Bunnies, Slugs, and Flowers - Oh, My!

I've had an assortment of different pests in my gardents this year.  Previous years, it has been Japanese bettles.  This year, slugs have eaten about 1/3 of every strawberry in my garden.  In fact, I've never seen so many slugs in one place before.  If they didn't leave such a sticky residue all over the berries, I'd consider taking them in side and just cutting off the eaten portion, but now they just look sort of gross to me.

Out front, I have some lillies in trouble... My oriental lillies have lost most of their leaves to the bunnies, but luckily the blooms are higher than those bunnies can reach!

My asiatic lillies, on the other hand, have not been so lucky.  Mister bunny has consumed all leaves and my beautiful buds. 

 I have discovered a new plant this year - the verbena.  I love it when I am at a garden center, pick up a card, and on the back it said "water usage:  arid."  Most of my yard is sand.  Actually, I'm not really sure how I actually get grass to grow, but the soil never holds water and I'm always on the lookout for pretty flowers that will stand up to long droughts.  I've had the verbenas for about 5 weeks now and they have had beautiful bright pink flowers the entire time.

Oh, how does your garden grow?

Oh, quite well, I'd say... :)

My garden is beginning to look like spring although these morning temperatures sure don't feel like spring!

My Irises are already in bloom: And my white dogwood:
And my absolute favorite, the pink dogwood!
As far as my fruits and vegetables, I have not made it very far this year. But I have weeded out the bed that carries my blueberries and strawberries! Can't wait until those are ripe!

The bane of my existence...

for the last couple of weeks has been my new sewing table. I had lusted after this table for quite some time and finally broke down and bought it.

Now, I consider myself an expert in modular furniture construction. In my office alone, there are eight pieces from Ikea. My power rack in the garage took me a total of 45 minutes to put together although there were all kinds of reviews about it being too hard and not having good directions.

This table on the other hand was horrible. It arrived with 2 packages of one type of screw and none of another. The little wooden dowels - there were 2 fewer in the box than tha directions called. The screws that were supposed to be used with the hinges had heads smaller than the holes on the hinges. The screws for the handles were not long enough to go through the wood and into the handles. Needless to say, after six trips to the hardware store, it is finally done. Yes, I did try calling customer service, but it was of no use.

If this had been my first piece of furniture that I had to put together, I would have never ever tried these other pieces in my house. I'm so glad it is done and will begin working on some sewing projects this week!*************************************************************************
On a more exciting note, I was plaing with my wire weaving all week long!

On Thursday, I made this bow pendant/necklace for my sister-in-law's birthday. She loves bows and pink, so I figured rose quartz and a sterling bow would be perfect. I finished it off with a toggle clasp adorned with rose quartz chips.

On Friday, I was playing with my brand new lampwork beads and made an asymmetrical pendant set.
I've been so productive this week I want to jump and scream at the top of my lungs! I hope you've had an excellent week, too!

Springtime and Works in Progress...

It is so nice to come home from my daily walks and see spring is here - even though I don't quite feel the temperature! These little daffodils are along the walkway from my driveway to front door. Inside my studio, I started a new pendant yesterday. Using a nutmeg shell my grandmother found on the beach in Naples, Florida, I've begun weaving a coiling a frame out of copper wire for a pendant. I can't wait to sit down and finish this today.
What are your new projects for this beautiful day?

Back in the garden

I've had some great harvests recently. Not near enough to feed the neighbors or give away food, but making me think of interesting things for dinner. I think I just got my last 1/2 cup of blueberries but this looks to be my first of many zucchinis! The entire garden is going pretty well - I've got corn, green beans, butternut squash, cantaloupe, bell peppers, watermelon, okra, tomatoes... I think that's all. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it looks good in person.

What I am most impressed with though is the corn! I've been trying to grow corn for the last three years and have never gotten a plant taller than 10 inches before it keels over on me. This year, I can even see my very first ear of corn starting.

Can't wait till he's ready to pick!

Slow Going...

I love wire wrapping... I live for wire wrapping... my old part-time job involved intensive computer sessions for 4-5 hours a day... suddenly my body said, "No" to all of the repetitive motion and I developed a very large and very painful ganglion cyst. Even 3 weeks off with no jewelry making and no typing did not calm it... nor did it go away when my chiropractor hit it (literally attempting the whacking with a bible theory).

So this week a surgeon removed it. I can hold pliers in my left hand still but have no leverage when playing with wire. I guess my end of the summer will be a full out sprint in jewelry making as I try to make up for so much time off :)

My poor little apple tree

My little apple tree got its first blossoms this year and has tried to produce a total of 39 apples. I got up and saw the little branches almost touching the ground. I've taken off approximatley 1/2 of those apples, but it is still pretty droopy.
I hope some of the branches are large enough to hold an apple or two!

Somedays my husband is just wonderful :)

I just look at him and lament that my veggie garden is too small and he spends the whole weekend digging up grass (well, more like weeds) and almost doubling the size of the veggie plot! I can't wait to get all of the plants in there!

State Farmers Market in Raleigh

The weekend before this past one, my husband and I ran up to the State Farmers' Market in Raleigh. I love visiting during their spring craft fair (which ends up being my yearly visit). Last year, my neighbor and I went for veggies and came home with crafts only.

This year, I went for crafts and came home with plants and honey. It always surprises me how that turns out.
I got a few blueberry bushes (that are covered with blossoms!) and have them in the ground near my new garage (It's still new if it's a year old, right?).

