Itsy, Bitsy, Teeny, Weeny...

For the past several days I have been getting out in the back yard at nap times and working on my garden. When I suddenly got spring garden fever last Friday, I did a little research and found that some of the things that I want to plant this spring need to be already planted or planted very soon. So, I had to start figuring out where I want everything to go this year, how to best use the space I have, and how not to spend a ton of money in the process. I was reminded that, though extremely rocky, our back yard has areas where the soil is absolutely DIVINE, and perfect for planting (once you remove the rocks). Because I didn't want to spend a ton of money on building another raised bed and filling it with new soil, I decided to confiscate the back corner of the yard for some of the bigger plants I want to grow.

{do you hear me zucchini? I'm gonna put you in your place!}

In the corner I would like to put the zucchini, maybe some onion and possibly some green beans (pole) if I can find some trellis for them to climb (anybody tossing some old trellis? I'll take it off your hands!). I would also like to plant a couple of berry bushes (possibly blackberries and raspberries) and an apple tree, but I have to come up with the money to purchase those first.

I may have to put the berry bushes and apple tree in the side yard though - I don't want to deal with all the bees they will attract. The regular garden is bad enough about that.

So, like I said, each day at nap time I throw on a jacket, grab the shovel and go to work. Oh. My. Aching. Back.

But it is so worth it. I pulled out a big, obnoxious bush/plant/viney/weird thing out of the corner (well, Hubby did most of the pulling, but I helped) and I cleared out a lot of the weeds and rocks and wood pieces and trash that had accumulated there over the years. It is amazing what kinds of things hide in yard brush. I think the dog thought it was her own personal toy box.

The rocks are the biggest obstacle. Their size varies from silver dollar to human head and so it is difficult to unearth them. On Sunday I thought I had struck a pipe. I was, after all, digging along the fence line. And though I was only a few inches down in the soil, I was afraid that perhaps over time the yard had eroded and I was really close to something I shouldn't be. It was enough to stop me for the day, and when I came back to it the next day I was happy to find that it was only a very large number of rocks. Thankfully with some digging I should be able to get them out of there. When pulling the weeds, I thought some of them looked vaguely like herbs and sure enough, after digging down a little further, I uncovered some old plant information tabs (like what they put in the pots at the garden center to identify the plants) that someone had left in the ground. I am guessing there were several kinds of herbs planted there at one time, and the "weeds" left were from those plantings. I also unearthed a bunch of wild onion, which kind of irked me because I can't seem to get onion to grow in my planted beds. Oh well.

I have one raised bed completely empty. I think it is going to be a bean bed. I want to have lots of bean plants this year. I really enjoyed growing those last spring and fall. The other bed will be for tomatoes, peppers and basil, along with the things already taking up half the space. Right now in there I have garlic, carrots, onion, broccoli and spinach. Yesterday I planted a few more broccoli seeds, some spinach seeds and some lettuce seeds. I have peppers and tomatoes hopefully sprouting in starter "pots" (an old egg carton) on top of my refrigerator. They should be ready to transplant by their plant dates in early March.

My garlic is doing well. Though had I thought it through a little I would have planted them off to the side of one of the beds. They have to be in the ground until almost summer. There are a couple of baby spinach plants in the background of the image below. They survived the freeze too. I planted some new seeds around them yesterday. Hopefully I can get a decent crop of spinach this year.
And the carrots also survived the freezes we had, though I am not sure they are actually going to grow anything. They have been in the ground since October I think.
But this little guy, oh I have such high hopes for him! I was about to pull this plant because I thought that it was never going to grow anything. I was very surprised when I took a closer look. Can you see it?
Here, let me help you...
eeeeeeee!!!! (now imagine me saying this in a high, squeaky voice) It's a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty baby broccoli!!! *big toothy grin*

I just love gardening.

Until,
D :)

Ice Cream

So Saturday night the big boy and I got to have our date night. I took him to the musical at the elementary school. He had to sit in my lap the entire time because he couldn't see, and after about 15 minutes he turned to me and asked when they would be finished. It was pretty cute. He did really great though; he stayed relatively quiet throughout the almost 2 hour production. But, it was hard for him to stay focused. He didn't really know the story (Willy Wonka) and it was hard to understand the kids. But he did so well that I was relieved and proud. I hope it is a seguay to more theater and musical productions in the future. I would love to take him to a professional show some time.

