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Garden Dueling DIY Week 1

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Fire in the field

In this Dueling DIY garden challenge, I am on fire. Literally.

These were my jeans at the end of Saturday.

Burned cuffs on my jeans

And this was the back of my neck at the end of the weekend. Ow-ee.

Sunburned neck

If you’re new to this Dueling DIY series, Sarah in Illinois and I are undertaking some friendly competition to help us get our gardens in shape this spring. You can check out all of the previous posts here.

Now, if you look again at that top picture and squint through the smoke, you might notice that the fire is some ways away from the garden itself–that big round thing with the fence around it.

Fire in the field

Blame it on my pyromaniac tendencies. Blame it on the other outdoor task on my 2016 Home Goals list–general property cleanup. Blame it on the first nice weather of the year. I got a little bit distracted over the weekend.

I cleared a stack of about a dozen incredibly heavy metal siding panels that had been hiding in the weeds on the south side of the garden.

Sheets of metal siding

Wiley and me moving the siding

Then I cleared the weeds themselves–using my preferred method of fire.

Burning weeds in the south field

Burning weeds in the south field

I cleared a very large pile of lumber at the edge of our centre field–and lit some of the really punky stuff on fire. (I might have a problem).

Lumber pile at the edge of the field

Field after clearing the lumber pile

I cleared a stack of old fence posts beside the driveshed.

Pile of old wood fenceposts

I’ve moved these fence posts once before, picking them up from where they were scattered around the property and tucking them behind the driveshed. I had to remind myself a couple of times that I had moved them before, and I could move them again.

Moving the fenceposts

These things were heavy. The very last one was the girth and almost the length of a telephone pole–not even close to a fence post. Example 8,694 of why I don’t need a gym membership.

Moving the fenceposts

But I digress. All of these clearing tasks do actually have something to do with the vegetable garden.

The fence posts are going to become the “curbs” around the outside of the garden and the raised beds.

Some of the lumber from the field is going to be trellises for the tomatoes and stakes to hold the curbs in place.

The metal T-posts that were mixed in with the lumber pile are going to be the trellises for the raspberries.

So my big accomplishment in this Dueling DIY is that I have amassed all of my materials. A whole lot of materials.

Materials for the garden update

My other accomplishments are on the non-heavy lifting side: I ordered seed potatoes and grape vines, and we’ve started some watermelon, tomato and pepper seeds inside.

Here’s my original to-do list that I shared last week. I can cross just one thing off.

  • Hang the gate
  • Edge the garden
  • Build raised beds around the perimeter
  • Build trellises for the raspberries, tomatoes and squashes
  • Start a few seeds indoors
  • Till in the ash, straw and manure currently spread over the garden

But here’s how I’d calculate my scorecard so far:

  • I cleared the weeds from a space roughly equal to the size of the garden. Maybe this means fewer weeds to go to seed and infiltrate the garden itself.
  • I am prepped–and stocked–in the garden materials department.
  • I moved a telephone pole all by myself–in fact the equivalent of several telephone poles if you put all of those fence posts together.
  • And I lit myself on fire.

Beat that Sarah.

Thanks to everyone who shared their garden/spring to-do lists last week. Please share your progress. How is your spring project coming? Are there any pyromaniacs out there? Who else gets distracted from the primary project? What are you working on in your garden?

Spring Garden Dueling DIY – The Challenger

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This week I kicked off a Dueling DIY Challenge to help get the vegetable garden ready for planting. Sarah in Illinois is my opponent in this challenge, and she’s here today to share her to-do list. Another Sarah, she of Ugly Duckling House and one of the original Dueling DIYers, issued another challenge yesterday–she admonished Sarah and me to “throw down.” I’m not usually one for smack talk, but I’ve seen Sarah’s to-do list, and I think I’ve got this.

There’s nothing I love more than a little friendly competition, whether it is during bowling league, golfing, or predicting the outcome of professional football games. So when Julia suggested a competition that would also help me get my garden and yard in better shape, I was all for it.

Last weekend I looked around the yard and garden and made a list of things that I really want to get done.

Our temperatures have been unseasonably cool so far so I still have not made any type of raised bed or containment for my asparagus and strawberries. Remember I stuck them in a pot temporarily? Well, they are not going to last there much longer.

Asparagus and strawberry plants

If you look closely, the strawberries are already blooming. And I really don’t know what to say about that asparagus other than it needs planted badly!

