Day with Mud

Glorious day in garden yesterday. Wrangled it back from weeks of neglect due to swim team. I actually love weeding. It's so peaceful out there clearing and cleaning. It is also a chore no one else really wants to do so I am on my own in the early moring in MY garden.  

So peaceful.

The pay off was tasty pesto, allot of it. Yum Yum. 

Made two small batches at a time from my Dad's recipe. 

I love this time of year. 

What are you waiting for you ask??  

Okay seriously too much has been happening here. The kids are swimming twice  a day and while I love that they love the water and the training regimen isn't wearing them out, I'm beat.  No time for the garden or anything house related. Michael has even had to come each day and cook dinner for all of us. How he's making it I don't know. Seriously, no joke everyday he comes home to a kitchen that has not seen an adult since the first cup of coffee was poured.  As I look around me now I there are four books, a lands end box, a coffee pot, card shuffler and box, baseball trophy, crickets ( yes live for the frogs) tape measure, garden scissors, bunny treats, bird treats, wine bottle, and - lets stop there and pretend that's all that is on the kitchen table. I know I should get up and put away at least the crickets but I've got a bikini area to tend to, a snack bag to fill and four swim suits and towels to find all before 4. So it looks like he will once again walk into a crazy disaster and have to cook up something nutritious and on THE DIET PLAN for us. What did you just read? That's right DIET. We are going to break the waist barrier, rather we already have and now it is time to scale it back. We could each stand to lose some weight and there is no time summer to do it. It's too hot to eat and the fresh food is pouring out of the garden. So we are following Dr. Oz's suggestions all be it sometimes not to the T. I'll let you know how it goes. 

As for my crazy life well I could clean the kitchen but I think I will race downstairs and throw a load in the wash and pick up the mess somewhere else. Maybe I'll just play our new mad libs card game. Now how do you explain adverb to a five year old?

What are you waiting for?

It's a two for one today. I hit save not publish yesterday.

Silly me.

Only a brief second to share.

This may be the only time today when my every other word isn't "potty?"

Todays photos are a glimpse of anticpation.

How much longer will we only smell your

lushious tomatoey smell. 

Who will be the first to suck your sweet juices? 

Will you even make it inside the house? 

Sweet tomato ripen and stay hidden for me

Let no bunnies bite you

no worm climb inside you.

Sweet tomato, be just for me. 

Summer break has officially started.  

Kids are playing, the sun is shining and I am sewing.

 Hope to have a doll's dress to show tomorrow. 

The last day of school has come and gone like a storm surge.  

It was all team building work and potty training.  

Neither went as planned.

 We are apparently not a terribly good team today. 

We should each have the privilege of a crew that will do our bidding without quibbling.  

I know that no one paid attention to what I wanted from them today and I am certain I caught myself ignoring their needs in order to once again find the perfect placement for the furniture. 

The end result is everyone in their own corner of the couch fort. No roof!! 

 With a stack of books and a hunker down mentality driven by the line of 

thunderstorms both inside the house and out. 

Potty training is a riot. 

We stroll to the potty about every three to five min. to pee a teeny bit and toot.  If I am feeling like hanging out with my face too close to the stinky potty,

I tell a winding tale of Kermit the Frog and Beaker going pee together.  

Kermit's long squeaky farts, Beakers loud toots, all told with voluminous sound effects. 

He sits there clinging to my arms trying to fart. 

So far today he has peed with a large hairy orangutan, 

a Harry Potter wizard's hat on, a marker, used for drawing on my legs,

 and a bowl of pirates booty. But he has not I repeat NOT peed or pooped on the floor. And even though I was forced to eat germ infested cheese snacks while squatting in front of a potty that's smell is reminiscent of a gas station restroom my children once refused to step into, I consider the day a success. 

I have however lost the kitchen counter again. Oh well. 

I would photograph the garden for you today,

 but as it hasn't stopped raining.

 Our creek runneth over will have to do. 

Made a little skirt for Ryland today (the one in the photo).  Actually I just chopped off a size 3T Old Navy dress that she loved. I cut it right where the armpit begins which left me with a teeny bit of fabric with which to contruct a waist. Don't look too close. It's not pretty and in hind sight I should've maybe used at least one pin instead of counting on the firm pressing I gave it to hold. But hey who cares. She's wearing it. I got a great tip from Anna on the elastic waist. "Don't make it smaller than her waist" So a perfect 20" of elastic is slid into the fold and holds up just right. The elastic does twist which makes me crazy, I tried tacking it down in two places, I think I'm going to have go in for four more. 

What a wonderful day, with wonderful children at The Musuem of Science in Raleigh. This concludes our whale studies but I imagine Harper will do more. She has really gotten into it. Lots of notes and lots of sorrow as she discovers that most of her favorite whales are near extinction. How amazing it was for the children to stand under these incredible animals. We are very lucky to have this display so close to home. It helped drive home the point of how incredible whales really are. They are so ancient and magnificent.

Basil=tomato season right?

I am hoping it will be here soon. I am ready to stand in the garden in the early morning and enjoy my fill of juicy summertime goodness for breakfast. 

Just an aside there is no swimming tonight! A super storm rolled through yesterday at 5 and was of course over by swim time (6). 

It did however screw up the pump which is still not working today. Hurray!!  

I'm thinking wine and bread for dinner. Unless you've got a better idea.  

If you do leave it here please.

 Perhaps I should get some ice cream sandwiches as well. 

Who do that voodoo that you do so well. 

As if by magic the nice and delightful rooms in the house are the only rooms anyone wants to be in. Drawn by the black magic that is a clean slate. The livingroom so lovely and serene, it felt cool and crisp. So everyone hauls all their stuff to play on the couch,the floor, the mantle,       the hearth and side tables are a temporary bistro.

 Good grief.

Seeking a peaceful location I go in to the sunroom so open and fresh with summers mild heat, only to find a knee high stack of books and three children sprawled monkey style with their snacks on every available surface.

 Putting them in school sounds good if only to keep the mess and food budget down.  They can't possibly wreck this much havoc if they are in school for six hours a day. All I wanted to do today was put up my broom gripper thingy in the pantry. Four hours, one visit from the roofer, one incredible diaper, a lesson in finding the volume of a cube (I still don't know how that is "useful"), one explanation of a fraction and seventeen "I'm starving" calls later and it's done. Looky me go! 

It 2:00 pm what have you done with your day? Me, screwed in two screws.

 Is it too much to hope for rain instead of swim practice? I think not. I need to do laundry and find the kitchen counter. Go to Costco, throw out 10lbs of potatoes that I promise you are on growth hormones. 

 But in all likely hood the rain will do what it has done all season, hold off until after practice and like a reluctant runner I will be glad I went. It is the only time I see adults and my best friend is there everyday to help me get over the fact that my dd is still biking under water and not swimming.  In all fairness at 10 she still has trouble on dry land.  It's less like a baby gazelle and more like the first primate to discover upright mobility. Nothing on her works rhythmically. The hips and legs move independent of the arms and back bone. She is also nearly my height (5'5") so her ease will come along soon enough and her beauty and stature will fill the room. But the growing into it is rough. Mainly on me I guess as I am the one bandaging and wrapping and kissing everything.  

A promise is  a promise is a promise. 

Here is today's gardening shot. 

May your tomatoes grow more plentiful than your neighbors, if not bigger.

I've got to get that man a job. Retirees should never garden in such close proximity

 to  young women with multiple young home schooled children.  

At least he shares.