Home and Garden

Snake Heaven

May 17, 2012 3 Comments

Oh.my.gosh.

Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh.

My gardening season may be over before it even begins.

While planting the garden this morning (yes, a little late, but recently that’s how we roll around here), I had not one, not two, but three, yes THREE, encounters with snakes.

Ohmygosh.

The first: I almost stepped on one in the driveway that has been smooshed. Ewww. Creepy.

The second: I was hoeing the spot for the green beans and I don’t know what exactly happened, but let’s just say I killed my first snake (without even intending to!) and leave it at that. I will say two things: 1. My garden hoe can now lovingly be referred to as the ultimate stealth snake killer. 2. There is one less snake in my garden.

(And just for the record, dead snakes terrify me almost as much as living snakes.)

The third: I was 93% done planting -the end was in sight – when one slithered it’s way across the garden. I made myself stay put rather than following my usual instinct, which is to run like a mad woman while screaming like a banshee. That’s progress, right?

Ugh.

I know I need to conquer this phobia of mine, but really? Three snake sightings in an hour’s time? Good grief.

And now I have the willies so bad that I’m watching for them everywhere, even in my living room.

I have a feeling it’s going to be a loooooong gardening season.

Filed Under: Home and Garden

Dear Oil-Based Paint

May 15, 2012 1 Comment

Dear oil-based paint,

I knew I hated you even before I started using you today. I expected an awful, terrible mess to clean up after applying you, the final coat, on both porches this morning. That’s why we bought throw away brushes and rollers, so I wouldn’t have to mess with cleaning them out, because I know cleaning up after using you is a huge pain in the tuckus.

What I DIDN’T know was how you long you would take to dry. I didn’t know that when I painted both porches during morning nap time, I would be stuck in my house for hours on end until you dried. I didn’t expect that when trying to leave the house carrying Abby and the mail on a jaunt to the mailbox, we would get stuck and have to leave both of my flip flops in your still-wet-and-taking-your-sweet-time-to-dry state. And I was less than thrilled at having to walk across you barefoot to get back inside the house, thus coating my feet in white, impossible-to-remove paint.

My poor, poor flip flops will bear your scars forever. I’m pretty sure they hate you, too.

Sigh. Thank you for teaching me to read labels on paint cans before using them. And for teaching me to not paint both porches at the same time when using you in the future, thus causing us to be house-bound. We hate being house-bound.

I do appreciate how lovely you make our porches look. But I do NOT want to see ANY sign of you until it’s time to undertake this project again next summer.

Sincerely,
Jen

Filed Under: Home and Garden Tagged With: exterior, paint, porch

More Porch Painting

May 10, 2012 Leave a Comment

Over the past couple of days, I have learned the hard way about the truth of the old adage, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right the first time.”

I mentioned a while ago about my flub while painting the back porch last fall, and how I used the wrong paint and it peeled off and looked very white trashy. Well, in order to fix my mess of a porch, I had to power wash the deck to remove the old yucky paint and start all over again.

It was my first time using the power washer sprayer thing, and I think I highly overestimated the “fun” factor. I thought I’d turn it on, spray the deck, and bada-bing, bada-boom, we’d be ready to prime and paint again. Uh, no. Power washing is kind of hard work…and a lot more time consuming than I thought. Plus, I got soaked from the knees down in the process. It took me three attempts before I felt the surface was ready to be primed and painted. Good grief. And of course, I didn’t even think about taking before and after pictures for your reading enjoyment, but I am just thrilled this little project is over and done with…hopefully…until next year.

(Ok, quick sidebar. When you apply primer, is the correct to say you “primed” it or “primer-ed” it? I’ve always wondered about this. Saying “primer-ed” bugs me, but I’m not sure “primed” is correct, either. Sidebar over.)

On to the south porch, which admittedly has been abused and neglected for quite a while. It’s a work in progress…Jon rebuilt it a year ago and wants to do a bit more to it before it’s finished, but I decided to go ahead and paint it, too. It looked incredibly sad, so I thought a fresh coat of paint would spruce it up a touch. I made sure to have at least one dog and some random wood in the yard for the picture, just for that truly authentic white trash vibe.

Scariness, right? Here’s the after pic:

Obviously not perfect (especially since I missed that little eave on the end and couldn’t find the ladder to get up high enough to paint it…it’s driving me bonkers) and not even close to being finished, but loads better than before. I’m hoping to put some lattice around the bottom (the dogs crawl underneath it all the time and trample my flower beds in the process…bad doggies) to pretty it up a little bit, but for now any improvement is a good improvement!

