Our new kitten and charity squares.

Hello friends. How are you all today? I hope you are doing very well. I am taking today off of my usual chores and sitting in my bed watching television, playing on the internet, and blogging! It is a very good day for it too since it is raining buckets! My kiddos are doing their own things. Some are in the living room watching kids movies on Netflix and others are in their rooms with their stuff. We don't have too many quiet days in my house but today has been very quiet so far. It is kind of nice.

As you all know, we already have one kitty, a female named Daisy. She is the sweetest and most playful thing ever. Also, I mentioned we lost our kitty Tiger and how he impregnated our neighbor's kitty Nala. When we found out she was pregnant I told our neighbor I would get a kitten. I wanted a female because of Daisy being a female but when I saw this......

 I knew he had to be mine!!! Meet Wicket! He is named after one of the Ewoks on Star Wars. He is so fluffy and so adorable and lovey. 

 Here is the photo I captured of him just yesterday. He was sitting on the couch snuggled up to my hubby's leg. Isn't he just one of the cutest things you have ever seen? How many pets do we have now? Well 5. Our two kitties, our two puppies, and a rabbit. With all the animals and our 4 kiddos I feel like I live in a zoo! ;p

I have also been very busy crocheting squares for Share a square. Basically, this is a charity who gives blankets to kids who attend Camp Quality. All you do is crochet 6 inch squares, weave in all your ends except your final tail which you leave 12 inches long. You make sure your tail is in a corner space. You also send business card sized tags with your name and where you are from and a special message if you want. Then you send them all to Shelly (the founder of Share a Square). She laminates the tags and attaches them to your square with a ribbon, Shelly and volunteers then stitch the squares into blankets, and the blankets are packaged up and taken to the kids at Camp Quality. Shelly says to send as many squares you can not to exceed 150 per person. She will be accepting Squares again this August.

I have currently crocheted 12 squares. I am working through Jan Eaton's 200 crochet blocks book. I am slightly modifying the patterns to make sure the squares are 6 inches. I hope to have 150 finished by August and to keep crocheting squares so I can have them every year!

Well that is all for today friends. I hope you all have a wonderful day and be blessed.

My Story....well a snippet at least

Hello my wonderful friends. I love to write (and type). I have been writing in a journal since I was introduced to it by a 6th grade teacher who "made" us do it for a grade. I found writing down my thoughts, the things we did, my life would relieve stress. I have done it ever since. Sadly, most of my journals from my childhood have been lost due to moving around a lot. I still have the ones from my adulthood though. They are organized in volumes and are proudly displayed on a shelf in my room. My words, the good, the bad, the ugly are hidden inside their covers to be read when my children or even grandchildren are old enough to do so.

Anyway, I got a little off subject there. Last night I was compelled to write. Not in my journal. My mind had something important to say but I wasn't sure what it was yet. I wanted to write! I grabbed my paper and pen last night and the words flew out of me without thought. I was surprised how easily it was. So, for you, my bloggy friends, here are my words:

Just one year ago my life was alot different than it is today. Then, my world was small. It consisted of my home and certain parts of my town. I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks and depression for seven years. I spent a year in my room in my bed. I didn't care about life; I didn't care about myself, my husband, my children. I felt lost; lost inside myself. I was dead. I felt nothing but sadness. I was wandering through the dark. I prayed, I screamed, I cried, I missed out on so many things. I can't remember key parts of my kid's lives.

What I do remember from that time, I don't want to remember. I was mean. I yelled, screamed. I said and did things that hurt my family. My poor kids, my poor husband. They thought I hated them. I didn't though. I wanted the anxiety, the panic attacks, the depression to end. I felt useless, ugly, stupid, weak, worthless. One night I stood in my kitchen with a handful of my husband's blood pressure pills. I knew if I took them a little pill at a time my heart would eventually stop beating. I wanted my darkness to end. I knew I shouldn't take the pills. My husband will be left with our kids. He couldn't cook much, the kids wouldn't eat well, hamburgers and hot dogs couldn't sustain their growing bodies. With that thought and a sigh, I put the pills back in the bottle and went to bed. I had to be there for my kids but I couldn't climb out of that pit. It was too deep, too dark. I felt useless. I felt helpless. I didn't know what to do.

