DIY Project: Herb planters

This weekend, we conquered one of the things on our loooonnnnngggg list of home and garden projects - our herb garden.  We have a whole little area on our side yard that is going to be a flower garden (maybe some veggies?), but I wanted a lot of herbs and didn't want the whole garden to be taken over by them (my experience before with oregano was that it overwhelmed everything in its path; the same is reportedly true of mint).  I'd seen some great ideas on pinterest but I really wanted to have a lot of different kind of herbs.  Also, we're not exactly woodsmiths, and I didn't want to spend a fortune on this one projet. We melded together a couple of the ideas I'd seen on there and are really happy with the results!

 

We made two planters, but the things you need for one of them are as follows:

 

• 2 5-step deck "stringers" - find them in the section at Lowe's where they have supplies for building a deck.  This is the tall piece with the cutouts (you use them to make stairs). 
• 5 boards (ours were 0.75" thick x 7.5" deep x 30" long)  
• Wood screws
• Wood glue
• 5 30" planters

First, we waterproofed our wood pieces and let them dry.

 

 

 

Once they were dry, we propped them up against the wall and got to work on assembly!  We used wood glue in addition to the screws to secure the "stairs" to the frame.

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, all you have to do is add your planters!  We had originally planned to use wood planters, but our Lowes didn't have any.  So we could have spent the time to build them ourselves (and maybe we'll do that next year), but we went for the composite ones.

 

We drilled holes in the bottoms so that they would drain well.

 

 

Then it was time to plant!   Since we did two of the planters, we had ten planters.  We bought some plants and also did some seed.  Based on what we use, we did the following herbs:

 

2 boxes of basil (genovese and sweet)

2 boxes of italian (flat leaf) parsley

1 box of rosemary

1 box of mint (spearmint and peppermint)

1 box of oregano (italian and greek)

1 box with sage and thyme

1 box of chives and dill

1 box of cilantro and bay

 

 

Our work was complete!  We chose to put our planters on the side of the garden where we have pavers, but it is easy to move them to another area, because they are not bolted to the wall - they just lean against it securely.  This area gets full morning sun and afternoon shade at our house. This is important, because even though herbs thrive in full sun, nothing can survive the sun of Southern California as the summer wears on! 

 

 

 

 

We are looking forward to the seeds germinating and growing and our herb containers overflowing!  I'll be posting pictures of how they progress.  Rebecca is very excited about us being able to use our herbs to flavor chicken and to use in making spaghetti sauce. 

Ten on Tuesday

I haven't stopped doing these!  At least, I never intended to!

1.  Please pray for my friend Lucy's sister Connie.  She was in a terrible car accident last July and has been undergoing rehabilitation, numerous surgeries, and a lot of pain since then.  She has a MRSA infection in her leg, which had been broken multiple times, and now has sepsis and is on a ventilator in MICU at Vanderbilt. Today, they were able to successfully amputate her leg, which although sad, hopefully gives her the chance to overcome this.
2.  Now that the Christmas decor is down, I am realizing that all my walls are still completely bare.  I can't stand it!  However, I am wracked with indecision.  I keep feeling that when I find exactly what I want for the living room walls, I will know it.  It just hasn't happened yet.

3.  I do, at least, have a color scheme in mind.  Think of the rich reds and yellows in Provence-style tablecloths.  Maybe a pop of cobalt blue every now and then. 

4. I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest lately.  There are so many cute craft ideas, decorating ideas, and just generally good things that I feel inspired.  Other than pinning several dozen ideas of things that I really want to do, I have only actually made a couple of the crafts with Rebecca and made a few of the recipes. 

5.  Rebecca usually takes a bath in the evening and her hair is oftentimes still damp when she falls asleep. This leads to some interesting hair in the morning.  Last week, I was trying to tame it with the curling iron and I said, "Rebecca!  Your hair has a mind of its own!"  She said, "WELL!  Maybe but it don't have eyes - it can't see where it is going!"

6. My friend Julie's sister-in-law Marika received a pancreas transplant this morning. She underwent a live-donor kidney transplant last fall.  Please pray that this amazing opportunity gives her a chance for a new and healthy life and for her donors who made amazing sacrifices.

7.  Please pray for my dear friend Marilyn (Aunt Mimi) and her aunt Nadine, who has Alzheimers dementia.  They will be transitioning Nadine to a nursing home that can provide her the secure facility that she now requires.  Families who care for loved ones with dementia at home for as long as (or even longer than!) humanly possible are such heroes, but there also comes a point when such patients just have to have even greater security and monitoring than can be done at home.  This is an agonizing thing for families.

8.  Today, a patient told me that Walmart sent him a check for $100,000 because they messed up his eyeglass prescription.  Is that customer service or what?  Now before you rush to Walmart, this same client told me that he was acting on the show "House" and also got treated by Dr. House.  He was also Nellie Olsen's husband on Little House, Benny on Gunsmoke, sang the intro song for Happy Days, will be starring on NCIS this summer, and is still friends with Michael Landon. And he has $62 billion in the bank.  He also holds the world's record for snoring. Oh yeah, and I really need to tell the narcs that that lady who is watching him through the wall in my office that the witness protection program doesn't allow her to monitor him in rehab.

9.  For real, he believes it all completely.  And for real, none of that is why we have him.

10. Some days my work is cognitively challenging.  Frequently it is stressful. Often it is rewarding.  But NEVER is it boring! 

Christmas Morning

After Rebecca was asleep, we quickly cleaned up from the party.  Then Santa's elves got to work!  It was quite a late night for those elves!  Rebecca slept until about 7:45, and then she and Grammy called Mama and Daddy so that we could come down and get ready for her to burst into the living room.  I was able to snap a few pics before the destruction began!

