Some Things I Did to Simplify My Life this Week

I have been taking my kids to our town's tiny library about every two weeks for months now. They LOVE going to the library, and I do too! For a long time, we would only check out books for them. This library is very tiny and is only two rooms. One room for adult and teen books, and one room full of children's books. There's something cozy about it. To top it off, the librarians are all SO nice and helpful. We always feel welcome, happy, and peaceful when we visit.

I had been buying a lot of books on amazon or reading free e-books through Amazon Prime. But reading on my phone was bothering me. I don't like staring at my phone for that long. Since the pandemic hit, there are only allowed to be 10 people max in the library and you can only spend 10 minutes there. So you have to grab your books, check out, and go! My kids usually take a little while to pick out their books, so I felt I didn't get much of a chance to look for any books for myself. So I didn't even try to look.

A few months ago I decided to grab some books and check them out for myself. I'm glad I did! I only have about one minute to look for some, and sometimes I don't end up liking the books I've picked out. In October, I went on a losing streak for good books! I disliked all the ones I got. But this month, November I've read some really good ones. And I love just curling up with a book, learning something new, and not staring at a screen. 

I look at my phone too much. Sometimes I'm looking at my phone and one of my kids will ask me something and I don't even hear them because I'm so focused on what I'm looking at that I tune out all sound. I learned how to do this while studying in college.

 At that moment, I make what I'm looking at on my phone more important than being present with my child. It makes me very sad to realize that, but it's true. I want to improve on this. I want to stop looking at my phone constantly. I want to be more present in my every day life. 

The other day, I was waiting with my daughter in our van for my little son to get out of karate class. I usually bring our tablet and play youtube videos for her while we wait half an hour until karate practice is over. Otherwise she gets quite bored waiting in the car. We aren't allowed to watch my son practice inside because of the Covid-19 precautions.

I had forgotten to bring the tablet during this particular time. So I let my tiny lady watch youtube videos on my phone. Then I realized that I had nothing to keep me entertained. I felt uncomfortable at first. I felt afraid to be left alone with my thoughts. Why? I have no idea. I guess I am just very used to being entertained every minute of the day. I rarely just sit and think. And do absolutely nothing. So, I decided to clean out my purse. All the crumbs that I had no idea were in there signaled that this was long overdue. Then I wiped down the dusty dash board. Then I just sat and was alone with my thoughts for a little while.

I came to the conclusion that It was a nice break to not be looking at my phone. That it's OK for me to be alone with my thoughts. And most importantly that I look at my phone too much. I need to break up with my constant phone dates.

Heck. When I am waiting for my karate kid to finish practice, why don't I stop bringing the tablet for my daughter? I can grab some of her books from the library and have quality reading time with her in the car. I should say bye-bye to screen time for her as well during this time. I'm ready to make some major changes. In fact, one of the library books I just finished helped inspire me to have less screen time and to be more present. The book is : A Simplified Life : Tactical Tools for Intentional Living by Emily Ley. This book was an easy read and it had some good advice and reminders about removing distractions from what really matters most in life.

Reading books, made of paper, has been a big life changer for me. It gives me a break from the screen. It makes my imagination work. It helps me think differently and understand other people more. It gives me more knowledge. It helps me see ways I can improve my life. It helps me be a better thinker. It helps to give me confidence. 

In fact, I plan to go back to school in the springtime. I want to finish what I started and get a bachelor degree. A book I recently read helped me to gain confidence to do this at almost 33 years old. I'll be doing online school and even though I have a fear of failure, I'm not going to let that stop me. A different book I just read, The Alchemist, has a quote that reads, "There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." I didn't love The Alchemist but it had some good quotes here and there. I think I have learned something from each book I've read lately. Even the ones I started and didn't finish because I didn't like them.

Well, I have a lot to work on. Tonight, as I write this, I'm writing from my phone. And I will continue to do many things on my phone. But I plan to be on it LESS and to be present MORE. I encourage you to discover what you can eliminate from your life to be more present. We can all use more peace in our lives and less distractions.

Thanks for reading!

- Merewyn

Garden fails and victories so far this year

This is the first time in my married life that we've had enough yard space for a nice sized garden. We had bought some seeds during the winter and started some indoors. I'm so glad I did, since seeds were hard to come by in the spring when the pandemic took off. This was our first time planting with seeds. It's also the first time planting many different fruits and vegetables. It's a big experiment for us this year, since we don't know what we're doing! And we don't know what grows really well in our desert climate.

