WIP Wednesday - Yard and Garden Edition

                                                                               
I realized a few weeks ago I haven't posted any pictures of my garden this year.

It's possible that this is a reflection of how I'm feeling about the garden this year.

A few years ago I started a bunch of plants from seed and saved quite a bit of money. I did the same this year, but it didn't work out that well for me. First the crappy weather and then I've got some sort of plant killer. Not sure if it's a squirrel or some sort of bug, but I've lost about 60% of my plants and it's sort of heart breaking. All the corn (guthrie cried. she wanted to enter it into the county fair this year). All the broccoli - though I bought replacement starts- 6 out of 9 bell peppers. A few tomatoes. The only thing they didn't seem to care for were the carrots, lettuce, and onions. And peas. We have a lot of peas.

{volunteer sunflower - none of my on purpose ones made it}

You'll see in the photos that I have a totally respectable garden by anyone's standards - what is left is looking good, but it's not how I envisioned it. So, I'm kind of meh. I'm headed to the plant store today to see if there are any not too leggy bell pepper transplants left. And cucumbers. (update: no peppers to be had. i'm going to try one more place. no cucumbers - bought some seeds. they should be fine.) The other thing is that it's in the inbetween stages you know? The cold weather stuff is almost done (which is crazy because it's july!) and the hot weather stuff still hasn't arrived. I have probably another week before the cherry tomatoes start and another couple for any other tomatoes. And quite a long while before the melons come in. I'm hoping it stays warm enough for them to ripen this year.

{see? pretty respectable}

{lettuce shaded by peas - totally genius}

{view from the south}

The garden will get there. Who knows? I may be inundated with pounds and pounds of amazing tomatoes and it will turn things around for me. Also my kale is awesome. Kale is about the most rewarding thing to grow. Ever.

{small harvest of peas and a thinned carrot}

The front yard though, that's a different story. I'm feeling good there.

{everything on the left side of the picture is new}

When the roofers unintentionally destroyed a good portion of our front yard this winter/spring I jumped on the opportunity to get rid of some of our grass. We've got a lot of grass and a lot of shade in the front and the grass isn't all that successful. Hostas are really successful though. Among other shady things. John and I successfully split several of our existing hostas and a bleeding heart. John's mom got me a gift certificate to a nursery for my birthday and several of the plants I ordered have arrived and are doing well.

{the rocks are to help with a drainage issue. They're mildly successful. mostly I like the way they look}

It has been fun to reshape the front yard. I've been thankful for all the rain we've had - redoing the brick border was way easier in the mud and so was much of the weeding. The weeding isn't done yet- my mom has been helping and really, I don't want to lose any more soil so I'd rather have something there than nothing. I kept a brick path between our house and the neighbors'. The kids like walking on it and I think the mailman appreciates knowing where to walk. I'm going to fill in around the bricks with this ground cover that we have a ton of. And also use the same stuff to edge out the grass on the front of the hill. The less to mow and weed the better.

{i love astilbe. love it.}

I do so love that the kids are old enough to let me work in the yard for longer than 10 minutes at a time. It helps a lot with, well, with my sanity! 

5 Years.

It occurred to both John and I - at different times - that we signed on our house today five years ago and became first time homeowners.

I'm torn, part of me feels like we've been here forever and the other part feels like we just moved in. There are definitely a lot of things that work for us in this space and definitely a few things that could be better. We've made several improvements - some out of necessity and some because we just wanted to. I will say though that each improvement has put a little more of our thumbprint on our home. There are still a few rooms we haven't (and really need to) paint and a couple rooms we still haven't "finished" and aren't using the way we would like to, but we're getting there and it's always a work in progress right?

Always one for a list, here are my top 5 favorite things about our house:

5. Hardwood flooring throughout the first floor. Ok yeah I hated the reason we "got" to do that project - a major leak through the kitchen ceiling, but through pinching pennies and doing a bunch of work ourselves we ended up with gorgeous flooring. And really a whole new bathroom. But the flooring? I love it very much.

4. A bigger dining room than living room. This sounds super weird, but our dining room is really our multi-purpose room because of the extra square footage. Which, allows our living room to just be a living room. Homeschooling has been a perfect fit for that room.

