New updo and hair toy organizing

I tried a new updo that I have had in my updo book (a book of hand sketched hairstyles that I made), and for some reason I have never tried it. It is the Chinese Bun, and it was SO easy! It was also super comfy. I took a picture because I actually really liked how it looked!

















I also organized my hair toys. I bought a jewelry organizer, and used it to organize my stuff. I filled both sides and hung it on the wall. I love that I can see all of my hairsticks and homemade hair pins. Here is one side




















And here is the other....




















I love that I can see all of my things! It has helped me use them more, which is always good. I'm trying to be more creative with my hair. I'm trying to wear it different ways to avoid boredom.

Today was our first day of homeschooling. It went really well! We homeschooled from 8:00 - 12:00, and it was a cram packed time. We are doing Rosetta Stone Spanish this year, and it was actually really fun! Plus I get to learn Spanish too :).

Fun and busy days

It has been such a busy time at our house these past few weeks! It has been wonderful having Jeff home every night! I love being able to eat dinner together each night. His new job is going well, and he is really liking it. We are so thankful for that! I have been busy canning, getting stuff ready to homeschool, and de-flea'ing our dog. Poor Si Si was covered with fleas. I kept checking her because she kept chewing on herself, but I couldn't find any fleas. Well, I must not have been looking well enough because she was covered. So I had to flea dip her (I found some natural stuff), then I put some more stuff down her back (also natural). I have also been vacuuming every day. Evie took this picture tonight after I had just checked her for the 3rd time today, and after we had just been outside on a walk. She looks all tuckered out :).















I have been canning peaches. I have never canned them before. Evie was such a HUGE help! She helped me peel the skins after I put them in the boiling water and then the cold water.













I canned a bushel of peaches over 2 days, and got 27 quart jars. Each one sealed! Yay! I have learned to pray over my jars, and I pray that they will seal. That may sound funny, but I believe God cares about even the little things :).















I just got a bushel and a half of pears, so I am going to be busy for awhile! I canned 23 pints of salsa, so that is done. Evie helped me with that too. She has been my little canning helper this year. When she isn't helping me, or playing with friends, Evie likes to pass the time playing dolls. And she likes Daisy to feel like she is part of the playtime!













This past weekend, we went with Jeff's parents to Michigan and Ohio for a mini vacation. We went to Cabela's in Dundee, MI. I wish I would have taken my camera to that place! Wow, it was awesome! Then we went to the Toledo Zoo, which was amazing. It is ranked one of the top 3 zoo's in the nation, and I can see why. It was an awesome zoo!


Evie was really afraid of this polar bear at first, but got brave after we had been there awhile :).




















We loved the polar bears. They had a beautiful underwater viewing area so we could see them swim. This one was the mama bear.















The baby's name was Siku, and he is the only polar bear cub in a U.S. zoo. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of him (he was jumping in the water). He didn't stay still for very long!














The wolves were probably my favorite. They are so beautiful.

































It was Jeff's parents 45th wedding anniversary. We were glad we were able to spend the time with them.






























































They had a fabulous aquarium there. Jeff took this great picture of a Clown Fish inside an anemone.














Here is the drenched family! It sprinkled the whole time we were there, which was nice because we stayed cool. By the time we left, it was raining pretty hard. We went at a good time!














The gorilla's were fascinating. This big guy just stared at us. He was huge!



















He was looking right at me. I'm thinking he didn't like me taking his picture!















Look at the other crazy gorilla's that were at the zoo!














Evie "hatching" out of an egg :).













My blog posts have been really long lately. I hope I am not boring you all! It is nice to have something to write about! I didn't really want to write much when Jeff and I were apart. I guess I felt too sad. I'm so thankful we are together as a family again!

Summer

Today is an exciting day! My hubby quit his job today, and is coming home for good tonight! He didn't give a 2 weeks notice because they are closing down the company anyways, and he didn't have anything to do. I am so thankful to God for His goodness to us. I get to have my hubby back :)!!

I haven't been the best blogger this summer, so I will try and throw a bunch of stuff into one blog post :). We had a fun time this year at our local 4H fair. We had beautiful weather, and it was a little cooler, so we didn't roast. Evie got to ride several rides, and we got to see all the animals. I especially loved the llamas, which I didn't get to see last year. This is only the second year they have been at our fair. They are sooo sweet! If we had land, I would love to have some. They have the softest hair, and the sweetest, most gentle eyes. Love them! Here are some fair pics...






















































Our garden has been doing great, but is still a bit behind. My pole beans (which are climbing the fence and are going over the fence into the neighbors yard!) have flowered and are ready to start coming on. The zucchini plants were huge this year, but I didn't get as many zucchini as I would have liked. They are in front of the beans.















