summer

A little forest bathing

September 9, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

This weekend we went away to a perfect little cabin nestled in the woods. I wish I could say it was 100% relaxing, but I have homework for college that I needed to do while there. But, we made the best of it. The Little Mr and I headed down Friday night and because we arrived so late and it was already dark we grabbed pizza from one of the local places, watched a movie, and had a really lovely evening.

Saturday morning I woke up and did a little knitting on the porch while listening to the rain in the trees. Then took advantage of the hot tub and did some more listening to the trees from the comfort of the hot water. Once the Mr arrived, we all headed to the caves to do some hiking. It has been far too long since I spent time out in nature, and I feel that void so very deeply lately. It was raining while we were there, and we didn’t let that get in our way until it started raining extra hard (which can make the hiking a bit dangerous with a little one), but I could have definitely used more time there before coming home. Oh well, I’ll take what I can get at least.

I’m way behind on homework now, because we were all exahusted and I couldn’t focus after we got back, so now I’m playing catch-up and trying to not stress about all the work that I need to do. But even if I bomb this homework and following exam, the self care alone from the weekend was worth it.

A little August break (and things I forgot to post)

August 5, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Is it just me, or did it feel like July flew by?! Summer was FULL for me, between work and motherhood and taking two college classes and the Mr’s new 2nd shift work schedule. So. Full. Today, however, is the first day that I feel like I can really breathe and relax. There’s no assignment deadlines staring me down or tests to study for, so it’s a peaceful few weeks in my future and I fully intend on soaking up all the crafting and baking and canning time… as soon as I can decide what, exactly, I want to do.

Things that happened recently that I’ve failed to post (in no particular order):

Shortly after my birthday, we bought a fire ring thing so we could have campfires and s’mores at home. It is, by far, my most favorite purchase of the summer. I even hosted a “crappy dinner party” with pizza and s’mores and a bunch of my friends and it was so perfect – kids running around everywhere having fun, adults enjoying good company and beverages… I really should do that more often!
We also bought a blueberry bush. I have long-term plans to redo the backyard and move the raised garden beds, so we planted it in a corner where we won’t have to worry about moving it when those plans begin. The Little Mr basically ate all of my raspberries, so I figured a small blueberry patch would be good, too, and maybe between the two I’d get enough berries to make SOME sort of jam!
The garden is in full swing – we have peppers that are bigger than my hand, and tomatoes are finally ripening. It is excellent timing that my classes are over for a few weeks so I have time available to make some salsa with the tomatoes!
Despite all of the class work, I have managed to make time to craft at least a little bit here and there. I spun some yarn for Tour de Fleece even though I didn’t officially participate in the event, and started making a Goldilocks and the Three Bears stuffies for a new grandbaby that is on the way in the family.

thirty-four

July 3, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Well, here we are. 34 years old. This getting older thing gets easier, I tell you. I’m sure that might somehow go away, but I much prefer my 30s to my 20s (though admittedly that first few years in my 30s were hard mostly because I was still adjusting to motherhood and everything about it that consumes my life). Last year I was more embracing of my age, and this year it feels that way even more so.

The day was pretty low-key. Breakfast at Bob Evans. BMV trip to get my car tags renewed. Trying to hide in the craft room a bit to knit and watch Outlander after not getting to knit for a few weeks. Then off to my college class for a few hours before coming home and enjoying some bourbon and fresh-picked raspberries from my little urban homestead on the porch.

Most years I make my own birthday cake as a tradition. This year, the Little Mr wanted to bake me a cake. We’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows, and he had this whole vision of what, exactly, he wanted to make for me. So we had chocolate cherry coconut cake for my birthday, which was quite delicious! (and even if it wasn’t, I’d still eat it because he was so proud of himself!).

Summer beginnings

May 27, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Low-key weekend for us, so far. Between the Little Mr and I, we’re quite the pair of sickly things. He started a few weeks ago with an ear infection and we thought we were good until earlier this week when he started complaining about the other ear – so, back to the doctor we went. Turns out the ear he said was hurting was actually fine and might have had just a small infection but the other ear – the one that was originally a problem a few weeks ago – was a RAGING ear infection. Oy. Between that and the sinus infection I’m fighting off we’re both in quite the mood.

So with what, we’ve been relegated to taking things slow. We got an early start Saturday and actually got our garden planting done. Well, the Mr got it done. I mostly showed up to plant flowers, lol. I debated on driving up to Wooster to the Great Lakes Fiber Show and load up on pretty yarns, but I’m working on being realistic with myself right now on a. how much yarn one actually needs and b. how much yarn I can actually use given how little I get to knit anymore. So I spent a lot of the rest of the day wandering the house wondering what to do with myself, and ultimately watched movies and snuggled the munchkin.

Today, determined to do something other than sit in front of the TV being pathetic on this holiday weekend, I chopped up a pound of strawberries and poured some blackcurrant balsamic vinegar in a canning jar and we snacked away on the porch while watching the world go by (and knitting, but a worsted wool sweater on a 90 degree day was a poor choice). BTW, that blackcurrant vinegar and strawberry combo is amazing if you pair it with some bread and cheese like little appetizers!

I started reading The Bear and the Nightingale this weekend, too. It was on my “to read” list, and Amazon Kindle has it for only $2 so it seemed fated for perfect holiday weekend reading. So far I’m loving it – it’s a book that I don’t want to put down and stop reading, but at the same time I don’t want to plow through it and finish it in a single day, either. So I bounce between a chapter or two of that, and a few rows of complicated chart knitting, and then back again.

Slowly coming together

August 12, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Finally, after 2 weeks, we have a somewhat finished bathroom. There’s lots to finish still, of course, but we’ve moved past just a shower to a working sink and toilet. The walls still need finished painted, the mirror and sconces hung, the trim finished, etc etc etc. But I feel like we finally have some major progress. I’m so in love with how bright this room is, now. When it’s all done I’ll show you a before and after – the bathroom was seriously awful. Just awful. And we lived with it for so long, so it’s nice to have something lovely now.

Today I DIY’d some mercury glass dishes for the bathroom. Since everything is so…. new, I wanted old-looking touches without it looking too farmhouse. (I really don’t like the farmhouse trend, and it’s hard to get away from it because everyone and everything you find at the stores is farmhouse now.) I picked up some candy dishes at the local thrift store – two, just in case I screwed one up. Have to say… I’m pretty much in love with them. SO PRETTY! And so easy, too. A can of “Mirror Effect” paint, a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of water and white vinegar in a spray bottle, and some paper towels. Spray a coat of the mirror paint on, let it sit for about a minute, spritz a light amount of water on it and dab gently with the paper towel. Repeat until you get the look you want. I coated the inside of them after they dried with a crystal clear spray to seal it up.

The dishes will most likely go onto a shelf – either a floating shelf above the toilet, or I’m hoping to pick up a white cabinet to go in a corner to store our towels now that we’ve lost our linen closet to make room for the 2nd floor laundry. I’ll probably use them to store my makeup remover pads, so they’re functional, too. I have another one drying right now that is a round vase – I saw this gorgeous mercury glass vase with white faux flowers in it that I loved, but the $100+ price tag was a big fat no. So I’m hoping to recreate it, too. I paid about $9 for the mirror spray at Lowes, and the jars were $3 each. The round vase maybe $2. So less than $20 and I’ve got my own DIY’d version :)