3. Our yard. I love that we have space for a garden and flowers and grass. The kids can putter and I can putter and John can rock in the rocking chair on the back porch after he's done mowing. It's been a lot of work, but frequently it's not work I mind doing. And there are lots of birds and squirrels and now a dog. I have a chair that I can see the whole yard from and it's very satisfying to sit and watch all the activity - like a queen bee :)

2. The kitchen. Ok 2 things about the kitchen. 1. we replaced the faucet in the sink and got one that has a removable sprayer at the end of it - instead of a spray nozzle on the side. Seriously single best thing I've done to improve the quality of my time in the kitchen. It even reaches the stove so I can fill my canning pot while it's on the burner. Love it. 2. is the stove and oven my family bought for me the Christmas before last. Such a meaningful gift.

1. Homeownership. John and I will vastly disagree on this, but I love owning our home so much more than renting. Renting was one of the most stressful experiences of my adult life. Not even joking. So incredibly stressful. I mean granted I had one landlord that was great and 4 that were kind of awful, but still I would so much rather be responsible for my home than depend on someone else. Also not a fan of the authority of landlords. Give me a mortgage any day.


I have no idea how long we'll stay in this house. I think the next few years are holding some new adventures for us, but I have no idea what they are. I hope they're nice adventures though! But I wouldn't mind staying here for awhile yet. I vacillate between being satisfied in our space and not - but then I just rearrange something and I'm good for awhile. I really like our neighborhood, it's a good fit for us.

We've learned a lot since embarking on this journey. I'm better at plumbing than I used to be. I can get an aquarium rock out of a garbage disposal like it's nobody's business. I can install light fixtures. I know what's under all the subflooring. I know that things you think cannot be fixed actually can if you find the right person to help and teach you. Also youtube is invaluable.

 I think some of the best personal growth that has occurred in this house have come from the mishaps that come from owning a 100 year old house. In the midwest. You know? And I'm thankful for all of it. I love that my kids are growing up here. That we have so many memories held in this home.

WIP Wednesday

The following are in progress today:

- a birthday quilt for Laithe. Someone is getting a big boy bed for his birthday - which is good because he is way too big (width and length) for his crib mattress on the floor. I haven't made a quilt in a long time and let's just say I will never be teaching "math for sewing" at the homeschool co-op, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

- a roof. well, part of a roof. It's probably 1/3 done and hampered by the next thing on the list.

- the never ending snowstorm(s). We had one last week that was kind of pithy, but this one is not as pithy and right now there is a small part of my brain that is pretty sure we're beginning another ice age and that spring will never come. I told my mom this morning that this storm could have at least had the decency to come when everyone was excited about snow -- like in December. Or even January. Heck even the beginning of February. John was reminiscing about a blizzard once during spring break when we were in college. Bleak I tell you. Bleak. We will be 1/3 roofed forever!



That's pretty much it. John has a cold and took the past two days off work. He sounds like darth vader albeit a little higher pitched. Actually high enough pitched that my first thought is that one of the kids is wailing somewhere in the house, it's disconcerting.

I did enjoy having everyone cozy at home during the snowpocalypse. We're all back to our proper schedules today though.

This morning, after lessons, my goal is to do a bunch of housework. Everything feels so crowded and cluttered. Possibly because it is - I swear you can't walk 2 feet in any direction without stepping on either a toy or part of a nebulizer or fabric. And it's not like I haven't been doing anything the past few days, it's just that apparently I haven't kept up. 670 square feet of living space tends to fill up fast when we're all here and using it - and keep going out in the snow so that there are a lot of damp, frozen accessories strewn about.

And I just caught Laithe trying to shove a pizza crust into the heater vent.

Yes, housework is in order.

Which is kind of unfortunate because what I'd really like to do is curl up with my book and a blanket next to the window and fritter away the day.


Happy Wednesday!

monday monday

i have today off because of a big training on Wednesday. one that i'm not looking forward to I have to say. i'm not a big one for corporate led training, or corporate culture, a huge shock to you i'm sure. however, another 3 day weekend? that i can get on board with!

and we cleaned house last night so all i have to do today is clean the bathroom, mop floors and laundry- which, there is a lot of it to be sure, but there's always a lot of it! not bad at all for me for a day off.

*****
things i'm enjoying this morning:
- a no tears morning for Guthrie

- a quiet little boy imitating mama knitting with his own yarn and needle

- miso soup lunch! a favorite for Guthrie and i

- a walk this afternoon to enjoy the sunshine

- refreshing the toy and craft supply filled corners of our home. january goal: figure out better storage for my crafty/yarn/fabric

- no pressure to cook anything further for 24 hours because:tada!!!