I have a small flower bed on the north side of our house that needs some attention. It needs mulch and the division between it and the yard either needs neatened up or maybe a more permanent border.

I shared this picture of my mums back in October and said that I wanted to divide them and spread them around our deck. Now that they are starting to come up, it is time to do just that.

Deck with mums

For my final and most ambitious project, I want to make a designated gardening area. I have pinned a few gardening benches on Pinterest.

While cleaning out one of our barns this weekend I found what will make a perfect bench top and that gave me the kick to get started on a work area.

So here is my summary:

  • Make some kind of designated area (possibly raised bed) for annual vegetables such as asparagus and strawberries.
  • Make a designated area (or raised bed) for a new cutting garden.
  • Neaten, and define north flower bed and add mulch.
  • Divide mums and spread around deck
  • Make a designated gardening area complete with workbench.

I am inspired Julia, let’s go!

Let’s go indeed. Bring it on, Sarah.

The woman can’t even control her asparagus. Yup, I’ve got this.

Vegetable garden dueling DIY challenge

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I’ve been eagerly waiting to get back into the vegetable garden, but Mother Nature has not cooperated so far this spring. In fact, we had snow three times in the last week, negative temperatures and windchills.

But I’ve decided it’s time. No matter what Mother Nature thinks, gardening is going to happen.

Now I’m in Canada, so it’s not going to happen for a little while. The traditional start date for the Canadian gardening season is Victoria Day–also known as May 24 (or the 23rd this year because we’re all about the holiday Monday).

That’s six weeks away, which I think is perfect. There’s lots of work to keep me busy until frost has passed.

Garden at the beginning of April

It turns out, I’m not the only one with a gardening to-do list. Sarah in Illinois has one too. Inspired by DIY Diva and Ugly Duckling House, we’re kicking off a Dueling DIY challenge. Today, I’ll share my spring garden to-do list. On Wednesday, Sarah will share hers. Every week from now until Victoria Day, we’ll post progress reports and help keep each other on track.

We hope that you’ll join in too. Share your to-do list in the comments today, and come back each week to share your updates.

Raspberry canes sprouting

Here’s what I want to accomplish in the next six weeks:

  • Hang the gate
  • Edge the garden
  • Build raised beds around the perimeter
  • Build trellises for the raspberries, tomatoes and squashes
  • Start a few seeds indoors
  • Till in the ash, straw and manure currently spread over the garden

And a couple of maybes:

  • Weather permitting, plant grapes and potatoes
  • Run a waterline out to the garden (this one’s Matt’s… I’m not sure he’ll be as enthusiastic about Dueling DIY as Sarah is)

I think it’s do-able. I just need a little co-operation, Mother Nature.

Are you looking forward to gardening season? Or do you have another spring project? What’s your to-do list?

Harvest basket

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Sarah in Illinois is still looking ahead to garden season. In fact, she’s looking far ahead to harvest time. She’s made a super cute harvest basket. I’ve admired these on other blogs, and I love the special twist Sarah added to hers (read on to find out what it is).

I have several projects pinned on Pinterest that I have wanted to work on, but making a harvest basket has been at the top of my list for a while. I have a few images pinned.

I did not click on any of the pins to know what kind of instructions they give. I just used the images as a guideline to make my own.

Wooden vegetable harvest basket with a twig handle

I started with cutting two boards for the sides and two boards for the uprights that would hold the handle. I took no measurements. I just “eyeballed” what I thought would be a good width and what I thought would be a good height. I am sure there are much more precise directions on Pinterest.

How to make a wooden vegetable harvest basket

I wanted the bottom to be rounded so that it was easier to attach the hardware cloth. So I used whatever I could find (which happened to be a can of spray paint) and drew my rounded corners.

How to make a wooden vegetable harvest basket

I wanted the sides to match so I clamped both boards together and cut the rounded corners with a jigsaw.

How to make a wooden vegetable harvest basket

I also needed to notch out the corners for the side rails. I did this the same way as the rounded corners, by clamping the two together and using the jigsaw.

How to make a wooden vegetable harvest basket

It was at this point that I attached everything together. The frame work was fairly flimsy, so I used both wood glue and screws.

How to make a wooden vegetable harvest basket

I could have used just a dowel rod for the handle, but in my barn are several branches. Someone took the time to find very straight ones and remove all of the limbs. And those branches have been out there since way before we moved here. So I thought they would make a nice handle.

I used a paddle bit to cut a hole in the top part of each upright. Since the limb was not a perfect fit, I used a nail to secure the limbs in the holes.

