List Making and Frantic Packing

The family and I head out to Los Angeles tomorrow for my brother-in-laws wedding. I am in a panic trying to get everything ready to go. Wish me luck and see you all next Monday.

Blissful Roses

I did it! Teresa from cherrycheckers is going to be so proud of me.

I am now the proud owner of 5 rose shrubs. Yipee

The front yard received two.

The backyard garden received two.And the cutting garden received one.

Oh, Look my Saliva is starting to bloom. Isn't she beautiful!

Hope you all have a fun and safe weekend. The family and I are off to do a little of this.

My Kids Make Me Laugh

The other night this is how I found Zoe while checking on the kids before I went to bed.
I thought it was so funny I started laughing hysterically. My whole body was shaking as a tried to keep my laughter contained enough to get a quick picture and not wake her up. My husband thought it was fun too - - a slight chuckle, a eye roll and a"oh man" - - ok maybe he didn't think it was THAT funny.

Smeared pudding on the face, pudding cup in one hand, spoon in the other - - not a bad way to fall asleep.

Springtime Updates

I set out this morning to update a few things around the house for spring. The hutch was my main focus today. Added and removing and shifting things around took most of the morning but I like the end result very much.

Here are a couple of the items I updated. This is what I started with, a cheese dome from the thrift store.

I added the dome to a glass pedestal I picked up at Walmart from their Christmas section, added a berry wreath, a nest and a bird. I love the way it turned out. Sorry for the bad picture, it really looks much better in real life. Next I wanted to update one of my favorite birdhouses. Here is the before.
Here she is after a new roof in a lovely blue color.
It's a little hard to see in the first picture, but I roughed up the new roof color to make the old red color show through and absolutely love the results. Here is a close up - Love. It.
With the updates in place my hutch is now looking ready for spring and early summer. My hope it that this arrangement will work until July when I plan to update it again.
Are you wondering why the counter space is so bare? I watch a nephew that like to swipe things. So each item is place perfectly in the middle just barely out of harms way.

More Fence Garden Planting

Today I'll show off the inside of the fence.

The left side.

The right side.

The plants are again mostly annuals with a few pholox, creeping pholx and a new plant for me, lamb ears. I am hoping to find the perfect rose to fill in the corners of each bed. Also need to add a few more plants like maybe a daisy, coreopsis or saliva.

Here is a view looking out through the tree garden into the fence garden.
Can't wait to see pretty flowers against the white fence.
Here is another view of the tree garden. I'm so happy it is all coming together. It's starting to look like a real garden. Yippee

Fence Garden Planting

Yesterday afternoon was spent shopping at the garden center and happily planting my new purchases.

I may have jump the gun a little on planting my annuals, I'm hoping it will turn out ok. I was able to finish planting the space in front of my fence, that a look...

Both sides of the middle walkway are basically the same. I ended up with all annuals except for the two shrubs. I splurged on the 4 yellow potentilla's which are one of my favorite shrubs. This version only gets about 3 ft tall, has wonderful large yellow flowers all summer long, dark glossy leaves and has a round shape sort of like a boxwood(which I love but can't get to survive winter).

The remaining area I filled in with annual saliva, dahlia, petunia and small zinnia. The dahlia and zinnia will both range in colors of pink, yellow, and red. The saliva, and petunia are both purple. I think it will all work out great together. Next year I will add a few perennials to the mix since they are by far my favorite. For now I can't wait to see it a month from now when everthing is much bigger and blooming.

Here is a side view which you are able to see both sides of the walkway. If you look close you can see the toy snake my little rascals place among the flowers to freak me out. I need to remember to move it next time I go out, don't want to scare the neighbors too much.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show you the inside of the fence.

Garage Sale Finds

Picked up this cute little shelf at a sale. Not sure where it will go, but it is going to be fabulous after a new coat of paint.

Also picked up this adorable little lamb. Not the normal item I would pick up but for some reason its cute little face and vintage charm lead me to give it a new home.

One More Sign

I know, I know, I need to slow down on the signs. My husband can't figure out why I like them so much. He says . . . "I don't drink that type of Kool-Aid", which I think is funny. As much as my husband is not "getting" it, I came across this saying at an antique sale and KNEW I had to have my own. Poor husband will probably just roll his adorable eyes when he sees it but I'm ok with that, it is DEFINELTY MY KIND OF KOOL-AID.

Here she is. Simple and Cute.

I just know it will go great on my hutch with all my garden accessories.

Wow! I Did IT

I'm in shock right now. I had no idea if I was going to figure out how to update my blog header. I did it, I'm so happy. What do you think? Did I spell everything right, I have been staring at it so long I can't tell any more.

