"What should we do with the scurvy Pirate?"

What SHOULD we do with the scurvy Pirate?... Damned "Dora the Explorer!" ... Sung to the tune of 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor?' ... I am TRULY greatful that the children's show changed the words of the classic song for the benefit of my children. I am greatful also for the laugh I got listening to Ruby sing ~ no SHOUT~  this over and over and over again. I even joined in! Adding a second verse, "Throw him out with the dishwater, Captain..."

But I am NOT, oh no, SO NOT GREATFUL for this little gem rolling around my head at 3:30 in the morning keeping UP! AAAAAAHHHH!

However we had a seriously GOOD time on Nick's first day back in the office. We played and tidied, played downstairs, folded and put away laundry. Eli had a nap, I pulled something out of a hat for lunch and then we went outside to sing the aforementioned pirate song! I'm not sure my retired neighbours were impressed after the millionth verse! Oh Well! We had fun!

I put Eli on a tricycle and pushed him around the yard, Ruby and I played golf, Eli ate dirt, Gypsy tried to eat the golf ball, we all sat on the big swing and accidentally bashed Gypsy in the head, Eli fell off the slide, Ruby 'walked the plank' on her balance beam.... the birds chirped and the sun shone! It was glorious!

I noticed about a dozen plums growing on the plum tree, two apples are on the grafted apple tree, no cherries this year, but we have TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!! Yep a whole schwack of them! Gonna have to keep Ruby out of the garden somehow! (Tomatoes are her ultimate favourite!)

Potatoes are doing wonderfully, beats should be ready for harvest in only a few weeks, carrots also. Beans are taking a while and there is sadly no hope for the green onions, they sprouted but that's about all. The Walla walla onions are doing marvelously well! Couldn't see anything on the Filbert/Hazelnut tree ~ but then again I'm not sure of what I am looking for? Raspberries are coming up fast, rhubarb has taken off but we won't harvest this year, apparently it is one of those things which are only harvested the year after first planted.

Huckleberries are alive but seem a bit stifled, as with the gooseberries... perhaps their yields will be for next year also.

I'll need to do another batch of kale chips next week as the kale is already knee high again!!!! I'm SUPER excited about this as I've discovered that the Kale Chips I've made are the perfect 'pick me up' for that 3 pm slump! I used to brew coffee but even half calf had me spinning and crashing. No More! 2 good handfuls of kale chips and I'm a NEW woman with TONS of energy! I thought I was imagining it but I've looked it up and kale is very high in Vitamin B (along with A,C, K, iron and calcium) Eating it gives me an incredible 'buzz!' I LOVE IT! And just to back up my findings ~ yes my pee is florescent yellow once I've eaten the kale, a sure fire indicator of Vitamin B for anyone who has taken it in pill form!

Going camping this Canada Day Weekend! I'm hoping that the four older cousins and Ruby will entice Elias in to walking once and for all. I KNOW he can do it he just won't yet. Perhaps trying to keep up with all the chaos at the camp ground will inspire him!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday

So I realize I have nothing, NOTHING in my fridge, no yogurt, milk, cucumber, tomatoes, NOTHING!

I thought about ordering in the groceries, but then thought why not turn it into an adventure?

Well it was an adventure all right! I had the BRILLIANT idea of taking the kids for their first bus ride! Yeah! Sounds great right? Ya.... apparently 6 years in the hinter lands has seriously affected my ability to read a bus schedule!

Ok so have a good chuckle at me... but then remember I'm undertaking a bus ride with a 20 lbs baby strapped to my back and a 26 lbs toddler in the stroller going grocery shopping solo.... NO I'm not crazy I'm just trying to keep boredom at bay and have some adventures/memories along the way!

So I hurridly got the kids ready, it was just before 8 am and the bus was scheduled to go right past our door in 40 minutes or so. Get everyone washed etc and go stand in the neighbours yard. Even have an old lady take our picture!... Ya then I watched the bus go by on the OTHER side of the street!

