After the Storm

We are creeping into thunderstorm season here in Maine. Our area always seems to get pretty intense storms that come in from out of no where. One minute it will be sunny and the next the skies turn dark. The light after the storms pass is one of my favorites. Everything glows and eerie pink/orange color.

It was a bit of a stormy weekend here, both in reality and metaphorically. My body seems to be trying to tell me that I am doing a bit too much, and after a scare this weekend it is time to cut back on my cleaning jobs. Money will be tighter than it already is...but we'll get by.

32 weeks

Welcome to the Jungle.

Our lawn mower broke last month. Weeks passed and the lawn turned into pasture land. As if everything else wasn't already overgrown, this just topped it off. Grass and gardens blended into one. There was a lot of pretty wildflowers, and the clover was nice, but enough is enough. Last week Tony finally managed to jerry rig the mower to get it to work.

Gardens are in desperate need of weeding and the edges of our woods are in need of thinning. The day lilies are blooming around the pond ( we have probably close to 50 of them out there) but you can only see about half of them. The rest are hidden in the banks, covered up by overgrown underbrush. I'd love to be out there pruning right now, but it is so hot out (over 90).

I took my first swim of the summer in the pond today. It was nice, and felt good getting this extra weight off of my feet and back for a bit. Tomorrow.....summer school starts :(

Schools Out

Well, school is finally out for the summer....thank god, as I was getting desperate. This should give me a bit more free time around the house, though my summer cleaning jobs are starting up and summer school is a mere two weeks away from starting.

Things are blooming in the gardens.....including weeds. I really need to work on them, but bending over to pluck out weeds is not so easy for me anymore. Close up photos look great, as I can crop out the over grown jungle that surrounds the flowers.

My Growing Secret

I've been keeping a little secret from my blog. We're expecting a baby boy on August 26th.... just 11 more weeks to go (can't wait!/holy crap!). More details to come.

Lazy Blogger

Sorry for the lack of posts. Computer issues and life have been making blogging more challenging. I will be back to post soon and will finally reveal my little secret on here....it's not so little anymore.

Photog

So I have been playing with my new camera a bunch and am finding out that I have lots to learn. I've had that canon point and shoot for over 4 years, and figured out the tricks to getting good photos with it. With my new Canon (xsi) there is much more to it. Sure I could take photos in auto setting and they come out good, but dslr cameras work a lot differently from point and shoots.
Regardless, I am improving and am thinking about taking a photography class this summer to help out. Here are a few photos I've liked.









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Finally!

Well it is finally spring around here. In fact the temperatures have been more like summer over the past week. We have had several days in the 70s and even a couple of day in the 80s. The gardens are still getting cleaned up and planted. Thanks to some help from my mom when she was up during April vacation the front flower garden is all weeded and has a few new additions in it.

NNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First day of vacation and this is what I wake up to. This blows.

Lazy Saturday

Spent the day procrastinating, then cleaning, then napping, and procrastinating some more. Lots to be done around here, but I was unable to really get motivated. I wanted to play outside in the gardens, but when I got out there it was too cold and windy, even though the sun was shinning. 

Did manage to get the house cleaned a bit, vacuumed and washed the floors, did some laundry, hauled a bunch of crap over to the dump, and got the living room cleaned. 

Tony made fun of me for my outfit and for being covered in cat hair. This is my typical weekend garb. 

Managed to make a quick dinner, chicken and brocolli alfredo. It's one of our new staples. Now I think its movie time on the couch and bed. 

...

To appease my mother.... her PUGly Henry.



A real post should be up soon. I have been busy working at the school and hospital the last couple of days. Pictures should be more abundant soon as my amazing sister gifted me the camera I had been longing for. So awesome.

Header How To

Thanks for the comments on my new header. With spring officially here it was time for a cheerier look on my blog. I can take credit for the photo, I however can not take credit for the how to.

Here is my unedited photo:


And the edited version for the header:



I recently learned how to make great headers from a blog I read A Foothill Home Companion. You can find her tutorial here. She uses an online photo editing program called Picnik to tweak photos and add writing.

I have been really wanting to do more with this blog, which I think is half of the reasons by posts have been lacking. I hate posts without photos, and I really want to be using/taking better photos. I think I am sick of my little camera and am really yearning for a nice digital SLR that I can't afford. I look at this one all the time.

Bloom

The crocus are up a full month earlier than last year.

Growing Seedlings

Within the last couples weeks I have begun planting some seeds (indoors still here). I am hopeful of our gardens this years, especially after last year's horrible season. The weather we had stunted everything and by August I had pretty much given up in defeat on our veggies.

This year I think we will go all out again. The colder weather crops will be planted in our garden by the garage and the warmer crops will go in the big garden by the pond.

First to go out will be leeks, onions, lettuces, spinach, bok choy, brocollli, cabbage, beets, radishes, carrots, swiss chard, beans, peas,cucumbers, and potatoes.

Then the herbs: rosemary, basil, dill, parsley, oregano, and thyme.

The rest will follow winter squash, summer squash, eggplant, pumpkins, corn, and tomatoes. Speaking of tomatoes, I'll have a few new heirlooms to try this year thanks to Danni at Critter Farm. She graciously offered up seeds to her readers and is sending me 3 varieties all the way from Oregon. The blogging world amazes me sometimes.

After Weeks...

It snowed for the first time in weeks.....in fact its been almost as long as the amount of time I have spent away from posting on here. This has been a very atypical winter for us. Last year we were buried under several feet of snow. Before today storm, which was only about 6 inches, we could see patches of grass. The temperatures have been much warmer than normal as well, causing maple syrup season to start early here in Maine. In fact, Tony and I may try tapping a few of our own maples this year.

More Around the House

We've done more work in the bathroom. Installed a new toilet, made our own vanity, installed a vessel sink and made our own medicine cabinet. The sink/vaniety cost us under $100.00 total. The stand we got for free, I think someone was using it as w potting table. We cleaned it up, cut it down to size, and added a marble slab that was on sale at Home Depot for $25, and a white vessel sink, also from HD and also on sale for $25. The faucet looks like bronze bamboo up close and cost $35 from ebay. We also update the lights, these were also on sale from Lowes, I believe it was around $50. I can try to add some close up photos later. This pictures are what I have on my computer now, I will take some more recent photos (we've finished painting and cleaned up a bit) and add them soon.

Painted Floors

Well, I intended to do a decent post about our "new" painted floors. It is really just the slab, painted brown, a temporary fix until we can afford to put down real floors. Problem is half of my photos are on my computer and the other half are on Tony's. I will leave you with one picture and update this post later on.

Coming Soon.

A new post is coming. We painted the floors in the entry/kitchen area and I planned to post about it, but the pictures I took look awful. Will take new pics tomorrow and post then. Vacation has been nice (and lazy) but it is over too soon. I am dreading going back to work on Monday.

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! We are taking it easy at home tonight and then headed out to see family tomorrow morning. Hope everyone has a happy holiday.

First Snow

Well we made it pretty far without snow but now have about 5 inches on the ground. Luckily it was a beautiful day today, so some of that has already melted.

I have been amazed and in love with these little violets that are still in bloom in our cold December. I dug them out of the snow this morning and will be sad to see them go.