Friday, April 23, 2010

Confession

I have a serious problem. It's really no big secret. I've had this "issue" for most of my life. Marty is aware and does help me try and battle it. Sometimes, I can be in real denial of this problem. I just simply ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist, secretly hoping no one else will notice and it might just go away. Heh. Right.

I'm talking about hoarding folks. Let's face it, I have enough tenancies to become a full fledged, self denying, pack rat. For example, I have items in my kitchen that I haven't used since I moved into this house over 3 years ago. "BUT, you never know, I might need THAT!" And I'm not talking just a few items, I'm talking several.

I have shoes and clothes packed into my closet that haven't seen the light of day in 5 years. For example, a totally CUTE pair of nine west wedges. I can't even remember the last time I wore them. Suits, shirts, sweaters, some 10 years old.

When I moved to California in 2005 I packed up my apartment and half if it went with me, the other half went into storage. When I moved in with Marty the storage unit was unloaded and those boxes came home with me. Some of those boxes haven't even been unpacked. BUT I can't get rid of what's in them! I might need it! Really!

Maybe I'm too frugal, or cheap, or have too much sentiment. I just can't seem to get rid of anything.

My Mother in Law is having a yard sale next weekend. And I am attempting to ahem, "get rid" of a few things. Please wish me luck. I may need a 12 step program.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Light, gardens, and Twig

Below is Marty and I's first attempt at light painting. We got a wild hair last week after we got the camera and well this is what we got. There were a few others, but this one is our favorite. This photograph is straight out of the camera. No editing, aside from converting the file to a jpeg.
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This photo is from two nights after the first. I helped Marty lock up the college on sunday night and we decided to use the theatre. All I can say is we are addicted. We are both thinking of items we can use to paint with light.

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Here is my newly planted herb garden. The fencing is to keep the dog out. She thinks we planted this stuff just for her to dig up. It's great. She already pulled out the orange mint. P.S. Please ignore the green paint. That used to be the color of our house. Then it was white and pretty soon it'll be something else. I am leaning towards a nice medium grey. But we'll see.

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My darling Husband built me this fancy new raised bed. I ordered some amazing heirloom seeds and can't wait to plant them. Mammoth red cabbage, leeks, beets, and these little carrots.

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And finally, Twig, or Lou, or Tiny, or whatever you want to call him. I took this when messing around with the new camera and I think it turned out pretty good. And besides how can you resist the cuteness?

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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

It's here. And other ramblings.

The new camera came. My mom was here for the weekend. Baseball season is in full swing, kicked off by the jamboree. I bought my darling Husband an orb and I bought myself a yellow vase. We tore out A LOT of ivy and planted some herbs.

Wow. What a mouthful.

Oh my. Last friday came in a whirlwind. The new camera came after what seemed like an eternity of waiting. It's very overwhelming, but I'm getting the hang of it. Seriously, the shutter is like buttah. And, I've been experimenting with different combinations of aperture and shutter speed and have NOT been using it on auto. GO me. Not to say I'm a fabulous photographer yet. Maybe, if you're lucky I'll post a photo, but it will be difficult, cause we are our own worst critics and at this point every photo I've taken is rubbish.

My mama drove up from Sandy Oregon on friday afternoon to spend the weekend with us. I can't even remember the last time I saw her, terrible isn't it. We missed Christmas and mailed gifts, and finally said enough was enough and she drove up here. We had a great time. We watched baseball, made pizza, had a bon fire, even though it was cold and did a little shopping.

The Cal Ripkin Baseball League kicked off on saturday with the annual jamboree. It's an ALL DAY thing. Baseball all day. Opening ceremony followed by two inning mini games. Burgers. Wind. Sun. Two wins and a loss. A couple of missed balls and a couple of good hits. Now regular games have begun, twice a week until the middle of June. I WILL NOT eat burgers two nights a week. I will not... I will not...

While my mom was here we did a little shopping in between games on saturday. There is this fantastic store in town which sells the coolest house wares and decorative items. The woman in the store was kind enough to let us upstairs to the secret sale section, where I scored. 50% off. It was like Christmas! I found this great tall yellow vase for my kitchen. I've really been into yellow lately. Maybe it's because I can't wear it, so I like to decorate with it! I also found Marty an orb. It's made from concrete and has a little stand. It looks great on the fireplace hearth.

Sunday before my mom left we made a trip to Airport Gardens, a huge place of weakness for me, a bought a few herb plants for the garden. My mom wanted to look at their selection of sedum and their small ornamental pines. Marty and I ended up spending more than her. Oops. See, weakness. Then after my mom left Marty and I ripped out most of the ivy in the front yard. A couple of weeks ago Marty started the project by ripping down the ivy that was engulfing the madrona tree. Now we can actually see the tree trunk and are planning a nice little flower bed around it. If you ever think about planting ivy, DON'T.

More to come on the gardening in a later post!