Staying Busy.

Today is my last day of peace and quiet for a few months.

It's the last day of school for my kiddos. It's time for the summer festivities.

We have lots of plans for swimming, bowling, zoo, water parks; we have lots of plans!

I can't wait to see how the summer turns out.

Lately, things have calmed down considerably here but I am still busy.

I still go to church every Sunday and to my Women's Bible Study on Wednesday.

I volunteer in Kids church so I get to prepare a lesson and some fun activities through that.

I have also been helping people. Yesterday I helped an elderly church member and my mentor.

She is unable to do climbing and lifting so I helped her complete her spring cleaning.

I can honestly say I am loving and enjoying my life again.

I have also been doing a bit of crocheting here and there.

I have been making these granny squares out of Caron Simply Soft. I will finish out the burgundy and then I can piece together this blanket. I will be stitching it together and creating a border in white. This blanket will be given to the above mentioned mentor. I also plan on making blankets for the rest of my Bible study group.

I've been steadily working on the color block blanket I am making with my 10 colors of stylecraft. It is supposed to represent a sunset over the ocean...We will see how it turns out.

The non-busy parts of my days are spent here. My mom got her a new swing so her old Amish made wooden swing now hangs on my front porch. I spend most of my evenings on this swing watching the goings on in the neighborhood. It is also a great place to crochet. All seems right with the world when I am swinging.

My garden has been keeping me busy.  

Here is garden bed #1. I have tomatoes(several types), watermelon, snow peas, cantaloupe, broccoli, eggplant, bush beans, fennel, iceberg lettuce, and chives growing.

Bed #2 has Kentucky wonder beans, cucumber, serrano chilis, onions, Tequila sunrise hot peppers, squash, sweet peppers, and carrots and a volunteer tomato plant.

I have 3 containers with strawberry plants.

Bed #3 Has more tomatoes, sweet peas, okra, bell peppers, jalapenos, Kale, sweet peppers, cabbage and zucchini.

I can't wait to be able to redo my garden beds. Fresh block, fresh soil, fresh starts.

My container garden on my back deck is flourishing. 

These pots have herbs.

Basil, rosemary, parsley, oregano, chives, thyme, cilantro.

I have spinach, leaf lettuce, kale, green onion, walla walla onion, iceberg lettuce, peppermint, orange mint, and chocolate mint.

I have Neon Lights Swiss Chard growing here in my red containers.

And I have Cherry tomatoes growing in my Lowes buckets.

My back deck garden is pretty much a salad/juicing garden.

My house chores have also kept me pretty busy.

I have 4 kids, 2 dogs, 4 cats, and 2 kittens at this moment so my house can get dirty quick.

It takes a lot to keep up with the house chores! Here is my kitchen.

(what you cant see is the dirty bowls and cups in the sink)

My dining room seems to be a collect all room. 

However, I am doing well keeping it tidy.

I have a great update on my hormonal situation.

It seems that eating properly, staying active, and taking the vitamins nightly have been helping.

I have had a lot more energy, my symptoms have lessened! I did have a couple tired days but other than that I am feeling more and more like myself again! Praise God.

I also want to take a moment to ask you all to pray for those communities in Oklahoma.

I have been watching the coverage of it and the scenes are just horrific.

That is all for today. I need to take a shower. I'm all dirty from digging in the garden.

Be Blessed,

Erin

Almost Summer an Update

Can you believe it is almost summer again?

I can't.

My children have six days until they are out of school.

I cannot wait! I am looking forward to lazy days and no schedules.

My kids are really excited too.

The end of the school year means prom season. 

And the beautiful and colorful dresses.

It also means sunny days and out door play.

Here we are knocking the seeds out of our Maple Tree.

Here are a few of the pics we took on Mother's Day.

This staged pic is supposed to look like Eddie is using his Jedi powers to lift hope.

I think he succeeded.

They wanted to get a pic of them all jumping.

Here they were throwing the maple seeds (helicopters) in the air.

I love how they twirl around as they come down.

