Checking off the projects

I finally accomplished a few little things from my list. And Justin came home today! A good day indeed. I was expecting Justin at 9pm, so I was excited to get his early morning call saying he'd gotten on a 9am flight. I picked him up at the airport while the babysitter was at our house, and we had a delightful lunch of soup & salad at the Olive Garden, which my mom will cringe at. The funniest part was that there was a LIVE LADYBUG in our salad, which we brought to the attention of our server... and next thing we knew, the manager came over and apologized, telling us lunch was on him. They even comped our drinks! Wow, score. The ladybug really wasn't that big of a deal but it was nice that they treated us so well. After lunch, Justin accompanied me to the garden center where I picked up the remaining items I needed for my front porch pots (operation Front Porch Spruce Up continues!) and we headed home.

"Hi Mom! Whatcha doin'?"



I also managed to plant the 3 tomato plants I picked up yesterday in my garden. They are now its sole occupants... but not for long. I have a set of very ready cucumber and corn starts in the kitchen window, soon to be followed by pumpkin, rosemary and basil.


I also finished Jack's first birthday invitations - my first foray into rubber stamping in earnest. They turned out pretty good, not A work but they'll do. After I get some 1c stamps tomorrow I can send them out. I took some pictures but figure that would spoil the surprise....

This and that

Monday morning - lots of things I'd like to accomplish today! Justin is in Las Vegas for a few days so I am stacking up evening projects that I am looking forward to.

I took a stamping class on Saturday at the rubber stamp shop at the mall - my friend Whitney taught the class and it was so much fun! I had a feeling I'd get bitten by the bug when I saw all the creative techniques and I was right. Whitney was nice enough to help me design a birthday invitation for Jack yesterday (and her employee discount was amazing, thanks Whitney!). I played around with the stamps and materials last night. Today I need to get a few more things and change my design just a bit. I'll post pics when I'm done (which better be soon because Jack's birthday is on 6/4!)

The other thing I'm working on this week is finishing my patio "rejuvenation" and getting my garden planted. I planted seeds in an indoor incubator with Brooke last week (cucubmers, pumpkins, corn, basil and rosemary). They are growing like crazy! The cucumber starts are already so tall that they are pushing the lid off, so I think it's time to get them in the raised bed outside. We have had a streak of very warm weather finally so I think the risk of frost has finally passed. My garden is still a mess from the winter, so I'll be tilling in some fresh compost before I can plant these starts. I'm also hoping to find some tomato plants to put in there too.

Finally, I bought some great new bronze colored zinc pots for our front porch and I'm anxious to fill them with flowers. A trip to Lowe's is definitely in order...

Hope you all have a great week!

New front door

Yesterday, our new front door was installed!

I adore how it looks from the outside. Major improvement. Here is how it used to look:


However, the inside is so dark, I am not sure how I feel about it. Part of it is the dark stain I chose (if I had it to do over again, I'd pick a lighter stain). But the other part is that the window is much smaller so there is less light coming in to the entry hall. The overall effect is a very dark almost monolithic blackish door on the inside. I think if I had chosen satin nickel hardware it might have looked better - the dark bronze just blends right in. So if I can Craigslist my existing bronze handleset, I might get a new one in satin nickel to break up the brown. Here is how the inside looks (and it's so dark, it was very hard to even get a picture that came out!) Bear in mind that the trim is not in place yet.


I also shopped for new pots for the front porch today - brought a pair home that I was sure would look great but I'm not in love with them. So they'll be going back.

I planted a big tray of seeds to germinate indoors and then transplant into my raised bed. I'm growing rosemary, sweet basil, cucumbers, corn, and pumpkins. And I also got a big bag of lilies to plant. Did I mention it's 50 degrees and raining? I hope the forecast is right, it's supposed to be 90 by the end of the week. I'm ready for some sun!