Ok, deep breath. Race into the house baby still strapped to back, dog knocking Ruby over, quickly fire up laptop to reread bus schedule for the CORRECT route. Ok so another half hour. No prob! We'll just walk to the next bus stop!

Saddle on up and out we go, sauntering at a 2 year olds pace! Life is good! Get to the intersection, cross the street... hmmm can't see if there is a bus stop on the other side of those trees... saunter on over... NOPE... SHITE....... turn around to see the bus swiftly pass us by... I'd gone left instead of right at the intersection.... didn't realize that I'd have to walk a block in the opposite direction of our travel to take the correct bus. Lesson learned.

Whatever we're here and I've always wanted to walk to the grocery store,,, here goes nothin'!

Start our trek up the hill....oooh Ruby look! How many cows are in the field? Twenty one! Cool!

Walk a little further, and a HUGE pregnant cow is standing right at the gate!!! HELLO Cow!

~Yes we have to pass a dairy farm on the way to the grocery store~ It's pretty neat to live this close to a farm! We drive by it all the time and on hot nights when the wind blows a certain direction we can smell the methane! It's oddly comforting?

More photos! ... Keep trotting... Eli falls asleep in the backpack... Ruby and I chat away to ourselves and passers by.

FINALLY we make it to the grocery store! Tinkle first! Shop second!

Pick up a few items, I'm careful to select the essentials as I have to hoof all of it home unless I miraculously figure out the bus schedule ~ yeah right!

Bump into a woman who turns out to be my neighbour 3 doors down...."Holy!" she says, "you must walk ALL OVER the place! You walked by my house this morning!"

She tries to hide the smile as I explain how we attempted a bus ride at the bus stop just to the left of her house...

Get our groceries, and a snack. Loaded the bottom of the stroller up and attached the bread and eggs to the back of my backpack. Down two blocks to the ball field, plunk everyone down for a snack and a run.

Saddle everyone back up, keep trekking.... passed the Fire Hall! Then to the park!

Meet ANOTHER new friend! YAY! That park just keeps blessing me with new friends!

Get a few more great pics of the kids and head home... feet swollen, shoulders raw from straps, and back aching! But we did it! Left at 9 am and got home at 11:30. I'm POOPED!

Quick lunch and some much needed quiet time! Gonna have to tidy up before Daddy gets home!

I think I've decided to do as my family does when on vacation.... one day out'n'bout the next day relaxing at home. This way we get to explore so I don't feel so bad when we are stuck watching tv because the weather is too hot to even play outside!

...... Have noticed we have an audience in Russia, Latvia and Germany? Leave a comment, tell us how you came across our little blog!

I think I could guess who's reading in Malaysia! ;)

Ciao faithful readers!

Tomatoes!

Staked tomatoes! 

Might these teeny tiny buds be cherries??? Fingers crossed!

Two apples!

Plums!

Buds on the rogue blackberry bush!

Gooseberries!!! I was wrong there IS growth happening!

Huckleberries too!

Potatoes in flower

A rain 'forest!'

My attempt at getting a picture of the three of us

Ruby is oh so amused!

A nice old lady helped us out!

Missed two buses so we started walking and found "Bessie" the pregnant cow.

Her friend "Elvira" joined our conversation.

Post grocery store snack

Headin' for the fruit tray as always!

Burning energy!

Double trouble FUN at the park!

Nana saves the day... but is nearly suffocated in the 'foam pit of death.'

How many hours of sleep have I had since Nick left on the 11th? Hmmm well let me count.... perhaps averaging 4 hours per night - no let's be generous 5 hours per night - cumulative NOT consecutive! So mulitplying .... 50, fifty hours of sleep in 10 days. Hmmm how many 'should' I have gotten? 80 Hmmmm, Yep I'm one TIRED Mama!

