New addition

It was a bit iffy whether the now-yellow dresser was going to come back to Bend with us, but I ended up doing it. The paint, for some inexplicable reason, was still kind of gummy, despite having had three weeks to dry and harden in 85+ degree temperatures. Consequently, the finish ended up a bit crappy, after getting jostled around in the back of the Q.

(And the "reveal" pic is craptacular, thanks to the impromptu hailstorm we had while I was taking pictures. It's much cuter in person. Whatever.)

But I'm overall very pleased with how it came out, mainly because of one little secret ingredient: Floetrol. It's a paint conditioner. It extends the wet edge and helps reduce drag. It's like pouring magic into your paint. Somehow, without diluting the color (which is good, because yellow is a sucky color to paint with and requires a lot of coats) it makes painting worlds better. I highly recommend you snag a bottle for your next project. I will never paint without it again.

The dresser takes up a bit more space at the top of the stairs than I'd expected, but it's ok.

It also doesn't particularly matter, because we're thinking we'll be changing places in Bend soon. We're kicking around the idea of buying something that's the exact opposite of our Hillcrest house...NOT a short sale or foreclosure, NOT with a yard that wants maintenance, NOT a fixer-upper, and probably more like 1500 square feet or less. Or renting something bigger. In any case, our 600-sq-ft studio days are numbered. And the dresser will have a new home.

Time flies

Been a busy few months around here...but before things got busy (more on that shortly) I finally painted the stupid wooden knobs that came with the dresser I painted last winter. I used some antique gold paint and am happy enough with how they came out (and really loving actually having knobs on the dresser--makes getting the drawers out a lot easier).

Fun trick with painting knobs (I've done it several times and this is my best method). Get a box, like a cracker box, and cut X-shaped holes in it. Put the screws in the back of the knobs and insert the knobs, screw-side down, into the box, so the knobs are sitting on the box. Then you can easily paint the knobs without holding them and getting your fingers all paint-y. And they're nice and stable, so you can easily paint all the way around.

In other news, I started working at Todd's company about six weeks ago. Not the direction I expected life to take, but a good opportunity came along and I decided to take it.

Anyway... We're headed back to Medford next weekend, and I'm in the process of painting another dresser there. This one's for Todd, since he's been living out of laundry baskets and under-the-bed boxes since we moved here.

Several months ago, he ranted, "I used to be a man! I used to store my clothes in a dresser!" So I'm painting the champagne-colored one that was in the guest room a school bus yellow color, filling the holes and adding new nickel hardware. It gets to come home with us next weekend :)

That's mostly what's going on here these days!

Brownie hangover

...it can happen. At least, I'm pretty sure. I made these dulce de leche brownies the other night and ate some last night, and I swear they ruined me. It took a LOT of very loud dance music to get me going this morning.

Normally, I like silence or quiet ambient rock in the morning. I realized desperate measures were in order when, in my zombie-trancelike state, I accidentally ate a brownie for breakfast. Love that Lady Gaga Pandora radio station.

They are amazing and I highly recommend making them. Next time, I'll be adding some not-melted chocolate chips to the mix, because I like brownies with chocolate chips. Adds nice texture.

On the other end of the food spectrum, my lettuce seeds are coming along nicely, despite the fact that there was SNOW in the forecast this week.I'm excited for fresh lettuce. Like most produce that's home grown, it's just a lot better than grocery-store lettuce.

We're headed to Medford this weekend, and I'm excited to dig into some projects. Like a table for our grill I want to build. Maybe "stand" is more accurate, but something to lift it up a little. I need to take some measurements. Our neighbors have been gardening, so it'll be fun to see how things are coming along there. And, of course, yardwork. YAY!

Lastly, I finished my lemon wreath a while ago and it makes me happy every dang time I look at it (which is frequently, since I spend most of my time in a very tiny apartment).

BE SPRING!

It's springtime in Medford. I posted about it in our house blog a few weeks ago. It is NOT spring in Bend. Spring has dementia: it was late, then showed up for a few days, but not realizing it was in the right place, left. And now it's November again.

