Mother Nature...Seriously.

On Grace's birthday, Jan. 27, we had a snow day from school.  She was ecstatic!

TODAY it's Evan's birthday, March 12, and school was closed again for a blizzard.  He was ecstatic too, but REALLY?!!!

To get over my disappointment in Mother Nature, I'm posting some pics of things I would like to use in/change/try in my garden and flower beds this year...I mean, if we ever get to that point in our weather!

(Yesterday was 50 degrees, and the snow we've had all winter was melting.  Today, in the 20's with a blizzard...we must be living in a snow globe!)

Anyway, here are some ideas found on Pinterest.com.  (The links may not directly relate to the image shown, but are linked to the site where they came from.)

My patio needs some help this year...and this one is beautiful.

Every year I move around, split, change the perennials in my flower beds, maybe this year I'll add some pots...

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and some lavender in galvanized buckets...

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and maybe move my chippy white metal gates (or find a metal headboard) to the flower beds.

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For my porch or patio, I would like to add some points of interest.  Like painted chairs...

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or galvanized trash cans (I picked some up at an auction last year)

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I did find some pictures of things I already have myself, but it's good to see how I can use them now...

like the wheelbarrow we have that has seen better days, but would work great as a planter...

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or the vintage tricycle I bought at a garage sale YEARS ago...I just need to get a bike basket...

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I even have an old chandelier to try this with.

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All in all, I'm excited to start planning for these things for summer.  Getting my hands in the dirt of my flower beds always seems to center me.  I'm reshaping the small bits of nature I'm in charge of each year. 

Now, to get all THIS snow to melt!

Stillness

The other day in Sunday School we talked about stillness.

Quietness.  Finding the time to quiet down/power down and listen.

We talked about how we (those who grew up in the last generation without cell phones, smart phones, ipods, wii's, etc.) have eased ourselves into this generation's "plugged in-ness" and find it hard to find "quiet" anymore.

We talked about how HARD it must be for our kids who are NEVER away from technology.

Where is their quiet?

Our kid's quiet comes from us FORCING them to get away from their electronics whether it is a punishment or just to BE AWAY.  I'm sure we're on the more conservative side of this.

They HATE it, but too bad.  I think it's rude when kids are with other kids, and they all have their heads down, texting people who AREN'T EVEN IN THE ROOM WITH THEM.  It drives me crazy.

This week, Grace is grounded from her ipod.  It usually breaks her, so we find it's her best punishment.

That being said, last night, while weeding the garden, I listened to my children jump on the trampoline and play games together for at least an hour, without a fight.

It made me smile inside to hear them.  It reminded me of when my sister and I would play for HOURS outside during the summer.  Tetherball, in our playhouse, riding bikes, tennis against the barn, etc.  We didn't have the electronics pulling us away, and it makes me so sad for my kids.

Last night, I FELT God in the quiet of my weeding, in the happiness of my children.

It was a stillness that I don't feel often, that I need to make a point to FEEL more often.

Where is your stillness?

What swirls through my head

I'm ITCHING to get in my garden.

I NEED to get peas and potatoes and some other early cold weather vegetables planted.  I'm waiting for Brent to get it tilled.  We have heavy clay that gets rock hard.

I'm dreaming of getting it all in the ground, knowing what work I have waiting for me this summer when it's all up and it's time to can/freeze it for the winter.

Ideas from Pinterest go on my gardening board daily.

Things like this...

I'm imagining different colored sunflowers mixed together.  Now, just to find the tank...
Since I LOVE the smell of lavender, and I already have some galvanized buckets, I'm thinking these need to be made.

 I also have an old radio flyer wagon on my porch, and the kids are selling geraniums for 4-H, so there you go...

 In my garden, I have a section just for cutting flowers.  My favorites because they are so hardy and pretty, and last up until fall are zinnias.

I'm a big fan of these flowers too, but I'm not sure what they are.  (if you know...enlighten me!)

When I find an old sink, this would be great for my back patio...

with an old coke crate to go with it.

In general, I LOVE flowers, I love the dirt, and I love the feeling that I'm growing something good for my family.

I think this motto pretty much sums it all up!

Do you garden?

Saturday...it's what they are for...

I started the morning with 3 cups of coffee.

I DO NOT have a problem.  It's just that some days, I desire more coffee than others.

After my 3rd cup, I headed outside to water my flowers around the house.  (Yes, we are STILL experiencing a drought.  We are officially 8 inches of rain behind where we should be at this time...or so I  heard.)

I had to water with a watering can instead of the hose because the hose was attached to the sprinkler watering the sweet corn.

