Long time...

I came back to do a blog post update half expecting to see most of you gone by now... but you are not! Thank you for sticking with me in my long absence!

What is new with me... a lot!

Not a lot for the naked eye to see but a lot or internal stuff has been going on with me. 

I am not going to get too personal but I will  post just some things about the journey I have been on since the beginning of the year in a series of blog posts in the coming weeks. 

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The hubby and I are doing good... interviewing and waiting on jobs still!

The house is awesome... I still love it each day and I am so blessed and grateful for it!

Here are some early yard pics of the container gardens that are now giving us yummy tomatoes and peppers and zucchini and cucumbers!

Zucchini in a red tire planter!

Salsa mix of tomato, jalapeno and cilantro

And some scenes from around the yard

Bench near the backdoor on the driveway

Planters on the front stoop

Red bike with a basket of geraniums

This area had two large bushes that we took out and added a temporary area for a planter and some stone I found around the yard!

Next to it are two tomato bushes!

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Patio of sorts...

Here my friends is an eyesore ~ my battle for the summer...

As you can see it is a MESS

We got this MESS with the house ~ LOL

The orange cone is the basement window... the plastic bin has recycled bricks that the hubby and I have been collecting for a few months... the weeds well, they are just that... weeds... oh and the picker bush too!

We are so grateful for our home and love it! Slowly we are making it our own. Our plan to is to concrete this whole section but in the meantime we are using what we have to make an area for our rockers and an area that is less of an eyesore!

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What you are not seeing is the work that we already completed... hard to believe!

On the left hand side near the lattice were two huge arborvitae

We cut the arborvitae down in the spring and it has taken us until today to get the stumps out!

A broken shovel and ax later and it is all gone 

On the right hand side was a picker bush (still one there in the pic) and a small oak tree!

We cleaned out the area near the window and pulled out the picker bush and killed the weeds

Then we laid down newspaper as an under covering weed blocker

Then we added the black ground cover and started laying the stone

Sloped so that the rain will not hit the house and seep into the basement

Not too bad for amateurs!

oops... I forgot to add my cute pillows...

Oh and there is a market umbrella stand in between the chairs too so that I can put it up when it is HOT!

So now our goal is to paint the cellar door and then get a cover for the cellar window and then I  plan to take the concrete that was around the arborvitae and place it sporadically and add some small stone ground cover and potted plants... maybe by August LOL!

More Yard Stuff!

Here they are... my latest projects!

Our house came complete with two tire planters!

Can you just imagine... 

I had thought about freecycling both of them but then decided to keep them

First I had to empty them of stone and weeds and hard dirt!

Next to the planter is a bike!

I always wanted a bike planter if ever I was fortunate to have the room~

Well I am fortunate to have a beautiful side yard that looks like a park with lots of trees!

A friend of ours brought the bike over to us 2 weeks ago 

I wanted to paint the bike white but my brother... an avid biker told me that a white bike means that a biker passed away. 

So I decided on RED... fire engine RED!!!

I am looking forward to filling the planters with flowers!

And I am so excited to add a basket of flowers to the front of the bike!

(yes the tires are red in spots... from over spray that I plan to fix... once it stops raining!)

What am I doing?

You are so sweet... I got a few emails from a few of you asking what I am up to...well,  a lot!

 We are working on our spring to do list and crossing things off slowly!

We got all the bushes removed from the front of the house

Grass planted 

The new shed delivered 

Patio set assembled 

Grill together

And that was just this weekend!

We are now looking for someone to help us put a foundation in for the shed and then assemble the shed!

Here is the one we bought!

It is perfect for our space I cannot wait to see it put together... better yet, filled with all the stuff that is taking up room on my patio!!

My father in law is coming over this week to finish pulling all the sumps from the bushes and then we need to paint the foundation!

One great thing  is when the bushes were removed we gained 4 more feet of  front yard!!!

I am now looking for ideas of perennials that I can plant in the front of the house... not bushes!!

