Gettin' it together....

Well, I've certainly been MIA lately. You would think (or you would guess) since I am on spring break this week, I would have a multitude of new stuff here.


I do. Have new stuff to post, that is. I haven't had a chance to sit down and get it all prettied up for you. We've been busy a-egg huntin'....

We visited my in-laws over the weekend and did some yard work for them. I love gardening at their place, except that they have a huge yard and a lot of garden, so the garden clean up took a really long time. Once I finished that (while my wonderful husband worked on the sidewalk edging and trimming), I divided out a bunch of perennials and spread them around. Her garden is wonderful for big perennials that need to be divided. My favorite type of gardening.....free plants!! I brought some home for my yard and I'll post what I did with them later this week.

I did, however, get a little souvenir of our hard work....

I $%^@# hate poison ivy. I'll spare you pics of the worst part as I want you to keep your breakfast down. Needless to say, I'm less than pleased and will wear a space suit the next time I'm gardening there.


But....I'm off school for the week and my brain is enjoying the break from thinking so much. : ) Now that we're back from traveling, I can get my ducks in a row and finish some half-written/pictured posts....

A little box of fun

I got a special delivery the other day....

I signed up for a free 2.5oz paint sample from valspar.com. They did this last year and I loved getting a little box of inspiration on my front step!


They give away quite a few samples each day. The only caveat is that you have to go on the website at the right time....since the samples run out pretty early in the day. The free sample store opens at 9am CENTRAL time. The only days I can log on at that specific time are Saturday and Sunday. So, a week ago on Saturday, I got all ready at 9am EASTERN time. I even set my oven timer so I would remember. I logged on.....closed.


Then I noticed it was CENTRAL time. Set the oven timer again. Yes, I am a type A nerd.


Got on, shopped for my sample. You can browse a bunch of color categories to pick one.


In my box? A paint sample and a little roller and little paint tray. I must say, I am a fan of the little paint samples. Not only is it a genius way to try a color with little commitment, sometimes you need just a little bit of paint for a project and you don't want to buy a whole quart. I hate having old, extra paint sitting around.

You also get some paint chips of complementary colors. And a $5 off coupon for a gallon of paint. Yippee!

I chose the color on the far right,      . The others are the accent colors. I can't say I'm crazy about any of them, but I appreciate the thought!

And there's my color. It looks awfully turquoise in the picture. I chose for an idea for my laundry room. We'll see. I may also try it on my front door.

If you need a little paint-spiration, check out the free samples. : )

You can grow that!

I am so excited to be taking part of the 2nd issue, if you will, of You Can Grow That!

Check out the Facebook page for links to garden bloggers' posts on things you can grow yourself.


Up this month....herbs! Whether you are a gourmet cook or not (um, I'm not), growing your own herbs is easy and great for your food.


Many people don't realize that lots of herbs are perennials. If you're new to gardening, that means that they come back each year. What could be easier? Of all of the plants I grow, I find that the herbs are among the plants that require the least maintenance.


Here are the herbs I typically grow: thyme, sage, chives, oregano, dill, rosemary and basil. Of those, only rosemary and basil are annuals, which means they need to be planted each year. I've experimented a bit and planted pineapple sage, lemon balm and lemon verbena. The lemon plants I use more for cutting in the house. Pineapple sage can be great in fruit salad. It also has really pretty late-season red blooms.


Even if you are not a big gardener, growing herbs is so easy. Find a spot in your garden that receives sun most of the day and plant a few. If you like them, you can always plant more! Bugs typically leave the herbs alone and you need to water them until they're established, then just if it gets a bit dry.


Here is my herb garden....I think this photo was taken last year in May. In the bottom right corner, oregano. The upper right corner, chives. Middle top, sage. Bottom left corner, thyme.

I use the herbs in cooking. Anytime you use fresh herbs, you need to use more than what's recommended for dried herbs. Dried herbs have a much more potent and concentrated flavor. From using herbs in a recipe to just adding fresh herbs to roasted veggies, there are so many things you can do with them!


Chive blooms are edible...did you know? They look and taste great in a salad.

Some of my herb plant tags.

Here is the herb garden (on the left), last summer, mid-June. The oregano is taking over! The oregano is my favorite.....spaghetti sauce, YUM!

As for maintenance, I cut back the dead foliage at the end of the season or else in early spring. Keep in mind...as you cut your herbs for use, it will spur new growth. Just make sure you leave some foliage there so it can produce the new growth.


What else can you do with the herbs? I like to use them with cut flowers or by themselves. Pretty and aromatic.

If you like, you can dry the extras throughout the season and when you have frost in the fall. It's not hard. I started doing this when I had a bunch of herbs.....and I noticed how expensive dried herbs are!

I have plenty to use myself and also sometimes to give away as Christmas gifts, too.


Fresh herbs for cooking? You can grow that!


Linked to....
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time

Fashion in a state of flux

Anyone out there have hard and fast fashion rules? You must know what I'm talking about...."No white after Labor Day." Stuff like that.


Now, that is a rule that I don't necessarily adhere to. I do, however, have some rules that I follow in regard to fashion. Generally, I don't wear white or linen until after Easter or spring break. I also tend not to wear strappy sandals until said time. I also tend not to wear those things after mid-September.


The weather this year has really screwed me up with this. 80 degree weather in March is not conducive to wearing heavy shoes and clothes......but I'm not quite ready to break out the summer looks, you know? My husband has a hard time with this. He doesn't understand why I "go by the calendar." 


