Patio Jungle

Pruning was the task today. I’ve got lots of overgrown stuff that isn’t really producing flowers or fruit at the moment . . . so out came the pruning sheers.

Hiding, quite successfully, in my potted Mum was this little guy . . .

What, I’m assuming, is a Tree Frog.

I jokingly called my patio chaos of plants and flowers, a jungle, but was thoroughly surprised at the sight of Mr. Frog here. I live on a relatively busy street, in an apartment, surrounded by other apartments.

He didn’t wait long to leave our temporary holding cell there . . . he’s now bringing his heart-rate down under the planted whiskey barrel. 🙂 Think of the story he has to tell his friends. . . crazy humans . . . staring . . . like they’ve never seen a frog before.

Off he goes, into the wilds of the whiskey barrel and limbs of the giant vining tomato . . . wild.

Speaking of wild . . . check these Marigolds

No two blooms are alike. Man, I wish I would of written down the type of Marigold these are! I grew them from seed and they are nutty.

All twisted and kinda insane . . . then, from the same plant . . . you have;

Now, I believe this is the ideal . . . the way they are suppose to look. Neatly put together and pretty in pictures. Kind of like me . . . on my good days, my house is squeaky clean, my kids’ face are clean and all is in order; dinner on the table and wash folded and put away . . . BUT then there are those days, the laundry overflows from the dirty hamper, boys run rampant with their dirt and jelly stained faces, dinner? Crap, I’m out of everything! Twisted, a bit insane, but still beautiful . . . full of God’s love and goodness. It just might not be pretty in pictures.

Sorry little side thought there. 🙂

That was our excitement this morning . . . guess I should make sure I have stuff to make for dinner.

Blessing on your weekend!

Flowers, Patio Garden and Stuff

I’ve really enjoyed decking my apartment patio in flowers this year. Most everything, except the Petunias and Strawberry plants I started as seed. So it was fun to watch it grow and take over my patio space.

The Nasturtium being the most prolific thus far, though the vining Cherry Tomato plant I decided to go with is slowly catching up.

It has currently hit the patio roof and I’ve strung it so it now is growing up and out of the patio covering. It has green tomatoes all over it . . . but I’ve gotten a half dozen or so red ones so far. Slow going this year with such cool weather.

Those were three I picked yesterday . . . Justin promptly ate them whole . . . all three of them.

My favorite flower I’ve planted this year is the plain jane Marigold, with a little frilly kick . . .

Orange and yellow, they stand on 2-3 ft stems . . . very nice touch!

Of course the Nasturtium and Mums are at full force . . . actually the Nasturtium is slowing down a tad. I didnt mean for so much orange and yellow but that’s how it turned out this year . . . I’m already planning next year, granted we’re not in a house by then.

My Mums were the most surprising. This plant is over 3 years old and has never grown this big before, or bloomed like this before. But, I did something right and it took off and proceeded to eat the patio post in the process.

So prolific . . . I don’t whether to blame Miracle Grow fertilizer, sun or the new soil we bought this year, but something clicked. 🙂 It makes me happy . . . like a piece of sunshine on my patio.

I just took a few photos yesterday. 🙂

Nasturtium blooms are beautiful but not as photogenic  . . .

My Mint and Sage are doing pretty good still, though the Mint has bloomed and seems to be dying back now.

I can’t wait to have a big ol’yard that I can litter with amazing flowers and plants and a gigantuan garden . . . but til then, I’ll make the best of the patio space I’m allowed. And grateful the office staff haven’t complained about my jungle hanging over the patio railing. 🙂

 

Change

Life is always going to shift and change. But today I’m grateful for the mundane of summer days and being home with my boys!

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I Love Oregon

We’ve been throwing really, way up in the air, ideas around about moving. Moving from, what I consider, my home state of Oregon. I’ve been here since I turned 9 years old. That’s a long time.

I started riding horses for people around 12 years old. That started with Elizabeth, and then Ed . . . both went to my parent’s church. Then Frank, where Ed occasionally boarded his horses. Frank’s house was my absolute favorite. His house and property backed into BLM land . . . hills and hills of forest and logging roads, peppered with the random house. I drug my friends, sisters and random people out to trail ride. I trail rode by myself, unwisely. Wild Irises, thick forests and the smell of rich soil. Those memories will never leave me. I get into the Willamette Valley woods, even today, and memories and that sweet essence of youth invades my senses. The creak and smell of leather and horse sweat. The occasional bear and deer. Heaven.

When we moved to Springfield, I was 16. I sold my 2 year colt (my first real horse) and gave up riding Sonoma, the Mustang and Miles, the most beautiful Arab/Morgan auction mutt I have ever laid eyes on. We were just too far from Cottage Grove. I took up hiking. Something about the forest and wannabe mountains.

