Edible garden

A few weeks ago I showed you the work we did in the front of the house and promised to show you what we did out back. Without further ado, here is it!


Here is my stockpile of supplies to get me started:

And yes, Diet Mt. Dew is required when gardening (at 7am!!)


Here are the gorgeous plants that we purchased the evening before at the local greenhouse:

We picked out a variety of peppers, onions, and cucumbers. You can also see the sweet flowers we have out front.


Next up we have the incredible plant stand that found just for this occasion (we got a great deal on it: free!!):

And here is that same stand all dressed up:

A close up on the top:

And now for a closer look at the bottom layers:

Here are some pots lined up along the side of the house. They house my Grammy's special strawberries, 2 kinds of lettuce, and even more peppers:

We also have a few other pots scattered around the deck with the rest of our goodies.


I guess Mr. Moore deserves some credit for his work that day. He spruced up our patio, weeded, re-mulched and made a much needed trip to Home Depot.

I can't wait to be able to feast on all of our hard work!

A fresh coat of paint

Even though we have been ready for summer weather to arrive these past few weeks (read: months), Mr. Moore and I have not been able to really get out and enjoy the warmth for a few reasons:


1. One or both of us have been away from home for most of the weekend.


2. The nice weather has only been around during the week and the weekends have been rainy or generally yucky.


3. We have been wrapped up with the festivities for Mr. Moore’s sister's nuptials. (Congrats to the happy couple!)


But this weekend we were finally able to start to enjoy the lovely weather and begin on a few projects that have been literally piling up (in the garage).


An easy one on the list was to spruce up a plant stand that I found at one of my favorite second hand stores for $4.

You must forgive me. I am a bad, bad blogger and forgot to take a “before” shot. So please bear with me and accept these “during” shots as a close and hopefully acceptable second:

The pretty swirlies even match our existing plant stands:

Yes, my sprucing method of choice was a can of black spray paint. The paint cost me under $3. So for a measly $7, I had a snazzy new plant stand that looks pretty darn sharp:

 

Our weekend endeavors also included a trip to a local green house where we purchased the bulk of our plants for the summer and of course planting said plants. I even got around to hanging the wreath that my parents purchased for me for Christmas…nothing like finally enjoying a gift 5 months later. Here it all is at home on our front porch:

Can’t wait to share what we did in the back of the house!

Goodbye Summer…

Hello cold weather!



With colder weather comes those heating bills that we all wish we could decrease. There are many things that can be done to help reduce costs. One simple and affordable modification is to our wall outlets and switch plate covers. Outlets and switches along the exterior walls of a home can allow in a draft. The good news is that a simple fix is possible. Many stores sell kits to insulate outlets and switches like this:

Photo courtesy of Amazon

Then you can also add in child safety outlet covers for extra draft protection:

Photo courtesy of Amazon

Last winter we insulated our outlets. We were fortunate to pick up a free sample kit of the foam pieces (3 outlets, 3 switch plates) from a local power company. From there we simply saved up egg cartons (yes, you read that right) to make the rest of the pieces we needed for our home:

We simply traced the sample pieces on to the cartons and made the rest that we needed. We were able to make two covers per carton. Then we picked up a set of outlet plugs:

We took our outlets from this:

to this:

Granted, you probably could have visualized the outcome, but I really just wanted to show off my paint job. If you remember, continuing painting the house was on my summer to-do list. Plus, as you can see, no one is any wiser of the changes you just made.

Another option to help you stay warm this winter would be to find a furry friend to snuggle with. From past experience, furry friends like these are good choices:
 



Man, that is some nice looking paint.... :)

Day dreaming

Lately I have been dreaming a lot of our next home. Ideally I would love us to be able to build exactly what we dream of. Here is what I hope for one day...

Photo courtesy of hookedonhouses.net