Red Maple Tree Propagation DIY

I have no idea if this will work. I also make no claims to be a horticulture expert by any means, but I have a little plot out back and I figured I would give it a shot. I ordered two apple trees from the Arbor Day Foundation and my purchase of "any amount" earned me a free Red Maple tree along with the two apples. I planted them all near the same area and I noticed these little sprigs coming off the base, right at the mulch of my tree, and I thought I might clip them and try to root them.

I used a regular kitchen knife to cut them from the tree and bring them into the house. I left a longish stem on for the first cut, but later made a more precise cut with very sharp scissors. Excuse the weird light effects and awfully chipped fingernail polish. The rooting gel I used is the brand Rootech, I don't know anything about them or the quality of different ones, but we will see how well this one works, but you can use anything. For the growth medium I used rockwool cubes and soaked them for a few hours beforehand in a gallon of water at pH level 6 and with one milliliter of Superthrive. You should be able to find all this stuff in your local garden supply store for about $10, but you can root a lot of clippings for that price.

After I had the clippings in cubes I put them into a ziplock bag and sprayed the inside of the bag with a little of the water from earlier and zipped it up trying to squeeze out as much air without hurting the plants and unzipping a small corner and blowing air full of CO2 into the bag to give the babies a better chance. I am gonna leave it in a sunny window for about a week and then check on the roots and see how they are doing. When I see that the cubes are not as wet in a few days I will add a little water to the bag and spray the foliage and bag again. We'll see how this works!

Update: I left these in there for about a month and checked on them about once and week and there were never any roots sprouting from the stems so it was unfortunately a fail :(

Ann Arbor Adventures

Steve and I decided to go to Ann Arbor last night for dinner and the night took some unexpected turns. We have known for some time that the tires needed to be replaced on his car and we just hadn't gotten around to it. We drove into a parking structure and decided to walk around for a few minutes before dinner. We walked into a clothing store and we saw a bandana that we knew would be perfect for Beau the dog and we decided to splurge and spend the $2.

It was a really hot day and I was carrying a purse that I didn't need, so we decided to drop it off at the car, so I didn't have to carry it around all day. When we arrived back at the car, the front passenger wheel was flat. Very flat. So, we called a tire shop and it was about 6:30. It turns out there was a Firestone Complete Auto Care .3 miles away so we drove to it on the flat. They closed at 6. Because of the fancy wheels on the car, there is a special tire size that not everyone has, so we decided to call around and see if anyone else had it, but everything was already closed. We figured that Firestone would be able to inflate the tire enough to go to a place with the right size. So, we decided to check into a hotel for the night, but the only problem was that we had left Beau at home in his kennel. Poor Beau. We were an hour and a half from home and he would have to wait until the morning to go out, but there was no other option.

So we look at hotels within walking distance. Our options were all at least $250 per night, so we decided to rough it. After all, we would already be spending at least $200 for new tires, and we had already been staying awake until about 6am everyday (watching Harry, Home Alone and the Godfather) and Firestone opened again at 7am, so we decided bum around and bar hop until morning, its not like we had to drive.

After a delicious dinner at Jerusalem Garden we had Turkish coffee and baklava and it was delicious.

We moved on to Bar Louie (pretty uneventful), then to the Raven, where I accidentally set a small amount of my hair on fire, but there was only minor damage. I also saw an antique bottle of Fernet Branca from 1900 and it just so happened that they had Fernet in the bar and Steve tried it and liked it. I think he was Argentine in a former life. We finished the night off with a round of wings at Buffalo Wild Wings and then we retired to the car and waited for sunrise for 4 hours.

When the Firestone Complete Auto Care guy showed up he couldn't get the cap off to put air in the tires and would not order the special tire size for the car. Some "complete auto care". So we called AAA and Brian came to our rescue and towed us to the Discount Tire on Washtenaw and let me tell you, I have never seen people be so cheerful at 8 am about tires. They fixed us up and got us out within the hour. By this time poor Beau had been in his doggie prison for 18 hours with no food, and no water and we felt terrible, so we hurried home to Beau. He quickly forgave us and accepted his new bandana as a peace offering.

$2 Floral Dress Refashion

In the spirit of spring I decided it would be a good time to have some more dresses, but I refuse to pay retail prices for clothes, so I headed down to the Salvation Army to see what I could roundup. I purchased this sad dress for $2 and I knew it had potential. It was originally $4, but blue tags were half off, so I knew it was meant to be. 

Ignore my sad fingernail polish. 

