Quote of the Day

Me:  I love you girls so much.
Genevieve:  Mom,  we've known that for years.

House Project: Three Van Loads Later

Our day started at 6:30 a.m. and we went non-stop until 5p.m. on an extreme outdoor clean up.  We started this long weekend off with plans to build a corral of sorts for all of our crap that was stashed under our covered roof.  Drew started gathering materials and measuring the space we were planning on enclosing to create outdoor storage.  "Before I start we need to pull all this stuff out."  So we started hauling the detritus heaped outside of 7 years of figuring out how to make a 100 year old building originally intended to be a boys workshop into a home.  The equivalent of a messy garage, but without the luxury of four walls to hide it all. 

"Why are we building something to store this?  We need to just get rid of it," said Drew 20 minutes into our project.  I took a deep breath, fought back my inner hoarder, and agreed wholeheartedly.

We decided to consolidate our outdoor storage to one corner of our covered roof space, rather than the entire back of our building and a corner up front. 

Here's the before:

The girls hauled toys down from their room and set up shop on the covered side porch while we sorted through boxes and piles.  Drew kept things moving by saying things like, "hon, maybe now isn't the time to look through old photos" and "why don't you finish clearing out what you need to get rid of before you organize your potting bench."  My husband is a very patient man.

Now we have reclaimed the entire back side of our house.  We're not sure what we want it to become, so for now we're leaving it a blank slate, with the BBQ and just enough junk to keep it feeling like home.

Here's our new and improved "storage corner" that is screened from our view from the yard by two old doors screwed to the wall:

The slough-facing side of the building is a whole new barren world:

We'll try our best to keep it that way.

Next up on the long list of keeping a 100 year old building from falling into ruin - paint! 

Calm and Peonies

My little family packed up for an adventure and left me with a quiet empty house for the afternoon.  A rare and cherished calm.  They've been gone two hours and I'm already starting to miss them.  Mission accomplished.

I poked around the garden after my attention span lapsed on a work project and brought this blast of color in with me.

Prankster

Genevieve:  Mom, I'm itching all over.  This is really bad.
Me:  Let me see you.

 

Genevieve:  I think it's chicken pox.  

Me:  Or a really itchy red marker.  Go wash your face.

Genevieve:  Ahahahahahahahahahaaaaa!  I pranked you good.

Nocturnal Pinner

The girls each picked out a pink petunia as their own.  I've never been much of a petunia fan, but these two are really growing on me.  They over water them, drop them, re-pot them, forget to water them, kidhandle their delicate petals and they keep on growing and filling two little hearts with happiness and hopefully a sense of responsibility.

 We spent most of the day in the yard, running in when we had to for hand-fulls of peanut butter pretzels and drinks of cold water which we qualified as meals.

Drew and I got after the street side landscaping with a layer of mulch.  It took both of us to do it, and a bottle of advil.  But so worth it! 

 I've been wanting a bird bath but not wanting to spend money on a bird bath.  So I poked through our odds and ends and came up with this slightly rickety, pinterest inspired number:

I really love pinterest.  More than I love sleeping, apparently.  I lay in bed with my iPad, emailing things to Drew that I want him to build for me.  Emailing someone who is sleeping next to me cracks me up. 

Drew got the Evergreen Clematis in the ground this morning.  Wish it luck.

The peonies started bursting open late this afternoon!  My true favorite. 

Climbers are in bloom,

I gave this rogue honeysuckle some help by hanging netting on the fence,

I remembered to water dormant plants under the covered porch this winter, and it paid off!  Go figure.

Lobelia and shotgun shells.  A perfect match:

 

The bridge that collapsed into the Skagit River will make going anywhere to buy anything a bitch for the next several months.   At least we'll have plenty of broccoli (I would have made a terrible homesteader, attempting to live off the land with only broccoli and lettuce to see us through).

Have I told you yet that my mom writes a gardening column for the Homer News?  She's been doing it for a zillion years and it's my favorite read.  Check out the Kachemak Gardener for someone who knows what she's talking about.

Off I go to email my sleeping husband.

Comments, Please!

Hello Realized Mama readers.  My techie geek friend Alyson, (who is also super foxy and hilarious) made a big fix on my blog today.  The "comments" feature is now usable to anyone, so please feel free to comment.  I'd love to hear from you here!
xo
Andrea

House Project: Smith & Vallee Fir Dresser

Drew and Wes and their bad ass woodworking team finished our fir dresser!

There is room in it for a lifetime supply of socks and t-shirts, and two small children.

They also built and installed the door on the eve storage by our bed that is crammed full of camping gear and what not - that I no longer have to be faced with every time I walk into my bedroom!  Hurray for serenity, calm, peace, storage, and the maximum two nights a week the girls sleep through the night in their own beds.

Jack Arnold

The girls and I loaded ourselves into the car full of intention to go to the grocery store and stock up for the weekend.  We made it to the other side of Edison and decided to have lunch at the Edison Cafe instead.  With full bellies and a quick stop at WD for cough medicine and peanut butter m&m's we turned for home and hunkered back in to our we're-all-sick-and-tired routine.

The cafe has this hand drawn map of Edison from 1940 on the wall that includes our "house."

Our building is the "Boy's Workshop" for the highschool.  Now I'm feeling motivated to find out who Jack Arnold was.  I picture him as a rebellious dandy with greased back hair and a twinkle in his eye, hopping up on the window sill in his chuck taylors and carving his name into what is now the trim above my living room window. 

General Consumption: Necklace

I've always loved jewelry.  As a kid I would spend every last penny at the state fair on chotchkie jewelry, the first eight years of my life were filled with much yearning for pierced ears, and designing my wedding ring almost made me explode with happiness.  Lucky for me, there is a constant flow of beautiful jewelry in the gallery, and every now and then - there is something that I can't live without.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Aches, Pains, Ninja Moves and Field Trips

Many days on pain pills and muscle relaxants later, I have a newly mulched hedge of hydrangeas and that's about it to show for a busted up back.  Dang.  But they sure do look happy now, don't they?  Like they belong here. 

Genevieve's preschool took a field trip to kindergarten today.  Here we are setting out on our walk to school:

(please note the hand-painted unicorn tattoo peaking out from under her cowgirl boot)

And yes, that's my daughter, the one who purposely kicked one of her boots to the ground and scowled at the camera while attempts were being made at taking her class picture.

Hoodlum.

I opted out on taking a picture of her dry heaving and spitting out her first taste of cafeteria lunch.  Guess I'll be packing a lot of lunches.

We spent our afternoon in the yard and the girls were in and out of the cottage to play and rest and practice ninja moves on the couch. 

Here's a blooming and budding update:

Now pardon me while I get back to popping pills and laying around so I can get back to it.

Mother's Day, With Love

This day was decadent.  This day was full of love.  This day celebrated motherhood. 

It started off with a phone call with my own mama.  The best listener, the secret keeper, the no bullshit, loving, inspirational and stubborn as hell woman who I continue to learn from and lean on.

Pan au chocolate and a walk through town with Marguerite, wearing matching cowgirl boots per her request.

Champagne on the deck, with costumes and entertainment.

 

A big wish came true when I became a mom.

 Having a day to reflect on who I've become over the last five years as a mama was just right.

Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful mamas in my life!