progress happening slowly but surely

Last time I checked in here we had started the back yard project. Well, life has sort of  gotten in the way a bit and it's on hold for now. I've been in an admitted funk about it because I let myself get super excited and then it kind of stalled out. But! It's still going to eventually happen and I'm feeling better about it. I thought I'd share the stuff that is making progress (mostly for my mom to see) 😀

I've been trying to keep track of what plants I put in so that down the line I'll know if I need to for some reason.  In the back yard I put in two bushes that I bought as bare root plants, lilac and forsythia. They are tiny now but in a few years will hopefully fill in the corner of the back yard I put them in!


This is one of the mauve-ish irises that I planted  last year. I think these were given to me by my realtor? She gave me some irises and peonies that she has thinned out from her yard. I just love the tigery pattern at the inside of the petals!

Yesterday (Saturday) I decided to clean up the front flower bed rose bushes. These were bushes that were here when I bought my house. I have trimmed them back several times which I think has just made them even more unruly! One of the bushes was right close to the front door and more than a few times I've come out the door and almost walked right into a branch! So I had been considering removing it. Which is exactly what happened yesterday!  Below is a pic of the branches one part of the bush I removed.  

And below is what it looked like right after I pulled the rose bush out. I planted all the daffodil and tulip bulbs I had left from last year, and more iris tubers. I put irises all along the back edge and the daffodils in the front. I added the salvia next to the rhubarb, then the next plant is veronica which I had planted last year. At the end is a spirea bush that I put in last year I think. I did buy more plants last night and put them in: lavender, columbine, pink veronica and something that looks like a daisy but I don't remember the name right now.  The porch looks so much more open!  In the future I'd like to put a railing along the back of the bed with a little gate. There are a couple houses in my subdivision that have done that and it's super cute!

Okay, in sewing news - I made a dress that I love and it is super comfy!  My Mom had given me this peach cotton that has little ducks on it.  I knew I'd want some kind of garment out of it.  I made this McCall's pattern M7115 and I made view D.  It was a super easy pattern.  I made it even easier by not putting in button holes. When I was trying it on before doing buttons it went over my head easily so I just sewed the buttons through the two layers of the bodice so it's fixed closed.  I used abalone pearl buttons.

And here's the finished product, with George of course!  She is such a photo ham!  She was in another room at then other end of the house and came running to get in the picture.  

So here in the US  it's a long weekend for Memorial day.  I made myself a list of things I want to get done and so far I'm doing good. This morning (Sunday) I went for a 2 mile hike with a friend. There's a little parking area off the side of the highway after the lake that has some nice trails. We got a bit off the trail at the beginning and did some "off roading" but it was still really pretty! I've got an okay sense of direction so we got back to the main trail eventually and it was smooth sailing after that.

We've had a good amount of rain in the last couple weeks so everything is really green and pretty. Morning are still brisk but it gets close to 70's in the afternoon which is nice! I love this time of year.

Today I am going to cut out another dress from the same pattern as above, except I'm going to modify the front bodice to not have the two pieces. I'm just going to cut it out on the fold. I'm thinking I might like to put in some pockets as well?  

I am almost done with the socks I've been knitting, I only have 14 rows of ribbing then bind off! So I'd like to finish that this weekend too. I also pulled out my cross stitch pattern that I had started forever ago!  Oh! and I am going to start reading a book. After my husband died I lost all concentration reading. But, I feel like I'd like to give it another go. So we'll see if I can stick with it!

I hope you're having a great weekend, whatever you're doing!

Saturday demo day

Aw, sweet Spring. I have been dreaming of Spring. At one point, I started to dread it. Last Fall I left off with my back yard as part dead weeds, part dirt, and small spaces of flowers and planted bulbs. I had planned to start attacking the weeds early this year.....which is the part I was really dreading.

Thankfully, I found someone willing to help me transform my back yard. The first step was to remove the stump from the tree my neighbor cut down for me.  Turns out, you can just go on down to the rental place and give them money and you get a very nice, expensive machine for a few hours! 

Saturday was the demo day. I woke up to snow and I was afraid that my helpers would not want to work in the cold. They were not daunted at all!  I am so thankful for that. Truly. 

Here is the stump grinder that I rented. I did not run the machine. It took no time at all (20 minutes) to grind up the stump!  You can see in the back corner of this photo the shed that also was removed on Saturday.

