So much time has passed since I have posted. I am embarrassed, but there were so many things that have kept my time busy. Now I have at least one kidless day a week to work on whatever I want and this is a continuation in my DIY projects around the home. Things i will be updating are..

-my veggie garden and other garden maintnance and planting.

-cleaning, sorting a basement which has not been cleaned in years.

-arranging my garage sale.

-finishing off a basement for family and entertainment use.

-my efforts in lawn maintnance.

-design and building wood structures for our yard.

-other clean out projects like closets, garage, vehicles, and so on..

and more!

And then there is the main focus of my life right now…. Starting to build my photography Business.  Kusnier Jones Photography.   kjpics.com

I wanted to expand not only the buisness part but the fact that this city needs to be more documented on photo.

 So with that. i will be starting laundry to get ready to clean the basement. 

These things are coming faster than I can cook with them.

They make good seasoning for soups and anything I throw into the oven. Good for garnish and wonderful for salads. Right now there is the bundle pictured that will be for dinner tonight an my salad for lunch and now I have not had to buy onions in weeks and probably will not have to buy them for the rest of the winter.

Then I will keep them going for greens until I get my first batch of scallions in the spring (When i get to buying bulbs for planting outdoors)  

This was a total savings!

And yes those are twist ties from the toys. I hate those things when I have to take them off the toys but they sure come in handy when you save them. 

I was just going around searching for other blogs because i am sick of forums. It seems like forums have people who either have no clue on what they are talking about or just posting because in the sense they like to see if they can get their scores up with posts of "that is so cool!",

well yeah.. umm thanks people!

  Any who

I have gone to searching for blogs now (because people who have blogs, for the most part, have more time, information and interest invested while writing about their specialties)  

I came upon a blogger (while searching for houseplant blogging) who not only has a wealth of information about houseplant care but has a little bit of information on blogging etiquette, that i am sad to say, i did not know about until i read his entries.  

first off i apologize to anyone i might have offended in the way i have posted in the past when referring to some of the info i have on here. 

Second, if anyone knows of a post that is against any etiquette  standards then please inform me so i could rewrite it or withdraw it from my blog.

Back to this interesting and informative site tho.

I came across Mr. Brown Thumb and he is a must read! I could have spent hours on there this morning finding information on unknown (to me) houseplants and houseplant care.

Things i have learned from his site just this morning…

- what are the most easy houseplants

-succulent prorogations

-a list of low light plants

AND MUCH MORE!

Please check it out if you want some new and interesting lessons from someone who has learned them from experience.

I would have spent more time on there but the site gave me so many ideas that i now have a lot of things to do with my plants today!

THANK YOU MR. Brown Thumb! 

My Package Came !

See what I got!

I ordered from a place called Gourmet Seed International, LLC

SO far i am very impressed. Great shipping, fast, good prices with decent selection of interesting plants.  

I spent $38.18 (with shipping included)

i got the following…

 (one packet of each) 

Lettuce Taglio a Foglia Liscia

Lettuce Green salad bowl

Rampion

Cress-american land

Dandelion zxdio

Chicory da taglio bionda foglie

zucchini tonda piazenza

carrot parmex persian market

tomato italian cherry

radish spring fling mix

radish white breakfast

north holland blood red onion

spinach mustard komatsuna  tokisan

Catalogna chicory brindisina

sword lettuce yu mai tsai

I know these all sound odd but these are going to be the new things i try in our recipe. 

I will be planting most of these today if i can find enough soil and containers Then placing them under the cheap grow lights that i have found to work very well i will see if i can ge a fresh veggie crop. 

but here is what i have invested this year

electricity (probably will be less than 10$ for the entire winter)

then the $38.18  for the seeds. I will have to price out any yields i get from this. 

I am so excited! Can't you tell? 

maintenance of my bamboo is a monthly thing. I try to change the water and wash the rocks monthly. Then once a year (yesterday) i did the whole shebang. 

I have the oldest bamboo in its original pot that my parents gave me for x-mas about 5 years back. It is beautifully tall and i want my whole house to have lots of bamboo so i have been handling it with kid gloves.

so as for the maintenance i did to it last year, well i first took the parent plant out, cut off a few branches to propagate new plants and placed those in just plain water without rocks. well the parent plant now has produced new branches. but i never got around to putting in rocks on last years cuttings. SO i have done this so far

cut off the new branches for propagation

cleaned up the parent plant and washed out the rocks

put rocks into last years cuttings (hopefully they will survive)

then planted the new cutting in rocks and have them in a waterfall in my kitchen.

i started with 5 stalks, now i have 10 and hope to have more next year. 

Now do not get discouraged when you see all the expensive things that they want you to buy when you search for indoor gardening or growing your vegetables indoors.

Please do not buy one thing for growing until you read what i write! 

