Flowering Baskets

A couple weeks ago Bill was tied up in a Saturday afternoon exam and my roommates were both working... leaving me to fill my day with just about whatever my little heart desired.  This turned into me being the biggest hot mess at the Home Depot.  And there are A LOT of people at the Home Depot on the west side.  My top secret mission for the day was to create some beautiful hanging baskets for Bill's front porch. 

Lots of flowers at the Depot.  including really pretty plastic buckets of pansies for about $3.99.  I guess they weren't good enough and I really wanted to make my own assortment, so I tracked down the friendly Home Depot associate to tell me which flowers were the best for hanging baskets, and how to make a hanging basket o' flowers.  She informed me that any flowers would do well.  The trick was to pick my favorites and plant them in a basket.  And then make sure they got water and sunshine.  

This sounded too easy.  

But I went for it anyway.  First Instinct: pick up everything pink and orange and take it home with me.  Second Instinct: Since sweet Bill is off working hard for the day, maybe I'll pick Ole Miss colors so he will smile when he gets home.  

Accidentally drop two six-packs of flower-lings in the middle of the Garden Center = Hot Mess

Pick, de-pick, pick new things, put back old things, pick new favorite flowers, sort through and finally make a selection.  

And then over to the side where I could pick out the planters.  Luckily we already had the extra soil left over from making the garden box.  No decision needed there.  

But once I got home, it wasn't too tricky just shoving everything together.  The process in pictures:

Step 1:
Set out the flowers (dianthus, petunia, little red and white ones, and silvery leaf ones)
Start the music

Step 2:
Fill the baskets half-full of dirt

Step 3:
Put in the flowers
Fill with additional dirt if necessary

Step 4:
Water
Hope they grow

Step 5:
Admire the fruits of my labor...

...Stare at the neighbors's tree.  Really pretty...

...And head inside for a shower and a Fat Tire

The Dryer, My Nemesis...

I would never deny being a girl who likes nice things, but I am on a budget. When I moved into my last apartment I needed a washer and dryer... luckily one of my coworkers is a man who knows how to get things. And into my life came my $100 washer and dryer. A couple of the guys I work with drove and hour in a 1970's Chevy pick-up and after the hour drive back to my house the two of them hauled it up the three flights of narrow stairs (in the middle of Tennessee August) and hooked them up into the last apartment.

I love them. They're old. The washer is Roper brand and the dryer is a General Electric Heavy Duty. The washer has two settings and the dryer would have 3, but the knob broke off and it's stuck on "normal". For the last two and a half years they have kept my clothes wonderfully clean.

Enter the burly movers for the relocation of my favorite $100 appliance duo. The strapping gentlemen took the washer and dryer back down the three flights of narrow stairs, loaded them into the truck and replaced them in the (first floor) laundry room at the new place. Can you see how cute they look? Ok, maybe cute isn't the right word.

Here's the trouble though: Upon moving the gorgeous washer and dryer into the new place, my oh-so-burly moving man pulled me into the laundry room to tell me that I needed change the cord on my dryer. What? I'm sure the look on my face was some strange combination of confusion and terror. Once I recovered, he told me that it was pretty simple and that I could head to Home Depot and they'd hook me up.

He was right. An orange-aproned Home Depotian directed me towards the appliance section where they had an end-cap dedicated to dryers making the transition from three-prong to four-prong. I bought my new cord, snapped a picture of the instruction board, and went home to start my super-handy project.

I was so proud of myself, I pulled out the dryer a little and shimmied behind it with my screwdrivers, ready for action... And this is what I encountered... hexagonal screws too big for the bolt driver in Becky's toolbox. So back to Home Depot I went...

Upon returning to the house after my second trip to the Depot, this time with a 5/16" attachment for the bolt driver, I crawled back into the cubby behind the dryer and undid the plate that sheltered the cord. Victory! My handy-woman skills are finally beginning to emerge... except the nuts holding the cords in place are yet another size larger, rendering my bolt driver useless once again. Back to Home Depot.

This time I bought a multi-pack of attachments so I'd be prepared for every size part I could possibly encounter, crawled back behind the dryer once again and attempted to work. Somehow the wells of the bolt driver were too shallow to get at the nuts and loosen them up. It was about the worst new ever, and after a few choice words between me and the dryer, I gave up. Game over.

Jeff, one of my co-workers and branch specialist at all things handy and DIY, came over after work the next evening to switch the cord for me. What a sweetheart. Its so nice to work in a place where my coworkers take care of me when my XX chromosomes incapacitate me. And now the dryer and I have returned to a peaceful cohabitation so all is well in West Nashville.

...until my next project.

First Peek at the New House

Here's some pictures of the new house. Keep in mind that they're snapped within 24 hours of moving in, so it's messy. But I'm so excited about it, I wanted to show it off... I'll snap some new ones of it once we're settled in.

The entryway! Cute!

My Bedroom... the windows in the house are awesome

I heart my roommate because she let me

have the room with the gigantic closet!

Emily arranged the shelves in the most important

cabinet in our kitchen

I love the living room... the fireplace is so cute and

as soon as we figure out how to turn it on, we'll light it up!