I will leave you with that. and tomorrow, if all goes as planned we'll enjoy our first dinner cooked by gas in a long time!

also - i don't think Idaho is in our future (see prior post's comments)- at least not that I'm aware of!! i'm sure now that I've written that we'll be moving in 6 months because that's how these things work haha! but as far as I know we're staying in our home/in davenport as far as our self-made plans go.

although Idaho is lovely and my soul does intensely miss the mountains - especially when my bff sends me this kind of pic from her daily walk.isn't that beautiful? they're the olympic mountains on the peninsula in washington. for us though, for now, it's prairie and mississippi river all the way.

happy monday!

T minus 1 hour until the hardwood floor installation starts.


i could not be more thankful!

like as in i won't have to worry about the old stain the kids pick up on their hands from the floor.

like as in i can throw that nasty rug away!

like as in our whole floor will be one level --- if you've never stepped halfway off subflooring down 3/4 of an inch to old hardwood let me save you the experience - it is unpleasant!

like as in thank goodness i can put an end cap on this that defined the last half of our summer.

{{right now}}

• a new ceiling is going up in our kitchen


• there is not one shred of attached carpet on our first floor


• there is 400 square feet of rolled carpet and pad in the living room though – hours of endless fun


• grateful that this weekend was productive but not hectic


• I forgot it was Guthrie’s snack day at school


• this morning was 80 times more hectic than it could have been


• there was still time for a little girl to dance her heart out before breakfast, jazz hands and all


• happy the crock pot is bubbling away- in the living room – with tonight’s dinner, the first of a slew of frozen crock pot meals I made up last weekend


• feeling great that the bulk of the putting up is done for the season


• excited for a field trip this week – four kids in our car – I’m certain it’ll be a blast


• ready for fall, the light is changing in my kitchen, so it is on it’s way


• thrilled that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel with the house


• not as thrilled that it’s a pretty long tunnel – with several hundred linear feet of quarter round lining the way

worky-worky

Like any good homeowners we took advantage of our three day weekend to work on our house. Because we thought we should put the labor into Labor Day? I'm sorry. It's late.

Since the ceiling guy bailed for the weekend we turned our energies on to things we can control - no, not our children. Saturday my mom and I spent a good portion of the day painting the dining room. This is the best before picture I could find without sifting through all our pics. It went from taupey-pink to sunny yellow. I had mixed feelings about taking down the chair rail, but I'm glad I did. The past owners had an affinity for Sienna Stone and they'd sprayed the chair rail. Which means it was textured in a stone-like fashion and so even if I repainted it it would always be slightly reminiscent of Sienna Stone. After living with a copious amount of Sienna Stone I am sick to death of it. The highlight of the day had to be when I realized I could scrape the Sienna Stone off the outlet covers with a putty knife. So satisfying! Entryway chandelier I'm coming for you next!

So then the dining room looked great for like 12 hours. Even Guthrie - never the biggest fan of anything I choose - liked it the next morning at breakfast. "Mama, I do like your paint, but only when the sun shines on it." Thank goodness they're south facing windows so she won't hate it for most of the day. And I really really like it with the gray we painted in the living room - I guess I never showed you those pictures, did I? Well, we'll do that before and after later on. Yay for thematic blogging!Although the paint did make the carpet look even more dingy and I kept holding up the sample piece of the new floor against the wall. I'm a dork like that.

I haven't showed you a picture of what the floor will be have I? Here's the closest I could find:
I heart it very much.

So then, after a few minutes in our sunny, pristine dining room John tore up the carpet.


It is harder to notice the lovely walls with the mostly unfinished, old, thank goodness we bought new floor because this would have taken a lot of work to save, floors. We thought that was going to be a huge project, but I left John in his flannel pjs with a one foot wide section torn up and ran some errands. When I came home 2 or so hours later it was done. There are still a bunch of staples to take out, but I'm not sure that we really need to if we're putting stuff over it - what do you think?

The entryway floor demo'd super quick- like an hour and a half? And most of that was moving things in and out - the furniture and then the laminate.

So we have one room left to do before the floor guy comes back. Before then though is the ceiling and painting the kitchen. And reassessing the furniture in our living room/entry way. There's been a lot of shifting around and some, hmm, I'd never thought of putting that there going on. Kind of fun, kind of exhausting.

Kind of want my house to be back together sooner rather than later. I'm holding October 1 in my mind, mostly because I love fall and I want to get the fall box out and decorate and get out seasonally appropriate toys for the kids, but only if there is no subflooring.

before and after - bathroom

Our little bathroom project is coming to a close. There's still all that stuff to do that I wrote about on my last update, however we are mostly done and I know you've just been dying to see pictures.

