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busy little bees

19 June 2011 // Green Thumb Trials, Photos // 6 comments

One of the great things about being in Illinois for the summer is the opportunity to get super fresh food locally. Through the grapevine we learned about a nearby farm offering pick your own strawberries. As kids, our parents used to do this a lot and we always had a blast. I’m pretty sure we usually ate more than we brought home, as evidenced by our sticky smiling red stained faces. So I leaped at the chance to take the kidlets on their first harvesting outing. Get to work, earn your keep! =D

It was actually a really delightful time. Cody is not really a big fan of heat but there were plenty of strawberries to keep his mind off things. And when that didn’t work, he loved waving the marker flag. Kind of gave me flashbacks to band camp. After all that torrid heat, this was nothing.

Jas was aces at picking strawberries and ended up trading and giving away as many as she’d picked to other kids picking nearby. Our frig is now full. Here’s to at least a week’s worth of strawberry shortcake for dessert! =D Huzzah!


fire and rain

6 June 2011 // Crafting, Rambling // 3 comments

I’m in one of my cleaning rages again. =D I feel all empowered and Betty Homemaker. Except normal house wifey’s probably don’t let their kitchen get this icky. Meh. Sparkling clean is just around the corner though! Fueled by fiesty energy.

Lately I’ve been having cycles of uber tiredness and hyper alertness. They tend to run about three days, with a few normal inbetween to make the loop feel not like a loop. Just enough to normalize things. =)

And due to a number of different factors swirling around the universe, it’s made me start thinking about mental illnesses and how our society treats them. I know I’ve poked fun about my partners OCD behaviors before and how most of my family tree is shaking with the crazies. Some of them are even certified! But the more I experience life, the more I worry about how a lot of us seem to shrug things off or even hide them.

I’m pretty vocal, for me that is, about how I’ve been depressed since Andy’s been deployed. It’s hard pulling it alone, even if you do have a housemate to help with things. I don’t think I need drugs or anything, but there are days when I need a break for some alone time and it’s like pulling teeth lining up arrangements with relatives. On those days I usually retreat into the bathroom for a mama bath. About an hour soaking in lobster tub water and tapping the tiles that have been peeling off the wall and popping into the tub.

Thankfully I’ve been able to save up enough money to hire someone to FIX THE BATHROOM WALLS situation for me. Epic. =D It’s exciting! I’ve been posting daily progress shots on my tumblr but once it’s done I plan on doing an all in one post here with pictures.

In the meantime, this one bathroom house is now a no bathroom house. Under construction, son. Which makes things tricky to say the least. We’ve been popping over to my grandma’s house to get our showers but it’s such a downer having to plan your shower, prep clothes for the kids, bundle everyone into the car in an outfit (we’re not really jama’s people here), and drive across town to lather up and feel normal. It kinda sucks.

But once this bathroom is done? I will have a SHOWER! And it will be awesome. I even bought one of those wonderful rain fall shower heads – my absolute favorite type.

In the meantime, however, I feel like I’m having a harder time coping with things. Because when I get stressed out I like to mow the grass but I don’t want to do a lot of things that will get me all sweaty because then I have to pack up the kids and go take a shower. I really hate the lingering residue of sweat. Gross.

Anyway. I’ve been having a lot more of my down up days loops. In fact, I never really noticed them before about an hour ago when I looked up at the clock as I was washing dishes and realized that it was 3:15am, that I wasn’t tired, and that I really need to dust it. But in less than six hours the handyman will be here and I need to get some sort of sleep, probably, so I’ll just finish this load and… you know, I bet Tuesday is going to be a doozy. I’m going to be exhausted. Oh well, I’ll be at work that day so whatever.

I think I’ve got a rub of that bipolar business. I have another family member who has it and has medication but I am confident I am not anywhere near that sort of stage. Maybe if this bathroom isn’t up and going by Friday though. =D But seriously now.

I remember when we all initially found out there might be a problem. The family was split on vacation and I found out over the telephone that some other relatives thought this person was kind of losing it. Some business about paint, mushrooms and Ramadan. I remember initially I was like, oh snap. You do not tell midwestern relatives about alternate religions existing. They can’t handle that business and thus have declared you off your rocker. You crazy!

But obviously we did not just take those silly cornminded Christians at their word, we consulted science and found that a little bit of extra chemicals would help bring brainmatter to equilibrium and restore the brand of crazy we were accustomed to. Drinks all around! At the heart of it though is the wedge that started slipping around the back of my mind. Could I be next? Is this something that kind of skips around? Hereditary, mostly caused by stress? What sort of things are we talking here?

