Smarts and Crafts blogged about this Friday and I think it’s really perfect. So simple, clean and handmade. Yum. At $28 it’s a great gift…or gift vessel. By Eleen…available at the always fabulous Curiosity Shoppe.
Soap
This will seem weird and random…but it seemed appropriate for a time when guests may be coming and going. More often than not, when my guests wash their hands, they comment on my hand soap. It smells great..and little expensive.  I’m REALLY finicky about smells…especially in body products. Don’t even get near me with a Vanilla candle.
Last year, I finally found a scent I really like…and it’s dirt cheap. The Motif line at Target has a handful of nice choices…but the winner for me is their “Cypress and Pear”. Today I saw that they are now offering a bar soap line in the same scents. I don’t use bar soap anymore, but I picked some up for the guest caddy in the upstairs bath-some people can’t give up the bar. It’s a fresh, yet earthy smell without being musky…and not too sweet to put men off. For $3.49 a bottle…you can’t beat it.
Holiday Slices
It’s officially Holiday time…the boxes have come down from the attic. No tree yet, but we’ll be ready when we bring it home.
I had commented over at Happy Mundane on his post about agate slice ornaments since I have made these in the past. It got me thinking that I’d like to make some more to revamp my trusty, white feather tabletop tree this year. Smaller in scale than the ones I made for the big tree, I got these pre-drilled in natural from Northern Stones on ebay. 12 for $22.
When I first made these, it was because I loved the ones I’d seen in the Viva Terra catalog a few years back. The new ones from Crate and Barrel are far more reasonably priced – $20 for 4 instead of $42 for six. That said, I still like doing my own…so I did..and did again. I used wire cutters to snip through the fishing line since it will ruin a good pair of scissors.
I draped some strands of Kukui nut I use in my jewelry making to jazz up the bottom of the tree. It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the light shines beautifully through the slices. Despite having less natural light, I decided the tree needed to live against the black walls of the dining room. It was getting lost against the white walls in the entry.
Old ones…and new ones.
Landscape Update
Well, I’ve been avoiding this hot mess post because I wasn’t sure how to bitch about it without sounding like a brat. Impossible. So here it is. It would appear that I won’t have a front door by Christmas. The Plan was not followed closely enough and now, our wooden stairway has to be rethought. Currently, the way it is designed will drop you on the first concrete step, rather than at the pad on the gravel patio…thus forcing you to step over a wall to get to the patio. I don’t think so. We’re screwed by about 16 inches. We may have to zig zag a bit to make up the difference which REALLY BLOWS. I think it will look weird and awkward and poorly planned…YA THINK?!
Just to make sure I get kicked when I’m down…the tree rats are getting a little revenge. Remember that new paint job? There’s about 4 boards of cedar left on the entire house since we haven’t replaced the door to the crawlspace behind the house yet. They’ve been going for it. Bastards.
I’ve never had a renovation surprise beat me before and I’m working hard to make sure this one doesn’t either. I’ve been a bit depressed about this development since I usually have an “aha” solution to these things by now. I know there’s been a lot going on…distracted…denial.
Today I walked around, looking at the old staircase lying in the mud …(my God all the mud…everywhere)…and realized it was time to walk away….at least until after the holidays. Stick it on the shelf…even though every time I come up the driveway it will scream “failure!!” to me…Talking to the CC, I was reminded of the big picture.
CC:Â Does it look better than it did…even unfinished?
ME:Â Sigh….Yes…
CC:Â Does it add value to the property?
ME:Â One would hope!
CC: Well, then. Whatever it ends up being, it will be miles ahead of where we were… AND we’ve added value despite the problems.
ME: You’re right. You’re ALWAYS right…..
That’s why he’s a keeper.
Bratty pants here is taking deep breaths and will revisit with a solution at a later date with a fresh mind.  In the meantime, we need to fill the beds with topsoil, finish the patio with a layer of crushed stone and basically spend a lot of time shoveling and hauling. I’m still sore from Sunday and I barely made a dent.
So, do I put a wreath on a door you can’t get to?
Tree on a Wedding Cake
Since so many people have already started decorating for the holidays, I figured I’d better post this little DIY even though I haven’t joined the masses yet. These photos are from last year. Here’s the ModFruGal trick for stretching your Christmas tree budget.
I’m a live tree person (don’t hate me eco-cops), and I have high ceilings.  I needed a way to give my tree better presence without having to throw $200 at the project. Instead of buying a 12 ft tree, I bought an 8-9 ft tree and put it on our “wedding cake” platforms. It creates a tiered surface area for presents, makes it nice and easy to get at them…and adds a few feet of height to a $65 Home Depot tree. The platforms took the CC about an hour to screw together with some scrap plywood etc.. we had in the garage. I wrapped it up in some burlap and called it a day.
Guess I’d better head to the attic and start dragging all the decorations down. eh…maybe tomorrow.
Avian Obsession
It’s that time of year….the Titmice and the Carolina Chickadees will eat an entire feeder of black sunflower seed in a single day. It’s crazy. Because I’m not content to just gaze out the window at them while they gorge, I picked up a little sumtin’ on Black Friday. While everyone else hit the mall…I hit the junk stores and they were refreshingly quiet. I even found another pair of birdies for $6.
Everyone in my neighborhood already has their holiday decorations up…sheesh. Not ready for that yet, but I guess I’d better start decking the halls before time gets away from me.