Creating Happiness

Ephesians 2:10 NIV

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I love creating things:  new recipes, drawings, paintings, stories, scrapbooks, jewelry, and more. When the seed of an idea is planted, I feel my spirit quicken. The anticipation when I'm in the midst of a project is downright addicting. The moment of completion is bittersweet...satisifaction mixed with sadness that the creative process is over for the moment. It's great to sit back and enjoy the results of my efforts, but it's not long before another idea takes hold and I'm off to create again. Alas, I dabble in a lot of things, but I'm the master of none. Still, it's a true blessing to be able to creative something. It may not be worth a thing to anyone else, or worthy of praise, but it's a piece of me and it brings me happiness.

Birdcage Planter

I was browsing through the shops on Antique Alley looking for something to put out in my new garden. I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for, but when I saw this birdcage, I knew I had to have it. In my mind, I envisioned a planter to sit upon the tree stump at the front right hand side of the garden. Just as I picked it up, the dealer said she'd clipped a picture of a birdcage used as a planter to display with it. I knew it was a good idea!

When I got it home, I realized it was a rusty mess and had several broken bars. It rather added to its charm, but I didn't think it would hold up the constant watering it would have to endure. Thank goodness for Rustoleum spray paint. I brushed off all the dust and rust I could, then sprayed it down with a good coating of textured gold. While it dried, I made a quick trip to Home Depot to gather some supplies.

I got, moisture control potting mix, sphagnum moss, ivy, and a begonia. Back at home, I grabbed a couple of plastic freezer bags, and a pair of scissors.

To start with, I cut the bags in half from side to side and lined the bottom and lower sides of the cage with it to keep the moss and dirst from falling out through the bars. Then I filled the bottom of the cage with sphagnum moss. Luckily, one of the top bars was broken away from the top of the cage, so I just pulled it back and stuck my hand right in. Next, I placed the ivy, one plant at a time, then the begonia. Finally, I filled in the empty places around the plants with potting soil. I put the broken bar back into place and put it out into the garden.

The plastic stood out like a sore thumb and bugged me, so I tucked some moss inbetween the plastic and the bars and I'm liking the look of things. I'm looking forward to the ivy growing more, and I'm also looking forward to replanting it with new things next spring!

The final project - I love it!







Garden Cooking!

Genesis 1:29 ESV     
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

Smoked Gouda Tomato Pie



My tomatoes are finally coming in and I had enough at one time to make a tomato pie. Southern Living Magazine had a tomato pie recipe that used a half cup of mayonnaise on top of it. We tried it, and it was good, but I couldn't get past the mayo. So this year, I tweaked the recipe and came up with a delicious pie I hope you'll enjoy!

One pie crust (I use Pillsbury ready made)
5 or 6 ripe (but not mushy) tomatoes, medium sized
1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/2 cup of grated smoked Gouda cheese
3 Tbsp basil, chopped
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

Step 1 - Place the pie crust in a pie plate (not deep dish) and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Step 2 - Slice the tomatoes and lay them out on paper towels. Sprinkle them with salt. Let them sit for 30 minutes to draw excess moisture out of them.

Step 3 - Sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese in the bottom of the pie crust.

Step 4 - Place tomato slices on top of the Parm cheese.

Step 5 - Sprinkle the smoked Gouda on top of the tomatoes.

Step 6 - Sprinkle the basil on top of the Gouda.

Step 7 - Spread the Greek yogurt on top of the basil and Gouda. It doesn't have to reach all the way to the sides of the pan.

Step 8 - Sprinkle Parmesan on top of the yogurt.

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until the Parmesan is lightly browned.

Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before slicing.

Let me know if you try it and be sure to let me know how you like it. If you tweak the recipe, share the tweak with me! I'm always looking for new ways to update recipes.

Two Are Better Than One

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV

 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.

Truer words were never spoken! I especially felt this today as I dove into my weekend garden project. We have a salt water pool and there's a run off area filled with salty mud where nothing will grow. After a lazy afternoon perusing gardening magazines, I envisioned a graveled area with a planter in the middle filled with flowering vines that would grow up the fence and draping plants that would cascade over the planter. I shared my vision with my husband, Randy, and he gave me a few suggestions to consider, but it was my project to do.