Then one day just a few years ago something clicked. I had to get better. I had to find me again. I had to take care of my kids, of my husband, of my house, and of my life. I had to live life, not let it pass me by. I had to get out of that house.

I began to get out of bed. The darkness became less inky. I started taking care of my kids, the darkness was less, taking care of the house. Then we bought a house and moved.

I could see very dim light instead of darkness. I took care of my new house, began to mend the relationships with my children and my husband. Things got better and better. I started leaving the house and going farther from it without panic and anxiety. Even to go to the grocery store just five blocks away was a huge milestone for me. I was starting to live again. The darkness was just stormy sky dark. Then, I began to take care of myself. I studied myself. I found out what I liked, my values, I learned who I was again. I started taking care of my health, my body, my mind. I fell in love with my husband again. I am getting to know him again. I am getting to know my children. Those amazing beings I love so much and God blessed me with. I started to love me. The darkness began lifting quicker. I found God again. I have witnessed His miracles. I see sunny skies. Life is great. My hubby, my kids, and I are living. The darkness is gone!!!! The pit has been filled in so I cannot fall back in again. I am ME. I am living life again. I am truly happy.

Friends, I feel my soul had to say these things. Sadly, the bad things are true. I did some unimaginable things during my darkness. I was so mean and cruel to my kids I begged my husband to leave me to myself and spare them from me. I hate admitting this but it is true.

I have to say now things are a lot different. I rarely yell or anything. I am mellow. If I feel I am getting upset, I take a time out in my room or in my garden. I rarely have bad sad days anymore. Grey skies throw me off a bit but nothing like I felt then! I am nearly always sunny and happy and content. I honestly felt dead then. I would have anxiety attacks just leaving my bedroom. I couldn't even go to my kids school.

Now I go wherever I want, I do what I want, when I want. I take care of business I would say :)

I am going to end this blog entry with this: No matter what you go through in life, it will get better! It took seven years for me to go from dead to living again. I have some "nerves" in some situations but as far as anxiety, it is gone. If there is anyone out there who is suffering from anything like this or has suffered from it, let me know, leave me a comment. I am here to share with the world. To help people.

Until next time y'all....be blessed.

More gardening, couponing, extras.

Today is a beautifully hot, muggy day here in Ohio. So hot, in fact, I had to close up the windows I have had open for the past few days and turn on the air conditioners. Our weather here is absolutely unpredictable. It can be a beautiful day and then it will rain. It can be warm in the morning and be absolutely cold by afternoon and vice-versa. As they say, "Ohio is the only state that you can run your heater and air conditioner in the same day". I have found this fact to be very true.

 Such a beautiful representation of God's promise isn't it? Yesterday was  a nice sunny day and then boom a cloud came over and it rained. I can't complain too much because it gave us this beautiful rainbow AND the rain watered my garden for me.

 I took this picture earlier in the week. I think it was the night before the full moon. I thought the moonlight reflecting off of those clouds was absolutely stunning and I was lucky enough that my camera picked it up!!!

 Here is 2 squares of my lovely romaine lettuce. This stuff just keeps growing and producing nice salad leaves for me. These are before I did some gathering.

 Here are some after I gathered the matured leaves. They look so scrawny and bare right now but I know in a few days they will be ready to give me more wonderful romaine leaves.

 I also gathered some of my herbs today. Dill (seen above) is my absolute favorite. I love to make dill mayo and put it on chicken or in a marinade. So yummy!

 My squash will be producing it's yummy yellow fruit soon. I get so excited when I think of all the yummy food I get to cook, give away, and try to can this year. I have never canned food before so I really hope I can do it properly!!

 I also found this beautiful bean as I was rummaging through my garden beds and checking my plants for bugs and weeding around the plant bases. Ooooh I just can't wait to cook a nice fresh pot of beans.

 Another of my spices. This one is cilantro or some people call it coriander. I haven;t had a chance to cook with it yet but as far as research goes, the entire plant from leaves to stems to roots and seeds are edible. Will be a nice plant to experiment with.

