Gardening Advice for the Day....

So disappointed....

Here are two photos of my Christmas cacti.  This is the one that I babied through the year, letting it live in my kitchen, making sure to water and feed it regularly.  

This is the one I threw out in the yard in a bed I planted, actually FORGOT it was there.  Yesterday when I got home from work, I could see a pink mass in the bed and since it's December, I naturally thought, "That looks like a plastic bag, I better get that out of there."  I found this amidst the overgrown weeds and other plants in the bed....

Sigh.  

My advice is after the holidays, throw your Christmas cacti out under a tree and don't think about it again until next Thanksgiving.


This is the tree that my class decorated...100% with recycled materials.  Those are ALL water bottles on the tree.  Also, keep in mind that my class is FOUR-YEAR-OLDS!!!

GORGEOUS!!!  Also, if you look behind the tree, you can learn how to say "pumpkin" in nine different languages.  I'm all about the learning opportunities.

Thanksgiving Weekend Wrap Up

We just had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.  We shopped, got a lot done, ate a LOT--it's the American way!  

The tree is up and looks gorgeous, as well as the small tree in our bedroom.  There is just nothing that makes me happier than a Christmas tree in the bedroom.  When my kids were little we used to put small trees in all the bedrooms and one in kitchen as well as the regular tree in the living room.  Nobody else really wants that in the house now (meaning Kaleigh) so it's just my room and the living room. They sure do look pretty though.  Because of all these trees, we have a choice as to the "theme" of the tree each year, and Kaleigh and I have extensive discussions before Thanksgiving about what we want to do that year.  First we decide on whether we want white lights or colored lights, and go from there.  Here are our options:

1. Red and white tree.
2. Americana tree
3. Ocean tree
4. Everything goes tree
5. Candy tree
6. Sparkly tree

Wow, I am ridiculous.  When I see them listed like this, I realize how very ridiculous this is.  When I put them away this year, I am going to put them into bins according to theme, which I have never done before...should make it easier next year.  

Today Kaleigh and I are hanging out.  I need to send Hillarie her Christmas package, which makes me a little sad, but it's full of things I know she'll love.  I try to send her all my positive thoughts and prayers every day, and I hope the day will come that she can come here and be closer to us permanently.  

Speaking of Hillarie, she did something so funny with her cell phone that I just have to write about it.  For each person's phone number, she found an age-inappropriate photo (usually from their Facebook) to attach to their names.  So Devan has a photo of when he was sixteen, I have one from when I was a senior in high school, etc.  It's funny.  But she's really funny.

Devan and I also went to some estate sales and yard sales over the weekend--I got a big collection of terracotta pots of all sizes from various places.  It seemed like everywhere we went there was a pile of them there.  So today (I'm off today) I'm going to clean those up and decide where I want my potting bench and garden beds.  I want to start prepping the area and getting some amendments into the soil now so I'm ready for action in the spring.  Also, the chickens have OBLITERATED the herbs and flowers I planted along their fence--I expected them to eat them, but dang!  So I want to plant some more out there for them.  They really looked pretty and the chickens sure enjoyed them.  Still waiting on my first egg from them.  

I hope everyone had as lovely a Thanksgiving as we did.  

Peace, love, and compost.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  

It's 5:45 a.m.  The stuffing is in the bird, the turkey is in the oven, everyone here (dogs and chickens included) are still sleeping, so I have a little time to reflect on the year and think about how thankful I am for everyone and everything in my life.  At the risk of being cliche, let me list what I am thankful for (not in any particular order)....

1. Four healthy, happy grandchildren.  I think of them every day.
2. Four HEALTHY, happy kids.  Although they are all grown up, they are all on good paths and I'm so pleased with where everyone is on their life journey this year.  Last year... not so much, making this year even sweeter.
3. A husband who is perfect for me in every way.  Before I met Devan--brutal honesty here--I thought my life was what it was going to be.  I was okay with that, my life was good.  I couldn't imagine a scenario where I met a man and settled down to marriage.  That's why he is such a gift to me.
4. A job that I love, and that is rewarding  every day, even when it's hard.  This week, I saw many things in my classroom to be thankful for and many really beautiful moments.
5. The homestead.  Improvements are being made all the time, and it's looking pretty good around here.  New furniture, a new floor, a new roof, a new backyard, in the spring a new garden--it's all adding up to a great place to be.
6. The chickens.  I just love those ladies.  Eggs any day now!
7. Toast.  I like toast.

Okay.... maybe I am still tired, that last one was weird.  

Simple Sunday...and getting organized.

Sunday morning-6:25 a.m.  Having a cup of coffee and looking around my little house, and thinking how lucky I really am.  The coffee is really good, and I love these moments when I get up early and I'm all alone in the house (not really alone in the house, but I'm the only one up!), and I get to putter around and think about things.  Even the dogs and chickens aren't up yet.  

I've always wanted to be an organized person, and while I am very organized in some ways, there are some that I'm afraid will always elude me.  Add to that, I am a study in contradictions...

1. Time management is a problem for me but I work well under pressure.  I have to have "percolating" time to think about something before I get it done, which looks like procrastination, but it isn't.  
2. I make endless lists of things I need to get done and promptly lose them or leave them somewhere where they won't help me at all.  
3. In spite of having a LOT of food in the cabinets and fridge, I never have any idea of what we actually HAVE. This means every time I cook or bake, I have to actually go look through the cabinets to see if we have what I need.

So I've decided to get a little more organized.  I resist using a planner, in spite of the fact that it has worked for me before.  I am taking on more and more projects with work, presentations that I'm doing at conferences, personal stuff that I plan, and a couple of new ideas for projects that are percolating around in my mind (refer to #1, above) that are going to require some keeping up with.  I got a pretty planner, and I'm all over it.  

