AN ATTEMPT AT A FREE DIY THAT COST ME $50 // HOW TO

Let's talk about DIY projects.

Let's talk about Pinterest.

And let's talk about pallets.

Because all three of these things got me in trouble on this one.

You may or may not know that pallets are a cool thing now-a-days, or at least they are on Pinterest and other DIY sites. Unfortunately, working with pallets is not as easy as it seems.

Adam and I (Or maybe just me, and I roped Adam in to do the heavy lifting.) got this hair brained idea to build a pallet cabinet for our covered back porch. After 1 and a half years of living in a tiny unorganized apartment and after 27 and one quarter years living an unorganized life, I decided to organize my space and lifestyle. I've gotten rid of a lot of things lately that I've been holding onto for forever. One of the areas of focus is our outdoor living space. We truly cherish this space because it's almost like an extension of our home, especially in the cool fall months, when the bugs disappear and the perfect wind down from a long day at work is curling up on the outdoor couch with a glass of wine and a good book, oh and Lola at my feet to keep me warm. But our space was a complete wreck! Gardening supplies, shovels, and pots everywhere. Not to mention lighter fluid, charcoal, and grilling tools. Sitting out there had started to stress me out.

Plus, as I came to find out old grass seed and cactus potting soil makes a great home for mice. Ekkk! After seeing two little mice scurry from our pile of crap, I knew it was time. No if's, and, or buts about it!

We had recently seen an ad on craigslist for free pallets, so we went out in search of some free wood. Our first attempt was a pretty decent one, but we could only fit 3 pallets in the Honda. So the next day I "stole" some of our spare pallets from work. These weren't in as good of shape as the original and were difficult to pull apart, but we made do and got to work cutting, sanding, building our new pallet cabinet.

In the middle of it we ran into some logistical problems and ended up buying a 2x4 to build a frame. This made it super sturdy, but it also made our new project no longer free (Insert sad face here). In addition to the 2x4 we purchased table legs, hinges and a latch for the front doors, a paint brush, and a flat piece of wood for the top.

Other supplies we used but didn't have to purchase specifically for this project, but had purchased for past projects: Dark coffee colored stain (I'd purchased this for a frame project that I am still working on 3 months later - insert another sad face here), saw, sandpaper, nails/screws, wood glue.

I also used purple paint free from ACE Hardware. Thanks ACE! And caulk that Adam borrowed from work. This helped to fill some of the nail holes.

Here are your (simple) directions to build a pallet table:

1. Decide what size you need.
2. Get your pallets. Pull them apart, gently. Almost every piece is usable.
3. Measure, cut to size, sand, build.
4. Paint and caulk.
5. Stain table legs and top.
6. Allow to dry and add to table.
7. Fill with your junk and pray the mice find a new home!


So, Would I have rather purchased a table for $50? My answer was yes, of-course. After all the hard work, a couple of tense moments between Adam and I, and the money spent. I would have rather found $50 table at the thrift store and painted it purple. But sometimes you need a lesson to get learned.

LIFE AS OF LATELY

It feels like fall, but the rain falls like spring, and the skies look like winter. I have come to only one conclusion, Mother Nature is confused, because it is summer and the heat should be scorching hot enough to fry eggs on the blacktop. Not that I am complaining.

I am not the only one confused. My garden goes through growth spurts like a toddler. Take the watermelon for example. Two weeks ago it grew like a weed, reaching its vines over the trellis and growing almost a foot a day. Three little flowers turned to fruit and grew plump and fast into watermelons as large as softballs. Week two, the clouds rolled in and rain fell semi-heavy some days and none the next. The temperatures cooled to the mid-80s and suddenly the watermelons in their hammocks decided it was time to take a nap. No more growing this week they protested. Even the little okra seedlings that sprouted in hours have protested by delaying growth. At least the tomatoes are still generous in their produce.

But this is life as of lately and I wonder if this is the way New Hampshire feels in the summertime. Cool and rainy and confused. And then I think, I kind of like it.

Enjoy these photos of life as of lately. 

AmericanaramA with the fam! 

Mom liked his tattoo. Can you identify all 4?

AmericanaramA

You are looking at Bob Dylan. 

Epic Battle.

Epic Craft Fail  X 2

Praying Mantis's in the Morning

DECIDING THE FUTURE

Sometimes, I think I have a serious issue with staying in one place. Then I remember I am young and unattached and looking for the right place that allows me to be me. Is that so wrong?

