• Around home - Blog - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: left the house edition

    Welcome to this weeks edition of T stands for Tuesday…the one where I left the house.

    After weeks of working from home and only venturing out to do a quick curbside pick up of groceries or take out, I was pulled from my normal distance learning position to support our districts frontline workers childcare. We had been told when this all started that we may end up in the rotation but had been spared until now. Most of the workers who generally fill the childcare positions have been furloughed. That leaves us to pick up the slack.

    Murphy was definitely having fun with me today… check it out.

    I did not sleep very well at all because I was worried I wouldn’t wake for my alarm…like that has ever happened. I got up at 5 am had a bit of coffee, gathered my things and headed out to the door. Turned the key in my van…click, click, click. Dead battery. Great. It hadn’t been driven in weeks so I guess its not a huge surprise.

    I head back inside to regroup and figure out what I’m going to take to work only the handle doesn’t turn. I’m locked out. Swell. I found the right key on my ring…wasn’t even sure I had one for that door… and got back in.

    Mr G told me to take his car since his trunk was empty and I was planning to go to Home Depot BEFORE starting childcare at 6:45am. Ok…all is good there. As I pull into the Home Depot lot at just after 6 am…the sky opened up and a deluge of rain came down. Since my plan was to get mulch, compost and potting soil…from the outdoor garden center…that was a big no thanks.

    Since I now had some time to kill and I realized I never ate breakfast I drove to Starbucks. As I’m waiting in the drive thru for the drink and muffin I realize my phone is at home…on the arm of the couch. UGH. I quickly drove home, grabbed the phone and made it back to the childcare site by 6:40am.

    And now I get to start mt actual day of work….

    I wore one of my homemade masks during my time. I had 10 littles in my charge….kindergarten and 1st graders. Herding cats is all I can say. I am exhausted. I definitely know that I do not want to work in elementary school again. Middle school is great!!!

    Gosh, I’m even more tired reliving that…LOL

    On Saturday I moved our compost bin to a location that makes more sense. It’s old location down by the neighbors chain link fence just wasn’t working for me. It was often half under water and I had to walk through a patch of creepy charlie to get down there. Did I mention I’m allergic to creeping charlie? And I often…most of the time…am barefoot.

    So here it is….relocated and edged with flagstone veneer from a fireplace. I traded a friend for it several years ago thinking I’d be using it to ring a firepit. That never happened but this as an equally good use of some of the stone. I trenched the pieces about 2 inches down. 

    Not bad for a mornings work.

    Mini-me is all set to go do some target practice. We discovered the back seats of the Jeep folded down super easy so now she can transport it herself.

    Lastly I leave you with a bit of humor I saved that made me laugh this past week.

     

    Tuesday finds me back at distance learning from my livingroom. I’m not complaining one little bit. Our governor has extended distance learning for the entire state for the remainder of the school year. I know its the right call and am thankful he did this. But I’m not going to lie…I felt like crying when he said the words. So many emotions.

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog - Kitchen - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: I ♥ plants edition

    Hello and welcome once again to T stands for Tuesday. This week I’m taking a break from sharing my #junkjournaljuly updates to share the wealth of plants around me.

    The abundance of rain has yielded huge plants! This morning I picked these beauties.

    Fresh produce from the garden is the best. Especially since we aren’t getting a CSA box this year.

    As I was trimming the flowers off my herbs, I realized that they are quite pretty and could be used as a base in a bouquet. I wandered around the yard and came up with a sweet little jar of flowers to brighten my kitchen.

    When my neighbor saw me picking flowers she offered up her daylilies. 

    They are lovely on my table. Thank you, neighbor!

    My tea even had some plants in it. A little sprig of mint in my Darjeeling tea.

    This one takes the cake though…I happened to notice my compost bin had some tall things in it. Since I knew I hadn’t thrown anything in there lately myself I walked down to investigate.

    I have 2 tomato plants and 3 zucchini or ?? volunteers in the compost pile. I guess the organic soil is doing pretty well.  This is a better place for this sign. Time will tell as to what I’m growing.

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Art - Blog - Creativity - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: #junkjournaljuly edition

    Hello again! Welcome back to T stands for Tuesday!

    Last week was a busy one with the Independence Day Holiday. Lots of activities including a parade, cookout, fireworks but not many photos to document them.

    I thought it would be fun to share my #junkjournaljuly challenge pages here as well as Instagram. Here I can get a little more in-depth and frankly it’s easier for me to edit and organize.

    Day1: Introductions

      I decided to introduce the journal and project…not myself.

    I am using this journal in order even though I’ll have to add a couple of pages before the end.

    I have most pages documented before as well as after but I know I did miss at least one set such as this next set…

    Day 2: create a collage

    This page I almost completely changed for the original.

    Day 3: Use a tag

    It was kismet that this page already had a tag on it. I added the sunflower paper and lace to fit with my vision. A package of old rub-ons came in handy as well.  I thought this page was the perfect place to document this old, well-loved photo.

    Day 4: very vintage

    This page is basically completely covered with pieces of a 1968 map of Hawaii.

    I honestly loved the original page spread…but it wasn’t going to work.

    Day 5: favorite color

    You know it had to be pink! With a splash of orange…I do love orange too!

    The only little bits of the original page showing through is the math text and the stems of the flowers. I don’t love those tissue flowers but they worked to cover the yellow without once again completely covering the page.

    I’ll be posting more sets of these pages as I go along…not sure of the schedule but likely not waiting until T Tuesday either.

    I do have to tell you about my garden pests once again…you won’t even believe it!!!! You may remember last week my garden was looking lovely…my green beans were lush and full of leaves…

    Not so much any more. UGH!!! I found full grown deer tracks in the garden. Keep in mind this garden is maybe 5′ x 8′ and has a fence almost 6′ high around all but a 2′ wide gap where the gate is.

    Well not anymore…it’s not pretty but it is functional. I’m hoping Mr. G will build me a proper full height gate before next growing season but for now, this will have to do.

    Today has household chores in store…super exciting I know.

    What are you doing today?