A Wee Bit of Gardening

I bought a very pretty hardy Azalea last weekend and finally found a moment today to get it in the ground. I would wait a little longer until I'm sure there won't be anymore frost, but because the kitties also find the plant so appealing, I've had to keep it out on the screened back porch anyway.

I decided to plant it outside the living room window on the opposite side of the driveway so we could see it all the time. Before I got outside though, I didn't really realize how bad this area was.
The whole area is covered in dead leaves, weeds, dead weeds, ugly shrubs and dead ugly shrubs. haha



So I started pulling out all of the bad stuff, and ended up working for quite a while just to clear out the area in front of 3 sections of the fence. A good start, I guess. Unfortunately, though, rain was coming, so I only had time to get the Azalea planted and mulch around the immediate area. It looks a little silly right now.
But it's definitely going to look great once I get a few more plants in there and the whole thing covered in this red mulch, which is a very similar color to our roof.
All I have to say is: gardening is rough work.

It's Curtains!

I finished the curtain project today. Yay! Now I might have to take down those mini blinds because ... well, I'm not a fan. Plus the ones on the end are broken and stuck down.

Man on Fire

My fiance caught on fire. That's right. He was up at the cabin with his dad and they headed inside to build a fire in the fireplace. Well, as he stood there with his back to the CLOSED fireplace, he smelled something burning and swatted at his back, thinking it was just a spark. That's when he realized he was really on fire. Apparently the heat was enough to ignite the shirts, which maybe had some oils or grease on them to make them more combustible.

Here's his undershirt after the fire.


And here's his overshirt.

I could have cried when I saw this. Probably the scariest thing that's happened in recent memory for me. Luckily, Chris is a quick thinker and threw open the door and jumped off the stairs onto the ground. He rolled around, trying to extinguish the flames. But something they don't tell you when they teach you stop, drop and roll is that rolling hurts like hell. You're rubbing the ground into open wounds. So he said that was the worst part.

But he didn't even go to the hospital until the next day. They give him some burn medicine and he got lots of bandages and gauze, so I get to play nurse and try to get my patient feeling better again. I'm just so thankful he's ok. But I'm so not letting him play with his father up at the cabin anymore. haha jk ... maybe ...

Front porch curtain project

I went back to Christmas Tree Shop to get more shades to turn into curtains, and hit Michael's on my way back and got some brown and green ribbon to jazz them up a little. They're really starting to come together.I added the ribbons to the ties around the base.

The Guest Room Makeover

Another room is showing some real progress here at the Capers. Every day we get closer and closer to living in our home, not just the old house of some elderly couple. haha Okay, so let's remember what the guest bedroom looked like earlier this year.
In spots, the wallpaper was hanging off the wall and had been taped up with clear packaging tape. All the trim was once white but now looked yellow from aging. And the giant rug with the hole cut out for the floor vent left something to be desired.

Here is the new room. I painted the ceiling, the walls, the trim, took out the rug, cleaned the curtains, rearranged everything ... you get the idea. I've been working hard.

Here are the awesome floating shelves that I bought with birthday money from Aunt Lynn.


Switched out the switch plates. lol
Moved the bed to the far wall.

Bought 2 new baskets made out of recycled Chinese phone books.

And found a spot for the bulletin board my mom gave me.


Definitely making some good progress on this room. It doesn't scream little old lady anymore, although it certainly doesn't say finished product, either. But that wallpaper was such a pain to remove that I am so happy with how it turned out.

Chris and I had to tear off the old wallpaper inch by inch, but the actual paper came off and left the backing on the walls. So the whole thing was left with a "fuzzy" feeling. It was weird and not pretty. We purchased some sealent to cover this weird wallpaper backing, so we were left with what looked like a mostly normal wall. Then we had to prime, and then paint. And that was just the walls. Good thing this is a labor of love, right?

Plants in bloom

My tiny plant project continues. It started out with two leaves on each stem, and now most of them have 3 or 4.
The front of the house actually looks really cute this time of year.
One the daffodils I planted last fall has finally made an appearance.

