Category: Home and Yard

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Lots of Summer Vegetables Available

Guest post by Louise Stratham

I wish there was a Farmer’s Market close to my house. I don’t know of any except the one downtown, and I hate to drive downtown. I end up spending an extra $10 in gas to go all the way downtown and an extra $10 to the trip for paid parking. So the cost of fresh vegetables is already $20 before I even pick out the first one.

The last time I went to the Farmer’s Market, the price of vegetables was not any cheaper than what I can buy at Kroger grocery stores. I’m not sure there is much advantage to shopping at Nashville’s Farmer’s Market other than you are supporting local farmers and local businesses rather than a big grocery store chain like Kroger and whatever farms they decide at a corporate level to buy from.

There is a little place on the side of the road that sells fresh vegetables and fresh flowers on Lebanon Road. I don’t usually take Lebanon Road to go anywhere, but when I know I am going that way, I usually stop and buy a few things. I went by there yesterday and found lots of summer vegetables. They are a little cheaper than Kroger and the owner tells me that all the produce is grown locally. So I don’t mind supporting this guy and his wife.

I tried to grow some tomato plants on my patio, but they did not produce much. The tomatoes are so small and colored funny that I ended up throwing them out. It was nice to find a fresh picked, field grown tomato at the vegetable stand. One slice of their tomato covers the entire piece of bread! So I enjoyed a fabulous tomato and mayo sandwich last night. And I’ll have another one tonight for dinner, with a couple pieces of bacon and some lettuce on top.

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Happy 4th of July

fireworks (free clip art)
fireworks (free clip art)
I sure hope you guys are having a ‘blast’ today. We have a special July 4th package deal going on where the whole house is decorated for the 4th, and we are having a huge picnic type dinner for everyone in the community too. The other local businesses like the tubing guys up river are throwing in with me and offering tubing and canoeing along with my package.

It’s kind of a bring your own fireworks type display and everyone brings a side dish too from the community. Watermelons are in the river getting good and cold and so is the beer. We always have the best time, and the house is booked solid for the whole 3 day weekend. 

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Caring For Floral Arrangements

It’s always nice to get flowers delivered to you. I love getting a big bouquet with a nice vase and a little card. I usually always get a bunch on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. If I’m lucky I also get some flowers on my birthday. This year, for Mother’s Day, I got a lovely bouquet from the kids and my husband. I love the arrangement. It has gorgeous yellow lilies and violet and lavender additions to compliment the yellow.

I want to make sure that my flowers last for awhile so I’m taking special precautions as I care for them. I’ve given them plant food and fresh water. Once the water gets dirty I’ll change it and refill the vase with clean water. I’m making sure to keep the arrangement away from any heat source as well. So even though they might look great above my television set, I don’t want the heat to age the flowers prematurely. I sprayed the flowers with a floral preservative to help keep them as fresh as possible.

I know that if I follow these precautions, my floral arrangement should last awhile and I’ll be able to enjoy them for a few weeks.

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Crafts For All of Your Left Over Shims

Shims usually come in a pack. Ever wonder what to do with all of those left over shims? Well I’ve a few craft ideas for you to use up your shim stock.

1. Make a decorative piece of wall art by gluing the shims inside of a frame.

2. Create a beautiful sunburst looking wall mirror by surrounding a circular mirror with shims. If you turn the shims so they are stacked on each other and then lay them around the mirror it will look like a star burst. Cut the shims to different lengths for each point of the star.

3. Cover a planter box side with multiple colors of shims to add some texture and pops of color.

4. Staple a few to a piece of wood to make your own picture displays with no glass needed.

5. Stack a few shims together to make a Christmas tree and paint it green and leave the bottom shim turned vertical and stain it brown. I had to add this one in because it’s so close to Christmas. We actually made this one ourselves last year. It was quite easy to do and because shims are so inexpensive we got enough for everyone in the family to make one for themselves.

Do you have any fun ideas on ways to use up those shims you have laying around or even fun crafts to do with shims on purpose?

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Never Ending Cycle of Carpet Cleaning

Lots of family and friends visiting your home is without a doubt going to bring in lots of dirt to your carpets that you worked so hard to clean just the week before. I’ll check out carpet cleaners to see if I can find someone to come and clean up this mess for me. Sometimes it’s really frustrating and can make you feel like a hamster running on a wheel over and over again never to reach an end to the cleaning.

