My mom and I took both kids to Stage Fort Park yesterday and a little girl was running around with the tamest, tiniest rooster I've ever seen. Oh, and it played soccer.
Kinda awesome, Gloucester!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
This is a Rooster Playing Soccer.
My mom and I took both kids to Stage Fort Park yesterday and a little girl was running around with the tamest, tiniest rooster I've ever seen. Oh, and it played soccer.
Kinda awesome, Gloucester!
Monday, July 25, 2011
The City of Brotherly Food
Last week we took a trip down to Bethesda, MD to go visit my cousin Jillian, who was having a baby shower for her impending firstborn. We all drove in our Mazda5, with my mom added, which was the cheapest option. Apparently, you can fit three adults and two kids in those things for a 10 hour stretch! Who knew. We also did not kill each other, which was an added bonus.
My mom took the Amtrak back home so she could get to work at 7AM Monday, and we had nowhere in particular to be until a class I had Tuesday, so we took an extra day to check out Philadelphia. We didn't have too much time, just enough to realize the cheesesteaks aren't particularly special (but that cheese wiz is pretty damn good on it).
One of the coolest things in Philadelphia if you like ingesting food-like substances is the Reading Terminal Market.
It reminded me of the Lonsdale Quay in Vancouver, but with a bigger selection, and more of a focus on deli stuff, as well as a noticeable lack of maple sugar beaver tales (HUMPH.)
It wasn't lacking for desserts, however. Shortly after this picture was taken I had to wipe the drool off Nathan. And myself.
Nathan's favorite, however, was the spice shop full of assorted bags of colored sugars and sprinkles.
We also tried raw milk for the first time ever. It was good, and the lack of homogenization meant you could lick the cap because it was all butter stuck to it, which was tasty. However, it's nothing I would go miles to seek out at home.
The only other notable thing in Philadelphia was that people were staring at my Bruins tattoo, apparently (Mike noticed, I didn't). However, we have a Stanley cup this year, and they don't, so they can kiss my ass.
My mom took the Amtrak back home so she could get to work at 7AM Monday, and we had nowhere in particular to be until a class I had Tuesday, so we took an extra day to check out Philadelphia. We didn't have too much time, just enough to realize the cheesesteaks aren't particularly special (but that cheese wiz is pretty damn good on it).
One of the coolest things in Philadelphia if you like ingesting food-like substances is the Reading Terminal Market.
It reminded me of the Lonsdale Quay in Vancouver, but with a bigger selection, and more of a focus on deli stuff, as well as a noticeable lack of maple sugar beaver tales (HUMPH.)
It wasn't lacking for desserts, however. Shortly after this picture was taken I had to wipe the drool off Nathan. And myself.
Nathan's favorite, however, was the spice shop full of assorted bags of colored sugars and sprinkles.
We also tried raw milk for the first time ever. It was good, and the lack of homogenization meant you could lick the cap because it was all butter stuck to it, which was tasty. However, it's nothing I would go miles to seek out at home.
The only other notable thing in Philadelphia was that people were staring at my Bruins tattoo, apparently (Mike noticed, I didn't). However, we have a Stanley cup this year, and they don't, so they can kiss my ass.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
CHECK OUT THIS SWEET-ASS MOURNING DOVE
He was hangin' out, bein' a bird, eatin' from our feeder. We usually get small finches and the like, but usually nothing as cool as this guy.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Toddler Hijinks
Yesterday morning, Nathan stuck his Self-Propelled James the Red Engine into my hair, and his whirring little wheels immediately caught a large chunk of it. I was not even awake yet, so this was most unwelcome. I ended up having to pull out a small chunk of hair.
As I was pulling out that hair, he managed to grab the baby shampoo from the side of the tub and dump it on the hardwood floors in the hallway, then slipped and fell in it.
This morning I went to make myself a cup of coffee and came back in to find he was banging the crank arm of a bicycle against our flat screen TV. While completely naked.
He's also had a hilaaarious habit lately of tossing any toilet paper left in the vicinity of the toilet (I mean, why would it be there?)INTO said toilet. I've become adept at measuring how much toilet paper can be flushed in one flush in each bathroom and how to keep the rest stuck to the side of the bowl with a stick until the toilet refills. Kids HATE THE ENVIRONMENT apparently.
So destructive. YET SO ADORABLE.
As I was pulling out that hair, he managed to grab the baby shampoo from the side of the tub and dump it on the hardwood floors in the hallway, then slipped and fell in it.
This morning I went to make myself a cup of coffee and came back in to find he was banging the crank arm of a bicycle against our flat screen TV. While completely naked.
He's also had a hilaaarious habit lately of tossing any toilet paper left in the vicinity of the toilet (I mean, why would it be there?)INTO said toilet. I've become adept at measuring how much toilet paper can be flushed in one flush in each bathroom and how to keep the rest stuck to the side of the bowl with a stick until the toilet refills. Kids HATE THE ENVIRONMENT apparently.
So destructive. YET SO ADORABLE.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Early Harvest
We got to eat the earliest of our garden's harvest this week. Sugar snap peas, and kale. Gardening Year 3 should be the most successful so far (year 2 was a complete disaster, year 1 was pretty good for a beginner).
