Don't be fooled by the rocks that i got

Cats. Squirrels. Two creatures, apparently, who are not so into the fact that i have potted plants.  Or rather, they're a bit TOO interested in the potted plants.  They're just not interested in how i intend these plants to live, which is INSIDE their pots and with the dirt UNDISTURBED.  I have found, both inside and out, my plants dug up and unearthed, dirt on the stairs and dirt covering the carpet.  No more.  For i have found the answer.

Rocks.

Don't be fooled by the rocks that i got, i'm still (i'm still) planting in my pots.  That's right.  Nothing a little j. lo wordplay can't fix.



This may be a no brainer-certainly this is not rocket science-but it IS one of those "why didn't i think of that" moments.  Because, people, this WORKS!  Consistently ALL summer, no more dirt on my front steps.  I seriously stand behind this.  The other idea for keeping squirrels away, that gets pinned a millllllion times, that didn't work for me.  But this works.  Pin THIS a million times.  Because i wish i would have known about this sooner.

This also keeps my cat Lily out of my indoor plants.  Yet another genius idea from the boyfriend, one that i didn't fully grasp right away.  When he said i needed to add rocks to keep her from digging, i assumed he meant the ones from our travels. 

So, i tucked in a few heart shaped ones from Aruba and France, added a little pottery shards from Israel, some shells from Hawaii...and expected it to work.  Not so, my friends.  For outdoor use and for consistency across the top of the pot, you're gonna need the little stones that come in bags from the dollar store or Ikea.

Gives it an added bonus of a finished, decorative look.  And not coming home to dirt on your floors or your stairs is always a good thing.

Go forth and rock on.

Get it???

I refrained from using this one, but i can't get it out of my head now.  "I like the way you work it...no diggity." Remember that song?

J.Lo ain't got nothin' on me.

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Go Big or Go Home garage wall

Usually the thought of how much flowers actually cost every year aggravates me. And so usually i get the cheapies, and then impatiently wait for them to grow in, and get mad at myself for having gone the cheap route.  This year, i told the boyfriend it was Go Big or Go Home for the pots on the wall, and i loooove the instant gratification of these zinnias all colorful and large, like they've been growing there for some time. 

I never liked the wrought iron scrolls that were on either side of the window, (remember when we de-scrolled the railings?) but needed something that took up a lot of space and helped with the whole "i'm staring at a cinder block wall of ugliness" since the boyfriend refuses to paint it and yet we do nothing about stucco except lament the cost.  These herb planters were a clearance find at the end of last summer, take up a lot of visual space, and modernize the wall as only geometrics can.

 And i'm excited about my basil.  Yeah, i got a lot of basil.  I got confused-i couldn't find lettuce, which i wanted for the window box, and i was in a rush.  So i got 2 different kinds of basil. Times two.  I am leaving the top 2 boxes empty because i can't reach to water them, so they're for decorative purposes only.  #shortgirlproblems.

I'm never sure what colors to go with for my annuals-do they all need to be the same color? Does that look too monochromatic or nicely cohesive? Is that boring or pleasing? My neurotic nature of second guessing loved the colorful blooms all in one plant.  Since i knew i was using the big black wall squares, i repainted the terracotta pots from lively spring green to the darkest free sample i could find, which is Valspar's English Tea Party. 

Here's the ol' cape from the font.  Nothing is in bloom yet, so right now it's lush and green.

 Except this.  What is this, and how did it get here?  Is it hydrangea?  Lilac?

It's pretty, but we'll have to move it to a less crowded spot.

We started work on the patio, since we have tons of free brick and figure we should put them to good use.  I don't really want more brick, but i'd rather not have to move the table and chairs to mow the lawn like we've been doing for years.  Plus, i can finally get a pretty outdoor rug.  The only problem is my neighbor's fence.  It's wonky. 

Perhaps this helps you understand.  For us to make the patio straight, it creates a weird triangle that is not ours, but is not being claimed by then.  We have looked at the property lines and have no idea why they made their fence like this. You can see the white stakes, marking the straight line.