After the musical we stopped at Sonic for some ice cream. Once we were parked in our slot, I let him out of his car seat and invited him up front with me. He thought that was great. We had some nice conversation; I asked him what he liked about the musical and how he felt about starting school in the fall. As usual, some of his answers were thoughtful and some were silly.

We were discussing the grades of school (for some reason he thought what grade you were in corresponded with your age; so 6yrs old, 6th grade and the like) and I told him about how school goes from Kinder to 12th grade. He asked me what happens after 12th grade, and I told him he would graduate and go to college. He asked me what people do in college, and I told him that he would study things related to what he wanted to be when he grows up.

Me: "If you want to be a doctor, you'll study medicine. If you want to be a lawyer you will study law, and if you want to be a police officer you will study criminal justice."

Him: "What do I study if I want to be a Super?"

Me: "ummm, well I guess you would study crime fighting and super hero stuff. And if you want to be a musician you would study music; if you want to be an actor you would study the theater."

Him: "And what if I wanted to be a magician?"

We may have to talk about career paths a bit more. ;-)
I got to play with my phone some, and figure out the camera feature - not bad images for an almost completely dark area.

I don't often get time alone with Kiddo any more, and it was nice to be able to hang out with him and talk to him while giving him my undivided attention. Sometimes in the day to day of dealing with the boys I forget what a sweet, funny, wonderful kid he is.

It was a great "date". I love you my Boogie Man.

Until,
D :)

Follow Through

Wow, I just realized that it is almost the end of January and I have only posted 7 times. That is so sad. I apologize for being so absent this month. There are so many things I have thought about blogging, and in the moment I think of them, they are gone (if that makes any sense) and I sit down to write and I can't remember. Never mind the constant distractions and interruptions that having 2 active and demanding little boys brings. So I think that I can blog at night, but lately by about 10PM my brain just shuts down. I stare at the screen and my eyes glaze over.

Today though, I have to say that I am just so proud of my church family, and so moved by what God is doing through them. Check out this news story from last night.



Seeing all the boxes of supplies stacked in those familiar halls brought tears to my eyes. It is amazing to me how so many people from the church just fall into the perfect place whenever there is a need. Need a plane? I've got 2. Need fuel, we've got the money to donate. God really speaks to the people of my church and I am just blown away.

It's another gorgeous day today and the boys are playing in the back yard. It appears that our playscape is about to crater. We've had it for 3 or 4 years now, and we noticed a couple of months ago that one of the supporting legs is completely rotten and broken at the bottom. Thankfully, it is encased in a thick plastic sleeve and so I am not too worried about it falling on the kids. But, the bars to climb up on one side have rotted and a couple have come off, and I won't let Kiddo do the monkey bars because it looks like they may have rotted at the connection points too. We have already had to replace the cross beams on it that hold the swings; to fix the rest would cost about as much as buying a whole new set would. Thankfully the swings are still relatively safe so I let the boys play on those. Though when they do, the whole structure creaks and moans, pops and rocks.

The boys love to swing; especially little Port. He wants to take a turn on each of the 3 swings, even though only 1 is suited for a toddler. He holds on pretty good with the regular swings so I just stand by close when he uses those. Kiddo always wants the swinging to be a race, and I have had to make a rule that we only "race" once a day because after a while, it gets old being the "announcer". He used to make me do it over and over and I couldn't catch a break, thus the rule. Everyone is a lot happier now.

Yesterday I was supposed to take Kiddo to see my friend's daughter perform in her first musical at the elementary school. Kiddo was a pistol all day though, and by mid afternoon he had lost almost all of his privileges. The last thing left was the night out with mommy, and well, he ended up losing that too. I was so upset with him, but I had to follow through. He had plenty of warning and he blew it. To really drive the point home though, I went to the show without him. Oh the wailing!! He was so upset!

I actually didn't make it to the show. Between Hubby getting home just in time for me to leave, and then me having to come back to the house to pick up some cash for my ticket, I got there right at the official start time. Then, I drove around the school looking for a parking space and the door to enter. Sadly, by the time I got my bearings (even though I never did identify the correct door), the show had already started. I didn't want to go in late, even though I saw lots of other parents circling the parking lot still. I decided to try again for tonight, hopefully with a behaving Kiddo, and make a nice night of it.

