Snow, Snow, Snow!

We live in New England, where it snows every winter. As New Englanders we are use to cold, snowy conditions. Winter started out fairly mild this year, in fact we had a green Christmas. Then January came and with it came the snow. We have been burried under 80+ inches of snow during the last two months. We can't really complain because we choose to live in New England and snow is part of living here, however I'm ready for a break from snow.

Check out these icicles on the house. They were bigger, but they melted quite a bit today.

This is the gate to the pool. Just beyond the fence you can see all of the snow on the roof of the gazebo. You can't even tell where the pool is for all of the snow in the backyard. Honestly, I've forgotten what my backyard looks like without three feet of snow covering it. With all this snow you can see why I'm looking forward to spring arriving. So think happy spring thoughts!

Crafty Freaks Project #1

Today is the due date for the first Crafty Freaks Project (due date being a loosely used term as there are really no rules or due dates for the Crafty Freaks.)  The goal behind Crafty Freaks is to get out there and create for the enjoyment of it. I love the idea of creating just to create with no guilt if you miss a project or really mess up on a project.  I'm excited about participating.

Here's my first project for Crafty Freaks; it's a centerpiece for my dining room table. I found the idea from this pin on Pinterest. I love that this project used materials from my house and yard. I used a quart size mason jar, hot glue, sticks, jute rope and flowers from my yard. It took longer than I thought to glue it all together. I thought it would be a 15 minute project it took more like an hour.  I love how it turned out and I didn't get any serious glue gun burns so that made me happy. Best of all I have this lovely centerpiece on my table. You can check out what some of the other Crafty Freaks are making by visiting the Crafty Freaks board on  Pinterest  or ( click here.)

Hurry Up Spring

The calendar says it's officially spring, I've seen robins in our yard and the snow is melting so I think spring might actually be here.  Looking at the the gazebo makes me long for warmer spring days.

 Our mulch beds need a bit of work but they hold the promise of new flowers this summer.

It was buried under thick snow all winter, but we can finally see the pool. We had snowflakes this morning then rain so the pool cover is finally clear of snow. Now we need some warmer weather so we can get outside.  We're ready to start going for walks in the neighborhood and enjoying our yard again.

The neighborhood kids want to be outside playing and riding their bikes or scooters too, so hurry up spring weather we're waiting for you!

The White Stuff

Back at Christmas time I was excited to see the white stuff falling from the sky and blanketing the earth in iridescent white. New fallen snow is so beautiful.

Now it's the end of February and it's snowing again. I'm tired of the snow, the shoveling and the driving on snow covered roads.  I want spring to arrive. I'm ready for mud season, with new plants coming up, birds singing, sunshine and most of all no snow!

It amazes me how you can appreciate the beauty of new snow while at the same time craving it's disappearance for another year.  If you're in need of some snow stop by our house, we have plenty to share.  While you're here would you mind shoveling the walkways, clearing the driveway and driving me to the airport. . .I'm craving some tropical weather.

My Not so Green Thumb

I have a reputation as a plant killer. It's a sad but true fact that I have more of a black thumb than a green thumb. The only plant I have successfully kept alive for a long period is "Harry, " my Golden Ponthos(part of the philodendron family.) While we were in Kauai we learned that philodendrons are parasitic plants that almost impossible to kill. Based on Harry's 12 year existence in my house I'd say this is true. I've branched out a bit adding a spider plant, a Wandering Jew and a Cyclamen to the mix this year. The cyclamen isn't as healthy as the rest but it's holding on. Actually the Wandering Jew "Wanda" and clippings from the original Harry were hanging in the window in my classroom all year. The kids helped me water and talk to them and they really thrived this year.

Feeling heady from my house plant success I decided to try my hand at gardening this year. I wanted to grow my own zucchini to make zucchini relish this summer. Each year I spend a ton of money on the produce to make relish, so I thought growing my own would be a great idea. I bought a small two tiered raised bed at Sam's Club, gardening soil at the local hardware store and a few small veggie plants from someone at school. I planted cukes, zucchini and tomatoes in my little garden. Thanks to having to take Chunk out to go potty twenty times a day I've actually remembered to water my garden and it's been growing. I've been so excited to see my zucchini thriving and a few little tomatoes are starting to ripen now.

Here is my first harvest. Five zucchini and two cukes show my new success as a gardener! My husband is a realist, so when I first planted my little garden, he pointed out that with all the money I spent on the raised bed and soil it would have been cheaper to just pay for the produce at the supermarket. While he is correct, you can't put a price on the feeling of successfully growing your own food, particularly when when you have a bad reputation with the plants. I'm so excited! Even my husband and Nature Girl are surprised and impressed with my gardening success. So now it's zucchini relish making time again and this year I grew the zucchini myself!

Spring Clean Up & Recycling

Looking proud of her work.

