This dream is becoming a reality.

Life has been happening, peeps.

I end my days with the kind of sleep that's so sound I don't even dream, exhausted after each day of parenting, working, thinking, planning, doing. The ball is rolling on one of my long-held dreams and as it picks up speed I am hustling to keep ahead of it. Or to keep up with it?

(Incidentally, I started this post several days ago and then spent this entire past week in sick bay - not working, barely parenting, mostly sleeping and sipping tea and chicken broth. Fortunately I'm on the mend now.) 

I am taking the plunge and becoming an entrepreneur. Starting a business. Steve and I have spitballed ideas over the years as we see businesses or buildings come up for sale. We tell each other how nice it would be to work for ourselves. But the pieces never came together like they have this time.

The one big difference this time is this new business is my baby. It is born of the visions in my mind, and I am doing all the leg work to get it off the ground while Steve continues to work at the job that provides for all the essentials for our family.

I'll continue at my part-time job, too. The cool thing is my new place is less than a block away from where I currently work. It's not much now - just a vacant building and a parking lot - but next spring it will be the home of a weekend farmers' market and the beginning of a produce stand/country store/urban garden/community gathering place.

Can't quite see the vision? That's ok. It's a lot to wrap your head around. I expect there will come a point when people see what's happening and think, "Oooooh. Now I get it. Cool!"

But first, the farmers' market. That's the first priority, and what I will spend the most time on over the winter.

Behold, the location:

It was most recently a car wash. Prior to that - decades ago - it was a service station. It's in remarkably good shape ... or a hot mess, depending on how you look at it. I'm going with the more optimistic view, despite the fact that the larger bay doors are so banged up they won't open, and nobody seems to have keys to unlock what we're all sure are restroom doors.

Most people probably look in this direction and see a building far past its heyday. I see a solid structure on a busy corner lot. I see space for people to gather on summer weekends and sell their wares, meet their neighbors, learn from each other. I envision a bustling market. A comfortable oasis with a place to relax in the shade. Community art. Repurposed objects. Color. Life.

There is a little bit of green here. Actually, the green that's here is a little bit out of control.

 

 Monster shrubs need trimming (or removing) ...

Grape vines need to be cut back ...

This will all happen in the spring. I have signed a lease agreement which will begin April 1. So I'm committed! And excited. When sharing my plan with folks I've gotten a lot of positive feedback. Lots of offers to help get things off the ground, and questions related to participating in the farmers' market. Very encouraging.

There is a part of me that can't believe I'm doing this. There's another part of me that walks a little taller these days, confident that I'm doing the right thing at the right time in my life. I'm stepping out in faith with a specific prayer that God would continue to guide me and bless my family on this journey. And also that I will have the patience to make it through the next five months - gracefully - and take care of the paperwork side of things so that on April 1 the physical (fun) work can begin.

The ups and downs of this summer's garden.

I am feeling grateful this week as just about every evening we've included something straight from our garden with dinner - a fresh tomato sliced on top of a burger, crunchy cucumber slices, zucchini in some way, shape or form.

But I mentioned in a post the other day that it has been a weird year for gardening, and that's true for my vegetable plants and my perennials.

My tomato plants, which I am still impressed with because I grew them from seed, hardly have any leaves left on them. Either there is something funky in the soil that splashed up on them, or it's just been too darn chilly a summer here. The leaves started getting brown spots and it spread quickly, then eventually the leaves would just turn crusty brown and fall off if I didn't pull them off first.

Interestingly, the plants still produced lots of tomatoes and they are turning red. And they taste good. So ... I don't know. This is one of those times when I shrug and decide maybe my garden just wasn't meant to be perfectly pretty this year and I should be happy with what I get.

I am on my third planting of green beans, and having gotten a full day of rain yesterday I am hopeful these will sprout and my dear daughter will get to pick and eat some beans - her favorite - from her own garden.

The bean situation started out great; I had planted seeds and they were sprouting, but we got a lot of rain early in the season and my gutters got clogged up and overflowed, sending a stream of rainwater straight down into the raised garden bed below and washing out much of what was planted. The few bean plants we had I dug up and gave to my parents, as their beans had never sprouted. They gave me what seeds they had left, and when I had cleaned up the garden bed I replanted. I got two plants.

Those two plants now mark the rows of where I planted a new crop ... hopefully.

I planted, watered, and prayed. If we do get some plants we should have a nice fall harvest of beans. We shall see.

Zucchini?

 Going like gangbusters. I've got some beets and carrots looking good, too.

This year's cucumber crop is the best I've ever had. They are beautiful and they taste amazing - not bitter like I've experienced in the past. Tonight I combined a couple of those fresh cukes with some red onion and a dressing made of olive oil, lime juice and cilantro (also from the garden).

When I dished some up for myself I tossed some avocado in there, too. Oh. My. Gosh. It's like SUMMER in a dish. Yum.

