Our consultant for le petit jardin

My cousin's wife Marleen is my gardening/urban farming hero. During their visit this weekend, she told us what we have in our backyard and gave us a few valuable tips which included that newbies like us start with a little test planting area. Like paint on a wall, you can always change it. So with a few Home Depot gift cards, we started on this little plot on the side of the shed and planted two mum plants and a small bougainvillea including our new "Bengtson Bougainvillea".






I even managed to finish chopping down the Deadly Nightshade' weeds (before crazy George eats them) in a corner of the garden (now we can see how bad that fence looks too, Oy!) where tomatoes will go one day....



You got to start somewhere... right?

"More Saving More Doing More Love"

We weren't quite sure how our alternative wedding registry approach would go over with friends and family (or for us that matter) but it has worked out better than we hoped.

We received many Home Depot (HD) gift cards as well as one from Target. Of that, the HD approach to gift cards was the easiest to deal with. The cards sent to us were ready to use and every penny used went towards the house. The Target online gift approach can only be used at the online store and you had to go on the website pics to see what you want. Here are a few items and house updates since our wedding 2 months ago:

This fan and corner palm tree was from Home Depot courtesy of Chuck Levine. It now hangs in the parlor and looks really, really good. We also picked up needed supplies like gloves, masks and painting supplies. Thanks Chuck & Melanie!

Thanks also to Harriet Rubin in Las Vegas & Heather Pepperdine in Portland for two more HD gift cards! These will most likely be used towards replacing/updating our electrical panel and some wiring. We really appreciate your generosity.


Cousin Mindy's Target gift card went towards a new, high-powered indoor/outdoor HD antenna as well as 6 solar-powered Victorian style lanterns. Thanks Mindy!

The rest of our gift cards went towards a variety of materials that enabled us to finish the hardwood floor in the parlor, plants for the garden, Romex wires, etc.
Wow, as I sit here and write this, Andrea just opened the mail and we received yet, another HD gift card from our friends David and Marilyn Bengtson of Minnesota!

We LOVE all of the wonderful gifts we've received from family and friends for our wedding. Everything seems to fit right in to our old house but the HD cards make us giddy and ecstatic. It's probably really hard for you to imagine that both Andrea and I get "giddy and excited" about getting a HD gift card.....but we do! Not only do we need to go to HD at least once a week, we don't need to use any honeymoon funds to pay for things like buckets, rags, wood and fly traps. Plus working on this home together allows us to learn more about each other, this old house and ourselves. There is a poem in there somewhere and I'm sure it will come to me when I am able to sit back and make another cinepoem/film.

I think if anybody we know is working on fixing up a house of any type, we know that giving a HD gift card is a great gift that truly keeps on giving.

Much love,

from the Aguilars