Mom is Just a Nickname

I used to think I had a green thumb in high school. I had a jungle in my bedroom..from standard houseplants to various bonsai plants I’d acquired.  I also had a plot in the family garden which I “landscaped” with shade loving plants: hosta, ferns and a bleeding heart which came to us broken and wilted, but was huge and thriving by the time my parents moved away from that house.

I’ve felt like I have a black thumb since then though. Whether my time and energy were being given to the creation of other things or I just didn’t care enough, I’m not sure.  I have been killing the unkillable houseplants for ten years now.   But now I’m back to trying for that green thumb again.

I’ve got a garden which is slowly becoming lovely, abundant and colorful.  Today I spent two hours planting new plants (strawberry, pansies, lavender, plumbago, bee balm and lemon balm) and the other day I spent awhile planting things a friend had shared (joe pie weed, elephant ears, lantana and a few others).  My garden is a nice mix of herbs, flowers, and edibles right now. It’s pretty nifty to walk out and pick a radish to put on my salad!

I’m also really enjoying the wildlife that’s drawn to my plants.  There are a handful of tree frogs and lizards which occupy my container garden by the front door. There’s also a toad which hops through on occasion.  And then I’ve got a lizard buddy who hangs out by the hose in the garden on the side of the house.  I’m hoping that once some of my newest plants begin flowering, the bees, butterflies and birds will be drawn in to the area too.

I guess most important is that I’m really enjoying my garden – be it the plants or the wildlife.  My grass may be brown, crackling and full of weeds, but my garden is shaping up beautifully.  The grass…well, I’d rather a garden than a lawn. I wonder if the landlord would mind if I ripped the lawn out and replaced it with a meadow of wildflowers?

My house is pulsing with life these days.  I thought I’d give an update on all of my various projects and further prove that my house is full of life.

Our fish tank, which we start in late June, is seething with life.  We have red wag platies, silver lyretail mollies, golden mystery snails, live plants and pond snails.  The pond snails were unwanted hitch-hikers, but they have found our tank very much to their liking.  I can’t even count how many I remove each time I do a water change.  We currently have three adults of each of the other species and an uncountable number of babies in each species as well.  About seven of the first fry have survived and are now about two-thirds the size of the adults.

Much as I despair for my tank with so many fish in it (it’s only a 29 gallon tank, not nearly big enough to hold them all in the long term), it is thrilling to see them all thriving.  There’s something fascinating about realizing how much the fry grow in just twenty-four hours.  I guess I’ll be making phone calls to local pet stores though to see if I can convince anyone to buy the babies, though.  Then we’re looking into getting gauramis or some other fish which will help control the population better.  I thought we’d have no chance to see the fry grow up because everything I’ve read said that if you want the fry to survive, you have to remove them from the adult fishes’ tank.  That hasn’t proven the case in our tank!

Along with our fish tank, we have a betta.  He’s currently living in a jar on the kitchen counter, until he passes quaruntine. Then we’ll see if he will get along in the big tank.  We got him, hoping that he’d help control the pond snail population, but so far he has shown little interest in demolishing them.  I’m also not sure he’ll get along well with the male silver lyretail molly (who has some fancy fins going on).  If not, he’ll go back into a jar where he can keep me company while I do dishes each day.

Also living in my kitchen these days are my worms.  Yes, I got composting worms  and they are now living in my kitchen. It’s just too hot outside for me to leave them out there, even in the garage!  The worms themselves are doing well.  They seem to be happily producing lots of castings for my garden.  Unfortunately, the fruit flies (or some equally nuisancy type of fly) have decided that they like the worm house, too.  So, I’m searching for ways of controlling that population.  Happily, apple cider vinegar and dish soap in a small dish on the counter works well to contain them, but I’d love to find a way to keep them from reproducing to begin with. They are pesky and their presence means I can’t keep a basket of fresh fruit on the counter.

