I think it will help me make progress with my goals if I occasionally have to give an update. I originally promised to check in at least once each quarter, but more frequent (as often as monthly) updates would be better motivation. So I'll make some notes here and there as I have time, and then publish this post when it's ready!
(...It only took a week to get this written...)
Goal 1: Be Positive
January started out rocky with me falling into negative habits after only a couple of weeks. Then February gave me a bunch of challenges between everyone in the family getting sick illness and Nate being gone a lot for his MIM classes... and I did good! Not great, but better. Nate has been good at reminding me to be positive and vice versa. My mom is also kinda participating in this goal, which is great.
My one confession: I did kinda yell at a driver the other day when I was riding my bike. It wasn't the most uplifting thing to do. But she ran a red light in front of me while talking on her cell phone, and since her window was open I thought it an appropriate opportunity to remind her to HANG UP AND DRIVE. Wouldn't you like to have a bicyclist yell that in your face as you almost run her over? In my defense, she kinda deserved it.
I haven't made any progress on identifying places in the house where I could hang "be positive" reminders. I'll find them this month, since we're done being sick. (Ha, ha. I must have written that sentence before the baby and I came down with colds, again. We're both pretty sick right now.)
Goal 2: Scripture Study (15 mins every day)
I started out strong this year, continuing the full-steam-ahead progress I made in 2012. But then I dropped the ball for most of February because of the aforementioned illnesses and absence. I've been better the past couple of weeks, but still not totally consistent, and not studying for a full 15 minutes. Really, I've just been reading, and only for 5-10 minutes. But at least I'm back on track, if a little behind. I'm making progress on the D&C, still ambitiously hoping to finish it this month. (We'll see.)
Goals 3&4: Blog once a week. Write recipe recaps.
Goal 3 has gone quite well, if you look at the numbers. We're at the 10th week of the year and I have 13 posts done (not counting recipe recaps). I've missed a week or two -- during the "everyone's sick" time in February -- but I'm totally comfortable with the "write weekly" goal, and rockin' it.
Recipe recaps, not so much. I wrote three. I loved them, but they took a long time. And time has been scarce. I think I'll have more luck starting next month (in April) of making this a habit. I'm thinking about changing this goal just a bit. Instead of listing all my recipes each week and making notes, I could try to recap just one recipe each week. In my ideal world I'd still like to write a recap each night and then publish the week's worth at the end of the week, but that's just too ambitious for right now. My apologies to the handful of you who were loving the big, long cooking posts.
Goal 5: Turn my 2012 blog posts into a book (and order a printed copy).
I haven't even started, haven't really even thought about it. I have the whole year to get this done, and will worry about it later. Maybe... I don't know... next month?... I will get started. I would still prefer to get this done before the summer, but it's not a high priority.
Goal 6: Bike to work every day
There was one week in February when I drove to work a couple of days. It is very hard to bike when I am recovering from a cold because my nose is still runny, so I didn't even try. I think that's completely justified and so I'm going to claim 100% success on this goal so far.
Goal 7: Dessert after dinner, not after 8pm
Ha. I forgot this was a goal. Fail.
Goal 8: Technology off by 9pm, lights out by 9:30pm
Not so good. I started the year out doing good, turning off the tech by 9pm every night, but then when I got sick I reached for the comfort of Netflix and Hulu and cuddled my technology up to bedtime. (Then promptly had trouble getting to sleep, no surprise.) I've been pretty good about bedtime at 9:30, with a couple of misses when I was cleaning the house and one miss when I was watching a really engaging episode of I don't even remember what show. (It wasn't worth it.) There's room to improve.
Goal 9: Blitz journal (daily recap) each day
Success. Kinda. I haven't actually been doing it every single day, but I have one written for each day. In other words, I often do two days at once. It's not my ideal but it works okay. I also find myself sometimes writing notes throughout the day, rather than doing it all at the end of the day. Overall it's going well and I have a complete record, even if it's not been a smooth process.
Goal 10: Grow a garden.
Progress! There are four planter's boxes set up around the back yard. Just this afternoon I went out and filled them with "salad ingredient" seeds (lettuce, kale, carrots, onions, spinach, etc.). I also have a plan for starting some of my seeds in the greenhouse, and a plan for how to lay out the garden (although the plan needs to be updated). It's still too early to do more than these tasks, but I'm on track for a successful growing season.
Goal 11: Do some canning.
Too early to actually do this, but I've been preparing. I'm buying one set of jars each month, so I now have a dozen quart jars, a dozen pint jars, and a dozen half-pint jars. I have a few jars from my grandma, mom, and MIL. I have plastic lids for freezing jars. I have a list of supplies still to buy (water bath, Tattler lids... pressure canner?). I have a list of things I want to can. There's more planning and prep work to do; I'm loving it.
Goal 12: So some creative writing
I made some progress on this goal. I have a rough outline for a brand new novel. I have detailed outlines for three of the scenes. I have half of the opening scene written. There's nearly 9,000 words between all of those pieces, which is a great start. At the end of the month, I anticipate having more weekend time to write, so I will keep working. If I have two free hours and ideas in my head, I can bust out 2,000+ words in a sitting. After this term of Nate's classes, when I have free Saturday mornings to write, I think it would be reasonable to expect myself to put in 2,000 words each week. I want to do much, much more... but I'll start with that and see how it plays out.
###
There's my update for January and February. Overall I feel like I am making progress and I feel confident that I will be successful in accomplishing my goals this year. Thanks to all of you for your support!
Showing posts with label Biking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biking. Show all posts
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Ring In the New: 13 Goals for 2013
Thirteen goals for 2013: Doesn't that just have a nice ring to it? I think so.
On the surface, I bet 13 goals sounds a bit ambitious. A key part of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals is that they are A - Achievable; a long list of goals doesn't really seem achievable. But don't you worry! Some of my goals are to keep doing things that I am already doing, and some of them are to improve what/how I already do something. That makes the whole list a bit less intimidating, I think.
As I said last year, I like to share this goals publicly because I think it helps me be accountable. Plus it means I have to write them all down, including doing some planning on how I'm going to achieve them. You might or might not be interested in knowing my goals. You probably don't care to hear all of my lengthy thoughts. Nevertheless, without further ado, here are my 13 for '13...
Goal 1: Become a more positive, less judgmental person.
Time Frame: All year long; every day; every hour, minute, and second.
Difficulty Level: ««« Moderate
Does this goal sound familiar? It was our family goal last year. My personal motto in 2012 was,
Think Positive : Be Positive
Since I completely failed at this goal last year (see my 2012 Goals Recap post), I am giving it another go. My biggest weakness is heckling other drivers when I'm in the car. You know, those "bad drivers" who cut you off or go too fast or don't put on their turn signal until the last second or go too slow or change lanes suddenly or follow too close or make an illegal left turn or start slowing down weeks before they have to turn their car or... you see what I mean? Pretty much everything every other driver does is wrong, and I'm constantly throwing out negative comments at them. I think if I can at least learn to shut my mouth and mind when I'm in the car, I will be in a much better place next year. I think it will also go a long way to helping me control and cut off the other negative and judgmental thoughts that pop up in other circumstances.
It is really wonderful that Nate is working on this goal with me. It helps a lot to have someone who checks me when I start spewing the negative stuff; nice to have a constant reminder of my goal. I think I'd also like to plaster this motto up in our house, on a wall somewhere. So I'm going to take a look around and figure out where it would be most effectively displayed (maybe even in a few places?) and come up with some diverse ways to display the motto. I will check in with you, dear readers, after I spend more time on this.
Goal 2: Study the scriptures every day for at least 15 minutes.
Time Frame: All year, once a day, every day
Difficulty Level: «« Relatively Easy
I am currently reading through the Doctrine and Covenants. I want to spend the first quarter (through about the end of March) on the D&C. Then I'd like to read the Book of Mormon again; I'm estimating six months to read cover-to-cover. I'd like to finish the year, ushering in the holiday season, with the New Testament.
Goals 3 & 4: Blog once a week. Write recipe recaps.
Time Frame: All year, once a week, probably on Friday or Saturday
Difficulty Level: «« Relatively Easy
I did a great job blogging in 2012; I was very successful with my goal and I want to continue it in 2013. So the pattern will likely continue just as it has, with posts about once a week, usually written on Saturday night. I will have a couple of extra posts, and probably miss a few posts. That's okay.
I also want to expand on my blogging goal, but before I can explain how, I have to explain why: I've started to do a lot of cooking. By that I mean to say, I'm cooking dinner just about every night now. And it's not just pasta-and-sauce recipes; we're talking many layered lasagnas, tofu and veggie curries, minestrone soup, etc. Not incredibly fancy, but a solid step up from basic cooking. Thursdays are always leftover night, so six nights out of the week I'm cooking up a storm. Anywhere from 3-6 of the recipes are brand new; I'm constantly trying new things right now. It is such fun.
As I cook, I discover what works and what doesn't. Was the sauce thick enough? How was the flavor of the chicken? Could I have saved time on the process? I do my best to make notes on the recipes themselves. But I thought it would be nice to share these successes and failures more broadly. Most of us are generally on the lookout for great recipes, things that can become staples in the meal rotation, right? And what is more helpful than a tested recipe from a good friend with some detailed notes? So I'd like to start sharing my menu list and feedback as part of the weekly blog post. Maybe it won't be a very detailed post, but at the least I'd like to share a list of what we cooked, links to the recipe, and quick notes. It's going to take up some time, but I believe I can work it in.
Goal 5: Turn my 2012 blog posts into a book
Time Frame: Sometime this year, whenever I have time (pref by July 1)
Difficulty Level: ««« Moderate
I'm sure I'm stealing this idea from one of my SIL's sisters, but I can't remember who. Thanks to whichever Arnold gave me the idea!
