Harvest

Yes it has been a long time since a post.  Yes I have been gently reminded (nagged). So here I am!

It isn't a secret that this is my favorite time of year, and October my favorite month.  I love harvesting my garden and seeing the fruits of my labor.  I think this year was a resounding success! I planted: broccoli, lettuce, peas, tomatoes, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, miniature pumpkins, cucumbers, raspberries.  I let the lettuce go too long...it was bitter.  I didn't pull it all, however, and now I have nice lettuce trees.  None of my tomatoes had blossom end rot, which means they had plenty of water.  That is always a hard thing for me to do.  I grew two kinds of tomatoes - Early Girl and some sort of cherry tomato that was orange. Sun Gold I think...oh my- yum!  I had lots of cucumbers, but didn't eat many because how many can one eat?  And they got mushy in the fridge really fast....so I thought I would leave them on the vine til I was ready to eat them and the occasion just didn't come.  SOMETHING ate my biggest watermelon...and the cantaloupe is still growing.  I grew the peas in a different location and they grew three times as tall - taller than me!  The raspberries went wild too - I was able to eat a handful everytime I went out to the garden.  I'm planning soon to buy the black plastic, clean up the leftover foliage, trim the raspberries, and lay the plastic til spring.  Love it!

David has put in his papers to serve a mission. We are just waiting for one last interview and then they will go to Salt Lake.  There he will be prayed over and will be assigned a mission.  We are very excited, nervous, and on pins and needles.  To prepare David and I have been walking every morning.  It is so nice to get out and move again.  I don't know why I waited so long to start.  Hopefully my next post will announce I am down a size and ready for my new Christmas dress!

Sami is finishing out her college career and will graduate in December - woo hoo!  She has been dating a wonderful young man (Robert) and they are having fun together.  Am I hearing bells in the near future???

One Lone Potato - Or in other words "Gardening"

 Last fall I actually cleaned out the entire garden.  I usually just let things die and then leave it until spring.  Then it takes a week or two to clean out all the fall stuff, PLUS the new weeds that have grown waist high.  Last fall after harvest I cleaned out everything...and then put black plastic down over the entire garden, except the strawberry patch and the new raspberry patch.  It was an experiment to see if I could keep the weeds down.

This is my new raspberry patch.  LOVE raspberries!  I transplanted some from a friend and prayed they would grow - and grow they did!  This is the new growth so far this year.

Two years ago I planted a potato crop, which come that fall I believed had failed.  Last year I had a bunch of volunteer potatoes!  I thought I had cleaned them all out last fall, but this lone potato plant, struggling to reach the sun, lived.

When I pulled back the black plastic, a lone potato had grown above ground.  It is small, but seems to be good to eat!  No worm holes or anything.

 
Strawberry plants.  Seems like sort of a small patch, but it really produces a bunch of small berries. Someday I want this whole corner filled.

And voila!  It worked!  I was SO excited to pull the plastic and find nothing but brown dirt ready for planting.  The green you see at the right are the dahlia bulbs David bought me several years ago.  I pulled back the plastic from them earlier this spring so they would grow.

This year I put in forget-me-nots (Sami's favorite flower), sweet williams (my favorite), small pumpkins, melons, cukes, tomatoes, peas, lettuce, broccoli.  We'll see what happens!

Thought for the week:  Don't judge.  Even if you think you know what someone else is going through you don't.  You can't, because you aren't THEM. 

Love!

Poo Patrol

 Our local government (city or county?) decided that all of us living in the Nisqually Watershed Area needed to have our septic checked on a regular basis.  Fair enough...so we decided that instead of paying someone to do the checking, Dan would take the 6 hour class to learn how to do the checking.  He actually learned a lot - and made his own "poo stick".  David and Dan successfully discovered the septic needs to be pumped. Ick.

 Newby thought it would be great to roll around in the grass while the poo patrol was working.   He couldn't get enough of rolling back and forth...crazy dog.

 This flower keeps on coming back.  I tried to transplant it, but it didn't live.  Instead it returned in full glory, bigger than before.

Spring is definitely here.  The rose out front has bloomed and is a beautiful red color. The temperature has been mild and the rain has started to fade.  The dahlias in the garden are coming up, the strawberries and raspberries are growing like crazy.  Love this time of year!

