Life Lately

The weather was perfect for our mid-week farmer's market, and I picked up some tasty 

heirloom tomatoes, among other things. Oh, and roasted eggplant with garlic is now my favorite.

 Seeing this neon pink zinnia glowing in the garden makes me smile

It was raining during Saturday's farmer's market, but I saw a picture of 

these heirloom cucumbers and for sale and I had to have them.

 I love the way this recycled planter turned out this year. It's bursting with
zinnias, Veronica Speedwell, nasturiums and mallow.

Today we installed the first four refinished cabinet doors. Cabinets with doors!! So exciting.

And Mikko is still doing amazingly well despite a serious heart condition, thanks to his medications (knock on wood, cause I'm superstitious). He doesn't love taking them, and I don't love making him do so, but we manage.

Plus the weather has been lovely. I've had the AC off for two whole days, 

quite amazing for late July in these parts.

How are things for you?

Do You Declutter to De-stress?

Thanks to the fourth of July holiday, I had a lovely four-day weekend with plenty of time to squeeze in some DIY project work. But alas, it's been raining for two straight weeks, so while people out west might kill for a little rain, it put a damper on doing the one project around here that really needs to be done, namely, the cabinet painting project (no mom, it's still not done yet).

before

But what the rain taketh, the rain also giveth back in the form of time to work on a project that sounds a little bit fun and an excuse to avoid something I should do, but don't wanna (hello cabinets!). I decided this weekend was a perfect time to engage in a little therapeutic decluttering.

I know I'm not the only one who derives a sick sense of satisfaction from decluttering and organizing, especially when I'm super stressed. So after watching an episode or two of Consumed online for inspiration (which my fellow Americans can enjoy via YouTube despite HGTV Canada's non-sharing), I decided to tackle my closet. Again. I don't even buy that many clothes, certainly not in comparison to the average Western woman, and yet my closet continues to attract clutter. Actually, it was kind of fun to have stuff to purge again, since I haven't been in the mood to declutter much lately.

after: sweet, sweet empty space

After the closet I moved on to my makeup drawer, another major clutter area and turned it back into a manageable storage spot.

In the end I filled another sack, plus a duvet, for the charity shop, which I packed up and dropped off on Sunday.

And it still feels so good.

Now I just need to figure out how to keep these spaces uncluttered.

gratuitous Mikko shot with reflection!

What have you decluttered lately?

On Pacing Myself

my little buddy, Mikko

I'm sitting on my couch having a beer at 4:00 pm on a Friday to try and chill out after taking the cat to the vet.

This summer has not turned out as I expected, to put it mildly. After spending more time than I wanted to working 1.25 jobs last summer, I vowed this summer would be different. I would garden more, have more fun and work less.

Oh, foolish human and her little plans.

As it turns out, I'm working more than ever before. I haven't planted a single vegetable and my kitty got sick.

Yet we're surviving, and even under less than ideal circumstances, we are grabbing every moment of possible happiness.

It started when I got a new job...same company, same job function, but in a new department with a lot more responsibilities. It's a great opportunity with more interesting projects, but I've never been so challenged or worked so hard in my life.

Then the week before I started my new job, my littlest and youngest kitty (at 14 he's hardly young but...) was having problems breathing. I took him to the vet who found that he was in congestive heart failure. The vet gave me two choices: take him to the emergency vet immediately, or put him to sleep.

We took him to the emergency vet and long story short, he has advanced heart disease. But way too many vet bills later, he's doing pretty well on a regime of six pills a day. In fact, if you didn't know he was sick I don't think you'd guess it.  He's still the most active cat in our household, and eats, plays and patrols the windows as much as ever. Now I know that this could change any day though, so I'm doing my best to enjoy him while I can.

With all the stress I've been under this summer, my natural inclination is to freak out, feel sorry for myself, and retreat into sadness. And though I've had those moments, there have also been some really good moments that break through the despair:

• When my boyfriend dropped everything when I called him from the vet, told his coworkers he had to go, and drove straight to the vet when he heard about Mikko, my heart melted a little. It melted more when Mikko insisted on resting his paw on my boyfriend's palm while we sat, waiting for test results, almost like he wanted to hold the boyfriend's hand.
• The emergency vets who treated my cat and I so kindly and saved him from heart failure.
• Knowing that I have an emergency fund and don't have to make tough choices like affording the vet or paying bills
• Hearing from a long, lost friend
• The fact that my cat still follows me around and hangs out with me, despite me forcing him to take pills three times a day, taking him to the vet where he is poked and prodded and generally fussing over him nonstop.

