Sad : Glad

Well....Stella had her first casualty this week. I had optimistically planted a butterfly weed. It was a baby, but having received it on the house tour, I felt compelled to plunk it in the ground. Placing it lovingly in the front bed near the sidewalk, so I could admire it, I lavished love and water on it. It died anyway. Stupid plant. I'll admit that the 100 degree weather we're having might have been working against it, but it should have shown more pluck! Guilt now pokes at me every time I walk by the site of the death. so sad.

On the other hand, DH and I managed to snag one of the city's rain barrels this weekend. Right now we have it in the backyard on a stage of cinder blocks.... This will have to change...it's going to need to be much higher. I was told that it will weigh 600lbs when full. Umm.....I'm thinking that I'm not going to be able to move it too much then...better find a better place quick! Now that we have a rain barrel it's sure to rain right??

Favorites

I thought I'd take the time to share some favorite links of mine:

• not martha
• Making it Lovely
• Posie Gets Cozy
• Today's Creative Blog

Just a taste of goodness that I like to check in on...maybe not daily, but definitely often!

Decisions

This week went by too quickly! I have no idea how it's already Saturday....I could have sworn that I was going to get more stuff done this week. *sigh* I think my head is far faster than my actual life. We met with The Architect this week. I'm supposed to be making decisions to get back to him...but I'm sitting here talking to you instead! I know, I know, how hard is it to look all over the internet for house ideas. It's not hard...that's the problem. I can spend HOURS looking at stuff and still have no idea what I want for the house. phhhttt....taking a break from that!

Another thing I'm supposed to be deciding on is curtains. Does anyone else agonize over this decision? I think I might be getting close...JoAnn's is having a sale on fabric (I think they are always having a sale...but still). There's a very pretty blue floral fabric that I'm seriously eyeing...it has a coordinating stripe that could go in the dining room window. The floral would be for the living room. All this is making my head hurt. bah humbug!

Neighborhood Gardens

I spent today touring some groovy tune gardens! Yesterday I told you that I was to visit four gardens, but I only made it to three unfortunately. On the bright side they were beautiful and inspirational. I'm not going to bother you with more words...drool over the pics!

Oops

I had a plan for today...such a rare thing. Now I remember why I don't plan very much! The entire plan revolved around a garden tour going on in my new neighborhood. Doesn't that sound like fun?!? Four gardeners are opening up their gardens for anyone to come by and pester them with questions...and heap praise on them. Sooo...DH and I go to the first house on the list to find a nice woman standing outside, but no one else really around....odd...but maybe we're a little prompt. Um....no. We're not prompt, we're a day early. Oops. Ah well...there's always tomorrow.

On the house front...we took off doors that were simply in the way. Heavy doors. Real doors. Solid doors. We also put up our mail box on the front porch (yes, our mailman walks his route door to door). It's nice enough, but at some point it is going to have to be painted something other than black. Wonder what I'll tackle tomorrow.....

Keys

We got them!! The keys to Stella....finally. It was quite the tussle with the Title Co, but in the end they gave us what we had been waiting for. All the money had been transfered but they were difficult to deal with...you'd think that having all the funds would have been all they needed, but unfortunately it didn't work quite that way. But did I mention that we have the KEYS??

Quiet

Today was spent cleaning and sorting stuff. I don't totally understand where all these things came from....but they must have originated somewhere. We're going from ~2300 sq ft to ~900 sq ft. Um....guess I should just start shoveling things onto the driveway to get rid of them. We already had a garage sale, but it doesn't seem to have made a dent in the house. I've made several trips to Goodwill, but again...you'd think I had just brought more things home. I confess....I love things...especially if they might have been loved and forgotten by someone else. I name them. I pat them when I walk by. I sniffle at the thought of sending them out into the world alone. I need more therapy.

Here's another item that seems to need love. Why? I have no idea. Are there plenty of people that are willing to house these cute things? Of course! *sigh* But can you see why I might love this? Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get the picture and make it a link. So you'll have to just toddle on over and see this for yourself.