{ Some rainy days }

“A thunder-shower came up while the girls were at Carmody; it did not last long, however, and the drive home, through lanes where the raindrops sparkled on the boughs and little leafy valleys where the drenched ferns gave out spicy odors, was delightful.”  - Anne of Green Gables

 

The rain has been coming down, daily, sometimes followed by high winds and roaring thunder, and at other times a slow almost invisible sheet of rain that you only become aware of when it hits your skin like a mist.

 

Everything is green, bright, beautiful, soft looking.  As much as I enjoy a sunny Spring day, my favorites will always be the dark, dreary, cloudy and rainy ones.  It brings everything to a halt, it slows time down and it gives me a renewed spirit.  For some reason, these days are the ones that I find myself giving it all in my homemaking, going about pottering, touching this and that, taking extra care of the tasks at hand.  

 

It also makes for the best reading days, and reading is something that I not only love, but have recently gotten back into with a vengeance.  I can't seem to get enough of books and have been flying through my bookshelf.  As you can see above, I recently finished the Out from Egypt Series by Connilyn Cossette and I can say, confidently, that she has become my favorite author right along with Francine Rivers.   

While indoors everything looks dark, and magical with candles lit here and there and fairy lights hanging ever so precariously from bookshelves......outside the world is bright and alive with the joy of the daily rains.

 

My flowers are thriving, standing tall, showing off their bright colors and happiness at the extra love God is showering on them. 

My vegetables are equally loving all the water and are growing fast, already blooming, already giving off their fruit.  I love this time of Spring where the vegetable gardens come alive.

 

 While the rain falls outside, I have been baking, trying my continued effort at mastering sourdough, which I will say, I don't think I ever will and that is ok.  I am pretty happy with the talents God has given me in many areas, and if sourdough is one that I don't do particularly well in, that is okay with me.

There have been chocolate banana bread bars, sourdough loaves, a lemon pie, and delicious meals like saucy greek meatballs in a rich tomato sauce, grilled Hawaiian chicken thighs with the most delicious macaroni salad, kimchi which we are trying to eat a bit of every day because it is so good for you, along with some kombucha.

 

I went through a stage where I wasn't getting much joy out of cooking either.  That's when I knew something was not right, I wasn't homemaking with the usual joy I have, I wasn't enjoying cooking, I wasn't crocheting or taking photographs, or blogging or doing anything much of anything.  My doctor did assure me that this is normal as I get ever so close to menopause, and since I am turning 52 this year.  

 

It's part of life.  I wasn't happy to hear that but I changed my attitude, gave it all to God and decided to go back to doing what I love.  Starting again when you've stopped doing something for a while, is not easy, but when you push through the initial barrier, and get back to what you love, it makes a world of difference. 

“The garden was a pool of late golden sunshine, with butterflies hovering and bees booming” - Anne of Green Gables

Pottering around in the garden is something I also stopped doing.  But this past weekend we got out there, got all the grass mowed and fixed some of the flower beds, got some plants in the beds and got prepared for some more beds.

 

I will start on those today.  I need to get potatoes in the ground, as well as make room for some more vegetables that I want to grow.  I will be sure to take pictures as I go to show you all. 

Homemaking with a joyful heart changes everything.  Doesn't it?

 

We often taken our lives for granted, choosing to be annoyed or irritated by some of the tasks that are before us.  Mundane, repeated, constant, never ending, so go our homes, and yes it can be a bit tiresome at times to look at the same pile of dishes in the sink, or the overflowing laundry basket that you just emptied the day before.

 

Truth be told, we all have days where we want to run for the hills *so to speak*. 

Grocery shopping is one of those for me.  I don't mind the actual shopping, but putting it all away takes no less than an hour for me, and that is pushing it.  Usually, two hours I'll be working on putting things away, throwing things out, cleaning cupboards before putting something newly bought in.

 

But I am so thankful to God that we are blessed with money to buy the groceries, to feed our families.  And so I do it all with a smile on my face, something forced (not going to lie), while inside I may be frustrated but I find that if I force a smile it becomes natural after a few minutes and it washes away the spirit of annoyance that threatens to ruin the moment.  After all, we do it all for the glory of God right? 

Before I leave you this morning, I wanted to share this gorgeous painting with you, well, 3 paintings in one.  My husband chose it and I was just in love when he showed me.  We still need to put it up on the wall, but for the moment it sits above the fireplace.  

 

I love looking at it during the day.   

We have a little reprieve on the rain today, so I am going to use that opportunity to get out back and get the beds put together or at least in place where I want them to go, and maybe get the soil in them too if I have time for it.

 

This weekend we will be finishing off another chicken coop and run and moving two of our chickens, well a rooster and a hen into it.  Then next weekend, hopefully get the last one up and sorted for the other rooster and hen.

