This is What a Year's Worth of Hard Work Looks Like!

*****I had a similar post that I made a couple months ago, but since having both here would be redundant, I deleted the old one and left this newer, more updated one to take it's place.**** 


A little over a year ago, I started a little project. There is an area behind my house, a rather large area at that, and for many years it was a big, cluttered, brush filled gully. Tree limbs down, debris from a hurricane the year before still stuck under the leaves and vines. There was a big, mushy, wet place from a tree uprooting several years ago, and the only thing it really had going for it was the small raspberry patch that was quickly being choked out by the vines and the weeds.

There was a set of stone steps and a stone flower bed to one side, though they were in disrepair and grown over with vines.

With some determination and a lot of work, I finally got the steps put back together and the stone flower bed put back together. I doubt it's nearly as good as my grandfather's original work, but I think he'd be proud of my attempt. :) That wall made out of tires was a root cellar he built probably twenty years ago. Apparently the rubber was supposed to help keep excess moisture out of the cellar and allow the seeds he saved in there to keep longer. I don't know much about it, but then again, he knew way more about planting, growing and building than most people will ever hope to know!

I even figured out how to build a second flower bed to match! Then I transferred some of the lily bulbs from the first one to the second one so they would have matching flowers. 

From there, I kept cleaning out brush, building flower beds out of stone, and cleaned the marshy spot up. That marshy spot is now a frog pond, and the gully turned valley is now a play area for my little girl. It's still a work in progress. I have plans for more flower beds, I plan to put some more raspberries into the already existing patch that has made quite a comeback, and I'm planning a stone path to the creek at the valley's lower end (which is where I'm getting my rocks for all this stuff!). Here's how it looks these days:

That last picture is an area I cleared just today. Those vines are still quite an opponent, and I plan to make a small divider out of stone, stacked maybe three stones high, that will act as a barrier between the area where the vines will stay and the rest of the valley. I'll post pics as I make progress. 

That marshy place may no longer be a mess, but I didn't clean it completely out. Below is a picture of some of it's current residents. Meet my little family of tadpoles! That marshy spot is now a frog pond, and leaving some leaves in the water ensures these little guys have food, shelter, and the adult frogs have a breeding ground, and it was all set up by nature....all I did was clean it up a little and get the real mess out of it! 

A few more little friends who find a place to hang out and enjoy the sunshine:

This flower is called a trillium, named for it's three leaves and three petals. It grows about five to eight inches high on average, and the scent is strong and is like a cross between the scent of a strawberry and a rose. They are an endangered species, a fact that I didn't know until this year. This is the crimson purple variety. There is also a white variety that is even more scarce than the crimson. I'm lucky enough to have wonderful amounts of both. One more creature that this little valley offers a safe haven to. 

The view from the creek. There will soon be a stone pathway here. 

I have no idea exactly what this is, but as it grows it puts out tiny, beautiful indigo colored flowers. 

So here it is! My valley! A year into it and I love working on it. I still have a lot to do, and I'll keep everyone posted! 

Ari

From a 24 to a 14

For all the posts I've made regarding recipes, cook books, cooking, whatever, here is a post in the other direction.

I'm not going to post my weight, but I will say it is oodles higher than it should be. I've lost a lot, as I started about four years ago at a size 24 and now I'm in an 18, but I still have plenty more to lose. My goal is a 14, maybe a size or two smaller. Depends on my size and weight and how I feel when I get there. I've always felt healthiest around 155, a number I haven't seen in SEVEN years, and with the changes my body has taken during that time (pregnancy, etc) I may feel healthier at a different, perhaps lower, number. If there's one thing I have found to be true, it's what every mom tried to tell me while I was pregnant: The body you have after your baby is born is very different from the body you had before you got pregnant. They weren't talking about weight either. My metabolism, shape, complexion, everything has been different since my daughter was born, but I do have to say a whole lot of it has definitely been for the better!

But anyway, back to my point before I digress to the point of hopelessness. So I've been trying to lose weight, and so far I'm about halfway to my goal. The only problem is, it's been one diet after another, and I only lose about 15 pounds, then plateau for about four months before I can get another ounce to budge. Well, a lovely friend of mine has introduced me to her diet plan, which to me sounds more like common sense than anything. She's doing a program called "Slimming World". This is a program that is more or less in the UK, and I'm in the States, but I'm so glad she hooked me up with some good links so I could get some basic info on it! Basically, foods with high fat and calorie contents are called "syns" and you can have ever how many a day, each food as a certain number. Fruits, veggies, and most lean meats are freebies, I guess you can have as much as you want. Like I said, sounds like common sense to me. Most health teachers have been preaching these same rules for years, just not calling fatty foods syns. I guess it's kinda like counting points since the fatty and high calorie foods have syns, only this looks a lot easier to me.

So I'm giving it a shot, and so far I've lost three pounds in a week, and I have to say I feel a lot better than I did when I was trying to keep it under X number of calories, swear this drink completely out of my life, that chocolate is the kiss of death, etc. Doing that just makes you want those things more. Looking at it this way just kinda seems to keep amounts and portions in check, rather than banning them completely. Maybe this will be the plan that gets me a lot closer to that pair of 14's hanging in my closet, untouched for the past seven years. Who knows? It would be nice!

Well, so far I've lost 40, with at least 40 to go. It was 50, and I backslid 10 pounds, so there we go. That happens too I guess. Wish me luck!

Ari

Ramblings of an Insomniac

Ok, so maybe 13 minutes until midnight isn't exactly considered insomnia, but when you take 3 sleeping pills at 10:15 and they still have yet to kick in, and you know if you're not asleep by 1 am you can pretty well hang it up and just start brewing coffee because you know you're in for a long next 24-36 hours, yeah, that's kinda getting there.

Well, at least it's the weekend and the most demanding thing I have on my to do list for the next two days is laundry. I can't go anywhere, there's ice on the roads. Hopefully I will sleep soon, but if I don't I have a story I'm in the middle of writing, the coffee pot is full, and I have a Paul Young CD I can put on repeat until I get tired of it and then I'll just pop in a Spice Girls CD. I may even get around to defragging my computer tonight. The poor thing needs it. By now I'm sure it's cussing me in more than one language.

I still miss my old computer. I mean, I like this one, it's great and all, but my old one had a little more power. I think it had a stronger processor. It was built with the fact in mind that I would make it do a bunch of different crap all at once. This one will do it, but it's like it hesitates long enough to give me a dirty look and say "Really? This too? You only have four pages, a picture, two stories, a song and a chat open, and now you want your blog too?"

I was going through some pictures last night and found a few of Salem, a big black cat I used to have. I miss that cat. I had him for ten years and had to give him away because he had developed some health problems that I didn't know how to take care of, so I gave him to someone who could give him the care he needed. He was a sweet cat, grouchy as he could be, funny, and a little prankster!

I need to get my flower beds ready for spring. I have a few things I want to build around them and a bunch more flower bulbs to put in the ground. It'll probably take me a week to get it all done, but it's worth it to see the beauty of it in spring and summer. I just need to find a few days where it will be clear and at least not freezing cold.

Ok, I'm getting sleepy so I'm going to crash while I can. Maybe one day soon I'll think of something else brilliant to post! ;)

Ari

There was a blank, empty post here and I'm not sure why. So I wrote something in it. :)