These are the parts that didn't make the cut. Among the lost bits are the collar(?), or whatever its called, the shoulder pads and about 10 inches of length. 

After a few hours at a sewing machine and a little creativity with the sleeves and a little bit of lowering of the neckline, this is what was left.  Also, ignore all the junk in my room. 

The sleeves are just folded and sewn over to make a kinda flowey-flappy sleeve. 

The buttons are winners. I couldn't get rid of those. 

Long Hair, Don't Care

I cut off my hair in April of 2011 after an unfortunate latex paint incident, but now it has grown back and it is turning into quite a challenge. I decided to try and straighten it for the first time since December of 2012. It was a 5 hour process from combing to washing, blow drying and straightening. I must say it turned out quite well.

Below you can see my DIY hands free blow dryer. It worked great!

Size 1 Socks

I had never knit socks on size 1 needles before this one and I don't think I'm ever going back to size 2 after I finished this sock. It's a simple patten from the cuff down with Paton's sock yarn in the color way that looks mostly pink, however it had some lovely blues throughout the yarn which were not expected but welcome. It took about 1.5 weeks for this one on a relaxed schedule but I am gonna knit the mate in a different color way with some greens and blues.

Pure Muchigan

One of the best combos everrrrr, I call it Pure Michigan.

Another Medical Mishap

I think I am having an allergic reaction to the Dove soap that I bought here in BA. I told the insurance company that I wanted to make an appointment with a dermatologist. Their response was to email me at 5pm today to let me know that I had an appointment but I had to get there before 8pm. This would not have been a problem other than the fact that I didn't get out of class until 7:30pm. I wrote down the address and I hopped on the #152 and made my way down Santa Fe to the 2400 block. The address is Santa Fe 2472 (they put the street name before the numbers). I hop off the bus and I cross the street to the even side to see the numbers. I see 2470 and I walk further up to find 2472, but all I saw was a corner. It seemed to me that the building did not exist. It was almost 8pm and I was looking for this non-existant building and I was fed up and I just started to walk home.

I have a SUBE card which enables me to pay a lower rate ($1.20 AR) for the bus, but it only had $.70 AR left on it and not shockingly, when I went to reload it, the machine at the Post Office was broken, so I had to pay $2 AR for the bus ride. However, I didn't have enough change for fare back home, so I was gonna stop at a kiosko and get change, but I  didn't feel like it,so I just walked the 15 blocks back home and saved by 2 pesos and got a little exercise. On the way home I bought some Johnson and Johnson baby soap and if that doesn't work....well, we will have to cross that bridge when we get to it.

Avocado, Egg, and Lemon Juice Hair Mask

My favorite snack here is Doritos and avocados, but I overdid it on the avocados. I bought too many and they are ripening too fast for me to eat them all, so I scoured Pintrest for other uses. 

I came across this recipe for a hair mask made of avocado, a raw egg and lemon juice. I must say I was reluctant, but I needed to use the avocados and I had everything I needed, so I went for it. I was expecting it to smell bad, but I think the combination of lemon juice and avocado together smelled like kiwi to me. It worked out great!

You probably cannot tell from the photos, but my hair has a natural sheen and gloss after I used the mask. I havent added any other products to it in these photos after shampooing and conditioning normally. My hair is also softer and it has somehow helped my curls be less frizzy than normal.  My hair is undoubtedly softer and more lustrous. I plan on doing this mask more often, but I think I will add some olive oil next time to see what that adds.

Fire at the Dentist's Office

I went to the dentist today and it was an experience. As I was getting ready I picked up my keys, which were next to my camera and for a second I almost brought my camera, but I thought to myself "Why would I need a camera at the dentist office?" so I left it at home. First, I couldn't find the bus stop to get there and in my haste to leave and be on time I forgot all of my identification. I didn't have anything, no state id, no passport, insurance card, nothing. So, when I got there I told them my name and that I had an appointment and they couldn't find my name. I told them again and I saw my last name on the paper next to the first name "Destiny". I tell them that my last name is right, but that is not my first name. I am sure someone was dictating the names of the patients for the day and when my name came up they were in such disbelief that my name could be Darci that they knew they misheard and changed it to a more sensible name, like Destiny.

The woman at the desk was so rude. I speak Castellano fine, not awesome or out of this world porteña style, but fine. However, she was talking so fast that I could not understand a word she was saying and then when she realized I couldn't understand her, so spoke to me like I was deaf. I was so outdone. I ignored her and started talking to someone more polite and gave her my info. One hurdle down.