My jalapeno plants look sad. Last year I had jalapeno trees - tall, wide, and abundant producers. This year? The first four plants dried up and died. I bought two more. These are alive and green and leafy, but only about six inches tall. Stunted. Again, I throw my hands in the air. I suppose I have a few weeks to try to nurse them along, maybe fertilize and see what happens. Or I could go buy $1 worth of jalapenos when I need them, but store bought just isn't the same.

Such is the life a gardener, I suppose. Trial and error, ups and downs.

Elsewhere in the yard, my hostas are absolutely gorgeous and several plants and shrubs are blooming for a second time. Even those early bloomers that say they "might" bloom later in the season rarely do, it seems. I guess it's a good year for those.

And then there's this guy ...

Cilantro that sprouted right up in the walkway between garden beds. It's got to be from seeds that I harvested from last year's plant. I intended to put them in an envelope late last summer to keep and plant this spring. Most of them got blown off the patio table before I had a chance. I did pull a couple of cilantro sprouts out of the cracks in the patio earlier this summer. But this one ... I guess if it has the will to sprout and grow in the gravel, I'll let it stay. It'll be really yummy in my cucumber salad in a week or two.

What I'm loving lately.

My gardens. My plants and flowers. Sharing the abundance of zucchini with friends and family, and seeing the tomatoes finally beginning to turn red.

It's been a weird year for vegetable gardening. More on that in another post.

Every day when I get home from work, one of the first things I see is this flower bed on the east end of the house:

Huge hostas. Beautiful, bright pink garden phlox. Bee balm. Purple salvia. And more. This used to be my "nursery" bed where I would plunk sad-looking plants hoping to nurse them back to life. Apparently it's in a good place because everything I put here thrives here, to the point that I've had to move some plants to other places because they're crowding each other out. It makes me happy.



And yes, the garden hose you see in the picture, too. I love it. At the end of the regular hose I have one of those "pocket hoses" that when you empty it takes up only a teeny tiny space. Pretty sure this is one of the best inventions ever.

This drought tolerant plant? Love it. 

Despite being ignored lately, every day more of these gorgeous orange flowers pop open. This plant sits atop a fountain my parents gave me as a birthday gift (early, as my birthday is coming up this weekend). At the moment the fountain - which I have enjoyed immensely - doesn't have any water in it. I'm going to remedy that this evening.

More garden love. 

My cucumber plants are climbing the trellis beautifully. You can't see it in this photo, but way at the bottom, protected by the leaves, is one cuke almost ready for picking. And many more to come, I hope.

Cherry tomatoes - we've got a bunch. I love watching them grow day after day. It's one of those things that reminds me how amazing God is to have created this world.

The kitteh condo:

Given to us by one of my coworkers who is recently cat-less with no plans to adopt any more. A friend made this awesome cat bed/climber for her, and she was so happy to see it go to a home where it would be loved. Patch is happy happy happy. Whiskers is all, "This is not my bed. My bed is at the end of the hall." If only she would realize that when she's on the top, the dog can't reach her.

I took this picture of Patch from outside the window. The kitty condo is huge. We look like the Crazy Cat House. I'm ok with it.

This guy.

Well I love him always, of course. But this summer we have made a real effort to get together as much as possible, and it fills my heart to bursting. It has meant he makes the drive from WV to MI for the weekend after working 10 days straight. And I have visited him alone or with whomever can or wants to go with me (kid-wise, and on the most recent trip, my mother-in-law). We are in that interesting season of parenting where the kids would rather hang out with friends than with us, or are already committed to other things. Which means they are also old enough to fend for themselves while I spend a few days away.

It's been such a busy summer. The kids got out of school, we hit the ground running and we haven't looked back. I haven't even posted here on the blog since June 10. I'm just now catching my breath, and before we know it we'll be back-to-school shopping. But that's life, isn't it? I keep reminding the kids when they lament that they can't do it all, they are fortunate to be able to do as much as they do. We all are.

Something else I'm loving: work. After six years of the kids and home being my main focus, I am now regularly contributing to the workforce. It's the perfect part-time schedule for me. Great people I've known for years. A town I love and just blocks away from the kids' schools. With flexibility to take an extra day off now and then when I go to see Steve. It's been six months since I took this job and the time has flown by. Also, because of my job I'm trying new things like working as an election inspector which I'll do for the first time next week. Good stuff.

When I'm not working or running kids around or catching up on household duties, I am often working on projects - building, painting, stripping, sanding, upcycling - and loving it all. These windows are leaning against the house on the front porch. I have plans for them. (But don't they look kinda' cool right there alongside my grandma's old washtub I painted last year?)

There is so much else - so many things, moments, sights and sounds - that make me smile every day. It has been a wildly busy summer, yes, but I have enjoyed it. Looking forward to what the rest of summer brings.

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe, which is the strongest tomato?

If I grew nothing else in my garden this year, I would at least grow tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes. Because from the time the harvest is over in the fall until we're starting seeds again in the spring, there is nothing like the taste of a meal made using tomatoes - or sauce from tomatoes - you grew yourself.

Pizza with thick, pasty sauce. Chili with chunks of last summer's abundant harvest. Spaghetti topped with homemade marinara. YUM.

