Make someones day................

Yesterday I needed to get fuel for my car. While I was pumping gas I noticed the lady on the other side of the pump had on the prettiest summer dress. So here I was just thinking about her pretty dress and wondering where she got it and would it look as cute on me as it did her when I stopped and thought why I am keeping all this to myself. I was there for a while since I rolled up in the gas station with only 16 miles work of gas in the tank. So I cleared my throat and said I love your dress. You look like a ray of sunshine in it. At first she was a bit surprised that a stranger was talking to her then she got the biggest smile on her face and told me that I had just made me whole day.

I am assuming that most people are like me and you see people all the time that have something that interests you and you think how nice it is but thats about as far as it goes. In the past few years I have let those thoughts fly out of my mouth. Very few have ever been taken the wrong way or angered anyone. I went through a drive through and this tiny thing of a girl had the most deep beautiful voice I have ever heard. I told her that I loved her voice and did she sing. She use to sing in church when she was younger. I told her she needed to get back into it that it was too beautiful to keep to herself. There is an older lady who hands me my carry out pizza from Pizza Hut when I have good coupons and her nails are so long and beautiful. I have never mastered the art of filing my nails and with all the stuff I do am lucky to even have any white at the end of my nails. I always compliment her on those nails.

We have the ability with just a few words to make someones day either better or worse. Sometimes by saying nothing we could be making someone who needs just the littlest bit of encouragement continue on that downward slope for the day. We may not have put them there but that doesnt mean we cant help them get back on track. I started to think about the last time a stranger said something nice to me. I couldnt really remember. It doesnt really bother me because I have lot of very sweet family and friends that encourage me which is why I never really noticed. I do talk to lots of strangers and once I start a conversation it usually leads to nice things being said back and forth but no one just normally starts one.

We recently bought a used car for our kids and while Mr Ladybug and Mr Ladybug Jr were test driving it I was left with our 26 year old salesman. The boys liked to car so we bought it and on the way home the guys both said they really liked Louis. I was like I know. He is so interesting, Hes originally from Kansas but his dad has family here in Lexington so they visited every summer. His senior year of high school his dad decided they should move here and he did but didnt like it so he moved back to stay with an older sister to finish school. He still came for the summer and met a girl which is why hes still here because they married. His wife has hair salon. I knew he liked to play soccer and lots of more things. My guys were like you were with him 15 minutes how did you learn all that. I simply asked. Mr Ladybug said maybe I should be an interrogator. He said they would just put me in a room with someone and I could get all the info without anyone being hurt.

I know I have talked about being more intentional before it just makes me sad thinking about so many hurting lonely people who just need a kind word spoken to them.

As I was leaving the gas station an older man pulled up to my car. Actually a little too close to my car and then went to the window to pay the whole time giving me the stink eye in fear of me pulling away and hitting his car. I even smiled and Mr Sour Face and still got the mean look. I backed me car up and pulled away. Maybe I should have offered him a hug? He probably would have shot me or something,

I have an amazing weekend planned. I cant wait to share with you what we get into. I also got two new pets. This is Athena and Aphrodite. Arent they just the cutest thing ever? They are around 8 weeks old and are not sure how they feel about their new home.

Getting There

How do all the organized people do it? I am not sure if I have ever had every room in my house cleaned and organized at the same time. I bet they live alone with not pets and they never cook! At least thats what I tell myself to feel better about myself. Can anybody relate?

The times in my life when I have been the most organized, which I can count on one hand in all my 48 years, have been when I had some good systems going. Like a cleaning routine that I stuck too, made ahead meals, a schedule written down. Trying to start a small home business can be a little tricky when you dont have those things in place. Working from home can be very distracting as well when you have so many distraction so thats where I am at right now. Trying to get some things made, figure out how to promote myself without being pushy or annoying and getting out of mom/wife mode and in to Mrs Ladybug mode.

It actually works with any thing one is wanting to do. If you want to exercise more you have to get that time into your schedule and work around it. If you want to save money you have to figure out your budget and work around it. If you want to make more time with people or blog...... you get the picture. Planning in your head and even on paper are all fine and good but nothing is going to get done until you just step out of your comfort zone and do it.

