Fall Planting... "Florida Style"

This pretty little bunch of flowers is called "Dwarf Ixora"  
It's a bush or shrub, and will grow as much as 10" tall.  The flowers bloom all year long here in Florida and it's the perfect new addition to my front garden.

 We just went through about three months of rainy season and all my plantings have pretty much had it. I go through this every year when Fall sets in because this Northern girl cant seem to not want to plant flowers that just don't work year round and I'm tired of replacing all my flowering plants and bulbs.  So I've chosen a bush that will spread wide and high and is Florida friendly.  It might even give us a bit of privacy in the front of the house. 
As you can see everything was fading and it was looking quite messy.

  
Yes, I pulled it all but did keep the tubers and bulbs to replant in the back yard.  That large space always has room for one more.

  After planting I put on a weed preventing mixture and plant food then covered the entire area of dirt with Pine Bark Nuggets.
The smell of these nuggets was so good,, I'm thinking of putting an open bag into the house for the scent..(no it's only a thought).

 There, look how neat and tidy.... Why didn't I do this 5 years ago?  I still need to get a few more bags of the pine nuggets to finish the area but  the bushes can't grow fast enough for me.. hopefully they will get taller than the suggested 10"s ?

(The little green plastic circle on the bottom right of the photo below is a termite killer.. we get them bad here and the bug guy comes to replace them every few months)

Another day and I finished the Pine Bark with the addition of a few yellow Marigolds. (that's the Northerner in me)

 It seems when one owns a house the projects never end.  Now I want to replace the brick that lines the street side of the area.  Something pretty and tall to keep the soil from running out into the street when the rain pours down.

That is for another day!

The weekend is almost here and I want you all to enjoy yours! 

Fertilizer Friday 

(((HUGS)))

Sweet Potato Pound Cake... yummm!

My copy of Country Living Magazine came this week and I found a really tasty recipe using Sweet Potatoes to make  pound cake.  

I had to try it! 

(please excuse the drip marks on the page, things got messy)

The recipe was easy. The only thing that took a bit of time was cooking the sweet potato since I did not have any left over in the fridge.

 The only changes I made to this recipe was a sugar drizzle on top after it was baked and cooled.  Although I love Pecans my family does not. So I left them off. The next time I make this cake I think I'll make it for me and add the pecans chopped and folded into the batter.. that would really make me smile.

 This was indeed a pound cake since the batter was very dry and heavy.

It was a hit!

Before anyone could devour my cake I sent a piece to one of my neighbors. He is a senior and lives alone so I'm always sending what ever new food  I might bake or cook over to him.

After the pound cake was finished I went out to run some errands, was gone about an hour or so and this is what I came home to.

 

 "My family gives this recipe an A plus"

Thrifty Groove Friday 

Happy Hour Projects 

Dont be afraid to paint your kitchen counter top....

 I'm back home from my week with my #1 daughter, helping her with quite a few projects in her new home.
We had such a good time and it was fun for both of us, but today after getting up at 4am to drive home "I'm tired" so I played with my cats (the Mr. was home with them for the week) did a few chores that needed tending then simply sat down for the first time in a week.
I have several projects on the camera but I'd like to tell you about the one that made such a difference,  the kitchen counter top.
  
Like most of us, Cyndi looked at the bones of the house before buying.  Her home was move in ready and the layout is perfect for her needs and had new paint in each room and it's just beautiful.  The one thing that had to go was the kitchen counter.  I'm sure the previous owners knew the laminate counter was in need of help so they did a faux granite paint and it was downright horrible.  I told Cyndi of how I painted mine some 3 years ago and how well it's held up so off to the HD to pick out the paint.

Click to see how I did mine.

The preparation for the paint was easy.. just sand to remove the shine... 

 Then roll on the paint. 

Cyndi's first choice of color was nice but once it was applied we had to laugh, it was the exact color as her cabinets and wall paint.  Looked nice but odd.  So we went back to the store and bought a nice cool Olive color.  It's perfect.  We cheated a bit, the directions said to wait 3 days if a second coat was needed but after about 6 hours it was dry to the touch so we went ahead and put it on... not one problem!
Oh, the best part, the quart that did her counters cost $12.99.  Can't beat that!  She also painted a bar top that is not shown in the photos.

 For those of you who need to get rid of old laminate but were afraid to paint it... here is the box.  New counter tops are so expensive and this paint is a quick fix until the budget allows this major purchase. You can take my word for it.. after 3 years I have not one peel or knife mark on mine.  This stuff is wonderful!

 The Olive color is really nice with the creamy color in her kitchen. Look how smooth and shiny it is.  My 3 year shine is still going strong  after many scrubs.

 Cyndi called this afternoon and asked, "Can I put my stuff back on the counter, It's dry".  "No", I said. You will have rings and marks with weight on the paint.  "It needs to cure the three days".  Lets hope she listened, but then knowing Cyndi, I know she will leave it alone the proper amount of time.

Cyndi chose a glass back splash with a mixture of colors that included Olive but will wait for me to return next month to give her a hand with it.  I'm thinking of going to her house for Thanksgiving.

Will be her first holiday in the house so we want to make is special.

I don't have to cook, that is special enough for me!

Ok, back to doing nothing the remainder of today. I have several movies on the DVR that I need to catch up on.

Bye all! 

 Work In Progress Wednesday

Under $100. Link Party 

Make it Pretty Monday 

Overflowing with Creativity 

An old closet into something wonderful....

