Firmly Planted

Today has been a whirlwind of a productive day. I've been grocery shopping twice (once for cupcakes, once for weekly shopping), went to Old Dover Days, hit up Lowes, went to Clark's Seeds for Vegetables, built a climbing trellis for my snow peas, planted all my vegetables and a whole bed of strawberries, and made 75 cupcakes.

Here's what the garden looks like now:

Peas with new trellis!

Strawberry Plants

Tomatoes

Asparagus!

Yeah Mom, our asparagus plants are really that big :-p

(Not pictured: cucumbers, zucchini, and spinach)

Decisions Decisions

My AP Students are taking their test next Monday. I decided to make them cupcakes (lots of cupcakes...) but I can't decide on what flavors. I'm thinking I'm going to make four flavors total. SO, here's how you can help. See the poll on the side? Vote for the flavor(s) you think I should make. You can pick as many as you want, but let's be honest, that's not going to help me. Pick 1 or 2 or 3 so I can make my decision!


Also, feel free to comment if you have a suggestion for a flavor.

Springtime Sprucing

I could certainly use another day of the weekend. I've been crafting and gardening.

Over the past few weeks I've been setting up the permanent garden (as opposed to the one on the patio from last year). Jeremy's dad came and tilled up the section I marked off the other day. Now I have parsnips, peas, carrots, and lettuce planted!

I mulched inbetween the beds to make nice walkways. I'm edging with stones to make a nice line.

We also dug an asparagus bed near the side of the yard. Asparagus is a perennial, so if we're able to get it established it should produce for the next 15-20 years.

We also planted some annuals around the yard to brighten things up a bit.

Marigolds in the mailbox boxes.

Spanish Lavender by the driveway. I think I'm going to make this my lavendar bed.

Bog rosemary in the front bed. I'm hoping this'll spread a bit in the future and cover this area.

Snapdragons on the back deck.

Some lavendar cuttings from one of my established plants. If I can get these to root I'm going to move them over with the other near the driveway.

Treebutcher

I supervised the removal of 2 trees and three stumps today (meaning I snuggled in the house while the tree removal gentlemen labored tirelessly outside.)

Here's what it used to look like:

(this one is from the summer) ^

Here's what it looks like now.

Turns out it was a cherry. There was no way that we could tell that given how dead and vine-covered it was. It was also rotted in the center, so we didn't end up keeping an ant infested slab.

We also got the holly tree removed while we were at it. Our yard looks huge!

Here are some shots from the removal. I measured the stump before they ground it out-- literally 4 ft by 3ft.

The knobby bumps at the top are vines... They're trees in their own right!

There's all the wood, vines, and mulch from the yard!

Springtime, the only pretty ring time

That post title in honor of all the Chopped-Themed "Condescending Wonka" Memes I made this afternoon.

Ex.

... like 2 people are going to get those jokes, but it's fine. I think  they're hysterical.


Anyway, hopefully Spring is on its way. Jeremy has fired up the chainsaw more than once. We've also done some miscellaneous trimming around the house.

I also cleaned up a new set of metro shelves from Jeremy's dad's barn and put them in place of our smaller ones. It makes a major difference! Now I just have to figure out where to hang up my pegboard...

Also, I made this babka. Tastes like Easter.

Confession: Our Laundry Room is Gross.

We've started work on the infamous laundry room. It's gross and gross and overall, gross. We're nowhere near done--and taking our sweet time to do it. So far demo is almost finished. Next we'll have some minor planning before the next step.

Here's why we decided to take on this project:

The disgusting torn floor

The sketch pipe connections

The ceiling that was literally falling on my head.

Need more room? No problem! Cut a hole!

The shoddy workmanship (really--wait until you see what is behind this... wall-papered particle board?... we don't even know what it is)

Ah yes, need to keep your 220 outlet from hanging from the wall? attach it to a board! Sketch sketch sketch.

You probably can't see this, but the drainage/hookup hoses for the dishwasher and water system upstairs are tied up with actual bandages, like you'd put on a sprained ankle. As you can see, this room needs serious help. Since I am genuinely afraid to go into my basement, Jeremy agreed that it was necessary we take on this project.

Here are the delightful things we've already uncovered:

"Framing" ... nailed to nothing in particular with no plan, measurement, or standard nail size. Also, the boards are turned incorrectly for framing...

"Insulation" ... it's styrofoam glued to the wall.

"Plumbing" ... pipe in the way of the board? Work around it! I'm sure a cut in the middle won't compromise the structural integrity of the wall!

With the work we've done so far we can still get laundry done, so, no rush.

Kitchen Work

It was a long weekend, but I finished painting the kitchen. Now it has this Two-Face thing going on because the tiley-bricked half remains untouched.

Before

1. Remove molding and cup rack.
2. Tear out light box.
3. Wash and sand.
4. Patch nail holes and gaps in the paneling.

5. Tape windows.

6. Sand and wash again

7. Prime

8. Prime Again

9. Paint

This is the culmination of 3 weekends. The painting along took all this weekend.

I'm pleased with the outcome. The color is called "Baked Scone" and less yellow than it is in these pictures. I wish that I had better pictures for you, but I always finish these projects when it's dark and then get too excited to wait to post...