Spring Busting Out All Over

Last year, it was infernally dry, one of the hottest Summer seasons on record.  My tomatoes bloomed and grew, but put forth no tomatoes.  It was just too darn hot.  I planted a hydrangea last year, a fancy variety planted strategically to screen my neighbors and ourselves from each other. It died.

Then over the Winter, the oregano exploded in growth.  It took over almost an entire plot.  The lavender has been looking happy instead of half-dead and sending out new growth. The lemon verbena started its Spring growth early and mounded up very prettily.  Certain patches of lawn were looking very perky.  All of a sudden I notice, holy cow, Spring is excellent and it's almost over!  

One advantage to all this early rain and warmth is that my lawn has been feeling happy.  All Fall and Winter, I raked and seeded, weeded and seeded some more.  Now the front lawn actually looks green. Considering the sad, long- neglected state of our property, that is an unusually excellent state of affairs, believe me.  All that incremental work has been paying off.

Not only does the front yard look inviting rather than scruffy, the backyard is looking more and more like an enticing expanse for play. Whenever the little girl passes by, she is drawn to it.  We hear an "Eeeeeeee!" and before we can stop her, she has jumped the border, and is running down the hill, to the back fence, making loops over the lawn, and collapsing into the grass.   That just wasn't possible until recently.   Never mind that there are still whole swaths of lawn she is not allowed in yet - persistent poison ivy and whatnot - this looks like a playground to her.  The family of rabbits who live in our backyard think likewise.  Here, hawk, hawk! Nice tender rabbits over here. 

So I keep weeding and pulling vines, and picking up endless numbers of sweet gum balls (hundreds!) courtesy of a neighboring tree, raking old sticks and debris, pulling ticks off myself (sorry!), reseeding any patch of mud or bare ground, spritzing the poison ivy - persistent buggery seedlings! - and keeping ahead of the rain schedule.  I still have much, much, much to do, but we can see the progress, and it heartens us.

Of course, part of regrowing the grass means cutting it regularly to keep it neat.  I can't cut the entire property on one charge (we have an electric mower), so I do it in sections. One day I trim the edges with the weed whacker and mow the front.  A few days later, I pick up sticks and those infernal sweet gum balls. A few days later, I mow the back and whatever of the side yard I can stomach.  I pick up more sticks and pull some vines.  I mow the side yard in its entirety.  I zap new sprigs of poison ivy I've noted.  I pull weeds, and rake and seed bare spots.  Then I start again on the front yard.  It looks good!  Now I just have to distribute that mulch from the tree work we had done two years ago.

This weekend, my husband asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day.  I said, "Plant the garden!"  Luxury.

I put in some heirloom tomatoes, interspersed with marigolds and basil.  I finally planted the dill and new parsley.  I contemplated where I'd plant the annuals. I plotted digging up the dead hydrangea and planting a new one.  Then I picked up seed balls and sticks, etc, spritzed and weeded, etc, reseeded, etc.

Just in time.  More rain is on its way.  Hi Spring - I hope you're having fun! It's Garden Time.
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Super Mom Power: Micro Efficiency

This week, while moving lunch along, I suddenly noticed I was doing that Super Mom thing. Wait, that thing right there. What is that thing you are doing? I wondered to myself.

I never thought of myself being the hyper-efficient parent cooking this and cleaning that and readying that for her family, and giving that other thing a tweak in passing. What, me? Preparing daily lunches? How quaint and optimistic!

But it turns out that's what I do every day. Making breakfast, lunch, and dinner almost every day. Keeping things running smoothly and taken care of.

My life revolves around routines that keep everything moving and somewhat on schedule.

Schedule? snort! How confining, you might say. Ah, well, if you expect to get everything or even most of what you'd like to do in a day, yes, a schedule can help make that happen.

For instance, I decide we will pop by the library and then go to the children's museum the next day. But that means I need to get the little girl up early enough. I have a window of time between morning preparations and the need for lunch and nap, and I can't waste any of it.

