Make the Best with What You Have

It's no secret that I don't like our house. Since we're not quite in a position to up and move, we make the best of what we have. Our latest project is something that I have wanted to do for years.

Our mailbox stands in a 4 x 5 ft. space that was not attractive in the slightest.


I'm sure the family who lived here before had it looking all kind of spiffy. That black plastic sticking out was covered with dirt and rocks at one point. There were green border pieces left behind that just sat there for years.

One day I was scrolling through Pinterest and came across an ideas for making a garden. One pin in particular used cinder blocks as a border. Flowers were planted in the holes of the blocks and the height of the blocks meant more dirt could be added to the space between. I showed this pin to Little Dude, who loves yard work (he's an odd child). He wanted to run to the store that very minute. But we had some work to do first.

Little Dude and I spent an afternoon clearing out our little future garden. We raked out as many rocks as we could. I thought about pulling up that black plastic but ended up taking the lazy route. The dirt below is mostly clay, which I had no desire to dig into, and the plastic could help keep weeds at bay. We talked about what plants to get and what kind of border we wanted. Knowing my mom had a white fence border hiding in her shed, we decided against the cinder blocks.

Even though it was a bit chilly outside last weekend, it looked gorgeous. Little Dude and I took that opportunity to make our purchases and start digging in. When we returned from the store, GG was excited about our garden plans and decided to jump in and help.

I cut open each of the 5 bags of soil and the kids spread it out. Little Dude insisted on keeping the mysterious yellow volunteer flowers so I had to help them spread the dirt around those without burying them.




We each took a turn digging holes and plopping in tiny plants. While the kids made sure we did a good job with each plant, I tied our hanging basket pole to the porch (it's old and tends to lean from the weight of a plant). Little Dude decided which basket would go where - one for the back yard and one for our garden.

We stepped back and took a look at our new garden.


The kids are excited to hopefully have fresh tomatoes and green peppers this summer. As much as I am looking forward to that as well, I think I am more excited at how much better this little space in our yard looks.





Until next time....


The End is Near. Or is It?

Memorial Day means no school and if having the kids home all day is any indication of how summer vacation will go, I will definitely need earplugs. And maybe some Xanax. Bless you people who have more kids than I do. Your tolerance level must be much higher than mine.

Just because I was ready to pull my hair more than once during the kids' day off didn't mean we didn't have fun. Little Dude helped my trim some bushes in the front yard (fun for him, not so much for me!) and after the husband came home from work. I took the kids to the park. Our park was in desperate need of a mass overhaul and recently they finally broke ground on the construction. Checking the progress was our first order of business...

Wonder what this means for football season next year?

After that we headed over to the play equipment. The kids ran and climbed to their hearts content, but somehow did not manage to wear themselves out. I really need to find a way to bottle a fraction of that energy!




After a while I decided to play with my camera settings. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought the world was about to end.



It appears the "solarize" setting does not mean pictures will come out sunnier, but they do make things look like you're on the set of The Walking Dead.



Until next time...

A Crotchety Mother's Day

I love my kids to the moon and back. I can't imagine my life without them, but there are definitely those days where they drive me up a wall. They have such a strong bond, but sometimes they are so close that they butt heads more than anything else. Just as I am ready to blow my top, they pull one of the greatest Mother's Day ever.

Saturday night before going to bed Little Dude asked if I would be sleeping in on Mother's Day. That was my plan and I let him know that. I think he was plotting how his morning would go.

As soon as my alarm went off I heard their feet go. Naturally they were anything but quiet, but I let it slide. Fist up the stairs was GG with a cup of hot tea.  She was so worried she screwed it up and I wouldn't like it. I asked her how she made the tea.  Shed put a cup of water in the microwave. When it came out she put a tea bag in and dunked it a few times. It wasn't how I made tea (I add sugar) but it was the best cup of tea I have had in a long time.

She disappeared and a few minutes later Little Dude and GG were standing at my bedside with my breakfast in bed, served atop a cutting board. Obviously a cutting board is the most logical thing to use as a serving tray, right? My breakfast consisted of 2 waffles with butter and syrup, half a banana, and a cup of vanilla yogurt with blueberries and banana slices mixed in. Healthy and tasty - I was impressed. Of course serving me chocolate chip cookies for breakfast in bed would have impressed me as well.

After breakfast they delivered me my presents. Both had written poems and Little Dude had colored a "Best Mom" certificate. I'll have to thank their teachers for helping with all of that. Both poems were sweet and full of "I love mom", "she has the best hugs" and "she is fun", but I think Little Dude's poem had the best line ever.


I really hope he meant "crochet"!

Until next time...