Flower mosaic

This is my first attempt at a mosaic. I {love} flowers and I really wanted to capture the beauty of them!

Summer Harvest!

It's a wonderful thing living in a farming community. I feel richly blessed in a way that the average city or even suburb dweller can't compare. I live in an area surrounded by farms, traditional, organic, Mennonite, Amish, and I am able to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables year round.

That said, I do miss out on things like regular exposure to the theater and amazing restaurants, but seriously, as I wipe the fresh tomato juice off my chin I think I'll live, for now, and relish (pun intended) the bounty that surrounds me.

Thursdays are magical days here. Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box arrives. For about $29 a week, we get a box of seasonal fruits ad veggies plus a dozen eggs. Sometimes we get a stewing or a roasting chicken as well. We've been doing this for three years and I am amazed at the transformation of myself and my children. We always ate veggies, but not like this.

This week included white eggplants, two quarts of cherry tomatoes, a quart of ugly (seriously, they are ugly, but they are the BEST in flavor) tomatoes, a generous allotment of cucumbers, okra (um, yeah, not my favorite...) a sweet baby watermelon, and a dozen cage free eggs. Oh, and the best part of the week was the extra box of cukes for any subscriber to help themselves too. Oh my, it you have not eaten a freshly picked cuke you have not lived. Seriously. There is NO comparison to the cukes you find in a grocery.

Today's lunch consisted of and ugly tomato and a cuke, sliced up, tossed in Kosher Sae Salt and a slice of Havarti cheese tossed in for good measure. YUM! I just had some more for my afternoon snack...heaven, pure heaven.

Tomorrow is the Farmer's Market. I'll go and bring home the most amazing array of delights! On my list: peaches from the T. Farm (like no other peaches I have ever eaten), corn on the cob, watermelon, cantaloupes, plums, a couple of jars of local jam, a jar of local honey, peppers, more cukes, potatoes, bread and scones from the Organic baking lady, etc. Sigh.....who needs chocolate when you have tomatoes and sea salt?

Oh, just in case your interesting in finding great locally grown produce near you, you can check out this site: Remember good eating is just a click away! What are YOU hungry for?

Remember Me??

Yeah, I have been a bloggin' slacker. Guilty.

So, let's see... DS #1 has turned 16! YIKES! Let's leave it at that. DS #2 has glasses for reading. Poor thing, a genetic nightmare from two parents with poor eyesight. He never had a chance! DS #3-5 will be seven years old in just.three.weeks!
DH has a new job, well, same building, desk, etc. just working on a new program, but it came with a cool nice sized raise, happy about that! Me? Well, enjoying the slower pace of the summer. LOVIN' the neighborhood pool!

I've been looking at beach houses to rent for our annual trip to the Outer Banks! I found the best house! Three master bedrooms, king sized, with outstanding bathrooms. All with jetted tubs! FUN! Oceanfront again! My brother and his family, my parents, and my SIL's mom will be joining us again. This is our annual trip and I am so looking forward to going!

I got new bedding for my bedroom. A duvet cover that is black with a white vine pattern that reverses to a white with black vine pattern. For sheets I got a soft blue. Very crisp together. Haven't decided if i want blue on the walls. I am thinking not, that way I could change the sheets and easily transform the bedroom... I am thinking about red.... possibly a limey green....or, how about a soft, buttery yellow? The possibilities!

A blank canvas...

So, we've been in the "new" house for two years now. I haven't decorated out master bedroom. All the furniture and bedding we have came with us, which is fine, I like it, but I am feeling like starting fresh. The room is a blank canvas...literally. The walls are white. Ok, the trim and the doors are some horrible shade of, well, not sure what to call it exactly....maybe coffee with a bunch of cream added? Anyway, that's what I have to work with. The walls can be painted anything and the doors are the old bifold style so they are coming down anyway, so they'll be a lovely crisp white. As for the trimwork, yeah, it's gonna change!

So, what do I do? What colors shall I use? I am far more adventurous than DH. He's fairly boring really (in this sense anyway!). I could go a bit with with black and white toile and add brightly colored sheets in blue and be thrilled. Or a red and white checkered quilt with crisp white linens and billowy curtains. I like cottage style, vintage looks, even chenille. Not crazy about modern styles or bed in a bag theories...

Any ideas? Any color schemes?

Tonight I Wanna Cry...

So, have you heard this song? It's by Keith Urban. Sad, haunting at times, wistful, and so very appropriate for me right now. You know those days, weeks, where you simply feel more and more overwhelmed, where everything is compounding and there doesn't seem to be any relief in sight and crying might be your best bet? Yup, that's where I am. I'm fine, just passing through, but that's where I am...

GOOD morning!!!

This happened last week, but it is oh so relevant....


Last Friday, I awoke to a missing six year old and a bed/floor/rug/blanket covered in vomit....

Found said six year old in the basement watching tv. He vomitted during the night sometime and then found a couch to sleep on (in barfy clothes, so as not to WAKE us up! Nice....

While I appreciate the full night's sleep, the ants have discovered said bafy areas, I have a full load of barfy laundry to do and now I have a mattress that has vomit soaked into it.

The other boys had the lovely opportunity to breathe in barf fumes all night....

Special....

I feel pretty, oh, so pretty. I fell witty, and pretty, and gay!!!

Sing it with me....

Fortunatelty it ended there and no other DS fell victim to the barf wars!

Reason # 2,647 to LOVE your teenager!

DS #1 (soon to be 16) apparently decided he wanted to start texting even though we told him no. We have him on a $10 a month add on to our cell plan, but don't think he needs to be texting, etc. He's had the phone for almost a year now. This is where it gets interesting...

Last month there was $68 in texting on our bill....

We're peeved, but calm and tell him that the first $70 of lawn mowing money earned is ours....he has moved three lawns so far this season so his debt is down to $10!

Yup...well, today DH got this month's bill and while he did stop the day we told him to, another billing cycle had started (yes, we, the smart parents hadn't thought of that) and so on this month's bill....

$150 of texting.....

I . love . my . life .

So...we're not yelling at him or anything, but we did disable texting, which disables ring tone and he is soooo bummed about not having the "COOL" ringtones!

But, um...yeah....

HELLO!?!?! $220 in texting bills!!! YIKES!

He will be mowing lawns most of the summer....and instead of putting it in his savings account or spending it, he will hand it over to me to pay back his debt.

The sad thing is, he was going to get Timberland boots next week. He has been waiting and waiting to get them (they lower the price way down in the Spring) and I had told him we would look at it again when we were at the Spinal Rehab next week. We often visit a mall on our down time...I planned to buy them. He has been so patient and really respectful of our decision to wait until spring for the lower prices...

Yeah, well.....Mama thinks maybe NOT!

However, I might get them for his birthday....which is in June.

But you'd be proud, we didn't yell or flip or anything. We spoke calmly to him both times and discussed what happened, the choices he made, the disrespect of our authority, the consequences of his actions, etc. Frankly I am surprised by our calmness...

Should I worry?