There are many websites that allow you to create and publish your own book, such as Blurb and Lulu. (Or Blog2Print -- I need to look into this option.) Even Costco has some kind of service, although I haven't looked into it. Personally, I've used Blurb a few times and it is reasonably easy to work with. If memory serves, it can even "ping" my blog and pull in all of the posts on its own! Then I just have to do a painful amount of formatting to get it set up and add a zillion pictures (all those ones I took last year, the ones which probably only I have ever seen and are now just hanging out on my computer).
This could get done any time this year, and it will be a gradual process. But ideally I'd like to get it done before the summer, when yard work and gardening will require a lot of attention. I would also prefer to keep the final cost under $25. (I haven't checked printing fees in awhile so I don't know if that's still reasonable; sometimes there's a sale or coupon and I can get a good deal.)
Goal 6: Continue biking to work
Time Frame: All year, every week, 2-3 days a week
Difficulty Level: « Easy
I'm a big fan of exercise, but I'm not very good about it on my own. I don't like to run or to swim, and don't have any physical hobbies or do any sports like soccer or skiing or tennis. The one exception is bicycling -- I love to cycle! I can't quite put it into words, but there's something about the fresh air in my lungs, the freedom to ride where I please, the sense of fulfillment from propelling myself along... these things bring me joy.
Driving myself to work is a silly, unnecessary expense and it rarely happens. (Maybe once a month, if I have a meeting or need to pick something up.) All of the parking options are expensive, and who wants to burn cash just to have a car sitting around all day just for a short home-office-home trip? Plus, it's important to get some exercise in a few times a week. So why not save some money and use my commute time to get in my exercise? Yes, it takes longer to get to and from work on the bike, but I don't have to find other time to exercise. Biking is a win-win.
Is it always easy? Heck no. There are plenty of challenges, like cold weather, rain, the physical exertion necessary to tow a kid-carrying trailer. Sometimes I step outside and I don't want to put in all the effort it takes to bike. But by the time I get to the end of my trip, I always feel pleased and satisfied with my efforts. It is very rewarding.
All of that is a lot of words to just say: I like biking, it's how I get to work; I'm going to keep it up this year. There will be challenges, but I'm confident that I will face them and overcome.
Goal: Better night routine, specifically...
7. Dessert after dinner, not after 8pm
8. Technology off at 9pm; lights out by 9:30
9. Blitz journal (daily recap) every day
Time Frame: All year, 365 days, every night, no exceptions
Difficulty Level: « Easy
I'm pretty good about getting to bed at a decent hour. This wasn't always the case, but now that I have a daughter who pretty much insists on getting up before 6am every single day of my life, it's a requirement. I'm a person who needs sleep. A full night of sleep. Preferably extra sleep. If it doesn't happen, I turn into a crazy beastly version of myself, fully grumpy, very emotional, and impossible to please. A real monster. I don't mean to be this way, it's just something about the way my hormones do (or don't) regulate correctly relative to my levels of sleep. In addition to my mood, it also affects my eating habits and my skin, and my overall productivity levels.
So really, for my sake and everyone around me, I need to get enough sleep. Abs as long as my kid chooses to wake up early, this means notching up my efforts, improving the habits I established last year.
Ideally, I would like a night routine that looks something like this: Technology off at 9pm and get ready for bed (jammies, wash face, etc.). Read scriptures with Nate at about 9:15, then do a "blitz" journal writing (five minutes). Pray. Lights out by 9:30.
Because I want to get more sleep, I really want to say lights out at 9:15. But I just don't think that's possible. So I'll start here with these goals, improving upon last year by really truly turning off the technology by 9pm, and then also adding a quick journal session and consistently reading with Nate. Totally do-able.
Goals 10 and 11: Grow a Garden, Do Some Canning
Time Frame: A few Saturdays in the summer and fall
Difficulty Level: ««« Moderate
My mother in law is BIG on canning. Last summer she even built a whole special "canning kitchen" just to enjoy her craft. I think that's spectacular, but it's very intimidating. I'm not planning to put up 100 gallons of juice or hundreds of jars of food each season, not now or ever. Plus there's the whole food safety factor. In doing some canning research last summer one of the blogs I read said this: "Botulism will kill you and it will kill your whole family." Yowza. That's almost enough to scare you away from canning for life!
Thankfully, tomatoes are fairly resistant to botulism because of their acidity. They are also a food that I use in abundance -- paste, sauce, diced and stewed -- and they are fairly easy to grow where we live. So if I get some starts in the greenhouse early, get the plants to grow healthy and strong, and gather up right tools, I think I reasonably expect to do a little bit of canning. This is a Saturday activity because it requires time and attention, so I will set aside at least two Saturdays in the summer-fall season to do canning. I want to try my hand at canning at least one Saturday each month, but even that might be too much. I'll just promise two for now, but do more if time allows.
Right now, in preparation for the canning season, I'm gathering supplies. I have a jar lifter and some jars. I will buy a set of jars each month to build up my supply. I also need to get a water bath. I will need to find and study recipes for the different types of tomatoes (sauce and diced, especially).
Goal 12: Do Some Creative Writing
Time Frame: This year...?
Difficulty Level: «««« Hard
I originally set this goal as to both write and self-publish something by the end of the year. Now that I've had time to think about it, I'm reaching beyond my grasp. My writing skills are rusty. My focus for now should be dusting them off and getting back into the groove. Publishing creates its own list of challenges and headaches, so I dropped that component.
I need to work out the details on this goal; I haven't finished formulating my idea. I think I want to work on a new project this year, write a new story. I want to get some writing time in every week, and I think setting a word-count goal will help. I want to set a reasonable goal for myself and I don't know what that looks like yet, so a bit more time and thought will go into this. I will report back later, ideally by February.
Goals 13: (Break a bad habit)
Time Frame: All year, without fail
Difficulty Level: ««««« Very Hard
Sorry to be vague, but this is one of those things I'm not going to explain in detail. We all have bad habits, some worse or more embarrassing than others, and we don't always like to talk about our shortcomings. Suffice it to say that I have just such a habit and I'm determined to overcome in 2013!
For all of these goals, I will check in here on the blog in this delightful public forum at least once a quarter. But I will also check in, especially to post successes, as things happen. I already owe you more detailed plans displaying our family motto and for doing my creative writing. And I need to develop a plan for canning.
Now, I won't subject you to all of the lengthy analysis and explanation, but here in brief summary is the list of goals Nate and I made as a family for 2013:
1. Speak and think more positively; avoid negativity. (Family motto, Think Positive : Be Positive)
2. Hold Family Home Evening (FHE) once a week, on Monday night (we already do this and have been doing it for ages; so really the goal is just to keep it up!)
3. Attend the temple at least once per quarter (four times this year)
4. Finish the electrical work in the basement (primarily my responsibility)
5. Finish the upstairs bathroom (primarily Nate's responsibility)
6. Add insulation in the attic
There are a lot of other things Nate and I hope and plan to accomplish this year, but we decided not to make them our goals. We'll just put them on a to-do list and see how it goes. These include getting the roof and chimney repaired (that's a priority right now), finishing our entryway, building a new "pantry shelf" in the kitchen, hanging some drywall in the basement, several small landscaping projects, expanding our garden area and growing lots of food, and finishing the chicken coop (painting it). We might or might not also replace some windows this year, depending on our financial situation. Lucky you, I'll share all of these projects as they get underway and/or finished.
For now, I think that's quite enough from me!
On the surface, I bet 13 goals sounds a bit ambitious. A key part of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals is that they are A - Achievable; a long list of goals doesn't really seem achievable. But don't you worry! Some of my goals are to keep doing things that I am already doing, and some of them are to improve what/how I already do something. That makes the whole list a bit less intimidating, I think.
As I said last year, I like to share this goals publicly because I think it helps me be accountable. Plus it means I have to write them all down, including doing some planning on how I'm going to achieve them. You might or might not be interested in knowing my goals. You probably don't care to hear all of my lengthy thoughts. Nevertheless, without further ado, here are my 13 for '13...
Goal 1: Become a more positive, less judgmental person.Time Frame: All year long; every day; every hour, minute, and second.
Difficulty Level: ««« Moderate
Does this goal sound familiar? It was our family goal last year. My personal motto in 2012 was,
Think Positive : Be Positive
Since I completely failed at this goal last year (see my 2012 Goals Recap post), I am giving it another go. My biggest weakness is heckling other drivers when I'm in the car. You know, those "bad drivers" who cut you off or go too fast or don't put on their turn signal until the last second or go too slow or change lanes suddenly or follow too close or make an illegal left turn or start slowing down weeks before they have to turn their car or... you see what I mean? Pretty much everything every other driver does is wrong, and I'm constantly throwing out negative comments at them. I think if I can at least learn to shut my mouth and mind when I'm in the car, I will be in a much better place next year. I think it will also go a long way to helping me control and cut off the other negative and judgmental thoughts that pop up in other circumstances.
It is really wonderful that Nate is working on this goal with me. It helps a lot to have someone who checks me when I start spewing the negative stuff; nice to have a constant reminder of my goal. I think I'd also like to plaster this motto up in our house, on a wall somewhere. So I'm going to take a look around and figure out where it would be most effectively displayed (maybe even in a few places?) and come up with some diverse ways to display the motto. I will check in with you, dear readers, after I spend more time on this.
Goal 2: Study the scriptures every day for at least 15 minutes.Time Frame: All year, once a day, every day
Difficulty Level: «« Relatively Easy
The key this year is quality reading time really studying the scriptures. I had voluminous reading goals for last year (BoM, NT, and BoM again) so I felt like I had to read as many pages as I could during my 10-15 minute stretch each day. I still want to cover a lot of ground this year, but the focus is going to be on quality time. If I can't get through D&C, BoM, and NT this year but I am having educational, insightful study sessions, then I will consider it a success.
I also want to make sure I spent at least 15 minutes reading/studying (up from last year's 10-15 minutes).
