A garden update

This is only the second time that I made it out to the garden so I thought I’d update you (since we actually weeded it and all…).



Here are the Zucchini plants – the seeds have come a long way.



These are the other squash plants. They’ve also grown quite a bit.

The cucumbers, watermelon and onion seeds didn't make it.  I won't point any fingers (Jon) but someone (Jon) killed my onions (Jon).  And the rest I didn't plant correctly. 

The grass cuttings have been absolutely amazing at keeping the weeds away and putting nutrients into the soil

Although when it rots, it smells.  Really bad.  Yuck.



The strawberry plants have some sweet little treats hiding among them.  I picked about a bowl-full this morning and have already eaten most of them.  It’s like candy.  Nature’s candy.



Today we finally put the tomato plants in.



And basil.  I love basil.  So much.



For my first Mother’s Day, Jon’s mom bought me some perennials (does she know what I love or what!) and this here is a rhubarb plant.  Next to my strawberries.  Anyone else see something in our future?

Then I decided to take some pictures of some other perennials in my garden.   Enjoy.







I love my roses. 





I also love my irises.  I have these gorgeous blue ones and some yellow ones (they already finished blooming).



And I love eating these yummy wild strawberries or, in Russian, Zemlinika, from our garden.




What are you growing this year?  What are you proud of?

Chores

Those of you who have followed along with my blog, Facebook, or Twitter must know that I'm a bit of an obsessive person.  I obsess about routines and schedules, diets, exercise, cleanliness...the list goes on.  Usually I can keep my need for order and cleanliness in check, or at least to myself.  But starting in my pregnancy and going forward I've started to lost it.

At one week over my due date I was scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees.  When Peanut was born I thought I could let go of the chores but things go even worse.  Anything out of order seemed to drive me insane.  I started seeing dog hair everywhere.  And therefore I would frantically run around the house with a vacuum cleaner anytime Cailey's white hair would make its appearance (which, since it's winter and she has her long winter coat, is all the time).  By the time Jon would come home from work I would look like a mad woman pulling my hair out and exhausted from trying to keep the place clean and taking care of the baby.

So my genius husband told me to make a list - something I had done a couple of years ago when I was overwhelmed with something else (I can't even remember now).  We talked about the fact that I needed to lower my standards, especially since Peanut got her shots and has all my immunities now.  So we came up with a daily chore list that would allow me to feel good about a clean house, but allow things to be just a little less crazy than I'm used to (vacuuming every single day just wasn't in the cards for us anymore).

So I made a list.  Then I rewrote it.  Then I looked it over and changed it again.  (Umm, didn't I just tell you I'm a little crazy like that?)  And finally, it was something that would work for our new family.  So we hung it up on the mirror in the front hallway/living room.  Right next to my two favorite pictures.

And Katie's card.

This gives us Thursday, Friday and Sunday off from doing any chores so we can enjoy some time as a family.

How do you deal with chores in your home? 

Deck the halls

I'm still battling the world's worst cold, but that didn't stop us from putting up all of our Christmas decorations.

Can we talk about what it's like to have a cold while being extremely pregnant?  It is not what I would call fun.

But I'm taking it like a champ and I think it's finally starting to die off.

On a totally different note, this Santa's been in my family since we moved to the U.S.  He used to sing, "ho-ho-ho", and light up.  now he just stands there.  I still love him though.

In fact, I love all my Santas.

I do wonder if this year will be the last year that we get to put up all these fun, loose, glass ornaments since Peanut will be close to 1 next year.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind buying all new ornaments because we all know I can shop.

It's just starting to hit me that things are really going to change around here.

And like always, we'll adjust.

In the meantime - Happy Holidays!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I don't know what it is about decorating a Christmas Tree together as a family that brings on the mother of all fights, but it always does.  (You didn't see that coming, did ya?)

It all goes back years ago.  When we moved to America, my family and I decided that it would be a whole lot of fun to participate in the whole Christmas holiday so we went out and bought Christmas lights and all the Christmas decorations we needed.  Then we got a tree.  And then we got in a fight.

Over what you may ask?  Over where the lights should go outside.  Over how to put them up.  Over what ornaments go at the bottom of the tree.  Over what goes on the tree first.  Over how to water the tree.  Over who didn't hold the tree up correctly enough and therefore it is now crooked.  Then we all stopped putting up lights and decorations and stormed out.  In the middle of the night, each person decorated a part of the tree on their own and by morning everything looked perfect.  And this happened every single year that I can remember.

