Indigo Luna

Blue Haired Ladies

I know some people like to make grand plans for the final three day weekend of the school year.  I suppose we could have gone to the beach or camping or at least barbecued something.  Instead, we put up a shelf in the kids' room and dyed blue streaks in our hair.

The hair project actually turned out to be much more time consuming than I planned for.  First, we had to get everyone's hair washed and dried.  Getting Rowan to wash her hair can sometimes take an entire weekend in and of itself.  It's not really the hair washing that she objects to per se.  She just really hates getting out of the shower and being cold.  The only way I can get her to agree to taking a shower is by running the heater in the bathroom until the environment is suitable for growing orchids.

Next came bleaching the parts we wanted blond, wrapping them with plastic wrap and waiting for them to turn the desired shade - or non-shade as the case may be.  Then, more washing and drying but this time in the sink with the sprayer - no heater required.  And finally, an artistic application of bright blue, more plastic wrap and more waiting followed by yet more rinsing and drying.  Whew!

It turned out pretty dang cool if I do say so myself.  And I do.

Digging in the Dirt

We had our Summer tease this past weekend.  Every year we get at least a few days of crazy hot weather in the Spring that make you long for Summer.  We had weather in the 90's for 3 or 4 days and now that everyone has broken out the tank tops and flip flops, it's raining again.  And we have four more weeks of school to get through before vacation begins.  Sigh.

Happily, I got my wish for reclaiming the garden this weekend!  We had someone come and plow a huge area after my mother-in-law's boyfriend weedwhacked the jungle that had grown up where the garden used to be.  I didn't think it would be possible to use all that space but I ended up planting almost the entire area.  The girls and I planted zucchini, crookneck squash, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers, oodles of tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, strawberries, corn, potatoes, artichokes, savory, oregano, catnip and 32 basil plants!  Whew!

 

I really enjoy digging in the dirt.  I find gardening to be oddly satisfying.  I love the meditative process of digging and planting and I love that after all the work of getting it planted, it will give us back delicious food.  I love going out in the evenings to water the plants and walking out to the garden in the morning to check on their progress.  I love peeking under the leaves to see what new goodies have ripened and I love picking fresh veggies to feed my family.  Working in the garden is incredibly grounding.  My mind clears and I feel calm and centered among the plants and dirt.

Last week Gabe brought home a tree.  Some people's husbands pick up stray dogs or cats.  My husband brings home stray trees.  He was taking his lunchtime walk during work and found this rather large maple sapling languishing in a drainage ditch so he put it in the back of his truck and brought it home.  We planted it in the backyard and it seems to be recovering quite nicely.  Half of its leaves had been stripped away and the branches were slimy with algae.  Now, it is growing new buds and leaves and looks like it will thrive and grow.  It feels like we made a new friend.  We have lots of trees on our property but no maples and I love the shape of the leaves and the wonderful colors they turn in the Fall.

I taped a big sheet of butcher paper to the wall in the hallway last week and the girls and I have started brainstorming ideas for things to do this Summer.  Seeing how much they have enjoyed helping me with the flower and vegetable gardens, we'll have to plan some outdoor projects for sure.  I think it is time to quit living in limbo and put down some roots.

Before and After

 

For Mother's Day I decided it would be fun to finally put some flowers in the old planter bed under the deck.  It's something I have been planning to do for many years now but it just keeps getting shoved down to the bottom of the list.  The flowerbed is right outside the window when I sit at the computer and I'm excited about having a prettier view!

Here's the before pictures:

Maddy loves to work in the garden so she was quite happy to get her grubbies on and dig in the dirt.  It didn't take us too long to dig out all the weeds and get the bed ready for planting.  Then came the fun part - picking out plants!  We all trooped down the farm store and wandered through looking at all the amazing flowers.  It was hard to narrow down our choices!  We decided to pick out some plants for my mother-in-law, too so she could have her own little flower bed.

 

The girls had great fun planting all the flowers.  I'm glad I have kids who like to dig in the dirt.  My mother is an amazing gardener with a stunning yard and her mother also loved flowers and working outside.  I love sharing that with my girls and I love having a Mother's Day gift that will brighten my day every time I look out the window for years to come.

What Happened to April??

Life seems to be flying by at an incredible pace lately.  My "to do" list just keeps getting longer and longer and the house grows more slovenly by the minute.  I've neglected this blog and my Etsy shops terribly lately.  It's all I can do to keep my head above water.  I am counting the days until Summer!

Even though things seem crazy, we are settling into a rhythm.  Suddenly having a two parent working family requires some major schedule juggling and more organization then we really are used to.  We tend to be pretty lackadaisacal about most things and it is coming back to bite us in the ass.  We've had to get serious about getting the kids on a schedule and asking them to be more responsible for taking care of themselves.  I can't spend all my time searching for homework, socks and shoes and nagging them to brush their teeth and get to bed at a reasonable hour.  They haven't been exactly thrilled but they've adjusted better than I thought they would.

Maddy turned 11 last month which is sort of blowing my mind.  She is such a tween now it's not even funny.  She was in a play at school which meant I had to curl her hair and do her makeup.  The first time I got her ready I was just stunned by how grown up and gorgeous she looked!  I turned to Gabe and said, "Oh my God!  She's going to be stunning!  We're going to have to beat the boys off with a stick soon!"  Yikes. 

She was amazing in the play.  I couldn't believe how confident and expressive she was up there.   She sang and danced and acted and I just kept thinking, "That's my daughter!  Wow!"  She has grown and changed so much in the last couple of years.

We had a slumber party here for Maddy's birthday with four girls spending the night in the playroom which we decorated with an undersea theme.   The following weekend the girls went to a slumber party at a friend's house and we had our very first night at home without either of the girls.  They are growing up so fast!

I am really looking forward to the summer although it will be strange having Gabe gone at work during the week.  Hopefully, we'll be able to keep ourselves busy enough that we won't drive each other crazy.  As usual, I have oodles of plans and lists of things I want to get done.  I need to come up with a schedule and stick to it.  I have such a hard time being self-disciplined in the face of so much free time.  I will definitely have to limit my computer time.  I get sucked in so easily and suddenly the whole day disappears.  I think I'll get a big sheet of butcher paper and the girls and I can brainstorm things to do over the summer.  That way, when the inevitable complaints of boredom begin, we can go find something on the list to do.

OK, I can cross "update the damned blog!" off of my to do list for today.  Only 40 or 50 more things on the list....