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Warm Weather Hygge

By definition, hygge (hooga) according to the Denmark website is about "taking time away from the daily rush to be together with people you care about - or even by yourself - to relax and enjoy life's quieter pleasures."   There's a fun little book I read on vacation back in 2018 called The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living and I loved it so much, I bought one as soon as I got back.  There was actually nothing more relaxing than reading that little book curled up on the couch in the sunroom with a cup of tea and is one of my favorite memories of that trip. Many tend to associate this practice in the cooler months of Fall and Winter because it tends to focus on the act of being cozy.  Snuggling under a blanket, enjoying a warm, healing cup of tea by the fireplace (or fireplace on TV ), lighting a favorite candle while doing a calming hobby like cross stitch or scrapbooking.  Being a hyggephant, I can tell you that I never associated warm wea...

Springing Back to Life

Our patio has gone through many iterations over the past 29 years.  When we first moved in, we were poor.  Our budget was tight so we had to be content with the grass and shadowbox fences with the neighbors.  We knew we always wanted a patio and saved up for it.  I want to say we paid $1200 for a paver patio.  We picked out the huge 18"x18" slate look pavers from Lowe's and got a patio set that was an ambitious size.  It was nice to have a space to relax outside and have a little flower bed where our pooch would happily walk up to smell the flowers.  After a year or two of constantly having people catch our eye as they walked their dogs or themselves, we said it was time for a fence with a gate.  I think it was around $700 back then.  Damn those prices make me nostalgic!

Over the years, we had various outdoor area rugs, curtains on the fences to cover gaps, tropical hibiscus trees during our Hawaii years to remind us of our second home.  People always loved to see it open for the season and always told us how nice we decorated it.  



We hosted luaus including one where I covered the whole thing in sand!  For all of the work we did to get it together, I regret not inviting people over for cookouts more than we did.  I can probably count on one hand how often we did it if it wasn't a special occasion.  I'd give anything to have my grandma or mom over for a burger and corn on the cob.

We relied heavily on the patio in 2020 as it was really our only respite in the chaos.  When we decided to undertake the attempted soundproofing project in 2022, we lost all interest in trying to get that together.  Then losing Mom in 2023 and I was lucky to shower much less focus on the patio.  Last year, I just didn't care.  I had no desire to work on it, look at it and took zero interest that I had in the decades past.  What payoff would I get now from posting pics of it if Mom wasn't here to say "it looks bea-u-tiful!  Let me know when the cookout is!"  We were getting sucked down a rabbit hole of apathy when it came to that space.  Honestly it's hard to enjoy when you feel the eyes of your nosy neighbor upon you or listening to her have a conversation with her dog that's really for us because she's passive aggressive.  "I know.  I know there's people over there."  Or the smell of ethnic fast food that doesn't agree with my nose wafting over at certain times of the day along with the dulcet tones of the new preschool that is 100 yds away that sits in front of doggy daycare who basically let's their dogs outside to bark for sport for 35 minutes at a time.  How was this going to be a calm place for my mental health??

With the advent of wondering if we'll make it where his job is concerned, the urge to have some control over one potential aspect of our lives is strong with me.  I also know our situation has certain things we needed to take into consideration before considering a garden in our space.  1) It needed to be done as cheaply as possible meaning we would need to build these planters ourselves.  The planters I researched that I wanted were $240 for 2x4 and 350 2x6 on the LOW end.  That means $600 for the planters alone.  No effin' way.  2)  Because we've sucked on the strength training thus far this year, my lower back gets REALLY angry so I would need it to be a comfortable height for me and 24" which is the standard height, ain't it.  3) We have squirrels and chipmunks aplenty despite being in a townhome.  I swear we're on the equivalent of LA's 101 freeway and those bastards have zero shame and have attempted to dig at the roots of anything I've planted there.  That means a minimum of $250 in cages to keep those thieving jackholes out of anything we plant.  We're at $850 and that's not even filling it with anything or any seeds/plants!!  I found this YouTube video on how to build a raised bed for $125 and I saw many people said they did the same with cedar fence pickets to cut the cost in half.  Now, that we could do.  But I also knew we'd be wasting our time if we didn't come up with a varmint cage.  That's where this video came in.  We'd need to modify it, of course, but I wondered if the Mr would go for it.  I think at that point he was willing to do anything to get me out of my daily death spiral so he agreed and we got moving until we had these:




