 |
 |
| Customize a free picture slideshow |
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Simon is 8!
I made a Smilebox for Simon's friends, to thank them for coming to his birthday party yesterday... I figured I would try to post it here so you can see it too!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Growth
Everything's growing around here... the kids, baby chicks, the garden, Sally's udders (hee hee), my waistline... but we won't talk about that!
The chicks have officially moved into the coop and are also officially "un-cute" as far as chickens are concerned. No longer fuzzy and cuddly, but they are showing some nice colours, especially the black ones. And we're eager for the day in August (?) when we receive our first egg-licious gifts from the girls.
My garden is doing great, now that it's warmed up and the rain has ceased (for now). The new "square foot gardening" (SFG) boxes are looking fantastic, and I'm sure there's 2 reasons for it: the special Mel's mix soil that I'm using, and the location on the driveway. It really gets the most sun and it's nice and warm there. Cameron also planted some butternut squash and gourds in 2 pots, which will climb up a trellis on the garage. And each of the kids has their own tomato plant in separate pots, which they promised me they would look after. The new 1X4 box has just been planted with green onions, lettuce, bok choy and basil.
The other existing beds at the back of the yard are definitely lush and green... with WEEDS!! But I refuse to be discouraged and will just keep at it, planting 1 square at a time. I must say that using the SFG method makes it easier to weed and therefore less daunting because (1) I can weed each square as I need to, ignoring the rest of the garden (why weed the entire box when I know there's no seeds planted in a particular square?). And (2) I know where my plants are supposed to be so I can weed around them easier within that square. For instance, if I'm trying to locate my lettuce in a square, I know that I have planted 4 holes with a small pinch of seeds in each... the rest is weeds. It's way easier for me.
Here is my lettuce - 2 of them did not come up, so I planted 2 more holes yesterday:
And here's some spinach:
Notice the weed-infested squares surrounding my planted squares.... Ruby squealed "Wow, mom!! Look at all your spinach!!" I wish.
Anyway, it's a work in progress thing! But I'm still excited about my veggies and that's the first time that's happened.
Speaking of work in progress, today has been a busy day of re-organizing and tossing out toys and clothes. So naturally, the house looks like a bomb went off right now - bins, garbage bags, Thrift Store boxes.... what a mess. But by tonight the house will be worthy of unexpected visitors, should anyone pop by tomorrow. Like that ever happens! Unfortunately.
The chicks have officially moved into the coop and are also officially "un-cute" as far as chickens are concerned. No longer fuzzy and cuddly, but they are showing some nice colours, especially the black ones. And we're eager for the day in August (?) when we receive our first egg-licious gifts from the girls.
My garden is doing great, now that it's warmed up and the rain has ceased (for now). The new "square foot gardening" (SFG) boxes are looking fantastic, and I'm sure there's 2 reasons for it: the special Mel's mix soil that I'm using, and the location on the driveway. It really gets the most sun and it's nice and warm there. Cameron also planted some butternut squash and gourds in 2 pots, which will climb up a trellis on the garage. And each of the kids has their own tomato plant in separate pots, which they promised me they would look after. The new 1X4 box has just been planted with green onions, lettuce, bok choy and basil.
The other existing beds at the back of the yard are definitely lush and green... with WEEDS!! But I refuse to be discouraged and will just keep at it, planting 1 square at a time. I must say that using the SFG method makes it easier to weed and therefore less daunting because (1) I can weed each square as I need to, ignoring the rest of the garden (why weed the entire box when I know there's no seeds planted in a particular square?). And (2) I know where my plants are supposed to be so I can weed around them easier within that square. For instance, if I'm trying to locate my lettuce in a square, I know that I have planted 4 holes with a small pinch of seeds in each... the rest is weeds. It's way easier for me.
Here is my lettuce - 2 of them did not come up, so I planted 2 more holes yesterday:
And here's some spinach:
Notice the weed-infested squares surrounding my planted squares.... Ruby squealed "Wow, mom!! Look at all your spinach!!" I wish.
Anyway, it's a work in progress thing! But I'm still excited about my veggies and that's the first time that's happened.
