Welcome to the jungle*

* formerly known as our garden…

My poor garden is long-suffering.  It goes through periods of total neglect, being used as a paint/workshop, or is the victim of my less than expert attention.  Last week when attempting to dig up a science project I realized the dire situation that had bloomed back there.

Weeds!  Giant killer weeds!!  And they were taking no prisoners!  It’s shocking how they can grow on top of  brick!

There were at least a thousand chores I didn’t want to do so I decided to head outside and slay some weeds.  A little bit of effort yielded a BIG sense of accomplishment – and a big sense of dread at the enormity of the task at hand.

It ultimately took 3 hours to weed my tiny little garden - and I filled the curbside composting bin TWICE.  As you can see, there’s not actually a lot of dirt back there… it’s mostly brick.

Oh… and while I was pulling weeds like a mad woman, what was The Child doing?  Uh, she “helped”.  Who doesn’t need a gigantic hole in the garden?  I really can’t tell you just how helpful it is to hear “LOOK NOW!” with every shovelful extracted!  The annoyance pride shone across my face as I reminded myself that there were many other ways she could have “helped” that would have been far less helpful

 So today – in honor of the first day of spring – we prettied up the clean, weed-free dirt with some actual pretty and EDIBLE things! 

Red-leaf and Meyers lettuce, two kinds of tomatoes (at least one is fog-tolerant – we’ve had them 3 other summers), sugar snap peas, and catnip for the Hairy Beast.  The tall, green-thumbed super salesman at Sloat Garden Center assured us that all of these things would survive the total lack of unclouded sun, cool weather and questionable soil that graces our neighborhood.  Riiiiiiight.  We’ll see about that.

We put some major COLOR!!! along the far wall to brighten up the view from the livingroom.  I’ll be happy if the Forsythia survives… because it’s so bright and grows quite large, and also because it’s my namesake

 

Oh no you didn’t!

Watch out! I’m getting crafty-decoratey again! 

You thought your time of trial was over, didn’t you, Gentle Reader?  Well, you were wrong!  Steel yourself for a revival my of amateurish vision, insufficient preparation and failed execution!

Tonight’s unimpressive endeavor is a door mat!  This beaut was cobbled together from fraudulently ordered FLOR “samples”!  Did you know they will send you 6 tiles for free?  (Yes, the checker-ish looking ones are actually 4 smaller pieces that count as one large one.)

 I know you’re thinking “DAYUM that looks sweeet!”  But trust me, that thought is misguided.  Remember how I said you get six tiles for free?  Guess who only ordered five!?!

HALEY!!!

Ok, fine, it was me.  I only ordered 5 tiles and while it may look kinda totally impressive up there, in actuality it is tragically wee.  Should you feel wacky and attempt to use it for its intended purpose, be prepared to work some serious Geisha-style tippy toe steps.

Oy. 

Oh good jeebus… how did I miss the symbolism of this project?  A door mat?  Really?  A door mat??  I keep begging for someone to shoot me now – and hopefully some Brave Little Toaster will come forward and spare us all the terror and agony we all know is ahead.

Spring has sprung early in my garden

This afternoon I noticed the cherry blossoms were tricked in to coming out early by this recent bout of sunshine.  Funny how they appear out of nowhere.  My garden is choked with a thick blanket of weeds – though they are lovely, lush and green at the moment.  I find it frustrating that every year I pull them all out, fertilize and try so plant something new; and every year I hope that something will finally take hold, grow thick, and choke out future weeds. 

Ever-hearty is a miniature yellow rose that was given to me 2 months after I moved in to this house – almost 5 years ago.  It was one of those little Easter flower things they sell at Safeway and was on death’s doorstep within a few days of my receiving it.  Cavalierly, I planted its almost dead carcass in a little spot in the garden.  I felt bad for (almost) killing it so quickly so I attempted to absolve my guilt by letting nature decide if it lived or died.  Despite often going months without water and usually being dwarfed by surrounding weeds, it survives.  If suffering my neglect it will bravely bear one small flower.  If I give it any love it busts out loads of blooms.

Today there are two little buds, about to open up and show their beautiful buttery yellow selves…  Awwww… such perseverance!

I hope I get some time this week to start some work in the garden.  Hopefully I will finally coax it towards its potential this year.  For such a little space it presents some serious challenges!

1. There is no direct sunlight.
2. Indirect sunlight is between 4-6 hours.
3. The soil is incredibly sandy.  I have amended it a number of times, but I really need to take some out in order to make room in the beds for better soil.  In order to do that I have to move dirt through my house as there is no access to the yard from the street.
4. Sandy soil = high surface tension = difficult to get water in to the soil to the plants.
5. I’m not a real fan of what would do well – succulents.

Any how… enough of my list-bitching.  I guess I’m happy to see some signs of life back there yet still felt the need for a small scale rant. 

I’ll try to post some Before pics this week.  That certainly worked wonders for getting my house in order!

Remember that Project To-Do List?

Yeah, I kind of forgot about it too!

I just made a BIG step in crossing off the very first thing I put on that damn list:  the leaking shower!  (It’s actually item number 3, but that’s because I was trying to hide it behind other things everyone has to do.)  It has been leaking since June 2007. 

Wait wait wait… before you lose your chops about how much water I have wasted with a leaking faucet over the course of 2.5 years (oh my… I just got queasy for a second) I have been turning the water off behind the faucet with a screwdriver this whole time!  Let’s say it – all together now… GHETTO!  Yes, I know… it’s only the best of the best in the Girly Fabu-palace.  D’oh!  Any way… that little bastard’s number is UP!