My green pepper plants are HUGE! They are almost to my shoulders! They are producing beautifully. I used them to make salsa this week :). The smaller pepper plants are ones I planted from seed. They are red, purple and orange, and they are all loaded with little peppers. I can't wait until they turn colors and get bigger. I have been trying to freeze a lot of the peppers for winter.













My tomatoes are also huge, and are loaded. Many are still green, but a lot of them started turning the past few days.














This picture of my pumpkins is about a week old. They are taking over the garden! They are now overlapping my potatoes, carrots and tomato plants! And they are LOADED! I bet I have at least 50 pumpkins growing out there. The variety I got is called Long Island Cheese. They are supposed to be shaped like a wheel of cheese! They are supposed to store well. I wish I could can it. Everything I have read about canning pumpkin sounds dangerous. They said it was the #1 cause of botulism in home canning. Yikes! Freezing is a option. I may do that. I may just store them in the basement where it is cool. That is what the pioneers did! It looks like we are going to be eating a lot of pumpkin!!













I canned green beans today. I got some from my neighbor. I canned 6 pints. I canned salsa yesterday. My neighbor gave me a bunch of tomatoes, so I wanted to make some salsa. I canned 13 pint jars.














Here is the start of my canning shelf. Please excuse the massive mess of a shelf down below! You can see my salsa. I also canned some jellies, and the beans I canned this past winter. There is also grape juice from last year. I hope to make some more of that. I still have a ways to go with canning. I'm hoping to can some tomatoes, and more beans. I would really like to can some chickens too. I love seeing full shelves of homemade canned goods :)

Praising God!!!

I love that I get to write this blog post :). JEFF GOT A JOB!!!! And we don't have to move!!!!! YIPPPPPEEEEEEEEE!!!! I can actually say it now without bawling my head off with joy :). He was offered a position at a company about 1/2 hour from our house. It still hasn't set in yet that I will actually have my husband home every night. No more seeing each other only on the weekends. No more eating dinners just Evie and I. No more feeling like a single mother. No more sleepless nights hearing every noise in the house. No more wild weekend baking trying to make meals for the week for him. I get to have a husband again!! Yay!! I thought about the fact that Evie and I haven't sat at the dining room table since March. Jeff started doing the commute thing in March. Whenever we would sit at the table to eat dinner, Evie and I would get really sad. We started sitting at the bar to eat, but that didn't help either. We both would miss him terribly. So we started watching our favorite tv show, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, while we ate. It made the time go by, and didn't make us miss Jeff as badly as sitting at the table did.

I can now unpack boxes. I left several boxes packed just because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I didn't know if we were going to have to move or not. This past 14 months have been the most unstable we have ever been when it comes to not knowing what is going to happen. God has been so good to us though. He has provided in amazing ways, more than I ever thought possible. We didn't lose our house or go into debt, which is a miracle only from God. I am so grateful to Him for taking care of us through all this. Jeff works this week, and then next week away from us. Then he gets to come HOME for good! He starts his new job on the 23rd, which is the same day Evie and I start homeschooling. I can't wait to have him home!!!!!!!!!!

Hair, there and everywhere

It has been an interesting last few days. Dolly has been sick, and yesterday I was giving her homemade Pedialyte every 30 minutes. She is much better today and finally eating and drinking. I am so glad she is better! It is no fun having sick kids or sick animals!

Today was a girly girl salon day for Evie and I. I pretended that we were at the salon, and I did her nails and toes. We did it outside because it was still cooler out. Then we went inside and I put mascara and lipstick on her. She wanted to do her own hair because I was messing with mine. I was shocked at how grown up she looked! It gave me a glimpse of what she will look like at 15 :). Putting mascara on her was way fun. She has eyelashes that just keep on going!


















My bangs have been really bugging me, so I decided to do a bit of a change. At first I trimmed them so that they would lay more normally. I wanted to be able to wear them side swooped, but also all down if I wanted to. This was my first attempt after the trim. I wish I would have put my hair up for the first pic, because my goal was to soften my look with my hair up. The second and third picture are when I wore my bangs all down, but had my hair up. Don't you think that third picture is super flattering??? lol!

