Sunday morning.  I woke up early, weeded the garden, unloaded the dishwasher, rotated laundry, folded and put away towels, cleaned out the chicken coop, gave the girls (chickens and dog) some treats, showered, and I have a lovely stack of books and magazines that I plan to thoroughly enjoy today in the air conditioning.  IT IS HOT OUT!!  Already 85 degrees with 86% humidity.  Really unpleasant.  I'm on my second large water already.

Exercise, check.
Water, check.

Later I'm going to the farmer's market to get some berries to make jam with.  That is so satisfying to me and at the end you have something so yummy.  I'm all about the win-win.

I've been dwelling on the negativity at work a lot lately, and the other night I got a really good night's sleep and when I woke up I knew what I had to do. 

Sleep, check.

I just need to concentrate on my own classroom, make it as positive as I can, and scoop everybody up and bring them with me.  The negativity can stay at the door.  This is a perfect time to do this because I'm getting a new assistant in a few weeks.  We will start out with good vibes all around.  She will be the first one I scoop.

New attitude, check.

I did some good thrifting yesterday.  Went to two Goodwill stores and got a Longaberger basket for 99 CENTS!!!  I adore Longaberger baskets.  I also got a bunch of men's shirts (for half price) to cut up for quilts.  This satisfies the save-the-earth-hippie in me.  I made a couple of little quilted flags for gifts, and decided that I need to re-open my Etsy shop. 

Sewing projects, check.

Feeling happy....check, check, check.

Consoling Myself at the Garden Center...

Okay, maybe that was a SLIGHT deceit.  Or a plain lie.  I don't need to console myself.  Nothing bad is going on right now.  Baby girl is home, big girl is good, grandbabies are all healthy, happy and sassy, boys are being boys, and I'm home by myself on a Friday night, feeling a little sassy myself.  For a couple of reasons:

1.  I've had a great week at work, if you could call it a week--it was actually three days.  Details.
2.  Baby girl is home and healthy.
3.  She's having fun with her sister in law at a concert tonight.  Can't beat the company.
4.  My green beans have sprouted after only THREE DAYS!  I'm thrilled.  I even built them a "lovely" teepee in my front yard, which I'm sure my neighbors love.  But hey, I have to listen to them yell at each other and look at their naked kids in the yard all the time, I think they can tolerate a strange wooden trellis in my yard until the beans overtake it.
5.  I just fed my gardening addiction  preoccupation by visiting Lowe's.  I got a crap ton of great stuff and almost all of it was marked down---WOO-HOO!  

First of all, I spent $23.05--I am on what seems like an austerity budget at times so at times I find it difficult to feel great about my garden because there's so much I want to do and almost no money to do it.  I ALWAYS check out the marked down section of the garden center, and I've been very lucky there.  

I got four relatively nice marigolds (the fancy ones!) for .25 cents each, and a flat of not-so-wonderful (but still fancy!) marigolds for $1.00.  I will cut them back a little, give them a nice drink with some worm poop in it, talk nicely to them, and they will keep all the riff-raff off my tomatoes, which I paid full price for--$3.25 each.  (I'm anxious for more tomatoes--my summer plants have all pretty much burned up and the seedlings are still too little to plant).  

I also got four very nice looking but small blue salvias for .25 each.  I got two measly looking cucumbers for full price.  

Then I found a purple passion flower with some dead leaves clinging to the little trellis.  These are very expensive and butterflies and bees love them, this little one was originally 19.99, and they sold it to me for $6.00 due to my pointing out it's flaws (I'm sorry, passionflower, I really think you are very lovely).  I looked around for another one, but no cigar.    

Also, I'm sure I've never mentioned how totally cheap I am (throat clearing), but in the back of Lowes there is a cart where people can bring back those black pots that trees and large plants come in to be recycled, and they always let me take a couple (for free!) if there are any there.  I found three big shallow pots back there perfect for herbs and lettuce.  Or the top section of a stacked planter with herbs I'm tossing around in my mind.  And by the way, they sell these very pots (but clean, of course) for around $10.00 at the very same Lowes.  Crazy.

