1. THE WINDOW GARDEN
Nothing says spring more than beautiful little seedlings! Outside our workshop, the ground is still frozen, so Max and I raided our recycling bucket to create our own little office container garden. We cut large juice containers and two liter soda bottles in half, then used a drill on the spout half to create small holes. This allows the soil to be self watering. We LOVE low maintenance plants!
In the bottom half, we made a larger hole about half way down for water refills. Place the top half,spout down, into the bottom half, and voila! Find more detailed instructions here.
We opted for good quality potting soil and organic seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds, a wonderful resource for beginner or established gardeners. Their excellent website helped us choose plants that would thrive in containers and gave invaluable information about germination, soil and water requirements. (Through trial and error (ahem), we found that for plants requiring less water, fewer perforations should be made in the spout half.)
A spot of tabletop green is sure to perk up your winter... and if you grow healthy edibles, like we did, it just may improve your bathing suit season as well!
2.CALGON, TAKE ME AWAY
Wish someone would send you off on a complimentary luxury spa weekend? Baby, its time to take matters into your own hands... literally! If you can't spare the time or expense to jaunt off to Canyon Ranch, a homemade scented scrub can do the trick. We found some great recipes for sugar scrubs out there on websites like care2 network. Simple, affordable, and luxurious, a homemade sugar scrub will make dry winter skin unbelievably soft. And those poor feet that have been stuffed in your uncute snow boots? They may need a exfoliating salt scrub.
Whip up a batch, grab a few soy candles, pour a glass of organic wine, and barricade yourself in the bathroom. You need it! As cliche as it sounds, an hour of pampering WILL help chase away those winter blahs.
3. GET ORGANIZED, GET CREATIVE
If you are one of us who wants to just hunker down and avoid the cold weather, put yourself to work. And no, we're not talking about overtime! Winter is the perfect time for getting organized. Sort things into manageable piles- items to donate to charity, papers to shred, things to recycle, etc- and get out from underneath your winter clutter. If you are on the fence about whether to keep or toss, consider donating it. For us pack rats, it is sometimes easier to let it go if we know it will be put to good use! Goodwill is always an excellent choice for your household items and clothing. Building supplies (new and used) can be donated to Habitat for Humanity's ReStores.
Items that you know will come in handy for future craft projects, such as paper making, quilting or decoupage, can be stored in recycled shoe boxes or metal cookie tins. Keeping the boxes small ensures that you only keep what you will reasonably need for any given project, and the labeled containers can be easily stored away in your garage or attic.
Screw Punxsutawney Phil's prediction... Before you know it, winter will be over!
