The Old has become New

Remember back in April when I spent all my birthday money at Goodwill on 50% off day with visions of a shabby chic backyard?  Well, it is slowly materializing!  Finally!  I found this top from a girl’s bedroom set… maybe from the bed or a desk hutch… and I could envision a garden shelf dealie to stack my pots and hang my tools.

Then I looked for MONTHS for a bottom piece to store my dirt and fertilizer and turtle kneeling pad.  I think it was in August or September that I happened on this gem at Goodwill… on another 50% off day!  Sweet mother of baby Jesus!  It was perfect.  The guy at the store told me that it came in from a monastery full of religious books all in Chinese.  So half of the finished product was in the ministry.  :o) 

After much painting and sanding and hammering 1×4’s on the back so it doesn’t fall and kill a small child or dog… it is finished!  My husband took one look at the finished product and asked, “So you had all that junk?”  Nice, eh?  Yes, I did… and one man’s junk is his wife’s treasure.  I actually will use the junk, well, most of it.  The ceramic butterfly in the center was handmade by my six-year-old self in Renton, Washington in a ceramics class at a neighbor’s house.  The rest is truly junk.  Not the butterfly.

We did have a near catastrophe whilst waiting for the 1×4’s to be nailed on the back.  I had it set up in the middle of our back porch… clearly capable of falling and killing a small child or dog.  The wind whipped up a gale to behold and knocked the top right off.  It fell backwards, hit the NEW, glass patio table, got a big bash-in on the back piece and fell to the ground.  Shoot.  I put the big tin plate on the top shelf in front of the bash-in evidence.  All is well now.  Why would anyone need this in their yard, you ask?  Because now my gardening gloves won’t get chewed and buried by the dogs.  That’s really what this was all about…. me having to repeatedly replace my flimsy gardening gloves from the dollar store.  See, all is well now. (I have since planted those violas in those six pots in the little green stand on the right.  They are darling.)

Gazebo, baby!

Here is my beautiful new-to-me gazebo from some friends of ours.  Seems they live in a communist compound five miles north of us and can’t have shade in their backyard.  So my 13-year-old son and I put it together today… without instructions…. and only put four pieces on backwards.  Of course they had to be removed and turned the correct direction for the cover to fit.  It was only 85* in the SHADE this morning.  So we were a bit glisteny and shiny.  I have always wanted one of these gazebos, but it was never high enough on the priority list.  Thank you, dear friends!

While Aus and I were holding our arms straight up screwing nuts on bolts for what seemed like 27 hours in the hot sun, my other two children were leveling a corner of the yard which had been cleared of river rock and prepared for two 6’x6′ garden boxes.  It was the logical place for gardening boxes…. but it was the ONLY place for a 10’x10′ gazebo.  So my rototilled dirt was compacted and the river rocks were put back into place.  The mosquito netting was hung and the gazebo was placed in the NW corner of the backyard.  We promptly moved the patio swing in there and it is oh, so inviting!  SHADE!  The number one commodity in Arizona in the summer!

We are approaching summer temperatures, so my petunias, lobelia, alyssum and marigolds need to be yanked out and tossed and Vinca needs to be purchased and planted.  I plan to move some big pots in the gazebo and then it will be complete.  Ahhhhhhhh.

After watching Food, Inc. last night, I’ve decided to DEFINITELY plant some veggies!  I pulled all my carrots this morning and there is enough for dinner!  Yahoo!  So no more 6’x6′ square gardening boxes.  The only two places in the yard now are two 10’x3′ areas along both side walls.  I’ve grown zucchini during the summer before and I plan to again… and pumpkins.  I’ll keep you posted.

The 2nd Gerber Daisy has Raised its Sleep Head

Gerber daisies take FOREVER to bloom.  Seriously, it’s only about 4 to 5 weeks, but the anticipation of a burst of beauty makes it seem longer.  WAY longer.  Back in March, my first Gerber daisy bloomed and was taken down by a wet towel thrown by a child that I gave birth to.  Unbelievable.  Then a bud appeared…. the promise of life anew….weeks later she opened her drowsy eyes and lifted her hot pink head.  FINALLY!  (Yes, I dragged my son out there to witness the beauty and miracle of nature to increase his appreciation of God’s hand in our backyard. He didn’t actually thank me, but I felt the thankfulness emanating from his little heart.)

The exceedingly good news is that there is already another bud forming….. so in May, I’ll have continual hot pink yummy eye candy to behold.

April is so wonderfully warm and inviting in Phoenix…. leads to the illusion that summer might linger off in the distance a while longer!  Makes me want to sit in the backyard swing and forget the laundry, the homeshooled youngin’s, cooking, cleaning, carpooling, etc., etc., etc.

The name of the following flower is still a mystery.  Please share your wisdom in the comment section concerning the name of said purple flower.

That is all.  Hasta luego.

Holy Buried Sock, Batman!

My sweet husband helped some friends move and they graciously sent him a gift card for Lowe’s…. AND HE GAVE IT TO ME!   Better even still…. for FLOWERS!  Whooooo HOooooo.  I have the sweetest husband.  (Side note: Rick is leaving for 5 days for Flight Safety next week, not by his choice, but still, it’s the busiest week of the kids’ lives with someone needing to be driven somewhere every single day… multiple times….. HENCE the kind flower gesture. Sort of a peace offering.)

I spent 60% of the money on lasting flowers and 40% on winter flowers… we live in Arizona, in case you are confused about winter flowers…. they are most likely YOUR summer flowers(marigolds, lobelia, sweet William, pansies, allysum, petunias, etc.)   I’ve been impatiently waiting for cooler temperatures… which still aren’t arriving.  It is about 85* F and it’s NOON, for goodness sake…. three days before NOVEMBER.  Alas, I could wait no longer with the gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

So the photo above is a round flower spot that has been empty dirt all summer. So I was visualizing a colorful array of blooms, and then I threw in some height with the purple grass and found my bird feeder and assigned bird-food-duty to my youngest son.  BUT, before all that happened, I was turning the soil in all my dirt patches around the yard and in this particular spot I dug up four socks.  Perfectly good socks.  Socks that all belonged to my youngest son, bird-food-boy.  Socks that he took off to jump on the trampoline.  Socks that our dog found neglected in the backyard… and so the DOG put them away.  If only my children were trained so well.  But no.

The backyard is clean and tidy for the first time since April.  It’s wonderful to look out the kitchen window and see color again.  Blessed relief.  Here’s a few more peaks:

Below is fondly called the ketchup and mustard flower bed.

These don’t show up that great, but it is a pale pink hibiscus with trailing yellow vines hanging out of the bigger pot.  The small pot is dark purple pansies and royal blue lobelia, my all time favorite flower.

And last but not least, the Sweet William on the patio table.  We can finally eat outside again!  Yippeeee!  I love winter.