Earth Day Repurpose (a few days late)

This week I decided to finally do something about the collection of nearly empty candles that have been lying about the house. I hated the idea of throwing these perfectly good jars away, but until now I have been too lazy busy to do anything with them.

I followed this tutorial for how to get the last scraps of wax out of the bottom. It was a little tedious, but it did what it was supposed to. It wasn't until after I had cleaned all of the jars, I found that freezing the whole jar for about a hour garners the same results. I can't vouch for that method, but I will try it first next time I get to the dregs of my candles.

So now that I have the jars emptied of excess wax and cleaned up, the next step is making up my mind about how to put them to use. These are just a few of the ideas I have been tossing around.

Life Ann Style has some great ideas for using the jars in the bathroom.  One option is to add cute little birdies attached to the lid. this makes a great handle as well as making the jar a little more decorative.

[I know that somewhere on pinterest there is a similar tutorial where an object is glued to the lid and then spray painted, but for the life of me I cannot find it.]

Another option is to add some Epsom salts and essential oils to make an air freshener/ make-up brush holder.

I Am Style-ish takes it to another level with glitter. I love glitter, but when it comes to decorating I generally avoid it, as I am no longer a teenage girl. However, in this case I think the right color glitter could be a fun way to liven up the decor that currently exists in my bathroom. Plus, since me and the Mister are the only ones who use the master bathroom, no one will even be able to judge the glittery goodness =)

Fry Sharing

What do you see here?

What I see is a lovely little reminder of why the Mister and me get along so well. I am a firm believer in loving the little things and this is one of those things that makes me smile any time I think about it.

Early on in our relationship, we found out that the Mister always eats the long fries while I always pick out the short little crispy fries. This is not and never was a grand act of altruism, but simply him liking the long fries and me liking the runts. The best part is that no matter what kind of fries, whether they are homemade, fast food, or gourmet...there is always a nice balance of long golden fries and short crispy ones.

I was reminded of this little quirk of ours tonight when we ordered a basket of fries while out to dinner. It happens without speaking and at this point without even thinking, but as I grabbed up all the little fries, I couldn't help but think of the two of us and all of the little things that we do daily with and for each other that make us the pair we are!

Springtime

I have been trying to line up my days off with nice weather for nearly a month. I have been anxious to get out and play in the yard, since this is the first year I have actually have a yard! It has not gone my way. I go to work when it is 60 degrees and sunny and then when I am off it's 40 and rainy. This week that finally changed!

I spent the afternoon basking in the spring weather and cleaning out the flower gardens. My mister came out and trimmed our lilac tree. I was pleased to be able to uproot a few thorny vines from the back of the yard to expose some of the smaller, less injury-inflicting plants that make their home back there.

I have an entire garden along the garage dedicated to strawberries and rhubarb. I am hoping to bake some delicious rhubarb dishes this summer once they pop up a bit more.

Rhubarb looks so creepy when it first comes up. It reminds me of alien eggs or something else from a low budget sci-fi flick.

The Mister had himself buried in the center of the lilac trying to get every last branch trimmed perfectly. I am just happy he volunteered for that job, because I would have gotten bored an cranky way before the task was finished!

This picture is just fascinating to me. The way my phone captured the angle of the sun is crazy. I am certain I couldn't duplicate this even if I tried.