Sharpredpencil’s Weblog

It’s too bad I don’t have any pics to share, but I’ll sum it all up and hopefully take some decent pics to share soon. (I really need to amp up my photography skills. It’s sad, people.)

Gardening

My Aurora pepper is doing fabulously. There are a couple peppers growing already, but the one that’s been around the longest doubled in size over the past day. I’m excited to be getting to this point of gardening; I feel like there’s a little treat waiting for me each time I check my plants for new developments.

My two tomato plants are doing quite well, too. No flower buds yet, but I keep scrutinizing daily and will let out a little “woot!” as soon as I see them. Maybe I’m being naive, but I’m thinking I’ll have better luck on my open-air patio.

I had a minor run in with powdery mildew on all my plants a few weeks ago, but I spritzed the undersides of the affected leaves with my mixture of baking soda and water and brushed off the mildew. I haven’t seen any of that sneaky stuff since, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Again, I’m hoping less humidity + open-air patio = bountiful results.

Home decor

Our dining room is almost done has taken one step backwards, as of last night. First, the good news: We have our beautiful dining room table, complete the table runner, placements, and pumpkin centerpiece. We have our light fixture (which a couple strangers said they loved last weekend, so score!), and a whole leaning bookcase/wine bar unit. We’d like to add a few more accessories to that piece of furniture (a white initial for our last name, a white vase/bowl/sculpture thingy), but that will come in time. We had custom-made curtains, sewn by yours truly, that I was really digging. Until last night.

It was rainy the other night and we followed our usual routine of carrying Peanut inside so we can wipe off her paws. One curtain panel had a minor run in with a muddy paw. No biggie. The panels are all 100% cotton, so I just threw the one panel in the wash (cold water, gentle cycle) and let it air dry. Paw print out. All good. We hung the panel back up last night. It’s a good 6 inches shorter.

&$%*@!

I am still mad. I can’t even talk about it anymore.

Moving on.

We finally found an entryway table. We had such a hard time with this because our space isn’t large enough to allow a typical entryway table generally sold in furniture stores. We were starting to give up, but then stumbled upon a tall, square table for $50. Score! It was originally oak, which does not fly with our style, so we got out our trusty power sander and went to town. Then we painted it black. It’s perfect. We’re still looking for the perfect accessory to place on top of it, but it works in the meantime. We hung a piece of artwork above it that we already had but weren’t using, but decided we prefer a mirror. So, we’re on the quest for the perfect, budget-friendly mirror. I have spray paint and I’m not afraid to use it, so I’m keeping my eyes open.

We’re saving for a couple bucket chairs to add to the living room. They’ll fill our open space sorta behind our main TV viewing area. The open space will serve us nicely by providing a reading nook, guitar display area (gotta keep the husband happy), and board game nook.  Plus, we’ll gain more seating. I can’t wait to get those chairs. They swivel, and I swoon.

Crafty projects

I’ve been doing a little bit of sewing and trying to get back into it on a regular basis. Besides the curtain panel customization I did for the living and dining rooms, I did manage to finish one skirt that’s wearable. I’m planning on wearing it to church next Sunday, and I’ll try to get a good picture posted. I started on a second skirt with some minor adjustments, but I lost steam. I did sew a baby blanket for my good friend who is having a baby boy in December. That was a fun, meaningful project, but what I’ve been hankering for is something to keep my hands busy when I’m otherwise being a couch potato. I did some digging and found a site that gives easy crochet patterns for some really, really cute animals. They’re supposed to be baby toys, but I worry they’re too small (any mom readers who want to weigh in?). At the very least, they’re cute, out-of-baby’s-reach decoration for a nursery, so I’m going to try my hand at it. I could stare at the penguin all day:

Check out the Web site to see the patterns and other pictures. If you never hear from me again, you’ll know I wasn’t successful with crocheting these cute little guys. And if you’re my friend in real life and pregnant, forget you saw this post.

Edited to add: Shoot. I guess my title doesn’t work anymore, but what I really meant was pictures I took myself.