10 years later I found myself making the drive from Eugene to Cottage Grove with my eldest sister to ride horse that belonged to her boyfriend’s parents. And, once again, I found my heaven . . . BLM forest and logging roads. Endless trail riding and great mounts. Earth, horse sweat, mud, stall mucking, leather, trees, fresh air, and dirt . . . oh, and the flock of wild turkeys that frequented the area.

That ended over time, nearly 7 years ago. I heard the mare I loved so much went permanently lame. Bummer. Justin and I moved to Salem. I rarely get out in the woods anymore. I’m finding, here, I have to drive quite a bit to hit wannabe mountains and good hiking trails.

We’ve been talking Texas. Austin to be exact. Hours from the ocean. Hours and hours and hours from the mountains, wannabe or not. Pretty area, in it’s own right . . . according to the millions of photos and houses I’ve looked at. But no Oregon. I wonder if I will regret moving from Oregon, if we end up going through with it. If it’s just being here in Salem that has me so dissatisfied. Do we really need to move half a country away? Maybe we just need to move to the real mountains, here. The Cascades. No job change, no drastic uprooting, and still in beloved Oregon.

Anyway, so far we have debated Austin, TX, Sandy, OR (me fav so far), Trinity, TX (my parents have family land down there), Tri-Cities, WA (mostly because that is where my parents are now), Portland, OR (for the obvious), and to just stay put, here in Salem. There are others, I just can’t think of them.

Right now I’m feeling pretty nostalgic about Oregon

How could I leave out our annual Christmas tree cut-down. =D

Eastern Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge . . . those are windmills on the distant slopes

Eagle Creek

Eagle Creek, also up the Columbia River Gorge

Multnomah Falls, heading up the Columbia River Gorge.

Me and my "windshield" shots =D . . . Driving up to Mt Hood

Mt Hood Ski Bowl area this past winter.

Attempting to fly a kite in Lincoln City, OR

Newport, OR . . . caught one of the amazing sunsets over the Pacific

Tobias at the Oregon Coast

Lincoln City, OR . . . The boys playing near the surf

I think I’ve taken for granted . . . and plumb near forgot . . . just how beautiful it is here, especially in the mountains and valley (personal opinion).

I think it’s time for a good ol’fashioned hiking/camping trip!

*******UPDATE******

The evening after writing this post, my sweet, most awesomely delicious husband came home and told me some good news. I can’t share yet . . . gotta make sure it’s all down pat . . . but we are NOT going anywhere! 🙂 Answers to so many prayers are sitting at our door step! More info to come, in the next few weeks.

Summertime Antics

I love visiting my parents.

The boys loved being able to play outside . . . whenever and however they wanted (within reason). Apartment living has it’s perks and downers. No yard is a major downer!

However the wanted . . . Even if it meant in the buff.

My parents and I are inside for a few moments, look outside and Sam’s clothes were nowhere to be found. They are playing in the slip and slide sprinkler. Woe, at your own risk, buddy.

The boys did more than just slip and sliding stark naked . . . that just sounds wrong. Nope, we went the park.

The splash pads are always great fun!

And we tend to be a bit more modest in public, thankfully.

And then we were off to the ice cream truck with Granny. Too bad it ended up being closed. 🙂 But Mcdonalds, on the way home, hit the spot for that ice cream treat.

And then there’s Max, the Blue Macaw. My dad’s pet bird. Wow, that’s a loose statement, if I’ve ever seen one. I’m amazed at the busyness, the destruction, the affection and the playfulness of this beautiful species! He steals the show, that one.

Here playing with my mom . . . He flips over upside down, on purpose and proceeds to be super silly.

Still hanging with my mom, he’s busy chewing up a plastic dinosaur.

His wings are clipped. But that does not deter the love of the treetops!

Pretending to be wild, as if he knows what that means. 🙂

Byron came with us, of course.

After running himself ragged, a snooze in the sun proved lovely.

Most of the time he was schmoozing, attempting to get my parents to adopt him . . . which they probably would if I weren’t so darned attached to him.

We got haircuts from Granny.

We played in the kiddy pool, which the boys insisted on pulling the sides down on so they could slide across.

We read books with Granny. Correction: Tobias and Samuel read books with Granny. I kissed Granny’s feet for putting them to bed several nights in a row!

We ran and played and enjoyed the parks.

Mostly, I relaxed and enjoyed my mom and dad’s company, food and great coffee. All the other stuff was sheer bonus! 🙂

Thank you mom and dad for spoiling us once again! We won’t stay away too long, promise! 🙂

Patio Garden Update of Sorts

I was away from home for two weeks. My friend, Tina watered my plants for me. I came home to a jungle:

This photo was taken a day before I left home. Like June 24 or somewhere thereabout. Justin had just said something along the lines of “your patio garden needs more color.”

What? Green ain’t good enough for ya?

