Tag: stay at home mom

The Garden is GROWING

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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!
Caluiflower – Snow Crown
Cauliflower – Flame Star
Cauliflower – Lavender

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 AM
Monday 8/1/22 PM
Monday 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!!

Opening the door…

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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!!)

Opening the door…

admin

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!!)

Play it again…

admin

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.

“Social Media – A Love/Hate Relationship”

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.

Back on the Bullet Journal Wagon….. Again ;-)

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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

SNOVID-21

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Well, it officially happened last week…. Hell froze over.

A small lake near my home in Texas, TEXAS y’all, that froze over so thick you could walk on it (not that I’d recommend that, of course.)

The snow started last Sunday evening and it all went to heck in a handbasket from there. SO MANY lost power and water, including my In-laws who finally gave up after three sleepless nights of below 40 degrees in their condo and braved the roads to make it here where we were lucky enough to have not lost power. The lakes froze over so thick people were actually ice skating on them. Stores, if they were open, quickly ran completely out of milk, eggs, water, bread, and meat. Maybe y’all think we’re a bunch of weenies if you live up north but the fact of the matter is Texas is, as a whole, completely unprepared for this kind of disaster. Tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, fires, we have the resources to deal with those. -2 degrees and a snowmaggedon? Nope. It just never happens down here, until now.

Wildly enough, the snow began to melt Friday after over a week of sub-freezing temperatures and by Saturday afternoon is was mostly gone… leaving behind a path of destruction in the form of previously frozen water pipes bursting like balloons. It’s not good…. so many homes and businesses are still without water, or have had to shut it off to minimize the destruction. It’s insane. Also insane? It hit 73 degrees here today.

Can’t go -2 degrees to 73 in one week, you say? Texas says: “Hold my beer.”

In the meantime I entertained myself by working a 60+ hour work week completely in panic mode alongside my team (also in panic mode), arguing with my kids who were batshit crazy from being cooped up, and taking pictures of the cats snuggled up together for warmth.

But today it was positively decent outside, and we started to assess my succulent gardens, which I’m super sad to say did not survive. I’m going to have to completely redo them this year. Honestly though, in the grand scheme of things we’re extremely lucky to have had heat and water the entire week, so there’s no way I’m going to complain.

And now I’m back to planning a normal week full of grocery runs and swim / art lessons and it’s weird, honestly, after the cluster that was last week but here we are, and it’s Texas, and like they always say….

“If you don’t like the weather here, wait 5 minutes…”

Thinking inside the box…

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Leaving my Target run and as I’m loading my things on the belt at the register I start thinking to myself, this is weird, literally every single thing I am purchasing is in a cardboard box. Right about the time I’m thinking this through the cashier looks up at the belt and says, “Wow, everything you’re buying is in a box!” and gives me a funny look…

What can I say, at least I’m consistent in my weirdness. 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤣

I can… and I will.

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It’s been a hot minute since I posted here, almost two months in fact. What’s been holding me back, you ask? ME. I’ve been holding me back.

A friend and I were talking at lunch today, and we were discussing motivational issues (mostly mine). She was giving me some tips and tricks on things that helped her stay on task, and it really started to perk me up. “That sounds pretty easy”, I was thinking to myself, but in reality it’s not. Focus and discipline are hard work, but if you put into it what you want to get out of it, then it will become as natural as breathing.

While we were tossing ideas about, we both kind of stumbled on a phrase I found really important, and I think this phrase can apply to ALL creative types, regardless of genre: Creatively Overwhelmed.

I think this is an important phrase to describe where I frequently find myself in life. I have all these great ideas floating around in my head, and I KNOW the things I am good at and COULD be GREAT at if given the chance, but especially as a mother I frequently find myself distracted, straying away from those ideas, or even forgetting them entirely in lieu of something else that popped in at the last minute. Can anyone else relate? It happens to me all the time and it’s really starting to get me down.

I Can… and I Will…

People made a big deal this year about “One Word.” One word that describes your plan for the year. I feel like ONE word for the entire year may be pushing it for me. Maybe smaller goals, some that will push me a little but are otherwise easily achievable, might be MY answer.

So starting August 1st (well, if you want to be technical about it, August 2nd), I’m going to focus on “One Word” a month. One word that showcases or encompasses the goal I have for myself that month. One word for one goal that I CAN, and I WILL achieve. One thing at a time.

This month’s word is “MOTIVATION” – and this weekend will see me writing down and brainstorming answers to the question: “How do I MOTIVATE myself each day to get both the tasks I NEED to get done for both my business and personal life, as well as a couple tasks from my WANT to get done list?”

How do YOU get your MOTIVATION in check? I’m a planner by nature, so my first thought is better scheduling for my “free” time. Even though I don’t have a “real job” per se, I need to schedule myself hourly as if I do. Plan a set amount of time to focus on ONE task and not get sidetracked. Treat both my craft business AND my blog like a “real job” (because I WANT IT TO BE, so why shouldn’t I work for it?) and prioritize my day.

I’d love to know, though, how my readers get it all done! What have you found helpful in scheduling both your personal and professional life? What tricks do you use to MOTIVATE yourself to strive to be your best? Leave them in the comments, and I can’t wait to hear!

I’m kind of a big deal…

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Me in all my nerdy glory

Well, not really, but after THIS INTERVIEW with me from Kristin from Exploring Domesticity came out on her blog today I kinda feel like it.

(If you can’t get that link to work here it is in all its glory: https://exploringdomesticity.com/jamies-mom-life)

Seriously y’all, after a really tough, trying day with both kids (the boy in particular) I actually needed to read through this interview again myself and remind myself all of the little joys in parenting and ALSO to stay as low-key as I possibly can. Believe me, it’s hard enough sometimes taking my own advice, but it’s fairly sound….. I think.

Make sure you take a look around while you’re over there, such a fun website full of awesome tips! <3