Ready for Spring

Meet my new lovely plants!

It was hard to get a good picture with the sun coming through the window... but here they are clockwise starting at the top left: Cilantro, Basil, Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, Peppermint, Shamrock (don't remember official name), Jade, and Rosemary. Hello my lovelies! They aren't quite settled yet, I just stuck them in pots to figure out what goes where.

While I'm really excited to have a windowsill herb garden again... I am most excited about my shamrock plant. Did you know that at night, the leaves close up?

Oh, and check out those brown planters. They are made of 100% biodegradable bamboo by Rosso's International! They will last for 3 years indoors before breaking down (2 years outdoors). If you start plants in them indoors, you can plant the entire thing (plant with container) in the ground, which is supposed to be better for the roots anyway. If they happen to be thrown in the trash, they will decompose within 3-6 months. No nasty plastic. LOVE them! They come in all kinds of colors, I just really liked the brown. I should point out that yes, they are resting on plastic trays. *sigh* I don't like it, but you can bet I will keep those forever to be reused again and again.

My first "real" tool...

OK, this is a first for me... I just selected and ordered my first "real" tool beyond the hammer, screw driver, etc. for ME. I ordered the Hitachi NT65MA2 15 Gauge 1-1/4-Inch to 2 1/2-Inch Angled Finish Nailer, and it should be here on Friday - WOOT!

John usually selects and buys all the tools, that's his thing. He already has a brad gun, but I need 2" nails... he was going to get the larger Porter-Cable FR350A Round Head 2-Inch to 3-1/2-Inch Framing Nailer which would have made sense except it's 8 lbs! I'm glad I asked how much it weighed because I knew the Hitachi Finish Nail Gun was only 4.2 lbs. So I decided to go ahead and order this for myself... and John can get the framing nailer when he's ready to do framing. Hopefully soon, as he plans to build a wall in our garage to separate the wood shop (third garage) from the rest of the bays. Maybe then the space heater will have a chance to heat the shop beyond 49 degrees!

Help on the way!

I'm excited. I'm a little nervous. I'm a lot impatient!

Last week I ordered Punch! Home & Landscape Design Studio for the Mac (for a much reduced price!), and it shipped yesterday. Can not wait to get my hands on this software. It got mixed reviews, but the negatives seem to be written by people who wanted a quick and easy software that didn't require learning how to use it. This software got positive reviews from just as many people... mainly from peeps that were willing to spend some time learning the software. It also sounds like if you have any CAD experience it's a whole lot easier, and you are up and running immediately.

We have been considering purchasing design software for a while. Now that we're in our new house - and our list of projects grows daily - we decided to pull the trigger. Though, we LOVE our house... there's not much that we want to keep the same :). This will be put to good use... between wanting to redesign an entire wall in our living room around the fireplace, remodeling our kitchen, and finishing our 1200 sq ft basement (among other things on our long long list).  I tend to be gun shy with making decisions and purchases for our house, mainly because I worry that it will not look right... this should solve that problem!

I will let you know how it goes. I will be posting ideas, and before/after pictures! Though I will be using the software to play with ideas, we'll be executing them as our budget allows...

Entry Way Decor - Help!

I need your help. Now that we're pretty much unpacked and settled, it's time to decorate and plunge into some home improvement projects! Right now the house looks a little... sterile. We hung a few pictures in the dining room, but we still need to decide on where to hang our other pictures. That will help, but there are a few areas that need something more, and I'm struggling to figure out what to do. The two main areas I'm talking about is our entry way, and the the built-in TV cave in our living room. I'll post about the cave another day... today, I'm hoping you can help me with ideas on how to spruce up this area.

I want to decorate above the door - the wall space and the window transom. Oh, and also that niche between the dining room and foyer.

Nice model, aye? Koda decided to be in the picture all on her own. I'm not sure if she wanted to model, or was just trying to get my attention to ask to go outside for the umpteenth time today. I'm guessing the later.

My only criteria is:

1. No artificial plants (real probably wouldn't work either because I doubt I'll drag out a ladder to water them on the transom).
2. No plastic or MDF

Any help is appreciated!