Garden 2010: Week One

So, I started my seeds for our 2010 garden this last Saturday. We probably went overboard with the seeds, but this is the first time I have started vegetable plants from scratch. This will be the 5th year that we have had a vegetable garden and in the past we have just purchased plants and planted them. Usually we get a few tomato, a few cucumber, some zuchini and some herbs. But, this year we will have:

green peppers - 6 plants

cucumbers -6 plants

cherry tomatoes - 12 plants

sweet corn - 18 plants

carrots - 24 plants

green beans - 24 plants

peas - 12 plants

Wow, now that I am looking at those numbers I am a little scared. This will require us to seriously expand the size of the garden! Currently, our garden is 20' long x 1 row deep. It looks like we are going to have a massive expansion on our hands or we will be donating baby plants to friends and family in the next month or so. Hmm... well, anyway. What I lack in planning ability on this part I make up in good intentions!

This is going to be a fun year for William who was very interested in helping plant the seads. Now that he is almost 5, he is a much better helper. He helped me figure out the amount of water we would need to expand the peet pellets and thought that process was very cool. He got to plant all the larger seeds and helped me poke all of the seeds down into the peat pellets.

The green houses are set in my little one's room on his dresser because he has the only south facing window in the house. The room gets a nice constant, warm light during the day and will be the perfect place to nurse the plants before the move outside. Now, I just have to figure out how to keep the cat out of the room once the lids have to come off... She is a notorious plant chewer from way back, and most of my house plants have fallen victim to her abuse rendering them lopsided and mishapen. I will probably opt to keep the door shut, because she really doesn't need to be in there anyway.

Well, that is all for now. I will post the pictures of the first sprouts that come up and report on their status weekly. I am excited to start the garden off this way this year! Even though spring does not officially arrive until this Saturday I am full of hopeful thoughts for the season!

Finding myself again.

I am wondering when I lost my imagination? I just got finished watching Finding Neverland for the first time and just about half way through I started to realize that I was no better than the stodgy old grandmother in the movie. I mean really, I spend more time yelling at the kids for running around the house than I do anything else (or it seems this way). What I hadn't realized until just tonight was that somewhere along the way I have lost my childlike sense of imagination. What seems like noise and ruckus to my husband and I is probably some wonderful world to my kids and I scream at them. I know that that it's mostly because I am like "don't throw that you will break something" or "don't do that you will get hurt". So, I suppose some of the intervention is necessary to keep the kids in tact and the house as well. But, I really am mourning the loss of my childhood.

No, this is not one of those "Oh my God, I am an adult, I am a parent!" things. This is a "where did my sense of wonder and fun go to?!" kinds of things. I remember when I was growing up that I could play for hours with dolls and make up stories and make believe it was all real. I could be in the bushes in a friend's backyard and we would be lost in a jungle, or in the pool on a raft but really out to sea... I am now remembering all the wonderful times I had when I was young and how I cherish these moments. I had been so preoccupied for so long with growing up and then finally got here and it is not all it is cut out to be! How I wish I could be carefree as a child and spend hours making up a world around me and playing so light heartedly. Sigh, it hurts that I have lost this part of me. I know that may sound silly, but my new goal is to try to find that part of me again. To look for the lighter side of life. To not feel that constant feel in my gut--hunger, anxiety, whatever it is it has got to go!

I am going to spend more time immersing myself in my children's world and spend less time trying to make them live in mine. It occurred to me that I am so busy taking care of things around the house that I do not spend enough time on their level--that is, the floor. When I helped my son put together his train track the other night, I could see the joy in his eyes that I was there. Sure, I read to him, color with him, watch cartoons with him, but to get down on the floor and play is a whole other world. I want to spend more time in their world, I think. Of course, I will have to keep things going around here in the grown up world, but maybe, just maybe I can find a different way of doing things and make chores into fun. Reminds me a Merry Poppins, and old favorite of mine from way back. I think it is time to dig out the classics and remind myself of my youth and try to share that with my children.

This really is random, but I am sure glad that I figured out this too late! I would much rather be Merry Poppins or the fairy godmother or any number of other story book characters than I would me right now. So, this is my firm resolution: To find more fun in everyday life and to help other find it too. We'll see where this takes us.

That's all, goodnight!

Lesson Learned: We are not plumbers!

