Thursday, April 30, 2020

Fairies and not so pleasant bike rides...

I suppose I will consider this day another success.  We all survived another day of house arrest, I mean self quarantine.  I made breakfast and lunch, that is right I am pretty much a domestic diva for those of you thinking that I only feed my children the Chick-fila, helped with school work, did my own 8 hours of work from home, worked out in the yard, and rode a bike.  Around the block.  Without being forced.  Or chased by a mur-der-errr.
I am just gonna put this out there I have been wanting a bike.
Preferably a bike with a basket to carry items (not sure what kind of items.. but items) and it shall have a large cushiony seat for my not so young parts (let's be real the lady bits ain't built like they used to be... ya know whatta mean).
This is what I am thinking....
Awwwwe.... isn't she presh.
Well folks don't get so attached, because I live in a place where bikes are all the rage and I cannot find one!!  So sad.  I keep on-a searching, but bikes are outta stock!  So since I have no bike, I rode the man friends bike.   Ummmmm..... BIG mistake.... HUGE!
It has been 10 hours since my BIG ride (justa around the block) and my bits are the pits!  I have a bowed walk and I just feel like possibly the bike had a better time than I did.  I am afraid if I keep this up I may get callous-y down yonder.  Sweet geez, what if I become dead down there?
Maybe I should reconsider this new hobby and stick with the yard work.
This evening was so fun.  Honey (Honey is grandmother for us) had an idea for us to create a fairy garden.  Sophia has been all about it and is constantly looking at gardens online.  Today, Honey surprised us with a fun acorn house, mushroom, and fairies!  The kids worked on this all evening and then brought things from their bedroom!  Brayden even unscrewed a knob from his super fancy dresser and is using it as a fairy mushroom seat, Sophia brought out animals from her doll house, and then they brought crystals from their cave field trips.
If you do not have a fairy garden, I think your kids would really enjoy it!










I will just be here livin' my best life... with an ice pack!  Night night!

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

"I's the foreman, I says when it's quittin' time"

Yes, as of late, I am feeling a bit like Big Sam from Gone With the Wind working at Tara.
Does anyone remember when someone says, "quittin' time" and Big Sam interrupts and states that he is the foreman and only he can say when ya stop the work!!  Hel....lo, this is so my yard life right now!
Big Sam is my spirit animal!
Anyway, I am not sure about the 10s of readers (mama, man friend, my sil, possibly Moss (but she may be reading by accident and leave a comment that only has a one letter response... like y or r, technology just is not her thing) so never mind like 4s of readers, but are you all working in your yard too?  We have lived at casa de Foresee for about 14 years.  We have always had the best of intentions with our yard, but yard work is tough, and it ain't cheap, and did I mention it is tough??  Most of our weekends have been filled with all of the kid things:  baseball, soccer, basketball, camping, fun, or just sitting in the house ignoring the fact that we have a yard.  The idea of working out there can be a bit over whelming (and sweaty)... I mean where do you even start?
What plants work best?
What kind of dirt do I get?
Is there a snake in there?
So here it is... the great reveal.
the yard
(imagine scary intro music... du..duh...duuuuuuuuh)
I know what you are thinking...
it ain't really nothing special.
I know!
Gardens Illustrated won't be callin' us tomorrow for a photo shoot.
Master gardener... I am not. 
It is overwhelming I tell ya.  It is a green space with a too small patio, a flowerbed that my family helped us build right after Sophia was born, and a buncha overgrown irises and lillies that I dug up from my MamMaw's yard after she passed away.
Anyways, the past few weeks, after my work day (from home) is done, I have been going outside and reviewing the space and getting a plan.
1.  We gotta throw away those chairs.  They are super janky.  Ya cannot even sit on them for fear of falling through... I ain't interested.
2.  That top flower bed is sad.  My irises have multiplied (which I like) but there is nothing else really in there.  There is a Oak Leaf Hydrangea in the corner of the bed but I am needing a few other things to add a BIG BANG!
- Azaleas?
- something taller in the back?
- some fun pansies for the bed border??? I don't know, just thinking out loud
3.  Side flower bed... you are sad and filled with total sun plants.  I am thinking we need to make the bed smaller, and add some tall tree/ shrubs along the back of the house?
4.  Fire pit space.  I do not love our fire pit on the patio.  It takes up too much space so I would like to create a patio space in  the yard where we can sit comfortably around the fire pit.  (guess I need to get on the Pinterest)
5.  Garden space.  We have a great size yard, but unfortunately it has a steep hill (boo)!  Our garden is at the bottom, but it is just needing some love.  Man friend has been doing some work... maybe you will see us at the farmers market selling our goods... our produce... not "our goods", come on people, let's keep this blog space PG!
6.  Trim up branches that are growing over our fence.  Our yard needs some more light!!
7.  Next space will be the front yard.  I am thinking of planting tulips
So this has been my plan and I am still shocked that I have been going out each day to check on plants, hang feeders, even bird houses.
It has been nice to have all of the help!!