This weekend we spent some time outside enjoying a day of 60 degree weather. Since it was so nice, we went for a family walk in our neighborhood. As we walked we saw lots of trash, aluminum cans and bottles strewn along the side of the road. Nature Girl was upset that people would throw trash on the ground. She has always been conscientious about putting trash where it belongs and taking care of the Earth. We discussed cleaning up the trash another time when we had bags with us. She agreed that we should clean it up but was worried about getting her hands dirty. Dirty hands, not a problem! We have a box of disposable gloves left over from a tie-dye project.

Monday after school Nature Girl and I set out on another walk wearing our disposable gloves and carrying a few trash bags. We didn't get very far down the road before encountering a new and unfriendly looking dog in our neighborhood. There is a leash law in our town but apparently his family doesn't know about it. We opted to turn around and clean up the other side of the street instead of facing this unfriendly fellow. We filled a bag about a third full with trash and collected half a bag of cans, glass and plastic bottles.

Nature Girl thought we needed a staged photo of the clean up. Here she is picking up a beer can. She crushed and recycled the cans, then sorted the plastic and glass. We took it all out to the the curb where it was recycled the next morning. We'd like to keep working on our neighborhood spring clean up and recycling effort but we have to wait for it to stop raining. It's been raining for days. I just checked the weather and it looks like the rain is supposed to continue through the weekend, so maybe next week.

Busy Girls

We've been busy girls sewing, planting and baking. The owl stitchery is now a sling bag for Nature Girl. She loves it and proudly announced today that she will never leave home without it. We'll see how long that lasts but for today she brought it with her. She's pictured here on a bench outside our local library modeling her sling bag and her owl sticker. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It's just what I pictured for the owl stitchery.

Planting:
We planted seeds yesterday using the newspaper pots from Dave's Garden. I say "we" but really Nature Girl helped plant the first eight pots then went off to ride her bike, which she informed me is good for the earth. I finished planting while she rode her bike around the driveway pretending she was visiting her friends and cousins. It was very entertaining! She looked at my bike that has been hanging in the garage since before she was born and told me I should start riding my bike too. Nice thought but not likely no matter how good it is for the planet.

Sewing:
I haven't posted any pictures on the Sparkle Power Sew Along Flickr Group, but I have been sewing. I made these green capri pajama pants using thrifted knit fabric and a pair of my favorite pajamas as a pattern. They're super comfy. Not bad for 50 cents worth of thrifted fabric! Sorry the picture is pretty poor but I hope you get the idea.

I whipped up this simple skirt yesterday from another thrifted fabric I bought a few weeks ago. It's not fancy but I like it. We went to see Horton Hears a Who today and I wore my new skirt. I even have a piece of the fabric left to make something for Nature Girl. I have a few other projects I've been working on that aren't finished and many more that are on my to do list. That list never gets shorter because I'm always finding something new I want to make. Check out Kerri Made for her chicken scratch gingham and her crafty tool belt tutorial.


Baking:
I'll leave you with one more picture for tonight. The batter doesn't look appetizing, but this Pecan Toffee Biscotti is delicious. I'll take a few more pictures of the finished product and post the recipe tomorrow or the next day. Trust me this biscotti is so yummy it's worth checking back for the recipe. I'm enjoying a piece right now!

Saving Trees

Today we headed off to dance class as usual. We had to stop and wait for traffic to pass while a tree crew worked along the side of the road Nature Girl asked from the back seat of the car why we were stopping. I explained that their were men working to take down some trees and we had to wait for the other cars to pass. Her response was "Don't they know that they can use fabric for napkins instead of cutting down trees?" Well I had to laugh! I just made her a fabric napkin and a reusable snack bag for her preschool snack bag. Now she's trying to get everyone to save trees. So I'll do my part to help the trees. I've almost completed tutorials for the reusable snack bag and cloth napkin I made. I will post them tomorrow. So stop by to see my first ever tutorials.

A Tree Hugger to Melt Your Heart

Nature Girl has been a tree hugger since she began walking. She literally hugs the trees in our yard. She loves them! Last week as she rode in the car on the way to preschool she was in the backseat waving out the window saying "Hi!" When asked what she was doing she said " I'm waving to the trees so their green leaves will grow." Well that just melted my heart! This week while playing outside she looked at an evergreen tree and said "It's not healthy. I'm going to hug it to make it's leaves grow." Now I'm not a nature expert but the tree looked healthy enough to me and it had pine cones and needles not leaves. Still this simple gesture was sweet . . . it's kindness to all living things. That is something I hope she will always display.


Honestly her tree hugging ways inspire me to leave a smaller mark on the earth. At her young age she already sees nature as a wonder and is conscientious about the environment. Her recycling efforts are worth their own post so more on that later. In the meantime we're trying to be a bit more "Green" around here. We're not hardcore earth activists just three people trying to be more conscientious. What tips do you have on being green? How do you reduce, reuse and recycle? If you're interested here is an Earth Day Footprint Quiz you can take to see what your impact is on the environment. It was interesting.