Speaking of work in progress, today has been a busy day of re-organizing and tossing out toys and clothes. So naturally, the house looks like a bomb went off right now - bins, garbage bags, Thrift Store boxes.... what a mess. But by tonight the house will be worthy of unexpected visitors, should anyone pop by tomorrow. Like that ever happens! Unfortunately.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Time to breath
It's been a busy 7 days. Full of birthday parties, family get-togethers, way too much baking, packing, cleaning, travelling, WEDDING, more family, livestock issues, school dance performances, gardening... Whew! I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.
Last Thursday Ruby turned 3!! I can't get over how big she is... and how gorgeous!! (Some people have mentioned she looks like me... I'm just sayin'!) Anyway, Ruby insisted on wearing her Disneyland baseball hat as her official party hat... and why not? We had a typical Talstra party the day before, with a million kids running around the yard, a huge bowl of cheetos and cupcakes! On her actual birthday we headed to Surrey and spent a lovely, chaotic evening with the Talstra's, including a pizza dinner.
Then we were off, bright and early on Friday, to Kelowna for Jeremy and Holly's wedding. We saw most of my side of the family, with the exception of Brian and Irene and families. It was great to spend time with each other, and the kids had much-needed bonding time with their cousins.
We had a weiner roast:
Played at the park in Peachland:
Looked at "vintage" hockey & baseball cards with big cousin Alex:
Played with blinkin' Lincoln Logs, and just lazed around, enjoying each other's company:
And of course an awesome wedding to attend, which is why we were all there. I can't believe I have a nephew who is married now! Ruby was a flower girl for her big cousin's wedding... she looked adorable but, sadly, she won't be in any photos with the rest of the wedding party. She absolutely refused to have her picture taken. I begged, pleaded, bribed, threatened... nothing worked. But when it came time for the ceremony, she was the only little one who managed to walk down the aisle without a scene... an award winning performance from my princess, which was met with a big bag of Ju Jubes for a job well done.
The ferries were crazy busy on Monday afternoon and when we arrived at 1:45 p.m., we found out that the 3 pm sailing was full and the 5 pm was already 60% full! Nuts! So I walked on the 3 pm ferry with the kids, and left Rodger to sit with the car until the next sailing.... I'm not sure who got the better deal?? I was with the kids but managed to knit while they played and watched TV on the ferry. And we were fed a scrumptious chicken dinner at Dina's out of the deal. Rodger had lukewarm water to drink, a banana, plenty of time to nap and read a book. Mmmmm....I think it's a toss-up.
So our lovely goat Sally is growing some enormously ugly udders and it's been freaking us out a bit. We spent 2 days doing some research on=line and talking to/emailing Vets. So we've come to the conclusion (for now) that Sally is either going through a false pregnancy or is just very hormonal, and the udders will decrease in size "eventually." Very strange indeed. Life is not boring, that's for sure.
The baby chicks are no longer babies but they are afraid to come out of their box and join the rest of the crew. Probably because one of our older hens has been seen chasing the young ones around. Chickens are mean. Why can't they just get along? Off with their heads, I say! I need Rodger to don his lumberjack "man shirt" and do just that.... to the 3 older ones who give us crappy eggs.
I went to a lovely woman's home last night, and she lives right smack downtown Victoria. I mean, walking distance to everything including the Inner Harbour and a few blocks to the Legislative buildings. She's a true Urban-ite. As I was peaking into her little (tiny) backyard garden oasis, I casually said "hey, we should do a house swap... you come live in the country for awhile and we'll come do the city thing." Now that I think about it, I really don't know if she can deal with all the livestock drama we've got going on these days. It was a nice thought.
Time to start up a super cheap batch of wine from Costco. If I was doing the house swap thing, I would just walk across the street to the James Bay Inn and order myself a big goblet of cheap wine. But I'm a Country girl now... and loving it.
Most of the time.
