Musical Swings in Montreal

Winter Sowing

Recently I saw a picture on Pinterest that led me to a new idea that sparked my interest.  The picture was this one from Kevin Lee Jacob's blog, A Garden for the House.  He has several helpful posts about winter sowing (planting seeds in the winter in little milk jug greenhouses.)  He has lots of other cool stuff on his blog that I enjoy, too - like recipes, houseplants, etc.

I have been feeling those winter blues that show their demon heads every year.  So when I read about winter sowing it sparked an interest, gave me a purpose, a needed distraction from reading, genealogy, and quilting.  I can prepare for SPRING!

Today my granddaughter came over after school and we melted holes in a couple milk cartons, added soil, and planted lupines in one and hollyhocks in the other.  I let her use the wood-burning tool to melt the drainage holes in the milk jugs.  We were tickled how easy that tool did the job.  She planted the seeds and I labeled the jugs.   Here's a picture of our little greenhouses.  There will be more.

I'm hoping we get our poor picnic tables painted this summer.  It was on the list for last year, but we didn't get to it.  Of course, that didn't stop us from having b-b-qs and lots of visiting time around the tables.  We even encouraged people to peel the paint off while we visited so we wouldn't have as much to remove when the time comes.

While we were feeling 'springy' we tried our hand at propagating geraniums.  This activity took some pre-planning - I had to bring the plant inside last fall.  (It's not everyday I get to pat myself on the back.)  Here's a picture of our baby geraniums.  They are all Martha Washingtons.  I'm thinking I'll buy 6 more pots and try for 12 babies.  I love geraniums so the more the merrier.  I could never justiify buying 12 new geraniums from the nursery.  Usually, I only allow myself 3.  It'll be fun to have more of them in my gardens this year.

The flat of pots in the tray under the geraniums is for planting in March.  I thought while I was outside dealing with potting soil, I'd put some in that tray, too.  We have finally made it into the 20s & 30s during the day so it isn't so awful to be outside for a short time period.  You can see the snow has started melting and our brown grass is starting to peak through.  We had a friend from California who moved here in the winter.  After several weeks he asked us why we didn't cut down our dead trees and shrubs!  Luckily, he lived here long enough to see everything start to grow again in the spring.  We met him when we lived in San Diego.  The weather was delightful there, but after a couple years I began to really miss the seasons.  Okay, I didn't miss winter so much, but I will put up with it so I can have spring and autumn, especially autumn.

I love the seasons.  Each one has it's special delights.  I love winter for the soups and other comfort foods.  Who wants to eat a big Thanksgiving meal in the warmth of summer?  Winter means meatloaf with baked potatoes, acorn squash, and baked apples.  Cold, quiet January is the perfect time to curl up with a good book and some popcorn. And winter is the best time to sew quilt tops.  It's also a good time to work on genealogy, organize pictures, write histories, etc  Spring is iffy - it's either windy or rainy and the temps can switch so quickly between mild or cold.  Heck, it can even snow but you know the snow will melt in a day or two.  But in spite of those drawbacks, spring is when the new buds appear on the trees & shrubs, tulips & daffodils pop up from the ground, trees blossom and the world looks pretty again.  It's a time of new beginnings, rebirth, and spring cleaning.  Summer is not my favorite but it means the grandkids are out of school and I get to see them almost every day, lots of barbecues, watching the kids run through the sprinklers, reading on the patio, berries are ripe, the 4th of July celebration and homemade root beer.  My grandson said the other day, "I can't wait for the 4th of July."  When I asked why he said, "Because we get to make root beer."  And then there's fall.  Ahhhh, my favorite.  The harvest, corn on the cob, the cooler weather, the colored leaves, school starts up again and I have more time to myself.  And about the time we get tired of mowing the lawn and eating zucchini, it's winter again.  What a perfect cycle.

What's your favorite season?  Do you dabble with gardening, reading, genealogy, quilting?  Would love to hear what you love and why.

