where i've been and what i've been doing

i blinked and the week went by.

on the homefront, Beloved and i are Working Things Out. i'm feeling less bruised and more heard, which is always a Good Thing. i think he's feeling better. we played around this morning with a quiz meg gave me about Love Languages. i'll post the link if she gives it to me, because its a really cute idea that has a lot of validity. she learned about it in one of her classes this semester. the basic idea is that everyone speaks at least one of five "love languages." if you know what yours is - how you communicate and understand love - as well as your partner's - then you can speak each other's "love language."

i took care of baby jake three days this week, and saw him yesterday because yesterday morning when i was taking a break, meg told me that at breakfast, when she asked him what he wanted to do that day, he said, "na-na." and when she said, "no, na-na today," he started to cry and kept saying, "na-na."

so what else can a grandmother do?

bring the kid over, i said, but you have to watch him like a hawk.

i understand why he likes it here. the farmer next door is doing amazing things with big trucks in the fields along the drive. the brooks are babbling, the waterfall is tumbling and there's frogs and snakes and turtles sleeping the sun, not to mention a nest of a least a dozen ducklings. there're rocks to be thrown, sticks to be gathered, puppies to be chased, cookies to be found in three different places. (no wonder steve the ghost doesn't want to leave.)

so yesterday afternoon baby jake ran around in the sun, and i pulled weeds and raked and clipped and dug, and in general tried to address the mess that's running rampant in the gardens. i've got nine more areas yet to do, but the one's i've finished look really nice, if i do say so myself:



this is a large round planter in what i think of as the fairy garden. this year, there's blue forget-me-nots in the center, surrounded by pink coleus and dark pink sweet alyssum. there's a few stray pansies left over from last year that have seeded themselves in it, too, but they're tiny yet.

i've also been refinishing furniture - i finished the bookcase, the mirror and the corner cupboard, and am now working on the small chest of drawers Beloved uses as a bedside table. the bathroom is completely finished but for the mirror - im still toying with the idea of painting a faux stained glass frame around it. but perhaps that's project for another season.

here's a peek at the bathroom... the sink skirt is the same fabric as the shower curtain and the window ruffle. i made them out of curtains i found on clearance at tar-zhay for 12.99 each. i lined them with plain white muslim i found at a consignment shop for 10 cents a yard. i painted the countertop to match the floor and the walls with sponges and paint i got at michael's for ten dollars, tops. the faucet represents our big splurge - $99 at home depot - but i like it and we will use it somewhere else when we redo the bath. so i brightened up my bathroom for less than $200.00 and even if it took longer - okay a LOT longer - than i hoped it would to do it all - i'm really happy with how it turned out.



and furthermore, the war will end. blessed be.