I also had dinner with my sister and her kids tonight, which was funny and nice.  All in all, a very good evening.  I think I'll read and go to bed now.  Look forward to the rest of my weekend.

Secondhand Sunday...

I went thrifting yesterday (yes, that's a verb).  I was looking for something specific, which is a big no-no in the thrifting world since rule number one in thrifting is that you will NEVER find what you are looking for, but nevertheless I was looking for some small wooden bowls or trays for my classroom.  Didn't find any.  Shocking, I know.  Instead I found two men's dress shirts, one pink, one purple that I am going to upcycle / remake into dresses for my adorable granddaughters.  They were half price, so I got both of them for $3.  I will cut off the sleeves and cut the bodies off under the arms, make a band from the sleeves for around the chest (elastic in the back, for comfort), gather the body a little, add straps to the top of the band and POW!!  Two little sundresses for my pumpkins for $3 and a little time.  They will love them--and I will take pictures when I'm done.  

I also had a fun lunch with Kaleigh and Mary Beth yesterday--it was super fun.  CPK--had the Barbecue Chopped Chicken Salad.  

On Saturday I went and painted my classroom (the alcove), and cubbies.  I painted them a lovely sage green, I think I'm going to love it.  It definitely looks different.  It's time for that classroom to belong to ME and not the former tenant.  I feel very personally about my classroom and it's time for me to own it.  This is the year I do amazing things.  I declare it right now.  

Doing a little laundry today.  I took a couple of days off work this week and next week, and I plan to enjoy them completely.  I'm going to finish my bottle garden today, and go swimming.  Just take it easy tomorrow, maybe cook a nice meal.  

I'm off to dig out my bottle garden--TTFN!

I'm Back. . .

Well, I'm back.  My life has been crazy chaos for a few months, but things are going to settle down now, so I will make a commitment to write more.  It means a lot to me to write, it certainly has gotten me through some difficult times in my life as well as documented how I felt during great times, so I will make a real effort.

I have decided to re-start my quilting business, but I feel myself being pulled into more environmentally friendly practices (my hippie-ness rears it's head again!).  For example, I bought several men's plaid shirts at Goodwill, washed them (of course!), and cut them up to make baby quilts.  Out of the six shirts I bought (for a total of less than $7), I have so far made three adorable baby quilts in different patterns, two of them are pictured below.  

Of course, they aren't quilted yet, but they will be soon.  I've been doing a lot of projects lately--reusable lunch bags, lots of quilts, baby doll diapers for my classroom, and I've made a couple of sets of really nice cloth napkins from large tablecloths that I found at Goodwill also.  I really like the idea of upcycling stuff. 

Kaleigh gets home from her vacation this morning--I'm going to pick her up at the airport in about 40 minutes.  I've really missed her, and I know Lucy has too.  Here she is looking forlornly out the window, waiting for her mommy to come home. 

I really enjoyed my daughter in law's visit with my granddaughters--it was lovely. 

Aren't they gorgeous?  I wish I had some makeup on, but oh well.  I love the picture of Bianca, she doesn't look at all possessed in this picture (not that she IS possessed, but she usually looks like it in pictures).  She is definitely gorgeous. 

I've been super-busy getting my classroom ready for the new year, my assistant and I have made a lot of changes this year, and hopefully they will help things settle down a little--this year's group seems so YOUNG!  

Well, I better go pick up my baby from the airport--will check back in soon. 





I know I haven't blogged in awhile, I've been sick and also, I've never seen any sense in writing just to put words down.  I like to have something to say (NOT necessarily something important). 

Over the last couple of weeks, some things have been going on that are not really earth shattering, but are life-shifting at the least.  Will get to those in a minute.  I'm feeling a little better today after a nasty bout with the flu, it really knocked me off my feet.  I'm still really weak but I feel worlds better. 

