Dirt and other things I dream about these days

This past week while Rylin was at Mother's Day out, I made a quick trip to one of my favorite places...the public library. Our local library is just a few streets away and there are so many things I love about it. #1....peace and quiet! Something I don't get a lot of these days. I like the smell of the old books and I like how it makes me feel like I'm back in my 20's in the college library. Enough rambling on about my happy place...I was there for some books!

You can see I ended up with quite the bounty. I couldn't wait to get home and start reading. The compost book was the first I picked up since I've been wanting to get ours started for a while now. We had a very basic compost pile growing up that I don't remember having much interest in. (Really, what kid does) But now, the idea of minimizing waste and turning trash into garden goodness sounds way more appealing than the younger me appreciated.

The previous home owner left us this handy little thing when we moved in our house, and until a year ago we didn't even realize what it was!

This weekend I cleaned out the left over bags of manure, fertilizer, and cobwebs (I hate spiders) and prepped it for composting. Seems that they used it more for storage bug collecting. I dumped in some left over material from our garden, some chicken poo and shavings, and Rylin helped me collect dead leaves from the yard that missed the raking we did a month ago.

After last nights dinner, I made a small bag of food waste. Never have I been so excited over potato peelings and coffee grounds!

With a few stirs of the shovel and some time we'll be producing rich compost for the garden! Speaking of which, do you know what greeted me a couple days ago when I went out to water? Two tomatoes!

Can't wait till we're picking them off the vine and eating them!

Easter Weekend

We look forward to Easter every year. As I've mentioned in the past, it is the biggest holiday for my family. This year Rylin and I went to my parents a little early and got to spend some time with MiMi and Papa to ourselves. This is what greeted us as we came up the drive...

The bluebonnets were as thick as I've ever seen them and everything was so green because of all the rain we've been getting. My Dad is proud of his windmill and it was quite picturesque with the horses and sea of blue flowers.

We prepared food for Sunday lunch and Rylin helped Mimi fill eggs for our Easter hunt.

The main attraction for the weekend was Papa's new mare and week old colt, though. Since my Dad was young, he has always wanted a mare and colt and this past year, bred their horse Scout who was to foal just a few weeks before Easter. In an emotional delivery, the filly did not make it and our whole family was grief stricken. Then, just a few days later, after seeing an ad on Facebook from the Houston SPCA, my sister-in-law convinced my Dad to apply for a Mare that had been rescued who foaled a colt just a few days after ours. As fate would have it, the people at the SPCA chose my Dad's application and he was home with two new horses the next day!

Roxie and Buck

My nieces and nephews took turns riding the other horses and Rylin had to get on himself. He is much better about holding on now and was really enjoying his ride.

On Saturday Papa took him out into the pasture to spread some dirt. And man does this boy ever love his Papa. And dirt.

I helped the big kids dye Easter eggs, a tradition that I've been doing since I was their age. We were having a big group on Sunday and we counted 130 eggs that we dyed! We had quite the assembly line.

Rylin had to get in another ride...this time without pants! Won't be able to do that much longer:)

We were also excited that Rylin's buddy Atticus (and his parents) got to join us Saturday afternoon. These boys entertained each other and had no problem finding ways to get in trouble.

I tried for some cliche bluebonnet pictures but Rylin was not willing to cooperate. Instead I snapped this funny moment right before he free fell into the soft bed of flowers!

He definitely caught on to hunting eggs quickly. Although he still wanted to open and eat each one before moving on to the next!

It was a fun weekend, and in the end, we weren't quite ready to go home. (Though I think Mimi and Papa were ready to have a quite house again!)

Meet the Chicks

This week we finially decided on baby chicks instead of grown hens and I found a lady who raised all of the breeds I wanted. So on Saturday, the three of us headed to the country to pick up our four 3 1/2 week old chicks. After getting them home and into their temporary lodging, we introduced them to Duke. He was unimpressed for the most part, but curious of their foreign aroma.

And the girls are...left to right, Gerty (Speckeled Sussex), Sissy (Golden Laced Wyandotte), Petunia (New Hampshire Red), and Francis (Barred Rock).

Petunia (or P-toot as Jordan is calling her) is the most curious of the bunch. She will stick her head up to your hand and is quite the social one of the group. Francis is shy but always active. Jordan says she is his favorite but he can never remember her name.

I can already tell Sissy is going to be the boss. She pecks at the others if they get in her way and when I bring them the occasional bug, she always manages to get it! Gerty on the other hand is always sleeping and easy to catch. She is the most docile and quiet.

I love how you can already tell so much about their personalities. Jordan and I like to sit and watch them, and I'm sure they will only get more amusing as they grow up into hens.

Rylin loves the chicks too and likes to tell each one "hello" and "goodbye" by name. I'm not sure he's figured out they are laying hens though, because he keeps saying "momma, eat shickens!"

They will stay under the heat lamp for another two weeks and then move to their fancy coop. Hopefully, in a few more months we'll have some eggs!

My Urban Country Dream

If you've met me, it's no secret I'm from the country. More than once a week I get a familiar question from a stranger..."WHERE are you from?" TEXAS people...this is what a Texan sounds like!!! Growing up in rural Leroy,TX has shaped more than just my accent, though. I love being in the country. Quiet breeze, fresh smells, animals, and wide open spaces. Don't get me wrong, I like the conveniences of living in the city, but I've always kinda longed for a little of both. I've been on a mission to get my husband to move to what I've deemed the Urban Country for a while now. The Urban planner in him hates that I call it this because he says that doesn't exist...but I know better. The Urban Country is about fifteen minutes from our house where horses and green fields abound and the city is just a few songs on the radio away. Still, this city boy ain't going anywhere anytime soon. So the country girl in me has decided to adapt in the mean time. I follow several other blogs that talk about urban gardening, chicken raising and even bee keeping and this got me thinking that maybe I could have a little of my country dreams in the city. First, I talked Jordan into building me a couple raised garden beds. I found some on Pinterest and he managed to reproduce them in an afternoon. Rylin and I love going out and looking at our growing veggies.