Here's the crater that was created by grinding down the stump. You can sort of see the wood down in there.  It's about 6-8 inches deep. The shavings and dirt will cover this up and once we get everything tilled and raked it will be leveled out.

Here is the view of my back yard now. Already it is so much more open!  So, the shed was taken apart and out. The shed base is still there for now but will be removed and dumped at a later date. To the left of the back gate there was a chain link dog run, which was removed.  On the left of the raised bed you can see some upset dirt clods. There had been a PVC pipe coming out of the ground with an electrical outlet on it - that was apparently ON!  Live electricity.  Oy vey!

So, that was removed as well, thank goodness!

After all this I was inspired to actually get up on a ladder (terrifying!) and tighten up my gutters and I removed some debris that was blocking the drain on one of the gutters.

This morning I woke up to oodles of fluffy snow everywhere!  It made yesterday's frosting of snow look like nothing.  I am so, so grateful that we tackled the demo yesterday!  

I have so many ideas, I am so very excited to get going on everything! The weather is, of course, a huge consideration up here. It's okay though, it just gives me more time to plan! Happy Spring everyone!

how does your garden grow?

I've got lots of updates in my yard to share today.  We'll start in the back yard which is honestly still pretty grody but has had a lot of progress made.  

In the picture on the left is where I ended last summer.  I had killed everything in the back yard and moved over the garden frame which was on the other side of the yard completely in the shade.  The garden box was already here when I bought the house last year.  The photo on the right shows the beginning of this spring.  When everything started coming up green I was so excited! Then, after the first cutting I realized it was all fox tails!!!! Rude. So, I set about pulling them - by hand.  It's verrrry slow going as you can imagine. But! If I weed eat them the heads that have the seeds just go on the ground so this way I am eliminating some of the seeds.

And here we have the day I planted the garden!!!!  Oh that was an exciting day for sure.  I bought already grown plants for most things. Next year I will start things from seed indoors.  I'm learning, slowly but surely!  See that cart in the background?  That is my weeding cart. I try and fill at least one or two cart fulls every day. This past couple of weeks I have not been hitting that mark but still do something every chance I can. Slow and steady I am reclaiming my back yard!

So photo on the left after a nice drenching rain. Photo on the right this afternoon.  I thinned out the onions in the bottom lefthand corner so I know it looks bleak but they are just thin shoots but still there.

 And I have baby tomatoes!!!!!!!  Oh happy day!  I have one group that will be yellow pears and another group of cherry tomatoes.  I have not had any success growing tomatoes up here in the past so this is very exciting!

Now for the front yard. The front is like a whole different house. Ha! My HOA takes care of the lawn in the front yard, keeping it green, aerating and mowing.  So it's lush in front and weed free.  I have two flower beds, one on either side of my walkway.  This first picture is in front of my living room window and there's a bit of a covered porch area behind the roses.  The roses and rhubarb were already here, and the rest before I started planting was grass and weeds.  I pulled everything out back to dirt and planted flowers.  The purple is veronica, in front of that are pink carnations, next is a spirea that is small now but will be a shrub eventually. 

 

The flower bed on the other side I don't have as many photos yet.  On that side there is a giant rose bush that was already there, and tucked behind it was a clump of lilies. It also was full of grass and weeds. I did the same thing here, pulled it all back to dirt.  There are also a bunch of rocks so it makes me think at one point maybe it was filled in with gravel? Anyway, I thinned out the lily plant and divided it into 6 plants and spaced those evenly in front. In the back row on either side of the rosebush I alternated lavender and purple salvia.  In between each lily plant I put in some iris tubers that a friend gave me from her garden.

Everything is filling in very well, which makes me happy.  I can see what I want it all to look like in my mind's eye.  I know it's going to take a long time to get rid of the weeds and replace with healthy grass and flowers. But! With God's grace I have hope.

home, nesting and socks

Last weekend I was in Bend with friends for a ladies retail therapy weekend.  I may have gone a little bit overboard at Hobby Lobby, but that's easy to do there!  I want to do a gallery wall in the dining room and I found a bunch of sayings and scriptures and cute stuff!  Once I get everything up on the walls I'll share pictures.