My mom called last week when I was sick and asked me if I wanted to go see Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks in August for my birthday--I actually thought I was delirious until last night when she called and said she got the tickets.  I do love me some Rod Stewart, and Stevie Nicks. . . well, do I even need to say it?  She has the right mix of hippie and cool.  My mom kind of rocks.  And when I was seventeen, my life plan was to quit school, go on the road and marry Rod Stewart--I still think it could happen.  Maybe this summer is my opportunity.

The sale of my quilting machine almost fell through, but it looks like it's going to happen after all.  This has almost been too much of an up and down emotional roller coaster for me.  Anyway, things are looking good. 

The other thing is more of an attitude shift (not sure that's the right word), but I've thought since my divorce--no, really it was earlier than that--that I would not get married again.  I really have felt that it's not for me, and it was just not something I would ever do again.  This is even to the point of not being open to the possibility at all.  I just felt like I could never trust another person that way again after what happened.  Well, I find myself being a little more open to the idea again.  This is pretty much out of the blue as I am not seeing anybody at this time or anything like that, but the idea isn't making me nauseated.  That's definite improvement. 

I forgot to write about the results of my dryer-less month.  I went the entire billing month of January without using my dryer for any laundry--I hung everything up, which was a little inconvenient, but not nearly as much as you would think.  So at the end of the month, I compared the bill with last January's bill and the year before that, and I saved over $70.  Some of that may be due to the mild winter, the heat wasn't on much at all this year, but I really feel that at least $60 of that was due to not using the dryer.  So, I have gone back to a modified dryer usage, with the idea that if I decide I need to cut back, that is do-able.  I only dry towels, sheets and things I need quickly.  (I know, not exactly an earth-friendly attitude, but I'm human!)

So, it looks like this weekend I will be preparing my machine for it's trip across country.  And cashing my huge check.

My New Composting Bin--or--Am I Amazing or What?!

Very excited today!  It's my big girl's twenty-second birthday, so I've been thinking about where I was 22 years ago today. . . let me paint a picture for you.  I was in a military hospital in Anniston, Alabama, where I was the first patient to deliver in the recently reopened maternity wing of the tiny hospital, so I was the only one there.  I had been in the hospital for about a week, and it was President's Day.  I was trying to nap, but SOMETHING kept waking me up, making me restless.  This was not my first time around the block so you'd think I'd recognize what was going on, but I didn't.  At around 2:30 I realized I was in labor, and the nurse unwisely said to me,  "You girls always go into labor while I'm on duty so I don't get to be there when the baby's born!"  I asked her when she got off work, and she said 11:00 p.m., so I said, "If you think this baby won't be born by then, I'll kick your ass right now."  (I'm paraphrasing.)   Anyway, my beautiful little blond bundle was born at 8:15, and I very SMUGLY made eye contact with that nurse.  I had to win that one.  I might be the tiniest bit competitive.

Also, I got  a lot accomplished today.  Kaleigh and I got the raised beds down where we want them with landscape fabric under them.  We couldn't mix the soil because it was too windy today, so maybe we'll do that tomorrow when I get home from work.  Also, I found all the canning supplies I could ever want at Ace Hardware, of all places!  I got some jars and other stuff.  I also got a bag of compost for $1.99, which is kind of incredible.  It's not as easy as it sounds to find different brands of compost, so when I see them, I get them.  Then...miracle of miracles...I noticed a huge pile of pallets outside, which I have been looking for to build a real composting bin.  I have been dabbling with a half-assed pile of composting materials beside the shed, and looking longingly at any REAL compost bins that I see.  So I asked about the pallets, and Liz (the Ace Hardware person) told me that they sell them for a dollar.  A DOLLAR!!  I've been looking high and low for them, and was about to buy some wood and build a few myself, but I couldn't do that for a dollar!  So I got three small ones, and this afternoon, I built myself a real, live, honest to goodness compost bin.  I feel so professional.  That's not the right word, maybe. . . like a GROWN UP GARDENER!   Pictures will come as soon as I can get the front of it finished--I still think I need to move it a few feet to the left, but I was too excited to wait to write about it. 

