Walk Around Town

Tonight, the weather was just beautiful, so DH and I took a short little walk around our little town. I just love it here!

 A liberty bell replica in the park across from our house.

 Beautiful fall colors.

 Mums at one of the neighbor's houses.

 Isn't this tree just gorgeous?

 Check out all the different clouds!

A church in our town. I -love- the bell tower.

The Day's Project

Today we spent the day working over at my Grandma's house. She's been wanting lattice around her porch for a few years, so today was the day! It was beautiful day for it too. Not to hot, not too windy, etc.

 This is the before picture. Nice little deck on the back, but missing 'something'.

 Eric getting things all set up.

 Emali spray painting the lattice.

 Eric installing the lattice.

 Ta da! Doesn't it look so much better?! Grandma LOVES it and I do too.

Because we had an extra sheet of lattice, Grandma asked us to paint it and hang it as a trellis for her clematis. I think it made it look even better than just the lattice at the bottom. Overall, Grandma loves it and I'm glad we could do it for her.

Flower planter from an old door

Yep. That's right. I turned this pile of stuff into a planter. Sort of. I like it, but you may not! So, here's how I did it, and how much it cost.

1 old door ($10 on a local buy/sell/trade site)
1 window planter kit ($15 at Home Depot)
1 set of window box holders ($9 at Home Depot)
1 hanging basket hanger ($6 at Home Depot)
1 hanging basket ($15)
various flowers ($5)
1 small bag of potting soil ($4 at Home Depot)

Total cost: $64  You could do this cheaper if you already have some of the stuff.

It was very easy to do too. It would have only taken me 15 mins, but I had to wait mid project for my drill to recharge. So...

1. Attach box holders and basket hanger to door. It should look something like this:

2. Plant the flowers in the window box.
3. Stand door upright and place window box and hanging basket.
4. Admire your creation!

This is what it looks like in my own flower bed (which is still a work in progress)

Snow - December 26/27 Part II

I'm so dissapointed. We got maybe 6 inches total in the "blizzard" that wasnt. We got horridly high winds. A gust of 68 mph was reported in Groton, but very little snow. :( Oh well, you win some, you lose some. At least we got snow.

 In the afternoon, Eric happened to see movement in the trees behind our house. It was a gorgeous hawk, we think. We know it's a bird of prey, but we're not certain it's a hawk. It looks like one.

 And I'm throwing in a random pic of the dead tree in our backyard just because I think it's gorgeous.

Snow - December 26/27 - Part 1

Well, since we're supposed to be expecting MASSIVE amounts of snow here, I thought I'd take pictures. I love snow, btw. I was excited to hear that we're expecting 11-16 inches or more here. Woo hoo! Blizzard! Bring it on!

 This is currently what it looks like out my backdoor. If you notice, it's almost all the way up the little bump that leads in the back door. So, we're right at 4-5 inches in snow right now.

 And this is the view out over the back common area behind our house. Snow, snow everywhere!

All lit up

Funny. We put our outdoor decorations up weeks ago, but we didnt light them up until after Thanksgiving. :) We put lights all along the outline of the house, hung wreaths in the windows, put garland and lights on the porch columns, and decorated our old sled with a wreath as well. Here's the house all decorated!

Our penguin inflatable

 The house lit up

 The porch with wreaths and sled.

Landscaping - Finale

So, as you will see below, I finally finished the flower beds in the front of the house. I think they look pretty good for low budget beds. If I had unlimited money, they'd be raised beds with a nice block retaining wall, but hey, I can dream! Hope you guys like this as much as I do.

The bed to the left of the front stoop.
The bed to the right of the front stoop.

Some of the various plants I planted.

And, for a sneak peak. The before and after colors in the master bedroom. The gold is the Before. U-G-L-Y!

What we've been up to!

Since Eric came home (on leave) Tuesday, we've been insanely busy. Busy, busy, busy. We had a great time though. Almost an entire week on leave. Wow. I cant believe it. The time went so fast. I dont want him to go, but go he must. Thought you all might enjoy some collages on what we've been doing.

