Senior Art Parties

It seemed such a good idea at the time... to bring arts and crafts to little old ladies at local assisted living centers. So many of their activities and events are passive -- watching a play, a ballgame, sitting on a bus for a city tour. Yawn... With arts and crafts they have to engage their brains and their hands... they have to interact... "Can you pass the scissors? Is this the right glue? What are we doing?"

Sometimes they struggle...

Sometimes they whine...

Sometimes they concentrate really hard that when their name is called really loud, even if they have their hearing aid in, they don't hear you.

And when they are all done, despite the struggling and grumbling... they are amazed at what they have done. Sometimes I am pretty amazed at what we have done too.

Power Tool Tuesday!!!!!!!

More than Merely a Drill

What can be said about a simple drill.... quite a lot really. Drills aren't just for drilling anymore -- we use them as screwguns and as sanding drums, they are required to drill pilot holes. Drills come in various battery powered sizes and lots of electric varieties.

The goal, for our purposes, is to focus on what we are most likely to need and use.

Pictured here are a 1/3 horsepower electric drill, a 12 volt battery powered drill and an 18 volt battery operated drill:

The most powerful is the electric -- but, being tethered to a cord, it is also the most unweildy. On the other end of the spectrum is the light-weight 12 volt drill, center, which doesn't hold a charge for very long and doesn't have the power for more than very light tasks of drilling an occassional hole -- to hang a picture or screwing together a piece of flat pack furniture. The 18V, right, is the workhorse. It has almost the power of the 1/3 horsepower eletric drill, but is self contained and can go anywhere. Up ladders, across the house, up on the roof or under the sink. Take note, that the 18V battery is twice the size of the 12V battery. It is somewhat heavier than the 12V, but not prohibitively so.

Ninety percent of the work I do, building furniture, outdoor structures and household projects, I use the 18V. (There is now a 24V available -- I haven't felt the need for a more powerful drill and have not found myself hankering for bigger-better-more. The 24V is heavier and perhaps better for professional construction situations. For my uses, the 18V is practically perfect in every way. )

A drill is the core tool of home-use power tools. It can be used to drill pilot holes to make furniture assembly easier, to install wall mollies for hanging large pictures and shelves. It can also drill holes for bird houses, dowel rods or even in china. It can be used as a screw gun, to drive screws into decks, roofing materials or subfloors. It can run a drum sander. Of all the power tools I use, the drill was my first power tool and the one I use most frequently.

Let's look at the range of bits and what they do:

a) Drills range in size from teeny-tiny to GREAT BIG -- the only limit is the size of the drill insert. Notice the shaft of the larger bit is stepped down. Size matters.

b) Types of bits differ based on the type of work they are expected to do. The gold-toned bit is Titanium which is extremely hard -- it holds a sharp edge and is less likely to break. (Of the smaller bits I am endlessly breaking them, no matter what they are made of.) Because they hold a sharp edge so well, titanium shows a difference in quality when drilling through fine hardwoods or even soft woods -- they will be less tear out and shredding. The black bit is high speed steel, not so strong as titanium, but for average occassional use it does everything you will need it to do, which is drill a hole. The silver one is an average cheap steel bit which is fine for occasional use.

c) Paddle bits or Spade bits -- these drill larger holes that we use to run eletric wires through studs or to drill a hole for a bird house. Spade bits range in size from 1/3 of an inch to 2 inches. These can also be used to make a hole for a dowel rod that we would use as a pot rack or a towel bar, curtain rod -- lots of household uses

d) Forstner bits drill a perfectly flat bottomed hole. Let's say you are making a paper towel stand -- the kind that holds the roll of paper towels on end. The dowel needs to be inserted into a wooded base in such a way that the dowel is flush inside the connection. A regular bit will make a tapered hole, which won't provide the depth or adhesion needed. A forstener bit will drill to the required depth with a perfectly flat hole providing perfect adhesion for the dowel.

Next time... MORE FUN WITH DRILLS

Sweet Little Rose o'Mine

It occurs to me that I learned about growing roses exactly the way I learn most things -- I fell face forward into them and got stuck a few times. *sigh* Sometimes things just don't come easily... junior high, boys, high heels, mothers-in-law... Roses fall into that category -- things that might be nice, once you wend your way through the tricky bits.

I'd always heard roses are hard to grow -- that there are powders and feeding schedules. I'd heard there is a precise and singular pruning method. I'd heard about aphids and powdery mildew and ... and... oh, the New Dawn Roses are divine... but what sold me was not their delicate pink color, although it is lovely. And it wasn't the tightly packed come-hither blossoms, which beckon me nearer and nearer. "Come closer," they say. "Aren't we lovely -- aren't we a thing out of a faerie tale? Don't you think we are perfect?"


