BRICK AND MULCH!

Posted by Lori~

Sunday it rained, but that didn’t stop us!  We were on a mission to finish up our front flowerbed project (and we were FULL OF MUD)!

First we dug and we placed brick pavers.  Less than $1.00 each at Home Depot!

Then we re-filled the flowerbeds with the dirt (that was lying on the sidewalk).

Then we added mulch!  $2.50/bag at Home Depot!  Wow—what a difference hard work can make. 

The front yard is coming together!  We also ½ planted the garden.  An update on this tomorrow!

Steve also added new Window Wells to the side of the house!
Next project--new windows!!!!

WTF (WAY TOO FUN): NIELSEN FAM!

Posted by Lori~


Sorry WOM-MOM followers!  With the long weekend..we've been away, but we are BACK!


Check it out!  Steve and I are TV fanatics and are thrilled to be selected as a NIELSEN FAMILY!  Hopefully our family will add to the viewership of our favorite shows!


And the BRAND-NEW cash doesn't hurt either!

QUANTUM LEAP—MONAVIE LEAP!

Posted by Lori~

My goodness….it has been ages since I declared a major quantum leap to my 1996 physique!

Roughly 1996!  Yes, you have seen this photo before!
BUT...major motivation!

Unfortunately, I have been failing miserably.  But recently, I said THAT’S IT!  DECISION DONE!

I started a new diet…called Monavie!  Is it working…slowly, but yes, it is!

By no means, am I selling this product, but it is something that has motivated me to get busy!

Basically, I drink 2 shakes a day, slam a shot of juice, eat 2 small 100 calorie snacks a day, and then eat one meal a day.

And…I have dropped a few pounds SLOWLY!  But I have dropped some weight. 

And after doing some simple math…I have determined that I could potentially drop 2 pounds/week or roughly 25 pounds by the end of summer!  WOW—THAT WOULD BE FAB!

And….I have baby on the mind!  But I want a baby AFTER I have dropped the Mur-Man baby weight!  I will keep you posted WOMS!

PS:  If anyone has advice in ensuring the next baby is a girl…let me know!

LANDSCAPING UPDATE!

Posted by Lori~

We have been working hard in the yard and I thought it was about time that I showed a yard overview update.

Still mostly green, but very green.  And of course, the flowers will be blooming soon!

First up, we worked hard and finished filling the garden with dirt.  Our Rhubarb plant is growing like crazy and this weekend’s project will be planting the garden.  More on that next week!

Next up, my backyard flowerbed is filled with perennials.  My favorite—no need to plant anything!  And they look gorgeous.

You saw a post last week about our front flowerbed.  And now the Hostas are in place.  Keep in mind, they were watered and need to grow.  My mom (AKA crafty G-ma) says it might take about a year to see the Hostas in their full glory.

Also, we added dirt to our side flowerbed and this meant that I had to dig-up and replant my Bleeding Heart plants.  Right now, they look sick.  But you check back later and they will be beautiful!  And I was able to thin-out the flowers.

This weekend we are going to also add a brick trim along this flowerbed.

And finally, you can check-out our flowerpots, rain barrels, and finally the fern.

Fairy Garden

Posted by Lori~ 

Ethne hasn’t been feeling well the past few weeks, but she doesn’t want to drop off the blog either, so I talked to her about a recent project she did with the girls (and talked about here) and she sent me some pictures.

We are both constantly scouring Pinterest and you can check out our Wom-Mom Pinterest page to see all sorts of interesting tips, tricks and totally awesome stuff we’ve pinned. This project was inspired by something Ethne pinned.

 

It has kind of become a thing with the Ethne, (Shaun) and their girls to do all things fairy. They find great things like fairy doors and houses at the MN Renaissance Festival; the girls are in awe of the real-life fairy Twig there. The girls’ bedroom (before they moved) was decorated with fairies.

Of course a fairy garden fit RIGHT IN. Ethne and I both love to garden and Easy Mac, KD and Mur-Man all love to play in dirt. It’s a match made in a muddy corner of heaven (there are mud holes in heaven, guaranteed)!

So Ethne searched out her plants: a goofy “stepable” plant called Miniature Stonecrop; check out their website here – it’s crazy – these plants WANT to be stepped on. Perfect for kids, but Ethne thought they were also perfect for a fairy garden because the leaves are so small they look like little fairy mossy grass. This plant came from Menards and a 3-pack cost $6.99.

 

Ethne also found plants called Mexican Heather and calibrachoa which she thought fairies would like too.

 

For accents, Ethne found a little bench for cheap at a local floral shop and a picket fence at JoAnn for $.49. The girls picked out big rocks to look like boulders and little shells from Lake Michigan when they drove across the Upper Peninsula a few weeks ago.

 

Ethne arranged these items in a garden-like fashion in wooden pots she got from Thrifty Nana. The garden needed a stone path, so she picked those out of their rock border around the house, and little stones topped the soil for a completed look.

 

Aren’t they so cute?

 

 

This is a great way to have fun with your kids, Woms!

Cousin Picture!

Posted by Ethne~

Thrifty Nana (my mom) has always been a photo-taker.  People tell me that I take good photos (as in I look decent in them).  I think it’s more along the lines that I have been raised to smile for the camera since TN always had one pointed at me.  If I didn’t smile on all those occasions, I’d look dorky in every shot.  If you pause and smile, instead, there is a decent chance that some pictures turn out ok.  At least less dorky.  HELPFUL TIP, my Friends.

