Slowly our garden is returning to normal here at Val & Lori's. We harvested our first peppers today. Well, really, I'm not sure you can call it a "harvest" when it's just 2 peppers, but you get the idea.
Looks like we will have a bumper crop of tomatoes (oh joy) and the peppers are just going crazy.
These plants are still tiny (as you can see in the bottom photo) yet producing these super-sized peppers. Just wait until they grow up. Gotta love it !
phewww. It has been a seriously busy couple weeks here at Val & Lori's. Aside from the new carpet, new overhead lighting, and outside building painting - I just had the windows washed and the air conditioner serviced. And Val installed this new shelf in the craft area above the closet. (He did ask ahead of time if any more fish had to die for this project- I knew he was catching on).
Val & I also spent some time in the garage cleaning some things out, and now we are trying to get our garden back in order after we had to cut much of it out for the building painting.
Seems like this list of accomplishments should be much, much longer since we've been going full steam for a while now. But I guess it just seems that way.
Now I need to have someone come into the yard and cut out the stumps from the huge Schefflera's we had to cut out. So sad as they were georgous plants. They were just getting to big and pushing against the walls, so it's for the better. sniff sniff.
The building painting is in full swing here at Val & Lori's. It's been a bit of a pain getting in & out of the garage, and trying to drive around the crane. And of course heartbreaking that we had to cut out much of our garden. The plastic over the windows is maddening as there is no way to get the paint smell out of the house - it's baking in.
But the buildings that are done look fabulous so I think this will be worth it in the end. And I just had a "duh" moment - this is probably why I've been having headaches all this past week.
I also just got my new overhead lighting in my scrap area. Love it! At night when I turn on the new lights - it's like light shining down from the heavens. So cool !
I really don't know why I waited so many years to do all these things.
This has been a crazy week of home upkeep here at Val & Lori's. The outside of our building is being painted, so there are cranes and ladders and hard-working painters all over. We had to get our yard ready for the painting - which meant cutting out much of our garden. I'm a little hartbroken when I look at it now, but it's all for the good as the huge Scheffleras had gotten so big that they were pushing against the garden walls. Then by the time we got those Scheffleras cut down, my huge daisy bushes were so beat up that they had to be cut back too.
Then I decided it was time to have our carpet replaced - finally. I'd been talking about it for years and just didn't want to deal with moving my scrap area. And now - it's done!!
The installers were fabulous and managed my over-full scrap furniture well. They only shook their heads and rolled their eyes a couple times.
See the before & after of the carpet --
I really love the new color. The old grey was very washed out. What do you think ?
More home projects coming later this week. I am having new overhead lighting installed in the craft area (fishing room). Should be fabulous when it's all done.
It's been rainy and a little dull & dreary here at Val & Lori's today. No complaints though as we really need the rain. It's unusual for us to get rain storms this late in the year. Soooo to brighten things up a bit - these are some recent photos from our yard.
Daisy's bloomed, the smell of Jasmine filling the air, and new veggie patch planted.
All is good here at Val & Lori's
Even Kimba & Smokey Jo-Ella are good. This was right after the neighbor dog stopped to say hi - they want her to come back. Arent' they cute?
Valentine's Day is a little different here at Val & Lori's. My Valentine believes the day is just for him --- he is named Valentine so he may have a point. So I've grown used to the day being all about my man and that's ok.
This year I was able to do something for Val that is also for me. --HA-- I made this canvas to hang in our home. Can't wait to get it hung.
And I had lots of fun making it!
Reflecting on 2009 and put together this "year in review" in photos.
We started the year off with a bang by making our own headboard. Still loving that. Didn't quite get to all the other household projects I had in mind - but there is always next year right ?
We had our first dim sum experience. Val liked the chicken feet. I swear that man will eat anything.
We met psycho squirrell - it is fascinated with my cats and wants to be friends. Either that or my cats have mastered The Force and are willing it to come to them.
We gained an appreciation for our local farmers market.
We had a bountiful year in our garden - and Val loved making dozens of jars of habanero jelly.
I got to play with my cousins at Disney's California Adventure.
And play with my girlfriends at so many different crafting events.
All in all a pretty good year. We have been very fortunate to have our health, great friends, and each other. We have truly been blessed.
It's been a great Christmas here at Val & Lori's. The house is such a mess with all the Christmas cheer we've received and we have had some georgous weather. (sorry to all you in the snow).
Val is out doing his bike ride with a new bike computer that Santa brought him. It's like a pedometer for the bike. Tells speed and distance and I don't know what else. He'll be so busy playing with the computer on that thing that he'll probably be gone half the day!
This is a beautiful poinsetia tree at our local mall. I love these trees - always think they are so pretty.
And this is our tree- we had skipped putting up a tree for 3 years since we had young cats. This year Val really wanted the tree -- soooo -- we gave it a try.
We now have a bit of electrical issues after Kimba kept chewing on the lights. At least neither of them climbed the tree and knocked it over - that's what I was most worried about.
Christmas Eve was spent with friends. Always good food and good cheer. I was in charge of desserts - Vons bakery did a good job didn't they ? And it tasted as good as it looks.
Christmas day we went to the Christmas brunch at The Odyssey, then started a marathon session of season 5 of Lost on dvd. Wow -when does season 6 start ?
Yes, it's been a great Christmas. Now -- back to reality. I think the laundry is waiting........
