New Trees!!

This spring, we were given trees! 5 new little dogwoods from the Viana's and a lilac 'bush' from my parents! After much debate, we decided to extend the tree line along the driveway with the dogwoods, and plant the lilacs out back where we can enjoy them from the dining room windows.

Before

Added Cleveland Pear

New Dogwoods going in

All done! see the black mounds of mulch?

here they are closer up so you can kinda see the little trees

And here's a shot of the complete row!

The lilacs: they were big enough to split into 2 groups!

View of the back of the house with the new lilacs

Additionally, we also put down GrubbEX to help kill off any remaining Japanese Beetles (last year they ate EVERYTHING!).
Next up? The entire lawn gets a nice layer of grass seed and we start prep on the basement project!

Memorial Day!

I didn't hang out our flag this year as it was cold, windy and rainy for most of the weekend! Instead, I put out  our star.
I still go back and forth about putting something on that short, blank wall to the right of the door..... don't get me wrong! I think the black door (last fall project) definitely helps the porch, but I wonder.....

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day!

Land of the Free, because of the Brave!

Memory Box

I saw a cool idea on Pinterest using a shadow box.
So, when one became available (for free!) I took it :-)

using leftover paint from last years Urn project

I gave the frame a few coats - the frame was raw wood so
after a quick damp cloth and a bit of dry time it was ready to go!

Yes, I was in a hurry and didn't put down a drop cloth so we now have
some black rectangles on the driveway. sigh. oh well!

Once the frame was dry - I gave it a full 24hrs -
I put everything back together and started adding cards,
movie tickets and other memorabilia to the box. 

We will continue to add items as we go until it's too full - I'm thinking that will take years! - then I will add the years across the bottom and start a new one! 

21-day PRIMAL food challenge

I am almost finished with my 21-day food journey and I realized that 1) I have been awful abt taking pictures of the dishes and 2) I haven't shared any of the journey with you! So here are some of the good and the not-so-good of the past week or so.

roasted lamb with mushrooms (lamb was barely done! we ate the ends and I re-cooked the center with another recipe)

and creamed kale - interesting.... not sure I would make it again.

macadamia nut fish w/coconut sauce and steamed radishes w/their greens.
Wasn't sure I was going to like this but it was delish!!

spicy tomato soup with mini-meatballs.
Easier than I thought and super yummy!

pumpkin almond flour muffins. they stick to the muffin wrapper...
but they taste like pumpkin pie and are MUCH better for you!!

green little devils - a twist on a deviled egg using an avocado.
Needs a spice adjustment, but tasty!

There has been so much food on this 21-day challenge that Matt and I have eaten leftovers some nights rather than making another new dish. So even though this technically ends Memorial Day weekend - I will still be trying new recipes and will absolutely share our favorites here!

Run-Away Gravel

There are two areas around the house where gravel makes an appearance: under the front stairs/ front porch and under the back deck. While it does serve it's purpose and we won't be changing it out for something else..... it does tend to run away.....down the driveway, shoveled into the front grass during winter snow storms, making it's way slowly into the grass in the back yard. None of this is good, since in the grass can hurt your feet, be un-friendly to the mower and discourage the grass to grow at all. hello, weeds.
So, I had a theory.....

weeds in the gravel and gravel moving into the grass

My theory was fairly simple. The above black garden edging has worked wonderfully in keeping the garden bed and mulch neat and tidy and out of the lawn. So why not use the edging to corral the gravel?

digging to find the edge

Problem. The driveway is not a clean edge. the gravel makes it look like a clean edge. Which means there is no way for the edging to hold the gravel off the blacktop. Sigh. I shoveled the sliding gravel back up under the porch and will live with it as is. Not the worst thing in the world.

But for this edge! oh, baby! worked like a charm! It did take some work to pull the weeds out of the gravel and the edge of the grass but the fun part was pulling out all the chunks of gravel from the grass - it really traveled in 3 years!

I just have this one section left. I'm going to bring the black edging right up to the back of the green raised flower bed. Behind the raised beds is this weird no-man's-land where grass tries to grow, but it doesn't really work out because it doesn't get enough sun and too wet with the rain line from the roof- so it's just this dirt-weed-grass-type mess back there. I'm going to get more gravel and pull out all the green 'stuff' and top it all off with new gravel. That way we don't have to worry about that section at all! I will share pictures once it's done!

