Berry Bountiful

It was a berry bountiful trip today ... nice to get away, even if only to Michigan, only for a few hours. Days like today are what summer is all about. As I sit here right now, with my sunburned toes, despite six hours in the car with two kids, I can honestly say that today was awesome. Even though my list of things to start and/or finish is longer than I'd care to imagine, I'm surprisingly care free ... days like today rock.

I was actually much closer to my Dad than I realized, only about an hour south of him ... he wasn't able to meet us today, due to his work schedule. I suppose I should give him more than twelve hours notice next time we do this.

After we got to the blueberry farm, and had our first potty break, we hit the fields! It smelled so good, just standing there, in the hot hot sun, just a bit of a breeze and the scent of blueberries. I think the second best feeling today was kneeling down in the sandy dirt, reaching in between the bushes, chatting with the kids while we picked. You could feel the temperature difference in shade of the bushes and smell the berries. It was hot sun beating down on you, but cool shade in the bushes, and the plunk plunk plunk of berries as they hit the buckets.

We worked well as a team - we stayed together and worked the rows. I am actually surprised at how well The Bee did, as her attention span is usually shorter than the life span of a fruit fly. She took blueberry picking very seriously, and only occasionally would ask me, "Mommy, I can eat this blueberry please?" The kids stayed together, within a few bushes of me, and there was no fighting, and I was actually able to hear Q give his sister berry advice:

• Now, Bee, you don't want to eat too many berries, because you'll have to make a big poo, and you could throw up. I did that one year, at Mimi & Boompa's house.
• No, you don't want that one, it's too green.
• Oh, here, this is a good one, they're just your age (he was referring to her height)
• Don't go too far, otherwise Mommy can't see you, and this place is REALLY BIG!
• You dropped some, make sure they go in your bucket, so we can make a pie when we get home.

We sort of lost our focus after our snack break, so we called it quits, and between the three of us, we ended up with almost 12 pounds of berries!

Off to the market we went to see what was there ... another thirty pounds of berries, and some dried cranberries as well. The Bee loved the dried cranberries, seeing as she cleared out the sample bowls they had in the store too.

So now, I'm sorting, rinsing and freezing my excess of blueberries. I'll definitely have enough to last me the year.

And, strangely enough, I'm making jalapeno jelly right now.

Garden Action

The hosta that has been eaten back to never before seen levels
















Our very first tomato of the season ... and it was a yummy one too!















One of our many "zukes" (as my mother called them) ... after three days of rain it was almost three times this size. And it made a mean loaf of zukey bread too!
















Tomorrow, we plan on making a 'Michigan Run' for some blueberries! Hopefully the picking is good! I'm also hoping that my Dad can meet us at the blueberry farm for lunch ... it's just past the halfway point for me ... a bit closer for him. Nothing like 300 miles round trip in the name of good berries.

We've met my Dad for berry picking before ... my Dad is a very fun "Poppy" ... and the kids really have a good time with him. I'm trying to help make memories for all of them, and with my Dad being four hours away, the opportunities aren't always there, so we have to try a bit harder for them, and definitely take them when we can get them. I have always wanted to live closer to my Dads (I have two), for a variety of reasons, but now that I have kids, the ache is more common.

But enough of that tonight ... no melancholy for me, at least not tonight, I've got a road trip to get ready for.

Do you sometimes feel

like you just suck as a parent?

I am pretty sure that I'm not the worst one out there, but the last few days have been very long, and at the end of the day, I think that I just might suck at parenting.

I don't know if it's the ages (5 & 3), or if they both just happen to be in some sort of phase at the same time ... but it feels like more often than not I find myself correcting inappropriate behavior (hanging from the refrigerator doors/handles, going through my scrapbook things, sassy back talk, etc) and then it tends to carry on throughout the day. It feels like it's just one after another ... stop teasing your sister, you stop whining at him and I in return, don't shut the door on your sister when she is trying to go potty in the bathroom without the light on, you need to do what I tell you to do, no, you may not go and play in the front yard without me, why, because I'm cooking dinner, but you may go in the backyard where I can watch you, well then, you'll have to stay inside while I'm making dinner .... no, you may not have applesauce for dinner, you need to eat something else first, etc etc etc

I want to enjoy the days with them before they start back up in school, because once school starts, Q is committed every day, there are no more jaunts to the zoo on a moments notice or trips to Grama & Poppa's house when we feel like it. Once the end of August gets here, we're back on a much stricter schedule.

