Fallin' Up

Sick Aspen trees. My trees are dripping sap in the middle of June. I think the Pine beetles got to them. I am afraid that the pairs are slowly dying. I have three trees that are leaking like crazy. I've sprayed them down as well as I could but I don't think it's enough.

They finally bloomed! I've been living here for two years and finally have some awesome flowers to show off. I fed them a while back and they are finally getting some beautiful flowers to show for the effort. Kids don't care if we have flowers or not, but I honestly feel like I had a major role in growing these bad boys.

Winona LaDuke-Native, Jewish, mother, author, lawyer. She's been given enough insight to see what our Mother is going to be like for her children and grandchildren and she's being proactive. I LOVE her.  Maya Angelou-She has some amazing poems. Stuff that makes you want to cry, things that make you wish you didn't know about her but helps you feel her as a whole person. She is a whole person, a women who owns what she's written and can articulate emotion in a way that lets you know she's been given a gift from the Creator. ...I can't think of anymore off the top of my head. this will be a 'running' post, an ongoing project I will collect and add to when I find what fits.

Before I post, I have been a fan of catalogs my entire life. I have friends who have created their dream life inside pages of magazines. My friend Bri even created a lifestyle within the pages of so many catalogs with his photographic memory. I cannot even begin to tell you the many other uses of catalogs. Growing up with not a lot of money, and as an adult it is still really satisfying to order something and have it arrive 3-7 days later with the EXACT item in the picture. Title 9-What is not to love about a healthy vibrant, feminine magazine like this! Fun in the sun, and amazing bios on women living their dream life with hardcore underwear and a ton of skorts to choose from. Patagonia-The seasonal magazines come with stories on the contributors and the people they sponsor in a variety of events. The clothes are listed female to male and pricing is reasonable if you want to INVEST in clothing as opposed to shopping prior to the start of every season. Pottery Barn-Everything and an...

Consumer Reports-Shop Smart Magazine.  Good reviews and right to the point. The last issue I bought helped me buy a decent grill and save a little bit of money on weighing the pros and cons of a credit card bill. Body+Soul-Published by the wizard that is Martha Stewart and offers a lot of strong advice with recommendation for supporting the empire. These tend to repeat themselves every four years but if you are a dirty, disgusting home maker like I am, these tips and tricks are refreshing every time I see them in print! Family Fun-Published by Disney, this magazine has a lot of information that I cannot find on the Martha Stewart website. I love how the magazine offers more cost-effective recipes and projects. I think the most expensive craft for June was buying the modge-podge stuff to make the tissue paper bowls.

It is officially the first day of summer. It isn't the hottest day, just the longest of the warm months. It's going to be a grand summer...I can feel it in my rickety-osteoporosis bones. This is a short list of summer plans for myself:   Plant my garden. The plants are going into pots so don't worry. I know it's late in the game for stuff but I'm still going forward with the plan. I will even make a darn greenhouse if that will help. Maybe use old sand bags to make those nifty houses for the plants. Clean the yard. I know most people have done this MONTHS ago, like right after all the snow melted. But I take my time and search all the nooks and crannys for the right ingredients to make a beautiful yard. The walkway is complete, the storage area is clean. Now the yard can be tamed. Learn to BBQ. We just bought a grill, I want to learn how to use that bad boy for EVERYTHING. I don't want to get stuck behind a hot stove for the rest of the summer if I can help ...