greenclogs

crazy basil lady

I was hopping on my bike this morning, ready to ride back home from the kids' school, and I was stopped by one of the moms in the garden. They were pulling out a couple of huge basil plants so they could put in some new things, and asked if I wanted one. I, of course, jumped at the chance. I grabbed it and rode home past the multi-million dollar homes (so unlike my own, and one of these days, we'll vent about those homes) near the school. I passed the $500 per night hotels on the edge of Old Scottsdale. I moseyed back into my quiet little neighborhood and brought it home. On my way home, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a window and figured out why people had been staring at me all the way home. 

That basil plant was nearly a foot over my head, waving in the breeze. No wonder all of the fancy people were looking at me like I was a total rube. I looked like one! Small price to pay for all that basil. So here's the question - pick off the leaves and make pesto or try to replant it? The think is like a small tree with a huge root system. Has anyone successfully replanted basil?

In crafty news, I'm making progress on Annika's dolls.

See those legs? Yeah, the top seams are sewn the wrong way. Because I am so smart that I can read the directions, look at the picture, and still blind stitch the openings on all six legs the wrong way. Nice. Ripped those babies out and redid them last night, post-photo, and sewed legs on one doll. Annika has now figured out that these are dolls, so they have to be hidden from here on out. She is disappointed that none of them are for her and thinks it's really not fair. Hopefully she'll be pleasantly surprised. 

Happy Monday!

little of this, little of that

Someone is riding her bike without training wheels and rode to school today without them for the first time. She is very very proud, as am I. That same someone also has a new buddy who lives only one block away and is the other pea in her pod. It's so great to see them together. 

A snapshot of what I did today. Cutting out dolls (I really need one of those tiny rotary cutters) and doll clothes, working on some Christmas and winter themed cards for the shop. They'll go in this weekend, for all of you who are procrastinators like me. 

Lastly, a question. How on earth do you organize your scrap fabric? I was digging through my bin today and it was such a pain. There has to be a better solution that isn't hard to maintain. Smarter people?Ideally people who aren't naturally organized but really try to be? What do you do?

my new best friend

Sorry for the disappearing act! Somehow life got away from me this week. Add in 24 hours of no Interwebs (gasp!!) and my husband stealing my computer to play Spore because it won't load on his, and we made it all the way to Saturday. 

When we moved this summer, we moved into a neighborhood that would allow us to walk and ride bikes most of the time and get us out of the car. The kids got bikes this spring for their birthdays, but I didn't have one. Now that our high temperatures are flirting with staying under 100 degrees, it was time to go find the perfect bike. I surfed websites, I meandered through bike shops. I had a picture in my head of what my perfect bike would be. But I wasn't seeing it. 

Yesterday, on my way home from the Paper Studio I stopped at Tempe Bicycle just to see what they had. And there she was. 

Meet Vera. She is a Biria Classic Dutch model with 3 speeds. Just what I need. She needs pannier bags for the rack so I can make runs to the grocery store, but other than that I'm all set. It's a sturdy enough bike to add a trailer if I need one or to carry a significant load. I won't be winning any races, but that's not the goal. Gunnar and I went for our first ride this morning. As soon as the temps drop another 10 degrees and Annika is off the training wheels, we start riding to school. 

I'm really excited about this "car lite" lifestyle that we're working toward. Even without the bike, I have cut our gas consumption to a tank every 3 weeks in my car and every 2 weeks in Jeff's. He has to drive to work, so that's the best we can do on that end. With the bike riding, I'm hoping to fill the tank only once a month or even less. While we have to get back in the car once it heats up again, we should have 7 months or so where the bikes are the primary transportation. I never thought we'd be able to do this in this area, but our neighborhood in Scottsdale is near the bike trails and downtown Scottsdale. Everything we need is within 2 miles. Hooray!

Thank you to those of you who ordered my bicycle cards. There is one set of orange and one set of green left if you are interested. They can be found here. I stumbled across a motherlode of gocco supplies yesterday, so I'll be busy at work on new stuff this week. 

Happy weekend!