Next in the Garden

I planted this dark purple calla lily about a week ago.  A couple of days ago, I noticed some of the leaves and a bloom had fallen and were dying.  After pulling back the pinestraw, I saw roly polys covering the base of the plant.  I called my mom to see if she had ever had them eat her callas, and she said they ate all of her cabbage this year, but that it is the first time they have ever eaten anything of hers.  I immediately pulled the calla up, combed through the roots for any more rolys and potted it up to give me time to research a solution.  Evidently, in years of population surges, they are known to move from eating decaying organic matter as usual to eating live plant roots.  It is recommended that an insecticide containing diatomaceous earth be used.  I found this bag from Garden Safe at Lowe’s.

While at Home Depot searching for the insecticide unsuccessfully, I passed by a table with some Sweet Potato Vines.  I have been wanting one for the spilling plant in my containers for years now, but never find them.  Even though my patio containers are filled for the year, I bought this one for the planter I just put by the front door.

I also found some spare washers to try on my nice 100′ water hose that has started leaking from one end.  Hopefully, the fix is as easy as replacing the washer (fingers crossed).  Next, I am terrible about fertilizing outdoor plants, but I am feeling motivated.  Mom told me to get a 10-10-10 fertilizer for the canna lilies that I intend to move in the fall.  They haven’t bloomed in a couple of years.

I’ll end with a picture of my newest houseplant.  Bradley’s grandmother sent it home with me the last time we visited.  I have never had a spider plant before, but they are supposed to be one of the easiest to care for.

Kitchen Organizing

Our kitchen only has four shallow drawers.  If I were designing a kitchen, I think I would install more drawer cabinets than cabinets with doors – I think they are extremely useful.  After deciding to clear almost everything from the counters over a year ago, the tiny drawers have been a complete mess of my fun little kitchen gadgets.  I searched around for drawer organizers, deciding that utilizing as much space as possible with individual bins would work better than an all-in-one organizer.  All of the bins I found were only 2″ deep, which might mean gadgets would overflow into neighboring bins.  I finally found the Linus Deep Drawer Organizers at The Container Store.  They are 3-1/8″ deep, just the perfect size for my drawers!

I measured each drawer and all of my gadgets to figure out how many and what size organizers I would need.  I was left with a little space around the edges of course, but that turned into the perfect space for the few utensils I have that are longer than the organizers.

I was so excited to start organizing that I forgot to take a before picture, but here is an old shot of many of my gadgets jumbled together.  I’m sure a few extra items have been added since this picture.

I have also been getting tired of everything teetering on the pantry shelves, so I found some inexpensive baskets at Old Time Pottery that are the same depth as the shelves in our pantry to give everything a little more structure.  I bought all they had but still need a few more to keep the canned foods from tipping off the shelf.

 

1st Birthday Party

Our niece Vera turned one in April and we were finally able to celebrate with her this weekend!  I asked Bradley’s mom if I could help with the decorating and started my search for cute ideas a month ago.  Unfortunately, I only had my iPhone with me to take pictures, so they are less than desirable quality.  Nevertheless, here are a few of the projects I worked on for the party and sources:

Outdoor Decorations (inspiration here)

The letters came from Jo-Anns.  I spray-painted them and attached them to a board so they wouldn’t get knocked over.  I wanted to attach some balloons to it like the inspiration, but my last minute run to the Dollar Tree revealed that they do not sell plain balloons filled with helium as I had thought.  At that point, I didn’t have time to find anywhere else to buy some.

Fingerprint Guestbook (inspiration here)

I decided to play off the outside decoration and cut ‘ONE’ out with my Silhouette.  I drew strings and had four colors of ink pads for guests to make their ‘balloons’ with.  I found a huge bag of toy blocks at Goodwill, so after sorting through them I found a good assortment of colors to spell out Vera’s 1st Birthday.  I snagged the fabric V when I saw it at Anthropologie and sent it home with Vera after the party.

Lollipop Bouquet (inspiration here)

I used the biggest circle punch I had to cut different colored tissue paper, then used a small hole punch to make a hole for the lollipop stick.

