I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. But it was an apt descriptor.

Yesterday, we awoke to an ice covered world, which meant we did not go visit see my niece. But I did get a couple interesting shots of the icy world in which we were ensconced.

So a couple weeks ago, I was looking for suggestions for displaying postcards.

What I neglected to mention at the time was that I have a single postcard on display, however, I purchased it “as is” so, recreating that layout was going to be beyond me.

But I love how you can see both sides of the card.

So I spent some time looking on-line, and didn’t see anything reasonable I liked. Then I checked Target where I thought I remembered seeing clear glass picture frames. I was right–they had them.

Unfortunately, this solution isn’t perfect–the frames were in a box, so you couldn’t see that they used double sided tape to hold the picture to the back frame of glass, and the wooden rectangle that holds the glass in the frame is kinda flimsy. Plus, the double-sided tape left ugly smears on the glass (Yes, I have Goo-Gone. But I figured the more I fooled with the glass, the more likely I was to break it and end up needing stitches). However, what I had going for me was that the postcards are thicker than pictures, and since some of them have spent years on my refrigerator, they aren’t particularly flat, all of which seems to work to hold them in place.

We’ll have to see how this holds up in the long run, but for now, I’m quite pleased.

It’s been a long time since we’ve done any major house projects, so we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

First up: Replacing two storm doors. We put in storm doors when we first moved into the house, however, two of the three doors were doing that metal rotting thing that storm doors do, so needed replaced. The basement door was cheap, as it was added within the first six months (I think) of us moving in. The kitchen was done a bit later, when we replaced the kitchen door (it was wooden and was unusable) we put in a Pella, which surprised me when I rediscovered that, since I thought they had a reputation for being sturdy and holding up. Guess not.

We went for twice as much glass in the kitchen, which I believe the cats will appreciate.

Both doors also have the pull down screens. I’m a bit apprehensive about these, but really do like the clear view.

Note the valuable assistance Michael received while replacing both doors.

Basement:

Kitchen:

Next project: Replacing the pole light in the yard. Grrrr…..

Lemon Lily in the evening light. This one turned out significantly better than the others.

Thyme. For some reason I have a hard time taking pictures of groups of things.

This is another low maintenance rose bush that is absolutely thriving. And it smells good to.

The first year, the centers of these coreopsis were bright red, but the centers are slowly fading over the years. Ah well.

Broom

We had a huge broom at the back of the house, but when we put in the parking space for Grandmom, the soil drainage changed, and it died. This is the replacement, which I hope will thrive, eventually.

Lilac

I’m glad this is at the bottom of the hill, because it is extremely strong smelling.

It’s been raining since I left work, but the skies cleared in time for this sunset.

The above tree is on my walk home. Unfortunately it was very windy, so the branches kept moving, which made getting a clear picture somewhat difficult.
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The most impressive thing is I stood there and kept taking pictures until they decided they were ready to move on, and all took off in a giant feathered mob.

(and for entertainment, I noted all the birds with tweets on Flickr)

Photoshoperized, because it wasn’t a very good picture.

All I wanted was to clean the kitchen counter so I could start the rolls.

An hour and a half later, I had a mostly clear spot on the counter, but the rest of the kitchen looked like this:

On the other hand, I got a nice reorganization in, and if I don’t like how it works, I’ll just change things again!

I’ve been whining for the past couple days on Twitter about wanting to know if dressmaking is easier or harder than quilting.

The reason I ask is because I am comfortable as a seamstress, and so don’t want to take on a project that is going to bore me.

I finally used my new machine today (new being a relative term, but then I haven’t sewn since 6 months before Grandmom moved to Morgantown, so it’s been awhile), and after initial battles that resulting in (GASP) reading the instructions, everything seems to be working well. Not thrilled with the low/slow power, but as it was a gift, can’t complain too much, can I?

Click through for two outfits I’ve made; these were probably my two most complex projects:
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Apparently it’s camera day for me.

Here is sunset from my porch.

Yeah, my garden is still a mess and I am resigned that it will remain so until next year. But there are still a few bright spots of beauty.

A volunteer sunflower!
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You may remember that a couple weeks ago someone busted up part of our fence.

Yesterday, Michael finally got around to making the preliminary fixes. He had to purchase new support poles, but the rails managed to (somehow) come through unscathed, and so could be used again.

He just go the poles in the ground yesterday to get the fence up. Cementing them in the ground will come later.

Why do I have a fence you may ask? Because this is not even close to the first time someone has driven into your yard. (They have also take out the light post, driven into the upper yard, and knocked the hell out of the railing around the parking space.)

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This is what we discovered this morning when we left for work.

My garden is still a mess, and probably will be for the remainder of the year. I’m still not 100% yet, it’s too hot, and we’ve been traveling too much.

Luckily, I’ve done so much work over the past several years, much of the garden is self-maintaining, and doing well with benign neglect.

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It is really wet outside.

Riiiiight

Another thing we did yesterday was go Newell WV to visit the Homer Laughlin China Co and Fiestaware Outlet.

As previously mentioned, I have Fiestaware for my dishes. I like the variety of colors, and the fact it’s a WV company is just icing on the cake. However, I wouldn’t have gone to the factory/outlet except for the fact that Jeri was considering Fiestaware for her new dishes, so we went. (Why yes, Michael does have the patience of a saint.)

I added some extra dishes to what I already have, and picked up some matching napkins, but what was most awesome (and what Michael talked me into) was Fiestaware flatware.

Just perfect.

However, what fascinated me most was the giant pile of broken dishes outside the factory.

Since I was quite tired and sore by this time, Jeri got the closeup of the pile.

Go view the larger size. It’s fascinating.

Here it is, the first flower pr0n since I broke my ankle!

I missed a lot of flowers: peonies, bearded irises, dutch irises, and a lot of my day lilies, though most of them still seem to have buds.

(as always, click through to see the expanded set on Flickr)

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Gerbera Daisy
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Yeah, there are a couple purchased annuals in here, but I have a lot of flowers blooming already. (I cannot take a good picture of the lilac, but it’s blooming so heavily you can smell it all the way up on the porch.)

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