Been feeling a little down lately about life, friendships in your 40’s, and kids acting all summer crazy, so I had a little therapy today…. any by therapy I mean I got a burr up my rear to go outside in the heat of the day and take care of some garden “projects” that have been piling up, mostly because I lack the effort to put into them and it’s full-blown “Summer in Texas” out there.
The heat and wacky weather have really taken a toll on my veggies, mostly the tomato plants but some of the others as well. Then the spider mites jumped on the bandwagon and I fought that losing battle for a while before I decided to just give up and pull the plants struggling and wait until cooler fall temps to replant a few of them. I have a few tomato plants I’m babying along until fall if I can, and quite a few pepper plants that have just now started somewhat producing.
So out I went and spent 3-4 hours pulling stuff up, fixing beds, planting stuff I had that I kept thinking I should plant but never found time to do it… which led to putting together a new succulent hanging basket for the front, creating a trellis structure for my golden raspberries, a few other general garden/yard/patio clean ups, and then watering it all before collapsing inside like the limp sweaty noodle I was.
But…..
A “few” peppers and pollinator favorites:-)Plumeria “teens”, plus some herbs, peppers, and tomatoesMore Plumeria and SucculentsGone are the plant tents I had my squash and zucchini in to protect them from SVB, but I am still loving this bed and my “young adult” plumeria area!Up against the house for (not shown in this photo lol) added shade from the brutal afternoon sun.
I am SO PLEASED with my work, and even better, too tired to be feeling down and cranky. 🤣🤷♀️ we’re going to be headed to the beach fairly soon so I’m leaving the big bed the way it is, but I plan on converting it (half of it at least) to another Plumeria area for some of the older seedlings. I have several hundred more coming up in the lights inside, so fairly soon I’m going to have to think fast about a solution to keep all these seedlings from going dormant this winter!!! 😳😳 Accepting all thoughts, ideas, and suggestions…. 🤣🤷♀️🤦♀️
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So I’ve gotten way in to this gardening thing, and it’s been going really well! My newest project is starting plants indoors from seed, and I’ve been working on the setup required to do so! As of today I have three varieties of Cauliflower that have already germinated, and two varieties of Plumeria in the seed trays as well!
I started with these Burpee Seed Trays from Amazon, in both the 16ct and 8ct sizes. I originally got all 16ct but then I realized especially with the Plumeria, that I probably didn’t want to start 16 of the same variety at a time, and I didn’t want to combine different plants in the same tray as they’d probably grow at different rates and then the lighting would get all wonky, so back to the store for some smaller trays!
The potting medium I used was recommended to me by a class I took with The Dallas Garden (a GREAT follow if you’re not already doing so!), and so far I’m super happy with the results. It’s the Miracle-Gro Cactus and Palm Mix, which you can pick up readily at any Lowes, Home Depots, or local garden store!
I filled the seed pods with the soil mix, dampened with a bit of water, placed my seeds in each pod, then covered with Vermiculite – I filled the bottom watering trays about 1/4″ deep and put the seed pod tray inside, then placed them under these handy adjustable clip-on grow lights for 12 hours on / 12 hours off (helps that the lights have a timer ha ha ha) – and PRESTO, 4 days later I have 16+ Snow Crown Cauliflower, 8+ Flame Star Cauliflower, and 8+ Lavender Cauliflower seedlings emerging and looking awesome!
Lower the grow lights down to just above the seed pod trays for best results! Not like shown. LOL! I’ve adjusted those now!
If you look closely you can see the tiny seedlings emerging from under the Vermiculite!
This morning, and throughout the day, the seedlings are growing like crazy!!! I took an image this morning with the lights on, and then again this evening with the lights off, and they’ve grown at least 1/4-1/2″ throughout the day! I can’t believe how fast these things are taking off!
Monday 8/1/22 AMMonday 8/1/22 PMMonday 8/1/22 PM
To say I am excited is an understatement! I’ve also been doing a lot of research on growing Plumerias from seed – I’ve been growing Plumeria plants from cuttings for about 12-13 years now and had a TON of success, but I’d love to try getting some seedlings growing. I have a tray of 16 planted in seed cups/soil currently that are a white/yellow mix, and then another tray of 7 that are an orange/yellow mix. The interesting thing about Plumeria seeds is that they have completely different DNA from the parent plants, and so can be completely different colors from the mother from which the seed pod came! Germination can take anywhere from 7 days to 30 days, so it’ll be interesting to see if both the seeds from one of MY seed pods, and also the seeds I ordered on the internet germinate, and if they do, do they germinate at the same rate?
