Tag: Daily Life

It’s all coming together 🌻

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Here’s how I’m using the thrifted folding tables I bought yesterday.

I’m trying to create a bistro café vibe for the front porch. I still need to buy the folding chairs for the tables, but for now, I will use the captain folding chairs.

Now I can enjoy reading a good book while sipping tea on the front porch. ☺️🫖📚 Sometimes I like to put on a jazz or classical music playlist.

I love porch sitting. My favorite time for porch sitting is in the early mornings. I find it very peaceful and relaxing as I simply sit, sip, and watch the neighborhood come alive.

It’s my time—whether for a short moment or an hour—to slow down. 🐌

When I was a little girl, I remember visiting my grandparents in Florida. My grandma and grandpa would always sit on their front porch to talk with friends and the neighbors and wave at drivers passing by their house.

Other times they would just simply sit and enjoy the quiet, not needing to say a word to fill the silence.

I also thrifted this wicker basket $3 and the “all you need is love” book decor. 🥰

My grandparents passed away in 2006 in their mid 90s, just two weeks apart from each other. They were married for over 70 years. ❤️

I often think of grandma and grandpa when I sit on my front porch. I think they would have loved sitting with me, Travis, and the kids on our cozy little porch. ☺️

Do you enjoy porch sitting?

💜 XO

Groceries and thrift store shopping day

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The kids went to hangout with their big sis this afternoon, so Travis and I got some shopping done.

It was a nice break to get in and out of the stores without having to wait on children lingering in the aisles asking if we can buy them this and that or searching for one or two kids who suddenly disappeared to browse the store on their own. Lol 😆 (Yes, sometimes that happens.)

Mj (24) and the kids heading out to her apartment. 🥰
We shared a complimentary pink lemonade at the grocery store. 🥰
Photo of me outside of the grocery market. 😊

I get it. Going to the store as a child must feel wondrous because everything is so big and there’s so much to see and do.

But as a grownup with a long to-do list, sometimes we just want to get in and out of the store as quickly as we can! 😄

After we got the groceries, we stopped by two different thrift stores. I wanted to see if I could find some inexpensive flower pots for my new houseplants.

I didn’t have much luck finding flower pots at the first thrift store, but I did happen to stumble upon a vintage-style Sacred Heart of Mary print.

At the second thrift store, I found a bunch of hanging baskets flower pots for 49 cents! 😲

These pots will come in handy for my new plants, plus my overgrown pothos and snake plants that need to be split and repotted. 🪴

Another great thrifty find—these two repurposed folding tables for about $5 each!

I’m going to use the tables for my front porch so I can sit outside, enjoy a cup of my tea, and read a good book. 😊🫖📚

I was excited to finally find folding tables for my porch. I’ve been wanting a bistro-style table set for sometime, but the cost of a table and chair set are pretty pricey at $100+.

Finding these two folding tables with the cottagecore-style art prints for $10 made me so happy! Now all I need to get are two folding chairs to go with the tables.

Aren’t these McDonald’s tin boxes so cute? They were only 49 cents, too! I bought one for myself and two for the kids to use for crafts or playing.

And I bought these vintage Christmas cookies trays for less than $5 total!

As soon as I saw the Santa Claus cookie tray, it reminded me of a similar Christmas tray from my childhood. 🎅🏾🍪

If I close my eyes, I can smell the M&M chocolate chip Christmas cookies we used to make during the holidays when I was a little girl. 🍪🥹

I love family traditions, especially creating new ones with my own children. So, I bought the vintage cookie trays for us to use this Christmas. 🎅🏾🎄🍪

Have you bought anything fun lately?

💜 XO

Sunflowers and tomatoes 🌻🍅

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One of my sunflowers is blooming! You can see a few of the petals peeking out. 🌻🥹

It makes me so happy. It feels as if I’m waiting for a baby to be born. 😄🌻😍

And the cherry tomatoes are finally blushing. I have never seen cherry tomatoes so big before!

I read that homegrown cherry tomatoes taste better than the store. I’m looking forward to seeing if that’s true. 😊

This weekend, I plan on transplanting some of my seed starter plants (okra, sugar beets, basil, cauliflower, and sugar baby watermelons) and getting a few of the fall plants started in seed trays.

Mj (24, oldest daughter) invited the kids to come hangout with her on Saturday, so this will give me some free time to focus on gardening chores.

💜 XO

Happy Friday

Three things to reflect on in honor of September 11th.

