So, this is my first (definitely not last!) attempt at the domino pendants......overa ll, I'm pleased with how they turned out.





Comments/critique much appreciated!!  Thanks for looking.

[the]

Okay, so growing up with lots of brothers and since most of my friends have always been guys, I'm used to the totally inappropriate.  We used to play this game called "what's grosser that gross"...you may have heard about it....the object was to come up with the most gross scenario (I'll spare you the examples  .....)  a couple of weeks ago I came across this book, Zobmondo!!  The outrageous book of bizarre choices.  The book was so hysterical that I couldn't pass it up even though it was in really bad shape (the pages were falling out)....I brought it home, selected certain "choices" and mounted them to some painted cork to give out to said brothers and friends - a really simple, cheesy project (my favorite for said guys  )
......here are just a few that I've done so far (still drying)....


left side....


Would you rather -
- Chew a mole off someone's neck or drink half a cup of your best friend's blood?
- In your teenager's room find a vial of cocaine or a gun?
- Be seasick for three days straight or be drunk and spinning for four hours straight?
- Always have to wear wet socks or wet underwear
- Sit naked on a pedestal in the middle of a busy park or sit naked on a platter with an apple in your mouth for a gala dinner party?
- Have regular encounters with aliens and not have any proof or have your best friend by invisible?
- Be surrounded by dozens of sharks or have only one shark nearby, with no risk of more arriving, but while you are bleeding?

right side....


Would you rather -
- Bang your funny bone five times in a row until it's not funny anymore or listen to somebody scrape nails down a chalkboard for 20 minutes?
- If your life depended on victory, have to run a 100-yard race against a sixth grader or against your 11-year-old dog?
- In a fit of anger and frustration, curse someone who cut in line in front of you at a movie for his or her race or sexual preference?
- Be trapped in an elevator packed with wet dogs or three fat men with bald breath?
- Have to put to sleep five puppies you just got or a dog you've had a year?
- Be accused of discriminating against someone because of age or gender?
- As a male in grade school, be known as a "momma's boy" or a "brown noser"?

You wouldn't believe the conversations that these bad boys have started up so far.....I'm sure that I'll use the whole book for something or another but so far everyone has asked for a set of coasters for Christmas.....(strange men )

Being a farm girl from Idaho, I knew when I decided to plant my very first garden this year there was no was I'd consider it a real garden without potatoes  .  So...here is my version of container gardening for potatoes. 



So far, so good.  The lack of sunshine and the inches upon inches of rain have slowed them down a bit, but overall, hasn't seemed to faze them too terribly much.  Thanks for looking!

Found this super quick, super easy recipe for bath jelly at craftbits.com and the girls and I decided to try it out, using bridal shower left-overs for containers with plastic spoons set inside for scooping out the jelly....my 16 year old son couldn't believe they wouldn't taste as good as they looked....his findings?  They were salty.....

The flavors/smells are (back row, left/right) Rainforest, Tropical Rainforest, Citrus Cream; (front row, left/right) Jasmine and Sun-Kissed Raspberry.  I kept the colors light so they would resemble drinks but they really are darker than they appear. 





Whoo-hoo, the younger kids were racing for the tub.......

I wasn't sure where exactly this should go...since it's not exactly clothing or wall art.  And yet, it is.  So, if I posted this in the wrong place, I apologize in advance.  Do you have someone in your life that is super difficult to get gifts for???  That would be my brother for me.....luckily I'm a garage sale addict who always buys things for "later" ideas.....anyways, I'd found a small (and I do mean small - my 9 yr. old niece wouldn't fit) t-shirt with Morrison's mug shot for .25 at some such sale and decided to hang on to it for a recon idea later.....along comes brother's birthday and as usual, he wants nothing....so...I whip out the shirt (he's a HUGE fan), matted it with misc. Morrison quotes in various fonts and framed it.  I thought it turned out well and he loved it .  Here it is......Thanks for looking!

Before (with the nosy nellie, Figi):



and After (please excuse the mess):

Okay....so....this spring I decided that I would try my first attempt at gardening.  Now, so you know, I have been known to kill cactus and so, my family thought this was a hysterical idea!!!  But I perservered, did oodles of research and determined that, since I live in temperate rain forest (50-90 inches of rain annually), container gardening would be my best bet at a successful yield. 

I also decided that I wanted a small greenhouse, to protect my plants from drowning and the ravens, for Mother's Day.  So, with a design in mind for small 8x8 greenhouse w/ a pitched roof, I contrived to enlist a small portion of my family to achieve my ends.....isn't family great?!

1.) Get hubby to fork over left-over wood from various projects, hunt down recyclable pieces for use, buy whatever materials may be needed, build greenhouse
2.) Get brother #1 (works in lumber/hardware yard - also ex-landscaper of 10 years.....) to getting remaining lumber & tools needed, build greenhouse
3.) Get brother #2 (landscaper) to build greenhouse
4.) Enlist my teenage children for cheap labor, building greenhouse and hauling soil

while I, snoopervised the construction, kept the guys supplied with beer and hot meals (as we did this in the evenings after work/school, and I, well I...cook like grandma ......) and hunted down any recyclable container (i.e. coffee cans, bookshelves, baskets, plastic bowls and plastic drawers, etc.) to make into planters and got down to planting.......

and voila.....my Mother's Day greenhouse (my family ROCKS!!!) and very first attempt at gardening.......... the greenhouse vents on the bottom of the 3 non-door sides (I just open and secure corner flaps with eye & hook latches on the nice days for full sun and fresh air) and has rebar hung inside for my hanging baskets and as the strawberries & strazzberries mature that's where they'll be hanging out.....with the tomatoes (growing upside down in buckets - I have one in each corner of the greenhouse and all are topped with different herbs (cilantro/corriander, chives, basil and parsley) for companion growing (I googled & looked at many, many different versions of upside down planters and was worried that a soda bottle would just not be sturdy enough - hence the buckets), cucumbers and the 3-in-1 citrus plants.  I have the radishes growing in wicker baskets and carrots in a large recycled plastic drawer next to them.  Beans and broccoli make up the double row planters and snap peas the single one.  Snow peas in terra cotta planters and bush green beans in the coffee canisters, strawberries and strazzberries are in planters in these photos - awaiting transplant.  The garlic is doing swell and smells so fine - as you open the door to the greenhouse your first smells are of the garlic and basil (yum-yum .   I also have red potatoes growing in 5 gallon buckets right outside the door.

The 4 leaf clover was a freebie plant (along with a vine peach that I’m trying out) that the company I ordered from threw in with my order and so I thought what the heck.....I love it and have given quite a few plants of it away to friends as a "good luck" gift....they also have enjoyed it very much, the green and purple colors are striking and all are perfect 4-leaf clovers....hurray for freebies!!!

I’m really pleased with how the greenhouse turned out and how the plants are coming along so far….now, the real trick will be, to see if I can keep the bears out of it all summer  long – the cats are difficult enough………Anyways, I apologize for the length of the post (verbal and visual).  Please....any comments will be helpful, as I'm learning as I go.....Questions?  I'll try to answer as clearly as I can.......Thanks for looking!!!