Garden update - end of June 2012

Lots of hot weather and some rain has really helped the garden!

Peas and carrots

Spinach, cilantro and celery

A pot of chocolate mint

Curly kale, beans and Brussels sprouts

Squash and pie pumpkins

Cukes and zukes

Basil and Russian kale

Since I took these photos, the plants have shot up even a little more!  We've been enjoying spinach salads, kale in our smoothies and mint in our water.   I had to add a fence to the box that contains the green beans - the bunnies ate the tops off nearly half of them!  Luckily we had the chicken wire fencing in the garage already.  I had already put the puny decorative fencing around the smaller boxes and that seems to work just fine.  Nothing has been eaten from those boxes, even though there are carrots, peas and spinach in there!  I'm hoping there will be no more crop loss for the rest of the season.  Today we found a cool looking caterpillar on my celery, which seems to have slowed in growth.  It is yellow, black and white - Dave seems to think it will be a monarch!  We stuck it in a container with some milkweed leaves and we will see.  At least he is no longer making his home in my garden!

13

The 13th amendment outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.  At 13 weeks pregnant (which I am not) fingerprints have formed on the baby.  There were 13 original colonies that were the beginnings of our country.  There are a handful of (yucky!!) movie titles w/the number 13 in it.  In Judaism, the age of 13 is when a boy matures and has a bar mitzvah celebration.  At the last supper of Jesus Christ, there were 13 people around the table, including the 12 disciples and Christ himself.  Both Dan Marino and Wilt Chamberlin wore jersey #13 and had it retired.  There are 13 playing cards in each suit.  Apollo 13 was the only unsuccessful mission by the US intended to land on the moon. Aluminum is element #13 and is the most widely used non-ferrous metal.  In some countries and cultures, 13 is considered a lucky number.  In others, it is considered unlucky.  There is even an actual name for the fear of 13 - tridecaphobia.  When I was in my freshman year of high school, I had an Earth Science teacher who 'celebrated' any 13th day of the month by giving us all a blue dot on the backs of our hands, saying, "A blue dot for a sure shot!"  On Friday the 13ths, he would give us a dot on each hand.  We always thought he was a tad bit looney but since he
wasted
took so much class time on it, we were more than happy to listen and let the time pass.


Soon my hot husband and I will be married 13 years.  Which may not sound like many to some of you, but there are few things in my life that I can say have lasted that long.  There were jokes around the 7th year of marriage about the 7 year itch or something...and now it's the 13th year, but lucky or not, we're happy to be starting another year together!  You know I like lists...

13 of the best things about our marriage so far (in no particular order)

1) Together we are parenting some amazing kids

2) Together we have seen so much of the world

3) Together we have made this house a home

4) Together we learned, studied, taught

5) Together we have tried a lot of new stuff

6) Together we follow Jesus

7) Together we have weathered some pretty stuff 'storms'

8) Together we do puzzles, crossword puzzles and sudokus

9) Together we jumped into foster care and adoption

10) Together we enjoy photos and videos of those that we love

11) Together we sing at the top of our lungs when there is no A/C and we're driving in the Arizona desert w/the windows down

12) Together we do our best to make it to all extended family gatherings

13) Together we cheer for the Badgers and Packers (and sometimes the Brewers too)

I love being married!  I love you Dave!  Happy anniversary!

Random stuff I did today

In no particular order, today I...

• Washed dishes
• Made a kefir, honey, kale, banana, apple smoothie
• Said, "Get down!" approximately 147 times
• Ran/jogged/lagged behind after my kids on bikes for 1.2 miles, wearing the wrong shoes and running attire
• Ate a re-vamped local restaurant
• Mowed all but the back 40 of our lawn - we really need a new mower!!
• Nearly mangled a baby squirrel?bunny? w/the mower
• Screamed for my life for about 3 minutes while I could not remove my shaking hands from the running mower
• Stuck my head out of a missing window
• Administered at least 4 band-aids
• Planted some more seeds and a celery bottom
• Drank more glasses of water than I do most weeks
• Remembered what it was like to have a huge head of thick coarse long hair in the summer
• Felt like Wonder Woman  (I know what you are thinking, I already am.  But do you think Wonder Woman ever really felt like she lived up to the hype?  Today I did.  Live up to they hype, that is.  I...AM...THAT...HEROOOOOO!!!!)  
• Blogged twice
• Contemplated going to bed at 4pm and not getting up until tomorrow!

PHEW!

My kind of manicure!

There is still black wet dirt under my fingernails.  (Sh!  Don't tell my husband!  The keyboard isn't getting dirty, really it isn't...!)  This year's garden is in our front yard.  We are doing the square foot garden beds again.  I have planted 13 different vegetables and only 1 was not from seed!  I planted the bottom of an organic celery head from the store.  It already had a few leafy shoots so I figured I'd give it a shot!  Here's a list of what I planted, grouped by box.