As with everything, nothing was easy.  I cut my hand on more wiring than I can count.  Our monster planter was a learning experience on so many levels.  When it was brought inside to wait for a bit of better weather and touch ups, it took up the entire wall leading out to the patio.  I'm sure the Mr wanted to set it on fire.  But we did it.  We had this space that could bring food and happiness and hope in a time all of those were being threatened.  

I know people may laugh snarkily saying "you spend $500 to get the materials to maybe cover $50 worth of groceries for the year."  I don't know.  Maybe so.  Maybe I've wasted money we should have been saving,  but I paid for whatever came after the initial lumber investment with birthday money I've been saving so it's not coming out of 'our' money and it's serving a purpose.  Not just the distraction from the horror show that is life lately but the excitement of what may come even in the darkest times.  Like seeing the first lettuce leaves on your pods you trim from your hydroponic unit brings you hope.  Sometimes finding a purpose again, trying to take back control in the uncontrollable and wanting to take pride in a space that has been seriously lacking in it for too many years, is what it takes to make yourself feel human again.  To feel a little excited about life when it's felt nothing but for too long.  To try something like building your own planters to save money and being humbled along the way but still proud.  To look at these monsters that you built just for the space available and say "we did that!"  (Or in the Mr's case "I can't believe she made me do that.")  

We've been watching our seeds germinate and it's sadly exciting.  I remember when I was 13, the lady in the duplex one building down was this cat lady whose house glowed with grow lights in every window.  I always thought "what a nut job."  

The state of our living room in mid March:

Those seedling lighted domes were a life saver!


My mail order cat should be here any day. 😸

I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous.  Y'all know our luck with pretty much everything.  I'm trying to be positive, I think it'll be okay but it still puts that seed of doubt especially after I sun mapped our planting spot in March.  I remembered it being much sunnier in the spot we had but in March it wasn't getting it the way I remembered.  I freaked out and the Mr said he was sure the sun would catch up to that spot because it was always super sunny in that area.  I thankfully put my mind at ease the last third of April when I sun mapped again and saw where the planters are will pretty much get full sun all day.



We were always Memorial Day patio preppers but doing those planters in early March forced us out in false spring to clean up and it was nice.  No being sopping wet in flop sweat with the blood curdling screeches of uncontrolled children at the too close for comfort pool.  We could just enjoy it for once.  Then giving a fresh coat of spray paint to what will be the lettuce table and all hooks that go into the walls to give stuff a refresh.  I am hoping this turns into a nice space for us.  We aren't enjoying life and haven't been for a few years.  I know this isn't the Mr's thing but hopefully he can get side benefit from it somehow even if it's just an entire salad that might come from our little planters one day or flowers that we planted from seed.  The patio isn't altogether since it's not planting time but we're ready for it instead of rushing around to try to get it together on the unofficial kickoff of summer.  I hope being ahead of the game will serve our mental health a little better.

You've got to find joy somewhere, maybe it's in a garden.


Do you garden?  If so, flowers and food or one or the other?

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Comments

  1. You have such a great style!
    Your little piece of Heaven looks so nice! I used to do a large veggie garden but Mom took care of it. She counted the cukes and maters everyday and reported back. I started some seedlingsbut not sure they will make it. Have a great week!

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  2. I look forward to making a salad or maybe even a sauce from ingredients grown from our own space. It will make it a lot worth it.

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  3. You are going to enjoy tour backyard this year with all those veggies and flowers popping up! Gardening can be hit or miss, trial and error, so some things will thrive and others maybe not as much. I loved our garden and enjoyed just standing there smelling it all. Lol. Can't wait to hear what you make with the crops!

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