Small Things . . .

Sometimes in life the "small things" really do make a big difference. Last weekend, once we finished planting our stick garden, we started in on some mini-projects. First on the list, hook up and clean the stove so that we can really start cooking!! Next, was to test the stove . . . of course in my chocoholic family that meant brownies.

On Sunday morning, Gary took a picture of Claire and I in our "real kitchen". We had spent the previous evening cleaning off all the counters, squeezing cabinet paper into the right places and aligning up all the appliances into their correct positions.

Gary was also excited to hang up the handmade sign I made for the Fairwinds this Christmas. I must say, once the sign went up I got a thrill -- one step closer to a finished place. For anyone who wants to know how I made this sign, please head over to a pinterest challenge http://lemondroplife.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/pinterest-challenge-diy-subway-sign/.

We also tested out our Ikea "I know its not the same sofa" slipcover on the love seat. It looks like the body will fit just fine with minor adjustments, but I will be calling on my friend Laurel (aka amazing seamstress woman) to help me make the pillows work. All I can say is for only $40 per slipcover, I will make it work.

Last, on the small things hit list was installation of the closet lights. This project just made Gary happy.

I am so glad to be onto small projects. It allows us time to really play with the girls and at night we can sit at the kitchen table with a hot cup of tea reading/dreaming about future plans.

A Sea Garden . . . Maybe

We have officially "weathered" our first winter of storms at Fairwinds!! Granted, I think we got off pretty easy this year with only a couple of big storms. The ability of water and wind to move the sandy yard around is quite amazing. Below is a couple of re-cap pics of the "driftwood/debris sea" that flowed across our side yard and into our driveway.

In attempting to be good stewards of our little plot o' land, we are trying to put into place some key erosion plants. The weather was beautiful this past weekend and so we were able to finish planting all the bareroot "twigs" we purchased at the Snohomish Native Plant sale. Some of these plants look really, really wimpy . . . so we are really testing their hardiness factor! We opted for key shore plants: ocean spray, snowberry, shore pines, and hooker's willow.

You need to look really really carefully at this last picture to really appreciate how many plants went into the ground ( I think its 25). Okay, so you really can't see any of the plants except the shore pines, but believe me they are present!! If nothing else, we created a pretty fun driftwood wall and path. The true test will be to see if this survives the spring or if we end up again with the first pictures posted.

WISH OUR LITTLE PLANTLINGS LUCK!

Updated Kitchen and Landscaping . . .

Yes, I know kitchens and landscaping really are not related, however that was the project task for last weekend. Now that the new floors are installed we wasted no time searching for new appliances . . . oh to have a working fridge and stove (drooling happening right now). We managed to score a great Craig's List deal on the stove, but did break down and buy a newer outlet fridge from Sears. Needless to say, they still make me happy no matter what the cost.

Our good friends, Wes and Katie, were kind enough to come back out and help with the heavy lifting and heavy kid entertaining.

Wes, holding up his end of the bargain!!

Katie and the girls having a good time!!

The fridge nicely covers up the odd wall installation done in the corner and the stove looks like it belongs. Next weekend I get to clean the stove . . . not so fun . . . and Gary gets to figure out how to connect 1960s plug to 2000 generation stove.

Girls in the "NEW" kitchen/dining room

Now onto a completely different topic - LANDSCAPING. Yes, many of you are wondering why in the world would you "landscape" an always changing, sandy pit. Our primary goal is to decrease sand erosion and to help divert storm water flow to the correct place (the road and NOT our garage). Lucky for me I have an amazing husband who can Internet search just about anything. Gary managed to find both a marine landscaping map of native plants for Washington + the yearly Snohomish native plant sale website. After comparing the 2 websites, we placed our order and picked up our plants at the Monroe Fairgrounds.

For those of you interested the plant sale is an annual event run by the Snohomish Conservation District, its a great organization with loads of great deals on native plants . . . http://snohomishcd.org/plant-sale

Baby shore pines all in a row!

Gary's new babies!!