Gettin' Fall-ified

On Friday I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to have some fall blooms to revive my dying garden and barren-looking deck. Aren't they pretty?



The asters are perennials so they went right into the garden, my first permanent fall flowers. Now it feels like fall.

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join Green Thumb Sunday every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Things No One Warns You About: Foundation Maintenance

If someone had sat me down when I was house shopping and told me EXACTLY how much maintenance is involved with an older home and how much time that would take (or money, which I don't have enough of to hire everything out unfortunately), I would have bought a condo or stayed a renter. I mean who knew how much time staining decks, cleaning gutters, repainting, gardening, caulking, changing filters, and cleaning would take? Too late now though and I've been feeling guilty because I haven't gotten many maintenance projects done this year despite having a long to-do list.

Last Sunday I decided I'd finally do one of the quicker projects on my list: sprucing up the foundation. It would be a simple project I could get done in a day and cross off my list, or so I thought. My foundation is painted, but the paint was dingy and chipping. It didn't take me long to learn that water is the major enemy of structural soundness, and where you have cracks and cold weather, you're going to have water damage. So my plan was simple: patch the chips so I can have a nice, smooth surface to repaint. Easy, right?


But first, there was the little matter of what to patch it with. I knew there are expensive tubes of concrete repair, but with the amount of patching I needed to do, these were above my budget. I searched the net and found several suggestions: concrete, cement patch, hydraulic cement, mortar, and epoxy. I went to the hardware store and after reading some labels came home with hydraulic cement. Then I started scraping the loose parts off the foundation, but the loose parts kept coming. Then I found some spots where mortar was missing. I began to panic and called my stepdad, my entire family's handyman guru, for advice. In the end he and my mom drove an hour to come to my rescue (yet again) to show me some tricks of the masonry trade.

The stepdad was not impressed with the idea of using hydraulic cement at all. He recommended Quickcrete mortar. So I learned how to mix and apply mortar. And I had lots and lots of practice at it while I tried to patch each and every little chip and indent. Having the right tools definitely helps. Undoubtedly it wouldn't have been a much longer and much more frustrating experience without those lessons!

foundation during, after patching

A mere six days, some new Drylock paint, and I don't want to count how many hours later, my foundation looks like this:

Which looks even better in person and gives me a little thrill of self-satisfaction. Until I remember that I have three more walls to go.

Get Your House Voyer Fix @ The Love List

I can't get enough home tours. I mean, what's more fun then checking out other people's cribs? Nothing, I tell you, nothing. That's why I was thrilled to find The Love List (thanks for the tip Decor8!), where for the next few weeks Jessica is hosting tours of bloggers' homes. My favorite so far is definitely Erin's Elemental Style.

Design Advice from Nestled In

In July, I profiled the new-to-me blog Nestled In. At the same time, I e-mailed Nestled In's authors and asked a few questions which they kindly and quickly answered, but I embarrassingly didn't get around to sharing until now. So without further ago, here's some design advice and thoughts from Nestled In.

How would you describe your style?
"I guess we're still trying to figure out our style together. We like to mix new and old, thrift store finds and furniture we've 'inherited' from relatives. We love old furniture because it has more character and also because of the ecological aspect of re-using things. We like simple and modern style but not minimalism. And obviously, living in Finland, we're strongly influenced by Scandinavian style of decorating. We also want our home to reflect our personalities. It's important to try to find your own style and, while taking inspiration from around you, not to care too much about trends or other people's opinions."

What is your greatest decorating challenge?
"Decorating with a small budget maybe. And for me (Katja) it's also just having the patience, not expecting everything to be finished and perfect right away."

What is your favorite spot in your home? Why?
"Mine (Katja's) is the dining area in our kitchen. There's a big window there so it gets nice light and we're growing mini-tomato plants on the windowsill (because we don't have a yard or a balcony). I have to say I'm really getting into gardening! Minna's favorite spot in our home is her office space in the hallway.


What about your home do you love the most?
That we're making it together.What do you collect? How do you display/store your collection?
"We don't really have any collections. I (Katja) have a few vintage photographs that are displayed on the hallway wall but that's about it."

What’s your favorite sources of decorating inspiration? "Blogs! decor8, Design*Sponge, Homebug, Design for Mankind and many, many more. Also, going to thrift stores and interesting shops together, art, movies, magazines and books."



And since home just isn't home without a cute kitty, I couldn't resist this pic of Lissu and these chairs. Thanks Katja and Minna!

*All photos courtesy of Nestled In.

What a Couple of Weeks: Relaxation, Jubilation and Frustration

Here's the hopefully not too long story of why I haven't posted in so long.