Your SOMEDAY is today!!!!!!!


I have done once a month cooking, make ahead meals, freezer meals, made my own mixes and everything imaginable to save time and money in the kitchen and they have all worked. But you tend to get ahead and then get lazy and use up all your stuff and then drag your feet to get it going again. Which is actually crazy and a little lazy. I am not pointing fingers and anyone except myself! This is one of my easy fast go to meals that I need to make several of and have in the freezer.

One pound of ground beef cooked, 1 can or 1 cup of corn drained, 1 can of beans drained and taco seasoning. mix all together and you can put them on tortillas, over nachos, add a can of tomatoes and mix with pasta and rice topped with cheese as a casserole. The possibilities are endless.

Woohoo its Monday!

Woohoo its Monday, said no one ever! I actually like Mondays. Its a new beginning to each week. You just had a nice weekend. Ours was rainy and I enjoyed lots of reading.

In continuing with the revamp theme from last week here is a little treasure I picked up at a garage sale.

Not the cat. He was already ours but the wicker thing. I really dont know what its called but the lid comes off for storage and it has legs and is the perfect height for a footstool in my bedroom or a seat for someone who isnt very heavy. I purchased this for $5 and it had candle wax on the top of it. I left it outside in the sun because I was actually planning on painting it Periwinkle and I was able to easily scrape all the wax off. After cleaning it up a bit I decided it was fine the color it was and all I needed to do was make a fun cushion for the top. I hope to get that done this week. If I get tired of this piece I can easily get my $5 back by selling it  myself.

One of my favorite things to drink is iced green tea. I love it from Starbucks and sometimes Wendys. It costs around $3 at either location. In the morning when I make my morning cup of tea I make myself an iced green tea for later. If I have to run errands I can grab it out of the fridge and not be so tempted to stop and grab one while I am out. I buy this brand at our Kroger Store and I use two tea bags per 32oz cup. It costs less that $3 for 20 bags so I can have 10 of my favorite drinks for the cost of 1. To make I steep two teas bags in a mug for 3 minutes to 4 hours. I am easily distracted and if I walk away from that mug its forgotten. I sweeten it with a teaspoon of honey and pout it into a quart mason jar and fill it up the rest of the way with water. Put it in the fridge until you are ready to drink.

Lettuce Update

So you can grow lettuce in a gutter if you have a good watering system to keep it watered. The reason why there is so little lettuce in this gutter is heavy downpours can destroy it as well as fat squirrels and cats who  lay in it to try to eat the fat squirrels. I still think its a success and next year we will just squirrel and cat proof it with bird netting. If we are expecting heavy rain we can clip plastic to protect it.

I thought I would add a little something to my blog called Finding Joy in the Journey. If I were to write down all things that have brought me joy in life and then marked them off if they went just as I had planned I am willing to bet not many of them would be marked off. Think about when you are driving somewhere on vacation. At first you are so enjoying all the sites on the way there and then its "are we there yet?" and once its over and you are on your way back home you sometimes just want to hurry up and get back home or you are sad that you have to get back to reality. We put so much focus on the vacation or our dreams and goals that we forget about the journey there. I am in the middle of a journey right now. My kids are adults and thought the 19 and 21 are still at home going to college they require little help. They mostly just need me to keep food in the house. I know what I would like to do but I dont know exactly how its all going to fit together. For now I am taking it one day at a time, I have the windows down, and the radio on singing along and enjoying the stops and the people I meet along the way.

Revamping

 


We had a little scare with our pet. This is Atlas the Beast. He is our 6 1/2 year old german shepherd. He is such a good dog. He had a bump come up on the top of his nose then it started looking like a weird wart so we made an appointment with the vet and the morning of the appointment I looked and the thing on his nose had fallen off. The vet seemed to think it was probably a spider or insect bite which made perfect sense because hes always sticking his long nose into the wood pile after whatever creatures live in there. We went ahead and got his yearly checkup and shots while we were there and some ointment for his nose and all is well. Mr Ladybug has been watching Vet Ranch on Youtube and I think we got paranoid watching all the things that can go wrong with your pet.

