I’m not going to sugar coat it…this post is going to be all over the place. Kind of like my brain some days.

My neighbor, who is a prolific card maker, inspired me to get back at it. The first chore is cutting, scoring and folding the cardstock. Once I had a nice stack I began looking through my scraps and envelopes. An orange one caught my eye…a Shutterfly envelope. Inside I found a stack of photos perfect for cards. I know I originally ordered them for that purpose but they got set aside and therefore forgotten.

In a short time I had this pile of blank photo cards completed.

This is one of my favorite photos. I created this arrangement exclusively from my yard into a handmade pottery piece I picked up at a garage sale.

Independence day was a rainy day here so both the parade and fireworks were cancelled. The city made the decision to reschedule the fireworks until July 12th.

We are lucky enough to be able to walk a few houses down to the top of a cul-de-sac to view the show. The mosquitos were fierce but it was still a good time.

My garden is continuing to produce which makes me so happy. I grilled the yellow squash on Sunday with our meal. It was delish!

I’m also working on some coffee dyeing. It’s really hot but humid. I’m hoping the sun will overpower the humidity when it comes to drying these stacked pages. I have lots of different stencils and plastic pieces mixed in the stack to hopefully create some cool patterns. I’ll share my results at a later date.

What are you doing today?

Nothing beats summer in Minnesota if you ask me. It’s the reason we put up with the harsh winters.

I’ve been trying to get myself back on track with walking in the morning. I like to do it as early as possible but some mornings I can’t seem to get the lead out.

I’m so fortunate to have beautiful and well maintained places to walk. Just around the bend of the above photo I spotted a place where the fairies live. :)

It was so cute. I’m glad the park service let it stay there.

As I continued on my walk I got to our city center park which hosts a carnival and street dance the 3rd of July. Everyone was working hard to get things set up for the afternoon. Mini-me and I went up for a little while and hung out with our neighbors. It’s always a good time.

Yesterday Mini-me and I walked at the MN Landscape Arboretum. They have a nice 3 mile walking trail that we enjoy. There are benches of varying ages throughout the walk to rest or contemplate.

My garden is doing quite well. I’ve harvested 2 cucumbers and 2 jalapenos so far.

I’m hoping the tomatoes will begin to ripen soon.

Summer is in full swing around here. It honestly is going WAY TOO FAST!!!! We are almost to July…I’ve even seen school supplies at the store! That’s a vision no educator wants to see in June. Marvin clearly doesn’t want to hear about mom going back to school either.

I’ve been trying to be outside as much as weather permits. We’ve been getting buckets of rain. Several roads in the county are closed because the Minnesota river is too high.

I stopped at a couple garage sales one day while running errands and picked up a bunch of supplies.

It was just what I needed to sew a new bunting for my garden. My neighbor asked me if it helps deter pests. I told him not that I’m aware of…it just looks happy to me.

Yesterday I repotted a dozen of my houseplants. That took WAY longer than I anticipated.

Good thing I’d made myself a nice breakfast before tackling that job.

May, so far, has been quite busy with all fun things. The month started with my birthday. We celebrated for two days …takeout sushi the day before my birthday and went out to the pub at the dinner theater for happy hour the day of.  We typically don’t go out much but have been trying to shake up the routine a bit lately.

The following weekend we attended Mini-me’s college graduation. It was a beautiful day. It was very emotional seeing her in her cap and gown. When J graduated college in 2021, he chose not to walk so we hadn’t had that experience with a college grad before.  Right after the graduation ceremony, we had to move Mini-me out of her apartment and drive back to the cities. It was a LONG day.

And, of course, Mother’s day was the following day. Mini-me arrived home with the rest of her belongings just before noon. J came over and I grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. It was nice to have everyone around the table for a meal again.

This past weekend was a busy one as well. Mr. G went to a friend’s cabin to help with some construction work. Meanwhile I had my own agenda here at home. Saturday morning, I went to an elementary school version of 101 Dalmatians in which a friend’s son had a lead role. It was really cute and short. LOL

After returning home, I got started on my task of assembling my new compost tumbler. It was a bit of a pain to assemble but it is very sturdy. 