What we planted by seed:

Egg plant

Small pumpkins

Watermelon

Cucumber

Zucchini

Peas

Herbs

Tomatoes

Shallots

Lettuce

Melons

Bare roots we planted:

Sweet potatoes 

Strawberries

Full plants we planted:

More tomatoes

More herbs

Raspberry bushes

Blackberry bushes

It was a lot! We wanted to try a lot of plants to see what produces the best. We bought some wood raised garden boxes and we also planted some straight into the ground around our house. We have had a lot of failures so far! But also some surprises. 

Fails:  

-One of our pumpkin plants died but the other one is happier to have it gone. I think I must have planted them too close together to begin with. I'm glad I have one left! It's a pumpkin for pumpkin pies.

Pumpkin plant

-The cucumbers are looking a bit crispy and have halted growing. That always happens to cucumbers that I'm trying to grow! 

- The egg plants sprouted but have stopped growing! They've been tiny sprouts for a couple of months now. So sad.

- The tomatoes I started from seeds indoors all died after I transplanted them outside.

- I had two containers full of peas. On container grew well and we got some peas but then it suddenly dried up and died. The other peas I have in different locations are happy though!

- We had some cantaloupe type melons that we started inside and they died after we transplanted them into the garden box.

- I can't tell if the shallots we planted are happy or not! They haven't grown much but I have idea how they are doing underground!

- I am not sure how the zucchini plants are doing. They're still alive and green but not really growing. I hope they start growing because I really want zucchini. God, please bless my garden! It needs help! 

- All the herbs planted by seed have died. The ones we bought as plants recently are doing alright so far.

- The lettuce has about two that are starting to grow but the rest are very tiny. Not sure how they will end up.

- The tomatoes we bought as plants aren't doing too well either. We always had good luck with tomatoes, so I'm not sure what the deal is. At least 3/4 have a little tomato growing on them!

Early girl tomato plant

Happy plants so far:

- I planted the watermelon seeds on a whim, thinking they would not even sprout. Well, 1/3 of them sprouted and now the plant is HUGE! 

The watermelon plant has two flowers now! I can't wait to see how it does!

Watermelon flower

- I planted 3 sunflowers underneath my daughter's window. 2/3 sprouted and one is so big already! The other one is underneath it. A wee bit too close together.

Sunflowers

The strawberries are doing well but they won't produce until next year.

Strawberry plants

-The sweet potatoes are alive but I'm not sure if they should be bigger than they are at this point in the season...

- The peas in our raised garden bed are doing decently well. The kids have had a lot of fun picking these. I'll definitely plant them again next year by seed!

Peas

- Our raspberries and blackberries have been doing well. I expect they'll produce a lot next year. I'm excited for that!

Raspberries and Blackberries

I think that's it! We've definitely killed a lot of plants. Our thumbs are sort of a rotten brown color. Not completely black, but dangerously close. I hope what we've learned so far will make our garden next year so much better! I will make an update on our garden in a couple of months. One thing I know for sure is that next year we will start seeds indoors much earlier. Also, since we have such a short growing season we plan to buy more plants that have already been started in a green house.

Although I've killed most of the plants, gardening has been so relaxing! I love being outside and watering and weeding. I keep telling myself that we will get better at gardening every year and that ONE day, we will have oodles of fresh produce. Pleasssssse.

DIY thistle wreath

A couple weeks ago, I went out to the creek near my house and cut some milk thistle flowers. They are prickly weeds, but they are SO vibrantly colored and pretty! So, I thought they would look nice on a wreath.

I forgot to bring my gardening gloves, so it is was a bit of a painful experience, haha!

I took them home and tied rubber bands around them and some clothes pins. Then I stuck them to my diy herb dryer.

I just love the gorgeous fuchsia color! These flowers are very large and thick, so it took a couple weeks for them to dry out. They had a couple spiders on them, so I returned the spiders back outside.

Alright, here we are now with them all dried out. Their color has become quite a bit muted, but I think they look rustic. Also, some more spiders appeared! They must be spiders from my basement that were attracted to their scent or something.

Alright, let's get started!

Here's all the supplies I used: A garden clipper, glue gun, gardening gloves, wreath from the dollar store, and the thistle flowers. I remembered the gloves this time! 

 

I chopped off the stems and used copius amounts of glue on the back of the flowers and just popped them right on the wreath!

So. Much. Glue. Below is the end result:

Time to hang it up!

You'd better like where you put it, because it hurts to move it! Those thistles are soooo sharp!

I ended up liking it but I think it's more appropriate for a fall wreath. It has those more muted colors that look rustic and cozy. This was all free because I already had all the supplies and the thistles were foraged. I love using what I already have around the house!

- Merewyn

Fire Season

Yesterday a fire started south of where I live in Utah. It is believed that lightning caused it. It was a very dry and extremely windy day. 58 mph winds. Not good conditions to stop a fire at all.