How to make a wooden vegetable harvest basket

Then I spread a quick coat of stain over the whole thing.

Wooden vegetable harvest basket with a twig handle

The final step was to attach the hardware cloth. It is very sharp so I was sure to wear gloves and used metal snips to cut a piece to size. Then I stapled it to the frame.

How to make a wooden vegetable harvest basket

Wooden vegetable harvest basket with a twig handle

This was not a difficult project. It took me about two hours and now that I have done it once, I think that I could do the next one even faster.

And I am thinking I know of a few people with gardens that might like one as a gift!

I hope that we put this one to good use this year. I can’t wait to take it out to our garden and fill it with fresh vegetables for supper.

Isn’t that a great basket? I love the twig handle so much. Clamping the wood together and cutting it as one is such a smart way to get precisely identical pieces. Oh, and I think I know at least one person with a garden who would absolutely like a harvest basket like this! 😉

Starting from seed

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Sarah may be in Illinois, but her mind is in the same place mine is–the vegetable garden. However, Sarah’s doing something that I’ve never tried before–starting her own plants from seed. She’s sharing the lessons she’s learned and the progress she’s made so far.

Every year Steve and his parents have grown a very large garden. And when I came along six years ago, I jumped right in to help and have become more and more interested every year.

I had always planted a few tomato and pepper plants before, but until I started helping at Steve’s I had never seen broccoli, or cabbage or brussel sprouts growing in a garden.

For several seasons I have tried to start plants from seed. And that usually starts off great and then fails miserably.

Steve likes to say that I have a “brown thumb” but that isn’t really true.

I just am terrible at hardening off the starts. I am impatient, and I am forgetful! So I push plants to be ready when they are not, and I forget to water them or forget to bring them in during the hardening phase.

This year I am going to use my “word for the year” that I mentioned around New Year’s and I am going to FOCUS on the hardening off process.

Starting plants from seed

This weekend I started my first seeds. I looked up online when the last predicted frost for my area will be and it said April 18. So I thought this was the perfect time to start some kale and lettuce.

Now I am going to make note here for the future that Steve says his farming sources predict a late frost for us and that we could get a frost up until May 5. That is a huge difference and I am really curious which source will be more accurate.

Over the next week or two, I plan to also start tomatoes and pepper plants from seed.

I found some plants on sale and used a black marker to label them. I was sure to not only write the variety of the plant but on the back I also wrote the brand of the seed. That way I can make notes of which seeds worked best and then I will have reference of where to buy my seeds in the future.

My mom and I had placed a small order for seeds and plants and those arrived last week. So besides the kale and lettuce seeds, I also had to do something with the strawberry and asparagus starts that I had ordered. Since I do not have my raised beds ready yet, I just stuck them in a bucket and pot temporarily. But now making those raised beds needs to be a priority.

Strawberry and asparagus starts in a bucket

While I was digging through my gardening supplies I found a grocery bag with daffodil bulbs from last fall. So when I say I am forgetful, I am not exaggerating.

Daffodil bulbs

I stuck them in the ground since they were still alive, and I reminded myself that “FOCUS” has to remain my theme!

Next post I will update with the progress of my seeds.

Do you have a green thumb or a brown thumb? Do you have any helpful hints for the hardening off process? Do you have trouble staying focused?

Good luck, Sarah. Funnily enough, plants are one area where I get impatient or forgetful too. I hope you find your focus this year. I’m looking forward to following your progress–and seeing who’s right about the last frost.

Spring cleaning

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Sarah in Illinois is here to start off the week. Sarah’s looking ahead to spring–and beyond–and has a great tool to share with us.

I am the type of person that likes to be organized, have a plan, make lists, etc. It makes me feel more focused on the job at hand, and I am more comfortable when I feel I have direction. One thing I did to feel more organized this year was to sign up for a daily email from Spring Cleaning 365. Each day I get an email with one small job to focus on for the day.

Obviously I don’t need anyone to tell me that I need to clean my toilet, or put a load of laundry in, but these emails remind me of some tasks that get overlooked.

When was the last time you took out the bottom drawers of your refrigerator and cleaned underneath? Or the last time you disinfected your TV remote? If you’re anything like me, it has probably been a while!

So I like the emails because they remind me of the areas that I usually overlook. The goal from the website is to do one small task a day and then you won’t spend much time on it, but I find it is usually works out that I do one or two a week and use the weekends to catch up.

