transformation

From this..... to this........

Now I'm working on my walkway and about to go look for lumber for my bridge.

my latest endeavor

one side completely ready with onion plants

Aren't they nice??

Things yet to come... hopefully!

I am a farmer's daughter. My mom always had a garden. Why I only discovered my passion for growing things this past summer I'll never know. It's probably one of those "season of life" things. Whatever the case, I'm pleased as punch!

red riding hood

I haven't been on the computer as much since I've started working in the yard. For a while I even worked there in my dreams. No kidding....I dreamed yard work. I was exhausted when I went to bed and exhausted when I got up.

I found some purple grass called "Red Riding Hood." It looks similar to Purple Fountain Grass. Probably because it is. I found out today it is a Dwarf Purple Fountain Grass. I went to the nursery and bought a pot of the regular grass a while ago. I went by Subway to get a Veggie Delite sandwich and decided to sit at the computer and eat. Now I'm enjoying a cup of "Candy Jar" Blue Bell ice cream. It's a new variety and really good. I especially like the the little crunchy stuff that reminds me of the butter brickle I ate as a child. I'm not sure if no one else knows it's there or they just ate the Homemade Vanilla. I think I've eaten almost the whole half gallon myself; a cup at a time, not the whole half gallon at once! That's the thing about Blue Bell. I haven't found one yet that was horrible. I did the price match for $3.99. That's about the only time I buy it.

I've got to go set out my grass before it gets too hot. Ciao.

green green grass of home

I actually have some grass! It is a small beginning, but you have to start somewhere.

Looking down on my flower bed in front of our bedroom window.
One way to cover a tree root! There is a small berm with Asian Jasmine planted on it. It is by the side of our house. I hope to have a walkway beside the house in time.
My berm in front of the house, complete with cat. When I am out working the cats are usually there with me.
Front corner. Some kind of small monkey grass, tall monkey grass, english ivy, and Mexican Heather. Won't it be pretty when it all spreads together?? My sod in the corner is even looking better. I had about four pieces that didn't look all that great; all the rest was wonderful!
Another picture of the same.

Grass again: yes, it's the same picture but I'm REALLY proud of it!
A type of grass I just HAD to have. The purple one on the ground beside it is not part of it.
Asian Jasmine that was here when we bought the house. It's amazing what a lot of water will do!
pretty pink impatients
Another picture of my berm. Eventually the plants will cover the sides of it. I can't remember what they are called, but I got them for $5.00 a flat; a flat covered each side almost.

I have been looking for brick for my sidewalk. I saw an ad in the little paper that comes weekly that someone in Antlers had free brick they wanted moved. Donald, Daniel, and I went Thursday night and I got about 250 bricks for free!

God is so amazing~! He has given me free soil, free plants, free help, and free bricks!

Psalm 20:4

He will give you your heart's desire and carry out all your plans. (God's Word)

Matthew 6:33

Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. (The Message)

looking good

I just woke up from a nap, a three hour nap actually. I well deserved it too!

I know my blog has been all about the changes our front yard is undergoing. Well, this one is more of the same so if you're not interested you may want to find something more interesting. I won't be offended at all. Shucks, I won't even know unless you tell me!

I have been so blessed and so amazed at what my heavenly Father has done for us. Our yard has been a really pitiful sight for a long time. Pam and Rick blessed us with the soil, Barb's friend gave me LOTS of plants, Ben bought me some stones for a walkway, and Connie has plants for me when I get to the other part of the yard! Pam told me this morning at church that they will be taking some up more soil in the future and we can have it also! I am so grateful to God and all our friends who have helped.

Friday I spent about 12 hours setting out plants. Friday night I HURT SO BAD! I didn't sleep well at all. I decided about 5:30 to get up and take some ibuprofen. I checked email which I had neglected and planned to go back to bed and sleep a while longer. By then I was even wider awake and it was cool outside so I thought I'd just go out and set out the rest of my plants. I worked for about 4 hours and had gotten them all in the ground except for the flat of Mexican Heather I had bought. I had NO IDEA where to put it and wasn't even satisfied with some of the places I had put stuff. I was just finishing picking up things when Barb drove up. She said she had 2 hours to give me!!! I really think it ended up being longer, but I'm not complaining. I showed her what I didn't particularly like and she made some suggestions and it is perfect! She is so good at gardening! I dug up some of the stuff I already had and we set it out with the heather. She has a natural ability at knowing where to put things so they will look good.