It takes a minimum of an hour and a half - more likely two or more - to get her up, dressed, and fed and channeled before we can leave. Then it will take us about ten minutes to get to the library, and another thirty or forty minutes to find books and check out. Hurrying her along is not really an option, but channeling her is an art. This week, I managed to get our visit from arrival to checkout out to a mere twenty minutes! And she still found time to come lie on my feet several times. Libraries can be so wearisome despite the thrill of new books.

By the time we got to the museum, she'd been awake about nearly four hours and was starting to yawn. Oh, dear. I knew I she could use lunch and a nap by that point, but I pressed onward since I'd already promised the museum, and instead plied her with snacks and water on our way.

We finally got to the museum and spent about an hour running around exploring exhibits and playing, less than she'd like but almost past her endurance at that point. Then back home rather late. Ugh.

And maybe she ends up being too tired to eat much for lunch, and then I had to corral her toward snuggling and reading before her nap because if she's going to sleep, it had to be by three, or our evening is so screwed, aaaaaaaaahhhh!

Aaaand pause.

There was a period of time earlier in her life in which I was lucky to get out the door at all because of the mountain of logistics it took. Now I fit small tasks in between other small tasks. That is the real Mommy super power.

For instance, when I wake up in the morning, I dash through my own grooming and online check-in before I'll get the little girl up. I nudge her along to get up and out. I snuggle her and make sure she'll stay upright. I direct her to start taking off her pjs, which can take upwards of ten minutes if she's more excited about a toy or book. I help her choose her trousers for the day. I set them out in front of her, and say, "okay! put on your pants!" and then I leave the room and go to the kitchen to lay out breakfast ingredients. I check back in with her. She may or may not have progressed to "pants on" status. I redirect and/or start the process with the shirt, then I go open the curtains and neaten anything left out in the kitchen. I help put on socks and shoes. I help her pick out her headband and hair clips for the day, and go to fluff my own hair with conditioning oil, and then brush her hair with any remaining conditioner, which saves me yet another handwashing.

I've already put out yogurt, applesauce, any nuts, and juice and milk. I cook up whatever eggs/oatmeal/toast I have planned, and corral/nudge the little girl to climb up into her chair so I can affix big girl bib, set down remaining forks, etc. Aaaaand we eat.

Later, while she's finishing breakfast, or between refreshing juice/milk/toast/clean spoons, I read the paper, put away clean dishes and/or reload the dishwasher, restock her travel bag with fresh water and snacks for later, put out any mail, get out any coats or gear, write out a grocery list for the day, and check for any activities I need to remember. If she's really slow, I'll change the kitty litter while I wait.

It's making use of those increments between tasks that helps keep me going. And all while gently nudging her so we can move gracefully through our day rather than resorting to glaring and screaming. As I said, hurrying is not really an option. We are moving at top speed in slow motion.

I do the same thing through lunch and "quiet time" routine, hoping to get her to gear down before I lose energy and patience. Then when the afternoon energy crash descends, I gratefully watch my husband take over for a while.

The evening malaise is the biggest gap in my day. I've already started dinner prep during lunch, so I can unfocus for a while before jumping back in, but man, do I need a break. I can barely hold a focused conversation.

Then it's back into the game and the rush toward dinner, bedtime routine and evening prep. Dinner together as a family is an especially appreciated bright spot. Then while my very dear husband is taking on post-dinner, bath and bedtime routine, I'm starting a load of laundry and feeding the cats and taking out garbage and cleaning up after dinner and separating the cats and supervising teeth brushing and finding clean socks for the next day and sweeping a little and bringing up a new air filter and and and breathing between jobs.

I know Flylady encourages us with "doing something for only 15 minutes" at a time, but my Mom Days are spent doing two or three minute tasks between the bigger ten or fifteen minute tasks. It works. At least most of the day. And somehow I've turned into That Mom. Efficiency for the sake of sanity. I'm totally cool with that.
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FlyLady Report - mid Nov edition

I've been cooking, doing the daily jobs like laundry and dishes, doing my swish-n-swipe in the bathroom (well mostly), or at least cleaning up after the cats.

I mopped the kitchen floor. I swept. I threw out an old chair I had hoped to renovate but has been rotting on my porch instead. Chair, begone! I recycled the box my cherry tree came in... last Spring. I raked leaves and mulched a little. I threw out random bits of detritus like a plastic water bottle next to my bed and clothing tags.