Mother's Day May 11, 2014

Each year about this time I think about getting flowers for the boxes out front.  I don't always manage to - some years I don't have the money, some years I don't have the time.  I didn't last year and was disappointed mid summer when I didn't have pretty flowers to look at.  There is something about digging in the soil that doesn't have rocks that is SO satisfying...Anyway, I decided to get flowers this year. A few weeks ago I saw that Costco had flats of petunias - one of my favorites - for $10 a flat.  By the time I got there on Saturday there wasn't much left - so I grabbed two flats, a purple and a white. I dropped by Home Depot and picked up different colors of petunias and some pansies and then hunted for some type of small bush I could put in the middle of one of the planters.   I almost bought a rose, but wanted a different color so I didn't.  I didn't have time to plant them yesterday, so I lined them all up next to the planters to be planted later.  THEN this morning Dan and David  surprized me with a dwarf lilac bush!  I was so excited because I've always wanted a lilac but didn't think I could have one because of their size, and the aforementioned rocks in the yard (makes it hard to dig a hole deeper than a teaspoon).  This afternoon I planted everything.  I am excited to have these beautiful flowers all season long.  I took a picture of the rose because it has sprouted a whole bunch since the last picture - and we have rosebuds!  I think this is the first time it will bloom since we bought it.

I am also excited for work tomorrow - all due to Sami's thoughtful mother's day gift.  She has seen me day in and day out with the phone tucked between my ear and shoulder trying to type at the same time.  It is hard, and I often end up with a sore neck and back.  This morning I received the holy grail for people like me - a blue tooth for my phone!  I am SO excited to try it! 

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Gifts from our Parents

 

I remember when I was young mom complaining that she had a "brown thumb".  She couldn't keep a cactus alive!  She tried and tried though and didn't give up.  Fast forward to today and she is has the ultimate green thumb.  Everything flourishes under her touch and her gardens are beautiful.  When I was a young mother she would visit and couldn't understand why I didn't even have one plant.  I felt like I didn't have enough time in the day to take care of one, so I didn't bother.  Fast forward to today, and I am loving my green friends.  Yesterday I transplanted some plants I received in a beautiful basket given to me when my grandma graduated to the next life (thank you Mike & Julie).  It was fun and I enjoyed digging in the dirt.  I can't wait to garden this year! Thank you mom, for the gift you gave me of loving seeing things grow.  I hope I will be as good as you someday!

 

 

My dad painted these for me as a young married person.  I love them - he definitely has a gift in the arts.  I don't pretend to have this talent, but I love to craft and make something out of nothing.  I do have plans to try to paint someday and am hopeful I will be able to create beautiful pictures like dad does.  Thank you dad, for this gift of art and creating!

 

 

Now I don't have a picture of this next gift, so you'll just have to bear with me.  I have another parent, my dad Don.  He was brought into my life in my early teens - such a hard time of life for most kids.  He taught me perseverance - to work hard and never give up.  To appreciate what you have and love those around you.  I always felt encouraged and supported by him.  Thank you dad, for giving me my "tigger" attitude!

April Flowers

Last fall I pulled all (well, I thought all) the bulbs out of these boxes.  I intended on planting new ones, but never did.  This spring up came these flowers - it was a nice surprise.  I waited too long to take these pictures so they are wilting, but you get the idea.  The rose is doing nicely - I hope it blooms.  If anyone has any ideas on how to get it to do that, please comment.  There Sami and Jackie - did I do good this week?

April 2014

David in his Sunday best - SO HANDSOME! 

Utah/Idaho Trip

April 9 I flew down to Salt Lake to meet Sami and spend a couple of days with her and then to meet David to drive home.  Sami and I had a good time together.  We attended a class together (and I actually was able to participate!), we went to an art exhibit on campus (google "BYU and Sacred Gifts". Simply amazing.) We ate lots of good food and visited with Sami's cousin David (my birthday buddy). We found Sami a good place to live for the next 8 months.  We really accomplished a lot!  Friday morning we drove to Pocatello to meet David.  He had finished his Sophomore year, packed up all of his things, said goodbye to his friends and drove to meet us.  We spent the night in Pocatello - don't eat at Pizza Pie Cafe there not good - and woke up early on Saturday to drive home.  We said goodbye to Sami and we both drove in separate directions.  It took a good 11.5 hours to get home with very brief stops to get gas and something to eat.  I enjoyed spending time with David, I did not enjoy being in the truck that long.  We survived though!