Later today I'm having lunch and a pedicure with a friend.  SO looking forward to that.  

We are hosting Thanksgiving this year, and we are pretty much ready for that.  I'm thawing the turkeys, the Cranberry-Orange relish is made (it needs time for the flavors to mingle), everything is bought and ready to go, and the house is decorated.  The yard looks good and everybody will meet the chickens--it'll be fun.

Not-So-Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  Although it's not super happy for me.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with everything going on--I have so much to do and it seems like not enough time to do it...I guess everyone feels that way sometimes, but add to that I took a BAD spill last night, so I'm bruised and lacerated literally from head to toe, and I'm not feeling productive.  

It started out so innocently...let the chickens out of their coop and run while the Hubbs and I putter around, feeding them, playing around with the dogs, putting some treats in the chicken yard, etc.  It was getting dark, so we started rounding them up to put them back in the coop.  I was chasing (not really running, as some of you know, I don't DO that), but scurrying and herding my girls into their yard, when I tripped over my own slipper (who the hell chases chickens in slippers!?) and fell face first into the wooden privacy fence.  When I say face-first, I literally mean that my forehead, eyebrow, eyelid, cheek, jaw and neck are cut and bruised and swollen ridiculously.  As well as both elbows, my hand, my knee, and both feet.  Not sure HOW all of that happened.  I guess on the pavers.  My poor Hubbs was beside himself.  So guess who won't be chasing the chickens into the coop from now on?  They can stay out all night if they want to I guess.

This weekend I have a lot to do.  Finish the decorating, clean up the house for Thanksgiving dinner, shop for the food, buy a few things for my classroom, and just generally run around like crazy.  I am having lunch with my friend Marybeth, and having a pedicure (if my feet can take it).  I might do a little baking too if I can find the time.  I'd like to send cookies and treats to my son Brett in Japan (in the navy), and my daughter Hillarie in Delaware.

Okay, my face hurts, which is not pleasant, so I think I'm going to try to get a little rest today before the weekend madness starts.  I hope you are having a happy Friday, at least.

Random Tuesday....

Thoughts for this Random Tuesday....

• Laundry is my favorite (if one can say they have a "favorite") household chore.  For many reasons...first, you can do other stuff while you are doing laundry--theoretically, fun stuff.  Realistically, other, less favorite chores.  Second, if you are doing it right, it smells wonderful when you are finished with it.  Third, it gives me an opportunity to stay home and revel in my homebody-ness.  I use all the laundry extras...real fabric softener that you put into the rinse cycle, delicious-smelling detergent, bleach (when appropriate), and Shout Stain Stick to get out the inevitable spots on my t-shirts.  I call it the zen of laundry.
• Work Life....I have been contemplating the work/life balance problem I have in my life.  There has to be some way for the two to coexist happily.  If I'm stressed at work, it affects my home life, if I'm stressed at home, it affects my work life.  And the kicker is... there isn't any real reason to be stressed at either place.  That is literally my perfectionism speaking.  Comments welcome.
• My chickens are probably cold tonight.  It's about 48 degrees out, and the girls clucked at me accusingly when I went out to feed them, water them and let them peck around the yard when I got home today.  We put the heat lamp out in the coop, and I think it's funny that they all snuggle into one nesting box every night.  They are good girls.  I am so looking forward to my first egg from them.  
• Getting ready for Thanksgiving around here.  We bought two big turkeys today.  I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving--we have so much to be thankful for this year.  Marriage is wonderful, which is a revelation after feeling like marriage wasn't for me for so many years.  My kids are all well and happy, if not as close to me as I'd like...maybe next year...but healthy and happy is good.  I'll take it.  My grandchildren are all beautiful and healthy and safe and that is a wonderful thing.  My life feels like a gift to me.
• My class is starting on a recycling project that I'm really excited about.  We are making (mostly the kids) all recycled items on our class Christmas tree.  Will post pictures as we get some things done.  Can't wait to see what it looks like.  

That's it, I guess.  I have ornaments to sort through.  Have a lovely night.

Update, and a commitment...

Okay, a commitment.  I am now a real blogger.  Meaning REGULAR blog posts.  This is my promise to the universe.  I'm putting it out there.  Throwing it against the wall.  Hold me to it.  

My husband says I should be blogging daily.  I'm not sure about daily, but I will spend some time every week, especially after he and my daughter Kaleigh set me up a nice "office space" for the computer.  It seems pretty official.  

This weekend was not what I planned at all.  We started decorating the house for the holidays.  As far as I'm concerned, Thanksgiving is late this year so we aren't really too early.  And since I don't have the week of T-giving off this year, I'm going to have to do it piecemeal until it gets done.  Now the tree is up with the lights (no ornaments), and the Christmas lights for outside are ready to go (not actually ON the house yet), and there are various boxes all over the place.  Perfect.  Also, there is the fact that when Christmas is over, I put everything away.  Like on December 26th (it has happened).

So work life is going well.  I've made several proposals to speak at early childhood conferences, and I've been accepted to two so far.  Two more to go.  I really enjoy that.  

The chickens are growing like crazy.  We are down to three now, since two of them turned out to be boys.  And no boys are allowed in the coop.  I was so sad to let them go, but I had to, they were my faves, too.

My personal life is awesome.  My first anniversary is coming up on December 31st, feel free to celebrate with us if you would like to.  My husband is really the best man I've ever known.  At least the best one for me.  We are so compatible, and he is totally helpful and sweet.  I don't know what I did to deserve this man, but I'm glad I did it, whatever it was!  I think he kind of picked me, and I'm glad I went with it.  We are making a long term plan right now, and I'm loving the feel of it.  

More to come, I need to get to bed.  Since the time change from daylight savings I am ready for sleep at 7:30.  I'm ridiculous.