First.  i will show you from time to time what exactly i have done in my indoor veggie production and so on but i will tell you what i have done so far when i give you all the info.. 

here is the list of the only things you will need

-pots free if you have them or you can use yogurt cups, butter containers or other plastic things you would toss out that you can puncture holes in the bottom for drainage 

-soil (free if you have good, light garden soil, but you might want to pour boiling water over it to kill bacteria, pests, eggs and other things.) but since i have clay spoil in my gardens i buy a bag of it for less than 7$ for what i need. 

-all purpose fertalizer 1-10$ (depending on amount and brand, i use store brand small bos for 3$ and it lasts for months) 

-tin foil 1-2$

-area that is room temperature  free from cold drafts

-cheap shop spot light ( i got mine at home depot for 5$)  

-30-60 watt comparison compact flourescent bulb ( this must be a daylight comparison bulb!!! this gives a decent spectrum for growing) 5-10$

-vegetable seeds and other things. (the next list will tell you about the things you should grow and why, plus where is the best sources i have found)

VEGGIES TO GROW

Take into consideration:

-amount of space and light you have. If it is a big rooting veggie or something that you need to plant a lot of then forget it! People do try tomatoes and so on but it is really not cost effective because of the heat and light you need. I have found some foods that need little light and take very little space.

-amount of time these veggies take .. most things will say how long it takes to harvest so keep in mind there are fast growing things that have a harvest time of less than 50 days (ideal for indoor growing and cost effectiveness)

thing of general cost savings.- first can you find the seeds and stuff for free or less than the cost of the already grown item?

shipping adds cost when buying seeds online! so add than in on how much you want to spend

you might need to try new things. There are somethings that you might be able to grow real fast and cheap, but they are not the typical thing you would buy in the store to eat ( or in the store at all) but keep an open mind and just find different ways to make these things until you find a recipe you like.  

 HERE ARE MY FAVS. !

-onions

   I grow these for flavoring for the most part. You do not grow them for the bulbs but the greens. so, first you start with the cheepest source of where you can get these. TRY YOUR FRIDGE OR PANTRY! chances are you are like me and every now and then you have an onion that sprouted in your kitchen. So plant this bulb and harvest the greens for anything you want.. these are best cooked tho. Chances are too that by the spring you will have offshoots of these bulbs and you can grow them like green onions or for the flower to get the seeds from.

    second choice is to get them in your grocery store. Buy green onions and when you use the gree onion you plant the root end that you cut off, harvest the greens from the new growths or the entire onion and then repeat the cutting and regrowing process

    third you can buy a bag of pearl onions (these are more expensive) but it is worth it.. Plant as you would green onion bulbs but harvest for just the greens. 

    fourth you can buy the seeds and sets. i found that no one will ship to michigan in december when it comes to ther onion set, but i can get the seeds.

all in all when doing seeds remember it takes a long time to get useable indoor crop.

-chives

great for seasoning and you can gety these cheep in seed form but they take forever to grow, you can get these from your garden if you already planted some.

-Lettuces

Look for looseleaf producers. Head lettuce takes too long and it is cheaper to buy that in head form

so look for cool weather crops. gourmet, and oriental lettuces are good too. There is a asian lettuce called sword lettuce that says is grows real fast so i am trying it this time

Others i am trying

-spinaces

-radish

-gourmet greens

and more, but i will update later on what i get.

Things i would loive to introduce. 

Weeds! 

(I know this sounds sick and i do need to tell everyone to take special procautions when trying some of these because there are certain things that are poisionous and not good for you so when experimenting in these make sure you follow  proper safety precautions. know what is harmful and do investigation before use) 

weeds such as dandeliions can be eaten for greens or cooked, wilted and so on. But we all know these plants to be easy growing and fast growing (due to the observation of the pesky things in out lawns) but remember that these could be beneficial to you!

you can get these from your yard if you have them, remember you do not use any that have been sprayed with anything or are contaminated with anything bad like bacterias from manures and so on.

but there are places you can buy hybrid dandellon seeds for cheap. these plants are heavy on the yummy greens provoiding you with lots of yummies in small compact plants.

but keep your mind open and experiment on things you might not have tried before.

Here is DAY 1 for me

I have potting soil left over and some pots laying around so i was covered with those. using a sturdy box i covered the inside with tin foil top help my plants get more light and not lean to the light source. I clipped on my light and filled the box with pots and trays that had the following:  

1 large onion from my fridge that was old and close to sprouting

1 potato that had sprouted oin my pantry (put in a large plastic dixie cup for now)

chive plants  from my herb garden. they had already died back from the cold and now will think it is spring now that they are inside. 

gourmet pearl onions that i found in a mesh bag at the store. I found the ones that looked like they were sprouting so i asked for a discount on them since no one else was going to buy them.

some sprouting garlic. I took the bulb apart and planted the individual cloves.

some salad mix seeds that were left over from the summer.

One venus fly trap (just because it was lying around and i needed to get it more sun.  

This just filled up the box so i stopped for the day.

