IsaCrabiCatitat!

We have crabs.

To be clear, we have land Hermit Crabs. Not the other kind of crabs. (You perv)

Although these guys seem to be contagious too. We started with one that The Monkey carried back and forth between our house and The Magical Wonderland of Badness. His name was Skitters. He didn't do much. And he lived in a Kritter Keeper (Have you seen those things? They're glorified Chinese food containers with ventilation). But The Monkey loved it and she wanted to have some to keep at our house. I let her use her own money to buy a decent sized cage, all the supplies, and two hermit crabs, Big Nasty and Red.





Apparently they climb. And are social. Suddenly Skitters was running around climbing over the other crabs. It was cute and I was hooked.

I spent some time learning about them; what they eat, their native habitat, how they grow, etc. I discovered that they need humidity around 70% and that the awesome cage thing wasn't accommodating that.

So I bought a tank and all the appropriate stuff to keep the crabs healthy.

It was Easter Island themed.




It was super cool and perfect for our 2.5 crabs. I mean 5 crabs. Oh, actually 7 crabs. Er, 11 crabs. Suddenly we had a crab overpopulation problem.

So I set out on a mission to replace our 30 gallon tank with a 55 gallon tank. Unfortunately I didn't have a place to put a bigger tank and I couldn't really "replace" the 30 gallon because we had 4 or so crabs in the middle of a molt. I also didn't want to drop $300+ on a tank and stand andlid and lights andall the other weird crap that you forget about when you buy a fish tank.

Plus, having a tank that anyone can just go to the store and buy just isn't cool enough for me.

So in a whir of crazy impatience I pulled the old cabinet stereo into the living room and began disemboweling it.




Once I had it sufficiently gutted and cleaned, I measured the interior dimentions and bought a bunch of plexiglass.




I used aquarium sealant to seal all the edges. The Dremel case was holding the front and back panels up while the sealant cured.

Then we tested it out. There were at least 5 rounds of testing. Unfortunately I only got pictures of three of them.



It'll hold cat.





It'll hold Pookie.




It'll hold Pumpkin. The final tests were unnecessary, but to be sure, the Stereo Tank will hold The Monkey and my husband.

The big reveal....




There's a waterfall...


And lots of hiding places...




To be very very clear...my Crabs have the coolest habitat ever.

Until next time!




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Stained Glass and Wisteria Wall of Wonder

Sure, that's what I'll call it.

Two years ago I bought a piece of stained glass from a lady in Columbia. I drove over an hour, with all the kids in tow, so I could get a damaged stained glass window for $20.

In hindsight that wasn't one the smartest things I've ever done. Especially since it's been sitting in my carport in a pile of wood scraps collecting brown recluse since then.

Well, I finally got some inspiration and hung it up.
The picture on top was taken the day I hung it up, April 26th. The picture on the bottom was taken May 20th, a little less than a month later.


Holy cow my wisteria is crazy. It ate that poor bird's nest. :(

I'm thinking I'll string up some pieces of broken mirror and stained glass to add some sparkle to that giant hole in the middle. I'm also using clear fishing wire to guide the wisteria around it. Otherwise the crazy wisteria tentacles start invading our porch space.

Those other plants hanging everywhere are my orchids.

Until next time!

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Trash to Treasure Swan Planter

I have to admit that I'm slightly afraid of unknowns. Take for example the shed that's at the back of our property. It was there when we bought our house 3 years ago. It was also full of someone else's junk. There it sat, full of junk, because I had absolutely no idea what was in there and because the idea of digging in it just gives me the willies.

Fortunately I have kids and The Monkey recently decided that she wanted to built a playhouse. Out of random pieces of wood. In my yard.

Of course I said "No." With the following argument being something along the lines of "We already have one weird ghetto structure in our yard. I am absolutely not letting you build a new weird ghetto structure back there."

Somehow that evolved into, "Well, if you really want a clubhouse you can clean out the weird ghetto shed and turn that into a clubhouse."

So, with the help of one of her friends, she cleaned all of someone else's junk out of the weird ghetto shed and into the yard.

It looked like this:





Well, that's an improvement. *eyeroll* That picture isn't even of what it looked like the day they did it! That picture is from today...two dumpsters full later.

So...trash. Lots and lots of trash. In my yard.

After I convinced her that there was no possible way to upcycle all of her recently claimed junk, I dug through it to find the good stuff. I got a plastic swan, some terra cotta pots, and a lamp base.

I knew the swan was going to be a plant stand so I needed to find something to use as a base. Which I did. I'm not sure what it was, but it was base like and on the way to the dump so it was mine.

All i had to do now was to prime, spray paint, and attach the pieces.

Now it looks like this!!





The best part? Total cost: $0! Hooray for me!

That's all for now. Until next time!


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A Long Overdue Update

Go ahead and say it, I'm a bad blogger. It's been MONTHS since my last post.

Well, someday I'll have the funds to fix my stupid garage and I won't have to keep cooperating with the weather to get stuff done. So, until then, erratic posting it is.

In my defense I have been doing some pretty freaking cool stuff.

Here's a list!

1). I've been collecting orchids. Well, amassing orchids is more accurate. Ok, I have a problem. A very serious orchid problem. It's called Compulsive Orchidacia Acquisition Disorder, or COAD. I rescue them from the discount rack at Lowe's, I take in poorly cared ones from good meaning people, I've even bought a few at retail prices.

