we've been in our new-to-us house for almost three months now. the settling-in process has gone much more slowly and much more quickly than i expected. on the one hand, i've only painted one room, haven't hung anything on the walls, and some rooms don't have any furniture in them (and other rooms only have piles of junk and home decor that i haven't dealt with yet. if you've moved recently, feel free to compare your progress to my lack of progress in order to feel good about yourself). in that way, we're FAR from being settled.
in another way, though, things really are starting to feel like home. i'm not sure either one of the kids remembers the apartment anymore, and we have rules and routines for the new house that seem like second nature - the kids are only allowed up and down the front stairs, not the 'owie stairs' - the really steep ones down to the kitchen; atticus knows that naptime is for sleeping in the 'green bed' (the pack and play in the basement) and nighttime is for sleeping in the 'white bed' (his crib in their shared room); he knows what i'm talking about when i say 'the toy room' or 'your room' or 'mommy's room'; he knows that the basement family room is where we keep the TV and some special toys; he knows there are more 'owie stairs' up to the attic that he's not allowed to go up, but he remembers the time grandpa tony and grandma jacqi went up there. he loves playing in the yard with his lawn mower, and he pretends that he got his felt food from our garden. we all know the house well and feel comfortable here - we feel like it's our house (although, still more 'house' than 'home') - and that makes things feel much more settled.
but we're not just adjusting to a new house. we're adjusting to a whole new community, and in a lot of ways that's gone really well. i already know and get along with a lot of the neighbors (including betty, the 88-year-old widow who lives across the street - i LOVE her), and i've even met some other stay-at-home moms at the pool and the park, and they've invited me to start attending MOPS when it starts back up in the fall. i finally know where dollar general is, and i know where the market is, although i've only been in there once and left super pissed because they charge up the butt. ($3.89 for an avocado?! did you birth that thing yourself? does the pit look like the virgin mother? because otherwise, no avocado is worth four bucks.)
i am realizing, though, that there are a lot of things that i now find quirky or different about our new town that i probably will get used to later and totally overlook. so i should probably start documenting (read: blogging about) them before i forget.
so stay tuned; we live in a pretty cute, weird little place.
last one (for now, at least)
last photo post for a while. at least, last one in which i dump a bunch of unrelated photos all together.
tuckered out at his yo gabba gabba party. i should have made him dj lance glasses, but he probably wouldn't have left them on anyway. aunt lauren a) made his rockin' costume and b) is obviously having a blast.
i love these kids.
chewing on the holiday decor.
enjoying a birthday cupcake.
learning the true joy of christmas stockings.
eating snow.
playing in the snow with yaya.
and there ends 2010 in photos. hopefully i will get this year's photos dealt with before next july, but i'm making no promises.
video vednesday: oh. OH! oh, i gotta go. oh. no, i'm okay. okay. okay. i'm good. huhuhuheh.
ooh, i gotta find my lipstick because these crusty crusts...these crusty crust lips i got....
natural born (weed) killer. (or, how i spend my crazy-go-nuts alone time.)
a couple of weeks ago, i took the kids down to my mom's. i stayed overnight and drove home, sans kids. considering i left her house on thursday and she didn't deliver them home until sunday, i got friday at home ALL BY MY LONESOME - no kids, no husband, no anyone else.
whut.
i spent a long time planning what i would spend the day doing. sleeping in for sure, but then painting furniture? going antiquing? getting my hair cut?
well, i ended up sleeping in until 7:30. and then laying in bed until 8. and then eating a hershey bar for breakfast.
so far, so good.
then i decided to get on the major undertaking of weed control on our driveway. INSAYYYYNE. i really am a party animal at my core.
see, i'd been putting off weed management for a while, thinking i could just pull weeds by hand a couple times a week and therefore eliminating the need to a) expose my kids to any weird chemicals and b) spend any money. however, one thing i should mention about our driveway is that it is un-grouted/sanded/mortared brick. so there are about a million tiny cracks where weeds come up. one other thing that i should mention is that it is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaally long. as in, so long that i've never actually seen the end of it, but i hear it takes you all the way to oz.
so 20 cracks per square foot x 4 weeds per crack x 100 million square feet = a lot of weeds.
so i studied up and tried making my own weed killer using boiling water, vinegar and salt. and about 21 gallons of water, over a gallon of vinegar, many pounds of salt, and a completed total of about 10% of the driveway later, i have a few tips:
1. don't bother.
actually, i guess i only have one tip.
