LannaM's Xanga

Still to do and counting

Wed, 14 May 2008 03:20:56 GMT

Still left to do:

Clean out my closet
Vacuum upstairs
Baby clothes washed and in green bins
Buy/find a dozen Joey Bunz
Order more Disposanots if they fit the 2yo
Finish repairing diapers
Cover garden with landscaping cloth - anchor
Hubby mow mulch for strawberries?
Help hubby weed strawberries
Hubby build shed - in progress
Get bark from Northland Nursery - front and back edging, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
Boys' closet all neat and organized - in progress
Catch up on *all* laundry (it's a long shot, but I can try)
Dig up all the receiving blankets
Clear out guest room - it's scary
Plant garden

Mary Washington asparagus still
potatoes
pole beans
peanuts
turnips
broccoli
lettuce
leeks
celery

Hubby till under canopy for warm stuff
Get truck of soil for tomato/pepper bed
Plant garden cont. (when it warms up)

peppers
tomatoes
basil
peas
cucumbers
dill, cilantro
zucchini
transplant older blueberries?

Get yard/truck of compost - hit asparaguses, berry bed, tomato/pepper bed
Sell dorm fridge
Sell dryer
Get drip irrigation set up
Wash and lanolize longies
Crochet green longies (very iffy at this point)
Pantry cleaned up, canning stuff clean and ready to go
Get new toilet plunger
Hubby hang storage things on bare pantry wall
Get and plant raspberries from neighbor

We actually have finished a fair amount of stuff, but I keep having new stuff pop up, or only get half done and so on.

Midwife visit

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:25:17 GMT

37 week visit. All clear for a homebirth.
217.8lbs.
Not spilling sugar or protein.
Bp was a little high at 140/78. I was literally wrestling with the two kids to even get into the garage, let alone the midwife's office. Well, and the family drama. *sigh*
Baby was a bit excited as well with a heartbeat of 163, and is still LOA.
Fundal height of 37.5cm.

I need a chocolate lasagna. Alas, I shall settle for half price slushes at Sonic later today. If nothing else, hopefully the kids will fall asleep in the car.

ETA: Um, now I'm slightly concerned... I typically don't lose a pound or two until *just* before having kiddo. Like in the days/week before. Lovely.

Diaper and nesting struggles...

Tue, 13 May 2008 01:14:28 GMT

You know, back when I was starting to cloth diaper the big one? It was all fun.
Hanging out on the diapering boards, learning about everything, the thrill of the hunt, etc.

Now? Not so much. More tedious and annoying because I'm never in the right place at the right time.
Small Joey Bunz? Are like a purple unicorn - gone almost before you know they're there.

This is the baby's small sized stash so far. I have a few more VB pockets on the way when funds clear, and that's about it. Still hunting for my purple unicorns though.

Went through and cleaned up a few things. Those two blue pigs and teal thingie are tons of pennies and the occasional nickel from MIL for the boys. Okay, whatever. They're all breakable. Methinks they shall be finding a new home in the basement sometime soon. I need the shelf space for the two in diapers.

And a third dresser won't be making it up to the room in the next 3 weeks (not even close), so the little tiny baby clothes will be stuffed in those green baskets on top of the taller dresser. Easy enough to reach I believe.

Finished going through the boys' dressers... Pulled out the stuff that neither one of them fits into anymore, and viola! In the closet for now. Until I find a better way to do it. Still a work in progress, I was just trying to figure out how/where to store those clothes without having to go to the store and buy more rubbermaid boxes. The box behind the rainbow of frayed prefolds has all the baby diapers right now, too. Just a little hard to see. See why I *really* need the nesting bug to hit?

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Sun, 11 May 2008 23:33:39 GMT

Tilled goodness. My hubby rocks. Seriously. Because I'm desperately hoping that while he's out of town I'll magically get some more energy so I can plant the beans and potatoes and peas and turnips and maybe peanuts and so on.

Different view of it...

Revised garden plan. After going over the previous sketch, was looking at my companion planting notes - potatoes aren't supposed to go near raspberries (click the photo if you want to see a bigger version). So had to fix that with a bit of shifting around. Hopefully something close to this will work. Oh, and my grand total of garden footage this year after the canopy part gets tilled up? About 1200 square feet. Not including apple trees.

