Inspire Baby

Well, I’m having a little boy.  I truly was worried about having a girl or girls until I found out I was pregnant.  I was convinced it was going to be a girl, or girls since multiples run in my family.  I know anyone can just say that but, I’m talking identical, fraternal and even the extremely rare identical triplets.  I may have been hoping a tiny bit for multiples.  I was thinking along the lines of a one and done pregnancy.  I was floored when I we had the sonogram at 20 weeks. There was no question he as to whether he was a boy or not.  Let’s just say I doubt I’m gonna have a shy one on my hands.  She in fact didn’t even have to tell me it was a boy I was already wide eyed realizing what I was seeing.  She announced, “well there’s your money shot.”

It was so neat to see him movin’ and groovin’.  I had read before my appt. to drink lots of water for a better picture.  That may have been old advice, but I think it worked and maybe even woke him up.  He was wide awake.  Covering his face as she tried to get a picture.  Swinging his head back and kicking like crazy.  It could have been the water or maybe the peanut butter toast and OJ, or maybe the starburst…I only had a few! Either way it was worth it.  Here are the pictures of my little guy!

In a couple of weeks all the grandparents are coming up to help with they baby room.  I’ve been doing my best to make descions and include Dane on the design process.  My fondness for antiques and his for modern don’t always mesh.  I’m not big on themes or baby decor.  I want to do something that can grow our child.  Dane and I decided on the color and many of the decorations well before we knew the gender, although we still have some furniture pieces to pick out.  Here is the most current design plan.

Inspire Baby

1. Solar system mobile

2. My mom and I made these inspired by a pinterest project you can follow the links here: Alphabet

3. Babyletto Crib

4. Floral Medallion Rug

5. Geometric Throw

6. Robin Hood Watercolor Print

7. Peter Pan Watercolor Print

8. Golden Yellow Fitted Crib Sheet

9. Orange Tile Fitted Crib Sheet

10. Raindrops Fitted Crib Sheet

11. Windham 4-Shelf Bookcase

12. Gold/Yellow Mirror, I have this for years and couldn’t tell you where it came from but I found one similar here:

Versailles Gold Framed Mirror

13. Globe

14. Yellow Pillow

15. Blue Pillow

The bedroom color we intend to use is Glidden Mint Shake.

Feel free to share with me any suggestions or ask me any questions!

Big things are happening.

Well. I’m going to have a baby. It still doesn’t feel quite real. I haven’t had weird cravings. Save, that I like olives now and beef makes my nose wrinkle. Maybe, the doughnuts count, but I think doughnuts are awesome, not weird. We told everyone right around Valentine’s Day.
I had cute plans for pictures to be put announcement but they didn’t turn out. I was able to use some old illustrator files to come up with something quick to send out to family because the moms were bursting at the seams to share.
Sleep is my friend. I have a few weeks before I find out what the gender is! I’m excited and nervous for this new chapter.

Yen rekindle

A flash of yesteryear, Memories of bliss engulf, A love within still glows.

So I had cake for breakfast

So this morning, I woke to my normal routine of checking out the status of my flowers.  Although, I had cake for breakfast I figure everyone has one day a year they are able to get away with eating cake for breakfast and today is mine.  This is a family favorite.  My dads mom got this recipe from June Koelsch, so we still to this day call it June Koelsch chocolate cake.

 

I know I”m about 5 months late on this resolution but I did my first drawing yesterday, she still needs some work. I woke up and did another.  I am out of practice. Only 363 more to go for the year. I’ve been as bad about my yoga.  I have faith in myself that I’ll step it up and get to working out.  I’ve really been eating better, with the new job I haven’t had as much time to cook. I have been trying all sorts of new foods at work though and can tell my palate is changing.  I actually like fish and blue cheese.  Tomatoes are still out though.

 

 

 

 

i’ve been obsessed with my yard this year.  I’ve had the time, since I haven’t had to worry about homework and school.  I think I’ve got the best handle on it to date.  More grass is growing, I know I’ll need to overseed this fall, and spray for weeds in a few weeks.