Big sigh ...

I don't know what it is ... maybe we all just need a vacation, but with the way that these two are acting, I don't really want to take them anywhere.

We'll see how it turns out ... at this point, I don't think it can get much worse.

Can it?

I closed the book

I've finished the book.

Some of what I thought, some of what I didn't.

Still not sure if I liked it or not, though.

I'll have to think on this one.

everyone else is doing it

As I think the entire world knows, tomorrow at the stroke of midnight is the release of Book 7 in the Harry Potter Series. I pre-ordered this book, as I have done in the past, but have never gone to a book release shindig.

I'm going tomorrow. Crazy me.

I have to stop at Borders any time after 9am to pick up my wristband so I can get my book later that night. Then, I'll head back up to Borders, who knows when, and hang out with everyone else and wait for my book. Hopefully, I'll get my book and be able to get back home without someone ruining if for me.

I seriously think that if someone would yell out the ending, or give away some big part of the book, I think I might have to want to punch them. And yes, I'm one of those people that can't believe that people fight over hot new, must have electronics the day after Thanksgiving, but if someone wrecks this book for me, I'm going to be seriously pissed.

Will I know if they are telling the truth or not, no, not until I get to the end of the book, but still. You just don't do that.

And, here's the kicker, the only other thing I have EVER stood in line for - Jimmy Buffet tickets for Alpine Valley.

Harry Potter. Jimmy Buffet.

Jimmy Buffet is playing in Tinley Park (I think) Saturday night. I'll be reading about all of Harry Potter's adventures. I'd really like to be hanging out with all the other Parrotheads singing about Cheeseburgers and the carefree life. But ... I'm hoping to get the book read before I have to go back and face the real world again (Monday at work) and just pray that nobody lets the ending go.

And, since we all "know" that two people die ... maybe thats a load of crap too, just to get us all worked up and thinking ... maybe nobody dies, maybe everybody does.

Let's think on it:

• Harry - can you kill the hero of your book and ever expect to show your face in public again? It's kind of like Who Shot JR? People would be seriously pissed off at JK Rowling.
• Ron - the hero's faithful sidekick? He can't have bumbled along this far only to eat it in the end, did he?
• Hermoine - the other faithful sidekick? She's almost too smart to die, but if she did, I would hope it wasn't in a stupid fashion.
• Hagrid - everybodys favorite giant game keeper. If he hasn't been eaten by anything yet, I would assume he's safe.
• Snape - the one we all want to hate, but should we?
• Mr. Dursley - the Uncle we all do hate
• Mrs. Dursley - the Aunt we want to hate, but not as much as the Uncle
• Dudley - the person we all knew in high school and did hate
• Mr or Mrs Weasley?
• Ginny Weasley?
• Neville Longbottom - I think that something amazing is going to come from him. I have no idea what it is, but I think it may be good.
• Mrs. McGonagall - everyones favorite teacher, very no nonsense
• Dobby - I have to throw that one out there
• Lucius Malfoy? I have to say though, I really like the long, white blonde hair, even if his character is basically an ass
• Draco Malfoy? He's the obnoxious kid we all knew from school
• Voldemort - we all want him to die, because if he does, then Harry lives. What if he doesn't?

And then, to think, that I'm even hopping on the Harry Potter blog about it bandwagon. It's almost like I'm hip and with it or something. Or, just a big dork. I'd vote for the 2nd.

We'll see how it turns out ... and if you hear of a basically normal suburban mom going off the deep end and 'opening up a can' on a book spoiler, it might just be me.

Under Assault

I'm the victim of a two pronged attack here ...

I planted tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini this spring. The tomatoes are doing wonderfully well so far, and at this rate, we will have plenty of tomatoes to can and to share. This is a good thing. In fact, right now, I hear the buzzing of a honey bee doing it's job on my tomato plant. It's a nice fat bee, going to town. This is indeed good.

The zucchini seems to be setting itself up to be a massive grower as well ... I think this is a good thing, although I may resort to doing the leave the zuke on the doorstep and run from days past as a way to share my abundance. You can only freeze so much zucchini. Look in my freezer, at last years harvest, and it will speak for itself.

Now the peppers. I am normally a fan of wildlife, in all it's forms, big and small, cute and not so cute. But ... I am under assault over here. I have one rabbit that is persistently eating the leaves off my pepper plants. Today I watched him crawl in and go right up to the plant and start munching away. Last year, I had managed to grow in the neighborhood of 75 peppers! I made jam, I made soup, I froze them. It was wonderful. This year, I have sticks.

Last week I made some stinky concoction of garlic and onion, to spray on my plants as a rabbit deterrent. Ha! The little asshole apparently has become immune to the scent.

And then, when I was out there chasing the little bugger off ... I turned around and there was a chipmunk sitting on my back step. If I would not have been swearing at it, I'm sure I would have heard it laughing at me. It apparently lives under the toy box or somewhere on that side of the house.

My only hope now is that the hook worms don't come back this year and decimate my tomato plants.

I'm on my way out there now with chicken wire and a staple gun to close off the gaps in the fencing, and then will be closing off around the pepper plants. After I'm done with this, it will have been cheaper to go to the farmers market or the grocery store to buy the peppers. But there is still nothing better than going out in your yard and picking it from your plant. I love the smell of newly picked green peppers and tomatoes.

Stay tuned, this could be interesting.

Todays Version of "All I Want"

Is time to sit with a hot cup of coffee and a clear table and my sewing machine.

I'm really itching to "make" these days, and am having trouble making the time for myself to do it. I suppose I could do it, after the kids are in bed, the kitchen is cleaned up, the laundry is folded and the living room tidied ... but I'm just too darn tired by then. I could just plunk the kids in front of the TV, but I'm not a big fan of that either.

So ... not that I'm expecting much to come of it, just making my wants known. I know that I SHOULD be making time for ME, but sometimes it's really hard to do. Maybe if I acknowledge it, and make it public, it'll flip the me switch on.

If I had time, I would make:

• Nephew #1's Star Wars bag
• A shoulder bag/hobo bag for me ... I've got an idea and don't know if it would work
• Four berry jam ... very scrumdelicioso
• Cloth gift bags for Christmas
• I would finish the snow lady pillow I started last year
• Turkey place mats that I have been eyeing in the Pottery Barn catalog for too many years now ... I've got the fabric, I just need to do it.

Off the top of my head, I think that is all that I've got the "ingredients" for ... I've got a whole crafty room upstairs waiting for me.

*Big Sigh*

I really can't complain though, I've been spending a great fun amount of time with the kids, playing and watching them enjoy the summer days ... too soon for them, summer won't be as much as it is now.

Maybe the cup of coffee I'm drinking now will get me through a little creative spurt tonight.

If not, there's always next week.

Green Check

Yesterday was Live Earth ... I managed to catch some of the bands, and was able to hear some great music. I will admit that Kanye West and The Police didn't mesh well in my book, but I'm not a big Kanye West fan either.

I've always been rather "earthy" but I got serious about it in high school. I don't know if it had anything to do with the big 20th Anniversary Earth Day celebration, or if I just knew enough and was more aware of it all. My family was not a big recycling family, and we didn't have recycling available to us where we lived. My step dad now recycles because he has curbside available where he lives.

There are several sites available that let you calculate your carbon emissions and also allow you to purchase carbon offsets. I calculated our carbon footprint, and not to my surprise, it's much higher than the average. The culprit: the Mom car. A 2004 Chrysler Pacifica AWD that gets 17 mpg. So not only is my car draining my wallet with the price of gas, it's killing the environment too. Lovely.

