Art is the Stored Honey of the Human Soul

Things have been quiet around the blog here because it has been Spring break and we are living outside instead of warming ourselves within the walls of our house.

 Alex has been creating...

 Buddy has been getting dirty enjoying the warmer weather...

 The dogs have been loved on...

The Botanical gardens have been explored...

The orchids have been amazing...

Steve has come out of his winter home...

We explored SAMA...

Maybe in the next couple of weeks like on this blog will get back to normal. But in the mean time I will be gardening, picture taking, cooking, cleaning, organizing, and reading. Basically enjoying Spring to the fullest!

Sunday Us

Cartoons, Lego, Pj's

Grass is the place to play

Coffee, the elixer of life

Onion starts, ready in April

I spy Penny's eye

Furry beast

Dog food blissed Bells

111 in 1/2011 Catch up

Finally after close to two weeks sick I am able to post an update to the 111 items in January 2011 challenge. I immediately dove into my office closet, which is probably the worst offender on my goal list. I pulled everything out and took down the folding table that was really just giving me more space to junk up. I still want to sort through this closet, but the bulk of the purge is done. Now I just need to organize and shift through the small piles for more donation items.

Estimation of items Donated : 40

Estimation of items trashed: 100

The bookcase is looking a bit better, there is actually space on it now. I removed all my yarn except for two bins of in progress projects. The more I look at my books the more I want to purge, so I know this bookcase will get another sort through in the final week!

This week I will tackle the pantry and finish up the Master Closet!

The Christmas Elves



Alex's Winter Wonderland

 This is the first Christmas that Alex has displayed a bit of "I know who Santa really is" wisdom, which really meant that his Christmas Magic level was a little low. So I cooked up this idea to make a ton of snowflakes and hang them in his room on Christmas Eve so he would wake up to a Winter Wonderland.

We had our good friends Kim and Robert over on Christmas Eve night, so we put them to work with paper and scissors and crafted a bunch of Snowflakes. Elf Kim up'ed the anty by bringing a bag of glitter snow which was scattered all over his room to make it look like Narnia.

The hilarity was barely contained while we tried to be quiet hanging these up in his room, but we were successful because Alex didn't wake up at all!

These are the memories I hope he will never forget. These are the things that we love to do as Parents, make things just a bit more special.

His snowflake room makes us all smile, which is exactly what we aimed for.

Noticing the Home.

Perfect Autumn light.

I feel like I am saturated in the elements of my home. I have been noticing all the small details that make this place ours, the objects and views that are so familiar they are all most like loved ones. The daylight hours have shortened and it seems like Mother Nature has decided to make each light filled moment that much more special. Everything is golden, crisp, clear, and vibrant in these moments of seasonal death. Celebrating their lives instead of their demise.


Keeping Archie occupied with bird watching.

I am in the midst of cleaning for family visits, my mother in law arrives early next week. I am pushing towards that moment of clean when I can start "homing", making cozy niches and pleasing scenes. Piling quilts and towels, placing candles and glittering objects. Homing our house, creating comfort and cozy.

A glance into the kitchen that spoke to me of home.

Moving from room to room I keep noticing snippets that speak of us, the people who make the family within these walls. Coats and socks left out look loved and warm. Books and papers look inviting and interesting. The corner of the couch looks just left with lingering warmth. Puppies, like living hot water bottles, are at the ready for snuggling and mindless touches. Between all these bouts of cleaning and purging I see our life in the scenes of living within these walls.

I am so very Thankful for this life and those who share it with me.

The Fog has Arrived...

Seed Tape and PJ gardening



We made seed tape today, which is a great way to get Alex involved in the gardening. We cut strips of newspaper about an inch wide, made a paste of flour and water, and dotted the paste across the newspaper at the correct intervals for the different seed types. Handling itty bitty seeds out in the garden can be difficult, especially if it is windy and they are hard to see in the dirt. So Alex made up four strips of tape, three salad mix and one spinach.

 We laid them out in their rows and loosely covered them with dirt. Just in time for Thanksgiving we will have garden fresh spinach and salad mix as early as Halloween. Gardening in your PJ's always makes digging in the dirt that much more fun. You can just spy the few strawberries that made it through our hot summer. Hopefully those beauties will give us a nice clutch of berries in the spring.

Give them a great big soak, you don't have to worry about them floating out of their rows because they are stuck to the tape! Genius!  Alex also gave our very late season watermelon bed a good soak as well as the bed we are prepping for Fall snap peas. Love the split growing seasons we have here in Texas.

The End of Summer, Hour Pics

The last week of summer lingered and yet passed so quickly. Easiest way to enjoy it fully, but remember the details was to take a picture every hour of our day on any given day. Lots of food, pups, out of doors and regular life. It was bliss.

Today is...

muted morning light, open bedroom windows...

summer work while dressed for the pool...

Lego display towers, sacred toy space.

Trees are more work than I thought!

Casey and I went over to my parents house yesterday to help my mom with some trees that needed pruning. When I say we helped, I really mean that Casey was going to do all the work, so I dressed as usual in jeans, a tee, and flip flops. With all the rain we have had lately my parents trees had grown a lot and some branches were so heavy that they touched the ground.

Casey got to work with the chainsaw and clippers and I happily spent my time taking pictures.
Until I saw how big the tree branch waste pile was getting. So regardless of my inappropriate clothing and shoes and lack of gloves, I jumped in to help my mom haul the branches to the side yard to wait for bulk pick up day. 2 hours later (!!) the trees were finished, the yard was clear, the waste branches were stored and we were all sweaty and sporing some cuts from the thorns.Sammy spent those 2 hours happily chewing up a chunk of wood. This little pisser gets to spend 10 days with us starting this weekend. I have sworn to teach him how to sit, not pee in the house, and lose 2 pounds.

One final task was left before we could go to lunch. My mom had heard something in the garage the night before. It sounded like it was stuck to the glue traps that they use by their garage doors, and my mom being afraid of snakes just shut the door without looking and called Casey. LOL. Turns out a huge bull frog was stuck to a trap and trying to free himself. Casey helped him out and helped him over the fence with a toss.

Yay for Spring in Texas!