After seeing how I built my master closet,  (Click here to see how I made my closet)  my daughter asked me to help her turn her old, long, ugly, dark closet into a space that was modern and functional. She moved into her new home just 4 months ago and wanted to update a few areas,  So I drove the 4 hours to her home in Jupiter with the intentions of working on her closet for about 4 or 5 days... well we started measuring the day I arrived, went to the HD and had a wonderful man cut the wood within the hour we arrived in his lumber department.  Most ask us to come back tomorrow to pick up the cuts.

I wanted you all to see the "before and the after"... somehow Cyndi and I had the energy and got right to it and in 2 days had the last coat of paint on.  

Cyndi's garage turned into our workshop and we primed, painted and put on the L brackets needed to install each cut of wood.  I just love seeing a woman with power tools! The best part Cyndi learned how to use the tools and how to create such a space.  I see her tackling other projects in the future with confidence.

During the process of getting each piece of wood needed we used Liquid Nails to hold them into place and as most of you know, Liquid Nails is a yucky brown color and poor Cyndi was getting nervous thinking the project was not going well and it was always going to look this bad. I tried to calm her and told her it was just in the stages of being built and not to worry. A good coat of paint will take care of all the problems.

We both worked a steady 5 hours at one point and had the need for a sugar rush.. what better than mini cupcakes.  Lets see, each would be 1/4 of a full size cupcake so we can eat two now and two later....Or all now and nothing later.. building will burn all those calories, Right?

My girl is a single homeowner now and is learning so many new ways to spruce up her home.  It's work all by yourself but she is loving the new adventure in her life.  It warms my heart to watch her work so hard these past few years to get to this point.

A full night to let the final coat of paint cure then Cyndi can have the pleasure of putting all her clothing into the new space... but she is still debating weather or not to put the doors back on.. she likes how open it all is?  Notice we put some molding around the closet outside wall.. it was the added touch!

We did it!

After three days my daughter started putting her clothing back into her new space and I'll tell you, she is so happy with the results.

This will be my third closet remodel and I'm getting pretty good at it.  If I was younger and a bit healthier I just might go into business building closet spaces.  

My job here is done and I'll be going home in a few days. Now I'm planning my next remodel, my own downstairs powder room.

This photo came off Pinterest and it's perfect for my space.

l

 I think I first need to measure and buy the ready made doors then work around them to create the look... that remains to be seen.

Today is my girls birthday and this day makes for a perfect week with her...

"Happy Birthday Sweetie" 

Flaunt it Friday 

Happy Hour Friday 

Thrifty Things Friday 

Inspiration Friday 

Tickled Pink 

Overflowing with Creativity 

Make it Pretty Monday 

Junk That Matters 

POWW Link Party 

Blistfull Whites Wednesday 

  Savvy Southern Style

 Ivy and Elephants

Create and Share 

Whoa Horsey,,,,Saddle in the Attic... ?

 It's amazing the things and belongings some people forget about?

As I said in a previous post my daughter bought a new house (new to her) and yesterday we went up in the attic to see how big the space was and when I beamed the flash light.. Whoa,  there was a really nice Saddle just laying in the dust.

Once I got up the ladder and tried to bring it down all I could do was drop it from the opening in the garage ceiling.  Splat it went to the floor. It was heavy!

This morning I took out some oil and gave it a good rub down and amazingly enough it's in perfect condition.

The saddle has a number and every part of the leather is smooth and the construction is intact.. but then what do we know about saddles?

  It's not strange to find a saddle because this area of Jupiter, Fl is full of horse ranches and many people ride the trails and woods around here.

Whoa, I think I might need a horse to keep such a saddle!

Since neither of us ride this might just be an Ebay item.. 

If anyone out there in blogland knows anything about horses or saddles please leave a comment. We would love to hear from you and it will give us a starting point as to what we might do with it?

I'm linking this post up to

Cowgirl Link Up Party 

Primp your Stuff 

Alphabet Thursday 

Little man is now a proper "Robin"

 Just in time for Halloween! 

I told the story in a previous post how my little grandson and his brothers played costume and while the older boys had proper Batman and Spiderman costumes little Alex had the left over costume parts and would dress up and tell me "I'm Robin".  I felt so bad for the little guy and after I returned from my visit to their home in OKC I went on a "Robin" costume search. 

Thinking since the Halloween costume stores were all open this time of year, I'd find Robin.  Was I wrong!
The clerks all told me "Robin is not popular anymore" and none had a Robin.  So I bought the supplies needed in the craft store and got to work making one of my own.

 The best part Robin simply wore a red shirt with black cape. It was easy enough to recreate.  Since I needed to make a large black circle I used a cooking pot to trace shape.

Used simple paper to cut a letter R Stencil  and used craft paint to create the letter and tool belt.

 As for the mask, well that was just as easy.  I bought a simple party mask and cut it to the rounded shape Robin is famous for. A Black marker to paint around the white styro showing and it was perfect.

 The costume arrived at Alex's house this week and now my little man can battle with the best of them.
He was so surprised and happy! That makes this  grandma smile.

I've been at my daughters house in Jupiter the past few days helping her build her bedroom closet into something special.  We took this large dis-functional space'

So far so good, it's working and looking good.

I love to see women with power tools!

 Another day of closet building and I'll be sure to show the reveal in a few days. Cyndi is so happy and excited to complete this special project.

More to come!

Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesday's To Do List 

Create and Share 

Wow Us Wednesday