Peter Rabbit's Little Friend

Just a little while ago the girls and I went out back to harvest the strawberries which are quite bountiful at the moment. While we were picking we noticed that a lot of strawberries had nibbles taken out of them.  We were confused as to how our berries were being consumed given that we have a wire fence going around them to keep them safe from nibbling creatures.

A few minutes into picking, I was a bit startled when I saw something furry inches away from my hand.  Remember, my mom raised me to believe that every wild animal has rabies.  After letting out a scream, I took a moment to compose myself and get a closer look at the furry creature.  It was a baby bunny.  I managed to pet the poor, scared animal on the back.  It brought back memories of our bunny, Oswald, who passed away three years ago.  I was hoping to remove this little bunny from our garden but he decided to bolt through the berry plants.  Eventually he left the garden or found a very good hiding place.  I hope he grows very fast so he can no longer fit through the fence.

Despite our furry friend feasting on the berries we still brought in a nice heaping mixing bowl full of delicious strawberries.  I'm looking forward to many more.

Stroke of Genius or Idiocy?

I was looking for some ground pepper in the out of reach cabinet where I store the spices.  People like me who don't like to cook like to put spices in out of reach places so we have even more excuses to not cook.  Anyway, while I was up there I came across dried out chili peppers from last summer's harvest.  Bryan had saved them but forgot about them because they were in the out of reach cabinet.  I had what I thought was a mild stroke of genius.  Inspired by a gardening post on Kimberlee's blog, Pondered in My Heart, I decided to break open one of the peppers and harvest the seeds for planting.  After Mass on Saturday, I started the seeds for our vegetable garden.  I have three varieties of tomatoes, broccoli, basil,  and two varieties of peppers germinating in my little heated greenhouse contraption.  I decided it would be a great idea to try growing chili peppers from last year's plant.  In theory, this all sounds pretty smart and frugal.

Sadly, I had a moment of idiocy at the same time as that stroke of genius.  I forgot that peppers have oils.  Hot oils that can cause burning sensations.  I spent over two hours not sure why my lips and hands were burning.  Then I had an itch which I scratched that also started to burn.  I began to wonder what was going on.  It wasn't until my tongue came in contact with my fingers that I realized that I had pepper oils on them.  How my hands have this oil on them after being washed at least 6 times since I planted the seeds I'll never know.

Going forward, I will not harvest chili pepper seeds without wearing vinyl gloves.  Peppers have now been reduced to the ick factor of raw chicken.

Freshly Picked

I really love having plants that produce food. Here's what I picked yesterday:

I have many more peppers that are close to being ready to come off the plants. Pretty soon, I'll have a bumper crop of tomatoes. There are so many out there on the five tomato plants and I can't even count them all. The strawberries are growing like crazy, but the bunnies and bugs keep beating me to the delicious berries.

Gardening woes

Today, I fear, is going to be a long day.  I'm on my third blog posting of the day and it's not even 10Am.  That's a bad sign, isn't it?

I just had to run outside in the rain and go Mr. McGregor on a bunny rabbit who was feasting on my strawberry plants.  I've been trying for over a month now to live peacefully with the family of bunnies who reside under the shed in my back yard.  I have a lovely crop of strawberries that are growing in my retainer wall along the pool, but sadly, I have only had two berries that ripened and were consumed by people.  The rest of them have been purloined by my bunny neighbors.  They have also eaten all the leaves off of my blueberry bushes (twice).  A pepper plant was vandalized, as well.  Two cantaloupe plants were also cut down before they could even be planted.

We were hoping to avoid having to put up chicken wire since it's not exactly pretty to look at, but I don't think we have a choice at this point.  Why must small woodland creatures always eat my harvest? It is sad that I have to war with bunnies.  I love bunnies and will always have a soft spot for them.*  But I can't sit by and watch them eat the fruits of my labor.

*We used to have a French Lop bunny named Oswald.  Oswald passed 13 months ago.  She had liver cancer that was improperly diagnosed as a "broken tooth". 

Normalcy has returned

Bryan was safely returned to me on Saturday morning.  I was quite happy to hear the yellow mustang pull into the driveway, followed by the sound of a spastic Oscar barking with excitement and two little voices calling out "Daddy's home!".  I generally worry from take off to landing when Bryan is flying.  So when he takes a red-eye home, I don't get much sleep.  I was tired yesterday, but very relived to have Bryan home.  

The garage door is fixed.  Apparently, one of the springs that's connected to the pulleys that aid the door in going up and down easily snapped on Friday.  Because it snapped, it made it nearly impossible for the garage door opener to evenly pull the door open.  At one point, the door lurched closed on Friday and it did something to my beloved door opener.  We were worried yesterday that the door may have broken the door opener.  That would have made me a very sad person.  Bryan figured out what was wrong with the opener and managed to fix it.  So I now have a fully repaired door.  The poor girls were very upset yesterday and today that the car was hot when we went out.  We're certainly spoiled by being able to park in the garage.

