Pardon the Garden

Confessions of a lazy wannabe homesteader

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Let’s Get In Touch

My soul is restless

September 11, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Do you ever feel like you desperately need a change? Something totally, completely, radically different from the way you’re living now? Like everything you’ve been doing is all wrong and suddenly it feels so unbearably bad from all aspects that you just need to light the whole bitch on fire and, when the fire dies out and things settle down, rise from the ashes as though you’ve just completed some magical transformation?

Yeah. That’s my mood today. And I feel it so very, very deeply.

I want to throw away half my house (or, well, donate it since throwing away would be wasteful). I want to completely overhaul my habits. I want to lay waste to every single thing that no longer serves me and, instead, has turned me into an anxiety-riddled mess.

It’s clearly time to do some major soul searching, cut the crap from my life, and embrace a period of change. Get back to things that really matter.

Posts less

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.

 

 

Featured, Posts family, less, Little Mr, quilting, sewing

Look at that color!

May 7, 2016 Marie Leave a Comment

spoons

I know it’s May, and I should be talking about garden plantings… but I can’t. Not because I don’t want to, but because I literally cannot seem to get into the garden to get it cleaned out so I can even attempt to plant because of all this rain we’ve been getting. As soon as it gets dry enough to try to get out there, it rains again! It seems like our spring is a bit delayed, so instead of traditionally planting on Mother’s Day weekend we’re going to be a week or more behind. Oh well.

In my attempt to be somewhat productive, I’ve been trying to (slowly) clean and re-organize and take inventory in the kitchen. Last night the Mr and I had a lovely date night away to Columbus, and while in the area I popped into Sur La Table, which I can never resist when I’m nearby. It’s fun to look at all the kitchen pretties and dream of a different kitchen decor, or all the things I’d make if I had the time and calories didn’t count, etc. I picked up a container of this Boos Block Board Cream to refresh my (very worn) cutting board and spoons. I’m afraid to say that I bought that cutting board years ago (like, when I was 18 and moved out on my own and had all these hopes and dreams about how fancy my life would be that I’d need a wood board for cheese and wine parties and such) and this is the first time I’ve done anything to it. The poor thing was so parched and dried out looking. But the difference that board cream makes is phenomenal! The wood glows beautifully now, though you can see all the abuse I put it through over the years. If I remember right, Alicia over at Posie Gets Cozy posted a recipe she used for some spoon oil, and I think I even bookmarked it with the idea that I’d order the ingredients to make my own… but who am I kidding? I’m a full time working mother who can barely manage to cook anything anymore – ain’t nobody got time for that.

Anyway. The new job is sucking the life out of me. It took me 4 days before I cried when I started, and Friday I thought I’d cry again. Bleh. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love being busy and having work to do. I love being closer to home. I love that I don’t spend my day surfing the internet and then wishing I could live somewhere where I don’t have internet access because I’m so fed up with my life being spent that way. Butttt it’s a lot of new stuff to learn and every time I feel like I’m getting the hang of something, I discover something new that throws a wrench into everything. It can be very defeating.

On the knitting front… I haven’t really completed anything in a while. I have projects I “nibble” on here and there, but my completion rate has stalled. I have a uniform at this new job, which means no wearing my hand knits to show off and I think that’s changed my willingness to spend hours knitting on a sweater. I mean, sure, I love wearing things I made – that’s a given – but I’m struggling with the concept of “enough.” When 5 days a week I’m wearing a work uniform, that leaves 2ish to wear my own clothes (ish because I can obviously change when I get home, but if I do that I’m either wearing gym clothes or PJs). If I only have a handful of days a week that I can wear those items, what’s the point in buying/making more when my closet is already full? I’m sure I’m probably being a little silly, and this uniform thing is probably more of a blessing than I realize since I’ve struggled with my minimalist ideals and the realities of trying to part ways with my wardrobe… but for now I want to kind of whine about it, haha.

Anyway, that’s about all I can think of so far. Life hasn’t been overly exciting, otherwise. Slogging through books. Attempting to keep the house clean. Trying to find a new normal with the routine change and the ever-evolving life with a toddler… so basically the same thing, just a different day. :)

Featured, Posts food, home, less

Goodbye, yarn.

