Our gardeing attempts/a mouse in the house

 It has been about a month since I took these pictures so I could write this post.  What took so long?  In that time we had to little field mice get into our house.  I have spent a lot of time cleaning floors, toys, and really everything that a mouse could have touched.  This week I tackled the kitchen, which initially had no evidence of mice, and found a bit in those cupboards that don't hold food.  Then I went to my baking stuff, which I haven't used lately and threw away more powdered sugar and other items that I want to think about.  It has been a tiring and stress filled few weeks.  So blogging has been on the back burner of my mind, while I tried to keep completely OCD Marissa from coming out  again. 

However, this was my relaxing break during the mess.  Pictured above is my tomato plant, next week I will show you how much it has grown.  Pretty amazing.  You may also notice the drip line running by.  We put in a complete drip system the beginning of April, which is fairly awesome and allowed us to be gone for a weekend without worrying about the garden. 

 I have four strawberry plants right now and they are starting to put on berries.  Yum! 

I had to add a little flowering color to the yard too, otherwise it just wouldn't be me. 

This rosemary plant had outgrown its pot and looked a bit pitiful, it still looks a little pitiful.....

Tarragon, one of my favorite herbs.

Lemon thyme

This one and the next picture are lemon balm and bee balm, can't remember which is which.

Apples, Apples, and more Apples.  Our tree can't support the number of apples it put on, so I have had to pick off quite a bit and may have to come up with some supports for the remaining apples.  They look yummy though!

Black beans and I think the kids threw in a sunflower on the side.....

The grapevines we planted last year are growing and this bigger one has soooooo many bunches starting on it. 

this is a smaller one that I did not expect to come back, but it did.

This is my biggest grapevine, it has doubled in size since this picture. 

This one has also doubled since the picture. 

Don't forget about my peaches, they are beginning to ripen. 

I have purchased two new petunias that I put in pots on the other side of the yard.  This little guy popping up between the tile and raised bed is a self-starter.  It is from the plant I have that is at least two years old.  I have snapdragons and petunias popping up in lots of strange places because of all the flowers I had everywhere. 

My roses are also doing well this year.  

Overall, I am happy so far this year  The only issue we are having is with the cucumber and lettuce.  Every time I have some growing up past a half inch it gets eaten by something unknown as of right now.  More next week, I hope!

Things I think about when having to drive for an hour and a half on Saturday

Today was the day I take my oldest L to her grandmother's house so she can visit her father.  Not my favorite thing to do.  Even though she is sometimes difficult I would rather have her home screaming at me than somewhere else, but I digress.  Today I was thinking about where I am at in life and why I am where I am. 

Woah.  Deep thought considering I have had way too little sleep, and would be quite content going back to bed right now.  I am not the best at expressing my emotions, especially to my husband.  I have reasons, most of which stem from my poor decisions regarding who I shared my heart with earlier in my life and nothing to do with him. 

I have been thinking a lot about fitness and how I sabotage myself a lot and don't do what I know I should do.  See, I have gained twenty pounds since my lowest weigh-in, and I am not really happy about this.  This past couple of weeks I have been pushing myself to get back into a groove that will help me get out of this funk.  Little l is finally old enough that she will let me exercise and I won't have to run all over making sure she is okay, so I have been able to exercise during the day when I normally wouldn't have been able to.  She is not napping, so nap time is a thing of the past in our home. 

Overall though, even with the gain, I am still healthier than I have been in a long time, maybe even ever.  I truly don't feel I would be where I am without my husband.  Not because he makes me exercise or was disappointed in me when I was not fit, neither of which are true; but, because my husband makes me aspire to be a better and more fit person.  He represents for me, things I want to be and things I know I can be. I never had the motivation to be these things before. I can only hope that I somehow inspire him to be a better person in some way as well.

This is what I was thinking about this morning, because I was thinking and hoping that when my children start looking for a mate to share their life with, that they too will be smart about who they choose and will pick someone who not only causes them to be a better person, but who is a better person for being with my daughter.  It only took me until my thirties to realize that this is how you should truly choose a life mate, but I did, and I am grateful today for my husband, who I love more than I am able to express most days. In the meantime, I will work on expressing my feelings a little more, but maybe not today......

