Pepper Paints

Strawberries and Whine

It was a beautiful day for strawberry picking and eating and picking and eating….

And for picking peas

And by late afternoon it was one of those days when I  want to run far, far away from my children.  It doesn’t happen too often, thank god, but when it does it makes for a long day.  The fighting, crying, arguing, testing and what really got me yesterday ; the rudeness, selfishness, meanness.  I was even down one child for a few hours and I was still brought to tears of frustration.

I ask very little of my kids, which is part of the problem, so when there is an opportunity for them to help out I stupidly expect them to, if not willingly volunteer, at least unbegrudgingly help upon request.  These are not characteristics that I can change with a word and my impatient self can’t think of ways to discourage these attitudes for the long haul. I just wanted to wake up today with a bright look on a new day, with different kids but so far it ain’t lookin’ to be that way.   I am all ready annoyed at the prospects of the day and I only have my “easy” kid up and about so far.  It is already after 8 am as I sit on this time sucking computer and I still have 2 bags of strawberries to contend with among all the other day to day grind.  Part of it is my pessimistic attitude that needs some regular exercise and partly the results of an extremely laid back parenting approach.

So what do I do?

I will now walk out of this house into the park behind me with my camera in hand for a mini vacation and re-focusing.  I will return shortly to 3 kids, that I am hoping my husband, who has taken a little extra time home this morning, will have straightened out a bit. And if that’s not the case, I will muddle through one more day, because tomorrow is Thursday-and on Thursdays days all is right in my world.  At least from 1:30 until bed time my outlook on life is sunny.  And it seems to carry me through till at least Monday when I may once again be ready to give my kids away to the nearest taker.

Lucky me! And the unplugged weekly project…Sticky

Do you notice a big new something in my hand?  A new camera!  And not just any camera..She’s a Nikon D300.  WoW!

Whenever I get money for a holiday I put it away.  Whenever I clean my husbands office, I put it away.  Whenever I sell anything I put it away.  I have been saving for awhile, years actually, so I had a good bit of stash.  She is AMAZING!  Look at what she can do…

And even this with NO FLASH or tripod….(Wasn’t happening with my XTi)

I haven’t had much time to get to know her but I have been admiring her from afar.  I  had her picture taped up on my kitchen cupboard for a while.  And it was love at first sight.  As I said in my previous post (Where there is a chance to win a party favor!) I am obsessed with taking pictures and photography in general lately.  Lucky for me, my husband believes in me and supports my creative endeavors or else I would have been short a little bit of dough.  Thanks honey!!  Now on to the unplugged project.

STICKY

We cut a piece of contact paper, pulled the backing off and taped it down to the table.  OUTSIDE for those that are mess-phobic!  Now let them shake  the glitter all over the contact paper.

Cut a second piece of contact paper the same size or a bit bigger to stick over the top.

Trim the edges if you want…

Hang in a window…

Nasty Neighbor!

WARNING REALLY LONG RANT!!

We have lived in our house for about 4 1/2 years.  We fell in love with the huge yard and the fact that a bike path and 13 acre park are in our back yard.  The house itself is OK, actually more than OK, but all those quirky things that surprised us at the open house are the things that drive me crazy about this house now.  But really we bought for the yard!  We were familiar with the neighborhood as we were only moving about a mile or so north-west of our old house.

We moved from a smaller house and yard on a street with stay at home moms and kids running wild.  We loved our neighborhood and our neighbors; block parties in the summer, Oktoberfest in the fall, a progressive holiday dinner in the winter.  It is what this little pocket of a city we live in is all about.  I assumed all of Clintonville was like this.   Boy was I wrong!

Within the first week of moving, our single, lady neighbor was full of questions, and not the kind of get to know you questions you usually ask new neighbors.  More along the lines of; what are you building?  Will that dog kennel smell?  Can you move that rabbit hutch that is on your side of the fence that I can’t even see but my only child, I mean dog can smell and it is making him upset?  Can you not stack your wood so high, it scares my child, I mean dog.  Later that week, my mom and her dog were visiting and Sammy the dog was chained up out front in our shady front yard when my nosey neighbor came over and yelled at my Mom for leaving the dog chained up outside all day.  Hmm, did I mention my mom was just visiting.  “What is her name?”, I asked my husband.  Oh well I guess there’s plenty of time for that, we have only lived here a week.