October 31, 2015 Marie 2 Comments

destash

No, I’m not giving up knitting. You can pry my needles out of my cold, dead hands.

I am, however, letting go of more yarn. I did some soul searching, and also a bit of thought about my stash, what I like to knit, what I have time to knit, etc. I then posted yarn to my for sale or trade page on Ravelry and told some sweet online friends to have at it and pick whatever they wanted. Merry Early Giftmas! And, now, 10 skeins of yarn are moving on to other homes where they will be cherished and loved and, more importantly, knit into other things.

My yarn drawers are looking better and better each month between the projects I’m working through and the yarns I’m sending on. Maybe, at this rate, I’ll eventually get to my dream of a zero stash after all?

In other knitting news, next week I’ll be in a cabin in the woods with my knit group. I’m trying to plan what I’ll take with me though that’s quite difficult considering all I wish to accomplish. I tend to be an overachiever, after all, when it comes to the amount of projects I think I can get done. I will be knitting until my fingers bleed, but hopefully I can come home with a project or two finished and feeling like it was a good, productive weekend away. The plan at the moment is to take the Husband’s cardigan, to finish his holiday stocking, and to make the Little Mr a new hat since he’s outgrown the one I made him earlier this year (so much for that pattern being toddler sized… either that or my kid has a big noggin!) I may take my sock needles with me just in case – we’ve started dyeing yarn each year so worst case if I get too bored – or I finish projects quickly – I can throw my yarn in a bag in the dryer and then wind it up and knit it.

Featured, Posts knitting, less

Quitters can win after all.

September 29, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

quit-300x213



 

Today I’m listening to my feelings. Today I’m following my heart and quitting a good portion of the internet.

 

I’ve just deactivated Facebook. I uninstalled Instagram. I removed GoodReads. I’m close to closing G+, too.

 

For far too long I have held onto these places. Any time I vented my frustrations with social media I was met with a chorus of praises for it. It helps me keep in touch with family, they’d cry. And while that’s probably true for many, it often felt like I was being told my feelings were wrong. It felt like everyone thought I was crazy for disliking it so much. And, so, I stuck around and let the feelings of others dictate my actions.

 

But not today, and not anymore. Today I’m going off my own wishes and making changes in my life for my own happiness rather than those of others. The internet is a great place to hide from real life, but we all have to face it eventually.

And, it turns out, you can be a quitter and win after all.

Featured, Posts less, Me

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Welcome

Pardon the garden. A phrase I’m most likely to utter anytime anyone visits the house during the growing seasons of spring through fall. Sure, there are pretty flowers and delicious veggies in there somewhere, but they might be a little hard to find amidst the mess of overgrown grass, dandelions, and weeds that have found their way in there and haven’t been pulled. Read On

Favorite Reads

  • Beauty That Moves
  • Casey Knits
  • Chalk Legs
  • Chiots Run
  • Completely Cauchy
  • Dula Notes
  • Hygge House
  • Posie Gets Cosy
  • Pretty Gingham
  • Reading My Tea Leaves
  • Sheetar
  • Simple Cozy Living
  • Space Farm Continuum
  • Starving off the Land
  • Sweet Sunday Stitches
  • The Atheist Homesteader
  • Whole Larder Love

Looking for Something?

Recent Comments

  • Marie on Rainy Day quilt progress
  • susan on Rainy Day quilt progress
  • susan on Two.
  • susan on Little growth
  • Marie on Spring jelly
  • Faythe on Spring jelly
  • susan on March
  • DKnits on The tally

Tags

5 things Area baking beanie bags Buttercup camping crochet Current events december photo project dyeing embroidery fall family farm dreaming food garden gifts handmade wardrobe holidays home homebrewing knitting less link love literary little happy things Little Mr Me misc crafts Motorcycle Adventures nature out & about playlist preserving quilting recipe running sewing spinning spring summer travels tutorial winter woodwork

Pages

  • About Me
  • December Photo Project
  • Less Fluff, More Meaning
  • Let’s Keep In Touch

Copyright © 2023 · Pardon the Garden · Built on the Genesis Framework