Another week gone ...

Big news around here is that Pumpkin's first "week" (2 days, actually) of school went wonderfully!

I took off work a few hours early yesterday and finally got the weeding and planting finished in the 2 herb/kitchen garden beds. Then last night, I ground half-a-hopper full of wheat into flour. This morning I hurt from my neck down to my knees. :P

Today we tackle Peanut & Pumpkin's room. A very generous co-worker is giving us a set of bunkbeds, complete with mattresses. The fit in that tiny room will be tight, but I'm determined to make it work as it will save us hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I had hoped to paint the room before we got the beds, but we can do that later. I'm so ready to get those girls in some real beds already!

Hubby and the girls got all the books, toys and trash up this morning, and he and I wrangled the old futon into the back of his truck. It is headed to the dump this afternoon.

OK, so much to do, gotta get off the dang computer!

First Day of School!

Today is Pumpkin's first day of school. I'm so excited for and proud of her! And nervous. Turns out my family is taking bets on how long it takes for her to get kicked out. Good-natured ribbing, I know, and nothing I haven't worried about myself, but YIKES. The girl is hell on wheels. She seemed on her best behavior when I dropped her off; let's keep our fingers crossed that it lasts.

I'll say this much: her first day went FAR better than Peanut's first day. Not a tear shed by either of us!

So there!

I made up for my utter lack of productivity on Saturday with a burst of frantic activity on Sunday:

• Did the first racking of the first batch of peach brandy.


• Baked 2 dozen muffins.


• Baked 4 loaves of bread.


• Did 3 loads of laundry and hung 2 of those out to dry. [Unfortunately, they got rained on. :(]


• Took the girls to a movie for Peanut's birthday.


• Had everybody over for dinner (hot dogs, homemade mac & cheese, and raw carrots with dressing, per Peanut's request - and cake & ice cream, of course).


• Cleaned up the MOUNTAIN of dishes.


• Baked 24 cupcakes, from scratch, and frosted them with homemade frosting!

I got to bed at 11:30PM, overslept, and I am EXHAUSTED. Being cheap is a lot of work. :P

Not a damn thing.

That's what I got done today. :( Butter Bean has been rather high-maintenance the last couple of days, and spent hours in-arms today. Therefore, there's still only one garden bed weeded, with nothing planted in it yet. Nor is anything else canned, frozen, baked, etc. I actually JUST realized, at 9:36PM, that I never had any coffee today. Need to fix that or I'll be battling a crushing headache within a few hours.

Peanut turns 7 tomorrow and is SO excited. I hope she doesn't get too disappointed by reality. We couldn't afford to do the big party at Flying Frogs like we did for Pumpkin, but we ARE going to take both girls to the movies. This will only be their 2nd trip to the movie theater, so that's exciting for them.

Bleh. Tomorrow's a busy day, and I have miles to go before I sleep. Gotta get that coffee brewing!

Dirt!

Yesterday was a gardening bust, but this morning I hit the ground running! (heehee) Before breakfast, before emptying the dishwasher, before COFFEE, Butter Bean and I went out to the garden. He hung out quietly in his bouncy seat and I pulled weeds with a vengence. Very satisfying! I got one 8'x8' bed weeded before he decided we were done.

Notes about that bed:

• This is the first year that I didn't have volunteer basil, dill, cilantro and tarragon.


• The mint escaped its pot. I'm not sure yet if I care.


• I pulled up the 2 kale .... trees. The things were HUGE. But today I noticed a baby kale plant. I hope it survives the trauma of extreme weeding.


• I'm not sure what to do about the oregano. It's taking over the bed! It started out as a tiny little transplant and is now about 3 square feet and growing. I need to experiment with harvesting it at different stages, to see if it's edible, whenever.

I can't decide whether my next step will be to get the other bed weeded, or to go ahead and dig in a couple wheelbarrow-loads of compost into the first one and get some seeds in today. Decisions, decisions.

There's plenty of other stuff I need to get to today, too. I need to SWEEP. Again. And a good mopping would make me feel so much better about things. Laundry. Muffins. More laundry.

So much of my life revolves around dirt. Digging in it. Moving it. Sweeping it. Washing it out of clothes. I have to say, it's pretty fun stuff when it's OUTSIDE. Too much damn work when it comes inside. If only I could convince Pumpkin of that. *sigh*

Fall Garden?

I woke up with a long list of things in mind that I wanted to accomplish today. Then again, when don't I? It kind of goes hand-in-hand with 3 kids and a wanna-be farm, I guess. Anyway, the #1 priority for me today was working on cleaning up my herb/kitchen garden beds. They're in a dreadful state of neglect and I'm determined to have a fall garden this year.

Suffice it to say that it's nearly suppertime and I haven't done one blasted thing in the garden today. What I DID do, in no particular order:

• Got rid of the ants. (Yay me!)


• Cleaned up a mess on the back porch.


• Gave Butter Bean a bath after he peed all over himself and the changing table.


• Fed & watered the chickens and moved the tractor.


• Baked 4 loaves of bread.


• Made a batch of White Sauce Butter Balls for the freezer: http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/white-sauce-butter-balls/


• Put dinner in the oven (Honey Baked Lentils & rice).


• Cuddled and fed the baby.


• Took a nap (we both fell asleep while doing the above).


• Changed diapers. A lot.


• Washed a mountain of dishes.


• Discussed OB's and the birthing culture in our area with a pregnant friend while doing some of the above. 'Cause I can multitask! :D

I still want to pull some weeds and plant some seeds. Maybe tomorrow.