You Get What You Need

I have been job hunting, which ends up feeling a lot like dating did in my early twenties. It starts out all shiny, you picture a Sixteen Candles kind of fairytale ending where you get that boy (job) you really want. Only, I am starting to suspect that I am not Samantha Baker. I might just be Caroline Mulford, ending the night with my hair chopped off in a strange boys car. What's a girl to do, when you cry yourself to sleep over that job you ALMOST got but in the end didn't. In short, six months of job hunting feels like an eternity, & what seemed fun has become emotionally draining.

Pity party aside, this has been a huge lesson on leaving my comfort zone, acceptance, & each interview is another chance to improve. I have some choices to make about what my next move would be & given Mr. G's working schedule, combined with the boy's school schedule somethings just won't fit. I want to go back to work, but is that what we need me to do right at this point in time? I will never regret putting my career on hold to raise my family, but I do wish an employer would take a chance on me.

I am giving it one more go, & then I will take a break until the new year.

An Afternoon on the Farm

This afternoon, I loaded the boys in the car for an adventure. I refused to tell them where we were headed, it was a surprise. After several rounds of are we there yet, & where are we going, we arrived at the Coggeshall Farm museum in Bristol, RI.

Coggeshall Farm, is Rhode Island's only living history farm. This is a magical place, where you feel like you have stepped back in time, to the year 1799 the moment you arrive. It is one of the most peaceful places I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Today we spent most of our visit outside, it was a perfect New England spring day nothing but bright blue skies & a brisk breeze. The boy's were asked if they would like to help out & collect eggs in the barn, what a great treat! While they were waiting, one of the Tom turkeys was very curious about what might be in their empty basket. Later on during the day, one of the interpreters taught them a trick to fool bossy turkeys & nesting geese, so that the birds wouldn't chase them around the farm yard.

The eggs we collected, the boys were so excited to try this but the geese were a bit scary so I helped. J-Bird is making one of his crazier smile faces, it looks more like he is growling at me!

Running through the pasture beware of Ox patties, but J-Bird managed to step in one whoops!

This ox was enormous, but ever so peaceful I could have spent all day patting him

The definition of a gentle giant, he was so very, very sweet. He would come closer, ever so slowly to get you to keep rubbing his nose.

Chickens roaming free in the yard. They all looked so happy, going about their chicken business. One of the hens in the barn was very broody. She was sitting on her eggs yelling at us, we of course left her & her eggs alone.

Chavi is creeping up on the sheep slowly, he wants to get a better look at the lambs.

That is a horse taking a nap in the far pasture & a little donkey grazing, all of the animals seemed so content.

We became very careful sheep stalkers. Moving slowly, & quietly, so that we could get a good look without startling them away. They have lambs to protect, so that makes them more skittish. They were all oh so adorable though.

This little lamb was born in January

The eggs in the basket were the ones we collected, the white dough is johnny cake batter. We were allowed to try a johnny cake, it was very tasty.

This is a museum where you can touch everything, just so long as you are gentle. Both boys enjoyed dressing up & pretending. They tried on everything even a corset, which they thought was a vest!

He is pretending to be hard at work

The farm is very near the bay, the views were just stunning. Connie, the female interpreter working at the house was amazing, so patient with both my & the boys many questions. John who was working outside, was also wonderful. They were just full of information, happy to share it, & obviously very much enjoy their work.

J-Bird, told John about the chicks they had hatched in their classroom (from Casey Farm) & how we would like to get chickens of our own. So then John, got to telling me about the chicken class they have during spring vacation week every year at Coggeshall Farm & that they if we really are interested in keeping chickens that their farm sells heritage breed birds.  He had such a passion about the animals under his care, the importance of preserving the heritage breeds, & even though he was very obviously busy he took time to chat with us for a few minutes.

Headed back down the hill to our car, this was a perfect day I can't wait until our next visit. I am so glad we came to Coggeshall Farm today. It was very inspiring & I love sneaking in education in ways the boys won't see as learning.