Garden Center Heaven

The Garden Center has been calling my name for weeks now. Oh sure I have stopped by, but only picked up a few annuals. Yesterday was officially the beginning of planting time here and the"Need" to spend a couple hours looking at beautiful plants was more than I could handle. So with list in hand I headed out. The sight and smells were heavenly. Row, after row of perfectly lined up plants, it was like a sugar hight. I grabed a cart and filled it up, quicking crossing items off my list. By the end of the hour I had two carts filled and was grinning from ear to ear.

Most of the plants I purchased were for my new fence garden in the front yard. Four new shrubs, two new perenials and my favorite annuals. I filled my little mini-van right up. The bad news however is that I only scratched the surface of my list, the good news - another trip (ok, maybe two) to the garden center will be needed (heehee). Tomorrow I hope to be able to do a little planting so I can than maybe show you some pictures.

In the meantime I thought I would show you my backyard garden. Yesterday morning I spent three hours removing and replacing plants and weeding. For some reason I have a lot of grass growing in the garden beds this year, I can't figure it out. I haven't given much thought to my main planting area this year but it needs a boost only a couple new plants can give. Teresa from CherryCheckers has convinced me I should try a rose. Her roses are amazing and make me want my own. Go on over and check her blog out, you won't be disapointed.

Here is a view of the backyard from the deck. I know it doesn't look like much right now but give it a month and it will be beautiful.

I love this birdseye view of the veggie and cutting garden. I added a few phlox on the far left side. The clamitic and peony are also doing well, but other than that not much is going on in there right now.
See that dug out spot with the pile of dirt. My new rose is going to go there. Another bag or two of garden soil and it will be ready for planting.
Here is the kids area. I plan to move the hosta's and put in a little courtyard with a couple cute chairs and some potted flowers. I think it would really spruce up the place. The girls keep asking for curtain, window boxes and a screen door, defintely making mama proud. See the big stick hanging out the window? Thats their oar, so they can row - - Zoe wil get bored with playing and say "I'm going to go row" - - how cute.
How you enjoyed the tour. Happy Gardening.

Fabulous Flowers

My home is filling up with flowers, what a beautiful thing.

This is a lovely photo of the flowers my dear sweet hubby presented me with on Mother's Day.

I kept two roses to place on my bedside table now I have a beautiful surprise every morning.
Out on the sun porch I have this beauty enjoying the afternoon sun in her new gorgeous enamelware container.Along with these perfect pansies I placed into another enamelware container sitting atop a newly painted red bench. And finally, a handful of perfect purple pansies placed on the eating table.
All my thrift store found containers worked out beautifully as planters. I added a couple inches of gravel to the bottom of each container in case I over water.

A Family Evening At Home

The family and I had a lovely evening last night. The kids played and rode their bikes around while I puttered around the front yard moving plants and dreaming about flower combos. Hubby brought out his new "toy", a electric truck and drove it around while the girls set up jumps for it. We giggled, and joked, and played together. It all seems so ordinary but somehow last night it was almost magical. It seemed more than it was, memories where made and we all went to bed with a feeling a peace. I am hoping to have many more such evenings throughout the summer.

I have been enjoying the beginning of garage sale season again this week and thought I would show you some items I picked up.

The big white bowl is a little scratched up on the inside so it will be re-used as a planter. My sweet little purple pansy will look lovely in it. The small urn/pot piece will be added to my white pottery collection.

This beauty has me puzzled. Not sure if it is for indoors or out. I think it may be a fancy bird feeder. It will most likely find a new home outside in the garden hanging on a fence.

Enamelware seems to enjoy coming home with me. Found this one yesterday and couldn't be more happy about it. It's in gloriously ruff shape and will be used for a planter also. Little blooms will love such a wonderful home.

The family and I are headed to my mom and dad's tonight. Were breaking out the ATV's and having a cabin building party down in "Pepsiville". Were all so excited spring is finally here and what better place to spend time then ATV'ing in the woods. Hope you all have a great weekend. See you soon.

Chair Makeovers

Today I finished updating two chairs that needed some help.

I spray painted both chairs(chair with arms was the same color as chair on left)

For the arm chair I made a back pillow and a slightly ruffled shirts to dress it up a bit. The cushion gave me some problems. I ended up buying a chair cushion meant for outdoor furniture. It fits pretty well but the color will probably be changed to white. The current color bugs hubby somehow. So here is my finished product.

The next chair I also painted and updated the chair pad with a linen fabric. Next a made a cute little slipcover for the back of the chair to hid the broken back. Also added a monogram for good measure. This chair will sit at my computer desk in the downstairs living area. Here's a look.
For closures I used mother of pearl snaps. Looks like I may have pull out my iron, looking a little wrinkled, just ignore that part ok, thanks.