I love the Outer Banks in all its raw beauty, naivety and pure simple “life on a sandbar” mentality. But I have outgrown the OBX and possibly had done so before even moving here. On the other hand, I think Adam secretly loves his life on a sandbar and never wants to leave.

I’m starting a list, must-haves for my new city. If this sounds like the city you love or live in or both, please feel free to share with me because I’m making another list at the same time, and maybe you can help: Where 

should we move? Help me choose the perfect city.

 I’m looking for a city  . . .

...with Adam and Lola.

…that has hiking, walking trails, green space, and trail running paths that are easy to get to and they aren’t too crowded either!

…with craft brews that are easy to come by.

…with relatively low cost of living – I don’t have a lot of cash money folks and I’d like to be able to save for bigger and better things.

… with live music, the good kind. One time Adam and I saw 5 concerts in 1 week in Raleigh. This was a rare occurrence for us, but we really enjoyed it.

… that’s easy to get to. We have lots of friends and family and we definitely want them to come visit.

… with professionalism and a good job market.

…with fun weather, snow in the winter, thunderstorms in the summer.

…where I can by a house and settle down for a while.

…that is eco-friendly and green and dedicated to making a better footprint.

Any thoughts on where I should move folks?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Today is my birthday. I am 27. I am not afraid to tell my age. I am young, my co-workers call me “Young Dana” and I hate it. This is my defining decade and sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in it, but today I’m swimming laps around it and relishing. Today is my day and it feels good.

If you are in your defining decade? Take 15 minutes today and watch or listen this TED Talk. It’s important to you and your future. http://on.ted.com/Jay

SPRING ROLLS // RECIPE

Yes, I know, this post will probably bore most of you. But I had homemade spring rolls for lunch and they were damn good. Plus, I just read somewhere on the world wide web that you should be yourself on your blog and so here I am, boring ole Dee eating amazing spring rolls. Ta-Da. Enjoy these pictures, cause it’s really hard to eat and take pictures of yourself at the same time.

Spring Roll Recipe

Spring Roll Wraps

Asian Noodles (the super thin, clearish ones)

Iceburg Lettuce, a few pieces

Cucumber, peeled and sliced thin

Carrots, sliced thin

Cilantro

Shrimp, steamed (also optional)

Mint (optional)

Dipping Sauce (I used sweet pepper cause it was in my fridge)

Prepare wraps and noodles as directed on package. Place a mix of ingredients on spring roll and wrap. Eat and enjoy, don’t worry about taking spring roll eating pics of yourself, but if you do feel free to share! J  

P.S. This is my new haircut. More pics to come soon.

THINGS THAT ARE GROWING

 Pumpkins butted up against each other.

And tangled in the tomatoes.

 Cucks hanging from the vine on a homemade trellis.

Pick a peck of pickled pepper nasturtiums.

 And the ever blooming beach flower.

Even these guys are growing fuzz and munching the neighbors cactus for water.

There are things that are growing here.

THE LONG WINDING ROAD TO ROO // TRAVELS

Adam and I will be attending our first ever Bonnaroo this weekend and in fact, this is the first ever music festival the two of us have attended together. We've been to aplenty concerts but this is our first festival. But I assure you we will be hand in hand the majority of the time lips smacking or kissing, missing our sweet Lowsey.

Here's a quick packing list for all you other first timers:

A tent big enough for you and your mate
Airbed and pump, accompanied by some satiny pillow cases and light, airy floral printed sheets
Cotton clothes, sundresses, skirts and a backup bathing suit for showering in the Roo fountain
Chaco's and a chaco strap tan
Sunscreen, sun glasses and a hat to protect your skin from sunburn
Food and Water and Lots of it! Bring extra for bartering.
Some light essentials like a toothbrush or Colgate Swiffs, wet wipes, makeup remover and contact solution
Lastly, a cooler to keep your duds cool

See you on the farm!

SUMMER GARDEN VEGGIES

Last year, Adam and I used containers for our small garden veggies. And though these giant plastic containers worked fabulously, we started dreaming bigger this year with an in ground raised bed.

One day this March when the weather had warmed enough for Adam to wear shorts and a tshirt (I was still adorned in long pants and a sweatshirt) we started working on our raised bed garden. Together we cut lumber, drilled holes, set nails, and made a box for our summer bounty. Next, we tilled the land, an unconventional task on this island.  (An island that sits out in the middle of the Atlantic like a sitting duck. The farthest east you can go in the United States. Go any further and your likely to run into the Bermuda Triangle and be spit out the other side with tales of sea monsters and gods.)We dug many feet of sand out of the earth, lined the box, sorted the sand, rid it of rocks, artifacts, and trash only to return the newly sorted sand in the last few hours of daylight. I added some compost, kitchen scraps mostly, and an old rotten pumpkin that had overwintered on my front stoop. It landed in a splat, seeds spraying everywhere. We covered the box with a tarp and went inside to rest.

