Great weekend.
I got the garden sorted out. I moved the White Crepe Myrtle and the Spirea to their final locations. It was quite a dig. I had to get help with the bush, there were no good branches for holding like the Crepe, so Dwayne came out and picked it up for me, then cussed at the dirt on his shoes. I like getting him out there and dirty, I think because it bothers him so much. It had rained for two days and so the earth was heavy and moist. The earthworms were out in full effect, I gathered them and had the children gather them and throw them in the compost bin. The birds can get their meal elsewhere!
    I emptied the wooden raised bed and broke it inadvertently, I am sure I can get Ben to fix it, this time we will use brackets instead of nails.
    I used the soil from Bean Hill and the wooden bed to fill four potato boxes about 5 inches deep. We planted the potatoes today, Yukon gold. There were nine seed potatoes so one box got three, the kids planted the box with three. I had told Georgia to be really careful because the seed had already sprouted. She was so careful you would have thought she was handling an egg. Dylan just aimed for the hole and threw it in there with a smile.
    I trimmed the damaged Pink Crepe Myrtle that suffered the frost and had split it bark like an over cooked bratwurst during a late spring frost. I think I will use the wood to make creative supports for the KY Pole beans. I also pruned the White Crepe before I transplanted, so I got some nice wood from that too. So 5 poles altogether. I will buy more compost to fill the wooden raised beds and build a pile for adding to the potatoes. I even have a nice spot picked out for storing the extra dirt. I can’t wait!!
    The seeds that I planted last week are growing along. The kids are fascinated daily at the progress.I have not drawn up a solid plan of where everything will go like I have in the past, I really plan on successive planting this year, I want to have things in constant harvest, as much as possible. I want to “plant an row” for the hungry too.  I think I am more ambitious than last year. If that is even possible.
There is one more unfortunately event that must take place and that it the complete removal of the top three inches of soil from about a 6X12 area.  There are these really bastardly weeds that sprout under ground vines and create a web of  roots that are impenetrable. There are also canes of Blackberry sprouting even out into the grass. I don’t even know how to irradicate them. The yard is so small and I would love to keep a small manageable bit of the canes, but I feel they will out do my best efforts. S removal in in order. I certainly don’t want these things cropping up in my carrots, stealing precious moisture. I think I will look into a rototiller rental, and get Dwayne to use it. Perfect!

Seeds:

One week of progress

Transplant site:

New home, I trasnplanted the tall on the right and the small bush in the front.
You can also see the Crepe on the left has been pruned near the trunk. The left over wood sticks are leaning on the fence. This arrangement will really mask the composter.

Potato boxes, the last one on the right is the one the kids planted.

Need input.

Anyone have ideas of the type of bush I should plant here:

The land in sloped away from the house, which can’t change anytime soon. There is tall bush there that is healthy & native so it will stay. I am not sure if it was planted with purpose or sprouted on its own.  It is called a Sweet Pepper Bush, it gets lovely  little flower cones that have a really great smell in spite of their delicate and lackluster appearance.
The bushes that are there now are squat yellow bushes, that I transplanted last year and then we got the drought and they may have died. I am note quite sure, but I would not be sad if they did.

Anyone have any ideas for flowers here:

I am looking for something that will grow year after year. Maybe even some ground cover sedum between the rocks.The tall bush that you see on the far right is a miniature rose that will bloom continuously if I keep it dead headed. It is pink. In the front there is some ground cover phlox that grows little blue/purple flowers. I think there might be some Candy Tuft, little white flowers,  mixed in.

At first I was thinking Lillies or Tiger lillies or I don’t know…Something tall to cover that neighbors fence!

I have not been wearing a lot of skirts lately.

It used to be my “uniform”. One would never see me wearing
pants.

Working Mom bit..

Today, I put on a corduroy skirt, thinking that my chances
of wearing cord skirts is coming to a close and I better get one it.

I walk into my son’s room and he looks at me an starts
laughing.

He says, “Mommy, Shirt.” And points to my skirt.