• Basil and kale 
• Brussels sprouts and beans
• Spinach, cilantro and celery
• Carrots and peas
• Squash and pie pumpkins
• Zukes and cukes 

I also have 4 watermelon starts in the house.  I have no idea where they will go!!  I really aspire to grow some onions and garlic too, but there just isn't space right now.  Now the fight against the bunnies begins!  In the past, I had success just using hot chili powder.  They hate it.  But this is probably the most I've grown and especially the most that they like.  So...we'll see!!  I have no pictures yet, but I did notice that the cukes are already coming up!  That means it is not a 100% failure.  There will be SOME success =)
As I type this, Dave is working on other projects.  This weekend has been pretty busy w/all the work we are doing!  It's exciting.  I know that I should get a tree fort and chicken update on here, but I just haven't had the time.  I finished my online course work (FINALLY!) though, so there should be more time soon. If you have a garden report or any other projects you've been working on, please feel free to share!

Surprise!

This has been an interesting morning...I already took a pop quiz.  

Question: How many years will a crib withstand your own kids, foster kids, babysitting kids, etc before it is officially broken?  

Answer: Almost 7.  

Question: If you fail to put a diaper on the baby, ANY diaper, what will you find in the morning?  

Answer: You will find yourself cleaning a large mess.  

Question: How many more online courses that scramble your brain and make it difficult for you to function normally will you take?  

Answer: Zero.  

Question: Are you ready for summer vacation?  

Answer: If you don't already know that answer, you failed this quiz!!!

We have been flooded w/appointments lately and I've been working hard to complete an online course to renew my teaching license.  We are almost done w/our foster care license renewal.  We have a stack of paperwork to fill out to renew our adoption license.  There's a list of things we'd love to work on over the summer vacation!  Now we can add crib shopping to that list =)  My brain has been on overdrive lately...I miss writing in this blog!  Hopefully I will have more time to write soon.  Most of the time I feel like there is nothing interesting to write, it's business as usual at our house, but not today!

A Y turn

You know how life picks up sometimes and suddenly all the paths you have been traveling seem to split or twist back around on themselves?  It makes for an interesting time to reach your destination.  Recently we were in Texas using a certain phone's GPS app.  It was not the best map app (map app!) out there, but it was inexpensive.  Many times the voice told us, "Turn around when possible." or "Your route is being recalculated."  Sometimes the voice would even say, "In 500 meters, turn right.  Turn left."  Huh?  She wanted us to go in both directions!  I've wanted to write an update for a while but then new stuff kept happening and the GPS of life was throwing us curves and conflicting directions.  This is going to be another random update.  There is so much to tell and I have no clever way of organizing it, so hang on for the ride!
- The week before Spring Break we introduced the new chickens to Pippa and Lois.  They had met in the yard and were aware of each other but hadn't been properly forced to share living quarters.  There seemed to be plenty of scuffling and such, but no one seemed physically hurt and we figured they'd sort it out.  The day we were leaving for vacation, Urk was found dead.  No autopsy was done.  He was laid to rest on the compost pile.  It's a few weeks later and Duke and Frances seem to be doing fine, in fact all of them are getting used to each other.  This morning I went to check for eggs and Frances was standing in the nesting box.  I wonder if that makes Lois mad since she hasn't laid in a while.
- Dewey has 2 new teeth (mid-back molars) w/2 on the other side coming in soon.  He also has a new strategy for when he doesn't get his way.  He throws his head back and goes limp.  I don't recommend it.  Almost 2 and already practicing for being terrible.  I'm kidding!  Mostly.  I love the little guy I just wish he had more words to communicate his feelings!  I've never had a late talker.
- Curly Sue had a good time in respite care while we were gone for break.  Scratch that - she had an awesome time!!  She had her nails painted, got to play with her friends, watched a princess movie...and was truly loved on.  We are beyond grateful for friends that would care for other kids like their own.
- It's official - Colleen is going to kindergarten next year.  This momma will need some serious tissues on that day and it will take all her willpower not to spend the first week peeking in the window, like some kind of stealth body guard.
- MOSES CAN RIDE A 2 WHEELER BY HIMSELF!!!!!  It was just the other day and I nearly passed out trying to keep up w/him!  I had this flash as he sped away from me of him driving away in a car.  I don't think he even believed he could ride like that and we were both a little surprised.  He seems to have mastered the slow art of putting on the brakes and then putting your feet down, which is good, but we haven't even mentioned turning yet.  It's still pretty AWESOME.
- We heard some news that seem to confuse us but we prayed about it and were granted peace.
- The traditional-worship service that Dave was playing for at church is no longer.  That was a little hard for him to take.  He really loved that group of people and loved the mix of hymns and contemporary music.  We all did!!  Moses still sings, "There's a river of life flowing out of me..." and "I shall not, I shall not be moved..." or "Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"  I am very sad that for now we won't have any more experiences like that.  I know he won't stop singing, but I don't know where he will collect memories and songs like that anymore.  The regular services at our church are much more guitar driven and...hmm...well, they do a lot of the newer stuff.  Which is fine, but we will miss the traditional service.
- Today Dave found out that instead of being 50/50 at two different schools, he will only be at one of them full time next year.  He had asked about that at the beginning of the year, but w/the way things were shaken up this year (our WI governor made some pretty big changes) he wasn't too sure it would happen.  He is going to miss the 4 year olds and the co-workers, but he is looking forward to settling in full time at the high school.
- We were excited to file for the adoption credit this year...until we found out people from last year still haven't received their money.  That sort of changed our plans a little.  It wasn't like we depend on that bonus cash to survive, but c'mon, we admit we were thinking of how we could spend and invest a sum that large.  We have already received a letter telling us that we need to send (again!) the same paperwork we did before and have looked into getting a tax advocate.  We would feel even more frustrated and confused if it wasn't for the advice of many who have gone before us!  We really appreciate all the connections - no, friends! - we have made in the foster/adoptive world.
- I went running.  (If you are so inclined, you can read some reflections of recent runs on the other blog.)
- We had a great time in TX for break!  We got to meet the 3 recently adopted daughters of some good friends!  There were beach days and good food.  You know I have a Texas sized album of pictures and I hope to get some on here soon!
- Never a dull moment in the foster care world.  That's all I need to say about that.
- I need to write a goals update.
- My hair is getting long.  I don't know if I can last until the end of summer, much less June....!!!
- My maternal uncle and my paternal aunt are experiencing some pretty serious health troubles.  Please pray for them, their kids and the extended family.  I want to just run and hug them and my cousins - I wish I could do more!  It's hard not to feel overwhelmed sometimes but my family is very strong and I am grateful for the way everyone cares for each other, literally and emotionally.
- We ask for your prayers as we are presented w/a decision to make.  At this time, we are not going to elaborate - God knows the details, but we do covet your prayers.  Like I said at the beginning of the post, sometimes life takes a Y turn.  I heard someone call it a K turn once and I just shook my head!  Y or K, as long as we're on the road following Jesus, it doesn't matter!  Thank you for your prayers =)