I will definitely have Hannah take pictures soon and hopefully I'll have something new to talk about. Now I have to go buy cat food as the poor cats will have to eat dog food for breakfast the way things stand. I have totally neglected things around here! But oh, our yard is looking good!

HGTV

I have a new past time. If there's not a basketball game on I love to watch the HGTV channel. It is amazing the things I have learned. Like I'm totally convinced if I had some power tools I could do great wonders. I have learned that I want to power wash my sidewalk and stain it. I have learned while painting if you make a W or a V it makes the paint go farther. I have learned that the kitchen and bathroom are VERY important if you want to sell your home; clutter is a huge NO NO, even things you use every day like diapers and schoolbooks and toys for your children.

I'm glad we aren't trying to sell our home. It's exhausting thinking of all that would need to be done.

Now I don't enjoy clutter. I don't really think the school books on the dining table make a great centerpiece. It's just that we use them every day and I am always in the middle of something. I just push them aside or put the newspaper on top of them while I eat. If we all sit down together we do clear the table. I don't particularly care for the ironing board that has been up for three days now; it's just that I still haven't finished my ironing. By the time I almost get to the bottom of the basket I do laundry again and it starts filling back up.

I used to clean the whole house - EVERYTHING - the same day. I haven't done that in years. It's like it's a "s-l-o-w" work in progress. If someone tells me there's a cobweb I just tell them to take care of it or turn off the light so they can't see it. Out of sight, out of mind.

I'm totally glad I've chilled out about things. Maybe it's because I'm older/wiser or just don't have the energy I used to have. Life is great; even with the cobwebs!


"I don't get tired of housework. I don't do any."
Maxine

weird happenings

Note to self: Don't make egg salad for city council meeting a day ahead. It disappears before lunch the next day.

Okay, I'm off to Wal-Mart to buy eggs and bread......again.

glue guns and cats

I am thoroughly convinced that every woman needs a glue gun. I have spent the last hour or so using mine to repair some things. They are totally awesome! The only drawback is the time I mistakenly stuck my finger in the hot glue. Let me tell you so you won't need to test it yourself, IT IS HOT!

In years past we have even used it to stick trim on our car, the Green Slime. It was the ugliest car, but absolutely the best car we have ever owned. We drove it for years and finally sold it in a garage sale. I am not kidding.

We name our cars. Donald had a huge black and white pickup truck which I named Moby Dick. His jeep now is the White Knight, my van is Big Red. I'll bet you can even guess what colors they are! Somehow we never came up with a name for the kids' car and it is just called "The Camry."

"The Camry" seems to fit it perfectly though. Our vehicles always have cat footprints on them as our cats love to lay on them, especially in the winter when the hoods are warm. If you come to our house your car will be inspected and laid on also. I have to show you this picture of Hannah's cat, Arnold. It just about sums up his life.

Photography credits belong to Hannah.

Pretty Paper

My days off are rushing by without getting what I had planned accomplished. I still don't have anything on my bedroom walls. However I DO have the stuff to put on them. Rebekah found some awesome pictures (translated: EXCELLENT PRICE) at Burlington Coat Factory. I never would have thought to look for pictures at a coat store! I found the perfect one and it was only $30.00. The ones I had found that I really wanted were anywhere from $100 to $400. Like I'm ever going to pay that much for a picture!! I made black and white copies of some of the kids' pictures and also of Donald and me when we were dating. I have black frames and am going to get those hung sometime too. There is always so much that has to be done: like dishes, and laundry, and shopping, and cooking, and well........ you get the general idea.

