So you can probably tell that we changed up the look a little bit... okay a lot. Since we've been slacking on the blog updates, I though we could at least make it look nicer! I'm loving the spring colors in the background, so maybe I'll keep it year-around!
What do you think of the new header? We tried to capture parts of our life around Atlanta. Braves games, Georgia Tech tailgating, and of course our kitties! Lion doing his favorite thing- napping, Nutmeg just looking cute, and of course Kitty dressed up like a Yellow Jacket!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Super Secret Outdoor Project
It wasn't really intended to be super secret, but for some reason when my dad asked what we did all weekend, I decided to make it a secret :) Here's some teasers for this project-
- It's outdoors, got that from the title right?
- It's going to be awesome (duh!)
- I have to sew something (scary!)
Tonight, I'll be measuring out fabric and reading plenty about sewing. My next post will be more about the sewing part of this project, which will at least give you a better idea of what we're doing. Unless you are a super sleuth and figure it out on your own!
Update- Below are links to future posts on this project!
Post 1: Super Secret Outdoor Project- This Post!
Post 2: Sewing a Pillow
Post 3- infinity: ???
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Veggie Garden!
The moment we've all been waiting for- the planting of the vegetable garden! ....well at least it's the moment I've been waiting for. We planted it last weekend, March 10th, and yes I'm super late putting up this post. It might have been a little early to be planting, but we went ahead and did it for a couple of reasons-
1. Based on when we started the seedlings indoors, things were starting to die and/or get too tall
2. We have so much going on over the next few weeks, it was now or late April
3. I really wanted to get it going :)
It took absolutely the entire weekend (plus another weekend early in January when we cleared out a lot of pine straw and ivy) & it was absolutely exhausting. But the difference is amazing!
We planted what was left of our seedlings {some Cherokee Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Bell Pepper and Poblano}. Due to a series of unfortunate encounters with Nutmeg, the Zucchini seedlings didn't make it.... We also bought a few small plants to supplement the seedlings- (1)Better Boy Tomato, (1) Roma Tomato, (4) Cucumber, (1) Eggplant, and several varieties of lettuce. We got the lettuce varieties from the Oakhurst Garden down the road, it's a community garden, which is pretty awesome! They have all kinds of planting classes that we want to check out soon!
In the second bed we planted some cherry tomato seeds, broccoli seeds, and some leafy veggies we got at the Oakhurst community garden {kale, butter lettuce, and arugula}. The 2 spikes indicated the rows for the seedlings, tomatoes to the left and broccoli to the right. Since I took forever to post this, I saw last night that we have some broccoli seedlings popping up already :)
In our "Fruit" bed, we planted (2) Blueberry, (2) Blackberry, and (1) Nectarine tree that we got back in January at the Atlanta Fruit Tree sale (that wasn't what it was called, but I can't remember). Basically, it was a fundraiser where you could buy fruit trees and the proceeds went to the Atlanta Food Bank. It turned out to be pretty ridiculous, even though there were torrential downpours that day.... Seriously, the roads were flooding on our way there. Anyways, in addition to that, we planted some Watermelon and Cantaloupe seeds that we are hoping to trellis up the fence. We saw a cool post once about trellising them and using "pantyhose supports" to cradle them, so we'll see how that works out.
Basically, we're treating this year as an experiment, see what grows, what doesn't. And then we can make a better plan for next year. And since torrential downpours seem to follow us on our gardening adventures, what happens 2 days after we plant everything?! None other than, torrential downpours! Overall, it looks like the damage was minimal, we loosely staked the seedlings since they got knocked down into the dirt, and re-covered a few roots of the lettuce-y varieties. A basil plant was the only noticeable causality so far. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we planted other stuff in window box planters and hanging planters around the deck. Oh well, everything else will just have to wait for another post :)
Psst! Check out how big everything has grown in a month here!
1. Based on when we started the seedlings indoors, things were starting to die and/or get too tall
2. We have so much going on over the next few weeks, it was now or late April
3. I really wanted to get it going :)
It took absolutely the entire weekend (plus another weekend early in January when we cleared out a lot of pine straw and ivy) & it was absolutely exhausting. But the difference is amazing!
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| Before- dirt, pine-straw, ivy, and chain-length fence |
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| After- 3 Vegetable Garden Beds! |
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| Bed 1- Onions |
We planted what was left of our seedlings {some Cherokee Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Bell Pepper and Poblano}. Due to a series of unfortunate encounters with Nutmeg, the Zucchini seedlings didn't make it.... We also bought a few small plants to supplement the seedlings- (1)Better Boy Tomato, (1) Roma Tomato, (4) Cucumber, (1) Eggplant, and several varieties of lettuce. We got the lettuce varieties from the Oakhurst Garden down the road, it's a community garden, which is pretty awesome! They have all kinds of planting classes that we want to check out soon!
