Archive → May, 2010

Backyard Happenings

24 May, 21:21, by Kim Toomey
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The past few weekends we’ve been super busy in our backyard, and it finally stopped hailing long enough for me to go back outside and take some pictures (which is really quite a shame once you see all the work we’ve done!)

First off, Dylan built me two raised garden beds a while ago and I’ve finally taken the plunge and filled them with dirt and things that will hopefully produce vegetables – I think these things are called plants. Hopefully they can survive on primarily the elements because…well, lets just say I’m trying really hard to be dedicated to growing things. This whole thing is a big challenge that I must win! But did you know that it takes a long time for plants to actually produce vegetables even if you start with mini-plants and not seeds. I did not.

Anyway – here is my garden.

Here is one of the beds, filled with things I’m hoping don’t die now that it has gotten cool again – Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and a jalepeno. Grow little veggies, GROW!

My other bed has a lot of lettuce and a few zucchini plants and seems to be doing just fine.

I also planted strawberries back in April in those crazy topsy turvey things and it is seriously the easiest thing I have ever done. And I’m going to have a million strawberries here in a few more weeks! You can do it!

Mmmmm

And here is one of my tomato plants up close and personal because it had this cute little yellow flower, which I think is a good sign (note, it was nearly this big when I bought the plant…not that you can actually tell that it’s tall in this photo)

Our other big project involved my birthday party. We decided that we do so much entertaining in the summer and have no indoor entertaining space, that it would make sense to put in a patio. One of the reasons we bought this house was the backyard. It’s huge. But it was almost all grass. Now, we have a great seating area and still lots of grass!

And our crazy fire pit actually fits into the yard instead of sticking out awkwardly in the grass.

For my birthday, Dylan got me a hammock – I have always wanted a hammock. Because with a gift like a hammock comes permission to take naps and be lazy!

If the sun ever comes back out I’m never leaving the backyard (or more importantly…the hammock). And see those cute white lights in the background? They are from Ikea and are solar powered and come on magically when it gets dark. They’re pretty awesome, and only $10 for each one. They also come in blue and red.

So that’s been our big spring project! And it literally hasn’t stopped raining since we got the patio done. We had one nice day and night to BBQ and have people over, and then it’s rained non-stop the past 10 days.

So that’s the little tour of our backyard – we love it!

Welcome Back

17 May, 21:48, by Kim Toomey
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Valentine’s Day huh? That was just a few months ago right?

I would tell you that I’ve been extra busy the past few months, but I think I’m always this busy so it’s a poor excuse. But it is lacrosse season which takes away 2 evenings a week which means I need to cram more stuff into the other nights and leaves little time for me to want to type any more on my computer than I already did during the 8+ hours I spent at work. Maybe I’m not cut out for this blogging thing after all.

So I usually keep my blog filled with mindless, lighthearted dribble like what I had for dinner or what my dog has most recently destroyed. But I do a lot of blog stalking in the little free time that I have and am always inspired by the folks who talk about real things, on a regular basis. I’ve always enjoyed writing, I just need to make it a higher priority in my day. I also need to get up earlier and go to the gym and walk the dog more, but we can’t all be perfect.

So for those real bloggers out there who share their secrets with the world, I’m taking a cue from you tonight and venting into my computer screen.

Most of the people who read my little blog (if there are any left) know that Dylan works away from home most nights during the week. This leaves me home in the evenings mostly by myself – and with my big scary dog who will eat your face if you come near our house.

Dylan and I dated long distance almost all the way through college. We know how to survive in our relationship apart from each other. This fact, does not make our lives now any easier. I don’t know how people do this long term, or how they can work away from their families without coming home on the weekends – let’s just say I could never be an army wife. We haven’t been married long, but living alone most of the time while married is just strange. It’s never how I imagined married life would be when I was growing up. Not that I don’t love being married (and especially to Dylan)…and I suppose being married is probably never like you think its going to be. It’s always the little things that get me. Getting ready to go to bed alone and not having to fight over the bathroom sink to brush my teeth. Or waking up alone (well, next to my stinky, slobbery, ferocious dog) on your birthday. That one sucks pretty bad. But the bottom line is that Dylan’s job situation isn’t permanent. And so we both are pushing through for the hope of the next project to be closer to home. And there are rumors of a new project in the fall that would have my husband living at home for maybe even a whole year (seriously folks, we’ll have been married 2 years in September and Dylan has been at home for 3 months of that full time). Except with rumors of jobs in Portland also come rumors of jobs even further away than the one he’s at now. One where I couldn’t drive an hour to meet up with Dylan for dinner on a Tuesday night.

So that’s whats going in our life. And why I don’t blog all the time. There is no one else to blame if you don’t get fed, or the house doesn’t get cleaned and the dishes and laundry don’t get done. Or that flesh-eating dog doesn’t get a long walk in the evenings. But I’ll try to keep better tabs on things here. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get back to the mindless things in life, like the vegetables I’m attempting to grow.

Thanks to the following bloggers (who have no idea who I am because I just stalk) – but they’re a good read if you have a few minutes.

Marriage Confessions

Girls Gone Child

This is Reverb

(and I realize some of these fall into the mommy-blogger category. This is no way suggests we are having a baby soon – Dylan’s out of town remember. But seriously, more than anything these folks write about life. And life for them just also includes kids. Mine includes a dog and cat.)