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.

Back to living

I have had a wonderful time getting to know so many internet friends and swapping fabric again, but the computer time has really done a number on me.
Lately I spend far too much time sittig here looking at this monitor.
I have had a flare up of the nerve issue I struggle with.
My arms simply cannot handle the computer time.
I also noticed the other night, while I sat chatting with a few friends...that my daughter was reading my son his bedtime story. I thought to myself perhaps it's time to step away from the internet again.
I tend to get very absorbed and forget what's going on around me.

The internet to me is a book. I can sit here for hours soaking it all up like a sponge, yet it's not the same as a book.
My library of how to and what's what books is extensive. I really don't need to search and google.

I spend hours pouring over blogs learning how they do what they do and wanting to be certain I do it the right way. Is there a right way?

Last night I was frightened. My injury is old, from a car acciddent, yet it flares up and starts all over. Something with the nerves in my neck and shoulder and then I can't feel my face, I have difficulty breathing and muscle contractions in my eye.
I've come to the realization that it's not worth it.

This is not the life I am trying to live.
All this time all I wanted was a peaceful healthy life.
I'm going to step away and take a break.
Time for healing.

I highly recommend some of the blogs in my sidebar. I have learned much from them and simply enjoy reading.
My garden thanks them.

My goal is to get back into all of the things I was trying to learn about being self sufficient and living a simple frugal life.
I will be posting on how that goes in the future.
Talk to you soon.

Winner of the fabric giveaway

The winner is deeplygreen



This was so fun I think I will have another giveaway this friday too.

Thank you again for all of your lovely comments. Your memories are wonderful and I relived some of those moments with you. We are very blessed are we not.

Overwhelmed

Did you ever have one of those days.....

I have so much to do that I have no idea where to start.
I tried to stay in bed today. Thought I'd just wait it out until tomorrow, lol.
The idea was quickly thrown out the window by my kids.

I enjoyed all of your comments so very much. Many of you brought tears to my eyes and I could often envision you back in that very moment.
How I miss my youth, yet not ;)

My hubby advised me to leave the contest open until tomorrow.
I will announce the winner monday morning. Mondays need some happiness.

Have a wonderful Fathers day.

I didn't have a dad, but I had a grandpa and he was my sunshine.
Oh how I miss him. Use to let me eat the carrots right out of the garden he did, yep.
If I ran into him in town he would pull his pockets inside out and dump all his change into my little hands, oh and sometimes he had rollos, mmmmmm.....chocolate.
We were camping and fishing partners. He showed his love for me in every little thing he did. I wasn't able to spend as much time with him as I would have liked.
I was kept pretty isolated, but I won't bore you with that nonsense.
My mom raised me the best she knew how for a young girl who's mother had just been killed. She loves me in her own special way and I respect her for that.

My grandpa passed away in 2001. I've missed him every day since.
Who's going to make my cherry chip birthday cakes and teach me about gardening, making salsa and smoking jerky?
I miss you Grandpa.
If you were here I'd sit on the arm of your easy chair like always and listen to your voice crack as you spoke with those tears in your eyes. So very sentimental. I think I got that from you.
Happy Father Day.