50 Shades of Grey

When I first painted my bathroom, I painted it WAY too fast. "Hurry up! It will be so much easier to paint before we put the bathtub in..in five minutes." True, it was much easier when the room was empty. But I did such a bad job that it has literally driven me crazy every time I get in the shower and look at the wall in front of me.
So - on a whim.. yesterday - I decided to bite the bullet and repaint the bathroom. Trouble was, I didn't have any paint, and I didn't have any desire to buy any more. So, I turned to my trusty sample paints...all 10 of them. Pour into a bucket, shake and stir, and throw it up on the wall.
I figured if I liked all the colors individually, I'd like the end product..and I'm actually really pleased with the results.
Pictures to follow :)

Plantings

An updated shot of the vegetable garden..including my new tomatoes from Seed Savers Exchange!

The broccoli is starting to grow like crazy..every day it's bigger and prettier!
The onions and garlic are also doing well, and I've harvested some of my lettuce already. Very tender..great flavor.

Tomato alley!
The two larger plants were given to me and have been in the ground for a couple weeks now. All the smaller plants (eight, to be exact) came from Seed Savers Exchange on a recent trip to Decorah. Lots of varieties, lots of colors :)

The last few days have also been busy planting around the house.
I bought several Korean boxwood at Home Depot a while back because they were good sized and marked down like crazy. I thought I could keep them alive for a while until after I had painted the trim and finished the front stoop.
..turns out I was wrong.

So, once we started planting a few, we had to plant A LOT. We planted the boxwood and that bushy willow you see in the corner here....then we went to my grandma's and dug hostas....then we went to the grocery store and bought a few more....then mom went to Wal-Mart and bought a few more!

Including this one - I think it's called Mouse Ears..it's supposed to stay small like this while spreading out.
I've already got about a dozen varieties of hosta in the ground..and I didn't know I wanted to plant anything just yet ;)

Veg

I had big plans for my vegetable garden this year, but not enough time (and not enough rainless, sunny days to work on it, either!) So, I'm gardening with the garden I have, not the garden I want...either way, it's working out well!
Across the top of the picture, I have several broccoli plants growing nicely - after having fresh broccoli last year, I decided I needed A LOT more of it this year! At the front I have several onions, garlic, two good-sized tomato plants, a couple varieties of lettuce, and some herbs. Not as much as I'd like...but certainly as much as I can handle right now :)
Check back for updates - it's changing every day!

A pretty typical Friday night..

This past Friday, I had the opportunity to take a private tour of the State Capitol Building.
Because I did, that's why..

Under the dome, looking toward the main staircase

Looking up from the floor of the rotunda to the murals and gilding above.
For YEARS when I was younger, the dome was wrapped in scaffolding as they restored and  re-gilded the interior and exterior. It's such a beautiful building now that major restoration work has been finished.
You can walk around the inside of the dome at two different levels - unfortunately, we didn't on this tour.

Crazy detailed ceilings to the side of the rotunda, just inside the east entrance.

North entrance to the building with stairs leading up to the Senate Chambers.

Second level rotunda, looking east toward the Law Library.

West side of the third level - really detailed tiled mosaics.

Looking down from the Senate stairs.

The Governor's public Reception Room.

The Law Library - the entire east end of the building, top to bottom.
Recently ranked as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world!

Love a good spiral stair..

Smelled like...a really old library. Lots of leather.

Stained glass skylight in the Senate Chamber.

The gallery of the Senate Chamber.

The man who designed the Statehouse actually also designed the Marion County Courthouse.
Well..actually, he designed our Courthouse, then the Statehouse..then he left that job prematurely to design the Washington Monument. I guess you could say we made him famous. :)

Kind of a big deal.

Paint, painty paintpaintpaint

So, we got a TON of (but not all of the) exterior painting done this weekend!
It's going to look especially impressive if I show an old 'Before' picture, though :) 

Who could forget my old garage? ;)

Working our way up the front of the house.
The color is 'Slate' from Restoration Hardware, mixed by Sherwin-Williams

I was lucky enough to have several friends and family stop by Saturday and Sunday to help out.
They're the best :)

Many hands make light work...or so the saying goes.

Two days, two coats.
Boom.

Touching up to do here and there...but an enormous amount of work has been done!

Bummin' around the house

From the starter I made a couple weeks ago: ciabatta bread!

With the big, beautiful holes I was looking for last time and a nice crusty crust :)

I've also been re-potting some of my new plants. My orchid bloomed again, which I was told would NOT happen.
I chalk it up to good light in the 'greenhouse'

They're everywhere..

Potted Plants EVERYWHERE!

Mom, Grandma, and I went plant shopping yesterday as sort of a pre-Mother's Day/let's-buy-shrubs-for-the-house sort of jaunt. No shrubs to be had, but we did come across some great succulents....and I bought plenty of them!

Red-tipped jade from yesterday, and the snake plant came from mom several weeks ago.

I potted up some of the larger plants in this big metal bowl for outside (once it's warm enough) - we'll see how it does!

This one will be really interesting - the side pockets are all clippings from the other plants. Succulents will take root  in a potting medium even if there aren't roots established. You can end up with a totally new plant just by using a little sprig..

..as I'm attempting here!

Here are a few others from yesterday's trip. As you can tell, I have a tendency toward the weird ones.. :)