Recycle your Christmas tree for next year!!!

First off....if anyone knows WHY some of my friggin photos are posting sideways and HOW I can fix that , it would be much appreciated!!!!  Since Blogger's editing page changed I've had tons of trouble and is one reason I rarely post!!!!  UPDATE: Here is one possible answer:  http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=3dadabf526cdd529&hl=en

Ok, back to fun.  Here is our 2010 tree:

For Christmas 2009, we  bought our very first LIVE tree.  It was gorgeous and glorious and OUTRAGEOUSLY priced.  I promised my husband that to get our money's worth,  I would SOMEHOW recycle it to get 2 Christmases out of the thang.  And that I did!  After we un-decorated it, I hung it from our clothes line outside.  There it stayed all year long-through all kinds of weather.  We hung some peanut butter/birdseed pine cones in it last summer and the birdies really dug it!  After Thanksgiving, when it was time to trim the tree I -not so simply,but it can be done!!!- did the following:

Donned a pair of gloves and pulled ALL those niggling needles off:

Pruned off half the branches:

Spray painted it green.   If you're not into that, nix the paint and you can later burn the tree in your wood stove or what ev:

Threw on some tinsel and lights and VOILA!!!!!  The perfect ornament hanger!

We are now in the process of un-decorating it for the last time-Epiphany has passed- and I will then launch our tree into the woods of our back yard and return it to the earth.  Of course, I'm regretting painting it-there really was no need.

Earth Day!

Well, I had planned on keeping Lo home from school today so that we could celebrate Earth Day by going for a hike to the falls, planting some seedlings, and making glow-in-the-dark watercolor Earth paintings. But apparently there is a school field trip slated for today at the Anchorage Museum of Natural History to study polar dinosaurs. Lo very much would like to go. It's only until noon, so I'll tag along too and we'll just head home for our fun after the field trip.

Here's a link to what we were doing on Earth Day last year. I can't believe how GREAT the weather was that day!!!! Right now we still have snow on the deck, 32 degrees and overcast....

Happy Earth Day to all!!!

IT'S EARTH DAY!!! Celebrate your Mother..

WELCOME CRAFTY CROW and SPIFFY SPOTLIGHTS READERS!!!!!

We've been gaining about 5 minutes of daylight each night since the equinox. It's still light when we go to bed now. Soon we'll be experiencing those bright Alaskan nights .....One of the bummers about there being no real darkness in the summer is that I can't adorn our deck with all sorts of pretty fairy lights and candles when we hang out or entertain. The top of our garage will someday house 2 more stories but for now Huz did a great job setting up a temporary deck. We have a great table and umbrella which would be perfect for hanging beaded votives....Oh, I have tons of ideas..but it's just not a reality here.


But for those of you living in a place where you can experience warm dark, I've got a very cool idea for groovy mood lighting in honor of Earth Day.

Recycled Pop Bottle Luminaries:

This is a gorgeous luminary for both inside and out. Make a bunch for a party on a summer's night. Perfect to line your railing or your walk. Beats the whole sand and candle in the paper bag thing. You can use a real beeswax tea light or one of those LED faux tea lights.

All you need is:
2 pop bottles
scissors
"glass" paint
sponge brush
tea light


There will be 3 pieces nested together for this luminary.


Here's what you do:


1. Leaving the base of the pop bottle intact, cut out a fun wavy design that measures about 1/3 of the way up the bottle. The bottom 1/3 is now separated from the rest of the bottle.

2. Put bottom aside for now. Or have kiddos start painting it.

3. Using the top portion of the bottle, cut off the neck part and discard. This rounded top portion of the bottle will now be the BOTTOM of this piece. Make sure the hole you have just created is big enough to handle heat and flame from the tea light.

4. Now cut wavy pattern on the new "top" portion of bottle.



5. Repeat step #1 with 2nd bottle, but this wavy design should reach over 3/4 the way up the bottle.

6. Paint your 3 pieces in any way you like. Lo and I first dabbed on the glass paint and then found it fun to use our fingers to spread it and make designs. We also just let some of the paint drip on it Jackson Pollock style.