 

Today however, along with the gardening plans I have, I still need to get in my minimum of 10 thousands steps, a 30 minute workout, I am doing this one below this week....

 

I also need to finish the large petals on my crochet blanket so that I can move on to the framing round. Oh my word, I am not enjoying these first few parts of this new blanket, I don't like fiddling around with smaller parts to then join to the blanket.  I would much rather it be a continuous blanket.  I think this is why it's taken me so long to get past this first part, I would have already been onto the next, but I am forcing myself to do it and I know I will be happy when it's done.

 

I need to pay bills, get the budget sorted as in written down in my budget book as I pay etc.  

 

Then I hope to get some more reading.  I just started a new book by Sarah M. Eden the same writer from Seeking Persephone which is quite popular at the moment.

 

The book is called Ashes on the Moor and so far I am already enjoying it.  I think Sarah Eden may be one of my favorite secular book writers.   

 

And that my friends is basically what I'll be doing, as well as hopefully baking my daughters birthday cake for tomorrow.  Can you believe that my Jasmine is turning 27?  What?

 

Yes this little one is turning 27 ♥

 

 

 

 If that doesn't make me feel old, I don't know what does.  Considering, Nicholas just turned 23 on the 11th of April.  

 

Right, now I need to get going with my day.  I hope you have the most wonderful Friday and weekend ahead.  I will see you all back here soon, promise.

{ Spend a rainy Saturday with me }

The rain began last night. At first just a few heavy drops here and there, followed by loud thunder, bright lightning and the constant barrage of millions of raindrops pounding down on the roof.  

 

The temperatures dropped, meaning the blankets I had already folded and put in the basket near the couch, were pulled back out to warm my achy bones.  Arthritis, my arch nemesis.  I never in a million years would have thought that I would develop osteoarthritis, especially before I even turned 50, and when it appeared I was quite sad about it, but I have learned to live with it and to accept that things happen, we don't control all the ailments that come upon our bodies as we age, and some things, just become part of the aging process.  It's ok.  

 

It's a Saturday morning, the slowness of the weekend has arrived bringing with it a laziness that has become synonymous with naps, slowness, pottering around, snacking, drinking coffee and tea, reading or watching a show on the telly.  I'm all for it.

 

So I'm bringing you along on this rainy day, from morning to night.  You might want to grab a cuppa and settle in, there are quite a few photos in this post.

 

 

:::: MORNING ::::

Before the world starts stirring, I am up.  I am an early riser, I guess because I go to sleep every night, around 8 or 8:30, so by 4:30am, I am wide awake and ready to start the day.  Week days or weekends, it doesn't matter, I am up.  You may think it is too early, but I find that I get so much more out of my day when I am up this early.

 

I make my coffee, I sit on the couch under a blanket and I read a little and then watch some quiet slow vlogs.  This morning however, I had the added ambience of a thunderstorm, some lit candles, and just the coziness that comes with this kind of weather.  

After about an hour, I start waking the house up.  While everyone else sleeps, I open the front door, open the curtains, and head into the kitchen to make my breakfast.  I love eating my breakfast back on the couch, while watching something on the tv.  

It's the slowness of the day that I really enjoy.  Dark, quiet, just me and my kitty.

I start a load of laundry and fold the one that just came out of the dryer.

Tidy up the couches, fold blankets and put the dining table back to order, runner, flowers and lamp and put back in place after being removed the night before for dinner and family games.

 

Some nights I get to do this before retiring for the day, but other nights I am the first to head to my bedroom, and the boys stay up playing, so this kind of chore moves to the morning.

I also water the plants.  I have recently set up our little indoor greenhouse with some of the first veggies and flowers we have started. 

As the sun starts rising, and the day starts waking up, I open the back door, light the scentsy warmer and fluff up the pillows on these couches. There's a sense of accomplishment when the day starts with the house fresh and tidy for the day.  No matter what comes our way later, everything seems to just fall into place.

 

:::: AFTERNOON ::::

 

The rain continues, sometimes a slow and steady drizzle, other times bringing all it's force with loud thunder that comes out of nowhere, making you jump out of your skin.  Yes it happens to me a lot.  

 

I do like stepping outside during the storms, to just smell the wet earth, to listen to the rain and to take in nature in all it's glory.  I love being outside in the rain, well, not exactly out in the rain itself, but sitting on my porch, just listening and taking it all in.

We went to the gym in the morning, not even the rain would keep us away.  I find though that the days we go to the gym, I am always slower and tired and just want to sleep the afternoon away.  I don't do it, but it definitely tires your body out.

 

This afternoon, I chose to turn on the fairy lights on the bookshelf, and settle in bed with a warm blanket, and my Ellliott asleep nearby.  If you don't see him, he is right on the bottom of the picture, under a blanket.  He stayed in my bed all day long, under that blanket, only getting up once to use the litter box and eat some food, and then went right back to his spot.  He loves rainy days as much as I do.

