The best kind of busy!

Wow, I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already and I haven’t posted since Sunday! I still haven’t had a chance to upload the video of Kristen’s piano recital, I will try to do that after I've posted here.

We’ve been rather busy since Sunday, doing . . . . ‘nothing’! Ha ha, yes, all we’ve done for the past couple of days is ‘watch’ the work being done in the yard. Isn’t that the best kind of busy ;-) Jason took Monday and yesterday off work and we’ve just enjoyed some relaxing time together watching what’s going on out back. . . . pictures? Well of course I took pictures :-)

Work started late on Saturday afternoon, just two guys, but within a couple of hours the garden went from looking like this . . . .

to this . . . . .

We were amazed at how quickly the weeds and dead grass were torn out of there! The guys don’t work on Sunday, but on Monday they showed up with the limestone rocks and started marking out the perimeter. . . .

We are itching to get plants in the garden and I’ve actually bought some from the store ready, things like heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, spaghetti squash, bell peppers, jalapenos, AND we’ve planted some seeds that are sitting on the kitchen windowsill.

Hard to believe that the work will be finished by this weekend and we can start planting! We are SUPER excited. The only downside, I’m doing a craft fair with Cheryl all day Saturday AND Sunday so I won’t be around to ‘play’ in the garden :-/ But that’s ok, we have plenty of weekends free after that.

Linking to Tuesday Garden Party at Oregon Cottage.

A Wonderful Sunday

What a wonderful day we’ve had. Kristen took part in a piano recital today, held at her teachers home. She didn’t want to play in it last year and it’s something I’ve never forced her to do. She’s only done one which was in her first year. She’s been playing for 3 years now. 

I’ve been trying to upload the video of her performance but after hours it was still uploading? I’ll try again tomorrow, in the mean time here’s a few pictures from this afternoon. It’s getting late, nearly 11pm here so I’m off to bed. Not looking forward to getting up at 6 for school tomorrow.

 

Work has already started on our veggie garden, I can’t wait to share the process with you this week. We’re told it should all be finished by Thursday!!

Garden Cleanup!

The weather is really warming up here in TX, all this week is forecast to be in the mid 80’s! That’s not warm, that’s HOT!!! I am itching to get outside and start cleaning things up, especially the front porch area, but it’s been rather windy the past few days and my allergies are playing up too (oak, grasses and other tree allergens have been pretty high) so I’m avoiding being out there for too long. That, plus the fact I’ve been busy sewing all week is what’s keeping me indoors.

But, I need to get out there soon, it’s looking pretty sad right now, no flowers in the beds and just dead plants :(

We also need to get out back and clean up too. It’s looking even sadder out there. In fact I’m almost too embarrassed to show you. . . but I’m gonna!

This picture was taken March 2010, we’d just started cleaning up the beds and here I am planting some herbs

By July it was looking like this!

Pretty impressive, but that’s when the weather starts to get brutal, I’m talking nearly 100 degrees EVERY SINGLE DAY! We just find it way too hot out there and start to go out less and less. I’ve tried going out in the mornings after taking Kristen to school, but it’s still nearly 80 by then, and we tried going out after 8pm when the sun was setting, but it’s still in the 90’s even at that time!

Sad to say we didn’t go out much after this and this is what the garden looks like today . . . .

We’ve felt really overwhelmed at the thought of trying to clean all those beds out again. This week Jason and I talked a lot about what we want to do out there. I didn’t even know if I wanted to try growing veg again, knowing that as soon as the weather heats up I won’t want to go out there!  But after lots of talk we’ve decided we DO want to still grow veg. It’s something we enjoy doing together now, we just need to be more consistent with our efforts and motivate each other to go out there.

We’ve decided to have some one come in and redo the beds, AND put crushed granite on the pathways to help prevent weeds. We found a local ‘crew’ that does a lot of work in the neighborhood and we’re hoping the will make a start sometime this weekend. Not only are we having the paths done we are taking away the wood boxes (because most of them have already started rotting) and we’re having limestone borders put in. It’s costing A LOT OF MONEY! but we think it’s worth it. If we don’t invest something in the back yard then it’s really all just a waste of space.  I am excited about it, and I will be sure to blog about the process as we get started.

