It started out innocently enough.  I took down the kitchen curtains to wash them.  I decided to put up some valances I had in the linen closet that I had picked up from Target on clearance for only $3 each.  The valances alone made the kitchen brighter, no easy feat since there is a Florida room off the kitchen that blocks and diffuses much of the light coming into the kitchen.  I did not take proper before pictures of the “project” but this will give you an idea of what was before.  Cafe curtains with upper valances and bottom curtains. Off topic - is that not the biggest hydrangea bloom ever?  Why are they all no longer white?  Now they are all greenish.  Still pretty but not white.

So anyway…I put up the new valances and the light just poured in.  And then I could see the dirty windows in all their, ahem,  glory.  So I cleaned the windows, inside and out and in between.  Not easy.  Especially since these old windows don’t open up all the way.  I have good leverage under the window by the door but it must have been quite the site to see me feet in the sink, trying to pry open the window enough to get at the storm windows.  Between standing on a stool over the sink and standing in the sink I was able to lower and raise the storms, I couldn’t pull them out.  So now the view out the window looks like this.

If you look closely out the windows by the storage canisters you can see the tippy tops of our garbage cans.  Nice view.  So again, no “before” picture.  You’re just going to have to trust me that it wasn’t pretty.

So that’s what I was working on yesterday.  I ran to Home Depot to get ideas only.  I have no budget for this and was just going to move what I had planted on the other side of the fence in the side garden over to this spot, but I knew eventually I’d like to add some height.  I had one Pieris (Japonica) bush that was in the side garden that will grow to about 5 feet tall.  I thought an Arborvitae or 3 would be perfect for hiding the garbage cans and the fence but wanted to see what else would work in this area.  I get part sun in this area, a lot of the day it is shaded.  I hit the jackpot at Home Depot as many of their prices were slashed.  I picked up a very small Arborvitae for $5.99 and a small Azalea for $6.99 and two tiny garden Mum plants for $19.

I cleared the section where the garbage cans were and carved out an area for the garden.  I then  removed the Hostas and Pieris bush from the other side of the fence/gate (on the side of the house) and replanted them in the yard, along with the new plants.  It took about 3 hours total and I am so happy with the results.  You still have to pass the garbage cans if you walk through the gangway to the backyard but we rarely do.  We mostly enter the yard through the kitchen door and I spend a lot of time at the sink doing dishes and looking out that window.  The view is so much better now.

As you can see from this side angle, the garbage cans are on the other side of the fence.  I can’t see them though, from my kitchen window.  I think I’ll slat the fence or plant something that vines over it to block the view until the plants grow into their own.  everything is teeny tiny but if you use your imagination, you can see how it will fill in.  As things grow I’ll have to move some of the Hostas, but I love using them as “place holders” - it looks pretty and helps keep the weeds down.  I still need to add mulch.

Far left you can see the Arborvatie and in the back corner is the Pieris.  Once they grow it will fill in that area nicely.  The Azalea is the lime green plant just behind and to the right of the white potted annual plant.  They say it will get between 3 to 6 feet tall and just as wide.  We’ll see.  The mums are the really tiny purple plants to the right of the picture.  I may need to move those as they might need more sun.  I bought them because I love mums and couldn’t bring myself to buy two big pots of mums yet.  I can’t mix them with the annuals - it looks funny to me and I’m not ready to lose the potted annuals yet.

I’m so happy with how this looks.  Such a small change that makes such a big difference.  And super budget friendly.  And, since this is such a hodgepodge of how one small project went astray I’ll post another example of how things lead from one to another.  As I was outside taking photos, I noticed some ripe tomatoes in the garden and so I walked over to pluck those.  Here is todays tomato haul.

Mmm. Off to make Caprese salad.

It looks like July is the month when my garden is in it’s glory!  Most things are blooming now, although a few things are not.  I’ve yet to have my blueish and pink hydrangeas blooming but the plants themselves are getting big.

The Annabelle Hydrangeas have bloomed!

The veggie garden is growing day by day!

The herbs are coming along nicely (garlic chives, cilantro, rosemary, oregano, chives, Italian parsley).