Eric got really busy on Wednesday/Thursday doing the tilling for the flower beds and the vegetable garden we are putting in. He didnt get it all tilled, so I'll have to finish it in the next few days.

Top from the left: Eric playing around in the garden; Alvin helping with the garden; Charley laying in the garden.

Bottom from left: Eric tilling the flower beds; Eric tilling the garden; A double of Eric playing around in the garden

Then, on Friday night, we took the kids to Hilltop Drive In in Chester, WV. It was Alvin's first time at the drive in. He loved it! He stayed awake til about halfway through the second movie. How to Train Your Dragons was a GREAT movie. Iron Man 2 was so-so. Eric liked it, but it's not the best super hero movie I've ever seen.

Top from left: Eric and Alvin at the Drive In; Emali and Alvin; Alvin watching Dragons

Bottom from left: The kids playing; Erin; Emali

Saturday, we drove the Lima, OH for the 25th Annual 4 Wheel Jamboree. Alvin just LOVES monster trucks, so we had to take him. The 4.5 hour drive was rough, but it was all worth it when we saw his face as he saw the trucks.

Top from left: Alvin in Bigfoot's tire; Alvin watching the monster trucks; Eric and the kids standing in front (under) Bigfoot

Bottom from left: Eric with Raminator; Alvin passed out on the way home; Bigfoot

Today, we took the kids to the Cleveland Zoo. We had a blast there. I am definitely going to be taking the kids back there. Even though it's a 1.5 hour drive, it's well worth the drive. We got to see the rare Titan Arum (corpse flower) bloom. So, that was cool. They also have an animatronic dinosaur exhibit that the kids just loved.

Top from left: Alvin playing on a slide, Titan Arum (corpse flower), Eric and I on the train

Bottom from left: Baby Koala; the girls on the train; Red Panda

Landscaping, Part Trois

So, I finally managed to actually get some work done on these flower beds. I got one of them completely degrassed and ready to have some plants planted and mulch dropped. This bed is much bigger than it looks. This is the entire one side of the front of my house, so, 10 feet I want to say. Perhaps more. That bush is my spicebush. It's coming back in nicely this year. The whitish dirt to the upper right corner is where Charley dug. Anyone know of a good repellent to keep the dogs out of the flower beds????


And because I'm such a busy momma, I also took Alvin back to the zoo yesterday too. Yes, 4 hours at the zoo and then I came home and worked in the yard for a couple of hours. I am a glutton for punishment.

In the polar bear tunnel. They were actually in the water this time.

Alvin and a penguin

Good Wife

"A good wife is one who can mow the lawn in the summer and put up storm windows in the winter." -- W.C. Fields

The front lawn half mowed. Notice, it's a PUSH MOWER!

The backyard half mowed. You think it was time to mow??

Landscaping: Part Deux

So, a friend of mine came over today so that this landscaping project could get underway. Too bad the tiller didnt want to cooperate! So, I have half a bed, and half a garden tilled. He'll be bringing the tiller back at some point in time to finish. No worries though. I'm not in any hurry.

I started on hand digging out the smaller of the beds and didnt make it very far in that venture either. This stupid cough I have makes me stop working after a few minutes to rest. However, I am bound and determined to get this project fully underway. One step at a time. I just hope the weather cooperates.

Landscaping

So, after getting a burr up my butt that this house need curb appeal, I sat down and came up with a landscaping plan. Woo! This plan involves a lot of tilling, shovelwork, and general elbow grease. I think after all is said and done though, the entry to the house will look amazing! Dont worry, I'll taking pictures as I go. Today was deciding on which plants I want to be showcased in the flower beds. We already have a spicebush plant and a couple variegated hostas.Spicebush

variegated hosta

So, I chose some assorted color oriental lilies, assorted color althea bushes, a 'James MacFarlane' lilac, and a purpleleaf sand cherry. I cant wait to get the beds done and see the picture in my head come to fruition!

Oriental Lilly

'James MacFarlane' Lilac

Althea

Purple leaf sand cherry