Catching Up July

I looked at how long it's been since I last posted and I was surprised to see how quickly summer is flying by.  My computer is refusing to recognize my camera memory cards, so I have no pictures at the moment.  The 4th of July was a fun day, we spent the afternoon with family visiting from out-of-town and then had Elsie and her family over for BBQ and lighting of some fireworks with Malachi.  We spent a quiet evening at home, they went to see the Tumwater fireworks show. 

Elsie and I spent a day painting Zach's bedroom.  He didn't get a nursery when he was born as he was just sharing a corner of the master bedroom.  When they moved, other rooms in the house demanded paint first, so we are just now getting around to creating a room for him.  Elsie picked out a nice sky blue color for the walls.  I had purchased an inexpensive decal of a tree, but it won't stay on the wall, so I am going to paint the tree on the wall instead.  I just need a day to get to  it.  I also have wooden letters that spell his name I'm painting to hang on the wall.  I did sew him some leaf green black out curtains.  They are nothing special, but at least they work.

Elsie and I held our first canning class.  We had several shifts of people signed up but some didn't show.  However, we helped a friend of ours make her first raspberry jam and got a couple batches made for ourselves also.  Next, I think we'll do some marion berries. 

My family did a great job with my birthday.  Elsie baked me a cake and we had a BBQ with family.  Malachi helped me blow out my candles.  My husband gave me a wonderful new camera.  It was a great day.

My knitting projects continue on.  I have a couple of pairs of socks I am working on, one that lives at work, and one that lives at home. I bought a couple of skeins of new sock yarn and can't wait to cast them on but need to finish up the ones I'm working on first.

My garden is progressing well and the corn is starting to develop.  I have more lettuce than I know what to do with.  Plants in the greenhouse are doing well, with celery, leeks, radishes, spinach, romaine lettuce and carrots growing in the beds and tomatoes and peppers in pots.

My baby is out camping this weekend with my little guys and I miss them!

~Jane

Weekend

This has been a long week, not as productive as I'd like.  The weather started out horribly rainy and while trying to transplant some lettuce into the garden I got positively soaked.  I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and she changed some of my meds around and gave me a referral to the ortho clinic.  We'll see what they say.  Knee surgery may be in my future!  Thursday night I worked until almost 11 p.m., but it was worth it as the Legislature has finally finished today!  Yeah!  Friday I babysat my little guys and today was Zach's first birthday party.  So much packed into one week.  Another notable for the week, the deer found my garden patch and chomped off the tops of the tomatoes and squash, so I spent one evening stretching bird netting over the top of it.  It seems to be the only way I can outwit the deer.  My poor greenhouse plants are still feeling the effects of not getting watered a couple days due to my schedule and our now really, really hot weather.  It seems this summer we are doomed to freeze or fry!

~Jane

Gardening 2013

I haven't put in a garden the past couple years because I was so stressed out and focused on working on my mom's stuff.  I also kind of gave up on the flower beds a few years back because no sooner had I planted bedding plants in the beds, the neighbor's chickens would root them all up.  It was discouraging and now my flower beds are full of weeds.  My knees are also so bad that it makes doing a lot of gardening difficult.  It's hard to get up and down to weed or plant, and bending over for extended periods of time is also difficult.  But since I brought my mom's greenhouse home, I have felt the need to do something with it and it, in turn, has sparked my interest in gardening again. 

I am gradually working my way around the house, weeding out the beds and planting some flowers.  I have planted the outside garden plot with tomatoes and squash, beans, corn, and onions.  I've discovered that if I bring a sturdy folding chair with me, I can use it to get up and down to weed.  I also bought some new gardening tools that are sharp and really help with the digging and weeding.  But where I am really having fun is in my greenhouse. 

