Weekend Warriors

It's that time of year again.

DIY Time!

This year's project was a BIG ONE!

We wanted to spruce up the front of our house.

As you can see, the hedges were taking over everything. We also had way too much flowerbed for us to maintain. It was always overgrown with weeds. What flowers I did have were always hard to see because of all the weeds. Oh AND I could never plant anything on the end of the walkway where it meets the driveway. Everything died in that corner because it was so much lower than the rest. In the first picture, you can sort of tell where the pansies come to a halt near the end of the bushes.

See what I mean:

Not only were the weeds a problem, but we also had trouble figuring out the willy nilly placement of the plants from previous owners. There were daffodils in one area and nowhere else. Several daylillies spaced here and there... and one holly bush that never got any larger as long as we have lived here. We also had an azalea that only produced one bloom per year. No lie. One.

To the left of the porch, there wasn't technically a flower bed, but a few bulbs had been planted in front of the bushes, behind them (really?) and in between them. Those were all but lost in the grass and never had a chance to shine.

You might can see in this next picture how the bushes were pushing over some of the daylillies and how the pansies were just drowned out by all the chaos.

It just looked like a big ole mess having plants in between the bushes (and behind them) and then the occasional daylilly right up front. There were also about 4 amaryllis in odd places (like the one in this picture behind the  purple pansy and RightNextTo the random daylilly in the front)

It got to be such an eyesore that even family portraits were being ruined by the weeds.

See the corner of the flower bed?

Here, let me show you:

We needed a plan.

and a truck.

We decided to make 2 flower beds - one on each side - and then we would fill in the rest with sod.

First, we pulled out the ginormous bushes.

It was pretty entertaining for the innocent bystanders, I'm sure.

I hacked away with an electric trimmer, Wesley carried off the branches and Brad dug up the roots. As you may recall, this drew strange comments from our neighbors.

This was sort of like the tag-team way we removed the big tree from the end of the porch 2 years ago...

After that, Brad tilled the soil and we dug up every single daffodil and daylilly. I was nervous that I would lose the beautiful pink ones and yellow ones but there was just no way to tell where they were since nothing was blooming. I was sad to lose all my pansies since they were still blooming. Brad assured me it was ok to throw them away, though.

After we laid out the shape and put in some edging, I decided on a layout and transplanted the daylillies, daffodils, amaryllises and even some irises. I left room for some new bulbs to plant in the fall. Want to see the bulbs I ordered? Of course you do ;)

First up - The Biltmore Endless Spring PURPLE Tulip Mix :) 20 bulbs of various tulips that will bloom all throughout the Spring.

Angelique Tulips, which bloom in the late spring and look like my very favorite flower, peonies!

And, last but not least, these super cool PINK daffodils because... I needed another reason for Kim to come visit ;)

Anwyays, back to the project.

It was time to sod the now non-garden area.

There is a guy in our church who sells sod so that aspect was taken care of, but we needed a way to bring it home. My boss graciously loaned us his pick up truck. Thank goodnes, too, because we filled it to capacity!

We had a good system going. The man who sells the sod would chop it into squares, one of us would scoop it up and the other two would carry it to the truck. Wesley preferred to scoop it up, but he also was handy to have in the bed of the truck. Then, we could bring it to him and he would stack it up. After that, we headed home with all that green, grassy goodness.

Wes was so over the garden by that point so Brad and I laid all the sod without our little helper.
 

Instantly, it made a huge difference!!

I also moved a small azalea bush from the side of the porch to this alcove so my hydrangea wouldn't be so lonely.

After that, all we had to do was put in some petunias to replace the pansies and then throw down some mulch.

We went with high-contrast black mulch and it looks awesome!!

Well, see for yourself.

Overall, the project was a lot... ALOT of work, but the results were so worth it!

Just a reminder of what it was like before followed by the finished project:

Oh, and when we stocked up on petunias, guess what I spotted in the garden center...

A peony bush!!

I've never been able to grow one from the root / risome so I have high hopes for the bush.

The first two blooms were GORGEOUS!!!

 

And if you were worried about the poor pansies that were still blooming, never fear.

I kept them :)

Apparently, we're psycho...