Here's how it looked before we moved into the house:

I didn't mind the color, but since it was on the ceiling too it was just a little small and dark.

I think she was going for tropical in Iowa.

Then I painted right before I got pregnant with Laithe and I have no pictures.

Then we went along all nicely until the leak. And then we did this:

And then we did this:



See where it gets a little strange next to the hole for the toilet? You can totally see the wood for the kitchen ceiling through it. Awesome.

Then we stopped taking pictures. Because ugh.


So after we put in a new floor, put in a new vanity, put most of the baseboard back on (my least favorite job ever) and hung 2 out of 3 shelves here is our almost finished project:


I'm super happy with it, heck, anything with a floor and a working toilet and sink and shower I'm good with right now. But it just looks really clean and almost spacious. We went with a smaller vanity to make some more room next to the toilet. And with that went one more pink item from our house. If you recall the house was filled with many, many shades of pink when we moved in. The pink counter on the vanity was one of our least favorite pink parts - and it's gone! In favor of white and beadboard. Very clean, very neutral and highly functional (as in you can totally use the toilet when you come over if you want.)

More pics to come soon! We've had a really busy weekend. . .

the tool box threw up all over our house

Bet you don't have a reciprocating saw on your kitchen counter - behind the peaches and under the bread? That's where we keep ours. It's handy that way.

We're not quite in the home stretch of this remodel. Actually I can't really even see the top of the mountain. There's three big projects; here's where we're at:

Bathroom: 99% done. A little more baseboard. A shelf. Some wood filler and caulk and we're good. Well, I mean if you don't count the heater vent that we are confounded by. Somehow it morphed during the rest of the project and we can't figure out how to put the cover back on.

Kitchen: 10% done. 10% being that scheduling is half the battle. So really, I should say kitchen: 50% as the ceiling guy is showing up early Saturday morning. That list is a little more labor intensive. Ceiling repair. New ceiling fan and pendant light over the sink - that I'm making. Hollar! Wallpaper border removal. Paint. Open shelving on the back wall. I feel like a backsplash is going to have to wait. That's ok. *just kidding. lost the scheduling battle, now we're not sure when the ceiling guy is coming. back to 0%*

Floor: Who knows how to percentage that one. We've done some work. Our pocketbook has done a hefty amount of work. And there's a lot more work to do. Actually, I feel comfortable saying there's a shit ton more work to do. We made the executive decision to refloor the whole first level instead of just the kitchen and entry. There's 702 square feet of Brazilian Redwood sitting in my garage. Someday, relatively soon, it'll be on our floor and there will be no more Pergo/Berber combo. It was totally not what I thought we were going to choose, but we ended up getting a really good deal on it. And it is pretty beautiful, at least the 3x3 foot sample was. And I think it'll be a good choice for our family in this house.

And then, because well, why the heck not? Let's add paint the dining room to the list. That will mean that when this is done we will have what feels like almost an entirely new house. It will mean that within 6 months the only rooms we haven't changed are our bedrooms, the attic, the office, and the laundry room.

pictures to come soon- hopefully after pictures!

it's too hot to think of a clever title.

I know everyone is sick to death of the heatwave, but humor me just for a second - it's 11:00 pm and the heat index is 95. Which just means that it's actually only 85, but there's 80% humidity.

It makes you want to sit in the dark buck naked.

And where do you think the other three members of my family are right now? All asleep in the one non-air conditioned room in the house. I don't know what their deal is.

So, anyways.

Last night we had a dinner picnic at a local lake and it was so noticeably cooler out there. I always forget how much heat radiates off the asphalt in the city.

That was the last mention of the weather, I promise.

The entire family is now slightly afraid of the garden. I so deeply underestimated how much things would grow this summer. My planting strategy was based on last summer's crappy weather. At this point I'm needing to tear some stuff out in order access all the plants. When I'm standing between the two raised beds you can't remotely see me from the house. The kids get scared when I'm on the other side of the bed. I don't think they would do well in a jungle. However, I do have green tomatoes by the bushel. I've counted my tomatoes before they've ripened before, so I'm hiding my crossed fingers so as not to tempt fate, but (said in a whisper) I think it's going to be a good harvest. And the green peppers are rocking this year. I've got a good dozen close to harvest. I'm not sure though how you tell when a green pepper is done though - any helpful hints?

On the less jungley side of the garden the sunflowers are in full bloom and just so cheerful! This is the first successful year for sunflowers for me and I'm so happy. Maybe a sunflower house is really a possibility next year.