The last couple summers, in the interest of saving myself some time and possible heartache, I purchased tomato plants. The frugal side of me couldn't stand the idea of shelling out the amount of cash I'd need for as many plants as I want this year though, so I decided to start some seeds myself.

I spent about $13 on three packs of organic seeds and a Jiffy mini greenhouse seed starter (which I can re-use). As soon as I got home I soaked the peat pods and planted my three varieties of seeds, labeled the lid and set it in one of my south-facing windows. Less than five minutes later my dog had one of the clumps of seed starter spread all over the floor.

Bad dog.

I was able to gather up most of it and stuff it back in the little mesh thingy that holds it all together, plant a couple new seeds, and set it back in the container. Within just a few days I had sprouts. Happy!

I cared for those tiny plants over the next few weeks, rotating the container so they'd each get sun and keeping them just the right amount of moist.

One day apparently the dog made the connection that what I was putting in that little dish at his nose level was WATER. You can imagine how that went.

I lost one plant.

And then one day a certain offspring grabbed something from the corner near the window and bumped the table where my seedlings were thriving, upending the whole container.

Ugh. Is all I'm gonna' say about that.

Miraculously, just a few of the plants didn't make it. But after that incident I had no idea which plants were which.

What I did know is some of them were beginning to outgrow their little home, so it was time to do some replanting. This afternoon I gathered up some containers and soil and did just that.

So much for labeling. I have no idea how many plants of which varieties I have.

 I have 17 seedlings in various stages of development. I'm not sure I won't start a few more. Because you can never have too many tomatoes, right?

I'm excited to see how these babies turn out, and if I can manage to harden them off in a few weeks without losing them. That's the part I lose interest in pretty quickly - the shuffling things outside during the day, in at night, out during day, in at night.

Though I suppose if they can survive my animals and my kids, they have a pretty good chance of making it to summer.

Wish us luck.

A rare quiet morning.

I'm enjoying this Saturday morning of quietness. It's the first day in what feels like forever that I have nothing on my calendar - no commitments, no place to be. So I'm sipping my coffee and making plans to attack what's left of Mt. Laundry (after I already did a few loads last night) and try to make some order out of the chaos that is our house lately.

I love my new job. As I've told friends recently, the work is not life-altering. I'm not changing the world by processing people's water bill payments or answering questions about citywide trash pickup, but I am making a difference in my own little world. I'm making a (small) contribution to our family finances. I feel a sense of purpose. I'm teaching our children that mom has a life other than the one she's been focusing on them all these years (in other words, you'll have to learn to get yourself out of bed in the morning because I'm busy). I'm learning to manage my own time a little better.

It's just 20-ish hours a week, four days a week, which is just enough to push me to be more productive in the hours I am at home. And to appreciate those hours with my family, and in this home I love.

Steve is getting settled in back at work, too. After having him home for a few months and over the holidays, it's taking some adjusting. But we're making plans to visit him over spring break, which will be nice. I will welcome the change of scenery.

We're finally getting a glimpse of the end of winter. Every few days temps reach up into the 40's, which is enough to melt a little more snow. The roof of the house is clear now, but most of our yard is still covered with more than a foot of snow, all heavy and packed so hard we can walk on top of it. Yesterday it rained, and then last night snowed just enough that there was a dusting on the deck when I woke up. I am so over this winter. I've been looking at garden boards on Pinterest and flipping through my spring magazines, making plans for when I can finally get out there and work the soil. This week I picked up a small seed starter and planted some tomato seeds - I can't wait to have some GREEN around here! And I have other projects I'd like to tackle, too. Mostly furniture pieces that need to be taken outside and sanded so I can paint or stain them. I know ... patience. I've never been good at that.

I also want to finish some blog posts I've had hanging around over the past month. I think of something I want to share, start a post, and then get distracted. Story of my life. So ... while I'm waiting for the ground to thaw out, maybe I'll get some of those up.

Think spring!

Clean Slate Sunday: 5.12.13 edition

Happy Mother's Day!

It's been a nice day for this Mama. I got up early to prepare some treats for social hour at church, Rachel and I sat on either side of my mom during service, and I had a nice visit with my folks and then my mother-in-law. I can't decide which I appreciate more - the gifts my thoughtful girl gave me (a bouquet of tulips, a new planter, and a pretty plant she potted in Sunday School), or seeing my son so relieved after he was focused on caring for the life-like baby doll from his health class for two nights. (He did an amazing job, by the way.)

On top of all that, Rachel and her buddy - one of the neighbor girls - got together and schemed last week to make a surprise taco dinner party for their mamas. They even had a couple of adult accomplices who helped them do the shopping and pull things together while the moms were distracted. God bless them ... we were so surprised. And impressed! They even made a cake for dessert.

This past week Steve and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Well. We celebrated as much as a couple can when they're not in the same state. Which is pretty much saying "Happy Anniversary" to each other over the phone. But it's all good. I look forward to spending some time with him. Maybe we can go out for dinner or something when he's home next weekend.

