Just a short post with some pretty summer photos to let you know that I’m putting The Green Wife on pause.  I’ve already been a little MIA lately, so I thought I’d just put it officially on pause for a bit.  Right now I don’t know if it will be a week, a month or a year, but I’ll return with more fun and tutorials at some point.

In the meantime, dig around the site, maybe catch an occasional update on Facebook or Twitter, and keep an eye on Flickr for photos.

You’ll still be able to reach me at abbie(at)thegreenwife.com if you have any questions or fun things to share.

In the meantime, I wish you many happy days, peaceful nights and lots of laughter.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

On our last day in the mountains, the kids and I went horseback riding at Triple B Ranch.

A) The ranch is lovely.

B)  The horses on the ranch are lovely.

C)  The people on the ranch are lovely.

Seriously, we were thrilled with every detail of our visit and ride at the ranch and I hope to go ride with them again sometime.  Good people, I tell ya.

As long as you’re over 48″ tall, you can do the trail ride, so while the older two kids and I met our horses, Elliott waited for her turn to ride around the arena.

First, I met my horse.  Her name is Misty and by the end of our ride, I was begging the wrangler to just let me ride her back home to Texas.  She was perfect, sweet, and beautiful and nearly lulled me to sleep in no time.

Then, Alex met his horse.  Her name was Cookie and she was pretty awesome, too.

And Mazzy rode Star.  Star was the sweetest little slowpoke!  She’d stop and rest and just take her time.  If I lived where she lived, I’d probably not be in too big of a hurry, either.

We got our instructions from Kelly, the best wrangler in the world.

And we headed out.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Elliott met and fell madly in love with her horse Lexie.  Note the pink leading rope (that is a leading rope, right?  My horse knowledge is beyond rusty.) that thrilled Elliott to no end.

She rode circles in the arena with the other best wrangler in the world and managed to discuss every topic under the sun–and maybe even more–with her while they rode.  Elliott and Lexie became the best of friends.  I think Elliott has a lot of cowgirl in her blood.

She had to give Lexie lots of love before saying her goodbyes.

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting lunch and doing touristy shopping in Manitou Springs before we headed home to the cabin to pack up and head out.

And that, my friends, is that.

Thanks for sharing our Colorado journey with me.

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We stopped in first at their visitor information/old jail and the girls threw on some jailbird outfits and put on their best pouts.

Then we drove up to American Eagles Overlook which stands at 10, 570 ft above sea level and overlooks that active gold mine I mentioned in my previous post.

Up top, there is still some of the old mining equipment and what’s left of the old blacksmith shop.

West of us, the clouds were putting on a spectacular show.  Absolutely gorgeous!

As we headed back down to Victor, we encountered one of the enormous mining trucks.  Look at how tiny the driver’s face looks in that monster!

There are lots of still-standing, turn-of-the-century buildings that are really interesting.

When we got back to town, we stopped in at the museum so the kiddos could do some gold panning.  At $2/kid and basically unlimited panning, this was cheap and wonderful entertainment for them.  They didn’t even want to stop for lunch!

Papa and Elliott teamed up.

Grammy and Mazzy were at the opposite end.

And Daddy and Alex found some treasure together.

After we grabbed some delicious burgers and absolutely to-die-for homemade pie and cinnamon rolls in the local cafe, we headed back to the cabin for naps and walks.  Elliott made friends with this little guy and toted him around for awhile.

The kids all loved the tiny pine cones.

And Elliott, of course, picked us some more flowers.

We spent some time on the deck and Daddy helped Alex out with a game on his iPod.

This little bunny would visit down by the lower deck of the cabin almost every morning and evening.  This particular evening, I was able to slowly inch closer to him and snap this shot of him.  Precious little dude, huh?

To Be Continued….Again…But…just one more.  I promise.

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What I didn’t mention yesterday was that while we were at the cabin, Alex lost a tooth.  A very cantankerous tooth that refused to come out even with the permanent tooth 90% of the way in.  It was a problem tooth and it was a huge deal to get that sucker out of the way, so when it was out, Alex decided that rather than toting the tooth back to Texas, he wanted to bury it down by the pond.  He wanted to always remember that there’s a little part of him in Colorado.  Pretty cool kiddo. That night, the tooth fairy came.

Once that chunk of cash was tucked safely in his wallet, we headed out for the day.  About 10 miles from our cabin, we passed this enormous, still-active goldmine (more on that tomorrow….).  Look at that.  Years and years of mining for the shiny stuff all stacked up into its own kind of mountain.  It gave me a funny feeling in my tummy.  I feel for our planet, BUT…we exist and none of us want to stop existing any time soon, so…what do ya’ do?

