Odds and Ends

 1.) Modeling Gig 

The muse struck, and I found myself with an opportunity to make a model empty tomb/Golgotha for my daughter's Catechisis class. 

I've done one of these before, but it turned out pretty middle school level. Smooth sides, very obviously newspaper paper mache. 

Except for the little bits of cardboard I used here. 

I did a little more research this time to see if I could make it look more realistic. I did some poking around on YouTube and found the wild world of Dungeons and Dragons miniatures and tabletop gaming. There's a whole subculture of RPGs (Role Playing Games) that's devoted only to making realistic scenes to stage battles and encounters in the games. 

I found a tutorial on making a realistic rock face with paper mache and adjusted the color palette to make it look more like sandstone. 

This was the result...

Closeup on one of the rocks...I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

The secret, it turns out, is to use paper towels, toilet paper, and a combination of glue and water. The fine texture of the toilet paper wrinkles in such a way that it looks like a natural rock face when painted. 

I'm really happy with it. I think it's the most realistic looking thing I've ever made.  

2.) Haayyy...

I have discovered something I should have already known. 

While it's (maybe) a good idea to buy a couple bakes of hay to mulch a garden bed, it is NOT a good idea to stick it in the back of your minivan next to a small child who likes to mess with stuff. 

Guys. The backseat and floor of my van is COVERED with hay now. It's in ALL the baby/kid car seats, I've found it in people's hair...it's ridiculous. 

 I'm hoping I can get it cleaned up before we use the van to go to mass on Sunday, but I'm only faintly optimistic that'll actually happen.  

3.) Gardening 

And yes, we are gardening again after a year long hiatus. Bitty Baby is old enough to tolerate excursions outside, our dog is smart enough to leave her alone, and the weather has been mostly cooperative. 

We have some swiss chard, basil, beets, carrots, and zucchini planted so far, along with some seeds I saved from a bell pepper and threw in there on a whim. Still to be planted are the dill, cucumbers, and melons. Okra gets planted in late March or early April, so no rush there. 

We'll see how it goes. Our success with gardening has usually been pretty spotty. We let the garden get pretty much completely covered with grass this past year and had to till it multiple times to tear all of it out (seriously, Bermuda grass is the devil), and I'm not sure how that'll effect any soil we managed to build up over the past couple years. 

On the other hand, that grass we tore out was definitely greener and lusher than the grass surrounding the garden, so it seems reasonable to hope the ground is fertile. 

Chris has been out there too, laying down our drip watering system. I need to make sure I get it covered with mulch before the sun gets too strong down here. 

4.) Can you can? I can can. She can can too. 

I'm only slightly sorry for that heading. 

My Sister in Law and I combined forces to can 20- something quarts of beef bone broth, an undertaking that took absolutely all day long. 

First, some backstory. My parents-in-law arranged with the families of their three children to purchase two meat steers from my husband's uncle in Illinois. Said bovines were then butchered, loaded into three freezers and a cooler in the back of a pickup truck, and driven back to South Texas. 

Our freezer is ridiculously full of beef. I've never felt more Texan in my life. 

Anyway, between the two of us, my Sister in Law and I had the bones from a cow, a couple of Instapots, a canner that could handle 6 quarts of broth at a time, a whole bunch of jars and lids, and a sense of grim determination. 

I got to her house at 10:30am and left at 5:00pm. The canner was going nearly the entire time. 

We felt pretty accomplished at the other end of things though. Hopefully enough to last us both the rest of the year at least. 

5.) Tomato Seedlings 

In addition to the stuff we're trying to grow from seed, I'm also trying to do some tomato seedlings in an egg carton on the windowsill. 

Its going...ok. I'm honestly not entirely sure what I'm doing. I did manage to successfully transfer a seedling to a larger container without killing it, so I'm cautiously optimistic I'll actually be able to plant these things. So long as I don't mess up the hardening off process too badly. 

6.) Music 

Chris has pulled his guitar out of the closet and is playing it a lot more often lately. 

I honestly love it. The kids love it too-- whenever he brings it out, there's an instant dance party. Even Bitty Baby gets in on it. 

I never learned to play an instrument. I learned how to sing somewhat proficiently in high school and college, but I've never learned any more then that one part of Heart and Soul you can play with one hand on the piano.