Soooo

It's been quite a long while since I've posted anything.

I thought I'd hop on here real quick to share what I think is a funny story...

We are revamping our front flower gardens - That will be a post all its own... In the process, though, it was discovered that we need an ax.  So, on his weekly Wal-Mart run, Brad bought all the normal groceries... and an ax.  The cashier was apparently dying of curiosity so she asked him what it was for.  Without missing a beat, my always serious and straight-faced husband replied, "We've been having trouble with our neighbors."  and then didn't say anything else! That poor cashier probably wished she hadn't asked anything!

So. Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. We're out in the front garden and all three of us are pitching in.  I'm running the hedge trimmer, Wesley is carrying off a massive pile of limbs, and Brad is hacking away with his ax.  Well, that cashier must have ratted us out because our neighbor looks over and asks, "What are ya'll doing over there? Burying a body?"  To which, Brad in all his seriousness replies, "No, but that would be MUCH easier than this!" 

Sheesh!  Do we look dangerous?  Maybe I shouldn't let Brad answer questions anymore.

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

I have been in love with and intimidated by the deco mesh trend that shows up every Christmas.

The vivid colors are right up my alley, but I envisioned a mess if *I* tried to recreate what I see...

Lucky for me, I have a friend who used to own her own florist shop :)

Last night, she taught me a few tricks of the trade.

First, we started with a wreath from Wal-Mart and fluffed it up.

Next, she added the green mesh in a circle around the outside, fluffing and stuffing as she went.
Then, the berry mesh was added in the middle... 

We added some swirly sticks, then the pine cones and lastly, we added the Christmas ornaments.

Then I excitedly placed it above my mantle and added by new tealight holders. Isn't it just fabulous? I'm so thankful for talented friends :)

These are gorgeous and photos don't do them justice. I'm thinking of buying more next time I'm visiting my family :)

Trunk or Treat

Last night our church hosted Trunk or Treat. I hear they have done this in the past, but it was a first for us.

Wesley was skeptical about whether or not it would be any fun.

The first order of business was to find an acceptably cool costume for him - this is always a challenge because we won't let him be anything evil or overly scary. I usually sum this up by telling him he can't be a "bad guy"

After perusing the Spirit Store, he found something he thought he liked: a gangster.

After adding a fedora from wal-mart, we both thought he looks dapper :)

After modelling for these pictures, a couple hours passed and Wesley finally asked what a gangster was. Ha! I explained as best I could and he seemed ok with it because he finally said, a little in awe of himself, "So, I'm like a bad guy?"  yes. You are like a bad guy. This satisfied him.

Oh. and gangsters rarely smile:

Next up, I wanted Brad and I to wear matching costumes.
I approached the topic somewhat hesitantly because I just knew Brad would be far too serious to ever dress up.

So, I was utterly surprised when he agreed to dress up AND then chose his own costume!

I merely dressed to match.

At the Trunk or Treat, I told everyone he was out on good behavior and was serving 4 years into a life sentence :)

When it came to our trunk, Wesley was all too happy to decorate. I wanted to stick with things that would be ok for the church grounds so we opted for a spider theme (sorry, dad)

We stocked up on fake web and streamers, etc. Then I just turned Wesley loose:

It's hard to see, but check out that 5 o'clock shadow!

With a little help from adults, Wesley whipped our trunk into shape just before it got dark.

Didn't it turn out wonderfully?

Wesley used a snowflake technique to make those spider webs out of paper.

If you're really nice, he might teach you how next time you see him :)

I took a few pictures before the kids arrived ...

Here's our Youth Pastor as Linus and his wife as Sally from Peanuts.

Our Associate Pastor as ... well, basically himself plus a mask.

He already owned all the components to his costume except for the cape.

And, last but not least, our Pastor and his wife as Tacky Tourists!!

They handed out hot cocoa at their trunk and became a very popular stop once the sun set!

It was a great evening and a great opportunity to meet people from the community.

We had a huge turn out and are already looking forward to next year!