Here is a close up of the monogram and pintucks. Not sure if that is what they are called (does anyone else know?), whatever they are called I. Love. Them. Much more dressy than a ruffle. For the monogram I used fabric paint which was my first time play with and it is so fun. Definitely have to dream up so more projects to use it on.
Hope you enjoyed, have a great day.

Beautiful Fence

The new fence is installed. I am so happy. It is just like I imagined.

Look at this beauty.

Here is a side view.

I am so happy about how well it turned out. Now I am itching to plant. I have my plans all drawn up and my list of flowers and shrubs to buy. Now all I have to do is go to the garden store, OH THE HORROR(giggle,giggle, wink, wink). It won't be long now. For now I will enjoy my beautiful new fence.
Yesterday I bought Jazz a new pair of shorts.

This morning I had her try them on. Here is our conversation.
Me: Do they fit?
Jazz: Umm, yeah
Me: What is the problem?
Jazz: I'm not wearing them to school.
Me: Why not?
Jazz: Well, it just that I don't really care for clothes to have MESSAGES ON THE BUTT!
Me: HA! (composing myself) yeah I guess I can understand that. They will be good for around the house right!
I don't know why this struck my so funny this morning but I had a good 15 minutes of chuckling over it and thought I would share. I'm still laughing about it, poor girl will probably NEVER wear them now!

Laundry Room Reorganizing

Last week I tackled the disaster zone otherwise known as my laundry room. It's a combination laundry room, storage area, furnace room and craft space. It is also a landing zone for any item I don't want to deal with right away. A lot is packed into this little area and it was Messy with a capital M. It was time clean it up.

So with a little bit of a plan I set out to make the room function better for me. It seemed to be a wasted effort to try to make the room "pretty", but functional I can do.

First things first, STORAGE. I add a whole wall of storage in a little corner behind the furnace. Nothing fancy just boards (36" long by 15" wide) and metal brackets but now I have space for all my decorating stuff. I organized the boxes by holiday or type (curtains, picture frames). I am so pleased that it turned out so well, I have more room than I needed so I spread things out a bit. I will slowly work on buying plastic storage bins that all match to humor my matchy-matchy side.

I had a leftover shelf so I decided to hang it under the window to work as a high counter. It now holds the laundry soap, a bowl for change, my cans filled with paint brushes and a metal container filled with clothes pins. Underneath now sports two clothes bins, one for towels and one for JJ dress shirts. The wood box holds cords for gadgets, manuals and misc. small items I need often. Overhead I added a few clotheslines(sorry no pictures) to air dry items.

Here is a view from the other end of the room.

Also added a new curtain I found at the thrift store. I really like the way it make the room feel a little more dressy. I love there vintage flare.
Oh Look a BONUS! Found some money and other pair of sunglasses. Yippeee.

I'm A Happy Girl!

The weather was wonderful this weekend and I spent the last two days outside gardening. I'm so happy.

I dug,

I raked,

I pushed around wheel barrels full of dirt and sometimes kids,

I mixed

until I had noodle arms but it was all so worth it.

This is my veggie and cutting flower garden.

Here is the view from the gate. Looks like my bench could use some TLC. I love my pea gravel pathways and the raised beds. It helps keep the dog and the kids out of the plants. Plus I love the way it looks all neat and tidy.

I prepared all the beds for planting. It wasn't hard work, just slow. I removed all the mulch, added more dirt and compost, then re-spread the mulch. I was able to get all 6 beds completed. Now its ready for planting next week. Here is another view from the corner.

Here is the view of our front yard. The front flower bed by the sidewalk is where I worked this weekend. Last fall I laid the brick edging and this weekend I spent time amending the soil and getting ready to be planted.
Here is a side view.
Also this weekend hubby helped me design and build a cute little decorative fence to place in my new flower bed along the sidewalk. Once it was built I went to work staining it. I would have liked to get it placed out in the garden but we ran out of time. Here is the backside of one of the small sections. I'll so you more pictures when we have it installed. It's going to be so great!
All in all it was a very productive weekend and look my first blooms from the garden. My creeping phlox just started blooming.
With mommy working outside all weekend the girls and hubby had to take care of the house. What a sweet family I have, this is what my kitchen looked like on Sunday night.

All neat and tidy, right! Oh, and here is the girls room, now that is what I call spotless!

But wait, even the bathroom received a dose of their tender loving care.
Dear sweet family, what would I do without you.

Have a great day everyone, I think I'll work on cleaning up the house a bit today!