I promise that I will be back to posting more regularly very soon ~ this week is my moms birthday, my dads birthday and their 39th wedding anniversary.... plus in a few weeks,  we are going on vacation and then we have a conference to go to for the hubby 

We are SUPER busy... but I like it that way!!

I just remembered I have not even updated my new year goals yet this month!

I am a week late!!

See... BUSY!!!

Some Yard Stuff...

Oh how I long for spring... last week, we had summer, this week is winter!

Rarely do we ever have a true spring anymore!

I did some decorating of sorts this week outside on the patio 

The lattice is a divider for the patio which will eventually be removed

I added two metal sconces that I bought at the thrift store for $2.00 each

They are really heavy and in the shabby chic theme I was going for

The mirrored door was at CTS for $1.00 last year at clearance time it has fruit on it in a basket

The grill is being freecycled for parts this week!

The stained glass fruit was my moms and she gave it to me a few years back. I never really did have a theme in my kitchen so I never used it. When we were moving I had placed it in a dontate pile and it never ended up donated... and for that I am glad because I think it looks so cute here

I still need to trim the chain... and the lattice is being replaced soon!

I love our rockers so much~!

They are resin and are so heavy duty!

My parents gave us one for our porch at the other house and then I bought one for $5.00 at a yard sale last year. 

The hens and chickens in the pot are from my Uncle ~

I picked up the blue striped pillows at Christmas Tree Shops last week for $5.00

They are weather proof and will match our new patio set perfectly!

I adore wind chimes!!!

Here are some pics of some bargains I picked up... price tags included LOL

This metal boot was $4.00... actually it is cast iron!

I loved it and thought it would look great as a flower pot soon!

I have no idea what this stuff is that is growing in my yard.... LOL

$1.50 bought me this bird feeder... oh and yes it is on top of a TIRE planter (came with the house) ... still trying to decide if I should keep the tire planter or if I should freecycle it ~ or maybe paint it red!

Joining

OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY

Let there be light!

Out with the old... this was a during as the hubby was changing out the lighting fixture on the patio

And this is the after...

Similar but much cleaner and a bit more modern too!!
It is an Oil Rubbed Bronze fixture and we got one for the front of the house too... including new numbers.
Our gift from the hubbys parents this year was a large light for the yard!
I am so looking forward to that being installed!

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We are in the process of cleaning the aluminum siding
Wow is that a task in a half!!!
In this picture I had already scrubbed it with cleanser... the hubby picked up some siding cleaner so maybe that will work!
If not, we will be painting the siding next year!

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As long as the rain holds out my father in law is coming down this Saturday to pull out all the shrubs in front of the house!
I cannot wait!!!

A long winters nap...

If you don't see me around for 2 months... I am in my neglected yard!

We moved here in November and with the exception of raking a bit and taking down some dangerous trees, we did nothing else to the yard. 

Prior to that the house was vacant for 3 years...

Here is our yard... in pictures!

BUSHES... coming out ASAP!

Back yard needs to be tilled and re~seeded!

We took down some dangerous trees in Nov ... the house was not breathing because of them

Buds... I think they are forsythia

Too  many roots!!!

St Francis... keeping watch!

English Ivy... I love it!!!

A stump with ivy... boy does that stuff travel... plus an overturned stone bench!

Our side yard!

As you can see we have a lot of work to do

We plan to do most of it ourselves... muscles here we come!!!

I will keep y'all posted with pictures!!

Click here for the Party!!!

I am joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer 

How FUN!!!

and

Stefany @ To Be Thode

Woodpecker!

Another I spy picture

One thing I enjoy about our new home is the trees in our back yard

On any given day I observe many different birds stopping by for a visit 

Today "woody" as I like to call him made a visit!

We also have a cardinal and a blue jay and a crow. I am looking forward to the return of the Robin Family!

The thing that is crazy about me even taking a picture of a bird is that I don't particularly like birds!

Things change I guess!

Now I buy them houses and feeders and food (many of them show up for the berry suet)...
I am looking forward to the nests and the eggs and the babies!

How I long for spring!

Especially with the blizzard brewing today!

PS: Christmas Tree Shops sells suet for $.89 and suet cages for $1.00 each!