And to think I almost gave up...

Thursday night, while sitting on the back porch and staring out at the empty, weed filled, garden beds I convinced myself that it was too much to tackle.

I was already over analyzing what soil would be the best and had convinced myself that I didn't know much of anything about gardening. Perhaps it was already to late to plant any starts. And didn't I have enough going on? I decided I would just wait until next year and I'd be all prepared with knowledge and supplies! Fast forward 14 hours when I was at the park with my friend Jill, watching the kids play and I told her my plans to wait until next year. She wasn't going to have it. She pushed me forward and told me it didn't matter if I didn't know it all, just buy some local soil and wing it! And she was right. I told my mom later that day and she too suggested the same thing. This year could be a trial, a learning experience, I needed to do it! So Saturday morning quickly arrived and I started calling about soil. I needed it delivered asap and I found a winner. I headed to the farmer's market where I picked up 5lbs of asparagus (yum) and 5 different herb starts. (note: I have ZERO experience with herbs but I'm going to give it a shot). I arrived home and Nathan and I started to shovel away the layer of grass and weeds in our raised beds. And let me tell you, it is a PAIN in the ass. You had to shove the shovel in a couple inches repeatedly and then finally lift up and listen to the rip of all the roots of the nasty weeds that have taken over our yard. And do this over, and over, and over, and OVER again. Meanwhile, a gentleman arrived to deliver over FOUR tons of soil to our driveway. I'm pretty sure Nathan wanted to back out at that point because we knew we had to remove that soil from the driveway in the next 24 hours.
Finally, the scraping was finished, then we layered newspaper over the ground, wetting each layer with the hose, and then dumped in the soil. A big thanks to our little helper who spread the soil around with the rake. And of course, the handsome hubby hauling the soil, trip after trip.




The day quickly got away and by sunset we had only put a dent in maybe half of the dirt and we officially had nothing planted. So, blisters in all, I started scraping away and making space for raised bed no.3. Secretly I was excited by this because it only meant more space for planting. After an hour of shoveling I was halfway there to clearing the weeds. I passed out on the sofa at 9:00 from exhaustion while watching a movie with Nathan.






Sunday. Day 2 started bright and early. We had a quick cup of coffee, I went back to scraping the weeds and Nathan headed out for lumber for bed number three. By lunchtime we had the newspaper laid, half the bed finished, and all 3 boys fed. I was feeling confident we'd be done by supper time (forgetting about all that SOIL). So I headed to the nursery to get plants and left Nathan to finish making the bed and fill it with soil. Finally after hours of shoveling and 2 trips to the nursery the garden was finished! I am so excited to have it done and I have to say "it was much harder than I expected". The work involved this year, thankfully, will not be duplicated next year (making the beds, scraping weeds and moving 4 tons of soil). I am thankful for that! Even after 3 beds we still had leftover soil so I laid newspaper and poured some of the soil over our front landscaped area and I will mulch it tomorrow. And still there is more. But it's no longer in the driveway. The weekend was hard but I kept chanting in my head 'fruits of our labor, fruits of our labor'. We will soon be reaping the reward. More excitement to come...

Wordless Wednesday

The Cure

I've found my sanctuary by cleaning carpets and listening to some good music. Feeling much better! Does anyone else find cleaning/organizing calming or I do I have a screw loose?

SSDD (literally)

Warning: The following post WILL include profanity and negativity. Read at your own risk.

Same Shit Different Day has taken on a whole new meaning in this household. I have lost track of the number of times I've cleaned up Biruk's shit. It's either been in a cloth diaper, streaked all over the toilet seat and down the stairs as he's come looking for me or a trail of poop he's decided to scatter through the house. Today, was the latter of the three. I shut and locked my door for FIVE minutes as Conner read to me. Five minutes of peace and quiet so he could read without distraction from his younger brothers. My punishment; a HUGE turd outside of my bedroom door, followed by a pile around the corner. Landon has it all over his shirt while looking at me with his finger in mouth. Lovely. Just lovely. And all I kept thinking was "how the fuck do I handle this?". How in the world do I not harm this child who has just punished me with yet another pile of shit (literally). Tell me oh wise ones, how to I end this awful 9 months of potty training that I've yet to conquer? Conner was potty trained at 22 months old. Yet the nightmare will NOT end with Biruk. I'm at wits end.