Mother Plant – My Seed Pod =)Mother Plant – Purchased Seeds
Meanwhile, just for grins, I decided to do another experiment with the plumeria seeds which I’ll probably try half/half purchased seeds and my own seeds using hydroponics to grow! I wasn’t quite ready to shell out the big bucks for an Aerogarden, so I did a little digging and found this less pricey option by iDOO.
I’ve seen other growers have great success using one of these, and it has a lot of nice features that I’m looking forward to seeing if they make a difference one way or another. If this works as well as I think it will, I’ll probably go ahead and get a couple more, because I plan on starting a LOT of Plumeria seeds.
That’s your garden update for now! Keep posted, because there should be a lot more updates coming soon as these babies start growing up and the Plumeria plants start sprouting! Happy gardening everyone!!
When there’s a spring storm coming and you spend a ridiculous amount of time and effort trying to protect the $20 worth of plants you just planted yesterday from the high winds…..
… and the storm just completely passes you by… 🤣🤣🤷♀️🤦♀️
For years I’ve toyed with the idea of “suburban farming” – growing my own produce in raised beds of some sort. I love spending time working with the decorative plants around my yard but just never got around to the whole vegetable/fruit part of the equation. There has always been some other pressing home improvement project that bumps the raised bed gardening down lower on the list and we just never really gave the idea much traction.
This spring I began mentioning it to the hubs again, and for some reason this time the idea took hold in his head (maybe it’s his growing love for a nice ripe tomato slice on his hamburgers? 🤣) This past weekend he built me a little prototype raised bed to see how I liked it based on some designs I sent him that I liked and a few other random ideas that popped into my head for maximizing the not-huge space we could allot to it.
We decided to level them out and step them down the fence line here to allow for easier netting should we need to keep the critters out. First things first, however, was fixing the mud pit that over half our backyard had become (it’s always something, isn’t it?)
We were supposed to be off work today to help with a fish survey in the neighborhood lakes, but due to circumstances beyond control those plans got scrapped and we decided to go ahead and get this huge project finished off. Two and a quarter pallets of St. Augustine sod, 28 thirty pound bags of beach “pebbles” (they’re ROCKS people, calling them pebbles doesn’t make them lighter), and a crapload of sweating, swearing, and me having to crawl under the trampoline several times later, we have a completed backyard project. It’s funny, I knew the muddy mess in the shaded areas under our huge bald cypress trees looked bad, but I didn’t realize exactly how bad until we got the sod and the dry creek bed done and it looked freaking amazing!!!
So I got to work hand-watering all that sod, and hubs set to work installing the bed and making sure it was completely level by digging out the ground underneath. When he got it level we placed some cut branches in the bottom to help with drainage (and also to cut down a little on the amount of soil we’d need to fill it) and filled it with good quality gardening soil. First one is in!!!
Box 1, Phase 1
We did some calculating and planning and decided on a total of 6 boxes for this first phase, 5 of which will be stepped down this fence line, and the other will be placed beside the kids’ playhouse cottage as the “Children’s Garden”. Of course I couldn’t wait to put some plants in this so I went out and bought way more than would fit and we probably can’t get the other five boxes made for 2+ weeks 🤦♀️🤷♀️🤣.
This box got three red beefsteak tomato plants with supports and I read on Pinterest that basil makes a good companion plant to tomatoes so I planted two of those in the front of the planter. Waiting on the sidelines now are one more tomato plant, four big Bertha green bell pepper plants, and two good-sized strawberry plants. Hopefully they’ll make it until we can get the additional boxes made, though I may put the other tomato plant in a large pot with a support and see how it does there. Why not experiment, AmIRight? 🤷♀️🤣
And of course, I had to go back and get a second sweet basil, because there MUST by symmetry or my brain will start screaming, so here I am at 10pm at night putting another plant in… 🤣🤦♀️😜
Ahhhhh, that’s better 🤣
I hope to catalog my “journey” here along with trials, successes, and failures to share with others who may be interested in growing some of their own produce in a smaller, more confined place. More power to the suburban farmer!! ❤️❤️❤️ Updates coming soon (and hopefully more frequently than I’ve been posting in the past 🤷♀️🤣)
It’s interesting how things play out sometimes, and how one simple act can start a domino effect to something bigger.
