A week of "letting it go"

So the overwhelming responsibility of taking care of four children while husband works long hours finally got to me. I seriously hit a point where I said, "Okay, I can either go crazy trying to keep this house tidy, or I can let it go".  Once I made this statement to myself, I wondered if, indeed, it would stress me considerably to just let it go. What would it be like to let it go? So, my dear friends and family, here is a week of my version of letting it go. No major judgements please! 

Monday : A day of laundry - four loads thank you very much - and no time to fold them up. They sat in my room for  few days.

Tuesday: The boys wanted to have a grand sleep over - move all their mattresses to the floor and pile every blanket available on them. It looks like trailer-park-shanty-town, but instead of freaking out over the mess and distress, I reminded myself of the fun memories they were making.

Wednesday: I needed to clean my room and finish up the laundry. But my huge pile of "Things That Need Sewing" called my name. What to do? Why - keeping true to the theme of the week - I popped in my favorite season of Project Runway, set up my sewing machine, and sewed all the things I wanted to my heart's content.

 Messy messy messy room!

 Thursday: Another day of laundry. Line drying dominates the hallways and cleaning out toys and closets felt like a good project, but didn't feel like taking the final step and actually removing items to garage and garbage. Instead, they sat in the hallway for a few days (more like six days!)

Friday: why clean up the main family room? They just destroy it within a few hours anyway.

 Normally I vacuum the carpet daily on account of dogs with very long hair. I just didn't get around to it for a few days. those dark streaks on the carpet aren't shadows - they're dog hair.

 Lane attacked the piano music basket. Oh well, dinner needed to get made and music remained on the floor for a few days.

Saturday: the whirlwind of a walking baby and older brother toddler descended up on the front rooms of the house. It was a sunny day and I wanted to start my seedlings. So I did start my seeds and didn't clean up the toys and mess. 

 Sunday: supposed to be a day of rest, but that laundry pile didn't get any smaller by us just looking at it. We employed the older boys to help me out with folding and they did. I didn't expect perfection, just their laundry in folded piles and put away in drawers.

The Conclusion: the week of "letting it go" didn't kill me as I thought it would. I even had a few unexpected visitors and normally I would die if they saw my house in this condition, but I had to just let it go. This week, the week after letting it go, I feel more renewed and energized to tackle the house. I also feel a greater need to employ the children to help because one woman simply cannot do it all. It was refreshing to give myself a break, but I really don't want to be the woman whose house is a disaster - just not my thing. One tiny confession? boy it sure was nice to sew and garden all day instead of doing housework!

Rescue Green bean and Zucchini from your freezer!

As Tuesday Garden party starts heating up, all of the participants (today) were asked to share some good recipes - especially using some of the veggies we have stashed in the freezer. Lucky for me I was able to cut up and flash freeze several bags of zucchini, green beans, and peppers for my freezer to save for long winter days.

Here are two recipes that I have used in the last two weeks - tested once and I thought they tasted awesome.

Zucchini and Pepper Ciambotto (Italian stew)

2 tbsp. EVOO

1 large onion

2 sm. bulbs fennel - trimmed of stems and tough outer layers, thinly sliced

1-2 large peppers - cut into 1" pieces (I had some frozen sliced peppers in the freezer

3 cloves minced garlic

1 can whole tomatoes in juice (I used a few freezer bags I had stored in the freezer)

4 med. zucchini - cut into 1/2" pieces (again, flash frozen in freezer)

1 lb. green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces

salt and thinly sliced fresh basil

I also added 1 lb of browned sausage just because my boys complain if I don't have meat in the main dish.

In a dutch oven, heat oil and saute onion and garlic and fennel; cook until veggies are lightly browned (about 10-15 minutes). Add pepper and garlic, and cook another 5-7 minutes or until pepper is tender-crisp.

Add tomatoes with their juice, zucchini, green beans, and 1/2 tsp. salt; heat to boiling, stirring and breaking up tomatoes with sides of spoon. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer, covered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until all vegs are tender. Stir in basil (can top with some basil)

Green Bean and Parmesan Soup

2 tbsp. butter

8 oz green beans, trimmed (from my freezer)

1 c. grated zucchini (from my freezer)

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 c. chicken or veg. stock

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

1/4 c. light cream (or whatever milk you have in the fridge - I used 2%)

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Melt butter in saucepan. Add beans and garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes over med heat, stirring frequently. Stir in the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered fro 10 to 15 minutes until beans are tender. Pour soup into blender or food processor and process until smooth. Stir in Parm. cheese and cream and sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot.