Last weekend the weather took a turn for the better it stayed around between the mid fifties to low sixties the entire time! I was thrilled because for the first time in months I didn't have to bundle up! There is nothing more annoying than having to put on 3-5 layers every day plus a scarf and gloves. Getting ready on winter mornings probably takes about 5 minutes longer (at least)! So, last Friday when it was 54 degrees outside when I got off work it seriously felt like a heat wave! I was absolutely, without a double thrilled! I feel like it is kinda sad that silly things like that make me excited, but sunny and mid fifties feels like tropical weather compared to 15 with blowing snow! That's a pretty long intro to this blog, but it reiterates that I was very happy to have spring like weather to start the weekend out!

So, our Friday night activities were pretty uneventful in regards to the remodel. I helped James install the new toilet and then assisted with the installation of the base (I filled the nail holes and did touch up paint). So, really I was more of an assistant on the project. After we finished up those two chores we were done for the evening. I stayed up late due in part to my insistence on finishing the book I was reading "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks. BTW I loved that book! It was an easy read and kept me hooked the whole time. I could not put it down! It was also a tear jerker, every time I got emotional while I was reading it I could see my husband looking at me a little funny. Oh well! I would highly recommend it to anyone! So, anyway, that was Friday, on to Saturday...

Saturday was not such a good day! I knew that the installation of the vanity was not going to be a picnic, but I never anticipated the nightmare it would become. We tried to do the work while the kids were napping, but that doesn't work out so well when one of your kids decides he doesn't nap anymore and the other one doesn't sleep very long. The first step to installing the vanity was shutting off the water supply. Second was removing part of the copper pipes coming out the floor. We were going to have to drill holes in the bottom of the unit to accommodate the pipes, but this required cutting off the shut off valves. If you ever think that doing this will be easy and trouble free, think twice! I would highly recommend hiring a professional plumber for this portion of the job!!!

Needless to say, we got ourselves in over our heads. After shutting off the main water supply and draining all the water from the lines (so we thought!), James went about removing the shut off valves. He did this by "sweating" the fittings. Which means you hold a propane torch on the fitting until the solder releases and you simultaneously yank and twist with a wrench. One the first shut off valve was removed, water immediately started to pour out of the pipes. It was not so much a geyser, but not a trickle either. I ran into the kid's bathroom where I keep the "cruddy" towels and grabbed an armful. The water seemed to come and come, not like it was just left in the lines. So, we realized that the water heater had to be drained as well. This means that you have to open the line to feed the heater as well as the spigot at the base of the tank to drain the unit. I put an old plastic ice cream bucket under it to catch the water. It filled up about every 5-10 minutes. During the course of the day I probably soaked the floor of the utility closet about 5 times or more because I forgot to check on it.

About the time we got the leak under control, our youngest son, Ben (21 months) woke up. I could tell since we had the water shut off, there was a constant flow from the water heater, James was trying his best to deal with the bathroom plumbing that we were really in for it. Not only will Ben not sit down for two seconds to watch a movie which could have bought us some time, but neither of the boys would simply play. They wanted to be right in the middle of everything (which is totally understandable, but also extremely frustrating!!)

James decided to run to the hardware store to get some copper caps for the lines to completely stop the water and then get new shut off valves (the kind that pressure fit on). While he was gone, I had an incredibly genius idea to attach a garden hose to the water heater to drain the water instead of the bucket. What ended up happening is that the water back flowed out of the hose back into the water heater and then the pipes in the bathroom overflowed again causing yet another mini flood. So, my genius plan was foiled!

He returned with the pieces he needed to temporarily stop the flow of water and enable us to install the vanity cabinet. Once he got them installed, then we started the next chapter of the adventure. We had to get a 200+ pound vanity with granite top inside from our garage, around the corner in the hallway and into the bathroom. (At this point, I was thanking God that we don't have stairs!!!). Luckily, this chapter did not turn out to be nearly as bad as it could have been. I kept Ben trapped in his high chair with some animal crackers and juice while we used our handy dandy miracle movers to glide the piece across the floor. BTW if you don't have these little things you should get some, they are wonderful! I think that they are actually called Super Sliders, but whatever. Anyhow, so we got the thing inside the bathroom without much incident. Except when I bumped my beautiful wall with the edge of the counter and made a small ding. But all in all, we were no worse for the wear.

