Katiebird's Garden & Wildcraft

These are the invites that I made for my husband's Birthday Fiesta in August.  His birthday is actually (one of) the dates that is said to be the BEGINNING of the Mayan calendar!  I chose the serpent motif from the Chichen Itza pyramid .  Just so happens I found the perfect paper at Archiver's that had the blue waves on the back and the fun zigzag on the front.  Of course, the fun stickers had to be added too.  Menu: A Taco and Nacho Bar Tomatillo Enchiladas Homemade Refried Beans An assortment of homemade FRESH salsas-my jalapenos and habaneros are growing insanely well-I think I have to pickle some just to save them we have so many! Tequilas and margaritas will also be served The piece De resistance: A Twinkie-pyramid-inspired cake-playing on the notion that Twinkies will survive the end of the world/nuclear holocaust/etc.  Not fully Twinkified, as to make it to scale (9 steps) with solid Twinkies would create a...

My carrots are ready for picking!  They are very delicious and most are nice and straight-which was questionable in the shallow garden area they were in.  I'm going to be blanching and freezing a bunch tonight to get a head start on my veggie supply for homemade soups and stews.  Another bunch will make its way to my sister's house for her and almost 1-yr. old nephew if she's willing to share!  It's not a good harvest until you get that mutant carrot with too many appendages! 

Finally here it is!  These are super easy, quite quick and don't cost much at all.  Things you'll need: Foam board (use your Micheal's coupons!) Cotton batting-I bought the crib-size and still have leftovers Fabric Glue gun and glue sticks-I used 2 long ones Duct tape Picture hangers or small brackets of your choice Step 1: Measure your window width and cut or tape more than one piece of foam board together to fit the space if needed.  I made sure it was at least 1" beyond each side of the wood moulding.  Remember you'll add thickness and need to attach brackets.  Mine were 64" long, 9" tall and the sides were 2" wide, your proportions may be different depending on the window size and style.  Duck tape holds it all together nicely.  I did add wooden chopsticks to the middle where I taped two long pieces together so it didn't bend.  You won't have to do this if your window is smaller....

I found this awesome highboy (or chest-on-chest,)  FREE on the side of the road.  Not kidding.  The owner was just putting the drawers in it at the end of her driveway when I screeched to a halt and told her I want it!  This piece is for my hubby and it turned out amazingly masculine-looking, yet still coordinates with my pretty little vanity.  I decided to get big clear bulbs for this one and then traditional Victorian crystal knobs for my vanity.  We still need a couple more for the bottom drawers, but I have to go to a different store to get them :)    Thanks for all the sanding work done by my dear hubby  I'm still finishing the mirror for the vanity and will post final pictures of that project when I put it back together and have the hardware on.  Last left on the bedroom fix list is painting the walls, hanging some new curtains and art.  My big girl room is almost finished!

If I seem happy about it, no but I've never had one!  If you don't know, an occlusion is a blockage in the tubing or flexible catheter (needle part) of your insulin pump.  Doesn't happen often for most people, but the pumps are so sensitive they will let you know if it does!  I woke at 4:00 am as usual to feed the cat and test my blood (it's become an agreed upon habit between us)  but the inset was in my thigh and the adhesive was lifted up on one side and it felt like it was popped out a little so I pushed it back in and put a piece of tape over it-not really thinking that clearly at this time in the morning  and my BG was 103, good.   So back to bed I went.  Woke up for real and BG was 193-not normal, I bolused for that number and the warning bells went off!  Occlusion!  Occlusion!  Hmm, not so smart to have shoved it back in earlier...after taking it out to put a new site in, here's what I saw: Ouch!

Has anyone noticed that it's damn hot in Minnesota?  My cat Stickee, hogging the fan this morning I've been fighting with my One-Touch Ping meter remote for the past 2 mos.  It had "Ping-ed" out.  The thing didn't seem to read or sense the strips when inserted or when blood was added.  I finally got fed up with swearing and throwing strips around and called One-Touch and they promptly sent me a new one!  Awesome customer service they have.  How nice it is not to waste 3-4 strips per test!  Back on track with my awesome testing schedule.  As for the home front: Too hot to paint right now... The garden is going insane with this humidity and heat!  I have to take pictures this week.  We've been eating snow peas regularly for a couple weeks and I've already harvested my first 1 1/2 cups of garden peas.  I really enjoyed sitting on the stoop shelling them :)  I quick-blanched and froze them.  I'm hopin...

My rhubarb recipe blog from a couple weeks ago is featured on Chickens in the Road Blog today!  If you haven't checked out this hilarious and informative website about Susan McMinn's independently-woman-owned and worked farm and animal friends, please do so.  You can check out my recipe feature and see tons of other delicious ideas,  HERE .