I know I feel that way on occasion and it’s not just with the carpets. The most famous place that makes me feel this way is my children’s toy room. It seems like I can never keep it clean. I spend a good 30 minutes in the evening making sure everything is put away and nice and tidy. Then, by 9 o’clock the next morning it’s a disaster area all over again.

Anyway, it would be nice if cleaning companies offered some type of before and after service for carpet cleaning. Maybe they could come in before your big family gathering or event to get the place in tip top shape, and then return again afterwards to clean up after the big mess everyone has left behind. That would be a package I would definitely purchase.

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Free Up Your Counter Space With a Mixer Lift

Guest post by my friend Linda Bradshaw

After watching cooking show after cooking show and seeing all of the fancy gadgets they have, I’ve decided that I would like to find a mixer lift to install in our kitchen. I have one of those high quality Kitchen Aid mixers that I just love. The only thing I don’t love about it is that it takes up a lot of space on my counter. I use it all of the time but I really want a place to put it away and still make it easily accessible.

I’m asking my husband to redo one of the cabinets in the kitchen so that we can install a lift for the mixer so that it can be hidden away and then slide out and up when ever I want to use it. This way I’ll have the best of both worlds and get to use it all of the time and still have the counter space free.

I wish I would have had it earlier this year for all of the holiday baking that I did. It really would have come in handy because I barely had enough room for the mixer because my counters were covered with all of the ingredients and baking pans. I can’t wait to get it and have it installed. Hint, hint, oh husband of mine.

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Wedding Favor Bags Can Enhance Your Favors

Once you determine what wedding favors you are going to give your family and friends, your next task will be to determine how to present them. A great option is to use wedding favor bags. Wedding favor bags solve many problems. Maybe your favors are small, don’t come in packaging of their own, or don’t match your decor.

With the use of wedding favor bags your problems are solved. You prevent your guest from loosing their tiny trinkets, everyone has something to carry their favor in, and now you can add personal touches so that the favors blend in with your decor seamlessly.

Organza wedding favor bags are an elegant choice. They add a little flair and color but they still let your favor shine through because they are sheer. They are easy to enhance and embellish as well. Try adding ribbon in the colors of your bridal party or maybe a charm to the bags. Your guests will love the fine details. They are especially great to use for favors that you may have made yourself.

Wedding favor bags look great at every place setting at the reception. Choose favor bags that make a statement and impress all of your guests.

 

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What’s For Christmas Dinner At Your House?

What was for Christmas dinner at your house? Is it a repeat of the meal you had for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago or is it something completely different? I guess another question I could ask is when if your holiday meal? Do you have it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

In my family we have our holiday meal on Christmas day. We usually eat our meal in the mid afternoon around 3pm. We kind of do a copy cat version of everything we serve at Thanksgiving with the addition of ham. This year we had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, broccoli, peas, cheese sauce, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, and crescent rolls.

I know in some families they make tamales on Christmas. A family friend of mine does this and it’s a whole family process that all of the family participates in. I love tamales and would love to do this one year in our family. My neighbors always make a big giant lasagna on Christmas Eve for their holiday meal. That’s another holiday treat I would love to devour. Don’t get me wrong I love to have turkey but sometimes I wish we ate it stretched out over the year instead of all in November and December.

What did you have for your Christmas Dinner or holiday meal this year?

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I Want To Brag A Minute

Okay, I want to brag for a minute or so. I’ve been working really hard to keep my new year’s resolution to work out 3 times a week and so far I’ve been doing great with that. But, That’s not what I want to brag about. I want to brag about the fact that my kitchen has been spotless for the past 12 days.

My sink has been spotless every night before I go to bed and the dishes haven’t piled up because I do a load every night as soon as the dishwasher is full. Then in the morning I empty while I’m making myself coffee so the sink never has a chance to have a dirty dish left in it because the dirty dishes can go straight into the dishwasher as soon as we are done with them.

It has felt absolutely amazing to go to bed and wake up with a clean kitchen. I don’t know what inspired me but I hope that I can continue it because it feel s amazing. I suppose it will just take some discipline and determination to keep going and to not give up.  Why would I want to stop doing something that makes me feel so fantastic?

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Thank You Gift For My Husband

Because my husband took my out for a surprise lunch this afternoon I was thinking a great way to spoil him would be to get him something really nice from truefitt and hill. They have luxury shaving creams, pre-shaving oil, and cologne.

I know he would really appreciate the line of grooming products for men that truefitt and hill make. He’s always wanted to go to London and now he can have products worthy of London’s gentry. I know this will be a fantastic thank you gift for my husband.