Annnnnywayyyyyyyyyy…

As we passed through the cute little town of Cripple Creek, Shayne and I got so tickled at this sign that he u-turned so I could grab this shot.  How can you not laugh at that??

Donkeys at large.  *snort*

And my giggles didn’t stop as we passed this sand sculpture…

79th Annual what?  I don’t know.  I was just quick enough to get the shot without seeing what it was all about.

We kept on our way to Woodland Park and the scenery was, of course, magnificent.

We visited a little, very kid-friendly dinosaur museum.

And then we headed to the incredible Garden of the Gods.

I fell in love with the Kissing Camels.  Can you spot them?

Everywhere you look in the Garden, you find more and more amazing formations.  Just when I thought I couldn’t love our planet more….wow.

More wow.

The kiddos:

And some more wow.

And Mazzy…

And Alex…

And Elliott.

We climbed up to Balancing Rock.  700 tons of rock formed millions of years ago.  Just hanging out.  Not falling.  Just doing it’s rock thing.

700 freakin’ tons of rock.

Love this view as you leave the park.  One more ‘wow’.

If you’ve never been…..go.

Again, I say:  To Be Continued!

After our first night’s sleep at the cabin, we decided to spend the day at the cabin and exploring the forest around us.  After a delicious breakfast, we headed out for a walk.  The kids were all very thrilled to find trees, plants, flowers, rocks that were so different that the ones they find near home.

“Mommy, take a picture of this rock!”

“Mom!!  Did you see this tree??”

“Take a picture of this flower, mommy!”

And that’s why I came home with 1401 photos on my card.

Anyway…

We headed out and Elliott immediately picked a flower for Mommy.

And one for Grammy…

We set off down the path and enjoyed the sunshine, the fresh air and the trees.

Elliott tried to catch every bug she encountered.

And everyone took joy in all the tiny pieces of beauty that the forest offers.

Beauty…life…the forest is good.  The forest owns my heart.  If human beings would spread out, get out of the clusters of chaos we call cities and just…be, I think the world would get back to its roots and be a much more peaceful, much more lovely place to be.

And if we all slowed down to giggle and blow dandelions sometimes, we’d probably tend to breathe a little easier and feel a little more free.

And nibbling wild strawberries just can’t be a bad thing.

Now this stump is….just a stump, I suppose.  But the perfect shape of it, the moss growing on it and the way the sunlight was hitting made me feel like gnomes hang out beside it and party.  Or maybe a fairy lives inside of it.  Or…or…some other magical little forest creatures.  Either way, I loved this stump.

As we wound down around the mountain, we had a great view looking up at the cabin.  It’s a lovely cabin and I would highly recommend it spending even a small fraction of your life there.

This little patch of life was one of my favorites.  Just hanging out.  Being beautiful.  On the side of a rock.

We arrived at this little pond.  Judging by tracks and…well, other evidence, it is the watering hole for deer, elk and bears.  And an unfortunate place for ducks to hang out.

Don’t ask.

The kids all needed to toss in some rocks.

We wandered on and when we came upon this, the kids declared it “The Crocodile Log”.  Good stuff.

Miss Mazzy took a break.

Then Shayne grabbed my camera and snapped this shot of a fly sitting on a broken tree.  What we both failed to notice were the black hairs in there.  Seems this may be a scratching post for Mr. Bear.

While digging in the dirt & rocks with the kids, I flipped over a leaf and fell in love with the tiny droplets.

Elliott just had to climb a tree on the way back to the cabin.

And we found this guy grabbing a snack at the front porch.

To Be Continued…

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We arrived home last night around 9pm and I immediately plugged the camera into my computer and uploaded the 1401 photos I took along the way.  Yes, 1401.  Colorado is just pretty, okay???  And…and…and our kids are cute, too, k??

So, while I won’t spoonfeed you 1400 pics, I will be sharing lots of photos in the coming days.  Hey, it’s better than watching your grandma’s vacation slides while she pinches your cheeks.  I think.