Marzipan Cookies

Back in September I spotted an adorable cookie idea on my new favorite blog:

The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle

She suggested giving these apple cookies as a Back to School treat for Wesley's teachers... Well, I was a little late discovering the recipe so I thought they might make cute pumpkins. I even went to comment about this idea only to find that other people had already had the same idea! The Sweet Sugar Belle even replied with a suggestion: "Use popsicle sticks to indent the sides, and add a few curly vines =)"

So, I printed off the recipe and headed to the kitchen!!

First step, where do I find Marzipan?? Well, that stumped me and Brad. I asked a baker friend and she bought some for me :)

When she handed it to me, I was a little surprised... I was thinking Almond Paste would be something akin to Peanut Butter... Nope.

The dough came together easy breezy and was easy to shape ...
We rolled a toothpick up the sides to make our dents. The first batch wasn't distinct enough so we made the 2nd batch with deeper indents.
Here they are, before baking:
(Aren't they CUTE?!)

Here they are after baking... a little spreading happened.

I even tried my hand at adding leaves and vines....
It didn't turn out quite how I had envisioned... So I left the greenery to the experts and told myself that pumpkins you buy never have vines and leaves :)

Here they are in their jar. I made the little labels and on the back it says, "Please do not eat the stems, they are just for decoration. If you have a nut allergy, be careful, these pumpkins contain almonds."  :)

Wesley delivered these to two of his teachers. One was out on maternity leave so she missed out :( The cookies were a hit with the other 2 teachers though! Wesley said one almost ate her whole jar today!

Hearty Tortellini Soup

It's time to talk about food again :) We had a briefly cool day so I took that as my cue to try out a new recipe: Hearty Tortellini Soup

I'll just be up front about this - it was awesome!
I didn't have all the ingredients it calls for so I was a little worried. Brad was sent with the shopping list 2 weeks ago. When he couldn't find some of the key components, he gave up.

I visited 2 grocery stores and found everything we needed (after some serious searching!)

The first problem was that it calls for Italian Sausage... Neither of us has bought that before so it was a mystery as to where to find it. (near the ground beef and brats, by the way)

Next, I had trouble finding the Broccoli Coleslaw Mix... I don't usually want cole slaw in the first place so I sure didn't know it could have broccoli in it... As it turns out, I couldn't find that kind so I just got the regular kind.

Neither Brad nor I could find a can of French Onion Soup so I used a packet / mix.

I went to the pantry and realized that we didn't have the right kind of tomatoes so I used Italian Diced Tomatoes instead... Well, after I had finished making the soup I found the Italian Stewed Tomatoes on the counter where Brad had, in fact, bought them. OOPS!

Once all the ingredients are in the pot... It looks very questionable how this whole thing is gonna turn out...

See:

Once it was all cooked, though, the doubts were gone!

After dishing it into the bowls, I sprinkled on the "optional" Parmesan Cheese...
No cheese is "optional" haha!

And doesn't that just look divine?

As usual, I'm all excited about a new meal and Wesley is
...
not.

After literally 20 minutes of begging him to take one bite, he finally explained that the only thing he doesn't like is the "potatoes".... so we let him pick those out.

See:

Soup = Gumbo?

Remember a couple weeks ago when Kim and I made That Soup? Well, I needed something to make for dinner tonight so I pulled a ziploc baggie out of the freezer and set to work.

After it thawed, I added a bay leaf. I'm not really sure what it brought to the flavor, but it felt wrong to skip it...

Also, I seriously want to know why the leaves come in this container (see photo)... Why bother including the sprinkle-cap??

Next, I chopped up a chicken breast that we had boiled earlier in the week and half a package of turkey sausage. I didn't measure, but I'd say it was oh... about this much:

When I went to grab the okra I considered what the final product would be.
Tomato Soup (basically) with chicken, gumbo and okra... hmm what would Wesley think?
So, I grabbed this from the freezer AND the okra.

So I guess by adding all those other veggies (carrots, green beans, corn, more tomatoes, more okra... and a stray lima bean) it really made it more of a thick vegetable soup than a gumbo. I'm not sure what makes the difference between the two, except maybe if I added shrimp... (well, that's not gonna happen... GAG!)

In the end, I served it over rice and didn't give it a name.
Whatever you decide to call it, it was good!

Ok.
to be fair.
Brad and I thought it was good :)

Wesley?