Anticipation

We close on the house in two days! What a whirl-wind of activity that has been going on here. I've got our "non-essentials" in most rooms packed and we plan on taking those up shortly after closing.

There are lots of things, of course, that I'm going to miss about this house in Gilbert. One of those things is our apricot tree. We just picked two huge bowls full of apricots this week. I had big plans for drying some, or making jam, but instead we ate every single one of them. They were that good!

Gorgeous sun-ripened apricots right off the tree.

We'll also miss our garden, which is also doing awesome right now. The tomatoes are finally coming in!

But all in all, I'm excited for our new adventure.

Inspections

Here it is again, our soon to be home.

We went up to Prescott this last week for the inspections. The owner of the house stuck around and we actually got to meet her (she's always been gone before now). It was a bit awkward because here we are looking at her house and discussing what we think is wrong with it and what we're going to change.

I took a good look at the inside again and I'm already preparing for some major painting as I think every wall in the house is brown or orange. The owner was nice enough to show us some plans she had of the house which will hopefully help us get the breezeway addition plans to the county for a permit quickly.

I never know what to really think about official home inspections because one would think the liability faced by the inspector (from both sides) makes him act pretty conservatively. But our inspector was nice and he found a few things that are pretty minor.

Of course, he didn't mention anything about the peeling paint on the siding (quite honestly the siding is super horrible stuff and needs to be replaced) or the water-damaged window in the master (that was disclosed to us by the owner). It makes me wonder what other horrible atrocities he may have missed.

Our Realtor had another property pop up just recently that he thought we might like, so we swung by there as well - just in case we liked it better. While it probably needs slightly less repairs, it just didn't work for us. We did like the goats on the property though (and the huge, preexisting goat pen).

Looks like we're still on!

Offer Accepted!

We got news from the bank a few days ago that our offer on the E house has been accepted. So, it looks like we will be closing on a new house in a few weeks. I'm so excited! Let me tell you, this is just in time because it is starting to get HOT here! I was almost afraid I would have to move in the middle of July's heat.

Now we have to kick into gear. We've got inspections to arrange, insurance to buy, the breezeway addition to plan (since we need it done ASAP), a house to pack, kids to prepare, and renting out our current house. I think I may be in over my head.

So things may be short and sweet here for a while.

Loving these pics too

Isn't this so fun and colorful? Great idea!

Art Station from bhg.com

 Love the layout and the colors in this schoolroom.

Do It Yourself Magazine

 A gift wrap station would be awesome!

(I need to find a space for this somewhere).

From bhg.com

 I love the colors in this Living Room too.

from Martha Stewart Living magazine

Loving these pics

I'm getting really tired of waiting for a response on our offer on E...so I'm filling my time browsing tons of home decorating magazines and websites. Here are a few of my favorites:

Such a creative way to store all those utensils!

From bhg.com

I love how the sink is inset & the natural colors.

From Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Makes me want to take a hot bath & read a steamy novel.

From Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Love the colors in this one!

From Great Backyards Magazine

 I love how this works so well with the two larger structures.

Maybe do something like this on the breezeway addition at E?

From Renovation Style

 I have a thing for cozy little spots to sit outside of windows.

(I imagine crawling out the window to get away for some peace!)

From Renovation Style

Have a great week!

More House Hunting

We went house hunting again this week to check out all the new stuff on the market (or houses whose price dropped within our price range).

There's the horribly built house with the silhouette barn (oh my):

Or the foreclosed house with the awesome kitchen but which was stripped of absolutely everything (carpet, light fixtures, door locks, air conditioner...). And painted concrete floors which were cracked all over from settling.

Then there was the house with the funky kitchen (you can't tell in this photo but the ceiling is actually lofted and these cabinets look like little warts comparatively).

The house with the funky split mirrors (all I can ask is "Why???"). What a waste of wall space!

The Frank Lloyd Wright wanna-be, which comes no where close!

And lastly the house with AMAZING views (280 degrees), but with a bad foundation and an old kitchen from the 80s.

Love this view though!

Radish Harvest

We have an abundance of radishes in our garden. I'm not sure what I'll actually DO with them as I don't actually like radishes. I planted a whole bunch because they are supposedly good at deterring pests, and who wouldn't like that? My mistake was to plant all of them at once, as now I have 4 dozen radishes all ready at the same time. (Next year I will be planting small quantities throughout the season, not just a bunch at the beginning).

In my effort not to waste any food we grow in the garden this year, I've tried a couple radish recipes that are actually okay.

The first is fried radishes. I made this one up myself, hoping to copy something like a fried potato dish one could serve with eggs. The frying actually softened the spiciness of the radish and made it much more palatable. Not palatable enough to get seconds, but good enough to finish up my first helping. My husband liked it.

Fried Radish
bacon grease
1 lb radishes, washed and sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
salt & pepper to taste

Fry onion and radish in bacon grease until radishes are soft. Season with salt and pepper.

The second recipe I've tried is Radish Au Gratin - I figure if you add enough fat and cheese to anything, it should be good, right? This was really good, but again only good enough for one serving.

Radishes Au Gratin
1 lb radishes, sliced into thin rounds
2 Tbsp butter
dried thyme
salt
1 cup cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

White Icicle Radishes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed, stovetop and ovenproof pan. When it starts to foam, remove from heat. In that pan, alternate layers of radish, salt, and thyme until you've used up all the radishes.

