Digging in the dirt

It has been a busy week working on my garden and yard. I put up a gazebo on my back deck which has almost given us another room. We were unable to sit out there during the day because it gets the direct sun all day and was way too hot. We can actually enjoy the space now. On sale for $69.99 at Ace Hardware.

We had a birthday bash for me on Saturday. Friends came over for some bocce ball and good food. I got lots of wonderful goodies from my friends. A two hour massage, homemade massage oil and comfy salve, a wonderful bag, movie passes and a night of babysitting, a gift card to Gardeners Supply and another one to Made Boutique. Thanks everyone!

The rest of the weekend was spent in my garden. I finished planting my veggie garden. Decided to go small and do it well. I invested money in bags of Intervale compost to make my soil happy and I planted 4 tomato plants in between my peas and chives. I also planted two strawberry plants. They will all live among the many sunflowers my son and I planted earlier. I also added to my herb/kids garden. We built a spiral herb garden and it is now filled with basil, lemon balm, parsley, cilantro and mint. Lavender and Rosemary are planted around it. With my gardeners supply gift card I was able to buy an amazing big blue ceramic pot to put in my back garden (thanks Kim for the tip) and I planted bulbs in it.

It was an amazing weekend of digging in the dirt.

***I have been trying to upload pictures to blogger for two days and I am still unable to. Argh! So for now you can see my recent garden pics that should have gone with this post on my flickr site here

My day

My birthday yesterday was delightful. JB took the day off which made it so special. I went to the most amazing garden center in the morning (by myself) and bought lots of flowers for my front window boxes. I came home and was able to plant them while he watched the kids. We spent the rest of the day in yard working on putting our new swing set together. The weather was just perfect. We had a quick early pasta dinner and then had some cake and ice cream. My mom & dad sent me a gorgeous basket of flowers, JB got me this awesome belt I had been crushing at Made Boutique for months, JB's parents got me a gift card to Gardener's Supply, and the boys gave me the painted projects they made at the paint a pot shop. Enzo's gift was light switch which is now rocking the wall in my kitchen and Sal gave me a painted elephant to hang. I love my boys.

The evening ended well by JB and I going out for a couple of drinks with some friends after we put the boys to bed while a friend babysat as my birthday gift. Thanks Kylbl!

I had many happy birthday wishes come through the phone, email and blogging community. Thanks to everyone! Usually I get bummed out when people forget my birthday. It seems like each year the numbers increase as we age and build families etc. This year it was three of my closest friends who forgot. It bummed me out but I didn't let it get to me as hard as I have in the past. It was a wonderful day and I am grateful for what I had.

birthday flowers from my mom & dad

belt I had been crushing from JB

my boys holding up their handmade gifts

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday!

to honor myself today I will

• take small moments for myself throughout the day
• weed and nourish my garden to cleanse my soul
• sip tea in the afternoon
• plant flowers in my window boxes for new growth
• thank my mother for birthing me

Shop Craft Mafia

The main group has added a shopping directory to their site. You can now find super fine handmade goods from different craft mafia businesses across the country.


check it out here

Happy Birthday Salvatore!

Two years ago today my littlest guy was born. Today Salvatore turns two! If interested read my birth story here .

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday. My parents came up for the event and we also invited a small group of our friends over. The weather was lovely and we were able to be outside. I made a two layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was yummy. Sal had a wonderful time. He was most amazed by the 15 balloons we bought for him that morning. His only request for the party was balloons and a bowl of booty. He got what he wanted. He received some wonderful gifts from our friends (thank you everyone), a trike from us and our family pitched in (thanks everyone) with us to buy a swing set for the both of the boys. Because of his older brother we are all set in the toy and book dept so we thought it would be a nice to get a swing set for both of them to use.

Little Sal it has been amazing having you in our lives. You have such a wonderful quiet yet crazy personality. You can sit and get absorbed in a book or digging in your garden spot but there are still many moments when you are only satisfied having me hold you. I will cherish every moment when you walk over to me and desire my arms around you. Your vocabulary has bloomed and it is music to my ears when you speak and show me your world through your words now. The other day when you came up to me, put your arms around my neck and said "I luv mommy" I thought my heart would melt into a puddle on the floor. I think it did.

Thank you sweet boy. Thank you for bringing such joy into my life. Thank you for being a friend and brother to Enzo. Thank you for choosing us.