Candleman & His Siblings

Jane McGonigal - Excellent Talk

After watching this informative, inspiring, and fun video I order McGonigal's book, 

Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World.  She also invented a reality game called SuperBetter.  And "there's an ap for that!"  And it's FREE.  She talks about this game in the video .  I've downloaded it to my iPad and love the feeling of improving myself in manageable increments each day.  Each day there are new "quests" to do and you can choose between two.  One of the first day's  "quests" was to shake hands with someone for 6 secs.  So Candleman and I shook hands and commented on what a 6-second kiss could do for us.

As a child I didn't think my family was particularly close knit, but as grown-ups we have stayed in touch and enjoyed semi-regular gatherings to play games and enjoy each others' company.  My husband's family didn't play games and they are not as companionable as my family.  We had to teach my husband the card suits, what 'tricks' were in Hearts and other games.  When we play Mormon Bridge I always have to give him a little nudge when it's his turn.  (Mormon Bridge is the LDS player's name for Oh, Hell or several other bleepy words.)

When Candleman and I were first married and living far from home we would play games together.  We had a notebook that we kept a running score total for several games.  I would always beat the pants off him when it came to Rack-o.  (You thought I was going to say strip poker, didn't you?)  Nope, I didn't feel comfortable with my body back then.  Anyway, back to Rack-o - I would get all my cards in order, including the run of 3, but would feel bad for him so I'd throw my middle run card away and start all over on a run.  He still only one a handful of games.  I still don't know what game he was trying to play...

As a mother I loved playing video games.  We used to do that "heavy, heavy hangover thy poor head" thing when we gave each other birthday presents.  For my 30th birthday I was hoping for a Game Boy - they were new then!  My present from my husband didn't get wrapped and when he did "heavy, heavy hangover" my girls eyes grew as large as saucers and they jumped up and down squealing.  I knew I had my Game Boy.  Yeah!  And I did share it often with the kids.

In our family room we had 2 banana chairs set up in front of an old tv that was for video games.  We were always slow in getting these new gadgets, but when we finally broke down and bought one we used it a lot.  I remember playing the first Zelda with my 3rd daughter (she was the one who liked to play electronic games).   When I was stumped I would call this Jr. High boy that I knew (who was also my 2nd daughter's age) to ask him for help.  This embarrassed daughter 2 to no end.

We played lots of other games in addition to the electronic ones.  Now as a grandmother with my only 2 grandchildren living through the back gate we continue to play games.  When school was still in session my granddaughter organized "Canasta Club" for Friday or Sunday afternoons.  My 2 daughters, granddaughter, and I would play a variation of Canasta called Hand and Foot.  She received the game for Christmas and we are still playing it!  Candleman and I played it several times with a neighbor couple and they fell in love with it and order one for them, one for each of their 6 grown children, and several for friends.  The rules are horrendous, but the game is easy.  We adopted some rules from online to make it funner.

During the summer, both grandkids get bored easily and almost every afternoon we get together -their mom, them, and I - to play Hand and Foot or Chicken Foot, a dominoes game.  I'm looking forward to school starting and going back to 1 or 2 afternoons a week for games instead of seven.  I think these are good bonding moments and help the kids learn to socialize, take turns, learn how to be gracious winners, and learn how to lose without crying.

Just a side note here:  We do lots of other activities in addition to playing games.  Little Miss Granddaughter likes to help me cook or bake, mix essential oils, share pins on Pinterest, sew (she's made pjs and an apron), garden, etc.  She's enjoys reading but only at bedtime.  My grandson likes to make model airplanes, learn about WWII, build paper airplane models - you could say he's focused, but he will join us occasionally for a game.

Do you and your family play games?  What are some of your favorite games?  I asked that question of my sister-in-law last summer when she was visiting from Cincinnati and ever since then I've played the online version of Settlers of Catan almost every day - once while I eat lunch and once before going to bed.   She also shared some good book recommendations with me.

Let me know what are your favorite games.  It's getting close to Christmas and I could use some good ideas.  We have a Thanksgiving tradition of buying a new game to play during that long weekend and into the Christmas holidays.  I love family traditions and, in our family, one of those traditions is playing games.

