It’s garden time!

The seeds have been planted. They’re actually quite big right now, thanks to our very warm March. I’m afraid they’ve had a rude awakening the past couple of relatively much colder days.

The land has been turned for the first time. I can’t wait to get these babies in the ground. Gardening is one of my true joys of the spring and summer. I love taking a tiny seed, placing it in a little dirt, watering it and holding my breath to see if it grows. Because there comes a point every season where I feel totally in control. I’ve watered and fertilized. Yep, I’ve got this gardening thing down.

And then I realize that I am utterly powerless. I must force myself to let go of my egocentric thought that I had any power here in the first place. Nature has its own plan, which sometimes coincides with mine and sometimes just doesn’t.

Birthday Girl…

My second born child and first born girl turned nine yesterday. She’s a pretty cool kid. Super smart with a total oddball, slightly dark sense of humor. I’m not necessarily claiming credit for either thing, but you know, if the shoe fits. (Totally kidding – I have no idea how my kid ended up being so comfortable in her own skin. It just sort of happened)

Presents!

Cake! It’s a boxed mix lemon cake with gourmet swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Yeah, I’m full of contradictions like that.

A headband from Grandmom and Granddad!

Her first American Girl Doll, McKenna!

And last but not least, cake!

Pinned there, made that…

Hey, check me out! I actually made something I pinned. And it wasn’t food or scout crafts!

In other pins:

In anticipation of a hot summer: DIY Sprinkler

No cream of anything soup Cheesy Potatoes

25 Series to Read if You Loved the Hunger Games

Springtime Crochet-Along – I’m lame. Technically the CAL is over, but I haven’t even started yet. I lost the hook I needed to I had to go buy a new one. Right. That’s my story, people.

Cinnamon Sugar Scones – Words cannot express how much I love the cinnamon scones at Panera. Def. will try.

Pinned this week: March 18

I’ve even made some of these pins!

Vomit Carpet Cleaner: Sadly, I needed this one last week but only found the pin this week. Hopefully, I won’t need it again for quite some time.

Stripey Egg Mug Rug: I really want to make this. I think it would be a great first quilting project.

Seed Starters: My Daisy Troop made these this week as we started the Daisy Flower Garden Journey. I don’t really recommend it for 5-7 year olds. Probably a better project for slightly older kids.

Spring Cleaning Checklist: Must. do. this.

Flower Mandala: Another project for Girl Scouts. Haven’t done this one yet, but I think we will later in April.

Pinned this week…

Granny Stripe Tutorial

I’m taking up crocheting again. The nice thing is that it’s like picking up with an old friend. I know it so well. I love the colors in the tutorial photos, so I’ve decided to give it a go. It’s part of my Lenten resolutions.

Room Mom Ideas

I’m not a room mom. I never have been. I’m a) usually carting around a younger kid and b) totally intimidated by the very idea. But next year, my little Viv starts pre-K, so I’m open to more things like room mom-dom in the future.

Project Life Cards (and these)

I’m also working on Project Life. I have way too few photos from the first couple of weeks, but I’m hoping to make it work somehow. And the idea of capturing a year of the everyday is very appealing.

Accidentally crunchy…

I’m accidentally cloth diapering. Yes, my youngest is three and a half and only potty-trained if she’s completely naked. Not the most practical definition of potty-trained. Yes, I’m a stay-at-home mom who can’t seem to get her kid potty-trained. Girls are easier? My ass. My youngest two girls have been the hardest. This one? If I hadn’t already called the baby making quits, I would now (and not just because of the potty-training – Viv’s a challenge all around).

I was buying Pull-Ups last week – for the last time, I promised myself (too bad Viv didn’t similarly promise me)–  when I decided to look at some cloth options. I found a couple of affordable pull-up-like cloth diapers and bought them to test out. I actually wanted to cloth diaper this child the whole time but living in a 250 year old house with dicey plumbing scared me off. We started this morning. So far, she thinks they’re diapers and she’s cool with that.

Between this and my mostly organic garden, I’m getting downright crunchy. Watch out – my candy coating might even disappear.

Pinterest Hits and Misses

First, clearly I fell off the December Daily wagon. I got sick on the 10th and just never picked it back up again. Makes me think Project Life is not for me. I’m actually rethinking my photo-keeping strategy in general.

What I’ve Pinned this week:

Thin Mint Brownies – Heck, yeah. I’m a Girl Scout leader and it’s cookie time. For our cookie rally (the annual party to get girls excited/educated about selling cookies), we had a Girl Scout cookie sundae bar. They got a bowl of ice cream and could scoop hot fudge and Thin Mint or Trefoil crumbles (strawberry syrup was also offered, but not even cracked open).

Long story short (too late), I had leftover Thin Mint crumbles that needed a home. And they found one. In my favorite brownie recipe. Hel-lo.

Lucky 13 Wardrobe Builder – pinned when I had a job interview. Haven’t heard from them, so I’m thinking I can file this one away for another time.

The Seven Day Toy Cure – on the books for this week. I’ll let you know if it helps. At all. It sure couldn’t hurt. We were in toy chaos before Christmas. Now it’s just madness.

Clear the Clutter – sensing a theme? Yeah, it’s chaotic all over the place here. It’s been so cold all I want to do is curl up with hot cocoa and brownies and my laptop warming my lap (although that’s probably bad for me, isn’t it?)