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
20 miles!
I accidentally biked all the way to Beverly yesterday! Backstory: Mike fixed me up an awesome little road bike.
Orange and blue!
I kinda just got on my bike and went. Mike took both boys to the Wenham Museum so I could nap, because I'd had a long sleepless night with a sick kid. But I couldn't sleep, so off I went, figuring I'd turn around after a few miles.
I made it to Manchester-By-The-Sea, and was ecstatic! I asked Mike to drive up 127 and meet me when he got out of the museum, so I just figured I'd keep going until I was really too tired and I'd wait for him. The great part was that 127 ends in Beverly, so the mile markers counted down, and when I got to Manchester it was at 5 miles left, and then I kept going and all of a sudden I saw this:
I was at Pride's Crossing, and Beverly Farms, and then in Beverly, and he happened to be waiting at a light right where 127 ends.
I won't lie, I stopped like 5 times, and walked up a few short but excruciating hills. And I know 15 miles is pretty much a cakewalk for most people, but I'm terribly out of shape, damnit!
Then, later, I took another bike ride around Wenham Lake with Mike, a shorter 5 1/2 mile ride. So, like, 20 miles! Woo!
Orange and blue!
I kinda just got on my bike and went. Mike took both boys to the Wenham Museum so I could nap, because I'd had a long sleepless night with a sick kid. But I couldn't sleep, so off I went, figuring I'd turn around after a few miles.
I made it to Manchester-By-The-Sea, and was ecstatic! I asked Mike to drive up 127 and meet me when he got out of the museum, so I just figured I'd keep going until I was really too tired and I'd wait for him. The great part was that 127 ends in Beverly, so the mile markers counted down, and when I got to Manchester it was at 5 miles left, and then I kept going and all of a sudden I saw this:
I was at Pride's Crossing, and Beverly Farms, and then in Beverly, and he happened to be waiting at a light right where 127 ends.
I won't lie, I stopped like 5 times, and walked up a few short but excruciating hills. And I know 15 miles is pretty much a cakewalk for most people, but I'm terribly out of shape, damnit!
Then, later, I took another bike ride around Wenham Lake with Mike, a shorter 5 1/2 mile ride. So, like, 20 miles! Woo!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
State of the Garden
Last you saw, I had just planted our garden for the year.
This was taken nearly a month ago, when things were just getting rolling.
And here, this morning. The difference is insane!
Tiny zucchini! Yay!
Peas!
The weedblock stuff is legit awesome (newspaper under it really helps). I won't do it any other way again.
This was taken nearly a month ago, when things were just getting rolling.
And here, this morning. The difference is insane!
Tiny zucchini! Yay!
Peas!
The weedblock stuff is legit awesome (newspaper under it really helps). I won't do it any other way again.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
I'm totally okay with days apart from my kid. Am I an anomaly?
Confession: I'm not as distraught as I feel I should be when my kids aren't around me.
It's not like when we're apart I don't miss them. I just seem more detached than the other moms I know. For instance, once every couple of weeks Nathan sleeps over with my mom and dad (and sometimes my siblings who are in college). Sunday night, he asked repeatedly to see my mom until I called her at work, and we arranged to meet to drop him off until the next day. Sure, I missed him a little, but I also had so much time to get things done without him. Never at any point while he's with them do I think "I want to leave right now and get him!" A week and a half ago, my mom took him camping for two nights. I think every other mom I know would have never let that happen, but I was happy to get time to do homework and have more time to myself. I was glad to see him when he got back, of course.
The same happened while I was working. I missed them a little, but it was intensely relaxing not to be in a routine of manual labor taking care of them. It's not that taking care of them means constantly toiling, but it does have hard parts. Work has adult-time, which for me was really necessary. My need to feel validated by contributing to a workplace was far more pressing than my need to be around my sons all day, every day.
Maybe the fact that I know they're having fun, and in great hands with either their dad or a grandparent, leads me to be completely relaxed and laid-back about them being without me. Or maybe I'm too detached and individualistic, and I'm not the greatest parent?
It's not like when we're apart I don't miss them. I just seem more detached than the other moms I know. For instance, once every couple of weeks Nathan sleeps over with my mom and dad (and sometimes my siblings who are in college). Sunday night, he asked repeatedly to see my mom until I called her at work, and we arranged to meet to drop him off until the next day. Sure, I missed him a little, but I also had so much time to get things done without him. Never at any point while he's with them do I think "I want to leave right now and get him!" A week and a half ago, my mom took him camping for two nights. I think every other mom I know would have never let that happen, but I was happy to get time to do homework and have more time to myself. I was glad to see him when he got back, of course.
The same happened while I was working. I missed them a little, but it was intensely relaxing not to be in a routine of manual labor taking care of them. It's not that taking care of them means constantly toiling, but it does have hard parts. Work has adult-time, which for me was really necessary. My need to feel validated by contributing to a workplace was far more pressing than my need to be around my sons all day, every day.
Maybe the fact that I know they're having fun, and in great hands with either their dad or a grandparent, leads me to be completely relaxed and laid-back about them being without me. Or maybe I'm too detached and individualistic, and I'm not the greatest parent?
