Potager

Today we got out and actually did a small bit of gardening - Hamda, Isaac, and I weeded one raised bed that is going to be Isaac's this summer. I also sent in the deposit to do a CSA. I haven't done one for two years, but I was looking forward to joining again this summer. One of my great dreams in life is to have a potager (the French word for Kitchen Garden). I know exactly what it would look like; lots of raised vegetable beds, an orchard, and a fruit garden. I have absolutely been in love with them since visiting the Hamlet at Versailles (even though we went in January). 

The first three years we lived at our house, I did my darndest to turn our little 1/4 acre plot into a replica of a potager. Now I know that that was really stupid of me. My garden of my dreams requires a full time gardener who knows something about pruning, and mulching, and composting -which I don't.  Now I wish I had a gardener to do about 90% of the work, and I would be thrilled to pitch in the last 10%. Until then, I am going to keep the garden simple this year, and not stress about what it isn't. I want to enjoy doing it with the kids, too.  They each have one bed, and I am going to let them pick and plant what they would like.  

Baby Shower

My sister and brother in law are about two weeks away from having their first baby, Caden Free, and last night we went to their baby shower. I am very excited about a new cousin in the family, but I was a little aprehensive about spending the evening with people from their church home group in a weathly suburb of Seattle. I actually almost had heart failure when we walked into the house where the party was - facing three hours in a completely white house with lots of glass and my five and six year old (Elias and Shkuri stayed home with a grandma) made me very nervous.
Despite being a little anxious - everything went great, and I really enjoyed myself and Hamda loved all the attention she got (Isaac spent most of the night playing with his yo yo behind the couch). Ariel and I spent awhile talking to a couple that have just started the process to adopt children from Africa. I even really enjoyed the long group prayer session that they had for Jon, Ranae, and baby Caden - it was obvious people really cared about them and were happy for this time in their life. We are all so excited to meet baby Caden and can't wait for his safe arrival.

Auto Loans

So after about a year of planning and debating, and one rather overwrought day, we are proud new owners of an auto loan. This loan comes with a very nice 2005 Toyota Sienna. We have been planning on getting a larger car for a long time - and the newer Siennas have 8 passengers, which was a big selling point. Ariel and I have never had a car loan before and aren't thrilled about it...but we basically discovered that we weren't going to get anything with less than 100,000 miles on it for a price that seemed reasonable to us, so we just went for it. There aren't that many cars out there that can handle a family of six, a bulldog and room for a Costco grocery shopping trip. At least the van has just about everything in it we could want and it gets 25 miles to the gallon. I am trying not to think too hard about the difficulty of maintaining a middle class lifestyle in America without going into debt.

Faux Spring

Thursdays might be my favorite day of the week...I always start them in doing my big house cleaning of the week, and it feels so good to have a clean house. I always make a dessert and we watch a movie on the couch together (usually the only family movie we watch all week) Tonight it was James and the Giant Peach and chocolate cake.  I highly recommend the Sicilian Pasta that I made tonight for dinner from 101  cookbooks; http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000146.html (I can't make the link work, you will have to cut and paste if you want the recipe. 

 Every February, WA gets a little faux-spring. For a week or two the weather pretends that it is warming up and the sun shines. It never fails to end in a nasty weather spell, and I never fail to think that spring is here. I am itching to get out gardening.  This year I am going to give each of the kids a garden bed and help them plant and plan it. Hopefully this weekend I will start to attack the weeds. I am a great planter and a rather mediocre gardner. I am hoping having the kids involved will make it really fun.  Tomorrow I am going to take Matcha to Isaac and Shkuri's class for show and tell. 

   In the last two weeks, Elias has developed a little bratty streak. He has started doing all these little boy things; like copying what people say, or sticking out his tongue when he is annoyed. Sigh. We are working with him to stop being rude, but I fear there is no going back. I must say that there is always a little heartbreak involved the first time your almost 4 year old sticks out his tongue in defiance at you.  

Stephanie Powers

Today was the first day in about two weeks that hasn't felt crazy and off kilter. I felt like I finally had time to get everything done I had to. It is very nice to not be feeling stressed. I went on a walk with Isaac and Chester (there was actual sunshine involved) and he talked non stop about video games - my participation wasn't required much. It is such a weird feeling as my kids transition to being fully their own person..the whole separation process as a kid goes from being practically an extra limb to being independent is pretty interesting. We also got rid of a lot of their old toddler toys today. We have a lot of cool puzzles and stuff that are now to babyish for them - even Elias has outgrown them, sniff, sniff.
I read something exciting - Stephanie Powers, author of the excellent book "A Problem From Hell" that takes a deep hard look at American association with twentieth century genocide, is a foreign policy advisor to Obama. It wasn't exactly an easy book to read, but she does a great job of presenting human rights in a very straight forward practical matter. I am a 100% behind a foreign policy where human rights is supported in a clear, practical manner and isn't dismissed as being about soft, bleeding heart liberals. I believe America would be a much stronger country and the world would be safer if international human rights were at the core of our foreign policy. Then again, I am a bleeding heart liberal.

St. Valentine's Day

For some reason, I was wide awake at 3 AM this morning...instead of tossing and turning I woke up and managed to clean most of the house, study, balance the budget, make campsite reservations for our CA trip and watch part of a BBC miniseries (yeah Netflix Instant Viewing!!)  before I would normally wake up.  It was actually really fun - until about 12:30. Ariel got me a great Valentine's Day gift, a small box of artisanal chocolate from Bakery Nouveau in Seattle. Yeah for smart husbands!! Then this afternoon, he let me sleep for two hours, even though I woke him up vacuuming at 6 am. I know it involved some self preservation  on his part (no one wants to be near me when I have only had three hours of sleep)...but it was still an awesome Valentine's Day Gift. I won't spend too much time gushing (Not the Biggerstaff way), but I am so glad to have Ariel to share my life with, he is really an incredible person. 

At lunch time, Ariel and Elias and I went to an Indian Restaurant and then we took Elias to Wind Up Here, our local toy shop to buy Elias this puzzle. I think it says a lot about him that he loves puzzles and he had really outgrown his smaller ones. He spent all afternoon putting together this 100 piece puzzle - and just look at his proud grin!!!  For my part of Valentine's Day I made Ariel's dinner request and I am going to attempt to make Chocolate Martinis later.  

   I am continuing to slog a bit through school -I have to retake one of my midterms.  Today I read an article and wasn't suprised to see I  had most of the symptoms of mild Seasonal Affective Disorder.  I think I am going to make a bit more of an effort to walk outside and see if that helps. Spring cannot come soon enough this time of year!! 

Real Time Blogging

Please feel sorry for me. I am stuck in the basement of the hospital sitting through 8 hours of computer charting education. I don't have any great computer savvy skills, but I am way, way ahead of the rest of the class. I am also biologically incapable of sitting still. All I ask is for a little pity.