I finally packed up clothes I've been meaning to get out of the house.

First my old over-sized jeans and my hub's oversized shirt he'll never wear, then that blouse/skirt combo that has nice colors, but that I'll never wear again because it's not the style I want to be. Into the trunk it went to join the big bag of children's clothes I had decluttered earlier. And the box of shoes I haven't been able to donate.

Oh! And I bagged up the three pot lids that mysteriously do not have matching pots, AND the little pressure cooker my husband used to cook rice in as a bachelor. It was well-used, but it hasn't been used for more than ten years.

It was time to let all of it go, so on my way around town, I went by the Goodwill donation door and threw the whole mess into the cart without a backward glance. Go, me!

Special mention for my ability to let go of that box of nice shoes I can never wear again since my daughter expanded my feet. Dress shoes, really nice leather shoes, hiking boots - le sigh. NO, I will never take the time or effort to sell them, sorry, so into the cart it goes, too.

And that was that. No regrets, no backward glance. Just a big sigh of relief. Out of sight, off my mind.

A big Thanks! to Flylady for her constant inspiration and encouragement.

Wooo! Go, me!
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A Little Jump On The Season

I am feeling some pressure to get ahead on Christmas preparations because --

- What's that you say? It's barely Thanksgiving and it's too early for Christmas? -

True, true, but once we clear the end of November, all things Christmas will start bearing down on me, and I will suddenly find myself with no time to do some of the special things I wanted to do, and wailing and bitching, *ahem* I mean stressing out about it.

I do have time to do those special things, but only if I work ahead. If I tackle the big projects as a series of mini projects, then all is calm. (Or as calm as you can get in the midst of everything going on.) If I wait until early-mid December to start, woe is me.

This year, when I realized that our contractor was going to eat up an entire week with projects all over the house, I concluded that it was time to put in some serious prep work. And, if I got in significant work before we travel for Thanksgiving, I'll have a jump on the whole season. Or at least keep close to "up."

I might as well go ahead and mix up and refrigerate a few batches of cookie dough, eh?

Sugar Crystals in Butter - sparkly!


Therefor, a sampling of my list accomplished so far:

Mixed a batch of white roll cookies. These lemon-vanilla cookies are rolled and cut into Christmassy shapes to be decorated later. I have hopes that the little girl will experience some of the sugar-frosting-splashing and sprinkle-spilling fun. It'll be enough of a time-consuming job to roll, cut, and bake them, so I'm glad I got the mixing and chilling out of the way.



Mixed a batch of ginger roll cookies. This is my favorite gingerbread cookie of the crisp variety. I'm hoping, in the name of toddler participation, that the little girl will be able to help place currents and cinnamon candies.





Bought craft supplies to make fun gifty things that the little girl can help me with. Shhh, I'll tell you about it later.

Stockpiled bars of white and dark chocolate for another fun gifty recipe.

Designed a felt advent calendar wall hanging. I was originally planning to recreate the wall hanging that one of my aunts made for me and my sisters, but the original has gone awol (damaged and thrown out, my mother reports unsentimentally). Then once I started searching online for ideas, I found lots of cool plans. I ended up reworking my original idea to incorporate the best of other versions. Right now, it's all on a sheet of paper with sketches and notes. I'll post some picture later, I promise.

Accumulated felt and other supplies for that advent calender wall-hanging. I still have lots of do to get this ready before Thanksgiving!

Made a rough budget for gift giving. Hopefully it's between realistic and draconian. We almost always overspend, so having a rough guideline helps us keep the spending from reaching the scary zone.

Stockpiled butter. I make lots and lots of cookies, and some of them are heavy on the butter (see below: pizelles). Whenever butter was on sale this Summer and Fall, I got a few more pounds and stashed them in the fridge and freezer, where they'll keep for ages.

Stockpiled chocolates and truffles on sale. My whole family loves my habit of stuffing their stockings with these wee goodies. Since I usually give at least 3-6 per person, truffles tend to run me about thirty dollars a year. I mean, seasonally. Plus oh, several *cough* more for quality control testing. Two out of three people in the household agree that we need to double check the truffles for freshness. Anyway, I have been shopping the sales, and stashing bags in places that we hopefully will forget exist until immediately before Christmas.