Then, I convinced my brother to build me a chicken coop! We had to take down part of the fence to get it in the backyard, but we made it work. I have been driving to the previously mentioned urban country for my fresh, free range eggs and decided it was time to get them out of my own back yard. Bet you didn't know that most cities don't have laws about keeping chickens. So in a few weeks, we will be adding four new members to the family. We are still trying to decide if we'll get chicks or grown hens.

So I don't live in the country. Maybe I can have a little bit of what I like about it. Don't count on me throwing bee hives in the mix, but my own compost heap...definitely!

Upholstery...Better Left to The Experts

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I've been busy with designing a modern, fun apartment for my cousin Crystal, her husband Rick, and little Crosby. You may remember when I threw a baby shower for her or designed Crosby's nursery. To say I love this girl like a sister is obvious by the amount of time that I give to her! I've had a lot of fun being creative and spending her money too:)



We had a plan to decorate their townhome for several months now, but in the mean time, Crystal and Rick decided to serve with the Apartment ministry CARES. This meant a move for them and a re-design for me. We've been doing lots of long distance design meetings (they're in Houston) and in a couple of weeks I'll go down for the "install". First on my list of things to do, though, was to have a couple chairs reupholstered. Crystal acquired two wing back chairs from her Grandmother's estate when she died, and though they really weren't their style, she wanted to find a place for them. A few decades old fabric and a fall out of the back of her Dad's truck on I35 left them screaming for an update.

So I dialed up my best-kept-secret upholsterer to get an estimate. $375 per chair not including fabric. I called Crystal with the bad news and she responded just as expected..."Can't you just do it?" Instead of being reasonable, realistic, and telling her no, I took on this behemoth of a challenge. Who's idea was it again to upholster them in chevron? Oh yea, that'd be me. Friday I set out to deconstructing and boy, was that chair ever stapled!

I carefully removed all the fabric and laid each piece out on the new fabric to pin and cut. While the fabric was off, I sanded and stained the scratched legs. Then Saturday morning I began sewing piping and the sections that were attached to each other before slowly putting it piece by piece back together.

Luckily I found a video tutorial on Pinterest about reupholstering a chair that clued me in to a few upholstery hardware pieces that made my job easier. Still, the arms nearly killed me and I ended up hand stitching the piping to make it lay just how I wanted it. My fingers and hands look like I've been working hard labor, but I finished! Worth every cent of $375!

Oh, and that other chair...don't you think it would just look good with a slip cover?!

Rylin at 2 and Almost One Half

As I said before. THIS guy is due a big update! I can't believe that he will be 2 1/2 in just a month! He has changed so much in the last few months and so I can't deny that he is getting older. He is Mr. Independent these days and pretty much refuses a high chair, sippy cup, or anything he deems "for baby". That is except the diapers! We are making progress in potty training though, and he has gone a few times on the actual toilet. This week I thought since it was Spring Break and I didn't have Atticus or Adelay that we would make some headway, but as you can see in the picture below, he was more interested in watching his boy parts while jumping on the sofa!


Or working on the computer AND watching TV.



Rylin LOVES to be outside and would rather dig for worms (he calls them all "Slimy" like Oscar the Grouch's worm) or tearing up leaves than color with sidewalk chalk. He wants to swing high and fast and "one more time" when I tell him Mommy's tired.

He LOVES the camera when he can see himself. I can turn the web cam on and he will preform all kinds of silly made up songs. He sings all the time now. His favorite songs are "Jesus Loves Me", "ABC's", "The Cookie Monster Song", and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". I can't even sing to him at bed anymore because he sings all my lullaby's with me!

A few months ago I dramatically changed my diet in an effort to be healthy and loose some weight. Part of this change was eliminating grain and potato carbs. It has been easier than I thought and I feel great at almost 25lbs lighter! A side effect has been how I feed Rylin. Since I started cooking without the extra carbs, he has started eating much healthier himself. Now instead of crackers or breakfast bars, he asks for fruit, eats most vegetables, and enjoys snacking on nuts and beef jerky. He still loves his green smoothies too!

He LOVES playing with the big kids. If there are older kids around, he always tries to be a part of what they are doing. He loves his cousins, "Yuke" (Luke) and Mitchell (who he calls Emmie...don't get me started).

I love that at this stage I can understand what he is saying a lot more. We can have conversations and really communicate! He likes to tell you to "sit down", "one more", "not yet", "yeah", "O.K.". He is still pretty hard to understand, but when you're around him like I am, you start to pick up on his language. Some of his funnies are..."Titty" for Candy (my cousin), "Dukers" for Duke because that's what we sometimes call him, "puck" for cup, "Hesus" for Jesus, "Bees" for fruity bunny candy, and "shickens" for chickens...which will be my next post:)

I love this little man so much and I tell him every day that I don't know what I'd do without him! He is a handful, but so much fun and so affectionate. He's gonna break hearts!

Still Here

Oh dear blog, how I have neglected you...

We are still in a holding pattern for Foster Care. Our home study was completed in January and then we had our house inspected by the local health department (talk about intimidating). We are now waiting for the Fire Marshall to come and do his inspection.

I've been busy in the mean time with helping my cousin Crystal out with a design for their new apartment. MANY little projects that I will update on as I complete. I still haven't learned my lesson when it comes to DIY.

Rylin deserves a post all his own. So that will be next!