I finished up these socks this week. I'm really pleased with them!  You can't see the sparkle, but the green yarn has silver stellina in it, which made it fun to knit!  These need to have ends woven in but then they will go in the drawer for cooler weather.  

Rocky was extra lovey when I got back from Bend, he was very snuggly.  One thing that really stood out was that on the way home, I was really looking forward to being *home*.  This house really feels like home for me which is such a great feeling.  

One of the fun things about my new house is finding out what is growing where.  I decided that this first year I will just observe.  I've been learning a lot!  This week the rose bushes in the front bloomed and they are beautiful.  So vibrant and lots of blooms.  I have a lily plant in the front that I think is right about to bloom, can't wait!  I love lilies.  So far, the roses, lilies and rhubarb will stay.  I really want to put in shrubs.  I've seen a couple houses in the neighborhood that have nice small delicate looking shrubs and I think I'd like some like those.

So this week after I finished my green and pink socks, I found I had no projects I wanted to work on.  I have one pair of socks on the needles but I didn't feel like working on them, more on that later.  I do have a cross stitch project but didn't feel like that was it either.   

Suddenly I decided I needed to make a pom pom garland for my mantle!!!  Yes!  I super love how it turned out.  I found that wooden whale up in Bend and had just set it there, and once the garland was on it just looked right.

I have to share this lamp shade that I bought.  A coworker had an estate sale this weekend and had a couple beautiful stained glass lamps.  I technically did not need another lamp, but I saw this dragonfly one and had to have it!  She gave me an amazing deal on it.  I swapped out the shade I already had on this lamp and I really like the way it looks.

This is the pair of socks that I was avoiding working on the other night.  See, the thing is, I had them on magic loop two at a time.  I had already finished past the heels even!  But I've come to realize I just don't like magic loop.  I've also realized that I accomplished what I set out to do which was learn how to knit two socks at a time but I don't have to keep it up if it's not a pleasure. 

You can see a progress keeper, that is how far I've gotten since Friday!  Also, I had been using size 0 hiya hiya sharps, but did not have that size in DPNs.  Well, no, technically I do but the ones I have are too long for my liking.  This set of Knit Pro Zings is the next smallest size I have.  I had ordered them awhile ago and when I got them they were a disappointment.  First, I bought the wrong size.  Then the color was not what had been pictured.  Further, they seemed to have too much drag.  There was like a powdery coating or something and I just did not like them.  So, I set them aside.

But!  Guess what?  I thought I'd give them another chance since I didn't have too far to go to finish these socks.  And the powdery coating has come off the more I knit with them.  And now I really like them!  The funny thing is that my gauge is the same as when I was using the zeros.  So there you go.  

My sewing room is still a disaster zone.  It's really bothering me but I also feel like way overwhelmed by it.  I have too much stuff.  But, it's stuff that I may use and hate to give away because then what if that day comes for that project and I have to repurchase.  The struggle is real.  But I need to get it sorted out quick because my creative energy is getting that pent up feeling and it needs an outlet.  Knitting doesn't do it, it's more just relaxing for me.  I need to sew and quilt and MAKE!  I need to just buckle down and do a little at a time.

chores and feelings

I feel like I got a lot done this weekend, mostly chore type stuff I needed to get done.  I've been slowly decorating my new house.  Mostly just waiting to see what areas feel like they need color, you know?  

This little collage is at the end of the hallway where the bedrooms are.  I had kind of thought maybe I'd put a picture there but then I changed my mind.  In the rental I had this arrangement in the kitchen, except the wreath at the bottom was hanging from a cabinet door.

Saturday I did some weed eating in the back yard.  I finished right as it started pouring rain!  Perfect timing.  I did laundry and cleaned up the house, which felt good to do. The wood floors really show how much Rocky and George shed.  I'm so glad I can sweep it up, it's not trapped in carpet.

I also finally blocked my Duchess of Devonshire shawl.  I finished this in February, but that was right as I was packing and really ramping up to move so it got put aside.  I used some Soak wash in an ocean kind of scent.  George, of course, had to be right in the middle of the action!  She cracks me up!

So I bought a bed for the spare 'oom so my Mom can come visit and have somewhere to sleep.  As soon as I set it up George was right on top of it and jumping in the window.  She loves to keep an eye on the neighborhood. Not that there's much action happening, it's a quiet neighborhood.  Which I like.

