Saturday morning

Yup...this seems like the best way for us to spend our time...

Your hair may be brushed, but your mind's untidy.
You've had about seven hours of sleep since Friday.
No wonder you feel that lost sensation.
You're sunk from a riot of relaxation.
~ Ogden Nash

Expanding my repertoire

So I've been looking into doing different things, and cooking different types of things...lately I've been cooking some vegan dishes...

2 bean chocolate chip cookies.  Yup...made with beans.  They're actually very very good.  Good enough that I'm willing to make them again.  I had to search 3 stores before I found non-dairy chocolate chips though.

My dinner last night.  Bean and sweet potato burger with avocado and butternut squash fries.  Umm...delicious in every way imaginable.  Oh yeah...with a side of pickles.  :)

Close-up of the burger.  You can use this recipe.  MMMM....I'm glad I have leftovers.

Don't worry...I'm not turning into a vegan.  I still love my dairy products....I don't think I could go a week without some sort of cheese.  And while I actually don't eat that much meat lately (usually only in restaurants), I still eat it quite willingly.  This is just something fun to do.

Plus, I can experiment with all sorts of lovely recipes in anticipation of getting vegetables from my garden.  And if not there, my local CSA.

Hope you all are having the most lovely of Fridays.

To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body.
~ Mahatma Gandhi

What have you done for me lately?

Finished my garage project! 

Unfortunately I don't have "before" pictures.  Why?  I couldn't tell you...  Just picture this same night stand covered in white chipping paint and given a generally dirty look.

I would like to tell you the nightstand only cost me $4.50.  Which it did.  It just cost much more in supplies because the only thing I actually had was a sander....  But, I'm excited to do more garage projects!  My next goal is to find a dresser. 

Finally got to hang the totally cool present my brother made for me....isn't he awesome?!?!

Its a jewelry hanger!!!  Inspiration from here.

Me and Atticus during sunnier times.  AKA - last week.

Oh, and I signed up to volunteer.

Onward and upward!!!

Tongue - a variety of meat, rarely served because it clearly crosses the line between a cut of beef and a piece of a dead cow.
~ Bob Ekstrom

Monday

If we must part forever,

Give me but one kind word to think upon,
And please myself with, while my heart's breaking.
~Thomas Otway

Come take a tour through my gardens

I've been on a plant kick recently.  I don't have that many, and to be honest I have no idea what I'm doing, I just like all the greenery.

My apologies for poor picture quality - not quite sure where I put my camera so I've been using my phone.

The African Violet I babied from an almost dead plant someone gave to me from work.  I haven't been able to create any new plants off this one though.  It has me boggled because this one is doing so well.

A brilliant idea I saw online....taking your spring onions and putting them in water so they continue to grow shoots after you cut them off.  Its like the onion that keeps on giving. 

The shamrock I bought myself as a St Paddys day present.  Pretty sure the roots need separated and replanted into several different pots.

Angel Wings!

Aloe a friend gave me.  It was too watered when I got it so its a little smaller than original.  I'm trying to dry it out and hope that it continues to grow.

An indoor start to my outdoor garden.  Brussel sprouts on the left.  My first zucchini plant on the right.

More indoor seed starts from paper pots I made.  These are all squashes.  So far none of them have come up.



Finally started some yard maintenance yesterday.




This is all I got raked up before my yardwaste bin was full.  If I knew I was allowed to burn leaves I would have done that instead of taking up room in the bin.  Unfortunately the leaves were there all winter so most of what I raked was months worth of wet and decay.  I think this is where I'm going to put my garden though - the fence will be good for the viney plants and this location gets a good deal of sun.  Plus, if its on this side of the fence I don't have to worry about Atticus getting into anything.


Hope you enjoyed the little bit greenery I had to show.  Trying to encourage my green thumb to figure out the crazy weather and growing schedules of the PNW.

Flowers are those little colorful beacons of the sun from which we get sunshine when dark, somber skies blanket our thoughts. 
~ Dodinsky

TGITW

Be everything with so much love in your heart that you would never want to do it any other way.
~ Amrit Desai

TGIAF

Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.  ~ Lorraine Hansberry

Some Randoms

Some random pictures from this weekend...

Saw this on a car.  I laughed and felt compelled to take a picture.

More pretty toes....

Saturday gave me a reason to drink at lunch.

We've been having the craziest weather out here.  While it seems the rest of the county is starting spring and/or summer, we've been alternating (many times in the same day, mind you!) between snow, rain, sun, hail, heavy rain, downpours, sun, and then some rain and snow mixed just to keep it interesting.  The morning I took this Atticus and I were chilling and watching the rain.

I'm in a really bad cycle of bad dreams and nightmares.  Started about 3 weeks ago, and I can't seem to go a night without one.  Last night being no exception.  Its kind of hard to drum up enthusiasm for life when I didn't sleep much, and when I slept I had horrible dreams.  When I woke up at midnight (yup...going in for a 2 am shift!) I was actually more glad to be awake than anything else. 

Kind of excited about my day though.  Not really for my 12 hour shift, but afterwards.  Come on down 2pm!

I hope you all are sleeping sweet.

A dream has power to poison sleep.  ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Saturday morning

Brand new phone, brand new specialty cameras....

Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you. ~ Ogden Nash

I guess I should clarify....

I'm not using the melted paint from the previous post for anything....I was taking paint off a nightstand...am hoping the wood underneath is good enough to stain...

Atticus was helping me sand yesterday...mostly he just laid around in the sawdust....

Few people have the imagination for reality. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A nutshell

Last week in a nutshell:  BUSY

Work in a nutshell: STRESSFUL

Life in a nutshell:  WONDERFUL!

My garage project.
Wood stripper + paint = this.  MMMM...melted paint....

Peace begins with a smile. ~ Mother Teresa

A second start

My work gave away the hundreds of flowers at Tonys memorial.  I happened to be there at the right time.

 

This is the other thing I did yesterday.

It was nice to look at the local news sites this morning and not know a single person mentioned. 

Today, the last day of my weekend (which has gone by entirely too fast), I plan to do positive things: plant some starter seeds (I'm determined to grow all sorts of squash), buy some paint stripper (finally - a garage project!), cook some food, and overall, just celebrate life.

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. ~ Grandma Moses

Saying goodbye is always the hardest part

One of the most emotionally and physically draining weeks of my life.

The scene

The procession

I am so proud of her.

My boys.

As long as I can I will look at this world for both of us.  As long as I can I will laugh with the birds, I will sing with the flowers, I will pray to the stars, for both of us.  ~ Sascha