No, not the color, nor the shape, which is nicer than nice... what it was was ...the scent... the scent of a New Dawn Rose is as delicate as a whisper. As I pass by it makes me turn my head, an aromatic double-take, did I smell that? Am I sure? Another whiff.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

And so, despite the thorns and the scary care tactics and a frightful article on pruning... I followed my nose, bought this rose anyway and ... and... it grew. And blossomed. It cascades over a fence and looks like something Alice might encounter in Wonderland... it smells like the blush of First Love ... I have never fed, pruned or powdered it (unless you count my tossing an over-ripe banana at it's feet as feeding) and it reminds me that even when I am scared... Do It Anyway -- the worst that can happen is Something Wonderful! Good advice, coming from a Rose. Go out and do something scary.

It's All About the Clothes

There are baby clothes and there are Baby Clothes... and I like to think every woman alive knows the difference. If the baby is merely generic -- the brand new baby of your boss's assistant's sister and you've somehow been squeezed onto the Baby Shower Guest List then what you do is drop by a store, any store, on the way to the shower and pick up something. You hope the same store sells those handy gift bags. Had you thought about it, which you didn't, you'd have dug a bag out of the back of a closet.

But if the baby is SPECIAL -- the long awaited infant of your best friend, dearest neighbor or a close co-worker who has saved your bacon a time or two -- then you do one of two things... you go to the best store in town select the most exquisite scrumptious enchanting baby outfit you have ever seen in your entire life, take out a loan and buy it. Or you sew.

I'm not sure sewing for baby holds it's own against a mortgaged romper from Too Suite Enfant Emporium... but it should. Because when I sew for baby, it is a Big Freakin' Deal. There is the selecting of the pattern, the Deciding on Fabric... fabric alone is an event for which I'd like to see gold medal standards. The fabric can not be too tough or too delicate. It can not be infused with fire retardant, spit-up deterrent chemicals. Unless the baby is already here and you know the gender, then the color must be sufficiently androgynous. Next you cut out all the impossibly tiny pieces -- those people who sew doll clothes, Barbie clothes, are clearly deranged. And never mind the pieces being so small -- there are all the sewing notions -- zippers, buttons, snaps... all or any of which are tiny and fiddly and you need to think through this part because that mortgaged gown will start looking really good when you are fussing with a half inch button hole. Yes, yes, there is velcro which is mightily handy and too bad the hook part of this brilliant invention is too scratchy to risk stitching into a baby gown.

This is the one and only time in your life when you will sew French seams. And no matter how careful you are, if you are very lucky, at minimum a half inch of one seam will hang out and there you will have to decide whether to rip it out and begin again or keep right on stitchin' with hope the mother will never notice... hmmmmm.

Sometimes I sew baby clothes because there are things you just can't buy any more. They don't sell kimonos or sacks like they used to and for a brand new baby fresh from a bath and ready for a late snack followed by a diaper change, there's nothing easier on and off and back on again than a kimono. But usually when I sew baby clothes it is the Show Off variety. The clothes with pin tucks and ruching and cut work and embellishments I can't pronounce and have to focus through crossed eyes to actually do.

But when the baby is Special, (not "this will get me a raise" special -- but Dear to My Heart Special, "I will Watch You and Protect You" Special... ) it makes me feel a little special too, to pull out the stops, knowing that I can, knowing that I will.... I like to think also that somewhere in the brain of the child who wears a home sewn gown there is a seed of awareness... something in his head absorbs the fact, Mm, "French seams... nice." And there it is -- THAT's the difference.

The Children's Garden cont'd

I can not call this project the Wretched Wreck of a Deck anymore ... all the wretched decking is gone. In fact some of the floor joists were reused to build an arbor... more on that later, though I will say I am astounded anything from the deck was salvagable.

Any good project begins with a proper foundation. The foundation of this garden is the ivy esplanade at the back wall. I've built a harlequin patterned trellis wall. It doesn't extend entirely to the left corner as that area is where the gingerbread house goes.



Because I really hate spending large dollars on a simple nothing sort of project, instead of buying precut lattice strips, I ripped a 2"x3" into half inch strips. There are three 2"x3"s here -- at $1.47 each. Wild and crazy girl that I am, that trellis cost $4.41 plus tax. Total. Had I purchsed real lattice strips the cost would have been $57.60. (Because time equals money, it's worth noting that I cut all the lattice strips in 20 minutes. It would have taken longer than that to drive to Home Depot or Lowe's and back.)

Moving on.

The lattice has been painted, the soil just below the trellis has been ammended and ivy has been planted:



Grow Ivy, grow.

