sucked in

I have a love/hate relationship with books sometimes. I tend to fall in love with the characters. Imaginary men who suck me in. Imaginary women who piss me off… or not. Characters I can relate to. Love stories I can’t resist. If it’s a series, I get tangled all up in it and can’t seem to get out. For a few years Kate was telling me about this series she was reading. She knows me pretty well and thought I’d like them. Said they were funny. I avoided and avoided. Didn’t really sound like me. This last week I’ve done hardly anything but read. 18 books in 5 days. Some on my kindle to have them instantly, some paper, some hard cover, some my moms, some borrowed from the library. I got bloody well sucked right in. Sometimes this is why I avoid. I know me. I stayed away from twilight for a long time. Didn’t read the hunger games for fear.. There were 4 harry potter books out before I started. I’m anxious for the next part of Deborah Harkness’ series.

Series that are finished are better. The end is in sight. You are limited and the author will hopefully tie up the loose ends.

What happened was my mom was at work and the girls were giggling about this series. She knows the author but didn’t care for her other books. The girls were really laughing so hey, she could use some funny.. I watched her go through them voraciously, like she does. I’ve never met anyone who reads like my mother. The speed in which she goes though books is like light speed. She doesn’t usually stay up all night like I do either. She doesn’t need to. She blasted through it and she laughed until she had tears.

What could I do.. I caved..

Kate was right. They were funny. How many times I could hardly believe what this chick went through, did… the visuals the author gave were fabulous. I could see in my mind the mischief and mayhem. I could hear the voices in my mind. I laughed. I grumbled. I was startled. I was tantalized and turned on. Oh so painfully at times. J I was gob smacked. Car after car was destroyed caught on fire or blew up. And slowly over time, book after book.. I saw.. for me.. the real love story. Not the sex for sex sake. Not the ‘change to suit me or we will fight all the f-ing time’ tension. I saw the evolution of a real bond. A ‘take a bullet for you no questions asked’ commitment.  A ‘you are perfect just as you are and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe while you are doing it’ relationship.

And then, chapter six of book eighteen, I cried for the first time. I couldn’t keep it in. I went downstairs where there were no children and I bawled. I stomped my feet and raged. Over a book. Over people who didn’t exist. Out of pain for a man who was not real, but fiction. A few more chapters later I felt better. I had more details and came to a see how he liked the mark he’d left on her. His mark, as he put it. Now if only she could see… and be strong

But what will the author do? This has been a long drawn out love affair. It’s spanned 18 years. I know what I want to happen.   

Do you know this series? Give you a hint..

Team Ranger to the end…

my first quilt

I've made a dolly blanket for my daughter before but this is my first full sized quilt. I cut all the fabric on the first day and organized it into it's blocks.

The next day I sewed all the blocks. I ironed everything as I went to keep it all even. (I hate ironing)

Then I sewed the blocks together and added the fabric that holds those strips together.

I added a plain red band of fabric to this and that is as far as I've gotten. My daughters bed is a double so I'll have to add more fabric to this. it's only 52 inches wide.

a gray day..

*sighs...* I don't even want to be awake.. it's very gray outside this morning..  I was woken up early by one of the neighbors. I heard a shout, a door slam and a truck roaring to life and leaving. I don't know if they were just being noisy or fighting.

Bubba sleeping on the couch

what are you waiting for..

I quit my job. I didn't like it. I was tired of being tired. I lasted over a year... I have the feeling my loves grumpiness is partly that he's having trouble and stress at his job and he can't do the same thing. I don't have a car payment. A loan to repay.. ( we don't live in the same town, let alone the same house) I went back to school. I had started something I didn't finish. I'm there to finish it. I'm looking into options.. a real job. one that could take me places if I wanted to go.

I saw this and thought.. yes.. change something. now.  nownownow...

I love seeing the laundry on the line. Those black pansies.. the dogs relaxing in the shade on the porch.. summer is nearly over and fall has begun and that makes me kinda sad.. it wasn't a long enough summer. I felt like we just got a taste of it this year. I pray winter in not a long drawn out affair. Let this kind of nice weather last till at least November..

This is how my all white planter turned out. I was really happy with it until the real heat at the end of August kicked it's ass.. it started struggling after that. I was working more and watering less. my hanging baskets in the front yard never really did anything. They were doing fine until it got hot then I couldn't keep them wet enough and frankly didn't have the energy. I did learn though so next year, as I will do better next year.. :)

I do like how this planter turned out at the beginning but even it struggled with my neglect. I had bought those yellow mini bells with the red inside and one had a surprise planted in it that I didn't realize until it started to bloom.. the shape all went to hell after that...  that fuchsia petunia went wherever it wanted.

fairy garden

current fairy garden picture I took this afternoon :)

garden update

 the cats keep walking through hence the knocked down mushroom.. just asking for trouble from the fairies.. :)

 this isn't current but grown a lot since the first picture.

 I love succulents, they come in so many shapes, forms, colors..

 Vesper and Bubba love spending most of their day outside now that it's warmer

 I love this planter at our local strip mall!!

 this is my all white flowers planting. It has papyrus as it's "thriller" tall planting. I need to get a better picture of it.

my mothers day planter is growing. I have red lettuce and some short carrots, mixed lettuce on the other side..

getting some gardening done

I've never been one for hanging baskets but this year, in the new yard, there are hangers already in place. I bought 2 of these black wire baskets and bought enough plants so they have the same thing inside them. They have started to grow!

