more on the yard

You can see the sidewalk and steps have taken shape… now they have one more wall to do and I can get those flowers planted - way too exciting! Also, tonight our dear gravel-pit-owner friends came with a skid steer and a bucket full of sand… they leveled out our backyard and helped make a sandbox. The boys were so tired but they stayed up to watch and tomorrow I know they’ll make good use of it! And we’re that much closer to grass back there too! I’m sorry if y’all are getting tired of hearing about our yard. It’s just such a huge milestone for us and we’ve waited forever it feels like!

the view

This was the view out my window on Tuesday:

This is the view out my window today:

life

At least there’s a little greenery in the front yard:

And this is the very precious garden that I’m hoping will grow… it’s been so long since I’ve planted, I’m a little worried:

This is the view from my 9’ high porch off the dining room. It’s on the neighbor’s yard but close enough I can see it from my windows!

wordless wednesday – i’m not so bad after all

This is an actual apartment. found in Houston after the evacuation for the hurricane.

This is NOT hurricane damage....

The apartment was found this way prior to the hurricane.  
Hard to believe there wasn't a fire with all the cigarettes.

relief

Yesterday was my highly dreaded dental appointment… the root canal. I was seriously petrified, and even convinced Tech Guy to take off from the office and go with me. I think I’ve had an unhealthy fear of root canals since I was like 6 and after yesterday? All I feel is relief, and confusion as to why I was so scared. It was basically a walk in the park… other than the 90 minutes lying back with my jaw cranked open… but seriously, pain? Nada. Zip. Zilch. And I’m So.Glad.It’s.Over. Oh, and the price was only a fraction of what we’d been told at the first dentist. Such a relief!!

On to other happy news… I have the window open and am listening to the beautiful music of shovels in the front yard. The landscaping project has started! And I’m way more excited this time around because we came so close to not having it done! The weather this week has been stellar… life is good, and I’m happy.

back to the earth

Today the boys and I planted our own little garden. We haven’t really had our own garden before, especially not since the boys have been able to help, so it was super fun for all of us. No, our yard isn’t finished yet, but the neighbors were kind enough to loan us a 12x24’ patch for the season. Buster begged to do the onions and I admit, I hesitated a little cuz I wanted to! I have memories of doing that every spring…

Growing up, we had huge gardens every year. My parents not only had 10 kids but also were generally short on cash, so we managed a little market gardening on the side. And I honestly grew up to hate gardening. I’m an indoor girl anyway but that sorta pushed me over the edge. But as an adult, a mother, and lately, a frugal one… I kinda got enthused about the whole gardening concept. I planted Romaine lettuce, radishes, onions, carrots, peas, green beans and potatoes. Besides that, I have my herb garden on my patio and folks, we are set!!

labeled

Since Buster’s going to be starting school full time in fall, I’ve been curious how we’ll keep his stuff together and how I could label them to keep track. And then the kind Raissa from Oliver’s Labels contacted me about their product and wondered if I’d like to do a review. Would I?! And get a free sampling of their product? Of course!

So this company has every imaginable kind of label… everything from iron-on labels to shoe labels (in the shape of a foot!) to the mini labels that fit perfectly on pencils, toothbrushes, etc. From the graphic designs (including some not-so-juvenile ones I’d be proud to tote) to the ingenious Found-It tracking system, these labels are great bang for the buck, not to mention a little peace of mind. Oliver’s Labels are durable, water- and weather-proof and can be used on items that go in the dishwasher, microwave, fridge, freezer and outdoors. I haven’t had a chance to use them to their full capacity yet but I can’t wait until school starts and I can label everything in sight. Have I mentioned I’m an organizing and label junkie?

Oh, and best of all? It’s a Canadian company… and those, my friends, are hard to find! Just try doing a Google search sometime. You click the “pages from Canada” option and nothing shows up. Sort of anyway.

better things ahead

I guess I figure I owe it to you guys to deliver a more positive post than the last one… And thanks to some incredibly wonderful parents-in-law, that will be easy to do. We spent part of the long weekend visiting Tech Guy’s family and the first thing they did was tell us they would be paying for my dental work so could we please call the concrete guys back and re-book. I promise, my mouth fell open and I proceeded to burst into tears.

And then I learned that I have pride, and it’s just not that easy to accept such a huge gift. We will, of course, but there’s a part of me that feels like we’ll always be indebted to them and I hate that. But as my friend D reminded me, lots of our farming friends were set up by their dads… and that is worth a whole lot more than a couple grand! So we’re swallowing our pride, anticipating once again, the completion of a dream… and reminding ourselves to never speak ill of the hand that feeds us…

P.S. I can’t forget to mention that they also bought Buster a brand new bike and will be giving us their trampoline. I didn’t have a lot of faith, but thanks to you all for reminding me that God works through our disappointments. This time He really did, may He be praised!

bad day

I’m sure I’ve had worse days… and I’m sure I’ll have many more disappointments in life… But today just sucks. Yesterday I went to the dentist with excruciating tooth pain, and the price I now will have to pay to rid myself of this pain is high. So high, in fact, that my dream of front yard landscaping has to be laid to rest. I’m so mad. Really… and I’ve even cried. Over landscaping! I know, I have issues. But this was really really important to me and I’m just having a hard time being positive about it.

