I Wanna Grow Something Wild and Unruly.

...Or at least something tame and delicious. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not much of an "outdoors wo-man", or green thumb, that's always been my mother. But when Ryan and I moved into our new bungalow though, we instantly noticed there were two raised bed planter boxes in front. We had the same first thought: Vegetable garden! After consulting with my mom, the garden maven, she confirmed that we get enough daily sun exposure to grow ourselves a little garden. Hoorah! Another first.

 Here's a picture of what we're working with:

Upon uploading, I realize the font should be bigger! Oops.

Planter box #2 is the ideal location for optimal sun-time, so we hauled all the soil from planter box #1 over to #2. Here is my ever-so-willing helper in his gardening best:

Take note of the tools of the trade.

Since it's pretty late in the season for planting many things, we decided it would be best to stick to two crops we know would do well, carrots and lettuce. Last week we took a trip to Brim's Home and Garden here in Astoria to pick up some seeds, and for a girl like me (who rarely likes to touch dirt) it was an exciting trip! Who knew there were so many plant options out there. I have a trip planned for the future to grab some tall grass to add to the foliage on our deck, but more on that later. My mom made the suggestion that we stick with Ed Hume seeds because apparently he's a local North-Westerner, so this is what we ended up with:

There were some "out-takes" of Peanut walking across the shot.
Kitty butt + veggies= Always a good time.

It was fun browsing through all the packets of seeds and I can assure you, next spring we will have a wide array of edibles at our disposal. After deciding that today was the day to plant, I realized I needed to actually know how to go about plating a garden, like I said, NOT outdoorsy. Thank god for Google and YouTube. I don't know what people did without those sources of knowledge. I happened upon this basic tutorial from VideoJug which showed me the spacing and proper technique for plating my veggie goodies. It was actually pretty self explanatory. I made sure I was working with a level surface and measured out my rows by using a plank of wood that had unexplainably found it's way into my planter. I didn't have a shovel on had, so I used my God-made-shovelers, my hands. Well, finger if we're getting technical. Then I just did as the website showed and sprinkled a good amount of seeds sporadically about my trench:

Note me awkwardly holding the package with my left hand
while trying to take a picture.

After I got three good rows of carrots, I planted three, semi-squished rows of lettuce and I crafted them all little row tags, as to not get confused:

More professionally made gear crafted out of Ryan's
toothpicks, scrap paper and packing tape!

I then watered and admired my handy work. It doesn't look like much now, but hopefully in 7-10 days of water and sun, these seed babies should be germinating (...or growing if you're a novice like me!). I'm hoping this endeavor goes well, there's something that seems so gratifying about being able to eat off your own land. I'll be sure to update (good or bad) on the happenings in my little garden! Until next time! 

FURminators! Mount up!

This marks an exciting day in the Briggs/Peterson household. As I showed you in this post, we have two wonderful cats that we adore. I swear, I'm like a first time parent taking pictures of them at every turn. Ryan and I talk to Marley and Peanut as if they are real people, and not a day goes by without one of us screaming to the other, "Come quick!!! Look what ______ cat is doing!". Seriously.

But even the most loving parents can get irritated some times. For example (well, really my only example) I'm a neat freak, a trait that Peanut and Marley don't much care for in me. They are two literal walking, shedding balls of fur. The color black or blue, or anything dark for that matter really isn't an option anymore without strenuous lint rolling. Since our big move about two weeks ago, I have been sweeping our wood floors every day, maybe even twice a day. And our bed? I don't want to even talk about what happens when I shake out our duvet. So though I love the fluff balls, I can't stand their fur (I admitted to Ryan that sometimes to get back at them I discard my shedd-ed hair on them as payback. They mysteriously don't seem to mind as much as I do...)

Enter the FURminator:

Marley getting acquainted with his new worst enemy.

It's like the Terminator for fur. Or, as the tagline on the back of the package says, "Because your cat's hair looks better in the trash than on your couch". True. Ryan read a ton of reviews on Amazon, it has something like 4.5 stars out of 5. We've been anxiously awaiting its arrival, picture us telling the cats (in a very deep movie trailer voice), "You're going to get... FURminated!" So today when it came in the mail, I held it up like I was Lady Liberty and it, my torch. 

