Pardon the Garden

Confessions of a lazy wannabe homesteader

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Hello, snow!

November 17, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

snow snow2 snow3 snow4 snow5b

We spent the evening at my mom and dad’s for a birthday dinner and came out to our cars to find the lightest, sweetest coating of snow on everything. This morning we awoke to the most perfect scene – beautiful snow clinging to the tree branches ever so gently, the wind perfectly calm, and an overall quiet that has settled in the neighborhood which muffles even the noisiest vehicles (we’re on a busy street so it’s much appreciated to have a bit of a break from all that noise). I’m trying to so very hard to get through Thanksgiving before I start decorating for the winter holidays but this snow is not helping one bit. I want to dig out all the glitter and shiny things and make the house merry and bright. I want to string the lights up on the porch to make the house glow so lovely-like. I want to bake sugar cookies and make hot cocoa and snuggle on the couch to watch holiday movies.

But, first, we must get through Thanksgiving.

Featured, Posts fall, home, nature

The new routine

October 12, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

sunrise

The last week has been a blur. It involved a lot of list making, a lot of scrambling to pack lunch, bags, set out clothes each evening, hurriedly fixing dinner, doing laundry as much as possible and taking care of baby all before collapsing into bed exhausted. I went back to work, you see, so things are a bit crazy around here in a horrible kind of way. I like calm and routines and habits and this adjustment has been the complete opposite of that. By the end of the week I felt a bit more settled in so I’m taking that as an excellent sign of my adaption skills. By Saturday I was just thankful to be home, however, with all of us in the kitchen getting breakfast. With so much rushing that goes on in the mornings for work it’s incredibly nice to have calm. I’m a homebody, and I don’t think I ever really quite realized just how true that statement is until this weekend when it really hit me how happy I am to be home. I actually dreaded going to the grocery store this morning and I’m starting to wish one of the local stores offered grocery delivery because I would totally be down for that if it meant not having to go anywhere and pack a diaper bag and just, in general, be away from my place of comfort during the little time I have to relax.

Pretty much all of my pictures lately have been taken with my cell phone and I’m realizing that’s a huge, horrible, awful mistake. So everything I thought I’d snap and share today has turned out to be blurry and kind of awful. I should probably post them anyway – I’m not sure anyone else cares but me. The sunrise above was a cell shot, and it works well for that. It just isn’t great for much else. (Sidenote: I’m both annoyed and pleased that I’m up and on the road early enough now to see the sun rise.) So my goal this week is to try to use the little point & shoot camera more.

Things of interest from this past week…

  • I made it all week at work without eating out or getting food from the vending machine. Our bank account is thanking me (my waistline, too!), and I’m really hoping to continue that trend this week.
  • I had to break down and buy k cups for the office Keurig. I was trying to bring coffee from home but by the time I dropped the kid off at the babysitter and then drove to work my coffee got cold, so making coffee at work is now necessary. I forgot how much I hated the eco-friendly reusable coffee filter I purchased – the coffee was always weak and I’d end up with grounds mixed in no matter what I did. I hate that stupid machine and those stupid pods, but mama needs her caffeine to get through the mornings.
  • I’m rectifying the coffee situation after my pods run out and using a French press and being all obnoxiously fancy. My coworkers can keep their stupid machine – I’ll have far better coffee with the press.
  • The munchkin has started finding his fingers and shoving them in his mouth. I’m sure we’re not far off from him trying to now eat everything under the sun.
  • My social media cleanse thing is going mostly well. I’ve had a few days where I turned the app off, but I’m already doing much better at keeping my nose out of my phone all the time.
  • My knitting time, as expected, has taken a huge hit since going to work. I might have to resort to stockinette socks or dishcloths just for a mindless project to knit to keep my sanity.
  • I dropped a big load of things off at the Goodwill today, including a lot of craft supplies that I’m never going to get around to using. The husband questioned it: “are you really wanting to get rid of x?” I resisted having a huge argument with him about how it’s hard enough for me to get rid of things as it is, what with my hoarder tendencies, without him questioning my decision to part with something. I managed to somewhat politely tell him to keep his mouth shut because he’s not helping me at all, and I managed to leave all those craft supplies by the Goodwill drop off door (they weren’t open yet) instead of hauling them back home with me.

I’d (sarcastically) say that my life is so interesting now… but we all know that it was never that interesting in the first place haha.

Featured, Posts family, Me, nature

Wee visitor

May 23, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

rabbit1 rabbit2 rabbit3

I know I’m not supposed to like bunnies in the garden, but I do. they make me happy, with their little fuzzy ears and their soft fur and sweet little tails. And, besides, our garden is in a state of complete disarray at this point – every time we make plans to plant the veggies the weather throws rain our way, leaving the beds far too wet to plant. So it isn’t like the little thing can do a whole lot of damage at this point.

Featured, Posts garden, nature, spring

We took to the woods

November 4, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

tacos woods artyarn sky

Oh, the woods. That smell, fresh and pure and clean. That stillness – hearing squirrels rustling the fallen leaves, and the birds fluttering about, the tree branches moving in the wind – no cars to distract or intrude upon it. The pure and complete darkness that comes at night, with no street lights to brighten the unpaved road. Heaven for my heart and soul.

It was our 3rd annual knitting “retreat” – a weekend of food, wine, knitting, and movies. If you asked me 10 years ago if I’d ever have a group of girlfriends to go on a weekend trip with – not just once, but multiple times-  I’d have told you that you were crazy. I’d never had real, true friends and I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be friends with me. But here I am, with 4 wonderful ladies that I call my friends. Truth be told, I still wonder why these ladies like me enough to spend time with me. I still don’t always feel like I “fit in,” and perhaps I never will. Perhaps I’m destined to be slightly socially awkward for my entire life.

There was LOTS of good food. Friday I made my family’s tacos and shared my love of corn relish with everyone. Lunch on Saturday was a delicious tortellini and spinach soup, baked potato, and cheddar biscuits. Dinner, homemade chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes. So much good comfort food for a single weekend.  We never took our hike like I had hoped, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed about that. I spent a lot of time sitting on the porch looking out into the woods to make up for it. Not quite the same, and I felt like I was ignoring everyone a little bit, but it’s hard to explain my absolute need for quiet time in the woods to people who don’t feel it, too.

Our ‘usual’ yarn shop in the area had permanently closed (though, honestly, I wasn’t too sad about it – the shop just… didn’t have a lot and felt a bit run-down), so on Saturday we made a long trek about 45 minutes away to visit a different yarn shop. I wasn’t intending on buying any yarn, especially since I just received a new skein of lace from Knitivity last week (shhhhhh, don’t tell the husband!). I’m still trying to work my stash down in between projects that require yarn purchases, after all. But I saw this skein of Art Yarn Regal Silk and immediately fell in love. It was definitely a splurge, at $24 for only 163 yards. I didn’t realize until after I started going through the few pictures I took that the yarn matches the sky from Friday evening, with the subtle blues and grays.  So perfect!

Featured, Posts fall, knitting, nature, out & about, travels

Family Photo Day

October 20, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

IMG_1235_sm

Fall in Ohio. My sister, my nephew, and my niece. Perfect excuse to get outside and play with some photography. I think I came home with some good shots, and I know my sister will love them regardless. I’m far from a professional photographer, and I think Mother Nature makes all my photos 200x better, but I can’t complain too much honestly. They’re not perfect, and working with two bickering kids is a challenge. But we made it work, and I think the few hours I spent taking them and the subsequent editing are worth it because I’m giving my sister the gift of a family photo she’s never had with her children until now. ♥

Featured, Posts fall, family, gifts, nature, out & about

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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

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