Getting out in it.

I started on a bit of the landscaping needs around the house this week.  It is still cold, rainy (at least today) and windy, but gosh I needed to get out there.  For a couple different reasons, really.  One, it is driving me crazy to see all this dirt and two, my doctor advises more activity.  Nothing like moving a couple wheelbarrow loads of wood chips to be active.  Since its too early to bring in plants and flowers, I am concentrating on woodchips, and feeding azaleas. 

As you may remember, my pile of wood chips is from two summers ago, when we were first starting to plan the remodeling.  I asked the guys who were cutting down the trees if they could leave a little.  They said either they leave the whole load or none.  So, I had them dump the load from that last day.  Which, thankfully, was not ALL the wood chips from the job.  The wood chips have been used for two seasons, the huge pile is now pretty compacted and tough to shovel. Long live the pitchfork!  Why didn’t anyone tell me to use a pitchfork last year? The year before?  I moved woodchips to a couple places yesterday and although my back is paying for it today, the pitchfork was the right tool for the job. I will be out there moving woodchips later this week, if it stops raining.  I may even finish the walking trail.

It has remained cold where I am and the flowers are slow, but I remind myself it is only March.  I cleared some landscape areas I maybe should have left alone for a little while longer but, golly, I am anxious to see some color, some blooms.  I am struggling with furniture for the front door area…can’t decide what to put out there.  Everything I thought would work seems wrong.  I lost out on purchasing a chair a few weeks ago at the Habitat store that I think would have been just right.  But, not wishing to cry over spilled milk, I move on.  Remembering that chair has made all other chairs pale in comparison.  Yes, it’s that bad darn it!

I purchased two, tall, black, made from recycled materials, plastic pots for the porch at Target this week.  I am fond of these guys and can’t wait to load them up with some impatiens and coleus, sweet potato vine… be still my heart.  It means moving some other pots off the porch but goodness knows I have places for those, too. I remain determined in the moon garden and am keeping watch on the light patterns that hit that spot now, since a couple trees have fallen or been taken down.  I have been waiting on previous plantings to sprout so I can make a list of what might be staying and what will be replaced.  Last year I planted two bright, lime green hosta but I don't think they made it through the poor soil and rough winter.  We'll see, but those are two plants I expect to have to replace, among, of course, the white columbine, which I will probably abandon.  Love columbine but it just does not love me. Since I am revamping this area and beefing up the soil I plan on replacing a few plants, and introduce more pots of annuals.     

Coming up on Easter and usually daffodils adorn the table.  I am not sure that will happen this year but I did see the early snowdrops late last week, so I know the daffodils are coming! We will have family here, so much laughter and love will fill the house.  Weather forecasts indicate we will be inside…but, we’ll see.  We are hardy stock and are called to be outside.   

Oh, and just for fun, I came across this article and thought some of you might also enjoy...I hope to visit a couple of these spots soon!  http://www.midwestliving.com/travel/around-the-region/12-standout-midwest-garden-centers/




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More color, more color.

It seems to be a slow start to spring, doesn’t it? I mean it just won’t kick in.  Today is a good example…it is sunny but boy is it cold.  Another 10 or 15 degrees would make all the difference!

Last week, I went out looking for unique items to place in flower beds or pots.  The stores are filling up with all the usual stuff but I want the unusual. Something fun, colorful but not cheap looking.   I have spent hours on sites like Pinterest looking at ideas, saving pins, trying to locate items featured, or something close that catches my eye.  This week I begin rehab of the moon garden, starting with the soil.  I think there is one plant in that area that I can salvage, maybe two.

 

We spent several days away from home again this week to attend some events with grandchildren.  The highlights were a talent show and a six-year old’s birthday party.  I mean, it can’t get much better.  The kids are so funny, so much fun. Now, I think we will be spending several weekends at home as we finish up some projects around the house to get ready for summer, although I am sure I will squeak out a visit to grandkids even if I go alone.

 

Even though it is just now spring, talk of summer creeps into our conversations.  Summer comes fast and the “big” events require some planning! In going out and about I came across a huge display of 4^th of July decorations already, and the Easter grass isn’t even off the shelves yet!  For some reason, this doesn’t’ bother me as much as Christmas decorations shoving out Halloween costumes.  4^th of July is different for me this year, too, with a mantle and two new porches to decorate!