In other news, asparagus season has begun, and that means I'll be out helping the neighbors pick it a few days a week. I'd love it if the weather doesn't get too crazy, though I won't hold my breath. I have my plants all tucked in under sheets tonight because there's a freeze warning. The good news about that is I have plants in the ground, and that makes me happy.

It feels like I have a bazillion half-baked projects going on and that kind of chaos makes it so I can't think straight, so I'm looking forward to the week ahead and getting some things taken care of around the house. First up: a good sleep.

Have a blessed week.

So close to perfect ...

My hands smell of rosemary and thyme. They are what's left in my garden - along with the Chives That Will Not Die and a lone green onion sprout - after what feels like the longest winter ever.

Sometimes I think God must allow us to feel a little pain so we remember just how blessed we are once the sun shines again. Oh, and am I ever thankful the sun is shining now. I am thankful for these recent days of warmer temperatures, and the beautiful thunderstorm I awoke to yesterday morning. Day after day I think today couldn't possibly be better than yesterday. And then it is.

I go through periods of discontent. There are times when I think I might not be on the right path. I wonder if this crazy life we live is really the right life for us. But then I take a long look in the mirror and I see the pink cheeks and shoulders from a day spent in the sun and I know: this is the right path, we are in the right place, I am and I have enough.

We've had an amazing few days. Lots of sunshine and family time. The kids and I spent much of last weekend outdoors, raking and shoveling and prepping for summer. My plants and shrubs are starting to poke up through the ground and show some color. It all makes me so happy.

One evening the kids asked me to go back to the creek with them - a short ride on the golf cart on family property - and it's a wonder we ever came back. It's so beautiful out there. The birds were singing ... frogs croaking ... kids playing and exploring. We all got our feet wet. I took a few pictures, which I will share when I download them from my phone.

Even my allergies have been minimal, which surprises me with all the time I have spent outside and sleeping at night with my bedroom window open. Not to mention two shedding dogs. Mercy. I spent about a half hour outside brushing Gunnar this morning and got a good bushel of fur (I swear!) before he had enough. It cost me a chicken breast to keep him distracted, but no sneezing! And then he thanked me by laying in a mud puddle. *sigh* It's a good thing I'm pretty much ignoring the interior of the house right now because two dogs and a swampy back yard make spring cleaning a lesson in futility. If I can't stand to look at it anymore I just go outside. Which is where I'm headed now.

All this activity is good for the soul. As I walk around and survey the progress of our little homestead I am grateful for the opportunity to be present, not just in the grand scheme, but daily, for the small moments. I can appreciate the small changes, the growth, the color, even if I only see it in passing as I chase down Gunnar The Giant Puppy to retrieve my gardening glove.

Life is good.

Seven reasons I know fall is approaching.

1. Football practice. Sam decided he wants to play football this year, so he started voluntary practices with the team this week. Just sitting there watching those boys toss the ball around gets me thinking about cool fall evenings cheering from the sidelines.

2. Papa John's Sweet Corn. Our dear friends (and neighbors) set up a roadside stand where their daughters sell sweet corn grown on the family farm. Proceeds buy the girls their school clothes. So with just a quick walk down the road and some pocket change we've got ourselves the makings for one of our favorite late-summer dinners. In fact, it was all we had for dinner tonight.

3. Crisp morning air. Perfect for taking the dog for a stroll and then sitting on the patio with a cup o' joe without getting drenched in sweat.

4. A bountiful harvest. Yesterday my lunch was a salad of lettuce, cherry tomatoes and cucumber, all grown in my garden. We have enough to eat our fill and still have plenty to share. Soon I will be pulling up the beets and roasting them in the oven. Mmm.

5. Grandma's canning jars. See #4. I have boxes of canning jars stored under my bed. It is a joyous occasion when I harvest so much from my garden that I have enough to merit pulling out the canning supplies. This evening the kids helped me make jalapeno jelly with peppers from the garden. I have six 1/2-pint jars cooling on the counter in the kitchen and I may be able to make more with what is yet to be harvested.

6. The back-to-school ads and e-mails. Gag me.

7. That "nesting" thing. It's afghans and decaf in the evenings. Thinking more about paint chips and cozy furniture arrangements than petunias and planting grass seed. It feels natural to turn my thoughts inward a bit, stick close to home, bring out the cinnamon-scented candles.

We still have a few weeks of summer to enjoy before the kids head back to school, but fall is no doubt on its way. I'm OK with that. Ready for it, even. Bring it.

My Happy Place.

*Poof!*

And another two weeks have gone by since I last posted. Not because I have nothing to say; I've written a dozen blog posts in my head while going about the business of life. Just haven't had the energy to sit down and write at the end of the day.

I still don't, really. So I'll share some pictures tonight and tell y'all a little more about what we've been up to some other day.

~ ~ ~ 

No matter how busy we are or how much we have going on or how cluttered and chaotic the house gets, I have a place to go and sit and enjoy some peace and quiet. 

