Laven-don’t—Better things to do with lavender than I did

OK so I’m no Martha Stewart. I’ve never crafted and I’ve never been topless on Saturday Night Live.

So when I picked some lavender off the newly planted plant this autumn I naively thought I could be creative enough to do something nice with it. Sadly this lovely purple plan went from this:

to this sad attempt at arts and crafts:

You see this is why I took music in school and not art. Though to be fair my flute has been gathering dust for nigh on 20 years now too.

I strung up what I could in a pitiful knot and tied it to the chain on our bedroom ceiling fan/light.

Not with ribbon but string. Not a bundle but a handful. Not good. Not at all.

So I went to Pinterest and looked at what normal people do with lavender. Apparently smarter and craftier people are out there in the world sharing this type of information.

I especially like the linen water and scrub. These all seem like good ideas.

Good ideas for next year at this point, but good nonetheless.

How To Avoid DIY Disasters

Here is some good advice from blogger The Site Box

How To Avoid DIY Disasters.

Yes there is raking to do…

It appears I guessed correctly.
There will be raking in my immediate future.

Turning over some old leaves

Well I guess I can’t put it off any longer. It is time to start raking the leaves.

Actually that isn’t true. I can totally put it off and wait until spring. Or I can never do it at all and then just mulch them when I cut the grass for the first time in 2014. It’s all been done before.

But alas I’ve seen the light and I want to rake this fall. With as many trees as we have it is a tedious and arduous process but I need the exercise and its a good thing to do.

I actually found some helpful tips for raking and fall yard work in Organic Gardening recently.

The 12 Rules of Raking

I don’t think my mower can handle the workload considering the number of leaves we get here but I will try to work them in where I can. I guess we all now know what I will be doing the next few weekends I am up!

Balcony desk is the best!

Finally! A desk on which I can work AND garden. The wine holder ain’t a bad idea either.

Gardens n stuff

 

While some of us require a complete desk setup with multiple monitors for work, there are many of you out there who need nothing more than a small space to put a laptop. For those of you, this balcony railing mounted Balkonzept desk is a match made in heaven.

 

Designed by product innovator Michael Hilgers, the Balkonzept is extremely lightweight and versatile – making it perfect for outdoor workstations or just extra shelving in a small space. The desk is constructed from a durable recyclable plastic that has more than enough room for a laptop and other essentials, and even comes with a built in planter to really drive home the outdoor feeling. [via Inthralld]

 

This really could be the way to enjoy working and get some much needed Vitamin D that we all seem to be deficient of these days!

Unfortunately, they are only available…

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A small corner of improvement

I did manage to get in one improvement this year and that was to rebuild and kick-start this little corner garden around the water barrel.

Needless to say it was in rough shape. I had let it get a bit too overgrown and it was in need of some help.

I got some off cuts of rock at the local landscaping supply place for a whooping $3 and used them as stepping-stones.

Then it started to look a bit more like the garden I wanted once I got my mulch in there. Still a few things in there that have to change or be moved but I am on the right track at least.

Feline furniture

I’ve gone over cat-related furniture in the past but recently have been thinking about it again now that Mr. Sparky Lewis has just had surgery and seeks a comfortable place to recuperate.

I’ve been looking at some options for comfier kitty beds. Take a look.

Some of them I think we could even make. That is a terrifying thought…