Return pan to stovetop and cook until the butter begins to brown and the radishes begin to soften.

Add cream and cook in oven until center of the radishes are soft (about 15 minutes). Top with both cheeses and return to oven until the cheeses are melted and beginning to brown.

I just found a recipe for pickled radishes which I haven't tried yet, but given my love of anything dill, may be worth trying. Anyone else have a radish recipe worth sharing?

More Inspiring Kitchens

From Coastal Living

From Kitchen & Bath Ideas

From Renovation Style

Inspiring Kitchens

From the magazine Dream Kitchens

From the magazine Kitchen & Bath Ideas

From the magazine Kitchen Trends

Raised Garden Box Design

Our first attempt at a raised garden began in 2003 and consisted of 4x8' beds, 2' apart. We built them out of 4x1" pine boards and used some 1x1 stakes nailed into the sides for support. We used top soil for fill. Needless to say, we learned a lot of lessons that first time around. The walls were too weak to hold the soil inside, even with the support and we were constantly having to add brackets/other items to keep it together. The top soil we ordered was not very fertile (we added very little amendments to the soil), except for the weeds. And the 2' between boxes was not enough room to comfortably get around once those plants that did grow got very big.

In 2008/2009, we decided to try again. Of course, we couldn't find any plans that would work for us, so we came up with our own! 

Not to scale - My drawing skills aren't the best.

We used 4x4 redwood, which cost more but since we bought so much of it, we were able to get a deal at the lumber yard. We used rebar inside the 4x4s to hold the sides together tightly, and brackets in the corners to keep the ends together. We had originally planned to extend the rebar beyond the bottom of the box, so it could sink into the earth and hold tight. However, after we built the fist box, we realized the boxes were heavy enough to stay put without the extra rebar extension.

In construction

Our son helping with the build.

As far as fill, we chose compost, which provided easily 2 years of weed free, fantastic growth. This is the first year I'm seeing weeds in our boxes - probably blown in from last summer. Being in Phoenix, we've been able to keep tomato plants going year round. They stop producing in the summer, but come back in the fall with more tomatoes as the weather cools. One of our tomato plants produced for 2 1/2 years before a winter frost finally killed it off.

Our daughter helping us fill with compost.

We didn't treat the inside of the boxes, as we don't want the chemicals leeching into our soil. However, we had to treat the exterior of the boxes to protect them from our brutal summer sun. We placed our boxes 3' apart this time, providing ample room for getting around even when the plants have grown enormous and spill over the sides.

3+ years later...still going strong.

We love our boxes. They are sturdy, wide enough to sit on comfortably while gardening, and beautiful.

The House on E

We ended up making an offer on a house in Prescott again. This one is a short-sale and has been approved by the owners, but now we must begin waiting on the bank. I realize this will take a long time, so I'm not going to allow myself to get to anxious this time around.

breezeway = more square footage? 

The house on E is too small for us as is (1900 square feet), but it has a breezeway between the house and garage which will be perfect for adding some rooms. We will be able to add about 600 square feet to the house, making it a 5 bedroom, 3 bath, plus "play room". The offer we've made is low enough that we can easily add the extra rooms without going over budget (and we'll get a big return for the extra square footage!).

Great room - ignore the hideous decor!

I didn't even realize until reviewing the pictures later how absolutely horrible the place is decorated. I must have finally hit a point where I look at the layout of the rooms and potential rather than furnishings and paint colors. Without this skill, believe me, we would have passed on this house.

Huge Garage!

One great thing about the house is the garage, which could easily fit 4 cars. Since we only have 1 car, I'm not sure what we'll do with all the extra space - probably give my husband the workshop he's always dreamed of!

Of course, we'll continue to look while the bank sits on this...they may come back with a counter-offer that is just too much. And I have to admit, I liked the house on D much better. While this house "will do", it isn't anywhere near my style (although it does have potential). So we're keeping our options open.

Gardening

I finally got around to planting our spring garden today. I was going to skip it this year since we're hoping to have a new house and this one rented out by May. But now that we're looking at months before we hear anything back from the bank, I've decided that we might as well start the garden and enjoy it while we can. I'm about a month behind (for Phoenix), but hopefully my plants will produce some veggies before the summer heat kills everything.

For us, the major work of gardening is getting the beds ready. We have 6 raised beds that we built a few years ago that are awesome! They have seriously reduced the back and knee pain involved in gardening. But it still is work aerating the soil, adding any amendments or additional soil (since the raised beds do start to sink eventually), and clearing out the debris. The planting itself is the easy part!

Today I transplanted 6 tomatoes, 4 cucumbers, 4 sweet peas, 2 eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 crook-neck squash, 3 bell peppers, 4 green chili peppers, and a whole bunch of herbs and marigolds. I usually try to start these from seed, but since I started so late this year, I was reduced to buying transplants. Seed is so much more preferable as then I can control the varieties much better - this year I've been reduced to depending on the varieties supplied by the local nurseries. So we'll see how they do!

As far as seeds, I planted some radishes, carrots, lettuce, spinach, nasturtiums, and sunflowers. I love the spring when all the plants are small and manageable, when the seeds start poking up through the soil, and when the bugs are not so plentiful to be a nuisance.

In the next few weeks I'll be planting some peas and beans (from seed) and I'll be starting the melons (also from seed). After that, I'll be done planting and the real work (a.k.a. keeping those stinking squash bugs off my plants) will be begin!