I'm seeing orange

Have you ever seen a flower down, Sometimes angels skip around, And in their blissful state of glee, Bump into a daisy or sweet pea.~Jessi Lane Adams


Now it is offically Autumn and my love for the season mixed with doing things with the boys... everyday I'm seeing orange!



We've done some color mixing to make our paper pumpkins, had carrots and oranges as snacks, found some apples that have orange coloring to them, played with orange play-dough and even made our own orange juice w/ Great-grandad's juicer.




Big brother doing the squeezing






Little brother reaping the rewards

Second-story almost complete

God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown


I am super proud at Mike for all the hard work he's put into our second-story addition! Doing everything on his own, what a great talent God has bestowed upon him! It's been a little over a year since we've taken the roof off our little home and in a few short months we can utilize the rooms upstairs! Whoo-hoo! Here's the progress so far...



Boys Bedroom- all it needs is touch-up on the trim on the floor


Stairwell and landing- Just awaiting the spiral stairs to arrive in a few weeks then this will be complete and we can add carpet to landing

If you're ever in the market for spiral stairs we found the best place in PA. They handcraft each order in their workshop, which we took a tour of and were thoroughly impressed with! It was a day trip for us to drive there and back but truly worth it!




Our bedroom- Mike and a friend are installing the flooring this evening, then it's completing his closet and the room will be done.


Bathroom tile is almost complete too- he did amazing for his 1st time w/stone and mosaic!



I'll be sure to update when the stairs finally arrive and our house will no longer be livable for a few days due to tearing out walls and everything messy being centered in the kitchen area!

Summer creepy crawlers

What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden, 1871

This summer has been a good one for the flower gardens surrounding the house; big blooms and great re-growth! I've tried my best to keep up with the weeds- when I get the $$ I'm definitely having a company come out to put down the matting to block weeds- it would take me forever and I don't have that kind of time to take away from being w/ the boys- keeping up with the weeding, pruning, feeding and watering is enough for me!

But just this past week I've come across an abundance of creepy crawlers- the boys are enjoying discovering new bugs everyday!





They've even taken over the new play equipment we have back there for the boys. So every time we go to play it's a ritual for Gavin to say "shoe" or "stick" when he sees a spider making the playhouse a home or a bee buzzing nearby.





Don't get me wrong, I know spiders are great for the garden by catching pesky bugs (though I never see a mosquito being wrapped up for dinner!) but I can't stand them to be near me- let alone near the kids when they play. You never know what kind they are around here. Just yesterday I saw a clear and black striped one with hair and face that gave my insides the chills.... I think I'll have to invest in a picture book of bugs to know which ones are poisioness just to be safe.





A herd of beetles also made a home in my rose topiary bush a few months ago. When I say a few, I mean 50 I've counted, procreating like they have Spring fever- ewww!





I think they, plus the spiders and fungi due to heavy rains here lately, contributed to the disease of the main part of the branches- double ewww!





This used to be the focus of that particular garden but now it's such an eyesore! I've tried my best at nursing it back with medicine and pruning but time will tell this little one! I did some research on roses and found some interesting tid-bits that'll I'll pass along if you ever come across these symptoms.

The three most common problems are black­spot, powdery mildew and Japanese beetles- of course it looks like I have all 3! Blackspot is a fungal disease and the primary problem that weakens roses. In arid climates, blackspot is uncommon. However, where nights are humid, you can expect to see black spots appear on the leaves, which will eventually wither and fall. Healthy plants with good natural resistance will survive small outbreaks, but highly susceptible plants need to be sprayed with a commercial rose fungicide; use as directed on the label. The video below is very informational as the Maryland climate is just the same.




This is the site I found the video on: http://mygardeningpatch.com/?cat=16

Then if that's not bad enough another bush just being established this year looks like it too has a disease.




Man, between all the house duties, keeping up with the boys and taking care of the flowers, I'll never have time for a vegetable garden next year like I hoped!

Mint Sun Tea

I can't make it through summer without my homemade sun tea! And growing up with tons of mint in my Mom's garden as a child we always had mint in our tea and I think I always will!



Sun Tea

1 glass pitcher
Fill with water
Add fresh mint stalks
Add tea bag (1 lg or 2 small)
Sit outside in direct sun for at least 4hrs
Remove mint from pitcher
Add sugar to taste
Enjoy!!!

Handmade instruments

I've been pondering how the human race is so dependent on music. From the beginning we are told to let the baby hear classical music or the rhythm of their parents voice. Babies are sung to and as infants most everyone had some sort of mobile w/music, musical toy or stuffed animal, and even when they are old enough for television, every children's show has song in it for them to dance to or try to sing along with.

