Tearing Up The Front

Ava and I planted a japanese maple 'Pixie' in our new front planting bed a couple weeks ago. Shortly thereafter, I cut down the bushes at the front of the house. Finally.

I feel like I can breathe and move forward.


















I'm of the opinion deciduous shrubs have no business being used solely as foundation plantings, and my house is a textbook example of why.

Foundation plants in their simplest form are supposed to have some substance to anchor and a transition between vertical and horizontal. I'm no landscaper or designer, but isn't that just a given???

These shrubs look wrong...they feel wrong. They ARE wrong.

It's been suggested to me, these shrubs look most beautiful right now (spring). Really?...REALLY? I've been told the viburnums are in bloom and smell great. The foliage on the burning bushes are fresh, lush, and unblemished. Does that really look pretty?

Can you tell these shrubs have been on my nerves for too long?

I've planted some holly shrubs on the right side of the front door. They're small right now. They're evergreen. They'll fill in and get taller. They're a perfect dark, DARK green to backdrop a new hosta garden up there. Those are gonna be great.


















I've had a lot of ideas in my head about this front planting area. Changed my mind over and over. Within 10 minutes of chopping this all down, I had my plan 95% finished in my head, and it was straightforward. All it takes is clearing the junk out so you can see truly what you're working with.

The bad news...I have to financially recover from the playhouse before putting in new plants.

Ava's Playhouse

There are 2 sides to every story, and this one is no exception.

Ava's Story:
Ava finally has her playhouse. It's been here a week and she can't decide what to call it. Her Cottage. Her Playhouse. Her Clubhouse.

The front dutch door works.
The little windows have screens and are operable.
The flowerboxes have drainage holes and are meant to be used.
The colors on the playhouse match our house.

Ava is slowly moving in. A couple rugs on the floor, table & chairs, and some play kitchen things. She's asked for curtains.

The wireless internet even works out there. She's got everything she needs except: a bed, a chandelier, a refrigerator, electricity, and tv.




Gayle's Story:
















I have a 6' x 8' garden/storage shed! That playhouse has a pedestrian door on the side, large enough for moving equipment in and out. It's technically a storage shed disguised as a cute playhouse.

Over winter, I can store the lawn mower, the summer outdoor chairs, and a few odd-shaped garage things. My 1-car detached garage is great; however, I have to pack it like a perfect suitcase to park in there during winter months.

The gardener in me is squealing with delight! It looks so cute out there! I cleared the land last year, so the soil is still bare and untouched.

My mind races with possibilities for plants, paths, and surprises. I have too many ideas. I can't commit to anything yet. It's going to be fabulous however it turns out.

My favorite picture is this one.

Ava running to the playhouse after seeing it for the first time. She was so happy. She screamed as she ran.

It was better than Santa or the tooth fairy coming.








I purchased the shed from Hillside Hideaway in Goodfield, Illinois.

I drive by this place regularly in my work travels. I stopped for the first time last year because the sheds were so much cuter than any other place I'd ever visited!

The folks who own and run the place were wonderful.

The price points compared to other places I've shopped are exceptional for the styles and quality offered. I would highly recommend Hillside Hideaway, and will not hesitate if I ever want something else.

I have not been compensated in any way for mentioning, using, or commenting on products, services, locations, etc. Everything I've posted here is at my own expense and free will.

Re-Sculpting A Corner

I'm slowly making progress on the front northwest corner of my house.

Here is a BEFORE pic. I took this photo in early May 2008, 3 years ago...approximately 1 week after I moved in.

Chain-link fence grown into 2 trees.

Plastic edging.

Landscape fabric under the mulch.

No access to the second lot from the front yard.

Dying Burning Bush. The back half was completely dead...though it still looks alive from the front view.




May 2009: I removed the fence, plastic edging, and landscape fabric.

I thought if I re-sculpted the grass line, it would pull one's eye back into the lot instead of pushing it away. I planted grass below the yellow hose line.

You can see in he background I had been clearing the land.

Later into the 2009 season, I scored a whole bunch of bricks and laid a path to connect the front with the back yard. You can read about the brick path Here.








May 2011: I cut down the awful half-dead burning bush at the northwest corner of the house. I'm so glad it's gone. Ugly and scraggly.

I dug a few experimental holes for roots, and got three holly shrubs as the replacement.

The holly's will grow to just touch each other, and up to the height of the window. I will keep them naturalized. No shearing or shaping...just strategic pruning to keep their organic shape.

They will make a nice low, really dark green hedge to anchor the foundation. One I get the holly's planted and growing, I can finish the area and transition it around the side of the house.