I had to move my apple tree away from the garage and am so excited because this is the first year it will blossom (and I didn't kill it when I moved it.... my normal M.O.).

And this was my prize. The Ann Magnolia. Stands about 6 feet tall and is planted next to the southern magnolia. I can't wait until next year when I get the full force of his bloom in my yard.

Those flowers are ever so pretty!

Are you adding to your gardens this year?

Spring has finally come!!

(Yes, this is a cropped photo so you don't see the dandelions that still need to be pulled out of the garden!)

the kitchen is still trying to beat me...

So, I've previously mentioned that my stove does not work... well, now the dishwasher has decided to die... Oh, well... now I'm really seeing how spoiled I got in the last 3 years by actually having a dishwasher!

It's that time of year!

When little spots of color start popping up here and there. Now winter won't be around much longer and spring is coming! Who cares if they just salted my road again this afternoon :) I got my first flowers of the year at Lowes - and showing a hint of my favorite color :)

Bye Bye Stove!

On the bright side, this week, I no longer have to cook dinner... but that is because my stove has decided to kick the bucket. It definitely could be worse - I'm the last one on my street to lose my stove (We all moved in at about the same time to our little cookie cutter domiciles and all have the same stoves. All of which have died in the last 18 months).The best thing of this whole ordeal - I can now pick out whatever stove I want with whatever nifty gaget I think I can't live without!

Now only to convince my husband that this entire process will take a month to "research" so I can't do any cooking ;)

Valentine's

While sorting out Christmas, I found a box labeled "All Holiday Except Christmas." I'd almost forgotten about this one... I have little bits leftover from high school and college - including some Valentine's Day items. I figured why not - put them out now. Of course that would mean I still decorate the same as when I was in high school, but we won't delve into that.

One of my favorite items this old pin. My mom had lots of buttons leftover from her high school days that made it into my hands.

Not sure I'd ever be able to wear any of them again, but can probably provide good conversation when the neighbors come over to visit (like the shark's mouth where we keep the candy and the batteries charged...)

Get back in the closet!

This past weekend my husband and I finally took the Christmas decorations down. Where I live right now, this is crazieness... we're the only house that still had Christmas up after January 1st.

When I grew up, Christmas decorations were always a big thing. All day, the day after Thanksgiving involved large boxes, tissue, and dust. As every piece of the regular decor got packed away and Christmas emerged. The whole operation took the entire family about a week (seriously - one mover asked my mom in 1996 if she owned a florist shop - was the only reason he could figure he was moving so many wreathes, garlands, sprays...). This decorating never came down before president's day weekend in February.
As an adult, I now wonder if it was less the spirit of Christmas and more the pain of putting it away that kept it up so long.

Am I getting too lazy?

On Monday, I had surgery on my face to remove a bit of cancer. Tuesday, I really didn't feel well, so I decided to try the "Express Line" shopping at my local grocery store. The search feature worked great. I set up my time to pick up my groceries and took at total of 6 minutes - from leaving the highway, parking, ringing the "express button," having someone load my groceries into the car, paying with my credit card, and getting back on the road. The thing I wonder now is how lazy I might be that I consider using this feature in the future on a regular basis?

Ice!

Well, good old North Carolina has been getting some good old ice this winter. When I got up one morning last week, looking over my cup of coffee, I thought how beautiful this tree is. Makes me want to attach kettlebells to the end of each branch so that it hangs like this all of the time :)

When you really should measure first...

There are some things in my life that my dad always mentioned I should do... one of them was measure first. From the amount of scrap wood shoved in the loft of my garage, you'd notice that I've never listened well... and here is good photographic proof: In 2008, I bought the epoxy floor covering for my garage. I have a 2-car garage and the box read something like... covers some number of square feet approximately equal to a 1-car garage...

Buying 2 boxes and planning on painting right away - 2 years later, I've given time for that epoxy manufacturer to no longer be carried in my local home improvement store.

I scrubbed all of the oil spots off of the floors, get the right temperature, dry it out... and begin my epoxying. Oops, I never measured and the home improvement store says there's no way to match my old color.

So I tried something totally different and made my own mini-masterpiece:

Now it looks like I'm just a slightly eccentric homeowner who has a flair for the creative. You should have seen the eyes of the guy at Lowe's - he thought I was nuts when I told him what I was doing :)

The only thing I wonder in retrospection is why I prefer to have people think I am eccentric than that I make mistakes?

My favorite end of summer flowers...

I love my impatiens at the end of summer. When everything else seems so done with blooming, my impatiens are going strong and I can see them from the road.

This year, I couldn't believe the deal I got on them either - they were in little 6-packs for 10 cents at Lowes. My only regret will be when the first frost gets here, they will all be gone.

The Rower...

I have wanted a Concept 2 rowing machine for years. I think between 2003 and 2006, I checked craigslist and ebay daily hoping one would pop up that I could afford. I tried just about every other brand,but could not find one that felt like actual rowing. I fell in love with rowing my first year of college - I'd gotten a letter in the mail saying "Your application indicates that you might be the right size to be a heavy weight rower. Are you interested in rowing, come out to...." and so on. What that letter meant was, well, you are over 5'5" and weigh more than 160 lbs so you might make a good rower.

I ended up rowing all 4 years of college (and got my letter), but was never able to keep with the sport after college. I am finally old enough for a masters rowing program, but do not live close enough to a boathouse to join.

My husband and I found this rowing machine on craigslist! Now I'm planning on getting in shape and being ready to row in D.C. when we should be moving up there in 2013.