For all of you who are local, Slanky sent me this and it looks pretty awesome!

Not that I don’t have a project in mind for all of those corks I’ve been saving up over the years! REALLY. I’m going to make that corkboard for the kitchen! It’s on the list! Along with about eighty other projects…hmmm, I suppose I can spare a few corks for a good cause and discount!

Most of you probably haven’t heard tales of the Slanky green thumb – a new and improved version of my husband, depending on one’s particular perspective.  Five years ago I would have laughed in anyone’s face who said Slanky would be a gardener or care at all about what our yard looks like.  It all started last year when he built some raised beds in our backyard and gardened all summer, with the help of our friend, Tami.  This spring we decided to get some of the yard landscaped and so a neighbor who runs a gardening business redid some flower beds and it turned out quite lovely.  And then Slanky took on the project of redoing the grass.  This is what I have warmly named, “The freaking never-ending backyard project.”  For several weeks now he has spent most of his free time in our backyard.  The project reached its pinnacle when he was finally spreading the grass seeds and a mild rain turned suddenly into a massive rain storm that flooded large parts of the newly flattened dirt.  We weren’t quite sure for a while if the seeds would actually sprout but they are.  Not quite in an even layer but we are getting grass nonetheless.  He’s also got most of his garden planted and I can’t wait to once again reap the rewards with none of the work.

In recent news, Slanky has discovered that a mole lives in our backyard. Much to his dismay, the mole has been tunneling all around the yard and uprooting the new grass.  Sunday Slanky spent a chunk of time outside, shirt off, soaking in the sun, listening to his ipod, drinking beer with a shovel in hand, ready to whack a mole.  I don’t think all of these accoutrements or activities usually go along with normal gardening, but if they do, perhaps I should lend a helping hand.

The Mess

Jacob and his stone wall

New stepping stones and grass seed

Slanky warms up

More pictures of the backyard progress will be coming soon.  Meanwhile, I’ll try and avoid thinking of myself as a garden widow.  Though it’s been difficult at times (I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve whined and complained) he’s really done an excellent job of things and I’m very impressed with the changes and his dedication.  I’ll be proud to show off all of his hard work.

The scene inside the SeaTac post office at 11:59pm on October 15, 2008:

Those of you less practiced in the art might not realize that October 15 is the date by which you must file your incomes taxes…if you’ve already put it off for six months by getting an extension.

This post office is the only one in the Seattle area (that I know of) that accepts mail until midnight. The parking lot was full. And the woman behind me was literally filling our her 1040 while waiting in line.

These are my people!

I’ve been meaning to report on this for a while now but keep forgetting/not having time. Anyway. If you know someone who’s having a baby, here’s an easy sewing project!

Square swaddling blankets! They were super easy (though I did have to make the time for them since Jonah can’t really sit around and help just yet) and if you don’t look too closely at the seams I think they came out ok. I made a few for my sister (along with some burp clothes with the scraps) and a couple for McCann III. While I can’t claim expert sewer status like jodi (see fabulous bedding and curtains in my son’s room) they did come along easily and much cheaper than buying square blankets which seem to be a little hard to find.  Next I’m going to try my hand at one of those blankets with the ribbons sticking out of the edges.

thanks to everyone who was able to help out for step 3 subsection b of our loft bookshelf project. slanky had the genius idea of using wine bottles as the “legs” of our bookshelf (the original plan was encyclopedias but those are surprisingly expensive at the thrift store, then we mulled over flower pots for a while but didn’t find any great ones, it being winter and all) and so we needed 8 finished bottles ready to go. luckily we have friends who can be called to duty for a project such as this.
next up, slanky needs to finish staining and try and drill holes for the legs. i’ll post pictures of the project when it is complete. for now you can see pictures here of this leg of the journey!

I’m starting a DIY category because well I like DIY projects and even though I never get around to the zillions of ideas I have hopefully we’ll all be encouraged by each other’s occasional projects!

As many of you know (and a few of you experienced first hand ((and by that i mean ekbo))) I inherited a massive spice collection from miz frances and I had no idea how I would arrange said spices. Refer to exhibit A:

As you can see this area is a total mess and I have lost valuable counter space. And I can’t find anything. And the mess just makes me walk away from the kitchen any time I think about cooking (ok, so a few times I’ve been able to talk myself out of ordering pizza, but it was HARD to face those spices like that!).

After looking for ways to expand my wall ikea spice rack (they stopped making that whole line of products a while back so no attachments or extensions, damn!) and then abandoning that for a whole new plan that was much too expensive for my taste I decided to go it alone.

Exhibit B: My ikea rack is scooted to the left to make room for a magnetic strip system for my new spices. Happily, I already had baby food jars from frances and chat, and then I got a few more from one of mark’s coworkers, so all I needed were the metal strips and some magnets. Viola, massive wall of spices!

It’s probably not the most ideal place to put them – herbs and spices should really be kept in a cool dark place instead of in clear jars above the stove but for me this works.