greenery update

i am continuing my love affair
with my garden
yes, folks, i have found my "should-have-been" profession:
a farmer

like those before me, i come from a long line of farmer-types.
i think i shall join their ranks and become a shovel weilding, garden perusing, chicken chopping, apple preserve canning, suspender wearing, farmer.
it's in my roots, i can feel it.

when those granuals of dirt get under my nails and the fibers of my sweat bead across my forehead, i realize that my joy in such otherwise uncomfortable circumstances comes from my upmost pleasure in watching these little ones grow.

here are some updates on a few of my loves:

radishes
(which i hate, but the weldon men love)

may 4th

may 25th



lettuce

may 4th

may 25th

plus, items in the garden world have cutie-tootsie names, too, which i love :)

a lot of tomatoes i know.

but if you know mr. foster then you know that no amount of tomatoes will be enough. my 12 plants will surely become barren within moments of containing ripened fruit.

mr. f is a tomatoe machine.

our garden conception: "the best things in life" & "and cornstalks"

i digress

each day i hate having a THMV ever more.
(THMV=totally hot mini van)
i hate it i hate it i hate it.
i miss the wonderful sporty feeling of 4 doors that do not slide.
i miss the rear hatch and it's manual capacities that put my ever shrinking right arm muscles to good use.
truly i do.


i hate that there aren't enough cup holders. why make a mini-van with only 2 cupholders aside a coffee/cold beverage loving driver??

i hate that i can't simply pull into a parking lot and not feel like a washed up mom-wagon.


i feel uncool at all times.


and then i stop by home depot and purchase a sheet of plywood. i head over to ken's nurseries and add several flats of sprouts. i hit a garage sale on the way home and score a 1950's manican for $10 and then swing over and pick up a rhototiller from my father in law. i still manage to fit it all beside my 2 strollers, mother's day gear bag of gardening supplies, a biraage of sand toys and enough cracker crumbs to fill yankee stadium.


and then i remember...
oh that's right.
i like my mini-van

1950's original

with a knockout figure

i'm working on a demure slipcover to give this lady some privacy so she can be the new cover model for my latest craftiness.

can you imagine my delight finding such a rockin bod at a drive-by garage sale yesterday?
i have been on the hunt for one...
both for my own un-beach ready appearance...
and because a lady such as this tends to be quite pricy
her bargain bin $10 was quite astonishing.

yes, my husband rolled his eyes upon seeing my purchase. he was there when i garage saled an ab roller for $3 several years back. i think i used it once. he knows me too well. i get carried away.

but there is something endearing about this scantilly clad lady.
i simply couldn't let her just stand there all lonely as other patrons passed her by.
girlfriend needed a hand...or two (not to mention her other missing limbs :)

so fresh and so clean clean

oh the days of ole
when a saturday would be spent perusing a local hot spot
full of spicy mexican food or sparkling mixed cocktails
we would often loftily gaze at the stars from the swing of our hammock
or casually toss a frizbee in the park.
i can remember clearly deciding to work on a home project, but it was often something glamorous like hanging photographs with clint on the lazer-level
or refinishing an old cabinet just for the fun of it.

the spring in our step was spry
and the money in our pocket was fluffy

fast forward to yesterday.
saturday.
we rented a 24 hour carpet steamer from the local Giant
fit with an upholstery attachment that we put to good use.
never in my life have i hated and loved anything more

if you have ever taken on such a task you know well the world of pain it brings about upon attempting to empty and refill this mammoth

its clumsy and loathsome body weight takes nothing short of the incredible hulk to carry it up a flight of stairs.

but the result of freshly scented and unbelievable clean household carpets...oh my.
i think i'm in heaven.
second only to a house filled top to bottom with cheese curls,
this is the best thing a house can be filled with.

amid our torture, i regretfully admitted i should tackle my ever disgusting mom-mobile.
after removing what seems to be an impossible amount of continents from within my vehicle
i found an even more impossible mess of dirt and soil from within my floor mats.
sure to be mainly pee having been sprayed from potty-training lack of aim
i scoured my mats for an hour and came away with 2 points instilled in my mind:

1. steam cleaners are one of the best inventions of all time
2. potty-training and car potties do not mix. 5 second rule does not apply, even if it is a delicious french fry.

the next time you are looking for a delightful way to spend your saturday, don't rent a steam cleaner.
but do rent one if you feel the need to invoke self torture and at the same time renew a spirit of freshness that exudes from within freshly steamed carpetries.

it might just be the best saturday ever...er uh, now that it's over and today is sunday, then it might just be the best sunday ever...because today i get to return the steam cleaner :)

zoo duo

i love then and now

i love to see the change

and remember the way we were

back when we were who we were back then

these zoo pics from may 07 are so precious.

left to right...miss kyra, mr. reece, mr. foster, miss kendall

foster looks so different it's hard to believe it's the same child.