(It was sunny and 50 degrees outside today!!! T-shirt-for-the-hearty time!)

7. When dry just nestle to 2 bases into each other, put in your light and nestle the 3rd piece on top of that.
Now make about 20 more and throw a party for whatever!








*You've GOT to check out these beautiful pop bottle plastic butterflies-PERFECT if you still have leftover glass paint and bottles!

HAVE A WONDERFUL EARTH DAY!!!!!

Searching for the ....oh, I can't even find the word I need

It's been hard to find the time (a desire) to blog this past week or so. From what I read on other blogs, many people are either excited with new signs of spring, or they are feeling the February blahs. For me it's the blahs. Not in the sense of feeling down or blue, just not motivated and inspired like I felt over the holidays. I guess it's par for the course this time of year. The after-the-holidays cool down so to speak, getting sick of winter-ish themes to explore with Lo, while at the same time still loving getting out and playing in the snow. The weather this past week has been glorious-cloudless blue skies and bright regenerating sunshine. Perfect for going on runs, honing our skate skiing skills, Nordic skiing, and birdwatching.

Yesturday getting a nice snowstorm with 6 inches of powder down in the valleybut only 1.5 here. We need MORE!!! It's much need for re-establishing our snow slides in the yard. Today, again with the blazing sun and 5 degrees! Oooooh, my vitamin D.

I've a bunch ideas swirling in my head but just lack the organization and focus to make them reality. So far, we've been decorating some old cans from the recycling bin to use for herb starts and we plan on trying out other eco friendly ideas for veggie and flower starts.

I'm trying to get excited about our up coming growing season, but's that's summer and I know our spring is SOOOOO far off. Lo's been interested in both birds and volcanoes lately. Oh, and then there's germs. And bacterium. And the difference between them...poor kiddo was sick with a fever for 2 days-thus the interest. So I'm digging around for info on that and dreaming up fun ideas. Or trying to. I found a list of the birds known to frequent our neck of the woods and we've been checking off the ones we're seeing around the house. We've been watching our bird friends at the feeder as well. Right now there's been a TON of Redpolls out there!

(so cute the way they fluff up in the cold)

Lo's getting used to the "real" binoculars and loves watching out our big windows. So do these guys:

I'd like to make a photo mosaic of all the birds we tally. I've spent a lot of time online looking for the perfect birdfeeders to make to compliment what we already have, as well as volcano info and activities that are on Lo's level. This morning Huz and I introduced Lo to the Dutch Oven. Fun was had by all! Well, me and Huz. Lo...not so much. Especially after last night's garlicy pizza.

I think a part of my stagnation this past week or so is that there is SO much info online and elsewhere to mull over that I get over-saturated and go into shut off mode.

(Lo discovered a fun way to lay out her clothes for the next day!)

I've been spending more personal time playing with my camera, re-visiting my old photo mags and books, and perusing the net for inspiration. PBase and PixiPort are great places to see some really spectacular work. I've also been making a lot more time for reading. I LOVE to read and after having the leisure to read (and finish!) The Red Tent(AMAZING book) on my vacation, I just can't get enough. I just finished Rabbit Run by Updike and I've now I've got The Alchemist and The Story of Lucy Gault going simultaneously. I'll blog more about books at a later time.

(We've been enjoying the game Fairy Finds-a cooperative game where kids try to help the fairies build a fairy ring with objects found in the forest before the troll can steal them away. And the litle findings are so cute! Dew drops, blue birds, acorns, and toadstools.)

I just need the time and focus to pull all of this jumble out of my head and get a coherent timeline going. When I think of this I'm re-minded of when I wake up in the morning to discover that the cats have gotten into my yarn and COMPLETELY unraveled a ball-dragged it through the house, and entertwined it through everything likie a spider web. That mess is like my brain. And I have to painstakingly(after swearing at the cat's) gather it all up and roll it into a nice tight ball again. Ahhh, life with ADD. Never a dull moment. And I have a TON to write about that.....

(The car wash with the tri-colored soap-always a favorite.)