I did break down and get out my white denim jacket. I love this piece of clothing.....it's great for a bit of warmth/covering up with a springy look. It's a bit early, but like I said, it's been late-spring or summer-like. I did decide to break out my gradual-skin-tanning cream a little early to take away some of the white pastiness on my arms and legs. 


I seriously have a hard time processing what the students at my school wear each day. First, there are the boys who wear shorts every day of the year. EVERY day. I guess comfort is not really a priority for them. Walking around with bare legs when it's 40 degrees out is not my idea of "comfortable." I get it......it's probably a fight that parents don't feel like having, so they let the kids wear whatever they want. I just don't get why the kids don't want to be warm.


Sometimes the girls are like this---they just don't wear a jacket. I have been most amazed by the young ladies that dress like it is the dead heat of August in....February. I admit, we have had a mild winter, but just because it's not freezing doesn't mean it's time for short shorts and flips.


It's good that spring break is right around the corner for me.....it means I can break out some of my more summer-y things. The calendar is finally catching up with the weather. Although I may not break out my white linen skirt very soon, I am looking forward to putting away corduroy and sweaters this week.

Sowing the seeds of love....

On the list for gardening in March? Sowing lettuce and greens seeds.


I started this up about two weeks ago. I've been trying to stagger my plantings so we'll have fresh, young lettuce for a longer time in the spring. Typically, I pick a variety of lettuces so we'll have a bunch of different kinds.

My seeds spread out on the dirt...

I like to do a few rows every few week or so.

So far....we have some germination, but the warmer temps we've had lately are not helping my lettuce to germinate. Lettuce is a cool-season crop, so we need it to cool off a bit to help my babies along.


We'll see what happens. Stay tuned. This planting season has been unconventional, to say the least.....

Got a frittata?

What up?????


We came through the frost OK. I know you were all as worried as I was! ; ) I got up extra early to spray down my plants. The therm said we were at 34 degrees. That could have caused a freeze....but I did not notice any plant damage. Yee haw! Here's hoping we can get through the next month and a half without doing this many times.


So...I was making dinner the other night and was a bit tired of making the same old stuff.


Tacos? Check.


Egg sandwich? Check. (egg sandwiches do not count as breakfast food to me; I could eat these daily)


Then it occurred to me that I had a bunch of eggs in the fridge. We love breakfast for dinner at our house (see also egg sandwich)....omelets, French toast, bacon. It's a good way to get some protein, especially for the kids.


So, I made a frittata. Which is kind of like a quiche, but a little leaner and it takes less time.


You will need:
6 eggs
1-2T milk
filling--veggies, meat, potato, beans, etc.....whatever you like or have on hand!
1-2T olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder
1/2 c shredded cheese
oven proof skillet (or wrap your skillet handle in aluminum foil)

Set oven to broil. First, you will need to cook your veggies in olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste (you could add some cayenne pepper or Italian seasoning if you like also). If you are using frozen veggies, I would defrost in the  microwave first to cut down on cooking time. Anything fresh will take a little longer and you should cook it to desired tenderness.

I chose broccoli and cauliflower. I also threw in some farro, a rice-like grain.


Beat eggs in a bowl, adding milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour into the pan, making sure it reaches the edges. Cook 5-8 minutes over medium heat, until set at the edges. I jiggle the pan a bit to see if the edges are set and the middle is still a bit soft.

Add your cheese on top and put in the oven to broil. This will finish the cooking in the center and brown over the top of the frittata.

Remove when slightly browned over.

And there you go. Easy and a great way to use up leftover veggies or meat....and totally customizable. : )

Jersey scarf

I hope you all have had a good Monday. Somehow those two words just don't go together, huh? I am sitting a bit on pins and needles here....we have a freeze warning tonight and I'm a little nervous about how all of the plants in my garden will be affected. I'm considering waking up a bit earlier tomorrow to spray down the plants if necessary to help them through this cold snap.

It's a bit unreal to me that we are doing this in March....usually, freezing temps in March are par for the course. This warm stretch of weather has done nothing for keeping the plants going through early spring after spurring so much growth. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

I tried something new with fabric recently.....I was inspired by this pic that I had saved on Pinterest. Click here for the link.

I also thought about making a scarf.....so I googled it and found a few tutorials. After checking out what they did, I decided to put together my own version. If you'd like to check out their tutorials, that might help you, should you try this yourself. I left out pics of steps in my photos. Click here for a link to the tutorial. There are some other tutorials linked there as well.

I bought a length of jersey about 60" long. I cut two pieces that were 7" wide first (so they were 7x60"). Cut a little piece off the end to use to cover seams later.

I put the wrong sides together and ran a seam down the side. I did two and then I turned them right sides out.

Here I am sewing the seams for the above pic.

The next part, I cut a few wide and skinny pieces, which I then cut into three pieces up close to the end, leaving about 1-2" to keep the ends together.

Then, braid all of the pieces to the ends, hold them together and run a seam through the loose ends to secure them.

Once you have done all of the pieces, you will match up the ends and run a seam through them all. Use your little piece to hand sew on a cover for the spot where the seams will connect in the back of the scarf. Sorry no pics of that!! : )




Here is the finished product....

Mine is long enough that it can be worn long or doubled up.

On me. Please excuse my pjs. ; )

I gifted this one to my friend.....I'm looking to make one in a blue or pink color next for myself!

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing