My Monet Yard

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

I know we live in the South. I know we’ve been getting a lot of rain. I just can’t believe how fast our grass is growing. Today I thought it would a really good idea to go out and mow. I figured that I could get it done and not have to worry about it for (hopefully) another week. The only thing I didn’t take into consideration is that we would be under a heat advisory.

Between the humidity and the feels like temperature, it was rough. We have been working on the dead spots in our front yard and they are getting better, albeit slowly. By the time I finished mowing I was dripping in sweat and I was beat. If you were driving by our house you might think, Oh, their yard looks nice. Truthfully though, it’s like a Monet painting, It looks really good from afar, but when you get closer you can see it’s just a bunch of dots that doesn’t make much sense. I so need to move things out of the way and really get in with the weed whacker. I need to straighten up the flowerbed timbers. But here is a before of the backyard.

And the after.

The front yard still has a way to go with the dead patches and all, but it’s getting better.

My flowers are still doing pretty good.

It’s just all the little details like the grass growing up against the chicken coop, the fence and the shed, that drive me crazy. I have to tell myself that I can’t get it all done in one day because then I’ll be wiped out for the next 2. Sweet tea and a whole Brita pitcher of water served me well today.

If you have a yard crew that does your lawn you need to go hug their necks the next time you see them, because this is some hard work they are doing. How hot do we think this summer is going to get? I’m scared.

Recharge

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

It seems as though we have just been going, going, going lately. All of the end of school activities, house stuff, yard stuff had been a lot. Add to that the emotional aspect, when Friday rolled around, I was done. My batteries were running on their last legs. Since it was officially the first day of Summer break, I decided to give myself a much needed day to just recharge.

Our bedroom is my relaxing, cozy spot. It’s quite small for being the primary bedroom (I actually think Jackson’s bedroom is bigger) but I just absolutely love it. Yesterday I REALLY loved it because there was a lot of doing nothing.

We keep a blanket on our bed because sometimes one of our cats likes to take a little nap. Also, if you have a queen size bed, but don’t like how short the queen duvets and comforters are, get a king size. It fits so much better.

There was quite a bit of reading. I finished the John Saul book. It was pretty good. I hadn’t read one of his book in a long time. I kind of got off Patricia Cornwell after reading one of her VERY long books where I felt like the ending was just rushed, almost like her editor called her up and told her she’d missed her deadline and to just end it. This one, so far, is good. I watched the Netflix documentary on Joan Didion and just had to get this book when I found it in the thrift store. She led such an interesting life. I’m about halfway through and it’s also very good. I don’t take the time to read very often, so it felt good to just take the time to indulge.

A recharge day wouldn’t be complete without a few episodes of Supernatural.

Our TV is really too big for our room. We have looked into getting a smaller one, but since it works just fine, I think we’ll just wait until it doesn’t.

I wasn’t a complete slug. I did make dinner, clean up the kitchen and do a little housework. Not too much though. You would think that by relaxing all day I wouldn’t be able to sleep last night, but I made my goal hours.

Today because I finished all the laundry, including putting it all away, I did not feel like cooking. Luckily my online order coincided with Donny getting off work so he was able to swing by Little Caesars and pick up the pizzas. We tried the pretzel pizza, one with cheese sauce and one with pizza sauce. They were delicious. Even Donny, who isn’t terribly fond of LC, said it was good.

I think the cheese sauce one was my favorite.

House Scent

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

It’s so funny when people come over and say, you smell like your house. What they mean is our house smells like this.

I have used this laundry soap for years and the whole family always gets compliments on how we smell. Since I’ve basically become nose blind to it, I don’t really even smell it anymore. If I am away from our house for any length of time though, when I walk in I can definitely smell it. It’s spicy, earthy and just really smells good. It’s such a comforting scent. Some people think it smells like patchouli. I guess it sort of does. Anyway, I did laundry and that’s when you can really smell it throughout the house. All of the Zum products are so good. I use the bar soap, lotion, room and body spray and body oil. If you like earthy scents you should try this brand.

We are supposed to be getting storms in a little while. It’s been raining and lightning like crazy. I tried to get a picture of lightning, but of course it stopped right when I turned the camera on.

Hopefully if the storm does hit us it won’t be too bad. So many cities are getting hit by really bad weather lately. Spring storms are getting crazy.

She Did It

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn familyLeave a comment

Today Hannah graduated from high school.

This was not a normal graduation where the kids just walk across the stage and get their diplomas. Each graduate gets to choose a teacher or administrator to present them. They give a short speech about the student and then the student has an option if they want to say something. It is the most intimate ceremony you can imagine. Hannah chose the superintendent, Mr. Lapic.

And then she surprised us by going solo. Yes, I cried like a baby. In fact, throughout the whole ceremony there were many many tears shed by everyone there. Each student had their own story and many were very moving.

The school live streamed the event so Nikki, our oldest, was able to watch it with her family from Dallas and she sent me this text after it was over.

There are so many photos because today was such a special day.