 But since he's been gone I've managed once again to NOT burn down the house! I kept up with the laundry (with some help!) and I think that's about all I was able to accomplish. Poor dog only got out once for a walk in all that time. Feeling pretty poopy about that poor thing. I wish I were Super Woman! But I'm not.

Our neighbours invited us for an impromptu play date on Sunday which gladly broke up the day and got us out of the house. Monday I dragged my sorry butt to the park. Eli in the backpack, Gypsy tied to my waist, Ruby holding my hand and walking the six blocks. Nearly the whole way we were singing and chatting but I was internally wishing for my loneliness to evaporate.... Low and behold we arrived at the park and we met some new friends! So wonderful! They invited us to join them at the local Rec Centre for a 'kinder gym' the next morning. Off we trotted home. Nana arrived!!! She cooked us lasagna and brought me Gluten Free Beer, chocolate and some nutmeg/vanilla bath bubbles. It were HEAVEN!

Tuesday and we went to the play group 'kinder gym' pooped out the kids! And the 'foam pit of death' pooped Nana and I out! SERIOUSLY... it's a professional gymnastics gymnasium with trapeze etc and there is a 'foam pit' a good 30 ft x 30 ft, filled with 1 ft square cubes of mattress foam 8 ft deep. It was AWESOME... until Nana and I had to go IN it and 'rescue' Miss Ruby!!!! What a work out! To heck with Zumba, Pilates or Yoga ~ just toss yourself into a foam pit and see how long it takes YOU to get out ~ with near 30 lbs child on your back!

Went home that night and looked up our new friends on Facebook... we'll I'll be a monkey's uncle. She knows someone I know in Vancouver... how could this be??? So I ask her... ya we're both Alumni of a small youth group called, 'Job's Daughter's.'  I was SO excited I nearly cried! What are the odds? Of all the people we could know in common??? Pretty exciting!!!

Wednesday, Nana is supposed to leave and I'm a total basket case... I should explain that I've been trying desparately to wean Eli in the wee hours of the morning. He is so very used to waking up at 2 or 3 am and being nursed back to sleep in Mummy's bed. NO MORE.

My theory (glutton for punishment) was that I'm already BEYOND sleep deprived I might as well run the full gauntlet and just start the inevitable. So Sunday night I waited up to give him his bottle at 10 pm. He woke up screaming at 1 am but I didn't give in to nurse him until after 3 am. Same thing Monday and Tuesday nights ~ but Nana rescued me by taking him downstairs to snuggle with him. Her leaving would me another night of SEVERE sleep disturbance.... I just fell apart. She took pity on me and stayed one more night! (Thanks Brenda!)

When she left Thursday I had only a few hours before friends would arrive for the night...it didn't matter... as soon as her car pulled away I melted on the floor of the living room, kid on each knee and cried my eyes out. Ok, so definitely NOT 'Super Woman!'

The sun was shining and our neighbours beckoned us over the fence for another impromptu play date! BLISS!

Came home and our friends arrived just in time for dinner. Eli slept until 3:30 am, flopped around for half an hour before I caved and nursed him at 4 am. Finally I think he's getting the hang of it! Bonus~ he's now transitioning from 2 naps to 1 long nap in the afternoon! I LOVE my life!

Planned on walking the dog... it rained. Trying to stay awake in the cool weather of the wet afternoon... might have to brew some coffee to get me until 8 pm.

Nick called, he's in Toronto and home in  LESS 30 some odd hours!!!!!!! Can't WAIT!


.......

He made it home! EARLY! I had the kids all ready for bed and was just about to hop in the shower myself as it was SMOKIN' hot in the house and I was sweating bullets trying to cook dinner, tidy up the dishes, sweep and mop the floor, bath up the kids and put them in their jammies. Few!  It's a busy hour!

All of a sudden I hear the front door open and shut and my mind couldn't process it...for a fleeting moment I was worried about Eli getting out ~ until I realized he can't go up and down stairs yet!

Turned the corner and there was my man standing at the top of the stairs with a beaming smile! SO HAPPY!!!!!!!

