Latest Veggie Harvest

So, I've been feeling like I have gotten hit with the cold bug again the last couple of days. It has been going around work and unfortunately I think I've caught it. Luckily I haven't been feeling too bad so far. Just a little feverish today, but cold medicine has helped. I'm hoping it's not too bad - especially since I'm going to the Cubs game this Saturday! I'm so looking forward to the weekend!

This week hasn't been too eventful so far. Trent has been working then mowing and doing yardwork after work, and I've been working a lot, so we haven't had too much time to make progress on the landscaping project. I'm hoping we'll get it finished soon, though, and I'll have another update to share!

In the meantime, we've had lots of veggies from the garden lately. Trent picked some the other night, including some tomatoes (Pink lady, Roma, and some standard red ones), some Basil, and some bell peppers.

Saleen managed to sneak her way into this picture of our pickings:

We harvested some onions, too....

All in the name of making some fresh, homemade chunky tomato basil soup!

Trent made it by blending together the tomatoes with some milk, basil, onion, garlic salt, peppers, and a little cheese. It was actually really, really good! We're wanting to try some salsa, and maybe can some tomatoes to add to some chili in the fall.

Speaking of fall, even though the weather has been super nice here lately, is anyone else kind of looking forward to bonfires and colorful leaves and pumpkins or am I just crazy?

Dog Days

Today is a nice, sunny Sunday! So glad I get to spend the day at home today! Trent has the day off, so we're working outside. Pulled some weeds, now Trent is trimming the rose bush and some trees in the yard. I had to work yesterday, but last night we stopped by the bar in New Windsor for Trent's 10-year class reunion. There was only a small group there - about 7 people showed up out of around 30 or so. We had drinks and a couple rounds of shots, and there was some interesting conversation! It was nice to meet some of his former classmates, even if it was just a handful. It was a nice group, though. After the reunion, we parked out in the country and watched the meteor shower for a little while from the bed of the truck. We saw a few that were really bright and lit up the sky! It was nice staying up until 2 just hanging out and looking up at the stars.

Today we spent the morning looking at old yearbooks and Trent pointed out the people I met last night at his reunion. This afternoon, we had the hose out watering the flowers, so Trent decided to give Saleen a bath with the hose since it was so nice and hot out. I didn't get any photos or video of Saleen getting sprayed down with the hose (and shaking water out everywhere), but I did get some footage of her getting all sudsy with the shampoo!

She was being very good and sitting still while Trent got her all shampooed. I wish I would've gotten a photo of her splashing water everywhere and Trent ducking! She didn't like the getting sprayed part as much!

She's all nice and clean now! And I'm off to head outside and join Trent - We're doing some more landscaping today. In fact, I can hear him starting to till the ground on the other section now!

Inside My Closet: The Before

Today, I invite you to go where no other has gone before (besides myself of course)....my bedroom closet! It is um, for a lack of better words...not finished!

But someday, my friends...it WILL be amazing. I have dreams, people. Anyway, Pinterest dreams aside, these are the BEFORE Renovation pictures. The current closet, which is technically our master bedroom closet, but is only being used for my clothing right now (Sorry, Trent!), has had nothing done to it since I moved in. We just cleared out some space for an old dresser and my clothes and shoes, and I moved those in. Trent's clothing is currently in piles in our bedroom and we're in serious need of more storage solutions. Those that we do have are only temporary!

So, without further ado, here is a little tour of my closet as it currently looks:


I have my everyday tops and dresses hanging along one wall, with shoe storage underneath. My shoe storage is kind of over-flowing at the moment...

We have a walk-in closet, so there is space for multiple storage units, like dressers, etc. But right now we just have this one old dresser that was given to us by Trent's sister. The drawers stick and it's not in the best shape. I did line it with wrapping paper. I kind of want to redo it, but I've never redone a dresser before, so it's a little intimidating to me at the moment...It's still in the back of my mind, though! 

On the wall is my DIY earring holder, which is getting more and more full all the time! I might have to make another one soon! My nail polish storage is also on my dresser. Check out this post for a closer look at it.

Next to my dresser (well, in front of it I suppose) are extra frames I'm not using at the moment, or frame-related projects I haven't gotten to yet.

And check out that beautiful carpet. That will be the first thing to go once we clear this space and begin renovating it!

So, that is the little space that I currently use. Could be worse, right? OH - But you haven't seen the rest of the closet yet:

Yep, this is what we're dealing with here. And this is why we have no storage space. Not only is this the only closet space in the house, it is connected to the bedroom on one side, then wraps around to the kitchen on the other side. We are currently using an old bookcase to divide the two spaces. And never mind that giant, long baseboard that is still sitting in here since the living room renovation in 2010. No big deal! After we renovate this space, one side will become the bedroom closet, and one side will be the pantry. And maybe things will start coming together storage-wise.

THAT is our crazy master bedroom closet/ pantry, people. One day our life will make sense in this house!!

A Little More Key Decor

As if my skeleton key art and vase transformation weren't enough DIY Key-Loving projects for you, I just went and did another one.

