Every cloud waters a flower

I've been feeling down this week.
Really down.
Just sort of tired and moody and blue. I don't really want to do anything except moon around the house.
So I thought I needed a little cheering up...and maybe something to look forward to.
So I got flower seeds! :)

I am pretty broke...but these were pretty cheap at the dollar store and so I decided to give them a shot. A flower is a flower in my world. Right now, just looking at the little packets makes me smile. Unfortunately I only have one free flower pot right now, so I had to choose. It was tough! In the end, the snapdragons won out. Let's face it, any flower that you can make bite you is pretty awesome. :)

I planted them in the little pot, now I just have to wait until I start seeing some life!

Just a little burn

So, yesterday the pot I use to boil water for tea in decided it hated me. So, since it lacks the verbal capacity to communicate its dislike, it just decided to heat up its handle to scalding temperatures, wounding my unwary flesh when I went to grab it.

Dramatic retelling aside, I burnt my hand yesterday. And--for some unknown reason--I do not own an aloe plant or even a bottle of aloe gel. So, with the advice of my cupcake-obsessed friend Julie and some internet scouring, I came up with this:

1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon (or therabouts) of vitamin e oil
A few drops of peppermint essential oil

I know! Sounds sticky.
After cooling my hand in water for some time, I put my concoction on the burnt parts and wrapped my hand up in a rag. I left it all day, and reapplied at night before bed. Today my hand feels great, even though there are still very obvious marks from the burn.
While I don't reccommend this for an all-over sunburn (since slathering oneself in honey sounds like some silly college prank), it worked really nicely for a small contact burn.
Hopefully this will come in handy for someone else someday :)

The little things

I just got finished the academic part of my teacher's college career and have a little bit of time on my hands for a change! It's also spring time, and the melting snow and daffodils I have in my window are making me feel a little bit brighter than I have in a while. Lately I have just been appreciating the little things in my world...the bright colours, delightful smells, appealing textures that surround me and make me get that warm glowy feeling.
Probably from this I finally decided to tackle the task of making cushion covers for my plushy but somewhat atrocious couch cushions. This is only the second time I have attempted to do anything quilted, and I think that I did pretty well...overall, the look of my cushions just makes me smile now :)

I made one for the second cushion after I realized how much I adored the first one...Now I love them both. The back is overlapped material like a pillow sham with buttons to close...

I think they just look glorious, sitting on the couch together like that...and of course they just look marvelous with the crocheted throw Julie made me!

Another thing that made me smile lately was the success of my ginger snap cookies--the first time I have ever made them!

Don't they just look marvelous?! And the whole house smelled wonderful when they were baking. They even tasted great! It was definitely the best success I have ever had with baking. I think even Martha would be jealous of my amazing cookies. The recipe was from here, if you're interested in making some of your own!

Today I also made sugar cookies. These didn't turn out near as well...they're sort of odd looking, but they taste great and that's really all that matters. I was impressed with how my royal icing turned out, though!

Hopefully I'll have some more adventures in making things before I have to go back to being busy all the time...