Tupperware

This weekend one of the projects I tackled was to sort my plastic storage containers. Between using them for leftovers and taking my lunch to work every day, we have a lot of containers. But over time many have lost their mates. So I took all pieces out of my cabinets and drawers and made matches.

Tupperware

Why did we have so many lids and so few bottoms!?

I couldn’t believe how many tops and bottoms had lost their mates. We had all of these extras left over. I am going to take the extras to my mom to see if she can make any matches with hers and then all the rest are going to be recycled. And now my cabinets and drawers close much easier.

I did do a little work on our home improvement projects this week. Steve installed baseboard and door trim in our hallway last week and I finally took an evening and primed them. Next, I need to prime and paint the walls and put a coat of paint on the trim.

Hallway before

Before

Hallway after

After

The hallway will lead to the addition on the house. So the drywall you see at the end of the hall is where we will extend the hallway to two new bedrooms.

I have drawn out the floorplan and started my list of materials, so I can prepare an estimate for us and for the bank. As I think I have mentioned before, we are doing all of the work ourselves, so we will be our own estimators, designers, builders and coordinators. I am nervous and excited all at once.

What have you been working on in your home? Have you started any spring cleaning? Have you ever tackled a large home improvement project on your own? Does anyone have any advice for us on being our own project manager?

Spring Cleaning 365 sounds really neat, Sarah. Thanks for sharing it. Funnily enough, Matt and I did a tupperware cleanout ourselves last weekend. Although I cannot remember when I last cleaned under the fridge drawers, and I don’t think I’ve ever disinfected the remote.

A Mexican vacation

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Lest you’re confused by the title of today’s post, no, Matt and I have not left the farm for southern climes. Sarah in Illinois did, and she’s come back to make us all jealous share her honeymoon adventures with us.

US Passport

I know of no better way to break up the cold days of winter than to head south. And that is just what Steve and I did. We combined a vacation, our honeymoon, my birthday and Valentine’s Day into a six-day stay in Cancun Mexico.

We stayed at the all-inclusive Moon Palace Golf Resort and Spa. I cannot say enough about our stay. The staff was amazing, we visited with other guests from London, Canada, Norway, and a few from the States, the food was great with more choices than we could try while we were there. And of course, the drinks never stopped.

The only thing that I would change was that we had two days of cool weather and overcast skies, but of course, there is nothing that can be done about that. And as they say, a bad day at the beach is better than a good day at work, right?

The view from our room

The view from our room

Our room was ocean front and included a jacuzzi. Believe me when I say, I am not used to that kind of luxury. We spent each day almost the same way. We woke up and went to buffet breakfast where we tried some new things but preferred the made to order omelets. We found some empty lounge chairs on the beach and our biggest worry was how long until the waitress came back with our drinks and what should we have for lunch.

Birthday breakfast: made to order omelet and a Bloody Mary!

Birthday breakfast: made to order omelet and a Bloody Mary!

The area had several sites that we could visit. And we discussed going to see Cozumel or Playa del Carmen. But Steve and I have had a lot of stress the past two months, and we both decided that all we wanted to do was soak up the sun (when it came out) and listen to the waves crash. It truly was relaxing.

On Saturday, my birthday, the sun was again hiding and so we went to the “Hotel Zone” where there were plenty of shops. We bought souvenirs for family, and Steve bought me a new purse. We stopped for cervesa (beer in Spanish, the word that Steve learned first at Hooter’s) and then headed back to our hotel.

Cervesa

We told the hotel that we were on our honeymoon, and they gave us a complimentary dinner on the beach. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were so extremely surprised. Dinner was salad, onion soup (that was amazing) and then filet mignon. We had wine and champagne. Yes, the hotel outdid themselves.

Honeymoon dinner on the beach

On our last full day the sun was in and out of the clouds all day. We spent some more time on our chairs but decided to go do something.

The hotel had small two-person catamarans that we took out on the ocean. Neither of us had ever attempted to sail anything before so there was a bit of learning curve, and we didn’t always agree on how to do it, but after a while we did really get the hang of it.

The next thing we tried was stand up paddle boards. Oh my goodness that was hilarious. I think we had both had too many cervesas to attempt anything with balance. But we were in shallow water with life jackets on so the only thing we hurt was our ribs from laughing.

Later in the afternoon we rented a sea-doo and followed the guide out in the ocean. We went a long, long way out into the ocean, where we could barely see our hotel back at the beach and the guide had us get off on a shallow sandbar. It was so cool to be so far out in the ocean just standing in shallow water.