Happy Birthday little guy. We love you so much.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there. I was lucky to have my mom up for a visit this weekend. I surprised her with peanut butter toast in bed like I used to do when I was little. She was so happy. My boys then gave me some flowers and took me to the Blue Plate cafe which is like a paint your own pottery place where they each made me something. JB cooked me breakfast and dinner and I think I only changed one diaper today total. It was great. At the end of the day JB took the kids to the park and gave me an hour at home by myself to be in the sun and dig in my garden. It was wonderful.

Thank you JB, Enzo and Sal for being the best family in the world to be a mother to. Thank you to my mother for all the love and support you have given me.

losing little

Tomorrow is a bitter sweet day for me. My youngest son turns two on Monday the 14th but we are having his birthday party tomorrow on 5/12. May 12th happens to also be what would have been my oldest child's 7th birthday. I lost the baby when I was 9 weeks pregnant. The loss of this child was devastating to JB and I. We were only a few months into our relationship when I got pregnant. It was through the experience of losing our child that we decided we were meant to be together and got married 8 months later. This child whom we call "little" has always been in our hearts. I am reminded of her every month when I have my period as the blood only brings back the horrible night of the miscarriage. My second child Enzo was ironically born 2 years later to the exact day that we lost little. So every year on his birthday we observe our loss silently by hanging a floral arrangement we make from our garden in her honor. So now comes spring and my third child Sal was born 2 days after what would have been little's birthday. So far we haven't explained little to our other children. In time we will. For now we will cherish these gentle reminders that our other children bring us as they celebrate their birthdays and we silently mourn another.

the picture below is of the roses we placed at Ocean Beach in San Francisco a week after we lost little. We lived a block from this beach at the time and it was very special place to us. We ended getting married up on the cliffs you see in the distance 8 months later. It is hard being on the other side of the country now from this place. Someday I hope to go back.

Moms Who Rock

Yes it is true. I rockergirrl will be hitting the stage Sunday 6/3 at Higher Ground Music for the Moms Who Rock competition.

Sunday 6/3 MOMS WHO ROCK

Advance Music and Star 92.9 are giving 25 lucky Moms a chance to come out and strut their stuff........from the Moms who secretly sing in their cars, to the shower singers, or maybe even the Moms who sneak out to the Karaoke contests on the weekends, this event gets Moms up on the big stage, singing with a live rock band, in front of a big crowd. This event is a benefit for the Woman's Rape Crisis Center in Burlington. Please come out and show your support for this great cause and the Moms who Rock!

Moms Who Rock

Yes it is true. I rockergirrl will be hitting the stage Sunday 6/3 at Higher Ground Music for the Moms Who Rock competition.

Sunday 6/3 MOMS WHO ROCK

Advance Music and Star 92.9 are giving 25 lucky Moms a chance to come out and strut their stuff........from the Moms who secretly sing in their cars, to the shower singers, or maybe even the Moms who sneak out to the Karaoke contests on the weekends, this event gets Moms up on the big stage, singing with a live rock band, in front of a big crowd. This event is a benefit for the Woman's Rape Crisis Center in Burlington. Please come out and show your support for this great cause and the Moms who Rock!

Gardening is great for kids

Gardening has become a passion of mine. I am very much still a beginner but every year I learn more and more. Much like parenting gardening takes patience and time, and one will never truly master it. Also like parenting you need to take it day by day, provide food, time and care. Gardening is therapeutic for me. If I am having a bad day there is nothing like ripping out weeds to take out my frustration of even the simple act of standing still watering my flowers and taking in their beauty and scents can calm my nerves.

Gardening is also a wonderful activity for children. The act of planting a seed, learning to water it each day and watching it grow is a wonderful lesson for them. My children love helping me plant and water. Every day the run outside to see if any of our seeds have sprouted and when the veggies get big there is nothing better than having them pick right from our garden and then watch me cook them up for dinner. The lessons learned about the earth, where our food comes from and recycling is priceless. My children know that when we rake our leaves we either add them to our compost or bring them to our local center which turns them into compost that we then buy from them to put back into our yards.

Spring has sprung and summer is coming. You don't always have to find summer camps and endless activities to keep your children occupied this summer. Look around you and in your own backyard and you will be amazed at what you can find to do.

If you don't have a yard or live in a city do not fret. Container gardening is just as rewarding. Everything from flowers, herbs and so many vegetables can be grown in containers.

happy digging.

