Painted Rain Barrels

If you had the time to read all of the ridiculously long, round-robin-of-updates post that I shared a month ago, you might recall that we are going to install a rainwater collection system (a series of water barrels) in our backyard. We picked up five 55-gallon barrels, three blue and two white. I was initially pretty excited about the white ones because they were a few dollars cheaper than the blue barrels. Then my mom told me that the white ones have to be painted before we can put water in them, otherwise we run the risk of having an algae bloom in the barrel. Arg.

Thankfully, my mom had three cans of spray paint that she was originally going to use on her own barrel; it's blue and therefore does not need to be painted, she just thought it might be fun to do some painting. Instead she generously gave us her cans of spray paint. She also bought a big can of spray glue. Mom got the painting process started for us by putting green paint on the bottom of both barrels and trying out some plant-stenciling techniques:

Finishing her paint job has been on my mind, but only at the very back of my mind. There are a half dozen other projects that need to get done right now! But for whatever reason, I was feeling the creative bug this weekend, and I decided to finish them up.

The barrel my mom started inspired me to do an "Under the Sea" theme. I used ferns from our yard for the plant stencils, and cut out sea creatures (fish, sea horses, and a turtle) using my Cricut. As mentioned, the lower half of the barrel was painted green. I then painted the top and top half white. In areas where I wanted to paint sea creatures, I sprayed a square of color (purple or orange). Using the spray glue from my mom, I sprayed the plants and paper cutouts. I let them sit for a couple of minutes so they were less tacky, then stuck them on the green and colored parts of the barrel.

In the end, here are some pictures and a quick video of the Under the Sea rain barrel (sorry for the fuzzy picts):

(The sailboat on top is my favorite part.) 

For the other barrel, I wanted to do a garden theme. I used flower stems from the dead gladiolus in the front yard. I again used my Cricut to cut out the flowers, bugs, and grass border. And I bought a couple more cans of spray paint so I could get a little more color in the garden. (This means I now have a bunch of barely used cans of spray paint; what do to with those???) I took a lot more time planning the second barrel -- I measured the barrel, drew a sketch of how the flowers, bugs, and colors would go, and carefully marked the barrel. It was tedious. The result isn't perfect, but it's a lot of fun! The dragonfly on top... I can't decide... the color ran, so it kinda looks like an ink blot, and it's cool but also weird. Maybe I should paint over it? You tell me.

Here's the Garden theme rain barrel:

Take a shower by candle light

Nate is downstairs right now, taking a shower by candle light. (I bet you thought the post title was in reference to me, huh? Nope.) As I think I've mentioned, one of our many current house projects is remodeling our downstairs hallway and basement. I've been (very slowly) redoing the wiring in the basement, which means the power is off on a couple of circuits. The whole lower west side, actually... which includes the bathroom. Nate wanted to take a shower, the upstairs shower is right next to the baby's room (and she's sleeping, of course), so he had to go downstairs. Since there's no light, he kindly asked if I would light a few candles. I made sure to pick the prettiest ones with the most calming scents, of course. Ha.

Today was a very busy day. It started with the usual Saturday morning routine (double-stop grocery shopping). Determined to make progress on the chicken coop, I then went out and spent a couple of hours trying to finish the priming. I did not succeed, but it's nearly primed. Of course, then I have to do the actual painting... I think I need another couple of hours to finish priming and probably 4-5 hours to paint. Hopefully during the week I will find time to prime, then perhaps next weekend I can begin painting. Nate has nearly finished constructing the outside run. So maybe we'll have chickens in 2-3 weeks? I hope!

Nate's parents stopped by to pick up some things. I gave away most of the empty moving boxes that I've been hoarding in the "furnace closet" in the garage -- Marie dropped them off with some friends who are moving. It was a little bit hard to see them go, but it's liberating to purge. I think I feel the need to hold on to them because of how many times we moved when we were first married; part of me is always just waiting for the day when we have to pack up and move again. But I let go of the boxes, so maybe I can just finally settle down. (Ha.)

