Barefoot Gardner 2024

Hey Peeps

Amidst the kitchen renovations, I'm attempting to have a garden this year.   

Hubster built me some new raised beds so let's take a peek around the garden. 

I'm apparently growing a Hollyhock tree!  There are actually 3 different colors currently blooming.

This reddish pink color which I love! 

This pale pinky lavender color. 

And finally, this deep purple.   They are all just gorgeous and considering I got a little buzz sting from 2 bees while I was out in the garden today I'd say they are definitely attracting the pollinators.

My broccoli!!  I've never grown actual broccoli that looks like it does in the grocery.  Super stoked and I will most likely pick this head tomorrow.  Two other heads are growing along side this one.  It'll be another week or two before they are ready to eat. 

I spy a teeny tiny little jalapeno pepper!  

I gave Hubster the first cherry tomato from the vine.  He said it was yummy!

These are the first of the big tomatoes that are growing.  I think/hope they are Cherokee purples. 

We planted blackberry bushes this year and they are starting to get loaded with berries. So exciting!

As normal in Texas in the spring, we've had some doozy winds but we have some plums hanging on for dear life.  I doubt I will get enough for jelly but we can always dream!

My hibiscus by the pool is just blooming and bringing in the pollinators!

Good Girl Ms. Pinky, good girl!

Here's an overview of our little garden.  We've got lots of things growing in this little space.  This is a new layout for us so here's hoping for more produce and less weeds!

On the porch, the Dahlia's have enjoyed this rain we've had lately!  

Updates to follow as the garden grows!

                                                        Peace, Love & Grow

                                                      

Monday....Take 3 or 4, I'm no longer sure

Hey Peeps, 

I'm not sure if it's week 3 or 4 but here we go again!

Hubster's brother JimBob has been in town this weekend for some fireworks training.  He likes to blow sh#$ up.  😁   Then again, don't we all have a little pyromania inside us?!

Let's jump back to dinner on Sunday evening.  We dined al fresco this evening.

I grabbed some pulled chicken I had stashed in the freezer and we had pulled chicken sandwiches with pepper jack cheese.  Those were served on garlic bread from the toaster oven.    A divine can of Bush's baked beans and a box of Suddenly Salad pasta.   Don't you wish we'd have you over during a kitchen renovation??  haha

Here's a close-up of the sandwich, it actually was pretty tasty. 

After we finished eating Hubster was being all sassy with me and I told him to hush it or see if I'd make him another delicious box dinner again.     We all got a good chuckle from that one. 

So bright and early this morning, the contractor and the painters showed up.  We chatted about the week for a bit (it's gonna be busy) then he suggested we shut off our air conditioners because things were gonna be stinky today.  And stinky it was!!!   They primed the cabinets today and normally I love me the smell of fresh paint but this is oil-based and my head is still a thumping.  

Then the painters finished and I thought we had the rest of the day to air the place out and relax but oh, no, no.   Cesar the cabinet guy was back with some work to get wrapped up before the painters come stink up the house again tomorrow.    

Let's take a look, shall we?

Cabinets are primed and the new "faux" cabinet has been installed to cover that awkward corner.

Trim work had been mostly completed as well.

The cofee bar area is primed and ready.

Reggie's feeding station has been modified.  There was a bit of confusion over this cabinet.  Cesar thought we wanted a place for a small dog bed but we really only needed a spot for Reggie's food bowls.  The problem is solved and he is making another drawer for this cabinet. 

The ginormous opening for Hubsters new refrigerator freezer. 

The stove area is primed.  We have to chat in the morning with the contractor because I had asked for the trim to be left to stain on the hood vent.  We'll see what happens. 

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All the cabinet doors and drawers lined up for painting.

I still love the hood vent, even if it ends up being painted all over.

Most of the island is primed and ready.  Rumor has it that the sink will be installed this week!!

And finally, Cesar brought the cabinet for the wine room/dry bar area today.  

They'll need to prime that one tomorrow. 

I may or may not know anything about this addition to the hole where the wine refrigerator is going.

And yes, I'm having them seal this up in the wall!   

Now, let's eat dinner because we're starving. We dined al fresco once again because not only is the house stinky from the paint, it's a touch warm since the air had been off all day. 

We had some Barramundi from Costco.  Cooked up in the electric skillet right on the back porch peeps.  

There was also a Farmers Fridge Meditteranean salad to go along with the fish.  And possibly a glass or two of Chardonnay for moi!

There you have it, Monday at a glance.  

Hop over to the Barefoot Gardner page of this here blog and see what's blooming in the garden!

Peace, Love & Paint Fumes

Cabinets, Cabinets, Cabinets

Happy Friday Peeps!!!

I'm hopping on real quick to show you the magic that has been happening over here in the Dust Bowl land of Texas.

Cesar delivered and started setting the cabinets yesterday and let me tell you my excitement is off the charts!   I mean OFF THE CHART!!

Take a little looky looky lou.

Here is a look at my big ole' island.  Hector said this morning this was the biggest island he's done.  

I think he's pretty excited too!

This is from the den view into the kitchen.   Not very exciting but the room looks so much bigger with the layout change. 

Here is the front side of the island and those are all functioning cabinet doors too.

Also, look at that range hood 😍  I mean I'm so in love with it!

Back side of the island.  The large cutout in the middle is for my very oversized sink, which caused Hector a brief heart stoppage.  He was worried the sink was bigger than the hole but the crisis was averted, it was perfect.

