New Spice Rack

One of the items that had been on my list since we moved in was a spice rack. We don't have a ton of kitchen storage (or perhaps I have too much kitchen stuff...really, who's to say which it is), so taking up a cabinet for spices wasn't really an option. I kept thinking about one of those over-the-door spice racks for the panty, but as it turns out, they are not the easiest things to find.

This is how I had been storing our spices for the past...five months. Eeesh.

And the "after." Taaa-daaa!

So technically, it's more "spice rackS," rather than a spice rack, but it does the trick. Like I said - over the door racks were hard to find, as was one large rack that would hold everything.

One Week

Dudes - sweet potato vines are cra-zy! I took this picture one week ago.

(June 27, 2010)

And I took this picture today...

(July 4, 2010)

Free the Toys!

I don't know why this crazy cat does this, but as far as his toys are concerned - if it fits, it goes under either the fridge or the stove. Every couple months, we have to get a flash light and "the hanger," (a hanger we have stretched out and saved for this specific occasion).

He gets pretty excited when he sees us getting ready to free his toys.

(oooh!!! I see it, I see it! gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!)

(the first toy is freed!)

(12 from under the fridge)

(now for the stove!)

(18 toys in total between the fridge and the stove)

Plants!

I missed planting flowers so much last year when we were in the apartment, so I have been trying to make up for it this year. Our house was new construction, so with the exception of some nice shrubs and and a crape myrtle in the front of the house, and several huge pin oaks, we started with nothing.

This is a sweet potato. Haha! Several years ago, in my apartment in Raleigh, while rummaging around the pantry for something that would constitute dinner, I came across a sweet potato I had forgotten about. It had several sprouts coming out of it, all at least six inches long. I was surprised it hadn't started rotting, and for some reason I decided to plant it in a pot on my patio. It grew and grew all summer long. A week ago, or so, I noticed a purple sweet potato I hadn't used has started to sprout tiny vines. I knew exactly what to do with it!

(sweet! hahaha - get it? sweet?)

Christopher's father found some of these plant stands on clearance a couple years ago. He got one for Christopher's mom, sister and me. It works quite nicely for the back porch!

This was a Home Goods FIND! Christopher thinks it's weird, but he is wrong. It is actually awesome. It's by far the cutest planter I have ever seen.

(pretty lantana - one of my faves!)

(meow)

For Earth Day this year, we joined the Arbor Day Foundation. When you join, you get 10 free trees. When the trees come, they are basically twigs with tiny little roots on them. We got the flowering tree collection - two red buds, two white dogwoods, two crabapples, two goldenraintrees and two washington hawthorns. We planted them and have been giving them lots of water, and look how good they have done!

(there are only eight...two didn't make it)

Christopher and I planted this little flower box in a little "dent" in the house.

Money plant, some anemones which haven't bloomed yet, spiderwort, some poppies which are long gone, some purple plants I can't remember the name of, a balloon flower Ouida gave me, and some cosmos which I grew from seeds that a coworker of Christopher's sent home with him!

(I'm waiting for that money plant to completely dry out, and then I need to find a place for the dried stalks in the house.)

Purple butterfly bush. This one isn't as dark as the tag led me to believe, so I think we will get another one to go next to it. I really like the real dark purple!

My parents got us this pretty white dogwood as a house warming present. We planted it, I believe, at Easter. It's doing so well!

We planted a little shade garden between two trees. We did this at least a month ago, but we just got mulch for it this past weekend. The mulch made a huge difference.

There's a bleeding heart, some hosta, helleborus aaaand...another plant I can't remember the name of. I also noticed there are two wild ferns that just started popping up, so I will water and fertilize those as well.

We planted this coneflower this past weekend. We had some "bloom bucks" from LA Reynolds to use (love LA Reynolds!).

Isn't this beautiful??? Okay - so it's not pretty now, but hopefully it will be in the spring. We planted a couple tiger lilies and some buttercups. They were supposed to go in the ground a month ago, so I hope they will be okay... :-/

Christopher's parents got us this hydrangea as a house warming present. It had a beautiful punk bloom on it earlier in the spring.

This was actually our first flower project at the house. I took some lilies from the house in Raleigh, and I had them in an old cookie tin in my parents' garage. My dad called one day and said they were growing, and had actually popped the lid off the tin. Had to find a home for them ASAP. There's also some poppies and anemones in there, and some hyacinth and tulips hiding underground. It's looking a little sad right now, since they were all spring blooms.