Big hugs all around! Ruby was jumping up and down! Nick went into our room where Eli was playing on the floor and Nick layed down to get to eye level with him. It was really neat to watch the 'wheels turning' in Eli's reaction. At first second he reached out to touch Nick's face, then thought the better of it and squirmed for a minute. The look on his face was like, "wait a minute.... you were gone.... now you're here... hmmm.... I'm not sure I trust you...." then all hibitions disappeared and he reached out to pet Nick's big beard and bite Nick's nose! It was SUPER cute! Dog pile on Daddy!

Still didn't manage to get the best sleep. Ruby only wanted me at 2 am, Eli woke up at 3 and screamed for a bit which I could still hear downstairs. Ruby is NOT the best bed mate ~ tell me how some one who is 26 pounds can take up so much of the bed?!??!

But Nick has taken the kids to church this morning to give me five minutes of peace. Ahh! Yep reachin' for my coffee!

Severe Sanitation Situation Survived ~ Solo!

Few glad it's over!!

Nick left Monday at 7:30 am, friends left later that afternoon. Mum and God Mother arrived shortly there after, early dinner and bed for the kids...only to have Eli wake up almost immediately and start throwing up. He stopped at midnight, 12:30 am Ruby started. Oh yes. It was fantastic!

Tuesday morning and everyone seems to be fine, not much appetite but still able to keep food down. Head to Coombs for the day, see goats on the roof, have lunch, purchase expensive sun hat and $3 Bacon Flavoured Lip Balm for Father's Day!

Head home; dinner, bed, vomit.

Thank goodness my mother is here to help me! Wednesday, Mum and God Mother have helped me fold copious amounts of laundry (thank you!)

Feed Eli breakfast and bottle, pick him up and proceed to wear it all.

Hop in shower fully clothed with baby. FUN.

Mum cleans up floor, but then must leave :(

Nobody eats anything for dinner... I myself start feeling more queasy by the hour.

Kids refuse to sleep in own beds, by 10:30 both are throwing up nearly simultaneously... I cleaned up what I could in the low lights, I think the dog helped clean up the floor... is it wrong to appreciate this?

Ruby in just panties, Eli in just diaper, me in my 3rd pj change, 4 face cloths, 2 rags, 2 swiffer pads, a king sized sheet change and a sobbing prayer!

Not sure if God heard a word I said! But I remember my Jobie girls, "Every thought is like a dew drop from heaven, its usefulness forecast and its purpose fulfilled."  The vomiting ceased so I think he understood me.

Spent Wednesday lounging on couch all in our jammies. Was happy to find Nick's housecoat hanging up, I put it on to make me feel better ~ it smells like him... the kids and I cuddled for most of the morning... I think we were all comforted by his scent.

Managed to muster up some energy to tidy up and make soup for dinner. Prayed that the night would go smoothly and it did!!!

Eli hasn't really eaten much but he seemed to really like the tater tots I picked up. Something easy on the stomach.. he's still have digestive issues... and needs 'moral support' to poop. ... Funny how I never thought I'd actually take pleasure in helping my child poop while holding them tight to my chest for comfort. ...He seemed to feel better ~ even if I did have a fleeting 'weirdness' thought. :)

Putting Ruby to bed she had something in her hand that night. Took me a few minutes to convince her to show me... it was a picture of her Dad. At a play group in Port McNeill we'd 'sign in' by putting up our pictures...somehow Ruby found Nick's. She kissed it, said, "I miss you Daddy," and clutched it to her chest until she fell asleep. I nearly cried!

Went grocery shopping Friday... somewhat apprehensive with two small children but they ended up being wonderful! Eli was in the snuggli on my back and Ruby 'helped' me push the cart. I think when we got home that she's eaten a pound of grapes, strawberries and blueberries... and I mean a pound EACH!  Gonna have more 'digestive issues!'

Made my first batch of kale chips with kale from our garden. I believe we have 'plain' kale as opposed to the popular garnish of 'curly' kale.