In the mean time, I couldn’t resist planting a little ‘pizza garden’ in my big tub on the patio!

The large pot has a grape tomato plant in it, basil to the left, cilantro at the front and tarragon at the right.

 

The terracotta pot has a yellow cherry tomato plant in it.

So, how about you? Have you started cleaning up your garden yet. Will you be growing any veggies this year? I loved reading blogs last year that were gardening too, it always inspires me when I see other peoples spaces :-)

 

Linking up with:

An Oregon Cottage -  Spring Spruce Up.

A Southern Daydreamer – Outdoor Wednesday

Did you guess?

It was Kristen’s first taste of COFFEE that made her pull such a face!

She asked last week if she could try a taste of coffee and I had no problems saying yes.  I drank coffee from an early age, because I didn’t like tea AND we used to have instant coffee (back home in England) which we made very weak! The fact that a friend’s little boy who is only 3 yrs old  likes the taste, I think intrigued her, not to mention her friend Connor next door really likes it too.

I always have creamer in but she wanted to  pick one herself while we were at the store. She chose Peppermint Mocha, and I picked up a small bottle of Caramel Macchiato :-)  Here she is taking her first sip of the peppermint coffee . . .

I had a feeling she wouldn’t like it right off the bat, it was totally new to her, I told her to try again, now that she knew what to expect.

She still didn’t like it. . . so, how about the Caramel Macchiato? I made a little cup of that for her

The verdict?

As you can see, much nicer!  She liked that one and drank a small cup of it.  She had another cup on Sunday morning, but said she would probably only drink a little of it each weekend – which is fine by me ;-)

What did Kiki eat?

Any guesses what Kiki ate (or drank) that got a reaction like this?

Back tomorrow with a full post ;-)

A New Look!

Ta Da!!!  Here’s the new look to my blog… what do you all think? I’ve been working with Jenn from Munchkinland Designs this past week and I think she has done an awesome job on redesigning my blog. I’m loving it :-)

As you can see from the buttons up top I will have all my knitting posts, cooking posts and healthy eating posts labeled so when you click on those buttons you can easily see them at a glance. All of my blogging will be done here, my other blogs will be left as they are right now, mainly for my own purpose of using my blog rolls on those pages to visit other blogs.

I hope you like the new look, it’s certainly motivating for me to get back to what I loved most and that is ‘daily journaling’ about my life.

I’ll be back soon with a picture post. Today I’m just chillin on the sofa with Jason (and of course I’m knitting) :)

Top ‘O’ The Mornin To Ya!

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

I don’t have a drop of Irish in me (at least I don’t think I do) and being English we have never celebrated St Patty’s Day, but I know many of you do, so I wanted to wish you a wonderful day. And even though we don’t celebrate it, I still love to see all the decor and fun ‘green’ things around. If Kristen was in school no doubt she’d wear green too ;-) I have a few ‘green’ things I thought I’d share with you today, and I’m joining in with Ginny for this week’s YARN ALONG!

Ginny, like me (and many others, as you will see from her Mr. Linky) loves to knit AND read! I don’t think there’s ever a time I don’t have something on my needles and a book on my side table . . . this week I’ve been reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie! It’s for our monthly book club pick, and our meeting is tonight. I’ve got about 10 pages left to read today!

The story is about an 11 yr old ‘detective’! An aspiring ‘chemist’ at that! When Flavia discovers a murdered stranger in the cucumber patch outside her bedroom window early one morning, she decides to leave aside her flasks and Bunsen burners to solve the crime herself. . . . it was an ‘ok’ read (when it comes to reviews I can never quite find the right words!) not something I would have picked off the shelf myself. There are other books in the series but I don’t think I will be reading them. The only thing I kept thinking is ‘how does an 11 yr old know SO much!’ The way she acted, and the things she said were more in keeping with a much older person.