 

Mowing

Yup - its that time of year - Lawn mowing starts!  I know it was in March last year too - it just seems SO early.  It was nice to get outside to cut down the tall grass- I am looking forward to more sunny days.  I opened up all of the windows this last Saturday - you can't beat that sunshiny fresh air smell to drive out the musty, dog smell of a closed up wintering house.  We used our rotisserie on the barbeque tonight for the first time - oh my, the chicken was divine!  I am SO ready to use the barbeque again.  Here's to spring!

Grandma Marylou

I am dedicating this blog entry to my grandmother, Marylou Jean Ellis Britton.  She lived 90 years and had a well lived life.  I thought I would share some memories here so I will always remember them and the love I have for her.

1.  When I was young we would sometimes spend the night with grandma and grandpa at their farm. I remember the pigs - oh they were BIG!  They were in the barn and made a lot of noise when we came in, crashing against the stalls.  The cows would come in from the pasture when grandma banged a spoon against a metal pail - they knew it was time for dinner!  They had one milk cow that was black and white and the rest were white faced herefords.  Grandma had names for all 100 of them!

2.  I discovered my favorite flower at grandma's farm - Sweet Williams.  They grew everywhere and the smell was amazing.

3.  I remember grandma taking me school clothes shopping once.  I begged her to by me a dress.  She did - and I wore it a ton.  It was white with short sleeves and lace - I felt so pretty in it.

4.  I remember telling my mom that grandma wasn't a "rocking chair" type of grandma.  Mom laughed and laughed.  I said that because I thought of grandma's as people that knitted and baked cookies - instead of hauling bales of hay out to the cows and fixing fencing. 

5.  Grandma used to feed us boiled dinner (yuck!) with cabbage, rutabagas, beef, and whatnot all boiled together.  We did the dinner dishes and then before bed she would give us toast - with real butter that she had made.  I thought it tasted terrible - the butter that is.  What did I know?

6.  I remember my parents spending time with my grandparents - they would listen to twangy country music and talk and talk.  Sometimes I felt like they could talk all night!  Looking back I think it was cool that they could do that together and have a good time.

7.  I remember when it was time to butcher cows and pigs.  It was SO cold while my parents and grandparents cut and wrapped the meat. 

8.  Haying time was the opposite - hot and sweaty.  It was fun to me though - riding in the hay truck back and forth from the fields, the sun shining, and then a big meal cooked by grandma at midday.

Grandma was full of life and was a great grandma.  I will miss her, but I look forward to our joyous reunion someday!

Dreams Do Come True

One of the dreams I have had since I started having kids was that as they grew into adults they would still be friends...that our sense of family would not disintegrate just because we don't all live together any more.  When my kids were little and would fight I would say (over and over and over...and over again)..."when it all comes down to it, and dad and I are no longer on this earth, YOU will be each other's family.  The only option is to love each other and be friends. STOP fighting".  Apparently I said that enough because I actually heard them talk about it recently :)  Fast forward to today...they are four hours apart at their different colleges, but that doesn't stop them from connecting and visiting often.  When life becomes overwhelming they take a break and visit each other - eat good meals, laugh, talk, and then return to their respective lives.  Makes my heart sing!

Wind!

Sitting here watching junk tv - no I'm not going to tell you what it is - and the wind is HOWLING.  The power has blinked once, enough to make the battery backup on my computer start screaming.  I can hear the rain pounding against the house, and loud noises of things bumping outside in the night.  AND I LOVE IT!  As much as I love to see the snow drifting down, I love storms.  I know I am safe, warm, and dry, and I love to hear the wind rush through the trees around us and down around the house.  The dogs aren't very excited about it...so they generally hide in dark corners, wound in tight circles.  Drizzly, all day sort-of-rain I can do without...it makes winter last.for.ever.  Crashing windy rainstorms? Bring it on!!

Snow!

Yup - lovin me some snow!