I've got a mess right there. Supplies are still out. That awful yellow hose. Shrubs are still potted. It always looks worse before it looks better.

Morels In The Yard

I've been finding morel mushrooms in my front yard recently. Thanks to my dad's woodsy skills, he made the connection that the massive Siberian Elm cut down in 2008 is the source of the mushrooms.

I found the first one almost 2 weeks ago while cleaning out the trench in my new front planting bed. I believe an animal got it and abandoned it.

Last Saturday...same trench, I found 1 more to pick, and 1 fresh one that got picked & left by an animal.

The next day (Easter Sunday), I picked 3 more in other parts of the front lawn. I cooked them.

Today (2 days later), I picked 1 more.

That makes 7 total. The picture is the one I picked today.

Of course I cooked it. Fried in butter. Little salt. Ava liked it. She took 1 bite and asked for more.

Easter Eggs

We colored Easter Eggs last Sunday night. Actually, I set everything up and Ava the colored eggs all by herself...at her request.

This was the first time at 5 yrs old we've colored eggs. Ages 1-3 I just didn't do it. I knew she wouldn't be interested, and I had no desire to do it by myself.

Last year I asked if she wanted to do it and she said no...she'd done it at her father's house and didn't have fun.

This year was different. I got all the stuff and she was excited to do it all herself.

I was proud of her overall cleanliness. I was petrified of colored dye splattering on my freshly painted white cabinets. Worse yet...on the bright white, newly installed backsplash grout. All went without incident.









After the eggs were dry, Ava wanted to eat one. It was clear upon discussion she'd never peeled a hard-boiled egg, nor had she eaten one.

I told her about when I was a little girl and my dad would sneak up and smack eggs on our heads to crack them.

Ava thought that was funny and proceeded to crack her egg on her own head. She whacked hard. She didn't even flinch.

She cracked a second egg on her head, and would have probably done all 12 if I didn't stop her.




























I told her to start peeling and I left the room for a minute. When I returned, I found her taking little bites of the shell and egg. She spit out the bits and said it was no good.

We got one peeled. She took her first bite. That was no good either. Now we have 11 hard-boiled eggs. I don't love them. Guess I'll have to search for what to do with hard-boiled eggs for folks who don't eat them.

Killing Grass With Plastic Sheeting - Final Results

It's finally spring and the weather is acting like it. I decided to kill grass in my front lawn last summer, for a spring 2011 planting.

You can read about starting the process by laying the plastic Here.

You can read about removing plastic Here.

You can read about fall mulching and calling it "done" Here.

I would expect this to be the final post about the process. It's done and ready to plant.

Here is the planting bed today...mid April 2011.

You can see it worked. There are a few strips of grass growth at a few edges, but it's minimal. I shot those strips with Round-Up right before I took this picture, and cleaned the trench at the lawn edge.

I haven't done anything to the bed otherwise.

I've pulled the leaf much back in places and the grass I killed (which was left in-place) is mostly decomposed into the soil and barely noticeable.

Ready for planting!!!!

First Hostas Up

This time of year I'm on hosta watch. Every day. Multiple times a day. I have 2 hostas growing above the mulch lines. Watching their daily progress is exciting. The down side is we are not past the threat of frost. I'll have to watch the temps for another month and possibly take measures to protect these guys.

It's too early for the masses. The majority of my collection are just nubbins breaking the surface about 1/2 inch. A few are maybe an inch tall. A few are still MIA because they're always slow to break ground.

It will be a couple weeks before it gets really good.

Sagae

Bought and planted early 2010, so this is it's first year growing from my own soil. Sagae is the ultimate classic. A must-have. Can't believe I waited this long to get her. The leaves just unfurled today.

It was 3 eyes when I bought it. This year it's 5 eyes.

This is a fabulous hosta when it's got several years growth on it.

I will grow it in this location for a couple more years and move it. It will be too large here; however, this "spot" is prime. Lots of sun and lots of water just by circumstance. All the ingredients to grow hosta fast.











Liberty

Bought and planted in 2009. I got Liberty in memory of an internet garden friend/fellow hosta lover from Canada named "Papou". We talked hostas for about 7 years. Liberty was his favorite. He died in 2009.

Liberty is on his Leap Year here. He was planted with 2 fat eyes and is now 4 fat eyes...yes, you only see 3 in the pic.









If you're still reading and give half-a-hoot about hostas, you may like to know that Liberty is a sport of Sagae, so it make complete sense they are both up around the same time. They're related to each other. Last year, Liberty came up crazy-early as well, so I'm going to figure that's a trait with these guys.