36 weeks, 4 days. Joy.

And really, I'm not going to a funeral, it's just such a pain in the ass to find clothes, let alone maternity clothes that fit right, are comfy, and that aren't oh, say, cantalope orange or neon pink. Those colors would've been fine for me in the 80's and matched perfectly with my pale lime green jean jacket, but it's not the 80's anymore. So I look like lumbering death instead. At least I'm *wearing* clothes is what I tell people.

Spent some of today outside

Sat, 10 May 2008 23:40:10 GMT

Pulled down the trellises and pulled out the soaker hoses. Still rebar there, hubby'll have to get that. Not only do I have the strength of a bunny, but I have no urge to throw myself into labor yet, despite how awful and cranky I am. And yes, I'm pretty awful.

Soaker hoses hanging on the grape trellis. Pulled up all the stakes holding those and the drip irrigation down. Pulled out a few giant weeds, and lots of dandelions before they could go to seed.

Yup, truly lazy. Not bothering to unwind the netting from the trellis dealies. Nope. Just gonna slap 'em onto the rebar in their new home at some point.

That tilled up strip? Will be full of Mary Washington asparagus by the end of the week hopefully.

Hubby's been making loads of progress on the shed. Much cuter than the metal shops and such most of our neighbors have. We like cute and homey.

It's tough being a little boy. Really tough.

Yet more plans for the yard

Tue, 06 May 2008 21:37:21 GMT

Yup, I'm insane. Certifiable.

First off, the hubby's creation. Only had tar paper on the one side, shingles on the other that I can't capture on camera without a crane. Shaping up.

Where I wanted to stick the second asparagus bed? Not such a hot idea anymore.

Yup, giant tree roots. Can't rototill your way out of those suckers.

So... I'm thinking of doing a basic in-ground bed for the asparagus (like the other one) there to the side of the shed where you can barely see those yellow tent stakes. Shouldn't be *too* shaded by the shed or maple tree.

So then since we can't go into the ground way back there against the trees... I'm thinking maybe that's where we'll put a raised bed to turn into a little hoophouse/greenhouse or do a few little raised beds for the boys to mess around with... Would still need to take measurements to figure that one out, and it'd happen later this summer or next spring.

The clothesline will look okay there in the empty spots either to the left or right of the grill side tables, right? Right? And by that I mean they'll kinda be in the middle of the empty spaces in the yard...

Raspberry canes are coming back. Need to weed and re-mulch them though.

This is what I accomplished today. Pulled off all the dead pea and bean vines and tossed 'em either down that little ravine or raked 'em to the edge of the garden to be dealt with at some point here. That was messy. But quite satisfying with how empty and almost clean looking it is now.

Garlic is kicking ass. Elephant garlic (very bottom) is finally starting to poke through. Need to mulch with more compost though - it's like the cloves keep wanting to heave up. Whatever. Need to get a truck of compost anyway.

Dear weird tree... I will not miss you or your brothers. At all. I'm so looking forward to saying goodbye.

Do you see baby lettuces? I do!!!

At least no more vomit

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:13:12 GMT

That's a start.

I desperately need nesting to happen. I've got so much I need to do, and no real energy or get up and go to do it until I force myself (which isn't pretty, anyway). House could use me paying more attention to it, too. Hubby sure wouldn't mind that.

Midwife home visit today - 36 weeks. Measuring 36cm, but that's on my nice, soft, comfy bed, which would account for the "dip" in size. The bed at their office is a bit more firm. Bp was fine. Kid's still LOA, head down. I've got hiccups low in my pelvis right now as a matter of fact.
Need to talk to the neighbors about leaving kiddos with them for a few hours if I need a hospital transport though - at least until Mom could get up here. Midwives were also not quite stunned, but sorta, that I don't have any concrete plans for labor. I have ideas of things to try (have 'em bring the water birth kit just in case, an exercise ball, and birthing stool so I have all those options available), but I'm not gonna know what I want or what'll work until I'm in the throes of labor. I'm not magic or superhuman, I can't see the future. And my only real goal is to get the baby out, really. Sorry, but planning the birth down to minute details, eh, I'd rather plan the garden like that.