Wee little steps -- the next step is to add a load of soil -- the ground is really a hard, trampled, irregular mess back there. It might be solved with a rototiller -- but I don't have one. For the cost of renting a rototiller I can buy a load of dirt, which I need in other areas anyway

Now, back to the salvaged floor joists of the Wretched Deck Rip Out. An arbor has been built on the other side of the workshop. It has four salvaged posts and five salvaged windows. I've had this project in mind since I bought this house. I didn't know quite where the arbor would go, but I knew what it would look like:

I placed it here, to the left of the garage workshop, to visually balance the Children's Garden, situated in the space to the right of the garage workshop.

There is still so much work to be done. There is a pond to dig, a gingerbread house to build, a sandbox to install, plants to move in.... and this guy is awfully eager to move in and find a home in the new Children's Garden:


Meanwhile ... he'll just reach down there and snag a carrot or two to snack on.

Behold, the Carrot

I am of two minds regarding healthy food -- on the one hand I think it's a fine idea to eat right. Healthy food, healthy brains, healthy body. What could be better than that? On the other hand -- the hand I use to grab cream cheese and curly fries and potato skins and gravy and.... cookies and those wee lemon squares with sugar on top... my dreams are not made of broccoli bunches or aspargus spears. I am not a fan of vegetables.

And yet, I am devoted to being healthy, trying to be healthy, taking the right foods into my body, which makes the effort such an, well, an effort.

And so, like tending an errant child, what I have done over the years is every trick in the book. I know every sauce there is to disguise broccoli, every distraction imaginable to get the peas from the plate to my lips... I know every possible place to hide a carrot. Here are my Top Ten Favorite places to hide a carrot :

10. Pureed and swirled into sweet potatoes (which are scrumptious and therefore not a vegetable.)

9. Chopped into little bitty pieces and blended into meat loaf.

8. Layered with mashed potatoes (and cheese and bacon and sour cream -- ah nuts, now we've missed the Healthy Point), ok, lose the cheese, bacon and sour cream -- top with a smidge of high-flavor low-fat gravy.

7. Shredded and added to a sandwich -- a peanutbutter, honey and carrot on wholewheat is very nearly decadent... very nearly. It's no deep fried Snickers, but so little is.

6. Sliced, blanched and featured on a fruit-veggie-cheese platter, with a low-fat dip.

5. Pureed and blended with chicken broth, plain yogurt and flour to make a delicious Good God Good For You low-fat gravy.

4. Julienne sliced, very thin, and used in place of a cracker for snacks like salsa, chicken salad, even egg salad.

3. Blanched till just tender and added to fruit kabobs, drizzled with honey

2. Sliced into sticks and rolled with flavored cheeses and cold cuts.

1. The number 1 way to hide a carrot -- finely shredded and added to pancake batter. Add some nuts, some spices -- next thing you know you have spiced carrot pancakes. Yum.

And so there we are -- Fooled, Foolish, but Healthy-er. What tricks do you pull to fool yourself?

Another Pretty Thing

I am one of those people who just can't help themselves -- I walk around the planet redesigning it or taking in designs and color combinations that work and wanting to carry them from here to there. Carpet designs, rock formations, colors on this house or that dress. And lately I have dared get my hands on things I did not previously consider my purview, a sort of coloring outside the lines in real life. You know what happens -- as soon as those lines are blurred, nothing is out of bounds. Furniture gets painted crazy colors and dresses get cut in funny shapes.

And so, when Teresa, at Aunt Ts Paper Arts, had a giveaway of these plastic $1.00 pencil boxes up for grabs I was game in a heart beat. I think she had five of them to give away and I was one of the lucky recipients. The proviso was that the pencil box had to be altered and photographed. All righty.

The purple is textured card stock and the green is torn paper.

The plastic flap is clear-ish with a color copied butterfly under it that shows through pretty well -- better than it does here in Blogger Photo Haze. All the butterflies are color copies from old encyclopedias and science books. Also, the plastic flap has been scallop-trimmed, edged with copper foil and hole punched for brass wire and beads.

The snap is covered with a crocheted flower -- I tied a silk ribbon in the center for a shot of color. The tassel is made of embroidery floss (I have a ton of embroidery floss and not even a spare ounce of patience to spend embroidering) and it is attached to the side with an eyelet.

My favorite aspect of this little pencil box is the little girl standing there. She is my grandmother and I have reduced apostcard sized rose to fit into her hand. She needed it. I love this photo of my grandma -- it is one of two that I use quite a lot. In this one she is about six and has an intelligent face. It is a face that says, "I have better things to do -- are we done yet?" I have an image that a minute after this picture was taken they turned her loose and she darted away as fast as her legs could carry her.... dress tails flying, hair bow falling and abandoned. I think that is my motto for the day... maybe for the week, TURN ME LOOSE.

(If I get an extra minute or so today I'll take some closer shots.)