Making a Fool Out of My Shelf

Oh how I love thrift stores!  I made a little run today to two thrift stores and saw so many things that had great decorating potential but just needed a little TLC.  One thing's for sure, if you ever need baskets to fill a space, thrift stores are loaded...square, round, oval...you name it, they've got it.  

So I was walking down one aisle when what did my eyes see...a floating shelf!  Anthony and I always talk about how we like floating shelves and we find places we'd put one or two if we had one but they're one of those things that's not worth the money when student loans can be paid down.  So, my eyes spied this beauty of a shelf that's a little scuffed up but nothing I can't fix!   

It even has the little indentation on the top to hold plates if you'd like to stick them there!  Now the kicker...it cost me $2.50!  When I got home I researched pricing on a shelf like this and found one from Pottery Barn for $55 and on Amazon.com for $35!  

I also found a real leather belt (sitting on the shelf in the picture) for Anthony for $5.  It was brand new!  

I said it once and I'll say it again, "I love thrift stores"!

.      .      .

And in other news:

Just wanted to keep ya'll updated on my 'maters and herbs.

  

  

All four herbs are doing great!  Now I just need to figure out which are which...I had them set out alphabetically but then I moved them not thinking...oops!

We finally can see tiny tomatoes growing!  I got so excited because I thought we'd have home-grown tomatoes to eat next week at the rate they're growing but then I found out it takes 45-50 days from this point to wholly ripen...ho hum.  Oh well though, so far we have 26 flowers (maybe more, I just got sick of counting) that will form tomatoes! 

  

Green Thumb Update

So it turns out I might have a green thumb!  Three of the herbs I planted have lots of little shoots coming up and my tomato plants have tripled in size in two weeks!  One even has a flower which will soon be a red, ripe mater!  It's fun watching plants grow!

Used Wine Bottles

So I'm supposed to be cleaning my house for company this weekend but instead I'm blogging.  :)  We have some half-drunk wine bottles in our kitchen right now and I was just wondering what would happen if I sprayed painted them white and set them out as decoration.  Supposedly you can spray paint glass so I might just see if it works. 
It would be really cute if you saved empty wine bottles and painted them various colors that match the decor in your house and set them on top of a hutch, on a shelf somewhere, or made some kind of centerpiece out of them...all for a few bucks.
Just an idea...now back to cleaning.  Have a blessed day!   

Spray paint + dirt + herb seeds =

  So if you didn't know how much I love spray paint, you know now and you'll continue to be "in the know" about it.  Spray paint works wonders!  So, we were given some leftover Easter lilies from our church that were used for decoration during Easter week.  Well, I planted the lilies in our yard and had these green pots left.  I'm not a huge fan of hunter green pots so guess what?  Yep, I spray painted them!

+

=

And, being on a gardening kick, I bought some herb seeds and planted basil, chives, cilantro, and oregano!  They'll make cute centerpieces on our patio table and yummy herbs to cook with!  I'll keep you updated on how well my growing skills are!

Tomato Plants!

  We love tomatoes.  We love them plain, in pasta, on sandwiches, and we especially love making caprese...so, we spend a good amount of money buying them.  Well, I saw that at Lowe's you can get a little tomato plant for $3.48 - probably what we spend on them in one trip to the grocery store!  So I bought two 18" pots, two little baby tomato plants, and some potting soil specifically for vegetables, put them all together and wala, by the help of the Lord we will have organic tomatoes in a couple of months!  I'm so excited!

Some planting tips in case you want to plant some "maters":

If you plant your tomatoes in pots, the pots will need to be at least 15" wide at the top rim.  You can plant them in the ground just as well though, as long as you have a sunny spot in mind!  The lady at Lowe's I talked to had been gardening for years and told me to plant them so that 75% of the plant is under the soil because the little hairs along the stems of the plant will grow into roots.  They also need at least 6 hours of sun a day so I made sure I planted them in the sunniest spot in our yard.  As they grow they'll need a wire support system around them so that they can grow up like a vine and be able to hold the weight of the tomatoes that grow.  (I have yet to support mine but I just planted them so I don't have to worry quite yet.)  Also, the condition of the top half-inch of soil will let you know if they need water or not...if it's dry, water them and if not, then don't.  The potting soil I bought has fertilizer in it that is supposed to last 4 months but if you pot them in non-fertilized potting soil, they'll need to be fertilized about every 2 weeks, depending on the fertilizer you use.  Now I'm by far an experienced gardner and we'll see if these two babies yield any fruit so make sure to ask questions when you buy your plant too!  Happy planting!