Good weather signals the time for vacations, kids home from school, and those pesky projects you told yourself you'd do "as soon as the weather gets nice." If you're like me, you spent at least part of the weekend rearranging things so you could begin. 

I personally got out some starter pots to plant spices and flowers. I do some of them for the craft shows, so pots are ceramic, and I have to drill the bottoms for drainage holes. This involves a diamond cutting end for my drill, good potting soil, bulbs and seeds, and some markers. 

There are several videos on UTube showing how to accomplish the drilling. I was cheered that some were done by women who had their own drills. I have a nice Ryobi that does a splendid job for me, and, no, I have never drilled amiss.

One thing I am attempting this year is decoration for the sides of the pots. Sharpie can be used to make cheerful pictures and sayings on the sides. It takes some oven work, but fun and worth it. I had hoped to mark up some ceramic mugs, but I read that you can't put them in the dishwasher, so I stepped back until I can figure out how to make them permanent.  But the flower pots won't have to be washed, so I am starting there. 

Regular Sharpie comes in a number of tip sizes, so outlining, lettering and filling in larger areas is easy. And I can use paint markers as well. Both kinds come in a variety of colors, and if you've looked over both the paint marker and the permanent marker categories, you will see that you can do pretty much anything you want.

The great thing about having lots a Sharpies in the house is their range of uses. Maybe you are moving this spring. I use Sharpie colors to denote which room each box will go in. Kitchen is green, living room is blue, master bedroom is red, office is black and etc. That way I don't necessarily have to say which room. I pick one color for listing contents on all the boxes for there are no mix ups. 

Another thing I use Sharpie for is masking dings in some of the utilitarian furniture I have. Ikea book shelves and desks often have a kind of paper overlay. I buy black to emphasize my colored glass vases etc. I can take a basic black Sharpie and touch up the dings. That is also true of my dining table, which I got for a song at Kroger Marketplace, and the two chairs I got for FREE because they were redecorating at PF Chang. So if I come racing around a corner and bump the bookcase, it's fixed in a moment. Same with throwing my pocketbook or carryall on the table top or desk. I don't use Sharpie for woods. They used to have three touch up colors, but, sadly, not anymore. 

So what does Cherry Limeade have to do with all this? I love drinking it while I am doing projects in the summer. My recipe is as follows:

I start with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed. Put  the sugar in a sauce pan with 1 cup water and heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Either let it sit until cooled, or put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Be certain the seeds are removed from the lemon juice. Then add the lemon to the sugar water and stir. Add around 4-5 cups of plain water until the mix is tart. Then stir in marishino cherry juice to taste along with several cherries. Next, take the juice of two limes and stir in. From here it's up to you. You can add a bit more water and serve over ice, or you can pour in some Perrier or other fizzy water. If you put the fizzy water in and don't drink the entire lot, it will go flat. I like to make the tart mix and then use the fizzy stuff fresh for each glass. It takes a bit of adjusting to make it your own, but once you know the balance of flavors you personally like, all will be well.