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Farm store day 🚜

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It’s our favorite biweekly activity—visiting the local farm store!

We always get a dozen cider donuts, deli meat, local bread, lollipops, and a plant or two for me 😄🪴.

Today, we noticed the store is getting ready for the fall. There were a few new fall decorations out on display.

Yes, I was tempted to buy some of the fall decor 😏, but I will remain patient and wait until mid-August. Lol 😊

I love these cute fabric apples. 🍎🥰

I bought two small houseplants marked down to $2.99. I couldn’t pass up that good deal! 😅🪴

A couple of years ago, I tried to grow prayer plants in my house, but fungus gnats devoured my poor plants. 😭 I had the hardest time getting rid of the nuisance gnats.

Since then, I have learned how to properly care for plants I buy from the farmers market or local stores.

For instance, before, I didn’t know it’s important to give your store plants a proper potting mix separate from the soil they are placed in at the store.

Caring for the eight houseplants I have now (5 pothos and 3 snake plants) and outdoor gardening has taught me more basic plantcare skills, so I am ready to add these two new plants to my indoor plant collection. 😊🪴

The kids also helped scoop a pound of raw peanuts. We like to feed the squirrels at a nearby neighborhood park we frequent. 🐿

Picking out their favorite lollipops.
I need this vintage sign for my kitchen. 😂

Great visit to the farm store today! I just might have to go back and get two more small houseplants. 😄🪴

Do you have a favorite local shop you like to visit regularly?

💜 XO

Happy Friday!

Four fun things for Friday, including a new art exhibit I’m excited to see.

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Baby cucumbers 🥒

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We have baby cucumbers! 🥹 I discovered about 10 cucumbers growing in our back patio garden.

Why is it such a thrilling feeling to discover your fruit and vegetable plants have started to produce food? I had the biggest smile on my face when I saw the tiny cucumbers. ☺️

A couple of weeks ago, I was worried the cucumber flowers weren’t going to get pollinated because I hadn’t really seen any bees in our patio garden.

But last weekend, I noticed a few honeybees flying back and forth to the cucumbers. 🐝 I felt relieved.

Gardening is teaching me to be more patient and have more trust.

And I loved showing the kids the little cucumbers!

They were excited to search through the big leaves and count how many cucumbers they could find.

I can’t wait to harvest our cucumbers once they’re ready! I told the kids we’re going to use the cucumbers to make homemade dill pickles. 😊

💜 XO

Drawing with the kids 👩🏽‍🎨

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Today, I enjoyed a calming activity with the kids—sketching and coloring flowers. 🌸 The flower activity was part of a science lesson for the kids to draw, color, and label a flower with pollen.

I turned on a jazz playlist to help us focus on our artwork, and as we were creating our sketches, it started to rain.

Perfect timing! 🌧☺️

We discussed shapes we could see in the image of the flower.

One shape that stood out to Zaya (5) and Zephaniah (8) was the middle of the flower reminded them of a hexagon.

So, together we sketched a hexagon shape onto our sketch pads.

Surprisingly, drawing a hexagon is not as easy as I thought it would be! It took me several tries to finally get the six sides connected to form the shape. 😆

Next, we discussed the vibrant yellow color of the pollen and its purpose. We also made connections to the flowers and vegetables growing in our garden.

There was something unexpectedly joyful sitting at the kitchen table with Zaya and Zephaniah, drawing and coloring together.

Keep in mind I am not an artist 😅.

However, the children told me they thought my purple flower looked amazing, and really, that’s all the recognition I needed. 🥰

💜 XO

Tattoo collector

American traditional tattoos—I love the classic, vintage imagery and bold colors and lines.

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Somewhat clear skies

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We’re still under an air quality alert (because of the wildfire smoke), but today the atmosphere was much better than last Wednesday afternoon.

And the temps were a little cooler with a nice breeze.

We’ve been able to get out and enjoy the park again.

I just love visiting parks tucked away in neighborhoods near our house. The neighborhood parks feature a playground with paved walking paths good for walking and riding bikes or even skating.

One of my favorite features is how the walking paths go around the playground making it easier for us to keep an eye on the kids while we walk.

It feels good to see people out jogging, walking, riding bikes, and playing at the playground again.

Last week’s thick smoke made everything look like a ghost town because no one was out walking in the neighborhood or at the parks. Traffic was even lighter than usual.

I know the kids are thrilled to be back at the playground.