I quickly realize that he thinks that I have my shirt around
my waist.

My daughter often does this during her dress up play, she
will put the neck of the shirt around her waist and pretend the shirt is a
skirt.

He thinks this the funniest thing and tries to do the same
with his shirt.

Silly Boy

This weekend the family got out into the yard. We had two
days of perfection. (there have been more days this week of nice weather, but I
don’t want to think about it as I have been working indoors.)

My brother came down and built me some cold frames, I only
spent money on the hinges. I got a bunch of brand-new 2X4 s from freecycle and
found the windows in the trash last fall. The kids got outside and Dwayne
worked in the garage, cleaning it up a bit. 
It was really great.

I am planning on planting the seeds this weekend.  I have a very ambitious garden planned this
year.

I want to be able to take some produce down to Salvation
Army where they are feeding folks.

With the left over pieces, he made me some Potato bins

While all the building was going on, I went and worked on the front yard. I got is all ready for mulch.

I did this last summer, incrementally I will go around all of the beds in the front yard.

From a friend…this is worth reading

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction)

Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic
symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack…you know, the sudden
stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to
the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman’s
experience with a heart attack.

“I had a completely unexpected heart attack at about
10:30 pm with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would
suspect might’ve brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold
evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend
had sent me, and actually thinking, ‘aah, this is the life, all cozy and warm
in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.’ A moment later, I felt
that awful sensation of indigestion, when you’ve been in a hurry and grabbed a
bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite
seems to feel like you’ve swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in
slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn’t have gulped
it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a
glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial
sensation—the only trouble was that I hadn’t taken a bite of anything since
about 5:00 p.m.

“After that had seemed to subside, the next
sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to  be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was
probably my aorta spasming, gaining speed as they continued racing up and under
my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering
CPR). This fascinating process continued into my throat and branched out into
both jaws.

“AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was
happening–we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of
the signals of an MI happening, haven’t we? 
I said aloud to myself and the cat, “Dear God, I think I’m having a
heart  attack !” I lowered the foot
rest, dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor
instead. I thought to myself ‘If this is a heart attack, I shouldn’t be walking
into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else…….but, on the other
hand, if I don’t, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I
may not be able to get up in moment.’

“I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair,
walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics… I told her I
thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the
sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn’t feel hysterical or afraid, just
stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately,
asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then
lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

“I then laid down on the floor as instructed and
lost consciousness, as I don’t remember the medics coming in, their
examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing
the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we
arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues
and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was
bending over me asking questions (probably something like “Have you taken
any

medications?”) but I couldn’t make my mind interpret
what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up
until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram
balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they
installed 2 side by side stents to hold open my right coronary artery.

“I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions
at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics,
but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire
station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist
was ready to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart
(which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and
installing the stents.

“Why have I written all of this to you with so much
detail?  Because I want all of you who
are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.”

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in
your body not the usual men’s symptoms, but inexplicable things happening
(until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women
than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn’t know they were
having one, and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other
anti-heartburn preparation, and go to bed, hoping they’ll feel better in the
morning when they wake up….which doesn’t happen. My female friends, your
symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics
if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you’ve not felt before. It is better
to have a “false alarm”

visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might
be!

2. Note that I said “Call the Paramedics”.
Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER–you’re a hazard
to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband who will be speeding and
looking anxiously at what’s happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT call
your doctor–he doesn’t know where you live and if it’s at night you won’t
reach him anyway, and if it’s daytime, his assistants (or answering service)
will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn’t carry the equipment in his car
that you need to be saved!  The
Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified
later.

3. Don’t assume it couldn’t be a heart attack because you
have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol
elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it’s unbelievably high,
and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI’s are usually caused by
long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly  hormones into your system to sludge things up
in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and
be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive…

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends
it to 10 people, you can be sure that we’ll save at least one life.

* * * * *

And the ring….