 I took this picture of the stitches up close because my camera has trouble catching all the colors.  It's really like rainbow colored and vibrant.  One of the greens is like neon.

Sunday was more of the same, little chores around the house.  I really wanted to make some strawberry rhubarb jam.  I was fortunate to have a rhubarb plant already here in the front flower bed when I moved in!  It's quite syrupy right now but I think it may gel up in time.  Not that it will last very long! ha!

I know I've been a bit distant from my blog.  I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately.  I don't even know if that's the right word really.  I guess since I can't exactly explain how I feel I haven't felt like anything I say would come out right.  Like not genuine.  I simply can't act very well.  I've been trying to keep the blog light, only talk about crafty stuff or general random stuff.  Which is fine. I don't even know what people want to read, who even reads this blog.  So that's part of it too.  When you don't know your audience it's hard to know what I should say - like am I saying too much?  too personal?  not enough?

Which is funny because when I knew it was just a couple friends and my Mom reading I didn't care what I wrote.  Well.  Except for my Mom, couldn't write too much that might make her worry.  Like after Scott died it would upset her that I was upset.  So then I started trying not to be too dark, too much.  

Here's the thing: I am too much.  I think too much.  I feel too much.  I definitely eat too much!  I talk about my grief too much.  I miss my husband too much.  I miss the life I wanted with him too much.

But lately....especially with this new house, I've felt a slight shift.  Which feels like a betrayal - as if I should worry about that! but it does.  The fact is that I did not die when Scott did.  I felt as though I could have.  When your heart is so wrapped around someone else and they die, your heart shatters.  And implodes.  There are days that I feel I am walking around with a gaping sucking wound where my heart is.  It explodes with pain and then sucks back in on itself again.  It is a horrid feeling that has no relief.  

What do I do with that when I feel like that and everyone around me is normal?  People expect me to be "over" it.  We all know there is no over it.  We all know that but I'm the only one feeling the cavern of my heart.  People say "you're not alone".  People say of course you're not over it.  But there's an impatience I feel from them.  It's like a "it's been 3 years are you still talking about that?" pause I get. It's hard to be around people who can't relate, who don't want to.  Or there are new people who don't even know what happened or who Scott was and explaining sucks.

So I don't even know my point.  I guess just that in between the normal, everyday stuff I still get overwhelmed and set back.  And I've mostly adjusted to that, learned to gloss it over and adapt.  But I also need a space where it's safe to let my feelings out, where no one visibly winces or shrinks away or doesn't know what do, say, or how to handle me.  This blog doesn't shy away from me.  It is freedom to type out my feelings, back space what I don't want to share - but I got it out!  

I am not going to apologize for making any of you uncomfortable.  Unless it's my Mom, ha!  Then, sorry Mom but you know I'll feel better just getting it all out.

all about the bathroom

Omigosh the bathroom is 97% done!!!  The only tiny things left to do are just painting the trim, one more coat of paint on the ceiling and then that is it!  I'm so, so in love with this bathroom!  It's just fresh and bright and beautiful.

You can see the painter's tape at the top of this picture. Ha!  Whoops.  This morning I was looking at the doors and thinking how dingy they look compared to the new clean bead board paneling.  I guess that's how it goes, right?  

Here's a picture of the light fixture, which I love, love!  It is super bright and fun.  I wasn't over the moon about any of the options I could find locally, they all just felt like blah blah blah.  There was one at Home Depot but the color was weird.  Karla found this one on Amazon, it's called the schoolhouse light.  The globes are a white glass which just looks so good with the rest of the bathroom. Love.

Ok this is a silly little picture, I know.  But!  Aaron changed out the light switch in the bathroom to these push button ones.  So there are two, one for the fan and the other is for the light.  When the light is off the switch has a little night light!  I love it.  I totally geeked out on this!

Yesterday while Aaron was finishing up the trim I was working on getting things situated.  I dragged out the big boxes that the sink, mirror  and light fixture came in that had been taking up residence in the living room.  Which made me really look at this nook.  And I had a light bulb moment!  I made this banner last summer but could not figure a place to put it.  The top of this cabinet had an embellishment that I didn't like so I had taken it out and it left an open spot so the banner covers that nicely.  Usually the cabinet is open, it houses my tv in the top and baskets full of movies in the bottom.