In the past 2 weeks I've bragged to people how well Biruk has been and that I thought he was out of his "holyfuckingterrorfromhell" phase. So this morning he kindly reminded me it wasn't over by scooping cup fulls of Conner's morning pee out of the toilet all over the bathroom (they sleep upstairs with their own half bath). Then I later found him in the other bathroom with his cup and ready to rock and roll but thankfully I caught him in time. And trust me people I'm not sitting in my closet crying while this is happening (which would seem perfectly reasonable at this point). I'm a few feet away. I have kept bathroom doors shut but he now knows how to open them (guess I'll be investing in some baby proof things that cover door handles). But please share with me the bright side of all of this because I can no longer find any charm or positives from this nightmare of terrible twos, going on threes.... I feel like I can't get any more organized and clean, yet somehow he finds trouble. He never fails. And I fear my sanity and control that is about to be lost. One moment I feel I have it all figured out and then I'm rudely reminded that I will never have things under control. That there will always be a turd waiting for me around another corner and even more "shit" waiting to be cleaned up.

Time to dust off the carpet cleaner (again) and wander off to fantasy world (calgon take me away PLEASE)....

Now or never...

It's been 3 weeks since our first camping trip of the season. It was my youngest brothers spring break so my folks drove down to Arkansas to meet us and brought along my nephew. My sister drove up from Texas with her five kids and Nathan headed out with me to enjoy the first couple nights. We had an 8 night camping trip planned and we were busting out our new tent (thankfully a cheap tent as well), warm blankets, jackets and winter hats because the weather forecast was not in our favor. The days were going to be in the 50's, nights in the 30's. Thankfully I threw in our little electric heater as a last minute thought. Nathan drove seperately so he could spend the first weekend with us and help me get set up. The weather was beautiful and we got our tent set up while the kids played in the dirt. We ate a late dinner, put the kids to bed without a fuss and enjoyed a fire while gazing at the stars. Thankfully we brought the electric heater because it dropped to the low 40's the first night and started raining around 3 in the morning. And it didn't stop precipitating for the following 48 hours. Saturday our kids spent the day in the van while we either drove around or let them watch movies. It was freezing outside and they didn't have the appropriate clothing. We set my sisters tent up and her screen room and shivered around a fire (a very pathetic fire I might add). I was so desperate to make it feel like camping that even in the cold rain I cracked open a beer and roasted a marshmallow. It helped. By evening the rain turned to freezing rain. That night after setting up my parents popup camper we decided to play it safe and stay inside with them since the weather was unpredictable. Somewhere in middle of the night the rain stopped. I was optimistic things were about to turn around until I went to sneak outside to pee and couldn't open the door because the awning had collapsed and wouldn't allow me to open it. Why you might ask??? SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! And we aren't talking flurries. It must have snowed at least 10 inches (I have the photos to prove it). While it made for a very pretty setting, it was not at all what I had anticipated. And the kids were getting a little stir crazy. Our new tent collapsed (busting the poles) from the weight of the snow, as did my sisters screen room. By this point Landon was on day two without a nap and sleeping 2 hours less per night. To say I was slightly irritable would be an understatement. All that kept running through my head was "why the hell do you like camping again?" My van was flooded with camping gear and we had crashed my parents popup. I don't like not having my own space. But we somehow survived the day and Monday we woke to warmer temps. We ventured to the store for a shovel and rain boots for my boys so they could play outside. By Tuesday it had all melted and we even played at the park and had a wonderful game of tag (my dad even played) that included me learning my bladder mixed with laughter and running is not a good combination. Wednesday was gorgeous as well but by Thursday night (when I was certain Biruk had an ear infection) I called it quits. 7 nights was enough. The rest of them held out until Saturday morning. It was great seeing my family but apparently I am only a fair weather camper who likes her own space.

After a weekend of rest we ventured out the next 2 weekends for more camping. And both trips were wonderful! One was with 3 of my siblings (which included ball tag and learning that my bladder control STILL SUCKS) and the other with Nathan's family (hiking and kayaking). I am already researching for the next trip. I hope to post pictures soon because all three trips offered a variety of beauty! Thanks to all my family for the memories (good and the bad :)! More 'adventures in camping' to come....

Good Friday, Good Listening

The boys enjoying The Clash, Hitsville UK, with dad.