Transfortarium

I love writing a blog because I can make up my own words. I understand the need for spelling and punctuation, but there would probably be more writers if there were fewer English teachers with red pens. Now that I'm all grown up I can misspell and grammatical error to my heart's content. I made up the word transfortarium today because it encompasses two different things both mental and physical. The transfor part is for transformation.

We moved into this house in the winter of 2007. We bought it in the spring of 2008 right before the big real estate crash so we never got to cash in on the sweet tax incentives. Still a little bitter about that, but I ramble... So, since the spring of 2008 when the house became "mine" my proverbial wings started to come forth and want to fly. By flying I mean creativity, an air of excitement, and sometimes charging forth blindly with no plan. That has been my mental transformation. The physical transformation is the house. It houses all my experiments and ideas. It doesn't question me. It just finds a corner to put my latest supplies. It makes me work hard for what I want...stupid rock infested ground. And I am happy for it because it's my safe haven away from the world.

Did you know I own a piece of art? Well, I do. I finally put it up in my evil lair craft hallway. I like it because in one way it feels calm and serene and in another way the girl appears to be waiting for something. A quiet expectancy.

Here's something I did because I'm cheap. I bought this unfinished wood rod for $.99, attached a loop of twine to both ends of a shelf, slid rolls of ribbon through and slipped the rod through the pieces of twine. Easy fix to ribbon everywhere. I like crafting but I cannot do it in chaos.

On my way home from the store I somehow ended up at a yard sale where I found these two items for a total of $2.50. I attached a board to the studs in the wall and then mounted the rack onto it. There are actually rows in it that fit mason size jars. This gets my buttons and what nots out of the way. The other, super out-of-date coat rack I hung on its' side for now and those pegs are just the right size to put ribbon rolls on or hang other odds and ends.

You might think this is a piece of art and you might be right and wrong. I think it does have an artistic concept but it is actually a mason bee house. It was a gift that I have not yet put up. Apparently the little holes are for mason bees which are not supposed to sting you but will help with your garden. I have a feeling mine will attract Africanized honey bees.

Or I can do this with it...

The last part of my made up word is tarium. As in sanitarium. For you young ones out there, a sanitarium was where they put the crazy people before it was politically incorrect to lock up the weirdos and pervs of society. Now they are just medicated and allowed to run amok and I'm pretty sure they keep ending up as my neighbors.

For my word transfortarium it's kind of like this sunflower. Sometimes I look up at it and think, "this is crazy, it's out of control." But it, too, is just growing. Spreading its' proverbial wings. Physically we water and nuture it, waiting for the bloom. Just like my own transformation.

Things I Found Today

I went outside today to look at the wildflowers and plants. They've changed from blues and pinks to yellows and orange. There was also this wild beast that was obviously waiting to eat me up.

Peeking out of one of the squash plants was one of its' flowers with the morning dew.

I decided to go shopping at thrift stores today. I normally don't get very lucky but today was different. I found this beautiful white bill organizer with little black numbers for the days. I think it looks great on my black dresser. The drawer has different size dividers so we'll probably use it as storage for keys and phones. The most interesting part about it was what I found inside. There was a receipt for Schlotzky's from 2007 and a to do list with one of the items saying "check immigration status." I'm sure there's a great story about that.

I stopped in at my most favorite consignment shop, Bada Bling. I hit the $1 sale rack and came out with this shirt, a plain white button down shirt, and some black pants. All in perfect condition.

Not on the dollar rack but still very cool and I couldn't pass up were these shoes. They're Nine West and the sizing was weird. They said 4 1/2 but were really 6 1/2. I consider myself lucky because I usually don't find shoes in my size. Apparently women who wear a size 8 love to get rid of their shoes.

Yes! I am an official owner of a pair of overalls. That makes me a real farmer. But these have sparkly things so I may be disqualified from farmer status. I'm definitely going to wear these a lot and I know they are considered very unstylish or chic. But when have I gone with the flow of what is stylish and chic?

Lastly, I found this gorgeous plaque/tile hanging thing with a chicken. I had to get it for my friend the pirate. I call her a pirate because she broke her foot or leg or something and it's much more interesting sounding than klutz. She is also raising some chickens so it fits her.

The Party's Over

This is all that is left of Rowan's party yesterday. After everyone left I realised...

I DIDN'T TAKE ANY PICTURES!!! OMG!!! WE SUCK... Jace says we were busy being good hosts. The party was great and that Tinker Bell jumper was perfect. Everyone loves those things.


Last night after everyone left, Jace, Rowan and I had a private jumping party. And then we slept. The good kind of sleep from playing all day. Today I'm putting the house back together and letting Rowan wear the balloons like a dress.

I also didn't take pictures because I was distracted. I was at this thing during the day. It's the Renegade Craft Fair. I learned a lot. I got to make my own button and I bought a gardening calendar for Texas. My friend says I have great restraint. (she was buying one of everything)

I did manage to take a picture of the table before the party and before I finished decorating. I had actually done this the night before because I thought I was uber-organized, except for the picture taking.

I did receive a hostess gift. These are knitting needles from Craftiness. I believe she said they were blood wood. If I'm wrong I'm sure she'll leave a comment.

Very soon, maybe even as you read this, you will start seeing some new links for sites and blogs. These all relate to the "Top Secret" project that is evolving over the summer. The goal is for September but I have a feeling we'll be starting sooner.

This week I've been busy with a top secret project and my friend says I can't tell anyone about it because then someone might find out about it. I can tell you that Jace knows and he's excited. It will take most of the summer to get all the details worked out and if it goes ahead as planned then I will tell you. Speaking of going ahead...