yes, it killed a good portion of the weeds (only, it took like a week to do so). except, once they were dead, you still had to pull all the dead plants out by hand, so it didn't really save me any work, and actually created work since dead plants are harder to pull than live ones (they're more brittle). not only that, but i was hoping that it would at least kill any viable seeds and prevent new weeds from coming up, but no. i've already got some baby weeds sprouting in the one small area i had gotten completely cleared.
long term, i'm hoping to either grout the whole driveway with that sand-that-turns-to-cementy-sand stuff or to salt the whole thing. the only problem with salting it is that i can't guarantee the salt won't run off into my bordering plants (and considering the lady who lived here before me had a lime-green thumb, there are a LOT of bordering plants.) so i may have to just buy some kind of round-up or something. (even though, on principle, i hate the thought of giving my money to monsanto and also i hate the thought of poisoning my children, not necessarily in that order. but i guess that's the price you pay for a weed-free driveway.)
and let's not even get started on the jungle that was once my backyard. green thumb lady planted pretty much every bordering inch of our yard with aggressively spreading plants and trees. which, after years of neglect since she's moved out, have basically turned our yard into some kind of half-acre wildlife refuge. not. a. fan. hoping to burn it all down and start from scratch someday.
anyway. to summarize, that is how i spent my awesome morning alone. in my pajamas hauling boiling pots of water outside in a heatwave for no fruitful reason. fun fun.
whut.
i spent a long time planning what i would spend the day doing. sleeping in for sure, but then painting furniture? going antiquing? getting my hair cut?
well, i ended up sleeping in until 7:30. and then laying in bed until 8. and then eating a hershey bar for breakfast.
so far, so good.
then i decided to get on the major undertaking of weed control on our driveway. INSAYYYYNE. i really am a party animal at my core.
see, i'd been putting off weed management for a while, thinking i could just pull weeds by hand a couple times a week and therefore eliminating the need to a) expose my kids to any weird chemicals and b) spend any money. however, one thing i should mention about our driveway is that it is un-grouted/sanded/mortared brick. so there are about a million tiny cracks where weeds come up. one other thing that i should mention is that it is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaally long. as in, so long that i've never actually seen the end of it, but i hear it takes you all the way to oz.
so 20 cracks per square foot x 4 weeds per crack x 100 million square feet = a lot of weeds.
so i studied up and tried making my own weed killer using boiling water, vinegar and salt. and about 21 gallons of water, over a gallon of vinegar, many pounds of salt, and a completed total of about 10% of the driveway later, i have a few tips:
1. don't bother.
actually, i guess i only have one tip.
yes, it killed a good portion of the weeds (only, it took like a week to do so). except, once they were dead, you still had to pull all the dead plants out by hand, so it didn't really save me any work, and actually created work since dead plants are harder to pull than live ones (they're more brittle). not only that, but i was hoping that it would at least kill any viable seeds and prevent new weeds from coming up, but no. i've already got some baby weeds sprouting in the one small area i had gotten completely cleared.
long term, i'm hoping to either grout the whole driveway with that sand-that-turns-to-cementy-sand stuff or to salt the whole thing. the only problem with salting it is that i can't guarantee the salt won't run off into my bordering plants (and considering the lady who lived here before me had a lime-green thumb, there are a LOT of bordering plants.) so i may have to just buy some kind of round-up or something. (even though, on principle, i hate the thought of giving my money to monsanto and also i hate the thought of poisoning my children, not necessarily in that order. but i guess that's the price you pay for a weed-free driveway.)
and let's not even get started on the jungle that was once my backyard. green thumb lady planted pretty much every bordering inch of our yard with aggressively spreading plants and trees. which, after years of neglect since she's moved out, have basically turned our yard into some kind of half-acre wildlife refuge. not. a. fan. hoping to burn it all down and start from scratch someday.
anyway. to summarize, that is how i spent my awesome morning alone. in my pajamas hauling boiling pots of water outside in a heatwave for no fruitful reason. fun fun.
'member that time?
hey, 'member that time todd and i honeymooned in jamaica and how it was new year's even and we got all schmancied up and went out to a nice restaurant for dinner and how instead of watching the fireworks outside we holed up in our room and...you know...
watched an E!news special on the declining britney spears?
turns out train wrecks are still train wrecks in the caribbean. mon.
watched an E!news special on the declining britney spears?
turns out train wrecks are still train wrecks in the caribbean. mon.
more photos
i never got around to finishing my brag-posts of photos. as in, i actually uploaded photos and i'm bragging about it by posting pretty much every single one. so, since i'm sure you were holding your breath waiting for this, you can now rest easy. and start breathing again.
and you know what? i lied. i still have a couple more from 2010 that i'm going to post later yet. just because it's nice to have this stuff documented for my own sake.
eating sorghum syrup from a spoon at OT.
i LOVE this photo of todd and sis.
this one too!
sis with grandpa tony.
carving pumpkins as part of our annual 'it's todd's birthday' celebrations.
the kids in the halloween costumes my mom made them. atticus was a garden gnome and penelope was a lamb.
todd cowboyin' up at the apple orchard.
atticus going a whole 30 seconds on a bucking bull. i think tim mcgraw sang a song about him after this.
playing in the corn pit at the orchard.
again, at the orchard. you really should go sometime if you live in the area!
we don't get many photos of the four of us, and even still the kids are looking less-than-thrilled.
