Girl Meets House

Germinating Seeds

I started some seeds inside a week or two ago and they have grown a lot! Some days it seemed like they grew an inch; it was so fun to see a difference in them every day. We transplanted some of them outside today (more on that later).

A few of the seed packets we bought:

Chinese Peas and Cucumbers:

Green Onion, Carrots, and Cauliflower:

Various types of lettuce:

Raised Vegetables Bed...Day Two

7:45 PM Edit This 0 Comments »

Although the day started out with rain...it finally cleared up in the early afternoon. My dad and I made another trip to Home Depot (my 3rd trip there in 2 days) and loaded up on some bark chips for the garden and some other supplies.

We got 2 boxes staked and secured in place and filled up with dirt & soil.

We planted some veggies in one of the boxes: tomatoes, basil, parsley, cilantro, onion chives, and red & yellow bell peppers.

We set the 3rd box in place, but haven't secured & filled it yet.

We filled the areas between the boxes with bark chips...to help with drainage, help prevent the weeds from growing, and to just make it easier to walk on. We also put some stepping stones in between the boxes to make it easy to access the plants.

I'm germinating some veggie and flower seeds inside right now before moving them outdoors...

Raised Vegetable Beds...Day One

8:56 PM Edit This 1 Comment »

My goal for today was to mow the back lawn and get 4 raised vegetable gardens built, and the area prepped to put the raised gardens in. Well, we didn't get it all done - but did make a lot of progress today. I did mow the back lawn (it was in desperate need of mowing!!!), we built all 4 raised beds, and my dad cleared enough area for us to put two of them down (they are not "set" yet, they are just laying there for now).

I've been wanting raised vegetable beds for a bit now; I was inspired by my boss's vegetable beds, and other I had seen. We had a vegetable garden last year, but the raised beds not only help with drainage, but also access to all the plants/vegetables. Well, one of my favorite bloggers happened to post a tutorial of a very basic raised garden bed a couple weeks ago. She posted full details of every little simple step...thank you Pioneer Woman! I used her tutorial as a guide for what I decided to do. My dad and I measured out the area we had planned and decided to do 4 3'x6' beds - 12 inches high.

This morning I made a trip to Home Depot (my home away from home) and bought the supplies needed for the raised beds...My dad and I put them together, and then I waterproofed them (we used a cheaper wood, so wanted to waterproof the boards in order for the to last longer), while my dad worked on clearing out the area for the beds....
What the vegetable garden area looked like this morning:

My dad worked on removing the plants and weeds from the area...and then digging up the area to make sure the dirt is soft and mixed up:

Nice and clean!!! - thanks Dad!

The supplies (thank you, Home Depot, for cutting the wood for me):

We used a tinted waterproofer...it's supposed to look like Redwood (don't mind the drip marks!):

We laid down 2 of the boxes just to get an idea of what they'll look like. The next step will be making sure they are level, putting in stakes to hook them too (to help keep them in place), fill them in...and then plant away!

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so if it does, the next steps will have to wait...The remaining 2 beds waiting to be set in place:

side yard garden...

7:20 PM Edit This 0 Comments »

My parents (because I'm not so good at the gardening) started a flower garden in my side yard months ago (end of Sept). These pictures range from that time up until a couple weeks ago. Many of the plants have begun to bloom and spread over the last couple moths. There are 2 lemon trees which I'm looking forward to be able to use for cooking, etc. Even more has been done since the last picture - my dad installed some lattice along the fence for the jasmine to eventually grown onto. It's very nice to be able to look out the French doors on the side and see greenery :)

The below picture is in here because me and the flagstone used for this side garden had a bad run-in. When we went to buy the flagstone, I was moving some of the pieces we wanted...well my finger got smushed in between 2 pieces... not fun. Luckily the guys at the flagstone place had done the same thing before, so they could at least tell me the shooting pain, then throbbing, then numbness would eventually go away. And they didn't even blink over the tears rolling down my face...instead they just got me some ice. (There are way more nerve endings in the end of a finger than I had ever imagined.) For a while I thought I'd loose the nail and that my finger would never be the same...but after 2 full months of healing, my finger is back to normal....

Ethan Allen...

9:56 PM Edit This 2 Comments »

...totally stole my wallpaper :) A friend told me that she saw my black & white damask wallpaper on an Ethan Allen commercial, and I finally saw the commercial tonight. If you go to the main page of the website you can see the wallpaper in the background - http://www.ethanallen.com/home

Or, if you go to this link - http://www.ethanallen.com/design - and click on "see our new modern living ad" (on the left-hand side), then click the picture on the girl sitting in the tiger-print chair, you can watch the whole commercial.

Who would have thought I'd be a few months ahead of Ethan Allen! Guess my design instincts aren't too shabby :) (see Dad...I knew what I was talking about - the wallpaper is totally in style!)

New Years Visitors....

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New Years morning we had 4 visitors in our yard... 4 raccoons were scampering along the fence on the side of my yard and on top of the shed in my next door neighbor's yard. In the 19 years I've lived in Temecula I've never seen a raccoon (that I can remember), so seeing 4 all at once was fun!

A few of my favorite things....

8:11 PM Edit This 0 Comments »

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Christmas presents this year. I did notice how excited I got over "home" gifts this year (although I still LOVE my boots, Mom & Dad). Here's a few of the "grown up" gifts I got...

Beautiful blue goblets from Jen (my roomie & one of my best friends) - Hard to tell the color in the picture, but they are a gorgeous blue (and apparently I didn't wash them very well).

My first tool kit - from my parents. Now I can give my dad back all his tools that I've had at my house for the last 6 months! I'm excited to finally have my own!

The smallest, cutest, cordless drill I've ever seen (I know tools aren't supposed to be "cute," but this one totally is)! Technically, this wasn't a Christmas gift (my dad gave it to me this week), but was still a recent gift.

Hand-painted ornaments from my boss (thanks, Candace!) - they are the 12 days of Christmas...so each one has a number on it, the line from the song, and a picture of it. This picture doesn't do the colors justice - they are so vibrant and I can't wait to use them next Christmas!

"The first day of Christmas" one...

"Partridge in a pear tree..."

A cookbook from my best friend in Texas (thanks Bek!).

She even wrote out some recipes for me to get the cookbook started. I'm looking forward to trying some of these recipes, and also others that I can add to the book.