Garden update

We planted our garden on St. Patricks day and have been watering it and taking care of it. I am amazed that we are growing so well since we planted everything from seed except for the blueberries and the blackberries, but they are showing great progress as well.

Here's a picture of the whole garden...



This box has zucchini in the middle, cabbage on the left and broccoli on the right. I didn't know that the zucchini was going to overtake the whole box. I will have to remember that for next time



On the right we have peas, in the middle yellow squash (again overtaking the entire box) and then string beans. The beans are also a large plant. Oh the things I am learning



These are flowers, I am hoping to actually have blossoms in the next week.



The blackberries...they are doing wonderfully. I doubt that we will have very many berries this year, but the plants should flourish



The blueberries, I thought that the one stem was dead and almost cut it off...lucky me that I was too busy because it is now covered in leaves.



On the right in this one is cucumbers, in the middle is watermelon and on the left the cantaloupe is already showing blossoms.



Those are my gardening updates so far. I am hoping that next time I will have more to share...the peas do have pods on them that could be picked and eaten, but I am hoping that they get a little bigger first.

An amazing Grandpa

Meet one of my amazing Grandpa's.



This post is for my Grandpa. I have been meaning to get a letter off to him, I haven't yet...so I am posting it here for him to read first.

Dear Grandpa,

Thank you for being so good with remembering my birthday. Every year I know that there will be a card in the mail from you. I look forward to it each and every year. Especially when I was told that you hand pick the cards for each grandchild personally. I love to read the cards that I get and feel the great love that you have for me.

One of the things that I have done for all of these years is save the two dollar bills that you mail me. I know before I ever open the card that it will have a one dollar bill and a two dollar bill inside. I have been saving my money, because I wanted to make sure that I bought something that would always remind me of how much you have loved me. This year I gathered up my money to see what I had and start thinking of something special that I could get.



I counted and I have been saving my money for 19 years! I must say I have been hiding it from myself well. I looked around to see what I needed/wanted as a birthday gift from Grandpa. I found a beautiful jewelry box.



I was so excited the night that I bought this to run home and fill it. I stayed up late putting everything in where I thought it looked best. I was thrilled when all but the necklaces fit inside.



I looked further to find a necklace tree that would hold multiple necklaces and fit with my decor. I found this beautiful black iron necklace tree.



Now when I see my dresser with both of these items on it, I think of you and how you have remembered me on my birthday for all of these years. One of my favorite parts of my birthday cards all of these years is the signature inside...it usually says "Love you, Grandpa". But I will always recall the special cards that I received that had a different note. I have several that said "Love you LOTS, Grandpa".

Grandpa, I love you LOTS too!

Love ME

Garden time...

I haven't planted or tended a garden since moving out of my parents home. This year we are jumping in with both feet.

First thing was to plant the seeds inside. I was very successful with the peas, watermelon, cucumber, spinach, yellow squash and the bell peppers inside, everything else I am hoping will sprout soon...

While they were growing inside I had to get the outside ready for them. I had heard about square foot gardening and what we did is mostly like that...without the exact square foot boxes. I found the boxes online that were made Amish style but figured we could make them cheaper (which we did). They are 4 feet by 4 feet and I mapped out the side yard so that they are all evenly spaced. I had a friend offer her husbands wood working skills whenever I needed, and he did an amazing job on the garden boxes. So lucky to know such a talented individual.

I didn't take a picture of the corner of the yard before hand, but I will say that I pulled weeds for 3 days. Before putting the boxes into place we put down weed protector so that the weeds wont' be able to grow into the garden, and eventually the rock path that will be going in. I stayed home from work one day in order to get everything ready for planting...otherwise I think that the peas would have latched onto one of the kitchen chairs. I have a wonderful sister-in-law who offered her (and her kids) services while they were on spring break. Without their help I don't know that I would have finished in one day. Mainly because the night before I was to finish the garden we decided that we needed to put in an underground watering system so that we weren't constantly dragging a hose around. Now that it is all out together I am so pleased.

Here is a picture of the side yard and how the boxes are all organized.