You can sorta make out the string line which marks where the patio will go, and you can see how the fence narrows where our trash cans are.  This stressed my perfectionist darling out and he had a tough time figuring out how to make the patio look right for us and work somehow with the fence.

It took him 1.5 hours to dig out that grass on his own, but when i "helped" last night we got the rest of that half done in a half hour.  Which is interesting, as my "help" was handing him different shovels and loading the lighter pieces of sod into the wheelbarrow, but it clearly made a difference.

Mostly, though, i just took pictures.

What are you all planting this year?  Do you do a color scheme?  Did you know you were reading the blog of a neurotic person?  I think you actually might have known that already.

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Inevitable Destruction

Oh heyyyy, remember how I was all like "squirrels are one of the banes of my existence" and "I detest/loathe these vermin..."  Well, here's the inevitable post where they destroy what I try to make pretty, and destroy what I intended to enjoy. 

Full of malice and intent, those beady little eyes are!

Greedy, greedy little bugger.

Ruiner.

 Devourer.

Territory fighter.

Gorgeous gray girls that completely shocked me, having never seen this happen before.  In a year and a half, I have never seen them share the same space.  Only lasted a few moments longer.

Taunter of cats.

Ravager.

Mine.

There was a silver lining to all of this!  While these hideous creatures were feasting on my pumpkins out back, the ones on the front stairs remained intact. Clearly every year will now require decoys.  We have finally won!  Huzzah! 

Happy Thursday!

Victrola-Making it work

This victrola has been living in my dining room without a purpose for over a year. You may remember that we won it at an auction, a completely caught up in the moment purchase of which there was no checking in with one's partner.  It was all See It. Raise Hand. Win It. Now what. 

Maybe we can make it be a jewelry armoire, maybe we can make it additional clothing storage, maybe it could one day make it up to the bedroom....well, i'm tired of waiting for what S is maybe going to do with it.  If it's going to live in this here dining room, it should at least serve a purpose.

Oh hey, tablecloths, placemats and napkins!  Look how you fit inside those little bitty shelves meant for records.

Now if that ain't upcycling, i don't know what is!

Unrelatedly, Alaska was super amazing.  Awesome.  Inspiring of awe.  I feel blessed to have seen all that we did, from wildlife to the mountain.  After going through almost 1100 photos, I have narrowed down the best which I can't wait to show you guys. Soon, my pretties, soon.

Tell me, how's your summer going?  Vacations?  Yard sale/auctions/thrifty finds? 



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Google Reader Griever

Well, I guess I can't procrastinate any longer.  It's time to say goodbye to the easiest way that I read and follow blogs, which was via Google Reader and Google Friend Connect. Why they are fixing something that ain't broken is a puzzle to me-I guess they don't realize how hard we all work and the thrill that we get seeing that follower number rise rise rise.  I feel like it's back to square one.

Many people are making the switch to Bloglovin', and that switch is easy since it imports all the blogs you currently subscribe to.  I don't think anything that is "starred" in reader (which is saved) is imported.  So all those blog tips, pictures, and ideas are down the drain.  One thing I don't like is that all the posts are truncated in Bloglovin, so that means you have to click through to every blog to see the whole post.  I can't see myself doing that, so it probably means I'm going to miss a lot of good stuff.  But of course i'll expect you to click through to mine.  Wink wink. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Pretty pretty please. 

Somehow I have followers on bloglovin' already.  Bless your hearts.  When I figure out what i'm doing, i'll put a follow widget up.  Or, you can tell me how.

Please also consider signing up for emails and Pinterest and Facebook over on the right hand side.

I'll never let go, internet friends.  I'll never let go!

The score, Spring style

Oh, yes, right-i forgot that my entire living room is littered with cat toys of all sorts.

I should have realized that on top of all that, she would see my spring decor as hers as well.

Oh well.

Guess it's time to face the fact that summer's here (as evidenced by the disgustingly humid Florida like weather we seem to be having since June).

Apparently Sunday's ready.

The tally?

Decor 0, Sunday 2.

