No whining here

Sure it looks innocent enough, this box full of wine bottles, but I have several of these boxes. I was at a yard sale when I saw that the homeowner had taken 180 bowling balls and used them to edge his garden and a path throughout his yard. How cool, but it would take me a long time to collect bowling balls. I of course went on line to see if there were some other creative ideas out there and that is when I stumbled upon the wine bottles. There are a lot of cool things you can do and if you have any type of wine bar near you, they are more than happy to hand them over for free, like Hoss did. Thank you my friend.

Just another brick in the wall, I mean garden

So my husband and I made a lot of plans for our backyard before he had to leave town on business. It was my job to manifest bricks, pavers, concrete blocks, rocks, anything in quantity we could play with to create some interest in our backyard. Little did we expect that I would manifest an entire palette of concrete blocks on my way home from dropping him off at the airport. (Thanks to my friend Debbie). It's taking several trips to transport them, but so worth it, I've got this project all figured out!

Seeing pink is better than seeing red

Lord have mercy, be careful about the lawn ornaments you choose for your yard. I have always steered clear of anything pink for most of my life, but as our "tropical cottage" is unfolding, I have tried to be more open. At the time Flamingos sounded perfectly tacky and wonderful when we spotted them at the Dollar Tree. Well wouldn't you know it, I am know being gifted with more flamingos and the latest pair actually light up. My husband is so gonna love it when he sees them. Just one more way to light up my life.

Living life on the edge

So the Garden Guru John, has been with me every step of the way. First I thought he felt sorry for me, but I realized he really digs gardening. Sorry, I just had to do that...John is married to my fabulous friend Linda and god bless her for sharing him with me. I think John enjoys the entertainment factor working with me because I have crazy ideas, I manifest a lot of cool stuff to work with, and I do not have a clue as to what I am doing. We so need each other! Our next project is going to be decorative edging, this is gonna be so good. I can't wait to share!

Sun-fried tomatoes in the hot Florida sun!

Waiting was the hardest part!

It was so excited to have my first raised bed to grow my own veggies. Especially since my friends thought the only thing green I ate was green M&Ms. It is so cool to experience the entire process, I swear I thought I was almost craving vegetables. Once you taste home grown veggies, there is nothing like it, now I know what tomatoes are really supposed to taste like. Looking forward to experimenting more this fall!

I've got it made with the blade

After so many weeks/months of looking out into the brown dusty pasture that was my yard, the rain finally came. And of course with that came more mowing. I love mowing, but my front yard is literally sand, leaves, and weeds. The weeds are very happy right now and are almost giving the appearance of a green lawn. I was so happy to see the green and the growth, I grabbed my trusty mower when the ground was dry and went to town. When I was done, it was very disappointing, it didn't look like I did much at all. In fact I was convinced I had to do it again. It was at that moment I engaged my brain; hey, I can adjust the blade and get a closer cut. Yeah, duh. Okay, so before I got too crazy and cut the front, I decided the jungle in the back yard was a priority. Believe me it was a much more satisfying cut.

What a difference mulch makes

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into planting and I could not believe the transformation. Now, just throw on some mulch and we're done. Not really, you have to decide what kind, what color will look good with your house, etc...who knew? Do I use chemicals to treat/manage the weeds, or should I be environmentally correct and use newspaper. My Gardening Guru John helped walk me through my choices and make some really good decisions. The mulch really helped to make the project complete and added some much needed curb appeal to our home.