This Week's Blog Post

Pink Lepidolite and Rhodonite Necklace

This is my latest necklace. The donut is pink lepidolite and the chips are pink rhodonite. The pyrite beads accent the markings of the lepidolite beautifully! Available at Miss Val’s Creations.

Magic Love Crow

I won a sweet ACEO from Stacy of Magic Love Crow in honor of Earth Day titled “take the time to smell the flowers”! This is a great reminder for me to slow down more often!!! She also included 2 of her notecards, one titled Dream and the other Smile (with an adorable baby crow). They both make me smile. J

 Stacy also included a sweet handwritten card, ladybug stickers and a set of notecards! Thank you so much Stacy! Stop by Stacy’s blog and Etsy shop. You will enjoy browsing both!!! Her unique love of crows really shows through.

Mulching Machine

Each year I use a vacation day from work in April and turn myself into a mulching machine! This year I conquered 4 yards of mulch. For those of you who know what 4 yards is like, you can sympathize with this manual labor!!!! Yes, that is a normal size wheelbarrel pictured.

When I purchased my home in November of 2008 there were only a handful of plantings on the property. My goal with the mulching was to create pretty garden areas and cut back on lawn mowing. It has been a lot of work but I have finally accomplished this goal!

The last area completed was next to my shed that goes along my neighbor’s pool wall and to my woods.  I finished prepping this area for mulch in the fall. Digging up grass is no easy task!

This spring I dug up 3 forsythia in my woods and put them along the wall. They are a little wimpy so they are difficult to see. Hopefully being in the sunshine they will flourish! My lawn is a mess but I refuse to use chemicals and the organic options are pricey.

This area is along my driveway.  I had the fence installed a couple years back and have since been working on it. This was a blank canvas of dirt and weeds when I bought the house so it has come a long way. Some of the plants I purchased and others were donated by my parent’s and neighbor’s yards. I am always open to garden donations! Everything is a baby here but 10 years from now it should be a very lush area! There are multiple summer blooms here to look forward to.

This is the front out the house…not too exciting. This is the only area with original plantings. Those fabulous concrete planters in front came with the house! I plant geraniums in them each year since they will bloom from spring all the way thru fall. I scored a couple of the hanging breeds this year! Someday I will address those front steps from 1960!!!!

Here is the side of my house along the other side of the driveway. It is a shady area with shade loving plants! Another goal was to only plant hardy shrubs and flowers so they never need to be watered (except those flowers in the planters).

My baby Eastern Redbud is in bloom!

Termite Detection and Control

Jim helped me install a DIY termite detection/control system this spring. I am paranoid, especially because I love mulch just as much as those little buggers! We followed the instructions and when it came time to check for the termites, there were a few in one of the detection thingys! So we inserted poison in there which they will bring back to their families and will all die. It sounds quite horrible but houses in Massachusetts are quite expensive and I need to protect my investment from being eaten!

I had received a quote from a contractor of $900 to install a system just like this and then they would charge me $250 each year following for maintenance. Completely ridiculous! It is so simple to do on your own so if you are thinking about a sytem or currently over paying a contractor for a service here is the link for what I have from Do My Own Pest Control. It is just $250 up front and hopefully I do not need to order more poison.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a beautiful week! ~Val