I followed instructions on 2 different websites for 2 different methods. And I 'winged' the recipe from the ingredient list on a bag of kale chips I bought at Nick's step mother's store. (Old City Organics on Fitzwilliam in Nanaimo~ although I'm not sure if they sell those particular kale chips anymore...)

None the less!  Tamari (GF soy sauce) Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon Juice. Don't ask me measurements I winged it.

Nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder and some white pepper.


Washed, and picked the leaves off the stems (freakin' time consuming!!!!!)

Tossed the leaves in the liquid mixture and dusted the tops with the 'spices mixture.'

Method #1, put in food dehydrator overnight at 105 degrees Farenheit

Method #2 put on cookie sheet, insert into oven at 425 degrees for 3 minutes

Still waiting on food dehydrator... will comment in the am...

Ah yah method #2....

Well.... I'm pretty sure that recipe was using curly kale which is already fairly dry to start with. Plain kale is like a thick spinach texture. Three minutes simply wasn't going to be enough, so I put it in for 5. Then another 5 and then another. ...SHITE SMOKE!

Did I mention baby on back at this point?  Ruby, then Daddy calling, then teething woke him up THREE separate times, so at this point he's suspended in the snuggli on my back while I attempt not to burn down the house!!!!

Quickly open oven door and stick face in it... AAAAH! CAN'T SEE ~ EYELASHES STICKING TOGETHER! ~ They should put a warning about this on the mascara bottle!~

Moment of sheer panic ensues!

Put face slightly back into heat, mascara re melting allows eyes to open.

Kale looks dead.

Pull it out and use flipper to survey damage. Only top is crispy, under layer is still wet. False alarm. Stir it up and put it back in.

5 minutes later, pull oven door out while turning face AWAY from heat! (Ya I know it's SO cool how I'm a fast learner! ;P

Some kale still pretty wet, but take it out and let sit on cookie sheets. Tidy up. Ok, tidy up just kitchen, living room disaster will be fully ignored.

Scrubbing of cookie sheets takes less time than I thought. Am pleasantly surprised. Put kale in glass bowl and bowl inserted into oven which is turned off but still warm. Hoping that kale will dry out.

Taste test ~ SALTY! May have over done the Tamari sauce in the ingredient ratio! But still tasty!

Will keep oven kale separate from dehydrator kale for taste test.

Still have another full batch of kale for the dehydrator tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying my adventures as much as I am! Comments are always wanted and welcome ~ even if it's just to chuckle at me! ... My mother always said my father married her for daily amusement of her wonderful blunders! ... I think my hubby could say the same!  Love you babe!

xoxoxo

CUTENESS! ...With a 'Jono' expression on his face!

A basket full of bounty!

Green tongue!

Daddy packing the essentials!

A photo from the weekend visit... my niece was getting tired waiting for her slow mother to make lunch. Sheesh, took FOREVER! ;P

Coombs! Goats on roof!

Have some kale!

After the harvest.... forgot to take before photo ~ sorry!

Potatoes on the left, tomatoes on the right!

Into the fire! I mean pleasant tropical wind!

Blue bowl for tossing in liquid, spices dusted on top...

Liquids!

Hmmm, oven method.... jury is still out... at least the pans came clean!

Hot Bunking at the Hanoi Hilton!

This last week of paternity leave was relatively relaxing. Made a Costco run, Kate went out for lunch with a friend and then next day we all went to lunch at a friend's house. Went for a few walks to the park and generally took it easy... until

The damned dog finally dog gone done it!  Done made Nick LOSE his mind!

She kept escaping for the MILLIONTH time, enough is enough. So Nick and I staged a recon mission ~ I hid for the better part of an hour behind the curtains in our bedroom to watch and see how it was she was actually escaping. ... Smart freakin' dog too...she kept looking over her shoulder as if she KNEW someone was watching. Then she swiftly scaled the neighbours tree ~ yes scaled. Simultaneously wedging herself between the tree and the fence and with minimal wriggling VOILA! FREEDOM!

