::

and shortly thereafter, bella grabbed the littlest guitar and started strumming. this next part was quite heart warming for me, seeing as these two are usually found tangled in a wrestling match or chasing each other around the house wielding any toy that can be used as a throwing star::

yes, there is owen, patiently explaining frets and helping with finger placement! there is hope!! 

BLAST FROM THE PAST

my mom unearthed this little delight whilst cleaning out some long forgotten space. see? there's a bright side to hoarding after all::

 

husker du! can you believe it? does this mean as much to you as it does to me? probably not, but i was blown away. many of my childhood hours were consumed by it, and yet, somehow i haven't thought about it since. somewhere along the way we managed to lose the original game pieces, and, being a geek, i definitely miss the slight locking action that i remember so fondly. but the checker pieces do the trick::

all those little pictures! flashbacks! good times! i'm loving it and so are the kids. it turns out kai is officially the memory master::

whereas i have completely lost my touch. not surprising! to anyone, i'm sure. 

 

TAKE A LOOK AROUND

the perennial flower garden is exploding::

and the crocosmia is never lonely:

look at him tucked in there! i love it. this is without a doubt the best hummingbird lure around. and a beautifully unique flower to boot. 

BEES VS. MOSQUITOES

check it out::

that's burr comb from our hive. burr comb (or wild comb) is comb that is built outside of the frames and on any available open space in the hive. everytime i go in there, there is more to be scraped out. on my last visit i extracted the amount pictured above and it just happened to be::

the precise amount needed for our newly perfected, anti bug rub recipe. maybe some of you can remember our failed attempts from last summer. though the bug mist recipe was a keeper. a couple of weeks ago i started monkeying around with things again. i was trying to replicate a very effective bug rub that we have been purchasing, because just the memory of our last attempts can still set people to gagging around here. this is what we ended up with::

made with store bought beeswax. and with the first attempt, success! one of our bestest besties had an old tube of the store bought bug rub and so we did a blindfolded smell test with the kiddo's. 4 out of 5 chose the homemade as the brand name!! yippee! there was still a bit more tinkering to be done though. so with the burr comb in hand, i was very excited for round two::

all you need now is a double boiler and a container for the finished product::

i strained out the impurities from the burr comb and then proceeded::

this time around i added more essential oil and the result was a much longer lasting rub. look at that color difference too. so cool to be mixing up potions with our own beeswax! here's the recipe if you are interested::

anti bug rub:

3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1 TBSP castor oil

1 TBSP beeswax (1/2 oz)

60 drops citronella essential oil

30 drops lemongrass essential oil

30 drops geranium essential oil

10 drops rosemary essential oil

10 drops cedar essential oil

melt the beeswax in the olive oil and castor oil in a double boiler. remove from heat and let cool for a minute. then add essential oils. pour into 4 oz. container and let cool completely. rub on and stay bug free! if the essential oil mix is too weak or too strong for you, you can play around with the amounts until you are happy. i would also recommend mixing your oils in a small prep bowl and having them ready to dump in. nothing worse than your rub cooling too early and starting to set up while you are desperately trying to shake the right amount of drops from each bottle. live and learn, thats what its all about.

 

THE GRAND FINALE!

and what a finale it was! oh yes, i am blogging about harry potter. it wouldn't be right if i didn't. kai has been waiting for this event for a long while. and last night we took him to see it on the big screen. all other potter movies have been viewed at home, so this was a big deal. i knew i wanted to do a little something to celebrate the moment but the big night was approaching and i had no plan. then i remembered butter beer! it always sounded so good when we were reading. i would have to say, from books 1 to 6, the food and candy descriptions were some of my favorite parts. book 7 is where its really at, story-wise. without further ado::

yes, caramel hard candies and a liter of cream soda are two of the five ingredients in this butter beer recipe. butter, brown sugar and cream, being the others. kai and i were prepared for a total flop as we were putting it all together. but it came together! smooth and frothy. no flop. a miracle for sure. you'd think so too if you had seen how and what we were adding to what, and when. and the verdict::

owen: "oh. my. god. this is so good!"

i think kai said something along the lines of, "i could drink a tub of this stuff". not too surprising. i found the recipe here. it was a little too sweet for me. that's something that is surprising. i wouldn't mind trying that cold recipe though. sounds interesting. cream soda was always my favorite.

as i was scrapping unmelted hunks of werthers originals off the bottom of the pan, the boys fell into one of those discussions where they are in their zone and think no one is listening. knowing my habit of strictly regulating all of their sugar consumption (worlds biggest hypocrite, yes, i know), they were discussing when they might be able to have butter beer again. owen, the dreamer, was banking on once a week. kai, the realist, was thinking maybe once a month during the winter. thats about when i chimed in with, "how 'bout, once a harry potter finale?" i guess there are some sugary concoctions that i draw the line at. this would be the first. well, this and pixy stix. those things are just wrong.

SHUT THE SCREEN DOOR!

this. is. exciting. yesterday i roped big b into doing a minor project for me. and true to form, he had it done in less than ten minutes! i asked for a drying screen for my unbunchable, unhangable herbs. i described a simple frame i could stretch some cheesecloth across. he magically pulled an old screen door out of the basement. here's the top of it, being scrubbed and hosed and brought up to food grade::

and a trip to the garage later::

bada bing! seriously, more spectacular than i ever could have hoped for. and he even set up a nice little spot for it in the attic. ah the attic, the perfect place to dry all that is dryable. hot, dark, and dry. you can't beat it. so, what was the urgency? well, look who remembered the chamomile this year::

if you guessed me, you are completely right! (green beans were also accomplished (see friday's post) but the tomatillo seedlings sadly bit the dust during those gloomy weeks of spring) i've got to mow these blossoms down and scatter them on the screen asap. the sooner the better so the next round of flowers can get started. the smell is intoxicating!