Lusitania

Today is the 98th Anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania (1915).
I know. I talk about it every year.
But for my family, it's a thing.
Well, I guess, it's really just my dad and me.

Our exchange on the subject this year went something like this:
My text to Mum - Dad's phone doesn't text (I know!!): Tell Dad I'm thinking about conspiracies today...Anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania.
The reply I got back: Dad says "stay on deck and keep your life jacket handy"
My reply: Aye, Aye! :-)

Yes, we really do point out the anniversaries of the sinking of the largest ships in the world to each other every year. The Titanic and the Lusitania. My dad has a soft spot for the former, myself, the latter. A tragedy to lose both and for two completely different reasons. People romanticize the Titanic, but most don't know much about the Lusitania - unless you are a history buff, a lover of big ships on a conspiracy theorist! The sinking of the Lusitania is shrouded in mystery - even though history books give her only a sentence or two.

ps - yes, I am well aware that I am a dork, a nerd (thanks, Kel!) and a goober.....but more importantly, my father's daughter.

Morrocan Chicken & Cauliflower Rice

I have just started a 21-day food challenge through Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint. For the next 21-days we will be cooking almost all our food (3 times a day, 7 days a week) in an effort to break some bad eating habits as well as build new good ones (less coffee and alcohol, no processed sugar, no grains or legumes). I won't lie, I spent 3 hours in Hannaford's the other day just finding and getting the food for the first week! BUT, so far, Matt's chopping/dicing skills have been SUPER handy, reading the next days recipes the night before isn't a bad thing, trying new foods can be mentally challenging and everything has been good!

it looked so pretty while cooking - also made the house smell delish!

The cauliflower rice is in the pot above.  

And this is the finished meal! The cauliflower rice is underneath the stew.

It's been a bit overwhelming to be cooking a completely new recipe every meal (lunch is leftovers today!) and it takes more time and many, many more dishes - but it's all (my) allergy free and tasty!

I'll be sure to let you know as I go through the 21-days how everything is going. In the meantime, if you're curious about Mark Sisson or the Primal Blueprint (and the theory behind it) please check out his website!
www.marksdailyapple.com

Do-Over!

So last summer, too late into the season, Matt and I planted a tree at the end of our little driveway. The Japanese Beetles killed it in less than 3 months.

This spring, at the right time, Matt and I replaced the tree, with the tree I really had wanted last year: a Cleveland Flowering Pear Tree. It's a fast grower (approx 3 ft a year!), hardy and is very low maintenance as it naturally grows in a pear shape. We re-dug the hole and mixed in miracle-grow tree/shrub dirt to help it get a good start. I'm hoping it grows like a weed!

full grown Cleveland Flowering Pear

 The other news to share is the side yard.... I have cut back into the crazy weeds every year. The above picture with Oliver and his truck, the 'grass line' is right at the clothes line - there are 2 blankets on it. This was year 1.

This was the view from the far side looking back at the house. Reese gives you a bit of perspective on how much scrub was there.

 So the rock in the middle of the picture is right where the clothes line was. The weed whacker and I had quite a time (on several Saturdays) clearing out the side yard. This was about as far as I got year 2.

Last summer, I cleared all the way to the far driveway, circled down the driveway (see below) and really opened up the yard. While this is great to get rid of all the scrub and expand the use-able yard..... it also means that when you are sitting on the couch in the living room, you now have a clear shot all the way across the yard and into our lovely neighbors' yard and living room windows. Not the best. Don't get me wrong! We have wonderful neighbors and feel very lucky! But, some kind of visual edge to the yard wouldn't be a bad thing.

Enter our new 6(!!) Green Giant Arborvitae! They are fast growers (3-4 ft per year!!), super hardy and since we bought them so small (1.5 gal) they were only $15 each! I call that a victory!

Here they are all planted - the wider angle really lets you see how much more yard we have now. We planted them 5 ft apart to allow each tree 2.5 ft to grow width wise before they start to grow into each other to form a hedge. 

This view is taken standing in our yard looking towards our neighbors with our new green giants. I know they look small now, but in a few years they will hopefully create this!

If they do well, we might extend them down the driveway a bit - but that's for another year!