too much . . . papyrus?

Might be time to retire this one. What do you think?

halloween costumes, past and present

Halloween 2009—In utero. We didn't know gender yet, and it's hard to get a costume on a fetus anyway, so the kiddo just accessorized my "pregnant lady" costume. It was the laziest costume I could come up with, which was good because I was sleeping all the time when I wasn't working or pumpkin hunting.

Halloween 2010—What a difference a year makes! I knitted my sweetie's sock monkey costume freehand (without a pattern). As I'm a better crocheter than knitter, I always see a ton of flaws, but I still love how it turned out . . . just in time, too. I was still working on this on Halloween Eve.

I used a yarn needle to add this knitted "tattoo" after I finished knitting the sleeves; switching yarn in the middle of a row is not my favorite thing to do when knitting (and I'm not very good at it) so this shortcut was the perfect way for me to get this effect.

Halloween 2011—Max and one of the Wild Things from Where the Wild Things Are. The kiddo's Max costume and the mister's Wild Thing costume were blogged about here. I used a pattern for the Max costume and a Instructables tutorial for the Wild Thing head, both of which are linked in that blog. Two of my favorites ever, these were also a huge hit when we were out and about. It was the first time strangers ever stopped us and asked to take photos.

Halloween 2012—It's all about the Muppets. Here's a sneak peek of a costume in progress:

The sheer cuteness of my kid in a Kermit costume is going to melt your eyeballs, so be warned: a full Kermit post is coming soon!

Thanks for reading! 

p.s. you can make these images larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.

snail trails and hens & chicks (making a succulent planter from a repurposed cast iron lamp base)

Sometimes the kiddo and I stop by Bring at a certain time of day to do a little train watching. There's a train bridge that runs right by the parking lot, and my kiddo loves to watch all the train cars go by and hear the train song. We mostly spot freight trains while parked there, which are extra long and usually loaded with timber rolling out of our state and into another. A couple of times, we've waved to the engineer, and he's waved back. Very fun for a two-year-old and his nutty mama.

I accrued a credit at Bring by filling up a frequent buyer card, mostly by buying Metro Paint during our house re-painting project. Because of this, lately, if we're there to watch trains, the kiddo and I will duck in for a few minutes to poke around and see if anything interesting turns up, even if we don't have anything on our list to shop for. Which is how we found this little rusty cast iron snail lamp base (missing its shell shade) for $5.

A.k.a. free, since my credit is kinda large.

And because I like to run against the grain, this lamp base did not, in fact get used as a lamp or a lighting fixture or anything of that nature. I had another use in mind for her anyway, but typically I won't allow electrical current to be introduced to anything that shows significant evidence of having been left in the rain (rust). To my mind, that makes all the lamp-y bits suspect. My suspicions were confirmed while I was taking it apart; corrosion, rust, etc. on all of the electrical parts. Not safe to plug in.

But that's okay. I was going to take all those bits out anyway, to make this snail into a planter for some succulents.

I used a screwdriver to get out any screws that weren't completely rusted in place, then used a pair of needle-nose pliers to loosen the nut holding the wires to the bulb socket. All this in an effort to make the cord small enough to slide out of the holes it was running through.

Success! Here's the snail, sans wires and lamp kit, about ten minutes after starting this project.

Now, the lamp is pretty small, but the base is concave to allow for a little extra soil. I had succulents in mind because they have great shapes to them (some are very architectural) and because they don't root very deeply. 

But late, late summer and early fall are terrible times to shop garden centers for succulents in the Pacific Northwest, mostly because the rains are coming. They'd all been gotten rid of. I spotted some potted ones at Trader Joe's, but didn't want to pay for a pot I'd then be tasked to find another use for. I knew I'd be setting myself up for a "mouse & cookie" type situation there, so I nixed the idea in favor of using a couple of over-the-edge-of-the-pot chicks from a hens & chicks plant my friend Denise gave me six years ago when she left town. You can see their spindly, hair-like roots, ready to get into some ground, finally!

 I ended up placing the planter right over the space between two blocks in my low garden wall. That way, if the little chick becomes a hen and sends out her own offspring into the world, there'll be plenty of soil and mulch underneath and nearby to sustain her little family.

My snail is just wet from watering here, but it does give me the idea to perhaps give her a little coat of spray lacquer to help preserve her a bit better. The color is just about right.

Happy in her new home, with friends nearby.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these photos larger by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.

thrift store finds: cathrineholm enamel bowl & sanity

Today, the bebe and I loaded into the car and headed all the way across town to a thrift store where I usually find something cool. It had been quite a morning; I'd cleaned up pee off the floor a couple of times (gotta love potty training!), piled an upended pile of laundry, cleaned shards of plastic from a broken picture frame, made not one but two uneaten breakfasts, suffered bites and kicks, cleaned up white acrylic paint from hands and shirt, and survived one decent-sized fit over a candy hamburger. Ah, the joys of toddler-hood!

Anyway, the drive across town didn't bother me; I welcomed it with open arms. Because, see, I get to strap my kid into one place while I drive for twenty-minutes. He can get into very little trouble strapped into the car seat. Usually. We listen to music and drive by construction sites and everything is peaceful.