My garden has been a place of pure joy for me this summer. I put a lot of work into setting it up - literally, building the frames and shoveling a whole lot of dirt before it was ready for planting. It is a kind of extension of our patio, so I can sit at the patio table and enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning while I watch the plants move with a gentle breeze and shine in the morning dew, or listen to the sound of my wind chimes and the buzzing of hummingbirds nearby.

Yes, I stare at my plants. It's amazing how calming and peaceful a ritual it can be.

 

And they are beautiful, these plants ...

 The sweet banana peppers are abundant.

 Beets are tucked in between the taller green beans and the peas. I love the dark red veins in the leaves.

 Cucumber vines climb a trellis.

 Lettuce! Some of which I enjoyed on my cheeseburger tonight.

Blossoms on the sugar snap pea plants.

I'm training the summer squash plants to go vertical.

And still waiting to see how the eggplant ... uh, plant ... turns out.

Overall they are beautiful and healthy, but I can't claim it's because I talk to them.

I do converse a lot with God out there, though, and that probably has a lot to do with how peaceful it is for me. It's also pretty nice to be able to walk out my front door and pluck a few ripe cherry tomatoes off the plant for my salad or a handful of green beans to go along with dinner.

But sometimes all I really want to do is sit quietly and take it all in.

It's my happy place.

Elements of a mighty fine summer.

We have not had any grand adventures by most people's standards, and - as my daughter keeps reminding me - our summer days are flying by all too quickly. But each day there is something - some small moment that is what I would call an element of the perfect summer.

Life is chaotic at best. It's a good chaos. We try to pack so much into these days and make them memorable while still getting the stuff of everyday life done. Bills must be paid, laundry must be done (occasionally), house must be tidied up (eventually), various appointments must be kept (regular check-ups with doctors and dentist, but also the hair, people ... we must not let the pool water ruin our hair). And in between all of that - or despite it (and seriously, could I use more dashes or parentheses to interrupt my thoughts? I talk this way, too, lately. Ask anyone.) - we somehow manage to have loads of fun and I find quiet moments to ponder life's ... well ... to ponder life.

The kids and I have traveled to Ypsilanti (MI) to hang out with daddy a couple times. I've been down there once by myself. Heaven, that was. I did a little solo shopping on my way there. And back. My kids are older now but shopping all by myself still feels like a privilege. And I don't even like shopping all that much.

We were there in Ypsi (call it "Ip-see" or "Yip-see" ... nobody cares) for the 4th of July, which was different for us because we missed our neighborhood get-together and fireworks party for the first time in, like, ever. But it was nice to be together as a family and to create some new memories: all four of us swimming and laughing together in the lake at the campground, going to bed early and then me and the kids quietly slipping out in our jammies to watch the fireworks being shot off all around us.

The kids. Summer is really all about them, isn't it? It's their break from school and they want to pack in as much fun stuff as they can. Sam is currently away at his second week of summer camp. The first week was at church camp and this week is at a youth camp just down the road from home. I'm so glad he enjoys it ... and frankly, he needs the time away from his mama and sister to be a boy and make friends who are boys and do boy stuff and hang out with some good male role models. I have had some memorable moments with Sam this summer for sure, but I think what I will remember most is how I have begun to look up to him - literally - when I talk to him. He is 13 and on the cusp of becoming a man in so many ways. I pray regularly that I am up to the task of being the mom he needs me to be. I do love who he is today and who he is becoming. And I love those mornings when I look up from whatever I am doing in my gardens and he is there, and we talk.

And Rachel. Our little spitfire. She helped me plant my veggie garden and planted her own flower garden for cut flowers. We are learning together. This week while it's just us girls we are redecorating her bedroom. The girl knows what she wants, and that includes purple, teal and white paint. And peace signs. Pictures? Oh yes, there will be pictures. I think what I will remember most about this summer, the summer of Rachel's 10th year, is how she continually cracks me up with her wit. Sometimes she means to be funny, other times she's just saying what's on her mind. It might get her into trouble occasionally, though mostly it's harmless and in good fun. But oh, it is a glimpse into how quickly her mind works, and that? Is rather frightening. In a good way.

When I think about what we have done this summer (which is only half over, by the way) I think of afternoons spent floating in the pool when both the air and the water were 80-some degrees. I think of standing in the dollar store and trying on the god-awfullest blinged-out sunglasses and laughing with Rach and her Aunt Sue. I think of exchanging thoughts with a friend about a book we've read that turned out to be the perfect reading material for this season in our lives. I think of cool mornings standing on the patio sipping coffee and watering my garden(s).

Oh, my gardens. I have gotten so much joy from my gardens this summer. They really deserve their own post with pictures, and I'm going to do that soon. But I can tell you all the work I put into creating this space for myself - for my whole family, really, but we all know who enjoys it most - was well worth it. The gardens are always works in progress, and that's part of the fun. There is always something to do, but nothing so pressing that I can't sit and enjoy a visit with a dear friend and listen to the bees buzzing around the squash blossoms or the hummingbirds zipping up to the petunias for a drink.