I made about 10 trips inside to fill up the can and go back out.

That's ok.  It's good exercise.

After that, I headed out to the garden.

To my patch.

They say daisies are the "friendliest flower," so what does that make zinnias?  The "best friends" of the bunch?  The "tried and true, never let you down flower"?  I think so.  They hang around till the very end of the season, and they just keep on bloomin.

I LOVE THEM.

After I cut some and brought them inside, I did some laundry, washed some dishes, and went to town making 9 more things for my etsy shop.

If I didn't have a certain child asking if I would take her and her brother swimming, (like 20 times), I could've maybe cranked out a 10th item.  Just kidding.

Now, it's supper time, then time to weigh the pigs one more time before we take them into our County Fair next Friday.

Later, a magazine, or book, or maybe my decorating binder will call my name as I aimlessly flip through TV channels.

This is what Saturdays are for, right?

A Turn of Events

This week has been one of great highs and even lower lows. 

Today was a low.

I know it's Sunday, and aren't we all supposed to be happy on Sunday?  We're supposed to go to church and sing our songs and feel close to God.

Well, I had no problem being close with God, in fact I prayed quite fervently BEFORE church.  But I was praying for all the frustration inside to be taken away.

I was overloaded with frustration.  Frustration at someone who let me down AGAIN.  Frustration that my new job wasn't going quite how I planned.  (It is MUCH harder than I expected it would be...), and frustration that I am running out of time in the day, (and in the weekend), and my house cleaning, blog posting, and general happiness are falling behind.

So, needless to say, I felt as if I was overflowing and ready to explode.

Tears ran down my face during church.  I felt humbled before God, and knew he kept telling me to "let it go." 

It's hard, though, isn't it, to cut through the crap sometimes.

After church we went to a bridal shower for one of my cousins who I feel close to, and who is so great with my kids.  He actually calls them on the phone to come over and play video games with him.  In their eyes, he rocks.  We had a good time at the shower, and there was good food, of course, but I was still holding on to some of that stinkin' frustration.

Then we went home.  It was a gorgeous day today...sunny and warm.

I put on shorts and took a walk around the perimeter of my house, looking at the flower beds I STILL had not weeded, even though last week was in the 80's all week.

I knew in the back of my head it was Sunday, and you DON'T work on Sundays.  They are a day of rest.  But you see, even though weeding my flower beds IS work, it's also a great "cure" for what ails me sometimes.

I got to work.  I got my gardening gloves on, got my hand cultivator, and a small spade shovel.  I beat those weeds into submission, and all the while, my frustration at all those "tiny things" slowly dissipated.  I felt rejuvenated, and close to God with my hands in the dirt.

I got alot done, and I only have a little more left to do on Spring Break in a week.

It felt GOOD.

For the love of a flower

Have you noticed how flowers are all the rage now?

Maybe they always have been, and I've just been outa the loop.

But they seem to be everywhere you look.

They are in home decor

and blankets.

They are even on front doors, (wreaths are mine)

They are on bags

and jewelry.

They even appear on swoony craft projects.

I've made many myself.  Including bobby pins (tutorial here) and flowers for wreaths and purses.

It's addicting.  You can use all sorts of media like material scraps, denim, felt, etc.

It's the new fad.  I didn't think at my age I would be back into the "in fads" but I guess this is a little different.

Go ahead, search all over Google, Etsy, Pinterest, and any blogs you may like.  Everyone is all about FLOWERS.

You know you want to be in the "in crowd" again.  Go for it!

Look for a GIVEAWAY in the near future.  It's coming.  I'm working on it now!

Summer Is...

Each school year there is a pivotal point that passes and all I can think about is SUMMER.

I try to wrap my mind around that fact that I will have more time to do housework, canning and preserving, furniture rearranging, craft making, and sports watching.

I can't WAIT until that season. And then it comes.

And time slips away faster than you can blink your eye. You see, summer is...produce at it's peak, just waiting to be eaten, preserved, canned, and frozen.

It's gardens overflowing with healthy goodness...
and WEEDS. So many weeds!
It's lazy mornings with a full coffee cup...
and a great book.

It's flowers coming out of EVERYWHERE imaginable.

It's tetherball games to the death...
And dirt where is shouldn't be...
because of this "innocent" animal.
It's time off from work for me, but a different kind of busy-ness replaces it.

It should be easy nights on the porch

and sometimes it is, but more often it's not.

Summer is great and bad all at the same time. I find myself counting down with trepidation to the time we'll have to march back to school and endure "newness" again.

Summer is a refuge that I'm lucky to be able to enjoy.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer too.