All that's left is to buy some plants, and I'm really looking forward to doing that.  I have my plan all ready, I'm just trying to make sure that we won't have any more very cold weather. 

Kaleigh is spending the night with a friend, so I'm off to take an hour-long bath.  Thanks Casey for telling me that baths are only therepeutic if they are over an hour long.  Clean sheets are on the bed and whispering my name.  While I'm in the bathtub I may look at gardening catalogs and dream about all the vegetables I'm going to grow. 

Making Do...

I'm feeling pretty good about the things that I have done during my long break from work.  My 16 year old daughter (the last one left at home) has been visiting dad and step-mom, so I've had lots of Me Time. 

There have been a lot of things I've been thinking of doing around here, but I've been waiting until I had enough time, money, etc.  After the last couple of weeks, I realized that there is a good feeling about making do, not spending money to solve a simple problem around the house, and just generally making things work. 

One thing is a small desk in my bedroom.  I used to write regularly, but being a mom and teacher and just living has conspired to make me feel like I have no time or place.  I am convinced that if I just had a small place of my own with my pens and notebooks, I would take a few minutes each day and write something.  My sister has a small desk (exactly the distressed white country look that would be perfect) that she is going to give me, but she needs to get a replacement first, and that will be in a couple of months.  So I've spent the last couple of months longing for that desk, daydreaming about the day I have a space to write, and even visiting the desk at my sister's house.  Yesterday, while doing laundry, I noticed some plywood that is in the laundry room that I've been saving for something, exactly the size of a small desk.  My wheels started turning, and now I have a makeshift small desk in the corner of my room, made from that plywood laid across two small side tables from around the house.  It's not going to win any beauty contests, but it is not ugly by any means, and will do the job nicely until my sister's desk comes to my house to live.  And---BONUS--I've even done some writing. 

Time and time again, I've found that anything I really need in life shows up, maybe not in the way I envision, but in a way that works, sometimes better than how I envisioned.

Another thing I've been coveting is a pretty ceramic kitchen compost container to keep my kitchen scraps in until I dump them into the almost-existent compost pile out back.  I've done lots of research and looked at them everywhere, but it seems kind of ridiculous to spend a lot of money on something that will live under the sink and essentially hold trash.  Today, while cleaning out the refrigerator, I pulled out a nearly-empty plastic ice cream container, the kind with a handle (thanks, Kaleigh!).  As I was cleaning it out, I was contemplating what to do with it as it seems like a waste to throw it out, and POW!!!  Kitchen composter!!  FREE!!!  Again, not beautiful, but it will get the job done.  I spent the afternoon giggling at my ugly little composter.   

I recently read somewhere that as much as 40% of a household's electric bill is from drying clothes.  I'm not sure that can be true in Florida, where we use the air conditioner 10 months out of the year, but I've officially started my month-long experiment on the subject.  For the next month (starting with the load of laundry I did today), I will not dry any of it, I have gotten two wooden clothes racks and they are set up in my spare bedroom and can be moved to my tiny back porch as necessary.  I will see how this impacts my electric bill (and lifestyle), and may invest in an umbrella-type clothes line for my side yard if the results indicate that it's worth it.  I will let you know how that is going.  It will be interesting to see how Kaleigh deals with this mandate. 

During my time off, I've spent my time however I wanted to, eating when I'm hungry, sleeping when I'm tired, watching the occasional movie, puttering around my house, doing whatever needs to be done, and I've really enjoyed it.  It's almost over, as I have to go back to work on Tuesday, but it's been nice, and it will be nice to get back to my regular routine, and see my preschoolers again.  I've missed them for sure.