Then we started getting these funny  letters and valentines addressed to us from our dogs asking us to let them live in a world with out chains.  There was no return address either.  We received letters from the police department warning about our dogs excessive barking.  Hmm, we do live on a park were strangers and strangers with dogs are often walking on the bike path behind our house. Luckily we never had to pay any fines.   We had visits from the dog warden telling us of complaints they received about the way we keep our dogs.   He checked out our kennel and our dogs and  scratched his head at  the complaint.  We also have a gas house on our property that is a small single story building that is an invitation to any 10 year old boy to get on top of and throw walnuts off the roof at his little sister.  That is until a cranky voice told him to get down.  “Who told you to get down? “  “Our crabby neighbor.  What’s her name anyway?”  “I don’t know son.  But we have only lived here a year.”

Later that summer my husband and kids started building a tree house in an area of property that we maintain but technically don’t own.  They set the posts and put the platform up.  The following summer they finished the tree house complete with a front porch to watch baseball games going on in the park as well as fireworks on the 4th of July.  All who passed by were eager to share their childhood tree house stories and admired the craftsmanship and the time my husband and kids spent together working on it.   We hung a  rope and a hammock near by and  it really started to feel like home.  Until that week we received a letter from the park telling us to take the tree house down, a neighbor had complained.  “Who?”  I asked.  They couldn’t tell me but it didn’t matter anyways since I don’t know that  #$%&*! s name anyways.  So down came the tree house.  We salvaged all the pieces and covered it with a tarp for the winter.  We talked about finding a new place to put it, closer to the house and two weeks ago the project began again.

Right in the side yard between our house and the crabby nameless neighbors house!

She was out of town most of that weekend so when she came home and found a large bucket truck idling in what she claims is her front yard and posts about 10 feet in the air looming over her fence-she freaked out!

Once again, She Who Shall Remain Nameless, barked requests and questions our way.  And sure enough the code enforcement man was knocking on my door yesterday.  He asked me some information and took a photo or two and got back to me later in the afternoon with the news that we are in compliance with all tree house building codes.  Sorry, name that I can not bring myself to type, but this is the house that Joe built and we are thinkin’ of painting your side pink and running electricity to it so we can light it up and play music just at the legal level!

Really we have tried to be nice and neighborly.  We know you are bitter and lonely.  We are sorry your Vegas marriage only lasted 1 week.  We tried to help when you were out in the yard, in the pitch black screaming because your only friend, I mean dog, killed the neighbors, sisters cat he was watching.  We showed our concern for your dog when he was gored by a deer while running of leash in the park.  Funny, isn’t there a leash law?   We didn’t make you move your flower bed or garden wall that is on our surveyed property by a good 4 feet.  But this is our neighborhood now.  We will make this yard our own.  Complete with vegetable gardens fruit bushes and trees in that  sunny front part of our yard that you have been cutting for all these years yet we pay the taxes on.  You will move that garden wall to make room for my expanded strawberry patch.  We will put that treehouse up in our very wide side yard and my kids will laugh, scream in delight and run wild with their friends in this north west side of Clintonville.

Handmade Paper

Have you ever visited a real art supply store? Not Jo Anns or Michaels, but a real art store. Ohhh, you don’t know what you are missing. Looking at all the different kinds of pencils, paints and paper. Drawing paper, different weights of watercolor paper, and all the hand made papers. They are kept in a cabinet with wide shallow drawers. Some are sheer, some have fibers in them, many colors and weights. All are interesting and beautiful!

Today we made our own handmade paper. I love the results of handmade papers but not so much the process. At least not so much with kids. So be forewarned this is a messy project that takes a long time. So if all my negative comments haven’t sent you clicking elsewhere yet….read on.

What you will need: a large stack of newspapers, shredded paper or ripped up paper, crepe paper or tissue paper (for coloring your sheets of paper) blender, dish pan or tubbie, water, screen, sponges or rags, small cup, flowers, seeds, grasses fibers…

My husband made me these screens a long time ago. Basically they are a frame made out of wood with a screen stapled over the top-in various sizes.

fill your blender 1/2 to 2/3 full with shredded paper and a bit of tissue paper. Add some water not enough to cover and blend well for 10 seconds.

pour slurry into dishpan. add some water. you may want to blend up a second pitcher to add to dishpan.

