Windowsill Herb Garden

If my husband and I won the lottery and had no financial worries I am pretty confident that we would go buy a farm with lots of acres somewhere. Live "off the grid" in a way, buy horses, and rarely leave the house. We are home bodies and we don't always like, well, people. Call it an affliction I guess.

Since we live in a townhouse a lot of what we would like to with land, like plant a garden, just can't happen. My husband is much more outdoorsy than me and he has talked about having a vegetable garden for years.

Well, we improvised and just made a little windowsill herb garden in our kitchen instead.

We bought mason jars, some miracle grow potting mix, and our seeds all at Wal-Mart. I made the tags by painting chalk board paint on the lids of the mason jars. You know- the part of the mason jar that pops to let you know it is sealed. Use a screwdriver and hammer the lid a little bit and you can easily make the hole to tie ribbon around the top.

It was an easy process and even though they have only been planted last weekend they all of little green sprouts coming up. It is oddly exciting.

* Side-note: I will note that I didn't look up how to make mason jar planters until after we were done with ours. Many other blogs suggest you place something in the bottom of your mason jar, like broken pieces of terra cotta, to help absorb some of the moisture.

I didn't do that but I am careful to not over water the plants. If you are forgetful like me, I would suggest watering every other day. You can see inside the jar and can always tell when there is still a lot of humidity and moisture inside. Just eye-ball it!

Happy Gardening!

Crafty Thursdays

In college I learned to crochet and knit. By that, I mean I learned how to crochet and knit scarves- and that's it. I never learned how to venture into patterns. I like to look at other people's amazing work and wish I had stuck with it. At this point I would have to re-teach myself even basic stuff.

Lately, I have thought these amigurumi animals are so cute. It is a Japanese word and it's basically a really cute animal with a large head. So here is yet another crafty thing that I wish I could accomplish.

5 Amigurumi Crochet Animals:

From: Dina's Nest

I have been obsessed with this elephant for over a year. She doesn't have a pattern and I have searched places like etsy for a long time for something similar. I have never seen a cuter elephant than this one. I love it!

From: Etsy

From: Ana's Amigurumi Patterns

From: Etsy

 Anybody else seen Fantastic Mr. Fox? Great movie!

From:Amigurumi Patterns



Happy Crafting,

Crafty Thrusdays

I completely forgot Crafty Thursdays last week. I am not a good blogger- tsk, tsk. Anyway, this week I thought I would focus on all the beautiful flowers that are blooming around town. If I actually lived in a home maybe I could do one of these projects. In my town home they do all the lawn work for me!

5 Gardening Crafts:

From: Living, Laughing, Saving

From: Camille Styles

From: The Pretty Bee

From: The Improvised Life

From: Positively Splendid

Happy Crafting,

Grooming Day

My dogs are well taken care of but one thing I never do is take them to be groomed. With a German Shepherd that isn't really a big deal but with my Bernese Mountain dog I always wondered what could be done with all her hair.

She has a massive undercoat that you can barely even part to see her skin. I never know what to do with it and usually in the summer she gets nasty hot spots because she is burning up. We have figured out how to get rid of them before they become an issue but they still scare me.

Then, one of my best friends from high school moved back to Charlotte. I am so glad she is back- plus she provides me with baby time. Her son is quite possibly the cutest little boy I have ever seen. She is also a really good dog groomer and she offered to help me with Leia's first haircut.

It took her about 4 hours to help my crazy dog. I am so happy with the results! First, she did a de-shedding treatment. If you have a dog with an undercoat I highly recommend this rake she used. (This isn't the exact brand but this is what the blades look like)

I'm telling you this thing is like magic. Furminator's do not work with my dog because her hair is insanely thick but this thing- amazing! Just look at our box- oh- hair!

Then she gave her a bath and proceeded to blow dry her hair while brushing her even more. My dog has never been so fluffy in her life. This part took the longest but I learned quite a bit from it. One being that when you wash your dog at home and then just let her air dry her undercoat becomes matted. That is actually what is causing the hot spots since her skin can't breathe. When you blow dry her out as you brush, her undercoat is not stuck to her skin but instead becomes soft and fluffy. Pre haircut fluffy-ness:

All that hair on her butt area is so thick but it was like velvet after she brushed all of it out. Every summer I butcher her hair to make it short so she isn't hot but this year she gets to keep her pretty hair as long as I keep up with brushing her hair with the special rake once a week!! Lastly, was her real haircut and she is so happy!

I can't thank my friend enough! She did an amazing job on a neurotic dog- who, shockingly did pretty well throughout this marathon of a haircut.

One more tip- ever wonder why your dog doesn't smell like wet dog after going to a grooming salon? Doggy cologne is sprayed on them while they are being "blown out". Who woulda known??

Happy Sunday!

One of those weeks...

Do you ever take vacation and when you get home your realize it may have been easier to just stay home. This has been one of those weeks. We had such a good time in Atlanta for Easter though:

We played nerf war with the kids- and by we I mean my husband ran around like a manic all weekend and I took pictures. My husband is like a large child and therefore the cousins are pretty much obsessed with him. They were like little spider monkeys hanging off of him all weekend. Just look at his face:

There were seven kids under the age of 11 with us and my husband just might have been made kid number eight. We also had, at least, ten easter egg hunts.

And we blew bubbles to entertain the little ones. I also stuffed myself with sweets and completely forgot the whole- trying to lose weight thing. Oh well, I have already been back to the gym 4 times since then.

I spent my weekend hogging the newest addition to the family.

That is when the oldest of the seven kids didn't have her. We didn't get any real pictures of the whole gang so here are just a few of my favorites.

BUT- then I get home and our dryer belt breaks. Our dryer is so old that we are STILL waiting on the belt to come in. I think our entire wardrobe needs to be cleaned at this point.

Then my engine light comes on and- $400 dollars later- I have replaced a stupid sensor. Not to mention I have another $200 repair that he told me I will need to get done in the next 6 months. Grr, I am literally going to have the car paid off in 3 months. Can't it just wait a little while.

Then, today I got out my camera to upload my pictures from the weekend and I realize I left my memory card in Atlanta. AHHH. Thank goodness for Facebook but it's so annoying.

Plus all the joy of coming back to work and catching up with everything. At least all my kids were on spring break so I didn't have any late nights.

Tomorrow my dog is getting her first real haircut. I can't wait!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Crafty Thursdays

In honor of the yummy treats that I will fully allow myself to eat this Easter weekend! I mean, I joined the gym so I could allow myself these things sometimes...

5 Easter Desserts:

From: With a Greatful Prayer and a Thankful Heart  

From: Life Made Delicious

From: Hobby Craft

From: Love and Olive Oil

From: Bakerella

Hope that everyone has some great plans for Easter. The hubs and I are planning on invading my cousin's home in Atlanta. Maybe I can even fit in some Varsity chili dogs!
Happy Crafting,