The "After" pictures we promised...

Well that was fast right??? Hubby got home from work yesterday with the plants, and now that we have an extra hour of daylight, we decided to get straight to work. It didn't take us (wade) very long to get everything planted. Haha I Kidd, I did help out, we were just working at a speed of pretty much 3 to 1. (Wade would plant 3 by the time I had 1 in the ground!) The nursery didn't have the Kaleidescope Abelia we had originally picked out, so these are actually called Mardi Gras Abelia. Per google, I think I actually prefer these over the other... But alas!! It's nature! It's all beautiful! The will have white flowers, and turn a sort of pinkish color at some point throughout the summer

Here are my very professional mulchers taking a break for some breakfast....

We (they) also mulched the Perennial Bed in the backyard... Here we have planted some grasses in the back, lambs ear in the front, and Black-eyed susans, and cone flowers throughout. The flowers last practically all summer long, and they are wonderful for cutting and having fresh flowers inside! Still waiting for them to come back from last year...They will though!! You can see them, they are just still small.

 

I also want to show off a couple other favorite features from our backyard.  This is a new addition, but I think it adds beautifully to the patio area, where the Big Green Egg is.  The BBQ sign was made by my brother-in-law, Ben. You can check out his Etsy store Bentonsrock here.

 

I also love these Pot hangers from this website.  I picked them up at a local home and garden expo. It's kind of like having hanging baskets, but using terra cotta pots makes it sooooo easy!! You just literally slide the pot in, and they practically hang themselves. The terra cotta seemed to kind of stain through the weather, so I bought a can of Rostoleum Spray Paint to spruce the pots up a little bit.  The color is Apple Green, I got one coat on 3 of the pots today....we'll see....

I love my hubby, and I love our hobbies.

Wade and I both really believe in the idea of having hobbies.  It keeps you interesting and it is mind stimulating.  Of course, even though we're newlyweds, we don't have to do EVERYthing together. So, while Wade has adapted guns (mostly shot guns for skeet and bird hunting) as his hobby, I find more of an affinity for GLUE guns, as I've recently been into crafting, card making, and wreath making (there will be a blog on that another day, I'm sure).  But one thing we have always enjoyed doing together is working in the garden.  Two years ago, when we were seriously dating, but not yet engaged, we planted a Japanese Red Maple tree in the front of the house.  It's still quite small, but we wanted something slower growing.
Last year, we cut down and VERY large and intrusive Magnolia Tree from the backyard.  I kind of felt like we were "killing" something, and trying to be eco-friendly type people, we decided we could only cut down the tree if we planted a new tree in a better spot in the yard that wouldn't grow to be so offensive in the yard.  So, we decided on a beautiful Indian Pink Dogwood, that will be our "Anniversary Tree", since we planted it the year we got married.

You can't see well from the picture, but it has lots of buds on it just waiting to bust open any day!! We'll post a better picture once that happens....

Our project for this year is again a major overhaul of the front yard. Two weeks ago...yeah, that beautiful day we had before it snowed like 4 inches, remember that?...Wade ripped out all the unruly holly bushes and boxwoods which were in our front beds. So now, the front has gone from this...

To this......

And everything is gone, except a puny little Azalea and Butterfly Bush that need to find a new home somewhere in the backyard :)

We have everything planned out for some Laurels and Kaleidescope Abelia.  Weather Pending...we hope to have some nice new "AFTER" pictures for you soon.  Stay tuned....

Our other gardening project under way, is seeds for our vegetable garden. Yeah, we have some hydroponics growing down in the basement! HaHa! Hydroponic Tomatoes maybe...hehe. Anyhow, these are how my babies began.

This was about 5 days after planting...
 Aren't they just soooo cute!!!

 

And this is what they look like now, about 2 weeks after planting....