We had glorious weather on Mother's Day.

Finally, Here is a pic of some of my strawberries...I can't wait until they turn red!

Sorry if this post seems a little spacey.

I have a terrible summer cold.

Complete with Fever, stuffy head, stuffy nose, runny nose, cough.

I can't concentrate too long.

Well that will be all for today.

I hope to get back to blogging regularly once I get well and things seem to calm down.

We will be having special visitors this weekend.

Can't say anything else as it is a surprise.

Until next time,

Be Blessed.

Springing Around

Hello again my friends. I know it has been nearly a month since I have wrote last. I have no excuse really.

I just haven't been taking pictures and I haven't really felt like blogging.

I haven't really been doing anything except working in my yard, going to church, and doing things I have to do. I have kind of lost my mojo for everything again.

However, I have found out the reasons why I have felt so off lately. The reason can cause my blahs, the anxiety, feeling so worn out and tired. It really explains it all.

I am only 33 years old and I am in perimenopause. 

I have moderate symptoms and we are trying a holistic approach to help with these symptoms.

I know that 33 seems pretty young but my grandmother started in her mid thirties and my mom started in her late thirties. I guess since I delivered 4 kids and had the cancer, my body has decided to start ending certain aspects of my life.

So for the past week I have been taking better care of myself.

First, I had to begin taking vitamins and supplements. I am taking a daily multivitamin with minerals, a Vitamin B complex, a calcium/magnesium with zinc supplement, and a fish oil. Next week I will incorporate a vitamin c supplement.These supplements are supposed to help with the regulations of my crazy hormones.

I also have to eat a lot better. I'm supposed to have plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats with every meal. This is probably the hardest part of the whole thing. We have limited funds for groceries so buying will be a challenge. However, my garden will make this really easy this summer.

I also have to make sure to get daily exercise. I will admit that I am pretty lazy. I love to just watch movies relaxing on the couch all day. But now I make sure to walk the dogs plenty during the day. I also have yoga and zumba dvds that I can incorporate. I have a friend who wants me to walk with her and we have talked about playing some volleyball as soon as we can work around her schedule. So I have that covered.

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I have managed to take some pictures for you.

This gorgeous cloudy sky was on my way to my mom's house to pick up a surprise.

(I will reveal with a pic later)

Here we have a pic of Hope blowing a dandelion.

(I love this pic)

This pic is of Eddie and his dad's hand as we were waiting for Faith's band concert to start.

Faith is seen here with the pink shoes on. She is sitting beside the girl with the bluish/purplish dress on.

The entire 6th grade band did such a wonderful job.

Here is the surprise we picked up from my mom's. She decided to buy her a new swing and she gave us her old Amish made wooden one. It is only a couple years old. It is now my favorite spot on my front porch.

I have been doing a lot of work in my yard. Here are my front flower beds.

I decided to use black mulch this year instead of red.

I added some mystery lilies beside my house and I added some tulips around my shepherd's hook.

I also put some strawberry plants in my hanging basket. They were being choked out by a rambling rose and honey suckle vines.

These are the only things that haven't been planted in my garden.

The cups are my tomato plants and the cells are my pepper plants.

They aren't very big because I was late starting them.

My garden beds are all planted with everything except for my tomatoes and peppers.

I didn't get a chance to redo them due to unforseen money issues.

My greenhouse has turned into a garden shed.

My hubby used recycled wood and made me a compost bin. I don't have much in it now but I will have it full of nutritious stuff to make some awesome compost for my garden very soon.

My back deck garden has been planted. This year it is mostly stuff for a salad.

We have kale, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, green onions, regular onions, and soon we'll have 

cherry tomatoes.

Our beloved Smokey returned home!

Come to find out he was in our neighbor's garage.

The following pics are just some photos I took while walking my dogs.

I really want some creeping phlox. It is so pretty.

Well that is all for today. I will do an update on my garden and my hormonal situation.

I'm hoping to get back to blogging and crocheting.

Until next time,

Be Blessed.