Salty, muddy area to be fixed up.



After a couple of weeks of family obligations and a short beach vacation, we finally faced a free weekend. Randy had plans to run an irrigation hose around the pool deck to each of our blueberry bushes and the herb garden. He also needed to put a new pump into the fish pond and clean out some of the decaying muck that coated the bottom of it. As he explained the process of getting his tasks done, he saw my eyes slide over to my project area. He ambled over and verbally walked me through the steps that would need to be done to make my vision come to life. First, dig out the muck around the border to sink bricks low enough so he could get over them with the mower. Second, rake the area to remove the random grass that still clung to life in the salty mess. Third, place the large planter I'd dug out of the bushes next to the fence, and cut some chicken wire to cover the gigantic hole that the previous owners had put in it and dig holes to sink two flower pots in front of the large planter. Fourth, take any excess mud and debris out behind the back fence and dump it. Fifth, dig up stepping stones from behind the fence and place them where I wanted them. Sixth, scoop up gravel from behind the fence (are you wondering what else the area behind the fence harbors?) and spread it out around the stepping stones. Seventh, fill the pots with pine needles, mulch, and potting soil. Eighth, place the new plants where I wanted them, and fill the pots with soil. Ninth, water down the area and step on the gravel and stones to set them in place. Tenth, clean up and put the tools back where they belonged.

Are you laughing yet? I'd honestly thought I'd just head to Lowe's and pick out a nice planter, some plants, some dirt, and a bag of gravel. Then, I figured, I'd come home and put it all into place. The whole project, in my mind's eye, would only take a couple of hours tops. Oh, how naive I was.

I was eager to get started, so I went ahead and got the large planter into place on Saturday night. I grabbed my garden gloves and some tin snips that Randy got me and snipped away until I'd fit the wire over that huge hole. I was very pleased we wouldn't have the expense of buying a planter, so even though it was tough to cut the wire, I figured every snip was saving me big bucks. On Sunday, Randy and I set out for Lowe's at ten. Two bags of potting soil, five sprinkler heads, and six plants later, we were on our way back home again. By 11:30, we were ready to dive into our separate projects.

Randy headed off to work on his irrigation system and I walked over to find an array of tools he'd set out for me next to my project spot. Oh, yeah...tools. Good thinking, Randy! Happily, I dug right into the mud and removed brick sized chunks, sinking bricks along the way. My gusto lasted about four bricks. By the time I finished sinking all of the bricks, perhaps twenty four or so, my head was pounding, I was sweating buckets, and I couldn't catch my breath. I'm obviously not used to physical labor! Seeing that I was done with my first task, Randy walked over and gave his approval. I expected him to move on back to finish the pond, but instead he grabbed a rake and smoothed out the area while I took a break to catch my breath. After he finished and returned to the pond, I dug two holes to sink the little planters. When I finished, Randy was ready with the wheel barrow to dump the muddy mess I'd dug out and haul back some stepping stones. I gratefully trailed behind him with the shovel. It's a good thing he decided to help me out because digging up the stones, hauling them to the site, digging up shovelfuls of gravel, hauling them to the site and then going back for three more loads would have taken me hours and hours over the course of several days. It was way more hard work than I'd bargained for! We set the stones into place, then he dumped in the gravel while I pushed it around into place. Finally, he brought me some pine needles while I grabbed the bag of mulch, and we filled the big pot. He dumped in potting soil, I placed the plants. We repeated the process until all of the pots were full of plants. Then, he tested his irrigation system to be sure everything would get a good watering as needed.

Randy took a much needed dunk in the pool as I went inside to fix our lunch. Unbelievably, the entire process had only taken two hours. Thank you, dear God, for Randy. Thank you for his helping hands. Thank you for his support of my vision.

If I'd worked at it over the course of a week, I probably could have accomplished my goals on my own. How much nicer and effective to have two of us working toward the same goal. My heart is full today. Two really are better than one!

Our finished weekend garden project!