I took the kiddos to the indoor play place today because the weather was crap and we needed something to do. Afterwards they wanted to go to Panera, which I am always happy to oblige because y’all know I love to eat. Ha! We went in, and walking in I saw the cutest kids with their mom by the door, and I told them both I loved their hair, especially the colors in the girl’s hair.
We walked up to the counter, ordered our food – the clerk asked dine-in or take out and I said dine-in. He responded that the restaurant was currently full and that there would probably be a wait to find a table. Not a problem, we don’t have anywhere else to be.
The kids and I stood around for 5-10 minutes, me eagle eyeing for an open seat or two, when I finally spotted a group of teens getting up from a table in the back, so I ushered the kids over and we grabbed our spot to eat. On my way to fill my drink, I notice the same mom and kiddos (adorable baby not pictured) glancing around the still packed to the gills dining room so I mention to her that I have a 6 person table I snagged in the back, and she’s welcome to sit with us, that we weren’t creepy (that I know of, LOL) – she accepted and we all sat down to eat.
It took about 3 minutes for the little boy to turn to Wyatt and in the sweetest voice offered to share his tablet, and within seconds the little girl sitting next to Tatum offered the same with hers. I sat there making some small talk and watching the kids happily play together like life-long friends and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if us adults could make friends so easily?? At which my next thought was, well, why the heck can’t we??? So I looked up at the mom and said, “You know, I’d be happy to share my phone number with you if you’d like to set up some play dates or something” at which she laughed and said she had just been thinking of saying the same thing.
Turns out they moved here mid-last year and haven’t had the chance to make many friends yet with everything going on and her kids were super excited to meet some other kids their ages (much like mine always are!!) that they could hang out with.
So, now we have a play date with new friends scheduled tomorrow, and the moral of the story is, I don’t really know what – but sometimes just a simple thing can open up the door to some great new friendships! So good to meet you and your adorable kids, Ashley! (I won’t tag you though until you decide if you actually like me or not with my no-filter random self. LOL!!)
It’s interesting how things play out sometimes, and how one simple act can start a domino effect to something bigger.
I took the kiddos to the indoor play place today because the weather was crap and we needed something to do. Afterwards they wanted to go to Panera, which I am always happy to oblige because y’all know I love to eat. Ha! We went in, and walking in I saw the cutest kids with their mom by the door, and I told them both I loved their hair, especially the colors in the girl’s hair.
We walked up to the counter, ordered our food – the clerk asked dine-in or take out and I said dine-in. He responded that the restaurant was currently full and that there would probably be a wait to find a table. Not a problem, we don’t have anywhere else to be.
The kids and I stood around for 5-10 minutes, me eagle eyeing for an open seat or two, when I finally spotted a group of teens getting up from a table in the back, so I ushered the kids over and we grabbed our spot to eat. On my way to fill my drink, I notice the same mom and kiddos (adorable baby not pictured) glancing around the still packed to the gills dining room so I mention to her that I have a 6 person table I snagged in the back, and she’s welcome to sit with us, that we weren’t creepy (that I know of, LOL) – she accepted and we all sat down to eat.
It took about 3 minutes for the little boy to turn to Wyatt and in the sweetest voice offered to share his tablet, and within seconds the little girl sitting next to Tatum offered the same with hers. I sat there making some small talk and watching the kids happily play together like life-long friends and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if us adults could make friends so easily?? At which my next thought was, well, why the heck can’t we??? So I looked up at the mom and said, “You know, I’d be happy to share my phone number with you if you’d like to set up some play dates or something” at which she laughed and said she had just been thinking of saying the same thing.
Turns out they moved here mid-last year and haven’t had the chance to make many friends yet with everything going on and her kids were super excited to meet some other kids their ages (much like mine always are!!) that they could hang out with.
So, now we have a play date with new friends scheduled tomorrow, and the moral of the story is, I don’t really know what – but sometimes just a simple thing can open up the door to some great new friendships! So good to meet you and your adorable kids, Ashley! (I won’t tag you though until you decide if you actually like me or not with my no-filter random self. LOL!!)