I thought Nick's head was going to explode! So not wanting the dog to have to be tied up for the next two weeks while I (wo)man the homefront, Nick dutifully went back to HomeDepot. I have no inclination or desire to know how much money he spent. But he came back with a truck full of supplies and a very heavy roll of large gauge, 6 + foot high fencing wire. His mission ~ and yes he chose to accept it~ to build the 'Hanoi Hilton' right here in the Valley!

We've had plans for my BFF and her brood of 3 kids + hubby and dog to visit this weekend and then out of the blue we also had friends from Port McNeill need to stay for Thursday night. We were thrilled!

So I changed the sheets on the downstairs guest bed and set up the play pen for their baby. The McNeill~er's came, we ate, we laughed and I got to hold/coo at a new born without ANY uterine pangs whatsoever! And in the next flash they were gone. Short but sweet ~ I hope they return soon for a longer visit.

Dog escaped again. Only hours before next family arrives to stay for the weekend. More sheet changing, play pen down ~ LESS swearing involved with dismantling!

Move bed over, put up blow up mattress for kids. Friends arrive!!!!!!

Kids playing, dogs running around, kids screaming, mess growing, kids hungry, mess HUGE... BED TIME!

OOOH, cocktail hour! Staying up until 12:30 laughing and BSing ~ priceless! I LOVE the Valley!

More fence building on Saturday... Poor Brian everytime he comes to visit Nick and I put him to work! (Thank you!)

Kids in the swimming pool, dogs EVERYWHERE! Mess, mess and MORE MESS! Life is good!

Fence gets built! And the dog escapes again because somebody left the garage door open.
 $%^^&$*!@#

Mummies take all five children to the park to give Daddies a much needed break from back breaking labour. All five children nearly get purposely left at the park...but we struggled home in one piece!

Order Thai food for dinner, children have MASSIVE nuclear meltdown until the Daddies return with sustinance. Dinner on table... children mysteriously arrive at dinner table covered in paint?!

Washing, yelling and crying ensue as parents try to decipher where the source of paint is from... play room ~ contraband!

Gypsy has LITERALLY spent all evening doing recon missions searching high and low for weak spots in the 'border lines.'  Border lines holding for now! May have to stage armed guards in towers or further resort to electric barbed wire fencing... we'll see how it goes.

Extra laundry soap made... need to make dishwashing detergent.

Both Daddy and friends leaving on Monday :(

More sheet changing.

Mum and God Mother arriving Monday afternoon :D

Friends left but left behind a stomach flu...more sheet changing.

Thanks to Mum and Aunty Betty for all their help, tidying, folding laundry and helping me drink Nick's wine! I love you both!

Have to say he makes an excellent dancing flower!

Ruby and her 'tickets.'

The 'filing' system!

STUCK!

High centred....

Almost!

Yeesh! That was a close one!

Beautiful bounty! Mizuna on the left, butter lettuce on the right!

Mr. D ~ Ruby's Port McNeill BF!

Daddy and his babushka baby!

Silly Billy's!

Uncle Brian ~  being a very good sport and having a tea party! Isn't he bootiful?!??

60 days and 60 nights...and 60 ways for the dog to escape! *sigh*

It's official! We've been in this house 2 full months! SO exciting! And everyday we wake up still thankful to be here!

Now if only we could keep the dog in the yard!!! ARRGG! She's a WONDERFUL dog, with the patience of Job when it comes to the kids. The kids can ride her, pull her tail, pull out her eye lashes, count her teeth, take food from her bowl, take sticks or bones right out of her mouth and she just waits patiently until whatever toy is given back to her. She keeps your feet warm at night, she protects the house from potential harm (she alerted us the other night from some looky loo around our truck at 3 am!) ~ I repeat a WONDERFUL 'friend.' But an opportunist! The slightest hint of a door ajar or a gate swinging open in the breeze or an wire fence which can be ripped off the post and she's GONE. G-O-N-E ~ GONE!.... She comes home before you even realize she's escaped!

