One of the things that I don't like about being (a) (reasonably new) single (mum) is that you have to do everything yourself and/or on your own. I guess that is why a lot of things still have not been done in my house. That and the lack of a savings account. But seriously, I don't even have my curtains hanging the way they should. And I guess I would have had that done, if there was a man living here in the house or if someone would have showed me how.
I counted on my mum -who used to be a single mum at some time too and who to me seemed to be able to do just anything and who was here in the Netherlands on a holiday a few months ago- to teach me how to be an independent single mum and direct me in how to hang up my blinds but unfortunately it didn't happen. My blinds are still in the same plastic packaging as they have been for a couple of months now. They are now waiting for me to make an appointment with a 'handy man' who then also will do some painting in my house and hang up my curtains on rails.
It is a bit frustrating at times, especially when my kids have once again been playing in my bed room at the window and then to come in my bed room and see that there is no curtain hanging at my window. Because they accidently pulled the curtains a bit too hard and then one of the hooks which was attached to a hook in the wall with a cord, broke.
Last month I tried to make an appointment with a handy man who did my floor downstairs but I did not hear back from him, so I will try again this month and hopefully I will be able to get that out of the way.
We moved in this wonderful place last year -read about it here.- and I was delighted that we have a garden. I always loved having a garden. I also love planting stuff and last year, I delighted myself with the little gardens that the girls could use at the Kids farm, close to where we lived, when we were staying in an apartment. We planted sunflower seeds and we were amazed at how big they became. Everybody talked about them and loved them, we were told and ofcourse we felt a little proud of these beautiful huge flowers that we had planted in our little garden.
So it is nice that now we have our own garden in this place that we are renting.
The only thing is, I have hardly looked at it. My brother took out some weed at the start but after that, I left it completely as it was for months. Only after Christmas I tried to plant our tiny Christmas tree in it but it does not seem to be going very well. And I also planted a rose plant in it, which isn't in great condition either.
It somehow is as if I'm not too lucky with plants, apart from the ones in the gardens at the kids farm.
But then I saw something in a supermarket that I wanted for a long time. An apple tree. Well, a thin trunk with roots, with some branches. No leaves or anything on it. So a beginning apple tree. It stayed in the living room for a while until one day I thought , now it is time to try and put it in the ground. I tried to understand the instructions that came with it, which consisted only of a set of pictures and I thought that I understood that it needed to get out of the plastic bag and then in a bucket with water. (Ixora what do you see on the picture? Is there really water in the bucket ?) And that I then had to make a big hole, put the plant in it and put the water in it too. Just in case, I searched for a youtube video and it gave me the confidence to plant the tree in the ground.
So I did and was praying that something good would happen with it. It stayed the same for a few days, weeks and all of a sudden leaves started to grow on it. I'm so delighted. I might need another tree for it to eventually get apples but I'm really happy with how the tree is growing. Praise God !
For the rest, my garden is currently full of weeds that keep growing like crazy.
In Ireland the girls used to have a bouncy castle in the garden and we left it with my mum in Suriname, but it finally got shipped and it will be delivered in the weekend, so it is time to start looking at the garden and think about what we are going to do with it.
I saw a picture on facebook of someones garden which was posted in a facebook group that I joined and it made me think: I would love that idea.
Close to the house there are tiles and I would love to have some nice garden furniture there, with pillows and all and I'd love to have grass in some part of my garden and then plant some flowers and vegetables on a small piece at the left side of the garden.
I decided to look online for some inspiration.
And I'm sharing a few ideas that I like.
I'm liking the bench with pillows with table and the cosiness.
I like how there is a bit of a separation between the sitting area and the neat grass mat.
It is all kind of the same idea. A tiny bit of a 'livingroom outside' idea. For me it would mean, cleaning the tiles and adding a wooden bench with some cosy pillows. Maybe a table. And then getting rid of the weed and looking at the possibility of adding sand (there somehow is some sand missing ) and maybe planting grass on it. It would be handy to have some male working on this too but I think that I am up for the challenge and that by the grace of God I can 'cosy up' the garden a little bit.
It is getting warmer now, so the girls are spending a lot of time outside now and then at least they would have somewhere cosy to sit when taking a break from jumping on the bouncy castle or playing with something else. And if they have friends over, they can sit too. The only thing I worry about a little is the rain. But we will see how it goes.