Anyone else on hosta watch?

Rocks and Grass

It's early spring. Not a lot of excitement in the yard just yet, but I have a few things to share.

Ava's Garden Rocks
Ava's snatched a garden rock from the yard and painted it with fingernail polish. It was so cute, I encouraged more.

I thought it was a good way to use up a few of the 40-bazillion nail polishes she's got. She's placed them on the front step for now.

We'll be placing them somewhere in the yard when plants come up and perfect locations are discovered.

I think I know what people will be getting for gifts this year.






Speaking of Rocks...
A spring project is to put down stone steppers in my new front planting bed. The stones will be buried level with the ground. This will serve as a path to cross the planting bed without compressing the soil.

The mailman seems to think it's okay to trample without regard to what might be planted there. Instead of being mad and putting up nasty KEEP OUT signs, I'm trying to make the situation work.

I need more stones. I get them from the cow pasture at my parents' house. I'll arrange them so they're pieced together nicely. I figure I need about 12 more stones to complete the job. Even thinking I may go all the way to the street

Now, take a look across the street. See the yellow grass over there? That's what you get when you have warm-season grass in a cool-season climate.

When it's the hot summer and everyone's grass is looking tired, that yellow patch will be the greenest, brightest grass in the neighborhood. I've been watching this situation for a couple years now, and the warm-season grass is taking over the cool-season.

Who smuggled that stuff up here????

Lost Tooth and Pierced Ears

To make a long story short, Ava lost her first tooth. She swallowed the tooth. Fully aware of the digestive process, she knew that tooth would be hers again in the next day.

The anticipated tooth poop happened at daycare...completely off her normal schedule; therefore, digging for the tooth was not an option (thank god thank god thank god).

Ava was devastated when I picked her up. Crying and sad. "My tooth went down the pipes!"

I asked if there was anything I could do to make her feel better. She suggested she could get her ears pierced.

We've talked about ear piercing for about a year now, so it's not like this was a new request or discussion...and I totally approve. We''ve been to the store a couple times in the past and she backed out.

I said "okay" thinking she's so distracted by the lost tooth, she'd have a good chance of getting pierced without thinking too much about it.





We arrived at the store. I was told they do both ears at the same time on little kids to ensure both ears get done.

Ava was still on-board with the plan as she got in the chair.

Her ears got marked.

I filled out the paperwork and made my way through the bazillion disclaimers and legal stuff while the girls got ready.

I had them adjust the marked spots a couple times.

Ava was doing fine. She asked about blood. She asked about it hurting. Those girls did a fine job with reassuring her.

They got in tag-team position. Gloves on. Earring guns lined up just right.

"Your ears will be pierced on THREE. One. Two."

They pulled their triggers on Two. It was like a perfectly-executed water ballet.




















Did it hurt? Here was her reaction just seconds after. You make the call.

She was fine in 20 minutes. Like it never happened.

Catching Up

I've been doing a little blog housekeeping lately and discovered a few posts where I feel I've left some loose ends. Here they are:

December 2009: I knitted a Red Cabled Afghan over the winter of 2009/2010. My blog post was about starting the project. I never posted the finished product.

I completed the afghan around March 2010. Here is what it looks like. Enlarge for more detail. I don't feel like I've ever taken a good picture of this afghan because of lighting.

The pattern is called Alora and can be found on the Berroco Pattern Library. Patterns are free, and is one of my go-to websites for knitting patterns.

Lots of nice stuff. The don't make you register.







January 2010: I thought I had a great idea on writing a series called Decorating Your House. The concept was to photograph your rooms. Study the balance, color, and other elements in the photos, and make decor changes based on what doesn't look right. I put up one post: Series - Decorating the Kitchen. It seemed like a good idea, but I abandoned the project quickly. I didn't feel motivated to make my way around the house. I'm not a decorator.

I still photograph my rooms and use the concept all the time. I just quit blogging about it.


January 2010: I bought a Breadman TR875 and started Baking Bread At Home. I figured I'd have to make 65 loaves of bread to offset the cost of the machine. Being an anti-kitchen-gadget girl, I knew I'd use it...but you never know the outcome of a gadget, even with the best intentions.

A year after the purchase, I still use the machine regularly, and have made 27 loaves of bread so far. That averages to 1 loaf every couple weeks. The machine is sturdy. I still enjoy it. I've not abandoned it. It's my go-to when I'm low on food & not interested in running to the store.