The kitchen reno may not be going as quickly as I'd like, I may not have tomatoes growing out back and my house may be messier than usual this summer, but in the end, none of that really matters, now does it?

What are you grateful for?

Patience

These foxgloves remind me that 

patience and perseverance pay off,

in the garden and in life.

Seven years ago,

after my mom pulled all the weeds, 

this bed was empty.

Except for an old climbing rose, 

that you can't see hiding behind the Miss Kim lilac.

I bought six plants, all flowers, 

that year from the farmer's market. 

Four of them are still alive.

Finally, this bed is looking full.

  Five years ago I discovered winter sowing.

I planted fox gloves that first year, 
and the year after that.

But they never sprouted.

The poppies always grow though, 

and the oriental poppies come back every year.

Last year I tried again with fresh fox glove seeds.

Something changed. They sprouted.

But fox gloves require extra patience, 

the biennials don't bloom until year two.

But now, look at them now.
So many more blooms to enjoy.

Stuff Check: Shoes

I am not a shoe woman. Never have been. Shoe shopping has always been more torture than treat. It can't be helped really, with clod-hoppers like mine. Shoes that look completely cute in a size six or eight, looks absolutely hideous when blown up to size-11 proportions.

So imagine my surprise when I finally photographed my shoe collection, as the Center for the New American Dream's blog invited readers to do, and found out that I'm really downright average on the shoe ownership scale. In fact, I own more than the average 19 pairs per American (broken down by gender its 27 pairs for women and 12 for men) since I own three more pair than the 19 pictured above for a total of 22 pairs. 22!

Then I went and counted all the boyfriend's shoes and he only has 20 pairs. I complain about how many pairs he has (many of which he never wears), and it turns out that he has less than me. Ouch. I guess appearances are deceiving since more of my shoes are hidden away and his are out in the open.

Maybe owning 22 pairs of shoes would be okay if I loved and wore them all, but of course I don't. Out of the 22 pairs I own,  I regularly wear five. There are 7 pairs I have worn less than five times. And out of those seven, there are four pairs I've never worn. Ugh. Apparently not being a shoe person does not exempt me from making impulse shoe buys. Plus there are three pairs that should really be pitched, but for some inexplicable reason I keep hanging on to them.

It's time to cull my collection. I've already put two pairs in the donation pile and I'm giving myself six months to either wear or get rid of any unworn shoes in my closet. I'm going to shoot for 18 pairs or less by November.

How many pairs of shoes do you own? And is that number too many, too few or just right?

Why the Open Shelving Trend Is Not for Me

I'm ecstatic that its spring and warmer weather is on the horizon. Not just because this means we can stop being cooped up in the house and enjoy being in the garden, letting in the fresh air, etc. What I'm really happy about is that its almost outdoor painting weather. Which means I can stop looking at the scene above every day.

Every single thing in the kitchen cabinets has been on full display for the past six months (almost seven actually) since our outdoor cabinet spray-painting project was interrupted by, of all the nerve, winter. That's since last the end of September. Last September! As I'm more of a "hide all the stuff where I never have to look at it" kind of neat freak, this has been rather disturbing.

All-in-all I've handled it pretty well I think. I haven't murdered anyone, or had any major breakdowns (at least not since I spent a week painting the cabinet boxes). We even had some guests stay for the weekend. But as we get closer and closer to outdoor painting weather I've been itching to see my dishes and food stuffs hidden behind freshly painted white doors. And kitchen drawers! Remember self, when we had kitchen drawers to store stuff in? Oh, the luxury!

In a way, I guess I could take this experience as a great exercise in learning what we really need for day-to-day living. There is a rather large blue IKEA tarp bag hidden in the basement full of kitchen stuff from the drawers and cabinets that we've lived without quite easily for the past six months. I went from one drawer of cutlery and a second for utensils to a single drawer of both, and yet we were still able to cook. As I think about it, I'm not even sure what all is in that bag besides extra dish towels and the remains of the junk drawer.