The next few weeks were cold and windy. When it finally warmed again we uncovered the box to find a pumpkin patch (which reminded me of this pumpkin from last year that didn’t make it through the heat). Surprised as we were we dug up two little plants to save and then topped our garden off with a foot of black cow compost and rich soil. We replanted the pumpkins saved and other indoor and seeded plants: tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, watermelon, kale, squash and sunflowers! Watered thoroughly and watched them grow.

And my they grew and grew and grew.

Even the pumpkins covered under a foot of heavy wet soil grew up toward the sun and in between the tomatoes and converted the box into a pumpkin patch garden. As it stands today the pumpkins have outgrown the box, spilling over the sides into a new world.  Flowers and even veggies have started to form on the plants as Adam and I wait for our first bite of summer, wondering what it will be. Squash I suppose or maybe a sweet green tomato.

Wanderlust? Here's the funnest thing ever!

http://geoguessr.com/

THANKS!

I just wanted to say Thank You! to everyone who has visited and read my blog in these past few years. I am  2 page views away from reaching 7000! Thank you for your amazing support. I've come a long way since starting this as "Confessions of a College Graduate" and though I still have many confessions (and still openly share most of them with you guys like this recent confession) this blog has grown into so much more (and I'm very happy about that, I hope you guys are too!).

AN OVERGROWN PATH, A DREAM

I have a knack for loving things that are depressingly, beautifully sad. Like the graveyard song, which I originally heard on the show Parenthood and that since has been stuck in my head inevitably. I just love the line about getting clean and waking at a decent hour. Oh how many times that goes through my head in a day. Waking and going for a run, losing the gut of drink, but my life is too set in stone, sometimes things are just too difficult to change.  I will always love that which is sad and beautiful and lonesome and true. I think that’s why I love to write. To delve deep into the unknown of myself and pull up things that don’t exist, but are so beautiful and so true.

Right now I am writing this on the end of my business plan. And writing this business plan is like writing a chemistry lab report, difficult and unknown (and something I truly hated in school). I am struggling. I am truly struggling. I have this vision of myself, but I’m not sure how to get from where I am now to where I’d like to be. So I take it slow, I start to write a plan, I take a fork in the road and as I follow the path I begin to forget why I’m going in that direction and my mind starts to imagine how wonderful the other path could be and then suddenly I’m on that path instead, or I’m nowhere at all and I am lost in desire.

I have this fear mostly. Or maybe it’s that I truly don’t know what I want out of this life. Am I alone in this thought? I see people with such clear life plans. Those working hard in grad school to get jobs, “real” jobs in finance or public health. Their path is so very defined.

What does this say of me?

Sometimes I wake up in the morning exhausted. I look under the covers to check my legs for cuts and scrapes and little signs of where I have been, but then I remember it is all just a dream. I remember my path is overgrown and thorny and that it’s not really a path at all but a track of land, woods in which I roam. Sometimes in my dreams, I am running through it like a nightmare. That’s when I wake and I am sure I am bleeding around my ankles. Other times I am hacking down thorns and vines with a blade, blazing my path, but most of the time I am sitting, deep in thought wondering where to go next.

This business plan is not helping. It seems like a desire that will never be reached. Am I putting too much into this? This something that I will spend the rest of my life doing, should it really matter that much?

In the meantime, I do the little things. Kiss my baby on the lips and say I love you. Rub the pup’s tummy when she rolls over. Paint little encouraging things. Till the soil and encourage things to grow. Work on a business plan or two and listen to the graveyard song. 

Listen to the gravyard song here. It's not the original, but you get the idea.

REGROW CELERY // HOW TO

I've been learning lately how to harvest veggies from food scraps. It’s quite an enlightening project as I’ve been throwing away usable vegetables for years now. Part of me is slightly embarrassed by the fact that I’ve trashed such valuable resources in the past. But no longer thanks partially to Pinterest.

Cut the base off and instead of tossing it, rinse and put in a clear plastic container with a lid. Add about an inch of water to cover the base of the celery and put in a sunny spot. Since it was still cold outside here on the OBX I put the celery in my east facing spare bedroom and forgot about it. When I returned a few days later it had grown so much it was busting through the lid.