Summer is a busy time for pipelinin' and that means I don't get to see much of my husband. We sure do enjoy the times we are together, though. That old saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is spot on. And when we're not together ... when I am here at home, or at the campground in our travel trailer waiting for Steve to get done with work for the day, I praise God in Heaven for this life. I am truly in awe over how He has orchestrated our lives to give us everything we need and then some. Those "elements" of a perfect summer? Sometimes they are those fleeting thoughts that make me smile while I'm washing dishes or packing bags for another road trip: my husband, willing to do what it takes to provide for his family and allow me to be a homemaker; his texts and e-mails just to say "good morning, have a great day, I love you;" his suntanned face. Sometimes they are tangible, like the new gun and box of .22 shells Steve brought home last weekend, and the fun we all had doing some target shooting.

It might be half over, but that means we still have plenty more summer to enjoy before the kids hit the books again. I'm here! I haven't abandoned my blog! But for as much as I love writing and recording these precious moments, if I have a choice between sitting and writing or wandering outdoors to check the green bean plants or to jump in the pool, the plants and the pool - and the kids - will win every time.

OK, almost every time.

Here's hoping you find joy in your day today. I'm going outside to play.

Got the babies all tucked in.

Last year we had frost on May 27.

The weather man tells me we're gonna' get some frost tonight ... or in the morning, I guess. May 31.

**EXPLETIVE!**

So ... I rounded up a bunch of blankets and sheets and Rachel helped me get everything covered.

I have learned it is much easier to do this when it's still light out and isn't already freezing cold out there.

Sleep tight, babies!

Chasing butterflies.

Despite her best efforts, Rachel could not get a single butterfly to land on her finger last night. She was disappointed, but I had fun watching her try.

And I managed to get one good picture of this beauty. They sure don't stay still for very long ... but they are fascinating to observe.

BUSY! And some garden photos - woohoo!

We have been so busy. Crazy busy. And while I do try to take a few minutes here and there to enjoy some quiet time for myself, the world doesn't stop just because I am wicked tired.

So, what have we been up to? Let's see. Steve has been working his tail off within the high-security walls of the Marathon oil refinery in Detroit. I don't pretend to understand everything he does. He is responsible for making sure certain contractors do everything by the book and according to the customer's specs and safety guidelines. He has the perfect mix of patience and assertiveness to be a pipeline inspector. I? Would not. I have the "people person" part down, but the patience ... not so much. So mostly I pray for my husband's safety, be supportive when he needs to vent frustrations to me, and try to keep things at a dull roar at home so Steve can focus on his job.

This week was a toughie as far as that "dull roar" thing was concerned. I was unavailable to answer my phone at the moment Sam's school principal called to tell me about some trouble our boy had gotten into at school, so daddy ended up getting that call at work. Hey, it's all part of being a parent, and Steve is great about that, too. I can't be two places at once or available to everybody at all times. But I was sorry Steve had to deal with the initial impact. In the end it was a bit of a hiccup in everyone's day, but you'll have that sometimes.

Sam, I think, will be the happiest kid on the planet when school is done for the year. He has little motivation for school work to begin with, and even less when he makes a poor choice (nothing malicious, just a "bone-headed" thing to do, as I like to say) and it results in revoked privileges and more chores at home. He does have a fire in his gut for other stuff, and will stay up late at night to work on something he loves. And he's been incredibly helpful to me as I've worked on creating new garden spaces at home.

Here he is filling our new raised beds with fresh black dirt. Over the past few weeks we have shoveled and shoveled and raked and shoveled some more.

And he even planted a few of his own plants:

This is one of two pots Sam planted - this one's habanero peppers and he also has cayenne peppers. 

Now what in God's name do you think we're going to do with all those peppers?! I sure ain't eatin' 'em. But hey, caring for some plants and watching them bear fruit is a simple thing that brings him joy. It's all good. (And I do believe he will eat them. He's into this "the hotter the better" kick.)

Rachel has been busy - and has kept me busy - with a little bit of everything. She was so excited for her track and field day at school this week that she was up early that day and crawled into bed with me to wake me up. She had a bag all packed with her lunch, sunscreen, a blanket to sit on, snacks and extra water. I had a chance to stop by the track as I went from one commitment to the next, and I was so glad I did. I watched her win on the last leg of a relay, then watched her take 2nd place in a sprint. She came home with five or six ribbons that day. We might have a runner on our hands!

Rachel has also been helping me in any way she can with my gardens. When we finally started planting I dug up my clump of chives from one garden (which I have given to Rachel to grow flowers for a little cut-flower business she wants to start) and moved them to the new raised veggie beds. Rach had to take a picture of the roots ... I think they're pretty healthy.

To the left there, behind the chives, you can see Kevin. Kevin is a blinged-out garden ornament bird Rachel got me for Mother's Day. She named him after the bird from the movie "Up." Kevin's pretty cool.

