Sunday, September 08, 2013

Happenings

So it seems the time frame for my blogging is about every 4 months.  I wish I could get back into it, for myself - I enjoy going back over the years and remembering things that happened.  I just can't seem to make myself do it regularly. 

This year has flown by.  So many things have happened, I don't know if I will remember them all to post.  I never did post about Rylee's birth - Ceara gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on January 23rd, 2013.  1-23 should be easy enough to remember!  :)  Eight months old soon - where does the time go?  She changes so much every time I see her.  I have pictures... of course.  Just not going to post pictures with this post.  This is more of a wall of text. 

The rest of the year has been a blur.  Miss Lily turned 2 in May - she is a beautiful, intelligent, wonderful little girl.  She loves to come over and help outside in the garden. 

I turned 40 over the summer.  I had a great time celebrating with my family and friends. 

I play volleyball on Thursdays and Fridays every week - so far the Friday night team isn't doing very well, but it is a co-ed team and we are getting better. We hadn't ever played with one another before.

Conor started soccer - and his two cousins/best friends are on his team - Gage and Grant.  The three of them always enjoy doing things together so having them all on the same team is good.  We also have a small cheering section every game with all the parents / grandparents who come. 

School let out and began again since my last post. Conor had a variety of sitters over the summer - my mom, Jeff's mom, and my brother in law all took turns.  He started the 5th grade this year. 

My mom and I took Conor and Gage on a road trip to Texas to visit Phyllis - my mom's lifelong friend.  We had a wonderful time - very short though.  The boys got to ride a horse for the first time in their lives, and see what it was like on a ranch. 

I did a bit of traveling over the summer - working OT on the weekends at our Kentucky office.  Made for some long weeks.  Over the course of 26 days, I got 2 off and worked 25-30 hours OT on the weekends I was in Kentucky.  It was a different experience, though, and I enjoyed it. 

I got a promotion at work recently as well, so I've been working a lot of long days while training for my new job and still doing the old one.  Driving to our Cincinnati office 3 days a week has really made me aware of how much I hate rush hour traffic.  The Dayton office is much closer and a better drive.  Once the woman we hired to fill my old position starts, my job should be a lot less stressful. 

I have ideas and plans for Christmas - which is right around the corner, so I better get busy.  Every year I hope to finish everything early, and every year I come a little closer to being ready for it when it comes... I hope this is the year I finally am!

I'm re-finishing a wooden rocking chair that has been passed around - from my Grandma's, my mom's, my sister's, and now mine.  I'm excited to get it finished and rock in it.  I'll need a cushion eventually for it, but I'm OK without it until I find one I love. 

There are probably things I'm forgetting to post, but that is all I can think of right now, and it is bed time. 

So many things on my "to do" list right now - and I only get the opportunity on the weekends it seems.  Too many days in between weekends, in my opinion.  :)

I probably have more I can say about all the events, but I will wait to say that stuff when I actually post pictures.  Which I hope to do soon, but... life happens. 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Our Front Yard Garden

We have had small gardens in the back yard, but it is pretty shaded back there.  So this year, we decided to utilize the mostly sunny front yard.  Another reason - besides the shade - is because of the dogs.  Last year they dug up our garden in the back. 
 
So, let's take a tour.
 
Here is an "overall" view from the front porch:
 

 
Below you will see the fancy lettuce we are growing on the left of the picture, carrots are on the right.  Well, at least most of them are - we did have a few rogue carrots that grew in between the lettuce.  I tried to label the veggies using Paint, but you may have to click on the picture to make it larger to see.  Writing with Paint is not the easiest thing to do, so forgive the weird looking letters.


Here is a closer look at the lettuce:
 


 
This is Bak Choy - we ordered seeds and they sent some freebies.  This is one of the freebies that we are excited to try.  It is also known as Chinese Lettuce.


Below, the strawberry patch is at the top of the picture (better picture later) and we have peas growing on the right; tomatoes on the left.  Tomatoes, that is.  Even though I didn't put the e in the picture, I don't want to re-edit it now.  :)


We have lots and lots of tomatoes.  So many I don't know if I could name them all.  I know we have purple tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, Borghese tomatoes, Mongol tomatoes, and ... we'll just have to see when they grow.  


Hmmm, even more tomatoes.

 
Below we have Green Beans and peppers.  The peppers will be planted in another raised garden that we will probably do this weekend.  Or soon.  Really soon.  At the top of the picture you can see our blueberry bushes.  Or buses as I can see I didn't write it correctly on the picture.  Forgive me.  Bushes, buses... not a lot of difference, right?  Anyway, we planted 1 bush by itself and it didn't bloom because it needs friends.  So this year, we got 4 more bushes to join it.  You can't see them, they haven't started growing yet, but they are there.  And we will be doing something with the stones around it soon. 