The side garden has hostas in bloom.

This is a new section I added - in place of some of the hostas.  It has grasses, Lily’s, sedum, Canna and a Holly bush.  Looking forward to the holly bush in the winter as it is evergreen.

The butterfly bush has purple flowers (hard to see) and the Autumn Joy Sedum is huge!

The Daisys and the yellow Yarrow.  You can barely see the Ivory Halo Dogwood’s beautiful leaves - I need to do a little thinning here.

Pretty pink Phlox.

Beautiful Coneflowers!  To think, I yanked the one in front out of the garden because I though it was a weed! I’m guessing that’s what I did the previous 2 years and why I couldn’t get my Coneflowers to grow back!  Ha!  Good thing when I yanked it out - the soil that came with it came out looking like the shape from a pot of some sort so I stuck it back in the ground.

The long view to the left.

Long view to the right.

View as a lunch guest!

I need to figure out how to add some curve to this garden space!

Ross had a play date a little while back.  He was in his room with his friend Joey and was showing him some of his favorite toys.  I was enjoying listening to his conversation when I heard him say “my mom made this one for me.”   Emphasis on the “made”.

Okay, stop laughing. Seriously. Stop. Laughing.

I made this bunny from the free pattern on the Wee Wonderfuls Website

http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/wee-bunny.html

And although the face is cute, the rest of the body leaves a lot to be desired.  But Ross loves it.  He has slept with it since I made it last year and it seems that he really enjoys the fact that I made it especially for him.  I need to pull out the cat pattern and make one for Francesca now, since she is getting older and will soon be asking why I didn’t make her one too.

It made me feel so good to hear him be so happy that it was made just for him.  He calls the bunny “Lovey”.  Too cute.  I’ll have to do more little projects for the kids….and with them, now that they are older.

Sam picked up new blinds for the living room windows.  This is a good thing, since the kids have picked at the old ones and broke pieces off.  This looks especially lovely from the outside. 

He put them up today which meant an impromptu jump start on spring cleaning.  I took down the drapes and sheers and washed the windows (on the inside at least).  Not what I was planning on doing today but a nice task to cross off the spring to-do cleaning list. 

Do you think this early spring cleaning mught catapult us into an early spring?  Ummm, ok…me neither but it sure would be nice.  I look forward to getting out in my garden and planting more perrenials and the vegetable garden.   Soon it will be time to start sowing vegetable seeds indoors, most of the plants from last year were purchased already transplant size - this year we’re shooting for “from seed”.   At least I can start planning what will go into our vegetable garden.  That’s a fun process and will have to do until I can get my hands into some soil.

Directions courtesy http://www.Nickjr.com.  that’s HoHo from Ni Hao, Kai lan - a Nick Jr. show.  Ross has been wanting to make this for a while now.  The one with the blue trim is his - he did most of it himself.  The white trimmed one is for Francesca - she did none of the work but she did nap while we made hers which was a HUGE help.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you! xxxooo

At a craft show right before Christmas, I saw an adorable barrette holder made from a picture frame.  I had already spent my budgeted craft show spending money so I couldn’t buy it, but it seemed relatively easy to make. 

I tried my hand at it this week and it came out pretty cute.  

It was really easy to make too.

Now I’ll just be obsessed with finding cute little barrettes like this little Gingerbread one from http://www.giddygiddy.com.  It will be fun trying.

So in my usual way of putting the cart before the horse, I found the perfect rug and lamp for Francesca’s new room.  We still have to fix the ceiling (air conditioning leak from the attic) and paint the room (a lilac-like shade), but I fell in love with the pieces and just knew that when I was ready for them they’d be gone.

The lamp is from Target.  The shadow box with the little doll inside was a gift from Nicole and Brandon to Francesca.  Nicole made the little “doll” and framed it.   I received the crafts and pieces to make more dolls as part of my Christmas gift from Nicole and Brandon.  Thank you Nicole and Brandon!

The rug is also from Target.  The table will be set up soon and ready for tea parties.  This is the same table and chairs from when Nicole and Ashley were little.  Just stripped and painted. Thank you Sam - nice job!