See the peas on the left...they were getting really long while on the table...hopefully they will latch onto the lattice and grow up (crossing my fingers). Also on the top right of the box (in the picture) you can see the water spout that is for this box. Then the soaker hose can be moved around inside the box to water where ever it is needed the most.


Several years ago a friend said I could pick blackberries from her yard. I had no idea that they grew here. I had also never before picked blackberries, I will never forget those thorns. Here are the thornless blackberry plants that we planted. They should grow to be 4x4x6, perfect size for the box.


I was given this blueberry plant...again I had no idea that you could grow them here...so far it is going fantastic, it is the best plant in the garden by far. And it should also grow to be the same height as the blackberry bush. I am not yet sure if this bush has thorns or not. Only time will tell.


Here is one of the new tomato plants, the last ones didn't survive the freeze. But we did have some delicious tomatoes off of them. This time I bought plants that already had flowers and now we get to watch them turn into beautiful red tomatoes.


Flowers that I planted last October, I planted some just like this at my last house, but they didn't last. The purple ones I really like are African daisies. Now right now when I looked outside all I can see when I look at this pot is purple blossoms...I think they are so pretty.


The orange tree blossoms, if only I could bottle the smell of these and somehow have everyone get to experience it. I love this time of year.


Lemon tree blossoms

The nightstands are finished

Yes, I am still working on this. If you could see me I was doing a fist pump of excitement. So...one thing that you may notice about this nightstand is that it looks exactly like the other one...even the way that the door opens. Some major oversight in the manufacturing if you ask me. Apparently the person doing assembly didn't think that you would need to open this one while laying in bed. I seriously had to get out of bed to see inside.



Now here is the finished one. I used wooden dowels to fill the holes of the old handle, and then wood putty to fill in the cracks. Then just had to use the drill to make a new hole on the correct side for the handle and a handy dandy drill to attach the new hinges. Now on to enjoying that it is opening the correct way :-)

New Year...New Project

Since the kitchen is now finished, I found a new project. One that I have been meaning to work on for about a year, maybe a little more. Here is what our nightstands looked like this morning.



There isn't anything wrong with them. However, when I started working on it this morning I pulled the sticker off of the back that said it was from 1986. That is the only thing that I had against them. That is that they look like 1986. And that we have a grey bedroom set. It just doesn't go with the dark brown and yellow flowers.

After a little work this is now what the nightstand (yes only one...not enough hours in the day to do more than one) looks like.



So much better in my opinion. A much more modern look, and it will go well with the grey, or any color for that matter...nothing wrong with a nice classy black.

Now...let's see, I have another nightstand, a headboard, a chest of draws with a matching mirror on top and a dresser. I am going to need many more Saturdays to accomplish the whole set. But one down and 5 more to go.

The finishing touches

I posted a few months ago about the finished kitchen (Oct 1 to be exact). Here are the last finishing touches.

The right side of the old sink...where do the drain stoppers go anyway when they are not in use?



The left side of the old sink...I am guessing almost everyone has soap somewhere near, we like the liquid soap and the bar soap but that means a tad bit cluttered...



...by the way the sink is clean. Just old, worn and well used.

The whole sink. Who out there is just like me and throws the dish rag over the faucet? I don't know where else to put it. If I throw it over the middle of the two sinks I don't feel like it gets enough air to dry properly and it smells of mildew too quickly.



Right side of the new sink...I left the drain stopper here for the photo's sake, but will now be storing it under the sink when not in use - looks better to me. Oh, and check out the new soap dispenser on the corner. ~Lovin it~ PS I also love the new disposal, it is so quiet!



Left side of the new sink...this has to be one of my new favorite features. This is the towel bar. Yes, the sole purpose of this nifty little bar is to hold the dish rag. And I must say that it stays dry longer since it is farther from the water source.



The whole sink. The new faucet is fantastic, it is a pull out and can also be changed to spray. The nice feature on it is that it as a magnet it in so that when you are done using it, the magnet will keep the faucet in place. I am so happy with it, it really finishes off the kitchen perfectly.