LOVE my moby wrap.
going for a spring walk with the fam.
opening presents on his birthday (atticus', not todd's.)
and you know what? i lied. i still have a couple more from 2010 that i'm going to post later yet. just because it's nice to have this stuff documented for my own sake.
hot town, summer in the city, somethingsomethingelse and a-something little pretty.
that's how i sing when i don't know the words to a song. it really fools people into thinking i'm a downright lyrical database.
one thing i love about being a stay at home mom is that summer lasts like a million years longer than it did when i was in school or working for a school. in fact, before three summers ago, i couldn't remember a time in my life where summer didn't end with august. sure, there was still nice weather, but 'Summer' (the official season of some sport) was over.
now that all has changed. staying at home buys me almost the whole month of september, too, if i'm lucky and global warming really does exist. in fact, our summer is just now gearing up and we have a LOT on the agenda for the upcoming couple of months.
first up? a trip to the black hills to visit todd's parents in their new house, and a chance for atticus to get to spend time with the famed-around-here, horse-riding, cowboy-hat-wearing, combine-driving, car-racing, buffalo-herding, tractor-collecting papa tony. (i, on the other hand, am particularly excited about getting to spend a week on their acreage getting landscaping tips from the sweetest mother in law you've ever met. seriously. she's a dead-ringer for a young betty white.)
also on our summer agenda: the state fair (hello?), the old threshers reunion (hel-LO?!), getting to see thomas the tank engine LIVE IN PERSON when he visits a neighboring town, the wedding of a co-worker (todd's, not mine, since the only person even remotely close to being my co-worker is todd, and it would be weird for me to be a guest at his wedding - for drama reasons), and a long-weekend trip to california to celebrate the 90th birthday of my great-grandma. oh, yeah. this summer is going to be good.
the only (minor) concern i have with all of this is the travel that is necessary for a couple of these trips. specifically, the 10-hours-not-including-stops drive to south dakota, and the flights to and from california.
now, i'm not saying that my kids aren't absolute angels who were knitted together in my womb by baby jesus to have the temperament of blind nuns. actually, as far as toddlers go, they're pretty darn easy-going and flexible. but i will say that 1) penelope HATES her car seat and screams virtually nonstop even just coming home from ames, 2) we will be traveling during the day, not through the night, and naptimes are harder to encourage than sleep at night and 3) neither one of my kids has ever liked sleeping in the car. and realistically, in their defense, 10+ hours in a car would be trying even for a blind nun (who hopefully isn't driving).
and that's not even to start worrying about plane travel in a month and a half...
luckily, the ol' vidivan has a VCR (yes, VCR and not DVD player) so that should help with some of the driving, but if you've got any tips for traveling with toddlers - car or plane - PLEASE share them.
one thing i love about being a stay at home mom is that summer lasts like a million years longer than it did when i was in school or working for a school. in fact, before three summers ago, i couldn't remember a time in my life where summer didn't end with august. sure, there was still nice weather, but 'Summer' (the official season of some sport) was over.
now that all has changed. staying at home buys me almost the whole month of september, too, if i'm lucky and global warming really does exist. in fact, our summer is just now gearing up and we have a LOT on the agenda for the upcoming couple of months.
first up? a trip to the black hills to visit todd's parents in their new house, and a chance for atticus to get to spend time with the famed-around-here, horse-riding, cowboy-hat-wearing, combine-driving, car-racing, buffalo-herding, tractor-collecting papa tony. (i, on the other hand, am particularly excited about getting to spend a week on their acreage getting landscaping tips from the sweetest mother in law you've ever met. seriously. she's a dead-ringer for a young betty white.)
also on our summer agenda: the state fair (hello?), the old threshers reunion (hel-LO?!), getting to see thomas the tank engine LIVE IN PERSON when he visits a neighboring town, the wedding of a co-worker (todd's, not mine, since the only person even remotely close to being my co-worker is todd, and it would be weird for me to be a guest at his wedding - for drama reasons), and a long-weekend trip to california to celebrate the 90th birthday of my great-grandma. oh, yeah. this summer is going to be good.