The inside of the house hasn't changed much, except that we've removed the vanity in the bathroom and torn out a good portion of the floor. In the interest of saving costs we are demo-ing the bathroom ourselves as much as we can.

Can we talk for the moment about how not awesome it is to have the only working toilet be on the third floor. And how equally not awesome it is to not have a sink anywhere near the changing table? It is awesome though that the shower is still somewhat accessible by the adults. The kids are getting spoiled in the jacuzzi tub upstairs - which is pretty much a swimming pool for them. I, however, am not up for a long bath in this weather.

I did like seeing the history of the bathroom as we pried and ripped away. Layers of flooring and wondering who put it there - who is doing what we're doing and picked it out. I wish we knew more of the history of this house.

And then there was that 3/4 inch layer of particle board. Maybe I'm out of turn here, but my gut says it's a bad idea to use my old ikea bookcase as subflooring next to a toilet, even if I am desperate. Call me crazy. So after that we dig around some more and John takes a break and then hears me say - oooh shit. huh. . . He yells - what was that about? Me - well, you should probably just come see this. Apparently like 80 years ago someone needed to access the pipe next to the toilet. Hmm, maybe it was to put in indoor plumbing? And so cut a 6 x 10 inch hole in the original flooring. And then didn't put anything over it. It's likely this was the true cause of the catastrophic leak. Everything gets wonky and leaky and, you know, soaks through the stellar barrier that is particle board, and woosh, and yay there's a hole! The path of least resistance! That's just my guess though. It's also likely that the hole meant that the damage was not as bad upstairs as it could have been.

Give it up for home ownership! Whoop whoop! John and I now feel like we really own this home. You know, because three years of mortgage payments didn't make it sink in.

We've got guys coming - tomorrow the floors, Friday the kitchen ceiling. Both with excellent recommendations, so that helps with the anxiety of all this. It is stressful though. Mostly I want my dining room back. It's our biggest multipurpose room and now it's also full of kitchen stuff - at least until we know when the ceiling will be going in. I realized that I need to be canning soon, so that means hopefully a ceiling between peaches and tomatoes, but no flooring until this is done with. At least on the kitchen end. Crossing my fingers the bathroom will be done soon. I can see why our backyard neighbor took to peeing out his window last winter- it does indeed suck to have to climb stairs in the middle of the night when you need to go - let alone when your kid needs to go too. But, rest assured L & J of next door, we will be done with this project before winter- so you won't be seeing any yellow icicles from our house. (yeah, the backyard guy made some amazing yellow icicles last winter.)

And as a side note, we have homeowners insurance from Travelers and they have been just *awesome* to work with. In fact, except for reimbursements that will have to come at a later date, our case is pretty much closed. Less than 2 weeks from when I called. Pretty darned impressive if you ask me. So very thankful for a good experience with them.

Man, this has been one long - winded post. Yikes.

I know I said I wouldn't talk about the weather, but the heat index is now 89. It's going in the right direction at least. Slowly. . .

never a dull moment

Things might be a bit spotty around her for awhile. We're getting a major kitchen and bath renovation - due to a toilet leak - and it starts tomorrow.

I'm trying really hard to see the positive sides to this. The 'we won't have to pay for that much of it' positive side. The new flooring, the new ceiling, light fixtures, subflooring, all kinds of fun stuff. Fun being the operative word.

And I'm just not feeling it.

I'm certain I will have somewhat of a change of heart once our insurance guy comes up with very firm answers and budgeting stuff.

But, just ugh. I would not have picked this exact moment of our lives - or even of this summer with the heat index to be over 110 for the next 5 days - to do this.

To say that I don't deal all that well with major change would be an understatement. And I'm certain that is what this is.

Guthrie is pretty freaked out by it too.

I'm pretty freaked out by us having to block off half the downstairs while there is no floor so that Laithe doesn't find staples, brads, and tacks, oh my.

And then of course there's the whole, well, while this is being done . . . we've always wanted to replace the carpet in the other side of the house with something else, that would leave only one room of ceiling in downstairs that has a really old, crappy ceiling, wouldn't it be so much easier to paint the kitchen while this is being done and everything is out of that room etc, etc, etc?

For sure at least I'll probably paint the kitchen. The rest of it remains to be seen. We're still very much in need of a new roof this winter (apparently that's the thing to do here - roof in the winter as it's our driest season).

For sure I need to get off the computer and get down to the basement and shove stuff around so there's room for the industrial fans they're going to place down there. Or dehumidifier or whatever. And then I need to clear the kitchen. And do the dishes. And it'd be a good idea I think to prep some stuff for dinner this week since I don't think I'll be spending a lot of time in the kitchen next to the holes in the floor and ceiling.