Tomorrow will be brighter I’m sure… but until then I’ll just stay loopy on these Tylenol #3’s… Tylenol, Codeine, Caffeine… what could be a better combination?!

mom’s day in review

Yesterday was a good day… we slept in just a little, Tech Guy made breakfast, then we packed up and headed out for the day. The destination was The Saskatoon Farm south of Calgary (over an hour’s drive) and we met Tech Guy’s parents as well. It’s a cool berry farm/tree nursery with gift shop and cafe, beautifully set up as an old main street with false fronts. We had a delicious lunch, then set out to peruse the greenery. I found the herbs I’ve been tempted to grow… basil, oregano, mint, rosemary, thyme… and my mother-in-law kindly bought me this lovely herb pot. You know, the kind with all the holes for the plants to grow out of. I’m absolutely stoked and can’t wait to get started. This pot will sit on my deck all summer, and it’s only steps away from my kitchen – so handy! I’ve recently started cooking a lot with fresh herbs and it makes all the difference! We stopped for a bit of shopping in the city and got back home mid-evening. My gift from Tech Guy will be the landscaping and concrete work in the front yard which will begin in just over a week. The most expensive gift ever… and we won’t have any vacations (or money!) all summer long but it’s so worth it! We realize it’s just the cost of living on a hillside… landscaping is far from simple or cheap, yet curb appeal is so important.

mommy day

to all you incredible moms out there… today you can take it easy, get rid of the mommy guilt and enjoy being a mom…

enough already

Yesterday I got another call from our lovely friends in Orlando, informing us once again of our ‘free’ package. And once again they would not take no for an answer, and continued to harass me. I said 3 times I was not interested, and she seriously could not figure out why. I told her I’d been through this conversation several times already with her company and each time they wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Well, of course we’re not gonna take no for an answer. This is free tickets we’re talking about here…. blah blah blah”.

And so I did something I’ve never ever done before… after all, I am a nice girl… I told her, “Ma’am, I’m going to hang up the phone now. Have a nice day.” And I hung up, cutting her off midstream.

There.

blogging without guilt

So I’ve been having a lot of blogger’s guilt lately. I feel an inner pressure to post, post, post. But a lot of the time, I just don’t have a lot to say. Nothing so funny or post-worthy has happened, but I feel like I gotta get that post out there. Where will my readers go if I don’t have a post every morning by 7 am? And when the readers drop down to 1 or 2 a day and I panic, What am I doing wrong? Some people seem to effortlessly get multiple posts out each day, plus Twitter and Facebook all day long… which I actually can’t comprehend when you have living, breathing kids in your care. But I digress.

I found this post today which pretty much sums it up. And you know what? I’ve decided that from today on, I’m blogging without guilt. I’ll blog when I want, on whatever topic I’m currently inspired about. And if I only get 1 or 2 readers each day, that’s okay… it’s only my creative outlet after all. 

But you know what I think? I think I get a whole lot more than 1 or 2 readers each day. In fact my sitemeter says I average 19 per day, not including those of you viewing via a reader. So where are you guys? Honestly it would make me incredibly happy to hear from you! Comments are great, but if you’re more of a private person, I gladly accept emails too; it’s as simple as clicking on the “contact” button at the top of this page!

too much

My brain has been more than a little foggy lately. I feel like such a wimp, but this head cold has really got to me physically since Saturday. Enough on that.

One thing I’m loving about living in town is the springtime, when everyone’s out and about and most people are happy and friendly and ready to talk. I’m a country girl from birth so it’s all a little new. But I’m liking it. Most of it, that is. The part I’m finding hard is having the neighbor’s kids over. All the time. I have no idea what’s normal and what I should enforce. But you know, I really find it hard to have knocking on the door at 9 am, again just after lunch and sometimes even after supper again. Though I guess I should be thankful they go home for meals, huh? So I’m wondering what you guys who are lifelong urbanites… what do you do to set boundaries with the neighbor’s kids?

It’s not that these kids are bad, they’re not! They’re good kids… I’m just used to my personal space and privacy, and I do like my downtime and family time…

taste

I love cooking. Most of the time. The rest of the time it can be a huge struggle, but thanks to Pioneer Woman, Kayotic Kitchen, Amanda, and numerous others, I can usually find my inspiration pretty quick! And now I found a way to keep it all together in a neat, professional cookbook. Check out TasteBook, an online recipe book maker, which is free unless you want to print it as a keepsake and give someone you love the neatest personal gift ever! I’m starting to fill mine up, and I can’t wait to give it to my boys when they’re a little older. What better way to remember your mother, and to bring back the memories of home… There’s still one more day to order if you want to give it for Mother’s Day!

last day

Today is the last day of kindergarten for Buster. It’s been quite a ride, these last 4 weeks… we’ve all learned to adjust and adapt to the schedule change. And amazingly, I’ve learned to enjoy it! Getting up early, making breakfast so we can all eat together and sending Buster off with Tech Guy when he goes to work. That has been especially nice, so I don’t have to head out… unless I’m having coffee with the girls!

We’re invited to bring a bag lunch to eat with the kids today, then play with them at recess, and listen to a little program they have planned. Buster was so excited this morning! And he’s really looking forward to having more time at home with Noodle after this. I need to go make the lunches – I’m thinking maybe my favorite sandwich of all time…