The next chapter was measuring the locations for the holes for the pipes, drilling them and somehow getting this monstrosity over the pipes and back down without injury. James is very good at meticulously calculating locations for holes and whatnot. He is a pro at the planning of hanging things and works all those things out so well. So, I wasn't worried about this. It was the next step I was afraid of! We figured out if we leaned the unit forward that we could position the pipes to the holes and gently let it down on top of them. Done correctly it would work, done wrong it could be a disaster. Luckily, this went well. However, during this time the kids were growing weary of staying out the danger zone and were really starting to wear on our nerves--Just so you know I did try to contact a few friends for help watching the kids or just to lend a hand, but had no luck! I have to admit that this was poorly planned and executed from the childcare standpoint. We had no idea that this was going to be such an involved process which would take up practically the entire day. I really don't blame them for being so antsy; Mom and Dad were pretty much ignoring them and making them stay inside on a lovely day. I would have been whiny too! However, as much as I wanted to throw in the towel, I knew we had to keep at it. Or else we either had no water, or we had a bucket to tend or we would have to call a plumber on a Saturday afternoon which would cost Lord knows how much!? So, we just had to keep at it!

After the unit was installed I thought we were in the clear, I really did! (I came to realize that I was wrong). After the vanity was in place, James installed the pressure fit shut off valves--which are BTW genius inventions! Then the ultimate test: turning the water back on! Immediately they started to leak! ARG! I think this was the point where I had my real psycho mommy moment and blew up. I had already put the junk towels through the dryer 3 times that day and now I was running for them again. Benjamin was right on my heels and William was driving me just as crazy. I threw some kind of fit and put Benjamin in his bed for his own safety. At least with him in his crib he would be safe and I could tend to the floody matter at hand. He was really screaming at this point, but I don't see that I had much choice. James tried to soothe Ben and to get the boys to play nicely in Ben's room together. This lasted all of about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, we got the water shut off again an went at trying to fix the leak. As it turns out, the pipes had residual solder left on them from the previous valves and needed to be sanded down smooth for a tight fit with the new valves. This sounds simple enough, but those puppies don't like to come off once they are on. In fact, we broke one of them in the process and I don't believe it is ever coming off again. Not without a hack saw anyway. Fortunately, this was the final fix and we were able to get the leaks to stop, even with the broken one!

Tired, dirty and deflated from a day of work and stress I decided that we had to get out of the house. Our house has been a disaster for weeks with this project going on, but without water for the day the dirty dishes stacked up and I really did not feel like dealing with any of that. So, we decided to take the kids to McDonald's for dinner. It was great to get out the war zone, even if it was just to McDonalds, to sit and eat and not work. After dinner, we let the kids play for a good hour and a half at the playplace. They had a fantastic time! I was feeling very guilty for the day's events and our lack of attentiveness.

In hind sight, I should have gotten someone, in advance, to watch the kids for us. I know that with a little bit more planning the day would have gone much better. But, being naive home improvers we failed a bit that day. The end result was a such, mind you, but the road getting there was certainly a bumpy one! I am so glad that portion of the project is done!

Sunday was a better day. I am getting tired now, so I wont go through the day, but it was peacefully uneventful. We played outside, took a walk and went to the park. A MUCH MUCH BETTER DAY!

I am so glad this project is winding down, and even though according to my schedule we are late, I don't really care. Along the way we have had a few issues and a case of strep throat. So, I feel like all in all we have done okay.

Doing the best I can...

I live by one adage: "do the best you can." This is something that my dad always told me growing up. He never pushed me to be the best, but simply to do the best I could. He was never dissapointed with me if I failed at something as long as I gave it all I had. I've always tried to keep this in mind and apply it daily. I have to admit, as a perfectionist, it is a struggle to accept this. I have always wanted to succeed at everything, but I realize that I am not perfect. In fact, far from it. But, I do the best I can and that is okay.

You know what is my best is sometimes? It's not always putting the dishes away, it's leaving clean clothes in laundry baskets for a week, it's having a mess on my counter 95% of the time, it's letting hot wheels and other toys set on the floor. I hate to admit that, but I really do the best I can and at the end of the day, I am just too exhausted to fret over somethings. Most of the time I opt to relax and pick up a book or catch up on my tv shows. Wow, that makes me sound almost lazy. Well, it's not that, but if you read my previous post about my schedule, it's hectic to say the least. Managing a household, being a wife and a mom to two very active boys, working 40+ hours a week leaves very little "me" time. In between working and everything else I somehow have to find time do laundry, dishes, pay bills, keep up the house; I often use the evening time I have to just relax.

I often feel like perhaps I have two personalities or maybe it's the angel/devil thing on my shoulders. However you put it, I struggle with how I feel I "should" do things and how I actually do them. The should usually comes to mind when I think of how my mom would have done it or how others do things. Not to say that the way my mom did things was wrong, but she really was anal about housekeeping. I just simply do not have the energy to be super woman, and I really am not trying to fool anyone. I laugh when I see those Electrolux commercials with Kelly what's her name flying around the house like she is Samantha from Bewitched. I am gonna say it, that's total bull shit! I wish that buying fancy, expensive appliances could make me a perfect mom and everything, but I am not buying it, not for one minute.