Our final dinner at the resort was at a Brazilian restaurant. We both really stepped out of our comfort zone to try it. The waiter came around to our table repeatedly and offered Canadian bacon, turkey, flank steak, chicken, Brazilian steak and I am not sure what else.

I will admit, it wasn’t our favorite meal, but we were happy that we tried something new. And we ended the dinner with Key Lime pie for me, cheesecake for Steve and Mayan coffee, which came with a little show of fire, and alcohol. It was so much fun. I am sorry that I didn’t take more pictures, but I am glad I enjoyed it first-hand rather than worrying whether I caught the right shot.

Steve and I both swear we are not going to take four years until we go on our next vacation. It was long overdue, and completely relaxing. I only hate that we came home to blowing snow.

What a quick way to end the glow of a beach vacation!
Birds on the beach

Where do you like to take your vacation? Any beach lovers out there? Anyone been to Cancun? Have any suggestions for our next trip?

Sounds wonderful, Sarah! Your Valentine’s Day was a definite contrast to our -20ºC temperatures. It’s been a few years since I’ve visited a beach in the middle of winter, and you’re bringing back some good memories. For your second honeymoon, I suggest Costa Rica (our choice for our honeymoon). Heat, sun, beach, ocean and some jungle adventure tours. It was a lot of fun.

Planning a cutting garden

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Sarah in Illinois is back today, sharing how she’s coping with her winter cabin fever. Hint: warmer times plus pretty flowers figure in her plans.

One of my goals for 2016 is creating a cutting garden. Having a vase of flowers on my counter always makes me smile. Steve usually buys me flowers for special occasions and my mom gives me flowers sometimes, but the idea of walking out to the yard and creating my own bouquet just sounds perfect.

I’ve had the idea of a cutting garden for a while. We have a small ditch that is hard to keep mowed, and I considered planting wild flowers there. That is something we still might do, but I have decided to create a designated cutting garden in another spot. We have started receiving seed catalogs in the mail and email and planning a garden has been keeping my cabin fever away.

I have made up my mind to do a raised bed for my cutting garden. I will probably follow the plans that Kit shared with us over at DIYdiva. She was able to make some great looking beds that did not break the bank. And while I am making them, I will add one for asparagus and one for strawberries.

But I am going to have to talk to Steve and decide where we want to put all of these beds and plan them so that they are easiest to mow and weed around. So those ideas are still rolling around in my head.

I need to make a list of flowers that I want to include. This Old House website gave a list of fast-growing cutting flowers, and I thought that would be a great place to start.

It mentions that Black-Eyed Susans are good for deer deterrent, which I didn’t know. I occasionally see deer tracks in my yard and near the garden so it won’t hurt to plant Black-Eyed Susan. Plus they are so bright and cheerful! I know I want to plant cosmos and poppies, and I am sure I will be picking flowers by what catches my eye at the time.

I am surprised at how much planning there will be in this garden. Should I plant in rows like a traditional garden or in a more free-form design? I want to plant close together to keep weeds down and use as little chemical weed treatment as possible. I want to have a mix of colors, a mix of annual and perennials, and I will probably plant seeds along with plants. Since this is my first time with a cutting garden, it is really going to be an experiment, and I plan to take notes so that I can improve on it each year.

Have any of you created a cutting garden? Do you have any suggestions for me? Any flowers that you would be sure to add?

I plan to keep you updated through the year on how it is going.

Ahhh… beautiful flowers spread around your home. That sounds lovely. I’m never good at picking flowers to bring them inside, but I admit I’ve considered having my own cutting garden. And poppies are definitely on my list too. I’m really interested to learn from Sarah’s experience this year.

Focusing on the New Year

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Sarah in Illinois is back with her first post of the year. Like me, Sarah was busy making presents before Christmas and she has big plans for 2016.

Hello again from Illinois! It is finally winter-like here. As I am writing this this high today was 16F (-9C for us Canadians). That is the coldest we have had yet this year.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. I went to my final holiday party this past Friday. My girlfriends and I decided to draw names to exchange gifts with the one rule that the gifts had to be homemade.

It was so fun to see the creativity that everyone came up with. There were homemade lotions, shave cream and such, a pumpkin roll and necklaces, a burlap wreath, a knitting needle holder.

The gift I received was from my personal trainer cousin. She made me a plyo box and workouts to go with it. We discuss working out quite often and she is always on hand to give me advice and a plyo box gives me new workouts, with more interest than just running up and down my road. A plyo box can be used to jump on, sit on and do workouts off of and I am sure many more things that I haven’t learned yet.