Anyway . . . I came home July 9th, to this:

Well, almost to this. I strung the vines up, obviously after I came home. 🙂

Some other photos of my untamed wilds of a garden:

This is the banister to the right, as of 6/24/11

It went completely nutso while I was away!

My whiskey barrels have a little bit of Nasturtium (see the vine hanging there) but most of it is Tomato plants and Strawberry plants.

Wow! Bright photo. Anyway . . . my tomato plant is getting giganticus . . . my big mint, in front of the tomato in the right barrel is seeding out and slowly dieing. 😦

This year has been fun for gardening. I lost most of my hanging baskets. They just were so root bound and wouldn’t drain the excess water. I transplanted my Fuschia today (the plant closest to me on the right hand side), so it’s no longer hanging. 🙂 I think I’ll save my money next year and skip the hanging baskets . . . though I’ve thought about making a few on my own, with Nasturtium . . . probably my favorite plant this year!

I can’t fit anything more on my patio. At all.

MINE!

I have fond affections for my truck. Yes, MY truck . . . Justin thinks he’s part owner, but, in reality, is mine. Don’t tell him

It’s not a top of the line anything. It even has a few years (11) of usage under it’s belt. It doesn’t matter. I still hold it’s black gargantuan self on a pedestal of love and appreciation.

It eats gas like its made of cotton candy . . . melting my money away in the saliva of life.

I had it “trip checked” at Les Schwab before heading out on our drive to my parent’s. I also had the oil and other levels checked at Oil Can Henry’s before hitting the highway (I might be a tad paranoid). Oil Can Henry’s employee told me the coolant was near empty and to keep an eye on that during our trip.

It never acted like it was getting hot, so I didn’t worry about it until the next day, after arriving, and my dad and I checked it. We added nearly a gallon of coolant.

Yeah, that’s bad.

My Aunt Bev and Uncle Rick have lived here for 30+ years and they recommended their mechanic at Tri-City Auto Repair (Pasco). I explained my coolant was leaking and brought it to them this morning.

Afraid it was going to be a 200 dollar repair, I was prepared for bad news . . . But, thank God, it was only a 75$ repair. A clip was bad on the upper radiator hose (there must be more than one hose to the radiator, learn something new everyday).

Grateful it was so minor!

We had a great time picnicking at the park today. Someone invited the Seagulls. The boys fed and chased the gulls, played in the water features and on the playground. After spending even more time out in the backyard in the kid pool and getting into Grandpa’s decorative rock in the flower beds for the umpteenth time, nap time ensued. 3 hours later, they are up and watching cartoons in Granny’s room; a favorite.

I miss Justin. He had to stay behind due to work, tons and tons of work. 😦 Distance makes a heart grow fonder . . . true dat!

I hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July weekend!! No crazy plans here. Maybe go down and watch the fireworks over the river. We’ll see.

Stroller Dreams

Strollers, jogging strollers in particular, are fabulous inventions. For six years now I’ve loaded my two monsters into my dinosaur (name of my old but awesome j. stroller) and putted off to wherever my heart desired . . . water park – we’re there, library – long walk, but doable, River Front Park to ride the carousel – perfect walk, etc. No chasing kids, lots of pockets for lunches to be stored and wet clothes to be carted home, even a bottom shelf/pocket for larger items and my purse. I tied Byron (crazy Jack Russell) on the side and it worked great for him.

This was in 2008

 

The boys were treated to hot chocolate or chocolate milk, depending on the weather, and snacks. They thought this was a great arrangement! 🙂 And, most of all, it gave me a break, returning a portion of my sanity. Much of the time, Sam would conk out and sleep most the way. Look how little they are in that photo above! Sam would have been about a year and a half or so, still bald and baby-chubby.

We’re ready to roll here. 🙂 Sam is nearly 2 here and Tob 3. That has been a super-trusty jogging stroller!

HAHA! Movies at the park, River Front Park, Salem, OR. Trusty dinosaur and some frickin’ cute boys . . . Sam’s face cracks me up!

Ok, I have to admit I had a computer that nearly crashed. An aged and dilapidated PC that I managed to upload all my photo files onto an exterior drive before it totally burned out! – thanks to my amazingly smart hubby. 🙂 That exterior drive was set in our room and forgotten for the past 2 years. I drug it out today to find some older photos of the monsters riding around in the dinosaur. Now I’m drowning in thousands of photos of them, so young, so baby, so wonderful. Memories flood back at the sight of a lot of these photos. Almost makes me want to have another . . . almost.

Oh my sweetness . . . this is killin’ me . . .

Killing me, I tell you. This was quite the summer. We had one car. Justin was in school, year ’round and regularly completing 20 + credits a term. We lived off financial aid and state aid . . . not really enough to make it, but with God anything is possible (family was AMAZINGLY  supportive!). Due to the one car, I was without 90% of the time.  I walked and jogged a lot. I was also the sole caregiver, nearly all the time, with both boys. Parks and outings were our escape. I can’t get over this being only 3 years ago . . .  and already 3 years ago. So close, but so long gone.