The PILs also took away the oil tank for our old furnace. They are going to set it up at their house and use it to store diesel for their tractor. I am going to use the space in the garage to store the baby strollers. I was not sad to see the tank go because I am very happy that it is going to a new home where it will be used and loved. As we were loading it up, we gave it a name: The Pig. It has already stuck.

We continued to do yard work after lunch and during nap time. Mostly trimming and weeding, trying to get the yard in shape for the winter. It's easier to work with the plants and dirt in the slightly cooler, fall weather. I hope it holds out long enough for us to finish a few more things outside, then we can turn our attention inside for the winter... finish the basement projects and a handful of things upstairs. Next spring we'll be back out in the yard with some aggressive, ambitious gardening plans. Hopefully this time next year I will have grown enough of the right food that I can do some canning. I thought I might get to this year, but no, the garden didn't quite produce what I want, when I wanted it, in the quantities I'd hoped for. But we learned a lot and we're excited for the next growing season.


Last Sunday I made a coconut layer cake (which I originally saw on Pinterest). If you really knew me, you'd know that I am totally a "box cake" girl. I like box cakes, I think they are moist and delicious, and I often prefer them to home made cakes. Say what you will, it is what it is. So when I saw the recipe, it intimidated me a little bit. It seemed complicated. But it looked and sounded, oh, delicious! So I gave it a shot and I am quite pleased with the results. Honestly, the only "challenging" thing about it was gathering up the ingredients, and even that wasn't really hard.

Should you decide to try it out, here are my notes:
- Cream of Coconut is actually usually used for mixing alcoholic drinks, so you'll find it with other drink mixer stuff. (Oregon friends, you can find it at WinCo.)
- If you have 8" rounds, try them out. I used 9" as the recipe directs (it's all I own, anyway) and it was... well... I think I would have liked the look and size of a slightly taller and less wide cake. But it doesn't affect the flavor, just the appearance.
- The frosting is overly sweet, even if you drop the sugar down to 2 cups instead of 3. I ended up whipping some heavy cream and folding it into the frosting, which made for a lightly lighter and not sickeningly sweet frosting.
- The directions say to use one cup of frosting between the layers of cake. Use a generous "one cup" -- I was sparing with my one cup, and consequently my middle layer was too thin, and I ended up with 1/2 cup or more leftover frosting (and yes, I was very generous with the outside layer of frosting).
- Definitely toast the coconut. Beautiful and tastier.

The story of my birthday

As you might recall, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and my wish list was pretty simple: I wanted to take the day off. On the fridge I posted a one-page list of all the things I wanted to do (sleep in, eat breakfast foods) and did not want to do (change diapers, be nagged) on my birthday. I'm happy to report that I more or less got exactly what I wanted. Nate also tried to give me money but I said no and returned the funds to the family account. Binging on breakfast foods and sitting on my butt were exactly what I wanted for the day.

I did get some presents. The Burley Bee my mom got us in mid-August was an early birthday present. My sister stopped by and presented the Williams-Sonoma Latin cookbook, and I am ridiculously excited to try out some recipes. It is a very nice book, high quality, with beautiful pictures. I bet she got it for me just because she knows I will test out the recipes and copy the best ones back to her... good thinking, sis. :o)

Here's my funny birthday story for you: A few months ago while we were grocery shopping at Costco, I confessed to my husband that, for quite some time, I'd been fantasizing about stealing one of the customized sheet cakes from the big cooler. Not because I want to deprive someone of their cake (no, that would be awfully mean and sad and disappointing); I just think it would be really funny to have a totally random cake. "Happy Anniversary Mufflie, You're the World's Best Iguana" or something, you know? But not one you made up, just one you closed your eyes and pulled out of the big cake cooler. I'm sure that makes me weird, but let's face it, I have a strange sense of humor. Just thinking the whole random cake thing makes me smirk.

I made this confession and basically forgot that it had come up (except that the next time we were at Costco, I was eyeing the cake cooler and Nate said, "You're thinking about stealing cakes again, aren't you?"). During the two or three weeks leading up to my birthday, he bugged me about what kind of cake I wanted. He wouldn't give my any details about the source of the cake, so then I had to give him layers of options. ("If you're making a cake, I want XY. If you're buying it from a store, then XY or XYZ or YZ would be good. If you're going to a fancy cake shop, then I want AQP or IGSH or LLZB.") You know how it is.