Usually I would take a picture of the book with my knitting but as usual one item was upstairs while I was downstiars with the other, and I’m lazy, so I just snapped a shot of my knitting ;-)

And the knitting is this . . .

This is the beautiful ‘Spring Garden Tee’ from the lovely Alana at Never Not Knitting. She has some gorgeous patterns, and I just bought this one last week while she was having a ‘spring sale’. There is also a little girl top that matches this (actually she did the little size first and got such rave reviews she designed an adult version too).

The pattern is modeled by the beautiful Julie from Knitted Bliss. You can see full size modeled shots HERE. The pictures are gorgeous! I can’t imagine mine looking so nice, but I hope it does! As you can see I’ve picked a pretty soft green bamboo yarn, perfect for Spring.

And finally, this little guy is on my needles, just about finished. (picture above taken from the magazine cover) Just one of the many Christmas gifts I’m knitting this year, so I won’t say who it’s for (actually I’m not sure who it is for just yet)! The yarn is Lion Brand ‘Homespun’, readily available at Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

So, that’s my ‘green’ day. What’s yours looking like?

Busy Busy Busy!

Is it really Wednesday already? Whaaaa! This week is going too fast, but I must say I’m really enjoying the downtime from early morning school days.

I’m still working on a whole new look for my blog (with the help of a certain someone), all will be revealed soon – I can’t wait! In the mean time I’m going to start posting as I said I would and incorporate my knitting, crafts, healthy eating etc here, because it’s all of these things that make Me who I am, and make my blog what it is all about, my ‘daily’ life.

Housework is going by the wayside this week! I am busy busy busy in my craft room coming up with new ideas for my Etsy store and to sell at craft fairs with Cheryl. And when I say ‘craft room’ I mean the guest room, with a craft table set up next to the guest bed, because Jason won’t give up the storage room to me so that I can create my own space!! So, the guest/craft room it is for now.

Something new I’m making this week . . . . shoe bags!

These are great for packing your shoes or flipflops in your suitcase when travelling, keeping them separate from your clothing. They don’t have to just carry shoes, they can also be used to keep your ‘smalls’ or socks all together in the case. I’ve made myself a similar one to carry my small knitting project with me when I take Kristen to piano lesson.

I love this chic butterfly print, and I’ve added a pretty little butterfly charm to the ribbon tie too. I’ll be making larger bags too that can be used as laundry bags. Be kind to the environment and leave those plastic 'laundry bags at the hotel!! :-) These will be in my Etsy shop soon.

I’m also working on my birdfeeders too. We think these will do really well at the next craft fair. A perfect gift for Mothers Day!

I was trying to take pictures using a ‘light box’ I made (but I need ‘natural light’ bulbs to make it work well), once I get some spring flowers planted I can probably take pictures outside again!

So, that’s what’s keeping me busy this Wednesday. I’m linking up with Kara for . . . .

Spring Break!

I love when Spring Break coincides with Daylight Savings… it meant I wasn’t trying to get up for school this morning at 6am, which to me would still feel like 5am until I adjust to that one hour we lost! I did however get up with Jason at 7.30am (which is really 6.30am) so not much of a sleep in this morning! I can’t just lay in bed and let him get up for work on his own though… silly of me really when he has no problem sleeping til after 7 every morning when I get up for school!

So, no school for a week – hooray :-) Spring Break started last Thursday for Kristen. Jason decided to keep her off school and go camping with his friends a day early. They were going to go on Friday afternoon but his friends were going Thursday, so he did too. Camping isn’t my thing, so I told them to go try it themselves (it’s been years since any of us have been) and perhaps next time I might try it with them?!

I thought they might not be back til Saturday or Sunday, but I was thrilled when they decided to come home the very next day. Short trip I know but a few factors made them decide to come home early. One, it got really cold during the night, and Kristen didn’t sleep very well (she said it was very cold PLUS Daddy snored alot!) and sadly the air mattress Jason took didn’t hold air (must have a leak we didn’t know about ) and by morning they were sleeping on hard ground!