Goals 3 & 4: Blog once a week. Write recipe recaps.Time Frame: All year, once a week, probably on Friday or Saturday
Difficulty Level: «« Relatively Easy
I did a great job blogging in 2012; I was very successful with my goal and I want to continue it in 2013. So the pattern will likely continue just as it has, with posts about once a week, usually written on Saturday night. I will have a couple of extra posts, and probably miss a few posts. That's okay.
I also want to expand on my blogging goal, but before I can explain how, I have to explain why: I've started to do a lot of cooking. By that I mean to say, I'm cooking dinner just about every night now. And it's not just pasta-and-sauce recipes; we're talking many layered lasagnas, tofu and veggie curries, minestrone soup, etc. Not incredibly fancy, but a solid step up from basic cooking. Thursdays are always leftover night, so six nights out of the week I'm cooking up a storm. Anywhere from 3-6 of the recipes are brand new; I'm constantly trying new things right now. It is such fun.
As I cook, I discover what works and what doesn't. Was the sauce thick enough? How was the flavor of the chicken? Could I have saved time on the process? I do my best to make notes on the recipes themselves. But I thought it would be nice to share these successes and failures more broadly. Most of us are generally on the lookout for great recipes, things that can become staples in the meal rotation, right? And what is more helpful than a tested recipe from a good friend with some detailed notes? So I'd like to start sharing my menu list and feedback as part of the weekly blog post. Maybe it won't be a very detailed post, but at the least I'd like to share a list of what we cooked, links to the recipe, and quick notes. It's going to take up some time, but I believe I can work it in.
Goal 5: Turn my 2012 blog posts into a book
Time Frame: Sometime this year, whenever I have time (pref by July 1)Difficulty Level: ««« Moderate
I'm sure I'm stealing this idea from one of my SIL's sisters, but I can't remember who. Thanks to whichever Arnold gave me the idea!
There are many websites that allow you to create and publish your own book, such as Blurb and Lulu. (Or Blog2Print -- I need to look into this option.) Even Costco has some kind of service, although I haven't looked into it. Personally, I've used Blurb a few times and it is reasonably easy to work with. If memory serves, it can even "ping" my blog and pull in all of the posts on its own! Then I just have to do a painful amount of formatting to get it set up and add a zillion pictures (all those ones I took last year, the ones which probably only I have ever seen and are now just hanging out on my computer).
This could get done any time this year, and it will be a gradual process. But ideally I'd like to get it done before the summer, when yard work and gardening will require a lot of attention. I would also prefer to keep the final cost under $25. (I haven't checked printing fees in awhile so I don't know if that's still reasonable; sometimes there's a sale or coupon and I can get a good deal.)
Goal 6: Continue biking to workTime Frame: All year, every week, 2-3 days a week
Difficulty Level: « Easy
I'm a big fan of exercise, but I'm not very good about it on my own. I don't like to run or to swim, and don't have any physical hobbies or do any sports like soccer or skiing or tennis. The one exception is bicycling -- I love to cycle! I can't quite put it into words, but there's something about the fresh air in my lungs, the freedom to ride where I please, the sense of fulfillment from propelling myself along... these things bring me joy.
Driving myself to work is a silly, unnecessary expense and it rarely happens. (Maybe once a month, if I have a meeting or need to pick something up.) All of the parking options are expensive, and who wants to burn cash just to have a car sitting around all day just for a short home-office-home trip? Plus, it's important to get some exercise in a few times a week. So why not save some money and use my commute time to get in my exercise? Yes, it takes longer to get to and from work on the bike, but I don't have to find other time to exercise. Biking is a win-win.
Is it always easy? Heck no. There are plenty of challenges, like cold weather, rain, the physical exertion necessary to tow a kid-carrying trailer. Sometimes I step outside and I don't want to put in all the effort it takes to bike. But by the time I get to the end of my trip, I always feel pleased and satisfied with my efforts. It is very rewarding.
All of that is a lot of words to just say: I like biking, it's how I get to work; I'm going to keep it up this year. There will be challenges, but I'm confident that I will face them and overcome.
Goal: Better night routine, specifically...7. Dessert after dinner, not after 8pm
8. Technology off at 9pm; lights out by 9:30
9. Blitz journal (daily recap) every day
Time Frame: All year, 365 days, every night, no exceptions
Difficulty Level: « Easy
I'm pretty good about getting to bed at a decent hour. This wasn't always the case, but now that I have a daughter who pretty much insists on getting up before 6am every single day of my life, it's a requirement. I'm a person who needs sleep. A full night of sleep. Preferably extra sleep. If it doesn't happen, I turn into a crazy beastly version of myself, fully grumpy, very emotional, and impossible to please. A real monster. I don't mean to be this way, it's just something about the way my hormones do (or don't) regulate correctly relative to my levels of sleep. In addition to my mood, it also affects my eating habits and my skin, and my overall productivity levels.
So really, for my sake and everyone around me, I need to get enough sleep. Abs as long as my kid chooses to wake up early, this means notching up my efforts, improving the habits I established last year.
Ideally, I would like a night routine that looks something like this: Technology off at 9pm and get ready for bed (jammies, wash face, etc.). Read scriptures with Nate at about 9:15, then do a "blitz" journal writing (five minutes). Pray. Lights out by 9:30.
Because I want to get more sleep, I really want to say lights out at 9:15. But I just don't think that's possible. So I'll start here with these goals, improving upon last year by really truly turning off the technology by 9pm, and then also adding a quick journal session and consistently reading with Nate. Totally do-able.
Goals 10 and 11: Grow a Garden, Do Some CanningTime Frame: A few Saturdays in the summer and fall
Difficulty Level: ««« Moderate
My mother in law is BIG on canning. Last summer she even built a whole special "canning kitchen" just to enjoy her craft. I think that's spectacular, but it's very intimidating. I'm not planning to put up 100 gallons of juice or hundreds of jars of food each season, not now or ever. Plus there's the whole food safety factor. In doing some canning research last summer one of the blogs I read said this: "Botulism will kill you and it will kill your whole family." Yowza. That's almost enough to scare you away from canning for life!
Thankfully, tomatoes are fairly resistant to botulism because of their acidity. They are also a food that I use in abundance -- paste, sauce, diced and stewed -- and they are fairly easy to grow where we live. So if I get some starts in the greenhouse early, get the plants to grow healthy and strong, and gather up right tools, I think I reasonably expect to do a little bit of canning. This is a Saturday activity because it requires time and attention, so I will set aside at least two Saturdays in the summer-fall season to do canning. I want to try my hand at canning at least one Saturday each month, but even that might be too much. I'll just promise two for now, but do more if time allows.
Right now, in preparation for the canning season, I'm gathering supplies. I have a jar lifter and some jars. I will buy a set of jars each month to build up my supply. I also need to get a water bath. I will need to find and study recipes for the different types of tomatoes (sauce and diced, especially).
Goal 12: Do Some Creative WritingTime Frame: This year...?
Difficulty Level: «««« Hard
I originally set this goal as to both write and self-publish something by the end of the year. Now that I've had time to think about it, I'm reaching beyond my grasp. My writing skills are rusty. My focus for now should be dusting them off and getting back into the groove. Publishing creates its own list of challenges and headaches, so I dropped that component.
I need to work out the details on this goal; I haven't finished formulating my idea. I think I want to work on a new project this year, write a new story. I want to get some writing time in every week, and I think setting a word-count goal will help. I want to set a reasonable goal for myself and I don't know what that looks like yet, so a bit more time and thought will go into this. I will report back later, ideally by February.
Goals 13: (Break a bad habit)
Time Frame: All year, without fail
Difficulty Level: ««««« Very Hard
Sorry to be vague, but this is one of those things I'm not going to explain in detail. We all have bad habits, some worse or more embarrassing than others, and we don't always like to talk about our shortcomings. Suffice it to say that I have just such a habit and I'm determined to overcome in 2013!
For all of these goals, I will check in here on the blog in this delightful public forum at least once a quarter. But I will also check in, especially to post successes, as things happen. I already owe you more detailed plans displaying our family motto and for doing my creative writing. And I need to develop a plan for canning.
Now, I won't subject you to all of the lengthy analysis and explanation, but here in brief summary is the list of goals Nate and I made as a family for 2013:
1. Speak and think more positively; avoid negativity. (Family motto, Think Positive : Be Positive)
2. Hold Family Home Evening (FHE) once a week, on Monday night (we already do this and have been doing it for ages; so really the goal is just to keep it up!)
3. Attend the temple at least once per quarter (four times this year)
4. Finish the electrical work in the basement (primarily my responsibility)
5. Finish the upstairs bathroom (primarily Nate's responsibility)
6. Add insulation in the attic
There are a lot of other things Nate and I hope and plan to accomplish this year, but we decided not to make them our goals. We'll just put them on a to-do list and see how it goes. These include getting the roof and chimney repaired (that's a priority right now), finishing our entryway, building a new "pantry shelf" in the kitchen, hanging some drywall in the basement, several small landscaping projects, expanding our garden area and growing lots of food, and finishing the chicken coop (painting it). We might or might not also replace some windows this year, depending on our financial situation. Lucky you, I'll share all of these projects as they get underway and/or finished.
For now, I think that's quite enough from me!
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Poison, Bike, Trailer... Christmas!
I'm going to sum up my week with two words: Food poisoning.
To be fair, I actually contracted the food poisoning Thursday and started feeling ill in the afternoon, so really those two words only sum up the last two days. But they've been two very long and painful days, and I feel like it's been wrecking me for the whole week. If you've ever had food poisoning I'm sure you understand. The worst part is, I shared some of my lunch on Thursday with the baby, so I think she's been feeling sick too. Cranky, not sleeping well, not eating well, poop problems... poor kid. As if she didn't have enough troubles, what with being a baby and all.
Here's a picture of my bicycle (it's not my my bicycle, it's just the same make and model):
My bicycle is overdue for a tune-up, so I took it down to the bike shop yesterday. I was kinda forced to do it because I loosened (and couldn't seem to fix) the back brake in the process of putting on a new rear fender. Since I'm only going to be in the office one day next week, I figured this was a good window of time to get the tune up (okay yeah, and get the brake tightened and get the fender adjusted, since I screwed them up).
