Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2013

Lessons from BlogHer '13

BlogHer '13—my first blogging convention—was last weekend. And I learned a lot! For example: #1 No Russians are reading my blog. When I look at the statistics for who's looking at Smalltropolis, it's very impressive. For example, today I have 43 pageviews from Latvia. Switzerland is represented, as is France, Denmark, China. Just a world-wide appeal I have goin' on. (Gloat.) Thing is, as I learned at BlogHer, that's almost certainly because the analytics I'm looking at aren't very accurate. Lots of spam is included. To get the real numbers, I need to sign up for Google Analytics. Блин! #2. Great photography doesn't come from the womb. The kick-off keynote speaker was Ree Drummond. I'd certainly admired the beautiful photography on her blog, The Pioneer Woman multiple times, so it was pretty enlightening when she showed some of her early photos. They were, quite simply, dreadful. It really drove home how good writing and good photography a

A blogging convention? You'll need business cards!

Blogher 2013 was this weekend. It was the first blogging convention I've ever attended (I'll post more reports in the coming days.) Though I was excited, I wasn't exactly at my best about getting ready. I knew I needed business cards for it but I waited until, oh, uh, the night before to make them. And then I was super tired, having gardened like a maniac all day. I woefully asked Jay to help me. For a few minutes we silently sat cutting. (Well, OK, I was lying on the floor. What can I say, I'm pretty adept with sharp objects.) Finally (irritated) Jay said, "How many did you make?" "200" "You're not going to need 200 business cards!" "Alright. This stack will make 100. We'll stop there." "I think that will be plenty." "And I could take my scissors and cut up the rest while I'm there." He stared at me for a moment, then—adopting a fake voice—"Yea, there was this really weird woman who

Garden project: strawberry bed!

A better return on investment that tech stocks in the '90s, the six 50¢ strawberry plants I purchased five years ago have yielded probably a hundred pounds of strawberries. They've also created a wild, unpickable bed. In the photo below, you can see the bed in 2009. The strawberries are just above where it says "Smalltropolis". Here's what the bed turned into: Time to show these things who's boss! I'm reigning this mess in, and and adding some paths for access! Day One: I mark out the borders of the bed and where the paths will go. I clear the first section. It kills me to throw perfectly good strawberry plants away but I have a bazillion of them and trying to move them or give them to neighbors will make a big job even more monumental. Globe arborvitae will make a little hedge in the back section, which will mirror the boxwood hedge at the front of this bed (not shown in this picture.) I mark out where the plants will go. By the time I g

Are we there yet?

There are three robin fledglings in the garden. When Jay and I noticed them (probably one of their first days out of the nest), they were each hiding in a different shrub. The mother was nearby, making a very loud, very high-pitched sound, over and over. It was the highest alert sound for a robin—what they use when a predator flies overhead. Jay was quite amused that we were on par with a hawk, but to me it was interesting that the sound clearly meant: "Be very still!" And the little fledglings did exactly that. Perhaps it was how motionless they were, but they seemed terrified. So small, so fragile, they were both beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. That was only a few days ago. Now they fly up into the giant tree in our neighbor's yard and come back to land on the telephone wire with a whoa-oa-oa…as it swings back and forth. It's funny to see them, frantically flapping their wings, trying to keep their balance. They've come so far, and yet they

It's my blog and I'll post if I want to.

Over two years now I've been blogging. No, that's not right. Over two years now they've been blogging: the dolls, the puppets, the opinionated inanimate objects that populate my world. That's how I set up the "rules" of Smalltropolis. Readers never see or hear from me. It's all them: their diatribes on pollution , their how-tos on baking , their musings on the world at small. But now, increasingly, I want to speak. It seems some of the most interesting, funny, even enlightening thoughts are not from them, they're about them. Or maybe they're about me. Or maybe I'd just like to think I'm at least as interesting as a tiny version of myself! But what about my readers? Will they be confused? I mean, all along we've been pretending there are no adults home, there's no meta in my micro, right? Why the sudden shift? Will it put people off? My husband, (you'll know him as "Jay") got an earful of this over breakfast: &qu