At this point it’s ready to be planted in soil. Be sure to use rich soil as celery needs lots of nutrients to grow big and strong and green. I’ll be planting my celery this weekend and updating you on the process. Check back soon. . . 

COME ON SPRING

You know that old Christmas song, the familiar country lyrics beckoning Christmas to come on? I know it as Dwight Yoakam singing his twang (Listen here). Lately, I've been singing that song with a few tweaked lyrics, mostly "come on Spring" and dying for the warm sun to beat down on my face and jolt my garden to life.

Yesterday we had a taste of spring and today on Lo's ninth birthday, April showers.

Here's a little taste of my Sunday Funday.

"Count Shell-u-la"

Happy April! Playing any jokes today?

HANGING ON THREADS // SMA AWARENESS

Sometimes I feel like I am wasting my days. I sit at work waiting to go home and I sit at home waiting to go to work. A drowning little cycle of life glued together with smiles from Adam and groans from Lola. What’s for dinner tonight? We ask. What was for dinner last night?

I’m not complaining in the least bit. The slow simple life does me well. It opens up space for things like this blog, filled with quiet little ramblings and photos of life as it is, but then it opens up space for other things as well. Things like thoughts and thoughts like Logan.

Little Logan who was with us for less than a year; little Logan who died too young, but who is to judge that. I often find myself questioning little Logan’s purpose. Why my family? What does it mean? What should I learn from this?

Should I learn that life is hard, unexpected, straight out spiteful?

Should I learn that life is short, transient, and fleeting?

And so I eat sleep wake, eat sleep wake, sometimes that’s all you can do. That and hang onto threads. That and breathe. That and remember.

Today Logan would have been 2 years old. Happy Birthday Little Loge! A little man, in life, in death, in remembrance he has taught me more than I could have imagined.  

DIY iPHONE SPARKLE CASE // HOW TO

What you'll need:

Modpodge
Clear i-phone case
Paint brush
Glitter

Directions:

Paint a layer of Mod Podge on the inside of the case.
Sprinkle on glitter.
Allow to dry 1 -2 hours.
Add another layer of Mod Podge.
Allow to dry overnight.
Fini! Sport your new glitter case around town.

WHERE IT HURTS THE MOST - REMEMBERING LOGAN // SMA AWARENESS

When you lose a loved one, it often takes many years to grieve over their death, or at least that’s what I’m learning. I’m also learning that you never quite forget.

I lost my nephew a little over a year ago on February 8^th, 2012. I can still remember that day frozen in my mind like a photograph. There's not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him, his baby blue eyes, blond baby hair, and sweet little smile. I think of him the way he should be thought of and not laying frozen in that coffin. That is no bed for a baby. (Sorry for the morbidity. It’s just truth.)

In case you haven’t been reading since then my nephew passed away from a genetic disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He was almost 11 months old. He had two little baby teeth breaking through the skin in his lower jaw. He has a sister that smothered him with kisses and called him Loge (pronounced like Logan without the an).  He couldn’t move his arms, legs, neck, back or any voluntary muscle for that matter, but he could smile, big, beautiful and bright. Read about SMA here, here, here or here.

These days I have been thinking about him a lot, not only because it’s been a year since his death and on March 21, 2013 he would have been two years old and because my sister is having another baby at the end of March, and because my co-worker just had a baby and named him Logan, but also because each year we raise money in his honor in a one-mile community walk. Each year we remind the community about SMA and that it’s real. That SMA is the number 1 genetic killer of children under 2 years of age. That medical centers are very unaware of this disease and that there is no cure, but that you can help.

If you’d like to find out more about how you can help and what I do to raise awareness click here or like Loving Logan for SMA on facebook and help us spread the word about SMA. The worst thing is not knowing that it could happen to you. 

Life Unexpected

Sometimes life hands you things you never thought would happen and sometimes life hands you things you don’t want to happen. Maybe those unexpected, unwanted things were never really supposed to happen but then in a slight turn of the wrist or blink of the eye, things change and it just happens.  

The other day I came home to yard full of feathers, the little downy ones beneath the outer layer. Adam greeted me with a bag in hand as he picked up the remaining parts of our little birdy friend.

“Must have been a dove eating on the ground,” he said. We had sprinkled seed there earlier in the week and our new Christmas gifted feeder, still candy cane striped from it's holiday wrapping, seems to be a trap rather than a feeder as the neighborhood cats have taken over our little makeshift sanctuary in the back yard.

Most of the feathers still remain, after a storm, after the rain, after the wind, a path drawn across the backyard forever marking the war zone. The bird maybe would have never died had I not put up a bird trap in my back yard. The little bird’s death would never have been mine to bear, an albatross of someone else perhaps. But these are things I may never know, but I may also never see a feather the same way again.