The bike shop owner put my bike on the rack to check things out. Turns out I've got a worn down something-er-rather and a loose something else, and a thing that's bent, and I could probably use thicker brake pads. Plus some other stuff that was totally optional but would be nice to fix. I don't even remember all the things the store owner listed, but I've noticed problems/challenges with all the stuff he mentioned, and I agree that it would make for much better cycling if I got it fixed. But by the time you add up the stuff that has to get done and everything that could possibly be improved, the total cost is about what my old bike is worth if I sell it.
I've actually been thinking about buying a new bike anyway, I tell the guy. Well now he gets excited -- which in this case means he went from a 1 on the Enthusiasm Meter to a 2; not really much change but perceivable on so dry a character -- and starts showing me some different options. At first he lists a few things that make sense to me, like a lighter frame, easier shifting, certain parts that are reinforced against damage, and standard sized wheels (because my bike is old, my current wheels are a wacky, non-standard size). Then he starts getting into nuances, listing all kinds of little details that don't mean anything to me, and when I ask what he means he launches into the nuances of the nuances. Are you getting a headache yet? I was. I was at the point where I just wanted him to stop talking and let me leave. TMI. Props for knowing his stuff, but yeesh.
I'm not ready to buy a new bike, and certainly not ready to drop the kind of money he's suggesting for "something that will last me 10, 15, 20 years." I'm only at the very beginning phase of buying, where I'm thinking about maybe buying something and I want to get some ideas. (I get this purchasing caution and patience from my awesome mother, bless her.)
So maybe in the next year I will get a new bike. Or maybe I'll just spend a whole lot less money and do some major improvements on my current bike. We'll just have to wait and see; I've got enough to worry about for now. I'm not even going to give it another thought until after the new year.
One of the other things on my mind is still bike related: Trailers. If you recall, this summer my mom bought us a used Burley Bee trailer for my bike. It has been such a blast to haul my daughter in it, and such a blessing since I commute via bike. But I've had some issues with the tires on the trailer... let's just be generous and say that they are very sensitive tired. After several frustrating experiences, I have decided that I am going to buy a brand new trailer. (I will resell the old one in the spring, hopefully for the same amount my mom paid.) I want to stick with the Burley brand, but move up to either the Encore (larger; see picture at left) or Cub (larger and burlier) model.
This story could get very long if I go into all the details, so I won't. Here's the short of it: The Cub (pictured below) has a hard plastic bottom, the Encore has a fabric bottom. This means the Cub is more durable and water proof, but it's also quite a bit heavier. I was really worried that the extra weight would be too much. After all, the uphills coming home from work are pretty brutal. But I love that the Cub is sturdier and built all-around to handle the harsh weather.
So I ordered the Cub, thinking I would take it for a test ride and send it back if it was too heavy. I've actually taken it out for two test rides... surprised myself when the extra weight really wasn't that much harder. But remember how the Cub is supposed to have a bunch of extra weather proofing? I got it home from the second ride, which I deliberately made on a rainy afternoon, and it was pretty wet inside the trailer. There are a couple of "vents" that allow water to enter the trailer. My daughter's socks were wet. Her blanket was damp. Yuck.
So what do I do? I don't know. Maybe the Encore is the better choice, since it doesn't have the water-allowing vents. I'll have to stew on it; more on this later.
Let's move on to...Christmas. It's just a couple of days away. I wrapped presents yesterday and today. Why did I get so many little things for my kid? She doesn't care. She'd rather I just slide the new books right onto her bookshelf, slip the jammies in her drawer, and drop the big yellow airplane in the bathtub. I guess I got them so I can enjoy watching her unwrap stuff. So hopefully she'll want to unwrap stuff!
I got Nate a new tool for Christmas. We decided that we want to use Christmas gifts as an opportunity to buy each other things that will be beneficial to the family. We figured that birthdays are a good time to be selfish, and we each have a monthly allowance if we want to get a toy, so why not put this gift-giving occasion to better use? Nate got me kitchen stuff, although I don't know exactly what.
Next year I think we're going to do Christmas differently. I would like to really focus on making Christ the center of Christmas. I don't know how to do that, I'm not really sure what that even means for us, but I know there's going to be a lot less of the worrying and working and frustration I've felt the last few years. More acts of service, more time with people we love, more time talking about the Savior... fewer presents, less shopping, no worrying about decorations and to-do lists. There's my outline; I'll figure out the specifics sometimes next autumn.
I took the last three days off work. Glorious. I'm off Monday and Tuesday, too, so that's a whole week away from the desk job. I almost never take time off (I haven't really been able to anyway); it's weird but nice to have some staycation time. Of course all of it went to running errands, housework, and rolling on the floor clutching my aching tummy.... it wasn't exactly a fun and relaxing time. Still, I suppose it's better than being in the cubicle.
I'm not sure how to end this somewhat random round of updates. Next week's post should be really good, though -- a recap on the year, whether I met my goals, highs and lows, and some deep thoughts. Check in with me again if you have time!
Until then, may your holidays be safe, fun, and filled with joy.
To be fair, I actually contracted the food poisoning Thursday and started feeling ill in the afternoon, so really those two words only sum up the last two days. But they've been two very long and painful days, and I feel like it's been wrecking me for the whole week. If you've ever had food poisoning I'm sure you understand. The worst part is, I shared some of my lunch on Thursday with the baby, so I think she's been feeling sick too. Cranky, not sleeping well, not eating well, poop problems... poor kid. As if she didn't have enough troubles, what with being a baby and all.
Here's a picture of my bicycle (it's not my my bicycle, it's just the same make and model):
My bicycle is overdue for a tune-up, so I took it down to the bike shop yesterday. I was kinda forced to do it because I loosened (and couldn't seem to fix) the back brake in the process of putting on a new rear fender. Since I'm only going to be in the office one day next week, I figured this was a good window of time to get the tune up (okay yeah, and get the brake tightened and get the fender adjusted, since I screwed them up).
The bike shop owner put my bike on the rack to check things out. Turns out I've got a worn down something-er-rather and a loose something else, and a thing that's bent, and I could probably use thicker brake pads. Plus some other stuff that was totally optional but would be nice to fix. I don't even remember all the things the store owner listed, but I've noticed problems/challenges with all the stuff he mentioned, and I agree that it would make for much better cycling if I got it fixed. But by the time you add up the stuff that has to get done and everything that could possibly be improved, the total cost is about what my old bike is worth if I sell it.
I've actually been thinking about buying a new bike anyway, I tell the guy. Well now he gets excited -- which in this case means he went from a 1 on the Enthusiasm Meter to a 2; not really much change but perceivable on so dry a character -- and starts showing me some different options. At first he lists a few things that make sense to me, like a lighter frame, easier shifting, certain parts that are reinforced against damage, and standard sized wheels (because my bike is old, my current wheels are a wacky, non-standard size). Then he starts getting into nuances, listing all kinds of little details that don't mean anything to me, and when I ask what he means he launches into the nuances of the nuances. Are you getting a headache yet? I was. I was at the point where I just wanted him to stop talking and let me leave. TMI. Props for knowing his stuff, but yeesh.
I'm not ready to buy a new bike, and certainly not ready to drop the kind of money he's suggesting for "something that will last me 10, 15, 20 years." I'm only at the very beginning phase of buying, where I'm thinking about maybe buying something and I want to get some ideas. (I get this purchasing caution and patience from my awesome mother, bless her.)
So maybe in the next year I will get a new bike. Or maybe I'll just spend a whole lot less money and do some major improvements on my current bike. We'll just have to wait and see; I've got enough to worry about for now. I'm not even going to give it another thought until after the new year.
One of the other things on my mind is still bike related: Trailers. If you recall, this summer my mom bought us a used Burley Bee trailer for my bike. It has been such a blast to haul my daughter in it, and such a blessing since I commute via bike. But I've had some issues with the tires on the trailer... let's just be generous and say that they are very sensitive tired. After several frustrating experiences, I have decided that I am going to buy a brand new trailer. (I will resell the old one in the spring, hopefully for the same amount my mom paid.) I want to stick with the Burley brand, but move up to either the Encore (larger; see picture at left) or Cub (larger and burlier) model.This story could get very long if I go into all the details, so I won't. Here's the short of it: The Cub (pictured below) has a hard plastic bottom, the Encore has a fabric bottom. This means the Cub is more durable and water proof, but it's also quite a bit heavier. I was really worried that the extra weight would be too much. After all, the uphills coming home from work are pretty brutal. But I love that the Cub is sturdier and built all-around to handle the harsh weather.
So I ordered the Cub, thinking I would take it for a test ride and send it back if it was too heavy. I've actually taken it out for two test rides... surprised myself when the extra weight really wasn't that much harder. But remember how the Cub is supposed to have a bunch of extra weather proofing? I got it home from the second ride, which I deliberately made on a rainy afternoon, and it was pretty wet inside the trailer. There are a couple of "vents" that allow water to enter the trailer. My daughter's socks were wet. Her blanket was damp. Yuck.So what do I do? I don't know. Maybe the Encore is the better choice, since it doesn't have the water-allowing vents. I'll have to stew on it; more on this later.
Let's move on to...Christmas. It's just a couple of days away. I wrapped presents yesterday and today. Why did I get so many little things for my kid? She doesn't care. She'd rather I just slide the new books right onto her bookshelf, slip the jammies in her drawer, and drop the big yellow airplane in the bathtub. I guess I got them so I can enjoy watching her unwrap stuff. So hopefully she'll want to unwrap stuff!
I got Nate a new tool for Christmas. We decided that we want to use Christmas gifts as an opportunity to buy each other things that will be beneficial to the family. We figured that birthdays are a good time to be selfish, and we each have a monthly allowance if we want to get a toy, so why not put this gift-giving occasion to better use? Nate got me kitchen stuff, although I don't know exactly what.
