The Motivational Gardener
I started my little baby seedlings in February and babied them for months in my kitchen. Just about planting date, I tore my ACL. To garden or not to garden, that was the question. With a surgery date 2 weeks away, Shane and I went for it not knowing how or if we could care for it. We scaled back and did not build the three extra raised beds we had planned for. I set my little seedlings out 1 week before surgery and wished them well. After surgery I serieously laid in bed and worried about my seedlings. Pathetic? Maybe. But motivation for recovering quickly, absolutely!
2 weeks post surgery, Shane set me up in a chair on the driveway with my leg iced and propped up while he built tomato trellises. He moved me to the garden where I sat and watered. Gardening is a true love of mine and not being able to do it has been so frusterating. 3 weeks post surgery I was getting around better and crutched with a water hose watering all my plants daily. Week 4 post surgery I was cleared to walk and my husband and I planted 5 bushes and 4 flats of flowers. I did most of it sitting on a stool, but progress and made me oh so happy!
I am so thankful that we continued our garden, as it gave me motivation every day to get out of bed, get sunshine and continue to battle through physical therapy. I have lots of motivators, like 2 precious babies and my husband (whom I have no words to describe how amazing he has been) and having all three of those all in the garden on a Saturday brings joy to my heart! It is something that we have built as a family and have all worked for. Here are some pictures of our veggie garden! Where you will find me most afternoons :)
Here is Mai’s garden
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The Dirt
So it has been like forever since I posted pics of my children, and I thought I would share my recent favorites. Only I would love these pics.
We have been doing yard work and gardening every weekend the last month. I love that my kids love to garden and play in the dirt as much as Shane and I. I took these pics after a long day of landscaping and planting our vegetable garden. They were having so much fun playing in the dirt together, I had to beg them to stop to take these pics.
I say this as only a mom can . . . how can Mai look that good even covered in dirt? That child really takes photogenic to another level. At least in my eyes. I am currently in love with Jax’ curls. I just want to kiss that boy all day. Seriously, I could just make that my hobby. He is scrumptious . . . even covered in dirt.
I recently made the joke that my family calls me the family hippie (due to my new blog simply4). . . so I would like to introduce my hippie children.
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Simply 4 – What Do I Feed My Kids
Visit our new blog! Simply4
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The Shepherd house is simplifying. Check out our new blog about food, parenting, health, and going back to the basics.
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{embrace the camera} My Apple Jax
This picture was taken this weekend at the Apple Orchard. It was our kids first time there. You of course must eat the apples as you pick them, and this crazy idea inspired my anti-fruit and veggie kid (Jax) to eat his first whole, skin on, apple. Now he is in LOVE! He has gone through at least 10 or our apples since this weekend. Everything tastes better when you pick it yourself.
Roasted Vegetable Soup
The cold weather is coming, so I thought I would share my favorite soup recipe! Enjoy!
Roasted Vegetable Soup
6 beefsteak tomatoes, halved and cored
2 leeks, white and pale-green parts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- Preheat oven to 425° . In a roasting pan, toss tomatoes, leeks, carrots, garlic, and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in a single layer (tomatoes cut sides down) until tender, 1 hour. Using tongs, peel off tomato skins.
- In a saucepan, bring vegetables, and vegetable broth to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes
- Using an emersion blender, blend until smooth – or in a blender, puré e vegetable mixture in batches. Stir in basil.
The Brown Family
What a beautiful family to photograph! The handsome bald one just happens to be my baby brother. Here is a sneak peak of the Brown family !
Master Bath Remodel
Well, here it is! The largest remodel I have ever been a part of. It took a solid 2 months, but was so worth the wait!!
But first, I have to show the old bathroom. Let’s begin by giving deminsions. The builder of this 1967 home decided to put an 8×8 bathroom in the master. Not only that, he decided to divide that 8×8 bath into two rooms, add three fur downs and drop the shower down 4 inches below the floor. Nice. Not only that, but the original wall hung toilet and beautiful canary yellow tile to match was still here 30+ years later. The wood floor was new, and the tile in the cave shower room was maybe 10 years old. This could definitely win an ugly bathroom award. Here is the proof!
This Pic was taken move in day.
Took this when we were with realtor, deciding about house.
Beautiful wall hung yellow toilet and lots of yellow tile to match. And look at that floor tile, disgusting and poorly laid.
The yellow cave shower – size is about 3.5×3.3. Tiny! You cant see it here, but there was a giant fur down above the shower and no shower door.
Wow, I do not miss that room. So, we met with our contractor and once we heard the price . . . we grabbed some hammers and did the demo ourselves.
Doing the demo ourselves saved almost $1500. It was dirty and I highly recommend some nice masks, but all in all, well worth $1500! We took out the middle wall, took out all the fur downs, removed all the sheet rock and insulation, and busted up the tile. The hardest part was hauling it all off. We were too cheap to rent one of those giant dumpsters, so we just hauled stuff by hand to the alley ( I am sure our neighbors were very pleased). So . . . . ..
I have this FAVORITE designer
Sarah
And Shane and I new exactly what we wanted our new bath to look like. And we knew Sarah would approve. However, our idea did not win over our contractor or tile guys. But we stuck with it! Apparently Tuscan is the only style you can find in Lubbock, and that is just not our style ( take a deep breath . . . I do like Tuscan Lubbock, it’s just not me). So we had to search, and search, and convince, and order from Canada, but in the end it was exactly what we wanted! We still have no pictures on the wall, but here is the almost finished new bath!!!
I have a HUGE thank you to by best friend (and interior designer) Becky. She talked me through so many issues ( over the phone long distance) and really helped make a lot of our decisions easier about the layout of the room. Thank you so much Becky!!
Of course, one project leads to another and so the master bedroom got a face lift too . . .