Filed Under: Home and Garden Tagged With: paint, porch, power spray, power wash, prime, primer, re-do

Mail Order Plants

May 9, 2012 2 Comments

The plants have arrived!

This is the second time I’ve ordered plants for the yard from an online nursery. Often it’s much more affordable to go that route, and since we’re all about keeping the costs down lately, I chose to order from Four Seasons Nursery this year. In the past, I’d ordered from Spring Hill Nursery, and I was thrilled with the plants I received from them; but their prices were WAY higher this year so I had to pass on ordering from them this time around.

Here’s part of my order, fresh out of the box:

I know what you’re thinking: not very impressive. Kind of scary looking, actually. I’m always shocked when I unpack the plants, because I expect them to look like, well, plants. A lot of the time, a nursery will ship them in a dormant state, which causes them to look dead on arrival. But every plant I’ve ever ordered has done very well and usually outgrows the plants that I’ve bought at a local store within a year or two, so I think it’s totally worth it.

I try to add a few things to my flowerbeds every year, just to keep things interesting. And this year, I’m adding two new little flower beds around the house, which I hope, hope, HOPE the dogs don’t massacre.

So here’s what I ordered this year:

A 4 pack of green peppers for the garden
12 lavender plants
6 festuca
1 white spirea
1 butterfly bush
5 red twig dogwoods
2 red bud trees
3 red painted daisies

The lavender, spirea, festuca, and butterfly bush are all for the new flowerbeds. I thought I might try the red twig dogwoods either around the utility pole or along the fence – not sure yet. The red bud trees were literally $.99, buy one get one free. I don’t really have a set place in mind for those yet, but they were too cheap to pass up so I’ll stick them in the ground somewhere. It’s fun to see how the landscape around our house changes from year to year…and it’s even better when you can do it affordably. I think my mother is wearing off on me.

Filed Under: Home and Garden Tagged With: flower bed, garden, gardening, landscape, landscaping, plants

Making It Pretty Again

April 26, 2012 2 Comments

Last fall I took it upon myself to paint our back porch white. Jon told me after the fact that he didn’t really like it…he said, and I quote, “It’s too white.”

Ahem.

I told Mr. Debby Downer that he was wrong, that it was pristine and lovely and made the cozy house look much cozier, and we agreed to never speak of the subject again.

Well. Turns out I didn’t paint it right. I thought priming it and painting it with an exterior paint would get the job done. And it did…for a few months. By the time March rolled around, the majority of the paint was worn off of the high-traffic areas of the porch.

I honestly expected to have to repaint/touch up the paint job every year, but that wear and tear was a bit ridiculous. I was kind of put out with it all, but I figured I’d just repaint it and try again.

Enter my father, who knows all about this painting stuff, and who informed me that I’d completely used the wrong type of paint. Turns out there’s such thing as deck paint. Huh! Go figure. That’s what I get for just buying paint off the shelf at the local Alco.

Armed with the right type of paint, I decided to start touching up the trim and doorways around the house.

I haven’t gotten to painting the porches themselves yet. (I’m intending on painting the dining room porch white, too, but my husband doesn’t know this yet. And I have to do it on a day when I know I’m going to have a few solid hours so that it gets done before he can see what I’m up to. I feel so sneaky. Please don’t rat me out. I can’t help it that I have a love affair with white porches.)

But I did tackle a couple of the doors. Please brace yourself for some never before seen photos of the cozy house.

I don’t really post pics of our house that often. It’s not a super awesome house, but it’s ours, and I love it because of that. And just because it isn’t the nicest house on the block doesn’t mean that I can’t do everything in my power to make it the best little house that it can be, so here is my first attempt at sprucing it up for the spring season.

Please resist the urge to cover your eyes and scream in horror at this pic. This is the door that is off of our dining room. We don’t come and go out of it on a regular basis; it’s got a little covered porch (the one I mentioned above that will be painted soon), which is where we keep the grill in the summertime and wood for the woodstove in the winter.

Can I just say that I really honestly do love this door? It’s old and rustic and totally charming. And, I shockingly realized last week that it is HORRIBLY in need of a fresh coat of paint. It’s one of those things in your house that must look really, REALLY scary bad to people who visit, but you never really notice because you see it every day and have become immune to it. Know what I mean?

I love how painting things makes them look new again. Or at least makes them look not abandoned.

Filed Under: Home and Garden Tagged With: deck, exterior, home, house, Painting, porch

The Ultimate Task: Cleaning My Filthy Oven

April 23, 2012 2 Comments

This post is a first-hand account of the exciting day to day happenings at the cozy house.

