Around the Home

Well it has been a hot second since I said I would post more on this topic.

Just admitting...

This may be a jam packed post...

Have you ever made a very small change in your home and seen a huge impact due to it?

Well this past weekend was the weekend of small changes, big impacts!

Over the weekend we did a little sprucing up around the outside of the house.

Guys, it is amazing the difference some shutters can make!

Before

After

So aside from the fact the summer butchered our yard can you tell the impact of the first set of shutters?  All I could say was, WOW!  We have one more set going up on the second story windows soon.  Maybe it was a little premature to put this on the blog....sorry had to!

I am just thrilled to have this set up.  By the way, my husband and son did this while I was at church on Sunday.  Our daughter was sick so they stayed home to hang out with her and I got a break.  My little guy (who will be three this month) was very proud of "building windows".  I thought that was so cute.

While we are looking at the front of the house....

Another small change we made a few months ago was moving our patio table and chairs a whopping eight feet.  We had it on the open air side of the deck and thus weren't using it but every now and then.  Face it, the North Carolina sun can beat you down pretty hard!  After staining the deck I decided to put the table and chairs on the covered "porch" side of the deck.  It made such a HUGE difference.  

I use this table all the time!  Since we adore being outside now weather doesn't really stop us from coming out to read the paper, eat dinner, or just sit and chat.  I also really love to work on the blog out there too.

I love to have flowers around the table.  Earlier in the summer I had planted a few of the already put together planter assortments that Lowe's has to offer.  They lasted much longer than I expected (three months to be precise).  When I went back to purchase a couple more last week, I was not very impressed with their selection.

One thing you must know about me (that I say on repeat) is that I am Queen of the Tightwads.  So when I go to buy flowers (at Lowe's) I always spend about five minutes up at the front of the garden center and probably twenty at the back.  The excitement I get when I see racks of nearly dead plants marked down to $1-$5 just makes my heart skip a beat.

I live for bringing those lifeless flowers back from their near death experience.

And sometimes, you find flowers that don't need any resuscitation!

This hanging basket was reduced to $3.  Yes, $3 and its thriving!  My friend Jennifer, who was over on Saturday night, said:  Where did you get a hanging basket for $3!!!

This was a prearranged planter that I also scored for $3.  It needed some water and to be out of the direct burning sun.  I cannot wait for the flowers to bloom soon!

Speaking of flowers....

Back in May, when I was planting flowers like a crazy woman, I purchased some coleus to just toy around with.  I ended up getting burned out on planting that Memorial Day Monday and just dumped my coleus in a back corner flower bed.  There was really no rhyme or reason to my planting of it.  I also figured it would die since coleus loves shade.  The spot I had placed it in doesn't get too much shade.

Boy was I mistaken.

My coleus took off this season!  It is so beautiful that I'm going to tell you it is my new go to plant.  I'm hoping I can make it last until at least the second week of October.  Fingers crossed!

And now to deep thoughts....

This really excited me.  It is a baby sunflower.  I did not plant any sunflowers this year nor have I ever planted sunflowers.  I'm not really sure why I have not planted them because I find them to be so shabby chic pretty!

It just so happens I feed my wild birds sunflower seeds.  I never really thought much about the fact that those seeds turn into sunflowers if I don't go weed my back flower bed.  Painstakingly, this summer I weeded that flower bed like a mad woman.  Pulling out everything I thought did not belong.  I would be so angry as I spent so much time ripping out those weeds.  I had even thought about just stopping and letting it grow over.  Maybe next season I would hoe it all up and just plant a flowering ground cover in it.  

Over the weekend I noticed that I had missed one of those seed sprouts, aka weeds, and now its preparing to bloom.

Did you know all flowers are weeds?  

Every single flower we can identify and pick or choose for weddings, gardens, corsages, bouquets, to express sorrow or love....is a weed.  I spent so much time in that flower bed picking out the weeds - just assuming they were all bad - and they weren't.  There was beauty to be beheld if I would have just given it some time.  

You know we can probably correlate that to our lives.  We see things we have to pick at and remove because we think they look bad or serve no purpose; when in reality we should have let them simply be.

They may have turned into something strikingly beautiful and wonderful.  Don't be so critical of yourself or others.  You'll miss out on the gorgeousness you cannot see yet.

And finally....

Nothing annoys me more than forgetting the day that I need to pull the trash cans and the recycle bins to the end of the drive....

My husband and I both neglected to remember trash and recycle carry out night.  Last week was a complete headache because of it!

Sorry Mr. Recycle Guy!  We're going to have a whole lotta compacting for you!

Question of  the day - Please share!!!!  Here or on Facebook.

Have you made any small changes around your home that have made a huge impact?

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