Next year I think we're going to do Christmas differently. I would like to really focus on making Christ the center of Christmas. I don't know how to do that, I'm not really sure what that even means for us, but I know there's going to be a lot less of the worrying and working and frustration I've felt the last few years. More acts of service, more time with people we love, more time talking about the Savior... fewer presents, less shopping, no worrying about decorations and to-do lists. There's my outline; I'll figure out the specifics sometimes next autumn.
I took the last three days off work. Glorious. I'm off Monday and Tuesday, too, so that's a whole week away from the desk job. I almost never take time off (I haven't really been able to anyway); it's weird but nice to have some staycation time. Of course all of it went to running errands, housework, and rolling on the floor clutching my aching tummy.... it wasn't exactly a fun and relaxing time. Still, I suppose it's better than being in the cubicle.
I'm not sure how to end this somewhat random round of updates. Next week's post should be really good, though -- a recap on the year, whether I met my goals, highs and lows, and some deep thoughts. Check in with me again if you have time!
Until then, may your holidays be safe, fun, and filled with joy.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Parenting is such messy business (and other goodies)
Prior to having a child, I never knew, never even imagined, some of the things I would have to do as a parent. It's an unexpected and surprisingly disgusting journey. Today I got to experience five of those wonderful (sarcastic) new things; I share them with you for your amusement:
1. Sniff someone else's bottom (to check for poop)
2. Forcibly brush someone else's teeth
3. Read someone a story while I'm going to the bathroom
4. Catch vomit with my bare hand(s)
5. Use random noises and gestures because my brain is so tired that I can't form real words
I think I'm supposed to be able to make another list of the truly wonderful (not sarcastic) things that I never expected about parenting. Things like the thrill of being called mama or the smile-erupting joy of watching my daughter toddle around. There are, after all, a lot of upsides to being a mom. But since it was a diarrhetic, triple poop, vomit catching, five-hours-of sleep kind of day, I'm really not in a happy-sunshine, I-love-being-a-mom mood. Although I am feeling a tad more sympathetic to and grateful for my own mother these days. (Thanks mom.)
That said, I've got about ten minutes until I need to shut down my computer and call it a night. So I think I'll try to bullet point out the highlights from this week:
- Remember my friend who watches my daughter a couple of times a week? She moved last week. The difference is only about a mile, but it's a mile of steep downhills (from here to there) and makes for a totally different trip to work. Instead of going to her house, back to my house, and then on to the office, I have to go straight from her house to the office. On a very different, less safe route. I'm not thrilled. I don't at all mind the little bit of extra time or distance (I like that I'm getting a bit more and more challenging exercise), but there are a couple sections of road with no shoulder and crazy drivers. I love to bike. I don't like worrying about my safety when I'm doing it. Thankfully I traverse only a very small section of bad road with my daughter. Then there's the long uphill ride at the end of the day to get us home.... brutal. I did it twice this week; both times I had to stop and walk for a section of the hill because I don't have the cardiovascular strength for it. We'll get there.
(^^^So much for a brief bullet point. Sheesh.)
- Remember how I applied for a promotion recently? This coming week, I have an interview for the position. It's the first round of interviews; there will be two rounds. I feel confident that I can make it through the first round. It's the second round that's going to be the most challenging. But one thing a time! This week's goal is to knock one out of the park for Round 1.
- A lot of banks these days have an e-deposit program for checks. If you have a smart phone, you can take a picture of your check, send it to the bank, and it will be deposited. Amazing! My bank has this program. Unfortunately, we don't have smart phones, so I still have to go to the bank branch when I get a check. (Actually, let's be honest, my mom has been depositing most of my checks for me. Have I mentioned lately that she's awesome?) So speaking of my awesome mom, she pointed out to me this week that I can actually use the document scanner on my home printer/copier/scanner to do the same thing! I can scan the check, log into my bank account on my computer, and e-deposit. I tried it out on Tuesday and it was incredibly easy. Yay!
- Nate took down the autumn/Thanksgiving decorations yesterday. We got out our lights this morning and put them up. (But I just remembered, we forgot to turn them on! Ha!) I'm not going to rush into the Christmas decorations, but I am happy we're getting started a little earlier this year. I think maybe it will help me get into the Christmas spirit. Hopefully I can get my shopping done really early, too, and then I can just kick back for the rest of the month. Amazon is definitely going to receive the bulk of my transactions. I do not like holiday traffic on the roads and crowds of people in the stores. Makes me claustrophobic.
- Cooking. There's a lot I want to say about cooking but I have only one minute left before I need to wrap things up. Oh well, I'm just gong to go over time...
Remember my friend Kimmy who is oh-so amazing? She made some pea pesto this summer and gave me a batch. It was delicious. I finally got a chance this week to try the recipe myself and it turned out yummy! It's really easy, too. I added 1 cup of cooked quinoa to a triple batch of the pesto so that it would have protein and thus be a "one stop" dish. I cooked the quinoa in chicken broth, which I think helped preserve the good flavor. I also made Moroccan Tofu this week, which is a variation of Nate's "famous" Moroccan chicken recipe. It turned out well. Surprisingly tasty. And my rice-and-quinoa stuffed bell peppers were so good that even after several bites, Nate hadn't noticed they were meatless. ("Wait, there's not any meat in this? Really?") Maybe just maybe my vegetarian ambitions will come true.
This coming week I'm going to make some tofu pad Thai. Nate scowled at me several times already ("I want chicken pad Thai!") but if it goes as well as the Moroccan tofu, he'll hardly notice. Let's all cross our fingers.
Finally, if you're mouth isn't watering yet: cranberry orange muffins. I want these, have been thinking about them all day. I'll have to print the recipe and get the ingredients next weekend... unless someone wants to show up at my door with a bag of groceries? I'll make the muffins and give you some in exchange? Anybody?
1. Sniff someone else's bottom (to check for poop)
2. Forcibly brush someone else's teeth
3. Read someone a story while I'm going to the bathroom
4. Catch vomit with my bare hand(s)
5. Use random noises and gestures because my brain is so tired that I can't form real words
I think I'm supposed to be able to make another list of the truly wonderful (not sarcastic) things that I never expected about parenting. Things like the thrill of being called mama or the smile-erupting joy of watching my daughter toddle around. There are, after all, a lot of upsides to being a mom. But since it was a diarrhetic, triple poop, vomit catching, five-hours-of sleep kind of day, I'm really not in a happy-sunshine, I-love-being-a-mom mood. Although I am feeling a tad more sympathetic to and grateful for my own mother these days. (Thanks mom.)
That said, I've got about ten minutes until I need to shut down my computer and call it a night. So I think I'll try to bullet point out the highlights from this week:
- Remember my friend who watches my daughter a couple of times a week? She moved last week. The difference is only about a mile, but it's a mile of steep downhills (from here to there) and makes for a totally different trip to work. Instead of going to her house, back to my house, and then on to the office, I have to go straight from her house to the office. On a very different, less safe route. I'm not thrilled. I don't at all mind the little bit of extra time or distance (I like that I'm getting a bit more and more challenging exercise), but there are a couple sections of road with no shoulder and crazy drivers. I love to bike. I don't like worrying about my safety when I'm doing it. Thankfully I traverse only a very small section of bad road with my daughter. Then there's the long uphill ride at the end of the day to get us home.... brutal. I did it twice this week; both times I had to stop and walk for a section of the hill because I don't have the cardiovascular strength for it. We'll get there.
(^^^So much for a brief bullet point. Sheesh.)
- Remember how I applied for a promotion recently? This coming week, I have an interview for the position. It's the first round of interviews; there will be two rounds. I feel confident that I can make it through the first round. It's the second round that's going to be the most challenging. But one thing a time! This week's goal is to knock one out of the park for Round 1.
- A lot of banks these days have an e-deposit program for checks. If you have a smart phone, you can take a picture of your check, send it to the bank, and it will be deposited. Amazing! My bank has this program. Unfortunately, we don't have smart phones, so I still have to go to the bank branch when I get a check. (Actually, let's be honest, my mom has been depositing most of my checks for me. Have I mentioned lately that she's awesome?) So speaking of my awesome mom, she pointed out to me this week that I can actually use the document scanner on my home printer/copier/scanner to do the same thing! I can scan the check, log into my bank account on my computer, and e-deposit. I tried it out on Tuesday and it was incredibly easy. Yay!
- Nate took down the autumn/Thanksgiving decorations yesterday. We got out our lights this morning and put them up. (But I just remembered, we forgot to turn them on! Ha!) I'm not going to rush into the Christmas decorations, but I am happy we're getting started a little earlier this year. I think maybe it will help me get into the Christmas spirit. Hopefully I can get my shopping done really early, too, and then I can just kick back for the rest of the month. Amazon is definitely going to receive the bulk of my transactions. I do not like holiday traffic on the roads and crowds of people in the stores. Makes me claustrophobic.
- Cooking. There's a lot I want to say about cooking but I have only one minute left before I need to wrap things up. Oh well, I'm just gong to go over time...
Remember my friend Kimmy who is oh-so amazing? She made some pea pesto this summer and gave me a batch. It was delicious. I finally got a chance this week to try the recipe myself and it turned out yummy! It's really easy, too. I added 1 cup of cooked quinoa to a triple batch of the pesto so that it would have protein and thus be a "one stop" dish. I cooked the quinoa in chicken broth, which I think helped preserve the good flavor. I also made Moroccan Tofu this week, which is a variation of Nate's "famous" Moroccan chicken recipe. It turned out well. Surprisingly tasty. And my rice-and-quinoa stuffed bell peppers were so good that even after several bites, Nate hadn't noticed they were meatless. ("Wait, there's not any meat in this? Really?") Maybe just maybe my vegetarian ambitions will come true.
