More on Malcolm

We are really enjoying him/her. There is still some debate as to what sex we have. Regardless, Malcolm is quite social. He loves to follow us around the yard and he mowed down a whole squash yesterday which the girls loved.

I was poking around on a tortoise forum and they say Malcolm looks quite healthy with clear eyes and all that.

I'll spare you pictures of his first poop but it was rather interesting and a good sign that things are moving along.

Turtles, MNO and Entrepreneurs

Recently, we had our MOMS Club Mom's Night Out at Loco's in Gainesville for Trivia Night. We started out strong but then after a few drinks and more interest in conversation, we didn't do so well. Our team name? The Real Housewives of Gainesville. :P Our sign says "We don't just wipe asses - we kick them too."

This is Malcolm, an African spur thigh tortoise. Scott got a call about it roaming in someone's yard. We are apparently keeping it. He really is GORGEOUS.

Some men get convertibles or motorcycles - not my husband! I guess he gave up on getting the tea cup potbelly pig.

The girls wanted to have a lemonade stand but we live on a super rural road and had no lemonade. Daddy was outside weed-wacking so I told them to set up a beer stand (and some diet Sunkist). They ended up with $8. Not bad for an hour's worth of work....

Our First Family Camping Trip

We took our first family camping trip this weekend! I have been waiting for this for years. Scott booked us at a lovely campground called Jackrabbit in the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina. It was only 54 miles from the house, just over the state line near Hiawassee. We were right on Lake Chatuge. There was a wonderful beach area which we really enjoyed. We grilled hamburgers, ate 'smores, had a nice 2 mile hike and had a really great time. Well, Scott broke his toe which wasn't too fun, but that was our only big crisis.

View of the fire ring. Scott broke his toe on the metal grill while stumbling around in the dark.

On our hike, we spotted some spectacular fungi. (I have a thing for mushrooms like Scott has a thing for herps.) I saw several that I hadn't seen before. I'd seen this coral fungus before but this was the best picture I had - it was getting dark and my pics weren't so great.

The girls on our hike. I always bring up the rear because I like to look for stuff. Notice Della's blue sequin shoes.

Our beautiful tent, a gift from my parent's last Christmas. Being very claustrophobic, I wanted something very big. This one fits the bill. Easy to set up and break down too. Love it.

The girls upon arrival. They had a really great time, the 'smores being their favorite part.

It was quite warm but we went to the beach to swim both days and it was quite tolerable. I can't wait to go again.

Gardening, Reading and Frelling Anxiety

I finally managed to enter my Duct Tape Wedding Bouquet in the Etsy Martha Stewart DIY Wedding contest. I don't think for a second I will win but the exposure is nice. I also found out I've been featured on at least one fashion blog lately. I need to read my Google Alerts more often I guess.

The garden seems to be petering out, perhaps due to a lack of rain. I've put up a TON of green beans and bread & butter pickles plus blueberry jam. I am still hoping to get some peach jam done, as well as fig and quince plus apple sauce and apple butter.

My etsy shop is cranking along. I need to get moving on winter hats and scarves. I will be making some wreathes as well but those will likely end up at the gallery depending on how many I have.

I've been having a very hard time lately with my anxiety. Its been really crippling to where I don't want to leave the house. I've had anxiety all of my life to some degree but it really seemed to skyrocket after Lulu was born. Its been in various stages of control since then. When it gets bad, it gets very bad. When we first moved to Gainesville, I went about 6 weeks without leaving the house without Scott. Its very scary when its bad.

School is just 2 weeks away. Lucy cannot wait to go back despite my keeping her busy with the pool, the garden, learning to cook, reading and math challenges. We went tubing last weekend and it was so crowded. I am really looking forward to camping when the weather cools off some.

As for reading, I am currently engrossed in Love Stories of WWII compiled by Larry King. I am still plodding through East of Eden by John Steinbeck and I have Love in the Time of Cholera on its way to me. I've been itching to read some classics lately.

Right now, I am just getting by. I do so want to get past this.

Our harvest totals so far...

Every year, I mean to tally our harvest totals. This year, I finally remembered to do it. I thought it would be fun to see how much we harvest and use it as a math teaching tool for the girls. I am only tracking yellow squash, tomatoes, green beans, and cukes as the other items are not as plentiful. So far, we've harvested:

16 lbs of yellow squash

9 lbs of tomatoes

22 lbs of green beans

5.5 lbs of cukes

Pretty impressive, I'd say for a small garden like our's. We've eaten most of it. I've frozen some green beans and we'll give some to the local food pantry. I am hoping they will take it frozen, which I think would be much more useful to folks if they don't have to eat it immediately.

Sharpies and Duct Tape

I have always loved Sharpies. They are so fun to doodle with. This is a white scooter helmet that I found at a yard sale. Initially, I wanted to paint black cabbage roses on it. However, my black cabbage roses need more practice. Instead, I grabbed a trusty medium point Sharpie and drew my interpretation of chrysanthemums on it. I like the way it turned out.

These are the duct tape flowers that Lulu and I made the other day, along with the white cabbage roses I made.

A closer look at one of my roses. This is an original design and much prettier than any of the other duct tape flowers I've seen out there. Martha Stewart, I can demonstrate these on your show....call me.