The two long walls of the greenhouse have been washed and next I need to scrub down the ends and the door.  Inside we have put down weed barrier and paving stones down the center to make a path.  Next I need three 3-foot by 6-foot beds.  Two on one side of the path and one on the other.  At first I thought I wanted a bed across the end, but I need to be able to get to the window, so beds on both sides is what I'm going to do.  I have planted a dozen or more pots of tomatoes, peppers, stevia, melons, and some flowers to stay inside the greenhouse.  They are already so much bigger than the ones outside in the garden.  I also have a couple trays of vegetables that will be going into the outside garden or in the beds inside when I get them.  Yesterday it was raining like crazy and I was able to go work with the plants with the raining drumming on the roof.  So much fun!

~Jane

Musing on Life

I never planned on being where I am in life right now.  I never thought that I'd go back to working full-time, never thought I'd be as disabled as I am right now with my knees, and never thought I'd be this disorganized.  About the time my daughter went off to college, I finally had perfected my household routine and was starting    to get to some of the things I had been wanting to do and then my husband decreed I needed to go back to work.  This was a huge issue for me because I was a firm believer that a married woman's place is in the home not the workplace.  Especially if she has children at home. It took a couple of years for me to finally come to grips with the idea and go back to work.

I have now come to see there is a huge difference between being a stay-at-home woman and being a woman whose heart is in her home.  You can be a stay-at-home woman and have no interest in your home or family. You might be physically at home with your children but are on the phone to your friends or pursuing your own pursuits or watching all the afternoon talk shows.  You might be running around shopping while your kids are in school or socializing.  You might not be working, but maybe you're constantly volunteering or taking classes or anything to escape your home responsibilities or because you're bored.  Whatever is going on, you are not investing your time and energy in your children, your home, or even your husband.  You might even resent being at home and feel you're missing out on a career or feel isolated.

On the other hand, for the woman whose heart is in her home, you might feel you need to work, but your off-work time is spent nurturing your children and husband and building your home. Your off-work time is spent with your family and you work toward making your home a welcoming place to come home to.

I feel my time of being at home was kind of mix between the two.  I was very focused on being a mom, not so much on being a homemaker or a wife.  I wasted a lot of time that I could have been using in more productive ways just because I could.  I've since come to realize you need to make each moment count, whether at home or work.

~Jane

June

It is June, the weather has been nice and I've been trying to be more productive.  Whether its my age, weight, or disability, I don't seem to get as much done.  I know I've been really tired lately (as I sit typing at 1 a.m.).  In my defense, I was in bed earlier tonight and slept for about an hour, but I think I had too much coffee today and it's showing now. 

I've been working on some sewing projects, baby presents for the most part.  I really, really want to get to sewing some work dresses for myself.  I have a couple I just love, but finding ready-made that fit seems to be impossible lately.  I've also been making great progress on my shawl.  I have one more section until I get to the lace.  I really love the pattern.  Most of it has been pretty mindless knitting, perfect for watching TV by.

I've also really been working on my garden.  I've cleared another few feet of the flower beds around the house, mainly waiting for the iris to finish blooming before I tackle any more.  I don't want to accidentally break those brittle flower stems.  My daughter came over Monday night and helped me get started planting all our starts into the vegetable garden.  My husband has been letting the garden space shrink the past several years, so we don't have as large an area as I'd like.  I bought new garden tools and the shovel is excellent.  Even with my bad knees, I am able to do some digging.  I figure if I dig a few feet each time I'm working the garden, it will gradually grow to the size it used to be.  Also, my son-in-law came by and helped us get the weed barrier down in the greenhouse and my husband cleaned off about a third of the back side of the greenhouse.  The next step is to buy some lumber and build my garden beds in the greenhouse.  My husband bought stepping stones to lay down the center and some pine bark for the area that isn't going to have garden beds.  I also went out and purchased some large clay pots in which to plant a couple tomatoes.  I'm getting excited to experiment with the greenhouse.  Eventually I want to have some things growing in there all winter.  I figure I should be able to grow salad vegies without too many problems.

~Jane

Productive Week

The Legislature is back in session and I am back to working full-time.  I sure miss that extra hour a day at home. 

The chicks are doing well.  My husband let them outside today for the first time for a couple hours and they survived and managed to get themselves back in the chicken house for bedtime.  I still haven't managed to get a floor in my greenhouse, but that is a more than two-person job so I am bribing people with dinner to come this week and help.

