sphere topiary by shaping a coat hanger and twisting ivy around it! I even have a really great tip on how to keep your ivy growing fresh and green....dish washing soap!

closing.

My wife was just a bit perturbed when I told her how easy this repair was to do. The back story is that we've had this issue for 6 years (and yes, she's been after me to do it for that long).

Please don't judge me too much!! I apologized to her and have done several things to make it up.

Here's what you do, pull the hinge pin from the middle hinge. If you only have two hinges then pull the pin from the bottom hinge.

Place the hinge pin on a scrap piece of wood. Tap the center of the pin with a hammer (2-3 times depending on how much spinach you eat).

This puts a slight bend in the center of the pin. The bend will prevent the door from moving by itself.

Put the pin back in the hinge and you're done!! No more door that closes or opens by itself :)

Don't be like me, do this easy weekend DIY project and stay on the good side of your spouse-LOL.

In case you'd like to see how to do this via a short video check out my post at http://www.homerepairtutor.com/fix-a-door-th...

all across our nation now. Even if you save your own Impatien seed and keep other garden center plants away from your carefully and lovingly tended imps, you are still vulnerable as this is an airborn pathogen that will stay in your soil from one season to the next. It starts on the underside of the plant where you don't always see it. You won't notice until the leaves turn yellow and fall off, the plant withering and dying. There is nothing as of yet that effectively will combat the virulent attack.

This is my list of alternatives to the dilemma of what to plant to give that same heavenly splash of color in the shade garden.

My top picks are

1) Begonia , green wax leaf, tuberous , angel and dragon wing

2) Torenia

3) Browallia

4) New guinea impatien

5) Diascia

6) Fuschia

7) Balsam

8) Shade coleus

9) Lobelia

10) Euphorbia 'diamond frost'

11) Geraniums

12) Ageratum

13) Caladiums

14) Strobilanthes

15) Fan Flower(Scaevola)

There are a bunch more that will take part shade such as Nicotiana, Salvia, and Sweet Williams.

I will miss the sweet sweet impatien, but while the experts search for a cure, it gives us all the opportunity to step out of our garden box and into the wild new territory of DIFFERENT and awesome plants that will put a smile on our garden faces.#itchingforspring

wrapping/tagging "station"...re-purposing things I already had "on-hand"...

buying an ottoman for $20 at a local thrift shop. I decided to make a removable shaggy slip cover.

First I removed the outdated paint. For now, I wanted a bare wood look. In the future I may decide to paint the legs creamy white or black. After removing the paint I sanded lightly and waxed the wood.

Then I made a slip cover using burlap and hot glue. The hot glue sealed the edges and kept the burlap from unraveling.

I bought four types on yarn and string and cut it into six inch pieces.

Using a crochet hook, I looped the yarn and string into the burlap. After watching eleven movies over the next eleven evenings and looping yarn...I finished!

Now I can put my feet up!

Rug hookers, would a rug hook have worked?

not cable knit, but the poms caught my eye. And it was only $2.99. Score.

To turn it into a lampshade, I pulled the sweater down over the top of the shade in the same fashion as putting a pillow case over an overstuffed pillow. It was tight, but tight is good in this scenario. The sweater was a ladies size small, but it had enough stretch in it to fit snugly around the shade when I pulled it down around it. I pulled the waistline of the sweater right down to the bottom edge of the shade so it was even all around, then trimmed off the excess material at the top, leaving about 1" all around. Then I secured the sweater around the top edge of the shade with a few dots of hot glue. It's so tight around the shade that I didn't even bother gluing around the bottom. If your sweater is larger than your lampshade, you should be able to just cut it up the back and pull it tight, then glue it down the seam.

And that was it, folks!

The end result is SO simple and beautiful in my sunroom. I love the winter white addition to my room. This is my way of #KeepingCozy in 2013!