First up:  the drive.  We left out of our North Texas hometown last Monday morning.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with North Texas/West Texas, I know you feel my pain when I say the drive up to the New Mexico/Colorado border was…um..rather bland in the scenery department.  There were lots of typical small Texas towns and lots of this:

We stopped in Amarillo for lunch at The Big Texan.  You know, the place where if you eat a 72 oz steak, you get it free?  It was featured on Man vs. Food, so we couldn’t resist stopping in for some steak.  The place is over-the-top-Texas-stereotype fun and the food was super yummy.   While none of us had the guts to attempt the 72 oz challenge, we sat near the stage so that we could watch a fellow patron give it a shot.  Love the 1 hour timer that keeps people sweating while they try to choke down the steak, baked potato, 2 jumbo shrimp, salad annnnd a dinner roll to get their free dinner.  Wow.  The guy we watched had to call it quits with 10 minutes left on the clock.  I admire his ability to know when to quit….or when to make a break for the bathroom.

I couldn’t resist snapping a pic of the beast as it was being cooked.  That.  Is.  A. LOT.  Of.  Meat.

The kids all got cowboy hats with their meals.

I love this shot that Shayne got:

And I just need to clarify that in this next one, the kids are not crying….they just have a mean case of the sun squints.  Or maybe they were crying for steak-guy’s stomach.  Or maybe they weren’t.  That sun was brutal, man.

Annnnd….back on the road.  More Texas to be seen…

I can’t remember if this was still Texas or if we had crossed into New Mexico already, but I just love that sky!

The scenery began to get a little more interesting…

And we saw lots and lots of trains along the way…

And finally…Colorado Springs.  But, we were too early (we split the trip, stayed overnight in Raton, NM and arrived in Colorado Springs before lunch on Tuesday) to check into the cabin yet, so we spent some time at Cave of the Winds.

While we waiting for our cave tour to begin, we enjoyed the scenery.

Breathtaking.  I wish photos could do it justice. If you’ve never been, be sure to go.  You won’t regret it.  Unless you’re afraid of heights.  Or mountains.  Or breathtaking beauty.

I love caves.  Sure, I’m a bit claustrophobic, but I seriously can’t think of anything cooler than being inside of our Earth.  It’s just not something we can experience every day.  Thinking about when and how the structures inside the cave were formed just sends shivers down my spine.  Our planet is flat out amazing.  Unfortunately my cave photography is not amazing, so here are two decent enough shots:

We grabbed our key and began what turned out to be a very long journey to our cabin.  I mean, we knew it was going to be really far from Colorado Springs, but what we didn’t realize was how completely isolated it was from all of civilization.  It was more than Elliott could take.

Fortunately those of us that remained conscious, the scenery was fabulous.

And we got to see quite a few abandoned gold mines that really brought us in touch with American history.

The country was teeming with wildlife.

And finally…we were at the cabin.  Whew.

To Be Continued…..

My super-clever friend Valerie mentioned yesterday that she was buying a set of commercially available topic cards for and upcoming occasion in her life.  I started pricing them and decided to make some myself instead.  I’m sure the boxed sets are great, but we’ve got so many upcoming trips that I’m trying to pinch pennies, stay green and keep our travel budget under control.

So here’s the deal.  I grabbed a bunch of empty boxes from the recycle bin.

The kids and I busted them apart at the seams and cut them into sections.

I cut one at roughly 4″ x 1/5″.  This isn’t an exact science and in my book, who cares if they’re perfect?  It’s all about quick, fun and easy!

Then instead of using my ruler that you see above that I’ve had since 3rd grade (Yes, really.  It was a consolation prize from my small hometown’s Mayfest and has stuck around all these years.), I just roughly used one as a template and cut around them until I had 40 approximately-the-same-size cards.

After that, I dug around on the internet and in my brain for some questions to use.  I typed them up, printed them out and cut them into strips using some old scrapbook zig-zaggy scissors.

Then I borrowed a glue stick from the kiddos and pasted the paper onto the cards.

Voila!  Nothing fancy, but they should definitely help us while away the hours on the road.  But wait!  What’s that image flashing before my eyes??  Oh yes….conversation cards in the floorboards, wedged between seats and smudged with Cheeto fingerprints??  Ack!

Much better.  A drawstring bag to fit in Mommy’s purse. (See bag tutorial here.)

I hope that if you make these cards, they bring you hours of peace in the car and bring you and your kids a little closer.  You never know what’s going on in those brilliant little minds until you ask them a bunch of random questions.

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Not too long ago I spotted a really great fabric bracelet at a high end store.  Since I’m not a big jewelry wearer, I couldn’t bring myself to pay big bucks for a bracelet.  However, that bracelet popped into my mind this afternoon and it sparked a recon idea in my head.  I just gave it a whirl and while it’s nothing fancy, it’s a fun, quick project that’s perfect for a funky accessory.

The absolute simplicity of this project makes it a great summer project for a teen or pre-teen that’s trying out his or her sewing skills.  My 3-year-old daughter is begging me to make her one in ‘prettier colors’ as we speak.