Best Buddies

Grandma bought them each a bed when she was here....they choose to share!

Ode to Little Green Car

 

There once was a little green ford,

Whose oil didn't sprinkle - it poured!

Try as she might

She gave up the fight

and in our driveway she is moored!

 

 

And that my attempt at poetry.  She actually is now moored at a recycling factory - and we are a three car family....well, just one here with us!  In the last few days I've lost a brand new pair of shoes, the car died, and I broke my favorite pan...never put a clay pan on top of a burner that is on...the loud crack you hear when it breaks will scare the dog.  I hoping those are my "three things" and that the rest of the week will be great!



 

 

 



New Furniture!

One of the days mom was here we wandered into the Habitat for Humanity - Restore store.  I'd heard that they had all sorts of reusable treasures there for sale.  It was true - there is everything from paint, to cabinets, to molding, to furniture.  Some things are brand new, and some are used.  The "used" stuff has a wide range too - some are barely used, and some are very, very used.  We happened to be there and see the couch above.  It is like new - we couldn't find anything wrong with it!  I think it sat in someone's formal living room and was hardly ever sat on.  We didn't have a vehicle with us that would carry it home, and we weren't sure we should buy it.  We put a hold on it and went to lunch.  We decided it belonged here, so when we went back to pick it up the chair was there too!  It also had very little wear - and you couldn't beat the price for a leather chair - $65!  So for under $220 our living room has a new feel to it.  Thanks mom!

Life is Fragile - Handle with Care

I felt impressed to write my weekly blog post today instead of waiting til Sunday.  Today my mom left to go back home.  We had such a great time visiting, shopping, and watching her cook!  Her visits are always too short, and we always wish they were closer together.  When she returned home, she came back to some sad news.  A cousin of ours died today in a house fire.  She was wheelchair bound and had two service dogs with her.  Her husband was outside using the snowblower and by the time he realized the house was on fire it was too late.  He tried to save her, but the fire and smoke were just too great.  Life is SO short... we have no idea when or where we will leave our mortal existence behind.  Take the time to truly show your love for those you love - show it with your actions and your words.  Remember to have balance in your life so that one aspect doesn't overshadow all the others.  Take time for the little things.....help wash some dishes, unplug yourself while talking on the phone to give full attention to whom you are speaking, consciously plan your time so it doesn't fritter away.  Love the ones you are with.

Peace to you Cheryl, and those who love you.

Grandma Visits!

Well, not MY grandma, my kids grandma, which would be MY mom!  She came in on Friday during one of our epic winter rain storms.  At least we aren't having negative temperatures here like she had back home. I am looking forward to some quality time over lunch at El Sarape, and shopping together!  Love it when my mom comes.

When my kids were little one of the things that was frustrating as a mom was having to teach them the same lessons over and over and over.  Pick up your toys, stop chasing the cat, say your prayers, etc. etc. etc.  Now that my kids are grown, I realize that we all have lessons we learn over and over and over.  I'm working on balance this week - balance in all the things I want to do/need to do.  It is a HARD lesson! 

Since snow seems to be out of the question this year, I am wishing for spring now.  I am excited to take the tarp off my garden and start planning. I am excited to put my coat away and leave the back door open while I work.  Sun...please come back!

A Big Adventure & January Update

I started my own business 19 years ago.  Got a business license and everything under the name of Melinda's Transcription and Secretarial Service.  I desperately wanted to quit my state job and work at home so I could raise my own kids. The business stayed part time for years.... Fast forward to tomorrow:  I've hired part time employees and and my third starts tomorrow!

In November I looked at the state of our finances and the size my business had grown to and realized I was at a crossroads.  I either needed to work 10 hour days or I needed help.  I had already hired someone for a few hours a week, but it wasn't enough.  So with a hope and prayer, I took out a small business loan, updated my computer and bought another...and went for it!  The first two people I  hired have worked out well and I'm very optimistic about the third. I am excited about being able to expand and offer faster customer service. 

Both kids are safely back at school getting ready to start the new semester tomorrow.  We had a good time during winter break and enjoyed having them home.  It seems crazy that January is already here.  I've built more fires in the woodstove this winter than the last two winters combined.  They are calling for snow this next week.  So glad the truck is in running condition again!