They’ve had the best time going to the park three days in a row. They asked me if we can go everyday. Lol 😅

Travis and I enjoy walking together while the kids play at the playground, so I think we just might make evening walks part of our nightly routine! ☺️

💜 XO

An unexpected visitor 🐣

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We have an unexpected visitor living in our patio garden—a Robin chick! 🐣

Apparently, the baby Robin landed on our herb shelf after a storm knocked it’s nest out of the tree onto our patio. 🥺

Every morning, I open the curtains to my patio door, and I scan the back garden to make sure all is well with the plants and no critters (i.e. pesky squirrels) got into the grow bags.

The squirrels love to tear up my marigolds sometimes. 😏 Just the other day, a squirrel dug into one of my strawberry bags and pulled out the entire plant. 🍓😭

As I was looking over the patio garden, I noticed on the herb shelf a little head peeking out of my petunia flower pot.

“Well, you weren’t there last night!” I said aloud to the baby bird through the screen door. 🐣☺️

That’s when I noticed the nest tipped over on its side on the shelf, and I immediately understood what had happened.

What I didn’t know, though, was how the chick got into the flower pot. Did it by chance literally fall into the pot, or did the mama bird gently move it to the flower pot?

My next question was, does the mama bird know the chick is here? Did she abandon it?

So, I stood back from the patio door and waited patiently to see if a Robin would show up. Within about 20 minutes, the mama bird swooped into the garden and landed onto the petunia flower pot.

Excitedly, the chick perked up and started chirping. It stretched it’s neck up and opened it’s beak wide.

Mama bird plopped a wiggly worm into the chick’s beak, and then flew off.

Whew! Well, that’s a relief, I thought to myself.

I really didn’t want to become an adopted bird mom 😅🐣, but I would have definitely figured something out if the chick needed help.

We did check the ground to see if there were any other chicks. Unfortunately, there was a second baby bird, and it didn’t survive the fall. 😥

So, now we have a baby Robin living in my petunia flower pot on the herb shelf! Hopefully, the bird does okay in the pot. 🐣

💜 XO

The old journal

A visit to an art thrift store leads to a journal discovery.

Jenn's avatar by Jenn

A front porch garden harvest 🫑

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One of the things I love about growing food in a small space is I can walk out onto my front porch and harvest foods we need for the next meal.

This morning, we harvested from our front garden a green bell pepper (first one of the season!), two jalapeños, a banana pepper, and black seeded simpson lettuce.

Zaya (5) harvesting a green bell pepper on our front porch! 🫑👧🏼
The jalapeños needed just a little more time, but Travis said they still tasted good with his tacos. 🌶🌮

And from our back patio garden we harvested romaine lettuce, cilantro, oregano, and sage.

It wasn’t a big harvest, but it was the perfect amount we needed to make tacos for dinner! 😊

It makes me happy to grow a simple kitchen garden. At first, I didn’t think it would make much of a difference because we don’t have a regular sized yard.

But this gardening season has taught me it doesn’t matter if you have acres of land, a big back yard, or just a small patio, you can grow something!

Zaya said we needed to take a selfie to show our little harvest. 📸😅

If you have a small space, you can focus on growing kitchen ingredients like peppers, lettuce, herbs, and carrots for home cooking. You can even grow these plants on your front porch (like I do)!

Every little bit helps, and it will bring you so much joy! 😊

💜 XO

📸 feature image taken by Zaya 🥹

Attack of the ravenous cabbage caterpillars 🐛

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I discovered cabbage caterpillars in two of my broccoli grow bags. 🐛😫

I can only blame myself because I literally saw those white butterflies flying around my brassica plants, and I didn’t even bother to cover the plants with protective netting until a couple of weeks later. 🤦🏽‍♀️🙃

Lesson learned! Cover the plants right after you plant them!

The caterpillars ate up the broccoli leaves good, too! Wow!

So, I put on my gardening gloves and handpicked all of the caterpillars out of the grow bags

It was hard to find some of the cabbage caterpillars because their green bodies blended in with the broccoli leaves.

I think my broccoli plants can be salvaged. I immediately covered the plants with tulle for protection.

I used the kids’ construction straws to make hoops for the taller plants. Hey, sometimes you just gotta use what you have on hand! Lol 😅

Saved me about $15 so I didn’t have to buy a box of garden hoops on Amazon. 🙌🏾

Thankfully, only five out of the twelve broccoli plants we have in the garden were affected by these ravenous cabbage caterpillars.

💜 XO