Raised Vegetable Bed Workshop

Ever since the start of the Gainesville 3rd Ward Garden Club I have been wanting to host a Raised Vegetable Bed workshop and yesterday I finally got to do it! What a wonderful feeling it was to spend the morning building something that would one day produce food for the table. It was so much fun being around my friends and seeing them drill away. Every person got to build their own raised vegetable bed and trust me, it turned out beautifully. Jon was an amazing teaching and I'd like to think I was a pretty good assistant ;) Once we finished building we did a small presentation of how to stake the beds in their yard and I spoke about lots of different gardening information. I'd like to thank Darrell who stacked his van with 4 boxes. Michelle for bringing some OJ, Amelia for supplying us with some much needed water, and Tina for helping out, Thanks girls!

Check out the fun pic's:


My handsome man giving out some instructions

Tina giving Amelia a hand

Janene (jump rope champion!) I loved her enthusiasm!


Natalie and her bright smile. Notice her seamstress measuring tape around her neck. Max (her very inquisitive son) broke her measuring tape. This is so fitting though!


Amber who has the cutest blue eyed baby

BFF's

Ok, can you see Michelle in the red shirt next to Tara and Darrell? I know this is going to sound weird but after I got home and checked the pictures I took of my dear friends, they were butt shots! They were all bending down and I took a quick pic of their drilling action. Out of respect for their behinds I will refrain from posting it.

L-Michelle, Natalie, Tara, Darrell, Me, Jon
B- Amber, Janene, Amelia

Some finished handiwork

I finally finished sanding and painting the guest room headboard. I love that I got the paint for free from a company called Glidden. It was absolutely perfect!

Check out the pic's:


I thought this was a bit too plain


So I added some pretty fabric

My room has always been lacking in accents but I like it that way. Until I saw a tutorial online and loved it. Here is my inspiration: How about Orange

And here are the results:



I've had so much fun painting and making things with my hands. I have a few more projects that I'm working on and I'm looking forward to showing you the results.

Before/After

I need your help! Last week I made my very first purchase on Craigslist.com but unfortunately the inside of the headboard I bought was moldy. It only costs me $5 but I was still bummed out. I have been wanting an inexpensive headboard to put behind the twin bed which is in Jon's office. When Jon saw my sad headboard purchase he said, "I can build you a replica. That way, when I am done building it, you can take over and paint it. I know how much you love painting and I want to encourage that." I was like, say what!? And so we went to Home Depot and in a matter of a few hours he built me a replica.

My question to all who read my blog is, what should I do with it!! I know I want to stay within the blue family since J's office is light blue. Should I distress it? Should I add some stenciling? Any input would be kindly noted.



BEFORE
AFTER

Claudia's Top 10 Reads

I was looking through a list of the top 10 books of all time and I could not help but scoff. I dislike the list so much I want to write my own. Here it is:

#1 The Bible
#2 The Book of Mormon
#3 The Giver
#4 The Hobbit
#5 Ender's Game
#6 Twilight
#7 Lord of the Rings
#8 Harry Potter
#9 Because He First Loved Us
#10 Martha Stewart's Cookies

I asked Jon the same question but he very much dislikes picking favorites. He LOVES reading and has inspired me to love reading once more (y'all know the sad tale of the "F" book report when I was in the 7th grade).

I managed to squeeze 6.

#1 Lord of Light- full of ideas.
#2 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy-changed Jon's whole sense of humor and played an impact on his life. He read this when he was 7. Hmm, maybe I should read this. It could help me understand my husband's humor :)
#3 Ender's Game
#4 The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
#5 Lord of the Rings
#6 Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

So I now ask, what are your favorite reads?

The 4th

Jon and I had a wonderful 4th of July. The Janson family invited us to a barbecue at the nearby park. Its been a while since I've been to a park and I immediately thought about volleyball. I asked the Janson's to bring a volleyball and away we went! We brought some steaks, corn, Colombian soda, key lime pie, chocolate pie to add to the already piles of food. The missionaries happened to be riding their bikes and we immediately stopped them and fed them. After wards we played Volleyball! Wahoo! I took off my shoesies and even took a dive for the ball, all in the name of a good game.

On Sunday night we headed to the Nielson Ranch out in Newberry to visit with Laura and Ian Nipper. I was so excited! Laura is 15 weeks pregnant and glowing. We miss them so much and had a wonderful evening catching up. I baked their favorite cookies, Milk Chocolate cookies. Get the recipe here and make it tonight. You will thank me later! The Nielson/Nipper family fed us so much food! Later Jon and Ian blew up some explosive fireworks. Overall the evening was perfect!

Darrell Janson

Tara Janson with her patriotic t-shirt

My maaaan

Me!- I love grilled corn.

After Jon lighted up this little cracker we were all watching nothing happen. The, the wind tipped it over and huge balls of spark hit everyone in the chest. No one was hurt and we were all stunned while nervously laughing. Jon apologized profusely.

We love the laughs we share with The Nippers :)

Ed, Johann, Ian, Mr & Mrs. Nielson, Laura, me, and Jon

Jon and Ian

Laura and Claudia

We hope you had a wonderful 4th!

Great Weekend

Jon and I were going to travel to Orlando during Father's Day weekend/J mom's b-day but sadly my brother-in-law's Grandfather passed away and he and my sisters went to New York to attend the funeral. We rescheduled the planned festivities for the following weekend and oh boy, what a weekend!


Jon made his mom a vegetable garden box. I painted it and gave her some gardening accessories. She is ready to Garden!

I love this miniature cake from Publix!

J's mom & dad

J's mom loved the box, especially because J made it with his own huge Polish hands ;)


J's dad opening his gift. It's an image of his dad on the Godfather's body (thanks photoshop!) Jon's dad loves cats, he has 3 at home and one of his email addresses is godfathercpa.

I got Christine her favorite hand lotion so she can use it after a hard day of gardening.

Happy 59th Birthday Christine!

Earlier that day we went to the Flea Market and it was awesome! I had so much fun looking at all of the great things you only find at a flea market. After we went to see Transformer's 2. We had to walk out of the movie b/c it was so crude and vulgar! I should have looked up the reviews beforehand. It also didn't help that there were 50 children in the theater. I could not believe that parents would bring their newborn baby AND their 4 toddlers to see this movie. Disgusting!!!

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We then headed to the ward I grew up in, Lake Mary Ward. We had so much fun catching up with everyone. Jon and I had a good long talk afterward reflecting on the growth we both have achieved. We then headed to my parents house where Jon and Jared built a grill. It only took them 2 hours! I spent some time in the kitchen with my sister Janeth and we made so much food together for our Father's Day barbecue. My dad was so happy! He said he felt so spoiled :)




J peeling an onion. My big ol' eyes could not stand the heat.

D & C

My gorgeous sista

J being silly!

So, I had this wild idea that I could not get out of my head: I want to make an Andy Warhol picture of my dad on photoshop. Although my dad has never heard of Andy Warhol (he was born in a different country don't ya know) I just felt that I had to do it. So I commissioned Jon to do it for me.

My beautiful family, I love them so much!

Jon made these delicious shish kabobs.


I had to take a pic of Stephanie in her pioneer woman gear. My mom was telling her that she was soon going to lose that beautiful tan of hers when she moves to Idaho! Then they all turned to me and said, soon you will look like Claudia=tanless! Ouch but so true.