It’s really the little joys in life, isn’t it?  Like being able to step in to the shower, turn a handle, and have water come flowing forth… clean, clear, cleansing water…. *drool*

Yes, you can read Playboy for the articles

You might have seen that link to Lush Pad over there to your right in the Design linky-loo area… they have more than just awesome furniture!  Take, for example, their reprint of a 1961 Playboy article on some of the icons of Mid-Century Modern Design – so many luminaries all in one place.

Left to Right: George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom

Christmas is officially a Shiny Thing

Can I see a show of hands who is surprised?

Of course I couldn’t simply trim a tree.  That would be far too pedestrian.  Noooo… It had to become part of the design.  Hopeless, I am.

Sex on a swivel

My taste seems to be veering back to Mid-Century Modern… check out this out on Lush Pad.  This chair is sexier that I could ever hope to be…

Room and Board j’adore

Just what I need – another online store front against whose glass I will smash my virtual face and slobber.

Victory Garden

A girl can dream, right?

 

So I’m thinking that Sunday I’d like to take advantage of this outrageous weather we’re having (high 70’s!) and work in the garden.  I saw this article on HuffPo and it renewed my interest in my relationship with my food. 

In summers past we have grown grape tomatoes in the back yard and I found it immensely satisfying to be able to add something to my table by stepping out my back door.  I can’t wait until I have a large amount of land to work with and truly eat seasonally, and largely cultivated with my own dirty hands.  Summer in my neighborhood is mostly socked in with fog (duh) and now I’m on the brink of winter – which is not the time to be growing things.

My mom keeps an insane garden, but that’s one of the benefits of living in the desert – the ability to grow almost year-round.  I do plan on putting in mostly grasses, ground cover and maybe something bushy that flowers – but is there any food stuff I can put in the ground at this late date?

WANT! Whaaaaaa!

Those turned legs and graceful arms are so girlie, but that zebra print is just…. *swoon*  And it looks damn comfortable as well!

Note to self:  Quit looking at Overstock sales when you don’t actually need anything!

I dream of dining rooms

Someday…. someday I will once again have a dining room.  Or dining area.  Or a dining nook.  Someday.  But really what I want is a real live formal dining room:  a room that serves no other purpose than the enjoyment of meals, preferably with family and friends.

And by the way, how have I never seen these chairs in Ikea??  They are CLEAR! 

Damn it!  Should I get one of these?  Or hold out for a Ghost chair??

New artwork for my house

Ok, enough “Walls of Haley” already

Maybe pretty flowers will make me happy

Since my back yard doesn’t get much sunlight I try to keep my eyes out for things that may actually survive back there.  Here are a couple things I saw when I just took an anger walk a few minutes ago…

I fail to see the light

I am in the dark as to “lighting design” – quite literally!

Now that my house is really coming together – and more importantly, staying together – the fine tuning of it all is staring me in the face.  The biggest deficiency by far is lighting.

It has been my long-standing belief that overhead lighting is the work of the devil, and I do prefer my rooms to be more cave-like than bright and clinical.

BUT…

Even I must admit that there are times when sufficient illumination is a good thing:  homework, sewing, and generally any time you want to be *gasp* productive.  My lack of floorspace, total absence of room symmetry, wee square footage, labyrinthine walls, oddly placed outlets, and the general ill will I feel about lighting my space in retaliation to the very existence of fluorescent lighting in the livingroom and kitchen all conspire in my head.  So I pretty much just sit in my dark bat cave and tell myself it’s “mood lighting”.

Damn it.  I need help.  Serious help.  Perhaps it’s time for another trip to Ikea.

What I wish I were on my bookshelf

Sick kids and computer crashes

I spent yesterday cautiously watching Haley’s percolating tummy.  About 5a she pulled a Linda Blair and coated the bathroom with her previous day’s food.  (Yum – is it lunchtime yet?)  I kept her home from school, but had issues with my pc.  My computer decided to freak the *F* out and I’m still in the process of rebuilding post-rebuild.

Well, that’s reality.  What I am telling myself about how I spent my day yesterday is that I lazed around in my silk robe (you know, the one with marabou feather trim) and slippers, in this painfully glamorous room.

*sigh*

So freaking awesome, even The Child had to admit she was wrong!

Haley has moved from scoffing me to trying to plan my untimely demise so that it can be hers NOW…

THANK YOU AGAIN MOM!!!!  I loooove it!

Watch out turquoise – you’ve got competition!

Ok, I am officially obsessed with coral!  Thankfully, I think they go together smashingly!

I’ve been hating this color I put up in my bedroom but I think painting this frame will help me live with it – at least for a little while.  I fully expect to get a wild hair and paint it the same blue as my hallway.  I ran out of gloss black paint, but the dresser will soon be bathed in it.  Then it will look truly kick ass!

Thanks, Christine, for talking me in to keeping this photo.  I am LOVING the blues in the photo with the orangey-red of the frame.

Paint is my friend

More vesitages of the past have been re-coated in a new color – and received a stay of execution new lease on life.

Tell me that the blue/coral isn’t bad-ass!

The formerly way too islandish end table is now glossy black and will happily do until I get a mirrored one.

The shelf?  I’m not sure yet what its purpose will be, but it makes me happy to look at it.

My sofa, she is supersexyfabulous

Now my sofa beckons.  “Come hither,” it says.  “Come rest your arms or your weary head on magnificent works of beauty.”

Yes, my newest UmberDove pillows have arrived and they are perfect.

 

*photos courtesy of UmberDove