Relief is soo addicting

Maybe that's why I get myself all worked up about schedules and multi-tasking. I just finished a 50+ hour work week and I still get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Phew. It feels sooo good to get it done yet there's still this and that and sooo much more to do... or so I thought!! Dan and I are going to Ottawa area with Mike and Meg this weekend. The dog has to be brought to mom and dads, a B.Y.O. bed needs to be picked up, the house is a disaster (!!), bills have to be paid and the list goes on. Plus, I realized I still have to arrange my schedule for next week. I was so worked up about scheduling this week around my life that I forgot to ask off next weekend for another camp. I rarely double book myself (thanks to my handy day timer) and I was super stressed out when I realized that I do have to work both jobs at the same time next week.
At 7:00 tonight, I finished work, went to my other job and very easily switched some shifts around to make sure that I could work both jobs (overlapping a little bit and hoping for some leniency with start times). I drove home getting ready to do a crazy fast clean up job so that if M&M have to sleep on the floor they won't wake up with dog hair in their mouth. Oh, it was soooo beautiful. Dan had, once again (second time this week) cleaned the entire house. The kitchen floor was washed, the living room vaccuumed twice, the bathroom cleaned and even our bed was made!! Sigh. I have such a good husband. The relief I feel from all of that feels like such a high. Now I can go on vacation this weekend, enjoy myself and get ready for another 50+ hour week next week.

An old sandbox is the best place for a garden. Especially when the surrounding soil is hard clay. The sandbox here was full of wild strawberries, a wild raspberry and lots of weeds. I felt terrible taking out the strawberries so I left about a foot on two sides so we can eat lots still. Mom and I picked up the ol' rototiller and I cleaned it up. No more pricklies, no more weeds and a lot less strawberries. I need to take a rake to it now to get rid of a lot of the tilled up weeds and I should till it up a few more times but I'm starting to see how a garden would look there. There used to be a canopy over the sandbox but the tarp is gone now. A frame is around the garden now though so I think I should string up some ropes here and there for growing beens. Or maybe I could tie up some tomatoes there. The space isn't really huge and I don't think gardening in a row would be the best use of that space so I think I'm going to quarter it. I'll have a walk way going through the centre of the garden from both directions and then I should be able to reach into the middle of each section for weeding and harvesting. I have to remember that this garden isn't for production, so much, as for enjoyment. A few good tomatoes and a meal of ? peppers ? beans ? is all I should expect. I want to dig up a small area at the back too for a couple plants of zuccini and pumpkins. They can grow as much as they want back there. Maybe we'll get a zucchini bread out of it too.
I hope there'll be some pictures to follow!

What an excellent day...

There's nothing like a good day that starts as a good day, remains a good day, and ends a good day. I met with mom for breakfast this morning since I didn't start work till 12:30. I can't say how much I LOVE that woman. Mom knows me and understands me like no one else. I think our love languages just match up perfectly. I never feel drama or politics with her. I always understands where she's coming from and feel like she understands where I'm coming from. I never worry about feeling judged by her. We share many of the same passions and when she gets passionate about something, I often get passionate about it too. We both have a bizarre love of chickens, gardening, reading. Mom came loaded with gifts for me. Dan has often said in a joking way that food is the way to my heart. Well, he's right. I love food. I need food and if I don't get it when I need it, well, watch out. And now (wait for it, here's the big news.....) that I'm pregnant, if I don't eat regularly and often (only little bits) I get sick. So, being the understanding woman that she is, she brought a cooler LOADED with ziplock bags filled with snacks. Oatmeal raison cookies, dried fruit, nuts, etc. I haven't really looked through it since I'm supposed to keep it in the car and nibble as I drive. I'm feeling guilty about eating enough of the right foods and I do a lot of driving so this is the solution. What a wonderful mom. Isn't that just beautiful? And it keeps getting better. We both are getting into knitting. Maybe it's the hormones, maybe it's nesting(???) but now, I suddenly want to be able to knit diaper covers for the baby (I'll be cloth diapering and don't even try to talk me out of it). Mom not only is encouraging me, she has my extremely talented aunt on board who is lending me her favourite knitting needles. Mom bought me my first project and two balls of yarn. After breakfast, which she paid for, she taught me how to cast on. I can't wait to get back to it.

Later that day, Dan texts me telling me he's cleaned my puke bowl (the toilet, thanks), the kitchen, and the living room. Isn't that just music to your ears? It is to mine. What a wonderful husband. I came home to a house with smelling of spring (he opened the windows) and slightly of bathroom cleaner. Sigh...

Dan is out tonight for a meeting so after work I went out for a coffee with a co-worker to just let out work frustrations. Sometimes that can be a dangerous bitch fest but it was good. He's a really supportive guy that is good at both setting me straight and encouraging me so it was good to chat without having a flippen receptionist spying on me and watching the clock.