 My basil. This herb amazes me how it grows. It's leaves are gorgeous. As will all of my herbs, I will wash and put some in the fridge for cooking and I will dry some to use over the winter months.

 My poor chives. They just can't decide whether to thrive or not. I am hoping for them to get a lot bigger before I harvest them.

 My blackberry bushes I planted earlier this spring have produced a few fruits this year. We are waiting for them to turn their gorgeous black color so we can munch on them. This fall I will cut them back so spring they will grow. They usually begin to produce lots of fruit the second year. Can't wait til then lol.

 I have mint growing in this pot since it is so very invasive. I planted seeds all around the pot and only one began to grow and very slowly. I nursed and nurtured it and now look at it. This one is spearmint. I want to get some peppermint, apple mint, and chocolate mint.

 My sage. I have been trying to grow sage forever. This is the first time any of it sprouted. This will be another plant I will be nurturing. I want to make some permanent patio planters and grow all of my herbs on my back deck which is off of the laundry room, next to my kitchen.

 My youngest son (who's 6th birthday was yesterday) brought home a lima bean he had started to grow at school. We planted it and it never grew. We tried to dig it up and it was gone!!! So he got to pick whatever he wanted to grow out of my leftover seeds and he chose cantaloupe. He is excited about watching it grow and change every day.

 Here is my lavender. I haven't killed it yet so I think I am doing good. I don't really know what to do with it except dry it and use for sachets. Anyone know what else? I am open to suggestions.

 My rosemary. I have topped it off twice now and have dried some. I love the way it smells.

 Now for the loot from my garden. My bunch of dill.

 Bunch of sage.

 Bunch of Cilantro.

 My bunch of rosemary.

My garden basket full of nice romaine lettuce. Yummy!!

My garden is growing so well and changes every day and with every rain shower we get. I am super proud of it. I am hoping I obtain enough produce to use immediately, to can, and to give away! My kiddos want to plant another bed just for giving away. Maybe next year we will!

Oh and I am going to start trying to do the couponing (also called Extreme Couponing) thing. For those of you who aren't sure about it, couponing is where you match coupons with sales and you can get your foods for rock bottom prices. Usually at 30% of cost or even free. So what you do is collect multiples of a coupon (i plan on buying multiples of the Sunday newspaper and to get them online and maybe pay a clipping service), watch the sales ads and wait for products you use to go on sale so with the sale and the coupon you can get the product for 70%  or more off, and then you buy multiples of that product to build a stockpile. You should stockpile for a month, 3 months, or 6 months (6 months is usually how long it takes for a product to cycle to rock bottom prices again). I have a full basement and an extra area upstairs i can use for stockpiling. With that and canning my own produce I should be able to save thousands of dollars on groceries and toiletries) For more information I use How to Extreme Coupon and Stockpiling Moms. Both break down how couponing is done and Stockpiling moms has a coupon database where you can print online coupons. I will keep everyone updated on how it all goes and share pictures as my stockpile grows!

Well I need to fold some clothes and wash more, vacuum some floors, and do some flowerbed weeding! Until we meet again, Be Blessed!!!!

I'm Still Alive: A Random Blog Post

Hello my lovely friends. Boy, life is hectic isn't it? We have been enjoying summery things. Grilling, family reunions, swimming, bike riding, friendly get-togethers. Honestly, this has been the best summer already.

I have been here, there, and everywhere. I have  met many new people. I know it is because my confidence is up since getting my "dental upgrades". This month marks 5 months I have had my dentures. All I can say is I wish I had done it sooner!!!! I am living my life now, not letting it live me.

Let me guess, you all want some pictures?!? Well I have plenty for you to see! I need to be more consistant with my blogging. I miss reading my favorite blogs and writing my own. I miss reading all of your kind comments. I just miss everything!

 Meet our new addition. This pretty little kitten's name is Daisy. We decided after our puppy Shorty passed away, we wanted to get a kitten. So we got this sweet girl from one of our neighbors. She was so scared, shy, she hid all the time when we brought her home last week. Now she looks like a little mouse running around. She plays and cuddles. She is the sweetest thing.