Found used play kitchen and play food/utensils for the little girl. We got this this Summer after weeks of shopping and craigslist scanning. We've been saving it until the little girl is old enough to appreciate it, which we figured would be about Christmas.


Other things on the list yet to be done:

Cook up a crock pot of mince fruit filling for pies. To make this happen, I need to cut up a bunch of apples, etc, thrown together with raisins and currants, molasses and spices, and let "simmer" overnight. Then I'm going to freeze two pies worth. Then, when I am at my inlaws for T-day cooking, I can bake two pies - one for my inlaw's dinner (even though most of my inlaws don't care for this pie), and one for my cousin's T-day dinner the day *after*. So after I cook the filling, I need to *freeze* the filling so it can travel without spoilage. Anyway, that's my plan. I just got fresh currants.

Mix up some Pfeffernüße, my favorite childhood German cookie. Like the previous several cookies, this needs to be refrigerated, but at least I am not making the teeny tiny version my grandmother specialized in - that would take me months to achieve.



Bake pizelles, my favorite Italian wafer-cookie. I invested in a pizelle press a few years back. What fun! I'm hoping to make several flavours. Anise-flavored, always. Last year I also made a vanilla version, an hazelnut-almond version, and an orange-lemon version. Some for gifts, and some (okay, lots!) for us. Yummy. Oh, did I mention each batch takes a couple sticks of butter and a solid hour of uninterrupted work? (See: stock-piling butter, also: working ahead).



Start measuring/cutting/sewing the Advent calendar wall hanging. Any day now.

Wipe down play kitchen and replace batteries. Did you know that play kitchens these days often come with a sensor that plays "cooking" and boiling/sputtering noises whenever a toy pot is put over a burner? Me neither! Yes, it's electronic, but it's cool!

Wrap already acquired presents. I could start on some of the books and what-not.

Decluttering the kitchen and living room. My goal is to clear out piles so we'll have space to appreciate the tree and other decorations. I might even box up some of the toys in the house for the season, just to get them out of the way during other hoopla.

Move my mailing boxes into one location. I've been saving boxes of a certain midsize, oh, about the size of a cookie tin, say.

Start drafting my annual end-of-year letter. Yes, I am one of those people who write Christmas letters. Frankly, I enjoy getting them from my cousins and other relatives. So I try to make mine informative and entertaining.

Get more sleep. I've been recuperating from a series of bizarre illnesses (hellooo, walking pneumonia! Can I introduce you to pleurisy?), probably because I have let myself get chronically tired and run down. Enough of this; I'm going to sleep. :)

And may all of your preparations be good ones.


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Small Accomplishments with Summer Downpours

Some of my small accomplishments today:


Slept in a reasonable hour, but then got out of bed without audible whining.

Emailed two of my cousins about when we might visit them next month. Clarified days and possible times.

Looked at a friend's pictures.

Read about the wreck/salvage story of the Steamboat Arabia.
One of my historian friends made the trek to Kansas City, Missouri to view the site and salvage remains recently.

Logged off the computer after short sessions.

Finished two different graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. Magic and Death. I enjoyed both of them in different ways.

Washed dishes after every meal.

Wiped down high chair.

Spritzed ants with vinegar water. It confuses them so they don't come back.

Put away clean dishes from the dishwasher.

Cooked up a pan of vegetables for the our lunch and actually got the little girl to try them. She likes broccoli and green beans when they are sauteed with garlic and curry paste.

Washed the cast iron skillet and re-seasoned it with oil.

Cleaned and shined the bath tub, including swiping the crud that builds up on the corners. Then I enjoyed taking a bath!

Containerized all toys before bed.

Changed several diapers, poopy and otherwise.

Didn't get annoyed when the little girl threw her juice or milk cup on the floor.

Cut up apple and banana for the little girl.

Cut up a small watermelon with a melon baller.

Ate good food myself including fruit and the aforesaid vegetables.

Neatened crib.

