Finally got the hang of it!

Okay, I got an older picture to upload to the blog!  This is me in the green shirt with son #2 hiding behind me, his wife and son and daughter!  I loved seeing them. They left the day after the wedding, and we met them at the airport to see them back to the 49th state. Brrrrrrrr.

Lets see if I can get some of the Halloween pictures into the computer while I'm at this blog. I did it!  There were a few new tweaks to get them to load, and to show up here. So here is Halloween at our house.

Above is me as "Prof. Sprout" with some of the little plants ready to hand them out.  (Candy in the huge pot on the floor. I was successful in adding a false bottom to the pot, so it would look like there was lots of candy.)  (You can see a larger version if you click on the pictures. You can make out the kinds of plants and read the upcoming homework that way.)

Above is the second table of plants with seeds and a reference book as well.

Prof. Sprout again... showing off some homework. There are leaves, seeds and a little bark on the birch spot - being covered by my hand.  I looked up information on each kind and printed that out on the parchment and burnt the edges to give the impression that it was old.  I really enjoyed doing that. I learned lots of stuff about the different kinds, too.

Here's the hubby as Harry Potter.  Kind of convincing, isn't he. One of the little visiting witches asked if he was Harry Potter... and he said "Yes" and got the wand to light at the same time.  I guess that's why he is HP every time.  He loves to ham it up... and the kids love it, too.

We had a wonderful time, and the reason we have no pictures of the Trick or Treaters it that we were busy!  We had lots of them, and at the same time, too... and then we welcomed the parents in to choose a plant if they wanted one.  There just wasn't time to take pictures once they started to arrive.  We gave away about half the seeds and three fourths of the plants, and luckily most of the candy.  I have a sign up for anyone who wants one to take one of the remaining plants. I want to do a different HP scene next year. Possibly Prof. Tralawny's tower. Got any ideas for me?

Next time I hope to have a tutorial on making book covers that will fit different sizes of books...

Keep tuning in. I'll get the hang of this sooner or later.

Luv to all !

Terri



Now the clean up...

We had a marvy time last night.  The kids had such great costumes and were enthused about the little plants and seeds.  I was quite surprised at the different plants they liked. All the tangerines from seed are gone.  All the Tree of Heaven/Hell seeds are gone. But there are lots of seeds and little plants left.  We did have about 200 trick or treaters and some parents who took plants and seeds, too. One of the dads was dressed up as a scare crow, and one other was wearing the orange jumpsuit that prisoners wear. He said he escaped from the closest prison to us... I hope it was just a costume. Lots of little ol ladies came from a party near by... and we sent them off with a plant.  I think the adults should have some Halloween fun, too. We did.

So now the clean up.  What do I do with the leftover plants and seeds? (I know what to do with the few bits of candy that are left.)  I want to try a different Harry Potter scene next year. We've already done the common room.  I'm leaning toward Prof. Trawlaney's classroom or the Potions Dungeon. If you have any ideas on either, let me know.
<3 to any reading this...
Terri

"Aunti" Yuppie

Hello and it's almost Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just wanted to let you know the latest in seed packet dilemmas.  I gathered some "Tree of Heaven" seeds a couple of days ago, and thought the name was Tree of Life.  Well, I couldn't verify that with a book or on the Internet, so I e-mailed the local town where I see alot of these trees.  I found their arborist and from a description of the tree and seeds he told me they were called Tree of Heaven, but known locally as "Tree from Hell". The male trees stink, and the females drop hoards of seeds that germinate easily... also they are drought resistant, which is a good thing here, but they start also by roots sending up suckers all over the place.  Now my dilemma, should I offer the seeds to poor unsuspecting ToTers?  or ditch the seeds in the garbage?  I did write a seed packet warning the unsuspecting gardeners.  How responsible do I have to feel here? I want the kids to have a good starter and quick grower - T of Heaven... at the same time I don't want my neighbors to suffer with a stinky or insistent weed of a tree from He double toothpicks.  I'm going to make up the packets, and add a tab saying "For Slytherin Gardeners".  Ha Ha Ha Ha! What do you think?
Little bit of Heaven, for some, or a little bit of Hell for others.  Isn't that the way with everything?
Here's wishing you a fun and wonderful Halloween.  Hope you have lots of cute and scary trick or treaters to brighten your door.
<3 U, Terri

It's getting closer!

Hello fellow bloggers!
I"m still having trouble figuring out how to get the pictures in here.  Yesterday I made new cuttings of honeysuckle and passionflower vines.  They start up really fast, and the ones that have been growing all summer in the little yogurt cups are yellowy and don't look very healthy. 

Last night we folded, stapled, filled and closed the seed packets. We have 56 of those. I'm debating whether I should use up the cherry pits from last year and all the apricot pits I saved.  I really don't know what I saved them for, if it wasn't for the seed packets... but the seeds this old may not germinate. 