So, yeah, I have one side of me who is an excellent organizer and total neat freak and then I have the other side that is not so much. In fact, that otherside of me tends to be more like a tornado than anything. When I am working on something I tend to make disasters, just ask anybody I work with. I have told my boss that if you ever see my desk clean, it's then that you should worry, because I probably have nothing to do. People tend to get a little worried when I start to clean because I go all out. I don't do anything "half assed" as my mom would have put it. I either do it right or don't do it at all. I think that's how I justify it. I think that I mentioned my tendancies of the mouse in "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"... I will be doing one thing and end up scrubbing the floors and the walls, and the whole bit. To tell you the truth, that's pretty exhausting, so I usually avoid openning that can of worms.

I am not sure how I got off on this tangent, but I had this thought tonight (as I was putting my son to bed and trying to get out of his room with out tripping on his Thomas track or breaking one of his trains) about doing the best I could, and I think honestly, I do the best I can at life. And the best that I can is not anyone else's best, but mine alone. I do the best I can to keep sane and not be the crazy mommy which I feel like I am more often these days.

Thinking about it, I am probably too hard on myself. To recap the day, I woke up and took care of one sick and one well kiddo. Fed them, got them dressed, did several loads of laundry, folded them (and yes, put them away!), cleaned up one kid's room, showered, got ready for work, fed the kids lunch, ate and then went to work (at 12:30), worked until 5, came home did some of the same stuff again (ie: taking care of kids), made dinner, finished the laundry, brushed teeth, put kids to bed, and took a break to write this, after I am done I will help get the new toilet installed and install baseboards, and formulate a plan to get the vanity inside. Which means it will probably be a late night. Then we will start all over tomorrow. Did I ever mention that I sometimes feel like I live in the movie Grounghog Day? Well, I do!

Anyhow, enough on this rant, my hubby is back from the hardware store with the goodies we need to press on. So, I best go help! Night!

Wrapping up the remodel... (yea!)

We are nearing completion of the bathroom remodel! Today we are getting our flooring installed!! I was just there and it looks great! (I will post pictures later on facebook). All that there is left to do is to paint the baseboards and reinstall them, install the toilet, install the vanity & connect the plumbing (which will end up being a feat of engineering), hang the mirror and install the bath hardware.

Even though there is still quite a bit of work to be done, I feel like we have reached the top and it's all downhill from here. I anticipate that the installation of the vanity might be a bit troublesome because it is 60"w x 23"d x 34"h and it already has the granite top and sinks installed. The thing weighs over 200 lbs. Luckily, our bathroom is not upstairs, but with the crazy angles in our house, it is going to take some thinking and creative work to get the thing in there and not hurt it or ourselves. Also, since the plumbing comes up through the floor, I anticipate that we will have to shut the water off and cut the lines to get the unit in over the pipes and then reconnect with new pipes. Come to think of it, I think we might need some help for the lifting portion. Hmm... who to call? I am not looking forward to this portion much, but once it is in the rest will be pretty easy (relatively speaking).

Now that I am thinking of it, this remodel could really not be at a worse time for us, I suppose. James is in the midst of writing his 25 page senior thesis and is smack dab in the middle of his last semester of school. Also, having to do all the work after 8:30pm (when the kids go to sleep) and during their naps leaves little time for other things (like sleep!) Leave it to us to get an idea in our heads and just jump right in.

But, really it hasn't been a terribly painful process. The only real hiccups we have had along the way is the realization that removal of popcorn ceilings is neither easy, clean or fun. That portion took us the longest to complete since we had to retexture the whole ceiling by hand. The other problematic portions have been the lighting. The ceiling light we bought was damaged and when we tried to exchange it, the store was out. The vanity light electrical was incorrectly done and took some repair work to get straightened out. So, we were without any lighting in the bathroom for a few days. But, all in all the downtime actually gave me some time to rest up a bit and finish the book I had been reading. All in all, although it hasn't followed my schedule, and we are both exhausted, we are getting there!

So, the near completion of this project brings to mind what is next on the agenda? Spring is nearing quickly, I our next major tasks will be setting up the kid's new/old (thanks Joanne!) playset and planting my garden and tending to it. I look forward to sharing these projects on my blog.

That's all for now, I gotta catch up with work!