Santa Claus was here!!!

Rebecca loves Snowy far too much for him to go back with Santa the way most elves do.  She wrote to Santa to ask that he leave him with us to see her open her gifts.  He stayed around in our tree for the next few days and then flew back to the North Pole on New Years Day. 

Our stockings that Grammy made!

The thing Rebecca wanted most was the pets from American Girl.  She had been asking for Sugar for weeks but she also got Ginger!

Because it was too big to fit down the chimney, Santa left one of Rebecca's gifts outside on the porch.  She was so excited when she went out to see the car!

She was also surprised when we sent her upstairs to get something for us.  When she got up there, she discovered this playhouse from Grammy!  Rebecca saw it when she was about halfway up the stairs and exclaimed, "Hey!  Hey!  Hey!  WHAT IS THIS!?!?"

After a nice breakfast, we took a leisurely nap for a few hours.  In the evening, we awoke and finished opening gifts and our stockings.  Then Rebecca took her car for its inaugural ride and quickly discovered the "turbo" speed!

Christmas Eve

Yes, I realize that Christmas was almost a month ago but I also realized that I never got around to posting the actual pictures!  On Christmas Eve, we hosted Ramy's family.  I worked on the 23rd, rushed out and to the packed supermarket, and then we cooked and baked most of the night and the morning of Christmas Eve. 

We had planned to attend the children's mass on Christmas Eve, which is held at 4:00 p.m.  I knew that it would be crowded, so I planned to arrive at 3:30.  I was serving communion.  When we pulled out of our driveway, Jasmine texted me to let me know that they had arrived at the church and the main church was already packed!  They were holding seats for us for the co-occurring mass in Maher Hall.  That hall was packed also!  The girls had a lot of fun attending mass together. I got a little confused in serving communion, as I had never done it in the Hall before and ended up being at the very back wall.  Nonetheless, it was nice to kick off Christmas Eve at church.  Then everyone headed over to our house for the festivities.

Because they were together and it was a party, the girls changed into Spidergirl costumes.  I really cringed at the thought of our Christmas Eve pictures having them in Halloween costumes, because Rebecca had a really sweet dress.  Nonetheless, I let it go.

Here are Rebecca and her sweet cousins.

While we waited on everyone else to arrive, the girls watched some Christmas shows on television and talked about when we might let them open presents.

After Grandma and Auntie Theresa arrived, it was time to eat!  We had cheese straws, sausage balls, and cheese ball as appetizers. We did a wonderful prime rib on the rotisserie that Maddy and Paul gave us as a housewarming gift.  I love to do it as a sandwich on a baguette with arugula and parmesan cheese shards. Along with that, we had mashed potatoes, creamed corn, caprese salad, macaroni and cheese, and some Filipino food.  For dessert, I slaved over my aunt's caramel cake, which was one of the most laborious cakes I have ever made, and we also had chocolate pie and cream cheese pound cake. We were honored to be joined for dinner by our new friend Rod and his son Rod.

After digesting sufficiently, it was time for dirty Santa.  As Myrna gave the rules, these two were laughing and not paying attention.  It caused them problems later on!

Auntie Myrna was assisted by her Spidergirls.

I ended up stealing this Bath and Body Works set from Jasmine.

The Spidergirls were eager to help all the adults open their dirty Santa gifts.

Ramy was so enamored of the gift he contributed that he opened it himself and was terrified someone would steal his precious fire extinguisher.  It may well have been his favorite Christmas gift.  He's a simple fellow.

The real entertainment happened when Myrna tried to steal Theresa's gift.  Because she hadn't been paying attention, Theresa wasn't really up on the whole stealing aspect and hit the gift inside her shirt.

At long last, Dirty Santa was completed and it was time for the "kids" to open their gifts.  Boy was it hard to keep Hannah and Rebecca from mixing up their gifts! 

They eagerly watched each other open their gifts and ooohhed and aahhhed over the things they each got.  Slinky tried to take part also (it was a five dog night for Christmas Eve in the Cisneros household!).

It was a really fun night.  However, when the girls saw that Santa was in Montana on Norad, they quickly called the evening to an end.  Rebecca jumped in bed before she could even say goodbye to all the family, because she was so afraid that Santa would get there before she was asleep!

Preschool Christmas program

Although I posted videos several weeks ago, I am only now getting around to editing the pics and posting them.  I love the still pictures because it gives you an idea of just how animated our little star actually is!  As she told us, "I said my line with FEELING!"  Rebecca says (and sings!) most everything with FEELING!

Posing before leaving for her show:

Flowers from Nanny Rebecca in honor of Rebecca's stage debut:

Despite having seen each other just three hours before the show, the kids all squealed with delight every time a new friend came in.  Rebecca thoroughly enjoyed posing for pictures with her girlfriends.

Yes, I am a heathen, because during the prayer, I was taking pictures of how sweet and cute Rebecca was with her little silver halo on and praying so intently.

"Run to see Jesus..."

"Hurry, hurry, come to see Jesus..."

"Not one, but MANY! My, what a sight!"

"Away in a manger..."

"the little Lord Jesus, laid down his sweet head..."

"We wish you a merry Christmas!"

"Happy birthday, Jesus..."

With her proud grandmothers, after the show:

Some of her fans:

And with more of her audience:

Mommy and Daddy are so proud!

With her sweet teachers, Mrs. Morales and Mrs. Gallegos:

It was a wonderful night!  Afterwards, we were all in the Christmas spirit and went to Dripp to celebrate with ice cream sandwiches and hot chocolate.