Yesterday's gone...yesterday's gone...

We are hurtling through March!  I have a few minutes to write and wanted to get in an update on my 2012 goals.  (You may want to reference the original post to see detailed notes on what I am talking about here.  Or not!  =)  Either way I think you'll get the gist.) 
PERSONAL:
-Time for hobbies?  Not so much.  Unless you count getting my tube fed daughter to drink from a glass!  =)  Which, coincidentally, is going a little better!  (More on that in another post, maybe.)
-Watch less TV?  Maybe 20% better.
-Women's Conference?  I am going to be in the drama for one this weekend.  So YES!
-Join a small group?  YES!  Thank you to my best friend in town for hosting!
-Call the Intergenerational Center?  Nope.  Maybe after spring break.  This summer we should have a lot more time to participate in their events so I am looking forward to that!
-Read?  I am almost finished w/the first book of the year, but I have been also reading my Bible a lot more.
-Grad class?  Slow progress but I am enrolled.
SPIRITUAL:
-MYM Challenge?  I am still Maximizing My Mornings!  The Bible reading part is easy, the exercise and planning are not.
-Bible reading and journaling?  Doing well, but there is always room for improvement!
-Memorize scripture?  Mo and I have at least 4 new verses down.  I would love to up that to 4 a month =)
-Mission trip?  No progress here.
-Small group and Women's conference?  See above.
PHYSICAL:
-8hrs of sleep?  Doing well, but again, room for improvement.  I know it has really helped my attitude so far, though, so it's always good when I can see results.
-Exercise?  Started Jillian again and did well for 2 weeks or so but then I got sick and now it's busy!  Yes, those are excuses.  I hope to pick it up again after this busy weekend.  I have found 2 events I would like to run in, so I'm using that for motivation.
-Thighs?  Arg.  I am afraid to measure.  But I know when I was doing Jillian last time it made a huge difference.
-5K?  Like I said, I will be signing up for at least one and I found a 2K close by that hopefully we can do as a family.  I will look into a few more when we get back from Spring Break.
-Water?  Why is this so hard for me?  I'm doing ok, consistent, but it's never enough.
FAMILY:
-Real foods?  We have been doing a 'detox' of sorts by not eating out for the past month.  I'm really proud of us!  I know, that doesn't necessarily mean we are eating real foods, but seriously, we used to eat out anywhere from 1-4 times a week.  BLECH.  This was a really good place to start.  Still using mac and cheese in the box, but I made almond milk and I continue to 'make'/grow kefir.  We make our own pizza, but use store crust.  Things like that are where I think we are doing well, but again, could do better.
-Eliminate packaging?  Well, yes for the almond milk, but not really anywhere else I can think of.  I need to do more bulk bin shopping!
-Out West trip?  The finances just don't seem to be there.  We are dreaming and scheming, but unless we find a financial sponsor or a lump sum buried in the backyard, I don't think it will be this year.  =(
-Research a move?  Always.  Plenty of interesting houses for sale.  Not ready to make any steps in that direction yet, but...still on our minds.
-Another adoption?  Also, always in our hearts, minds and prayers.