i strolled through the zoo with my single strolling on clowd nine.

i silently snickered to myself as i saw all those double strollers and thought "i am SO glad i only have one kid!!"

i loathed all of those kid-ridden moms who had all of their zoo-exhausted children at attention span-zero as they crowded our paths and messed up our oh-so-quiet zoo lunchen expirience.

little did i know, on this very day at the zoo in may 2007, i was 2 weeks pregnant with rowan :)

us at the zoo this past week:

and yes, the zoo is a little more hap-hazard with 2 zoo-goers.

our more mobile friends covered the span of the zoo at least an hour earlier than us.

and bennett's hat is hands-down my most favorite thing in the entire zoo.

this tall fellow was certianly a favorite of miss kendall and mr. foster...

second only to mr. p who delighted mr. f and mr. o for quite some time during lunch.

despite our slow-going adgenda, a few more tantrums and definatly more run-aways...it was twice the fun amidst twice the chaos :)

caution

i just had to post the following pics
i am in love with all of them
i tried to pare down.
this is me...
paring down

beware.
picture heavy

series 7

series 6

series 5

series 4

series 3

series 2

series 1

in over my stiches

it's official.
it's 2:11 am.
i am still reeling from 6 straight hours of sewing.
for the 10th night in a row.
unable to lore myself into slumber after forcidly keeping my eyeballs pinned open
i retire to my blog.

you see,
i made a judgement lapse of vast proportion.
and being the personature who hates to admit poor decision making
i couldn't bring myself to bail out

so, if you are in cochranville this saturday (wherever that is)
you'll find me touting my wares in my 10x10 booth.

the homespun preperation for said event has been overly daunting.

why do i do it to myself?
is it an attempt to envoke self-torture?
am i inherintly looking for more than i can handle?
do i have invisible pipe dreams of a sucessful venture?
i don't think this weekend's craft fair is going to be the key to my success,
but it may very well be the key to my future insanity.
call me tomorrow
just to make sure i am still awake

drinkability

his

circa 2004

via dollar store set of 6

i rolled my eyes at the purchase

but he has since proven my shortsighted view incorrect

as his manliness needs...nay requires...such a mug of generous proportion.

it is these man-show approved sippers that welcome my hard working hubby home each night for the past few years.

filling one is the second thing he does upon his homecoming.

they are rugged.

i invite you to try and break one.

it's quite impossible.

they are surprisingly heavy and can catch an arm off guard with their stone like stature.

each can hold an insurmountable portion of contents

and i must admit that everything tastes better when sipped from such a mighty rim.

hers

circa 2008

via $3 for 19 piece set at target on the open box rack.

original price $68.

everything perfectly new despite one un-perfectly chipped plate.

i felt as though i was burglarizing with such a bargain purchase.

i sip from within it my daily lava-like liquids

it can withstand the fire-riest circumstances

yet can fall instantly victim to splintering if mishandled.

i often clutch it's smooth side arm, breesing my fingertips over the delicate leaf embossing.

treasuring the day ahead or behind

it sips alongside my day

animal anatomy

foster: "giraffises have LONG necks!" (with extended hand and neck exaggeration)

foster: "turdles have babies and mommys. the babies are wreally wlittle." (with pointer and thumb pinched together for emphasis)

foster: "hippos have BiiiiiiiG BUTTS!!!"

seedlings

there is something oh-so-spectacular about watching things grow.

my current obsession are these quaint little seeds

our garden has stared taking shape

and our little buds are the proof

only 6 days after implatation

they are already looking quite hardy

how can something so small be so captivating?

ultra-small

i happen to have some proof of other things that started out as small seeds

any mom can tell you that the first time seeing their child on an ultrasound screen can be a bit strange and at the same time, one of the most amazing first glimpses of what is transpiring within your own body.

when i was pregnant with foster, my first few ultrasounds were in a chinese hospital in guilin.

not only was i quite unsure of my future mothering skills, the mounting anxiety surrounding the details of labor, and the idea that i was carrying a human being inside of my stomach cavity,

but i was quite freaked by the idea of being in a room of 12 chinese woman who were all anxious to see what an enutero american baby looked like.


when my eyes first glimpsed him
it was like the room was empty.
it was just me and my seed.
my tiny little seed
my overwhelming reaction of wild and crazy love caught me off guard.

our little seed.
no one else could have combined to make him possible.
it was truly a landmark moment in our lives

if you are pre-parenthood

looking from afar at all of us shuffling and cutting minuet bites and whining about lack of sleep

it might all seem like a scary frenzy of crying babies and goopy diapers and a totally re-routed lifestyle.

but i just have to say,
when you yourself find yourself in the ultrasound room
for the first time
looking at your seed
you'll know what i mean.
there is no going back.
and that's the best part.

it's a seed.
it starts out small
and captivating