Coggeshall Farm Museum

*The farm is open Tuesday - Sunday 10:00 am to 4:00pm year round
*Weekday rates are slightly cheaper than weekend rates, & they do not take credit or debit cards
*There are picnic tables, & a restroom on the grounds, this is a leave no trace site so if you bring it in be sure to take it back out
*There are various membership packages which have several nice perks: free admission during normal museum hours, discounted rates for special events & workshops, & a 10% discount on organic produce from their kitchen garden

For the Love of Dirt

Finally spring is here!  Which means its time to work outside, & play in the dirt.  In my opinion gardening is one of the best ways to spend a day.

Mr. G was home on R&R the last two weeks (he left yesterday, but will be home again for good sometime this summer), while he was home he pulled out four ugly old boxwood hedges from along the side of our home. I don't know if anyone else dislikes boxwood as much as I do, but I feel they are very dated & just boring. They are my least favourite landscaping & their days have been numbered since we moved in!

This is also where our new sump drains out into the yard, we had a massive basement project happen last week too. I really like that the ground water will stay out of the basement & help to water our grass.

Adios ugly boxwood hedge

So much bare dirt to work with I love it

My friends very generously gifted me a little lilac bush

All of those rocks & the granite blocks were found in my yard. When ever I dig a new hole or till up an old bed I find tons of rocks, these are some of the smaller ones I have harvested.

Pansies in a rain boot, I hung up both boots, & now I want more LOL. These were MY old rain boots, I love finding ways to recycle in my garden.

 I didn't notice she was missing an arm until I was paying BUT she was a thrift store bargain & I decided it didn't matter.

Another thrift store purchase, an old wire whisk. I filled it with yarn, cotton twine, & felting wool for the birds to snag.

One of my pretty chocolate terracotta pots, I have more waiting to be replanted. I just love the way the porch steps look with lots of planted pots. The rest of the pots are where I will plant my herb garden, & tomatoes.

I used to despise succulents, for some reason they bothered me on a tactile level. Now I love them, which is a good thing because my garden had a crazy amount of them when we bought the house. They are a super easy plant, & they relocate easily so I can use them as a quick filler.

I need mulch in the worst way but the local place I get it from is not open for the season yet & I am worried my seedlings won't come up if I mulch over them

My garden is still a work in progress, I don't think I will ever truly be done LOL. I have sunflower seeds planted along the house (I alternated mammoth & evening bliss), I am going to spray paint that tower trellis,  a few more flowers along the rock border, find more rocks in my yard to finish the border, & mulch, mulch mulch.

I love it though, gardening makes me very happy. One of my favourite things, is to sit in my yard, or on my porch, & just stare at my flowers or the birds. There is nothing better than soaking up the sun & warmth after a long winter. I am gleefully counting down the days until we can have our first beach day!

House Work

This week I decided to re-do our downstairs bathroom. (a work in progress the walls and cabinets need to be re-painted) its past life was as a ho-hum children's bathroom. However this is the bathroom all of our guests use & I wanted it to be more grown-up space. (no little boys allowed)

The bathroom before:

This is how the bathroom looks now:

View from the back hall: blue ombre curtains & blue birds shower curtain both by Threshold

The garbage can doesn't normally live in the middle of the bathroom I just wanted to show it off

Shelf on the door wall (the door is off center it drives me batty) I need a small basket up there I think

I painted the vanity mirror Sweet Mint by Valspar

More storage yay

Motivating art

New handles

Closet organization

We have a very weird bathroom closet because it is ALSO the back hall closet

I have all of these Birchbox boxes, & they were the perfect size to help organize my drawers

No more room for new polish

Finding a narrow basket for this space was not easy, the tea cup is the perfect place for my rings

A magnetic board for hair clips & bobby pins

Eventually the walls are going to go from bland beige to Valspar Apricot Ice, the ceiling & doors/trim will be Polar White

This is our new front porch light, I LOVE it the spiral filament Edison bulbs just look amazing
Thanks for looking, I hope you liked it!