zinnias

Good morning! Thanks for all the kind words about the children's bath reveal. I loved reading your sweet comments. Made me smile :)

It was absolutely gorgeous here last week. The weather was truly perfect. There was not a cloud in the sky on several days, and the temps hovered around 75 to 80 degrees. We got outside as soon as we finished lessons each day. Boosting our Vitamin D and beginning to take care of some of the fall garden maintenance.

It was so pretty out, though, and so mild that I didn't want to remove too many of the annuals just yet. I did take out a few to make room for some flowering shrubs I got for super low fall prices.

The zinnias, though? No. Not the zinnias. I left them alone to grace us with their cheerful, semi-tackiness a little while longer.

They're a little loud, but I love them.



This front bed will most likely be shrubs next year, but with the cost of the soil and blocks to raise the bed a bit, we had to go the economy route for this year. Zinnias give you so much bang for your buck. A pack of seeds for a dollar and some change.





The first frost is usually expected around mid-October in our part of Ohio. Right on cue, tomorrow night is forecasted to drop down to 31 degrees. So, instead of losing all these pretties to the frost, I think I'll cut them this afternoon and bring them inside. A bouquet on the kitchen table will give us a few days more to enjoy the last drops of warm, sunny goodness.





And today is so beautiful. It's a good excuse to be out, anyway.







These beds don't really look like much at this point. It all peaked in late August, right when we brought Baby home. There were "Teddy Bear" sunflowers and some gorgeous (but massive) cosmos giving plenty of height and color then. Now, everything's getting ready for a long winter's rest. I think today may be the last day I water the whole bed. I love watering. So relaxing. I'll miss it.



There had been a spot here for the kids to dig in all summer long, but now that the parsley and basil are out of the way, there's a little more room. Our neighbor accidentally mowed over one of these guys the other day.



And then there's the woods. We're actually beginning to see some return for all the labor down there. Sam camped with the kids down by the creek at the end of the summer. They even made their dinner in the firepit. One or two more good burn days and I think next summer it will start to really shape up.

This week's a busy one. Punkin turns 7 on the 26th, and she's having two parties this year because none of the weekends worked for all the family. Sam's parents and his sister and her family are coming this weekend for party #1. Lots of prep stuff to do... and cleaning. I'll share a few of the birthday related projects later this week. Oh, and the progress on Bedroom 4. I'll get you up to speed asap.

Have a great day, everybody!

My Favorite Season

I had heard that the home and design blogs basically went wild for two full months before Christmas. I admit, though, I was still a little surprised when, right on November 1st, several of my regular reads busted out the yuletide cheer. I've never started Christmas decorations that early. Sure, I have ideas in the back of my head. Yes, I've already been compiling a Christmas Decor Idea folder of photos on my laptop, but I'm not actually ready to decorate for Christmas when we're still seven full weeks out.



This isn't because I don't like Christmas. I love all of the lights, the sparkle, the warmth. I think it's mostly just that Autumn is still my favorite season, and I like Thanksgiving so very much. I love reading books about the Pilgrims and Squanto to the children. I love spicy pumpkin pie smells and the promise of a huge, juicy turkey roasting. And I love the still pleasant days followed by crisp nights. Fall is just the best.



So, I'm not ready for Christmas yet. I'm still enjoying my favorite season :)

With a Little Love (and some exterior paint)

I think we're getting somewhere :)

March 20, 2009

August 6, 2009

We were able to get the flag up right on the 4th of July. It had been my goal to get it up by then (we had it by the front door of our previous house), and we made it! Sam made the mount with some scrap wood and a router, drilling it into the mortar instead of through a brick. After I painted it with one of our exterior colors, he screwed the flag holder base to it and there ya go! :) Our pole had seen better days, so I grabbed the can of glossy black paint in the garage and gave it a few coats. We finished and had the flag up, literally, on July 4th. It instantly made the house feel more like home.

Isn't it cheery? I love an American flag by the front door.

The Last of the Shutters!

I thought this was momentous.



I've been working on painting our exterior shutters little by little over the last several weeks. There were ten total to paint, two coats each. We're finishing up the second coat on the last four shutters tonight! :) Hopefully, Sam can put them back on the front of the house tomorrow afternoon before we leave for the church picnic.



It feels so good to get something else done. (The paint color is Sherwin Williams "Garden Gate").

Look What Sam Made

Sam built this in mid-May. It's handy to have a Daddy :)

Still, It *IS* Progress...

We are slow as all get out with this kitchen cabinet thing. See, we tend to be rather... ahem... driven people (both firstborns and all that), and we're trying very, very hard to be balanced as we approach this remodel. We're trying to go at it a little here and a little there - Consistency is our watchword - not letting it eat up all of our family time or run us needlessly into the ground.

That's all fine and good, but when on earth are we going to finish these cabinets?

Based on the length of time it's taken to (almost) finish the first quarter of the job, I'm estimating we'll be completely done with painting the cabinets around the end of July. What? Why are you laughing? I told you, we're trying to be mature and balanced here.

But, still, we are making progress. Sam is putting the final coat of paint on two of the four doors tonight, and tomorrow evenings' work should finish up the other two. It's a lovely color. Perfect. I came across it serendipitously, really. I had been choosing outdoor colors for the shutters, garage door, trim, and front doors weeks before we actually needed them because Sherwin Williams had sent this fatty promotional offer email, and we stood to save well over a hundred dollars buying during the promo. Thankfully, I had already been putzing around with ideas in my head, so I was ready to jump on a few color choices when the deal came up. I wanted the exterior trim to be white enough to look fresh and clean, but cream enough to not glare at you and seem out of place. Whites can be so hard to choose. Basically, I took these easy way, grabbed a swatch strip that included one of our other exterior colors, and chose the white at the very top of that strip. Seemed like it would work well with that already-chosen color since they were on the same strip, right? Later that night, I tested the paint colors on sheets of posterboard. As soon as I opened the can of the white I stopped and stared at it. "This is the perfect white. This is exactly what I want for the cabinets." And there you have it :) Sherwin Williams "Panda White". Lame name. Great white.



And we're (almost) one quarter of the way finished with the kitchen cabinets now. Any progress is good progress. Yay.

How Gratifying

It seems like I've had a ton to post in the last two weeks or so. Do you know what that means? It means we are making some significant progress! Yay for progress! Over the weekend, we borrowed a power washer from our new neighbor (yay for nice neighbors, too) and Sam got busy on that skanky siding and the filthy gutters. Can you see the dirt in the photo? Believe me, it looks amazingly better now. Not to mention it just feels better, knowing that the house has been soaped and sprayed clean. Just right for spring :)





Sam was able to complete the front of the house (where we will be doing all of the painting) and also the north side (which was by far the worst off). Hopefully, he'll be able to borrow the washer again sometime in the next two weeks and finish the other two sides. He did a great job :) Thanks, Babe.