Besides all that there is running around getting kids where they need to be. Mainly Hannah! She is one busy girl! Between choir practice and choir performances and her part time jobs and Christmas parties there are things she needs to get done also. I love my life. I also appreciate Ben's help with my schedule.

I spent the day yesterday cooking and getting Hannah and her friend Sarah places they needed to be. I told Donald I would bake stuff for him to take to work to give as presents. That was one big job and took an extra trip to the store, but they turned out nicely with Bethany's help putting the tissue paper into the sacks. You would think that would be easy, right?? For some reason it never looks quite right when I do it. In my spare time I think I'll take a "stuffing tissue in a gift sack" class. In the meantime I'll rely on Bethany!

Guess I'll go start the laundry and try to straighten up a bit. Then maybe I'll have time to hang some pictures.

Things I've Learned

My body is protesting the 4,788 steps up and down my step stool the last two days. Or was it 4,789? Ouch I hurt.

My bedroom is coming along nicely. I was able to get the bed and roll top desk back in place yesterday so we didn't have to sleep in the middle of the bedroom like the night before. That was nice. I have to finish one wall which isn't actually much wall at all due to two double closets. Although that can take more time than a nice wall. I love the dark brown; I'm not sure about the lighter brown yet. The dark brown is much too dark to paint my whole room that color though. When I get my new comforter on I'm sure it'll make a huge difference. I'm not taking it out of the package again until I'm finished. I'm so uncoordinated I'd be sure to spill paint on it, even from across the room. If I still don't like it I'm sure Vicki will have some ideas on what I can do to keep from repainting. Maybe use some glaze with the dark brown in it?? She is so good at decorating.

If I could just stay home and paint I'm sure I would be finished by now. I have somewhere to be every night this week. Then with school, laundry, appointments, cooking (my family still likes to eat even when I'm painting), and all the other life stuff I haven't been able to stick with it. It's kinda like when I used to sew. Once I had the garment cut out I didn't want to stop until it was finished. Or maybe a good book is a better description if you like to read as much as I do.

Here are some things I've learned while painting the past few days:

I accumulate a lot of e-mails in my inbox.

Muscles ache that I wasn't even aware I possess.

Cooking is even worse than usual.

Laundry doesn't diminish while painting; nor dirty dishes.

The van still has many trips to make (although Ben has helped me a lot.....thanks, Ben~!)

My bathroom sink looks pretty bad with brown spots spattered in it.

If I ask nicely Ben will bring me a giant cherry diet coke from Taco D.

Everyone is very good about saying how nice it looks with no offer of help. (couldn't resist the martyr comment; actually everyone else has work or school and work).

If I had some old pajamas I would just paint in those (too bad I actually threw something away).

There's no time to read a good book.

Okay, I could go but you get the idea so I won't bore you any longer. Back to laundry and schoolwork and then I'm going back up that stepladder.......if I can make it up that is.

God Bless Columbus

The painting has begun~! We are off school today due to Columbus Day. God bless Columbus~! I meant to start this weekend, but due to circumstances under my control I didn't. Saturday I moved some things out of the bedroom (we now have to go into the hall to get our underwear) and taped some. I meant to actually start the primer but I had a nasty headache all day and didn't. Then yesterday afternoon I meant to get started, but needed to mop the kitchen floor, do the ironing, cook some meat that had been in the refrigerator thawing, and of course the never ending laundry our family produces. By the time I finished Donald was in the bedroom taking a nap and I didn't want to wake him. So after cooking today's dinner (which was almost consumed last night) I decided I'd take a bath and watch TV. I'm not sure what my family will do tonight for dinner as most of it isn't there anymore. I volunteered to go to the city council meeting with our church's food so I've already told them I'm painting today and will be gone this afternoon so they are on their own.

So this morning I began~! Well actually I'm taking a break/breakfast/blog time out. I've already managed to cut my finger and produce a blood blister trying to use a screwdriver to get my mini-blind down. I am NOT good at all with any type of man-tool. The kids are sleeping in due to no school and I just didn't want to wake the boys to take down a mini-blind. Come on now, how simple can that be? I probably put the thing up.