the only (minor) concern i have with all of this is the travel that is necessary for a couple of these trips. specifically, the 10-hours-not-including-stops drive to south dakota, and the flights to and from california.
now, i'm not saying that my kids aren't absolute angels who were knitted together in my womb by baby jesus to have the temperament of blind nuns. actually, as far as toddlers go, they're pretty darn easy-going and flexible. but i will say that 1) penelope HATES her car seat and screams virtually nonstop even just coming home from ames, 2) we will be traveling during the day, not through the night, and naptimes are harder to encourage than sleep at night and 3) neither one of my kids has ever liked sleeping in the car. and realistically, in their defense, 10+ hours in a car would be trying even for a blind nun (who hopefully isn't driving).
and that's not even to start worrying about plane travel in a month and a half...
luckily, the ol' vidivan has a VCR (yes, VCR and not DVD player) so that should help with some of the driving, but if you've got any tips for traveling with toddlers - car or plane - PLEASE share them.
video vednesday: pffffffffffffffff....
ahh, reminiscing about the good old days of living three-to-a-dorm-room and watching this into the wee hours of the should-be-at-class. this song singlehandedly got me through some tough times. namely, when i ran out of killer dance moves.
aside from his slammin' choreography, i honestly don't know what i like best about this video. the baby mickey sheets? all the hair gel? how he says, 'everyday like a queen on her troon'? the fact that he nominated himself to be called gellieman? how you can't really tell exactly what he's talking about? the fact that every time i see "she moves how???" flash across the screen, all i can hear are all those times my roommate amber and i made my 'microsoft sam' application say that? yep, that's probably what i like most.
aside from his slammin' choreography, i honestly don't know what i like best about this video. the baby mickey sheets? all the hair gel? how he says, 'everyday like a queen on her troon'? the fact that he nominated himself to be called gellieman? how you can't really tell exactly what he's talking about? the fact that every time i see "she moves how???" flash across the screen, all i can hear are all those times my roommate amber and i made my 'microsoft sam' application say that? yep, that's probably what i like most.
our garden (or, how to live naturally while still maintaining your hillbilly roots.)
our garden is coming along really nicely! so far we've eaten green onions, cucumbers, peas, cilantro and basil from our own yard, and soon we'll be snacking on green beans, carrots, mature onions, jalapenos, bell peppers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes!
i don't know if you can see it, because all of these pictures turned out way overexposed, but we have two fenced gardens. the one on the right is our main garden, and the one on the left basically just has peppers and onions. the only reason we did it this way was because i had todd till a whole patch, then i decided after it was planted that it wasn't big enough, so he tilled another patch. i'll be having him till it all into one large garden next year.
the one on the right is about 15' x 20' and the one on the left is probably 15' by 5'.
our cucumbers are taking over! that's just four plants! the zucchini is in the back in this photo, although it has since been ravaged by horrible idol-worshiping insects. our peas (to the left of the cucumbers) are somewhat sparse, and we only had four carrots (to the left of the peas) grow in, despite planting them twice. on the far left are a few bunches of cilantro and a row of onions at the top. we're growing a LOT of onions.
the late zucchini plant is in the upper left, 8 tomato plants in the center, a row of onions in the bottom right. our pole beans are growing along the back of the fence behind the tomatoes, and the basil and sweet potatoes are to the right of the the last row of tomatoes.
our pepper and onion patch. needless to say, we don't get many critters trying to get in this one.
which brings me to my hillbilly method of line drying. run out of room on the clothesline? hang them on the garden fence...
...and off the side of the deck.
i leave our undies to dry in that basket below so that no peep-eyed neighbor gets his kicks by spying in our yard. do i honestly think that anyone cares about my hanes six-pack underwear? no, but i'd rather be safe than to look up one day to catch joe peeper eyeballing me from over the fence.
'member that time?
hey, 'member that time a friend's dad asked what we needed as a wedding gift, because he really only likes to get gifts that people can find really useful? and 'member how i was all, you know plates or sheets or forks or blankets? and then 'member how he got me a willow tree angel and a bocce ball set?
AND THEN 'member how he came back after the wedding and said the bocce ball set was not actually for us and could he have it back please?
the willow tree angel has done about as well as could be expected at keeping us warm at night. i give it 4 stars in the gifts review category of 'practical and/or everyday.'
AND THEN 'member how he came back after the wedding and said the bocce ball set was not actually for us and could he have it back please?
the willow tree angel has done about as well as could be expected at keeping us warm at night. i give it 4 stars in the gifts review category of 'practical and/or everyday.'
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)