Not posed: DORKY

Smiling with Aunt Pam: MUCH BETTER

Of course the photo mania didn’t end with me.  TN had her camera at the ready on all occasions, including family get-togethers, like the one we just had in Michigan for my cousin, ZW’s, wedding.  We would go visit our family in MI around once per summer when I was growing up, and each time, TN and the other aunts and uncles would line us kids up in birth order for a picture.  No one really complained about it.  It was just something we had to do when we were together.

TN was behind this picture, of course

This continues into adulthood.  At all my cousins’ weddings, we line up for the cousin picture.  The last time I was in MI, we took the cousin picture, but we were missing a lot of cousins.  This time, almost all of us were together, including spouses.

Grandma, my cousin JW, his gorgeous daughter K and me

With my cousin MN - I missed out on the family curls - isn't
her hair amazing?

With no argument and full cooperation, all the cousins lined up in birth order.  The professional photographer’s wide-angle lens will give us better results, but for now, check out our picture.  Isn’t it cool?  I’ll have TN track down a few of the old cousin pictures and I will post them in the future.  It’s amazing to see all of our transformations.  One of the craziest things this time is that ZW, the groom, is the youngest of all of us cousins, and he’s now the tallest of all!!

The cousin picture - several of us missing - but still a long line!

Well, Uncle B and Aunt S had everyone over to their place on Sunday for the gift opening.  When I wasn’t watching the gift opening…

Didn't K and Z get a nice platter?  I should've asked where they got it

Aunt Ethne wrangling Sam for a pic

…sneaking off to get cake…

Let's face it: you'd run off and sneak some
of this cake too

…or playing bocci ball with my cousins…

Cousin JW getting ready to throw - bocci is
also called lawn bowling - he let me wipe my muddy
hands on his pant legs.  You'd love him too if he were your cousin.

See the bowling technique?  I was horrible

…I was certainly taking in the mania of all of the younger generation of cousins running around all over the place.  You know how I like to delegate chores.  In this case, I was able to delegate the caretaking of KD and Easy Mac to some older cousins – and I didn’t even have to ask!  They all just had a blast playing together.

Check out KD's face (R) with Easy Mac and cousin N - classic sassy

This photo was taken with a zoom lens, which means I
wasn't doing much direct supervision - ROCK ON!

Of course, Thrifty Nana was thinking pictures (I’ll admit I took plenty of my own, being my mother’s daughter) and she determined that we needed to take a cousin picture of the new generation of kids since all of my cousins now have children of our own.  We lined them all right up, oldest to youngest.  I think we were only missing two – the oldest (BPY) and youngest (CW).  We’ll just have to photo shop them in.

Organizing the chaos.

Nicole tried to hold the youngest 3 and fell over

Nicole sat down with the three youngest so they would hold still; but the rest of the kids cooperated pretty well.  Except when Nicole fell backwards with the weight of the 3 kids she was trying to wrangle, and that caused a bit of gawking by KD, Easy Mac and RW.  The next generation is started.  Yeah TN for thinking of it!

We got them all: K, N, A, K, K, B, B, M, M, R, KD, Easy Mac, DB, L & Sam

Hopefully next time I get to MI with the monsters, everyone can be there and then we can have the whole lot – including the adopted cousins, you know who you are – in one long family line-up.

YARD BURNS!

Posted by Lori~

The weather has been amazing outside and really steps up our yard project progress.

For some reason, in our little city, ND town we have a major dandelion problem.  And of course, the dandelion seeds are hitting our lawn.

That’s where the best yard tool EVER comes in handy!  The dandelion tool will pull any weed, and loosen any dirt!  IT ROCKS!

Not only does it take care of those dandelions…it also helped Steve and I out with loosening the soil where we had yard burn (or Roger pee burns).  That’s right, my dog loves to pee in the same spot…over and over again!  And this caused a brown spot on the lawn.

We decided to use a lawn repair kit...which is simple!  Loosen the soil where you have a brown patch and put some of the repair mulch down.

Soil is loosened and ready for repair kit!

Then water and water often.  The hope is that the brown spot disappears and grass appears!

I’ll keep you posted!

WTF (WAY TOO FUN!): LEGO MAG!


Posted by Lori~

Look what I signed-up for!  Mur-Man will be thrilled!
Check it out here!



IT’S PLANT TIME!

Posted by Lori~

I am very happy to report that I spent around $60.00 total for flowers for my yard….very good!  Correct?  I am a proud WOM for this accomplishment!

As I was digging up my flower bed, Crafty G-Ma (my mom) and I planned out our needs for my pots, window boxes, and flower beds.

And here’s the breakdown:

Four spikes—one for each of my pots that sit on each side of my front door and one for each of my front yard water barrels (they came with built in planters).

Wave petunias—three for each water barrel planter.

One Begonia for my back-yard flowerpot.

A hanging plant for my front yard archway.  I ended up with a Fern and LOVE IT!

Two geraniums for my front flowerpots.

And finally, herbs for my window boxes.

Over-all, I am very pleased and I feel very thrifty!  I promise more daylight photos soon.  I ran out of sunlight!  I love yard work.