Wouldn't it be nice to hire a crew to come in and paint it for me (see picture above)? Actually Jeffrey has said he will help me paint today; maybe I can recruit Ben also. Daniel has to work so he's out of the picture and Hannah wasn't feeling well last night. Too many people in one room with the bed still in there isn't going to work too well anyway.

Well my sausage/biscuit is long gone so I guess I better get re-started. My blood sugar dropped and my legs got weak (or maybe it's just my muscles resisting the many trips up and down my step stool). Anyway it seemed a legitimate excuse to stop for a few minutes and proclaim the good news............I HAVE STARTED PAINTING MY BEDROOM~!

Artist Brown

I'm still around, just been fighting off cold/allergy/asthma stuff. It seems maybe I'm getting a bit wiser than I used to be. I used to never slow down or stop until I had to. Now I've found if I will slow down and rest, sometimes my body can fight this stuff off. I didn't even go to church last night. Now I don't believe I have to go; I want to be there. There's a huge difference.

Vicki helped me choose the colors for our bedroom and bathroom. I am going to paint one wall a dark brown and the others a lighter brown. I will have to use a primer over the dark blue I have now to cover it with the brown. I even love the names of the colors. The dark brown is called "Artist Brown" and the lighter one is called "Drawbridge." They should go nicely with the colors I already have. The dark red in my kitchen/dining room is "Chianti" and the other browns I've used are "Kauai Jungle" and "Devonshire." The dark blue in my bedroom now is "Nobilityblue."
I still love the color; it's just that I've had it for over 5 years (maybe even longer; this congestion makes it hard to think straight). Besides it won't go with my new comforter set which is altogether lovely.

I am going to take the wallpaper off the walls in the dressing area of our bathroom and paint it a dark brown and then paint our bathroom the lighter brown. This will mean I will have to refinish the cabinets in there as well. After doing the kitchen summer before last I know I can do this. Hopefully it'll be a breeze since the area is so much smaller and less work. I hope. If I get really blessed I'll have enough stuff left over from the kitchen to do this job also.

Then I plan on replacing the shower curtain. Rebekah and Bethany will probably faint dead away if they read this. I have had the one I have up for 20 years. I love it and just haven't found another one I like better. Maybe it will even go with the new paint job and I can keep it a while longer. I am one to try and get my money's worth.

That brings another thing to mind. The blouse I have on now I recycled from Bethany years ago. I hate shopping for myself and am oh so happy when someone gives me something that fits and I like. I keep saying I'm going to let this particular blouse go, but I can't seem to actually place it in the give away bag after I do laundry. It always goes into my ironing basket and back into my closet after it's ironed. I'm pretty certain we got our money's worth out of it. Maybe I'll set some kind of new record for the person keeping a blouse the longest and actually wearing it regularly.

I can just hear the kids exclaiming about why in the world I would even tell someone this~! I guess because I don't have anything blog worthy and feel the need to run my mouth. I lead a fairly quiet life as you can tell. Definitely a very blessed life~!

Fresh Creamery Butter

I have actually cooked breakfast the past two mornings. I said this morning I kinda felt like a pioneer woman. Never mind that the pancakes yesterday were Hungry Jack, although I did add eggs and oil. That counts for something. This morning it was Blueberry Cheesecake and Poppy Seed muffins. Even though they were packaged I had to reach inside the refrigerator and get the eggs and milk, open the package, and mix them up. On her way out the door to work, as she grabbed some hot muffins, I asked Rebekah if she wanted some "fresh creamery butter" to go with them.

Our family seems to find lines from movies that we really like. The "fresh creamery butter" comes from "Kate and Leopold" and "These mashed potatoes are soo creamy" comes from "While You Were Sleeping." Our family also likes mashed potatoes.........the kind you actually grow in the ground, peel, and cook. None of those instant ones for us. Now I don't actually plant them, weed them, or dig them, but I do go grocery shopping in search of them.

I told the kids this morning that they could have a "normal" family where I went to work. Ben smiled and told me that we were normal, that the others were weird. (DISCLAIMER: If you are one of the "weird" families I in no way intend to judge or condemn you. I am merely talking about a conversation our family had this morning.)