Any advice? Should we just set up a tiny kitchen in the dining room - coffee pot and toaster at least? How does this work? It's the unknowns that I do so well with!

My dad and stepmom just went through this because of a dishwasher leak (we're such copycats) and went for the gusto and now have a beautiful new kitchen. Ours for sure won't be anywhere near, but I'm trying to hold their before and after pics in my head!

Off to the basement. To hang with the spiders. Gross.

Wish us luck and there will be pictures I'm sure - probably not much else though for who knows how long!

dirt everywhere

When we moved in here 3 years ago we knew eventually we'd put in some raised beds for vegetable gardening. This year was it! I was getting super stressed out about not having the bulk of my veggies in the ground yet, but this spring has been so weird and we've gotten so much rain and late frost that I need to just relax; we'll be fine. I probably need to just relax anyways, but that's a different blog post.

So we (mostly John) made 4 raised beds for 80 square feet of garden space. For now I think this will be plenty, but I would bet that we might put it more at some point. Originally I wasn't going to put a ton of fill dirt into them because our dirt is actually quite good, but we ended up making the beds with 10 inch boards and a little compost might be good, etc.

1600 lbs of dirt and 18 cubic feet of compost later. . .

The only reason I know how much the dirt weighed is because it was written on the package. It was not helpful information to have while we were hauling it into the backyard.

And now, I've got about a third of it planted with the rest hopefully going in by this weekend- maybe Wednesday if the weather is good. I need a bunch of tomatoes and I'm going to try pepper plants again. We shall see how that goes. And before you go and think I've planted a bunch of dead branches they're actually bean and cucumber supports that I fashioned out of tree branches from a tree John cut down earlier this year. I'll be interested to see how they hold up in the wind. While I'm waiting for the vegetable garden to come in at least I have my little herb garden --- it is going a little crazy with all this rain. It smells wonderful though and look -- flowers on the snap peas! Yay!And as a side note - there is indeed dirt absolutely everywhere. Summer has officially come to our little neck of the woods as there seems to be more mud inside my kitchen door than outside it.

87 degrees

Last Monday the heat was on - in fact I turned it up because I was freezing.

Yesterday it was 93 and today it was 87.

Uh, hi Spring?


Last night dinner was on the back porch and box fans were set up in the windows. Chicken salad sandwiches and popsicles all around. And sweaty kids. I forgot what summer-sweaty toddler is like.

This afternoon was sprinklers in the backyard with the neighborhood kids and books on the back porch. And then I caved and turned on the air conditioning.


And then I cursed because we still haven't gotten ourselves together enough to fix the ducts that would mean air conditioning in our bedroom. And then I had a rhubarb cocktail*.


good night all - there's a box fan calling my name!




*just follow this recipe, i use a little less sugar - -- and add vodka!
excellent celebration of spring!

wip - the yard edition

Ok spring, rather, ok Iowa, what the heck? I know I shouldn't be surprised by your fickle self, but dude, you are such a tease. We've had a good handful of days of amazing over 70 degree sunshiny weather and then this weekend Guthrie said, 'mama, why does it have to snow?' Not that it stuck, but meh all the same.

The handful of beautiful days means that I have a good start on my yard this year - unlike last year when I felt like I was playing catch up until I decided to throw in the towel. Newborns and c-sections will do that to you. My garden journal reads something like 'pfft. whatever. the tomatoes were good, the weeds were excellent, and if we don't have a good year for raspberries next year I'm ditching them. bare minimum done for fall cleanup. maybe next year I'll have more, energy, time, something.'

So, this year the front is mostly cleaned out, the back is mostly cleaned out. The larger veggie bed is awaiting some dry days for the installation of a pseud0-raised bed. Not entirely traditional because I'm really just trying to fight the erosion that is taking all my excellent soil. We have lovely soil here. I planted some peas and then covered them for the snow, then appreciated my laziness in not getting the cover taken up when yesterday it hailed for a bit. They're pretty much protected from everything but the directions the wind has been taking has left them well, it's been a bit tornadic back there lately. The raspberries are pruned with the middle row ripped out because they're planted way too closely. The strawberries, well, we will see. It might be that they just need some refresher plants this year.

As Guthrie was coming home the other night she proclaimed to her Amie - look at my bloody heart! Her 'bloody heart' is just beginning to bloom and is always one of the first signs of true spring for our yard.