The 2024 graduating class of East Texas Charter School. (all 34 of them)

One thing we love about this school is there is no valedictorian, salutatorian or honor roll. That’s not the point of this school. They just want to make sure everyone improves their lives and does the very best they can.

Hannah and Gavin

Hannah and Mr. Lapic

The family picture. Please note that I had cried all of my makeup off and that, I promise, Jackson is happy. He NEVER smiles in pictures and it drives me so crazy. I think he does it to me on purpose.

Two of Hannah’s favorite teachers.

The teacher above was a godsend to us because he helped her in algebra to where she actually understood it.

What great teachers she had.

inside her diploma envelope, there was a copy of the program and all of the teachers had signed it.

You don’t get this from large public schools, that’s for sure.

After the ceremony we went to lunch at Fun Noodle Bar. It’s a new place that we hadn’t tried and it was really good. There is a glass wall where you can watch them make the noodles.

It was such a great day! Then I went home and took a 4 hour nap. It was much needed.

Flies + Plant + Weird

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

One thing you can always count on when the weather starts heating up in the South are flies. They are awful. We normally have the big smelly fly traps outside that can catch thousands of the little pests. Problem is, they are really smelly and therefore you can’t bring them indoors. Since our kitchen is right off of the side door, it is a playground for the flies. I saw a video on TikTok that showed a woman using a pine cleaner and water to deter them. Even though I’m not a huge fan of the pine cleaner scent, I gave it a shot and wiped down every single surface in my kitchen. This is what I used. It is 85% pine oil so it only takes a cap full.

I didn’t know this, but Pine Sol doesn’t contain pine oil any more. If you can find this stuff it is amazing. Flies absolutely hate it. In fact, they were just gone. I’m going to keep using it, at least through the summer.

Last night we heard a crash. The pothos I had hanging above the sink fell. I’ve had it hanging for 5 years. I don’t know why the hook pulled out, but when I tried to untangle the chains from the vines, I couldn’t. The more I tried the more frustrated I became. It was like a giant tangled necklace.

Luckily Donny loves puzzles so he was able to untangle it when he got home. I just need to re-pot it into a lighter pot and get it hung back up tomorrow. I got a much bigger hook for it too.

When I was cleaning and spraying everything today, I realized we have some weird things in our home.

This is Gaa-Gaa pig. The kids gave it the name when they were really little. I’ve tried to get rid of it several times, but they will have none of that. Its head even broke clean off, but they made me glue it back on. I don’t know why they love this pig so much.

This fine gentleman is Christian Frog. He used to wear a cross necklace, but in one of our moves it was lost. That doesn’t make him any less of a Christian though. He sits in our living room. He has been with us for years and I just tell everyone that he keeps us honest. You can’t do anything bad under Christian Frog’s stare. He’s also a good place to keep Hannah’s cap out of the way until graduation tomorrow.

We are having quite a storm right now, so hopefully the big hat will still be there in the morning.

P.S.

Have you ever made a big salad to just keep in the fridge and eat on all week? It keeps me from grabbing an unhealthy snack when I get hungry and it’s so good with Aldi’s Mediterranean salad dressing.

I ate some tonight with quiche that I made. SO good!

It’s Getting Real

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn CraftingLeave a comment

Hannah’s first real day of summer vacation took us to Michael’s so she could pick out decorations for her graduation cap. She had a general idea of what she wanted it to look like, but with so many choices it took awhile.

She did such a good job on it.

Jackson’s last day is tomorrow. One day of finals left. He’s aced all of his so far. He’s such a smart kid and is really ready for summer break.

Last

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn JournalLeave a comment

It’s funny how you never realize when something is the last time you’ll be doing it. Your children asking for a bedtime story, the Halloween where they aren’t trick or treating anymore, that Christmas when they don’t believe in Santa anymore, it slips by so fast that you don’t even notice. Today was the last day I would be taking and picking up Hannah from her high school. I felt it and it was a bittersweet emotion.

If you know our story at all, 9th grade, for her, was awful, terrible and a no good year. There were times during that year that we didn’t know if she was going to make it. She missed 40+ days of school. She had massive panic attacks that sunk her into a deep depression. There was a lot. It’s her story to tell, but we were lost, afraid and prayed a lot. There was also a lot of therapy and medication, which she no longer needs to take. Today was special. It is the beginning of a new chapter and the closing of another.

I’d like to say thank you to Pine Tree I.S.D. Thank you for failing my child. Thank you for not stepping up when I was begging you for help. Thank you for teachers that accused my daughter of lying about having a fake phone and making her feel already worse about herself than she already did. Thank you for letting the kids say mean, cruel things to her and make fun of her. Because of this, no matter how pretty she looks, the cruel things said to her will always be louder, in her mind, than the compliments she now receives. And I’m thanking you because if it wasn’t for your failings we would never have found her safe haven.

East Texas Charter School, you will never know how grateful we have been these last few years for you accepting Hannah into the fold. Thank you for being the nurturing place where she has come into herself. Because of the teachers who actually care about their students she has far surpassed what we had envisioned for her. She now WANTS to go to college where before she couldn’t even think of going to school the next day. You have given her confidence which to us is priceless. ETCS, you will always hold such a special place in our hearts.