The opening on the right is the dishwasher location and the cabinet next to it is the pull-out trash bins.

The left hole is for our under-counter soft nugget ice maker and since we are going on 3 weeks with no ice around here, that will be fired up as soon as we can.  

A little closer look at the island and those back doors will be the big glass bifold doors.....whenever they finally arrive.  

This is the coffee bar area and Reggie's area.  That's having to be reworked a little, Cesar was a little confused.  I think he might have thought he was supposed to be a doggie bed instead of feeding station.  

Here's a different look at the coffee bar area, Reggie's cabinet, and Hubsters ginormous refrigerator opening.  It's crazy huge!

Yeah, we are gonna have a big refrigerator.  

Here's the stove area and that gorgeous hood vent.  

(Yes the cabinet doors are caddywampus but they will fix those after they get painted. Cesar already told me not to freak out-haha)

This is where the microwave drawer is going. It's going to be so nice to have that down low and the extra cabinet space.  

Tile and flooring got delivered today too!

Backsplash tile, I love it so much!

Flooring also arrived.   Brick floors are my floor love language! 

I love how these aren't too red in color. 

Any more deliveries and poor Amy Winehouse (the car) will have to give up her garage space.

That's a lot of floors!

Let's cover dinner real quick because it's time for dinner tonight.

Last night we went with our neighbors to Aventino's. We'd never been there before and it was absolutely delicious.   

Tonight we are headed across the street to said neighbors for some dinner and JimBob is headed our way for the weekend.  He's got fireworks training so we've been working all week getting a dust free place for him to sleep.   

Tomorrow morning the countertop guy will be here to measure out the countertops and on Monday the new floors start going in and the primer will start going on the walls!   I have got to get on the faucet and knobs/pulls selections ASAP.    

You guys have an amazing weekend!!!  

Peace, Love & Progress

                                                                

Week 3, Thursday update

Hey Peeps!!

We're alive & well!!   I haven't posted updates because visually there hasn't been much to see.  

Friday we had a little bit of a day off around here.  Hubster had a company recharge day so we headed to Ft Worth Lighting to pick out pendant lights for the island.  Jessie helped us and was absolutely amazing to work with and we found a ceiling fan for the den.  Here's a quick pic I grabbed because I was deciding between two options.  

It's not a great pic but you can get an idea.  We ordered 3 of these and they will be delivered in about 2 weeks.

  The next stop is Sherwin Williams for paint selections & this one is going to take awhile because we need wall, trim, and cabinet paints picked out. We finally landed on these choices.

The ceiling will be your standard ceiling white since we have 18 ft ceilings we don't want anything crazy in that big expanse. 

Trim: SW7005 Pure White 

Cabinets: SW6244 Naval

Island: SW7671 On the Rocks

Walls: SW9166 Drift of Mist

Kitchen Door: SW7069 Iron Ore

 

With those big decisions made, we had to feed the Hubster and then we headed over to the Ford dealership where we spent the remainder of the day getting Hubster his new wheels.

He's gonna miss his big Truck but this thing drives MUCH smoother.   Reggie approves although it's a big jump for him.   We haven't landed on a name yet but we're working on it.   

Saturday, the electrician was back in the house working so we hung out at home and then headed across the street for a neighborhood Happy Hour.   Roberto cooked up his famous brisket and all was right with the world.  

Sunday we went to Costco to grab a few things, mostly Topo Chico and cokes for the construction guys, and ended up buying a big new TV for the Den then we met Chuck for dinner.

Monday is back to the grind, LITERALLY, as Monday and Tuesday were floor-scraping days.  It was dusty and noisy but Francisco worked hard and got those floors in tip-top shape.  We also picked up Sir Reggie from the kennel and Wednesday was a quiet day around here.  We had no work going on at all so Reggie slept all day and I finished up the painting in Court's new room.   

Here's dinner for this week so far.

Monday was Hamburger Helper, I know you are soooo jealous!

Cooking up that hamburger meat in the electric skillet.

It's not a pretty dinner but it was pretty delish.   I had some leftover slider buns so I buttered them and put a little garlic salt and parmesan cheese on top and slapped them in the toaster oven.   Hubster mowed the yard so it was almost 8 before we had dinner and we devoured it!

Tuesday looked a bit healthier with a salad and chicken strips.

We love the Just Bare spicy chicken strips for salads.  All the Just Bare products are so good and our Costco shopping trips include a bag to keep on hand for quick dinners. 

Here's a link for a giveaway for some cool products from Just Bare.   (They don't know me but I thought I would share the link, I found it when I was looking up the products and hey, if you are Just Bare then you can send me all the free things if you want! haha)

Wednesday night I was finishing up my painting and we both had a little hankering for Chinese food so we ordered some take-out and Roberto joined us for some dinner.  No pics because it was late and we were starved.

Finally, I leave you with a quick video tour of the kitchen/den area.  Sometimes a video gives you a better sense of space.  It's also only a couple minutes long so you won't need a bathroom break 

That's all for today peeps, I gotta run finish up some things in Court's room before JimBob arrives.  Hubster and I are living in our formal dining room, master bed, and bath so JimBob will have to stay out in the mother-in-law suite for the weekend.    Stay tuned EXCITING things are happening today!

                                                    Peace, Love and Dust!

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