Last week our seeds from Seed Savers arrived. Most exciting mail I've had since that new bra came a couple months back! I'm making the decision to only grow what I want to this year. Such a novel approach to gardening I know! I let Guthrie choose several of the varieties so we will be having purple carrots, purple beans and purple radishes. Thematic, no?But we also joined a CSA for the season and we are expecting the first delivery of eggs this afternoon. I know! Delivery - like to my front porch! So excited. Some days I love this town. I'm hoping the CSA will mean I can stop shopping for produce at Hyvee and that my trips to the farmers market will be less stressful as I can go just to pick up the extras. It does get stressful with two small children to try and get enough tomatoes to can a decent amount. My biceps are pretty stellar though.

This afternoon we're taking an adventure with my mom to the sky bridge to see the flooding. The sky bridge is like the highlight of Davenport with anyone under the age of 10. Many parents we know use it as the ultimate reward for good behavior. Seeing as how we're going to see flooding, any more planting is on hold until we get some dry days. Then the lettuce and radishes will go in. Guthrie is in charge of the radishes this year. I think it will be exciting for her - and hopefully successful. And maybe this year I will like radishes more. Thank goodness John does.

Oh! I also tried another round of asparagus. Wild asparagus grows here in the most neglected ditches and drains in the country and do you think I can get any to grow in my yard? If it doesn't work this year I will call it quits. Until next year probably where I will dig out another bed I think *might* be more suitable.


One of my goals is to post what we're using our CSA produce for this summer. I think it might make me more accountable or something. We'll see. The first round of non-eggy produce should be arriving in a couple of weeks. I could use some rhubarb soda in my life these days. It's one of my favorites!

So, Iowa. Get it in gear please. We're anxiously awaiting days spent outside rather than in!

savoring

We've had several great summer evenings at our house. The weather hasn't always cooperated, but that's why we have a porch, right?
I've been trying really hard to find little ways to say 'yes' to Guthrie so that I don't feel like I'm always saying no. Yes, we can go to the park tonight! Yes, we can swim in your pool. Yes, I'd love to catch fireflies with you after we get ready for bed.
It's making me appreciate this summer so far.
You know how everyone says that Christmas totally changes once you have kids? It's all suddenly magical again, etc. Well, it seems that this summer is just like Christmas - except with heat indexes of over 100 and lots of thunderstorms. I'm reminded of how I loved summer when I was little because it seemed like there was just so much freedom.


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I posted this week on facebook that I was deciding to relinquish control of my yard this year and just do the best I can without feeling the least bit bad about the weeds. It's just not possible to work full time, have a 3 year old and an almost 4 month old and no weeds. Not if I want to savor this summer -- which is exactly my goal.

The vegetable garden is growing good though- I put most of my yard energy into it. We got a beet this morning! And 6 lovely green beans! I love green beans from the garden. Love them. We have a ton of tomatoes starting too. I hope it dries out before too long or they will all be cracked before they can even start ripening.
For the 3rd season in a row I've got a crappy raspberry crop. The first year due to dry weather and us not having a hose because we'd just moved in. The second year because I'd had to do major pruning because of morning glories. This, the third year, we went out this morning, I in my long sleeved shirt and muck boots, Guthrie in her tutu and underwear clearly ready for a morning of raspberry harvesting only to find that the torrential rain last night had made most of the berries fall off the bushes crushed and slimy. Crap.
I'm going to call around to the couple of berry farms I know of around here to see if I can get a couple flats. I was so looking forward to raspberry jam to go with our strawberry.

******

Poor Laithe. How he's not getting his due time in this blog.
Guess what - he's rolling over! Mostly from belly to back although there've been a couple back to bellies. And he's scooting around a little. Not nearly enough for me to be concerned about leaving him anywhere just yet, but still, the beginning of crawling. Thank goodness we have a few more months before we have to seriously baby proof the house.

Check back tonight for a photo essay on his progress.

He's still quite the good-natured baby. Such a joy in our household.

i'm so proud!

Our yard is getting kind of crazy full of life. It's so great!

two weeks ago:

and today:

soon it will be salad in my tummy.

and then there's this:

dude, I'm totally growing corn.I feel like I might live in Iowa.

The last of the seedlings are getting transplanted this weekend because the ones I did last week are still alive.

Also coming up in the garden are beets, broccoli raab, bush beans, snap peas, swiss chard, onions, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, and umm, i think that might be it -- oh no, some cantaloupe. Soon to come will be the rest of the melons, cukes, and gourd & pumpkins.