I spend a lot of money on bandaids...*sigh*

Hello Corn!!! I love you. Please don't get eaten to smithereens like the lettuce.

Here's the new tomato bed. I used scrap wood and Jace put it together. We filled it with humus, compost and mulch. Today it poured rain. That's like the perfect storm.

Here's a patty pan squash blooming. I think that's what it's called.

Tomorrow is the big party. We're having it rain or shine. Everything is bought, set up, or confirmed for pickup. Can't wait to get pictures! I will feel dead tired tomorrow night.

Renegade Craft Fair

Sometimes a Princess Loses Her Crown

This week has been full of activity and has just flown by. I've been busy playing homesteader/farmer girl, but a catastrophic event took place...

Rowan has great teeth except for one. She's always had great dental checkups, except for biting the dentist. She also had one tooth that was a dud, meaning it was prone to cavities and a big fat pain. Along the way we switched dentists to one she didn't like to bite and it was decided she should get a crown for that tooth since it was going to be 3 or 4 years before she lost it naturally.

She got her crown. A nice, pretty (expensive) crown. It was white on the front so she didn't look like that Jaws character from the old James Bond movie. Did I mention it was expensive? Unfortunately, she did something, we don't know what, and the crown disappeared. Let me tell you it is very unsettling to be sitting around and have your child come up to you with a snaggly grin.

I took her to the dentist on Tuesday so she could miss school, again, and make out with the stuffed animals there. Miss Dr. Dentist said there was no choice but to pull it. We just had to decide how to pull it. Take the liquid medicine and sit around for an hour or get the gas and a shot and pull it 10 minutes later.

Since I am not above bribing Rowan I said, "Rowan can you take the nose medicine (gas) and get your tooth fixed so we can go buy you any toy you want?"

It totally worked. Ten minutes later she was out of there and telling me how her lip was getting bigger and all tingly. We went to Walmart and I was prepared to shell out some serious dough, but I got extremely lucky and she firmly decided she wanted the $20 inflatable swimming pool. It's an awesome pool. It's like laying in a bathtub outside. In fact, there's room for 2 adult people and a child people to lay in it like a bathtub. I know what you're thinking. It's hick. I don't care. I can lay in it and stare at my garden. The sunflower is 6 feet tall and the corn is getting ready to pollinate. Sometimes this is all the rejuvenation a person needs.

This week strawberries were on sale. I wasn't going to pass it up. I bought 4 pounds which is not all that much. I cut up and froze most of them.

I also wanted to try making a pie from scratch. So here's my homemade pie crust with some strawberries.

And here's the finished pie. This morning we ate strawberry pie for breakfast. It was good...

My 100th Post

I noticed the other day that my next post was going to be the 100th post. So woo-hoo for me. The blog continues to change and grow and I'm not sure what direction it's going in so we'll see when we get there.

Today I decided I would make my own vanilla extract. It's incredibly simple and it's something I was kind of surprised with, since I figured it must be very difficult if it costs so much in the store.

The very hard part was finding a whole vanilla bean. I had to go over to the health food store to find it. It cost me $5.89. I need to learn how to grow this, or find some unsupecting fool that I can buy it from.

The next part was to buy some vodka. I did not think this out well enough. If you see a minivan with an obvious mom-looking person drive up and park outside the liquor store at noon, and come out with a bottle in a paper bag, what are you thinking? You're thinking she's making a hurried stop to get the afternoon drunk on by the time the soaps start and before the kids get home from school. At least this is what I think the people standing outside the laundromat were thinking of me. But as you see in the picture I only bought the smallest bottle for $2.19. For that price you know it's got to be quality stuff. And it's named Crystal Palace even though the bottle is plastic.

I knew I needed a container that I could close tightly, so I decided to just use the bottle the vanilla bean is in. I added 3 tablespoons of vodka to the jar, closed it up tight, put it in a paper bag and put it up in a cabinet. It's supposed to be ready in 4 weeks. I only put it in the bag to shield it from light and the recipe didn't say to do that. I figure when I buy it at the store it's in a colored bottle and that is usually to keep a product from degrading due to light exposure. We'll see what happens in a month.

A developing topic is the dog. Onslo. He's 2 years old now. He's a small dog. I've said before that the cat is bigger than him, and she is. She's also very adept at teasing him. She'll sashay close to him waving her tail back and forth. Outside he can't reach her at the end of his lead. So it makes him crazy. She knows it. He won't try to get her when they are both inside. Only outside.

Yesterday I was walking Onslo up and down the street and the cat kept running back and forth and he was desperately trying to get to her and yanking my arm all over the place. We got back and sat on the front steps. At one point he got his head stuck in the railing because he was trying to see what she was doing. I'm thinking we're going to have to saw the railing to get his head out. But we managed to squeeze it back through somehow and we came inside.

Then the fun started. He had a seizure. He's done this before. Overstimulation thanks to the cat. She's going to kill him. So I sat with him wrapped in a towel on my lap, which makes him feel more secure and relax faster. Jace went outside and yelled at the cat which I'm sure sounded like "*&%^$!! blah blah blahblah blah!! Kiki!"

From now on I will have to put the cat in the house before I walk the dog. Thanks useless cat. Oh well, she only has one good eye so she is probably messed up in the head, too. (She came to us with only one good eye, by the way.)

Anyway, thank you everyone for following the blog or reading it. Write if you have suggestions or experiments you would like me to try, within reason, and I'll try to do it. Have a great day Y'all!