Gardening-wise, my garden is growing slowly.  I have a handful of sunflower plants which are about knee high now.   They survived Fay’s thrashing wind and rain, which is good.  My chrysanthemums didn’t do so well.  I think they got just too wet with all of the water that collected in our backyard with Fay.  Other than that…my basil is doing well.  I have one still in a tiny pot that needs to be given a better home now.  I don’t think any of my oregano has survived, sadly.  I have several thyme plants that are thriving, though.  A couple of moss roses (Portulaca), and forget-me-nots are doing well.  The only catnip which has survived so far are in pots, except for one teeny tiny plant which isn’t showing any signs of getting any bigger.  At least it’s not dead yet though, I guess.

All of the trees my dad sent home with me back in May have died.  Many of the iris have also died.  I didn’t plant them in good places.  If he is gracious enough to send another batch home with me next time I’m down there, I’ll plant them better.  This time, I put them in places too inconvenient…they kept getting mowed down when we mowed the lawn, or drowned by soaking rains.  So, mental note to place them more strategically next time.  The tiger lillies that Dad gave me are doing well, though.  We had several weeks of blooms from one of the plants awhile back!

For my birthday (ugh, I’m 31, now!), I recieved gift cards to a home improvement store!  So, all of that is going towards sprucing up my garden.  Mostly, I want to get an edging or border to define my plant beds, both for the lawn mower and for the grass which likes to creep into the beds I’ve established.  If I can, I’d also like to get some mulch, and maybe some soil to create raised beds near some of the areas which tend to get very wet.  So, the tiger lillies will get a real flower bed, and my herbs will also.  Once the weather turns cooler, it’ll be easier to get out there to take care of them.

In the rare times I sit down to watch a show, I’ll pick up my crochet hook.  I’m working on a blanket for a new baby in the family.  We have three new babies set to arrive in our family soon, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep up with them all!  A friend has recently gifted me with quilting material.  I have been playing with the idea of learning to quilt.  Maybe one of the new babies will receive a quilt instead of a crocheted item!  We shall see.

My final big project has been writing.  I actually have had the joy of seeing an article I submitted last fall PUBLISHED!  So, as my family keeps telling me, I can now say I am, in fact, a published writer!  It’s a bit of a thrill to be able to say that.  Certainly opening up that magazine and seeing my name in print has helped me renew my determination to make writing my JOB.  X is in school part time now, so the few morning hours when he’s off at school, I have committed to writing.  I’m editing that torturous novel I wrote last year for NaNoWriMo.  And I’m currently weighing the pros and cons of trying to do NaNo again this year.  Considering the way it killed my wrists and hands last year, I suspect I should not try it again.  That makes me pretty sad, because that month was one of the most exhilarating and inspirational I can remember!

So, a boring blog update, but this is mostly what has been occupying my time lately.

I’m not sure what possessed me, but a few days ago I decided the kids and I needed a schedule to follow this summer. It had to be flexible enough to be spontaneous, but firm enough to guide our actions in the day to day.  I dedicated Mondays to sticking around the house, Tuesdays are grocery shopping day, Wednesday we go to the pool, Thursday to the library, and Friday is our Adventure Day, where we go somewhere exciting around town and explore. Adventure Day should mean the zoo, or a museum, or the beach. But, I’m still trying to recover from our late night Wednesday so I wanted to to stick close to home.  So we followed Monday’s schedule more than Friday’s, yesterday.

Here’s what we did:
7-8am: read in bed, watch TV, or check email
8-8:30: breakfast and get dressed
8:30-10: Gardening: planted the rest of the iris and started some seeds in containers
10-10:30: Shower/change clothes, have snack
10:30-12pm: Craft Projects (I was collaging our summer schedule, J was doing a sort of engraving project and X was painting)
12-12:30: Lunch
12:30-1:30: Chores (Clean up lunch dishes, clean kids’ bathroom, scoop cat litter)
1:30-3: Shopping at Home Depot and CVS
3-4: Quiet time
4-5: TV watching

About that time, J got a phone call from a friend inviting her over for the evening. So we dropped her off for that and then went out to eat, instead of eating at home like we were going to. Ooops.

