News from the Nest, June 17

Good Morning, Friends!

FWIW, the Summer Solstice is this Thursday, making it the longest day in the year!

I’m sitting here this glorious Monday morning after having enjoyed a very lovely weekend. Not only was it Father’s Day, and Terry was appropriately fêted with all of his favorite foods and gifts (the portable battery charger/air compressor was a hit!), but we also celebrated our 38th (!!) wedding anniversary at our favorite restaurant. We worked in the yard and watched some golf, and it was truly a blissful weekend.

So, some of you have kindly reached out to see photos of my much-anticipated, long-overdue, and continually plagued bathroom re-fresh. Well, you’re going to have to wait a few more days. As a refresher, I took a week off a month ago to ‘do the bathroom.’ I had purchased the mirror, light fixtures, sink fixtures, paint, shower curtain fabric and trim, and mounted shower rod over the past year, and it was just waiting to be put together.

So, I started painting the bathroom but fell off the ladder, adding a two-week delay to the project. I finally finished painting and had the sink and light fixtures replaced. We hung the new mirror, mounted the shower rod, and added a lovely glass and stainless steel shelf.

All that was left to do was sew the shower curtain—easy peasy lemon squeezy. It also allowed me time to listen to Nicholas Nickleby in my current quest to listen to all of Charles Dicken’s books.

I knew I wanted a longer shower curtain than the 72″ standard to give the small bathroom some height and make it look less cramped. I looked around for some pre-made 84″ curtains, but nothing struck my fancy, so I decided I could make one myself and I hightailed it to the fabric store. To get the width I needed, I would need to seam two pieces together, but I was O.K. with that because I found a lovely beige, woven trim I liked and, in fact, based the bathroom wall paint color on the trim. My plan was to have the seams and trim down each side of the curtain similar to this.

I’m going to go ahead and blame it on my 45+-year-old sewing machine, but I could not sew that lovely trim (on which I chose my paint color) onto the fabric without it puckering! I can’t even tell you how many times I ripped off the trim this past week, patiently and slowly sewing it back on, only to find it puckered again! I tried to figure out how to adjust my sewing machine, but again, I really don’t even know how old this machine is. It was my grandmother’s, and after her death 45 years ago, it was given to me. Suffice it to say, I don’t have a manual, but it is a very bare-bones machine.

I truly lost track of how many times I did this, but I can tell you that it consumed several days this past week. After the last attempt, I threw the whole thing in the trash and ordered a $25 all-white shower curtain from Amazon…it will be here tomorrow.

Oh, but wait. I forgot to tell you that I had also ordered a grommet tool and had already added the grommets to the shower curtain that is now in the trashcan.

This little anecdote should dispel any notions that still persist about my supernatural crafting abilities.

A Few Handy Tips

• If you forgot to get your blouse or other lightweight clothing item out of the laundry and now it is all wrinkled, just toss it back in with a few ice cubes or a wet washcloth for about ten minutes…definitely a wrinkle reducer.
• Use an adhesive lint roller to give your lamp shades a good cleaning.
• Here’s a simple test you can do to see if an alkaline battery is fresh or dead. Hold the top of a battery (where the plus sign is) about 1-2″ from a hard, flat surface like your kitchen counter. When you drop it, it will bounce if the battery is dead or has just a little life in it. If the battery is fresh, it won’t bounce but will pretty much stay put when dropped.
• Pencil graphite, soap, and candle wax are all lubricants when dealing with a stuck zipper.

From the Knit Studio

From the Kitchen

From the Arts and Crafts Studio

If you are spending any time at the beach this summer, gather some shells to make some of the following projects. For the oyster shells, you can also go to your local fish market to see if they’ll let nab some shells from their trashed shells.

In the Garden

We remain hopeful that, despite the concerted efforts of the deer population, we can resurrect our tomato and cucumbers. To that end, we’ve enclosed the area in deer mesh and are giving them tender loving care. Terry made a batch of compost tea, so we will be giving them an added boost with that today.

Around the Home

A Few Favorites and Some Fun Finds

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If you are gathering with friends and family this summer, here are some fun games for your group.

• I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love this Ransom Notes game. We’ve introduced it to several friends, who have since purchased their own. Fair warning: it can get raunchy but we have found that my mom can be the instigator! And it comes with six trays, but you can get metal plates to augment for more players from your hardware store, just make sure they are magnetic.
• You can have up to seven players with this Five Crowns Game. It’s a fast-paced, rummy style card game
• If your crowd likes trivia, challenge them with this educational History Trivia game!
• And UNO remains a best seller for obvious reasons…just a great game.

Well, I’m off to take Elsa to her playdate to tire her out before I go and pick up mom from the airport.

Wishing you week of everything you need and even a few things that are just frivolous!

Hugs,

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!