But, I do what I can to make differences in other ways. At our house we:

• change to CFL bulbs when the old bulb burns out
• I take my own bags to the store instead of using their plastic. If I forget, I request paper.
• use cloth napkins
• hang our clothes to dry, either inside on a clothes rack or outside in the sun
• cloth diaper, part time
• breastfed
• leave the AC at 77 or 78 in the summer and the heat at 65 - 68 in the winter
• turn lights off when not in the room
• compost our food scraps in our worm bins - I use the resulting compost and worm tea in the gardens
  
• recycle our pool water to use in the garden
• grow some of our own food - vegetables that are canned or frozen for year round use
• recycle almost everything we can. I am very proud of the fact that our family of four only produces one kitchen garbage bag of garbage per week! We often have two full recycle bins.
• but at the farmers markets and freeze or can for year round use
• use refillable water bottles as opposed to off the shelf, single use bottles
  
• actively recycle electronics and books. When I see computer monitors and parts on the curb I stop and pick them up and then take them to the monthly recycling event.
• give things that are no longer needed away on the Freecycle list or at the Goodwill store
• use as much of something as I can - I took a pair of old sweat pants and turned them into two door drafters, and the only garbage left over was the elastic at the waist and ankles. I turned the pockets into cloth napkins!
• use natural cleaning products - baking soda, vinegar and ammonia

I'm trying to figure out how to make a lid for a rain barrel. It's actually a 50 gallon aluminum industrial mixer waiting to be converted into a rain catcher, and if I can do that, then I'll have one of them!

I know there is more that I can do ... the biggest problem is the car. We aren't in a position right now to trade in and get something more earth friendly ... I drive the best that I can, do regular maintenance to make sure it runs well and make as few trips as possible. Luckily DH is only a twenty mile round trip to/from work, so that helps on his end. It's my fifty miles round trip twice a week that doesn't help, and I'm not in a spot to take the train, although I work on the train stop. Maybe after the kids go back to school in the fall I can look into taking the train, but my only concern is that if they need me to get the kids for some reason, I'll be stuck at work, unable to get to them because of the train. It's something to think on.

Thinking Green is a way of life for our family ... can you make it part of yours?

Happy Birthday America!

Have a Happy and Safe Holiday!

The Girl is Three

So ... The Bee is three.

This is actually kind of funny, since she spent most of her 2nd year telling everyone she was three. Now, she tells you she is two.

I look at this little girl person of mine and I see so many different things, and bits of so many different people too.

She is determined, some days it's just sheer stubborn-ness, but one day this will get her where she wants to go, and I won't worry as much about her not getting where she wants to be.

She is dramatic. I don't know where she gets it from ... certainly NOT ME! I suppose this is a useful trait to have as well, but I have trouble seeing it some days.

She is funny. She thinks everything is funny. She's not going to care one bit about anything, and it's all going to roll off her back. She'll have a wickedly fantastic sense of humor when she gets older.

She enjoys everything - she loves dirt and water, and if they're together, it's even better. She loves socks and her flip flops, sometimes together too. Her bike. Her brother. Chocolate. Her Boompa. Animals, especially dogs and cats. Being outside. Running. The amusement park and the zoo.

She looks like my Mom. I think I'm okay with this. I suppose I should say that she looks like me since I look so much like my Mom ... but I don't see me in her, I see my Mom. It's a different smile than the one I have, more like my Mom's was.

And oh the things she has taught me so far ...

It's really okay to not like your child some days, but you still love them to no end.

I'm not in charge of anything, I'm only the driver and the grocery shopper.

Labor can be a speed train of a ride but childbirth is beautiful.

Cuddling in the middle of anything is really very nice.

While it may be difficult sharing your bed with a baby, once they migrate to their own bed, that space they took up sure seems a lot bigger and emptier when they're not there.

When you see some of your own qualities in your child, you wonder how anyone has put up with you for so long, and good Lord, I actually got somebody to marry me, by choice!

So ... to the Queen Bee ... your Mommy loves you. Thank you for challenging me and not letting me get comfortable, for showing me that yes, you can love two children and your heart will in fact, not burst, but somehow expands to contain the love, for making me a better person by making me look inside myself and really think.

Thank you for being mine. I am so glad I get to be your Mommy, and even though we may clash at times, I am so looking forward to what the next day brings.