Haven't been spending too much time in the kitchen...

Spring is officially under way here in Rhode Island. Well at least in my yard it is.

We’ve been working outside every spare minute we have. A typical day goes like this:

Wake up.
Go to work.
Come home @ 5:30pm
Make dinner, something easy and quick. Lots of grilling has been going on.
Clean up, make lunches, prep for next day.
Get outside and work until dark.
Come inside; wash up, jammies on, collapse into comfy bed.
Begin again.

We’re always crazy busy at this time of year. We kind of go nuts for a few weeks to get everything done so we can really enjoy our summer.

There is still edging to finish, mulch to lug and spread and gardens to plant. Not much is growing yet here, except for the garlic that was planted last fall, but there are signs of life everywhere.



I planted just a few things over the weekend.



My chives are blooming.



I love chive flowers. Not only are they beautiful, but edible as well. A pretty little flower that you can eat. How convenient!



There’s been lots of digging, and weeding and lots of woodwork going on. I had John make me these adorable little mason jar lights for my back deck.



A few pieces of scrap wood, a hose clamp, a little mason jar, add some sand and a tea light and you have country sconces for the deck, cheap ones too.

He also made me this little table for under the gazebo.



It’s made out of scrap wood and pallets.

This table is made out of an old Autocrat crate that a lady I work with gave me. It was her Dads, so it's pretty darn old. Autocrat was a coffee company back at the turn of the century when this crate was made. Now there most famously known for their coffee syrup.



We used another little table that John made to go underneath it then topped it with a piece of painted wood. Total cost about $6 in wood.

I also painted a few birdhouses. These 3 are in addition to the other 5 I have in the yard. I doubt we'll have birds in them this year, but I'm hoping by next year they'll be occupied. One does have a few sticks in it already, so there's hope!



I chopped all my nails off last Friday so I could really get in there and dig in the dirt, and oh have I been digging. I’m the “mason” around the house. I love putting in new borders and building new beds.

We have a birthday parties coming up. My oldest is going to be fifteen. Fifteen! I can hardly believe it. We have my in-laws and possibly John’s Aunt Margie (we hope!) coming for John’s birthday on July 3rd, and then of course there’s the 4th of July and lots and lots of countless cookouts.

I keep telling myself, just a couple more weekend of work and we’ll be done…for now.