I’m going to re-post this blog post I made at the end of March in 2019. Almost 3 years ago and it’s still relevant. Maybe this is selfish of me, and maybe it’s just me complaining or feeling sorry for myself, but you know what – it’s ok. If it triggers one person to check on a friend they haven’t spoken to in some time then I’ve done my part, and that’s all that matters.
Sometimes I run these little experiments in my head, because I enjoy the self-torture I guess. “What happens if I don’t initiate contact with people and they don’t currently need anything from me? How long does it take someone to ‘check in’?”
I know those are selfish “experiments”, and honestly I don’t know why I even do that to myself because I always end up disappointed and depressed about the “results”. Sometimes it can be days, weeks, or even months before a single word is spoken, and about half the time once that single word is spoken it’s because something is needed of me.
I’m a people-pleaser. I can’t help it, it’s just my nature. I want people to be happy, I want them to like me, I want them to have what they need to make them happy. But sometimes being a people-pleaser is a very lonely existence. Sometimes you give all you have and then some, and get left feeling like that little kid no one likes sitting by themselves on the playground. And it’s a shit feeling.
Being an adult in their 30’s-40’s and up is kind of a raw deal when it comes to friendships. You’re stuck somewhere between the seemingly “ride or die” friendships you had as a kid, where nothing really mattered except that you both liked Lisa Frank or riding bikes, and now friendships that consist of finding some parents of your kids’ friends that you have something in common with and can enjoy hanging out occasionally while your kids play. And honestly, that kind of stinks. I really miss the close-knit, note-passing-during-class, late night super deep phone calls, drop everything and go kind of friendships that came so easy when we were kids. It’s not so easy making those kinds of friends anymore.
So I guess in closing, I’m going to play on a lot of those memes that go around on Social Media, because it’s kind of ironic really. You know the ones I mean… “Check on your friends with (a, b, b….) – we are not ok!”
Check on them. You may never know how much it means to someone.
I’m truly terrible at updating this blog. Seriously – so much gets in my way. Work, Kid Activities, Living in general. I’m so easily distracted LOOK THERE’S A SQUIRREL!
For real though, I need to try to come here more, rely on this for my updates – Facebook and Instagram are starting to really piss me off with their algorithms that make it impossible for anyone interested (including my own family!) to see my posts so why not rely on a personal platform that is easily accessible (and not censored in any way) to everyone? Not that I post much that needs censored. LOL
The holidays are on their way, and I’ve started a new group (yes, it’s Facebook unfortunately) with lots of fun deals and steals for you to browse, so if that’s your thing come on and check it out and invite some friends!
I’ve been enjoying posting some stuff during the last few days and I hope you’re enjoying the discounts as well! Hopefully I’ll be better at keeping up with it than I am at this blog. LOL
I’ve been on the fence lately about keeping my “side-hustle”, The Carousel Cowgirl, open and running. I’ve been creating crafty things to sell on there since BC (before children) and nowadays building the effort to keep it up and going is a tremendous undertaking. I work part time, I have kid activities, I cook and generally take care of the house, I started coaching my daughter’s softball team, and somewhere in there I still need to find time for myself occasionally. I’m not complaining, life is full and it’s interesting, but something has to suffer, and it’s generally my craftiness that gets put on the backburner. Still mulling that one over.
Thanksgiving was great, we hosted and it’s always a wonderful time getting together with family. Today we tried like hell to avoid the shopping (Black Friday, anyone?), and instead took the kids for their annual photos with Santa. It’s always funny to stand in line because of all the different reactions the kids (especially the babies!) have to Santa. I still think my very favorite of all the Santa pics was my daughter at two months old in her precious Christmas dress sleeping snuggled in Santa’s arms. What a precious memory for all of us.
What are your favorite holiday traditions? Do you travel, or stay home? Celebrate with family or friends? I’d love to hear all about YOUR holiday stories!
If you know anything about me at this point after reading this blog, it’s that I LOVE planning! It doesn’t matter that I’m not really that busy of a person, or that it doesn’t really help me be all that more production, but I love to put my weekly tasks and appointments down on paper and decorate it with stickers and washi until it looks like Lisa Frank threw up on the page. Yup, I have a problem.
