Unusual Weather and My Garden

It has been so hot in Norther Indiana. We really haven't had any fall weather. Well, maybe two days, but that's been it. Dear Hubby and I can't sleep in a warm room so our air hasn't had a break. It's suppose to cool off in the next two days quite significantly. I took some pictures of my garden this weekend. Can you bleive it, I'm still getting roses? I shocked how good things still look. Please enjoy. The rose is sure fitting for autumn.

Thank you for stopping by. I have a question, do any of you know how to add a fancy signature to the end of a post? I've seen them on other blogs and they look so nice. Thanks for the help, if you know.

Show And Tell Friday

Hi, everyone. I hope you had a good week. As you all know my mom visited from NC and it was a surprise. We had a good time, busy, but not too busy. We met with friends, family, had a cookout, shopped, boated and hung out. Now I'm preparing to go back to school on Aug. 13.

I was feeling a little down on Tues. and Wed. so dear hubby sent me flowers. It was a real pick-me-up, thanks Honey. Here they are:

He's also been really supportive of my blogging. He sees how happy it makes me. So here's a picture of some veggies from our garden. (He took the picture so I'd have it for my blog.) All the best everyone, and if you are new to my blog, be sure and check out Show and Tell Friday at Kelli's blog. There are usually more that 40 participants.

Show and Tell Friday

Kelli host Show and Tell Friday, see sidebar for link. She has a blog called There's No Place Like Home. Please visit her. There are many participants each week for show and tell. It is a lot of fun to see what people treasure and why...

I'm showing my tomato plants this week. I am not a trained gardener, but have been very diligent in taking care of my small garden this year. Obviously the tomato plants are very happy where they are. They are almost as tall has dear hubby. We planted grape tomatoes and celebrity tomatoes. The grape tomatoes are starting to ripen in our area, Mid West. When we bought these plant they were three inches tall! We've had a blast watching them grow. Here are pictures.

Aren't these darling, you don't have to wonder where they got their name. PS, they are really good. I love gardening it's so rewarding when things go right. Do you enjoy gardening and why? Have a great weekend all.

Another note: I woke up this AM and looked out my window and all my Morning Glory vines are wilted and broke off; we had a lot of rain in the last day. Does anyone know why this happened? I'm broken hearted, this was the first year for them for me. *sigh*

Thoughtful Thursday

We have been working really hard on our backyard. We'd love to live on a lake, but that's just a dream at this moment. We count our blessings, because we have a beautiful boat on a lake about 40 minutes from our home. We've tried to create a haven in our yard. Before hubby and I were married, tomorrow is our 5th year anniversary, he really wasn't into flowers and landscaping...Now watch out, he caught the bug, big time! I wanted Adirondack chairs. We bought plain ones and I stained them white with MINWAX and then painted the flat surfaces with latex paint. I didn't paint the seats a color because of the wear and tear. Dear hubby is going to reinforce the legs and back a little. They weren't the most expensive. Design on a Dime around here folks. Please share your lawn furniture with me or look through catalogs and use a picture as in inspiration for your own furniture. These were my insiration from Country Door. Love that company.

I used a two inch foam brush for the stain and latex paint. A brush did not work well with the stain and I didn't want drag marksof the sides with the paint colors. Here's a tip: when painting a color up to an edge, paint out and over the edge. Don't drag the brush over the edge onto the surface or you will create a drip as if you were wiping your brush on a can or edge. Does that make sense?

Please tell me what your think and I hope you had a blessed 4ht of July.

Oh, I need all of this!

I joined Creative Home Arts and they featured a product called Word Stamp Kit. Well, I want it for collage work... And then I went to the site and want tons of things. Yikes. Look at the cute kits for your garden:

Or here's the kit I want for stamping for collage:
Check out the site, it's loads of fun and I'm sure you'll find something creative for your home. Here's the link:

Magnetic Poetry

A Bit of My Yard

We moved into this 1965 ranch, I prefer to call it a cottage, three years ago. We have removed and re-landscaped everything. This is the view from my front door, that needs to be painted again... *sigh* We laid the block in a kidney shape and planted the grass, hosta, and ground cover. It's difficult to see the larger rocks but they are there. I try to landscape in triangle formations. One, it's pleasing to the eye and it works because it an odd number. Three is my go-to-amount when I'm working in the garden. I try to put everything in groups of three in some loosely shaped triangle. It's something I've picked up from HGTV over the years. So I just do it, and it seems to work for me. HGTV is a wonderful network and information site. Love it.