The gift that I gave was for my tea-drinking cousin. I found a few ideas on Pinterest of a tea bag dispensing house.

Tea dispensing house

I didn’t follow any directions and I didn’t take step-by-step pictures, but basically I made a house like you would for a bird house. I made the roof removable so that it could be refilled. The doorway is where you can see and remove the tea bags. I used a sample tea bag to make sure the opening was wide enough for a bag to slide through. Then Steve had the idea to notch out an area for your finger to fit and pull out the bag.

Tea bag dispensing house
That was a great idea and I am so glad that he thought of that. After gluing the walls together and nailing the base on, I sanded and filled in the cracks with wood filler. After a final sand, I gave the whole thing a base coat of acrylic craft paint. Then I hand painted on the windows and greenery. I finished with a coat of clear matte spray paint to seal in the craft paint. I think the receiver was happy with the gift!

The hostess made us a table full of appetizers and also had a hot chocolate bar and a Bellini toast at the end. It was such a great time to visit and such a fun way to end the holidays!

Now that I am really thinking about the New Year, I am of course thinking of resolutions.

I like to have some direction to start the New Year. But this year I am doing something different. Instead of coming up with a list of resolutions I have come up with a word as a theme for this year. It took me a few days to come up with one and I used this website: myoneword.org to help me narrow one down.

The word that I am using for 2016 is “FOCUS.”

I think that is a word that can be used in so many areas for me. I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing them. Focus can be used to remind me to stay with the project I started. I also let technology distract me. Whether it is Facebook or Instagram or one of the many gaming apps on my phone, I seem to find things to do other than what I should be doing. So focus is going to be the word to try to get me on track!

I can’t wait to get some projects started to share with you. We are definitely adding on to our house this year, so that will be something that I will be sharing throughout the year. We already have received our first seed catalog so that means garden planning is not too far away. I think this is going to be a busy year at our house.

I hope you all have a healthy and happy 2016!

I love the idea of all those handmade gifts. Sounds like you have big plans for the year ahead, Sarah. I’m looking forward to seeing them unfold under your laser focus!

Big news from Illinois!

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Before I get into today’s guest post from Sarah in Illinois, I wanted to mention that I guest posted on That Mutt yesterday. Visit Lindsay’s blog to read all about Baxter’s favourite toy–and enter to win one for your own furry friend.

And now on to Sarah’s latest post. (I won’t say any more because I don’t want to scoop her big announcement!)

There has been a lot going on over here in the past two weeks! The big news is that the day before Thanksgiving Steve and I went to the courthouse and got married! We have been dating for almost 6 years and engaged for close to a year and anytime anyone asked, we told them that we were not going to have a big wedding, but no one knew when. It was a Thanksgiving surprise for everyone!

Sarah and her new husband Steve

We got together with Steve’s family for Thanksgiving and had a great time and ate too much and visited and watched football. I also had Steve’s niece take our picture for our family Christmas card. Back at home, I have started my Christmas shopping, our tree is up, lights are on the house, Christmas is in full swing!

Brightly lit Christmas tree

We bought new LED lights for our tree and we were so excited to see the patterns that it splashed on our walls and ceiling!

Since there is so much that goes on leading up to Christmas, I wanted to make sure we focused on our favorite things and didn’t get overwhelmed with trying to get everything done. I asked the kids what was something they wanted to make sure we didn’t forget to do and they both agreed that we can’t miss making gingerbread houses! So we still have that to do, plus finish shopping, plus all our family dinners. And I still have a gift to make for our handmade gift exchange that my girlfriends and I are going to do.

As for home improvement projects, I have to admit Steve and I kind of burnt ourselves out over the summer. We have done absolutely nothing around the house and I think we have both decided that it is time to get back to work! I came home one night this past week, and Steve had grout mixed up and we got to work grouting our hallway.

Grouted tile

We laid the tile early in the summer and have been walking on ungrouted tile all this time. I am so thankful that we both have our drive back to work on the house! We have a sort of game plan for this winter, and I am getting excited about tearing the house apart and fixing it back up! I am hoping that my future posts will be filled with projects that we have finished!

Congratulations, Sarah and Steve! It’s great to get your DIY-mojo back. Oh, and getting married too. That’s big. 🙂 All the best to you both.

Sarah will be back in the New Year with more updates about (married) life, home renos and country living.