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| Bed 1- Tomatoes |
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| Bed 1 - Cucumber, Bell Pepper & Poblano |
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| Bed 2 - Seeds, Kale, Butter Lettuce, and Arugula |
In the second bed we planted some cherry tomato seeds, broccoli seeds, and some leafy veggies we got at the Oakhurst community garden {kale, butter lettuce, and arugula}. The 2 spikes indicated the rows for the seedlings, tomatoes to the left and broccoli to the right. Since I took forever to post this, I saw last night that we have some broccoli seedlings popping up already :)
In our "Fruit" bed, we planted (2) Blueberry, (2) Blackberry, and (1) Nectarine tree that we got back in January at the Atlanta Fruit Tree sale (that wasn't what it was called, but I can't remember). Basically, it was a fundraiser where you could buy fruit trees and the proceeds went to the Atlanta Food Bank. It turned out to be pretty ridiculous, even though there were torrential downpours that day.... Seriously, the roads were flooding on our way there. Anyways, in addition to that, we planted some Watermelon and Cantaloupe seeds that we are hoping to trellis up the fence. We saw a cool post once about trellising them and using "pantyhose supports" to cradle them, so we'll see how that works out.Basically, we're treating this year as an experiment, see what grows, what doesn't. And then we can make a better plan for next year. And since torrential downpours seem to follow us on our gardening adventures, what happens 2 days after we plant everything?! None other than, torrential downpours! Overall, it looks like the damage was minimal, we loosely staked the seedlings since they got knocked down into the dirt, and re-covered a few roots of the lettuce-y varieties. A basil plant was the only noticeable causality so far. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we planted other stuff in window box planters and hanging planters around the deck. Oh well, everything else will just have to wait for another post :)
Psst! Check out how big everything has grown in a month here!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Repurposing the old cabinets
Note- We actually did this a long time ago, but I just realized that I never finished the post!
Since we took down the cabinets over the island, we didn't want to trash them. So we decided to put them up in the garage for some extra storage (who doesn't need extra storage, right?). Greg's dad had told us the easiest way to do it would be to secure a 2x4 to the wall (in the studs, of course), then balance the cabinets on the 2x4 while one person screws the cabinets into the studs.Then you just screw the cabinets sides together for a little more sturdiness.
You know the funny thing about cats? They can't stand to not be allowed to go somewhere, like a garage. So ours are constantly trying to run out the garage door, well Lion tries to get out any door, but they are both obsessed with the garage. So we gave in during this project and let them hang out with us in the garage (with the outer garage door closed of course so they can't escape). Trust me, it was much better than hearing their pathetic crying and whimpering from the other side of the door!
Cost of the project? $0! Wahoo for free projects! The only things we used (other than the cabinets) were some drywall screws, which we always have on hand, and the scrap 2x4.
Since we took down the cabinets over the island, we didn't want to trash them. So we decided to put them up in the garage for some extra storage (who doesn't need extra storage, right?). Greg's dad had told us the easiest way to do it would be to secure a 2x4 to the wall (in the studs, of course), then balance the cabinets on the 2x4 while one person screws the cabinets into the studs.Then you just screw the cabinets sides together for a little more sturdiness.
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| Leveling the 2x4 board. |
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| Lion wanted to inspect the cabinet |
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| So of course then Nutmeg also had to inspect. |
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| Finished product (well minus the cabinet doors that we still haven't put back on...) |
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Cabinet Takedown!
Remember that picture? That's what our kitchen looked like when we moved in. And below? Well that's what it looks like right now! Well from a slightly different angle, and I promise that I cleaned up, I was just too excited to clean up before I took the picture....
While Greg's parents visited over the weekend, we took advantage of Greg's dad skills and took down the cabinets over the island and installed some pendant lighting. The pictures don't do it justice, it's such a huge difference now! It would have taken Greg and I so much longer to do without his dad, we just wouldn't have been confident in getting the right parts and installing the electrical. Overall, it was a pretty simple job though, the electrical took about 2-3 hours to get everything wired and hung. We even added a wireless switch, which was necessary since the line they are on was not attached to a wall switch, so it would have always been hot {meaning the lights would always be on for you non-electrical people out there}. We still need to patch the ceiling and paint above the lights, so we'll probably do that when we paint the cabinets.
