herbaceous!

i'm sure it has more to do with my love of food vs. my love of growing plants, but i've been soooo impatient to get my herb garden growing! so far, i have parsley, sage, thyme, sweet basil, and rosemary. i still want cilantro and other varieties i haven't conceived yet!
wish me luck in growing these plants. i've yet to figure out if i get enough daylight hours for these little pots, since i've only been here since september. i hope i do though. and, i want to do tomatoes too!

everyone needs a flex-shaft!

and if you have to ask what that is, nevermind!


i was a good girl today and unpacked most of my boxes for my jewelry work. it was a trip down memory lane, unwrapping all the tools and some finished pieces ...


that's my little copper easter egg, which i made in '96. i made it to hide in penland's easter egg hunt. i finished the egg with enough time to submit it for hiding, but i couldn't part with it. yes, i kept the egg, and then went on the hunt and found two more!


the ceramic egg was made by jenny drum, and the glass egg was made by joe nielander. it's hard to believe that was 10 years ago. i don't think i want to think about that.

i want to start making jewelry again, in some capacity. i need a table to put next to my workbench, infront of the window, so i can solder. i will have to make some trips to the local thrift store and hope i find something that i can use. i also need some flux. i don't know if i can buy any locally though. otherwise, i have all the materials i need to pick up where i left off. oh, i also need some confidence. i haven't done this in a very long time.


what's on the nightstand this week ....

it was such a nice day yesterday, though hot. i had doors and windows open, taking advantage of the breeze. i'm anxious for warmer weather just because i want to grow some herbs and tomatoes on my back porch. i went to the nursery today, but only got parsley. i was told that parsley is hardy, and can take freezing temps. as the season warms up, i will get basil, sage, cilantro, and ... anything else i like to cook with. yes, the little pot is teetering over the edge of the porch, but the pot is larger than the opening it's leaning against. no worries.
i baked some more jalapeno cornbread muffins too. i was careful this time with the jalapeno, and did not touch the insides of the jalapenos. the last time i was careless, and my hands were burning for hours, not to mention my brow i rubbed.

i cleaned the fishes yesterday too. i didn't realize how green things were in the aquarium until i began to scrubb their rock under the faucet. it went from green to brown/gray. whoops! so, all their furniture was scrubbed clean, including some of the gravel, and they got a fresh filter.

when i went home to babysit, mom cut these daffodils from the yard for me to bring back to my home. they grow in a place in the yard that no one ever sees ... behind the house, down below the deck of the backyard. they still look as good as the day they were cut. i look forward to the warmer months, as i want to grow some herbs and cherry tomatoes. see my new pretty kitchen door rug? i target.

i also got something else for my kitchen ....


be sure to move mouse over photo
those dinky grocery store S&P's were purchased when i first moved into my new place and i was desperate for minimum seasoning. i really wanted a salt and pepper mill set, but target doesn't sell anything like that, at least not a high quality set.
i'm still holding out on some other things for the kitchen from crate and barrel such as this!

i have a couple of other goodies to share, but i'm sleepy now, and will have to wait for another day ....

"friday night's alright for ..."

... resting. that's what i like to do on friday nights.
for the last (almost) 10 years, i've often worked weekends. so, friday night was just another day of the week to me. while the rest of the world was busy getting ready to go out for the evening, kick up their heels after a week of work, i was gearing up for my week of work all packed into a string of several days and nights. and now, i sometimes work on saturdays, thus, want to get a good night's sleep on friday.
so, tonight, i'm thinking about getting into bed early, with a good book to read, and just relaxing.
no movies, no dinner out, no talking, no music, no tv. just quiet. me and the fishes.

i started reading this a few nights ago. i guess it's my smut reading. it took me a very long time to get through _the blind assassin_, and i'm breezing through this book, as it's a bunch of short stories. but, there's something kinda disturbing about this book. i just started the fourth or fifth story, and two of the women characters have died as a result of their love. killed by the men they love. WTF?! i had issues with _the blind assassin_ because of the side story and how the woman allowed the man to mistreat her ... she kept going back for more! hmmm ....

anyhoo, i took the boys to the city park yesterday for a couple of hours. i was hoping it would wear them out a bit so i could have some time to myself. instead, i think it just gets them more wound up.