Category: Making a Home

  • 088 I have a greenhouse now

    088 I have a greenhouse now

    With my husband back at work, I set out to finish the greenhouse alone. I had to get it done before the wind got too strong–and didn’t like the time pressure at all. The next day, with more time pressure, I put up the rain collection system. We couldn’t quite finish the greenhouse as planned.…

  • 086 Building a storage bench

    086 Building a storage bench

    It’s time to tackle that indoor list. Our living room has been an absolute mess, so I’m building a storage bench for the hallway. I also deal with about 50 eggs from the garden neighbor, and use the egg cartons for my potatoes. There are a lot of sunflowers growing on my balcony. The birds…

  • 081 Spring? Dirt and trash!

    081 Spring? Dirt and trash!

    Spring is still playing tug-o-war with the remnants of winter here. But the occasional warmer days have me preparing for warmer days to come soon. I clean up our balcony, drive off more trash from the overgrown plot, and make very simple grilled-cheese sandwiches. Debris from the roof falls onto our balcony. Over winter, this…

  • 079 Trying to bake German cheesecake

    079 Trying to bake German cheesecake

    With the outside world still wet and gray, I get a lot done indoors while dreaming about garden work. As I’d been craving some cheesecake, I decided to bake some from scratch–something that I hadn’t done in over a decade. It did not quite go as planned. The temperatures are slowly creeping up, but most…

  • 078 This does not feel like spring

    078 This does not feel like spring

    The outside world is cold, gray, and wet. But inside, I am preparing for spring. With false spring come and gone, I am taking advantage of some indoor days to get some seeds started, bake bread and make some home-made pizza from scratch. Just a couple of days ago, I was in the garden in…

  • 075 Planting spring flowers

    075 Planting spring flowers

    Spring is coming. Now that I’ve survived the exams, I get to focus on all the things I need/want to get done: planting some spring flowers on the balcony, building a new shelf for the kitchen to get more storage, and clean up this mess left by flu and exam stress. Spring is coming, and…

  • 074 When plan change

    074 When plan change

    I don’t like it when plans change. While going for a spontaneous walk in the middle of making dinner felt good, other changing plans derailed me a bit. I was supposed to build a shelf, but instead got to remember how bad quality has become the norm. So, instead, I make some more food, and…

  • 072 The garden wakes up

    072 The garden wakes up

    The garden is waking up, so I take a good look around and enjoy some sunshine before heading home to prepare a pork roast in the air fryer. I’ll also explain why I am no longer vegan. There is garlic! Yay! Oh! The onions are coming, too! Looks like everything survived the winter. It looks…

  • 071 Everything is dirty

    071 Everything is dirty

    The dishwasher broke again. Cleaning and repairing it led me down a rabbit whole of more things that needed cleaning. It felt as if everything was dirty. So, I cleaned. That afternoon, I even got to enjoy the sunshine on a forest walk with Pepper and my husband. There’s some actual sunshine outside. I’m excited!…