DIY Spinning Composter-Video Only

I wrote a post a few weeks ago outlining how to make a DIY Spinning Composter. I had such a huge response from this particular project, that Biceps and I decided it needed a video to go along with it.

And here’s a little excerpt from that tutorial on my DIY Spinning Composter:

This year was my first year for a full-fledged garden. I consider it full-fledged because it produced enough to not only feed Biceps and I, but it also allowed me to dehydrate, freeze and give-away the excess.To be honest, I was just happy that anything sprouted from the earth.

I give props to the composted kitchen and yard waste that we added to the soil-this garden seemed to outperform many of my neighbors’ gardens.

And just in case you don’t want to go spend your hard earned dollars buying a fancy composter in excess of $100 bucks or more, I thought I would show you how to make your own using some recycled and some store bought materials for about $30 in a matter of hours.

If you’d like to see step by step instructions, along with photographs, here’s the link to my DIY Spinning Composter.

Easy Dehydrated Apples

We recently acquired a free bag of red delicious apples left behind from our last tour. We are fans of gala apples and I typically use granny smith in my pies…so the red delicious really weren’t that exciting of a find. Until, my brain went into gear.

I pulled out my trusty $5 dehydrator purchased from a garage sale (Nesco American Harvest Food Dehydrator and Jerky Maker), my lemon juice, my knife and went to work.

 

First things first, I cored the apples with my handy apple corer. Simple ’nuff.

 

I sliced the apples up to be about 1/4″ thick.

 

I threw the slices in a ziplock bag filled with lemon juice and tossed them around, making sure they were thoroughly coated.

 

Next, I rinsed the lemon juice off of the slices.

 

I arranged the slices on the the dehydrator trays evenly and set the temperature to 135 degrees (which is the recommended temperature for fruits and vegetables).
I left the dehydrator on for about 4 hours, checking it each hour.

 

Once the apples were done, we ate them. Pretty much all in the same day.

The Master Bathroom Remodel-Part Deux

You’ll want to check out the Master Bathroom-Part Uno before jumping into this. You need to be prepared. And if you really want to be prepared, check out what I did with the adjoining Master Bedroom.
So, go-I’ll wait for you. But please, do come back.

Yeah! You’re back-I am assuming you have done what you were told and aren’t being naughty at this point. However, if you are being naughty, I know the feeling…
This is what I started with-a green room with absolutely no appeal, nothing, nada. Boring.

And this is where I left you in the Master Bathroom-Part Uno. Biceps was on tour without me (very sad) and I was being sneaky and remodeling the bathroom. I changed the wall color from green to a deep gray. The concrete floor and both vanities had been stripped of their old concrete stain. I painted the countertops canary yellow using garage floor paint. All the difficult steps are finished-now, it’s time to decorate!

I found Harold (the horse) at an antique store in Jenks, Ok for $10. This was Harold’s first car ride. As you can see, Harold was very happy to come home with me.

Using Harold as inspiration, I began to amass several large and small frames-all of which I spray painted a high gloss white. I hung the empty glossy white frames on the gray bathroom walls, making them pop.

I found a chandelier at an antique shop for $15. For safety’s sake, I rewired it first. Armed with a can of gold spray paint, I repainted it and then antiqued it. I then watered down some leftover high-gloss black paint, and used a rag to rub the watered down black over the gold to antique it.
Next, I found a brother-in-law that came free with my marriage to my husband. He aided me in the electrical portion of my bathroom remodel. After determining the spot we wanted to hang the chandelier from, he went to work-cutting, wiring, and hanging.

I got to do the fun stuff associated with chandeliers-hanging sparkly crystals in the appropriate areas. I scavenged discarded chandeliers from other projects to come up with what you see here. Before hanging them, I first cleaned them with vinegar and water to really make them sparkle.

Since I was on my own when it came time to hang the frames, I needed a ladder, some dexterity and a lot of good balancing. And 911 ready on speed dial.

Harold witnessed me almost fall (more than once), but he just sat there and whinnied…jerk.

The three dimensional bird and branch motif that are hanging above the mirror, I snagged at our local flea market for a couple of bucks and spray painted them also high gloss white.

We’ll probably lay tile on the concrete floor at some point in the future, but for now, just the stain being gone is wonderful. If you hadn’t read in my earlier post, the “stain” decided not to stain the concrete and kept coming off in chunks and sticking to our little footsies.

Hope you enjoyed my new changes around my old house.
Harold (the horse) seems to be loving his new home, and so am I. I can hardly wait for Biceps to see it.

The Fight

There are rare moments when the two new kitties sit still long enough for me to photograph them. Ater they’ve passed out from playing, I’ll squeeze in a quick few shots. But, most of the time they are busy chasing/attacking/wrestling one or more of the following:
A) Me
B) Biceps
C) “Gray Mouse”
D) “Black Mouse”
E) Their invisible friend(s)

But mostly, they are attacking each other. This is the beginning of one such fight.
Maxwell (laying down) taunts Bianca as she innocently walks by, looking for her scratching post.

That initial taunting turns into this white blur for several minutes.

 

I know you can’t tell, but Bianca is winning.

 

The fight pauses momentarily as they catch their cat breath.

 

A few more swats from Maxwell encourages Bianca not to quietly into the night.

 

The fight is over. Maxwell has acquiesced. Bianca is still the reigning champion. Right on, sister cat.