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Chicken Run!
I made a thing I am proud of!
We decided we should get a few more chickens (an Auracana named James who is a she and a Silver-laced Wyandotte named Bonnie, with 3 more to come from the same home), but we needed a bigger spot for them. We contemplated under the deck out back, but we would have to somehow cut holes into the house's siding to brace a structure and we didn't want to do that. But bracing it against our front fence? Much better idea.
Usually projects with long pieces of lumber are not my list because we don't have a big car, but now that the xB has no carseats because the Mazda is our family car, I just went for it. Helps that the lumber yard is about a mile away. And the xB is magical, I fit like 16 pieces of 8 and 10 foot 2x4s in with no issue, I just used a bungee cord to tie-down the back door. I wish they still made the original xB because man, what a versatile and fuel efficient car.
So anywho, we sketched out a basic plan and I wrote up what I needed and then got to work:
The basic box.
I cut down an old extra fence piece to make our gate, and we had a bunch of deer fencing lying around which was just enough to finish the project.
Finished, with the deer fencing stapled on and the gate latch attached.
So now the chickens are a little safer, since predators usually can't enter our front fenced yard. We can also sell the Eglu as soon as we put the chickens together - we are separating them right now because the larger two were picking on the new babies.
Now we just need to convert an old dog house into a coop as soon as we can find one.
We decided we should get a few more chickens (an Auracana named James who is a she and a Silver-laced Wyandotte named Bonnie, with 3 more to come from the same home), but we needed a bigger spot for them. We contemplated under the deck out back, but we would have to somehow cut holes into the house's siding to brace a structure and we didn't want to do that. But bracing it against our front fence? Much better idea.
Usually projects with long pieces of lumber are not my list because we don't have a big car, but now that the xB has no carseats because the Mazda is our family car, I just went for it. Helps that the lumber yard is about a mile away. And the xB is magical, I fit like 16 pieces of 8 and 10 foot 2x4s in with no issue, I just used a bungee cord to tie-down the back door. I wish they still made the original xB because man, what a versatile and fuel efficient car.
So anywho, we sketched out a basic plan and I wrote up what I needed and then got to work:
The basic box.
I cut down an old extra fence piece to make our gate, and we had a bunch of deer fencing lying around which was just enough to finish the project.
Finished, with the deer fencing stapled on and the gate latch attached.
So now the chickens are a little safer, since predators usually can't enter our front fenced yard. We can also sell the Eglu as soon as we put the chickens together - we are separating them right now because the larger two were picking on the new babies.
Now we just need to convert an old dog house into a coop as soon as we can find one.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Garden 2011
Last year's garden was a terrible mess. I was pregnant, it was hot, and the project was just way too ambitious for me at the time.
But I'm looking forward to this year. Here's our setup so far:
This time I'm not letting the weeds win. I put down newspapers, then weedblock fabric.
On the side next to the house: sugar snap peas, spinach, grape tomatoes, bell peppers, and banana peppers. On the side facing the yard (and camera): kale, and in a few days, I'll also plant zucchini and bush beans (green beans).
In containers along the side, I also planted a green bell pepper and more banana peppers.
And this guy is a cherry tomato plant, which will share the bucket with a lettuce plant. In the front yard is an identical bin with sunflowers that accidentally grew from seeds left in our birdfeeder. Hee.
Oh, also, I have to find somewhere to stick a strawberry plant.
This year I think will be better because Mike can help me since he's not in pain all day anymore. He already set up a grow light operation on the top of our chest freezer. It looks like we have a pot farm, but I swear it's just cilantro and mesclun.
Nathan enjoys watering things. I do not enjoy him watering things, mostly because they are usually things like me, the baby, his own pants, or the mail.
I think he has reached peak cuteness. He's all "Mommy, helping YOU!" when we're outside. He also told the baby he loved him, completely unprovoked. DYING OF CUTE. I AM DED.
But I'm looking forward to this year. Here's our setup so far:
This time I'm not letting the weeds win. I put down newspapers, then weedblock fabric.
On the side next to the house: sugar snap peas, spinach, grape tomatoes, bell peppers, and banana peppers. On the side facing the yard (and camera): kale, and in a few days, I'll also plant zucchini and bush beans (green beans).
In containers along the side, I also planted a green bell pepper and more banana peppers.
And this guy is a cherry tomato plant, which will share the bucket with a lettuce plant. In the front yard is an identical bin with sunflowers that accidentally grew from seeds left in our birdfeeder. Hee.
Oh, also, I have to find somewhere to stick a strawberry plant.
This year I think will be better because Mike can help me since he's not in pain all day anymore. He already set up a grow light operation on the top of our chest freezer. It looks like we have a pot farm, but I swear it's just cilantro and mesclun.
Nathan enjoys watering things. I do not enjoy him watering things, mostly because they are usually things like me, the baby, his own pants, or the mail.
I think he has reached peak cuteness. He's all "Mommy, helping YOU!" when we're outside. He also told the baby he loved him, completely unprovoked. DYING OF CUTE. I AM DED.
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