Favorite Photos Display (inspiration here)

I found the faux grass at Garden Ridge and the Ball jars at Goodwill.  Bethany sent me her favorite photos and I printed and cut them out and nestled them in the jars.

Pennant Banner

I used coordinating sheets of scrapbook paper to make a pennant banner for the mantle.  I used my Silhouette to get even sized pennants.

Honeycomb Balls and Paper Poms (inspiration here)

I found the honeycomb balls and fans on Amazon and the tissue poms are homemade.  Originally, I was thinking of hanging them around a chandelier like the inspiration, but they ended up in the doorway, clustered in the corners to keep some head room in the center.

Flowers

Our yard has done really well this year and the entire bouquet consists of flowers that are blooming in our yard right now.

As for food, the afternoon was very casual with pizza and soda, but I always have fun making a few treats for parties.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (recipe here) and knock-off Cold Stone Cake Batter Ice Cream (recipe here)

Sausage Balls (recipe here)

Homemade Lemonade (recipe here) and Strawberry Slush Punch (recipe here)

This is the same punch I served at Vera’s baby shower.

I think Vera had a lot of fun with her smash cake and opening gifts.  We gave her a First Book of Sushi board book and a wooden sushi set.


Newest Garden Additions

As I was looking through the garden center at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago, I came across a table full of my very favorite flower – Alstroemeria.  My mom put some in her yard years ago for me (before they were even available at stores), and I have plans to get some sprouts from her as well, but I just couldn’t resist going ahead with one from HD in the meantime.  I chose a purple bloom, because I already have a lot of purple flowers going in the yard (speedwell, lavender, hyacinths, and verbena).

I finally decided to quit putting off filling a large planter I bought years ago for the front stoop.  I have been stalled on what to put there – it gets really hot in the afternoons, so nothing delicate or that needs shade.  Bradley likes the shaped topiary-type shrubs, which are fine, but neither of us would ever commit to it.  After deciding that I want another Emerald arborvitae in the front shrubbery bed, I went ahead and bought one for the planter that I will transplant to it’s permanent home in the fall.  Then I guess I’ll be back to square one as for what to use in the planter.  But we will get to enjoy the life it gives to the drab front stoop.  I found an outdoor rug that perfectly fits the concrete stoop area to soften the look from Home Decorators.

Some plants in bloom now:

Lavender

Gardenias

Magnolias

Daylilies

Gerbera Daisies

Mophead Hydrangea

Here are my blackberries at this point:

Recipes: New Favorites

I thought I would share some new recipes I have tried out over the last year with a lot of success.  These are all on our favorite recipe list now.  Most of these blogs were found through posts on Pinterest – just one more reason I love this site.

Mama’s Skillet Corn (source here)

 

3 cups corn, cut fresh from cob ( I use frozen)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup milk

Combine corn, salt, pepper, sugar, butter and water in a 10-inch skillet.
Cover and simmer 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Combine flour with milk, blending until smooth. Stir into corn.
Cook five more minutes, stirring constantly.

 

 

Ranch Style Chicken (source here)

I imagine that no matter what marinade you use, following this recipe would lead to delicious chicken.  Searing it a couple of pieces at the time in a cast iron skillet before baking it really sealed in the juices.  No dry or rubbery chicken!

 

Restaurant-style Filet Mignon (source here)

 

Mongolian Beef (source here) 

Chicken Corn Chowder (source here)

I love this recipe – the fact that it is so easy is an added bonus.  I always leave out the mushrooms, because I’m not a fan.

Homemade Lemonade (source here)

I decided a couple of weeks ago to give up sodas and flavored drink mixes.  It is not so much for cutting calories out (although that never hurts) as it is an easy way to cut out some of the chemicals that I don’t really want going into my body.  In return, I have been consuming a lot more water, but sometimes I just want some flavor in a drink.  That is what prompted me to find a lemonade recipe – and this one is really good – that uses just water, lemons and sugar (I use organic).  I cut back the amount of sugar to between 1-1/4 and 1-1/2 cups.

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