Garden Update {part 2}

My Bag Garden. From the left- corn, zuchinni, watermelon, cucumbers. Some were purchased, but most were traded or given.

From the top-- mulberry tree (a gift from a neighbor), watermelons in the bag (gift from a friend), cherry tomatoes (gift from my Aunt who is also a neighbor), sweet potatoes and golden potatoes that sprouted in my kitchen while waiting for me to eat them. I planted them instead.

Beach Cheap tip-

Restaurants buy their food in bulk, and sometimes this leaves them with an abundance of 5-gallon buckets. The green buckets above once held dill pickles. I asked the restaurant manager if I could get the buckets before they were tossed into the dumpster (for free, of course). I not only saved money, I also reduced the amount of garbage going into our landfills.

I drilled some holes into the bottoms before filling with soil and planting.

Some zuchinni.

Some squash.


My garden. Complete with little black squirrel repeller!

Garden Update {part 1}

Here it is. My Beach Cheap Garden. I ran out of room in my raised beds and started adding pots and buckets. In addition to my concrete-block herbs, I now have rosemary and thyme in the clay pots. Aloe in the white pot.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my dill and peppermint. I love them both.

An up-close look at a gorgeous chives bloom.

My tomatoes, which are currently being attacked by hornworms. Every day, I transform myself into Lainie the Hornworm Killer, at least once, sometimes twice.

And my yummy-to-the-tummy Box-O-Lettuces. We've been harvesting and eating the outer leaves since we got these guys in February. You can see that by the super-long stems. We lost the red leaf a couple of weeks ago. So sad. The sap has started running now, and I expect they'll bolt soon. But we've had months of delicious salads, so I'm not complaining.

Beach Cheap tip-

Grow foods that you already eat. And if you're limited on space, choose the veggies that are pricier in the store. That's why I chose to grow bell peppers and tomatoes. We love them, and they're quite expensive.

My Crafty Side

has been showing itself lately.

I keep my calendars and daily notes in a standard one-subject notebook that I bought at WalMart. But the covers are usually not my taste.

I found this gorgeous fabric on sale at JoAnn's and sewed a notebook cover. Now I can buy the cheapest ugliest notebook and it will be beautiful!

On the Dave Ramsey plan, we're supposed to shop with cash only, and keep said cash in envelopes. After 18 months on the plan, I still have not implemented the envelope system because I fear losing cash and coins from the envelopes. I needed a zipper! So I took an old shirt that my Nan (grandmother) had given me and made a really cute change purse. It's wide enough for the bills to lay flat (this was very important to my "Monica Geller" side). And my pennies are safe.

Beach Cheap tip-

(adapted from Dave Ramsey)

When you spend cash rather than swiping your debit card, you spend less. Yes, I know, I doubted, too. But when I finally implemented Dave Ramsey's envelope system, I spent less money. At the beginning of the month, take your monthly grocery budget in cash. Put it in your envelope/change purse. When you run out of money, stop spending. So simple. But it really works- because it hurts to spend cash. It is actually painful to part with cash money. Try it. It'll totally change your spending.

My Garden

My two raised beds. I lined the ground with wet newspaper, then filled with soil. I reused the wood from a broken fence panel. On the right are squash, zuchinni, onions and garlic. In the left box are peppers, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, onions and garlic. The cinderblocks are filled with basil, peppermint, dill, chives, and oregano.

My box-o-lettuce. I planted romaine, buttercrunch, bibb, red leaf, and lakeshead along with some swiss chard. YUMMY! Ben frequently requests "the best salad in the world."
I'm planning to move the box indoors when the weather heats up, hopefully keeping the lettuces from bolting.

Here's a better view of the oregano and brussels sprouts. They're doing fantastic. I'm really excited, ya'll; this is the first time I haven't killed everything I've planted! WooHoo!

Love at First Sight

I saw this darling parked in front of Goodwill on Saturday evening. We were on our way to my Mother-In-Law's birthday party, and I squealed when I saw her. My wonderful husband immediately turned into the Goodwill parking lot so that I could take a picture. This is my dream car. Except that I want the camper-van with the pop-top.

;D

Isn't she beautiful?

The Reason

The reason for it all...

Lyliana's Room.

I put glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, wall, and ceiling fan.

Can you see my attempt at Orion on the right?

Lyli's Christmas gift from Daddy was $20 for me to spend on her. We took a trip to the Dollar Tree, and I let her pick whatever she wanted. She chose a bunch of "babies"-- a horse, a lizard, and a monkey. I purchased some butterfly stickers for the walls.

The Jesus plaque hung in my childhood room, and I've passed it on to my daughter.

This table was a scavenging find-- it was abandoned in a storage unit. I was thrilled to get it at the storage-unit-foreclosure-sale. It's fantastic. Solid wood. Decent shape, although the insert was a bit ratty. I painted the insert with chalkboard paint, and it covered the ratty edges really well. I painted each side with leftovers from the kitchen cabinets. Lyliana really enjoyed helping me paint it. She would walk around it chanting, "Purple! Blue! Pink! Green!"

Beach Cheap tip-

Storage units often go unpaid. The storage company runs public notices in the classifieds for units they are forced to foreclose on. Then the company sells the contents of the units. You can pick up some terrific finds this way. Check the classifieds in the Beaches Leader for ads.

And the tent. I used the curtains from our Live Oak house and a hula hoop. I was going for a private nook for reading and playing quietly on the princess rug. Lyli, however, has no time for quiet reading, so it is now a sleeping-place for all her "babies."

A few pictures...

We have an office space! With room for my favorite books, sewing machine, crochet and knitting projects, and pictures. YeeHaw!

Our own bedroom! With some of my very favorite books (way up high out of toddler reach) and some paper lanterns that I got on sale from Target. I love the "we're on vacation" feeling.

We even have room for my records and record player.