I have so much to tell you all!  I’ve been away from the computer forever!  I’ve been so busy trying to finish projects that I haven’t allowed myself time to write about them.

Before I get to the projects, I wanted to share some pictures of our late-season garden.  Things have held up really well – usually by this time many of the plants have gotten really lanky or faded.  The cooler-than-usual temperatures and above-normal amount of rain must have extended their season.  I guess that’s one positive of a less than ideal summer!

I think the ivy needs a haircut!

I love our porch but it would be great to find a new home for our lovely old grill.  ugh

I actually had tons of motivation to complete a bunch of projects in a short time, because I did a crazy thing back in June.  A super-sweet lady from our neighborhood development committee stopped by our house and asked if we would be part of their up-coming home tour.  I said yes.  I can’t believe that I said yes.  Because this is what our bathroom looked like.

Oh this bathroom.  This black hole of a project.  It’s so creepy.  It was horrible before Kevin demolished the walls and tub and ripped out the floor.  Two years ago.  Now it’s beyond horrible.  As it turned out, the bathroom wasn’t finished in time for the tour (it still isn’t!), but Kevin got all of the drywall up, so it actually looked much better.  Walls will do that for a room!

Next up is the wall in our bedroom that was left with a huge hole when Kevin demolished a closet as part of the bathroom demo.  He closed it up with a piece of plywood, and we kinda forgot about it.

I’ve gone back and forth so many times about how to finish the wall.  Kevin would have loved to finish it loooong ago if I had made a decision one of the million times that he asked me about it!  Then a couple of weeks ago I read a post from House of Smith where they used plywood slats (cut by Home Depot) for a planked wall.  It sounded easy and inexpensive, so that was the route we went.

It still needs to be trimmed out around the top, and the edges need to be cleaned up.  I really like the warmth that the wood adds to the room, and decided not to paint it (for now!).  I’m searching for a long dresser or big armoire (to paint) that will sit along the wall.  And I have a feeling I’ll be painting the rest of the room because I have no idea what the color is for touch-ups where the walls got messed up in the building process.  rats.

The next big project is our office/play room.  This one is a classic example of something that I thought would be a quick do-over that turned into a much bigger project.  Here’s what we did in a few short weeks:

Moved piano from room

Widened the opening of the existing closet

Turned closet into a computer alcove

Painted walls

Painted stripes on floor

Hung a mural on one wall

Moved a gigantic, old cabinet into the room

I also made a new light fixture for the dining room, sanded and refinished our dining room table top, touched up every inch of baseboard and trim on the first floor, and tons of other little things that you only think about doing when you know that 100+ people are going to be strolling through your home!  phew!

I’ll be posting all of the projects soon.  It’s kinda funny that as I was finishing things I would think – ‘it’s good enough for the tour, but not quite blog-ready’.  I’ll be busy in the next few weeks making things blog-worthy!!

Thanks for reading along…

Love you all!

Brenda

My last post (weeks ago!) – I showed you how I pulled all of the sod from my new flower beds.  I was so glad to finish that, but I was left with big clumps of hard dirt that no plant would be happy with.

In the past, I would have just started turning over shovels-full of dirt and busting up the clumps old-school.  But since I kinda need to walk to get through my days, I opted for help from power tools.  We rented a small rototiller – best idea ever!   Since the sod was already gone, the rototiller went through the dirt super easy.

We added a nice thick layer of mushroom manure and tilled it in – what a difference that made!

When I look at this picture, I think – How in the world do 6 people live there??!!  It looks so tiny!  And then I think, Wow – I really need to get some photography skills.  Seriously.  Even just a wee little bit of skill.

I did finally manage to get the beds planted.  I was so late this year – I didn’t plant until Memorial Day weekend.  Which is when my parents always planted their garden (huge vegetable garden – no time for flowers!)  It’s definitely safer to wait until there’s no threat of frost – but I’m usually so excited to get things started.  This is the first year in a loooong time that we actually had frost warnings as late as the end of May.  My procrastination this year at least saved me from covering everything – more than once.

Here’s a couple of pictures before I got the summer plants in…

This rhododendron is amazing – it’s probably as old as our house!  It’s so big and beautiful.

I love this clematis, but I keep forgetting to get a taller trellis for it.  So instead of getting taller it folds over itself and twists around anything nearby.

Beautiful peonies and false indigo along the side of the house…

I wish spring flowers would stick around just a bit longer.  Sigh…

It’s POURING rain today!  So glad that I watered everything last night. 

Tomorrow is our last day of school!  I’m can’t wait to get the summer started.  We’ve never had an official summer bucket list, but this year we’re putting one together.  One thing that will be on it for sure is tennis lessons.  We bought some rackets at a flea market last year and are determined to use them!

Much love-

Brenda

I wanted to share a project that I did with my girls right before Christmas.   Like everyone, I can’t stop thinking about the victims of Newtown.  I wanted to create something that would honor their memory.  I hate the idea of those sweet babies and their teachers being forgotten.

I decided to make angel ornaments that I could hang on a small dogwood tree in our front yard.  I wanted the ornament to be simple enough that my girls could help.  (My little ones have no idea what happened.  They just love to help and were happy and proud to be able to.)  I needed their little hands on this – it just seemed completely fitting, and somehow healing.

We started with pine cones.  The little girls drew a simple face on a wooden ball, and I glued it to the top of the pine cone.  My oldest daughter glued moss to the top for hair, and then glued a small circle of wired garland for a halo.  We added wings made with ribbon, and a tiny bell.

We made 20 angels, and I also bought 6 gold stars to hang on the tree to honor their teachers.

The tree is so sweet.  It makes me terribly sad, but I can’t help but smile just a bit when I look at the little faces.  I’ll continue to pray for peace for their families, and continue to be reminded of how blessed I am by my own babies.

Much love,

Brenda