I kind of shrugged it off. I figure if I get to that point, someone will realize and then we can handle things. While I don’t think I need to worry about medication, it is helpful to notice potential signs so I can take proactive measures to reduce my stress and bring myself back to normal. Because while the upswing is manic super productive cleaning, the downspin is laying in bed feeling terrible about things and being extra irritable. No bueno.

I plan on guilt-tripping arranging daycare with some relatives so that I can start going back to my yoga classes again and when my bathroom is completed later this week, I’m sure that’ll be a huge boost. Water calms the soul. Praise Allah* for the ingenious rain shower head!

* unless you are a midwestern relative, in which case I mean to say Jesus! Because we all know that even though Allah means God it still freaks you out when I use it. =D Ah culture, gotta love it.


portraits for may

28 May 2011 // Monthly Portraits, Photos // 3 comments
kidlets
jasbaz
cody
erin
kayla

generous green thumbs

26 May 2011 // Green Thumb Trials // 0 comments

I now have five plucky peppermint plants in my house. Thank you craigslist! For only $3 too! I’d only “ordered” three in my email, but she popped in two extra baby ones. =D

I love the internet for helping connect me with such generous people. That’s one thing I like about gardening. It’s the one hobby where everyone shares. Plant swapping is what’s up.

Last week I got about seven free rose of sharon‘s from a couple who were going to be revamping their front yard. In the ad, they said if you had a shovel and the time, you could take as many as you wanted. When I got there a lot of others had decimated the selection. But I took the extra time and got a really big one. The diameter of the “stem” was two inches! It’s now prospering in the backyard.

While I was there, the homeowner got a few more from the backyard too. I only dug up the big one. Apparently they multiply like crazy, but that’s fine by me. I’ve got them in area’s that need filling. The blooms will be either white or purple. I’m excited!

And as I was planting those, my neighbor came over and gave me two roma tomato plants that she had extra. Apparently another neighbor gave her a ridiculous amount and she couldn’t find homes for them. I don’t really eat tomatoes, but I potted the plants and if I get some nice tomatoes I’m going to try and make homemade spaghetti sauce. Key word: try. The tomatoes have to survive first though.

In related news, I need to find some gardening blogs to troll.


for when the time comes

24 May 2011 // Green Thumb Trials, References // 2 comments

Things I love in a house:

  1. screen porches. I love sitting in them, especially during rainstorms. A nice way to feel connected to the outdoors without the bugspray. Plus you can have cushions and rugs without worrying about them getting wet.
  2. sunrooms. Our house has one and while we were temporarily renting another place in KY, it felt like we were missing space. We like to use them to hold toys and books for the kidlets, as well as a comfy loveseat to lounge on while they play or read cozily together. They also make great libraries.
  3. a spacious yard. We have ours divided into a garden and play yard. The sections feel like rooms and this way I have a space to play with flowers and the kidlets have a place to run around with the dogs together. Everyone wins. I’d be happier if our yard were bigger but that’s probably due to American McMansionism. It’s contagious.
  4. a shower. Two places I’ve lived have only had bathtubs. I’d like to make sure that number stays the same. I much prefer the feel of running water and speed of a shower.

Whenever we buy our next house, I want to try and make sure most of these items are incorporated or that there is room for future additions. With Andy’s job, it will be quite a while before we purchase a new home because I’d hate to finagle buying and selling a home every three years. That’s crazytalk. While I really dislike renting, it’s something I’m going to have to get over for the time being. Mostly because I can comfort myself with the knowledge that when we do get another home, it’ll be for the long haul.

Our time line at the moment is five years but like most things in life, that is likely to change. Five years is our magic number. I can handle renting a house for a few of those years. I’ll just have to get better at watering my plants so that I can maintain a container garden instead. =)

Still, while I’m not pleased at the circumstances that landed us back in our house in Illinois, there is a strong peace that comes from being here. Mostly because it’s full of memories. That’s another huge reason I don’t like renting. The entire time you know the place isn’t yours, and when you leave the edges of those moments fade away. They aren’t retriggered because you don’t walk those same paths, open those same doors. They disappear.

This house seems full. Even when all the furniture was still in the moving van. When I walked through the front door, it was like being greeted by a presence. Home.

Hopefully next spring we will be able to sell it to someone who will appreciate it’s worth and contribute their own.

Also, let me not forget to link hotpads because that site is awesome for finding rental property and I always forget the name and have to dig through my old emails. It’s a sweet setup.