Things didn't change too much when Jon and I moved out.  Sure we were way more polite to each other but we still fought over who put the tree up crooked, who wasn't holding the stand tightly enough, who would go out in the 10 degree weather to put up the Christmas lights. Which direction the Christmas lights should go in.  And we do this every single year.  It's tradition, you see.

But that's neither here nor there.  Wanna see some of my favorite ornaments?

2006

We got this one when we first got engaged.

2009

And this one last Christmas while we were married.

2010

And then we got this one this year!  How adorable is it?  I love that we have an ornament for every big occasion in our lives.

2007

Jon and I got this one in New York city the first year we celebrated Christmas as a married couple.

Travis

This one's for our Travey boy.  Because he's a spoiled yorkie.

Go Red Sox!

And of course, no household is complete without a Boston Rex Sox champ ornament!  Go Sox!

What are your favorite ornaments?

Gardening

It's finally Fall, which means that it's the end of gardening season.  Check out our September goodies:

Isn't it amazing?  We only had 3 that survived this year, but I was still pretty excited since I absolutely adore watermelon.

Couple new tricks that we learned this summer:

• You can reduce weeds (and therefore weeding - YUCK YUCK YUCK) by putting down cuttings from your lawn mower instead of mulch in your garden. PLUS it puts some of those much-needed nutrients back into the soil.  Yes, my friends.  It's true.
• Tomatoes grow twice as strong and produce even more delicious tomatoes if you bury part of the bottom of the stem about 10-15 days after you put the plant in the ground.  Just gently bend your plant down, cover the bottom of it with soil, then make sure it's standing back up.  It sprouts more roots, making the plant stronger and thicker.  It is totally awesome.

Got any tips or tricks to share from your gardening season?

Things I could definitely do without

I love throwing a good party.  There's nothing like planning what to make, how to entertain, or scheduling a good date.  It's one of my favorite things.

But while I love planning and cooking, there are some things that I could definitely do without.

Take this for example:

I really don't like laundry.  Now, I don't mind splitting it up and sticking it in the washer with some detergent, but what happens after is not my cup of tea.  The folding, the putting away. Ugh. What a drag!

Or this:

It's not that I mind vacuuming so much overall, but I hate putting the vacuum away.  Is that weird?  I love hearing the vacuum suck up all that dirt of seeing a really dark carpet turning back to its original color rather than remain covered with the layer of dog hair that it enjoys having.  But once I'm done, I don't have the energy to put it away.  Yup - I'm a weirdo.

Then there's this:

Again, it's not the act of dusting that I dislike.  I don't mind it too much.  But I hate the dust itself!  I hate it.  It makes me paranoid that there are all these little dust mites around my house.  Ugh. 

Funny story, because, let's face it, what's a post without one of my ridiculous stories.  I asked Jon not too long ago what dust was.  It bothered me and I was hoping to be comforted.  He told me it's particles of stars.  I'm not kidding.  He wasn't either.  Oh Jon.  I had to google it just to prove him wrong.  Stars.  Particles of stars and the universe.  Oh I can't stop laughing.

But above all else I could definitely do without this:

Just thinking about it all I hear is the Jaws theme song. Ta-dam. ta-dam. ta-da-ta-da-ta-dam.  I hate cleaning toilets. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.  I think dust is gross, you won't even believe my feelings regarding this beast. 

Needless to say I just don't like dirt.  I don't mind cleaning it but thinking about it makes me all grossed out.

What chores can you live without?

Butterfly Bushes

When Jon and I first moved in to our house, we decided we needed to give the yard a boost since the previous owners didn't seem to enjoy doing any yard work.  One of our first purchases was a tiny butterfly bush.  Well, today, just 3 years later, the tiny butterfly bush is now humongous and taking over my back yard.

You would not believe how many freakin' butterflies we get though!

They're everywhere! I love it!

They're gorgeous and a little creepy.  I love having them around.

By the way, I was messing around with some of the Pioneer Woman Actions - this picture used to look like that:

Isn't she impressive?

The coolest thing ever

The coolest thing happened to us last Monday night.

Jon and I were sitting around after dinner, watching some Arrested Development, when the dogs started barking their heads off.

Usually, I'd swat at them and tell them to shut it since they bark at the most random things like bikers, trucks, squirrels.  This time though there was a car pulling into our drive way and an older couple got out and started making their way up our walk way.  I jumped up to find out what was up since random people stop by our house rather often to ask for directions, etc.  (I have no idea what it is about our house that is so attractive to people.)  I greeted them at the front steps and asked them if there was something we could do for them, and get this!

They were the original owners of the house!

That's right, some 50-60 years ago this couple found a contractor and paid him to build them a house.

Okay- how freakin' cool is that?  Jon and I literally are sitting here, excited as heck because we both have always wanted something like that to happen!  It's like straight out of a really cool movie!