My irises, are growing like crazy.  The cul-de-sac looks nice, I hope to add some day lilies and tulips to it this fall so that next year there are flowers for 3 different seasons, maybe even mums if it works out.

These are all seed pods I collected from my irises.  Some I snapped off some just pulled right out.  Now I’m not expert, and have no idea if these are actually fertilized. I’ve seen much larger pods, my theory is some pods are larger because more production went into them and are more viable but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these grow, so I’ll give it a shot.  I haven’t counted them but I will, and see how many produce a plant.  I’ll have to find a designated area for them, or plant them inside to start. I read you need to chill them for the winter in your fridge if you plan to start them from pots.  I haven’t decided what I’ll do yet.

These are baby irises below.

 

I accidentally pulled them as I was pulling grass from some of my irises.  I wonder if they will be purple and yellow or some sort of hybrid.

I am excited to try my hand at hybridizing my irises.

These are irises I thinned from a vacant house across from mine.  And some of my tiger lilies. They really thickened out and the vacant house actually has irises this year.  They over crowded.  These ones took off and I’ll have to thin them and rearrange them, I wasn’t sure how they’d do as they were growing on cement before.

Still working on the grass above. This is probably the worst area.  The stones need weeded, and leveled a bit more but thats a big project so I’ll need a weekend and help.

 

My vines, I believe there is sweet pea and honey suckle and one other vine.  They attract humming birds I’ve seen a few in the last few year and hadn’t ever seen on in my life before living here.  They are stunning, a picture I think would be impossible.

Below are my tiger lilies or asiatic lilies. My roses are producing the most buds I’ve ever had, and they all started from the bottom this year.  I bet that means all my flowers will be small this year, hopefully that means bigger plants and flowers next year.

When I moved in i had tons of what looked like an iris but no flowers.  They had recently planted a coupe of peach trees.  I moved some of these plants to my front flower bed hoping I could get them to bloom a couple of years ago.  The rhizomes were popping out of the ground before,  I think now I’ll have to move all of them from the back yard in the shade of the peach tree to some where sunnier. They are an iris but I don’t know which variety.

A couple of more new colors this year.  I need to fill in some holes where someone ran over my flower bed at the end of the cul-de-sac.  😦 I’m getting so many flowers and so little places to plant them now.  This fall I plan to overhaul the placement of all my flowers. So i have something blooming at all times in each bed.

peonies from 1 week ago

a couple more of my irises

princess tracks.

ta ta

My pretties

Flowering season has begun at my house

See more on my Instagram account @annakatherine27

Yard Work

Spring is about to arrive.  My flowers are starting to poke through their beds and the anticipation is eating away at me.  I love flowers, I also love watching things grow.  It’s a lifetime obsession, that I became aware of at the old age of 6.  I remember specifically because our neighbor Dorthy gave me my own flowers for my birthday.  Six packages of mums to be exact (although if you want to get technical there were 2 in each container, so 12 to be exact). They were Ana Mums.  I was quite proud of them, and planted them next to my moms Peony’s.  I was much more interested in the Peony’s unfortunately.  They just seemed to come out of no where.  They’re process of growth was much more appealing to observe.  How they started out red and grew into stems that eventually formed tiny little buds.  I was allowed to help mom, sometimes, pick the buds off.  So, the flowers would grow larger.  And then I remember the day I saw ants all over moms soon to be lovely flowers.  I ran to tell her the bad news.  I learned from her that the ants were good for them. They helped them bloom.  So I watched the ants and the flowers, day to day and I still get the same excitement when the first petal opens on the first flower of the season.  I still have a special place in my heart for mums and have several different ones in my garden, I am learning still how to take care of my whole yard.  I planted iris’ years ago and was able to split them last year.  I expanded my iris collection last fall as well and can’t wait to see what blooms this summer, and how well at arranging them I did.  I’m, too well aware how often you need to rake in this wooded area.  I’ve already raked at least 7 times this year, this year most of my attention is going to be on the grass. 😦 not nearly as fun as flowers but integral to a nice looking yard as all my flower beds.  Hopefully, all my hardwork last spring and fall will bring me many rewards.  I love being able to have fresh cut flowers in my house and beautiful flowers to look at outside as well.  Let’s pray we don’t get another late frost this year, I want my peonies to bloom this year! And too many of my friends were disappointed my peach tree did not have very many peaches!