I love to flit from planner to planner and try ALL THE THINGS, but when it all comes down to it I always end up coming back to where it all started, a bullet journal. Some people like the minimalistic bullet journal, but I love the flexibility it gives me to just let my creativity loose on the page and see what I come up with. I’m not particularly amazing when it comes to artistic skills, but I can draw enough to make myself happy generally. I sure as hell can put some stickers and washi tape down, but the whole point to the process is really no more than getting my tasks and appointments down on paper and keeping them all organized in one place along with whatever thoughts, journaling, and doodles I come up with along the way.
So back to my trusty bullet journal I go this week, but this time I’m approaching it differently. Before my weekly and daily layouts were very routine and I didn’t change it up much. This time I want to challenge myself a little more and more. So…..
Not too bad for a 40 year old wanna-be arteest!
Between today and tomorrow I played with a couple of new daily layouts – I love using my Hourly Washi from Erin Condren, so of course that’s always in there somewhere (nevermind the fact I have zero on the calendar for tomorrow, that’s just icing on the proverbial cake) – I wanted to leave room for my daily journaling, but still be able to place my hourly schedule and tasks on the same page. When I did that, however, it left a blank page before I wanted to start next week’s weekly spread so I decided to go ahead and draw that Lighthouse I have been wanting to draw for a while.
Way back when I first started bullet journaling it would have bothered the heck out of me to put a monthly cover anywhere other than the first of the month before any weekly or daily spreads had been started. Thankfully I’ve evolved to where I don’t care about that anymore….. much. 😉 I had a spare page, and I used it, and I’m happy with it, and that’s all that matters!
Next I decided to work on a weekly spread that was a little different than my usual go-to. I wanted something crisp and clean looking but still fun and pleasing to look at. I looked around on Pinterest to gather some ideas and ended up going with this one – It has the month top left, with the current week highlighted, then beneath that is a weather tracker that I plan on putting little weather illustrations along with the high temp of the day. I drew myself a little plant underneath that because, well, I wanted to. There’s 8 lines beneath each day of the week to allow for plenty of calendar items, and a section for next week’s highlights, finally followed by a notes section on the left-hand side for me to jot down to-dos or things I need to remember.
I’m not going to lie, that drawing of the lighthouse, followed by the weekly spread took me probably 2.5-3 hours, but it felt good to spend some time doodling and doing things just for me for a while. My husband always thinks it’s weird that I can sit in the same place for hours jacking with a paper book, but for me it’s my time to organize my thoughts for the day and decompress – plus I spend a little time each evening journaling about the day’s memories. My hope is that some day when I’m older or gone, myself or my kids can look back on each of these books and remember/learn a little more about how good life has been to me and my family, and enjoy a little peek into the past. I know I love to look back over the memory keeping I’ve done so far for sure! <3
One of the interesting things in particular about this trip… We arrived at our AirBnB to find the street in front almost completely clogged with parked cars and construction crews. There was a lady standing almost in front of the house we were staying in so I hopped out of the car to see if there was any issue with yup parking there.
I learned from talking with her throughout the weekend that they were actually filming a show at one of the houses across the street!! The show was originally called “Big Texas Fix” for the first season, and was showing on HGTV! Seasons 2 and 3 were rebranded “Restoring Galveston” and is airing on the DIY Network.
It’s a gutting!!
The little house across the street is one of EIGHT they’re working on throughout the island right now, and they were finishing up this one over the few days we were staying here! According to the owner of OUR house that we were staying in, before they started this house was considered “unsalvageable” – so the transformation has been amazing to say the least!!
Today they’re working on shooting the BIG REVEAL, and it’s been interesting to watch the stars of the show, Michael and Ashley, and their multiple takes from different angles. My dad in particular has been fascinated by the progress and the flurry of activity going on all day and night.
The Big Reveal!
The house is TINY, but it’s super cute! Looking at it now it’s hard to believe it was scheduled to be demolished! My crew member (remember the lady from the first day?) “insider” was telling me they specifically buy houses scheduled to be demolished and completely redo them. Can’t wait to see this air on the show, which of course we have to watch now!! She said this will be Season 3, probably episode 2-3, and it’ll air sometime in the fall, so that’ll give me plenty of time to catch up on the seasons I didn’t know existed! 😉