After Evie and I checked out the pics, I didn't like the bangs! I couldn't figure out why. I don't like how my hair looks when I wear it up, especially from the front, so that didn't help. I wanted to try and soften the look when my hair is up, since I wear it up so often (especially in the summer). So after I saw these pics, I added a bit more into the bangs, and gave me some more whispy's. When my hair is down, you can't see the whispy's. Here is a pic with a side sweep, and one with my bangs more down.

I haven't figured out if I like it yet or not. I hate how I look in pictures, especially with my hair up. I guess I am ultra picky about myself. Anyways, let me know what you all think!

Busy busy busy!

It has been a very busy last few days. We have not had any rain at all, and it has been really hot. It was in the high 90's all week. I have been trying to weed, which isn't fun when it is 95 degrees outside. I got 2 zucchini's the other day off my plants, and my tomatoes are all green, but growing. My peppers also have little peppers on them. I can't wait until they are big enough to pick. I love summer veggies!

I spent a good part of the day baking today. Since Jeff is gone during the week, I have been making him dinners to take with him so he doesn't have to eat out at night. So I made 3 meals for him, along with veggies and salads. Then I made 2 loaves of gluten free bread, some gluten free muffins, a gluten free peach pie, and some popovers. It was a busy day! I love getting a lot accomplished like that though. Jeff was working in the yard today, and Evie was playing with neighbor kids, so it was a perfect time for me to get stuff done.

With all the heat, and with the weirdness of my life right now, I almost chopped my hair this week. I actually was holding the scissors, but decided against it. I saw this cute layered cut that was bra strap length. I knew I shouldn't make decisions though when my life seems crazy. I am almost back to tailbone length again. My bangs are really long. I'm trying to grow them out enough to where I can sweep them to the side and tuck them behind my one ear. So far they are to my nose, and at times are bugging me big time. But I am trying to stick to it. I'll have to post a picture to see what you all think.

Evie was playing dress up with Si Si the other day. I laughed pretty hard when I saw this.....














She kinda looks like Wonder Woman doesn't she? Lol. She kept it on for about 15 minutes, just walking around the house like that. Then she got annoyed with it and took it off with her paw :).

Updates

I took my blog off the privacy setting. It was getting to be a huge pain because I had to sign in just to be able to read any comments. If it was a pain for me, I'm sure it was a pain for my regular blog readers! I haven't been the best blogger in the world have I? Our life has been in a bit of an upheaval. I moved back with Evie to our house about a month ago, and we took the house off the market. We didn't want to sell it until we knew where we were going to be going. The interview that looked so promising for Jeff didn't end up panning out. They offered the job to someone else. Basically we live in an area with super high unemployment (which officially is 15% here, but realistically is more like 20%). People are leaving this area in droves due to no jobs. Jeff is finding out that the jobs he interviews for end up going to someone willing to take about $40,000 less than what the job really should be paying. His job he has now (that is in the town we used to live in) is going to be ending soon. The company is shutting down, so Jeff is looking again for jobs. He has 3 months to find a job. He has had some interviews, and one promising one near where his job is now. So we may still be moving. We know God has a good plan in all this!

We have tried to keep some sense of normal for Evie this summer. We have had lots and lots of playdates with other kids, we have gone to the park so many times I can't count, and we have had fun on weekends when Daddy is home. A few weeks ago, we all camped out in the backyard. We didn't get much sleep, but it was a lot of fun.







































July started blueberry season. We went to our local patch and bought 60 pounds of organic blueberries. They are so yummy! We also bought 4 blueberry bushes, so we can start our own blueberry patch. I froze 34 quart bags worth of blueberries, so that should last nicely through the winter.













My garden has been doing great. We downscaled the side yard garden, and I planted as much as I could in the backyard. Here is my huge zucchini, planted in the back. The pole beans are behind the zucchini.













Here are my pole beans and zucchini, and some of my small pepper plants that are getting bigger every day. They are purple, orange and red peppers, and I am praying they will do well, despite the slow start. I planted them from seed inside, but didn't start soon enough.













Here are my bigger green pepper plants that I got locally. They are heirloom plants, and they seem really healthy.



















I tried to cram stuff where I could in my flower beds. The poles you see are where I planted climbing cucumbers. They are finally starting to get going after having bunnies nibbling at them like crazy.
































Here is my garden in my side yard. The tomatoes are doing wonderful! I ended up having to buy the plants locally because my seedlings died. They are heirlooms, and are starting to produce some tomatoes already. I also planted potatoes, carrots, and pumpkin in this garden. By the way, April, if you read this, I just wanted to thank you for the suggestion of Baker Creek Seeds. The stuff I planted from their seeds are the healthiest plants I have ever had! So thank you!!















I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far!