Yes, that is the man friend on the fence, cutting branches, with a chainsaw. (I was soooooo stressed out during the photoshoot of these pictures)!!

It has been a few weeks.... and I have come to learn that I love an Azalea bloom.  The colors are incredible and I will be having all the colors in our beds!!  So excited about these shrubs and they do not seem to be a lot of work.  We will see.
We have strung up birdhouses that the kids painted a few years ago with their Honey.  I kind of thought the birds would be scared off by the LOUD color selection... but I guess not!!  
A bird family has moved into each house we have!!  I may need more!
Anyone else still growing their 3rd grade cabbage plant?  Brayden brought this tiny plant home maybe in February, and he keeps saying he can win BIG money with this plant, so he is really trying to care for it well.  I planted it in the flowerbed... why not plant a cabbage among all of the other pretties!!  I like that it adds a little surprise in the bed!!  It is really flourishing!!

 I just planted this strawberry plant on Saturday.
Sat. ur. day!!  3 days y'all!!  We already have quite a few berries!!!  Westwood Garden in Springdale had some great looking plants to choose from and Wal-Mart has the cutest pots!!  Go getcha some!!
and.... just because it would not be a day of the week without a lil bitta home delivery Chick-fila!!  See, I do not even get up from the chair!  I just keep on working and the kids pick up the food!
Voila, breakfast is served!

Happy Tuesday!  #TwoDayBlogInARow #BlogHiatusO-va

Monday, April 27, 2020

That was super cringey....

I blame this mostly on the fact that I have been in a quarantine sitch with my people for such a long time, and I possibly do not know how to interact with the general public that well.  Let's be real, the only people I am really seeing are my friends at the Sonic (I see them on the reg when I pick up daily drinks and corn dogs for me and my students/ children). Okay, that is not real, the kids are not eating corn dogs... I am eating the corn dogs, yes plural.  I am eating more than one... at a time... because I have no control in this quarantine!  Uggggh.  I am gross.

