It's been almost 8 weeks since my last post. YIKES! I wish I could tell you that all my projects are current and up to date...but I can't. Here's where we stand on outstanding projects:
- Upstairs bathroom - I don't have the new vanity built. I have about half the supplies bought to build it, which is a good start, but it's not finished. Neither is the mirror. We built the frame and the first coat of paint is on it, but it's not finished nor is it on the wall. Sigh. No towel racks or hooks yet either. But it is technically a functioning bathroom. Yeah, that's all I have there.
- The Teen's room - this one is 90% done. I finished repainting her dresser, the nightstand, and all the new hardware is on the furniture. The Builder got the sconces hung, but we discovered the chord is an eyesore so we're debating hanging it behind the wall. Which means more drywall repairs. Her ceiling fan and light are in and the electrical is done for the double light switch, but it needs to be textured, painted and the cover plate put on. We also bought new outlets for most of her plugs since someone had painted over them (really, why do people do that?!) and I have all the artwork. Oh which none is up on the walls. A solid afternoon working in there and it will be done.
So in the face of two not done projects, what did I do this long weekend? Yep, I started a new one! In my defense, this one smacks you in the face every time you drive up to my home. It's my yard. Last year The Builder and I got in and put in fresh mulch, managed to get the lawn green and full again, and got our flower beds in order. We even added some new plants to add a splash of color, including two hibiscus trees and some decorate pepper plants. All of which died the three hard freezes we had this past winter (it's the tail end of the deep south, we're not supposed to have hard freezes in the winter, let alone 3 of them!). In addition some of the other plants that were already there also died. Of course, not the two ugly sego palms. Those just won't die. Our tomato plant that was in the sun room also died. It was just not a good winter for plants! So Saturday morning we headed out to our local farmer's market to get some new herbs for our garden, and then Home Depot for potting soil. Score on the potting soil, it was 4 for $10. We bought 8 bags. And an heirloom tomato plant, a heat tolerant tomato plant, and some flowers to start filling in the garden again. Here's a look at the side of the garage that leads up to the house:
I refuse to pay the more expensive prices for bigger plants. It will take longer for these to fill in and we still plan to add more, but this section was completely barren of anything other than weeds. We'll add some taller plants as these fill out a little. We also go our salsa garden going:
There are two tomato plants (one heirloom, I'm super excited about it!) and two basil plants. I love fresh basil in my food and these plants were $2.50 at the Farmer's Market. I typically pay $3-4 for a small thing of fresh basil at the market, so this is an excellent savings in the long run. I have plans to add a cilantro plant in another container, as well more herbs. I need a jalapeno pepper plant too. I'm very excited as fresh salsa is something my entire family enjoys.
We also took the time to inspect where the sprinklers are. The good news is that overall, they work. A few need new heads on them as they're leaking a little, but this summer we won't be watering by hand. And yes, this is technically another unfinished project. But it looks 100% better than it did and that's it for this long weekend.