Kure Beach by flickr user Stephie189

First, the boy and I had a lovely vacation in Carolina Beach, North Carolina. We swam at two different beaches, had some great seafood at Michael's (de-lish!), saw someone catch a baby shark on the Pier at Kure Beach (pictured above) and even went to a snake museum (I didn't love that bit). I'd share some pictures, ones I actually took, but I left my camera in North Carolina. Hopefully it's on its way home now.

On the way home last Monday, we found out that the remains of Hurricane Ike blew through central Ohio and caused some damage and a LOT of power outages. At one point hundreds of thousands of people were without power, in fact mine just came back last night, then went out again this morning, then came back again this afternoon. Luckily there wasn't any damage to min hus, just a gutter ripped off the garage. It could have been much worse and in fact WAS much worse for many.

It was surreal going to the grocery store last night (I threw EVERYTHING out of the fridge and freezer on Monday) and seeing rows of empty shelves where the dairy, frozen food and meat departments should have been. Today as I was driving home from work I saw several caravans of utility trucks all over the city. And to those hard-working folks I have one thing to say: thank you!


The jubilation part? Well that's because my sweet Alex hasn't needed insulin in 14 days!! Apparently cats can go into remission sometimes and it's looking like Alex is one of the lucky ones. So if you or anyone you know has a diabetic pet, please know it's not always a permanent condition, but it's always worth treating. And if you have a diabetic cat, the folks at Feline Diabetes can really help.

Green Thumb Sunday: August Garden Update

Real life has been interfering with my blogging and a garden update is overdue (or so says my friend and one faithful reader, Hanna). I'm happy to oblige!

It's been so dry here, and while the month started pleasantly, the heat has returned. The garden and grass have suffered from a lack of rain. There wasn't a drop of rain for two weeks, but we did finally get a tiny bit at the end of last week. My watering routine consists of keeping the veggies and new plants alive. The more established plants and grass are on their own and it shows. My grass is brown and crunchy, and not much is blooming. The weeds, however, are still thriving, and I haven't been keeping up.

There has been some excitement recently, my winter-sown Irish Eyes Rudbeckia bloomed! Aren't their pretty lime green faces fabulous? I just love them and I take great pride in seeing anything I grew from seed bloom.

The lavender and roses are beginning their second flush of blooms, which is great because I enjoy them so much. This also gives me a second chance to clip and dry some lavender, as I didn't get to the first flush of blooms in time.

The veggie harvest this year has been GREAT! I've picked early girl tomatoes, golden girl tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes (lost the tag so am not sure of the variety), lemon cucumbers, green onions and peppers. Unlike last year, when I didn't even have enough tomatoes to feed myself, this year I've made several batches of salsa and given a dozen tomatoes away. What made the difference between this year and last? Earth boxes. Yup, the tomatoes in the garden didn't grow, didn't produce much and are half dead. The tomatoes I planted in the earth box? Still producing ripe tomatoes daily. The lemon cuke seeds I planted in the garden? Didn't even germinate. The ones planted in the earth box produced the lovely specimen above and others. I think the key is good soil and consistent moisture, something I haven't fixed in the veggie garden yet.

before and after weeding today

My side garden, thought it isn't as far along as I'd hoped, is starting to bloom. This bit is directly below my bedroom window and I wanted to be able to look out and see pretty flowers, not just rocks and weeds. Beginning last fall ,I started hauling rocks out and pulling weeds. Then this spring (maybe summer?) I planted winter-sown and inexpensive perennials. And in spite of my neglect they're starting to bloom. Here you can see Salvia, Black Eyed-Susans, Lavender, Cleome and Zinnia (the first pic in this post is also from this area).

Tomorrow we begin to see what September will bring for the garden.

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join Green Thumb Sunday every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Lazy Saturday Mornings

I love lazy Saturday mornings. The weekend stretches out ahead of me, so full of promise. Maybe I'll be productive and get some projects on the vast to-do list done. Maybe I'll just relax and unwind from the work week.

After getting to sleep in a whopping 80 minutes later than during the week (yes, I'm a little bitter I still have to set an alarm on the weekends, but my sugar kitty is worth it), I stumble in the kitchen where three impatient cats await their breakfast. Well, if I'm lucky they're waiting in the kitchen. Otherwise they come wake me up early. Usually by the time they see me at least one of them is crying as if he's never been fed before in his life. Drama kings, all of them.

After I dish out and heat up three different meals to our three persnickety felines, and give Alex his insulin shot, I catch up on my Internet reading and tune in to A&E to watch several episodes of Sell This House, my new home-improvement show fav which only seems to be shown on Saturdays.

Then I make myself something special, like muffins or eggs. On really special mornings I make French press coffee and open-faced sandwiches with Finlandia swiss cheese (mmmm...) and cucumber slices (today with homegrown lemon cukes from my garden!) and pretend I'm in Scandinavia. Ahhh...

Raahe, Finland 2004 trip

Then I'm off to see what the day brings. Hope your day brings whatever you're looking for.