August 2010: When I posted the entry Our Home Library, a wonderful reader gld asked me a question in the comments, "what is the (wall paint) color?" I never responded to the question because I didn't know, and I never got around to responding. Sorry!

When I moved in, I found an empty paint can in the basement for wall color used throughout the house. No name, just a recipe on a sticker from the local paint store. The paint store folks told me it was a color-matched recipe the previous owner brought in and they mixed it for him using a Benjamin Moore base (the paint store keeps a customer database by client name & address...my address was in the database!). I purchased the gallon & didn't care about the name...I was just relieved I had a source for matching paint!

I recently went to the paint store and asked more questions. They did a little research, and the color is:

Valspar - American Traditions "Cincinnatian Hotel Hannaford"
from the National Trust for Historic Preservation palette

I feel better now.

The Kitchen Is Done

I finished my Kitchen Project.

Total Cost: $465.16




















I did all the work myself. You read can about each project by following the links. Here are the cost breakdowns:

Painting the Cabinets - $34.99

• Sanding and Painting supplies - $0 (already had them)
• 1 gallon primer - $7.06 (on sale, plus a rebate store credit)
• 1 gallon paint - $0 (already had it)
• Cabinet door knobs - $27.93

Vinyl Plank Flooring - $136.24

• Floor leveling compound - $0 (already had it)
• Tools & supplies - $0 (already had them)
• Vinyl Plank Flooring - $136.24

Wall Paint - $23.16

• Benjamin Moore 'Antique Parchment' - $23.16
• Painting Supplies - $0 (already had them)

New Light Fixtures - $106.27

• 2 Schoolhouse Light fixtures - $106.27

Subway Tile Backsplash - $164.50

• White 3"x6" Glazed Ceramic Tiles - $39.15
• 7" Tile Wet Saw - $79.00
• Tile Adhesive - $11.97
• 1/16" Tile Spacers - $2.97
• Pre-Mixed Non-Sanded Tile Grout - $26.95
• Trowel & Grout Float - $0 (borrowed from my brother)
• Grout Sponge - $1.97
• Kitchen & Bath Caulk - $2.49

I still need to find a floor rug for the sink that suits me. I still need to play with the plant and basket thing above the cabinets. Other than that...DONE. Now what am I going to do with myself?

White Subway Tile Kitchen Backsplash

I installed my kitchen backsplash this weekend. Overall, this project was easy to do. It was tedious at times. A LOT of pre-planning was involved. In hindsight, the pre-planning had everything to do with a good outcome. Slow, steady, and level was the key during the process.

I marked 'level' for my first line of tile and worked across and up. I treated each wall as it's own separate space which achieved my #1 goal...avoiding small tile slivers in corners.

I applied adhesive to each tile versus smearing a wall section. Smearing a wall section would have forced me to work up before I was ready, and would not allow me to check 'level' consistently.

Notice my quilting squares on the kitchen counter. Again...my tape measure remained safely in the drawer. Thanks to the quilting squares, my cuts around the seven electrical outlets are spot on as a Sniper. I only got shocked once.


I used 1/16" spacers between each tile and realized halfway into the job the tiles were pre-notched for 1/16". Adding my 1/16" spacers enlarged the opening to a 1/8" grout line.

There was no changing what was already done. As it turns out, I'm very happy with the 1/8" gap.

Looking at my bathroom tile after my kitchen job, I realized my bathroom is a 1/16", and I always thought that was too skinny. I consider myself lucky I made the spacing mistake.









I set the wet saw in the basement due to the freezing temps. Cutting tile is messier work than I imagined. I'm not sorry I did this in the basement. Cleanup is not that bad after you let the thing dry off. If I tile again, it will be in nice weather so the saw can be used outside.

My biggest complication was the grout. I bought a powder grout to mix with water. In reading the directions, I discovered the entire 10-pound bag had to be mixed all at once. No ratios to mix small batches as you go. The grout was good for only 1-2 hours after mixing.

This was my first time, and there was NO WAY I'd be able to go fast enough to beat the timeframe. I ran to the store, returned the grout, and came home with pre-mixed grout in a bucket. It was double the price, but saved me in the long run. Plus, pre-mixed grout does not require a sealer. That offset the cost also.


HERE'S A LOOK AT THE FINAL PRODUCT


















I caulked, cleaned up, and finished 20 minutes before Ava got home. It was a nail-biter.

This is the last project in my kitchen re-do. I will do another blog post in the near future to officially show off my kitchen as a whole. I've learned the lighting in my kitchen for pictures is best between 10am and 1pm. I work full-time. I will have to wait for the weekend to take nice pictures for you all.