Normally, I'm not much of a shameless product promoter, but this thing is a dream! Basically the angled brush works to remove the undercoat of dead hair which produces results like this:

It's like a tumbleweed!

That, my friends, was about 5 minutes worth of work. That's like the size of Peanuts head!! This is a day of freedom. Freedom from hair, freedom from brooms and freedom from endless lint rolling! I'm adding this one to the win column (and buying one for everyone in my and Ryan's family, Merry Christmas). Until next time!

Easy Come, Easy Go.

There are many things in life so far that I can say come simply to me. Reading 300+ pages books in a night? Easy. Getting a college degree in the mythical four years? Piece of cake. Finding a job in the "worst economy since the Great Depression" in less than three months after graduation? Child's play. Spray painting metal outdoor furniture? SKREEETCH!!! Those are the proverbial breaks going out.

Now I know I have to give myself some slack here, this was my very first attempt ever. After reading many DIY blogs and watching some very sub-par YouTube videos, I thought I was ready. The main tips handed out are:

• Spray 8-10" away from the piece of furniture
• Keep in continuous motion, don't let the spray stay in one spot for too long
• Multiple light coats are better than drippy heavy coats, so a light mist is recommended
• Long strokes create more even coverage

Well, again, I have learned about myself that I am results kind of gal, so this idea of a "light mist" wasn't working for me. Not enough instant gratification. Well, this resulted in everything bloggers warn against, drips, rings and uneven coats, basically a disaster. Here's a picture after my first coat (Krylon Primer + Paint in Glossy White):

Note to readers: Though the spider webs do create a wonderfully artistic effect... That wasn't intentional  and is super shoddy! Plus, at this point I ran out of spray paint, one can doesn't go quite as far as I thought it would. A trip to Home Depot was in order. If you wait longer than two hours between coats, you have to end up waiting two days until you can spray again, to let the paint "cure", basically just letting it harden.

Well, after a while, we were ready to roll again. This time I had Ryan on board to show me the basics. He was very good about telling me when I was spraying too close, that I had to move faster and keeping me on track (I was like an ADD child. I would start spraying while looking at another rusty spot, forget what I was supposed to be doing and move spray locations). So without further ado, here is the set in it's newly painted glory!

I know this picture makes it hard to see with the shading and background busyness (the camera died before I could take anymore) but we are really happy with the results! I can't wait to get the seats on there so we can enjoy wonderful sunsets from our deck! Until next time.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! I had a wonderful day with my sir, we went to a friends house for a BBQ where we got to shoot off "Oregon legal" fireworks, aka nothing that shoots into the air. Rather than go to Long Beach, WA to watch what is supposedly a crazy show of pyrotechnics, we came home to our kitties to make sure they made it safely through this holiday. Here are our two muffins:

The pretty Peanut:

And the ever so handsome Marley:

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday, tomorrow I get to look forward to my mom being our first house guest and spending some time with her in Astoria! Also, I have some updates on our patio furniture! Until next time.

Like Sands Through the Hourglass.

Yesterday was a day of firsts. First sunny day in Astoria of the summer (I wish I was only kind of kidding) and the first time this girl got a power tool in her hands (I have been singing "Janie's Got A Gun" in my head ever since). My father so generously passed down a hand sander to me when I told him I was in the process of learning how to refurbish, which has already come in handy. As I said in my last post, I've been given notice to get going on the patio furniture we acquired, and the first step is done!

I used my sander to knock off all the rust that I could as well as any dirt and loose paint. Yes, she looks horrible still, the worst pictures are yet to come. But on a more positive note, all the surfaces are smooth and ready to get their first coat of spray paint (if it ever stops raining!). We've decided to leave them white, but instead of being a flat white, it's gloss all the way. 

This is where further problem lies though:

Ryan was able to purchase a..saw of some sort off of Craigslist that he claims he will be able to replicate the wood circles with, so that is our next step. If the picture above doesn't give an accurate depiction of what we're working with, this might:

Yes, that green slime at the top is in fact mold. Icky, disgusting mold. But, it shows you that reupholstering the bottoms won't be ALL that difficult. Again, thanks to my dad, I have a staple gun that will come in handy when it comes time to fabric these bad boys up. It appears the sun might be reappearing, so until next time!