I then hopped online  and searched for unusual things finding the site

Gourtmetseed.com  

This has lots of cool seeds. decent prices and decent shipping!

so i ordered a lot from there…  and will keep you posted on how it all is. Keep in mind i did not get paid to review them and i paid for the seeds myself so i will express my real opinion  about this company and product (score one for the consumer) 

I basically kept my grocery cart to the seeds that had the quickest grow time. You can't find this stuff through BURPEE seeds!!!

But keep in mind i am trying to grow a lot, and fast!

as soon as i get my order i will have to do some work

I have a green house fram to bring in for the basement. The cover is wrecked so now it makes a great plant shelf for this project.

then i will rig the shop lights with the compact daylight bulbs to the shelving while covering the sides and back of the shelving with tin foil.  

I have to also keep in mind tha the basement where i am doing this is kind of cold. I will be  going the extra mile and insulating problem areas and sealing hiles and cracks with spray foam insulation (needs to be done anyways)

but this area will still be too chilly to grow tomatoes, peppers and other things like that. I then have to think that my other things will grow a little slower because of the cold.

well that is that for the day., Keep poste for more!

I have been wanting to organize all of the cllection of mail that lies on our half wall. It seems that no matter how many times i clean it it get messy again, but here is a solution i want to try.

Photo from : Ann at all things handmade  

Ideas for adjustments would be

-make the sides more rigid so it does not fold and hang oddly.

-make straps or pockets for cell phones and other items with chargers,

-make a way to have the charger attatched.

-decorate to match interior..

-possible place to have live plant :) 

I just came across this blog that someone pointed out in a comment and i read about how she made fabric blocks.

see the article and blog here 

Picture BY: nikki on http://craftnerd.blogspot.com 

I think this will be a great idea to add to my cache of things to do for the month of recon!!! 

Months worth of recon begins!

I start by pulling my hair back. I do have headbands in my bathroom but i am not satisfied with their legnth, the tightness, the color, durability and so on. I like cloth headbands but they do not stay put. So.. i made my own from some maternity pants.

 Here are the maternity pants. they are a little bit more lightweight tand denim and they are stretchy so this is nice for a headband

 Keep in mind to press the fabric with an iron after almost every step to keep it nice and even. so we atart by pressing the bottom of a leg, sever the bottom hem, measure your head from middle of ear to middle of ear,  cut a rectangle leaving the inseam (one less thing to sew) but make sure to cut it 1/4 " larger around the edges to have enough room for your seam allowance. 

fold inside out and sew your seam then turn right side in pressing with iron after this step (do not mind the nasty carpet) 

Using the material from the bottom hem feed elastic through it. fold in the edge to the headband and press, insert one part of the elastic to the headband and sew in place and sew the side closed. (pic shows the wrong placement .. should be in the middle of the edge.

Then place on your head and determine the pull of the elastic and then stitch in place like you did with the previous side.  

 Here is an add on that i thought of.

I hate headbands slipping so i had some old puffy paint that i applied and following the directions i used an iron to heat it in place .. now i have a no slip grip on the underside. I know it does not look pretty but i have been wearing it all dat and i have not had to readjust it. :) 

Finally i made somewhat of a guide. Tell me what you think!

Reconstructed clothing guide.

Why reconstruct clothes?
-to recycle
-to save money
-to lessen the amount of storage
-to clean your closet
-to make items personal and one of a kind
-to save your favorite clothing from the trash

How do you start?

In my opinion you should start small to get the hang of it. Take a piece of clothing and add something to it. A design, some trim, some kind of flair.
Or You can do something else small like take something away, take out a hem for a rough edge, take off the lace trim, take off the design.

A slightly more advanced thing to do is modifying structure. Subtract length, to sleeves, pant legs, the bottom of a shirt Subtract the size of the shirt by taking in seams. You can do other things like change the collar type of a shirt, add a collar, add a layered collar. Maybe add some sleeves, modify the type of sleeve, add fabric to the sleeves.

Then even more advanced is for more experienced sewers. You can use a pattern to make modifications, completely rework items like making one item into another.. Example, make pants into shirt, make shirt into skirt, make skirt into purse. You can even do something like cut open all seams and hems and think of the item as just plain fabric use a pattern or just freehand it.

What I do is think of something I might want or need and raid my storage for supplies to make that item. Or when i get bored I look for something in storage that I  like and see what i could make out of it.

If you get stuck just do some simple moves.. fold it, look at it, imagine it as something else, take out a seam and then look at it again, take off trim, sleeves anything else and look again .. it will come to you !

And most important!
SAVE ALL YOUR SCRAPS! things that come in handy..
trim, elastic, strips and pieces of fabric, decorative items, snaps, buttons, lace, patterns and everything else! These all could become something. even if you cannot work it as an item itself it could be an add on to another item.

I hope this might help someone make the effort to get a little creative and crafty
And if someone has any additions to this guide then please help me by sending suggestions.