bodner006

You can find the first post about our inaugural gutter garden here . So, we are three months in. And now we have an update . . . . . . We still have strawberries, and they did very well, the ones that made it, that is. I had transplanted the strawberries from someone else's garden, so I blame their death on my inexperience. But we did have three harvests with our lettuce.  I've replaced many of the flowers, since they did not bloom all summer. Herbs love the gutter garden. What I've learned about our gutter garden: 1. Birds love strawberries. Make sure you cover them up with netting. 2. Not all flowers will bloom well in shallow soil. Will have to do research on better garden flowers for longer blooms next year. 3. Lettuce and herbs are the way to go. 4. If you are going away for a week in the summer, expect on coming home to a thirsty garden. 5. If you plan this with your 5 year old, yup, you'll be doing it all by yourself. Thanks for reading, Debbie

I have a dear friend, Kristy, who asked if I would help make her son's room into a shark lovers delight.  Yup, I was more than onboard. I grew up on Cape Cod when they filmed Jaws off of Martha's Vineyard Island, so I've always had a fondness for sharks (yes, I do realize it was mechanical). Oh, and it just happens to be Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. Sweet! Kristy had to have a big shark. I mean, any shark lover would pee his 6 year old pants to have a big shark in his room. I hope a four foot one will do it. Most of my ideas were born from photos I found on Google Images. I loved this image, printed it, and put it through my projector onto 1/2" plywood before tracing the shape. After cutting with a jigsaw, the painting fun began. Can't have a shark room without the shark fin, right?!? I had fun creating the waves that my husband, Tom, didn't think I needed. But I felt it would just be hanging on the wall without it being grounded in the water. Grounded ...