When I told my office what all was going on in my yard they were all - how big is your garden? you are obviously on crack! And I was all- 1. I'm doing square foot gardening and 2. this is the test run to see what i can actually grow and what we'll actually eat so it's not like I've got 1/2 an acre of beets. I've got like 10.

This year is all about variety and seeing what works and what doesn't.

Oh and the flowers. Which I thank the former owners for profusely. The pics totally don't do them justice. I'm desperate for a new camera. Our current point and shoot is feeling the effects of living in a house with a toddler and I really want and digital SLR because it's doubtful I'll be building a darkroom in the garage anytime soon! So, hopefully by the end of summer we can get one and our pictures will improve dramatically.

So, yeah, the garden is going well and it still doesn't feel like tons of work even though I'm out there whenever I get a chance. I still just feel lucky to have a yard of my own that I can do what I want with. Very very lucky.

A year ago this weekend we made our offer on our house. I am so glad we did! It is such a perfect fit. I remember going to the farmers market after the offer had been accepted and buying a ridiculous amount of peony stems to put in our house full of boxes and telling the lady that next year I would have my very own in my very own in my yard. And indeed I do! I'll take a picture of them soon. They're just starting to bloom.

And I know I haven't talked about Guthrie at all in this post, but it's because she's stationed herself outside in anticipation of these:

If we can keep the birds off them we should have a million and 1 strawberries shortly!

And speaking of full of life - my bestest friend is about a month out from having her third baby and she sent me a picture of her belly via my phone. I wish I could post it here, but I won't because, well, I don't really know how to do that and I think she would not be very thrilled with me. BUT she looks amazing and glowy and I know she's exhausted because being that it's her third baby she has 2 other kids to take care, but in the picture at least she just looked lovely. If anyone would like to buy me a plane ticket to Seattle for my birthday that'd be fine by me!

resolutions

Yesterday I was putting up my Christmas present from John- a whole slew of family photos we'd had taken this summer all framed and beautiful! - and I got to nit picking. You know what I mean. Oh my, the gray hair, the baby belly, etc. etc. and it made me forget the wonder of having this record of our family. Of being able to look at these pictures and

know that that is exactly what our family is like.

The CD I was listening to pulled me back into the moment of beauty and out of my funk, or more precisely these lyrics:

'i fear my life will be over
and i will never have lived it unfettered ...
but now here's this tiny baby
and they say she looks just like me
and she is smiling at me
with that present/infant glee
and i would defend
to the ends of the earth
her perfect right to be'

so there's my New Years resolution - among other things - to be unfettered. To be more like my daughter who can so easily be so present in the moment. So utterly self conscious.

PS: In a few days this wall will look strikingly different. We are ready to put our thumbprint on our house - - or at least the hallway! Out with the mauve and in with the . . . !!!

Merry Christmas!

Yeah, I'm a little late posting pics. This week has been a rush of, well, I'm not sure what. Recovering from the holidays I guess. Which is funny- they were pretty simple and low key, but then again, not a lot is simple when you've got a 2 year old! We are pretty worn down from all the prep though- the art projects, the making of presents, etc. I will say that this was pretty much the best Christmas ever. Definitely better than last year where Guthrie was so not enthralled with presents that we spent the morning unwrapping them for her. Guthrie had so much fun and now thinks that ho ho ho will be coming to our house weekly. We had a lot of thoughtful gifts this year. And a lot of handmade -- it was really nice. However, by far the most loved item were Bert and Ernie dolls from mom and dad. We totally hit a homerun with that one! Bert and Ernie go everywhere with us. They eat meals with us and are being potty trained just like Guthrie. She loves them to bits!

After a quiet, but pretty traditional Christmas morning our moms came over for Christmas dinner. It was nice to have everyone here. Each gathering reaffirms to me that we bought the right house for us.

Gus got a little wild- this was about 20 minutes before an exhausted meltdown. Can you tell?

Hope your holidays were lovely and full of peace and beauty!

pics? maybe?

yes indeedy!!

so, first off. yes we have snow. no, probably not as much as the rest of the country, but we're still enjoying it. White Christmases all around!

second: let's talk about my daughter's deep devotion to candy canes. She will go to great lengths in order to reach the ones on the tree. Like standing on her little chairs while mom is upstairs and then quickly sitting down when she spies me. When I ask her if she is making good choices she responds with an emphatic "NO!" emphatic yet obviously proud!

third: do you not wish you looked this cute with your hair like this?



















yeah, that's some candy cane drool

and a parting shot of our backyard. amongst my hobbies please list 'freezing laundry to death.'