Now, days after the storm, I watched three little doves sit on the telephone wire above the feeder.

“You know, doves mate for life, don’t they.” I said in passing to Adam. He nodded his head “Yeah”. Lola peered up at the birds on the wire and 2 flitted away leaving one lonesome little dove behind.

Wanderlust/Sleeping in Your Car Part 2: A Narrative

As a kid, my family of five would pack into our Aerostar Van like sardines. Myself usually caged in the way back, a seat in between the dog and I so we would both sit calmly, though still sticky in the summer humidity on our way to the Outer Banks.

Once we arrived we would cram ourselves into my Granny’s  summer home on wheels. A little one bedroom trailer, in a time before she upgraded to a doublewide with custom pop-outs, which comfortably slept all six of us well spread out in our own areas and beds. But that was a different time. During the Aerostar era, Mom and I often found ourselves putting the seats down in the van, sliding the back windows open for air and hoping for a cool night. This was way before global warming and the mosquito epidemic. Way before my mother’s little snores at night kept me awake. Way before I grew so tall that my feet hung off the seat. Way before we sold it to a construction crew in Raleigh. Way before any of that.

I would fall asleep to the sound of people on vacation, my grandma’s retiree neighbors in the trailer next door one drink too many, the ocean far off in the distance, an occasional dog bark. And late in the night after I’d fallen asleep I’d wake to a firecracker popping somewhere in the distance. It didn’t matter if It was 4^th of July, or  even July at all, but only that it was summer and that I was young and that I was going to wake up the next day, lather myself in sunscreen and take to the beach. 

Enjoy these relics from my childhood (and please excuse the quality, photos from another time)

Granny's Trailer

Wanderlust/Sleeping In Your Car Part 1: Inspiration

What I'm reading:
http://www.adventure-journal.com/2013/02/overlandia-sleeping-alone-in-your-car/

http://www.adventure-journal.com/
Thanks for the picture Adventure Journal.

I miss this. Not necessarily sleeping in the back of my car, since stretching out in the back of the Prius with any resemblance of comfortable sleeping is not an option, especially with Adam and Lola in tow, which most often they are. But I miss the nomad sensibility. I miss being able to jump in the car and run off on an adventure somewhere up the road. I miss the sense of not being tied down. I have wanderlust and I can't wait for summer so I can get outdoors and run.

NATURAL RED ONION DYES // HOW TO

Hi folks,

A few weeks ago I posted about my quilting obsession. I haven't even begun to think about starting my first quilt partially because I don't have a lot of quilting materials, but I have been experimenting in dying my own fabric the old natural way. I was first inspired by this post by Folk Fibers. So I started collecting onion skins, both red and yellow, storing them away until I had enough to dye some cotton fabric.

It's a pretty simple process. You boil the onion skins in water for about an hour. Remove the skins and add the presoaked fabric. I let mine sit for 2 days in the dye, rinsed it out and then washed and dried my newly dyed fabric. I recommend air drying your fabric. I dried mine in the dryer because it was "blowing a gale" outside, literally (that's a little local outer banks language for you folks.) The dryer bleached out my beautiful mustard color a bit, leaving the cotton more a beige/light yellow in color.

More on Natural Dyes here:
http://blog.freepeople.com/2012/11/diy-natural-dyes-2/
http://blog.freepeople.com/2011/08/diy-natural-dyes/
http://blog.freepeople.com/2009/07/make-your-own-natural-dyes/
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/crafts/crafts-basics/naturaldyes.html
http://blog.freepeople.com/2009/07/make-your-own-natural-dyes/

And this one's just for fun. Love the Paint By Number.
http://blog.freepeople.com/2009/05/portable-picnic/

A Delivery and My Weekend Uniform

I received my 'Get to Know Your Farmacist" tee from Rough Draft Farm this weekend! The shirt was so soft and awesome I ended up wearing it all weekend. Yes. I did it. And I admit to it. And it was awesome.

Get yours here and make it your awesome weekend uniform and support two people trying to make a living off the land. 

Jesse and Hannah are an amazing inspiration to me. They are living my dream of building a small farmstead, off the grid cabin, and living on the land. I hope one day that my dreams become as real as theirs and I am sure I will use their story and blog as a source of knowledge and inspiration for many years to come. Read more info about the Rough Draft Farm folks, http://danasaurdesigns.blogspot.com/2012/10/dream-dream-of-rough-draft-farmstead.html.