And!  I finally put up curtains in my bedroom.  I tried to get a picture of how white and bright and beautiful they looked this morning.  Really though life doesn't always translate as well into pictures, does it?  

My Mom and I had a laugh yesterday on the phone.  Well, I might have laughed more than her, ha!  But, I'm pretty sure that she gave these to me and had picked them up at either a yard sale or thrift store.  She always finds good deals and passes things on to me.  Lucky me :)  So!  I've had these stashed for a million years and had never put them up.  I put them up and stood back to admire them and one curtain is about an inch shorter than the other!  Bahahhahaa!  I was laughing with her because I thought maybe that's why someone got rid of them! meh. I love them so much I don't really care.  I just love lace.

So today I am cleaning a bit, hanging up pictures and knitting.  I am just chilling out.  Taking my time.  I have to say I feel like I picked the right house because I really feel comfortable here.    I like coming home.  Hope you all have a great week coming up!

unpacking

So it's been exactly a week since we've officially moved in.  While life feels unsettled and unorganized, it's been mostly good.  It's super quiet out here.  I didn't really realize exactly how much background noise there was at the other house.  I was right off a main street so there were lots of cars, sirens, the TRAIN! and there's a little park across the street.  I didn't know how much I was blocking out till I didn't need to.

There hasn't been much time for knitting.  I feel that I should be unpacking or cleaning or painting before I do fun stuff.  But, mornings I let myself knit for about a half an hour.  This sock is coming along nicely.  I'm sort of following the Bickersstraat pattern except not doing the purl rows in between the eyelet rows.  This yarn is so super soft and I am loving the speckles!

 This morning I got up nice and early and my room was literally glowing with the sunrise.  It was so gorgeous!!!

 So I have a little progress I can share.  I have one corner of the sewing room kind of put together.  I say kind of because the shelf on the left is mostly empty still.  I used to have fabric on it at the other house and I may still do that here.  Although.....I started thinking how nice would it be to have both closets fully shelved and fabric in there???  That way I can close the doors and shut out the visual noise.

Instead I could put books on there and my scrapbooks?  Then I can get rid of one of the bookshelves in the spare room and make room to put the dresser in there.  Hmmmm.

Here's the view looking in from the open door.  I am thinking my sewing table will go there and maybe have the design wall next to it.  You can see it's still kind of a mess.  And the boxes with fabric all in the closets :) 

So here's the living room coming from the hallway.  On the left there you can see the bathroom sink :)  Doesn't everyone have one of those in the living room??? ha!  I haven't put up curtains yet.  I am seriously loving all the light.  I haven't put up pictures or art yet.  I'm getting a feel for where I might want them to go.

So, this is the bathroom cabinet/vanity.  See the wood color on the inside?  That is the color that the whole thing used to be.  But I decided I wanted white.  Well, the color is actually called "polar bear".  It was worn and dingy looking and I'm trying to save a little moolah since the whole re-do the bathroom thing was a surprise!  I really like it though.  I'm going to put a 'satin nickel' pull on the front of the door and the drawers I might do this green glass I found.  Unless it looks weird to have different colors then I'll find silver pulls.

 It's funny how quickly we've gotten used to living here.  I really loved the house I was renting.  As crazy as it sounds it was like a friend to me.  It saw me through a really, really hard time.  But, like I mentioned before, God knew I was ready for something new way before I did!  So I thought it would be hard to leave, but turns out it hasn't been.  I'm thankful I lived there, and glad I still do for the rest of the month so I have somewhere to shower!

Oh!  I almost forgot!!! The shower.  So much progress has been made but it's not quite done yet.  Karla's husband Aaron has been working on it and it looks amazing!  I am very blessed that he offered to help.  I wasn't sure about the large tile at first - it's 12' x 24'.  But, I really do like it.  It's bold and I think it makes the shower area look bigger.

moving update

I was so busy this past week that I didn't even know that it was daylight savings time.  I barely realized today was Sunday and thankfully was not expected at work!

Tonight is the first night sleeping at my new house.  Yesterday was moving day and it was a DOOZY!  First of all it was snowing sideways all morning and blowing wind hard.  I know the weather changes quickly here though so I didn't cancel.  Thankfully I have hardy friends who weren't fazed in the least by the weather.  I am so, SO thankful for my friends.  Truly I have received so much help, it's been amazing.