Say hello to my little friend

You see it, don't you.  The eyesore.  (What do you mean the whole thing's an eyesore).  I'm talking about the cream, textured, faux wood handled, icemakerless fridge.  Skeeve-inducing-can't-get-it clean-no-matter-how-much-i-try-years-of-mold-that-must-be-living-there fridge.

Don't even get me started on that scrolly piece.

Notice how ugly fridge is nestled precisely in to allow drawer usage, but there's nary an inch to spare...

Nary an inch to spare. 

We have been looking for her replacement for a long time now, knowing that we can't just put any old fridge in her place should she "crap out on us".  Unless we want to lose a drawer and cabinet, and i don't know about you, but that ain't happening in my kitchen. 

So we stalked online her replacement, the one, singular, fridge made that met the depth requirements, and knowing that we'd need to special order.  We signed up for a store credit card to get it even cheaper, and finally it was time to order up when the credit card was offering an extra 10% off instead of its usual 5%. 

Say hello to my little friend.  My little brand spankin' new stainless-steel-icemaker-having friend. 

But-there's always a but-the water line running to the icemaker means pretty fridge sticks out further then we thought.  When i open the drawer to the left, the track hits the fridge and it's making marks.  S's solution was to not use the drawer.  Mine is to use it as little as possible.  We compromised by putting those anti scratch pads on the side of the drawer, so that when it rubs, it's not the track rubbing.  We shall see, since those things are meant for the bottoms of chairs, not sides of drawers.

So here's the other half of my never been blogged about kitchen.  Sorry for the light fluctuations, this space is always tricky.

It's a nice size, and everything works, it just is visually displeasing to me. Needs include:  Pot lights. Granite. Back splash.  Lighter paint color.  Walls down.  Matching stainless appliance.   Removal of soffit?  I wanted to update this before we tackled the basement that shall not be named, but i couldn't convince the powers that be.  And that be S. 

The plan is to make a pass through or half wall to the left of the toaster, which would look into the living room (you can see my half moon table lurking in the distance).   The excess wall space behind the chair is either going to become a half wall, too or be removed completely to just shy of where the chair is.  To the left is the pantry and that large wall with the coffee poster shares a wall with the bathroom, which is why the whole thing just can't come down.

Here's the unnecessary space that i'd like to either half wall or get rid of completely.  And there's the pantry.

And what a good pantry it is.  And it should be, b/c it takes up the only hall closet.

A visual of where i'd like the other half wall.

Changes are coming, though.  Changes that don't require much and will tide me over until realistic dream kitchen, not to be confused with dream kitchen.

Who's got dream kitchens, and who's making do with what they've got?

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Father's Day, Shmather's Day

So i've been really good at ignoring any father's day related posts that crop up in my reader-a quick click of the "next" button and it's on to someone's pretty garden or some snazzy stenciling work.   Successfully managed to buy my step dad a father's day card, and i say successful b/c i entered the store with the mentality that i was wearing those horse blinder things.  i was thisclose to actually walking around with my hands cupped around my eyes so i wouldn't come across any errant father related father's day card, but i didn't want to appear crazy.

There was already one of those huge air intake sob out loud breakdown things in Target as i registered a "To dad from your daughter" card in my periphery....i was only trying to go to a clearance end cap, for goodness sake, and was unprepared for such a sight.

But i sit here with tears in my eyes after trying to win a home depot gift card.

For entry into this particular giveaway, you had to say one of the traits your father passed down to you.  Well, crap.  Bring on the tears.  He was amazing at math (didn't pass that down) and had a head for numbers.  Anything could be made into a math problem with my dad, and i lived in fear of being put on the spot to add something quickly. Never has a game of Uno caused a young girl so much anxiety. Now toss out a fancy vocabulary word in every day conversation, that i could do, and that we had in common.  Word games and puzzle books travel on every vacation with me, and i attribute that to him.

