How to Clean Your Patio Umbrella

This post is sponsored by BarkBox. As always, all opinions are entirely my own, and all canine models were compensated with treats and belly rubs. :-)

I can’t believe that Independence Day is just around the corner! It seems like summer is already flying by. But I do love all of the opportunities to have backyard barbecues with friends and family, so I’m not really complaining! ;-) The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays for that very reason, so I always like to celebrate by sprucing up the backyard a bit. A few pieces of summer-y or patriotic decor (along with a playlist of upbeat songs, of course) always go a long way towards making the holiday feel extra special!

My son Erik is always looking for ways to attract more birds to our shared yard (he and my daughter-in-law Kaitlyn live in our basement apartment), which is great because I get to reap the benefits! There’s nothing I love more than sitting out in the backyard and listening to them sing in the morning (the birds, not my kids).

My daughter Britta has definitely emerged as the gardening guru in our family. Today she’s sharing with us her homemade organic fungicide that is just as effective and much cheaper than the commercial alternatives and won’t hurt the environment, our pets, or our families. Way to go Britta!

This post is sponsored by the maker of OxiClean™. As always, all ideas and opinions are entirely my own. The OxiClean™ brand provided free product for this post.

One of our favorite ways to spend time together as a family during the summer is sitting around a campfire. There’s a little fire pit area in our backyard that we utilize regularly during the warmer months! But we recently upgraded to a new fire pit that has made those campfires even more enjoyable. I actually like it so much that I couldn’t resist the urge to tell you all about it in today’s post! :-)

Now that we are all getting outdoors more (hooray summertime!), most of us (some more than others!) are having to deal with pesky mosquitoes that love to try and ruin our outdoor fun.  :-)  I have to admit, here in this semi-arid desert state, we don’t have to deal with mosquitoes nearly as much as those of you in the midwest or back east. But any mosquito is an unwelcome mosquito!

This post is sponsored by TIKI Brand. As always, all opinions and ideas are entirely my own.

Every summer, for as long as I can remember, my mother has planted a vegetable garden. Even when we lived in Southern California and there wasn’t a lot of room to plant, my mother always had a garden plot in our local community garden. Every Saturday she would drag us kids to weed and water the garden, something we definitely did not appreciate back then. I wish I could turn back time and experience that all over again, because this time I would definitely enjoy it more! :-)

Depending on where you live, you may have already begun digging in your garden this year! We are ALMOST there…but not quite. I can’t wait! I’m itching to get my fingers back in the dirt! Of course with the fun of digging in the dirt comes the related chores, but today we’re sharing a super easy project that will make at least one of those chores easier!

One of the true joys of summer has to be finally getting to eat the fruits (or vegetables) of our labors from our gardens! Just today I came home from our mini-vacation and found a couple of my tomatoes ALMOST ready to pick! I was so excited I could hardly stand it! I can already taste that delicious B.L.T. sandwich I’m going to make with one of them right now! :-) (CLICK HERE to read my post on planting “topsy turvy tomatoes.”)

Last Mother’s Day my husband Dave did something extraordinary! He built me a potting bench! :-) While this may not sound like an extraordinary gesture to some of you, to me it was truly a red-letter day because it was the first thing he’s ever built for me. You see, building stuff is not his thing, but in a true gesture of sacrifice, he built me a potting bench because he knew how much I wanted one. Now THAT’S true love in my book. :-)