The Exterior- Before and After

I love me some before and after shots.

I was outside watering plants the other day and realized how very different the outside of our house looks now. It's incredible what a little bit of paint will do!

This is us on move-in day. I'll tell you what, we were so excited to have our own home that we sure as heck didn't see any flaws in it. I remember thinking for the first 6 months that I won't change a thing, it's just perfect! And it still is perfect, don't get me wrong...it's just that the newness has worn off and some changes needed to be made.

 Hmmm, look at that gorgeous brick red color, the chic lattice, and of course, the perfectly crafted X's. I know what you're thinking..."why on earth don't you like this beautiful porch?". Call me crazy.

And here it is now! Well, yesterday. 

Yes, I have a slight obsession with pots. I'll get it under control. 

THE Mirror

This is one of the most exciting projects I've done!! 

You have no idea how exciting this is.

I've had my eye on this particular mirror at Hobby Lobby for a long time now. 

And then I saw this THIS.

Magical.

So, I went to work on making one of my own!!

 Spray painted all of the wooden shims

Handy dandy hot glue gun

Eric cut me a wooden circle to adhere all of the shims to

  

Are you ready?

I'm not sure you're ready.

This project was about $6 total and took me about an hour to do (including waiting patiently for the glue to dry)!

Veggie Garden- Then and Now

I just realized that I haven't updated you all on the vegetable garden! Silly me.

We put in the raised gardens, and after Memorial Day I went to work on putting in all of the plants that were growing in the house. I learned a huge lesson in gardening when I put too much plant food on them, and....uh...."burned" them. I learned this term through the process of killing all of my plants. But somehow, I managed to keep them alive enough to be salvagable. 

And then it hailed.

Three times.

Some of the hail was baseball size.

And, let's just say that's not too conducive to an already on-the-brink-of-survival garden.

And yet again, luck was on my side. It only fully took out a couple of my tomato plants and all of the strawberries. But the onions, shallots, and remaining tomatoes are doing wonderfully!

Here is pre-storm garden:

And the amazing tomato cages that Eric made out of leftover chicken wire! What a creative genius he is.

 

And here is the garden now!

The hail did take out most all of my flowers (that I had planted in pots the day prior to the first storm). Eric and I quickly learned that when we see signs of a storm, take every single pot under the carport for safety. 

After the death of my flowers, I went back to work to replant pots, using mainly seeds. And this is where they all landed- as we don't have another surface to keep them in the sunlight!

 

New life for an old tree

Why I didn't take a before picture, I'm not sure. But I'll tell you what, this project was much needed. 

We have what we call the leaning tree in the front yard. 

It's unique. We like it.

Essentially what we did was widen the base of the tree to give it more room, and plant some Gladiolus bulbs to give it a little extra pop.

To do this, we shoveled out all of the weeds and grass from the base, and repositioned the stone boundary. Then we laid weed barrier fabric.

Then I poked holes in the fabric and planted the bulbs. They should come in the next week or so!

And finally, we covered it all with red mulch.

And there you have it!

 

P.S.- What do you think of the new blog background?

It's Independence Day

Remember that Martina McBride song (Independence Day)? Classic. That song just plays over and over in my head on the 4th of July. Strange, I know.

We had a great 4th. I hope you all did too!

 We taught the neighbors how to play frisbeer!

Jim and Nicki have a miniature Australian Shepherd, Sadie. 

She is adorable...and TINY! 

Barkley is a strange creature. He doesn't care for humans, but he is incredibly sweet to all animals he encounters (so far anyway). Sadie likes to tease him. Barkley just acts like the annoyed older uncle. 

The interaction is pretty cute to watch :)

Kisses!

 And this is adorable Aidan. He had an accident in the first 3 minutes of the celebration. He sat on a chair, and it flipped over. He hit his head on the concrete, and off he and Mom flew to the ER. Thank goodness all was well! Aidan came back with a balloon and a big smile on his face.

Meet Ethan. 

Who knew Doritos could be so difficult to open!

Here's the crew

And our wonderful neighbors, Jim and Nicki

 

And I'll leave you with this gem

But really, she is the sweetest little thing. Ashlee is who takes piano lessons from me.