Lately....

In an attempt to catch up with what I have been doing, I thought I would write a summary post of highlights and then work on getting back on track to regular posting. Here's what I have been doing lately...

 growing strawberries...

 finished another semester of school... nine classes to go (Yay!)

making changes to the back yard....

participated in the Race for the Cure...

went to Portland for the REAL vs. Timbers game!

Best game Ever!

He Saved my Day!!

It snowed in Bountiful yesterday a tiny bit, maybe it was kind of a lot bit.  Maybe not a lot bit, I might be exaggerating, but it was very wet and very heavy.  I am trying to be a good neighbor by keeping my section of the sidewalk clear for walkers and such.  I was outside this morning sweating, shoveling, heaving the snow to clear the way and my neighbor came to save the day.

He came from across the street with his snow blower to save my day.  I don't even know his name.  Today he is my favorite neighborhood man.  Thank you very much favorite neighbor man for saving my day!

Happy Harvest

I feel very proud of the fruit my back yard produced this year.  I am still having issues with my cherries and them getting worms.  Although, I had them sprayed this year they were still infected.  I was worried about the other fruit in my yard as well but everything else did wonderfully. 

My parents came down a few weeks ago.  We picked grapes, plums and pears.  I got the biggest bushel of grapes I've ever had.  I feel like they would win the at the state fair.  I was very proud.  My mom, bless her soul has spent countless canning it all.  Juice, jams, jellies, syrup and more.  She is amazing.  I'm so grateful for the happy harvest I had this year.  Yummy!!!

Better Than Expected

I planted a salsa garden earlier in the summer. I didn't know so much what I was doing but I was proud of myself for giving it a try.
The salsa garden is going much better than I expected.

My tomato plant is a bear. It's huge! It's going to grow right out of the pot. And, I already harvested some cilantro and made a very delicious batch of salsa.

All I have to say is... my salsa garden rocks! I'm making plans for how I'm going to do it even bigger and better next year. I'm so excited to see how it continues to grow. Any body hungry for some salsa?

Grape Vines

The grape vines in my back yard get bigger and bigger every year. That's what we want to have happen, right?

I spent the day a couple of Saturdays ago, trimming the grapes and putting up some more trellises so they would grow on the side of the shed. If any of you are in the mood from some wine come harvest... let me know and I'll keep you in mind (wink).

Blossoms on the Cherry Tree

I woke up this morning to blossoms on my cherry tree!  I hope that means Spring is truly here and no more snow will come.  Last year the cherries had worms. I was so sad.  I've sprayed the trees and been watching it closely.   A few more months and we should have some good fruit to eat.  I am so excited!!!

Home Sweet Home

Last year I spent a good amount of time and dinhero redecorating my house. It is finally getting to a place where I feel like it is my own. There are just a few more changes to be made.
Here is what I have done so far.

My Bedroom

This is my downstairs t.v. room.
I painted the walls, replaced the carpet and bought all new furniture.  

This is one of my favorite furniture purchases. Thank you Pier One!! :)

There was carpet over the wood floors in this room. I had it removed. Then had the original wood floors sanded and restained. I love the way it turned out!

This is the entrance from the Garage. My dad actually built out these walls. It was originally folding wood panels. I hated it. Then I had it painted. Thanks Dad!

I turned one of the bedrooms into a home office.

I couldn't figure out what to do with all of my purses.
I hung them on the wall here in the guest bedroom! Ta Da!

The wood floors were refinished in this room too and added a new kitchen table.

This is my little workout room. You can barely see the arm of the treadmill.  This room was  repainted and new tile was put in.  You can also see Charlie's crate in the corner.

Owning a home is so much work but so much fun. I feel so lucky to have everything that I do. I am sure more projects will come up. My mind is already swimming with how I want to update my deck. Stay tuned!!!

A Little of This... A Little of That

I have been slowly updating, remodeling and changing my house. I have lived here now for three years. That seems absolutely crazy to me. I recently made the decision to pull the carpet out of my living room and have the original hard wood floors restored. I should have done it long before. I love, love, love the refinished wood floors. They are so nice and so much easier to keep clean. I just have to find a way to keep Charlie from slobbering all over them. (I don't think that is going to happen any time soon...)

My Kitchen Renovations

About a year ago or more I decided I wanted to update my kitchen a little so that it would be a little more me. Well, I started by taking off all of the cupboard doors and applied one coat of primer to half of the cabinets. Then I got busy and bored. I am embarrassed to say, my kitchen stayed like that for months. Then one day a friend of mine said she knew a guy who painted for people on the side to make extra money. She said he didn't charge much and did a decent job. I thought it was a brilliant idea..I called him over to look at it and hired him to finish the painting my kitchen. The I had to summon the help of my brother Austin and sister in law Alysha to help me put the handles on the drawers. You would think I would figure out how to do a project before I dive head into it. Obviously that wasn't the case. However, it is finally complete. Hallelujah! What do you think?

Here is a lovely picture of before....



And here are the pictures of the after...

Tic Tac Tile

Finally, the tile has been laid in my basement. Hallelujah!! It only took me like 4 months to have that done. Crazy how I always thought redecorating or remodeling a house would be so fun. I used to lie awake at night when I was a kid thinking of how I would love to remodel a house. Now that I have a house and I have been forced into changing things in my house, I hate it. I still have to finish painting, have some walls built, get the blinds and windows replaced, and have a new door put in the garage. Never ending...however, I am glad I have a house, I really do love it!!!

My house had a Flood

My house had a flood. Ahhhh!!! I woke up Saturday morning a few weeks ago to start my weekend ritual. The ritual consists of working out, cleaning my house and running errands. I got the workout and cleaning part done but when I went downstairs to go run errands....there was water everywhere! Okay so maybe not everywhere but a significant amount. My main pipe was full of debris and caused the water from the washer not to drain. The worst part of the flood drama was that I called Roto-Rooter to come unclog the drain. I talked with three different agents and they all told me they didn't have a number for the Salt Lake office. What? I tried to call another plumbing service and they didn't have any technicians within a 50 mile radius. Again, What? At that point my brother called and I started to cry. I told him I was the worst home owner ever and that I had no one to help me. He of course said he would be right down. He came along with my parents and Brianna. What would I do without them? We got everything cleaned up and my insurance company covered the disaster so now the task at hand is finding tile to replace the carpet that was ruined. Ah, the joys of home ownership.

Home Sweet Sweet Home

I am a home owner. One of the biggest things that has ever happened to me. It's in Bountiful just off of 4th North on 9th East. It is a small 3 bedroom 2 bath house built in 1951. It has a beautiful back yard and has been mostly updated by the previous owners. There are a few things I want to change but, that will come with time. Here are some pictures...come and visit anytime.