I'm Not Dead, I Promise...

Every summer I swear I am going to somehow stay on top of the blog. And then the kids get out of school and we party and eat snow cones. And I start doing a whole slew of outdoor projects and I am too wiped out to do much once the sun goes down. I’m not good at balancing things.

I thought I would give you an update on all the projects I’ve been working on while I was MIA on the blog.

The front yard got a makeover. I transplanted a lot of the flowers to the backyard and gave away the rest. It created a blank slate in the front. Since all the flowers were perennial, it was the first time we have had empty flowerbeds since we moved in 12 year ago.

I dug up the plants in the secret garden and transplanted them in the front. I did it even thought late spring is the worst time to transplant things. My peonies were about to bloom and my bleeding hearts were already blooming.

I tilled it up and gave it an epic makeover! I can not wait to share it with you!

Peonies are notoriously bad at being transplanted. They do not like change (I get you Peonies, I get you). I prayed for, worried about, and babied those plants and they seem to be doing alright. I cut off most of the flower buds. I figured if I cut off the flowers, all the energy would go to the roots. I should have cut them all off but I didn’t have the heart.

Back in the secret garden, the vines had started to grow on the house so I trimmed them back. those little suction feet that vines have are a beast to get off. Power washing, soaking then scrubbing, and wire brushing didn’t work.

The only thing that worked was sanding with a heavy grit sandpaper. I put my child laborers, I mean kids, to work. It even worked on the brick with out damaging the brick. I was surprised. It didn’t get it 100% clean, but it was way less noticeable. I painted the foundation after.

My sister and niece came into town for a week and while they were here we helped clean out my mom’s barn. She has stored all our “treasures” from growing up and it was time to sort through them to see what we wanted to keep. I found a box of unsent thank you cards from my wedding….Whoops! We also cleaned everything else and filled the giant trailer more than once.

It is a nice barn and if I had the money, I would fix it up to be a space to entertain since she no longer has horses. One day…

I do not have my whole garden in yet. It is all tilled and prepped, but mostly empty. Last year I was in panic mode because I didn’t have my garden planted until the middle of June and it ended up being the best producing garden we have ever had. This spring, especially May, was NUTS weather wise. Rain, rain, rain, hail, rain, and more hail. I have more than one friend who had their garden destroyed from the crazy spring weather this year. So I waited in part because of the weather and in part due to other projects taking precedence. But my perennial plants like my strawberries, raspberries, and artichokes are doing great :)

I’ve done a ton of painting. Mostly for other people. But some projects for me too. I still need to share the bedroom/office makeover. I can’t seem to keep it clean long enough to do a proper photo shoot. Having a space that functions as so many things is hard.