You are not a Jedi yet, young gardener

Corner house + double lot + 10-foot parkways = whole lotta lawn. And that lawn had been ignored for years when we bought the house. Moving in, we admired the pretty white flowers covering the grass. Uhhh. Yea. Those would be bindweed flowers. Bindweed, nicknamed "Devil's Guts," is an invasive weed with roots 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide. Or more. Even the tiniest bit of root propagates a new plant. Not that that's necessary: the seeds are viable for 60 years. Once I realized what a monster it was, I knew I had to get rid of it. So, being a devout organic gardener, I tried heavy mulching, black-plastic solarization, clear-plastic solarization, hoeing, tilling, pepper spray, vinegar spray, weed torches, salt, soap, hand pulling, and ultimately hair pulling. I kept reading cheery accounts of how these methods worked on any weed, but my 7,500 square feet of heavy, well-established infestation gave not an inch. So I began reading up on chemicals. It's a class

Michael Pollan lecture

"Lean in!" That's the new catch phrase, isn't it? And here I am doing exactly that as Michael Pollen talks about his new book, " Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation ." I've long been a fan of Pollan's, starting with his very first book, which was about his discovery of gardening. Of course, once he got on the topic of food, he really had me, since it's one of my main interests. His new book, as the title suggests, is about cooking. I haven't read it yet, but in the lecture, he offered a few tidbits. The book covers some of the history of cooking and its effect on the development of human beings. It also talks about what impact cooking has on your health. He said whether or not you cook is more of an indicator of your overall health than the types of food you eat. He also said that, on average, Americans spend more time watching TV shows about cooking than actually cooking. Hm...interesting. And surprising. I can hardly wait to re

Presidents' Day Party...decorations

The invitations , the food , the food labels , even the extra food labels are all done. How about some decorations? In addition to red, white, and blue dishes and napkins, I've got balloons and streamers to put up. Maybe you'll even want some bunting for your table. Then, for extra fun, I searched the internet for presidential campaign posters, glued them to colored paper and strung them up on giant red rick rack. It was easy and you can find tons of posters on-line. Here are a few to get you started.

Presidents' Day Party...more food labels!

My RSVPs are coming in and fast and furious and people are offering to bring food! My food will all have fun, crazy labels on it. It just seems polite to have labels for what other folks bring. So, I've created a few more general labels to have ready for other dishes. These would also work if you have a favorite party dish you want to serve but it didn't fit in with any of the labels I gave you already. Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Presidents' Day party...food labels

You've sent out the invitation s and made all the food , now here's a way to let people know what they're eating at your party. Just print and cut out these labels . They can be attached to bowls with clothes pins or stuck right into the food with kabob sticks. Maybe just use ribbons to tie them to serving baskets. For bonus points, decorate them with stickers, fringe or other trim!

Presidents' Day Party...food

Are you throwing a Presidents' Day party with me? We've sent out the invitations , now we're deciding the food. You could go with recipes that Presidents and their wives actually used. Here's a link to a few of those. There's even a cookbook you can get for some more. But I've decided to go a bit wackier. Here's my menu: Buchanan Bourguignon Theodore Rollsevelts Washington Redskins Lincoln Logs FDROs Bushmeat Millard Filberts Chestnuts A. Arthur LBJ PBJs Calvin Coolwhip Cake Ford Model Tea Although I want the food to be fun and definitely tasty, I've tried to choose things I can either purchase pre-made, make ahead, or just aren't too labor intensive. For the Buchanon Bourguignon, you can use any Beef Bourguignon or beef stew recipe and throw it in the slow cooker. Here's an example on Food.com. For the Theodore Rollsevelts, go easy by purchasing some nice bakery rolls, or get crazy ambitious with something off the King Arthu