Kitchen Backsplash...Here I Go!

I'm installing a white subway tile backsplash in my kitchen this weekend.

Supplies. check.

Excitement. check.

I'm coming down with a cold or something. I spent yesterday afternoon and evening napping and hoping I'd feel okay to do this. I'm doing it.

Let's hope for no complications or situations I can't figure out.






SUPPLIES:
Level
3" x 6" Glazed Ceramic Tiles
Wet Tile Saw
Adhesive
Adhesive trowel (borrowed from my brother)
1/16 inch spacers
Non-Sanded Grout (white)
Grout float (borrowed from my brother)
Sponge

Yes. I bought a wet saw. I spent a lot of time dry-fitting the tiles, and discovered I'll have to make several 'U' and 'L'-shaped cuts to get around seven wall outlets.

I'm particular about things and renting for a day adds too much pressure to get it done. The saw is not high-end ($80.00). Worth it to me to have the equipment on hand.

Here we go.

The Blizzard of 2011

We had a Blizzard the other day. Watching the intense snowing and blowing was pretty amazing and I can officially say I'd never seen anything like it before.

The newspapers reported the main streets would stay cleared for emergency vehicles, but all other streets would be left alone until the snow stopped.

Snow started coming down hard and fast around 10:45 am on Tuesday 2/1/11. The news reported the county plows were pulled off the roads around 5:30 pm, and a couple of the main streets in town intended to stay cleared were abandoned. Couldn't keep up.

I live on the corner of Main Street, and those plows went up and down about every 15 minutes all night.

Daylight came on Wednesday and the snowing stopped around 9am. The heavy winds continued until the early afternoon.

I carved a walking path out my front door and the reality hit me hard when I got to the driveway.

The driveway was mostly covered in 2-3 feet of drifted snow. I had an approximately 10-12 foot section of driveway that was spared with only a few inches of snow, and for that I was thankful. I'd never been so overwhelmed by the shoveling, and it was clear we were not getting out until I shoveled the WHOLE THING.

I felt like giving up. I went inside. I called my mom. I heard myself whine about being unsure how I'd do this, maybe I'd have to hire somebody, maybe somebody would come help me, etc.

I got off the phone and realized I'd sounded like I'd quit before I even started. I decided if I had the mindset of being overwhelmed and wait for the cavalry to show up, I'd never get done. I adjusted my attitude and came up with a shoveling plan.


BABY STEPS
I couldn't open my back porch door more than 6 inches due to drifting, so carving a path to the garage was a high priority. I was thinking we needed that door open in case of a fire. Sound dramatic? Yes...but it was that very thought that got my butt outside to work.




















I was feeling good after the back door was cleared. My next Baby Step was to be able to back the car out of the garage.

The top end of my driveway consisted of big individual drifts. I knew I could clear out drifts 1 by 1 and make progress. That felt more do-able in the moment than tackling the mass 2-3 feet at the bottom of the drive.

To make a long story short, I did it...the whole thing!

It took me all day. Shovel, take a break, shovel, take a break.

Ava was outside playing for a good portion of the time. She'd never seen mountains of snow like that.

She was very understanding when I explained that I couldn't play in the snow with her.






It was about 5 hours of shoveling over the course of 8 hours.

I'm not sure how much snow we ended up with. Some say 16 inches, some say up to 20 inches. It doesn't matter.

It's now 2 days after the shoveling. My fingers and hands are still swollen, but my muscles are starting to loosen up and feel normal again.

After this, any typical Illinois snowfall will be no big deal.

Bye-Bye Boob Lights...Hello Schoolhouse Lights

Progress.

I changed my kitchen light fixtures from flush-mount woman-breast lighting to new semi-flush Schoolhouse Lights.

I love them. They look exactly as I imagined.


















You can't deny the old fixtures look like boobs. I made that mental note the first day I moved in.

After shopping around online, I purchased these lights from Amazon.com. I ordered on a Sunday and they were on my doorstep Tuesday afternoon with standard/free shipping. That was fast. They got shipped from Indiana...that's only 1 state away.

Here's a picture with the lights off. Shows a little more detail in the glass.

The old lights were 2-bulb fixtures. The new Schoolhouse lights are single-bulbs. The new lights give off just as much light as the 2-bulb.

The glass on the old lights was cream-colored. The glass on the Schoolhouse lights are white. The light in the kitchen feels cleaner because of the white glass. The wall paint color looks true.

It's much better.

One step closer to kitchen completion.

Next project...Backsplash!