family

A little garden after all

May 29, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

So we put a garden out after all. I told myself multiple times that I wasn’t doing it this year. It’s too much to manage with the kid and work and everything else. And then, when it came down to it, Mother’s Day – our usual planting weekend – came and went and things felt off. It didn’t feel right not having a garden. I mentioned as much to the Mr, and with a knowing sigh he just kind of looked at me and said “I’ll get the boxes out of the garage.”

We broke up the dirt in the old spots where the boxes used to be, and then stacked the extras on top to make them deeper this year. Well, the guys did – I sat on the porch drinking a beer :) Today we visited Lowes to buy plenty of potting soil to replenish the nutrients in the soil that we’ve neglected the last two years, along with plants since we didn’t plan on a garden to get seeds started. 3 tomatoes, 2 peppers, an eggplant, kale, and zucchini. I bought some herbs from one of the local school fundraisers, which were half dead by the time I planted them, but I’m hoping they come back now that they’ve got some proper soil to grow in. We planted carrots and radishes, too, just so Declan can watch something grow from seed out there. We potted some Strawberries on Sunday, too – I don’t generally have much luck with them, but Declan LOVES to eat berries so we’re trying them yet again. Raspberries are growing, too, and I’m determined this year to actually use my HopTop for at least one small batch of something boozy.

We bought a new grill this weekend, invited the stepson and his family up (that’s the grandbaby with the big pretty eyes – still weird that I’m 32 and a grandma), and made some damn delicious chicken thighs on it. I tried to gussy up the patio a bit to make it cozy, though the birds just poop everywhere so most of the pretty things are temporary items. Tablecloth that can be washed, items that get brought inside after we’re done, etc. How on earth do people keep outdoor furniture clean?! I feel like every time I want to use the table I have to wash the whole thing down – there’s no popping outside and just hanging out back there. Maybe because our patio is covered so the dust just collects without any rain to wash it off? I don’t even know. I’m working on finding some cute things to hang up on the side of the house to decorate a bit more. Maybe a cute wood wall hanging/sign painted to look like a barn quilt square? Hmmmm…

The zoo, 2017 edition

May 20, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

The Little Mr is REALLY into the zoo these days. We went last week, over Mother’s Day weekend, and it was SO crowded that we didn’t really get to see much. We have a season membership, so no worries – we would just come back another day. Well, today was that day. He begged us to go back to the zoo, so off we went. This time to pet the goats, see the kangaroos (on the other side of the zoo, where we didn’t go the week prior), and pause for a quick little photo op. That sass with the hand on his hip is ALL ME, haha.

The best kind of family heirloom

April 4, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

This quilt was, I’m confident, 100% hand stitched from start to finish. Do you see that detail on the dresden blocks? ♥ This heirloom was made by a great-great aunt, who gave it to my grandfather, who then passed it onto me. Would you believe that at one point he was going to sell it? But the dealer told him no one would want it because it was orange! Are you kidding me?! Who cares what color it is – it’s a family-made quilt! It’s priceless!!!! And now it’s mine! ♥ ♥ ♥

Sew and trim, this and that

February 25, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

I’ve discovered, by way of an app on my phone (BreakFree, if you’re interested) that I spend a LOT of time on my phone. Tons. So much that I’m really afraid to admit the number, to be honest. It’s that bad. It’s no wonder I feel so distracted all the time, unable to focus, and so stressed. The app tells you how many times you’ve unlocked your phone as well as how many minutes (or, in my case, hours) you’ve been using your phone that day and then it categorizes you: green, yellow, or red. In the months and months that I’ve had that app on my phone and hadn’t really used it, I had only managed to achieve green once, yellow a handful of times, and red the rest of the times.

So, late this week I decided enough was enough and I needed a change. Lent is coming up, and while I’m not religious I do admire the idea of doing without and/or improving upon oneself for 40 days. I got a bit of an early start at it, but my phone has been removed of Facebook and Google+ and I’ve made a point to not take my phone everywhere I go, to not sit and mindlessly scroll, and to generally stop being buried in a screen out of habit. I’m on my 3rd day in and so far, so good. I can already tell a change in my happiness level, though the kid has been quite angry about me not letting him play games on my phone. He gets a lot of screen time at Nana’s, so really I’m doing us both a favor, right?

