My cheery little cherry tomato plant

I have a cheery little cherry tomato plant! I am so happy about it. I got it over a month ago and planted it in a big pot and it has been getting a ton of sunshine on our back steps. Before I got it, my dad told me everything to do to ensure it would flourish. I got it a little early and took a chance (because I was really excited about planting/growing one), but it was still a little early and there were still a few threats of frost..risky!




Here is my cherry tomato plant on May 7th (3 weeks ago tomorrow). There were already tiny little yellow blossoms on it then.




and here it is just over a week ago:




See this cute little cherry tomato peeking out??





Look at my plant now (this was this morning):




And check out these guys!



and these!




I can't wait until they turn red!

DIY projects

Just a quick post to share my latest DIY projects.

Homemade laundry detergent! (going green)





And Homemade dishwasher detergent!






Burlap pillows I sewed on my sewing machine! (more to do with these later..and another blog post to come)





Personalized door mat:




Here's that old letter drawer I made over and turned into a jewelry display: (right now it just has rings on the bottom level-I didn't really like the look with anything else on there..but I may change it up)



And here's another shot of my paint chip artwork:



Love it!

Z

Z is for zinnia. Like the flower.



Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers. Along with marigolds. My dad always grew them in his garden and I hope he grows some this year, too. They are gorgeous.

Y

Y is for Yard Sale.



This Saturday is the big yard sale in my MIL's neighborhood. I am taking a fun class that morning with my sister and friends, but Daniel is going to participate in the yard sale for us.

I will say that every yard sale we prepare for, it seems like we are getting rid of a lot of stuff. I will say again that this year we are getting rid of a lot of stuff. I don't know how this stuff accumulates, but it just does..not sure why we were holding onto the stuff we are going to sell.

There are a lot of a books and movies, though. And recently we have been buying movies from thrift stores for $1 or less and dropping them back off when we are done (instead of always red-boxing them...hah). Now we're just adding those movies to the yard sale pile. Someone else can appreciate it while we make a buck off of it at the same time.

X

X is for X. As in 10.

This Thursday marks 10 years of the start of my relationship with Daniel. It's hard to believe that we've spent the last decade together, but then again not so hard since it feels like my soul has known him forever.

Here are some cutesy signs I found on pinterest that remind me of him and our 10 year relationship:

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Trace on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Abbie on Pinterest

And this is the transcript from a very very sweet letter that the late George Carlin wrote to his wife, that I just had to share here:

SALLYBURGER, If you took THE NUMBER OF SUB-ATOMIC PARTICLES IN THE UNIVERSE and multiplied that number times itself THAT MANY TIMES; and then added the total number of MICRO-SECONDS since the beginning of time, times itself; and then added 803—you would STILL have only the tiniest fraction of A BILLION-BILLIONTH PER CENT of the amount of love I HAVE FOR YOU. Love, your candle partner, the romantic Mr Carlin, your eternal flame.



Sweet.

W

W is for wow.


Wow I can't believe I made this awesome piece of art. I love it and can't wait to hang it up.





I got the idea from this awesome blog: http://realhousewivesofbc.blogspot.com/2011/05/paint-chip-wall-art.html
I found it while searching around on Pinterest.


I pretty much followed her instructions, except I used polyurethane instead of modge podge, and elmer's glue instead of spray adhesive.

I went to Home Depot and got my paint chips. I used the Glidden brand ones because I liked their colors more and they looked easier to cut to the size I wanted my color squares to be. I also picked up a piece of plywood, 2x2, to get that square look I wanted.

After a little math, I ended up trimming all the paint chips to the size I needed. I needed 64 squares to cover my board (it wasn't exactly 2x2ft. and the squares were cut a tiny sliver below 3x3in.) Once they were all cut to size I put them all down on my board and decided which ones I wanted where, and which ones needed to go (I had some extras).

I also painted the edges of the board with some brown paint I had on hand.


These paint chips made the cut:




I glued them down one at a time (wiping up excess glue if needed):




Once they were all glued down and dried, I covered with polyurethane:




Once that was dried, I used super glue to glue down the corner flaps of paint chips that didn't want to stick. And after that dried, I stained the whole thing, top and sides:




I let that sit for a while and then I wiped most of it off (but I think I like it more in the photo above?). I love rustic looking things:



Then I added one last coat of polyurethane once that was all dried and made some touch ups where I needed to.




I have to put the hanging hardware on the back and then hang it, but it's currently drying. It's going to look so nice once it's hanging!



Thanks again to Monica from the Real Housewives of Bucks County blog!!

V

V is for Violet.


My grandmother's middle name was Violet. One of her favorite flowers was the African Violet. Whenever I see one, it reminds me of her.

U

U is for United States of America.

or rather, united steak of America.



This past Monday, my husband Daniel decided he wanted to cook steak for dinner, in the shape of the USA, in honor of the news the world received on Sunday evening.

He bought a big steak and cut it into that shape referring to a drawn out version of the country he made. We grilled it on our foreman and had it for dinner with some freshly steamed asparagus, mashed potatoes, and macaroni & cheese. He even whipped up some of those little toothpick USA flags. It was a lot of fun seeing how much he was into the preparation of the meal.


It was really good. I ate the west coast and he ate the east coast.