Later I got to thinking about a Glen Campbell song, "Dreams of an Everyday Housewife." Now this doesn't exactly fit me because I never had anyone I almost married. I married my one true love. But I do have the wrinkles that weren't there yesterday; or maybe they were........yeah, actually they WERE there yesterday.

All in all, God has exceeded even my own expectations. I never expected to have five kids, home school them, and a dog in the house. I'm glad we're normal.

Bird Caught in a Storm

Bethany and Ben returned from San Antonio last night. They had been gone since Saturday. Bright was SO excited to see them. The rest of us were also, but I dare say we didn't grin as much as Bright did. Now you may think I'm crazy, but that dog DOES grin.

I had bought a large plastic container and put all my cards, artwork, etc. in it day before yesterday. It had been in several containers and boxes all crammed under my bed and I had run out of room. We ended up looking at and laughing over some of the early artwork and letters the kids had blessed us with when they were young. Bethany had drawn "mom and dad holding hands." I was pretty big since I took up most of the page. Donald was drawn very small down in the corner. I like to think that is the way she saw me, larger than life so to speak. After all I was the one with her day in and day out while Dad had to go to work to take care of us.

Daniel had drawn soldiers and one "Zorro" that made us laugh. Hannah had written "books" and stapled her stories together for us. Rebekah contributed many also and made one cute plea asking Donald if she and Bethany could sleep on the sofa sleeper that night. If not, she advised him that they would gladly sleep in their beds. How can you turn down a request like that???

The one though that disturbs me the most is the one I can't find. Ben had drawn a lovely picture which he proudly presented to us. It was rather hard to tell exactly what it was or which side went up. He was more than happy to tell us it was "a bird caught in a storm." I put it somewhere for it is one of those keepers you always treasure. And now I can't find my treasure. I have searched and searched and can't find it. It will drive me crazy until I do.

I have several more places to look which will require some time and effort, but with God's help I will find it. Since He knows the number of hairs on my head, I'm sure He knows where my picture is.

I think I rather feel like the woman who lost her coin and searched until she found it. Luke 15:9 says: "And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' "

New and Improved

Cora sent an email that included this picture. It is pretty obvious if you come to my house that our computer isn't broken~!

Actually I've chilled out A LOT about...... oh, so many things. I used to stay uptight about the house and wanting it to be clean and perfect. No more. Several years ago God released me from my perfectionist nature and I'm enjoying life much more. I believe God wants us to be happy and enjoy Him and those he has put in our lives.

I do clean sometimes; I'm just not as uptight about when it gets done. In fact, I cleaned our bathroom last night. Every day this week I would say I was going to get to it that day.....maybe. Eventually it happened.

Several years ago I decided I could either home school or have a very clean house. But not both. Now the kids do help a lot, but they don't always do things exactly the way I would. Or sometimes even in my timing, unless I get nasty and insist it be done right then. But it really isn't that important to me any longer. Meet the new, improved me (at least in my own eyes).

Now that my bathroom is clean I'll have to decide on another project to get done sometime next week~!

green weeds

Ever since we have lived in our house we haven't had much grass. The weeds grow abundantly though and are really nice and green this time of year. We have several large sweetgum trees in the front yard, but no grass. We have thrown out grass seed to no avail. Our neighbor gave me some type of ground cover a couple of years ago. She said you couldn't kill it....just stick in the ground and keep it watered. I killed it.

Lots of our neighbors have lawn services do their lawns. They have grass and it always look so nice. Of course, I think anyone who has grass has the greatest lawn there is.

One year we had someone give us an estimate for soil, edging, etc. We decided we would rather eat than have a nice yard. I have joked that our money is in our kids' mouths. Orthodontics is expensive and we are on the last kid~! Maybe it's because I was always so self conscious of my teeth, but it has been so important to me for our children to be able to have braces. Now I am on to teeth instead of grass. It's a zigzag path, but the two do relate. And sometime down the road I intend to have much green grass with fewer weeds~!