happy belated valentine's day

hello loved ones,

jonathan and i made and sent out these cards a couple of days after valentine's. due to an error involving the adhesion of the address labels, i fear that not all of them were received. i know my mother did not get hers!

so here it is. please excuse the poor scanned quality. we hope it is the thought that counts.

you are in our hearts!

all our love,

emily and jonathan power d.

our teak planter and newspaper pots

my mother, who has always been the gardener in the driver family, sent me a DIY video on using black and white newspaper to make seedling pots. these pots are perfect for sprouting during the colder months and can then be transported outdoors and/or to bigger pots. here are the step-by-step directions for you, after jp and i had our hand at it on this sunny saturday.
first take a full sheet of black and white newspaper and fold it in half lengthwise.
fold it again.
take a long narrow glass and, with the open-mouth end situated at the middle of the short end of the newspaper...roll the newspaper up around the glass.
stick the part of the newspaper not around the glass into the opening. use your muscle here! there is no need to make it tidy, just make sure it is in there snugly and tight.
take the newspaper cup off of the glass. think of it like a chinese finger trap and push from the top instead of pulling off from the bottom.
the end of the newspaper that was pushed into the open-end of the glass will be sticking up: push these down to make a base.
it helps to use the same cup to push it down to make a more formed, firm base.
voila! you are done. and have a pot to plant your seedlings.
(this process can be made more enjoyable with some pbr or other summer time cheap beer.)
here they are, filled with organic potting soil, in our new teak planter i bought on a daytrip to madison, wi at antiques mall of madison. we planted basil, thyme, green onion and lettuce.

tinker time

jp likes to figure things out. he will take a problem--an old sewing machine--and work on that thing and at that thing so that he can make felt cycling caps or googly-eyed stuffed monster dolls. he does the same stuff with his bikes, with brewing his beer, with concocting the most delicious meals you have tasted.

i am not a putzer or a tinker-er. i enjoy doing the things i know how to do and do well. i write letters, i make cards, i organize and plan. ultimately, i let jp do many things for us (save for the laundry). i bike on tires patched by him, drink and critque his crafted ales, devour and then rave about his good foods. i'll take care of the bills.

but my disinclination to hobbying about comes from my impatience with difficulty. i pouted at a craft party we attended because i didn't know how to use a sewing machine and i resort to toasted bread with canned soup when jp isn't home to cook me meals. i don't care about figuring it out if it doesn't come naturally to me--'it' being anything. i do not like this about myself.

i do like the idea of knowing how to sew. i don't want to pay someone a price, any price, for something i can do myself or should be able to do myself: sewing on buttons, hemming pants, making curtains. these things, though i don't know exactly how to make, are in the DIY realm; they are doable projects.

so for christmas, understanding this need to stretch my patience and my creative skills, jp bought me a sewing 101 class at the needle shop in bucktown. last night was my class and TA-DA!: i made a pillow! and a darn good one at that. you can see otto adores it.

there were two other women in the class with me: janelle, a 30-something hairdresser married with child and beth, a 20-something engaged farm girl turned big city. the class was excellently taught by caitlin, a community-minded, chest-tattooed daughter of a korean seamstress. we stiched. we bitched. we bonded over feminine mishaps and celebrations. 'twas lovely.

curtains are next.