 

 These seeds are for cherry tomatoes, big boy tomatoes and peppers. We usually also plant cucumbers, lettuce, beans, herbs, and I want to experiment with some other things as well. I also wanted to show you all that this grow light system was an AWESOME and EASY DIY project my hubby saw at Home Depot.  It's made out of PVC pipes and joints, a chain, and fluorescent lights. We have the light on a timer to go off for about 8 hours overnight.  This year we also added a heating mat under the seeds to keep them a little warmer, because the basement can be so cool.  It seems to have made a difference.  If anyone wants any of my plants, let me know, because I have definitely started more than I plan to plant. I'm sure I can find takers though!!!  Here is a picture of our DIY set-up. For more specific info, you can email me.

 Well, that's our plan for the weekend (in between basketball games of course). Go UK! Go VCU!

Hair today, Gone tomorrow.

Our dear Schatzi...*sigh* .....Bless her heart....

This is what she looked like this morning....

I absolutely ADORE her Shaggy hair! Even though she still sheds like crazy (even though she's not supposed to being a "doodle"), it gets stinky, and she picks up every burr, twig, and piece of anything she comes across like velcro.  I LOVE it. I call her my little Snuffaluffagus.

Can you see the resemblence?? A little bit??

But you can only imagine the type of a heat a fur coat like that can create.  She has been panting like crazy on the 50+, no wait 65+ degree days we have been having this mild winter. I've been holding out, but now that it is March and this weekend is the unofficial start to spring, we finally decided to put our sweet girl out of her misery with a haircut.  She had no idea what was coming for her when she raced to get in the car with adventure and excitement, but was less than thrilled to get out of the car at PetSmart.  After she gets over the initial shock/embarrassment of her new-found nakedness, I'm sure she will be 100 times happier and more comfortable.....and we'll love her just the same (except for Edy and Jimmy, I'm sure they will be teasing her!)

Here are the after pictures of sweet, beautiful, (more poodle looking) Schatzi!

The First "Egg" Recipe

You may be expecting Eggs Benedict, a fancy frittata, or something else of the sort...but let me introduce you to the 6th member of our family (Edy the cat, and our dogs Schatzi and Jimmy count as 3, 4, and 5)....the Big Green Egg.

He doesn't have a name, although he may be worthy one....we are open to suggestions through our comments *hint* *hint* :)

Back to the egg...we received this as a wedding gift from my hubby's oh-so-wonderful aunt and uncle (I reference you again to our comments section) and his lovely sister. It is, as they profess it to be, "the ultimate cooking experience". Essentially it is a charcoal grill meets smoker meets ceramic cooking chamber, so you can grill, smoke, and even bake on this outdoor Komodo-style oven. Let me break it down even simpler for you. WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE the egg...and even consider ourselves self-proclaimed "egg-heads".

That brings me to the posting of our first "egg" recipe. We can't take credit for coming up with this ourselves, we get most of our recipes from the BGE (big green egg) forum website which I have listed under blogs I follow. The recipe is called Ain't Momma's Meatloaf and can be found here.

I've included a less than impressive picture of the final product...but I assure you..it was DELISH!! And I'm sure the recipe could be adapted for non-eggers. Bon apetit!

ATTENTION RVA: The Weather channel has you under a Winter Weather AND High Pollen Advisory???

 This was yesterday.....

We went for a beautiful walk with the dogs along Monument Avenue, weaving through the neighborhoods, soaking in sunshine and bursting blossoms. This is one of our favorite things to do. We've had such a mild winter, but we have not taken advantage of beautiful days like we should have.

The dogs were in heaven!! Even though we can't let them run off the leash, they managed to get out a lot of energy and were exhausted for the rest of the afternoon!! 

Annnnnnd enter Mother Nature.....This is today......

 

So, today the local schools are all closed and the weather channel has us under a Winter Weather Advisory AND a High Pollen Advisory.... Sounds like a good day for blogging to me!! :)

Figuring this thing out....

Anyone who has ever made an attempt at a blog will admit that it takes practice, determination, and time to really be successful and learn how to use this thing. I'm still awaiting my tutorial session from my mother on how to really effectively be a blogger...you can view her blog "here" haha! ---->this is my first attempt to link into text :) (in case the link didn't work,visit her wonderful blog at christa-feelingblessed.blogspot.com) Please bear with me as I experiment over the next couple of posts to figure this thing out.