Bryan and I worked on the vegetable garden today. It was totally overrun with weeds and in serious need of attention.  We almost have the garden to a point where I can plant my tomato and basil plants.  I have 7 plants who are anxious to be put in the ground.  Tomorrow morning I need to purchase more weed block.  Once I get the final section of the garden covered with the weed block I'll be able to get the plants situated.  Provided we have good weather tomorrow, the job should be finished tomorrow evening.

Rain

The last thing I wanted to see this morning when the shade went up was rain.  I have one week to get my house in order before Madeline's First Communion and the brunch that will follow at our house.  Rain is something I'd rather not see today.

I have a growing list of things I need to take care of outside.  I have six blueberry bushes and two rosemary plants that need to be planted in the retainer wall.  I have to sweep the concrete around the pool since Bryan decided to cut the retainer wall stones up there and it's now littered with stone fragments.  I really wish he had cut the stones over the grass, but I guess he wanted a sound level surface for the circular saw.  

The front yard needs my attention, as well.  I have hedges that need trimming.  I also have a driveway that is covered in a giant dirt stain from where the pile of top soil was earlier in the week.  The rain isn't coming down hard enough to wash the dirt away so I'm going to have to sweep and hose it off the driveway.  I also need Bryan to spread mulch around in the front gardens. 

Bryan is going to a charity golf event tomorrow. He's not going to be around to help me with all this yard stuff tomorrow until much later in the day.  I'm also willing to bet that he's not going to want to do much when he gets home.  He has to get up at 5am tomorrow so he can head out to the golf course.  I don't expect to see him until 4 or 5pm tomorrow.  I will do my best not to be bitter about this tomorrow.  

I seriously feel like I'm running out of time here.  Tonight, if it stops raining, I have to play in a scrimmage against Madeline's soccer team.  Her coach thought it would be fun if the parents played against the kids for the practice tonight.  One half of the game will be dads vs. kids and the second half is moms vs. kids.  I don't play soccer, and the thought of playing against a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds who are probably going to kick me in the shins isn't very appealing.  Sunday we have a soccer game for Madeline after Mass, so we're busy until around 2 in the afternoon.  That only gives us a few hours to work in the yard. 

Small Successes

Celebrating the little things that add up.

1. After nearly two and a half weeks of trying to decide what I should plant in my retainer wall garden, I stumbled upon the strawberry plant clearance rack at my local Lowes.  What strawberry lover can resist .30 strawberry plants that have flowers and in some cases strawberries already growing on them?  I planted 18 lovely looking strawberry plants in the retainer wall two days ago.  I also picked up some blueberry bushes and rosemary plants for the garden, but they still have to be planted.  There's nothing like having plants that produce yummy food!

2. I made two home cooked meals for my family this week....and they're still alive!  Best of all, Ellie actually agreed to eat her vegetables both nights and she even ate baked potato. Success! The second night she went so far as to request the baked potato!  That's pretty huge since she has refused to eat potatoes (unless they're in french fry form) since she was a baby.

3. Today, I remembered to dress Ellie for Topsy Turvy day at school.  Given my frequent Mommy Brain moments as of late, I'm pretty pleased with myself for remembering this.  I am happy to say that I sent my child to school with two hair styles and hair clips, two different shoes and socks, inside out and backwards pants and jacket, and a backwards shirt.  If this were a normal day I'd start twitching at the thought of letting her leave the house like this.

Stranded

Bryan's car went in for repairs on Monday night.  Apparently, the car has a laundry list of repairs that need to be done.  We were expecting the car to be finished yesterday, but we got a call late in the day and were told it wouldn't be ready until Thursday.  Bryan could have worked from home today and tomorrow, but that would force him to go into the office on Friday.  So I decided to sacrifice having my minivan for the day so Bryan could get to the office today.  Fortunately for me, we have really nice neighbors who don't mind taking Madeline to school (their son is in the same grade at the same school, so they were going that way).  I don't have any errands to run today, but I hate not having the ability to pick up and go. 

I wish that it wasn't raining today.  I could really take advantage of being stuck at home a little better if it was sunny out.  I have hedges that need to be trimmed and 6 blueberry bushes that need to be planted in the almost finished retainer wall.  

Some good came out of my being stranded.  I managed to get my small mountain of laundry washed and put away.  I also got the house straightened up.  And, best of all, I got to have a rather leisurely morning.  In fact, Ellie is still running around in her pjs.  If I had my car, I would have had her washed and dressed before 8:30am.  

Tomorrow will be a busy day for me.  I get to play the part of the family taxi driver.  Ellie has school and Madeline has her final CCD class for the school year.  I can't believe she only has one more class and a rehearsal before her First Communion, but I digress.  After her CCD class, I have to run Madeline over to the optical store where we get her glasses.  They ordered frames for her and I have to bring her over there to see if they fit her face well.  The optician felt that the frames she tried on this past weekend were on the verge of being too small for her.  Four years ago I had the hardest time finding frames for her that weren't too big for her face.  It's hard to believe that she's outgrown two (almost three) sizes of frames in that span of time.  I'm hopeful that the new frames will fit her well.  I'd like her to have new glasses before her first communion since the current frames are a little beat up after 18 months of daily wear.

