Happy Bastille Day

Grab Bag Coupon Code:

Last week I mentioned Avasol, a new sunblock I liked. They got excited about that and contacted me, wanting to share a special 10% discount for you Grab Bag readers.

So…. I urge you to give their products a shot… It’s  a good sunscreen, made by people who really care about clean, effective products, and it will make me look super special if you buy something from them, so what more could you ask for?

Go to Avasol.com and use the code

lksgrabbag

at checkout to get your 10% off 🙂

Grab Bag Throat Lump:

Roger Boddie is a beloved middle school principal who was ready to retire after 36 years. He won’t be at the helm when the  construction of a state-of-the-art facility for his kids is complete, but he’s excited for the future students, staff and faculty.  He thinks he is guiding a video tour of the construction site…..

Grab Bag Pot Head:

Great tutorial to get new concrete, stone or terra-cotta pots looking like they have been in your Italian garden for 30 years:

Adding Moss Works Best On

• Terra Cotta

• Stone or Concrete Containers

• Stone or Concrete Sculptures

There are 2 ways to go about doing this. Both ways work really well, so choose one that best suits your tastes.

Moss requires an acidic environment to grow, which can be developed by painting a pot with buttermilk or yogurt, that’s why both recipes below have one or the other.

Recipe 1:

1. Collect mosses either from around your yard or a friends or neighbors (you can also buy moss spores at a garden store)
2. Finely chop the moss up (or sprinkle in the moss spores into the mix below if you purchased them)
3. Allow the moss bits to dry up for a couple of days (if you collected them yourself)

Then mix together in a large bucket or bowl:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1-1 1/2 cups dried, crumbled moss

Once the above is mixed together, put the bucket in full sun for three days.

When the mixture is good and smelly, brush it generously with a paintbrush on the outsides of your clay pots. Then wrap the pots in plastic wrap and put them in partial sun.

In two weeks the pots will start to grow mold, and by eight weeks the pots will be nice and furry with moss, and looking very antique and old.

Recipe 2:

• Blend pieces of dried moss or purchased moss spores into
• 2 cups yogurt or buttermilk
• Paint onto your pot with a paintbrush
• Put your pot into a plastic bag to create a humid environment for the moss to develop
• Set the pot and bag in a cool, shady spot until the moss begins to form, which will be about 10 days
• Make sure to plant the container so you will be watering it regularly, which will keep the moss alive and growing

From weekendgardener.net

Grab Bag Genus Genii:

Now that your garden is filled with mossy Italian pots, let’s think bigger.

Get inspired by these creatures, created by busy hands at the Montreal Botanical Gardens.

Hoping you have a BIG yard…

Go full screen, lower right corner of the player:

Grab Bag Peaceful Piece:

Just melt into this astounding video… fantastic music, plus the visual magic of fog rivers and fog waterfalls, courtesy of Simon Christen and that magic “City by the Bay”… this is a meditation station…

Start the player and then hit the Full Screen icon, lower right corner..

Adrift from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Thanks to Tally D. for this 😊

Grab Bag Good Tips:

A few random tips for better living:

A little heat makes old tape work like new

Sometimes, masking tape that’s been sitting on a shelf for years won’t pull off the roll without tearing. Freshen it by microwaving it for 10 seconds. Heat softens the adhesive for easy release.

Is your under-sink cabinet gross, grimy and moldy?…..

A few scraps, a few screws, and a few L brackets, and you can make yourself your very own vertical behind-the-door cutting board holder…

Photocopy the back of whatever you want to hang on a wall (double check that the measurements on the photocopy are the same as the real deal… some photocopiers slightly enlarge or reduce the image, which wouldn’t be good for this tip). Tape the copy to the wall for perfect alignment before drilling holes.

Grab Bag Brain Game:

Given a template on the top to follow, you must place each corresponding shape in the correct position and rotation to match the images, as quickly as possible… this is really interesting to hone multiple aspects of visual perception:

SPATIALEYES

Grab Bag Funny French Stuff:

In honor of Bastille Day….