Spring-like, two-three weeks ago

I have been meaning to post updates on my gardening attempts, but life is crazy sometimes and that is that. 

Also, I have had the parts and pieces to put a drip system in but it has taken us about three months to get around to actually doing anything.  Pitiful, but like I said, life is crazy sometimes and that is that.  The drip system is still being worked on, but should be completed in a week or two, or at least completed to the point where I can easily add a plant here or there. 

The fun thing is that the plants from last year are coming back strong!  I will have more pictures soon!

Periwinkle

Petunias.  This is an old plant I have kept it alive for a very long time!

Apple Blossoms.  The tree was loaded, I am going to have to pinch off some of the small fruits because they branches are not mature enough to handle it all!

Peach Blossoms

Peach Blossom

Improved Yogurt Making

I love my own homemade yogurt.  I find it is not as bitter as the plain Greek yogurt you buy at the stores.  It is also super easy.  You warm up your milk, let it cool, add your old yogurt or starter, put it in the Yogotherm, wait and viola!  YOGURT!  I then strain it so that it is Greek yogurt and eat away!

This is my new yogurt maker.  It is called a Yogotherm and it is basically an insulated bucket, that holds a smaller bucket with the yogurt.  I can make 1/2 gallon of milk in to yogurt at one time, so it makes more than a few days worth of Greek yogurt.  Pictured is my finished yogurt after it is strained.  I am usually able to get 3-4 cups of whey off the yogurt.  Yummy!  I just need a new strainer, because my old one has too many holes in it.

Happy Birthday Dress

My girls picked out some fabric the last time we were at the fabric store and I decided it would be good to have them done by their birthdays.  Which of course meant that two weeks before little l's birthday I was in a rush to finish the dress!

I decided to make the Los Feliz dress from this book.

One down one more to go!

Hair Detangler

My children have and had long hair.  The oldest has hair to the middle of her back.  The youngest had a haircut because she won't let me comb it and it is now about chin-length.  However, they both have very fine hair, which equals a LOT of tangles no matter the length. 

I don't really like the natural pre-prepared detanglers you can buy.  They don't work as well as I would like.  So I happened across a facebook post and thought I would try it. 

DIY Hair Detangling Spray.  It was awesome and easy, but I will say the Marshmallow root makes it a bit messy.  I don't know if I didn't strain it enough or what, but we use it with a towel under her hair and on my legs so we don't get messy.  I used the conditioner pictured the first time, and then switched to California Baby Super Sensitive for the second batch.  The second batch was even better.  I did use a little extra conditioner in the second batch because we have MAJOR tangles most days and I still can't get little l to let me comb her hair everyday, but I guess it will come eventually. 

Nice untangled hair

Simple ingredients

Body Image

My weight loss struggle is still ongoing.  At this point, while I stress over the 15 pounds I have gained, I mostly stress about my inability to see myself as I truly am.  I know I am not thin, but I also know that I am still within the healthy weight limits for my height.  I know that I look okay, because I see pictures of myself.  What amazes me is that when I look in the mirror I do not see what is in the picture.

Where is the disconnect?  Why is this important?  Not only do I want to work through this for my own self-esteem, I also want to figure this out so that my children do not have this same disconnect.  I am sure that part of this is based on the false images we are inundated with by the media.  How do you combat that?  Apart from simply avoiding all images, which is impossible unless you have everything delivered to your home, never leave, and don't watch movies, tv, etc; you can't avoid it.

Attempting to change the media or support organizations that do is one way to feel empowered regarding the crazy way the media treats beauty both for men and women.  It also feels as though we are having changes that are slow to happen.  It still however, does not change how I see myself, and how I am critical of my own body.

I don't really know how to fix this, but I truly hope that my daughters find value in themselves outside of their looks, because there is so much more to them and my oldest is edging closer to the edge when as a girl her self-esteem is likely to dip.  In the meantime, for myself I guess I won't look in the mirror I will just look at pictures of myself (of course those are few and far between).