Super easy, super dark curtain liners

How dark is your bedroom at night? Lots of studies show that the darker it is, the better you sleep. So if your curtains are too thin to block much light, here's a tutorial for you! I choose black ripstop nylon for my liners because it really blocks light and it's lightweight. (Just make sure your curtains are heavy enough that you can't see the black through them.) I then lined the liners with muslin because I didn't want it to look, from the outside, as though I have black curtains! To get the width of your liner, measure the distance on your curtains between the side hem stitching lines. (So not quite the full width of the curtain.) To get the length, measure from the bottom of the rod pocket to about half-way down the bottom hem. Add 1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides. This is how much ripstop nylon you'll need. Now add 4 inches to the width and 4 inches to the length. This is how much muslin you'll need. I was making two curtain liners but I got them

Presidents' Day Party...Invitation

I'm throwing a Presidents' Day party and you can too. I'll help you out! We still have a couple of weeks to plan it, so check back often and see what I've posted to help you get ready. Today I'm giving you the invitations. Better print them out and get them sent off soon! Wren P.S., In the coming days, look for posts on food and decorations for the party!

Released back to the universe

Sometimes you know you should get rid of something. But you don't. You hem. You haw. You put off. Never mind that you don't seem to have a space for it. Or a need. Or even a good excuse. You know you ought to move it along and yet you just don't do it. These are the times I remind myself of secondhand treasures I've found. They are things that are meaningful to me, things I love, but I have them only because someone else released them. I found this table in an alley, brought it home, and have moved it from corner to corner in my basement...for several years now. I love its character but it just doesn't fit in my house, or my life. Today I let it go. I was almost certain no one would want it. It's too chippy, too beat up. But I couldn't bear it to go in a landfill, so I put it on Craigslist. I figured it was a very long shot, but with a low asking price, who knows? It didn't even take five minutes before I heard from Kris. She (I figured it

Annual sugar consumption...what's yours?

I've always loved chocolate chip cookies, or as my best friend and I called them, CCCs. We could eat a bag in one sitting. "Chips Ahoy!" Yes, matey, even the name seemed to call to us. We'd wash them down with a gallon of milk and then lay around in our hot, sticky dorm room, lounging off the sugar coma, not even remotely sorry for what we'd done. Uhhhhh, even now I'm feeling the craving coming over me. I don't do crazy things like that anymore. Well, maybe it's a little crazy to keep track of how much sugar you eat in a year. But that's what I'm going to do. I read in an article that the average annual sugar consumption in the U.S. is about 150 pounds. Maybe it's some tiny scrap of competitiveness finally surging within me, but I'm curious as to how I measure up. In this chart published by the USDA, you can see that Americans, on average, consume 65.6 pounds of cane and beet sugar. I'm not sure how I'll compare to that but

Fabric Magnet Tutorial

Writing your New Year's Resolutions or goals for the year is great but almost as important as writing them down is remembering them! So to help you stick them up where you'll see them often, I'm going to show you how to make magnets out of scrap fabric and free advertising magnets.   Start by collecting some magnets. You could also use magnetic tape.    Peel back the plastic-y coating on the magnets. Use your fingernail or an X-acto to get it started. I had better luck with some magnets than others. You don't have to get every tiny scrap off but get as much as you can, while leaving most of the paper coating on. Use the magnets full size or cut them smaller or into interesting shapes. Using regular white glue, put a fair amount on the paper side of the magnet. Use your finger to spread it smooth.    Glue the magnet to the wrong side of some scrap fabric. Cut along the edges of the

How to set goals

 Do you write New Year's resolutions? Here are a few tips for making successful resolutions or setting goals at any time of the year: Goals should be: 1. Measurable The very best goals are measurable and specific. The reason for this is simple: how will you know when you've achieved your goal if there is no clear finish line? It seems obvious and yet this is one of the biggest problems most people have when they set goals. Here are some examples: "Lose five pounds" is better than "Lose weight." "Be able to run three miles and do five pull ups" is better than "Get in shape." "Spend fifteen minutes a day studying" is better than "Learn French." Furthermore, if you just write a goal like "Enjoy life more" or "Be healthier," not only is it hard to know just when you've achieved this, it's hard to even know where to start. It takes more work to write a measurable and specific goal but ju