A little bit of this and that ...

After much delay and distraction I've listed the neckties in my shop. Bow ties ... not so much yet, but I'm working on it. Each tie is just $13 each. I'd made them all with adjustable slide neck clasp hardware, but then opted to go back and change all the baby ties to velcro so they'd come right apart if they were ever to catch on something. Obviously, baby should be supervised at all times (and is likely to not wear a tie for very long anyway), but better safe than sorry. All larger sized neckties are completely adjustable, from tie length to neck size, for years or use.

The ties look so cool on. My heart skips a beat when River is wearing one, he's just so darn cute (actually, I kind of always feel that way about River, but the tie doesn't hurt).

This Saturday I will be participating in a craft show on Fort Myers Beach, the Do Wop Festival. It will be held at Santini Marina Plaza (far south end of the island) from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Mention that you're a Facebook friend when you stop by to receive 25% off  of everything.  Check out new pencil rolls, bow tie barrettes, and onesies, as well as a large selection of summery quilts.

I haven't killed any plants yet in the annual gardening effort. In fact, I've added more peppers and herbs to the lanai garden. We planted chocolate mint the other day, which lives up to it's name -- we're already exploring recipes to use it in.  And the celery has gone from this to this in just over a week:


I'd originally planted 3 celery bases(?) and one didn't take at all, so I replaced it with two more.

The first round of this project I soaked the bases for about 24 hours in warmish water and then buried them about an inch below the soil, as recommended. Clearly that wasn't working so I pulled them out and planted them much closer to the surface, in fact, all new growth was left out in the open, with the dirt barely covering the base. That worked so much better, the stalks immediately started growing - like the next day they'd doubled in size.

For round 2 I soaked the bases for just over 48 hours and planted them after they'd already started producing new growth. Right now the bases are way out of the soil ... I'm going to add a bit of soil and compost to cover them, but still keep the new growth out in the open.

I've been watering them daily and keeping them in full sun. So far so good. Apparently, which I didn't realize when I started this, it takes about 2 months to get edible celery. I'm practicing patience.

Lastly, on Friday my crayon rolls will again be featured at GroopDealz. If you weren't able to get in on this deal the first time here's another chance. I'll post a link as soon as the deal goes live.

Enjoy a wonderful day.