 Here is an up close pic of her cute little face. Oh and guess what, we are getting her a playmate. Our neighbor's kitty was impregnated by our Tiger shortly before he passed. I told her I wanted one of the kittens when we realized her baby was prego. So next week we will have another cute cuddly kitten to play with.

 There on that chair is a dog my kids drug in. Her name is Shiloh. She is a lab mix. She is a sweet puppy but destructive. You can see the hole on my new chair...ugh...and she tore an enormous hole in the matching new couch. We are trying to train her but she is too smart and stubborn so I think it is going to take a while.

 Of course I had to show you a great picture of my baby, Tinkerbell. She is the sweetest little thing. She is 2 1/2 years old. We love her to bits.

We also have a rabbit named Salem AND my oldest daughter is taking care of a baby robin. It is almost ready to fly.

Now to the next topic.

 Crochet!! This is my neat and tidy crochet corner. From the very top: 2 figurines that once belonged to my mom (blue and white), also the turquoise/blue swan that belonged to my husband's grandma, the yellowish figurines belonged to my hubby's mom, the brick is an actual brick from George Washington's house, and my glucose meter. The next shelf contains all of my crochet books, the next shelf has baby and dk weight yarn. those scrummy colors are stylecraft. The next shelf contains all of my acrylic worsted weight yarn, the next has a cardboard box containing squares for Share a square and the bin of bulky yarn. The bottom shelf has my big sewing box and magazines...Whew that shelf has lots of stuff.

 !WARNING! EYE CANDY! 10 balls of Stylecraft Special DK yarn from Deramores. I haven't figured out what to make with it so it sits there for me to stare at. Almost like my muse..lol

 This is one of my WIPs. I am still making this baby blanket. It bores me as it is the same 2 rows over and over and over. However I only have 10 repeats of the pattern left and I can do the border...MUST GET IT FINISHED.

 Next WIP. Granny squares for a blanket. I dunno how I am going to join them yet but I know they will be joined with white. The other colors in these sqares are burgundy, country blue, and yellow.

 WIP 3: My poor son's granny stripe. I also get bored with this one. I want to move on with something else so bad but I lack motivation to finish it. I still need to make a giant granny rectangle for each of my girls.

Next topic.....

 Our poor unlevel swimming pool. This pool was given to us. A lady didn't want  to deal with it anymore and she said if we took it down we could have it. So we took it down and put it up in our back yard. I promise our ground didn't seem that unlevel when we was putting it up but man we were wrong! So we plan on taking it down in the fall and leveling off the ground. But hey...Free Pool...15 foot by 4 feet deep.

Next Topic...

 My garden. It is growing really well! This is my tub o potatoes. Once the plants die off and fall over they will be finished. I cannot wait to see how many potatoes are actually in this tub.

 Here is Garden bed number 3. It has broccoli, onions, carrots, watermelon, cantelope, basil, eggplant, and zucchini growing. Yes it makes me very happy to be growing my own food.

 Garden bed number 2: Squash, zucchini, okra, lettuce, bush beans, corn, and cilantro. I already have beans growing! I cannot wait til the harvest.

 Garden bed number 1: Cherry tomatoes, better boy tomatoes, cucumber, jalapeno, bell pepper, chives, and dill. It looks pitiful compared to the rest. I still may plant some quick growing foods here!

This is one of my squash plants! I see squash coming in the near future.

 My cucumber plants are tiny but they also have blossoms. I will probably pinch the blossoms off so the plant can mature a little more.

 Oh and this spider plant. My mom took the "babies" off of it and was going to throw this beautiful plant in the trash!!!!!!! I told her heck no and rescued it!

And finally this poor fern. My mom hated that it would "shed" and she had to vacuum so she set it outside and the frost got it. She just wanted to let it die. I finally talked her into letting me take it. I cut all the dead fronds off of it and LOOK.....more are growing! She didn't kill it afterall!!! YAY!

Well that is all the update for now. I will try to keep my camera around so I can update on my daily goings on. Thank you all for reading my blog and I hope to catch up on all of your's very soon.

Be Blessed.