New Spring/Summer products

I just dropped off these new products from my Spring/Summer Garden Collection at Made Boutique & Gallery today.

Hand to hold

As I prepare to send my oldest child to Kindergarten this fall I find myself confronting many issues around the idea of letting go. Fall seems so far away but really since school now starts the last week of August it seems already as if my summer is being robbed. Although being home with him all day is challenging all of a sudden I just don't want to let him go 5 days a week to full time school (we don't have half days here). I know it is good for him, I know he is going to absolutely love school, and I know this is just the first steps of many to come. I can't help myself from getting choked up each time I think about it though. In four short months I will be letting go. Letting go of my little boy into the world of public school. From that day on for the next 12 years he will be spending more time in that building than in my home. I am just simply not ready.

Here is a nice article called Hand to Hold I found on mothering.com today relating to this topic.

Yes I am a hippie

I am giddy with joy over our new push lawn mower.

lawn mower fact:

A conventional lawn mower pollutes as much in an hour as 40 late model cars (or as much as as much air pollution as driving a car for 100 miles).

Here is a picture of our new beauty. No more smelly gas mower. No more having to hide the kids in the house when we mow because of spitting rocks and sticks. No more having to wait until our neighbors are awake to mow the lawn. Using a push mower is great exercise too.

Updates

I have taken a bit of a break from the online world. I feel as if my brain is short circuiting. Lately I have felt like checking out from this technological world in which we now live. No wonder our children have so many attention deficit disorders these days. We are frying their brains. Lately I just cannot keep up with email, writing on my two blogs, message boards, my space page, and reading all the blogs of other people that I try to keep up with. I am losing it.

My headaches have returned. Well they never really went away. I suffer from daily chronic headaches. I have no idea why. The doctors tell me something different every time I go. I have tried everything and nothing works. It just plain sucks. Most days the headache is there but I can go on with my day. Most people would not even know I have one. I am so used to feeling like this that I can act pretty normal on a good day. A good day I would rate as a 3-4 on the pain scale. A bad day shoots up on the pain scale and makes me feel horrible all over. I can't focus or concentrate and I just need to be on the couch with an ice pack. this is what happened to me on Saturday of course. The day of my big craft show. I couldn't push through this one and I ended up having to pack up my stuff and leave three hours before the end of the show.

My little guy Sal turns 2 on May 14th. He has changed so much in the past two months. His language has just exploded. He is amazing to watch grow. He is a great little guy.

My birthday comes one week later on May 22nd. I will be celebrating my 34th birthday. We plan on having some friends over for a dinner gathering.

Working in my garden has been my therapy. It is so nice to be out digging in the earth again. We planted our peas last week and lots of flower seed in pots. Enzo and I also started a new project in the kids garden. We are building an herb spiral. I will post pictures of it soon.

We ended up switching schools for Enzo. He will be attending a non-graded, multi age primary program which is offered at one of the other Elementary schools in our town. They open slots for a certain amount of children from each of the surrounding schools and we were able to get in. It means I now have to drive downtown every day to drop him off and pick him up but I was so happy with the program I think it is worth it. I figure it is the closest thing to alternative education I can get for free. We go for an open house in a few weeks. I can't wait.

The Queen City Craft Bazaar was yesterday. The morning was slow but it really picked up about lunch time. My new barrettes and bubble magnets were a big hit. I also sold a bunch of necklaces. Thank you to everyone who came down and supported my craft and our show. The big bummer of the day was that I had to break down and leave at 2:00pm. Three hours before the show was to end. I suffer from chronic daily headaches and some days are better than others. Yesterday just happened to be a horrible headache day for me. I stuck it out as long as I could but by 2:00 I had to call it quits. I apologize to anyone who tried to come down to see me only to find my spot empty. I also apologize if I talked to you at all yesterday and seemed out of it. I was trying to focus and concentrated on the event but the crowd, lights and noise around me was just digging into my head.

and thank you to Sara from Made Boutique for putting together the show.

here are some pictures of my display

Queen City Craft Bazaar

I have been a busy bee preparing for the Queen City Craft Bazaar this Saturday May 5th. I will have lots of new necklaces and bracelets, many sale items and for the first time ever some super cute hair clips. There will be lots of other amazing vendors to check out including most of my fellow members of the Burlington Craft Mafia. Mark the date and come down for some spring/summer shopping. Check out Queen City Craft Bazaar for more details about the event including a list of the vendors.