putting it to bed

We finished the front flower bed!

That uprooted azalea bush is not part of it, we just didn’t have the energy to move it after pickaxing three of them out of the ground, transplanting the largest (without a wheelbarrow), and planting 12 new trees, shrubs, and flowers. To say nothing of the mental energy involved.

When we went to buy my Boulevard Cypress, we sadly discovered it probably wouldn’t do well in our front yard, which only gets weak morning light. I didn’t like (or couldn’t afford) any of the options that would, and a protracted debate about evergreens vs. deciduous trees ensued.

We compromised by planting little juniper bushes around the Japanese cherry:

I’m still concerned that it’s going to look bare in the winter, but we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, we’ve got lots more work to do.

Lowes-a-palooza

Joe has been collecting the wood to build my closet system one piece at a time. Not on purpose, but the boards he decided to use have been discontinued, so it’s become a treasure hunt of every Lowe’s in the area trying to find enough of them in good condition.

This has been going on for months. Last night I had a minor fit about how it’s practically Memorial Day and nothing’s getting done, and soon it will be too damn hot to work on the house and we still won’t have closets. I’m never sure when my rants will be taken to heart, but this one was.

Since Joe has already hit every Lowe’s in southeastern PA, he mapped out four in New Jersey and we went on a spree. I was convinced it would be in vain, but we found two boards at the first store in Fairfield. The next two were a total bust, and we got lost in Deptford and almost gave up. Good thing we didn’t, because that store had the rest of the boards we needed.

I was elated all the way home—until I realized that I now have to sand and stain a dozen boards. Rats.

glass act

I am by no means an impulse shopper. I make fun of Joe for being so picky, but in truth, I am just as bad. How bad? Well, since signing the closing papers, I’ve been filling fat binders full of torn-out magazine pages and website print-outs of things I eventually want to buy.

After I exhaustively research the options and narrow them down to the single, perfect one I want, I add that item to a running shopping list I keep. When it goes on sale or threatens to disappear forever, I buy it.

I’ve been coveting the carafe in the above photo ever since I saw it published in the now-defunct Blueprint. Could not find one anywhere. Until.

Yesterday, this arrived, courtesy of Mighty Leaf Tea:

It’s not the exact one I wanted, but I think I like it even better. And not only is it a steal at $20, but they also make some damn fine tea and the prettiest accessories ever. Go get yourself some.

wedding follies

I got married before I started this blog, but I made practically everything for my wedding. And recently, while organizing, I was reminded what a good job I did. Above are the candles I used as centerpieces—glass cylinders covered with art paper. A lot of people took them home and still use them. The leftovers will make pretty luminaries for a summer party sometime.

My mom found these frames we used for the table numbers at the dollar store. The dollar store. There are two different patterns, and I will definitely be using them again. My advice to anyone who’s DIY: You simply cannot go wrong with black and white as a color scheme. Throw in whatever other color you want as an accent; it’s always going to look sophisticated, effortlessly.

Okay, the ring pillow was all Mom, but I gave her the idea. Won’t be reusing this until Belle gets married.

monkey see

Every year for Mother’s Day, my present to my mom is one day of hard labor. In the past I’ve landscaped her yard and cleaned the basement. This year, we got ready for the grandaddy of all yard sales.

Since I outgrew my love of knickknacks at age 10 or so, I’ve shuddered at the mere mention of a yard sale, but this one is an evil necessity. I’m actually psyched to unload all the crap—er, valuable merchandise—we’ve amassed that won’t fit in our basement-less, closet-less house.

But the price of doing so is sorting through my mom’s mountain of junk, including everything she packed up from my grandma’s. I basically spent the day  explaining, over and over, that no one in their right mind is going to pay cash of any denomination for a wind sock made out of an old soda bottle.

And, naturally, I brought home twice as many boxes as I came with. Mostly kitchen stuff, but there was a box of drink stirrers and cocktail garnishes, including these awesome little monkeys. A cherry’s supposed to go on their front paws, but I’m still trying to figure out how they hang on a glass. They make me want to take up bartending.