Then, I go in to see the doctor. While I am waiting, I look around the room for a diploma. I spot it, and it is a photocopy. She seems nice enough and asks me what the problem is. I told her I think I have a cavity and that it hurts when I eat sweet things. She goes in with the tools and picks around and says she doesn't see anything irregular. I am then expecting her to do an exam of my whole mouth and tell me if there are any other problems, or cavities, which she does not do. She asks me again what kind of pain I have and I describe it again and she decided to take an x-ray. I waited for her to come back with the results and she began to explain that there is nothing irregular in the x-ray and that I should use sensitivity toothpaste, which I already do.

She then calls the nurse in to give her this metal thing which looks like a little round jewlery box very similar to the picture above, only without the flame and the nurse leaves. The dentist tells me that she wants to check for sensitivity to hot and cold. I already told her I didn't have problems with hot and cold, but I figured I would humor her. I hear her say something about "fuego" to the nurse and I sat straight up in the chair. She then attempts to comfort me by saying that I wasn't going to die, but I was not worried about dying, I was worried about why she needed fire in a dentists office. I imagined she would give me some hot water, or tea to see if I was sensitive to heat, but no, that would be way to easy. She takes a lighter from the nurse and lights what i thought was a jewelry box and it turns into a burning flame. I am not having it now. I was freaking out. She then put one of her metal pokeys into the fire and tried to put it into my mouth. I tried to imagine this happening the the United States, and then I realized, oh, this would never happen, because this is crazy. She pokes my tooth and when I have no problem she attempts to keep heating the metal probe until it gets hotter and hotter. She knew I was not about to let her do it again and she backed off.

She gave me a little tube of sensitivity toothpaste that I already have at home and she told me to come back in a week and if I still have the problem then she will have to look into some other method. I played along and I went to the front desk and scheduled the appointment, but those people must be crazy to think I am going back there. I will have to wait until I get back to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Its Been a Long Week

So, I have changed home stays after deciding that I could not longer live with the first family and I am all moved into another home. I love my host mother. Her name is Cecilia and she is not overbearing, she is easy going and she is not a smother-mother. I have had many adventures since my last post, but unfortunately I do not have internet at my new home yet because I moved during the weekend and my host mother couldn't get it hooked up on the weekend, which seemed strange to me because I am used to being able to call any company around the clock and get service, but that is not how we are living over here. For now, I am buying overpriced coffee for internet, but it is delicious, so I can't really complain. 

I will start with the least recent adventures first. The grocery store. It is amazing. There are so many new and different things. First, everyone needs their bimbo bread right? 

Im not sure if you can tell what this is. It is a wall of Nesquik. Yes, a wall. They don't play when it comes to Nesquik. 

This is twisted chocolate, I didn't buy it, but I am planning to go back for it. Im not sure it will be good, but it will be interesting. 

Then there was the protest. So, basically all of the rich people in BA think that Cristina is a bad person and that her government is corrupt and they want her out. There was a protest. They walked down the streets in the rich parts of town and yelled and banged pots and pans. They think she charges them to much taxes and she recently raised the amount that poor people get on welfare to keep up with inflation. She also wants to change the constitution to be able to run for president again. Basically, these people don't have anything better to do, so they complain about how hard it is to be rich. They also had signs that said typical protest things. Unfortunately, my school is in the middle of where they were passing, so traffic was stopped and I had to walk against the crowd to get home. It was a struggle, but I made it. 

There were people of all ages there. I mean, people in wheelchairs that looked like they were about to fall apart any second, but they were out there standing up for what they believe in. 

This guy. He was a chatterbox. We went to get ice cream at a chain called Freddo and he just walked up to us and started talking. I assumed he had been to the protest and he proudly pulled his pot out of his bag to show us. He said he was a farmer from one of the interior provinces and that he came to BA for the march. He said that she is an awful person and that she needs to go. He then started trying to tell us he started up with the marriage proposals and we bounced. 

Friday, Danijela and I went on a an adventure to find outlets on Córdoba. We searched for 2 hours in the wrong direction, then we got it right and we shopped til we dropped. We saw this cool looking building along the way. I discovered that "shopping" is a word in Spanish, but it is not a verb or an action, it is a place, like a bunch of stores or a mall. 

This is the school of Economics. 

This is exactly what you think it is. 

Museo de Bellas Artes, Tarta de Manzanas, y Más

I have started my awesome socks!

Apple Pie (Tarta de Mazanas)

Emmy helped. 

The oven has no numbers on the temperature dial. 

My host brother Mateo. 

My host mother, Poli. 

Figureheads from La Boca

Cool skateboard shop I passed on the way home.