I thought I was going to have all the small stuff moved before moving day.  Which seriously I did move a lot but it was like where did all this junk come from???  There were bits of random stuff here and there.  In my head I pictured a 15 foot moving van that would be mostly empty because all there would be was a couch, armoire, dressers and bed.  HA!  Two truckloads later....

At the end of the day I had all my stuff here at the new house, but George, my coffee and a working shower at the rental.  So I horked Rocky in the car and we went back there last night.  I had left my air mattress there so I grabbed my sleeping bag and pillow and called it good.  Except it was not good.  Rocky felt that he needed to "share" the small air mattress with me.  But!  we made it.

This afternoon I decided it's now or never.  And I did not want a repeat of last night!  George did not appreciate the car ride at all!  But she did good and she is loving this house.  She has checked every room and is very comfortable here.  She's even snuggled with me on the couch. Awww.  Rocky is sound asleep on the couch.  I don't think he liked sharing with me either :)

Everything is still pretty much torn apart which is to be expected.  You can see how nice and bright it is though after painting!  The paint I picked is called "twinkle lights" and I really super love it.  The house gets a ton of natural light so it didn't seem very dark before but after painting it's even brighter.  Again, I have friends to thank for that, too.  A coworker volunteered her husband to come over with their paint sprayer and it was amazing!  

Anyways, that's all for now.  I just wanted to check in and let you know how things are going.  Have a great week!

reality sets in

I'm not going to lie, my first weekend of being a homeowner has been hard.  There has been panic and tears.  We knew that was coming, right?  I was way more naive and optimistic than I'd like to admit.  I really kind of thought I'd get away with cleaning, regrouting and painting.  

It started small.  I was trying to get the grout from in between the tiles.  Which actually turns out are pink tiles painted white!!!  The grout also was painted over.  The caulk was very, very difficult to get loose.  It's super thick and like rubber glue.  One of the tiles at the bottom was sort of bowed out a bit.  I was working at the caulk and I noticed it was loose.  I really wanted to ignore it.  But it's like a loose tooth, it wants you to pull it!  So I did.  See that empty spot?

Yeah.  I have no idea what was actually holding the tile in place!  Whatever was behind it has crumbled completely away.  Right here is when I started panicking and crying.  All I could picture at that point was that I'd have to rip the entire bathroom out.  And dollar signs.  And I don't actually know how to do anything.  I mean youtube only gets you so far and frankly I don't have the wifi set up out there yet so I'd really get no where.

Thank God for friends.  Seriously.  I called Karla who said she and her husband Aaron would drive out and take a look.  They assured me it wasn't as bad as it looks.  The wood is still solid, and can be worked with.  That was Friday night.  First day of homeownership.

This was Saturday: 

Aaron took all the tile out.  Mostly the water damage is under the window.  The other two walls look okay.  Then, he took out the old light fixture to put in a new one I bought and the new one was too long and hit the medicine cabinet.  He took the medicine cabinet down and surprise!  There is just hole in the wall behind the cabinet.  

Um, yeah.  I did cry some more, not going to lie.  Because I'm overwhelmed.  But!  The good side is that I found this all the first day instead of after moving all in.  At least right now I still have my rental for 27 more days, where I can shower :)

Karla was a rockstar yesterday and painted most of my new bedroom.  Today all I had to do was one more coat on one wall and along the top where she couldn't reach and a few touch ups.  And, I have really not painted before - other than one room at our old house.  Yep, amateur hour over here!  I globbed paint on the ceiling.  It's a pretty close match but it you look too closely it's obvious it doesn't match.  I avoided the bottom trim because I was fairly certain I'd end up painting the floor too.

I've been taking Rocky with me each time I go out there so he gets used to the new house.  Today he was really relaxed and is more comfortable going in rooms without coaxing.  Here he is snoozing on the job!  hahaha he made himself a little dog nest with the sheets and towel.  

I plan to get out there after work every day and paint a little each time.  Oh and there are tack strips that were left from old carpet that was removed so I plan to pull a bit of those each day too.  Fun, fun!  I think it will be satisfying (?) once each project is done.  I have a feeling there will be no shortage of projects! ha