Everyday Life

Gardening takes a special sort of person. A person who is willing to work consistently. To water, to weed, to plant, to leave alone.

Our apple trees made it through their second winter. Time will tell if my pruning was good for them or not.

I am not that sort of person.

I transplanted this forsythia from elsewhere in our yard a couple years ago. Last year’s dramatic pruning is showing its fruit this year in increased flowering and shoot production. Project forsythia rehab continues!

I am a project person, a dig around in the dirt for hours and then leave it alone for months kind of person.

These daffodils are now past their prime – but I’ve gained plenty of enjoyment out of the buckets of bulbs my aunt brought me the past couple of years.

And so, while I’ve put in a garden every year since I first became a homeowner, I’ve never been particularly successful at it.

The daylilies I got from a neighbor and which I have been transferring from place to place seem to be settling well into their (hopefully) permanent home.

This year, I’m not certain whether I’ll get a garden in. What with a new foster baby and a new baby on the way and finishing our basement (did I say we’re getting our basement finished? I don’t believe I have. But we are.) What with all the excitement ’round here, I haven’t started any seeds – and plants are awfully expensive given my poor track record at getting any produce.

I planted six peonies last fall, a pair of three different varieties. I’m thrilled to see that they made it through the winter – five of the six have put out shoots (and I’m hopeful that the sixth will soon since its pair only poked through soil today.)

But I’m delighting in the bits of life that are springing up here and there in my garden nonetheless.

My herb garden delights, with three different varieties of mint and a nice bush of sage growing strong. We picked the first of the spearmint and have been enjoying spearmint-infused water in our bottles the past couple of days – and I’m planning to pick and dry my first batch of sage at the end of this week or beginning of the next. I’m also pleased to see that at least some of the milkweed seeds that I saved and planted last fall have germinated.

Baby Tirzah Mae had some spit-up issues. Serious spit-up issues. And since she initially received breastmilk fortified with preemie formula, her initial spit-ups were of the nasty staining variety. The slipcovers of our cream-colored throw pillows acquired yellow and brown blotches of varying sizes from being spit upon.

I kept telling myself I would make new slipcovers.

But a year passed and two. And we had another baby spitting up. And then another (who spit up less thanks to #termbaby!)

The slipcovers didn’t get made.

But after I spent a frantic week sewing Christmas outfits and Christmas jammies for the little ones this past Christmas, I realized just how much I enjoy doing something creative. I set a goal to try to do something (anything) creative once a week this year.

In January, I made new slipcovers for the throw pillows. I cut one week and sewed one slipcover a week until, at the end of the month, I had covered all three of the formerly cream-colored pillows.

I love how well-lit my living room is – but it does make getting photos of the couch a little difficult :-)

We’ve been cleaning out our basement in preparation for getting it finished – and as I cleaned, I found some Dr. Seuss-themed reusable shopping bags my sister-in-law had given me years ago (I’m guessing right around when Tirzah Mae was born!) My sister-in-law had used one side panel to decorate her children’s playroom and had offered me what remained so I could do the same for Tirzah Mae. Of course, I accepted (because I’m all about anything free and am a serious hoarder of craft supplies.)

At any rate, I found the shopping bags and decided maybe I’d use them to decorate our foster children’s room. That was February’s project.

I got right to work at the very beginning of the month, stretching a couple of panels around some stiff chipboard and sticking them up on the clipboards in the “green room”. I puzzled a bit about how to complete the task and arrived at colored panels with circles in them.

The kids and I painted panels, including extras to make circles with.

The panels sat and sat and sat for weeks (I’ve not been great at getting in creativity every week this month!)

And, at last, since this is now the last week of February, I cut out my circles and got them completed.

Not bad, if I say so myself.

I’ve been using our exercise ball as my seat at the dining room table since I went into labor with Beth-Ellen (I used it during Christmas Eve lunch while I was in labor!)

It’s been a wonderful chair.

But tonight I sat down and heard a Pfft and a pop.

And then I was on the floor.

And then I was laughing.

And then Tirzah Mae was bawling with the shock of it all.

Don’t worry, she’s fine. I’m fine.

The ball is definitely not fine.

A new one is on the way.