stopping to smell the flowers

Day 14:  FA-LOA-WAHS!

"Thinking bee, thinking bee..."

(Yes, that is an obscure movie reference up there.)

(I do this often, some might say too often.)

Anywho, I don't like taking photos of flowers.

It's hard.

Thank God for photo editing sites.

"This time, this time, this time!!!!  That's diabolical!"

"Black and yellow, HELLO!"

Okay, I'll stop now.

Insert "fall" pun here.

Day 13:  From a Distance

(at least I think it's from a distance...)

I made a fall wreath for my door.

It was suppose to be a summer wreath.

I had it all ready to go in the spring and then somehow I talked myself out of making it.

I thought it wouldn't work out right.

Then I decided to just go for it in the fall when I rediscovered the wreath wring in the gardening box.

I picked out some fall colored fabrics from the stash, and

"from a distance" it looks like this:

But here's a close up too.

And an extreme close up of the bunting.

Sometimes I do these projects and I am amazed at how thick I can be.

I laid out the bunting letters and attached them to string with hot glue on the back side.

But I neglected to think about the fact they had to be backwards because of this.

So it said EMOCLEW when I turned it over!

Uh, duh.

And just 'cause here's what it looked like before I added the bunting and before the weather got to it and make it look a little limp and deflated.

I mean, understated and fabulous.

;)

Happy Fall!

short and sweet

Day 12:  Close-up

There was a little girl who had a little curl...

fade to black...

Day 11:  Something Fun

I know I'm suppose to post a photo of something fun.  I don't want to.  Well, to be fair, I'd love to do that.  I just don't think I've got it in me.  I can put on my happy face like I do other days.  I can pretend life doesn't have me depressed and sad.  Or I can get real for a second and just say, I lost my joy.

Somewhere along the way I stopped laughing and having fun.  I stopped finding the joy in the details.  The stress of every day, of feeling like the only responsible adult has paid a toll on my outlook.  Honestly, I've never been what you'd call an optimist.  So maybe to the world looking in, I'm much the same as I was before I started feeling this way.  But I don't feel the same.  At all.

I don't have any energy and I find myself quick to anger.  Instead of taking a deep breath and tackling issues from a different angle, I blow my top and start yelling (at anyone in my path).   I have to drag myself out of the bed in the morning.  I use to laugh at something my kids said everyday, not so much these days.  Don't even get me started on how my relationship with J has degraded.  I feel beaten down and broken.

The complete antithesis of fun.

there's a wall around my heart.

Welcome to day 10:  something I made! ♥

I debated what to share.

I've made quite a few things lately... not all good, but not all bad.

I decided on my summer landscaping project.

Also known as the driveway straightening/rock wall project.

But it was also called a few other choice things...

But I digress.

Our drive was curved so we cut off part of the lawn to straighten it.

(Basically, the darker color dirt in the drive is where there use to be lawn.)

We cut out pieces sod and transferred them to an old garden bed we were looking to turn into lawn again.

Garden area, before and after laying sod.

This project was suppose to be a Jeff and I project.

He helped mark the lawn with spray paint so we knew where to cut.

And he helped sod and dig the first 6 feet or so.

The rest fell to me.

And then his mom came to visit and helped out immensely with all the digging!

God love her!

The rock wall was put together using only rocks we already had on the property.

It was a challenge.

I love puzzles though, and that's basically what it was.

(And to be fair, Jeff did help build the first 10 feet of wall and bits and pieces further on.)

I love how it came out.

There is some talk of adding (purchased) cap-stones to make it more uniform with cleaner lines.

We shall see.

And here's a glimpse of my next project:

 

New triangular garden patch.

Smiles, all around!

After I added my herbs from the veggie garden and some lavender from another garden along the house (that is going away).

I've since added mums and my blueberry bushes.

Irises tomorrow?

Mini-me(s)!

Day 9:  Faceless Self-portrait

Yes, they are feet.

But beyond how dang good looking my feet are,

there is another story here.

This is about the kind of mum I am.

The other two sets of [little people] feet belong to my two boys.

Yes, I painted their toes.

It was the first time, but not the last.

And I've even painted their fingernails too.

I don't feel the least guilty or bad about it either.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all.

And if my boys want to be like me and do the things I do, I say "have at it".

Time marches quickly and the days when we can get away with this sort of thing are limited.

Besides I want my kids to be exactly who THEY want to be.

Not what the world thinks they should.

that's right, that's the sound of crickets.

Day 8:  Technology

So, this day almost was the end of me.

I don't know.

Technology?

Really?

This is the technology I prefer...

No technology.

When the tv, internet, cell phone and all related "noises" in my life are turned off.

Don't get me wrong, 

I love all those devices for the convenience they give.

For the hours of "babysitting", 

for the hours of "me time", 

for the enjoyment of spending time together as a family watching a good movie or playing a game of mini-golf on the Wii.

It's all good.

But when those things go quiet, I tend to focus on the things and people who really matter to me.

And that feels good.

Way better than what technology gives me.