meet our new addition!

Our little family is growing. World, meet Thackery Binx, or just Binx for short. He's a nutso-crazo, sass-a-frass, whipper snapper-ing kitten!  These days he's either climbing the Christmas tree, perched on my shoulder, or snoozing in a sun beam.

He's 3 months old, 3 pounds of fluff & stuff, and is so much fun.  He stole my heart before I even got to hold him ♥️.  We knew right away he was the one for us.  Our mischievous Mr. Binx.  

the little things

Random thought of the day:  I'm grateful we don't have a wifi password.  More because we don't need one.  Shh, listen.  Hear that?  Nope?  That's because we live in the middle of nowhere.  My heart is content.

It finally happened- we got a little snow to stick.  Honestly, it's kind of nice.  The first snow always gets me in the Holiday Spirit.  :) 

Who's ready for Thanksgiving?  I usually make cheesecake stuffed strawberries (yes, they're amazing).  But, I haven't been seeing fresh strawberries in the grocery store this week.  It may be time to find a new recipe.  I did make a lemon-raspberry cake this week.  It was delicious, although not much to look at (note to self: get 3 circle cake pans that are the same size, or at least trim the large cake before layering).  Just close your eyes as you eat it... you'll be fine.  :D

Yes, this is a snapchat screenshot.  Don't judge me (at least until you've tried the cake).

Have a great weekend, y'all.
<3 A

november 17

Can we just pause for a moment & say Hallelujah!  I've never met a November I loved more.  I'm off to play outside. 

For reference, here's today:

the view from our front porch, a little slice of heaven!

Do you remember what we were doing last year (about 2 months into our build)?  This was a brutally cold day!  We spent most of it outside putting in the underground service.  Thank goodness we had tons of help from R's parents.

 

 

I'm planning to soak up all this warm weather as long as I can!  In other news, we've gotten some things accomplished in the basement.  Stay tuned for an update.

more plants!

Starting to landscape this house from scratch has been fun, but overwhelming!  I'm realizing I definitely have taken plants for granted in the past.  They take a long time to grow and mature, and they're not always cheap.

This past week I planted a teeny tiny little lilac bush, a baby lavender, and a bitty clematis.  I'm not sure how long it will take these guys to grow up, but all we have ahead of us on this land is the rest of our lives.  :)  So, I'll keep you posted.

Here's the lilac.  One day she'll be 6 feet tall! 

And the propane tank, for reference.  I can't complain too much about this eye-sore, since it's our sole heat source (We don't have natural gas on our road, or even on the road a few miles south of us.  Plus it sure beats chopping wood or hauling pellets)... but I am looking forward to the day the lilac distracts you from this 500-gallon beast.  Anyone else have creative ways of disguising propane tanks, or AC units?

My eventual master plan includes a retaining wall with built-in planters and maybe a bench/seating area as well.  The backyard is a blank canvas- so we can do anything we can imagine.  I can't wait to get started on that in the future.

This is my favorite inspiration right now.

Source: NJ Estates

We already have wild raspberries and strawberries growing on the property, so I have plans for more of those, and we need to start thinking of where to put my veggie/salsa garden! 

welcome, fall! & our housewarming

The seasons are changing up here, and it is beautiful!  Today is nice and warm and sunny, and I am just loving it. Every day I wake up it looks a little different.  But, here's today!

 

We had our housewarming party this past weekend, so I may have went a little overboard decorating for the season.

^^ we need a haybale here, amiright? and a scarecrow!  and an entire corner dedicated to Harry Potter!  I'm working on it!
 
The party was wonderful!  We had so much help from our family & friends.  R built two sets of yard games, and it was actually warm enough to spend some time outside before it got dark & he built a bonfire.  The food was delicious- many thanks to everyone who brought a dish to pass!  I don't have many pictures, because I was having waaay too much fun chatting with everyone and really enjoying the company.  But my mom snapped a few of us opening gifts.

I've really been putting some time into planting for next spring.  So far I have 4 peonies planted and 2 hydrangeas.  I have a bunch of assorted bulbs, lavender, and lilac all shipping soon, and I plan to get everything ready for the snow melt. 

Our cat, June, really really really loves chasing leaves as they fall from the trees.  Her new favorite hobby is scratching at the door and meow-ing to let us know how badly she deserves to be let out.  Here she is in her natural habitat- our duvet.  What a nut.

yard update

Hope everyone's having a wonderful summer!! I refuse to believe it'll ever end. We've been busy landscaping like crazy, and now we have something beautiful to show off- grass!  I'm in love.

Remember the before picture?

 
On August 15 we hydroseeded, and about a month later (today), we have a lawn!  You may also notice the lovely edging R put in for my flower beds.  More on those later...

Fresh pictures from this morning.  I swear I didn't alter these- the lawn really is this color!  We could film some crazy green-screen stunts here.  The shutters are new, and we're planning to paint the front door to match sometime this Fall.

I've got one flower bed (mostly) planted with clipping from my Grandma.  I have a couple of bulbs I want to add this fall, and I'll probably rearrange the stepping stones.  Right now they're just a little too far apart.  The back bed will also get planted soon.  I've got some hydrangeas on order.  I'm already excited for next Spring!

Here's what happening behind the house.  R made me some bird food hangers for the deck and we've had many little visitors.  We're also working on adding rocks under the deck stairs.  We've been collecting these from the yard all summer, and it looks like we'll be doing it for the rest of our lives.  Ha!

In the spirit of keeping it real, here's what the rest of the yard looks like.  Unfortunately, it's not all lush neon grass.  We'll tackle this some other time.  Maybe next year.  Maybe.  In the meantime I'm keeping busy by pinterest-ing all kinds of cute under-deck patio areas.  We've got many years of seeding, weeding, planting, and paver-placing ahead of us!  Woohoo!  

gutters & other updates

We recently got rain gutters installed.  Just in time- we need this things.  It's been raining like crazy here, and without grass, we're seeing quite a bit of washout.  Here are a few before & after pictures [and if you look closely, you may notice some other new changes!].

We've got a great start to our landscaping!  With lots of help from friends, we were able to get a huge chunk of landscaping done this weekend.  This week's objective: spread all the topsoil!  We also have some dark green shutters to hang, and maybe some more patio pavers to place.

This is the side of the garage, where the guys added some pavers, retaining block, and graded for some much-needed drainage.  We've got to add caps to the retaining block, and then figure out how to final grade the flower bed.  We may add 2 more blocks between the hose & dryer vent, for a varying height flower bed.

How about this beautiful raised flower bed?  I can't wait to plant some peonies here.  This is also the start of my future double decker flower bed.  I want to do a large lower level that swoops around this and wraps around the right side of the house.  But, that's a project for next spring.

Have a great week!
<3 A