This coming week I'm going to make some tofu pad Thai. Nate scowled at me several times already ("I want chicken pad Thai!") but if it goes as well as the Moroccan tofu, he'll hardly notice. Let's all cross our fingers.
Finally, if you're mouth isn't watering yet: cranberry orange muffins. I want these, have been thinking about them all day. I'll have to print the recipe and get the ingredients next weekend... unless someone wants to show up at my door with a bag of groceries? I'll make the muffins and give you some in exchange? Anybody?
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Remodeling outside, cooking/baking, and that sweet little girl
At our house, the big project the last couple of weeks has been the chicken coup -slash- storage shed on the southeast corner of our property. For a long time it was a scary, dark, evil little shed, tucked away in the farthest corner of our property, that I refused to go visit. Now I'm banging around, rolling out chicken wire, arguing with Nate about how best to build a run for the chickens. It's nice to see it repaired and made useful.
One of my brothers is coming over for a few hours next week (I think) to do some work around the house. I plan to have him clean, prime and paint the coup/shed, and to finish the stairs on our front deck. The last few days have been focused on getting the two areas ready for those tasks. I needed to cut some more pieces for the deck and purchase several parts (bolts, screws, etc.). The shed needed significantly more work -- weatherproofing wrap, siding, trim, etc. Despite several long hours yesterday afternoon and most of today, we're still not quite where we need to be. Monday afternoon/evening will also be devoted to getting the last few things ready before my brother comes on Tuesday.
Here are some pictures of the evolution of the shed:
In totally unrelated news: I once again tried out some new recipes this week. For dinner there was pulled pork in the slow cooker on Thursday, which was nearly a disaster except some brilliant suggestions from Nate saved the day. Lasagna "roll ups" yesterday (Friday), which were not as quick and easy as I expected, but were quite tasty. Somewhere in there I tried homemade oreos.... They turned out as yummy little chocolate cookies, not at all like oreos. I'm disappointed but at least it wasn't a failure. I also made some healthy breakfast "cookies" that I really hoped Baby Girl would eat (she didn't) but that, surprisingly, Nate loved and even wanted a second batch. Finally, this morning I made cheese crackers (kinda like cheezit imitations) that also seemed like they were going to be a disaster because the dough wasn't coming together and they weren't getting crunchy when they baked, but with patience and a little extra oven time they turned out nicely. Baby Girl ate a few of them. I'm not totally sure what she thinks... jury's still out for her.
(In the morning I am going to make an apple crumb bread... very excited about this one! I've got fresh apples from my mom and hopefully about 30 minutes of free time.)
Speaking of the baby, she's doing great, glad you asked. She's sassy, mullety, and fat. She's standing quite a bit now -- even trying to do it on her own without help. Wednesday at the "baby sitter's" house she had a tough day, then Thursday she had a great day. Go figure. I enjoyed hauling her around in the Bee, though. It's good exercise and fun.
Ah nuts, I just noticed the time. I better add the pictures and get ready for bed. Hopefully I'll find time to talk about fruit and bike carriers soon!
One of my brothers is coming over for a few hours next week (I think) to do some work around the house. I plan to have him clean, prime and paint the coup/shed, and to finish the stairs on our front deck. The last few days have been focused on getting the two areas ready for those tasks. I needed to cut some more pieces for the deck and purchase several parts (bolts, screws, etc.). The shed needed significantly more work -- weatherproofing wrap, siding, trim, etc. Despite several long hours yesterday afternoon and most of today, we're still not quite where we need to be. Monday afternoon/evening will also be devoted to getting the last few things ready before my brother comes on Tuesday.
Here are some pictures of the evolution of the shed:
In totally unrelated news: I once again tried out some new recipes this week. For dinner there was pulled pork in the slow cooker on Thursday, which was nearly a disaster except some brilliant suggestions from Nate saved the day. Lasagna "roll ups" yesterday (Friday), which were not as quick and easy as I expected, but were quite tasty. Somewhere in there I tried homemade oreos.... They turned out as yummy little chocolate cookies, not at all like oreos. I'm disappointed but at least it wasn't a failure. I also made some healthy breakfast "cookies" that I really hoped Baby Girl would eat (she didn't) but that, surprisingly, Nate loved and even wanted a second batch. Finally, this morning I made cheese crackers (kinda like cheezit imitations) that also seemed like they were going to be a disaster because the dough wasn't coming together and they weren't getting crunchy when they baked, but with patience and a little extra oven time they turned out nicely. Baby Girl ate a few of them. I'm not totally sure what she thinks... jury's still out for her.
(In the morning I am going to make an apple crumb bread... very excited about this one! I've got fresh apples from my mom and hopefully about 30 minutes of free time.)
Speaking of the baby, she's doing great, glad you asked. She's sassy, mullety, and fat. She's standing quite a bit now -- even trying to do it on her own without help. Wednesday at the "baby sitter's" house she had a tough day, then Thursday she had a great day. Go figure. I enjoyed hauling her around in the Bee, though. It's good exercise and fun.Ah nuts, I just noticed the time. I better add the pictures and get ready for bed. Hopefully I'll find time to talk about fruit and bike carriers soon!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Burley Bee for Baby and ME!
Right before the baby's bedtime, I wrote a brief list of things I wanted to accomplish before I went to bed. It ended with a typical entry, "Blog?" Nate noticed my list and did a couple of things for me; I got distracted while completing a task and ended up spending half an hour cleaning up something that wasn't on my to-do list. Typical, right? By the time I was done, I was tired and did not want to do "Blog?" or anything involving my brain.
So I'm just going to share the briefest of updates, which is that my (AWESOME!) mom got a bike trailer for Baby Girl. Happy early birthday to me! It's a Burley Bee, used but in really good condition. (I am still thinking about getting a baby bike seat, too... I haven't made up my mind.)
I love the Burley. It is really cool. It has room and buckles for two kids, plus space enough in the back for a bag of groceries or whatever else I might want to haul. I'm going to get a different "hitch" for it, though -- one that will make it quick and easy to take the Burley on and off my bike.
My mom brought it to us on Friday and I took Darling out on Saturday morning for half an hour, going up and down the street. At first she absolutely refused to wear her helmet, so after several minutes of fighting and pleading and trying to trick her, I gave up and decided to take a really slow lap around the block, to distract her. It worked. After the one lap, I was able to stop, get the helmet on her, and continue riding without fuss. I managed to get one okay picture of her in the Burley with the helmet (obviously, when we stopped, she'd try to yank it off... she'll get used to it):
I also got a little video of her riding along. Lest you think I was being unsafe, know that I took the video mostly "hands free." I hung the camera backwards around my neck (down my back), reached around to push the start button, and rode slowly down the street. For the first part of the video, the camera got shuffled toward the pavement. Then I must have scooted it or something because you can suddenly kinda see Darling again. Right after the camera was back on her, she started babbling a little bit. It's very cute! So you can either endure the first 18 seconds of weird video, or just advance the video to the 18th second, and you can watch her and listen to her talk for a few seconds:
So I'm just going to share the briefest of updates, which is that my (AWESOME!) mom got a bike trailer for Baby Girl. Happy early birthday to me! It's a Burley Bee, used but in really good condition. (I am still thinking about getting a baby bike seat, too... I haven't made up my mind.)I love the Burley. It is really cool. It has room and buckles for two kids, plus space enough in the back for a bag of groceries or whatever else I might want to haul. I'm going to get a different "hitch" for it, though -- one that will make it quick and easy to take the Burley on and off my bike.
My mom brought it to us on Friday and I took Darling out on Saturday morning for half an hour, going up and down the street. At first she absolutely refused to wear her helmet, so after several minutes of fighting and pleading and trying to trick her, I gave up and decided to take a really slow lap around the block, to distract her. It worked. After the one lap, I was able to stop, get the helmet on her, and continue riding without fuss. I managed to get one okay picture of her in the Burley with the helmet (obviously, when we stopped, she'd try to yank it off... she'll get used to it):
I also got a little video of her riding along. Lest you think I was being unsafe, know that I took the video mostly "hands free." I hung the camera backwards around my neck (down my back), reached around to push the start button, and rode slowly down the street. For the first part of the video, the camera got shuffled toward the pavement. Then I must have scooted it or something because you can suddenly kinda see Darling again. Right after the camera was back on her, she started babbling a little bit. It's very cute! So you can either endure the first 18 seconds of weird video, or just advance the video to the 18th second, and you can watch her and listen to her talk for a few seconds:
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Now that it's later, here's lots more!
You probably don't care to hear about MY GARDEN. But it's our first big garden, and it's doing great, and I like to give updates! If you don't care, just skip along to the section on books...
Our zucchini plants are huge, starting to get out of control. They get way too much water. Nate is big on watering them every morning. I keep trying to tell him no, they're fine, they can get a light watering most days and they will be perfectly content, but he thinks we won't get any veggies off the plants if they don't get water. Well, I picked 12 zucchinis yesterday and added them to the seven I picked on Friday. I think the plants are doing fine.
For the record, the 12 zuchs did not come from one plant. Some how I ended up with three plants. I promise you, I only deliberately planted one. The other two were supposed to be other types of squash, but I guess I got my seeds mixed up or something. The strangest thing is that none of the three zucchini plants look alike (each have different shaped leaves) and the zucchini they yield is unique (one yields dark and skinny zuchs, one light and plump, and the third in the middle of these two extremes).
Almost none of my squash-family plants (including the pumpkins) ended up as planned. There's a scallop squash that was supposed to be a zucchini squash (or maybe a crook-neck; I can't remember exactly -- but not a scallop). There was supposed to be an acorn squash. Two pumpkins ended up in the main garden, where they are going crazy and making a mess of things. They were supposed to be in a different part of the yard where they would have plenty of room to run wild, but again, I must have mixed up the seeds when I planted them because it's a mess. In fact, I had to cut back a lot of the pumpkin runners in the main garden area because they are taking over, attacking the onions and such. Sad.