Birdhouses

I love my backyard but something was lacking - birdhouses.  Looked around our little town and found nothing but when we went to SLC to pick up our daughter Katie, who was flying in for the 4th from Las Vegas, we stopped at Michaels.  I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  There were so many things for so many different crafts.  It was crazy.  Crazy wonderful.

We found birdhouses ready to be painted.  A couple were $10 each, most were $5, and the little ones for the grandkids were only $1.  We bought several.  On July 3rd we prepped each birdhouse and some of them were painted from start to finish.  In this picture are my 2 grandchildren and my daughter Katie.  I didn't have enough newspaper on hand so we dug out an old, plastic tablecloth for our drop cloth.

Katie was chosen to paint the $10 birdhouse because she's very artistic.  And she's a sweetheart. She remembers me raving about the row houses we saw in the Canadian Maritime Provinces and so she went online to look at some pictures.  I told her they were called Jellybean houses in Newfoundland.  So now I have a birdhouse to remind me of those beautiful, cheerful, and colorful jellybean houses.  I'm tickled pink.

This birdhouse was put on our back, outside, brick wall were there is a hole in the brick for the dryer hose.  The dryer has been relocated but the hole could not relocate so we covered it up.  For over 20 years we had a southwest decoration there.  It was way past time to move on from that out dated decor.

Here's my new jellybean birdhouse hanging on my outdoor wall.  I love it!  So, so very cute.  Thanks, Katie.

BTW - I discovered that my iPad does NOT take the same quality pictures as my broken camera.  Will have to see about getting it fixed.

Facial Mask

I've been trying all sorts of things to get rid of the blackheads on my nose.  Wouldn't you think at 61 I'd be finished with all this stuff, but no, I'm still plagued.  Here's what I've tried in the past few months:

1.  A mild exfoliant of baking soda and distilled water.  I like using that once a day and will probably continue.  Much cheaper than store-bought exfoliants.

2.  I'm also trying the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM).  I mixed 20% castor oil with 80% sunflower oil.  It smells a bit funky but I really like how it feels.  I massage it on my face for about a minute than lay a hot washcloth over my face for a few seconds.  Then I wipe off the excess oil.  I like this method, too.  The castor oil is for drawing, cleansing, and purging oil from your pores. The Sunflower Seed Oil is to dilute the Castor Oil in viscosity (thickness) and additionally provide moisture, nutrients, and other benefits.

3.  I've tried the Lavendar/Basil Steam.  That was wonderful but I still have too many blackheads.  Will do this again because it felt good and smelled good.

4.  I tried the pore strips idea that is made from gelatin and milk.  Works just like Biore Strips.  They both left me with a red spot on the side of my nose (sensitive skin, I guess) and there are still blackheads.

5.  And sometimes I wash my face with Dove white soap or Neutrogena Oil-free Acne Wash (grapefruit flavored).  I like it but it doesn't seem to help any with the blackheads, either.

6.  After each washing I apply Witch Hazel mixed with several drops of essential oils of various kinds.  It smells and feels wonderful.  

7.  Finally, I moisturizer with Oil of Olay ($20) but I'm going to be switching soon to St. Ives Timeless Skin ($8).  Just to compare the two and see which I like better.  I'm hoping I like the St. Ives better.  That's the one Dr. Oz recommended on his show.

The next thing I'm going to try is the aspirin facial mask.  Anyone tried that?  What are your thoughts?

The recipe for the mask is to mash up 5-8 aspirin (go with the cheap, no-name aspirin).  Add a few drops of Aloe Vera gel.  You don't want too much gel or it will be too runny.  Apply the mask where needed, avoid getting too close to your eyes.  Wear the mask for approximately 10 minutes.  Rinse off with warm water.

Instead of the aloe gel you could mix the aspirin with honey, extra-virgin olive oil, jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil, sweet almond oil.

I don't have any aloe vera gel on hand so I'll try it tonight with sunflower oil.  

Does anyone have any other great ideas?  I would love to have flawless skin just once in my life.