Getting fancy: How to Tie a Tie!

Today I decided to learn how to tie a tie.... it seems like a life skill one should know, even though I am now surrounded by people who will wear scrubs to work, not suits. But I think it's good to be ready for an emergency...like a fancy party! Or what if I run into Henry Cavill (Charles Brandon from the Tudors) and his tie is awkwardly dangling and he needs my help?? Clearly, I need to be prepared for this scenario.

The internet provided me with these handy step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish this feat. My first few attempts were incredibly unimpressive.

Henry Cavill would not fall in love with me if I were to pull this kinda crap. I decided I needed help... and so I turned to our man of the house for advice. Fred provided some helpful hints, and I tried again:

A considerable improvement! Finally, I realized that if I really want to impress Henry, I have to be able to tie this on him directly... Fred was patient again and let me practice on him. Fred is the best!!Success! Henry Cavill, come find me anytime.

Pickles for the Lazy

I think there are two kinds of people in this world: people who eat the pickle that comes with a deli sandwich, and people who give that pickle to someone else. I am DEFINITELY the first kind of person. In fact, I eat my pickle, and then I will eat yours too. So, today I decided to learn how to make my own pickles! Vinegar, cucumbers, how hard could it be?

Turns out there is a lot of complicated pickling methodology out there. The first obstacle I encountered was the question of putting the pickles in jars, or, as it is confusingly named, "canning". I don't have canning jars. I did not feel like buying them. So instead I washed out an old mustard jar and a salsa jar and decided they would have to do.

The second obstacle I encountered was that I could not find cucumbers small enough to fit in my wee jars. This was easily solved -- I decided to pickle green beans and red onions instead, for a twist. I also decided that this "soak for months" thing was not really my style -- I want pickles, and I want them NOW! So I found recipes that claim to deliver pickles overnight, and got to work.

Here is what I started with:

I decided to tinker with the various pickle recipes I found online -- everyone suggested vinegar, water, garlic, a little sugar, red chilies (I want spicy pickles obviously), and various spices, so I decided to just open up my spice cabinet and see what might be tasty. I ended up using peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaf, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and a small amount of a mystery mix of spices that my mom gave me that has fennel in it, among other things. Look at how pretty they look!

The final step of this process is simply to boil this all together, and then pour the hot mixture over the to-be-pickled items into the jars. Allegedly, they will be ready to eat tomorrow! I'm concerned that they will be too sweet.... I'll find out soon. Here is the final product (pictured with a pepper shaker so you can see how small these cute little jars are!).
UPDATE, 11/13: They are not too sweet! They taste awesome!

Elephants out of Dollar Bills

Katie's handiwork!!

Lightbulb Vases

My first foray into operation learn-new-things was inspired by Pinterest. Pinterest is an endless source of procrastination for me, and inspires me to attempt to be creative. Generally, when I decide to do something creative, I lose the initiative halfway through, and either do a shoddy job, or abandon the project altogether. For example, one time I decided to hang interesting travel pictures in my room, got as far as printing and framing them, and then, realized I had no hammer and nails to hang them.... those framed pictures stayed in a pile on my floor for over TWO YEARS.

However, seeing all the beautiful little knick-knacks on pinterest motivated me to follow through this time. I decided to make vases out of light bulbs!

It was super easy!

1) Use pliers to pry off the gold base & contact.

2) Use a wrench or a hammer to hit the black glass at the bottom of the bulb until it breaks. You want to be careful not to hit too hard, or to squeeze the light bulb and shatter it. I guess I would describe the appropriate amount of force as somewhere between a "gentle tap" and a "controlled smack".

3) When the glass breaks, scoop it out and and use the pliers to yank out the various junk in there.

Now when you turn it upside down, you have a little vase! The internet gave me several suggestions for mounting the vase, such as bending coat hanger wires, or balancing it on a shot glass, but I am extremely awesome and went with another option -- I tied a loop of fishing line around the metal part, and hung the whole thing from hooks above my window. Just to be fancy, I also decorated the bulb with little dots of silver nail polish, which I think look very pretty in the sunlight.

Welcome to magpies & muses!

Last Saturday night Katie, Allison, Fred and I were sitting on our rooftop, defying the November cold with warm blankets and large candles. After spending about 30 minutes discussing how weird it would be if humans were all covered in long hair and just styled it instead of wearing clothes, we started talking about Greek mythology and modern education (there was no transition). Naturally, this conversation led to another about how we wish we had more random skills. Katie, Allison and I decided that we want to embark on a mission to learn about or do new fun things every day -- from learning how to tango, to how to sew, to how to make souffle - this is when Fred made fun of us for being too girly. He will be our go-to expert for learning how to build ladders, make awesome mousetraps, and light the burner in our water heater without embarrassing ourselves to our landlord.

Magpies & muses will document this project! Stay tuned to see what random things we come up with...