And any parent reading this who has a child going through a situation like we went through, don’t give up. Keep fighting for your child. We went to the Texas Teacher’s Association and had lawyers looking into our case. Be a thorn in the schools side, if you want them to stay in that school. If you don’t, check out charter schools. They are small and the teachers are actually able to teach the kids in a much better setting.

Another last today was the call I got because Hannah got dress coded. That will be the last time that I have to run clothes up to her. I told her principal that an award needs to be handed out to her for being dress coded the most times while at ETCS. That one, I don’t think I’ll miss. Let the new chapter begin. We’re ready for it.

Disenchanted

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn JournalLeave a comment

Lately I have become disenchanted with my kitchen. I don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s small or that we only have an eat in kitchen. Maybe it’s the lack of storage. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but when I get like this I look back on when we didn’t even have a working kitchen.

When most of Baton Rouge flooded in August of 2016, we lost about 95% of our belongings. We took in 4 ft of water, so basically our whole house had to be gutted. Did you know that refrigerators float and then fall?

I can’t even begin to describe the smell. We called it the flood stink.

We wanted to get back into our house as soon as possible, so we moved in before everything was finished. The kids were on the driveway washing all of the kitchen things that could be saved.

My neighbor, Cindy and her husband moved back in about the same time we did and there was one other family that did also. At night it was like a scene from The Walking Dead because no one was there and it was extremely quiet.

Our kitchen, even when we moved in, wasn’t fully functional. This is how I washed dishes. I would heat the water up in a pan on the electric skillet.

We had a little coffee bar.

I cooked everything in the electric skillet.

I told myself I would never forget how hard that time was, but time fades those memories. I told myself that I would always be grateful for what we have, but here I am feeling unmotivated and disheartened. That’s why I keep these pictures so I can look back and remember. And although it was a difficult time it really made me realize that stuff is just stuff. It’s motivated me to want to go through my kitchen and purge everything we aren’t using. Hopefully I can get started on that in a few days. I just need to lighten the load.

And I will always be so grateful for the Cajun Navy who rescued us off our roof after a sleepless night.

And also for my neighbor Cindy who could always make me laugh no matter what.

Saturday

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn WeekendLeave a comment

I rarely leave the house on Saturdays. Mainly because it seems like every person who lives in our town is out and about. Today, however, Jackson asked if the thrift stores were open. You know what that means, a mom son day out. I did find some cool things though. Jackson did too, but I never post what he finds, just because he really doesn’t want me too.

I’m always on the lookout for the 18th book in the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club series. I didn’t find that one, but I found a John Saul book that looks really good. This store has all of their hardcovers for 50 cents, so I really couldn’t pass it up.

I found this vintage basket, that can finally replace the kinda falling apart one in our bedroom, to hold our blankets.

I lucked out and founds this super cute navy top, a cute casual Tshirt and a denim dress that I’m sure I’ll wear a lot this summer.

I have a thing for pillows and couldn’t pass up these Pier 1 embroidered ones.

These wooden vintage placemats match the new chairs. I’m really liking them on the table.

I had purchased these crystals months ago and decided to use them on a planter that I had painted gold. This picture does not do it justice at all. It’s so sparkly and casts prisms all over the patio.

When cleaning the bedroom I found these 3 cookbooks I had completely forgotten we had. Some of the recipes are very interesting, but there are some that I really want to try. I’ve gotten kind of bored with cooking lately. I always seem to just make the same things. Maybe these will inspire me.

We ended the evening at the fire pit. Which was much needed.

Everything was going great until I felt the chair I was sitting on start ripping. It is 6 years old, but still.

Donny is off tomorrow, so hopefully we will be able to sleep in. Every time I think I’ll be able to sleep in, I always end up waking up around 4:30. I’m hoping that won’t happen tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Dig In the Dirt

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

There’s been a task that I have been putting off for a while. My plants were getting too big for some pots and the pothos was getting very leggy and not looking its best. Here are what the wall pots looked like before. I had to go back to find a picture, but the peace Lily was just so overgrown and the purple jew was just past its prime.

We had to run to Home Depot to pick up some more potting soil and I found the cutest little indoor plant to replace the purple jew. I was able to separate the peace Lily and replant it in two bigger pots and still have some for the wall.

The peace lilies are in shock right now, but should perk up in a few days.

I had to give the pothos a major trim.

Since they are so easy to grow, I saved the good parts of the vines and planted them around the house. Hopefully they’ll take. It’s rare that they don’t, but we’ll see. It looks so much healthier now. I wish that I could plant it in a smaller pot, but it’s already so well established I’m afraid that it wouldn’t like it.

And y’all, it was HOT outside today. I was sweating, like pouring down my face sweat. It was only 85, so I can only imagine what the actually summer temps are going to be like. There was one saving grace. It’s what help get me through when all of Longview lost power during the heat wave of the summer. Those were the longest days ever, but this helped so much.

Best flavor ever, Tigers Blood. It’s just coconut strawberry, but it’s SO good! Thanks Zippy J’s!