The only other people I am seeing on the daily are my mother and sister on the Facetime and my co-workers when we google chat.  So, I am pretty much alone (with kids, man friend, and the dogs) on Foresee island.  I know what y'all are thinking.  You are probably living the life over there at casa de Foresee.
You are right. 
1.  I am not showering each day (because I am becoming a skank)
2.  I am pretty much just staying in pajamas (because I am becoming more and more comfortable looking unattractive, I mean really, who am i trying to impress.... I already have a man friend and my friends at Sonic, so they are all seeing me at my low and are still loving me)
3.  Besides my Sonic visits and since the kids and I are so good at social distancing we have discovered that Chick fila will deliver to your home (and leave your food on your doorstep)!  I KNOW!  I do not even have to talk to anyone!!  Well, there was the one day when Brayden answered the door to say thank you and get the food, and the dropper-offer thought Brayden might have been home alone, so they asked to see his mommy.  He told them I could not come to the door because I was cleaning up dog pee (I DIE).  I guess they thought it was an excuse, so they were standing strong on presenting a mama or he would not be gettin' any chicken biscuits.
So, he yelled for me, I came a runnin' (still in my pajamas and still holdin' the te-te towel).  I told the dropper-offer, sorry I was cleaning up te-te....
Why??  I have no idea.
Possibly because I have been in the quarantine and forgot how to interact with others (hand palm to head, I is pitiful)  Yes, I know I said, "I is pitiful".
Anyways, dropper-offer then told me about the door drop and I would not even have to see them.  I am still not sure if it was because he did not want to see me... or if he was just trying to be helpful, either way it is a win win for both of us.
I know what you are thinking... that was it, that was her cringey moment.
Nope.
I wish.
I have so many cringey moments.
This I completely blame on my recent lack of socialization.
The other day, I told the man friend I just had to run to the gas station to put gas in the car.  Yes, I volunteered myself to run and get gas, a job that is not my favorite to do ever since the "zoolander experience" pre corona-virus.... that may be another post for another time.  Anyways, I did not really go and get gas, I instead went to the Wal-Mart because I just wanted to get out.  I wanted to look at stuff, maybe purchase something, walk around.  So there I am in the public, walking and minding my own business when I see an ol' guy from high school.  He was walking towards me (he was not even making eye contact), I could-a kept right on walking, but noooooooo I have not been with people and I wanna talk... to everyone, especially the people I have not seen since 97'.  Ugh.
So, I said his name loudly... we will call him Chuck.... because Chuck is not really his name and if I were to release his name I am sure the 10s of people reading this high quality work would be thinking... ummm, she is fo' sho' trying to get a boyfriend (lets be real... I am happy with my man friend... he walks fences chainsawin' tree limbs (once again, that is another post, and now reading that back, I see that phrasing may make him seem like a cool dare-devil with crazy tricks or like an episod of Datelane/ 48 Hours Mystery... the episode where he is a cray man friend that lurks the streets with a chainsaw... that could be used... not on branches... I digress.
Anyways.... back to Chuck.
So, I am yelping for Chucks attention (which I get, as well as everyone else in the bird feeder aisle), and he looks at me with a blank look).  To which I say, it is me, Caryn.
Then I say a phrase that could only come from me day drinking... which I am not really doing, but that is the only thing that could ever cause me to say sucha thing... I said, "looking good Chuck".
What.  The.. Hell-o... Just.... Happened?
It is as if I had a stroke.  A massive stroke.
Right there next to humming bird juice.
I am sure it sounded creepy.
Hell, I was creeped out.
Then all I could do was laugh.
That just made me look like some sorta mean girl (or a psycho path).  Either way.
Chuck just smiled and looked down.
Well, because the situation was not strange enough I just stood my ground.  I mean, hello, ask me what I have been doing?  It is like a ping pong game, I hit and you hit, you know conversation, back and forth.  That is when I am lookin' at Chuck and realize... ummmmm, that ain't even Chuck.
That is when I vowed to no longer talk to anyone.... in the Wal-Mart ever again.
Until 5 minutes later when I am tryin to make it outta the store to the check out and I am distracted by a bin of outdoor pillows, and I am nearly leaned over looking for matching bird pillows... because really, who does not need those?
Then someone bumps into my cart.
I try to ignore them, because maybe it was Chuck ready to conver-sate.  Nuh-uh!
I ain't talking, I swore off people.
Then the cart bumper touches my shoulder to say hey.
(Hello- pandemic- the rona, you're not wearing gloves (not judging, just stating).
So I look back as the guy is passing me and it is an actual person I know, so I gave a strange hello and kept on rollin. I am sure I looked rude, I mean he is actually a friend.
Y'all, I am ready for this virus to be gone.
I need people.
I need reg socialization.
I need to never see "Chuck" again.
I need to start putting my wedding ring back on (but I have really had too many corn dogs and it is a tinge-y tight).

So, anyone else do anything that you would like to discuss?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Are people still reading?