The Deer

You can imagine my surprise when Scott brought his work home with him today. This is the fawn that was turned over to Scott today. It was hit by a car and some folks were taking care of it. She's very sweet. She is missing part of her back leg. She is going to a wildlife rehabber tomorrow morning. In the meantime, she is in our bath tub. The girls have named her Fifi the Fawn.

Deer in the Tub

View from the door of the girl's bathroom. Good news is that we've found a place to take it. The girls and I will take her tomorrow.

Terrariums and other stuff.

So the girls and I made terrariums a few weeks ago. They are still doing great! In fact, we are making a bunch to sell at the Farmer's Market here in town. I ordered some little plastic critters (Big Foots, deer, bunnies) in addition to the handmade mushrooms we made. So the plan is that the terrariums will be $10 and that will include the accessory of your choice. (The big foots are so cool.) They really do make great gifts for anyone and they are so easy to take care of.

The beans have pretty much gone insane. Scott picked around 15 lbs the other day. We have given a bunch away to neighbors and relatives, in addition to eating them with every meal. These are a bush bean, different from the ones we grew last year. They are not nearly as stringy, which is nice. I can pretty much just rinse them off and cook them without having to string them. We've had a few tomatoes and a good bit of squash, as well.

I finally sat down and got some things done on the computer that I had been putting off. One was to get my domain to redirect to my etsy shop. So hooray http://electricbluebird.com is up and running. I've also updated my flickr with a bunch of pics. I am still in the process of getting my kid's shop, http://snicklesnackle.etsy.com, up.

Scott turns 40 this month (July 14)! I promised him I would not send a stripper to work or otherwise embarrass him any more than usual. Luckily (insert sarcasm), he has his first furlough day coming up and I've planned for us to go to the Georgia Aquarium. We've never been so it will be fun. I am also planning for us to try and eat somewhere fun, maybe at one of our old faves. Is Tortilla's still open? I'm afraid I wouldn't recognize some of our old stomping grounds. Maybe we'll even show the girls our old house in East Atlanta.

In the Garden...

We have about 7 apples on our 3 apple trees.

Our garden.

The girls show just how much they love green beans.

I realize that I duplicated some of the Florida pics. I am trying to upload pics, blog, watch the news, and make mushrooms for our terrariums out of clay.

Our garden is coming along. We have planted green beans, tomatoes, corn, yellow squash, cucumbers, onions, asparagus, pumpkins, potatoes, jalapenos, red bell peppers, eggplant - I think that is everything.

Florida!

Della Fern at the beach.

This was a state park called DeLeon Springs near Deland. We took an ecohistory boat tour here and saw 4 alligators, 2 limpkins, 4 osprey, a bumch of morehens, and a couple tri-color heron.

Lucy at the beach. Matching bathing suits courtesy of Gramma.

Lucy loved this recumbant bike. We rented these one day and Lucy loved it so much we rented one for her again the next day.

Florida!

This was our first family vacation ever. We went to Ormond Beach, where we stayed in the home of Scott's aunt and uncle. They spend their summers in Boone, NC so they were generous enough to let us use their GORGEOUS home. It was truly beautiful, right on the Tomoka River. The girls loved the beach.

OK Scott...I am pretty sure I didn't take this so I wonder how it got on the camera...

Scott driving on the way home. He is growing his beard out, or has he calls it - "Going Gandolf". There is a lot of gray in that beard Old Man!

For Mom.

On our little dirt road we have a horse farm (and a cattle farm, goat farm, and donkey farm). In the last month, the horses have had 6 babies. Every day when we drive past, we say good morning.

I love it when all of the moms are standing around the hay bale eating while the babies are asleep at their feet.

Della decided this was a good time to strike a pose.

More pictures.

I gave the girls some neon hairspray yesterday. Della looks like she rolled around in a bag of Cheetos. Yes, that is a chest tattoo.

Fun activity last night. I wrapped duct tap around the girls' wrists with the sticky side up and they collected things around the yard to make nature bracelets.

Probably one of my fave purchases ever. These came from http://lennymud.etsy.com/. They hold the bouquets that they kids bring me from the yard. I love how they look together. They make me smile.

An Post of Pictures

Our apples are doing well! My use of the macro setting - not so good.

Our garden is on its way. We've planted asparagus, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, green beans, onions and jalapenos. Still to come - corn and maybe eggplant.

Another view of the garden. The asparagus patch is on the far end.

This is a dam Scott was working on with the kids, also referred to as Aswan 2. It was breeched 2 days later when the water broke through underneath.

Thing One and a Bullet Proof Weave

Lulu had to pick a Dr. Seuss character to dress up as for a parade at school. I was trying to lean her toward Daisy Head Maisy or The Foot Book. She had her heart set on Thing 1. Luckily, the costume wasn't too hard to pull together. Scott wanted to get her picture crawling in from the window, because apparently this is what Thing 1 and Thing 1 do. Unfortunately, we didn't have the first Cat in the Hat book to refer too, only the sequel. Still, she looked great and she was the ONLY Thing 1 in the parade.

This morning Della Fern decided she wanted to wear her pink weave. I set her up, added 4 or 12 pink hair bows and a tutu and she was a happy camper.