Enjoy these freezer vegetable meals. I'm sure I have more but this is all I have time for :)

Love is in the air

My baby boy decided to turn 3 last week! (what's up with that?)

So we invited a few cherished friends over to celebrate

including his super cutey girlfriend (and older woman may I just add) 

I told him that it was okay that he chose to celebrate with his girlfriend, but he better not forget who his first and real girlfriend really is.

Happy Birthday Chasey!!

Front Yard Gardening - a walkthrough

Sunday was a beautiful day here in the PacNW.  Late Feb and early March is the time I use for yard preparation. Check out my front yard prep two years ago! Last year, the focus was getting the vegetable garden ready and so I didn't do anything to my front yard. But this year I'm feeling much better and ready to beautify the front as well as backyard!

My front planting bed faces North of the house. Closer to the house, the bed is shaded and the front part of the bed receives 6-9 hours of daylight. With that in mind I plant two different types of plants in the front. Hellebores, hostas, and Japanese maple in back. Daylillies, roses, lavender, and dahlias in front. I already had a few daylillies and heucheras in front. Since I'm on a budget I decided to divide the perennials instead of buying new plants - we'll see how it goes.

I also wanted to put some new plants in my front yard. I did spend a little of my "outdoor" budget buying some bulbs and bare root roses. My goal was to have plants that I could cut and bring inside for fresh flower arrangements.

Since I'm a vibrant girl, I also wanted to choose flowers that had bold colors. So I'm going for bright reds, yellows, purples, oranges, and fuchsia.

Remember these primroses that my hubs brought home from Costco for my Valentine's Day flowers?

They were all planted in front of the bed. I'll add a few pansies in there. With my tulip bulbs coming up, I definitely will have a gorgeous spring display in a month's time!

All store bought annuals look beautiful in the store, but let me share with you one of my little tips. In order to get them acclimated to the ground, I always trim off any flowers and dead looking leaves. This allows the plant to focus it's energy in establishing instead of maintaining flowers. In a week or so, I'll give it some liquid fertilizer to help the blooms for the spring display.

This year I also decided to embark on planting dahlias in my front yard. This bag has about 10 tubers and I purchased it from Costco for about $13. In my other house, I planted the whole bag and only 2 plants came up. They were huge and beautiful, but ONLY TWO! I'm hoping I will have better success with this bag.

I planted four plants in the front and used some plant markers to remind me where they are coming up so I don't accidentally pull them when I'm weeding or thinning out.

Speaking of plant markers, you must see the ones I just bought up close. Guess where I got them? Target - in their $1 bins!! I also picked up some gardening rakes (for the kids) and these plastic coated ties.

Isn't it cute?

Now that I'm looking from my front door onto my planting bed, I really really hope that the bed fills in. If the dahlias come up like they are supposed to, then it will look so spectacular and full!

I also decided to embark on growing roses. My goal was big full blooms and strong rose scents (so it fills the house when I cut them and bring them inside). After a little research, I chose hybrid tea roses that have strong "spicy" scents. 

I used my homemade compost to help fill in the holes and placed them close to the house hoping that the bright light and heat reflects from the house and helps them along.

I'm terrible at cleaning up after a long project. I leave my tools, dirt, buckets, and discarded weeds all along the walkway. Don't worry, it only looked like this for TWO DAYS until I decided to pick up and sweep yesterday. Just keepin' it real for ya :)

Okay, remember my Cleaning Naturally post when I told you that despite my best efforts to not use chemicals, I do have a cheat? I do use bleach occasionally in my house? Well, here is my dirty little secret from Mrs. Organic gardener herself.

I use snail bait in the front yard! There is nothing worse then spending hours upon hours planning and planting and then have those nasty buggers come overnight and decimate the plants. I've tried natural solutions, but frankly, after a hard day's work, I sprinkle a healthy dose of pellets around my precious flowers and sure enough, the next morning it is snail and slug Armageddon. No snail bait goes in the backyard however as my dogs, kids, and edibles are there and I must keep up my organic certification :)

I look forward to posting pictures this May once all the plants have established and leafed out or flowered. I'm also trying a little experiment where I bought seed packets of Rubeckia and Echinacea plants instead of buying full plants. I'm hoping to add those strong colors to the mix.