I have been gardening a lot. I have built garden boxes, shoveled/loaded/unloaded sand and soil, hauled brick pavers, hoisted and dumped bags of pea stone, built a chicken wire cover to keep the cats out of the garden beds (Oh look!! Giant litter boxes!), and finally got to do some planting. All of that I have done in my spare time when I wasn't picking asparagus for the neighbors, babysitting for another neighbor, tending to my own children, preparing for a trip to Washington, DC with Rachel and about 200,000 other Girl Scouts (have I mentioned that?), nurturing relationships with family and friends, and taking care of all the "regular" household tasks a mama takes care of. It's no wonder I'm tired!

But I do so love these gardens. Last night after the kids had gone to bed I sat on the patio with just the glow of some solar lights, the cool breeze, listening to frogs croaking and crickets chirping ... and I watched the stars appear. I just sat there in the shadows of all this hard work we've been putting in. How often do we take the time to just sit? To just ... be?

I kicked back in that cheap plastic Adirondack chair and thought how nice it would be to have a chaise lounger for the patio. And then I started to think about upgrading the cafe table we have to a nicer set that could seat our whole family ... and more potted plants ... more color ... and a fire pit ... and, and, and ... and I had to stop myself. Reign in it, just like I tell my kids to do. I did, and then I was able to appreciate my surroundings even more. I was able to focus on that feeling of joy, that smile I always smile when I get home after a busy day and see butterflies floating and bumblebees buzzing around the plants scattered all over the yard - and wow, there has been an abundance of all kinds of flying creatures this year. My goal is to enjoy them ... to enjoy the peace they bring me, and savor the joy I feel when I am tinkering in my gardens. And when the light of the day fades, to just sit and know that no matter what happened during the day, tomorrow will dawn bright and new.

Oh! Here are the pictures I promised ...

Summer approaches. We will be cool and eat salad.

Cool, because we will have air conditioning installed later this month.

Salads, because I intend to plant lots of salad-making goodies in my garden.

And what is cooler than eating a salad made completely from ingredients grown by and harvested yourself?

I know. My kids don't think I'm funny, either.

Alas, they are stuck with me. And I am kind enough to include lots of the veggies they love in the garden plan, too.

Geez, has it already been a week since I checked in here? We've been busy.

Catching up: I finished the flower bed I was working on last week, and started building the raised beds for planting veggies. I'd love to show y'all some pictures, but someone (hint: not me) seems to have misplaced the SD card from my camera. If it doesn't turn up soon I'll snap some pics with my phone. Anywho, I had to quit working when it started raining Wednesday afternoon. I babysat Thursday, then the kids had Friday off school so we left to spend the weekend with Steve. That was really nice. I can't even tell you how awesome it is to arrive after just a few hours of driving versus an entire day of driving. We helped Steve (or rather "accompanied" him) to get moved to a different campground which is a little closer to the job, closer to home, and appears to be a place we're going to enjoy visiting over the summer. We got home Sunday evening ... yesterday was rainy and dreary and very blah and I'd really rather forget it ... and while I started out with a much more optimistic outlook this morning, the forecast of "mostly sunny and 67 degrees" isn't really panning out. As I write it's 51 and cloudy. Hmph.

However! It's a great day to plan out what I'll be planting in those raised beds once I have 'em finished. I did that this morning with the help of a garden planner on the Mother Earth News web site, thanks to this blog post by Karen over at The Art of Doing Stuff. (Incidentally, in the same post Karen also perfectly and quite hysterically describes my [almost former*] contempt for getting out of bed in the morning.)

Now I'm giddy over my garden plans. For realz.

I don't have these labeled, but I have a list of what's there. See that bed on the right? That's the salad bed: lettuces, radishes, green onions, peppers, grape tomatoes, cucumbers (on a trellis, hopefully), and a variety of herbs. Middle bed: summer squash, carrots, peas (peas and carrots!), beets and green beans. Left side: potatoes, eggplant, cabbage, edamame, and sweet corn. I will plant more tomatoes and zucchini in one of the smaller beds I built last year.

A few of these things are new for me. I've never grown potatoes, for instance. And eggplant is not something I eat regularly, but certainly might if I have it growing in the garden. Experimenting is half the fun of gardening! And it really does get the kids interested in trying new things.

Now I just need to print off my list and mark what I'm going to buy - seeds for some, small plants for the rest. Oh, and finish building those raised beds. Come on, summer!



*Would you believe I've been a little brighter-eyed and bushier-tailed in the mornings lately? I think there's something to this waking up gradually to music. This week's wake-up tune is Trace Adkins' This Ain't No Love Song. Or maybe it's just that I know we're on the downslope of the getting-up-for-school routine. Whatevs. It's workin'. I even made muffins this morning. Ha!

That "good" kind of tired.

I am exhausted.

Eggs. Hoss. Ted.

But it's that worked-really-hard-out-in-the-fresh-air-and-sunshine kind of exhaustion, so it's all good. Except that my entire body hurts, too.

And I mean everything hurts. From stem to stern. Even my fingertips.