Birthday morning, he sneaked away for 20 minutes, then tried to secret the cake back into the house. Since I didn't know why he left or when he'd be back, I confronted him about abandoning me to have to do some work while he was gone ("I had to change a diap.... oh, what's that thing in your hands that you're trying to hide from me?") I was shooed away, but did I want cake before lunch or later in the evening? Duh, I wanted cake right that second. So I impatiently waited in the living room while he loaded up a handful of candles and then started singing a sweet, if a bit off-key, Happy Birthday.

(Poor Darling, with the singing and the cake, she thought it was her birthday all over again!)

I was presented with this chocolately surprise:

And yes, I giggled intensely the entire time I was cutting, serving, and eating the cake. It still brings a smile to my face.

(Later in the week, I also got an awesome card from the hubs: "We make a great team, don't we? You've got the beauty and the brains, and I've got... the best wife a guy could ask for. Happy Birthday." It even made my mom laugh, and that's no small feat.)

You go for a hike and I'll move out (for the week)

I missed my post last week. My bad. Nate was gone on a hiking trip all week, so it's been a bit crazy up in here.

We spent the better part of last Saturday packing his hiking bag. First we put everything into the bag, then weighed it. Too heavy. Oh wait, we forgot a few things. Threw them in there and re-weighed in order to really understand just how far "overweight" the bag had become. Then we took a lot of little things out and weighed again. Not enough. Took more little things out. Oh, whoops... forgot some other things. Changed the brighter flashlight for the lighter flashlight, repacked the food into lighter containers, reweighed, repacked, removed.... on and on. In the end his pack was something like 42 pounds, which is a lot. He was hoping for 30-35 pounds, but we really couldn't make it any better. I pointed out that it would get lighter as he ate through his food. By the end of the week it would probably be about 30 pounds. Ha, ha. Very helpful.

Meanwhile, I planned to spend the week and my mom's new house, so I was setting things aside here and there for the trip. I had a list on the fridge of things to take, food for the me and the baby on one side, miscellaneous stuff on the other side. It wasn't until Nate left at 8am on Sunday morning that I started packing in earnest. Then we had to go to church. I finished packing during nap time, after church. In the end it was after 5pm before I finally hit the road.

We had a great week at my mom's house, except that neither baby nor I slept especially well. To be expected, I suppose. And probably not as bad -- maybe even better -- than if we had stayed home. I get a bit paranoid when Nate is gone overnight. I never use to be this way, but now that we have a baby, I can't seem to help but imagine all of the horrible things that could possibly happen. Last time he was gone, I slept with my hand curled around a hammer on his side of the bed. Last night, the one night I had to spend alone in my own house, I slept with a pocket knife in my hand under my pillow. You better believe that I would not hesitate to use it, if needed.

My parent's new house is lovely. It's on a couple of acres, with tons of plants, trees, and room for gardening.  I had to spend Tuesday and Wednesday at a training session out of town, so those were very long (10 hour) work days. I worked from home the other days. It was exhausting. I spent every free minute possible trying to help my parents unpack and organize their house. I felt pretty bad about being underfoot and eliciting so much extra babysitting time right now, when they've got a lot of other things to do, but I seriously needed the extra hands. I would have lost it if I had been on my own this week. Even as it was, I nearly lost it a couple of times. But we survived, and I think I was able to be more of a help than a hindrance... whew.

Hopefully my mom will find some time to blog about her new house. Really, it's quite lovely! It needs a bit of yard cleanup, and there's potential for some projects in the house, but nothing major. I sorta already signed Nate up to fall a couple trees, cut back some bushes, and replace all of the toilets. I signed myself up to do some carpentry work (re-framing a couple of doorways). Whenever they want us, probably after they've unpacked... someday, not urgent.