This morning, we were on the lookout for baseball caps and rubber balls for a Halloween costume. Both of which were acquired for under a buck. In fact, I chose this particular store because someone had donated a ton of brand-new with-tags wool caps which were being sold for 49 cents.

My patience with the morning's trials was truly rewarded, though, when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, this bowl being placed on a shelf.

As Dr. Who would say, "Yowza!" 

I've seen a few bloggers blogging about these in recent months so I recognized it when I saw it; a Cathrineholm enameled bowl. This one is about 8 inches across and 3.5 inches tall. Very mid-century modern. Gorgeous black and white "Lotus" pattern. Not in perfect condition by any means (definitely well-loved!) but pretty darn good. 

From cathrineholm.org:

Cathrineholm was an ironworks, located near the town of Halden in Norway, which started production in 1907. Originally the ironworks manufactured wrought iron products and agricultural equipment, but due to changing economic circumstances it later evolved into producing enamel kitchenware. The company closed in 1970.

I thought maybe it was my prize for being a patient mama, but when we got home, I closed the door too hard and a couple of things fell off a shelf and broke, so my "one-in, one out" sacrifice chose itself. Ah well. Balance is good.

I'm thinking about listing it my Etsy shop so I can make a nice deposit into my kid's college fund this month. Eventually he'll stop tinkling on everything and I can send him off to university, right??

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these photos larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that!

Linking up to:

Cap Creations

Apron Thrift Girl

out-of-town tourist: stonehenge, maryhill, washington

This almost ended up as part of my Hometown Tourist series (which I actually use for all of my Oregon travel posts), but the Maryhill Stonehenge War Memorial is actually directly across the Columbia river in Washington, so we can't call this one for the home team. But. It's literally like five minutes across the bridge to the hill where this odd little roadside memorial stands, and from there, you can see the Columbia River, and Mt. Hood, and plenty of the Oregon-side of the gorge.

The inscription on the plaque reads, "The structure before you is the first monument in our nation to military personnel who gave their lives in World War I. Memorializing 13 young Klickitat County Men, it also serves as a lasting reminder of the works of Samuel Hill, patron of this region. He established a townsite here, with postoffice, hotel, general store, nearly 10 miles of experimental paved roads, and the Maryhill Museum three miles to the west—all on his own land. His tomb is 50 yards distant, on the opposite side of this monument.

"The design duplicates in size and original form England's famous Stonehenge (dated 1900-1350 B.C.) on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. When Hill, a Quaker pacifist, visited England during the 1914-1918 conflict, saw Stonehenge and was told it had been used for human sacrifices to pagan gods he remarked: 'After all our civilization, the flower of humanity still is being sacrificed to the god of war on the fields of battle.' From that inspiration came this monument, built by Hill. On July 4, 1918 the altar stone was dedicated. The full structure was completed and dedicated May 30, 1929.

"Today, the sacrifice legend is generally discredited. Current belief is that Stonehenge was a device used by stone-age astronomers to measure time and mark seasons of the year by observing positions of the sun and moon. The diagram at left suggests how the original may have been used by its ingenious builders."

Across the gravel parking lot is a more simple memorial plaza for those from the county who died in wars post-WWI.

We happened across this place by accident, having never heard of it before. The mister, knowing my love of roadside attractions, did a little GPS search to find someplace nearby where we could stop on our way home from our trip to Montana in July. I ended up being really moved by it. It's a little bizarre, sure, but also very touching. I recommend a visit if you're ever in the area. You can find it from Portland following I-84 east through the Columbia River Gorge. Get full directions on Google Maps.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these photos larger simply by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that!

cleaning hand-me-down bath toys

My nephew and niece are a few years older than my kiddo, and so we sometimes get hand-me-downs that my sister-in-law passes along to us. We also visit a kids' consignment store every so often. Between the two sources, we ended up with a nifty little collection of Fisher Price Little People and animals.

Back in the day, these were solid plastic, so if we played with them in the tub they didn't collect water inside. But the new ones (from the last 10+ years) are hollow, soft plastic. And as a local news report pointed out awhile back, hollow bath toys collect water inside, and grow bacteria and mold. Ew. Double ew.

So when I bring this kind of toy into the house, I give them a pretty good cleaning with the only thing I know will kill mold: Bleach. I dilute it in water according to the directions on the bottle, and I pour the solution in a plugged bathroom sink. It's best to do this during nap time when kiddos aren't around, and then keep the bathroom door closed and locked, anyway.

I squeeze as much air out as I can, then dunk and fill with the water. I shake, then soak.

The real problem is getting the bleach water out afterward. Squeezing releases most of it, but not all.

For this, you'll need an awl. You can find one in most hardware stores or in an art supply store (with the bookbinding supplies). It's basically a sharp spike with a handle.

Turn over each toy, and identify what would be the lowest point (where all the water would settle) were the toy upright. Poke a nice hole with the awl. Be careful of hands! In fact, don't follow my example in the photographs; work on a solid surface.

When you turn the toy upright again, give it a second for the water to drain to the awl hole, then squeeze gently to get all the water out.

Repeat the process with clean water to rinse all of the bleach solution out. Voila! Clean toys, ready for playing in the bath tub without spreading germs.

Because of the nature of the plastic, the holes disguise themselves so you won't even notice them . . . until it's time to clean the toys again!

Thanks for reading!