Talk Till Dawn – 3

I’m excited to share with you a new series I’m starting called, “Talk Till Dawn”, I want this to be about my everyday life, the things I’m reading, eating, my everyday ups and down, along with photos that I’ve taken over the week.

I haven’t decided yet how often this will be, right now I’m just going to get it going and see what comes of it. I encourage you to share with me similar situations and we can all support one another.

My life and home is far from perfect even though I always share with you pretty home decor picture. Now from time to time I’ll give you a look at how things can get out of control like everyone else’s life.

Wow can you believe it’s March already? The month started out so promising here in Michigan, we had a few 50 degree days, sunshine, and birds chirping in the trees only to have a blast of winter hit again. Don’t get me wrong I love the season changes, but I’m over winter and ready to see life again…..green grass, blooming flowers, and that smell of farmland in the air from the soil be tilled and planted. 

Since that’s not happening yet I’ve kept myself busy around the house cleaning out the pantry and all the lower kitchen cabinets. I discarded lids that had no bottom, and vise vera as well as anything I don’t use got put in the hospice donate pile. For me I’ve found I can do with a lot less than I though I could. I have a whole big cupboard that has nothing but dinnerware for every season and occasion that I’ve seriously thinking about donating. I don’t use it anymore so I have no idea why I feel like I need to hang on to it all. Help me out here and encourage me to let it go!

Have you heard that appliances now have a 3-5 year lifespan? Well it’s true my new washer (that’s exactly 3 years old) is leaking water out of the bottom. Ugh! The laundry room is the first room off our side entrance, and is also the guest bathroom. I happened to notice puddles of water on the floor a few times over the winter months but I just assumed one of the family came in with their winter boots on to use the bathroom and the snow had melted and caused the puddle. WRONG, the left right hand corner of the machine started to rust and that was my clue the water was coming from the washer not from melted snow. 

The leak can’t be huge but enough that I’m worried about the condition of our wood floors under the machine. Luckily I purchased the extended warranty with the machine and the repair man will be here Friday to see what’s going on. I just find it hard to believe appliances are so expensive and they only last a short time. I really haven’t liked the last 2 machines we’ve purchased but the selection is limited. Everything is water saver now days and I just don’t get it…..YOU NEED WATER TO GET THINGS WET AND CLEAN! Why do the makers think saving water for washing is a good ideas. I’ve found all it does is add to the wash time a normally load on the shortest setting takes two hours with this model. That’s crazy in my opinion, it makes doing laundry an all day chore.

I’d love to go with a machine where you can set the water level, the wash temp, and length of the cycle but those models are so small inside. What I have will do 10 pairs of jeans in one load, so that’s a huge plus but the lack of water disturbs me. Once our boys move out and it’s just hubby and I I’ll be going back to the old fashioned washer that I’m able to control it’s settings but for now we need the big tub size. 

My men folk have been out of town working so that’s left little ole’ me with control of the tv remote. I’m not a big tv watcher, but when I find a series that really speaks to me I like to binge watch it and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing with the series “Outlander” on Starz. I’m on season 3 and just love it. Have you ever felt like you were born in the wrong century or time frame? I’ve always felt that way, I’m not sure I want to go hundreds of years back but I do feel like my soul longs for a simpler time and I don’t mean simple as in all the hard work or hard lifestyle I mean no social media, no cell phone, and no hurry up lifestyle. You know the days where families ate together and actually talked (no texting going on). I want little girls to be ladies and little boys to be gentlemen kind of days. 

I know when I was a kid I’d have never thought of doing or saying what kids do today. My dad had THE LOOK and my brother and I could feel it burrowing it’s way through us even if we weren’t  looking at him. We knew better than to do IT, we never knew what the consequences would be but the LOOK was enough to make us not be tempted. 

People also seem to be so lazy these days. What ever happened to hard working, moral people with wholesome values. My hubby has worked hard his whole life to give us the lifestyle we have, we’re not rich by any means, but I’ve always had the privilege of staying home, homeschooling and raising our boys, putting a hearty home cooked meal on the table, and making sure our family values were taught to our kids. We wanted our kids to give back to others and be kind and gentle human beings, and I don’t see much of that being taught so much today. I’ve been blessed in so many way I could never name them all I’m so thankful everyday for the boys, men now, that we raised. 

Something else that’s been on my mind is the seating situation around the fire pit area. My mom and stepdad come from Florida to live with us for a month during the summer and this will be the first summer we can share the fire pit with them. I’m worried that the Adirondack chairs will be to hard for them to get up out of. They do sit low and in my opinion they’re not comfortable at all, but they were inexpensive and fit in nicely with the surroundings. I really hate that there made from plastic and every time the wind blows they end up in the pond or we have to remove them and stack them under the deck after each use. I’m on the search for heavy chairs that won’t blow away and are also comfortable. Score!

 

Hubby and I went to all the big box stores and spent the day just sitting around in their garden center, literally we spent a lot of time on our butts. We sat on everything they had to offer, debated each pieces pros and cons and ended up finding exactly what we wanted at Walmart of all places. They only had it in red at the store so I came home and got on line and found it also comes in tan so that’s what I’ll be ordering. I’ll need 2 sets to end up with 4 chairs and I’m not sure what I’ll do with the tables but I’ll find a place for them, maybe on the covered porch. I’m loving that these are heavy, they won’t blow away, they swivel and they rock. I’m excited to get them and hope there’s not a lot of assembly involved. I think these will work out nicely and be easier for my parents to get out of, and us to for that matter. 

I don’t have a lot of space left in our raised bed garden area but I want to try and grow a few specialty pumpkins this year, the green gray colored ones, their so expensive to buy so I thought I’d give it a go and try and grow my own. I know, I know I complain about the deer eating my garden every year but I’m going to give it a try, fingers crossed. I’ll be making my cut flower garden a little smaller this year to accommodate the pumpkins. I really like the sunflowers and zinnias to cut so that’s what I’ll be sticking with.

I could have hubby till me up a new area for the pumpkins but I don’t want to go to that much trouble. All that weeding of a new garden bed doesn’t sound fun, I’ll just stick with the area I have and see how it goes. Who know maybe the deer don’t like pumpkin plants! 

Till next time, take care and come back often!