We need to level the block and add another row; that will be a fall project. We'll wait until the block goes on close out. The ground cover is new this season. I water it often, everyother day. We are having a very dry summer. How about you?

Class Tomorrow...My Pretty Kitty

I have a two day manditory class for my teaching starting tomorrow. Yuck. Not that the content won't be positive, but I had this text in a college course on Reading at the Secondary Level. Oh well, it never hurts to review. I won't be doing much blogging becaue when I get home, I'm setting up for a dreaded garage sale. They're fun to go to, but not fun to hold. It will be great to get both things behind me.
Here's my dear Kitty, Abby. She's a Scottish Fold Breed. She been with me for 13 years and I love her so much. Isn't she sweet under the bush? She's an indoor kitty who forgot to stay inside. We have three dogs and thus we have a doggy door for our sanity. Well since discovering the doggy door, she can't resist going outside. I let her because it makes her happy, and she stays very near the home.

Happy Memorial Day

Here's a few photo's that my hubby and I have taken this weekend. May we all remember our Armed Service men and women and our loved one's on this day. This was taken in our back yard on Sunday. We feel very fortunate, we live in the city, but our home backs up to a small row of trees, so we have a lot of wildlife.

PS, I can't believe it but my name was drawn

for two Cottage Give Aways. Thanks a million.

Our Weather Men, Yikes!

Well, it was suppose to be 70 and overcast yesterday and it was cool and drizzly. We still bought tons of flowers. Then we had high hopes for today, garden and boating. Today was suppose to be ..... 78 and sunny. Yes, it was sunny, but windy, cool and just not very pleasant to be out and about. And I do mean windy. In the last two days, we've purchased 4 flats of flowers, impatients, salvia in red and purple and a mix of other annuals. Also 4 tomato plants, and pepper plants. A rose bush, and 16 perennial plants. (Zone 5 hardy.) Last but not least, my husband wanted a grape vine. How cute is that? We have the beds prepped and ready to go. Most of the perennials are in. Yeah, despite the weater. Ugh, I can't find our pic.

Our Solution to Tree Stumps

Our backyard has many old pine trees. They were very ugly and dirty looking. We cut two of them down last summer and plan to cut one more down this summer. It is so expensive to have the stumps ground out so here's our solution. We added carvings to them. The stump with the bear sitting on it also holds a hammock and the other one fits in perfect with the garden with the mushroom. What do you all think?

Red Star

I finally found a metal star that I wanted for the front of your house. It's so difficult to make much curb appeal with a flat front, but I found a red star. I think it looks perfect between the two windows. We have a red door so it brings that color out more. We are going to add widow boxes too. I hope we build them this weekend. It's time to plant flowers. Take my word for it, it's red.

In The Mood to Garden

It's going to be 70 degrees today, after a very gloomy week. In northern IN we don't think about planting annuals until May. I usually plant as soon as I can, but others wait until Mother's Day weekend. The forecast looks great so I'm making my plans. I going to get ground cover today and plant some Rose bushes. I was reading the new Collage Living and saw the cutest idea. Inexpensive and yet so effective. I've never planted Zenia's, but will this year. The bowls may be purchased at Hobby Lobby. Next week is their 40% coupon on line, Hobby Lobby here I come.

Our Jimmy Buffet Backyard

My husband and I got married five years ago this July. Our wedding was not either of our first, so we wanted to have fun. We had a Cheeseburger In Paradise themed wedding.


We have been working on a small ranch for three years. We love to be outside in the summer and boat on a lake in Michigan. We've tried to turn our yard into our own little world. This year we are adding garden beds and decorating the deck. Roger had the idea of putting a match stick blind on the garage vertically for a chair rail. It turned out great and we trimmed in with bamboo that we split. We got the bamboo from Hobby Lobby and the blind from Menards. All our decorations have been picked up at various craft fairs in the area over the last few years. We are really pleased with how it is turning out. We want to add flowers, and accent lighting. Oh, he also added speakers for music. Such a man thing.

Broken Back

My hubby and I decided to add to our flower garden. He had to till it up and we had to treat the soil and lay edging. I am not in shape for that kind of work. Yikes we spent almost $170.00 and there are no flowers. I took pictures and will post them later. I makes me sad how much everything costs... I can't get things done as quickly as I would like.
It's suppose to be spring like all week. Next week I have spring break the weather will most likely take a dump. It usually does. Oh well, I'm painting my bedroom next week and that will be fun good weather no not.