Small Successes

1. I'm in frantic "have to get the house ready before Madeline's First Communion" mode.  I've spent the past several days doing one of my least favorite things with regards to painting--that is painstakingly painting the woodwork.  Initially I wanted to paint all the trim on the main level, but I realize now that wanting to do that is nothing short of insane.  I've settled for painting all the kitchen and entry way trim and the doors.  Most of the doors are new as of last summer and have been in need of paint for close to a year now.  As of this morning all the new doors for the main level are officially done.  I have two steel doors to paint tomorrow.  

2. After 21 1/2 months I finally decided that I should also touch up all the areas that I missed in my haste when I painted the kitchen walls.  This morning I felt incredibly satisfied when I looked around the kitchen and didn't see the ugly "supposed to be lavender" color that the previous owner had painted the kitchen anymore.  It actually looks like I'm done painting the kitchen and I don't think it took me more than 30 minutes to do all the touch-ups.  Now why didn't I do this a long time ago?  This weekend I'm going to touch up the family room so there are no dirty little secrets behind the curtains anymore.

3. The gardens in the front yard are all officially weeded.  I still need to trim my hedges, but that's on my list for this weekend.  My bonus for weeding the garden is I now have some color on my face and arms.  Hooray for weeded gardens and not being pasty white all over!

Exhausted

I'm not sure what happened to the last two days.  It's all a blur of painting, pulling weeds, sweeping up dirt and handing my girls snacks and juice.

I've spent most of the past two days either on my knees or hunched over.  My back, knees and hands are really sore, and I'm sunburned. The good news is I have a lot to show for it.  I have three garden areas that are weed free.  I even went so far as to prune back a lot of the plants that we getting out of control.  Almost all of the trim in my kitchen and entryway is freshly painted.  I have a 6 foot section of woodwork that is blocked by the fridge that still needs painting.  I have one side of a door left to paint and then just the back of my front door and kitchen door will need to be painted.  The front and kitchen doors are my Friday project.  I need the locks off of those doors and I need to be able to have those doors left unlocked for at least 4 hours so the paint can dry.  Since Bryan works from home on Friday it's the perfect day for me to tackle the doors.

I'm beginning to suffer from Mommy guilt since I've been spending more time on my projects than I have with my kids.  Madeline is always busy playing with kids in our neighborhood so she's not bothered by my preoccupation.  Poor Ellie on the other hand spent most of today wandering aimlessly.  I took breaks to spend some time with her while Madeline was at school but I still feel like I neglected her.  I know she wanted to play Candyland with me earlier in the day but when I finished with the trim she moved on to wanting a snack and the game never got played.  Madeline played it with her when she got home from school but the game ended with Ellie screaming and crying.  I always make sure Ellie wins at least one round before we put the game away.  Madeline isn't always willing to throw the game for her little sister. Today she wasn't willing to lose.  

Ellie's day wasn't all bad.  She did manage to score a lolipop at the parish office today.  I had to get the rosary I brought for Madeline for her First Communion to get it Blessed.  If I didn't I'd be dealing with Dad induced guilt in about 2 1/2 weeks.  

My dad was pretty concerned a few weeks ago because the rosary beads I had Madeline's First Communion pictures taken with weren't Blessed.  I think it's kind of funny that my dad made such a big deal over this.  I could see if I had been raised Catholic and should have known better but, that's not the case.  

My dad is Catholic and my mother was raised Episcopalian.  My mom wasn't willing to allow her kids to be raised Catholic.  To hear my dad tell the story it all boils down to her not wanting her parents to disapprove.  So in some sort of compromise, my parents selected Lutheran  as the religion for my brothers and me.  Makes sense, right?  After I hit third grade I managed to convince my mother not to make me go to the awful Sunday School at the Lutheran church anymore (a new pastor who wasn't well liked helped the situation).  Prior to that I was pretty skilled at hanging out in the stairwell and hardly ever making it to my Sunday School class.  I knew in my gut from a very early age that the Lutheran church wasn't the place for me. On the occasions when my brothers would catch me dodging class and bring me to where I was supposed to be the teachers would make this big deal about the new kid in the class. Pretty funny when you think about how they didn't know they were missing a kid.  That would never fly in the RE program at our church.  

Once Bryan and I got engaged I knew that I had my golden moment to convert to Catholicism. My mom wasn't happy about it and I'm pretty sure to this day she still isn't.  She tells me frequently that Madeline would make a great Protestant.  No thanks, Mom.  Essentially my  parents think that I only converted so we could get married in the Catholic church.  I'm not sure how they forgot me asking them to let me go to CCD when I was a kid for several years (Imagine that, while many of my friends were wishing they didn't have to go to CCD, I was wishing I could go.).  I essentially used my engagement as a catalyst to convert so I wouldn't have to be hassled by my mother.  So nine years ago today I was confirmed at the Easter Vigil.  No one in my family was there, but Bryan and my best friend (my sponsor) were.