serenity sunday, two

there's something about this photo that i love. we spent the morning at the ocean which is always so peaceful, even when surrounded by lots of wild kids.

distraction

i have been storing all these great blog post ideas but i just haven't the energy to write. i'm distracted by life right now. my son just finished kindergarten and we're enjoying summer vacation which we have named the "summer of one hundred" -- we're going to read one hundred books we haven't read before and we're going to walk one hundred miles. lovin' it so far. i'm working hard on potty training my toddler. seems to be working this time, phew! and, i'm still unemployed...and very stressed/depressed about it. if you don't hear from me, it's because i'm rolled up in a ball, hiding from the world. and if you happen to see me and i don't recognize you, it's because i am numb and disoriented. this might be my "hazy days of summer."

on a happier note, our garden is thriving. i haven't had to purchase lettuce in over a month and it's the best lettuce i have ever tasted. we're now rolling in the zucchini which is good and bad. good because we love it and it's delicious. bad because there is so much of it that we're having to give it away (which isn't so bad after all). we're on our second japanese eggplant and i'm looking for ways to eat it. any advice? we have never eaten eggplant before so this is going to be an experience. we have picked several handfuls of green beans but never enough to cook which is okay since they are better raw anyway. i now know we're going to have to plant at least ten of these plants next year. actually, i have learned so much with this starter garden of ours. i definitely made some mistakes but i have taken notes and i have read several gardening books so watch out for the winter crops. operation: green thumb has been successful thus far; it's now a way of life. and it's a good cure for depression.

the corner garden. the top photo was taken june 4th, the bottom left was taken june 16th and the bottom right was taken june 26th. amazing. i actually thought the pumpkins and the corn were history and i was about to pull them all out when i decided to give 'em another week or two. good thing i waited. our corn will definitely be "knee high by the fourth of july." the pumpkins are jack-o-lanterns so be ready to join us for a carving party.

i almost gave up on the cucumbers, too. these were pitiful little plants and it broke my heart to even look at them so one night i decided to pull them out the following day. well, i went to pull them and they had grown. then the very next day there was a little flower...can you see it? oh, how my heart soared. they are still slow to grow but we might just get at least one cucumber this summer.

left: june 24th, right: june 26th. my mouth is watering for these. i can't wait to bite into one.

same with these. i'm growing four varieties and we will probably have a dozen ready at once. mmm...

i'm now worried about my watermelon. there has been zero growth for over a month now. i know that pesky zucchini plant is probably the problem which is why i chop at it almost daily in order to give the watermelon some sun and some room. i'm thinking we're not going to have watermelon this summer, though. what do you think?

new life

i stepped away from the garden for two days and this is what i came back to:

so darn exciting!

jackpot

so, i have been thinking about making my own laundry soap for a while. we have some cousins who started doing it and it caught my interest. i was all into it until my dear husband asked, "will you be moving to the prairie with them, too?" then i lost interest, kind of. last week i read this post  at soulemama.com and i decided right then and there that i was going to do it. i liked her recipe better (because i had all but one of the ingredients on hand and because it's scented...i'm a sucker for scented things). my favorite laundry soap costs $7.99 for a measly 32 ounces which just doesn't work with my budget so i knew i had to make a change. especially since i'm not a fan of all the other store-bought laundry soaps.

so here's the most exciting part. there's a plethora of  scents to choose from. it was actually hard to make a final selection. i had lavender in my hand then i smelled the baby scent which made me switch, then i smelled the peppermint and switched again and...so on and so forth...until i finally settled on the citrus orange which just smelled so clean. the soap was on sale and i'm tempted to go back and buy all my favorite scents. i can whip 'em all up to store for easy access and i can choose a scent according to my mood when i do laundry.

i think i hit the jackpot today!

you can try it out for yourself. you start with this:

2 c finely grated pure-castile soap (dr. bonner's is a great choice)
1 c borax
1 c baking soda
1 c washing soda

mix together and store in air-tight containers. this is what you get:

you actually end up with more than this but i left some out to use today. i am playing around with measurements but soulemama uses 1/8 c for each load. i have also heard that 1 c vinegar in the rinse cycle is a great fabric softener.