Got some time on your hands

When I can't sleep or if I'm just waiting for someone to get out of the bath......

Leading such a glamorous life you know I always look my best.........YEAH RIGHT!!!

SO I spend some time going through the what if's and coulda shoulda woulda's.

What if I was born with blue eyes....I shoulda had flaming red hair insteada sorta reddish.....I coulda been blessed with porcelain skin, NO freckles and a top lip :)








Oh this is all in fun.
Today was a busy day, yet not.
It was nice and warm with a gentle breeze.
I worked in the garden, harvested some nice beautiful veggies, lounged on my swing and watched the kiddos splash in the pool, talked to the chickens, cuddled the bunny, and so on.....lazy, yet not day.

I deserved it. I was sick sick sick Yesterday. 24 hour bug I'm thinking.
So sick I was laying out in my grass with only the cat to give me sympathy.
You wanna see how glamorous I was....and for all the
friends who have heard my comments about grown women wearing
disney character apparel and lah de blah blah blah....just keep yer trap shut.
They were a Valentine gift. They were. Whatever.

Poor Me lol seriously I was ill YUCK


Always willing to lay around and cuddle


New to us picnic basket chosen by the litte guy


If I had sheets like my girlie girl, perhaps I would feel better


my view of the bunny butt


I was thinking my toes looked pretty at least while I was looking BAD ;)


A common sight under the flowers and shrubs


I threw some ginger in a pot to see if it would grow. I like to grow stuff :)


harvest


pink and orange quilt square


My favorite flowers...chocolate cosmos


I think the music may be temporary. I know many people don't care for music on blogs. I adore it. We will see how it goes. It's kinda bugging me already, heheh.
I'll give it a shuffle and see if that bugs me less. Good night friends.

A day in pictures

shiso herb in my garden.....for wrapping sushi


Mooie Americana


Rooster who was supposed to be a hen


berries



more berries



chamomile


I am a basil addict, love it a million and one ways, many varieties grow in my garden


Nasty cucumber beetle


I will add many more later this evening......blogger is evidently too busy now :)

Garden pests and life changes

Cucumber beetles have taken up residence in my garden.
Leaves are wilting and plants are dying.
This has been my tester garden for this new to me area.
The Pacific Northwest. I just can't keep up with the beetles.
I've found great pleasure in squashing them, but there are just too many.
I've tried two handfuls of all natural sprays and remedies.
My goal was to raise and preserve all my own food.
At this point I'm not sure how much I can save.
Perhaps I will shift my idea to purchase as much as I can at the pick your own and farmers market and still can and freeze what we need for the winter.

Curious about my potatoes, I harvested a few and sure enough....some were holey and home to something.
What a let down. We've always had success in the past with our gardens.
It has truly been a learning experience.
We were able to enjoy many types of lettuces. The beetles don't seem to like lettuce.
Chard on the other hand, they devoured.
I'm going to take a few pics today in the garden so I can share with you the devastation and what the little buggers look like.
At first the kids thought they were pretty yellow ladybugs. Nope!!

I'm thinking of selling most of my sewing supplies, including hundreds of yards of fabric. My neurologist has told me that I need a new hobby. I'm pretty sure the computer was also on the list of what not to do. I'm still considering. I enjoy sewing so much, as well as my time chatting with new online friends. Yet I would like to explore new things. Maybe a little volunteer work is in my future. There is a local womens shelter and I do have past experience with domestic violence.

I'm trying to be more compassionate.
The little man smashed his finger in the truck door last night.
It was a sleepless night for all. I will admit I enjoy when they still allow me to mother them :)

Off to confront those beetles.

Summer Living and Loving

I'm checking in.
These last couple weeks have been bittersweet.
My latest trip to the neurologist didn't give the the news I was hoping for and my little guys recent trip to the allergist didn't put my mind at ease a bit.
Now in addition to walnuts, my little man has an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts.
He tested positive to all tree nuts and coconut.
I was going to post about coconut bliss.....my new fave ice cream.
Being dairy free is hard enough and I finally found an ice cream that was beyond amazing....YUM.
Now it's off the list and I sadly tossed it out.
I try to stay positive and remind myself that our life is good.
It's been worse. My child with cancer was worse. Not being able to get out of my bed was worse. These days it's all good. I can handle it. It's all good.

I've been loving my recent thrift store finds.
My garden is like a forest. The weeds are kicking my rear.
One more sweet little hen has turned out to be a rooster, bringing the total to three.
The cherry trees are producing as well as the other fruit trees.
My flowers are in full bloom.


The Oregon Country Faire was wonderful. It poured, thunder, lightning...the whole works and people were still laughing, dancing, walking barefoot through mud six inches deep. Myself included. My feet were so soft when I got home, lol and dirty heheh.

My hubby stayed with the kiddos. I'm not ready for them to see all the naked people.
It's not that I have any reason. Perhaps I wanted to enjoy the time with my best friend.

I have lived all these 35 years without realizing I had a sister.
Well.....I do have a brother and sister but they were put up for adoption before I was born and I don't know what path their lives took.

My mother was very young when I was born. She left my father when I was still a bun :) He was a cheater and later I learned much more that makes him someone I'm unable to love.
My grandmother was killed when I was one. I feel that my mother was still a girl herself.
My mother and my aunt through marriage lived together as roomates.
When Shelly was born I had just turned two a few days previous.
She was the most beautiful little thing. All black hair, porcelain skin and the bluest eyes I've ever seen.
We were raised together as cousins, but more like sisters. I remember always being together...from playing barbies with handmade clothes to dance class when we were a bit older....to cruising and running around town with boys. I never realized we were anything alike.
I was so isolated once my mother remarried. I think I was about 7, maybe 8 when things went bad. I know I was in third grade. I saw Shelly less and less.
Oh anyway to make a long... very very long sad story short.
I never knew that she put me on a pedestal. I never knew how much she looked up to me, loved and respected me.
Most of all. I never knew how alike we are.
Always we are on the same page. Sometimes we show up wearing exactly the same thing.
We have very similar beliefs and ideas. Never in all these years without her have I laughed as much as I have since we've been together again.
We decided to move here together. Her family and mine. Hoping we would all love one another. At first we all lived in the same house. WOW. What a mess.
We didn't know one another and everyone was walking on eggshells. You know what happens when you assume ;p
In the end it all turned out better than we ever dreamed.
This is the place I was meant to be. I love it here.
My cousin/sister/friend is my constant companion when our hubbies are working or when we just need to get away.

We love our yoga, our incense, our farmers markets, tea, baking, going to the pick your own, sewing, gardening.........so very much. I haven't had a best friend(aside from my husband who doesn't count, lol) since I was young.

So this is the summer of my dreams. Warm and alive and refreshing.
I am changing, growing, healing, learning......
There is so much I do not understand about myself.
I have been so alone, a mom and nothing else.
Shelly helps me to stay balanced and not be afraid. She is always nearby with a kind word or a joke to lift my spirits. She understands and doesn't judge.
The best thing is that she brings back the best memories of childhood, the innocence, the hope, the dreaming. I had forgotten to dream.
So for now I am learning to love myself, trust myself and enjoy time with my children without allowing motherhood to overwhelm me.
Yet at the same time all I want to do this week is sit on my swing and watch the kids run and play and giggle as they hope and dream and love me back.

I'm learning that it is not selfish to take a few moments for myself.
Yet I will never take for granted the moments that aren't.