I managed to get the start of the weeding of the north flower bed done, the rest needs to wait until the lily-of-the-valley are done blooming.  I also got the flower bed right by the front door weeded.  Now I need to pick up some pansies and alyssum to plant there.  I will slowly work my way around the house and plant bedding plants as I go.

I finished the sweaters for Malachi and Zachary.  I really like how they turned out.  They need to be blocked, but here is a picture of them finished.  I was sewing in the last sleeve when I realized I had sewn it in inside out.  That's what happens when you are too involved in the television shows you are watching.  I just love Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge.  I liked The Bletchley Circle also.  I consider them about par with Downton Abbey.  Everything is coming to the end though and I'm not sure what I'll find to watch this summer.

I've also been sewing up a storm lately.  New bibs for Zachary.  These are just a few, I've made several more also.  Now to move on to a couple more projects that need to be finished up and to planting some things in the vegetable garden.

 

 

~Jane

Busy, Busy, Busy

I made a few goals earlier this year.  Once the legislative session was over, I had a bunch of projects I was going to tackle.  Well, session isn't totally over, but my main busy part is and there are things that just need to get done regardless.  The three goals I made earlier:  (1) have a good garden this year; (2) revamp our chicken housing, and (3) get rid of some of our unneeded/unwanted stuff.

I drug a bunch of stuff home from my mom's over the past several years and I want to get rid of an equal amount of stuff plus more.  I figured I needed to get rid of about 30 boxes of stuff.  Last year I think I sent about 10-12 boxes to the thrift store or the garbage.  So far this year I think I've managed to weed out about 10 boxes of stuff.  Some of this belongs to my daughter (who has been married over 7 years) and I've been sending it home with her to sort out what she wants to keep or get rid of.  This goal seems to be progressing well.

I really want to have a garden this year and do some canning.  I also have my mom's greenhouse.  I can't do anything with the greenhouse until we get weed barrier down on the floor and pine chips on top of it.  We haven't been doing anything gardenwise yet, bcause it is still freezing at night and the priority is the chicken house.

We built our chicken house in 1985 as my husband reminded me this week.  It is a simple structure, built kind of pole-barn style.  Why we made it as small as we did, I am not sure.  We were pretty broke back then and were probably trying to save some money.  My husband keeps it well painted on the outside, but for some reason we have never painted it inside.  I've done a lot of reading this spring on keeping chickens, trying to get some new tips, and decided painting it a light color inside would not only seal the wood and make it easier to clean, but would brighten it up and discourage any bugs.  So the past two nights I've painted it inside.  I found a gallon of white semi-gloss in Lowe's mismixed paint.  It was less than half price.   With the wood as old as it is, it sucked up the paint like crazy.  I had to get it done so it could air out before Friday, when my husband wants to move our eight chicks out of the utility room and into the chicken house.  They will have a heat lamp and fresh bedding and should be fine out there.  I am  happy I got it painted.  I am hoping to get enough eggs for Elsie's family and my husband and I. 

I have also been working on a lot of knitting projects.  I have three people at work expecting babies and a couple friends.  This is one hat I knitted for a friend expecting a girl.  This is actually a photo of the hat in the book since I finished the real one minutes before leaving for the shower and forgot to take a picture.

 

 

This little strawberry set is for a guy I work with.  He and his wife have waited a long time for their little girl and I thought she deserved something really special.  I just need to get buttons for the booties.

 

 

One of the guys I work with is pretty fond of  Malachi and ordered a box of 150 Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars for him off Ebay.  I had them here this weekend and Malachi played with them the entire time.  He was so cute.  He had them all spread out on my coffee table and arranged and rearranged them.

 



 

Baby Zach also got to spend the weekend with Grandma.  Here he is checking out Grandma's refurbished high chair (I put a fresh coat of stain on it and gave it a good waxing.).

  



Next up is working on the greenhouse, planting some things in the garden and a couple sewing projects that need to get finished up, along with the sweaters I've been knitting for the boys.

 

~Jane