Here's one of my favorites.



Isn't he beautiful?

2). Another cool thing (which is sort of an extension of my COAD) is that I've been making plant containers. Mostly hanging ones since orchids are epiphytic but I've made a couple of super neat-o containers that are for sitting somewhere. Like my "trash to treasure swan container". Sorry, no pictures, I'm teasing on that one.

3). I've learned a new and infinitely more efficient way of getting paint off wood. Two words: heat gun. It's quite possibly my favorite toy.

4). I've stripped 6+ layers of decades old paint off a chest of drawers and stained it. That's an active project. I'm still deciding what to do with the drawer pulls. I have all the originals and they're the same wood as the chest. How freaking cool is that!?

Here's a preview:



5). The staircase railing is up. It's gorgeous.

6). I FINALLY hung my stained glass.

7). The monkey and I started on a cat tree.

8). I glittered A dead composer.



9). Oh yeah, I also turned a 1970's model Magnavox cabinet stereo into a terrarium. It's the sexiest terrarium I've ever seen. And, by far my favorite project ever. It even has a waterfall!



I think that's all.

Wait, no. I also decided that Etsy is entirely too complicated and started a store at Storenvy! There's only one item, but I'll get more on there! Also, if you're interested, feel free to ask about custom stuff that you've seen on here.

Here's a link: Accumulated Artifacts Store

THAT is all.

Until next time!

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Staircase Update!

It's about dang time, eh?

Well, shortly after that last post about the staircase our house nearly exploded. Ok, not really, but it felt like that's what was happening.

Pretty much everything that could have broken, did just that. All at once. Here's the list of everything that broke:

Air conditioner.
Underground plumbing
Hot water heater
Washing machine
Dryer
Dishwasher
Upright vacuum cleaner
Shop vac
Globe on light fixture

Yeah, so needless to say, finishing the stair case got pushed aside.

Well, we're back on the stairs thanks to my Father in Law. He helped me blow some insulation into the attic recently and decided we really needed a railing up there. And since the flooring and drywall needed to be finished first, were only going to cost a few hundred dollars, and I wanted to do most of it myself, he said he'd pay for it. Woohoo!

So I went and got the floor. Unfinished yellow pine, oh yeah, $160. It took us about 5 hours total to put it in.



I had to use the unfinished flooring so I could stain it to match my stairs. I still have to fill some cracks and sand before I can put the stain on but holy crap things are getting done!!

I decided to wait for the walls to be finished before I put the stain on the floors. That probably wasn't the best idea, but too late now.

The guys showed up this morning and stamped my ceiling.



I have a ceiling!!

Maybe by the end of the week my walls will be paintable!

Later.




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Fall Foliage Fiasco

I adore alliteration. That has nothing to do with this post. I just wanted you to know that in case you were wondering why some of my post titles sound like they were named by a well read kindergartener.

Right, so I've been trying to manage my plant to space ratio issues. Which wouldn't really be a problem if I were physically capable of simply repotting a plant.

I'm sorry but moving a plant from one pot to another just isn't that exciting. I NEED excitement. Seriously, I'm a housewife, I get most of my entertainment by coaxing my kids to say things that I know they can't pronounce properly. Like "fork" and "clock". And, occasionally I use baking soda and vinegar to clear the clog in the bathroom sink.

How lame is that!?

Don't answer that.

I think you get the point. I can't just repot a plant. I have to repot it awesomely.

I've done the macramé and orchid terrariums. Eww, those are so last week.

This time, it's going to be fantastic!

First, I acquired a moss ball. I could have made one out of moss in my yard, but I just bought it. Then I poked a hole in it and filled it with potting soil.





I tied a piece of sting around it just in case.

Then I rescued a small plant from the ferocious Tiger. (She's so cute!)





And shoved the plant into the dirt filled moss ball.


Then I tried to water the moss ball. F.Y.I. Rolling balls of wet dirt make huge messes. I stuck the rolling dirty mess into a bowl to keep it still (and to keep it from dripping everywhere) then shoved the whole thing into a big hanging wire thingy.




Ta! Da! Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself. Although, technically, now the plant takes up dramatically more space than it did before. And, I takes up way more space than it would have if I had just put it in a bigger pot. So I didn't really make my plant/space issue any better. But, I did combine three things into one thing so that's a plus. Right?

Well, that's all I've got for now.

Later.




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Hot peppers

Just in case you haven't noticed, I really like Jelly. Well, actually I don't like jelly that much, I just really like making jelly.

So when I have too much of anything edible, the first thing that comes to mind is to make jelly out of it. So when I found myself with a serious abundance of cayennes and jalapeños I made jelly.

First up, Cayenne Jelly.



I've never actually eaten any of it, but I hear it's really good. There's never any left for me to try so I'll just believe everyone. Oh, and it's pretty.

Next we have Jalapeño Pear Jelly.



I had never made this one before. It was surprisingly good.


I'll be making Habanero Pineapple jelly this year as well. I've been trying to make this for four years! It's is the first time I've had enough peppers to make it. My stupid Habs won't ripen though so I'm trying to force them to ripen in paper bags. We'll just have to hope it works or that batch of jelly might taste like crap.

That's all I've got for now.

Later!

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