Make-Do Centerpiece and BOY I'm busy!

Friday night (I can't believe it's almost Friday again!!!) I had a girls night out clothing swap for my birthday.  I had run to Walmart that day to get gardening supplies and my table was a mess.  When I got home, I shoved my pansies in a red cake pan and placed it on my lazy susan with my new watering can and my white bird salt & pepper shakers... it was an instant centerpiece!  I found some gardening themed napkins in my "paper products for tablescapes" box (doesn't everyone have a boxed labeled that?) and added a bowl of strawberries for additional color.  At least it LOOKED like I put some effort into table decorations!  I think the table actually turned out pretty cute.

I feel old... I only put four candles on the cake and I ran out of air after three! HAHA!  I guess I just waste all my air blah, blah, blahing all the time!

This week I've spent a lot of time outside working on my yard.  I dug a 5 gallon bucket's worth of some sort of bulbs/grass/flowers/things out of this little corner garden spot and planted two tomato plants, a bell pepper plant and some carrot seeds.  I've never had any luck growing things from seeds, so we'll see what happens.  I'm debating on getting more tomato plants since Walmart had them for .50.  I'd love to bottle tomatoes this year since I buy canned tomatoes by the case.

I also dug giant piles of weeds and bushes and grass and rocks out of all the flower beds in my front yard.  Pics of those will be coming soon.  It's been a ton of work, but my yard is slowly coming together!

This was my birthday/Mother's Day present to myself!  I LOVE it!  I would spend all day and night on my swing if I could!  I have missed having a swing the last few years and it is so nice to have one again!  There is nothing better than sitting outside and swinging!  It's right next to my happy-place patio and right where I can keep an eye on the kids in the yard.  I basically chose the spot to put it by setting it where the grass was already dead! LOL  It took Nina and I about 4 hours to put it together.  30 minute assembly time?  Yeah right!

I have discovered that I LOVE hanging laundry on my line... not just because it saves money and my clothes smell delicious, but I love the slow pace and quiet of hanging laundry on my line.

Standing outside in the warmth while feeling the cool laundry in my hands and hearing the birds chirp in the yard brings me peace and makes me slow down and reflect on things.  It's a beautiful thing.

This area was a lot of work to clean up and it's still a work in progress, but I'm really enjoying my make-shift patio.  This had been a carport with gates on either side, but I got rid of the gate to the back yard and it really opened up the yard.  The charcoal grill was left with the house and we used it for the first time last week.  I'm inexperienced with charcoal (as in I've never used it in my whole life) and it was an experience.  I didn't buy lighter fluid for it and we were bbqing on Sunday which means I couldn't just run to the store.  It took some googling and trial and error, but we got it started!  The food came out delicious!

The fire pit was a birthday gift and it's going to get A LOT of use this summer!  I can't wait to keep working on this patio... I will be planting something (I can't decide on flowers or herbs) on the side of it next to the fence and I'll be keeping my eyes out at yard sales for chairs to make it look pretty.  For now our old camp chairs work and I feel good about the progress I've made.  It's been a lot of hard work, but I envision this to eventually be like an outdoor living room.  Below is the picture of what it looked like when I moved in.

Nice, right?  There was so much to haul off and clean up!  You can see why I'm proud of the progress we've made!  My new house keeps me busy-busy-busy, but I love seeing things get accomplished!