Marigolds at the mailbox. Marigolds are one of Christopher's faves.

Some petunias, geraniums and snapdragons at the front door....I need to go take that dead petunia vine out of there...

Visitor

We've been getting a regular visitor to our bird feeder. At first I thought this was really cute (okay...I still do), but then I went to refill the feeder on Sunday. I poured the seed in the top, and it poured right out the bottom. How odd, I thought. It never did that before. And then I saw the problem. That little squirrel broke out the black, plastic guards on the bottom holes that hold in all the seed. Now we need to buy a new bird feeder. Perhaps one without plastic pieces that would prevent a squirrel from helping himself.

(Buster freaks when he sees him)

Another problem with the cute squirrel is that he climbs the screen to get up there...which can't be good for the screen, right?

Mason Jar Lanterns

In the last Pottery Barn catalog, which was so lovingly delivered to my mailbox, I saw these cute little mason jar lanterns. I have a few "rewards checks" I need to use at PB, so I thought these might be a good purchase...they are only $7.50! Good price!

(so pretty!)

But then I started thinking... "I bet I could make these..." So I set out to purchase some mason jars and some wire. Turns out I already had some wire, and I quickly found mason jars at Lowes Food for about $10 for 12. It took a little time to figure it out, but here's the result! (Now I just have to ask Christopher nicely to put hooks in the porch ceiling.)

Buster Curses Target

$1.81 clearance items at Target are the bane of Buster's existence. They keep me in constant amusement. I pay the vet bills. Sorry, Bust-man.

(It's a bow tie and "shirt collar" if you couldn't tell...I know it should have been turned the other way, but we wouldn't have been able to see it. He wasn't exactly "holding his head high.")

Kitty / Puppy Update!

I can't say for sure where these animals went, but Orange Fluff Ball, the first Three Scared Tortoise Shell Kitties, Baby Oscar AND the three pups are all off the adoption site! They were only up there for a couple weeks, if that, so I'm guessing/hoping they either went to good homes or to one of those lovely no-kill rescue groups that pull from the shelter! YAY for more permanent homes!

There are some new cuties up there now - go take a look. They want to go home with you! (Check out Cleopatra. She can't be as mean as she looks. I bet she is a ball of love!)

Kitten Season

I’ve been checking the Forsyth County Animal Control website a bit more frequently now since my friend Jim lost his cat, Buddy. I’ve been hoping I would come across him in the “found” animals. Today when I got on the website, I also looked at the animals that are up for adoption.

FYI – the shelter animals are ALWAYS just a click away through the “Forsyth County Animal Control Adoption Photos” link in the right column on my blog.

These are just a few of the super adorable animals up for adoption at the shelter. I would adopt every single one of them (and then some) if I could. It's "kitten season" now, and there are a TON of kittens that need homes. It makes me so sad to think of what will happen to them if nobody adopts them. Do any of you want a kitten? (Are you sure? I will go to the shelter with you and help you pick one. I will bring it to your house in my car just incase it pees on the way. I will even buy it a bag of cat food and a toy. Just say the word!)

(I'm always partial to the orange kitties. This one looks like he has personality!)

(Another orange cutie. What a fluff ball!)

These next three...possibly four (I can't tell for sure if that fourth one is one of the sisters, but I think she is!) have got the most pitiful looks on their faces. I want to take them ALL.

This one is here to pull on the heart strings of Keith. He loves a black cat, and this one looks like his cat, Oscar, when he was a kitten (Oscar is a sweet cat!). Not enough people adopt black cats. The Wake County SPCA has "black cat sales" every once in a while to get people interested in them. Don't you want to love a black cat?

And we don't want to leave out the puppies just because it's kitten season! These two pups are hound mixes and completely adorable.

(~love~)

(and ~heart~)

If this dog doesn't have character, who does?

Happy Birthday, Christopher!

32 today!

Christopher's family came over yesterday to celebrate both Christopher's birthday and his mom's birthday. They actually share a birthday, so happy birthday to Christopher AND Kathy.

I wanted to make a cake but I wanted to make something a little different. I also wanted to make something better than I made last year. Last year's cake crumbled and ended up being cake in a bowl.

I'm not sure how I came up with this idea, but I made a chocolate cake with a Krispy Kreme donut filling...yes - a chocolate cake with Krispy Kreme donuts in the middle. (Don't judge, Jeanette!) The donuts are a little hard to see because I used so much icing in the middle, but they are in there!