Building, Toilet, and Garden, Oh My!

Let me start by saying that I had a great weekend...we got so much done, which is my favorite. Buuuttttt, I'm soooooo tired 😩. We spent two full days tackling our storage building. We took EVERYTHING out (seriously, everything. We even took all the random nails that have been on the walls for 10+ years out), built shelves, and put it all back in. That all happened yesterday and today we did the fun part: organizing it! (Yes, I think organizing things is fun, and also yes, I'm super fun at parties 😉). We went and got peg boards and my heart started racing from all the excitement. . Or it could've been the heat. It's pretty stuffy in there when you're climbing on a ladder and using the drill. If you don't know, there are so many different kinds of hooks you can use on peg board! It's a really good time, hanging them up and arranging them! I can't wait to organize some stuff in the basement. Philip made fun of me because I sorted the bungee cords by color but, seriously, what other way is there to do it? 🙄.

Okay, so I know you're dying to see it at this point so I'll stop rambling on. 

Before:

After cleaning it all out:

Shelves: 

Total organization (in my best Unreal Tournament voice):

I forgot to take a closeup pic of my gardening tool peg board. I was tempted to go take one...at 9:20 pm. But I'm too tired to move off the couch. You'll just have believe me when I say it looks awesome. 

We really enjoyed cleaning this all up and making it look nice. This has been one of my favorite projects so far because I've been wanting to get it done for like 5 years and also because we worked together very nicely (not that we usually don't, I just like being able to do most of what we're working on and not have to be the gopher 😐 (go-for? I know that's the implication but I don't know which way people spell it)).  So yeah, I can use a saw and drill with the best of them so this was right up my alley 🙃.  

I have photo proof of where everything goes now so if someone messes it up......Oh who am I kidding? I'll fix it. I'll be mad, but I'll fix it. Just like I do with the craft supply cabinet at work..right ladies? 🙄😏

Also this weekend, I managed to get the last coat of paint on the bathroom wall and the toilet upgrade is complete! 

Before: 🙁

After: 😃

It was a huge hassle (another reason the building project was so great: no major issues along the way. Except for having to go get more wood but that happens every time we build something. The guy at the lumber store knows us pretty well. We interrupt his lunch 75% of the time. We went around noon to get boards yesterday and he was eating and then Philip went back to get more 2x4's later and he was still trying to finish his lunch. Philip apologized for interrupting him again and he said he expected one of us to be back, but that it's usually me 🤣). Anyway, long story long, we took the old toilet out, tried to put the new toilet on, realized the shut off valve was in the way of the new toilet, put the old toilet back on, went to Lowes (because we picked our favorite time to start a project: when all the hardware stores in town are closed), got a new valve and hose hoping it would extend it over far enough out of the way: it didn't. We waited another weekend and tried again, this time starting early enough to go to a store in town, if needed. We knew then that the plumbing in the wall needed moved so Philip got to work cutting the wall out and moving the pipes. Unfortunately, that all got done too late and we needed a piece of drywall to patch the hole so off to Lowes we went..again. I have to say though, it is one of my favorite stores. It always gives me ideas 😁. We got the drywall and some quick set (which is, as mentioned last time, misnamed), and installed the new toilet again, and checked to make sure it worked. Everything seemed fine so we patched the wall, let it dry and sanded it, and then put on a second coat. That's about the time we heard the slow drip. It wasn't much but enough to worry about. So he tried tightening everything to no avail; still dripping. He was so close to tearing the wall apart again but instead decided to put a cup under it to see if the water was on this side or that one. Luckily it was running down the pipe and dripping at the shut off valve. He was super frustrated and out of time because we were leaving for vacation the following weekend. We decided to put a bowl under it to see how much water collected in a week's time and know if we needed to have someone tend to it while we were gone. The amount was very small so we left slightly disappointed that it still needed work and frustrated because we weren't sure we could fix it ourselves. Anyway, to finish this ridiculously long story, last weekend Philip got new hardware and started again, this time succeeding in fixing the leak. TKO in the 57th round! We've learned that replacing anything in this house is always going to be more work than we expect it to be. Oh well, now we have a water efficient toilet (yay for saving water!) and you get to press a button instead of a handle, which takes a few days to get used to. 

A quick garden update: 

We had some more uninvited guests in our cucumber bed: babies! They only stayed a few days though. They're gone now, probably terrorizing someone else's plants. Which is fine with me, so long as they're not eating mine 😂. I wish rabbits ate Mexican bean beetles instead of just plants. Those dumb things DESTROYED our zucchini crop. I'm not super sad because I had become a pathetic zucchini pusher, begging anyone and everyone to take some off my hands. It's not a good look. 

But I can't help but feel a little slighted just because they were so greedy. They could had one or two, they didn't have to eat them all. Zoom in if you can't see them. They look like lady bugs and there are tons of them! 

The tomato jungle is still growing so maybe next time I'll have some good canning stories to tell ya 😉. Good night! 

I'm Baaaaaaccccckkkkk

I know it's been awhile guys and I'm sorry! I'm working part-time at Anytime Fitness and at my other job, being a full-time dog mom and arm candy for the husband (😉), and retaining my status as master gardener. Whew! But I know you guys are wondering how the garden is doing and lemme tell ya, it's a hot mess. The zucchini have FINALLY slowed down and the leaves look pretty rough but those suckers are still producing a few vegetables now and then. Zucchini may be the cure to ending world hunger.

The tomato jungle is ridiculous. Seriously, look at it:

Bed 3

It's taller than me!

Bed 2

They're starting to ripen and in a few days we're going to be overrun by tomatoes. There is definitely some canning in our future. We were hoping it would happen this weekend but the jungle didn't cooperate. It's a wonder the ones in the middle are even getting any sun, but that's where most of the ripe ones are. 

This was my harvest this evening.

 And THIS is my delicious tomato and cucumber salad. It doesn't get any fresher! 

The cucumbers have become the new zucchini and pop out about 6 vegetables every couple of days. 

They have accosted the entirety of Bed 1 and the surrounding ground area. The broccoli had to go a while back because it rotted. I think the tons of rain we got in July did it in. It smelled worse than a 12 day old dead deer on the side of the road in 120 degree weather. And it was slimy. Fun stuff to pull out, I tell ya. I'm pretty sure I should've worn a hazmat suit. Anyway, the cucumbers now have the bed all to themselves and they are taking full advantage. They climb up the net, making it really fun to harvest them 😒, and they sometimes get stuck, which makes them look super cool. 

And sometimes, they just grow in a "C" shape, for cucumber I guess. 

We had one lone pepper that we used the other day in chili. The plants are growing but no other buds have started. 

The watermelon has also taken over, stretching all the way to the driveway. We have to move it every couple of days so we don't run over it. We have two good sized watermelons growing right now and a baby one. 

Top right: The warden is keeping an eye on the watering that's about to go down.

Speaking of Sansa, she's been super helpful lately with all the home improvement and cleaning projects we've been working on. 

Here she is making sure I got all the hair and crumbs from under the couch cushions when I vacuumed. 

And here she is helping Phil(ip) put up his towel hook in the bathroom. 

Speaking of the bathroom, we FINALLY got the new toilet installed, fixed (after 195 rounds), and drywall patched, but the 45 minute quick set lies about drying in 45 minutes so I wasn't able to get the last bit of sanding and painting done on the wall around the where we had to move the pipe and valve tonight. More on that next time!