wine barrels

While knitting has not been happening around here, a lot of other things have. This weekend we gutted two closets to paint and then assemble new closet organizers in. It was exhausting, but with great results! I'll post pictures of this project soon.

Another project we worked on recently was making a wine barrel into some flower pots. We got the wine barrel from the winery that we are members of - they were giving them away for free to members. I took a lot of pictures of what we did.

First we cut the barrel in half and then attached a base to it with wheels for better mobility.

Then Tim drilled some drainage holes into the bottom.

Just to make sure the metal braces didn't slip at some point, we also put some nails in the barrel to hold the braces in place.

Next we flipped the wine barrel upright and added some landscaping cloth to the bottom of the barrel. This was probably unnecessary, but we did it anyway.

Then we had a layer of gravel to help with drainage and to take up some space.

After filling it up the rest of the way with soil, I planted some flowers in one of the barrel halves. This barrel went by our front door.

The other barrel became my herb garden. There's chocolate mint, lemon verbena, oregano, lavendar, two types of basil, and savory in it.

The herbs have grown a lot and I've also added mulch to the tops of each barrel for better watering and because it's pretty. ;)

I also planted some vegetables recently: cherry tomatoes, crookneck squash, and red bell peppers. These will probably be moved into a garden bed in our backyard after we re-landscape.

We're going to plan our landscaping project this weekend, which we'll hopefully be able to finish within the next four months. We're going to totally re-landscape our front courtyard, our side courtyard, and our backyard. The front yard will wait until another time. We have a lot of yards.

pregnancy stuff

I don't really want to post pregnancy stuff on a public website that anyone can read, so I have been posting in my livejournal in a friends filter instead. If anyone reading this (that I know) would like to read those entries, let me know. If you don't have an lj account, you won't be able to read them, but you can easily set up a free account so that you can.

I just wanted to let everyone know why I've been so quiet :) I may get Tim to set up a password-protected blog for baby stuff in the future, but that most likely won't be for at least another couple months.

I haven't knit a single stitch since I found out I was pregnant. I really need to get back to that sometime soon. Until then, sorry knitting friends! Maybe if you point me in the direction of some super-cute, free baby patterns, I will get inspired ;)

bday wishes

Happy Birthday wishes to my husband, Tim! :D
I love you!!!