Anyways, they stopped by on the way to their kids' house who still live in Madison to give us a piece that attached to the fireplace (which is no longer working the way it used to, but we totally want to rebuild).  While here, they walked around inside and outside the house, telling us stories from their past and showing us how different the place used to be.  It was their first house as well and they were happy to hear that we'd made it our first home.

Anything like that happen to you?  If not, would you want it to?

A special look inside our Kingdom - the Master Bedroom

When Jon and I first bought our house and moved in, we spent the first month living in the guest room.  We only had one set of bedroom furniture and it's about as old as I am (well, maybe not THAT old, but definitely at least 13 years).  We decided that we would start our new marital life (we were married a month after we bought the house) with a new bedroom set.  We waited patiently to save up the money and pick out the perfect set.

Our new bedroom was small, so we could only fit a queen set.  But the odd part was the tiny space available for a dresser.  We measured it precisely and brought a measuring tape with us to every store we went to.  I think we measured about 50 different dressers before we found the perfect one.

Here is the bedroom from the doorway.  It's simple and small, but it has everything we need.

There is a bed, two night stands, a dresser, a couple of mirrors, and some dog beds.  What else could we want?

The painting on the wall is from the Starving Artist sale.  If you find one nearby, I recommend you go.  The paintings are amazing and increadibly cheap.

Across from the bed is the perfect dresser.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but it fits perfectly into the space between the doorway and the closet.  Of course, it has a mirrow, some decorations, and a small light.  One of the things that Jon and I were definitive about when we first moved in was the TV in the bedroom.  We refused to put one in.  I read somewhere a long time ago that marriages will last longer and succeed more if there is no TV in the bedroom.  The first couple of years went by and I found one or both of us falling asleep in the living room on weekends because one of us wanted to stay up to watch TV.  And when Jon traveled, I dreaded going to the lonely, quiet bedroom on my own.  So a couple of months ago we gave in and moved the TV from the kitchen to the bedroom.  So far we've turned it on about twice, but it's comforting to know it's there when we need it.

Above the dresser is my favorite picture from our wedding day.

I think my dad's friend took this with my dad's camera.  It depicts precisely how we felt when we were finally married.  It was the happiest moment of my life.

And to the right of the dresser is my wonderful creation - the closet!

When we first moved in, this closet had the two wooden sliding doors that never opened or closed.  It had one bar going across that always bent in the middle under the weight of the clothes and one ugly shelf above that was too high for me to reach.  I never did understand why people thought this is a good way to build a closet.  So, naturally, we updated it.

Hmm, let's please not pay attention to the mess in the closet.  Perhaps I should have skipped the open-door picture.  Oh well, cat's outta the bag.  As you see, the doors no longer block half of the closet and I've rearranged the way the shelves and bars fit in.  We put two levels of bars on one side, added some shelves, and one long bar on the other side.  We got everything we needed at Home Depot (did I mention that we pretty much live there?).  Under long rack there are some shoe shelves for my extensive collection of shoes.  Don't worry, I only put the ones I wear daily and that are in season there.  But most importantly, we now have a light!

Moving on.  Here is another very important feature of our bedroom - the doggie bed!

This hairy one is Cailey's.  She sheds.  A lot.  Travis used to have one just like this one, but he ripped it apart.  That's the third bed he ripped this month.  But he's cute, and we forgave him, but I'm not ready to buy yet another dog bed.

This is my nightstand.

It has all the essentials: an alarm, a picture of Jon and me from our honeymoon, some books, a light, and a glass of water.  I am thirsty pretty much 24/7.  I blame running.  I'd show you Jon's nightstand but it's boring and doesn't have anything on it except for a back scratcher.  I guess that's his essential.

Next to the bed on the wall between the entry door and the master bathroom was a big empty wall.  The way the doors open there isn't much room for any furniture there, so we put in a shelf with a mirror.

My dad installed an outlet and some lights for me.  I'd like to get something cuter here someday, but so far it hasn't been a priority.

That is pretty much it for the bedroom.

Except for these awesome pillows and comforter.  I found them on Overstock.com.  I also bought matching curtains, but I'm apparently not very bright because they were about 40 inches too short and only included two panels, while we need 4.  So if you are ever shopping around and find some nice matching off-white, tan, moss, or chocolate brown curtains, let me know.  I'm still looking for some.

I'm still deciding on which room to showcase tomorrow - my last post about the house for a little while.  I'm between the guestroom with the 80's furniture, the dining room with my favorite dining set that I've wanted for years, and the basement - which we are currently saving up for to update with new furniture.  Feel free to vote!