Half the corn came up and is going strong, the other half is struggling. They are in two long rows, and the healthy half are in a lower-elevation part of the garden, so I think they get more moisture. Before it became garden, that area also had more compost-like material enriching the soil. I'm noting this for next year, so we can make sure the "upper" area gets extra compost.
Some of the onions are struggling. No surprise. Onions like cooler weather; ideally they should have been harvested by now. But I didn't get them in the ground early enough, so they aren't big enough yet to harvest. Hopefully they will weather the heat and I'll get a good yield in another month or so.
The tomatoes are happy and have been thriving in the heat. I had a lot of "volunteer" plants again this year. I made room for as many as I could, so there's about 10 of them around the backyard (not including the four that I deliberately planted). It will be too much fruit when it comes to bear, but I can probably give some away at church. Oh! And to my mom. She didn't get to garden this year. .:Sad face:. for her.
The bell peppers are still growing slowly. I'm just praying that they yield something before the end of the season. Next year I will get the seeds started earlier in the green house, for sure. I also need to do more research on how to make them happy, and put them in the sunniest spot in the garden.
Finally, the sunflowers: small but cute. They are out front in the side yard. We ended up with about 25 plants. They are all for chicken food and I have no idea how much we'll get from them or how long it will feed the chickens, but I'm hoping the fresh squash and pumpkins will feed them for a couple of months, and then the dried corn and sunflower seeds will make it through a few more months. Nate's parents say that chicken feed is expensive (of course, we're just going to get two chickens, which is a lot less expensive to feed than 20+ animals.)
Now on to my next topic, one of my other favorite things: BOOKS
A couple of weeks ago I read Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a moderately dense book and takes a little while to get through. We own the movie and I've watched it several times, so it was playing in the back of my mind as I read. I was impressed at how well the movie tracks the book. It picks up on a lot of subtle details from the story line, even though it didn't have the time to get in to everything.
Apparently that put me in an Asian mood because last week I read Pearl S. Buck's timeless classic, The Good Earth. Oh... such a good book. The story was very dense so it lasted me most of the week. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. I was still "digesting" it days after I finished reading. In fact, I'm still pondering motives and themes. It is the kind of story that literature teachers probably love to assign to students. I know I would have loved reading it for a class in college, and being able to participate in discussions and write a paper or two. I'm thinking about writing a paper on it just for fun. (It's that good.) It was a hard read, though; it's not a standard "western" story where everything works out and the characters live happily ever after. Parts of it left me deeply troubled and saddened -- I have to remind myself that it's only a book, not a true story.
Now that I'm physically done and mentally almost done with The Good Earth I need a new book. It's August, so I can get a new "free" book on my Fire this month. I don't know what to read, though! Suggestions anyone? Grandma? I'd like to check out another Susan May Warren book but I haven't seen a free one that appeals to me. I might have to just buckle down and pay for Duchess.
My friend who is an author will be publishing a new novel by the end of the month, Queen Witch. I get to be a beta reader and I'm waiting for her to drop a copy of the manuscript in my hands. Any day now... I'm very excited! I'm hoping she might let me tease out a bit of the story line here on my blog. I might even interview her about the book, just for fun and promo. You should all be sure to download a copy when it's available and support my inspiring, aspiring friend! I'll let you know when and where you can get it.
Before I move on to the beloved topic of Baby Girl, I have a few OTHER updates...
Nate's best friend (and his lovely wife and their kids) moved into town one week ago. We've been out to see them twice -- the first of many visits! They are really easy people to spend time with, and I just adore the wife. She's a sweet woman and an amazing mom. She doesn't know it, but every time I'm with her I'm quietly watching her mothering skills and trying to pick up as many tips as possible. She inspires me; I want to be just like her.
I got a haircut this week and chopped it in half. I guess the new 'do is kinda cute.With the heat, I've just had it up, though. Whatever. It's just hair.
Nate and I are continuing to remodel in the basement, mostly in the hallway and utility room. Nate framed the door for the water heater, so there's a whole section of the wall under the stairs that's now ready for drywall! I asked him to buy a drywall knife-saw and I am ridiculously excited to use it. I've been doing a lot of wiring work in the basement. I was just going to add an outlet in the hallway, then I decided to replace (i.e. update) several sections of wiring, and I moved a light switch, and now I'm feeling so confident in my skills that I'm going try and rewire a big section of the utility room. Doing wiring makes Nate uncomfortable but I've been reading a how-to book on basic wiring and electricity, and I don't have a problem doing the work. Plus, it's fun! A bit of puzzles and problem-solving. (Where does this why go? How do these things connect?) The downsides are that it's dirty, so I can't chase my kid around while I'm working, which means Nate has to watch her; and it takes awhile because you have to be very careful. Hopefully I can find enough time this week to finish the parts that I've started so we can get the power back on to the currently shut-down half of the basement.
I've had water on my mind a lot lately. Maybe it's the heat, or The Good Earth or Dune, or my obsession with Africa, or maybe just because I'm a hippie. (Probably all of those reasons and more.) Whatever the reason, thoughts on how to use less water and preserve/reclaim water have been swirling in my head for quite some time. Last week I ended up spending a whole evening doing research on rainwater collection and storage systems. Nate and I have been discussing this topic for quite some time; he wants to store water to prepare against a natural disaster or Armageddon, and I just want to save some money and create a more sustainable home (For once our extreme differences in opinion are a non-issue, yay!)
I chatted with my awesome mom about my research, my hopes for our system, and the possibilities. She went into research mode (gotta love it when that big brain gets set on a task -- there's no stopping her!) and found a place about 20 minutes east of here that sells slightly-used barrels for a bargain. So on Friday Nate and I took the baby out to the store and picked up five 55-gallon barrels for the price of two brand-new ones. (Nate and Kimmy, we should chat, I think you'll want to check this out.) We've lined them up at the back of the house and are planning to pipe them together, then hook up one of the rain gutters to divert the runoff into the barrels. I ordered a filter for the gutter. We also need to install an overflow valve.
Eventually we'd like to set up barrels at three or four different places around the outside of the house. It will be a tricky balancing act -- we need rain in the summer, when it doesn't rain much; they will be totally full in the winter, when we won't need rain. Hopefully we can set up enough of them to store rain in the spring that will last us through a month or two of summer. Someday I'd love to make a system that feeds some of the water back into our house, or at least into the sprinkler system. How cool would that be? We could do something like this:
At long last, here's a mix of general updates and things to do with BABY GIRL...
Nate goes back to work next week, and I go back to working part time. I will have to be in the office one more day each week, but since I will be on a reduced schedule it will only a couple more hours a week in the office. Still.... I'm not wholly thrilled about being in the office another day a week. I'm not as productive from the office, and I don't like the environment. Being at home brings me much closer to a decent work-life balance. While I'm researching away at my day job, Baby Girl will have a couple of days a week with grandma, and then a couple days a week with a friend from church. My mom very generously got a car seat for the sitter to use for Darling. It was an unexpected blessing, and frees up the money I was going to spend on a car seat for use on a bike seat!
That's right, the biking fever is intense in our house. Last week's 10 mile race got me in the mood for more. I have been back at it a little bit in recent weeks and looking forward to more time out, and taking my daughter for rides. I just ordered Darling a helmet; I'm looking at bike seats.
I'm particularly interested in this bike seat (from Amazon, available here): The WeeRide "Kangaroo" child bike seat. Instead of the traditional seat that goes behind the rider, this one is designed to sit right behind the handle bars, in front of the biker. That's appealing for several reasons, but also has its drawbacks. There's a Britax-brand seat that goes behind the rider which also appeals to me, but its a little more expensive.
I'm still in the research phase, so we'll just see where my analysis leads me. (Don't worry, I'm not going to drag you through every option and indecision with this purchase!)
My mom is helping us look for a bike trailer. She found a promising ad from someone who lives near her current house. Hopefully the trailer will be in good condition because the price is quite reasonable!
Now how about a few words exclusively on my beautiful daughter?
Baby Girl is becoming significantly more expressive. She's been clapping for awhile, and is just now mastering waving. She loves to wave at people driving by or people in the store, which tends to make people very happy -- it's really sweet. We're working on teaching her ASL signs. She has her own sign for "up" when she wants to be held (she makes a Y with her arms). She can do the asl sign for "more" food, but she's still learning that one. I'm not sure if she really understands what it means, but she will sign "more" when we're at the table feeding her. She can also do the sign for "milk" but I don't know if she's connected it to the white drink in her sippy cup. In general, Darling is very interested in signing and I wouldn't be surprised if she started picking up more things soon. I love it.
Her spoken vocabulary is still very limited (mama and dada, mostly) but she has "baby words" for things. Yesterday, for instance, when she was eating black beans for breakfast, she pointed to the dish of beans and said "bla-ba" and signed "more". So I think "bla-ba" is her version of black beans. She also has a word for water... kinda like "ar-rrr". And she definitely understands a lot of our words, but you can only tell by her face or body reactions. Still, I'm loving this phase where we can interact more and understand her needs!
In just the last week, Darling has started to stand up and "cruise" around. I've been telling people for ages that I want her to start standing and walking (I'm tired of holding her and fighting her when she wants to crawl in unclean or unsafe places), but now that she is getting on her feet, I'm a little sad. I realized that walking will be the end of crawling... it's just sad to see the end of a phase. But she really is a big girl and it's appropriate that she gets on her feet. To that end, here's a parting picture (obviously from bedtime) of my little stander:
Our zucchini plants are huge, starting to get out of control. They get way too much water. Nate is big on watering them every morning. I keep trying to tell him no, they're fine, they can get a light watering most days and they will be perfectly content, but he thinks we won't get any veggies off the plants if they don't get water. Well, I picked 12 zucchinis yesterday and added them to the seven I picked on Friday. I think the plants are doing fine.