I love that the rug has some pink in it.  Just perfect for her room.  Next we need to pick up a toddler bed and some bookcases/storage shelves and more bins and baskets to hold the many toys she has accumulated.  I want to get white, and eventually the bedroom furniture will be all white too but that will come later.  For now storage and the toddler bed will do just fine.

Now I need to get Sam moving on the ceiling so I can get the room painted and get her in there.  Ross has plans for the space that will open up in his room once Francesca’s crib is taken out.  He is all set for a reading nook.  That is another post for another day.

I’ll post photos when the room is painted. Just don’t hold your breath.  We don’t move at lightening speed around here.

I

My apologies to Monty Python…Right now our back yard is covered in snow.  But the photo above is from the summer of ‘07, and shows the beginning of the rear border (North side).  Not much there but some Hostas and Allium.  Hopefully, next spring will bring the Alliums planted this fall and some Hydrangeas.

This is from summer ‘08 (rear brder South)  and shows the purple Coneflowers, Sedum (Autumn Joy) and the Spirea “Little Princess”.  I also planted more Hydrangeas, Mums and Coneflowers.  I won’t be too disappointed if the Mums don’t come back.  I love Mums in containers but once I planted them - meh.   I do want to get more Sedum though, it flowered beautifully.

These are my Peonies (after bloom) in the far South rear border.  The old plant stand was there from previous owners and looked rather ratty.  After thinking about ripping it out and deciding it was too much work, (it’s mounted in concrete) I gave it a shot of spray paint.  It’s hard to see with the poor quality of the photo (sorry, no Photo Shop) but it’s not half bad.  Next spring I plan on filling the pots with flowers and greenery that spill down and I think it will give the corner some interest.

That’s Bishops Weed on the bottom of the plant stand, a real spreader but fortunately it’s contained.  I also scored some big rocks from my neighbor and will be replacing the broken edging in this area.  Hydrangeas are hoped for as well in this area. 

It may not look like much but if you saw the “before” you’d think it was a dream garden.  We had overgrown volunteer bushes (hope that’s the right term, I’ve heard it in reference to plants before) and the Hostas were lined up in a row, with trees coming up everywhere.

All this gardening thinking was prompted by a giveaway at Carolyn Gail’s “Sweet Home and Garden Chicago” blog (http://sweethomeandgardenchicago.com).  I was the lucky winner of some Muck gardening shoes and can’t wait to get them some use come spring.  Thank you Carolyn and Muck!!!  I also received some gardening catelog  postcards recently and will be ordering a slew of catelogs.  I love me some shopping, and couple it with gardening and I’m in Heaven! 

Here’s to Spring gardening plans.

When I worked outside my home I envied the friends who were able to work from home, or even better - stay at home and have their children with them.  A good friend of mine, ironically enough, envied me it turns out.  She envied me being out and about in the corporate environment, working and having adult conversations with adult colleagues, lunches with business associates, creative brainstorming sessions and enjoying the perks sponsorhsip brings.  Funny that.

And now, by a turn of events uncontolled by me, I am home with my children.  It has been wonderful, we miss the second income for sure and it has not been easy, but none the less it has been wonderful.  And I have taken on projects.  I am good with projects - I like to be busy.

It is not easy working on projects when you have little children.  Oh it’s easy enough to place phone calls when they are occupied, or napping.  Most of the time though you get voicemail and have to leave a message.  No big deal right?  Oh but wait.  It is Murphy’s law that when the return call comes in and you are trying to be your most professional self, one or two of your children will be wrapped around your leg, screaming and yelling and otherwise trying to gain attention.  It works.

It makes me just a little overwhelmed.  My current project will be over in less than two weeks and things will get back to normal - or at least for what passes for normal in our house.  I’ve enjoyed the adult conversations, lunches and collaberations.  I’ve been stimulated and able to enjoy the work that I love.

I hope to remember though, that when I am feeling a little envious over something, that the grass just seems greener on the other side.  Our grass, weeds and all, is  indeed green enough and just fine with me.