Last Thursday Ruby turned 3!! I can't get over how big she is... and how gorgeous!! (Some people have mentioned she looks like me... I'm just sayin'!) Anyway, Ruby insisted on wearing her Disneyland baseball hat as her official party hat... and why not? We had a typical Talstra party the day before, with a million kids running around the yard, a huge bowl of cheetos and cupcakes! On her actual birthday we headed to Surrey and spent a lovely, chaotic evening with the Talstra's, including a pizza dinner.
Then we were off, bright and early on Friday, to Kelowna for Jeremy and Holly's wedding. We saw most of my side of the family, with the exception of Brian and Irene and families. It was great to spend time with each other, and the kids had much-needed bonding time with their cousins.
We had a weiner roast:
Played at the park in Peachland:
Looked at "vintage" hockey & baseball cards with big cousin Alex:
Played with blinkin' Lincoln Logs, and just lazed around, enjoying each other's company:
And of course an awesome wedding to attend, which is why we were all there. I can't believe I have a nephew who is married now! Ruby was a flower girl for her big cousin's wedding... she looked adorable but, sadly, she won't be in any photos with the rest of the wedding party. She absolutely refused to have her picture taken. I begged, pleaded, bribed, threatened... nothing worked. But when it came time for the ceremony, she was the only little one who managed to walk down the aisle without a scene... an award winning performance from my princess, which was met with a big bag of Ju Jubes for a job well done.
The ferries were crazy busy on Monday afternoon and when we arrived at 1:45 p.m., we found out that the 3 pm sailing was full and the 5 pm was already 60% full! Nuts! So I walked on the 3 pm ferry with the kids, and left Rodger to sit with the car until the next sailing.... I'm not sure who got the better deal?? I was with the kids but managed to knit while they played and watched TV on the ferry. And we were fed a scrumptious chicken dinner at Dina's out of the deal. Rodger had lukewarm water to drink, a banana, plenty of time to nap and read a book. Mmmmm....I think it's a toss-up.
So our lovely goat Sally is growing some enormously ugly udders and it's been freaking us out a bit. We spent 2 days doing some research on=line and talking to/emailing Vets. So we've come to the conclusion (for now) that Sally is either going through a false pregnancy or is just very hormonal, and the udders will decrease in size "eventually." Very strange indeed. Life is not boring, that's for sure.
The baby chicks are no longer babies but they are afraid to come out of their box and join the rest of the crew. Probably because one of our older hens has been seen chasing the young ones around. Chickens are mean. Why can't they just get along? Off with their heads, I say! I need Rodger to don his lumberjack "man shirt" and do just that.... to the 3 older ones who give us crappy eggs.
I went to a lovely woman's home last night, and she lives right smack downtown Victoria. I mean, walking distance to everything including the Inner Harbour and a few blocks to the Legislative buildings. She's a true Urban-ite. As I was peaking into her little (tiny) backyard garden oasis, I casually said "hey, we should do a house swap... you come live in the country for awhile and we'll come do the city thing." Now that I think about it, I really don't know if she can deal with all the livestock drama we've got going on these days. It was a nice thought.
Time to start up a super cheap batch of wine from Costco. If I was doing the house swap thing, I would just walk across the street to the James Bay Inn and order myself a big goblet of cheap wine. But I'm a Country girl now... and loving it.
Most of the time.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Baaaa
What a busy Sunday! Regular church stresses (we hosted GEMS Sunday, which resulted in a million extra kids downstairs!, followed by coffee & lunch at a lovely couple's home. The kids were kept busy with a mammoth Lego bucket which is normally reserved for the Koot's grandchildren.
But the highlight of the day was our trip to Cobble Hill to see the Jacobsens and their new lambs! I think I was more excited than the kids, actually! The kids got to hold a lamb that was born that morning, and I cuddled one that was 2 days old - you can't get much fresher than that!! 
Before we left, the kids helped me load up the back of the car with 5 garbage bags full of wool. I've promised 2 bags to an avid knitter (a fellow Deep Cove mom) and the rest is for me and friend J. We have no idea what we're going to do with the woolly stuff but we're super excited about the prospects! There is a new place downtown where you can go to learn how to spin wool, or you can rent their equipment...or they will do all the work for you (for a small fortune, I imagine.)