So far, the schedules are popular with the kids, and I liked it too.  I feel like I was more productive today than I normally am, and this made me happy. I felt like the kids enjoyed their day. There was enough time for them to go off on their own and do their own thing, but not so much free time that they were whining at me about boredom. They got to do fun things (gardening and crafts) but it was balanced by getting things done that we needed to get done (chores and shopping).  Jillian especially seemed to appreciate being able to look at the schedule and know what was coming.

I really hope that we can keep up this schedule. I’ve never been one to stick with things like this, except when necessary. But I really think we NEED this structure to our days this year.

So, if you’ve got kids, what do you do to help tame the wild days of summer? How do you keep from hearing “I’m bored” all summer long?

I finished this blanket today. It is made with Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick in Wine and Antique White. The body is open weave with the edging done in a tighter stitch. It’s very cozy and I hope the recipient will enjoy it! My kids are once more disappointed that it won’t be theirs!

Warmer weather is coming to Florida, and with it my aches and pains seem to lessen. They aren’t gone completely, but they have not been as bad lately. Perhaps it’s just that I haven’t been at the computer for more than quick email checks lately.

Today, I updated my wordpress installation, and have been trying to make sure all of the plugins are updated so that the site runs smoothly. If you notice any problems, please let me know. I’ve also updated my feeds to run through feedburner. If your feeds give you problems, you might want to resubscribe through the new links. Sorry for any inconveniences this causes.

So, what have I been doing with my time in the last couple of weeks? We took off to St. Augustine one weekend to see the Castillo de San Marcos and to meet up with some blogger friends from South Florida. Meeting Elliot from 21st Century Dad and Renee from 21st Century Parenting was fun! We wandered the historic district, poking through shops with them…and their Twilli is just adorable. From the pictures I’d seen, I knew she had beautiful eyes, but they were really captivating in person. And she (and her parents) even let me hold her for a bit!

Other than that one trip out of town, I’ve stuck around the house a fair amount. Last week was J’s spring break, so we did get out and do some things – if only to keep the two rugrats from driving me into insanity. We met up with friends at the park and at the zoo, and we did some shopping.

The big things that have been occupying my time are knitting and crocheting. More crocheting than knitting actually. I have finished one blanket of granny squares and I’m nearly done with another blanket (not granny squares). I’m also working on a felted belt for each of my kids, and coasters for my living room. My first attempt at a coaster has resulted in a hot pad for my kitchen instead…it was a little too big! Maybe the kids will use it for their doll house, as a rug. We’ll see. Live and learn, right?

In any case, for any crafters out there, here are some pics and specs on the blanket I finished:

It was made with about 2.5 lbs. of Peaches & Cream cotton yarn in Peppercorn Ombre. I made 80 granny squares, attached them all with slip stitches, and then put 3 rows of single crochet along the edge. I really like this blanket and have learned a lot about crocheting by making it. It is destined for another household, much to my children’s disappointment.

Both kids are now clamoring for blankets of their own. First, I have another blanket to finish (another gift) and in the meantime, they are getting other odds and ends I put together.

In addition to the knitting and crocheting, I’m planning some sewing projects. The first I’d like to do is a needle bag, to hold my growing collection of knitting needles and crochet hooks and assorted other supplies I use frequently. Xavier wants me to make him a pair of pants with some Spiderman fabric I picked up. And Jillian always wants lessons in sewing, crocheting and cooking…I wish I were a better teacher.

Next week, look for my review of The Fiction Class by Susan Breen. You can find more information and links to other reviewers of this book at Blog Stop Book Tours.

Hopefully, I’ll have more posts between now and then. I stole Toph’s computer chair in order to get comfortable enough to work on the computer…I can only do that while he’s at work, though! I need to get one of my own, is what I need to do!