So what’s your take on yard sales? Do you have them? Shop them? Avoid them like swine flu?

clearly, we have a problem

We bought more plants today. I only wanted to go back for white peonies and a few irises, but somehow we ended up bringing all this home: one pink lily (Joe’s pick—I am beginning to wonder about his affinity for pink), viburnum, irises, peonies, and a white hydrangea. Not only did we spend a fortune, we’re completely off color scheme.

And we’re not done yet. I’m campaigning for some kind of evergreen (aside from the viburnum; the variety we picked will keep its leaves), just to keep things interesting in the winter. I like this dwarf cypress a lot, but it’s pricey:

Then there’s the issue of getting them in the ground. We spent the afternoon and only got this far:

And we still have two trees in pots out back. After investing so much time and money, I just hope we’re not making a huge mistake, or several. Though at this point, if we change our minds, we could practically open our own nursery. And we will be trying to salvage those azaleas, which are beautiful, but too close to the house. Any takers?

organized crime

I admit it: I’m a full-fledged, Martha-caliber organizing geek. I picked the grayest, rainest Monday in the world to take off, and this is what I did with it. It may not look like much, but above is the result of winnowing down five boxes of toiletries to fit in one teeny tiny cabinet.

But the true pièce de résistance is this:

I started organizing the attic. I was using masking tape and a blue sharpie, but that didn’t nearly satisfy my inner analness, so I found these awesome (patent pending!) repositionable labels at Office Max* and printed labels:

One day it will be a sea of neatly arranged, matching bins as far as the eye can see. We’ll be able to find anything. *Swoon.*

* Two notes on Office Max. One, they have a super-pretty store brand called DiVoga that I really dig. And two, if you need small organizational containers and such, try an office supply store. You’re welcome.

a shoe-in

Joe started designing my closet system today. I am no Mariah Carey (that’s her shoe wardrobe above), but when you live in a 900-square-foot ranch with no basement and a grand total of four closets, this is a necessity. And I was going to share—that he insists on using the closet in my office is a bonus.

My major concern is having a place to hang my work clothes so they won’t get cat hair all over them, but I have to admit, I started to get into it. Especially when we started measuring my shoes to see how many shelves of them we could squeeze in. Joe was less so when he realized how many shelves I wanted. “You’d have to have 21 pairs of shoes,” he said. “No one has that many.”

Isn’t he adorable? I proceeded to line them up for him, 25 pair total. And I am sure that’s a fraction of what most women have. Of course, he doesn’t believe that. So back me up, ladies—how many pairs of shoes do you have?

oops, we did it again

The latest results of our pot addiction.

The Northeast is experiencing the second coming of Noah, so we figured the rain would prevent us from any yard work this weekend. Instead, we cruised garden centers all day, trying to find a plant to fill the void in the backyard.

After several unsuccessful trips to chains, I convinced Joe to try out Gasper, a place that sent us an ad with a coupon. We both fell under the place’s spell. It was pricier, but had a much better selection.

We decided on a Camellia April Snow to round out the back bed. It stays green all winter, and gets flowers like this:

That is, provided we don’t kill it. Then, in keeping with our tradition of buying plants we don’t have room for, we also committed to some purple and white columbine (center in the top photo) and shasta daisies. Both spent the rest of the weekend on our front porch.

And we’ll probably go back next weekend because they promised us they were getting in some white peonies and irises. And I’ve got another coupon.

shhh … I bought something

Turns out I didn’t have to wait a year after all.

I am not what you would call an impulsive shopper, but I am a sucker for the words “sale,”  “supplies limited,” and “free shipping.” So I bought my dream hamper. But I didn’t tell Joe. He was surprisingly upset about the $20 canisters, so this should be interesting.

I don’t like being devious, but there is a precedent for guerrilla-style home purchases. I had to sneak plain white bath towels into our first apartment, which taught me an important lesson: Joe approaches even the smallest change kicking and screaming, so if I never bought anything without his permission, our house would be in a state similar to his underwear drawer. Not pretty, I assure you.

Besides, I’ve lived for two months sans toilet tissue holder and window treatments. I’ve earned this.