Friday, April 30, 2010
Talstra Bootcamp
The main thing I love about exercising in my own environment is that I can decide at the drop of a hat to exercise "right now!"... I have do it when motivation strikes, 'cause let me tell you, the feeling passes rather quickly. Today was like that. I really, really didn't feel like exercising (what a shocker!) but all of a sudden I looked at the clock and thought "hey, I have 40 min. before I have to make dinner.... I gotta do it now!". So that's what I did. And the kids joined me, which I absolutely LOVE!!
I wish I had someone taking a video of the kids and I doing jumping jacks, step-ups, relay races down the yard and push-ups on the picnic table ... so fun! And the video would capture the appropriate grunting sounds from Ruby - hers are fake, mine are very real. And it would also capture the goats wanting a part of the action. Who needs a gym... I love my yard.
Sometimes I follow a routine that I have written down, but mostly I just make sure I keep moving and mix up some cardio with strength training. So this is basically what I did (with some running around the yard while I thought of the next exercise)... X 2:
1. Warm up for 5-10 min: Fast walking, jogging, sprints, skipping, chasing kids
2. Push-ups on picnic table
3. Chair dips on picnic table
4. Step-ups on picnic table
5. Sprints & jumping jacks intervals
6. Walking lunges
7. Deadlift and row - 10 lb. weights
8. Squat and press - 10 lb. weights
9. Bridge (I call these butt squishers)
10. Sit-ups
You can do these exercises in the house too... so if it's raining (or snowing!) there's no excuse! The cardio could be modified to jogging on the spot, jumping jacks, climbing stairs... whatever you can do in your space to just get the heart rate up!! Come on... seriously, if a lazy slug like me can do this, so can you! Rah Rah!
All that motivational speaking has exhausted me.
Yeah, so now I'm off to do some baking for Jeremy's wedding... and of course, I'll have to sample some of it to make sure it's worthy. (Maybe I should've chased the kids around the yard for a just a few more laps...)
(P.S. Original artwork by J. Lobb :-)
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Grow babies... grow!!
I was hoping that if I stared at my garden long enough, little green sprouty things would magically appear. So I tried that, and it didn't work. Well, there are a few things coming up, like radishes and spinach, and I think the chard is also making an appearance too but it'll be a few more days before I know for sure.
So I've decided, at the urging of my buddy Lisa, to try "square foot gardening" this year, in my existing raised beds as well as a newly created 2X4 bed on the driveway. Right now I am very excited about the prospects of it, but also a bit leery. Not leery about the SFG idea, but leery of my tendency to get excited about something, embrace it full-force and then come to a screeching halt as my motivation for said project completely disappears. And before I know it, I'm sitting on my butt, drinking a coffee and watching the enormous weeds take over my garden as I ignore my plot for another season.
In spite of my lazy nature, Lisa won't let that happen to my garden. Thank goodness for obsessive compulsive friends!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
A typical day
Today was a typical day, nothing too exciting just regular stuff going on. We left the house calmly and in an orderly fashion... NOT! Like I said, it was a typical day... barking orders, many pleases to hurry up, where's your backpack, and saying "get in the car" at least 4 times!! Ruby had the biggest rat-nest in her hair because she refuses to let me comb her hair - she freaks out! So I bring out an elastic to pull her hair into a ponytail without a brush... she's running away from me while I'm trying to fix her hair. She ends up with a non-combed rat-nest lob-sided ponytail with some crazy bumps on the top of her head. Awesome.
Then comes her daily demand to bring her backpack to school (even though she doesn't go to school - she's just always hopeful that Madame Nayda will just take her in with the rest of the lineup of Kindergarten kids one day... and I gotta say that some days I have that same wish!). Anyway, so she's got this Dora backpack that's jiffy-marked "C. West" on it (a hand-me-down from her big buddy) and it's loaded up with stuff. I mean, it's heavy!! Hot Wheels cars, books, water bottle, plastic french fries.. you name it, it's in there. And every day I say "leave it in the car Ruby, I don't want to carry it for you." And guess what happens every day? Yup, I'm babysitting Dora.
