Garden 2017: Seedlings

Nice weather has finally begun on the west coast! It's been kind of crazy, normally our springs are a lot nicer, but this year it stayed wet and cool for a really long time. I've been enjoying spending a lot of time in my garden, so I thought it was about time for an update!

The seeds that I started indoors did surprisingly well! About 90% of what I planted came up, and most of what did has survived quite well. For some reason most of my cucumber and zucchini randomly died, but now that it is warm out I have also planted some seeds directly in the garden.

Most surprising to me was how well the tomatoes did. I planted quite a few seeds thinking that only a few would grow, but I have ended up with at least twelve healthy plants (and a couple more that might not make it). So all going well, it looks like we are going to have lots of tomatoes this year!

I have also planted potatoes in wire cage towers. They are blue potatoes - I'm looking forward to trying them out! So far they are growing really well.

Steven and I have also planted peas, lettuce, carrots, and other things like that in our garden, most of which are coming up.

The only seedlings that I still have in pots are my goji plants. I am planning to put a couple of them in the garden eventually, but I will also be keeping some as potted plants.

And the rest of the garden continues to grow and bloom, like these lilacs - so beautiful! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful yard and garden where I can spend time with my kids.

Fear, Your Day Is Over

Fear, your day is over.
I have listened long enough
To your whispers and lies
That seek to paralyze and haunt me.

I used to be your plaything
Caught in your icy grip
Drowning in waves of terror
You had your fun
As each new fear
Tightened your chains.

You thought I was yours
But your pride was your downfall
For you pulled the chains too tight
And I recognized you for who you are
And remembered
I know the one who has the key.

Fear, I know your little game now
Every time you stole my imagination
Filling it with endless things
That could go wrong
You piled calamity upon calamity
I died a thousand deaths
But you could not touch me
What would you have me fear now?
You have said it all before.

There's no reason for me to fear you
Or listen to your whispered lies
You do not define me
I live in the house of love
I belong to the Prince of Peace
Fear, your day is over
I am free.

My Cycle of Writing

For the last few months I have been a part of a collaborative storytelling project called Captives where we receive monthly writing prompts and each write about our own character and how they respond to the people and events that they encounter. (I mentioned it before in this post.) I recently noticed that I have developed a certain routine based around its regular prompts and submission deadlines, and as I find it rather humorous, I decided to share it with you! Although it is specific to this writing project, I think it also reflects my approach writing and creativity in general. Welcome to my head.
_______

*Receives new writing prompt

Oooh! Shiny! So exciting! The plot thickens!

I have no idea what to do with this. My chapter will literally be ten words long.

Hmm I guess this could happen and that could happen, okay this could be good.

So many ideas! I am a genius of storytelling!

My chapter is literally going to be fifty million words long but I don't care. It will be brilliant.

Aaaaaahhhhh it's the night before the deadline!!! Stay up all night!! Must finish the chapter!

Okay... I think it's done... let's just read it over twenty more times to make sure it's perfect.

*Submits new chapter

What if he doesn't like it?? What if it's actually an awful chapter???

*Hides under blanket

*Receives positive feedback

Yay! Approval! I am a good writer after all!

...

...Now what?

...So many withdrawal symptoms...

*Receives new prompt

*And repeat*
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Interested in following along with the story as it unfolds? Check out Captives on tumblr.

Circle Skirt

Earlier this year when I was making my full circle wrap skirt, I went looking for fabric at thrift stores. I did find some fabric that I really liked and thought would make a great skirt, but unfortunately there wasn't enough of it for that pattern. I got it anyway, with the idea that I could make another skirt with a different pattern. I really love full circle skirts, so I referred to this tutorial and this tutorial and then just kind of made things up as I went.

The fabric wasn't wide enough so I had to sew two pieces together, but I was able to line up the pattern so you can't tell. Then I measured and cut it. I had no idea how a striped circle skirt would end up looking, but it is actually really neat!