We shall see.

I think going without him was pretty effective though, because when I got home, Kiddo had written me a note and left it with a "present" under my pillow. I don't quite understand it, but the note said "I have missed you." and the present was a gun made out of bristle blocks. lol. It was a sweet gesture I guess.

So far today he has been pretty good, and hopefully we can make it to the show tonight without incident.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!

Until,
D :)

Spring Love

Happy Friday Company Girls and beloved Regulars!

It is a gorgeous day out today, and I am absolutely itching to start working in the garden!!! I made the mistake of stopping by Lowe's this morning and checking out the gardening department. Oh mercy, mercy, mercy!

So far on my list of "wants" for my garden, an apple tree ($22.95), an orange and a lemon tree (2 for $39.95), another blueberry for the blueberry I already have (they don't fruit unless there are 2 of them, awwww! - $10.95) a blackberry and raspberry bush ($8.95 each), more dirt, fertilizer and seeds or small plants for onions, spinach, and a couple of herbs, and some peppers. I would also like some strawberries and red onions this year.

So....I need about $200+ to start. *sigh*

I have no idea where that is going to come from. Maybe we'll have a garage sale or something.

I was getting giddy looking at all the little plants.

I still have seeds for zucchini, tomatoes and the peas and beans. I hope to plant a lot more of those this season. My returns in the fall were pitiful, and just as everything started to really get going, we had a hard freeze and it wiped it all out. The only plants I have left are carrots, some sad little onions that probably won't come to anything, a couple broccoli plants that still haven't produced anything, and 2 teeny tiny spinach plants. I also have some brussel sprout plants still growing, and while they are gorgeous, they aren't producing anything and probably won't. I just don't have the heart to pull them!

I am thinking about incorporating our fence into the "garden" area and plant the squash and the berries along it. The squash takes up so much space, it nearly swallows the entire 4x8 box with just a couple of plants. I am just not sure I want to go through all the labor of getting the ground ready over there. There are lots of rocks and junk to dig through, weeds to pull, and bushes to take out. And the dog will probably try to trample anything I plant, so I would need to devise some sort of fence.

I discovered this week that the family of squirrels that lives in our back yard has moved it's nest from one side of the yard to a tree on the other side. Right next to the garden.

mmmhmmm. They are planning for the spring harvest too I am afraid.

So, are you thinking spring too? I would love to know your plans!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

New Coat of Paint

Sooooo, how do you like the new digs? I came across this template and thought it would be perfect. I still have some formatting things to work out, but I think I am going to like it. You know, I have been blogging for almost 4 years now and this is the first time I have ever changed the template! It was difficult for me to pull the trigger - I was afraid I would lose some stuff.

So far though, it appears everything is still here. The labels and archives are all the way down on the bottom now in case you were looking for them.

Anywho....

Port decided yesterday that a nap was out of the question. I put him down at the usual time, and he fussed and cried off and on for over 30 minutes. Normally I would just ignore him, but at the 30 minute mark he started making a very strange noise. And, after a morning of nasty diapers courtesy of the corn we had for dinner the night before, I didn't want to leave him in his room sitting in a dirty diaper. The noise was just enough to make me think something might be amiss, and so I went in to check on him.

When he saw me he let out a jolly laugh.

Stinker.

Of course it was all over with. There was no way I could put him back down at that moment. So I thought I would give it an hour or so and then try again, but he was so good all afternoon that I just never really thought about it. He and Kiddo played out in the back yard most of the day. Man, sometimes I love Texas weather! He never acted tired or unusually fussy, even during his normal witching hour (5pm) he was calm and sweet. I almost forgot he skipped his nap.

Until about 6:30. ugh.

Actually, he wasn't too terribly fussy; he just had that frantic, I-don't-know-what-I-want-but-this-isn't-it thing going. I ended up putting him to bed about an hour early, after he had a melt down during dinner. He slept really well last night.

So I wonder if this means he is on his way out of naps? Mercy I hope not.

When did your kids drop their naps? Kiddo never napped, so I don't know what the normal time table is on this stuff.

I just know that I am not ready for it yet. I need that break almost as much as he does!

Until,
D :)