Enter this guy that I got for super cheap at Hobby Lobby with a 50% Off coupon:

It's meant for wall decor, which is definitely what I planned on using it for when I bought it. I love keys, so I thought it would be a fun addition in the living room with my frames. The rustic brown color was cool and all, but I wanted some color! 

I knew I wanted to spray paint it and that it would be SUPER easy to do. Two coats and done. But I was torn between bright yellow and turquoise. As much as I think it would be really fun in yellow, we already had turquoise paint leftover from a couple of other projects, and it would match a lot of turquoise accents that are already in the living room. Plus, I asked Trent his opinion, and he is always anti-yellow for some reason. So....turquoise it was!

We hung it on the wall today:

I have to say, I'm a fan of the result. It looks pretty cute up there next to my mediocre artwork. Ha.

Here's a wider shot:

Don't mind the crazy cords going on and the still-unfinished baseboards. We really need to get on that "leveling of the living room" project. Sounds like so much fun, doesn't it?

Hope everyone has a great weekend. As for me, I am working tomorrow...fun life!


Linked to: Tatertots and Jello, The Pin Junkie, Domestic Superhero

Landscaping: Day 2

Well I'm back to share some more adventures in landscaping the side yard. See the "before" here, and our Day 1 progress here. Sunday was Day 2 of our adventure, and we definitely made a lot of progress. We managed to finish laying bricks, putting down weed fabric, planting, and putting down rock and mulch all the way up to the basement entry door. Here's where we left off Sunday night:

It was around 9:30 pm when we called it quits, so we were literally working in the dark to finish up the fabric, rock, and mulch. We had a spotlight of course, but it was going to rain the next day, so we wanted to get the mulch down before it turned to mud!

Here's where we started out on Day 2:

Trent had to till up a little more of the dirt to get the bricks level, then we started laying them down again, one by one.

Trent picked up more bricks after work. We had gotten 20 the first day, and he picked up 45 more the next day.

I handed the bricks over to Trent and watched him level out the dirt and lay them down. I've heard it's best to use sand or rock as a base, but we compacted the dirt pretty well and there is grooves in the stones, so they seem pretty secure. The stones are also really heavy and weighted down. We think we might cap them off with capstones on the top for a more finished look, too.

Being on a slope, getting the bricks to look straight has been a little bit of a challenge, but we're using our orange nylon string as a guide for the bottom row to be level, and it seems to be working pretty well. We've gotten a couple of compliments from the neighbors already while we were out working, too - one said that the bricks look really nice and straight, which is definitely good to hear!

And just in case you think I didn't help at all and just watched Trent do all the work since all of my pictures have been of him...Trent made sure to get some pictures of me in action:


Yep, I did the heavy lifting. Transfering bags of rock, sand, and mulch. And retrieving 22 pound landscaping bricks. Try doing that while being tiny! Ha.

As always, Saleen helped watched, too.

When she wasn't staring down / barking at the occasional squirrel, of course.

Once we got up to the basement door, which completed the largest "section," I wanted to plant my hydrangea and a few of my hostas to get them in as soon as we could. So we got them planted. My hydrangea was looking a little "wilty" so I'm hoping it can spring back up before we have another repeat of last year (fyi - I killed one off). Please stay alive little hydrangea, I'm counting on you this time!

We also planted three little hostas. We'll probably need to plant a couple more things to fill in space, since it's looking a little bare still.

The next picture is after it got dark - we were still working away trying to get this section finished that night before the rain came.

We got it all done though, and it's looking pretty good after the second day of work:

We put rock in the back to help with drainage, then used 8 whole bags of mulch just on this section. It is the largest area we have to do, so the corner on the other side of the basement door shouldn't use as much materials. We will still have to pick more up, though.

All in all, it's been fun so far. It's cool to see the yard transforming from an eye sore to being all pretty. Especially when we started out here:

And have gotten this far already:

It's definitely an improvement! Lots more to do, though! The rain Monday set us back, and Trent has been working late, but we're trying to find time to finish it when we can. Hopefully I'll have another update with the "finished product" soon!

Krylon Challenge

Have you heard about the Krylon Colormaster Challenge yet?


This isn't sponsored or anything, but I just stumbled upon this fun little challenge put on by Krylon spray paint, where you share your DIY projects that you've used spray paint for (Krylon or not), and they put together a cool little project page for each of the projects you submit. By submitting a project, you get entered to win $500 every week, or a grand prize of $2,000 at the end. You can submit projects until September 2.

I've submitted three projects already - My Bookcase Makeover project, My Wine Bottle and Mason Jar project, and My Wire Plant Stand Makeover. Every project you submit is saved to your "Project Vault."

I was surprised to go to one of the challenge pages and see my Bookcase Makeover project listed under the "Project Spotlight":

If you click on the link it goes to a page with details on how to complete the project (you submit these details when you submit the project):

Pretty cool, right? Better start submitting more of those spray painting projects!