I added a waistband and a zipper. I also added pockets, because I could. And because it is wonderful when a skirt has pockets!

I was very happy with how it turned out. I think it's neat how the stripes combine with the circle shape to make the pattern look different depending on which way you look at it!

Mother's Day

When I think about Mother's Day I think about lilacs. Here in the "pacific northwest" the lilacs are almost always blooming on Mother's Day. Lilacs were my grandma's favourite flower. Her birthday and anniversary were always on or near Mother's Day, so I associate Mother's Day with celebrating those occasions too. I've been thinking about her a lot lately. This year my parents were out visiting, so I was able to host a nice family dinner. Then my parents stayed to babysit and Jesse and I got to go away for the night!  It was our first night away from the kids in two years! It was wonderful to have some quality, uninterrupted time with each other - and some uninterrupted sleep!

Being a mom has challenged me and stretched me in ways that I never imagined. Every day I struggle against the desire to complain and compare my day to my childless friends' who get to "do whatever they want". But I wouldn't change being the mother of these two rambunctious, adventurous, thoughtful, smart, caring little boys for the world. I am their mother, and I will never be the same again.

It blows my mind to think of the number of mothers in the world, giving so much of themselves every day to nurture and build up the children that God has given them (whether biologically their own or not). Mothers, you make a world of difference. You are heroes!

Chewy Granola Bars

Our family went camping on the Easter weekend this year. Although we knew we would be camping near a town where we could buy food, I put a lot of thought into planning meals and packing food and snacks from home so that we could save money. We really enjoyed our camping trip, but unfortunately we forgot our cooler of food at home and had to buy food anyway. Sigh. But thankfully the granola bars weren't in the cooler, so we got to enjoy them all weekend!

It was my first time making my own granola bars, and I thought they turned out really well. So here's the recipe!

Recipe: Simple, Soft and Chewy Granola Bars Recipe

The first step is toasting the oats and nuts in the oven.

Cook butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a pot on the stove, then stir it into the oats and nuts. After letting it cool a few minutes add the dried fruit and chocolate chips.

Press the granola bar mixture into a pan that has been lined with tin foil, making sure to press it in firmly. Top it with a few more chocolate chips!

Cool the bars in the fridge for at least two hours, then take them out of the pan (the tin foil really helps with this) and cut them into bars. The bars are soft when kept at room temperature and harder when stored in the fridge.

You can mix and match any kind of nuts or dried fruit in these granola bars. I made one batch with peanuts and raisins and one batch with walnuts and dried mango. Everyone really enjoyed them!

Mommy Moments: A Balanced Diet

I've learned that being a mom means that sometimes you make omelettes with sautéed onions and mushrooms and homemade iced tea for lunch, and then sometimes you just have icecream.

It's about balance.

(Although maybe feeding my overtired toddler ice cream and then expecting him to go down for his nap wasn't thought through very well...)

The Best Marriage Advice We Received

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Jesse and I have been married four years now! In these past four years we've lived in four different homes, had two kids, and gone through our share of ups and downs, joys and challenges. I'm so thankful that we can journey through the adventure of life together.

At the end of our wedding day we had a small gathering with family and close friends. It was a chance to share some intentional time with them after such a busy weekend. We shared our hopes and dreams for the future, and they had an opportunity to pray for us and share their wisdom and advice. It was a very meaningful time.

We greatly valued everything that was shared with us, but one piece of advice particularly stood out, and I know for a fact that it helped us enormously, so I thought this would be a good time to share it with you:

Never start an important conversation after 9pm.

That might seem like a kind of odd piece of advice, but consider: When you get married, you go from having comparatively limited time together to having more or less unlimited access to each other, at all hours of the day (and night). It's pretty fantastic. But the problem is learning that just because you can start an important conversation at eleven in the evening (or one in the morning), doesn't mean that you should. It's often as the day is winding down that I remember different things that I wanted to talk to Jesse about, but by then we're tired, and the conversation doesn't always go as well as we would like it to. We say things we didn't mean to say, tempers flare, and then there isn't time to cool off and deal with it properly.

