A Long Overdue Post

Hello! I'm back from a lovely and wonderful 10 days off! 10 days of hanging around my house, relaxing and avoiding the computer at all cost. It has been wonderful! I must say that I have missed reading all of my fav blogs, but the past 10 days were just so beautiful, I couldn't bring myself to stay inside and sit at the computer!

This is going to be a very picture filled post. I promised a garden update and I have to show off my new kitchen cabinet doors! I spent many of those beautiful days outside painting these puppies and after a year of living with this (but imagine the lower cabinets painted all white):

I now get to look at this whenever I enter my kitchen:

I love them so much! They make the room so bright and cheery. The yellow is the same paint that is on the walls. Of course, the moment I had all the upper doors back on, I immediately got the urge to take off all the lower doors and paint them in the same manner and paint the drawers all yellow....then I kicked myself for not just enjoying the moment and taking in those splendid doors.
I've tried to keep the kitchen redo as inexpensive as possible, trying to reuse what I have or what my parents started with. I already have the tiles for the floor, but need to buy underlayment and staple that down (I just haven't done it yet) and though I really wanted to buy new door handles for the cabinets, I knew that wasn't going to happen - so I revamped the ones I already had! I used colored clay, baked them and sprayed them with clear sealer. Each handle is different and funky; they really add some life to the cabinets! Aren't they pretty?

***GARDEN UPDATE***

My cukes are tiny...but tasty!
And the major cucurbit section of the garden (my pumpkins, summer squash, zucchini and gourds) has exploded! Remember these picts from back in June?
Crazy explosion of twisty tangly cucurbit vines, I tell you!

Creeping pumpkin vine twining itself through the raspberry patch and is now doubling back
And my Jack-Be-Littles are everywhere! They're just so cute.
Summer squash
Zucchini

And a gourd! It's just been the last 2 weeks that these guys have popped.
You can just see the orange tops on my carrots. I pulled one out yesterday and though it was only as long as my thumb, it tasted sweet!
My Early Girl Tomatoes didn't really live up to their name...this is the first one and it's still green!
Oh, and my driveway now looks like a lumber mill puked in it! But I will be warm come winter...well me and my parents, as ¾’s of this will go to their house. Once the weather gets really cool and autumny (is that even a word? I think my brain is still on vacation), I will be a stackin'! Enjoy the day!

Postcards

I meant to post about this a while ago. Last month I participated in Andrea's summer postcard swap. I showed you my cards, now here are the others posted on my newly created inspiration board (which I have been wanting to create since seeing this, but never really had the space...until now! And yes, I know that's a wire and this is a board - of sorts, but I've always really loved cork boards)
Such talented people, such creative ideas (the long, dangly beaded mirror things are something I made - once the epoxy is 100% dry, they'll get hung in my maple tree in my front yard to reflect the sun)!And here is a little thank you Mati sent me for sending her my old polaroid after her's broke. I love this elephant! Mati, you are just so talented!
She also sent pola's of the beach and chinese lanterns. I tacked up the beach one with the ocean inspired July buttons from the Button of the Month Club
And you can see the Simply Photo postcards that I ordered from the totally talented Jen - they are very inspiring! Lovelovelove!

Oh, I am feeling very much the empowered female do-it-yourselfer. I bought this yesterday! All I really needed was the drill...my old one died a horrible death - okay it just quit working, but to me it was horrible! I didn't realize just how much I use that thing; I was so spoiled with the convenience of my old cordless drill....I never had to use hand held screwdrivers. And having to use my Dad's old, heavy electric drill that has no reverse, just to drill a few holes in a 2x4 - it was monsterous! I hated it! So, as I wandered Home Depot buying paint, screws for the kitchen cabinets and sheet rock screws, I somehow found my way into the power tools section and there, the starter kit called to me..."Tiffany, your old drill is dead, you need a new drill. Over here, look at me! You know I'm a good lightweight drill. Your Dad has one just like me! And look at the other fun stuff that comes with me...think of all the stuff you can cut through with my buddy, the circular saw! And even though you really don't need another flashlight, it's cool!" I'm telling you, that drill was very persuasive!

Well, I have the next 4 days off (got smart with my vacation time - I'm taking mostly loooong weekends - it's lovely!) and it's supposed to rain, so there will be much revamping of home interior this weekend. Or at least, that's the plan. I really need to finish one of the many home projects that I've started in the last couple years! The kitchen still needs a new floor (which requires underlaying and a pneumatic flooring stapler - which my Dad has), the kitchen cabinets need to be painted and put back on (which is where the paint and screws from HD come in, as well as my NEW cordless drill - and I did get a good coat of paint on the doors yesterday), the bedroom that I ripped walls out of last year needs to be sheet rocked (but in order to do that I need to clean out another bedroom that holds a bunch of my parents crap, so that everything in the other bedroom can be moved to create space to bring in the sheet rock). Slowly but surely, it'll all happen!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!