heeeeeeeeellllllllllloooooooo!

greetings from the land of a zillion projects!

life is good over here on the back forty. all of that rain I have prayed for since last summer is making things look wonderful. i am a happy gardener again.

as always, there are projects on board. i jump around alot, never finishing one thing before moving over to the next thing. that's just my way, don't judge me :)

wanna see some progress?

 the sunporch used to be a nasty, dirty, pinkish beige with nasty, dirty, pinkish beige carpet. now it's carpetless (hardest DIY task I have ever done) and starting to change color. grey/yellow/white palette. it's a bit hot to work out there now, however, so last weekend i switched to here:

 

 the basement. as always, these kinds of things take time. I actually had the walls painted white last winter, but stopped action when it came to painting the floor, because that is a yucky job.

notice how at one point I just had a giant white box. i felt like i was on HGTV! so this weekend, i finished painting the floor and moved in my bed. i really have to get some decorating done. i'm also questioning making a pink girlie room. however, in the interest of not re-doing before it's even done, i just need to get some artwork up and call it good. for a basement, it's pretty nice so far.

 this guy made me happy, until the rain beat it into the ground last weekend. thankfully, i picked some and got to enjoy this first :)

happy day!

beauty in the moments

sigh. hi all. as i sit typing this, i'm looking out the window and hearing the birds and seeing the sun and feeling a small breeze. it looks like it might be another 'perfect' day.

i really am trying to evaluate how i spend my days. time is so fleeting. the part of me that cannot BELIEVE i am in my 50s wants to slow things down a little. every day is truly a gift. lately, that is the lesson that keeps coming to me.

i have a lot of work going on this summer. it's all i can do not to wind myself up in it, and live there. but i refuse. i am hoping to stay focused and do what i need to do each day, but not live in the 'what ifs' and 'how will it go' and 'what will they think' of things. it's hard to do.

yesterday i worked and also left work behind. it was good. today, the plate is full up again, and the temptation to freak out and let it consume me is there.

instead, i will look out the window, remember the whole of things, and thank God for another perfect day.

happy Tuesday :)

I'm thinking of trying to learn a new skill - wanna help?

lime green goodness

pinterest project

doing surgery on a broken limb

still one of my favorite things ;)

sure, I can use another raised bed! thanks jim and rachelle :)

Found this little quiet spot right in my neighborhood. those are baby ducks zipping around and eating bugs :)

'nothing' defined

i started out this weekend with the best of intentions. my 'simple summer' plan is simply to make no plans. i find that is the most relaxing option for my head.

saturday was a glorious day to carry out 'nothing' - because it was doing this:

ps. I'm sorry to my SF friends. I have been praying for this kind of thing.

Not really a problem, except that i was in the middle of this:

which caused this:

all of which led to a glorious day of making rhubarb bread, reading and napping. my version of perfect 'nothing.'



sunday the plan was to do more of the same. however, while sitting in the sunroom admiring the pretty view:

i got the idea to paint the sunroom ceiling yellow (this thought has been rolling around in my head for quite awhile).

so after church, i went to ace hardware, got some supplies and started doing this:

notice the wrong color at the lower left. yellow is tricky.

which really went quite swimmingly, even though i only got as far as the initial coat of paint.

then something got into my brain, and i started doing this, just to see what was under there:

before you know it, i was staring at this:

actually, the conversation in my head went something like "ohmgosh" this is hard to do. maybe i can get anne to help me. or some boys. (which says a lot about anne that i thought of her first).

i seriously laughed at myself as i inched the carpet up. it was HARD work. i have not been that sweaty since i used to run marathons, people. i finally got the brilliant idea to cut the carpet into chunks. i also think i got stronger as time went on. that's because willpower is actual POWER.

anyway, when I got to this part, i was kind of incredulous:

because seriously, NOW what the heck am i going to do?!?

sigh. i guess i'm not very good at 'nothing' weekends :)

ps. i also have another project waiting in the wings. stay tuned.

wonderful wonder

sigh. great big sigh.

it's the end of a most lovely, rainy afternoon in which i have accomplished very little. which is exactly what i needed.

i love rain. i love rainy days. i do get kind of crabby when the sun never comes out, but there is really nothing better than a leisurely rainy day. it's like the whole word slows way down.

today made me miss blogging. i miss telling you about the garden. it's been a pretty wonderful spring in the garden, even though the rain has made it sort of a start/stop/start experience. still. i am enjoying the pace this year...a simple summer.

one of the garden additions. a junk metal goat :)

the tomatoes got a new home...pretty down to earth digs!

i had to remove some moss from a new bed i'm making. i wish i could transplant it - so pretty!

new reading spot. with homemade chandelier, which is kind of cool.

here's the new garden...in progress. yep, that's a bunny watching over things.

i need to figure out how to clean my gutter...but for now, it's making room for a rain barrel that used to be petunias.

everything is neon...!

my little miss likes rainy days, too. more snuggling.

a few things left to plant.

hi guys! i have missed you :)