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    T Tuesday: better late than never edition

    I think the title says it all… this whole working outside the home is really cutting into my artsy time. Of course I knew it would but eventually I’ll find time for creativity again. I have so many ideas float through my head when I have a moment to pause my brain. Now I just need to execute said ideas.

    My first week of school was good…exhausting…but good. This week we are starting to get into some routines which can only mean that things are about to change! The kids have had a busy week as well. Mini-me had a game 1.25 hours away on the first day of school and tonight is playing in our capital city of St. Paul. Crazy how far they travel to play teams not even in our conference.

    This little guy is so confused as to why mom’s not home…he’s a little mopey about it.

    Also since I’m not out in the yard all the time, the deer have decided it would be fun to jump over the garden gate and eat all the leaves from basically every living plant in our yard. Makes me wonder if we will have a really harsh winter or if they are just opportunity eaters,

    I did manage to finish the mixed media piece I was working on last week. Anyone remember those I AM LOVED buttons? I want to say they were from the early 80s?? I happened to still have one floating around. Yep it’s a sickness…never get rid of fun stuff like that.

    Over the weekend we roasted hotdogs for supper again in the chimenea. Some neighbors showed up and we had a impromptu party on the deck, capping off the night with a couple games of cribbage.  Thank goodness we got a light under the umbrella!

    What did you do today?

  • Around home - Blog - Crafts - Creativity - Kitchen - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: summer wrap up edition

    These last few weeks of summer have us trying to squeeze every bit of summer fun and activities that we can. We’ve already started the school ramp up. Orientation yesterday…during the second half of the eclipse…nice timing people. At least it was raining like crazy at that time so no one cared.

    Speaking of the eclipse…did anyone see it? I built a couple boxes in case the clouds cleared. We got peeks at it as it was eclipsing.

    The clouds rolled in thick enough to obscure our view minutes before the greatest point of totality in our region. It was very strange though….the temperature suddenly dropped and the crickets started chirping. So awesome…just wish we could have seen as well as felt it.

    The eclipse reminds me that I should show you my still work in progress of the acrylic pour project.

    Somehow I seem to have lost the chipboard 3 overnight….I’m guessing Marvin had something to do with that.  I think I’m going to paint the numbers either white or black…leaning towards white. Then seal the whole works before attaching the clock parts.

    I’ve also been playing around with my button collection again…

    I have some ideas for projects. More button stacks. I just love how they look.

    Over the weekend we had an evening that was just perfect for a fire. Hot dogs for dinner anyone?

    As I waited for the fire to get going I checked out the garden. Late summer has done a number on some of the plants.

    Such as the pumpkin  plant..totally dead and gone.

    The green beans have totally taken over. I’m surprised since they were really poor early in the season….which is completely opposite of the last few years. I’ll definitely have some spicy beans to can.

    And diced tomatoes as well.

    Since the thick humidity, as seen here over the weekend, has finally cleared out. I’ll likely tackle the canning today in between playing taxi driver of course.

    What are you doing today?

  • Around home - Blog - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: landscaping edition

    Last week we had a beautifully cool, breezy, low humidity day. Outside projects were definitely on the docket. The biggest of these was replacing landscaping. This has needed to be done for quite some time.

    Here’s a photo from 2 years ago…T Tuesday: harvest edition| Halle's Hobbies

    The log border was already starting to get a little wonky. Fast forward two years and it was rotting away.

    Now it looks like this! Mini-me and I did this one ourselves. The edging is recycled rubber. Nice and flexible to bend  and form to what your little heart desires. We had a couple of surface tree roots to contend with so we just made sure to line things up so that I wouldn’t have to pound a stake through the root. 

    I did end up going through what I can only assume was root a couple inches underground on the back side of this flower bed.

    We were so happy with how nice this one looked and how easy it was to install that I went back for more material to fix up another eyesore area in need of upgrade.

    I’m not sure if you can tell but along the right side of the photo is some black edging that was basically laying down…definitely not how we installed it so many years ago. Frost heave has done a number on it.

    Now it looks like this….

    Complete with a couple new perennials.

    I love how this looks so much!

    Since at least half of the black edging pieces were still salvageable, I put them around my water barrels.

    That is kind of our haphazard area. Mismatched pieces of this and that have all found their way over here. It all works though. Now if we’d only get some rain to refill my barrels.

    So after a hard days work a little refreshment is always in order.

    Just a couple more days of taxi driving for volleyball this week…then two weeks off before it starts up again…everyday. Mini-me and I are also getting ready for a little trip north. The boys are too busy working to come with us. I’ll be sure to share that adventure in a couple weeks.

    What are you doing today?

    Oh and just for you Chris