For their entries for the gift card, people were writing in all these great DIY traits.  Well my dad didn't have even a pinkie's worth of diy in him.  What truly amazed him was the fact that S and I are doing all these things on our home, and i know he felt that i was provided for, and in good hands, with someone who could literally support us. My dad loved looking at all the improvements we've made, and with every task completed it's a double edged sword for me.  Of course i can't wait to show you all this basement progress that has taken years to complete, but god, how i wish i could see my father's face when the project is done. 

weheartit

It's really hard right now.  I know i'm not the first person in their early 30's to lose their father, but this IS the FIRST father's day without him.  The following weekend is his unveiling (which in Judaism is the revealing of the grave stone), followed two months later with the one year anniversary of his passing.

I'm just trying to get by.

Stop all the clocks

Stop all the clocks by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Monday, after a 6 month battle with pancreatic cancer, i buried my father.  He passed away on Thursday, August 25th, at 4:20pm with my family and i by his side.  To say we are devastated and distraught is not nearly saying enough.  I don't know how we will live without him. 

wop wop

my bubble is burst. 

you know i'm on this quest to debrownify the living brown.  debrownify, to me, means adding white.  just go with it.

i've never been happy with the hand me down/borrowed end tables.  thought of spray painting them (white, of course.) they're yellowish and knotty.  knot for me.

found these from ikea.

they're white. and silver. and modern. check.

S informs me the big one is the size of our ottomans.  Not gonna cut it people, not gonna cut it. 

Boo, hiss.

What's bursting your decor bubble these days?  Let's commiserate.

If there's a smile on my face...

it's only there trying to fool the public. 

A few of you have been asking about my dad...so here's where we are.

I've been feeling sad lately.  The rain hasn't been helping, either.  I went to the store to pick up some birthday cards and father's day cards.  This was the first time i cried in the dollar store.  What sort of father's day card is sufficient to tell my dad how much i love him and that i'm scared?  I'm scared.  What if we don't have any more father's days together?  My co worker's mother just passed away, and i found this perfectly worded, most sincere card for her.  Do you know there were many more sympathy cards to choose from for mothers and only one card for fathers?  Why is that? 

My father was supposed to start his third cycle of chemo.  Each cycle is 3 weeks on, 1 week off.  This was his first "on" since returning from vacation.  He lost 11 pounds since the last time they saw him, 3 weeks ago.  The latest scans show the cancer on the pancreas has not gotten any smaller, and the cancer on the liver have gotten larger.  This is not liver cancer, most liver cancer is not actually liver cancer, but like this it migrates there from somewhere else.  This is pancreatic cancer in the liver.  1 in 8 men have pancreatic cancer, and there are few treatments.  The doctors feel this chemo isn't working since the liver masses have gotten larger, and we will be reconvening with them today.  Hopefully he will get today's dose, for i don't know what it means if he doesn't.  I have a list of questions and hopefully there are other options to explore. 

I am not a praying person, but many of you are.  I am a wisher, a pleader, a hoper, even a beggar.  If you could pray or wish or plead or hope for us today, I'm sure we'd feel your supportive vibes.

those furry little...

Well wtf is up with blogger?  This post was published and had comments, and then all of a sudden it unposts itself?  Please explain to me how this happens, and let's hope the second time's the charm. 

Those vermin otherwise known as squirrels are done.  D.O.N.E.  They have dug up their last bulb, they have unearthed their last plant.  Let's not forget how they destroyed my pumpkins last fall, either.  I have a plan of attack now so i don't return after work to find this upsetting image again. 

Poor, poor little pepper plant.  Luckily, he was able to be saved and now i have the solution.

Oh yes. That's right.  Irish Spring and a cheese grater.  Apparently squirrels hate the smell of the soap, so they'll stay out of your garden.  Precisely what i'm after.

Not sure if the "hydrobeads" will be quite as effective, and seems a shame to waste them on these vermin instead of my sweet darling's face, so i grabbed the regular bar from the shower.  With my weapons drawn, i circled the perimeter of my home, scrambling into the flowerbeds, and grating like a maniac.

So now i have the cleanest smelling garden and perhaps the most sudsiest-for what happens when it rains?

Hopefully i am not poisoning the squirrels-as much as i detest them, i don't want to come home to a lawn littered with dead vermin, either!  Has anyone ever heard of this remedy?  Anyone ever try it?

I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Linking to weekend bloggy reading and outdoor weds