Let’s get started!

Supplies:

Old t-shirts or any old piece of clothing made of knit or other stretchy fabric

Scissors

Sewing machine

So…get your t-shirt.

Cut strips of fabric, making sure the the stretch goes down the length of your strips.  You’ll want the bracelet to stretch a bit so you can easily get it on and off.

My wrist is child-like in size and measures just under 7 inches, so I made my strips about 8-8.5 inches long.  I made mine too wide to start with and ended up narrowing them to about 1 inch.  This is all very approximate.  That’s the beauty of the funky little bracelet–the more random and rough it is, the more fun it looks!  Despite the yard stick in my photos, I didn’t use it once.  Just freehanded the whole thing.  Fast and fun!

Now, simply fold the strips in half and sew, using a straight stretch stitch.

Now loosely gather the ends and stitch across them to secure them.  There’s no rhyme or reason to how I need this.  I just bunched them up and stitched across using a slightly longer stitch length to accommodate the thickness.

To close this bracelet up, you’ll want a wider, shorter strip of fabric that is something like this:

It should be wide enough to cover the end seams on the strips on both ends and long enough to overlap when wrapped loosely around the ends.  Like this:

After you’ve stitched one end into the wide strip (should look like photo above), tuck the other end of your bracelet into it and repeat.  Easy enough, right?  Here’s my bracelet:

To make it more your style, you can mix and match colors, thread on some random large beads, change up thread colors.  Just have fun!  Grab the kids and bust up that summer boredom!

I’ve had a lot of losses.  Many of my herbs were lost to our cat…um…making use of the pots while they were in our sun room on chilly nights.  Onions and radishes died after failed transplantation.  And…in a complete oversight on my part, I failed to put drainage holes in our new squash containers when I transplanted them.  After a huge rain…they drowned.  RIP, squash.  You’ll be missed.  Luckily, some of the sibling squash plants survived my silliness and it seems that we’ll still have squash coming out of our ears.

Our jalapeno plants are producing like crazy and I’m really, really looking forward to fresh pico de gallo.  And stuffed peppers on the grill.  Mmmmmmm.

And look at this baby bell pepper.  I love it!

My only surviving herbs are basil and cilantro.  I’ve harvested the cilantro recently, so no photos of that….but the basil sure is purdy….and in need of thinning.

Eggplant plants are growing nicely but are nowhere near producing.

We’ve already enjoyed our first tomato and we are waiting on more, more, more!  Unfortunately, a couple of our tomato pots weren’t draining properly either, so we’ve got lots of yellow leaves.  I’m hoping to nurse them back to health and enjoy tomatoes all summer long!

So, while this container gardening thing doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea, I’m not giving up.  What survivors I have will thoroughly be enjoyed and in the meantime, my kids are enjoying the process as much as I am.  That’s the good stuff, baby.

If you’re gardening this year, will your share with me what you’re growing and what ups and downs you’ve experienced in your gardening efforts?

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Joy sells Amy Butler and Heather Bailey fabric, you see.

This is Joy.  This is Joy in her roomful of gorgeousness.  This is Joy in her room full of gorgeousness in her own home.

A) See that face?  Now you can see the joy in Joy.  The joy in A Joyful Soul Fabrics.  She radiates love, warmth and….joy.

B) Can you even imagine having that fabric stash in your house??  You should see the projects she can crank out.  She’s a sewing…..um…machine?  You know what I mean.  I think.

I need this quilt.  I’ll make one soon.  I think.

So…because she’s just about to leave me, you guys get the hookup.  See, it will save her lots of time, effort and moolah if she can unload some of this fabric on us rather than having to pack it up and ship it across Texas.  Poor, poor us, huh?

Details: Joy has given me a discount code to share with you guys!  Now through June 6, use the code TGW20 to get 20% off of any order over $25!!

She’s more than just fabrics, too!  She has fantastic quilt kits, really fun patterns, and…well, just good stuff.   Go shop her site, use your code, unload her stash and start sewing.  I would love to see pictures of anything you guys make with your Joyful Soul fabrics!

Side note:  If you live near me, you live near her.  She would love for you to set up an appointment to stop by her house, take a look around and grab some fabric!

Another side note:  If you are in the San Antonio area, she would love for you to set up an appointment to stop by her house, take a look around and grab some fabric….once she lives there, you know.

To Joy:  It has been wonderful getting to know you.  Every visit to your home leaves me inspired, smiling and joyful.  I will miss you….but don’t think you’re rid of me!   Best of luck with your move!

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