Meanwhile, I've got to write Darling her 15 month letter, then start a post about my birthday and the latest book reviews. I don't know if I'll get done with the post tonight (probably not), hopefully it will be done tomorrow. It'll go up when it's done but don't rush me... I'm tired :o)

It's all B-stuff this week? (baby, books, Ben, and B's birthday)

If you saw my kid this week you might think we, her caretakers, are abusive or at least highly negligent. She's started standing up a lot more and "cruising" around a little bit, which has meant a few bumps and bruises. Until this week I always prided myself on the fact that I keep a close eye on her and she hasn't had any serious nicks or falls. After a series of hurts this week, I now hang my head in shame.

At the sitter's this week, on Monday, she fell down and bit herself, resulting in a cut and bruised lip. (It only just finally healed.) Wednesday when grandma was watching her, Baby Girl bonked her head on the piano bench, right next to her eye, so she had a nasty little bruise on her temple. Then on Friday morning while I was making breakfast, she got tangled up in the small metal step ladder -- tried to climb it, of course -- and managed to both scrape and bruise her thigh. As if that wasn't bad enough, she also kicked a piece of chicken wire yesterday while I was carrying her and got two long, angry-looking cuts on her calf. Arrg! I feel like an awful parent. Poor girl.

The neat thing about Darling's slowly increasing mobility is that she's shown an interest in climbing. I can't really let her out of my sight anymore, but it's a lot of fun! She likes to climb up onto chairs. She has her own special chair for which I'm planning to sew a slipcover (I have the material, I just need to find the time and courage; I might work on that tomorrow, on my day off). Isn't it such a cute chair? She loves it and so do I!

Check out the video of her crawling into her chair...

This week Darling demonstrated her understanding of "bye bye" and kissing. She now says "buuuh buh" and waves when we say goodbye. And if you ask for a kiss, and she's willing, she'll pucker her little lips and make a "mwah" sound when you kiss her. She mostly only does the kissing thing for her dad, of course. She's pretty fond of him.  :o)

Moving on: I just finished a book this evening called "War Wives" and I'm still not really sure if I liked it. The premise was good, the setting interesting and the story line very detailed. But there were a lot of characters and I feel like I never really got enough time with each person in the story, never got to hear each woman's story and connect with the characters. The book was a good length, but tried to cover too many people, events, and too long a period of time (several years) within it's pages. It either needed to be longer or have fewer characters, quite honestly. But I'm not sorry that I read it...?

Here's some news that isn't mine but is very exciting: My BIL and his wife Amy (you remember them, of course) finally found a house! They have been looking for awhile and have wrestled with the market in San Diego, where buying is still competitive and it's tough to find a started home in a decent neighborhood for a decent price. But they found a great house this week and we are VERY happy and excited for them. We can hardly wait to go visit. If you care to know more about it, you can check out my SIL's blog (amykissesmike.blogspot.com).

Speaking of houses, we have way too much on our plates right now. My brother Ben came down for a couple of days this week and did some housework for us. The to-do list is just impossibly long -- I need to stop adding projects to the list, blarg, bad B! Ben started primer-painting the chicken coop and sanded most of the pieces of wood that are going to become the stairs on our front deck. I started staining the wood, but have only gotten about halfway through. Meanwhile the deck has no stairs.... I'm sure it's wearing on our mailman's patience. (Sorry buddy, and thanks.) But on the bright side it's probably deterring would-be salesman... because we get a lot of those (not) in our neighborhood.

The biggest news of late is that my birthday is very soon... it's tomorrow! Yay! Nate's been bugging me for a birthday list. I finally provided one on Thursday. Basically I asked for a day off from stress and responsibility. I'd like to sleep in, take a long shower, perhaps go bike riding or shopping, do some craft projects, not have to clean anything or change diapers.... and I'd like breakfast foods available all day. Nate said he was going to buy me presents, but I said no, what I really want is just to sleep and take it easy. Seriously. I don't want people or stuff. I also don't want a messy house or an unhappy kid. I just want to be selfish and unburdened for one day. Tuesday I will go back to work and life will resume, but tomorrow... tomorrow I get the day off.

I know I still owe you news about baby bike seats, plus I want to talk about making candy, but oh... I'd rather get started on that very long stretch of sleep! Another time my loves. Until then, adieu.