Anyway, not to be deterred, I constructed a self-watering vegetable container based on this plan and planted tomatoes, basil and oregano. I also built a nifty little cart to wheel it in and out at night, because tomatoes are temperature sensitive and won't produce if they get too chilly.

That's the plant collection, taken from 20 feet above looking over our ledge. The pot on the right is 18 inches at the top. It's big. (It also probably needs a reservoir fill-up, too, eek...)

Other crafty news: I found a blog post somewhere about a lemon wreath. I love wreaths that don't look like trash, and I love lemons, and I especially love being crafty and creative. So...I copied the idea. But mine's better.

Or, you know, it will be, once I finish hot-gluing the lemons in place and can hang it up. Still maybe a bit sparse in the 6 to 9 o'clock areas. Hmm.

ALSO! I am propagating rosemary and basil, and my little seedlings (Gloriosa daisies, which look like black-eyed susans, my favorite!) are coming right along.

Oh, I love gardening so much.

Raspberry lemon bars

I made these for book club a few weeks ago. They're what I tweeted about eating for breakfast. (Fact: if "dessert" has fruit, it can also be very acceptable breakfast food.)

I don't really feel like finding the recipe and linking to it, but if you search for "bhg raspberry lemon shortbread bars" you'll probably find it. It was in May's BHG.

YUM.

On birthdays

I've been a dedicated reader of Slate's Dear Prudence column for at least five years now, and Miss Manners on MSN before that. From time to time, there's someone who writes in about a birthday. It's one of two takes on a situation. A) My friends forgot my birthday and I feel hurt or B) My friend is going waaaay overboard in celebrating and thinks her birthday is an annual wedding where she gets all the attention she wants for as long as she wants.

I've done some thinking about this, because I suppose both responses are unreasonable (though, full disclosure, I'm more likely to fall into the former camp than the latter). I think it stems from feeling deep in your heart that you're un-cared for. It's a lot more obvious in the first response than the second, but overcompensation is usually an indicator of a lack, no?

The people who comment (and usually the advice-givers) are down on people who think they should be celebrated by their friends on their birthday. "You're too old, stop acting like a child" is how it typically goes.

It makes me wonder what's so wrong with celebrating people on their birthdays. What's wrong with celebrating people in general? We don't have time or energy to do that every day (though maybe we should), but it seems like people should be excited to have one day they can celebrate and make the people they supposedly care for feel cared for.

I'm not talking about addressing the symptom or reaction (sulkiness or self-centeredness) but the root of the issue: that people don't feel like those around them genuinely care about them. Maybe that's not just appreciating someone on his or her birthday, but regularly. Actually caring for people because it's important and because we want to.

P.S. it is still snowing outside. That's six months, folks. And I thought I was going to get to garden soon.

Scrambled updates

Been a busy few weeks! I've been working on two websites, and I've been meaning to post a link to my own company, Paraphrase Media, for about a month now. I finally finished it (mostly...there's always room for improvement) and am excited to be official!

It's been such a busy few weeks that I haven't done any projects, other than baking. Also, I've taken up being a full-blown nerd, playing COD Black Ops (mainly to kill the zombies). If video games weren't bad enough, Todd got me a headset to wear while we're playing, so I can be told by the friends we play with not to shoot the crawler...right before I do. Oops. (Sorry, nerdy digression.)

I have been doing some really awesome things with eggs lately, that I'm going to share. That is a rosemary-onion-spinach scramble, seasoned with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, green onions and plenty of Tillamook Colby Jack. (Secret: the "onion" part is actually powdered onion soup from a packet. Surprisingly versatile stuff.) The rosemary was grown in my windowsill herb garden (in which I am unfortunately, and so far unsuccessfully, battling aphids. I'm buying ladybugs today.)

There have also been some very successful stir-fry experiments, but I don't have pictures, so I won't mention them yet.

Plans are also in the works for my summer garden, which is going to include:

• tomatoes
• basil
• oregano
• possibly zucchini
• lettuce (more for springtime)
• petunias
• geraniums
• dahlias

and I am excited for it.