Why I like the chair

This is the picture of my grandmother, Yvette holding my mother, Carole from Dec. 1947 that I alluded to in my previous post. The first time I saw the picture I fell in love with it. My grandmother was such a lovely person, I wish I could have met her. All I have are her photos, but now I feel like I have her chair too. (even though it wasn't really hers!)

My Living Room on a Budget

Item: Victrola Cabinet
Cost: $12
Where's it from?: Auction
Why I love it: A fantastic thrifty find! It is a perfect end table. I am a big fan of quarter sawn oak, love that it has doors for hiding stuff, and love the history.













Item: Oak coffee table
Cost: $8
Where's it from?: Garage sale
Why I love it: Another quarter sawn oak piece, it is seriously about 200 lbs, I have refinished it once, and it probably needs it again, but it's completely solid, so it's virtually indestructable! I love that it can withstand all the abuse that my kids can dish out; including hot wheels races! It has no sharp corners for ouchies, but it is hard on the head. Overall, this is hands down my favorite garage sale find of all time!










Item: Vintage rocker
Cost: free (family heirloom)
Where's it from: James' dad bought it for his father at an auction back in the 1950's from a neighbor
Why I love it: Timeless style, great addition to the room! I also have to mention that the white coverlet and pillow are finds from my mother in law's house. She comes up with the greatest things!











Item: Kitchen hutch (AKA: Television cabinet)
Cost: $60
Where's it from?: Next door neighbor's moving sale
Why I love it: When we were in the market for a new tv (see previous post) I couldn't find the right tv cabinet. All of them were cheaply made or heinously priced. I found this at the next door neighbor's sale and knew right away that it would be perfect. We just removed a shelf, made some adjustments, drilled some holes for wires, and painted over the green ivy painted on the doors.









Item: Vintage channel back chair
Cost: $150
Where's it from? Craig's List
Why I love it: I have a picture dated Dec 1947 with my grandmother holding my mother as an infant in a chair that could be the twin of this one. I have been on the lookout for this chair for over 5 years! When I happened upon this chair one day on Craig's List I couldn't help myself. Also, the pillow is another free find from my mother in law's.

It's March 1st Already!? Spring is on the way!

Here we are, March 1st, 2010! Two months down already, granted February is an abbreviated month, but still.

This month's highlights:

• 3-6-10: completion of our bathroom remodel!
• 3-8-10: two more months 'til James' (my hubby's) graduation!!
• 3-13-10: start seeds in greenhouses (6-8 weeks until last frost)
• 3-14-10: daylight savings (yea for longer days!!)
• 3-19-10: my half birthday (6 more months and I am 27!?)
• 3-20-10: the first day of spring!!! (thank goodness!)

As you can probably pick up on, I am very excited about spring! After all, I did grow up in Southern California where there is a lack of seasons. So, spring and fall are particularly exciting for me. I am looking forward to warmer days (even 45 feels good right now!); longer days and later sunsets; the first spring flowers-- daffodils, hyacinth, tulips, forsythia; green sprouts of grass and new buds on trees; right now even spring cleaning sounds good! I just really want to get outside and not have to bundle up! Yea to light sweaters instead of coats, hats, and gloves! Yea to bike rides with the boys! Yea to planting my garden and working the soil! Yea to garage sales and car shows! Yea to open windows and fresh air! Yea to the end of the perpetual dry skin of winter!

I just love the fresh optimism of the spring and how you get that feeling of starting new. It's like anything is possible. Perhaps, we should save our "New Years" resolutions for the spring, because the middle of winter really is an awful time to try to keep any promises to yourself! Like how are you really expected to get into the gym when it's 15 degrees outside and blowing snow like crazy!? All I really want to do when it is bitter cold is to hide under blanket and read a book on my sofa or perhaps catch up on my shows or watch a movie. Most of those activities are the antithesis of my resolution. That is why I propose we change things and save our resolutions for a better time like March 20th!

My unofficial resolution this year was to go to the gym more (instead of the once a week routine I have been doing for the past 2 years). I have been intermittently successful with that. For the past two weeks plus, I have been on a total hiatus due to the bathroom remodel, but I do intend to get back there once I finish up that project. But, now that spring is approaching, I feel like I can definitely achieve that goal.

My goal is a sort of loose outline that I am not too strict on myself if I don't adhere to. Some reasons that are acceptable for not going to the gym are: renovation activities (these are labor intensive anyhow), outings with the family (pushing a stroller or running after kids also counts), after work events or professional meetings (usually these involve calories, but are good for professional development).

Anyhow, this post turned into sort of a rambling one, but in summary, I am very excited about the spring and the endless opportunities which it brings!