 COLORS in the garden:

red - roses, primroses

orange - primroses, marigolds, zinnias

fuschia - dahlias, echinacea, primroses, zinnias

yellow - roses, rubeckia, primroses, daylillies

green - hostas

purple - lavender, primroses, leaves of heuchera, leaves of japanese maple

white - dahlia, primroses, hellebores

Linking to Tuesday Garden Party

Room: A Review

**Some spoilers: don't read if you don't want to know anything about this book***


I just finished this book this morning - it was pretty darn good. I want to talk about it, but sadly, no one in my little Oregon world has read it. So I'm putting it out there - what did you think of this book? I'm posting my review that I just posted on Goodreads and it does contain plot spoilers so don't read it you don't want the book ruined for you! Please also keep in mind that I was not an English major and although I love to read and read other people's reviews, I am not a great writer of reviews. Often I would like to write a review and post but I think of Bridget's reviews or Alisa's reviews and they are written as if they could come straight out of a magazine. But I am throwing my insecurities away and going to post my review anyhow!


Goodreads review:
I listened to the audiobook version of this book. I had some preconceived notions of this book before I read it and those notions prevented me from reading this book sooner. I didn't want to read a dark book about abuse, violence, and hurting children. Luckily this book is not about that. Sure, abuse is a part of this story, but it is spoken of peripherally and so I was able to tackle this book with open arms. Usually I listen to audiobooks while I am doing my household chores and thus a 12-15 hour audiobook will last me at least one week. Not so with ROOM. I began this book on Thurs and just finished this morning (Sun). I listened to it every chance I could get - it was that addicting. I even spent one night reading spoiler reviews of this book because I couldn't flip ahead to see if Jack and his Ma escaped their captor.


What I liked about this book:
-Jack's description of his relationship with his Ma. I have a three sons and one daughter. My 3 yr old seems closest developmentally to Jack and it made me see him in a whole new light.

-Ma's human side - her strong, motherly "make-it-work" attitude during captivity and then she crumbles once she doesn't have to be as brave.

-LOVED LOVED LOVED the escape!! I was so entrenched in this part (luckily while I was driving by myself) that I was gripping the steering wheel.

-Loved that the bad guy got caught!!

-That the book ended with Ma and Jack going to room for a final closure. What a beautiful way to wrap up the book.

-Many many reviewers of this book said that the breastfeeding really bothered them. However, although I am not in the camp of breastfeeding five year olds, I believe that the b/f'ing was an essential part to the story. It was the lifeline connection between Ma and Jack and when it was over, it was symbolic to saying goodbye to the old life.

-I love that Ma - although young and forced into the role of mother - knew to have a schedule for Jack. In my opinion that is what saved him - children love continuity and structure - and this story illustrates that point.

-I am happy that Jack was never abused - that would have completely changed my view of this book.

-I liked that



What I disliked about this book:

-No offense, but Jack seemed obnoxious. Granted I was listening to the audio version and thus a child actor was reading the part of Jack (I have a suspicion that it is the same voice actor who also plays Caillou - they sound exactly the same - so imagine Caillou reading this book to you - annoying!!!), while an adult woman played the parts of Ma and Grandma and an adult male played the part of Old Nick, but Jack seemed especially whiny and his endless questions really got to me~

-Grandma was obnoxious. Jack's time with her seemed like she was trying to force him into a regular world without taking into account his background. Where was the child psychologist? How come she wasn't coached into how to handle Jack's adjustment?

-Jack's narrative was inconsistent. One minute he is speaking like a two year old in his descriptions - the next moment he is using quite advanced phrases.



-I would have like to read about the court proceedings and prosecution of Old Nick. I understand why it ended when it did, but I would have liked to see Ma put him in prison.





Other than those minor annoyances - I loved this book. It was a pleasure to read and think about and figure out how I relate to it and the characters. It brought a different side to my own mothering. Definitely one of the best books I've read.

When my anger gets the best of me

One day I was really mad. So I threw a chair out the door into the garage. The second it landed in the garage, I felt much better. That night at dinner, my son made fun of me. He said that the new furniture mover in the family was me. We all laughed so hard that I almost peed.
Days when you are so mad and so happy are pretty good. I'm glad my that boys can laugh about the times when I'm crazy. Better than being worried about me being mad all the time.

Hey, need a furniture mover? Call me!

Share with me? Lemon Cucumbers

Shameless ask here. Any of my fellow gardeners have about 3-5 lemon cucumber seeds they would like to share with me? I don't want to buy a whole packet and I only want to grow ONE lemon plant this year. We love them, but I wanted way too many last year! Leave a comment on how I can get a hold of you and I will send you my email or address. I would be more than happy to swap out any seeds I have extra of. Thank you so much!!