I’m really hoping this new no procrastinating on my phone thing revives my blogging. I’m fairly confident that posting to social media so often has killed this – I always think about how I need to blog, but then I never can think of what to write since I’ve already talked about it elsewhere.

I learned something new a week or two ago – paper piecing! That “twenty” above is going on the back of my picnic quilt – I have fabric ordered for the backing, but I’m splitting the backing to have “twenty seventeen” on it to show the year I completed the quilt. I thought I was being pretty clever with that, but man was the “s” incredibly time consuming. All those little itty bitty pieces to help form the curve… good grief. Sew, trim, sew, trim, sew, trim over and over and over again. That quilt is temporarily on hold while I wait for the backing to arrive in the mail, and in the meantime I snatched up a charm pack from Missouri Star Quilt Co from their flash sale (Rainy Day – I think I paid $2.25 or so, which was a huge steal!) that is transforming into a star for a baby quilt for a coworker. As I write, I have the whole thing pieced together but I won’t be able to take a photo of the top until tomorrow. The whole thing has gone together incredibly quickly, which was the whole point of ordering the charm packs – I thought maybe having pre-cut fabric would make the whole project go much smoother, and I’m so thrilled I was right. Because let me tell you – crafting at all these days is a challenge with a rambunctious boy all up in your crafting space, unspooling thread everywhere or snatching pieces of fabric and running off.

I also signed up for a quilting subscription box through FatQuarterShop.com, as one does when you’re distracted and stressed and performing the mom version of retail therapy (i.e. all the online shopping because taking your kid to a store to browse yarn or fabric sounds like a nightmare more than heavenly). My box arrived but I haven’t really had a chance to look through it and compare prices – the box is supposed to be more retail value than what it costs so I want to see if that ends up being true. I have a feeling I’ll end up canceling it after a few boxes like I have every other subscription box I’ve tried, though. In my experience, subscription boxes are fun for a short while, but eventually you end up with too much stuff. Things you don’t have time for, things you won’t ever actually use, things you already have and then feel guilt about the environmental impact of buying things you don’t need…

Let’s see…… what else? Declan started school earlier this month. I didn’t actually realize it was school- it was labeled as an “explore and play” group, but it turns out it’s quite preschool-like. It’s taken him this whole month to stop crying and clinging when he gets dropped off, but I think he’s getting the hang of it now. He can tell me some of his classmates names, and what they learned about that day and what book they read… but you ask him if he’s made any friends? “Ummmmm Miss Crystal and Miss Robin,” he answers. Ahhh yes, my only child would much rather be around the adults than the other children.

Season changes

September 24, 2016 Marie Leave a Comment

Autumn has arrived… kind of. 80 degrees isn’t exactly what I consider fall weather, but it didn’t stop me from wearing my plaid flannel to go pick apples at the annual festival at the local orchard. Normally we wait until after the festival to get the apples at a discounted price, but when you have toddlers you have to compromise – and the idea of a $5/per adult admission for the Little Mr to get to see goats, play in corn mazes, take a trip on the hay ride, etc seemed more worth it than not. We had such a great afternoon that he fell asleep in the less than 10 minute ride home, so we drove around and around looking at houses for nearly 45 minutes just to let him get his nap out. And now I’m left with probably 20-25 pounds of apples that I need to figure out what to do with. Canning probably won’t happen this year, so I’m thinking lots and lots of baked pies and crisps over the next few weeks.

This changing of seasons is marred, however, by the hole in my heart that is my dog, Molly. After months and months of the decision being in the back of my mind, the last month has really taken it from something I needed to consider to something I had to make a final decision on. Her quality of life just wasn’t there anymore, and it killed me to have to make that call, but ultimately she was suffering and it was selfish of me to let her continue as she was. She was 13 years old and a wonderful companion to me for half of that time. My routines are all messed up – there isn’t anyone to let outside in the mornings or before bed, no one cleaning up food behind the toddler, no one following me around from room to room while I try to clean. Coming home from the vet felt… depressingly lonely. She wasn’t there to greet me at the door. Just emptiness. Sigh. I’m going to miss that furry, sweet thing.