Yep, this is where HOT chocolate would have been the desired drink. This is November of 2008.

We do a lot more of this now . . . bikes and scooters and running amok. Chocolate milk will only bribe for a minute or so and then they want out of the stroller. I think this is the year the stroller finds a new family, if anyone will have the ol’girl.

Six good years of pushing my monsters around. I got in the best shape of my life pushing that, and the boys, jogging. Now I’m going to have to get a bit creative this summer with the outdoor exercise.

I have found I’m quite short tempered with the tykes when we’re out riding on the sidewalks, near roads with a good bit of traffic flow . . . and it’s stressful to keep them herded and in line. Does ‘herded’ and ‘in line’ mean the same thing? Perhaps. Anyway, STRESSFUL! Much less so when I could contain them in a stroller.

Dreaming of strollers today . . .

 

 

Schools Out, Strawberries and Other Random Thoughts

My eldest is currently out of school. Yesterday was his last day of Kindergarten. He asked to go visit Ms Patterson already. He loved his teacher this year.

I’m clamoring for things to do with these munchkins all summer. They’ve got VBS coming up in a week or two. Then I’m thinking I need to get them signed up at some of the Kroc Center day camps. A tiny bit on the expensive side but it will give them a creative outlet and give me some down time. We’ll see if we can swing it.

If the sun would come out more often, it would be helpful. Just sayin’.

Speaking of sun. I love strawberries!

The blooms!

This is the first year growing Strawberries and I’m hooked!

The rest of my patio garden experiment seems to be going pretty well. Just struggling with my Fuschia plants . . . but, from what I understand, thats pretty normal. Aphids took a major loss in life with my diluted Dawn detergent remedy. I was happy to see the little buggers die, truly.

Plus, I’ve spotted these sweet little Ladybugs more and more . . . they will aid in the decimation of the Aphid. Oh yes! 🙂

Anyway, I’m out . . . . gotta go water and stare at my plants . . . Oh, and find something for the tots to do today.

 

 

The Past Few Days

My computer was MIA the last few days . . . thanks to hubby snagging it for work. The weather has sucked. Rain, rain and more rain . . . like monsoon style rain, followed by amazing breaks of sun and rainbows. The rain sucks though.

Samuel came down with a stomach thing on Friday of last week and it lasted, puking, diarrhea, the whole shabang, until Tuesday morning. He’s all better now . . . and he’s the only one that got it; weird!!

To sum up my really exciting weekend: slept, held sam, cleaned house, repeat. We were indoors all weekend and then the monsoons of 2011 came and we’ve holed up inside so much, oh my gosh, so much . . . I saw insanity approaching and she wasn’t very pretty.

Today, gorgeous . . . in case you were looking, not for an interesting blog post, but a weather report for Salem, Oregon. 😉

So, my weekend comprised of nursing a sick little boy that just wanted to be held, and staving off Tobias’ pent up destructive energies. 🙂

He’s not really destructive, Tobias, he just needs running outside time.

Tuesday, thankfully Sam started feeling better, the babysitter showed up on time, and we blew this popsicle stand asap!

Bridgeport Village is where we went . . . I know, we stuck to a plan! Surely there is brownie points somewhere for us. We did make it to Sinju, but after we stopped off at Eye Styles to order my new glasses. Happy Birthday to ME! 🙂 I haven’t ordered glasses in over 10 years! I wear contacts regularly but love to wear glasses. My sister gave me her last pair and I had lenses put in. I’m cheap like that. Anyway, EXCITED! They should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

We shopped around a bit and then went to eat at Sinju.  Oh, so recommended! It is on the top of my list of favorite places to eat!

Just look how happy I am . . .

Oh, I’m not the only happy one . . .

Yeah, photos bring out our nerdy.

Ok, get this. Tobias graduated kindergarten. I forgot my camera. I have photos on my phone but have no connector thingy majig to upload them here. What dorky mother forgets her camera AND video camera at her kid’s kindergarten celebration graduation thing? Me. Thats who. 😦

Kinder graduation was yesterday. We also attempted to go to the park, though the rain finally won that battle and we left.

Oh, what a handsome boy! Speaking of my handsome, Kindergarten graduate . . .

That’s right, thats a really freaky photo of Tob after he lost his first tooth! Too many milestones for such an uneventful weekend. 🙂

Just in case the other one didn’t freak you out . . . thought I’d share this one.

Forecast is for hot weather this weekend, like 80 degrees! Summer, I believe, is upon us! I am a happy camper . . . 🙂 Oh, and no one is puking . . . which makes me deliriously happy!