Spring is in the Air

and nesting instincts are in full swing!....OK...last blog one of the home improvement projects I shared was the mantel and built in that Bill refinished....so of course that prompted needing to redo the entire space. We got a new painting for over the mantel....which I believe I shared already....and now for pictures of the new furniture.

That is from three different views....I still need a new coffee table....found the one I want at Sam's....Found the perfect lamps at Home Goods .....I'm still on the look out for end tables.

Now for Easter, of course most of my pictures are after pictures....but these cute little "favors" and my cake were both ideas from pinterest.  We also had the typical Ham dinner; the Cervantes gang came over and we got to enjoy a little egg hunt and Easter baskets with the boys....of course I didn't get any good pictures...but Tiffany did, so you will just have to wait for her Blog update for that.

I did manage to get some flowers planted in the front this weekend; only on the left side through...I ran out of flowers and it started raining.  The first year I had these areas to plant....I did multi color...an explosion of color is what I had in mind....then last year I tried all red and that didn't look nearly as good.  By looking at the left side you can see my before.  Usually Bill prepares the dirt for me and all I have to do is waltz in and plant...but for some reason this year I was on my own....I have my suspicions as to why, which I will share when I get to my veggie garden.

Below are my herbs, the biggest plant is an herloom tomato, also there is a big pot with a lone jalepeno....I'm also going to plant some eggplant in that pot.

This (pictured below) is the outdoor kitchen counter Bill finished.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

And last but not least...my veggie garden....my potatoes are doing awesome...but the veggie garden, not so much.  Everything around the perimeter is growing, but everything in the center dies; my suspicion is that when he was preparing the dirt....he got carried away with the round up....of course he denies this, but that is really the only explanation.

Long time no Blog?!?!

Why no Blog?...Well a couple of reasons, I guess...with the first of those being that I was just really discouraged with my garden.  The last time I posted, I was super excited about everything that I planted.  Well, most of it died...my husband thinks it was too early....I think it was MIL's stupid dog.  Another reason I didn't blog for a while was because my nose was buried in books...I read the Hunger Games series....I wanted to get the books read before the movie came out....I could not put the books down....great story.....and now we saw the movie last night...the movie was excellent....but not nearly as excellent as the books...as usual they have to leave things out and and change things to keep it at a reasonable time....but it is always interesting to see how another person visualizes things.
Since then I did a bunch of replanting both indoors and out....and things doing much better than they were earlier in the month, and I'm really excited about the potatoes in the barrel finally sprouting.

potato barrel and garden...you can see some green now

tomato plants

mostly herbs in the pots

another view of the potatoes and garden

Notice the little fence?....I hope this keeps the dog out.  I added dirt to the potatoes, you can see some of the lettuce that's doing pretty good....I planted peas directly in the ground and those are coming up....also have garlic and onion looking pretty good....maybe the broccoli will make it this time as well as beets and carrots....all of which got transplanted today.  I need to keep Bill away from the miracle grow,....I've been showing him articles that explain why over fertilizing is bad....I'm pretty sure that is why we didn't have peaches or very many tomatoes last year....keep your fingers crossed on this one :-)

Now, remember the the built in and mantel that Bill was re-doing...it's done and he did a fabulous job...we also got a new painting for over the fireplace....which made the living room furniture look even more hideous.  Bill was not down with the slip covers...after he thought about it for a bit...so over spring break, one of our adventures was to find a new sofa, love seat and chair....but it's going to be a few more weeks until that is delivered.  But while we are waiting for the furniture...just look at how awesome the built in, mantel and new picture look...here is a before and a now.

Before

Now

Bill has also started re-doing a portion of the outdoor kitchen....the prior owners.didn't do something right and the tile starting coming up....Bill started looking at the inside and the framing wood was all rotten...so here is a picture of the work in progress.

It's not grouted yet....but I know it's going to be fabulous when it's done.

ME....let's see...I need to get busy with some of my creative projects....