Hands in the dirt, head in the clouds...

No, my house didn't blow up or mysteriously expire in a wall of  flame. I'm still here, working my butt off to make this place shine...and perpetually sending dark glares over toward my other half - who is slowly getting back on the home improvement wagon. I sure wish he'd hurry! 

 As far as progress goes, there has been some. Adam built a couple of boxes to add to our garden, and we ended up with the biggest 'cherry' tomatoes I've ever seen! They're an heirloom 'Chocolate Cherry' variety.

 As well as mammoth cherry tomatoes, I had room to branch out - as well as the usual tomatoes and peppers, I put in some asparagus, and plan to put in bunches more. There are purple brussels sprouts out there confusing folk, who ask about my 'tall cabbage.'

I planted lots of viney space-hogging things outside the beds like sugar baby watermelons, zucchini for miles and ground cherries. Ground cherries are a weirdo old-timey plant that produces little golden tomatos in husks. They taste like a sweet, pineapply sinful thing. Grow some. Make a pie. You'll dig it.

 I planted cucumbers and canned pickles until I couldn't stand it anymore. Apparently, Ball makes a pretty good pickle mix - and I'm getting all of the credit! :P I mainly planted what other people wanted me to make for them...does that make me a green-thumbed masochist?

Other things in jars: watermelon syrup, pickled shallots, apricot jam, salsa verde, tomatoes and scotch bonnet pepper jelly.

I restored an old floor lamp that we hauled home from Tennessee with our previous roommate and his earthly belongings. The glass bits are a caramel swirled custard slag glass...they're UV reactive! The eggplant purple shade works really well with the eerie green tinge of the glass. I had to buy a new UNO socket for the lamp, and an adapter for the shade - which I found on clearance at Menard's. All in all, my 'free' lamp cost about $40. Win!

As far as future projects, I'm working on some upholstery stuff. I want to finish painting the living room. Finish the walls and put up a ceiling in the dining room. And refinish those two floors before the cold weather happens. Shiny floors = happy me. :) I want to LIVE in my house!