What does your garden look like ? I would love to hear from you.
Love,
I counted on my mum -who used to be a single mum at some time too and who to me seemed to be able to do just anything and who was here in the Netherlands on a holiday a few months ago- to teach me how to be an independent single mum and direct me in how to hang up my blinds but unfortunately it didn't happen. My blinds are still in the same plastic packaging as they have been for a couple of months now. They are now waiting for me to make an appointment with a 'handy man' who then also will do some painting in my house and hang up my curtains on rails.
It is a bit frustrating at times, especially when my kids have once again been playing in my bed room at the window and then to come in my bed room and see that there is no curtain hanging at my window. Because they accidently pulled the curtains a bit too hard and then one of the hooks which was attached to a hook in the wall with a cord, broke.
Last month I tried to make an appointment with a handy man who did my floor downstairs but I did not hear back from him, so I will try again this month and hopefully I will be able to get that out of the way.
We moved in this wonderful place last year -read about it here.- and I was delighted that we have a garden. I always loved having a garden. I also love planting stuff and last year, I delighted myself with the little gardens that the girls could use at the Kids farm, close to where we lived, when we were staying in an apartment. We planted sunflower seeds and we were amazed at how big they became. Everybody talked about them and loved them, we were told and ofcourse we felt a little proud of these beautiful huge flowers that we had planted in our little garden.
 |
| sunflowers growing at the garden at the kids farm |
So it is nice that now we have our own garden in this place that we are renting.
The only thing is, I have hardly looked at it. My brother took out some weed at the start but after that, I left it completely as it was for months. Only after Christmas I tried to plant our tiny Christmas tree in it but it does not seem to be going very well. And I also planted a rose plant in it, which isn't in great condition either.
It somehow is as if I'm not too lucky with plants, apart from the ones in the gardens at the kids farm.
But then I saw something in a supermarket that I wanted for a long time. An apple tree. Well, a thin trunk with roots, with some branches. No leaves or anything on it. So a beginning apple tree. It stayed in the living room for a while until one day I thought , now it is time to try and put it in the ground. I tried to understand the instructions that came with it, which consisted only of a set of pictures and I thought that I understood that it needed to get out of the plastic bag and then in a bucket with water. (Ixora what do you see on the picture? Is there really water in the bucket ?) And that I then had to make a big hole, put the plant in it and put the water in it too. Just in case, I searched for a youtube video and it gave me the confidence to plant the tree in the ground.
So I did and was praying that something good would happen with it. It stayed the same for a few days, weeks and all of a sudden leaves started to grow on it. I'm so delighted. I might need another tree for it to eventually get apples but I'm really happy with how the tree is growing. Praise God !
For the rest, my garden is currently full of weeds that keep growing like crazy.
In Ireland the girls used to have a bouncy castle in the garden and we left it with my mum in Suriname, but it finally got shipped and it will be delivered in the weekend, so it is time to start looking at the garden and think about what we are going to do with it.
I saw a picture on facebook of someones garden which was posted in a facebook group that I joined and it made me think: I would love that idea.
Close to the house there are tiles and I would love to have some nice garden furniture there, with pillows and all and I'd love to have grass in some part of my garden and then plant some flowers and vegetables on a small piece at the left side of the garden.
I decided to look online for some inspiration.
And I'm sharing a few ideas that I like.
 |
| source |
What I like is the bench with pillows and the neat grass mat.
 |
| source |
 |
| source |
It is all kind of the same idea. A tiny bit of a 'livingroom outside' idea. For me it would mean, cleaning the tiles and adding a wooden bench with some cosy pillows. Maybe a table. And then getting rid of the weed and looking at the possibility of adding sand (there somehow is some sand missing ) and maybe planting grass on it. It would be handy to have some male working on this too but I think that I am up for the challenge and that by the grace of God I can 'cosy up' the garden a little bit.
It is getting warmer now, so the girls are spending a lot of time outside now and then at least they would have somewhere cosy to sit when taking a break from jumping on the bouncy castle or playing with something else. And if they have friends over, they can sit too. The only thing I worry about a little is the rain. But we will see how it goes.
What does your garden look like ? I would love to hear from you.
Love,
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