And speaking of mantles, I can’t tell you how much fun I had with Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day and doing just a touch of something different on the mantle.  Nothing huge, just a swap out of a couple of little things but brought me much joy.  I’m setting out a bit of Easter today.  I am sure hubs thinks I am about the silliest. So, yes,  I am starting to think about getting the screen porch finished, the deck railing, busting out 4^th of July decorations and having a yard and house full of friends and family. A girl can dream.

Today, however, I am bundling up a bit, throwing on some work gloves and heading out to work some compost into the moon garden area.  It needs help people.  I largely ignored this area last year while working on the house and I am being punished for it now.  Give me a few weeks, however, and she’ll be back! I have new pots on order, as I think to feel more success here I will have to use planters and pots, with some good potting soil, and a fun piece of garden statuary tucked away for just this spot! I moved an azalea here last year, and trusting she made it through the winter, it will be a nice, new anchor for this spot.  It is pink not white so I have decided to run with it and use a bit of pink, along with the lavender and silver already there, and declare it Lady Esmerelda’s Prime Pastel Garden and Water Respite.  Just kidding.  I just call it the moon garden, but with more color.

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Speed it up just a little, though.

My postings usually contain happy musings, random, rambling, recreational thoughts.  Oh, occasionally I have dabbled in opinion, but, rarely advice.  I’ve talked about personal experiences and how they made me feel, or maybe my reaction to an event, the importance of home and family.

 

I’m struggling here, folks.  I have strong thoughts as I know many of you do, too. Please know I am struggling with pain, hurt, disappointment, confusion, even fear.  However, my blog is about the less controversial, less negative, less confrontational and way, way less political.  I do not want anyone to believe I have buried my head in the sand for I most certainly have not, my focus here is on home, lakes, families, humor.  Come to rest here, to laugh here.  Look out my window with me. Some are staying off facebook these days…I get that.  You don’t have to go to facebook to find me..save my link, cindiswindow.blogspot.com/ and become a follower of the page, check back often (I typically post once a week), relax here with me.  I play nice.

Our son is home for a few days as we prepare for a family wedding, our nephew, his childhood best friend.  I always enjoy having him around.   The girls will be coming in over the weekend and while it’s hectic, and the house will be full and there will be a line for the bathrooms, I am excited for everyone to be here for a couple days.  My daughter-in-law flies in for a quick stop but for a brief time, they will all be here. Our soon to be nine-year-old granddaughter has a part in the Nutcracker performance in Indianapolis this year.  Oh, she is excited to be a toy soldier! She and her daddy will be late arrivals to the wedding as she has rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, followed by a two-and-a-half-hour drive. I remind myself to stay in the moment, that it doesn’t happen nearly often enough, to enjoy every second.

 

So this week I am concentrating on getting a few small things around the house in order.  There are some missing switch or outlet covers, for example.  Some touch up paint, a light fixture to hang.  I don’t guess I will be seeing my cabinet hardware installed or the stone put on the fireplace quite yet.   Yes, that’s right.  The fireplace is not yet done.  I can have a fire and by golly, I am decorating for Halloween this year…cement board and all.

Except for two boards, both front and kitchen porches are done.  I have pots of mums and decorations on the doors, have swept down spiders and cobwebs, and sawdust.  The lights are hung and the result of the soft glow is exactly what I hoped.  I washed windows yesterday, and moved a couple of plants.  My son and I moved ladders and scaffolding, and carried an old piece of furniture up for the garbage (or anyone else) men to take. Slowly but surely, things are finishing up.  

Sometimes I forget what the house looked like before we started and well, that’s okay!  There is still so much to do, small things, and a few bigger things, but, we are nearing the end and who said it was a race. 

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Mums the word.

Last week I wrote of the summer season coming to a close, the lake houses are beginning to shut down, the boats coming out of the water and headed back to a driveway, garage or pole barn.  It’s sad to see the bright colors of summer leave the lake, for sure, but I am an autumn girl, an October birthday.  I love the colors that are just around the corner for us. The way the sun hits the yard…I’m looking forward to a beautiful fall.