There are many different ways to make paper but this is the way that works well for us. Place screen-screen side side up-in the dishpan. Use small cup to scoop slurry and pour evenly to cover the screen.

Once you have evenly covered your screen (trial and error for the thickness) now is the time to add leaves, flower petals, seeds or anything else you plan to decorate your papers with.

now carefully flip the screen over so paper lands on stack of newspaper

use sponge and rags to push on screen inside of frame to absorb water-squeeze out and dry out more. Continue this process until you can’t dry up anymore water.

carefully peel screen back, leaving paper on the newspaper stack. You may need to flick on inside of screen to get the paper to release from screen.

cover with more newspaper and add the next sheet of handmade paper to next layer of newspaper.

Leave the paper on the newspaper to dry then peel off your handmade paper.

When you get to the almost end of slurry in the dishpan and you want to change colors you can just slowly pour dishpan over screen to make a final piece of a certain color. Then start process over with another color.

If you add seeds to your paper you can give them away with a little note written on them-Plant me! I had planned to do this closer to Mothers Day to give away as gifts but it is still early enough around these parts to plant flower seeds.

Happy Birthday Joe!!!

This weekend brought a belated party for Ginger

A celebration for my husbands Birthday

Look Scooooooooooooooott , (in the orange), you made it to pepperpaints!!

And a new member to our family

Welcome James Cooter.  My husband wanted an orange cat for his birthday, so 3 year old James Cooter came home with us today.  That really is his name, not assigned by us but knowing how important it is for an adoptee to keep his name we decided to leave it.  Besides we like it!

Happy Birthday Joe Joe!!

Buying Local

Yesterday the girls and I peddled our way to the first week of our local farmers market. Let me tell ya, it was bustling! Filled with adults, kids and dogs.

Biking to the market on Saturdays has become the norm here. It’s a nice way to start the day. Getting some exercise, fresh air and visiting with neighbors. At least that’s the what I get out of the experience. Really, my husband and kids just haul up there for the Amish doughnuts. Each week there are different visitors and demo’s. This week a local farm brought a set of twin brothers.

Here are a few other sites from our market

Here’s what we brought home this week:

I have a few favorite farmers I usually buy from every week. It is nice to know our food comes from such nice people. Here are a few links I have come across that may be of interest-thanks to wordy diva for some of these links.

find local farmers here

pick your own farms

useful plants

homegrown evolution

That’s Simple

I am thinking about changing the furniture around here at chez Pepper Paints. So, if you wonder over one day and think I got rid of your favorite post, it probably just got moved to a new spot. I am fickle like that. With the change of seasons I change the furniture around in most rooms of my house. It drives my husband batty.

I had a revelation the other morning while out walking. I am NOT a simple person. And that is OK! I often ponder becoming a more simple person. I am sure it is an easier life, but it just isn’t in me.

I can usually spot a person that lives a simple life. You know those at the grocery that have a cart with only the items they will use in the next week. They don’t belong to food co-ops which buy in bulk, shop at several different grocery stores, or stock up in case of the bird flu or killer bees. They shop at the thrift store, but again buy only what they need, not every cute thing they find because it’s only a buck. There kids have a few precious toys that they actually play with, not toys in every room of the house. That’s just not me.

I love my stuff, my hand mirror collection, various rocks, shells and sea glass from all over the place. I love my marble collection, our stamps and coins. I love art supplies and other materials that most people consider junk. I see the possibilities in almost everything. I love other peoples cast offs. I rarely shop new and I love a good bargain. Flea markets and thrift stores make me coo! As does a pile on someones tree lawn.

I know those that live a more simple life, only bite off what they can chew. That concept right there would make my life more manageable. They don’t increase the size of their garden every year if they can’t tend to what they already have. They actually leave the library with only a book or two. They don’t try to jam pack every day to the fullest. They pace themselves and have a Zen way about them. And they don’t move all their furniture around every few months because they are bored. But again, that’s just not me.

Tomorrow, I will be going thrifting with some friends and I will find a few treasures that I want more than need and I will purchase them . And I will make more work for myself-more laundry, finding a place to keep these treasures. But that’s OK. Because it will make me happy. And I may just find the perfect thing to add to my kitchen I plan on rearranging on Saturday.

Shhh, don’t tell my husband.