I really enjoy trying to get my blog done first thing in the mornings but it seems recently I have scheduled things that make that impossible to get done. Does anyone else feel like they have a million little things going that are pulling them this way and that and you are probably looking like a dog running around in circles chasing its tail? I sort of hope you arent but sort of hope I am not the only one.

So I am revamping a few things like how I blog. I will just post shorter posts but things that I hope you will find helpful. I think its easy to get caught up in the go big or go home mentality when what we really need is short and simple because lets face it we are busy bees.

I am revamping a few treasures that I have aquired from garage sales and the curb. I cant wait to show you those things.  I am also revamping my menu plan because as of recent I have just been winging it. The heat has been so crazy you just hate to heat up the house.

 You cant be called Mrs Ladubugs Urban farm and not farm! So its time to start working on the fall garden plans. Gardening is such a gamble sometimes and you make all these great plans only to have everything imaginable happen. My hats off to the large farms and anyone who really has to do this for their living. Our community garden is doing great but so is all the things eating our vegetables. ( Wanna know how over extended I am right now? I had to spell vegetables three times before I got it right!!!!) We are pretty sure that there is every critter imaginable eating our tomatoes and maybe even a few humans. Its all good as long as Gods creations are being well fed. I have really enjoyed my little tomatoes, onions. green peppers and yellow squash. We have a few winter squash doing well also. For the home garden we have some soil issues. Our radishes never did quite well and I think we need to add something to our soil. Our garlic didnt do as well and that may be from plant it in a partial shade area. The potatoes did okay. My cowpeas seem to be slow growing. This is our first year with them so we dont know what to expect. We will read and study and revamp things for next year as well.

Revamping dinners. When life is busy and the weather is hot its really easy to run and grab something out to eat. That can get expensive. Aldis grocery stores have this naan bread and its really good and makes the perfect pizza crust. There are also recipes on the package for a panini which we plan to try as well. Just gather your ingredients, chop everything up, turn your back for three seconds and turn to find your beagle eating the chopped ham, put the beagle in his cage with stern lecture on being a good dog and give him a carrot to chew on while he thinks about his actions, assemble your pizzas without ham and bake 8 minutes.

This is seriously the only time he behaves. He may have been in a ham coma. Hes so sweet and fun and we wouldnt have him any other way but I am really tired of getting my chewed up spatualas our of his cage where he hides them. 

Growing Green Bean Snakes

Good morning. I feel as if I have not blogged in ages. Mr Ladybug had been off work for 10 days and we went on a little adventure through Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and I am sure some state that I forgot. We camped out, ate food that we brought with us and cooked on the camp stove with the few exceptions of snagging some cheese curds in Wisconsin and a very rainy morning which had us eating at a fast food place. We did do  lunch at a really adorable winery. I never got tired of looking at the big open blue sky and clouds that I felt I could almost touch. One morning I commented on how low some clouds were and Mr Ladybug debated on whether or not to show me they were coming from some sort of factory on the opposite side of the road where I wasnt looking. He also stopped pointing out roadkill because I kept insisting on them actually being animals in deep sleep because they were so tired and thinking about dead animals on vacation isnt fun. Seriously whats wrong with him?

I was so happy to finally see green beans ready to be picked or so I thought. Normally we grow beans in a row but decided to try some around a circular cage that we put around tomatoes. Here we are sticking our hands in all the mess of the vines and something slithers across my hand. It was a snake. It was actually a pretty smart thing for the snake to do and it was keeping the bugs that normally eat up my leaves down to a minimum but it freaked me out a little bit, I had gotten use to when growing the beans in the long rows to making lots of noise to scare them off so not to have them slither across my bare feet. I will make a point to make more noise at the new way of growing as well or just wear garden gloves.

The lettuce growing in the gutters is doing really well and having the bucket drip method is really working too. I am going to add more of these in the fall or next spring if the lettuce keep growing like this I think it would work great for lot of herbs as well.

The cow peas aka black eyed peas have come up. We are hoping they are something we enjoy eating since they are the perfect thing to grow in the hot summer heat when the peas dont do very well.

I hope you are having a great Monday. There is so much going on in the garden and so much stuff to get done so no foods go to waste. I love this busy time of year and eating what we grow later when snow is on the ground.