Ah April

Hello friends, I love this time of year because everything in the yard is looking so great. Little or no weeds, no bugs, lots of rain so everything is green and lots of beautiful color. I took an idea from a local nursery and lined most of my flower boxes with burlap! love the look and it really is quite practicle and a whole lot cheaper than those other liners. Below is my kitchen herb box. I planted from left to right: cilantro, a basil that died because of a surprise frost so is not there now, but will be replaced, a rosemary and a creeping thyme.... Here's a windowbox in front of our great room window. It has cool weather plants right now and will definately be replanted by the end of May as it gets full sun and with the window behind it is very very hot there....but for now, oh my, love the look, don't you?

Here's a close up shot. Stock, riniculas and can't think of the name of the blue flowers on the ends or the chartreuse plant in the front....those will both stay as they are good in hot weather!

Well, it was a cloudy day today and so my shot of the lilac bushes did not turn out well, but you know, they say lilacs won't grow in the Carolinas..but ours did! they are just gorgeous and that is a wonderful little dogwood growing in front!

If you click on the above photo you will be able to see the lilacs a lot better!

Here's my master gardner! Paul is such a wonderful co-worker. He is the muscle in our team! We have owned our home for 23 years and are the only owners so everything in our yard was planted by us (expect for a couple of wonderful "volunteers" planted by God with the help of some little birds) It is so satisfying to live somewhere long enough to see the fruit of your labor and to enjoy it so much. We are content on Arrowhead Way.

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cathy

Catching up part 2: NEW FRIDGE!

Hello friends, Well, I tried to re do these photos, but no luck....so, here, in the wrong order are photos of our new refrigerator! I wanted an ice maker...so here it is! Here's a shot of both doors open! LOVE IT

Here's a photo of one of the features that sold me on the LG...the base pulls out so you can fit a pitcher or the coffee maker's pot on it and fill it right under the tap for the filtered water! It is sooooooo cool! Here's the sweet fridge. We are very happy

Now, we have plans to get a new microwave and paint the kitchen cabinets and then get some new counter tops. All on the agenda.....oh, and sometime we will be getting the washer and dryer, gotta bit more saving to do.

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cathy

Catching up part 1: The Sale

Hello friends, So, this is what my great room looked like the first morning of the big Tea Pot/Tea Cup sale about a month ago. I had gotten very serious about weeding out my tea accoutremont. Many items were very difficult to part with, but I knew I had to be strong and determined! I also decided that my first goal was good homes for all this great stuff, so to that end, I had two options for pricing. #1. buy a grocery bag for $10 and fill it full with items from select tables and #2 Tea Pots were either $10 for large or $4 for small and all bone china tea cups and saucers were $10. That was it.

A view of the bone china tea cups...there were 30! I sold all but 3 hooray!!!

The tea pots, can you believe it???

Day two...still plenty to choose......Day one was huge, lots of traffic and full bags! When it was over, I was left with 2 boxes for Goodwill....that was it! I was thrilled and I think everyone who came felt they had gotten some nice items for good prices. I still have plenty of tea cups in my collection....about 100.

So, we have spent a whole year de-cluttering, intentory-ing, packing up, hauling to storage...then hauling back 10 boxes at a time to once again decide what to keep and what to dispose of to the tune of 18 boxes full for the big sale! I have touched all this stuff way too many times, I must be honest here....I am glad it is gone. We have shed literally a ton!!! My criteria for this process: Keep only what we will use. that is it. Now, remember, simplifing is a process. I know I am not really done, but, I am on the right track and heading in the right direction. Spring is here, summer is not far behind, camping is fast forward, yea!

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cathy