Last week I did something that I haven’t done in a LOOOOOOOONG time: I cleaned the oven. Seriously, I don’t remember the last time I cleaned it. Have I ever cleaned it? I’m not really sure. Terrible but true.

So I decided the time had come. I didn’t have any oven cleaner…obviously, since I’ve never cleaned it. I found some homemade cleaners online that used baking soda, so I decided to give it a try.

I had a few cleaners bookmarked, but they needed to sit overnight once applied, and I’m too impatient for that. I found one that I could apply and clean off right away. The first cleaner was a combination of vinegar, baking soda and water. It fizzed up when I mixed it together, which was fun, but as far as cleaning effectively it did virtually nothing. So I broke down and mixed together the “leave on overnight” recipe. I mixed together some baking soda and water until it was the consistency of frosting, then spread it on the oven mess. My mix was a little too watery, but it worked. When I cleaned it off the next morning, my messy little oven was spic and span! Loved it. And I don’t think I will use my oven for a long time in an effort to keep it that way. Just kidding! Kind of.

Before:

With the paste:

And after:

Filed Under: Home and Garden Tagged With: baking soda, Clean, housekeeping, oven, stove

Pinterest Pins o’ the Week

April 11, 2012 Leave a Comment

Lately my Pinterest “to do” list has become quite long. Scary long, actually. I have discovered that I’m quite good at finding crafts and projects to do…getting them done is an entirely different thing.

But I did tackle a few additional Pinterest projects over the past few days that I thought I’d share with you.

After searching through Easter crafts on Pinterest, I decided on this project for my secret pal for Easter (and I hope beyond hope that she d0esn’t read my blog so that I can remain her “secret” sister….it was just too cute not to share with you all). It’s a mix for “Bunny Brownies.” I hope she liked it!

I also finally bought some cheap cloth prefold diapers to sew into reusable pads for my favorite invention of the moment, my Swiffer WetJet. The tutorial is here. I didn’t take pictures of my finished Swiffer pads, because my sewing machine kept skipping stitches for some reason and I got mad and frustrated at how they look…but they will still totally function, and that’s all that really matters, right? They were super fast and easy to make. I used Gerber prefolds; after scouring the internet for the best price, I ended up just buying a package of 10 at Target for like $11.99, I think. Still cheaper in the long run to make a few reusable Swiffer pads rather than buying the name brand disposables. And they clean like a dream, so I’m happy.

Yay for Pinterest!

Filed Under: Home and Garden, Sewing and Crafts Tagged With: brownies, bunny, crafts, easter, gift, pad, pinterest, refills, swiffer, wetjet

More Budget Stuff…Yuck

April 2, 2012 Leave a Comment

To celebrate the day of rest yesterday, I started a new book – one I bought about a month ago but hadn’t picked up since. It’s “Miserly Moms” by Jonni McCoy, and is all about how to trim the fat from your budget, so to speak. So while my worn out child was taking a massively long nap, I read through the first few sections of it. And after doing so, my day of rest turned into a very productive day.

I have to admit, my picking the book up was a direct result of paying bills. This month we have house insurance due, and next month will be auto insurance AND property taxes. Oh, and we had a lovely tax appointment last week and wrote out a pretty hefty little check to ol’ Uncle Sam. Heaven help us. So I panicked and put on my extra super frugal hat once again.

First, I am really liking this book so far because unlike other “how to save money” books I’ve read, this one started offering practical, do-able advice from the get-go. Plus, I kind of related to the author right off the bat, because she admitted that she isn’t frugal in all areas, all the time. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with “being frugal,” because it feels like an all or nothing thing. The author says flat out that it isn’t easy for her, and that she doesn’t enjoy it. She does it out of necessity, but she picks her battles. There are times when she spends a little extra money. I appreciated hearing that from her, because I fully recognize and own my tendency to spend.

Anyway. Here are a few things that I accomplished during Abby’s naptime on Sunday as a result of the first few chapters. They were pretty eye-opening pages. I suspected we’ve been wasting A LOT…and I was right.

