Crafting playground and Big Fish

I need to make a skirt today...I've made my daughter, Cora, a few items in the past; however, when one of my friends saw the skirt I made (made with Dia de los Muertos fabric) she and her daughter fell in love with it! Now, I need to make her daughter one! They brought the fabric last weekend...and I haven't had any time to set up the sewing maching (much less actually sew) - this is another reason I can't wait to have a house - the plan is to have a set crafting area. Imagine a place where all my fabric is sorted out, yarn (along with my crochet hooks and knitting needles) will be easily accessible, the sewing machine will always be set up and ready to go and a list of started/potential projects will be pinned into the board on the wall. Ahh sound nice doesn't it?

We went to Grand Lake St. Mary yesterday - I actually had to do some store visits in the area (for work) so I grabbed the family and off we went. It's such a nice (long) ride...but what an amazing sight when the lake peeks out from the farm land. It's too cold to get into the water yet - but we plopped down on the rocks and just stared at the water. Ever see the movie Big Fish? I dry out too if I'm out of the water too long. My energy is drained. This place has me drained. I don't understand the nonsense destruction - for example, we went to our garden yesterday and someone had disconnected our hose from the rain barrel and turned the barrel to ON - so it drained all 55 gallons into the ground around the barrel. There was no benefit to them for this. Just waste. Just disrespect for other peoples things. It's disappointing to say the least.

However - AUGUST...sweet August. That is the plan - out the door August 1. We've been waiting for work to give us the word on when/if they want me to move to another location for a new program...but we are going to take control of our own destiny. If we haven't heard anything by the first of August the plan is to move to another place and go month-to-month for a while - hopefully we will hear something before then though and give us new hope and new dates to look forward to.

Mark graduates in LESS than three weeks (2 weeks - 6 days to be exact) - JOY! We are going to be doing the graduation announcements today and hopefully sending them out Mon/Tues!!

MOOSE

So sad...took a walk to the garden with Blue this morning and found that someone or something had eaten a good majority of our strawberries. I was so mad. I immediately assumed that one of the nightmare neighbors had something to do with this. However, I saw one of my favorite little guys and we talked about how the strawberries were gone - he seemed genuinely surprise by this. But then our conversation quickly changed with a "guess what I saw!!!!" - "what?" I said just as excited..."A MOOSE" - this little guy was so excited to tell me about the BIG moose he saw (of course I assumed he meant TOY moose) - but then he proceeded to tell me about how the moose got scared and ran down the road toward the park. WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE!!?? Have I mentioned that I live in Southwest Ohio and last time I checked...moose ain't from around these parts!? So I looked at him and said "do you mean a deer?" and with the CUTEST grin, like he just realized how silly he sounded (and he's only four), he goes "oh yeah...deer" (grin). Aww my heart just melted - so cute. I laughed and we talked about deer and how neat that was to see a deer just walking around in our suburban neighborhood and that MAYBE just maybe it was actually the deer not the little bastards that ate our berries. We talked about how he shouldn't go up to a deer (as memories of my first deer approach flooded my brain - along with the snort and hoof pound "challenge" that the deer offered me). I also told him to tell me when he sees Mr. Deer again - because I'm a little jealous!
The pots might be on the move...I don't know - I just don't want to lose EVERYTHING...ALL the time. It's so frustrating.

Masochist

Ok...ok...I posted to FB that I must be a masochist because I did it! I planted the garden. I spent three hours in my garden yesterday with Drake, Cora and one of the neighborhood boys weeding, cutting back the grass that surrounds the area, planting all kinds of goodies, adding the wire "protectors" around the planting hills and installing tomato stakes. FWEW! We planted corn, beans, butternut and acorn squash, pumpkin, tomatoes (regular and cherry), cucumbers, green peppers and carrots. I need to get some good compost to add a layer to the potato boxes. There is one bed that we aren't going to use this year and I need to pull down the rest of the leftover lettuce from last season. I also need to build a couple trellises We should be good to go after that.
While I hate to put so much energy into something, just to have it destroyed or to move away from it - I just love watching it grow. I just love the taste of fresh fruits and veggies. I love our walks to the back of the building and watching our children explore the gardens for signs of life. I just keep thinking about our home with our gardens and our animals. I keep thinking about the Florida potential in our lives and imagine this beautiful lush farm mixed in with neighbors who are struggling to grow grass in sand. I imagine us composting and collecting our rain to grow the food that will feed my children.
On a side note - we received a letter about Gage - he has been accepted into the Math honors 7 program for next year. If he does well - then he will go into Algebra I in 8th grade (PROUD MAMA)...in addition, his art teacher sent us a hand written letter requesting that Gage join the art club next year, due to his unique style. Cora and Drake are doing amazing too! I'm really excited to see what this next year brings us.

Frustrated

I'm frustrated - I think I'm giving in for the garden this year...throwing in the towel. I'm hoping that I can kick this feeling - but I'm really frustrated. There is nothing in the ground (just what we have in the pots). Don't get me wrong...we have a TON in pots - but the regular beans, squash, tomatoes etc. NADA! My seeds are a wreck! The starter pots were trashed - someone came along and flipped them over. I hate this place. I hate feeling stuck. I wish I had answers. I wish I could see growth on the horizon. I'm losing hope. The excitement I felt a couple of weeks ago is met with weeks of no more words...Did I mention that I'm frustrated?
The only positive today is that Mark is graduating 4 weeks from Saturday!

Breaking the ground for our Orchard!

What a great Mother's day! I had a wonderful day with all five kids! I woke up to hugs and kisses in bed...followed by Krispy Kreme...followed by my presents (painted terracotta pots, handmade cards with coupons for massages, foot rubs and entire days without fighting and more hugs). We chilled out some of the day and then went to Hidden Valley Fruit Farm and bought the first two trees to start our mini-orchard! You have no idea how exciting this is for me...for us! This is a gift that is not just wonderful and amazing THIS year...but I can imagine us baking pies and apple crisps and making warm applesauce from these two amazing trees for the rest of our lives...for my husband...for our children...for their children. We got a McIntosh Apple Tree and and Empire Apple Tree...YUM!
After we bought the trees we met up with Tiffany for a great lunch. We stopped at the Home Depot to get pots and soil to plant the trees and went home and planted them! After that, we took the left-over dirt to Mark's school to keep working on our garden project...with hopes of putting the plants in the ground this week. What a great experience for Mark's school kids!
Busy, amazing, exciting, wonderful day! That's our life!

Mother's Day

Tomorrow is Mother's Day...the day I've been waiting for to put my plants in the ground "safely"...so WHY is it 46 degrees out today!? FORTY SIX!!!!! I can't believe it. The good news is that we have BEAUTIFUL blueberries and strawberries growing...and little, baby blackberries and raspberries. We planted our trees in pots the other day...they are all growing so well. Today or tomorrow we are going to buy an apple tree for Mother's Day...YAY FRUIT!!!

My dad's birthday/retirement party was last night - it was a nice time and great to see how happy my dad is now. You could tell that the stress is gone from his face. Soon they are leaving for their trip out west - 11 states...my parents and grandmother...in an RV - hopefully all three will make it back! In honor of both my mother and father's retirement, the three of us kids (and our spouses) pitched in and got them $150 in AmEx gift card, a six pack of beer, pomegranate martini mixer and ear plugs...I think they're gonna make it :-)

Five weeks from today Mark graduates! 35 days - CRAZY! He's applied for a couple positions...times are tough though...we'll see! I'm sure he will get something - because frankly...he's amazing.