Wine Racks and Rolling-Pins

In January 2006, Mister and I bought 33 acres of land and broke ground for our house in June of that year. We built our house together, with help from friends and family (to whom I will always be grateful), and some outside contractors for some larger tasks. It was a very long project and an experience I am not certain I want to repeat. However, it something I am quite proud of and glad I was able to do with my partner.

My co-workers, family and friends always ask if our house is done yet. My response is generally "Is anyone house ever done?". There is always something that needs to be done. To that end, I wanted to showcase a couple of small projects that were recently completed from our construction waste. 

Wine Rack

First up is our new wine rack. After 2 years of having a box of wine sitting on the counter, I came up with an idea for a wine rack and Mister made it. This was made from a piece of scrap 1" x 4"  and a scrap of 4" PVC pipe. The pipe was cut into 4" sections with a band-saw and the the sharp edges were filed down. 3/16" pilot holes were drilled in the PVC on one side and 1/2" holes opposite the pilot holes to make it easier to attach the PVC to the wood. The PVC sections were mounted to the 1" x 4", using woods screws. These were set at a slight angle, so the air bubble would sit below the cork. This was then all painted with plastic primer and then 2 coats of metallic bronze spray paint.  The wine rack was the mounted to the side of the cabinet a few inches from the wall so the bottles would stay in place.

If you want to make this without needing a corner, you could use pipe caps at one end, but you will need to make the PVC sections longer, so the bottles won't tip out. 

Second is the rolling-pin holder. Mister came up this on his own, when he got tired of having to relocate the rolling-pin.  This was made from a scraps of 2" x 4" and 1" x 4".  A 1-1/4" hole was drilled through the top piece, so the rolling-pin handle would slide through and a 1" hole was drill part-way through the bottom piece to support the other rolling-pin handle. He drilled holes into the back of the 1" x 4" to set in 3/8" rare earth magnet top and bottom, so the rolling-pin could be hung on the refrigerator. The 2" x 4" pieces were glued and screwed to the 1" x 4".   No finish was put on the holder. 

I didn't really give dimensions because if you make one, you will need to make it to fit your rolling-pin. Remember you will need enough room to slide the rolling-pin in but still not so much that the handles won't be supported. You can buy rare earth magnets online or at hardware/woodworking stores. They come a variety of sizes and strengths. If you find that your rolling-pin holder wants to slide you can put a magnetic business card at bottom and it will stop the slide. An alternate to that is to glue shelf liner (the slight puffy kind) to the back, but you will need to leave the magnets sticking out a bit to compensate.

Indoor Garden (part 2)

Three weeks have now passed and my little garden is growing well. 

When your plants begin to sprout, you are suppose to trim back the weaker ones, so they don't crowd and over use resources. In my fear of cutting them back I may have waited to long and killed my spinach.  It is looking really pale and limp.  I think there may be a metaphor for life in this story. 

The beans and peas looked so good, that I didn't want to trim any of them back. So I bought a third tub and transplanted the peas into it and separated the green beans into two rows. I thinned the spinach and there seems to be so little now. I hope that it will recover. I also thinned the peppers and tomatoes.

Not pictured  are the herbs. The chives finally made an appearance, but the cilantro and basil are filling out well. The herbs just don't make as dramatic of changes as the veggies do.

My Indoor Garden (part 1)

I have two large bay windows on the southeast corn of my house. Deciding I should take advantage of the south facing window, I have planted an indoor garden. I did some research on the internet, flipped through my gardening books, discussed with my twinster, and proceeded to do it my way. 

I bought two tubs that are  11 inches x 18  inches across the top. I filled the bottom couple of inches with rock, (I just went out to my gravel road and helped myself), to give some drainage.  I covered the rocks with weed barrier fabric to keep the soil from shift down into the rocks. Then mixed coir and potting soil together and filled my tubs. I also filled 3 small pots with potting soil to grow herbs. 

The herb pots have chives, cilantro and sweet basil. The orange tub has large hot peppers, spinach and cherry tomatoes. The yellow tub as peas, green beans and black seeded Samson leaf lettuce. It has been one week since I planted the seeds, and most of the vegetables have sprouted and are peeking their head out.  The herbs haven't shown their tips yet, but I have my fingers crossed.

Since I failed to label the orange tub I am not certain if it is the tomatoes or the peppers that have started to show. But look at those lovely clumps of greens in the middle, I will need to then my spinach soon. 

I'll try to keep up on posts, so we can see how my garden grows.

So it Begins

This is my first blog. I thought about starting one when I got married. I thought about starting one when my husband and I started to build our house. I thought about starting one whenever I started something new. I finally stopped thinking about starting a blog and started writing one.

What will this blog be about...um...well...I don't know really. I guess it is about me, my experiences and my experiments. Gosh - really - um I wonder how I came up with the title.

Check in from time to time. I will post stories about events in my life, things I've learned, or general commentary. I will post instructions and pictures of projects I've started, projects that finished well, and more importantly things that didn't go so well. Because one of the things I have learned in life is that the best learning opportunities come from failures not success.

Fair warning, although I am a heck of a reader, I am not much of a writer. So be patient, be kind, be forgiving, and hopefully we will learn something along the way. Thank you.