Jason had taken my van so I was more or less stuck in the house, because I do not like driving his Corvette! So I was rather thrilled that they came home early…. I was missing them both like crazy.

Here’s some pictures they took with my camera . . .

They camped at Inks Lake State Park, which is just about an hour from us.

Kristen loved catching butterflies and then letting them go.

I’m working on a new look for my blog and as I mentioned in my last post, will blog about my knitting and healthy eating here too…. so stay tuned, I feel like I have lots to ‘journal’ about now :-)

Thank You!

I want to thank you all for your comments in my last post. Your kind and thoughtful words really meant a lot to me, and everything you said made sense :-) It made me really think about why I have this blog. I have this blog because I LOVE blogging, I think I’d be kinda lost without it to be honest. I blog not just for my family and friends, but for ME too. I just lost track of that for a little bit I think.

I’ve decided to keep my blog open :-) I’ve also decided to ‘merge’ my blogs. I will write about my knitting here, and my healthy eating, and my cooking and my gardening (when I do it) and everything else in between that makes up my ‘Daily Life’

I’m working on ‘re-organizing’ things around here. . . . I’ll be back next week hopefully with a new look - stay tuned!

Been thinking!!

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog lately, why I started it, where it’s heading? I’ve always enjoyed blogging but lately I just can’t seem to find the creativity that seems to be needed to make a worthy post!

There was a time (when Kristen was younger) I would just sit here and journal about things that happened on a daily basis – hence the title of my blog! But over the past year or so (or has it been longer) I seem to have veered off track a little? When I look back at my posts, I don’t see a journal like I used to have, but posts about things I think might interest ‘my readers’!!

My READERS?!!! When did that happen? When did I start thinking like that? I always blogged for my family back home and for ‘friends’ I’d met on line. Most of you who read my blog I consider dear sweet friends, so who are my ‘readers’?

I’m wondering if that’s why I don’t feel like I have much to blog about, because the ‘readers’ out there would find my usual posts about doing laundry and making crafts, or knitting or planting flowers, boring! Not to mention that I haven’t taken a picture of anything ‘blog worthy’ in I don’t know how long!!

I think I need to ‘re-think’ this blog. I’m not sure if I should just close it or take a little (or long) break, as some do when they feel they have nothing to blog about.

Thinking. . . . . . . .

It’s about time. . .

OK, so enough of this procrastination! The house work is getting done, laundry is up to date (sort of), kitchen is tidy (sort of), I have craft stuff I’ve put to one side since before Christmas and it’s about time I got it out! I have things I can list in my Etsy shop if I would only get some photos taken, I have material to sew more aprons, if I would only plug in my sewing machine – you get the idea . . . it’s TIME to get moving.

Today I started making more tea cup bird feeders. I’ll be listing them soon.

Spring is on it’s way and I think these will be a great seller as everyone starts getting out in to their garden more and clearing up flower beds (something else I need to start doing), and of course Mothers Day is just around, what great gifts these make.

I have also listed two pretty aprons in my Etsy shop . . .

I bought some cute material a few weeks ago and will finally get out my sewing machine again and start making more. The next aprons will be a little bigger , without the flower and longer ties to wrap around the front.

So, if I get on and ‘do stuff’, then I’ll have more ‘stuff’ to blog about right? RIGHT!

What to post about?

I’m seriously having writers block here. It’s hard to post about stuff when you don’t do stuff!!!! Just wanted to let you know that I’m still around, trying to read blogs and comment, but I have nothing to share with you here :-(

I’ll have to put my thinking cap on! All my days are filled with laundry, house cleaning, eating ‘healthy’ lunches, making ‘healthy’ dinners, walking on my treadmill going to the grocery store and knitting! Doesn’t make for a very interesting read!

I’m sure I’ll have more to post about as the weather warms up and I get off my butt and get outside more, but until then, well there’s always my Healthy Blog or Knitting Blog to check up on too ;-) Sometimes I KNOW what to post about there!

Thanks for sticking around :-)