Yesterday around 12pm, we had gone about 45 minutes south to visit my in-laws and we heard about the fire later that afternoon. The fire was 100% uncontained and the wind was blowing the fire toward homes. The neighborhood next to ours was being evacuated, so my husband and I decided to drive to our house and get our cat and some of our stuff, in case they evacuated us too.

As we drove home, the entire valley was filled with smoke. It was something I've never experienced before to this degree. I could taste the smoke.

When we got home, our neighborhood was filled with smoke and it was incredibly windy.We grabbed our files with our important papers, some clothes and everything that we would need to spend the night. It was really weird to have to quickly think what I didn't care too much about burning and what I did.

My kids were safe at my in laws and we got the cat and some of our stuff and took off. At my in-laws, I couldn't sleep all night, not knowing what would come of our home and worrying even more about the homes closest to the fire. 

This morning I woke up to the news that 10,000 acres had been burned, one home destroyed, and many properties damaged. Our neighborhood still was not evacuated. It is currently 25% contained and the rain last night helped a little bit. The wind has died down too.

While my husband and I were gathering some of our stuff at our house yesterday, I was happy to discover that there weren't many things that I would be devastated to lose. My husband later told me he felt the same way. I simply don't have an emotional attachment to many things. The only thing I would be very sad about losing would be my wedding ring. It would of course, be devastating to lose our whole home and have to start over and I feel terrible about the house that was destroyed. But in the end, having my family and cat safe is the only thing that really matters. Stuff doesn't matter.

I really hope I never have to evacuate in the future, but it was a good reminder to me the importance of having less things.

Alright 2020, thanks for all the lessons so far. 

Porch Sittin'

Sitting out on the tiny porch I have, after the kids are in bed on a warm summer night is simply one of the most relaxing things I can do.

I never know what the sunset will look like that night.

Or what kind of paint the night sky will have.

Put the phone down (unless taking a picture) and just enjoy what's in front of (or above) you. Listen to the sounds. Breathe in the sweet smell of the plants. See what you would normally overlook and enjoy every second of it. 

Stumbling Upon Some Wild Chamomile

June 27th

Today I watered the garden after the kids were in bed. While I was drenching the blackberries, I stumbled upon a really strange little bug. It was bright green and it was actually cute!

Anyone know what kind of bug this is?

I immediately told my husband Alex and he said he thought it was a cricket. It's way too cute to be a cricket but I guess we will call it the green cricket for now. In the first picture, she has a bunch of little water droplets all over her, courtesy of me.

After watering the garden, I went for a little walk down the trail in my neighborhood. The trail runs next to a mostly dry creek that's filled with all kinds of weeds and wildflowers.

There has been a ton of what I thought were wild daisies. I decided to use my plant identification app (LeafSnap) and it identified them as chamomile! I was so excited, I love chamomile tea! It's probably my most favorite herbal tea. After further research, I'm pretty sure it's chamomile. I took some home to dry it out.

It's so dang pretty.

I'm going to have a hard time smashing it up to turn it into tea. But I suppose it won't be as pretty when I dry it out.

I have a fear that it's some sort of imposter chamomile weed that is poisonous and it will kill me after I drink tea from it! Dang anxiety always wants to ruin my happy moments. But for now, I'll dry it out in my creepy basement storage room and hope for the best. I will make another post about making it into herbal tea!

- Merewyn

Archimedes the Cat

June 17th 

Archimedes is in the vicinity of 5-6 years old. We adopted him when he was about 2 or 3, I can't remember exactly. His breed is flame point, ragdoll. He has blue eyes, orange ears, a cream colored body and a tuape tipped tail. He is completely without claws (not our doing.) The funniest part to me is that he has freckles on his nose, which from what I've read is a trait of cats with orange fur.

The day before my birthday one year, I'd decided I had gone too long without owning a cat. I had grown up on a farm in Ohio that would always have an abundance of felines. There were always at least 14 cats prancing about the barn yard, and they would often multiply. They would go on walks with us, play with us, and comfort us when we were sad. They were always there and loved us without judgement. There were always babies born in the springtime, which was very fun for us. I miss seeing kittens all the time!

My husband didn't really want a cat. But, I persisted and I looked on our local free animal listings on an app similar to Craigslist for Utah. I found a picture of a cat that was so pretty and looked like he would be a gentle kitty. So, I texted the owner. He said that they were giving him away because constantly fought with their other cat. We went to their house to meet the cat (at the time, named Stuffy), and I picked him up right away. He pretty much flopped and became limp when I picked him up. That's where the "ragdoll" breed comes in. He is very docile, squishy, and floppy when lifted up. I knew would be perfect for us when I had discovered how gentle he was. My son was only 1 at the time, so I wanted a benign cat.