 

:::: NIGHT ::::

 

As the evening rolled around, I start the preparations for dinner.  Since it's been raining all day, I had a craving for chili, so after the gym this morning, we went by the base commissary and picked up what we needed.  I came back home and popped it all in the slow cooker.

 

There's nothing quite like a rainy day, with the scent of a delicious chili bubbling away in your slow cooker.  I get to go about my day without worrying about dinner.

Every night before dinner, and while I actually get dinner finished, I have my apple cider vinegar shot.  I've mentioned it before, but basically, I do 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon, then I fill the rest of the little measuring cup with cold water.  I think it's about 8 ounces all together.  

It helps me a lot with my stomach.  I used to have horrible issues from perimenopause, constant stomach cramps, runny tummy, gurgling, indigestion and just unwell stomach most of the time.  This mixture has helped me a lot.  You can look up the benefits of taking apple cider vinegar every day, and remember that with everything, talk to your doctor first, don't take my word for it.  I am merely sharing what I do and what works for me.

I made some homemade pita chips for myself and anyone else that wanted, because I don't eat tortilla chips or chips of any kind.  These are a great way to make homemade chips that are much healthier than store bought, and they go great with a chili or soup.

 

We had our delicious chili, played a game of cards, and I retired to my bedroom.  Took my wonderful shower, and by 8:30am I was asleep.  

 

The rain continues pounding outside and will more than likely go all night.  

 

I sure do hope you enjoyed spending the day with me and having a peek at what I do on a weekend day.  

{ A Rainy Day in the Garden, and a few antique store finds }

 

The sun has just come out, the skies are a beautiful pale blue, and the rain has moved on.

 

But earlier today, it poured, and when I say it poured, I mean it really poured down.

I had dropped Jasmine off and was on the way back home, when it started.  Within 2 minutes, I had my windshield wipers on full blast and still struggling to see the road ahead.  When the weather gets like this, I slow down, it doesn't matter what the speed limit is, I believe in being cautious, so I take my time.

It doesn't help that my car also seems to hate wet roads, and has a tendency to slide.  It makes me so nervous every time it does, because no matter how slow I'm going, it hits water on the road and starts sliding.  Nerve wrecking!

I made it home safe and sound, parked in the driveway, and then ran for the porch.  I still ended up looking like a drowned rat, that's how hard it was raining.

 

I've mentioned before how both Marley and Elliott are scared of storms, and even though Nick was up and in the office, on his computer, they were both at the front door waiting for me to return. 

 

I had no sooner opened the door, when a loud thunder and lightning cracked right in the front yard, sending me running into the house with a scream.

 

Marley scattered one way in fear, Elliott ran to hide so fast, it was almost a blur.  My goodness, the storms in Texas are intimidating.

 

Scary but beautiful at the same time. I love stepping outside to see not only the rain falling, but the aftermath. 

 

Sparkly drops hanging on flower petals, or just at the tip of a leaf, dangling, waiting to fall to the ground.  

These are the moments I grab my camera and am thankful for not only loving photography, but being able to capture such lovely snapshots of an otherwise normal day.

How many times do you actually stop to look at raindrops on a flower, or a blade of grass?  I never used to, until I started blogging and then it became normal, to always have the camera nearby for times such as these.

The garden is loving all the rain, as is expected.  The flowers are blooming and showing off their gorgeous colors and designs, the vegetables are growing in leaps and bounds, matter of fact, I've already harvested lettuce and green onions.  

So pretty!!!

 

Of course, the birds are also loving the warm weather, and it's quite interesting watching them during rain storms.  Some hide in trees , while others take that moment to do fly bys in the yard, back and forth, landing on the fences and fluffing their feathers.

 

Before I show you the few things I got at the antique store this weekend, let me show you our Elliott. He is so cute, naughty, but cute. Hahahah 

The first thing I got was this little sign.  It is handmade as you can tell, but I love imperfect things items.  I don't like anything to look pristine and new, because I find that the more imperfect they look, the more they fit in with my simplistic country/primitive look.

I have been looking for some baskets to reorganize my pantry, and these were pretty cheap, so got two.

You'll have to excuse the Elliott foot, you know cats, they have to be in every basket they find.  

Then I saw this book, and immediately grabbed it.  It was just a dollar.

Little Women is one of my favorite books of all time, and the fact that it is an old book, just makes it that much more appealing.  It's going right on my shelf along with the other old books I've collected over the years.

It wasn't a lot of things, but they were things that caught my eye and will be used and loved here in our home.

 

I hope you enjoyed the flowers, the rain shots and seeing what I picked up over the weekend.