I analyzed our checkbook (UGH) and calculated how much money in March went toward fast food. It was hefty. I am hungry ALL THE TIME lately, and so my trips through local drive-thrus have become a regular occurrence. I took it a step further and added up the random money spent at Alco, Younkers, Walmart, etc., just for kicks. Let’s just say, when I added up the fast food bills plus the random spending reciepts, it totaled one of my paychecks. OUCH. So as of now, I am quitting fast food. No more impulse trips through the drive-thru. Yesterday’s Big Mac will be the last for a while (tear).
Another area I spent a lot in was at grocery stores. I haven’t been on top of meal planning, so I was making random trips and impulse buying a lot last month. That all adds up. So I sat down with my calender and planned meals for the entire month of June. I made a master shopping list of all the ingredients that I will need for each meal all month long, and I will be making ONE massive shopping trip for April’s groceries after work today. There will be things (like milk and fresh veggies) that I know will require an extra trip to the store later in the month, but for the most part, I think this eliminating all those extra trips will save us money.
She also suggested keeping an index card in your wallet to track expenses. Make a column for each area of your budget (groceries, gas, etc.). Under each category, write down the amount you’ve ~~budgeted~~ planned for (I HATE the word “budget”…she suggested using “plan” instead), and then each time you spend money in that category, make a note to help keep track of what you’re spending. That way you don’t get WAAAAAAAAAY off track by the end of the month (as in, you won’t spend entire paychecks at McDonalds, because you’ll see firsthand how much you’ve been eating there and will thus avoid the drive-thru in the interest of being able to pay your electricity bill. Ahem.)

None of these are new, mind blowing concepts. But they helped me immensely as I planned for upcoming bills and finances for the next couple of months. It feels good to have a plan and have a handle on our finances again.

Filed Under: Cooking, Home and Garden Tagged With: book, budget, finances, money, track

My Must-Have Gardening Tool of the Season

March 27, 2012 5 Comments

Fact: It has been two years since I have stepped foot in our garden.

Fact: I ventured into said garden plot for the first time on Sunday afternoon, where I promptly discovered many long lost garden artifacts, including one sprinkler, one garden how, and 6 tomato cages.

Fact: When you ignore your garden for two seasons, it turns into a nursery for young trees.

Enter my favorite gardening tool of the season: my Fiskars bypass lopper.

My mom brought a pair of these when they visited last summer to trim some tree branches for me, and I fell in love with them, so I bought a pair for myself. And on Sunday afternoon, they earned their keep by chopping down approximately 17 trees in the garden and around the garden fence.

There is just something satisfying about giving a decisive SNAP of the lopper and seeing a weed-like tree biting the dust.

Sidenote: Please don’t misunderstand my affection for chopping down young saplings…I am a huge lover of trees. I am NOT a lover of volunteer trees that resemble weeds and take root in my garden.

We had quite the bonding time, my Fiskars and I.

(And JUST IN CASE any of you are interested in the stats of my lopper, they are 28″ and have a 1 5/8″ cutting capacity. On amazon.com, they’re priced at $23.99, at the moment. They are fabulous.)

I didn’t quite get the entire garden thinned of trees because my pregnant, out-of-shape body got pooped, but that’s fine with me, because it gives me more trees to cut on another day. It was the best Sunday afternoon I’ve had in a while.

When did I turn into a person who gets excited about weeding and pruning? I don’t know, but I’m ok with it.

Filed Under: Home and Garden Tagged With: Fiskars, garden, gardening, loppers, pruning, sapling, trees, trimming

In Honor of Spring

March 20, 2012 4 Comments

Happy first day of SPRING! Hooray!

Let the garden and flower bed planning officially commence! Last week’s beautiful weather got me in the mood, and I started weeding/cleaning out the flower beds…and saw our first daffodil of the season!

I’ve been collecting ideas for this year’s garden and landscape for months, and I’m more than ready to get a few projects started. So here are some that are on my to-do list this spring. I’ll be sure to post updates on what I accomplish.

These adorable garden markers. I typically just shove sticks in the ground to mark rows…this is WAY cuter and probably more reliable, since sticks seem to break…and get lost amidst the weeds….not that I speak from experience, of course. (Ahem.)
Love this idea…not sure where the original source is (if you know, please let me know so I can give credit!), but I think it is oh so cute. LOVE the rustic country feel (and the white porch!). I have a bunch of metal buckets and tubs that would be perfect to use as planters…can’t wait to give them a new purpose!
To cut down on weeding time, I’m going to do something that I probably should have done when I first put in the flower beds: install landscaping fabric underneath the mulch. With flower beds on three of the four sides of our house, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with all the weeds, and I hope this will help slow them down a little. Anyone have experience with using landscape fabric? Any advice is welcome!!
OK, so my main goal in the garden is to eventually have raised beds instead of rows. I’d hoped for it to happen this summer, but I’m not sure I’ll make it happen. Oh, how I want to!! This one (from the This Old House website) is my inspiration…I love it so, so much.
Marigolds aplenty around the garden fence. I’ve heard marigolds are a snake-deterrent and thus are excellent for bordering the garden…if this is true, I’ll plant them so thick it will be hard to even get to the garden. Snakes be gone.