A Painted Kitchen

Finally, the kitchen is painted! Which means this is the start of all the other stuff - floors, cabinets, appliances, sockets, outlets, light covers. We noticed some mistakes which we have to go over again, but overall I am pleased that we are at least getting somewhere with the kitchen.

The paint color is Behr's "Limelight" in Semi-gloss. The color is slightly darker than how it appears in these pictures. We bought 1 gallon, but it looks like we might need need another one to paint the back room to match and do some touching up. Keith was even good enough to help me clean the whole kitchen spic and span.

And now, the piece de resistance!




Next step - tile floors and add moulding this weekend!

Now We're Gettin' Somewhere!

I am so tired, but I just wanted to drop these off because I'm already behind on posts. Poor Keith was still spackling and sanding in areas that were still showing. He repainted again which was exhausting.



With finals coming, I've also been really behind in the garden and the weeds are all in my veggie garden bed! I don't know how I'm going to get rid of them all now. I was hand picking each little one and hopefully after graduation, I can get things back to order. I'm thinking about laying down some pavers and making a raised garden bed. As I weeded, Keith and our neighbor Tim dug a space to lay down some PVC piping for the "sprinkler system" that he made around the garden beds. IT WORKS!!!



In other news, I received my commercial-sized saran wrap! My father worked for a restaurant when I was a kid, so I grew up always having commercial-sized products around. Our family saran wrap lasted YEARS!!! It's one of those things you miss when you don't have it anymore. With the new kitchen, I thought we could make a place for this.

$15 Ace Mart - 18'x2000'



Finally, today we're painting the kitchen! Behr "Limelight" - it's a blue-toned neutral. It's kinda green, kinda tiffany blue, kinda grey, but very neutral.

Memorial day

We went to the beach to see the kids. They are so adorable.



On the roof of one of the churches down at the shore were solar panels. All the houses down there should take advantage of the solar panels.


Coneflower


Phlox


Delphinium is super bushy now!


This lily is almost to my shoulder which doesn't say much for me.


Rose buds


I saw this big bunny and baby bunny sniffing around my veggies.


The zucchini plants have flowers now.


Edamame


Brussel sprouts have really sprouted overnight! No pun intended. kekeke


My potato vine has purple flowers.


The carrots that survived are doing well.


Peony

Yard Sale

After watching numerous episodes of Clean House, we had this urge to clean out our own house. We went under the rule that if we haven't used it in a year, we're selling it. The crazy thing is I put out 17 bags (handbags, shoulder bags and purses) that I didn't want. That means, I still have more bags at home that I DO want. I'm not one of those addictive shoppers, but I just accumulated so much (birthdays, sales, etc). Today we sold: some clothes, purse, drafting table, model airplanes, roll and fold bike, my collection of furbies, winnie the pooh wall art, picture frames, keyboard, guiter books, bread maker, garden hose.

Here are some photos throughout the day.



I gardened and cleaned out the attic and basement during the day. My Sarah Bernhardt peony bloomed. It's so fragrant.



Keith's mom gave us pieces of cactus. I put it on the far side of the house where it's most dry and sunny. Just lay it on the soil and it will root.



I cut many of the blooms off the large peony. Don't they look like giant lollipops?



Keith's mom also gave me more of this firecracker plant which I threw in front of the air conditioner to camouflage it. Next year, it will fill out a great deal more.



Spiderwort - I dug these up from the side of my neighbor's shed. They grow like day lilies, but have small purple flowers. It doesn't look very good now, but next year when they come back they will look much nicer.



The yard is really coming along. I've been able to spread a lot of things around and hopefully it will fill in next year.

Peonies on Craig's List

I put an ad on Craig's list asking if anyone would be willing to part with their *mature* peony plants and wouldn't mind splitting them. (Doing this can traumatize them for 1-2 years and won't bloom). I found a lady who was actually selling her plants about 45 minutes from our house. We went there this morning and brought home this baby! This lady had huge mature tall plants of all kinds covering her property. I wish I had brought my camera because her property was filled with everything under the sun! Everything grew so nicely there.

This plant is about 4 feet tall and wide. She showed me where I could split them and make 20 plants out of it easily. *NOTE* This not a good time to do this to peonies, but we took a chance. They just might not bloom next year, but it's a very established plant so it should be okay as long as I take care of it this summer.



She also threw in some Siberian Irises which are amazing as a group. I can't wait to see these next year when they triple in size.

New Additions

"Blue Butterfly" Delphinium - perennial
"Bright Eyes" Phlox - perennial
"Queen Mix" Cleome - reseeding annual
"Blue Buckle" Penstemon - perennial
"Jethrow Tull" Tickseed - perennial

(far left to right) - ornamental grass, irises, coneflower, penstemon, delphinium, myotosis, tickseed, phlox, irises (empty bald spot), mint (in lattice), hostas.


I'm working towards plants that will spread and grow tall and bushy with little maintenance (in my dreams!) to fill in large spaces around the deck. I see Phlox and Cleome in gardening magazines a lot and I really like the way they look in large masses. I only wish I could speed up time (or buy mature plants) so I can see what they will look like. I always stare at my garden bed imagining what it might look like next year and hope to the garden gods that they will grow in the bare spaces I want them to.

Phlox - These look really pretty in large masses. I hope it spreads each year.



Cleome - Also known as spider flower. I like the cloud like spikey blooms they have. Next year I'll know better to purchase the seeds instead of buying a plant. There is only one long lasting flower per stem/plant.



Delphinium - This flower started out violet and is now blue. It stands very tall and sturdy.



Penstemon - Pretty purple flowers. New to the nursery, I thought I would give this one a shot.



Tickseed - This is a much prettier version of a black-eyed-Susan in my opinion. They don't have the large dark spot in the middle and their petals are fluted. I would definitely want more of this.

Klehm's Song Sparrow

In the special gardening issue of Martha Stewart Living, she featured her enormous peony "garden" (more like a farm). She got bare root peonies from this place. Generally, I'm pretty skeptical about everything that is featured in her magazines. Granted, some of the photos are gorgeous, but I've caught her on a few occasions where she'll say something that is incorrect which makes me question her knowledge. Like this show she did with Aidan Quinn about ORGANIC GARDENING and then said "and we can add foam balls to the soil". Anyway, I thought I would see what the fuss is all about.

Roy Klehm; owner of Klehm's Song Sparrow and some of his partners have some really beautiful peonies. Not only do I want to mass in color, but I'd like to select certain plants that are special and not usually seen in my area.

This peony has caught my "special attention".
Coral Supreme -



Another pretty one. Abalone Pearl

I'm a proud mama!