There were occasions, especially at first, when we would find ourselves in the middle of an argument or misunderstanding and realize that we had neglected the advice and started an important conversation too late in the day. I had to learn to catch myself and leave bringing up those subjects for another time, and I'm always thankful that I did.

For those of you who are married, what has been the best marriage advice that has helped you? If you've been married for a long time, is there anything you wish someone had told you when you were first starting out? I'd love to learn from your experiences!

Crocheted Toothless

One of my favourite movies of all time is How to Train Your Dragon, and one of my favourite characters in How to Train Your Dragon is the dragon Toothless. So when I saw that someone had made a pattern for a crocheted stuffed animal Toothless, I just might have squealed out loud.

The best part? It's not even that hard to make.

If you want to check out the pattern (and if you can crochet and love Toothless, then you pretty much have to), here it is: Toothless Amigurumi Pattern

This helpful tutorial walks you through the steps with pictures.

The only challenge about this pattern is that the stitches and pieces are all quite small, so it can be kind of fiddly. But on the other hand, it comes together quite quickly, compared to making something that is larger.

I had to look up how to make a magic ring, and this was a great tutorial for how to make it left-handed. Beyond that, if you know how to single crochet, half-double crochet, increase, and decrease, I think that is pretty much all the skills you need to make this super cute pattern!

Here are all of the pieces! Then all that is left is stuffing them and sewing them together.

The pattern suggests using felt for the eyes, but I ended up using a scrap of flannelette and a sharpie.

I am so happy with how it turned out! This little guy was given to a friend for her birthday, but I just might have to make another one for myself!

Something That Won't Compute

Does it ever feel like life has become stagnant and predictable? That it's just the same thing day after day? The same old work, same old paycheque, same old to do list? I know a lot of people who feel that way. They talk about making a dramatic change, shaking things up, but somehow the comfort of the mundane always seems to win out. Maybe you feel like that too.

A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to a poem called "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" by Wendell Berry. It starts with a similar idea, that same old predictable life - work lots, get paid, have a vacation, buy more things. It's more than just a pattern of behaviour, it's a mindset. A mindset that needs more, that's out to get what it deserves, that fears the unknown and looks out for number one.

And that is what's expected - advertising targets it, employers take advantage of it, the media promotes it, political parties use it to get our support. It's like they can read our minds.

The poet continues to say, "So, friends, every day do something that won't compute."

Some of his examples include working for nothing, loving someone who doesn't deserve it, and planting sequoias.

I often take my kids to a local park - a small lake circled by a walking trail. We usually walk along the lake for a bit before stopping at a playground. Last week while Steven was exploring the lakeside (and I was trying to convince him that jumping into the lake wasn't in his best interests) a man beckoned us over. He had been fishing and had a wriggling trout hanging from his line. He showed Steven the fish and offered that he could touch it. We chatted with the man for a while, and he said something that I thought was really interesting:

"Do you know why I showed you the fish? You come to the park and you already know what your day will be like. But you don't expect that you will be touching a fish. It shakes your mind up."

It's something that won't compute.

That's something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. Something that won't compute. It's an act of defiance against a system that would have us mindlessly working and consuming. It's a choice to step aside from what we're expecting or the way we've always done things, leaving us open to new experiences and ways of thinking.

So what does that look like for me? Maybe jumping in the puddles with my toddler when I take him for a walk in the rain. Maybe walking at my child's pace, even though I have such a long list of things that need to be done. Maybe smiling at the strangers I pass on the street, regardless of how different from me they are. Maybe voting for the political candidate I agree with, even if it means "throwing my vote away". Maybe planting things in my garden that will take years to come to maturity, even though we're renting and don't know how long we're going to live here. Maybe continuing to invite people into our home - even to live with us - because we believe community is important.

What does that look like for you?