Here are some pictures from years past:

Spring

I do much better in the spring.  I’m so happy I was able to get outside these last couple of days and enjoy the sun.  I was even motivated to do some serious yard work.   I have to rake almost every season.  I hope the grass I planted in the fall comes up.  I also hope the mums come in thicker, this year.  They’re already coming up. I rearranged all my iris’ last summer/fall I’m excited to see how they turn out.  I’m making a list of all the things I want to accomplish in this awesome weather.  I’d like a sliding gate in the backyard that opens to the shed, so I don’t have to walk all the way around the house, to the shed.  I need to recover or revamp the cushions on the patio furniture.  Left them out all winter…:(  I’d also like to construct a little counter maybe cushion storage combo on the deck behind the couch.  The Sun I soaked up was pretty grand too. Honestly, it probably a little cool with the short shorts and tank top I had on until I started moving and it was perfect.  A little hotter and I probably wouldn’t have accomplished as much.  Hope to knock out the front yard tomorrow.  Until next time.

 

“Everyone can p…

“Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if
he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

As I’ve stated before I recently started a new job.  Well with a new job comes new coworkers and for me new germs.  I actually managed to not catch the cold that was going around for a couple months.  That cold was something else it zapped my energy like cold to a battery.  My sleep cycle has been finally been catching up and I’ve felt good enough to go out or stay after work for a drink.  Unfortunately, I’ve noticed another zap to my energy.  After some research, yesterday, I have a feeling my liver could use a rest, after a strict flow of cold medicine and a few to many cocktails.  (I’m not jaundice or anything! just tired!) I thought it too perfect that today is the beginning of a new month and even more fitting that Lent begins on the 5th, so I begin my at least month long trek into the sober world.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not getting wasted every night or not even every month, I just don’t think having a drink after work is going to help my liver repair itself.  So, it begins my battle of my own will.  I had planned to only do a month without alcohol but now the idea is to continue for lent. I’m excited. This is probably the most difficult challenge for me. I have to have faith that I will not falter.  I hope that it positively affects my health and that I can do this.

We shall see!

“Be kind”…

“Be kind”

I only ever wanted to be kind.  I still wish and pray for good things. I have love in my heart.  I’ll wash the sadness from my eyes and continue to be kind.  

“Ask, and it sh…

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye
shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8
King James Version

Okay, two posts in two days I know! I’m so excited though.  I almost blogged last night when I got home at 1 a.m. but I was super exhausted.  So, I have these new neighbors (about 6 or 7 months now) that have been parking directly behind my driveway.  The street is pretty narrow to begin with and there are plenty of other places to park but for whatever reason they’ve been parking directly behind the driveway.  It’s been a pain and I’ve tried to be patient. Well, we’ve gotten over a foot of snow and nearly a foot twice this year and the roads haven’t been completely cleared, making it EVEN narrower.  I finally got up the courage to leave them a note. Now the last thing I wanted to do was leave a nasty note, I mean I have to live across from these people for however long. But I really wanted to solve this problem.  So my note went a little like this:

Please stop parking behind our driveway.  Our patience is wearing.  It is hard enough to pull out when there isn’t snow taking up half of the street.  There are two vacant driveways that you could park in or park in front of.  We almost hit your van everyday.  And it sucks. 

Thanks

And it did the trick.  I came home last night and they were exactly at the edge perfect for us and not too much further from where they’d already parked.  So the first thing I did this morning was write them a thank you and I plan to bake them some cookies as soon as I buy some butter and chocolate chips! They made my 2014 so far!