Oh by the way, I think we finally decided on a color!! But you'll just have to wait a few weeks for that reveal :)
Friday, February 17, 2012
Mission: DIY Cat Tree
Mission: DIY Cat Tree is short for "Mission: Keep the cats off the dining room table!" But that seemed too long to be a blog post title :)
Our cats, like most others, love to look out windows. Bird watching, squirrel watching, they love it all!
Our cats, like most others, love to look out windows. Bird watching, squirrel watching, they love it all!
If I could only find a way out, I would so hunt
down those birds and eat them.
down those birds and eat them.
~Lionheart (the 20 pound Maine Coon)
Trust me, he trys to find a way out the door almost everyday, so I'm pretty sure that's what he's thinking. Little does he know that he wouldn't get his daily wet food.
Anyways, back on topic.....We want a small cat tree to put next to the dining room window, since that's where the cats [mainly Nutmeg] like to hang out and watch birdies. We already have one next to the french doors by the deck, which is also a favorite location for bird watching. I bought a cat tree probably 5 years ago when I first brought Kitty to Atlanta. She never cared much for it, and neither have Nutmeg and Lion. It's almost identical to this one available on Overstock. So 5 years of wear later, the top platform has been broken off, and it's a little wobbly. Plus it's huge and the only place we could find for it was next to the TV console in the basement, which encourages Nutmeg to run across it in his hyper fits, never a good thing!
So we deconstructed it a few nights ago and decided that we'll re-purpose it to build a new, nicer looking and probably small cat tree. Maybe we'll even turn it into 2 cat trees! These are some images I found online that we like-
Anyways, back on topic.....We want a small cat tree to put next to the dining room window, since that's where the cats [mainly Nutmeg] like to hang out and watch birdies. We already have one next to the french doors by the deck, which is also a favorite location for bird watching. I bought a cat tree probably 5 years ago when I first brought Kitty to Atlanta. She never cared much for it, and neither have Nutmeg and Lion. It's almost identical to this one available on Overstock. So 5 years of wear later, the top platform has been broken off, and it's a little wobbly. Plus it's huge and the only place we could find for it was next to the TV console in the basement, which encourages Nutmeg to run across it in his hyper fits, never a good thing!
So we deconstructed it a few nights ago and decided that we'll re-purpose it to build a new, nicer looking and probably small cat tree. Maybe we'll even turn it into 2 cat trees! These are some images I found online that we like-
So we'll see what ends up happening with the kitties and their bird watching. This project might take awhile to finish, we have soo much going on lately! Greg's parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and next weekend Kristine and I are going to visit Kristin! And on a somewhat related note, check out another adorable video of Nutmeg playing golf! He's so tiny in the video, it was taken in July 2011.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Vegetable Garden Planning
So we have about a 20'x 3.5' raised bed that we are going to plant a vegetable garden in. After taking away about 6' in paths, we're going to plant two 7' x 3.5' beds. Here's my preliminary plan-
So far we've started everything except the watermelon and honeydew melons by seed. We started the seeds a few weeks ago and set up some plant lights above them once most of them had germinated. Everything is sprouting really well, except for the butter lettuce, poblano and bell pepper. Only one poblano and two bell peppers have come up in the last week or so, so maybe they are just late bloomers. I'm not sure what's going on with the butter lettuce, there are like 2 pathetic looking sprouts, so hopefully some more will pop up soon!
I am by no means an expert gardener, I usually kill everything I plant, but now that I'm planting in real soil and not on an apartment balcony, hopefully things will turn around. The only exception to that rule has been my little clementine tree that I started from seeds from a clementine I ate just for fun, and surprising it sprouted and grew! Who knows, it may never produce any fruit, but for now it's my pride and joy!
On a completely separate note, check out this video of my goofy kitten. You'd think I never feed him, right? He's actually succeeded in getting this kind of can open and eating the whole thing, so these are kept out of his reach now!
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| Our Vegetable Garden! |
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| From left to right: Broccoli, Spinach, Catnip, Poblano, Roma Tomato (2 rows), Zucchini (2 rows), Bell Pepper (2 rows), and Onion (2 rows) |
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| From left to right: Cherokee Tomatoes (4 containers), Butter Lettuce (white container), Zucchini (2 containers), and some Rosemary in the back |
I am by no means an expert gardener, I usually kill everything I plant, but now that I'm planting in real soil and not on an apartment balcony, hopefully things will turn around. The only exception to that rule has been my little clementine tree that I started from seeds from a clementine I ate just for fun, and surprising it sprouted and grew! Who knows, it may never produce any fruit, but for now it's my pride and joy!
On a completely separate note, check out this video of my goofy kitten. You'd think I never feed him, right? He's actually succeeded in getting this kind of can open and eating the whole thing, so these are kept out of his reach now!
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