*************************************************************************

Here are some shots of my beautiful Daughter. I really liked her “Wings”

I think she looks like my Grandma Archer here

***********************************************************************
So do you remember what happens when you chew gum for the whole day then save it for the next day on your dresser and then while eating toast, forget to take it out of your mouth right away and it get little bits of toast mixed in, then you take it out and then eat it again later, then when you try to blown bubbles in the mirror in the bathroom things just don’t go your way?

                    Georgia comes out of the bathroom and says, “Mama, I’ve got a bubble gum situation.”

Mama fixed her up with a little vegetable oil between tons of laughter.

The last picture here is a lego model of the kitchen that Georgia built and took a picture of.

She has many talents.

Lately, I have been a little burned out with the constant
drama that my four year old dishes out.

Of course my husband says, “She may look like me but has
parts of both of us.”  And I think to
myself, yeah like Daddy’s witty commentary.

So last night I sat down and re-read some of the posted from
when Georgia was 1.5 yrs old.  I fell in
love all over again.

I am so glad that I keep this site. It has actually improved
my outlook on current events, in that this too shall pass.

Someday (hopefully) soon we will see a new phase of growing
within our little girl.

Dylan is just a little love machine. He is all about hugging
and saying “Maaammie, Maaammieee” over and over again. Then poking me in the
eye.

“Eyeeee” ,“Yes dear that is my eye”.

this is what happens when you let little boys run around with out pants on.
Yes there is poo on my floor.

On the other side of things, he is a very happy boy.
Recent words..
I love you  and Why?
Not as as entance, but rather seperately, “Mama said No.” “Why?”
Or “Say good night to Daddy”, “I love you”

Newest project….
Found these grannies at a swap meet in Phoenix

I awake this morning to the little dog jumping on the bed.
Just in time, because right behind her was dear Georgia with mini symbols in her hands, frowning because I was already awake.
She says in a pout, “I wanted to wake you up with these….”

Thank God for the little Dog.

Here are some pictures of early morning karate moves.

so we are riding in the car. It is really cold. I had just picked up the kids from Ben & Sarah’s. I smell a bad smell of poo. I look in the rear view mirror and say, “Did someone poo themselves?”
My Daughter looks at me in the mirror, smiles and says, “I farted”. I say “Boy, oh boy Georgia, that is a bad smell, what did you eat today?”
Again, she smiles and says, “I fart like my Daddy.” matter-of-factly.

Dylan’s words:
taco, dadee, pa pa (grandpa), mama, food, uhm (yes), feeeet, sawana (savanah), No, beebee (baby), grdia (Georgia), right now, eeewww, cheeeeze

In other news, we were just whipping up some dinner, when I remembered I had promised Georgia some pudding for desert. So she and I quickly mixed some up and poured it into parfait cups.
After dinner, I gave each of the kids a cup of  pistachio pudding. I went to sit with Dwayne in the Living Room to eat my serving. While Dwayne and I sat in the Living Room, we heard giggling and such coming from the kitchen.
We looked at each other and got up to go see what was going on. Apparently Georgia, being slightly more dexterous than Dylan, had managed to splatter green pudding all over Dylan, Dylan was not able to fling pudding far enough to reach Georgia, but was having a great time trying.
Dwayne and I stood there, giggling and I grabbed the camera. As I started snapping shots, I saw the spatula that we had mixed the pudding with and decided, what the hell? Next thing Dwayne knew he got an eye fulll of green pudding, then it was on. just an all out free for all, there was pudding flying in every direction. It was beautifully sweet chaos. It was the perfect end to a horrible week at work.

That day Dylan learned a new word, “Food Fight”, he went around all night saying it.

Our newest little niece.

Miley
Mariah born Dec 17th at 12:08pm, weighing in at 7lbs 10.6oz

Isn’t
she sweet…she is lucky to have not only two very proud parents but two proud
sisters!

I
know already that someday, Doug will have to beat the male callers off with
sticks!!

Miley the smiley…what newborn smiles like this?   I just love it!