 
And here you can see the strawberry patch a little better - but that isn't the highlight of this picture.  Here you can see the Red Raspberry bush and the area we planted potatoes in.  The potatoes aren't all doing well because of the soil, but that's a boring story.  We should get some anyway.  I think 5 of them are doing well out of the... 20ish we planted.  


 
And here are the ummm... yellow raspberries.  I know it says black, but the black ones are on the other side of the drive way and I just wasn't thinking.  I didn't take a picture of the black ones.  But, yeah.  Yellow.  We did get a few last year and they are interesting.  Hopefully it blooms a lot more this year.  I will try to keep you posted.  ;)


And here is the strawberry patch!  It's my favorite fruit.  Well, that and pineapple, but I don't think those would grow well here in Ohio.  The strawberries are doing very well this year, though.  Should have plenty to make some jam!  


Well, that is if Lily doesn't eat them all before I can get enough for jam. 


She loves to pick and eat the strawberries.  This past weekend was the first time this summer there were actually red ones to be picked.  And she found them all.  


And ate them one by one.


Of course we washed them off first with the hose.
 

 
She wanted more, and I'm sure the next time she comes there will be plenty. 

 
Tonight - just 3 days after she ate all the ripe ones - I went out and picked these:
 
 
Mmmmm.  They are so good. 
 

Now I need to learn how to make jam - I've never done it before, but I want to try!
 
 
Also, we have grapes planted this year as well.  Three different kinds - white, red, and concord.  I want to make some jam / jelly from those as well, if they produce fruit this year.  If not, there is always next year!  I know I will have strawberry jam this year, though.  And possibly raspberry as well.  Black, red, and yellow!  :)  




Thursday, January 10, 2013

My favorite quotes today

There is a website I look at often.  It has lots and lots of pictures. You can go look yourself and find what you like:  TheBerry

Today, they have an inspirational quotes post.  These are my favorites:








The first two remind me of the saying "You don't know what you've got til it's gone."  And, really... you don't.  The second two and thoughts like it, are what keep me motivated - to do the PX90 and start new things right now.

So, check it out, you might find inspiration on one of the other posts as well.  There are several posted daily.

Ceramics

Ceara takes a ceramics class in school - that wasn't even offered when I was in school!  I love hand made things.  I want to learn how to do it too, but one thing at a time. 

Anyway, she made a mug for Jeff for Christmas.  She was disappointed because the paint is chipping off, but I think she did an amazing job on it.  See for yourself:




Isn't it wonderful? I love it!

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

The New Year, so far...

Well, until I can post some pictures, you will just have to read a wall of text.  So far this year, I've gotten into a routine of getting up early and doing PX90 workout* - I was doing it a couple of times a week before Christmas, but now I'm doing it every day.  For the past 5 days anyway.  It's going pretty well - I like doing it every day better because I'm building up more stamina for it.  Boy am I sore when I get up in the mornings, though.  However, I feel awesome when I'm done!

I also got a Zumba DVD that I started tonight.  This was the first night I could do it because of other commitments throughout the week.  It comes with an instruction dvd that I had done over the weekend, so I thought I would give the real thing a shot. 

Between the 2 of them, if my legs don't look awesome soon... I want a refund!  ;)  Right now I'm thinking I'll be lucky if I can walk tomorrow. 

I've also began crocheting.  I have always wanted to learn to make afghans, and it looks like I might be able to soon!  If I can get the stitches right.  I'm working on it.  So far, I have one semi-rectangular dish cloth.  I'm working on the second one.  I would post pictures of my attempts, but... see the below post. 

Also coming up this weekend, I am throwing a baby shower for Ceara.  Yes, that's right, I'm going to be a grandma for the 2nd time before I turn 40!  We will be having another baby girl in the family before the end of the month.  Rylee Lynn is the chosen name so far. 

Conor is finally getting back into his school routine, it was a little rough the first two days, but I think he's back to status quo. 

I've actually found a nails and I hung up some pictures.  I'm feeling all organized and stuff.  I still have one frame left to fill, and I hope to get that done after the shower this weekend. 

And now, it's time for bed - actually, a little past my desired bedtime.  I will try to keep you posted!  ;)

*this is not a resolution, I was doing it last year for most of the year, I'm just kicking it up a notch. 

Ugh, come on Blogger

Blogger won't let me upload any pictures.  Grrrr.  I'm trying to post more, been trying to do another post for the last week!  But I am unable to get the pictures in there so I can't do it.  It is an important visual too.