After trying another spot I decided this made the most sense so it wouldn’t have to be moved to mow.

I also finally got the garden cleaned up and planted my seedlings. I want to purchase a few seedlings before planting a couple short rows of green beans. Only one pepper plant sprouted of the four I started.  I’m hopeful everything will adapt to their new spaces. I spent a week acclimating them to the outdoors. The tomatoes are usually resilient but I’ve had trouble in the past with transplanting cucumbers and summer squash.

I’m trying out a couple pots of tomatoes in the front yard this year. The afternoon to evening sun is REALLY HOT in the front but tomatoes tend to like the heat. I also had started a couple extra plants than would comfortably fit in the garden. I am a bit worried about critters nibbling on them or squirrels digging in the pots. Lots of variables but time will tell.

My deckbox garden has herbs at one end and radishes and carrots closest in the photo. There is also mystery seedlings intermingled with the root veggies. I say mystery because I remember spreading them last fall but I failed to make note of what they were assuming I’d remember. That was a poor assumption on my part. Oh well…its just another fun experiment.

Now that the weather is really nice, I’ve been increasing my walking in the mornings. I’m trying to make up for lost miles. I’m about 110 miles behind where I should be to hit my goal by the end of 2024. 

My creative time and motivation had been non-existent as of late. That happens sometime. I have been writing notes about ideas though. Things I want to try. Projects I want to finish. But first I need to finish the last 12 school days.

Wowsers, it’s been a while. I have no real excuse for not posting. Let’s just say that I haven’t been good at doing anything from start to finish. Maybe that’s why I don’t feel as if it should be documented. I have so many projects going in various stages. Some of them aren’t even a project per say…just an idea I had to dive into at the moment. My mind is a whirl of ideas during the day but often, by the time I get home from work and do the household things, I’m out of steam to be creative. 

This past weekend I was continuing my slow process of sorting through my supplies. I pulled out two bins of jewelry supplies. I really want to get things more organized so I don’t waste time looking for something when my time is limited.  I wish I had a brain for organizing…I just don’t. I’m also very frugal (cheap) and don’t want to buy a bunch of new bins in which to organize plus I’m not even sure what I would want or need since my brain doesn’t work that way.

Other things I’ve been working on in no particular order are the seemingly never ending sorting, purging and attempting to organize my vast craft supply. This includes paper sorting, old cards, harvesting images, label making for future projects. 

Making journal cards, tags and pockets for journals

More journals and covers

Seed starting…even though I’m really late this year.

But Spring is playing tricks this year. Marvin was not very happy about the snow that day.

I do have some life updates as well. I am happy to say that I am in complete remission from Lymphoma. I just had scans this past week and will have them again in 6 months. From there the scans will go out to a year.  What a relief!

J’s roommate decided to adopt a cat but the cat seems to have claimed J.

Meet Marshall. Mini-me and I went over to their house to met him in person last weekend. He’s a tiny little cat with a very loud voice.

Speaking of Mini-me…she had 4 pieces of art in the senior show this spring. She got a purchase award for on of her monoprints.

The university bought it to become part of the permanent collection. Isn’t that cool!!! She also just got word that she’ll be receiving an academic award from the art history dept at graduation. Yes that girl is graduating college next month.

Last month I had the opportunity to go to Orchestra Hall with our 6th graders. It was a really fun performance.

Mr. G and I went on a weekend trip to Wisconsin last month as well. We visited his Aunt and Uncle. We always have fun hanging out with them. I did a bit of thrifting while there.

I found this fun batch of weaving swatches and instructions at an antique shop.

As well as this pink ruby ring. Excuse the dry hands…I wash them constantly at school…kids are gross. LOL

Speaking of school…I couldn’t get through my day without my giant water bottle.

It also serves as my ticket to T stands for Tuesday this week. Yay I remembered for once.