I was sad to see that all of his claws had been removed. He can't even scratch himself properly. He had also never been outside. And he had lived with another cat he didn't get along with, so he was living in a high-stress environment. The owner also said that they had given him away before but the people returned him because they discovered one of them had a cat allergy.

We were happy to take him home! He has been with us for a few years now and he happily goes on adventures outside every day. He doesn't live in fear of another cat attacking him (only the occasional roughness from a toddler.) Unfortunately, I can't give him his claws back but we give him a lot of chin and back scratches. He makes us laugh every day and my husband is happy that we got him after all. His favorite activities include sleeping on clean laundry that I haven't gotten to folding yet, climbing onto the top shelf in the pantry and not being able to get down, giving my husband full body hugs and sleeping in awkward positions.
We renamed him Archimedes, although he isn't very smart. But we love him all the same.

Bird Friends

June 16th

This morning I heard the usual arguments and chatter of these silly birds that made a nest in the gutter of my neighbor's house. They're the cutest birds with yellow bellies. My husband Alex did some research and we believe they are called "Fly Catchers." 

I was in the garage and could hear them arguing louder than usual, so I told Alex to come out and watch them with me. There were about 6 of the birds flying around frantically and crying out (if birds can do that.) Then Alex noticed why. There was a gigantic raven digging in their nest! The birds were all flying at the raven and pecking it. The raven seemed quite annoyed but the little birds were no match. We saw the raven rip a large chunk of the nest out.

 We decided to intervene somewhat. We went out of the garage and the raven saw us and took off, with the pack of little fly catchers charging angerly after it. The little birds won! However, as we watched for a moment, the wind knocked down a large chunk of the nest. I didn't see any eggs fall out, at least. And mama bird promptly sat down in the nest and hasn't moved since. There's her husband  (I'll assume) in the picture above, keeping guard for her. 

I wonder if the other bird's that helped fight the raven were family members or simply just other bird friends. Either way, it was sweet how they all banded together to defend the nest. I mean, I can't imagine someone trying to steal and EAT my babies! 

I was really upset for a little while after. I've been seeing ravens in the sky being chased by little birds but I haven't seen them trying to steal from a nest until today. 

Nature isn't always peaceful! I'm sure we've all experienced that in some way. But it's real and we can learn from it. Imagine if the bird mom and dad didn't get help from their bird friends/family? I'm sure those eggs would have been gone in no time. Life really is about helping others, and I'm glad I was reminded of that this morning. 

Have a picnic

June 15th

There is something about eating outside that makes the food taste exceptionally more satisfying. Even if it's a peanutbutter sandwich.

My five year old son asks if we can "go for a picnic" every.single.day. Sometimes I grab the picnic blanket from the car and say "sure!" and we have a spontaneous lunch in the backyard, under our little tree. Many times I think about how much work it would be for me. But in reality, it's less work. I have to make the kids and myself lunch anyway....and when we eat outside, I don't have to clean up ANY crumbs off ANY tables or floors! 

We soak in the vitamin D, breathe in the fresh air, listen to the birds. The kids are happy because it's a different experience than eating indoors. They're more likely to eat whatever I've made for them and to eat it all. It's some sort of picnic magic that causes this.

As I'm writing this post, i'm in my backyard, daydreaming about picnics and suddenly my children are literally running in circles around me as fast as they can while screaming. Next, they team up and rip up grass and throw it at me continuously while laughing like minisicule maniacs. So, I go inside, my only option to escape.

My husband is making dinner and he announced that it's done. Wahoo! I asked him if we can have a picnic, so we have less clean up. He says no because the pasta he made would be hard to eat without a table. I silently disagreed. 5 minutes into dinner, our 2 year old silently stuffs her cheeks with pasta like a chipmunk. It went unnoticed until too late. Suddenly she spit it all out onto the table and then ferociously wiped it onto the floor. "We should have eaten outside" I said to my husband.

If you don't have kids, you probably won't have much to clean up anyway. There are other benefits for you, and for everyone. The key is to find a quiet spot. Make something healthy to eat, so you feel good during and after the picnic. My husband absolutely loves to have a "french picnic" which has simple foods such as grapes, cheese, and bread or crackers. Silence your phone and don't touch it. If you're under a tree, look up! Notice the beauty of the light pouring through the leaves and branches. Notice the birds flitting about. If you're alone, ponder on the beauty of the space around you. Maybe say a prayer in your heart or meditate. If you're with someone, have a meaningful conversation about something that doesn't bring you stress. Talk about how the food tastes. How pretty the plants are. How the clouds look. Where you want to go on vacation. Be present and feel the simple peace from being outside, enjoying your food. It's free to go outside to eat, so do yourself a favor and try it out.