From the get-go kids are born with a love for music and enjoy discovering music by banging on things and making their own. There's even the fact that throughout our life here every household has a radio, every car, every store, even some bushes outside a store play music... Our life truly revolves around music!

Here's a link I found for those of us with little ones to help with their discovery and love for music without having to take them to classes to channel something that is so inertly wound in their DNA; it'll come on it's own, just give them some neat stuff to work with and you'll be amazed at the results!

http://www.executivehomemaker.com/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=285

For all you party planners

For all you party planners out there, I have to send you to this blog, it is AWSOME! I am always planning way in advance for any party I give and always up for new ideas. If you're like me, crafty but have no real time to make everything yourself and no budget to go hog wild at a party store, check this out!!!! I'm totally using some of her ideas! She even posts some free downloadable stuff, like a daily planner or my favorite, the party favor cone!

I'm so addicted!

http://tangarangblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/please-explain.html

Green Cleaning

"Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there." ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

How true is that quote! Unfortunately the same thing applies to the house too when trying to keep it clean! You never know what's lurking in fibers of the couch that has had dog pee, kid pee, milk, Cheerios, crumbs of all sort and who know what else on it when you're not looking! Pretty scary sometimes. Especially since seeing those creepy pictures of dust mites and bed bugs that can form all on their own over time w/ some of the best cleaning around, yuck!




There's been a big movement here lately for Green Living. From hybrids and solar panels to light bulbs and cleaning products. For the most part I would do any of the new ideas if money weren't an object. Little by little we've switched out our light bulbs to the energy saving ones and if I get a coupon I'll try a 'green' household cleaning spray; though they take more elbow grease than Lysol or the like, the air smells fresher and less intoxicating.

Last month I was mentioning to my mom about having to literally clean the kitchen floor 3 times a day, if not more sometimes, b/c of my lovely angels just learning to use utensils or someone having a fit and plates go a flying like Frisbees. I don't have time for a mop job so it's usually Clorox wipes or a paper towel w/ some sort of spray on it. The thing is, because I wanted to not only get up the mess but also sanitize the area in case something else came in contact with that area again I ended up using disinfectant on everything, from the floor to the highchair; not thinking anything about it.

Well, she recommended I borrow her steam mop H2O, it did the job of cleaning and sanitizing w/o chemicals, just water. That truly blew me away! Mankind is pure genius! I instantly had thoughts of me wiping the floor down, Carter dropping his snack, getting the cleaner on it and him putting the cleaner in his mouth...what was I thinking! Well, probably over thinking about it but I'm sure they'll ingest things they're not supposed to at some point, just not by my doing if I can help it.



Her mop was great, but she was right, it didn't dry that fast and the pad on the end was a pain to use so she was looking into getting the Shark mop, now ever so popular on infomercials. So by chance that evening I caught QVC and they were demoing a steam mop by Hann. I had no clue about this stuff so decided to research about it online and found that this Hann mop was the best around. So b/c of their one day special pricing with easy-payment, I splurged and got the best mop around!

Watch the video, it's so true, it'll get you hooked!

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.V28671.desc.Haan-Slim-Light-FloorSteamer-wCarpet-Glide2Microfiber-Pads


Cleans tile and linoleum floors



Also cleans hardwood w/o damage and w/ an attachment that comes with it, it will de-sanitize rugs, carpet, couches, bedding... it's awesome!

On that same 'green' cleaning kick, Mike is the grill master in the summer's as we are outside more often, but with him working so much this year I've taken over the grill most times because he's not home for dinner, let alone for the cooking part. About mid season when I went to use the grill I noticed how grimy it was, not even fit for a hot dog. At that point I realized I didn't know how he cleaned the grill and wasn't too sure what to do myself. So, using the same method inside the house, I brought the cleaning supplies outside to de-grease the grill and had the same thought... cleaner on the fresh chicken I slaved to prep, what was I thinking??

Wouldn't you know the next day I was doing a Tastefully Simple party for a dear friend of the family and she had QVC on (she's addicted, where I might scroll channels, see something I like and wish I had the means to get it and keep channel surfing) and they had 'The Grill Daddy' on demo. She said she got one for her son and he loved it. Again, cleaning w/ no chemicals, just water and the heat of the grill sanitizes it and the brush gets the gunk off, brilliant! So, it was Mike's early birthday present!




This other blog I came across also gives advice about 'green' cleaning reusing what we have on hand to help save money too!
http://bamagalskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/06/green-cleaning-how-to-be-eco-friendly.html