Yesterday I spent most of the day shoveling sand to fill in low spots in our yard, and peeling sod away from one end of the house where I decided I'd build a flower bed. I planted a few perennials there a couple years ago and thought I'd be fine mowing around them. I was wrong. What happens is either the grass grows a foot tall before I find the time to rip it down by hand, or I lose half my hosta plants because I insist my teenage son go all the way around the house with the weed whacker.

Today I bought some landscape timbers and this evening Sam and I started setting them in place to define the edges of the flower bed. It won't take very many, but because we're working on a bit of a slope it takes some time to get them level. Hopefully I'll finish that up tomorrow and then I'll just need to get some good soil to fill in and I can plant some more plants there, too.

I also have a stack of lumber and plans drawn out for some more raised garden beds. These I'm going to build at the end of our patio with stone pavers in between. There's nothing like walking out the front door and picking fresh veggies for dinner or some fresh herbs to add to a salad.

I'm really getting excited to put some plants in the ground - some veggie plants that will eventually provide us some sustenance, and some colorful annuals. But it's still a little early in the season and I'm not crazy about having to cover plants to avoid frost, so I'm keeping busy with preparations. It's so rewarding to see the progress after a few hours of work, and to know that I will enjoy a lot of the things I'm working on year after year.

If my body cooperates and the rain holds off I'll be back out there tomorrow. And I'll take some pictures. Tonight, I rest. Sleep's gonna' come pretty easy.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Today is the last day of the kids' Saturday morning bowling league.

Thank you, Jesus.

I really have fun watching them and bowling has become something both Sam and Rachel really enjoy, but after 20-some weeks of hanging out at the bowling alley for a good chunk of time every Saturday, I'm ready for it to be over.

Rachel won't be bowling today, though. This morning she's attending a class at church to prepare for her First Communion tomorrow.

Did I mention it's going to be a crazy busy weekend for us?

Rachel, particularly, had so many opportunities to go and do stuff that she had to decide what she would miss. Tough stuff for a 10-yr-old, but that's life.

I'm really looking forward to spending more time out working in the yard this afternoon. I was out there last night cleaning out my flower beds and doing some raking (dang stubborn oak leaves don't fall until now) and I'm excited to have some green popping up around the yard.

You would think that after some physical activity and fresh air I would have fallen right to sleep last night when I crawled into bed. But no. My mind raced with plans and lists and ideas - for outside, inside, the weekend, the summer, and on and on. So I'm awake ... but yawning. And these tired bones are moving pretty slowly.

Time for coffee.

Oh! And Happy St. Patrick's Day. Enjoy your weekend.

Adventures in Domesticity.

I finally did it. I used tomatoes I grew in my own garden to make salsa, and then canned it.

Two whole pints.

Yes. TWO.

For years - YEARS - I have said I am going to learn how to preserve my own produce like my mom did. In summers past I have had bumper crops of various varieties but never had the time or energy to can it. This year I planted only enough vegetables for us to eat, with the possibility of maybe having a few extra tomatoes. Late in the summer I did share a baggy of grape tomatoes with my dad because I just couldn't eat 'em all, but I didn't think enough of the larger ones would ripen at the same time to make canning worth the effort.

Well. I ended up with a bowl full of romas in the kitchen that were screaming to be made into salsa, so last night I decided it was finally time to dust off the canning supplies I purchased last year.

Rachel gleefully served as my sous chef. She gathered ingredients, chopped garlic and cilantro, and measured out spices while I peeled and diced the tomatoes, jalapenos and onion.

We destroyed the kitchen. I fretted that I would miss a step or the timing would be off. The kids stayed up past their bedtime because I was too engrossed in de-ribbing hot peppers to march them off to bed. And I marveled at how the bowl of "stuff" headed for the scrap pile outside (where I will hopefully have a compost bin next spring) was more abundant than the good stuff piling up in the pot.

But oh, it will be so worth it when we pop one o' these babies open in the middle of January.

At least I hope it will be worth it. That's the thing about canning - you don't really know until it's time to try out the finished product, and that could be months down the road.

I can tell you last night my dry, cracked hands were not feeling the love. I'm too ornery to dig out a pair of gloves to wear while chopping jalapenos. Yes, I am one of those people who wrinkles my nose and waves off the warning in the Ball Book. "I don't need no stinking gloves!"

Eh, some advice? When working with hot peppers, find some gloves. Wear them. You can thank me later.

Also? If the activity immediately preceding your canning adventure had anything to do with leaving half your groceries stacked on the countertops, or washing dishes and leaving them stacked on the countertops, or unless your kitchen is the size of the Iron Chef's Kitchen Stadium, empty your sink and clear your countertops first. You're gonna' need the space.

Oh, two pints of salsa does not take up much room; it's the prep work. Washing, peeling, chopping, measuring. All that good stuff.

And don't make any appointments. Give yourself plenty of time. (Yeah, canning on a whim? Probably not my best choice, but it worked out OK.) I'm sure as I gain experience my process will be a little more streamlined, but dang! I was exhausted and in need of a shower by the time I pulled those jars out of the water bath. Since I was so exhausted, I did not take the time to clean up after myself before I shuffled off to bed ... so now it's time to do that. Olé!