I planted this weird thing too, but I can't remember what it's going to be. lol It looks like scallions right now. haha

Tulip?

I've got something sprouting up with the hyacinths now. Not sure what it is yet, either. Tulips also? (That's my default guess).

I love Christmas Tree Shop

Along with Home Goods, Christmas Tree Shop is one of the greatest stores for fun home decor items at awesome prices. Here are a few of my finds today.


First, this adorable pillow for $7. I bought it for the guest room, but it's so cute I think I could put it in any room in the house and it would look great. Too bad there was only one left.
Next, I found some cute curtains. Actually, they were tie-up shades, but I'm in the process of reworking the ties to make them tab-top curtains for the front porch. I have more to do, obviously, but here's a preview. The fern print looks great against all the wood on the porch.



This lantern was a whopping $4.

Cute colorful rug to cover the cord running up to the new lantern. (Ignore the rest of the junk in this picture. haha I'm working on that.)

Candle holder with sea shells on it. Also about $4.

And a new mirror to go with the cabinet Chris and I bought at Home Goods. It has pretty much the exact same pattern on it as the cabinet's mirror-front drawers. What a find! And only $5. (Can you tell how excited I am about this store's fantastic deals?)


I also found this quilted lunch pail for $1.50. It's even lined so that it's easy to wipe clean. :-)
I got a couple colorful candle holders, too, but you'll have to wait to see them once I get the guest room put back in order. Which I guess I should be doing right now ...

Home Goods find

Chris and I went to Home Goods today to use the gift card I received as a birthday present from Dave and Lisa. There was a lot of really neat things there, (I debated for so long that Chris declared I have serious issues when it comes to making decisions), but we decided to go with this fantastic piece. It has these aged mirrors on the front of the drawers and doors, glass knobs, and really intricate painting and staining. And now, I not only have my inspiration piece for decorating the dining room, (can't you just imagine the chandelier I'm going to get to pair with this thing?) but we also have the perfect place to store Chris's mom's nice china.

Guest room updates

I finally finished the walls in the guest room. The color is this really nice lavender color with a little bit of a gray undertone. And it actually covered the trouble spots pretty well. It's certainly not perfect, but I'm happy with it. Next step: painting the trim.

And I did all this with no thanks to the kitties, who have been intensely curious about what I'm doing in their bedroom. Below, you can see Shadow's curiosity in flat white ceiling paint ... all over the counter.


Here, Oreo is doing his part to hold down the fort whenever I take break. What a sweetheart.

Brotherly love

Chris and I always have my camera ready in case the kitties do something cute. Here are a few such moments that we've been able to capture. The boys enjoying one another's company.
On the left is Shadow. The butt to the right is Oreo.

Wedding Website

I just started getting a wedding website together for Chris and I. Since we have nothing planned yet, it's not very informative. lol But I had fun filling in the information, so it should be pretty funny and entertaining. The site is:

www.theknot.com/ourwedding/ChrisDolen&CallieWorsham

Once we start getting things decided, I'll put it on this site to help guests planning to attend the wedding. For now, just enjoy the commentaries and pictures. :-)

Peeling Back the Layers of Our Guest Room

So Chris helped me tear down wallpaper in the guest room. It was too gueling a task to be tackled on my own, and luckily, I have a fabulous husband to humor me on my DIY adventures. For the most part it came off ok. But then there were the trouble spots like this one.


We even found old old wallpaper underneath the stuff we were tearing off. Maybe that's why the most recent stuff wasn't sticking very well. At most of the seams, it was peeling back. There was even one section the previous owners had "patched" with clear packing tape. Awesomesauce.

But mostly, it looks like this, which is smooth enough to seal, prime and then paint. Looks bad now, but it's going to look great soon. :-)

Also, I decided I wanted to move the dresser into the closet in the guest room, but unfortunately, this little piece of wood is in the way. We're not sure if we can rip it out or cut it or what. Any suggestions?