Mums.  That’s my big project this month. I think it’s a bit early but I am watching for mums.  Last year, I was drawn to mums at my favorite place to shop in Indianapolis, Sullivan Hardware, and thought “Oh, those are so fancy, so expensive.  I am going to pass.” And, I did, maybe even against my better judgement,  and regretted it the rest of the fall.  I’ll be going to Indianapolis next week and will stop in at Sullivan’s to check out the mums.  Truth is, the mums were only one or two dollars more than others I saw closer to home, but, those mums were different.  More vibrant, more lush.  I may be imagining their specialness,  but, I want mums from Sullivan’s this year.

Some progress made this past week on the exterior of the house…only a few pieces of siding left to hang once an outdoor faucet is moved. There's still a long list but,except for two boards, the porch overhang is complete, the lights are hung, the skirting is almost done and I have shrubs to plant.  It is the most complete this side of the house has been since we moved in and there was no door, and certainly not a porch, on the roadside, just a lot of overgrown shrubs.  I am way excited, and yes, already have fall and Halloween decorations for this new porch – just no mums.  Yet. 

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Getting on with it.

I've written a little about getting lost in Facebook, which I do far too often and succumbed to it this morning for more than a few minutes as I finished my cereal and drank coffee.  I like the leisure of it sometimes, you know? But, I have begun watching that little clock in the corner of my desktop screen so I don’t lose hours.  I have much to do today.

It’s a gorgeous day.  I spent a little time yesterday in the garden department at our local Lowe’s and purchased some half price shrubs, which I will get in the ground today.  I have so many places for shrubs that what I purchased won’t even make a dent, but, I must start somewhere and I have to start financially wise.  I wish I could afford a landscaper to come in and just do it all. I do have a bit more “disposable income” these days to make some landscaping purchases, unlike years ago, when raising kids and every extra penny went to gas up the car to drive them to an event or competition.  Those were great days, I wouldn’t change a thing, but I often wonder how we afforded to be on the go ALL the time, and eat at McDonalds more times than I should admit.

Anyway, back to landscaping.  I am beginning with a near blank slate.  As I’ve mentioned, three of the four sides of the house have been pretty disturbed by the recent renovation.  I have a new front porch, which is not quite finished, but is something I have never had.  So, there’s a story there…

In 2006 or so, husband and I began some major renovation to the house.  We replaced all the old plumbing pipes and fixtures, rewired, changed out all new trim and new oak doors inside the house, moved the laundry upstairs and added a pantry in the kitchen.  We took the space that had been the screen porch and turned it into a master bed and bath.  We opened up the roadside wall, created a foyer and installed a new, beautiful wood front door with side lights.  This construction took about 18 months or so, bringing us in to 2008 and the economy started its downward spiral. We had more plans, big plans. We put the brakes on building, and the beautiful front door opened to nothing.  After a few months we put up a temporary deck “landing” in order to be able to use that door, but, it was never quite a porch, and seldom used.

 

Fast forward through that really sucky period of bad economy (especially true for those in the lumber business, such as hubs.) and we were ready to pick up steam and finish some renovation.  Plans were scrapped, new plans were drawn up and that is where we are today.  I have a great new porch, posts (okay, they aren’t finished yet) and dirt that needs to be filled with great plants and shrubs.  The skirting isn’t around the deck, yet, and the lights need to be hung and electrified…but it’s almost a finished porch.

If you see me out and about I may look disheveled, sweaty and my fingers black and gross, but you’ll know why.  The projects are mounting up and the opportunity to tackle them lessens with each drifting leaf that flutters to the ground.  Fall is approaching and I have much to do. 

So, as I have done in the past, I do have a little product recommendation for you.  I will sometimes include a "plug" if I have tried something and love it - little knives, strainers, spatulas.  Could be anything.  Today, this is it.  

https://www.worx.com/20v-air-cordless-leaf-blower-wg545.html

This is my jam.  For cleaning the spider webs from around the door to blowing the little piles of gathering leaves and dirt from the welcome mat, "sweeping" the front steps and even blowing dirt and mulch off the walking stones in the moon garden, or blowing debris out that place between the windshield and hood of my car.  It's not too big and it is powerful enough to do those things I want done quickly, and soon, so I can manage myself.   I became super interested in this when my contractor buddy was using one to blow dirt and bugs out his work area, sawdust and junk off his tools...it's awesome.  

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