Brought in mail, prepared outgoing bills, read city newsletter.

Read local newspaper, worked a few puzzles.

Make grocery lists.

Took pictures of my cabinet storage.

Snuggled cats.

Pulled up and restraightened coverlet on bed.

Retrieved dirty clothes for laundry hampers.

Pre-tore a stack of soft bath tissue for butt wipes. This is our new strategy for dealing with the little girl's sensitive bottom.

Logged in some of the new baby clothing on my clothing spreadsheet. This is just to keep track of what I have and where our clothing gaps are.

Thought about the question "If you had to get rid of half of your stuff, what would you keep?"

Sorted drawer of long-sleeved shirts into To Give Away, To Keep, and On Probation.

Tried on stack of loungewear pants, decided which to keep (one pair out of the pile).

Reorganized some blouses in the closet.

Updated travel packing list.

Thought about possible quilting project with yummy colors/prints I already have.

Sneakily listened to music clips of possible birthday present for DH.

Stepped up to soothe when little girl got fussy. Poor baby has a runny nose today. Wiped nose repeatedly.

Nursed.

Sang bedtime songs.

Wrote another post.
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Small Accomplishments Mid Summer Edition

Yet another edition of Small Accomplishments. Boy, have I been keeping busy!

Well, with Mr Sweetie on vacation for most of this month, we have enjoyed many hours of leisure. Some of those have been used for bumming around on the computer, taking naps, following the nuances of international politics, and reading novels. But with an extra parent in the house, I've gotten more things done, too!

Here's a short list:

Started clearing the corner of the kitchen where the first set of new cabinets will be installed. Remember that project from last Fall? Yeah, we are still working at it... slowly. My job is to clear the stuff out of that first corner. There aren't any existing cabinets there, only shelving and more shelving and some wire racks on the wall. It has acquired a Pile O Random Crap and Food & Cooking Related Gear (hee hee!), so man, did this need it.

I'm proud of myself for working at it incrementally. Small steps include: finding boxes in the basement of the right size and cleanliness, storing boxes of kitchen materials (aluminum foil, wax paper, zip lock bags), storing and organizing plastic food containers, moving free-standing wire racks to a new location, throwing out a variety of stuff, evaluating little bits and pieces of items, finding new places to put food stuffs that are both neat and accessible, ETC.

I'm really pleased with my progress because I have been doing little pieces of that job in five minutes here, five minutes there for the last two weeks. It's less intimidating to approach all those minute decisions in increments, which is lucky because that's the time I have! Tonight I moved some old glass containers off the the lightweight shelving, finished clearing the last two shelves of random crap, and did a preliminary wipe-down of the last two shelves.

I'm even more motivated since I realized last week that the larger shelving unit would go perfectly in the little Wookie's closet. We need better storage options there, and this is it! Next up, I'll have to clear out random wrapping paper and fabric crap from that closet before I can move the shelving in and start putting away our piles of baby gear. But as you can tell, baby steps gets it done!

*whew!* That was a biggie. What else?

Swept the floor, swept up kitty litter, did several loads of laundry including a heavy-duty bed sheet washing, dusted the dresser, cleared out some nursing bras that *do not fit*, and cleaned the tub again.

I finally finished packing up the baby clothes for my cousin (due to give birth any week now), and mailed them off to her. Once again, I did this in increments. I found a good size of boxes in the basement. I cleaned them out. I bought more packing tape on one of my around-the-town errands. I folded and sorted the piles of clothing and other gear to fit. I wrote out our and her addresses on slips of paper for inside the boxes. I wrote her address on a sticky note for when I went to mail them.
... I was stymied for a while by one of the items I had in the pile. It's the little lavender sleeper that I am so sentimental about. I also sighed over other pieces of clothing... soo cute and soo sentimental, but now way too small for this little girl!! I was glad that I could give them to someone especially special.

I finally realized I was not ready to give up that one special sleeper and that my ambivalence was holding me back from finishing the job. Once I admitted that to myself, I said, Well, okay! I took out the one I could not stand to give up, sealed up the rest of the goodies, and took the boxes to the post office and watched them sail away with satisfaction. *whew!* Another big one.