For the record, the 12 zuchs did not come from one plant. Some how I ended up with three plants. I promise you, I only deliberately planted one. The other two were supposed to be other types of squash, but I guess I got my seeds mixed up or something. The strangest thing is that none of the three zucchini plants look alike (each have different shaped leaves) and the zucchini they yield is unique (one yields dark and skinny zuchs, one light and plump, and the third in the middle of these two extremes).
Almost none of my squash-family plants (including the pumpkins) ended up as planned. There's a scallop squash that was supposed to be a zucchini squash (or maybe a crook-neck; I can't remember exactly -- but not a scallop). There was supposed to be an acorn squash. Two pumpkins ended up in the main garden, where they are going crazy and making a mess of things. They were supposed to be in a different part of the yard where they would have plenty of room to run wild, but again, I must have mixed up the seeds when I planted them because it's a mess. In fact, I had to cut back a lot of the pumpkin runners in the main garden area because they are taking over, attacking the onions and such. Sad.Half the corn came up and is going strong, the other half is struggling. They are in two long rows, and the healthy half are in a lower-elevation part of the garden, so I think they get more moisture. Before it became garden, that area also had more compost-like material enriching the soil. I'm noting this for next year, so we can make sure the "upper" area gets extra compost.
Some of the onions are struggling. No surprise. Onions like cooler weather; ideally they should have been harvested by now. But I didn't get them in the ground early enough, so they aren't big enough yet to harvest. Hopefully they will weather the heat and I'll get a good yield in another month or so.
The tomatoes are happy and have been thriving in the heat. I had a lot of "volunteer" plants again this year. I made room for as many as I could, so there's about 10 of them around the backyard (not including the four that I deliberately planted). It will be too much fruit when it comes to bear, but I can probably give some away at church. Oh! And to my mom. She didn't get to garden this year. .:Sad face:. for her.
The bell peppers are still growing slowly. I'm just praying that they yield something before the end of the season. Next year I will get the seeds started earlier in the green house, for sure. I also need to do more research on how to make them happy, and put them in the sunniest spot in the garden.
Finally, the sunflowers: small but cute. They are out front in the side yard. We ended up with about 25 plants. They are all for chicken food and I have no idea how much we'll get from them or how long it will feed the chickens, but I'm hoping the fresh squash and pumpkins will feed them for a couple of months, and then the dried corn and sunflower seeds will make it through a few more months. Nate's parents say that chicken feed is expensive (of course, we're just going to get two chickens, which is a lot less expensive to feed than 20+ animals.)
Now on to my next topic, one of my other favorite things: BOOKS
A couple of weeks ago I read Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a moderately dense book and takes a little while to get through. We own the movie and I've watched it several times, so it was playing in the back of my mind as I read. I was impressed at how well the movie tracks the book. It picks up on a lot of subtle details from the story line, even though it didn't have the time to get in to everything.
Apparently that put me in an Asian mood because last week I read Pearl S. Buck's timeless classic, The Good Earth. Oh... such a good book. The story was very dense so it lasted me most of the week. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. I was still "digesting" it days after I finished reading. In fact, I'm still pondering motives and themes. It is the kind of story that literature teachers probably love to assign to students. I know I would have loved reading it for a class in college, and being able to participate in discussions and write a paper or two. I'm thinking about writing a paper on it just for fun. (It's that good.) It was a hard read, though; it's not a standard "western" story where everything works out and the characters live happily ever after. Parts of it left me deeply troubled and saddened -- I have to remind myself that it's only a book, not a true story.
Now that I'm physically done and mentally almost done with The Good Earth I need a new book. It's August, so I can get a new "free" book on my Fire this month. I don't know what to read, though! Suggestions anyone? Grandma? I'd like to check out another Susan May Warren book but I haven't seen a free one that appeals to me. I might have to just buckle down and pay for Duchess.
My friend who is an author will be publishing a new novel by the end of the month, Queen Witch. I get to be a beta reader and I'm waiting for her to drop a copy of the manuscript in my hands. Any day now... I'm very excited! I'm hoping she might let me tease out a bit of the story line here on my blog. I might even interview her about the book, just for fun and promo. You should all be sure to download a copy when it's available and support my inspiring, aspiring friend! I'll let you know when and where you can get it.
Before I move on to the beloved topic of Baby Girl, I have a few OTHER updates...
Nate's best friend (and his lovely wife and their kids) moved into town one week ago. We've been out to see them twice -- the first of many visits! They are really easy people to spend time with, and I just adore the wife. She's a sweet woman and an amazing mom. She doesn't know it, but every time I'm with her I'm quietly watching her mothering skills and trying to pick up as many tips as possible. She inspires me; I want to be just like her.
I got a haircut this week and chopped it in half. I guess the new 'do is kinda cute.With the heat, I've just had it up, though. Whatever. It's just hair.
Nate and I are continuing to remodel in the basement, mostly in the hallway and utility room. Nate framed the door for the water heater, so there's a whole section of the wall under the stairs that's now ready for drywall! I asked him to buy a drywall knife-saw and I am ridiculously excited to use it. I've been doing a lot of wiring work in the basement. I was just going to add an outlet in the hallway, then I decided to replace (i.e. update) several sections of wiring, and I moved a light switch, and now I'm feeling so confident in my skills that I'm going try and rewire a big section of the utility room. Doing wiring makes Nate uncomfortable but I've been reading a how-to book on basic wiring and electricity, and I don't have a problem doing the work. Plus, it's fun! A bit of puzzles and problem-solving. (Where does this why go? How do these things connect?) The downsides are that it's dirty, so I can't chase my kid around while I'm working, which means Nate has to watch her; and it takes awhile because you have to be very careful. Hopefully I can find enough time this week to finish the parts that I've started so we can get the power back on to the currently shut-down half of the basement.
I've had water on my mind a lot lately. Maybe it's the heat, or The Good Earth or Dune, or my obsession with Africa, or maybe just because I'm a hippie. (Probably all of those reasons and more.) Whatever the reason, thoughts on how to use less water and preserve/reclaim water have been swirling in my head for quite some time. Last week I ended up spending a whole evening doing research on rainwater collection and storage systems. Nate and I have been discussing this topic for quite some time; he wants to store water to prepare against a natural disaster or Armageddon, and I just want to save some money and create a more sustainable home (For once our extreme differences in opinion are a non-issue, yay!)
I chatted with my awesome mom about my research, my hopes for our system, and the possibilities. She went into research mode (gotta love it when that big brain gets set on a task -- there's no stopping her!) and found a place about 20 minutes east of here that sells slightly-used barrels for a bargain. So on Friday Nate and I took the baby out to the store and picked up five 55-gallon barrels for the price of two brand-new ones. (Nate and Kimmy, we should chat, I think you'll want to check this out.) We've lined them up at the back of the house and are planning to pipe them together, then hook up one of the rain gutters to divert the runoff into the barrels. I ordered a filter for the gutter. We also need to install an overflow valve.
Eventually we'd like to set up barrels at three or four different places around the outside of the house. It will be a tricky balancing act -- we need rain in the summer, when it doesn't rain much; they will be totally full in the winter, when we won't need rain. Hopefully we can set up enough of them to store rain in the spring that will last us through a month or two of summer. Someday I'd love to make a system that feeds some of the water back into our house, or at least into the sprinkler system. How cool would that be? We could do something like this:
At long last, here's a mix of general updates and things to do with BABY GIRL...
Nate goes back to work next week, and I go back to working part time. I will have to be in the office one more day each week, but since I will be on a reduced schedule it will only a couple more hours a week in the office. Still.... I'm not wholly thrilled about being in the office another day a week. I'm not as productive from the office, and I don't like the environment. Being at home brings me much closer to a decent work-life balance. While I'm researching away at my day job, Baby Girl will have a couple of days a week with grandma, and then a couple days a week with a friend from church. My mom very generously got a car seat for the sitter to use for Darling. It was an unexpected blessing, and frees up the money I was going to spend on a car seat for use on a bike seat!
That's right, the biking fever is intense in our house. Last week's 10 mile race got me in the mood for more. I have been back at it a little bit in recent weeks and looking forward to more time out, and taking my daughter for rides. I just ordered Darling a helmet; I'm looking at bike seats.
I'm still in the research phase, so we'll just see where my analysis leads me. (Don't worry, I'm not going to drag you through every option and indecision with this purchase!)
My mom is helping us look for a bike trailer. She found a promising ad from someone who lives near her current house. Hopefully the trailer will be in good condition because the price is quite reasonable!
Now how about a few words exclusively on my beautiful daughter?
Baby Girl is becoming significantly more expressive. She's been clapping for awhile, and is just now mastering waving. She loves to wave at people driving by or people in the store, which tends to make people very happy -- it's really sweet. We're working on teaching her ASL signs. She has her own sign for "up" when she wants to be held (she makes a Y with her arms). She can do the asl sign for "more" food, but she's still learning that one. I'm not sure if she really understands what it means, but she will sign "more" when we're at the table feeding her. She can also do the sign for "milk" but I don't know if she's connected it to the white drink in her sippy cup. In general, Darling is very interested in signing and I wouldn't be surprised if she started picking up more things soon. I love it.
Her spoken vocabulary is still very limited (mama and dada, mostly) but she has "baby words" for things. Yesterday, for instance, when she was eating black beans for breakfast, she pointed to the dish of beans and said "bla-ba" and signed "more". So I think "bla-ba" is her version of black beans. She also has a word for water... kinda like "ar-rrr". And she definitely understands a lot of our words, but you can only tell by her face or body reactions. Still, I'm loving this phase where we can interact more and understand her needs!
In just the last week, Darling has started to stand up and "cruise" around. I've been telling people for ages that I want her to start standing and walking (I'm tired of holding her and fighting her when she wants to crawl in unclean or unsafe places), but now that she is getting on her feet, I'm a little sad. I realized that walking will be the end of crawling... it's just sad to see the end of a phase. But she really is a big girl and it's appropriate that she gets on her feet. To that end, here's a parting picture (obviously from bedtime) of my little stander:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)