Today, I'm going to work on a couple of simple poster games that the kids might enjoy.  One will have seeds and their seed pods on them and you will have to "pick the plant" named in the second column that corresponds.  The second game will be trees from our neighborhood, a "Tree I.D." fashioned like the previously mentioned game.  There will be a yarn "line" to put in a hole with a nail "peg".  I hope the ToTers like them.
So I am off... but you knew that.
<3 U followers - you know who you are!
Terri / Mom / Grammy

Getting ready

We are having a storm today!  Wind and rain only, but lotsa wind.  We took all the little Halloween plants off of the patio yesterday and are storing them in the garage.  They will need to be there for our little diorama of Hogwarts Greenhouse #3 on Sunday so that'll save us another step on Sat or Sun.  We moved over 200 plants, brought out the indoor plants as well, so they are altogether now.  It's amazing what is left over.  I ditched the 5 potato plants in drinking cups.  They each had 1 or 2 tiny potatoes in them.  Some of the seeds and pits didn't germinate, so they are not with the 200+, and some cuttings looked terrible after the whole summer and not transplanted, so they aren't going either.  I worked hard, and now feel lonely... like my babies will soon be off into the world without me.  Hope I can figure out the photo thing before I give them all away.  I'd love to show them off.
Working on the seed packets, too.  I have seeds for Agapanthus, Columbine, Oak, Mimosa, Birch, Spearmint, Mullien, Catalpa, Tangerine, Cosmos and Hollyhock - and I thought I might not have enough variety to do the seed thing this year! 
Well, I'd better get to it... Thanks for stopping by.  <3 U, Terri

thought I was invincible, I guess

When all the other bloggers were having their troubles with the picture downloading, I thought that wouldn't happen to me.  Today I found out otherwise.  I took oodles of pictures of my last roses - on a sunny fall day - to show you, and some of the new Halloween plants... to no avail.  I can't figure out how to get them into the computer.  A couple of weeks ago Microsoft updated, and changed our computer - forever - I guess.  Since then I lost my Microsoft Works - put it back onto the computer from the old software disc, but still lost all my files, and the new stuff works differently... not a big thing, but I've had to rebuild my address file.  Good thing I never trusted the #@$^%*&~+##@ thing with the Christmas list or any other handy list that would have only worked until they put on an update without my permission.  I wonder why they think I have nothing better to do than to keep up with their destruction.  I now keep a paper copy - in this paperless society - to backup the junk.
So no pictures of the roses, but I'll look through the files I did retain - of some old pictures to put on here.
Well, I can't access the pictures I can see that are in my computer from before the update.  So no pictures. 
Guess at this time in my life that is a good thing.  I really need to go sew.  I have a couple little paper pieced projects to finish.  Gonna make a couple of "mug rugs".  I have a couple of people in mind for them.
You also won't be seeing the very excellent gifts that my Sis sent me for "early Christmas".  She sends me Halloween things I might like for Christmas... cause I like Halloween better. (See previous posts for the reasons.) Yesterday I got a crystal ball, Hermione's wand, and the Marauder's Map... to use in our Halloween diorama.  What a generous gift. I can say Thank You Sis!!!!!!!!!!!! but I can't share the pictures with you.
Well, I'm off to sew.  Thanks for stopping in to check on me.
<3 You and I especially <3 my Followers!!!

Halloween sign

Hello and welcome to my blog.
Today I'm showing the sign I was inspired to make for the neighbor kids from a Happy Halloween sign I saw a while ago on one of my blogs.... probably "One Pretty Thing" - I really don't remember where I saw it. Anyway, this is what I made:



It's from a roll of white paper that I dyed with strong coffee - not just a breakfast drink - and used paper piecing quilt patterns from SewHooked.com for the letters. (It is a free pattern site, just so long as you don't sell your product you are okay with the copyright laws.)  I used the letters to figure out the numbers and put the numbers on with removable tape so I can change the sign every day.  I also burned the edge to make it look like old parchment.  (Backed it all with heavier cardboard - the bit between layers of TT at Costco. - free for the taking!!!)  What'd you think?  I love it, and I hope it conveys to the neighborhood how excited I am that Halloween is coming soon.

I also took a couple of pictures of the trees in my yard - some of you have not been here in a while so you haven't seen my Squirrel Tree (an oak) that has started making acorns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still don't know how to turn the pictures upright.  Anyway it's on the side of the driveway and for years we tried to pull it out, cut it down, and finally left it grow... a squirrel must have planted it - thus it's title - because there are no oaks within earshot of our house.  He plants them in my potted plants, too.  I don't know if you can see it on the next pic, but there is a different kind of oak in the pot of my Silk Oak that I started from seed.  I am really proud of that one.  I didn't even know if what I planted was the seed or a grain of dirt!  There is a Silk Oak in our neighborhood - a few blocks away - that I scavenged "seeds" from, and in about 4 years I have this:

It's in the pot behind the chair needing transplant into a bigger pot, but we needed to get more dirt.  It is a frond sort of leaf that makes it look silky.  Can you make out the little plant at the bottom - that is a totally different kind of oak planted by that #@!!!%&$ squirrel.  (Why did the computer put that in blue and underline it?)  Anyway, 2 other potted plants carry that extra squirrel tree.  I hope I can keep them alive to put with the little plants for Halloween, but I have to transplant them to some other pots.  My work is never done!
Hope you all are in fine fettle again.  Love to all my readers and especially to my followers!
Terri