Oh, and we can't put the rest of the asparagus up against the trees. Not right now. Because we can't till up the ground. Tons of tree trunks. Tons. Like the size of your arms and legs. And we don't have time for a raised bed right now. *sigh* So yard rearrangement, again, is the name of the game. It's not weird or creepy to have a clothesline above your septic drainage field, is it?

I need to go rotate laundry and get off my ass and do something outside. Blah.

Happy Birthday to me

Mon, 05 May 2008 12:37:09 GMT

By 9am I'd done dishes, started a load of laundry, and almost thrown up myself from cleaning up burp-come-barf from the 2yo. Oh yeah, what a day. Figures though - hubby and the boys were all sick on hubby's birthday this year. Can't wait to see what else the day has in store for me.

Oh. I'll be 36 weeks on Wednesday.
Which means I'll "technically" be full term next week.
Guess who's going out of town for most of the week?
That's right, hubby.
So now I'm a little bit in freak-out mode... Because I peed on the stick and found out I was pregnant when he was clear across the country in Georgia, so it would just figure I'd manage to go into labor with this kid while he's out of town, you know? Wrap up the whole surprise in a nice, tidy bow.
My mom's at least 2-5 hours away (depending on if she has to wrap things up at work or something) - and that's *if* my dad hasn't died at that point and she's across the state, my backyard neighbor's not back from Sweden yet as far as I know, and I don't have any other immediate neighbors that could handle my kids for a few hours if need be while I'm laboring or while I'm taking a nap afterwards. Blah. It was nice taking a nap after labor/birth last time, which I desperately needed. But if I'm alone with all the kids? Yeah, totally screwed. So much for healing quickly.
Gee, wonder why this all kept racing through my mind all last night and I didn't get a lot of sleep?

More plant stuff

Mon, 05 May 2008 02:14:29 GMT

50 Jersey Knight and 25 Purple Passion asparagus in this "little" plot.

Got some transplanting done. Mine are the yellow-y looking tomato plants - either the lights aren't making 'em super happy or I've been letting them get too damp. Not exactly sure yet. The cute little non-leggy green ones are from the Tomato Lady - 4 Kootenai tomato plants and one Black Prince tomato plant.

More tomatoes, basil.

More tomatoes, basil and celery that I divided up into single pots so they can get bigger and bigger in the next few weeks.

Figured out where to put the rest of the asparagus. See that wonky laundry line back there behind the tree branches (which are now gone)? Current plan is to move the clothesline either forward to the middle of the yard, or even closer to the house to the left of the "patio," then tilling up a skinny plot at the back there in front of the evergreen trees for the rest of the asparagus we've got (50 crowns of Mary Washington). Then we still have room to stick an apple tree or two in the middle of the yard somewhere, or put the cold frames or a raised bed/hoophouse out there somewhere. Yup, I'm certifiable.

Lots of yard photos, sorry

Sat, 03 May 2008 22:29:16 GMT

Becky ~ I promise I haven't forgotten about you in the least. I'm just feeling huge and lazy and trying to get outdoor stuff done when it's been nice out since I have that darn ticking clock in my uterus.

I would always buy this particular Mexican product. Happy birthday to me.

It has a roof!

The backyard, left to right from the concrete pad we call our "patio."

(See those trees just behind our "main" garden? We don't like them, and don't know what they are other than they make a mess berry and leaf-wise... Hubby had the brilliant idea of pulling those suckers out and just replacing them with apple trees! Yippee!!)

(Those two rows? Back one is blueberries/blackberries, front is Jersey Knight and Purple Passion asparagus.)

Partners in crime.

Last year's dead beans that I need to pull off the trellises so hubby can move them. Ugh.
But the garlic's coming along nicely!

Rhubarb that just won't die.

The sad, sad compost heap. I do nothing but just throw stuff in that direction - need to work on that.

Lilacs are finally starting to bud...

The baby Fuji (I think? or Gala? I forget now) in the front yard.

Front bed - dead marigolds I need to pull, and onions that we forgot to snag last year. So I guess technically they could be called volunteers.

Um yeah. Got lilies? That giant clump of green towards the left used to be one single lily plant - now it's like 3 dozen. Really should transplant them/divide them. Eh, maybe next year. Anyway, chives to the right, and of course the rose bushes.

Peeking over our neighbor's fence... Wonder if they're copying us? Must remember to ask - even looked like there's onions planted at that very far end.