I've been building the fairy garden in my mind since before the snow was gone. The little house is a little wooden box I picked up at the dollar store that I painted and varnished. I have glued some little found objects to it. Deciding on a roof was a little harder. In the end I used a small rectangular plate I had that was broken. It has cute scalloped edges. The top was unglazed so I super glued brown glass pebbles to it that I had laying around. I planted a few plants I knew would stay little but I also had seeds for tiny low growing flowers so the bare dirt spots will fill in.

I was a lucky mommy on mothers day thanks to my love and children. I received this raised planter that I've been eye-ing since last summer from a local greenhouse. I was going to build myself one, making mental notes of the wood used but before I knew it, my love had one purchased and my oldest son was called to take it home in the van. All I had to do was decide what I was going to plant in it. So far, along the top is lemon thyme, sage, parsley, onion chives, oregano and that dark maroon pansy. I did plant some lettuce seeds in the left side as I hope to use it mostly for salad fixings. This yard has no veggie garden plot. I'll likely have to decide where I'm going to put the "herb garden" come fall.

Spring Fever

silver mound

Our snow is nearly all gone and something bulbish (tulips I think) is coming up in one of the flower beds. I'm curious about what is growing in all these flower beds around the new house. We are settling in nicely. Spreading out.. I will be going to the old house to retrieve a few of my plants next weekend. I don't have room for the whole herb garden so I had to prioritize. The rose bushes, the silver mound.. 
It was a really great day yesterday and I missed most of it, having to sleep. I worked the last 3 nights.  I'm hoping today will be nice as well and I will have a nap and sleep tonight and not miss being outside.
I won't be starting too many seeds this spring but I do have some blue pansies and some summer blooming bulbs I can put in pots. I don't have a veggie garden space here. I may plant at my friends garden. It's so nice to eat veggies you've grown yourself. :)
I've had no time to take a lot of pictures here but I'm hoping to do that soon.

sweetness

we went and looked at a house today that is perfect and the lady that owns it loves animals and is totally fine with us having pets! I've signed a 2 year lease and already have the keys. we can move stuff over as the week goes by. 3 weeks it took. that is so fabulous. we've had it take 4 months to find a place before...

Jan 13th.

it snowed and snowed and snowed yesterday then we had to shovel and shovel. we didn't shovel the last time it snowed so there was a lot of ice under the new snow.
Today, it rained. Now it's really slippery. seriously watch your step out there!
I'm not the happiest camper in the bunch these days. we have to move. the landlords daughter wants to live in the house so we have until June 1st to move. the pets make it harder to find a place. sighs...

O Christmas tree...

My daughter is part of her school choir and they were part of the Singing Christmas Tree that happens every year. I've never been before. The kids did awesome and the whole afternoon was really nice. :) Sorry for the horrible picture, I got all the way there and realized I didn't have the camera..
We have lots of snow now and it's been warm today and rainy so the slush is a big mess..

Snow snow everywhere.... winter is really here..

that kitten!

Norma, Norma,Norma, ... what are we going to do with you?!
you climb everything. you hang off the top of the door and jump down on the bird cage, ruffling the poor finches feathers.. How he is still not dead of a heart attack is beyond me!
you race through the house making it sound like we have a herd of elephants, plants dropping from high places as you go.. I have replaced so many pots since Josh took you in.. seriously, you need to get a job to pay for them, k?
you are the prettiest gray kitteh, big yellow eyes.. that's what I call you, you know "the yellow eyed monster"

The days are still kind of nice. Sunny... 15 degrees C

postcard

I collect postcards and I really enjoy www.postcrossing.com I put all my cards in a photobox, sorted by country, but I wanted to find something I could put them in that was visible for a while. I also love the secondhand store. :) I came across this somewhat older gum display and thought "hmm.. I wonder if that is the right size for postcards??" It's great for regular sized cards! and it reminds me of all the Juicy Fruit and Spearmint gum I bought when I was younger. I didn't like Big Red or Winterfresh but Doublemint was good in a pinch.

Off to Alberta

We went on a little road trip, my love and I. We happened to be around Okotoks/Black Diamond and I'd never been to the Big Rock.
I learned about big chunks of quartzite being brought by glacier thousands of years from Jasper. Cool!

our dogs

Trying to catch up

my new back flower bed went a little nuts. this picture was taken before it got crazy. The sweet peas grew everywhere and the borage climbed all over everything.  Then the shrub I cut down that I thought might not grow back turned out beautiful but hung over half of what I planted.

 The kids and I only made it to the beach 3 times this summer. Made me very sad... this day ended early as those clouds got darker and it started to thunder.

 

apple trees..

I loved the borage flowers

the barn at the end of our driveway..

my friend who is a potter made plant markers this year. these are the ones I got..

Wow! now that's a moth!

I wish we had put something up against it so you could see how big it is. Think at least hockey puck sized... This isn't the first I've seen of these jumbo moths here. Just the first picture I've had of one.
It's been a pretty good summer. The garden is doing well. I started a new job so I haven't had much time to do much, take pictures..

Doggie prints

We went on a day trip and took our little dog for the ride. She was sitting on my lap when we were having a picnic.  She wanted down and I noticed she had put enough pressure on my leg to leave a paw print, lol