We say goodbye to Cameron and we head to Thrifty's for some groceries - our big outing that ends with the ceremonial free Thrify's "smile cookie" for good behaviour. She always asks politely for her cookie, and promptly replies "Nope" to the question "do you have any allergies?" and the "Sanks!!" which is rewarded the the response of "Oooohhh, she's so cute and so polite!!". Oh yeah, Miss Manners knows how to get a cookie.
We get home and Ruby encourages me to do my workout in the kitchen. "Mommy, you should really exercise!". I finally realized why she's so encouraging... she knows that if I exercise, I will have to shower, which means she can watch TV while I"m doing that. Smart girl.
I succumbed to the pressure of Cameron having a playdate with a buddy today. Playdates are seriously against my religion but I caved because I was sick and tired of him asking. Now I realize that Keenan has never been to our house, and they've been friends for 2 years. Anyway, there were no injuries, and I wasn't grasping for the bottle by 2 pm so it went well. He's a cute kid so that helped.
One of our 6 week old chicks escaped this afternoon. We were shocked at first and then realized that it wasn't a Houdini act... "someone" left the wire lid off the box when "he" fed them this morning. Rodger spent 3 hours trying to coax the stupid thing out of the bushes and back into the pen... it's still not rescued. Rodger is less than thrilled but it's been great fun for the kids to watch! Entertaining really.
Speaking of entertaining... Ruby was playing with a measuring tape today and wanted to measure me. So she holds it up against me and mutters.. mmmm... ummm... yup! BIG!! Thanks Ruby. Then after dinner Rodger says "okay Ruby, time to pray." She says "I already did, Daddy." He says "Oh?" "Yeah, I prayed in my head." He says "what did you pray about?" and she replies "Nuffin!!"
I'd say it's time for a glass of wine.
Then comes her daily demand to bring her backpack to school (even though she doesn't go to school - she's just always hopeful that Madame Nayda will just take her in with the rest of the lineup of Kindergarten kids one day... and I gotta say that some days I have that same wish!). Anyway, so she's got this Dora backpack that's jiffy-marked "C. West" on it (a hand-me-down from her big buddy) and it's loaded up with stuff. I mean, it's heavy!! Hot Wheels cars, books, water bottle, plastic french fries.. you name it, it's in there. And every day I say "leave it in the car Ruby, I don't want to carry it for you." And guess what happens every day? Yup, I'm babysitting Dora.
We say goodbye to Cameron and we head to Thrifty's for some groceries - our big outing that ends with the ceremonial free Thrify's "smile cookie" for good behaviour. She always asks politely for her cookie, and promptly replies "Nope" to the question "do you have any allergies?" and the "Sanks!!" which is rewarded the the response of "Oooohhh, she's so cute and so polite!!". Oh yeah, Miss Manners knows how to get a cookie.
We get home and Ruby encourages me to do my workout in the kitchen. "Mommy, you should really exercise!". I finally realized why she's so encouraging... she knows that if I exercise, I will have to shower, which means she can watch TV while I"m doing that. Smart girl.
I succumbed to the pressure of Cameron having a playdate with a buddy today. Playdates are seriously against my religion but I caved because I was sick and tired of him asking. Now I realize that Keenan has never been to our house, and they've been friends for 2 years. Anyway, there were no injuries, and I wasn't grasping for the bottle by 2 pm so it went well. He's a cute kid so that helped.
One of our 6 week old chicks escaped this afternoon. We were shocked at first and then realized that it wasn't a Houdini act... "someone" left the wire lid off the box when "he" fed them this morning. Rodger spent 3 hours trying to coax the stupid thing out of the bushes and back into the pen... it's still not rescued. Rodger is less than thrilled but it's been great fun for the kids to watch! Entertaining really.
Speaking of entertaining... Ruby was playing with a measuring tape today and wanted to measure me. So she holds it up against me and mutters.. mmmm... ummm... yup! BIG!! Thanks Ruby. Then after dinner Rodger says "okay Ruby, time to pray." She says "I already did, Daddy." He says "Oh?" "Yeah, I prayed in my head." He says "what did you pray about?" and she replies "Nuffin!!"
I'd say it's time for a glass of wine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