Oh, and I also bought more stamps.

Caught up a little on filling out the baby book.

Read through several years of baby gear, clothing and toys recalls. I now have a good idea of the oft-cited hazards to inspect for!

Sorted and recycled most of my pile of typing and lined paper to reuse. My mantra here was: file for retrieval. if I couldn't find it to use it, I'd never use it, so out it goes! The remaining pile is neat and accessible. Now for the rest of the supplies closet!

I threw out gobs of design examples. I have that artist's tendency to collect neat stuff for my eyes to look at. I was brave and ditched about three folders worth of ads, brochures, ETC, saving only a few select pieces. I have lots more cool visual stuff lurking all over, but every bit of culling helps!

I looked at all of my many file folders and made a master list of all of the names. I then went all "mind-map" on my list and came up with a better plan of organization. I am so proud of myself for tackling this filing monstrosity, but it's so convoluted, it deserves its own post! After writing several more paragraphs, I filed it away (ha!) for another occasion to write it up more clearly. You can thank me later. :)

Prepared a stack of bills. I put the little slips in the envelopes, stick on stamps of appropriate postage and write return addys or stick a label thereof, pencil in the last day each given bill should go in the mail, and clip them to the pile on the fridge.

Watered plants, looked for the tomato cages, pinch-pruned a few plants.

Went by the local fabulous bakery and bought really excellent bread. Restrained myself and didn't eat it all at once.

Threw out several product boxes that we don't need, no we don't! Broke down small cardboard boxes for recycling.

Changed the air filter, consolidated hand soap dispensers. For some reason, we always have a couple extra that are mostly empty. Urrrg! Filled the one, consolidated another, threw out an annoying dispenser.

Figured out what was wrong with the printer. Turns out one of my recent browser upgrades had knocked the driver silly. I un,-, then re-installed the printer driver, e voila! It works. I also helped my husband figure out what was wrong without screaming in frustration once.

Washed that baby and scrubbed her head. Little baby dandruff head has been put in remission... this week. hehe

Petted the cats. Oh yes, they loved this.

Took baths most days. Ahhhh. I am loving this. I feel almost human. :)

Went for lovely walks almost every evening. Mr Sweetie and the little Wookie typically go on an afternoon walk down the street before the LW's nap. Then we often take a longer walk around the neighborhood in the evening. It is good to be out walking, let me tell you. LW likes to look at everything and say Oou! Oouah! Ooungee! And that's really funny to see her react to everything around her. So I not only get exercise, but I get to hang out with my two favorite people. Yeah!

Danced. Taught a beginners workshop. Danced some more. Get in socializing with friends, musicians and various others.

Learned to pay attention to signs that the LW is getting to be a combination of hot/tired/hungry/cranky *before* she melts down. Intervening when she's getting too overloaded. Whisking her away and making everything okay.

Called my sister. Both of them live busy lives, so it's nice to catch up!! Went on a hike with a small family grouping.

Went out on our first date alone since the little Wookie was born! This also deserved it's own post.

Wrote this post!



My husband has been at home the last few weeks, and he's been getting things accomplished too:

Getting up at 5:30 a.m. to go running. This gives him time to both go running and get his exercise in while the baby and I tend to still be asleep so we can all have more time together during the rest of the day.

Successfully fended off requests to travel for work projects this summer. He's getting really good at this!

Researched and bought a small, compact video camera. This is specifically because we are seeing our daughter's babyhood slipping by so quickly. We do take pictures (although I am months behind in processing the images). I even take a few video clips with my camera, although they are relatively low quality and difficult to work with for editing, etc. Mr Sweetie really wants some footage of how the little Wookie giggles and squeals when he kisses and blows zerberts on her belly. I really want footage of all the little baby moments like how she looks around and "talks."

Mowed the lawn, and mowed the lawn and mowed the lawn. It's a jungle out there. He's also hacked back some old brush, unearthed some piles of old wood that have never been cleaned up and hauled at least 4 loads of brush to the city dump. Go Mr. Sweetie!


Oh, there is more... lots more! But I'm getting tired, so let's stop there for a while.

Viva la long summer days!
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