My Joyful Garden

Today we cleaned up the side porch. Gathering up all my garden tools, I realized that I needed a place for them. Continuing with my new home-life motto of a place for everything and everything in it's place, I decided to keep them in a old planter pot. A little plain and boring you say?...



How about a little apple green spray paint?



A little better but now for the final touch, a label that gives me a visual reminder of what belongs in there.



Yep, that's it! And pretty cute I have to say. I will joyfully put my tools up now.



And I know you are wondering what is up with that old beat up red toolbox. It's my herb garden. My mother had set the old girl out for the scrap metal guy but I snatched it up before he got there. I think the stand it's sitting on came from her too. I love it and it brings me so much joy.



I have a set of hummingbird feeders right outside of my kitchen window. I love to drink my morning cup of coffee while watching them buzz around. This past week, my old-new to me camera came in so I was able to get a few shots of this mornings' visitors.



Here is my black headed with purple band guy...at least I think he's male. They are usually the ones with more vibrant colors.



What joy God's simple things give us when we take time to enjoy them.



"Be joyful always" 1 Thessalonians 5:16

First Veggies from the Garden

After much anticipation, the children were finally allowed to pick a few zucchini.



For the first batch of fresh picked zucchini, I also cut up a variety of other store-bought veggies.



I sautéed with a little olive oil and then added to butter-y noodles. Yum!



And a couple nights later, I sautéed another batch of just zucchini in olive oil and garlic salt. I couldn't keep the kids out of it!



One morning, I looked inside a zucchini bloom and found four bees hard at work. It looks like one is being the look out. Probably having to look out for...



a menacing cat. Nah, look at that sweet face. He is enjoying the veggie garden just as much as we are.



Having your own garden is so worth any effort that you put into it. Not only do we love the freshness of the veggies but also enjoy watching everything grow. What do you have planted in your garden?

Cream of Condensed Soup shortcut

Have you ever started banging pots and pans around for dinner time only to find out that you do not have the required canned Cream of xxxx soup? Well that happens to me sometimes always and I loathe going to the grocery store, especially just one item. Hubby is out of town so I couldn't send him. Hmmm...what to do. Shouldn't there be a substitute out there somewhere? Ta-da, there is! And this recipe that I found on cooks.com is a dry mix. And I had everything in the pantry to make it, score 2!

So here it is:

2 c. dry low-fat powdered milk
3/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. chicken bouillon crystals
2 tbsp. dry onion flakes
1 tsp. basil leaves
1 tsp. thyme leaves
1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine all and store in airtight container. To make cream soup, combine 1/4 cup of the dry mix and 1 1/4 cups cold water. Stir until thickened over medium heat. This is the equivalent of 1 can of soup.

I used one of my canning jars to store the dry mix and made a cute simple label. I didn't have time to do anything more to the label since the kids were in and out crying, "We're hungry."

Conclusion: It worked. Perfect, no. It's not as creamy as the canned variety but it worked in a pinch so I will keep it in the panty for next time the kids are crying "We're hungry" and I have everything to make dinner except the cream of chicken soup.

Reduce, Reuse, and RECYCLE

So while I'm supposed to be cleaning today, I start a new project... But really it fits in with cleaning, organizing, etc, right? At least that's what I will keep telling myself...and hubby.

Recently, I've been reading a lot and realizing the importance for me of labeling (I forget things very quickly) and a place for everything, everything in its place. With that, I decided to put labels on our recycling bins. Yes, I could just slap some file folder labels on there but that just wouldn't be fun... and remember, I am avoiding the act of cleaning.

First, I cleaned off the fronts of the bins. No, not the inside, just the outside, what fun would that be?
Then, I find a font I think looks the part. I already had this one downloaded (Rockwell) but I always go to dafont to look for the perfect font. Using my Cricut and the SCaL (Sure Cuts a Lot) software, I cut out my bin labels out of vinyl that I buy at Oh My Crafts.
What a pain it is to pull each letter off and place on the bins, getting the correct letter spacing! Am I right? So I have found using Duck's Peel & Stick Clear Laminate does the trick. I cut out a piece to cover the wording. Peel the laminate backing off and press over the word. Gently rub over the letters for good adhesion.
When pulling the laminate off your cutting mat, the vinyl letter backs will stay. Or they should, if not you can press them down a little.

Place the vinyl sticker you just made onto your bin. I use a tongue depressor to rub over the letters but you can use really anything.

I found that when pulling the laminate off, it worked best when I pulled it straight back on itself. The letters seemed to stay better on the bin.

Ta-Da!



A place for everything and everything in its place!