My Garden Center

For many folks, having a dedicated space for a personal hobby is a luxury.  For some, a sewing room.  For others, a man cave or garage.  For many years, having a craft room was that special space for me. However, since my transition from traditional to digital scrapbooking in the last few years, I use that space less and less.

 

Now, I've always enjoyed flower and container gardening but it's been a long time since I've had a dedicated place to store my tools or repot a plant. Our first house actually had a small green room which I loved but that was long ago.  In our current house, storage always seems to be an issue and my gardening tools or supplies were always in a basket here or a bucket there and I would literally squat on the ground to repot a plant.  So I made myself a garden center and the best part is, it only cost $10.00.  :)



I found this Baker's Rack on Craig's List for $10.00 - SCORE! I gathered all my scattered things and now everything is organized.  You know how I love me some order!
 
A work surface for projects...
 

 A shelf for extra pots and planters...
 

 A tool drawer...


A supply drawer...


Aluminum container with lid and scooper for fertilizer...

A trash can with snap on lid...


My sweet little garden center{insert big grin}just a little slice of heaven for this old girl!

School is Back in Session

Monday was the first day of school for Nathan.

Here's Sir Grouch-A-Lot waiting for the whistle.


I asked if Sir Grouch-A-Lot wanted to take my picture instead - he did.  I set the example and smiled big.


He perked up and smiled for this picture.


Then the whistle blew and it was time for Sir Grouch-A-Lot to line up with his class.


 



And that was that.
Nathan went to school.
And I went to Dunkin Donuts.

Update to Sink Hardware

The improvement train at our homestead is still chugging along, 2 small improvements that just make me happy. :o)

The kitchen faucet that came with this house was the most basic $15 faucet found at Lowes. I hated it and hate is not to strong a word in this case. 


Greg picked out and installed our new faucet.  I love it and love is an adequate description of my feelings for this new faucet!


My OCD kicked into high gear on this next improvement.  One weekend, hangers were on sale at Target, 10 for $1 so  I bought 3 sets.  The humor in this improvement is that I don't think the mis-matched hangers bothered me until I got all matching hangers, hahaha!  But now - ahh, it feels so nice to have order cause I love me some order!

Awful Horrible Terrible Swim Lessons

Nathan has been taking swim lessons twice a week at a recently opened Aqua Tots.
When I ask if Nathan is excited about his swim lesson, he grimaces and says he doesn't want to go.
When I ask if Nathan has any fun at his swim lessons, he scowls and says no.
When I ask if Nathan wants to go to his swim lesson, he adamantly says no way.


















Yeah, I can see your not having one iota of fun. You know what you little stinker?  You can't fool me!

Can't Move? Improve!

This was the tagline in a recent advertisement that gave me a chuckle. The housing situation across the country is pretty dire as market values continue to plummet. While we wait for the market to bounce back, we have embraced making home improvements.

I recently posted about the completed tile throughout the house. Ironically, during the tile installation, we overhauled our laundry room. Unfortunately, I remember to take 'Before' pictures after I empty out a space, so it's not a good depiction of what the set up was like prior to but trust me it was pitiful!

Here is Greg installing the cabinets in our laundry room:


Cabinets installed, yeah!


Here is the Laundry room today.  Never mind the awesome 80's almond colored dryer, that was given to us by Greg's grandparents.  I have no idea how old it is but it's like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps on going and going!


This is where we hang our hats (lol), post invitations, and place our stuff when we get home.


Just some colorful touches to make the space fun.


Some storage bins and an extra shelf for laundry baskets. Oh and a chandelier. Hahaha!


Bonus picture of my OCDness. I love clear bins with labels. When I look in this cabinet, it totally makes me happy!


Shortly after the tile installation was complete, I decided to make a space for Nathan's toys downstairs.  At the time, we had a custom made shelf that Greg built to house 8 canvas 12x12 bins in our family space where we stuffed all of Nathan's toys.  Whenever Nathan played with his toys it was in the direct path to the bathroom - completely inconvenient and a total mess.

So I took all of this storage, out of this closet:




And made this closet, a toy space:



I added this sheet as a curtain to hide the shelf and vacuum accessories.




And much to my delight, Nathan's toys are contained and out of the way!






Our completed projects are so timely considering the milestone we will soon recognize...any guesses what that might be?  Anyone?

Drop Ins Welcome

Last week, we had the surprise of a unscheduled-unplanned-unbeknownst to me visit from my dad. While I know this is just how my dad rolls, as in flying by the seat of his pants, it just catches me off guard when I get that call that says he's dropping in and "See you in 2 hours."

It had been 3 years since our last visit, so it was certainly due time. As a result, Nathan needed time to warm up to his Grandpa again. However, Grandpa had some tricks up his sleeve.

Trick #1 - Playtime. Once you sit on the floor to actually play and 'spend time' with Nathan - you're IN.




Trick #2 - Donuts. Give this kid something sweet to eat and suddenly your best buddies. Reminds me of another Hull I know.




Here's Nathan showing Grandpa his newly found fishing skills.


Trick #3 - Trains. Grandpa bought Nathan some more track pieces and a new train. Pretty much sealed the deal, Nathan's friendship can be so easily bought it's not even funny.


We had a great visit with my dad. Not sure when we'll see him again, as I understand it, he's going on tour this fall.


Seriously just kidding. ;)

Surviving Super Summer

When Super Summer arrives, follow the survival steps below:

1. Take action when Super Summer temperatures are reached.


2. Gather kids.


3. Take said kids to any form of water recreation.








It's the only way to survive!