Thankfully she appears to be learning some road sense but even that is still cause for concern.

So yesterday just before dinner the door bell rings...odd.... Nick answers it to find our wonderful neighbour with our dog on a leash.

"Found her in my front yard! ...Thought you had it licked!"  (the fence mending of last week) said she.

"Funny so did we!"

Nick lets Gypsy in the house only to find her 2 SECONDS later out on the front lawn. HUH??? Turns out I'd left the garage doors both back and front open slightly ajar and Ms.Houdini herself figured it out! Problem solved right? NOPE.

Gypsy had gone right back into the back yard, pulled the compost bin apart and raced up the compost over the fence into the neighbours yard. Nick is fixing it ....again. *sigh*

With any luck she will remain contained while Nick is away or she'll be on a longe line until he returns home!

This will be Nick's last week on paternity leave and come Monday the 11th he returns to work. I am bittersweet about this. 

I will NOT miss his trails or mess', I will NOT miss  picking up his clothes wherever he leaves them. I will NOT miss him giving in to EVERY one of Ruby's whims! But I will miss his daily presence, my ability to hand over the kids when I need just 10 minutes of peace. I will miss the help in the evenings when one of us cleans up while the other baths the kids. I will miss the sound of his voice as he puts one of the kids to sleep singing a slightly off key version of Bob Seger's 'Turn the Page.' I will miss being handed a cup of coffee while I nurse Eli first thing in the morning.

But all good things must come to an end. Paternity leave has given him a small glimpse into my daily life.

We've made a few good dents in the office downstairs. I have another maybe 4 hours of work to get it to a livable state. I think I will need to purchase another set of metal shelves for the garage so we can store totes on them. The books are half organized on shelves...we seem to have a LOT of books! :)

There is a bit of an alcove between the window and the closet which will be just wide enough for a built in desk and some shelving... a project for sometime this summer. Eventually with the book cases, built in desk, little (fake) fire place and a lazy boy I'm hoping to turn the room into a adult sanctuary for painting, reading or yoga ~ it's just big enough for one person to do some stretches in peace and quiet. Even if the room is pastel purple! Painting it is WAY on down the list!

The rain has been great for the ground but not so great for our plans of digging out the HUGE maple stumps and smaller maple trees. The best layed plans of mice and men...aft gang agley.

Have to make some more laundry detergent before Nick leaves. And do some meal planning... any suggestions? ~ remember it's me alone with 2 kids, very little time and very little cooking ability!

Although I shouldn't be too alone, my Ma and God Mother are planning a visit. As is my mother in law! (Our friends are also coming up for a last minute visit this weekend before both hubby's go off to work)

My plans for when Nick is away are to simply survive! Keep laundry up to date and if things are going well I might,  might  paint the chocolate brown wall in Ruby's room. We'll see how it goes.

Was hoping to make some kale chips this week as the kale is nearly knee high, also have some frozen bananas for making bread.

My reordered blinds have arrived and are awaiting pick up so Nick will be sure to hang them before he leaves - that is if Sears will honour the sale price!... When I originally ordered the blinds they were on sale, they came but one was so severely damaged it had to be returned. Which meant that I had to completely reorder the one blind- to match the one that had already been delivered - arrg!

I'll have to be sure to put the cords up as Mr.Elias is SERIOUSLY close to walking! Full on couch walking, and transferring from couch to coffee table and back again!

I'll post some photos, for now the roast is in the oven for tonight!


Ciao Readers!

Discovering he can barely see out the window on tippy toes!

Waitin' for Daddy to rescue the escapee!

Caught red handed!

Um...the dog did it?

I'm TOO cute!

Rhubard pieces soaking in sugar...a week later and the pieces were shreds floating in syrup.... the wine is now in a carboy for 6 months.... apparently Rhubarb wine is white ~ who knew?