It's Saturday! And that's a very good thing!

Well, "Something-I-Made Monday" turned into Saturday this week. I have made two dresses for P from Butterick 5439, and I have a third in the works. It cris-crosses in the back and can be made reversible. This one isn't, but it could be if I add another set of buttons. I don't stand her too close to the lamp in the family room because it's the same Amy Butler fabric! I might lose her!





Well, now I've given you two things I made! Well, one I redid. Here's the before.



Don't you see these ugly brass lamps like every day at your thrift stores? (Sorry, brass lamp connoisseurs.) This lamp was $6 and the shade was $3. One can of Montana Light Turquoise paint, one yard of Amy Butler fabric, and two yards of grosgrain ribbon. That's a $20 lamp! Take that, HomeGoods! (Not dissing you, HG. Oh, how I love HomeGoods. Don't you?)

So, the delay in posting this week is because it has been nutty 'round here. P has been feeling poorly. She gets these allergy attacks (pollen) that just wipe her out. She gets congested, has post-nasal drip, which makes her cough like crazy, which keeps her awake, which makes her muscle tone go completely out of whack, which makes it so that I can't even leave the couch to do anything. Last night, my beautiful husband stayed up with her so that I could sleep!

On top of that, she is in PT bootcamp for three hours a day, plus driving 1.25 hours each way to get there (but totally worth the drive). That's three times a week. This week on Monday we went to the children's hospital to do the preliminary stuff for P's dental surgery next month, which freaks me right the heck out. At least Wednesday C got to stay at his friend's house instead of going to PT with us, and yesterday he stayed with another friend. Lucky kid.

Soooo....

My house is a wreck. The laundry is multiplying on its own. Srsly. The kitchen is frightening. Not in a 'Hoarders' kind of way; just in a "I have to use the stove top as extra counter space for food prep" kind of way. That will be resolved this morning. My yard needs mowing because I didn't get to finish last time since the battery died in my nice little eco-friendly mower. Plus it's humid. Not Savannah humid, but humid. Got lots of things on my mind. Are we selling our house? If so, how in the HELL am I going to pack it essentially by myself because K is working soooo much and driving 1.5 hours each way to get there every day. (That worry may be several months off, but might as well worry about it now, right? Yeah, not right, I know.) Or are we just refinancing? That's good too because then I would have time to finish off projects around the house. I need to paint the deck and railing. I really want to change the ugly brass doorknobs on all the doors upstairs. They are just ugly and tarnished and I know that if Taniya Nayak were here, she would tell me that changing those doorknobs modernizes the house and says to buyers, "Here's one thing you don't have to spend money on yourselves." I need to do something about the cheesy mauve floral tile backsplash in the kitchen so that buyers won't have to spend money on that and so that I don't commit hari kari from having to live with it for another day.

Well, there's a peek into how my crazy mind races! Oh, there's more! But I'll spare you.

Here's a blog recommendation. Meg Duerksen. She's cute and funny and witty, and if her latest giveaway is any indication, she has like 8 bajillion readers. Or something like that. I wonder what it's like to have 8 bajillion readers? Would I want 8 bajillion readers? I don't know. I wish I could make some kind of living off this little bloggie and maybe have some giveaways for my faithful readers (yes, I am speaking to you, one little person who reads my blog, you in your parents' basement). I guess I have to blog more regularly for that kind of thing. We'll see. I do have laundry to fold and ridiculous "maybes" to fret about, ya know!

Something-I-Made Monday

To keep me to some sort of regular posting schedule (ha!), I am instituting "Something-I-Made Monday." Please feel free to participate by leaving a link to something you made in the comments section. Here is my contribution.



I know it doesn't look like much, but these straw bales are going to be my garden! I was all prepared to do a lasagna garden where you layer newspaper on top of your grass, then compost, grass clippings, etc., until you have a nice mix of things to plant in. But then I started reading about straw bale gardening where you plant directly into bales that you have helped along in the decomposition process with lots of water, then nitrogen, and then fertilizer.

I found an ad on Craig's List for some very inexpensive bales. We went out last weekend to pick them up, and we had a great time. The guy works for the state, but lives on his family farm where his dad used to grow, pickle, and sell his own horseradish! He still grows some, so we are definitely going back for some of that! He also had the most beautiful rooster I had ever seen! I mean, like right out of central "I-need-a-rooster-for-a-movie" casting. He also had the most fabulous collection of old tractors and farm equipment along with a great old barn. We mentioned what great photos we could take out there, and he said he would love to have us come back and do that!

Today I potted my tomato seedlings and my baby basil plants. I also am going to grow potatoes in a hay mound, so I went to Agway to buy some. The Green Mountain potatoes were only 75 cents a pound, but I only needed 4 potatoes so that weighed, like, nothing. The guy very kindly just waved me away without charging me! So I bought one of their straw bales to make up for it.

Just the other day I discovered some foxgloves growing in the back of the yard that I didn't even know were there. We have lived in the house for two years now, but they must have been hiding!