Another thing the "great open cabinet winter of 2013" has confirmed is something I've long suspected. The trend of open shelving and open cabinetry is absolutely, positively, not for me! When the boyfriend's mother came to stay, she kindly remarked that she liked the open cabinets so much she thought I should leave them that way. While I'm glad that not everyone thinks the current state of my kitchen is as hideous as I do, there's no way I would choose this look on purpose.

Please don't misunderstand, I've seen pictures of some absolutely gorgeous kitchens that feature open shelving  and open cabinetry. What I question is the practicality of this trend. Perhaps if one lives without pets, hair, and has only beautiful dishes and kitchen items, then it's a lot less hassle. But for us, with three cats, one boyfriend, and my long hair, it's a disaster. I've been vacuuming the shelves because there is some hair, and a lot of dust everywhere. Do people dust their shelves and cabinets every week? Because more cleaning and maintenance is not my idea of fun.

I've also had two open shelves ever since I've lived in this house. I use them to store my decorative-only collection of vintage Pyrex. And they are purely decorative in part because you would need to to scrub them before every use due to the dust and sometimes bits of grease that find them. They look nice from far away, but I always hope visitors don't get too close and wonder if all my dishes are so sketchy. (They're not, pinky swear).

Readers, I'm curious, what do you think of this trend? And if you have open shelving in your home, how has the maintenance issue been? Do we just live in a freakishly dusty and furry house?

The Weighting Game

Making resolutions is a rare thing for me, and it's even more rare for me to do so around the new year. Thinking about what I want to accomplish for the next year is something I naturally do around my birthday instead. But there is something about the new year that makes is a good time to make a fresh start on being healthier, and so that's my big goal for 2013. Again. Getting healthier and finally finishing the freaking kitchen renovation, which has become rather embarrassing anytime anyone asks about it. The answer to that one is no, it's still not done, and yes, my kitchen cabinet doors are still sitting in the garage waiting for more spray-paint-friendly weather. To say I can't wait for spring is an understatement.

By setting only two big goals, I hope that it's easier to successfully accomplish both. But making a change to my usual routine and habits is never easy for me.

Now when I say I want to get healthier, what I really mean is, I want to lose some friggin' weight. And lots of it. Unfortunately this isn't my first rodeo. I've been unhappy with my weight for, oh, decades. When I was much younger, I wasn't actually overweight (looking back now I realize that at times I was darned skinny). Since college, however I've struggled to stay within my healthy weight range and have floated just above or under it. 

The Problem
Why I'm currently overweight is no secret of course. I like to eat. A lot. Unfortunately, I also like to eat crap. A lot. I don't love to exercise and I hate, hate going to the gym. But for several months of the year that's of the best options I have to get a decent workout. I will never be one of those people who enjoys working out (bike rides in the great outdoors, yes, everything else, hell no). The feeling I get after a workout is superb. But before and during? It's always a struggle. 

The Fix

How to lose the weight isn't a secret either. We all know the facts, eat less (and better), move more, repeat for the rest of your life. Doing that all the time, every single day, can be downright tricky however. 

The first time I really, seriously stuck to a healthy diet and exercise routine was 2009. Starting January 1 that year I used the free tracking tools at sparkpeople.com, ate better, exercised 3-6 times per week (burning around 2000 calories) and lost 35 pounds. I was so proud of myself. I kept it off until 2011 and then begin the much quicker slide back up. I gained that 35 pounds right back plus another 18 for bad behavior. A new medication may have contributed to that, but once again I had gone back into my old routine of eating lots of crap and never exercising.

So now I'm trying again, hopefully for good this time. I started on January 9 and am down 7 pounds as of today. Overall that's not bad, but it feels slower this time. And harder. I know I can do it, but I also know it's going to take a long time and that I can never stop trying.

One of the many annoying things about trying to lose weight is that I find myself more obsessed about food than ever. I'm constantly thinking about what I can or can't eat. Or trying to fight off a craving. Or adding up how many calories I have left. Or thinking about the next meal and whether I have a few extra calories to indulge a little, or not. It's exhausting. But it is getting easier.

One meal at a time, one day at a time. It's the key to everything, right?