So, really, what a good day. Now I'm going to get back to the knitting since that's all I've been thinking about today. That, and the food.

(This is my entry back into the blogging world!)

I'm vacuuming the house, cleaning the kitchen, and cooking all at the same time! What? How is that possible.... even for a talented multi tasker like me? That's right, I got a Roomba for Christmas!!! Yaaahhhh!!! My husband bought me a vacuum cleaner for Christmas! I know that's not usually a good thing but I am soooo stoked! I love this present and will treasure it every time I vacuum.... which will be every day! I have the best husband in the world!

(I can't find my computer memory stick or else you would see a picture of my vacuuming in progress.... it will come eventually)

Today I need some horticulture therapy

I was late for my meeting this morning. I was going to a departmental planning meeting that I would be sitting in on. I didn't know exactly where the meeting was and I was a bit late. It's been so warm here and I know that winter is far from behind us but still.... I was getting too comfortable. I was coming around a huge bend in the road and even though I wasn't going TOO fast, I hit the middle of the road where some snow had collected and I lost control of the car. I zig zagged back and forth enough to slow the car down a touch but not enough to stop me from going into the ditch. I've never been in an accident before (and have been pretty proud of that). I knew I was going to end up in the ditch but I probably have watched too much TV to be realisitc about it. I thought there was going to be broken windows, blood and lots of bent metal. I was soooo lucky. The ditch was probably about 8 feet deep strait down and I slid down it sideways (I think, my eyes were closed) and the only damage I can see right now is one tire completely off the rim and the other tire is low so it's probably off too. I broke a small corner of the front bumper towing it out of the ditch but I can't see any more damage. This is probably way too soon to say though. I could have bent rims and even have some problems under the car yet. But there was no loud noises, no blood and it all seemed quite soft. Its funny, the first thing I noticed was that the radio was running like normal and so was the engine. I almost felt like I could drive right out of the ditch if it wasn't so steep... until I saw the tire. Going down into the ditch I was thinking.... my seat belt IS on but man! i really don't want to hurt myself.
I'm fine though.... I'm home and waiting for Dan to come home tonight to see if we can fix those tires yet. And now.... I just wish I could do something. Dad says that I should get downstairs, set out some pots and start planting some leek and some herbs. I've got the lights set up so.... why not? I can even going into town and see if there's any seeds that I don't have that I want to start. Some horticulture therapy.... that's what I need.
Thanks again to Dad and Cass who hooked me up with CAA and got me home safely (and cheaply). Thank you!

*edited*

And now it's all said and done with.... $15. Only one tire needed to be put back on the rim and filled up. All done. Well, that was a little bit of drama for very little. I guess all I did was just slide into the ditch backwards. Thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers.

OK, Mom, here it is...

Pictures of the new house! We moved here in April/May and I still feel like I'm adjusting to this being "home". I love it, it's beautiful, but I just can't believe we live in this place!! It's ginormous! It's beautiful. It's got really crappy soil (I'm going to have to do something about that). So, here's just a few pictures. They are supposed to be of the house but I added people in there just to make it interesting.

So this is the front of the house. There's already tons of weeds in the flower beds and the tulips have been blown away by our crazy winds we've been having but there's lots of room for creativity and playing there.

When you walk in the front door, there's stairs going up and down. The downstairs is like a whole other apartment. Going upstairs puts you directly in the living room, and kitchen. Down the hall to the right are the bedrooms.
The kitchen is quite large with lots of cupboard options. Thankfully Cass helped me pack and move the kitchen. I'm the worst kitchen planner so between Cass and Dan they figured out the best cupboards for the kitchen stuff.

If you look out the back window of the kitchen you would see this back yard. The yard has a fence but on the inside of the fence there's all cedars. I like them but I have to learn how to prune them and make them look healthy. Unfortunately we have the worst lawn on the block (except for the one property that has let their yard go ferrel, complete with garbage) but that will be a project for Dan and I to work on for the next few years.

The kitchen has a door at the back which leads to a landing where I can HANG THE CLOTHES ON THE LINE!!!! Woohoooo. I'm super excited about clothes lines! There's a bit of a back pad that can be worked on over the next few years to our tastes. Already we have two beautiful muskoka chairs that Rich and Dave made for us for a house warming gift. So sweet. I love that. Good friends.

So that's it for now. The rest of the tour you will see when you come to visit!

Plants

One of my orchids started blooming today. I haven't really been into gardening that much lately and I actually do miss it. I'm hoping to start just a few plants inside this winter and since it's already the end of January I had better get those seeds ordered. I've ordered from Stokes seeds before but this year I think I'm going to try an heirloom seller. Also this year I think I'm going to grow more annual seeds. This is inspired by how LONG and well mom's allysum lasted in my garden - long after i gave up on any kind of outdoor maintenance (I'm blaming my low iron levels).