Le Porch!

This picture was taken Oct 2005 - before we could let the kids in the house. See how we had the swings against the wall for seats to keep the small ones away from the edge? (And see how it wasn't working with James, right there by the front?) Scary! The little metal corner dodads weren't attached at the bottom - they could swing freely in any direction. And yes, the kids had secured the slide to the bumper buddy on the Suburban so they had someplace to play.
We've spent the last year and a half shooing children off the porch, mostly. Then, for Mother's Day this year, Zorak framed it in for me.

And the small ones could lean-lean-lean to their wee hearts' content! (I was standing at ground level for this shot - the land slopes steeply down on the right side, so it's quite a fall from up high.)

So, that was May. Um, late July (last week), we had it scraped of brown, green, yellow, and a mystery turquoise color paint (it took a while to get it all), and ready to go!
And now, it's our new Happy Spot!

I keep thinking I need a hanging plant to put out there... to die. And then I think perhaps we'll forego the killing of the plant and just enjoy the view. The parts that are white (the eaves and the ceiling of the enclosed porch area) are still just primer white. They'll be an antique white soon, and that'll help tone it down a bit. We'll buy a ceiling fan next Thursday, and then this just may be the happiest place in the house.
(It may be already - that's Smidge, enjoying "coffee with Mom" on the porch.)

Mm, sorry about that.

I meant to blog more this week, but I'm a bit out of sorts and the words simply wouldn't come. Since I don't know how to spell various grunting noises (nor do I have any indication that any of you know how to translate them), blogging in that condition seemed a bit pointless. However, the porch is finished. I'll get pictures of that up hopefully tonight.

Zorak caulked the porch window and boys' window. Aesthetically, that's not the best feature of the house, but it's done wonders for me emotionally.

The sports thing is going to be a little nutso for a week or so, while the seasons overlap. Yesterday, James had a football meeting at 5:30 (and they are hitting the ground RUNNING!), then John had a game at 8:00. I don't know how families with overlapping sports do it, but if the seasons overlapped by more than just this coming week, I think I'd sit on a corner of the bleachers, muttering to myself and giving people the hairy eyeball if they got to close.

I think football is going to be very good for James, but truthfully, I think he's going to be hating life for most of the season. This is going to be all about his attitude, and whether he's really internalized our philosophy of being flexible in life. He's not a flexible kind of person. He's also very timid in a lot of ways. And, he has that whole I'm-not-really-listening-because-all-my-attention-is-focused-on-gnawing-on-this-hangnail (or picking something off my arm, or trying to pick things up with my toes - pretty much any distraction will do). The hair has got to go. We've been letting him grow it out, but he plays with it non-stop. To the point that I was ready to cut it myself right there at the meeting yesterday. Zorak, wise man that he is, suggested we head to the barber for this one and tell the guy he needs "a good football cut", thus removing me from the potential Mommy Dearest haircutting memory for James. (Not that I would do that to him, I wouldn't. But he's so attached to his bangs at the moment, he'll find a way to equate the two, should he ever see the movie.)

And now, to get the guest room ready today. I plan to put bug spray along the baseboard-like areas of all the rooms as I clean them. Normally, I wouldn't, but I'm tired of the Midnight Child Buffet the spiders seem to have going in the kids' rooms. Smidge and Emily wake every morning with five to ten huge bites all over them. Nothing I've tried has helped. I've pulled their beds away from the walls. I've not put anything dangling, like a bed ruffle, and all the blankets are short. I even put EmBaby in some winter pj's the other night, so she was covered from her chin to her toes -- the next morning, her head was absolutely covered in bites. Enough is enough. I don't mind if the things want to live outside, but until we can stucco this house and seal it up properly, the way houses are meant to be sealed, we're going to have a bit of a territory war.

AND so, to work.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

I kin count...

80% Did I really say 80%? Well, it looked like 80%... but the 20%-ish-looking part that wasn't done yet turned out to be 76 pickets, 31" high. All four sides of every one. Plus the little bottom sill. As slow as I am, this may be my Golden Gate Bridge project: by the time I get to the end, it'll be time to start over again redoing the beginning! :-D And, I'm not even going to try to guess a percentage again. Let's just say there's less to be done now than there was this morning. And, hopefully, it'll be picture-worthy tomorrow.

The boys' bedroom window frame is primed.

The rectangular thingy Zorak left out and asked me to prime if I got around to it, is now primed. (Don't know what it is, but it's done.)

My hands are a really cool lizardy texture right now. The boys think it's the ultimate in Mom Cool. I haven't the heart to tell them it's the ultimate in Steep Learning Curve.

The big topic of discussion today (other than "don't touch that, it's wet!") was, "How many days til the cousins get here?" I'm surprised they haven't broken it down into hours yet.

John had a game tonight. I stayed home to keep staining the porch while EmBaby screamed at me for not letting her in the stain, erm, serenaded me. Should'a gone to the game. Another game tomorrow, and I was just getting comfortable with the week's agenda when the phone rang. Football meeting tomorrow. Oh... of course... and we need to find James' birth certificate before then. I'll... get right on that. :-S

Know what? I'm taking my vitamins and going to bed early tonight. That's my gift to the rest of the world, as hopefully it'll make me more able to function tomorrow. Without doing an Ozzy Osbourne impression (early-80's OR late-90's, either one).

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Sunday Home Update

Wow. I can't give you pictures, because we were still putting on stain when it got too dark to see, but I can tell you "wow". I think I have a new Happy Spot.

Porch ceiling and trim are primed, so pretty and clean.

80% of the railings are stained, and the impact is dramatic. We're loving it.

Ben & Claudia (and small associates) came for Sunday Supper tonight. We haven't seen them in ages, and it was just wonderful to see what all they've been up to. Their oldest is playing football this year, so Claudia is experiencing that mind-numbing exhaustion of the first-time-sports-mom. When the little guy pipes up cheerfully that he can't wait to play a different sport EVERY SEASON, Claudia blanches and wobbles a little. I can appreciate that! (But he's so cute!!!)

Their wee "baby grill" (what her brothers deemed her), Lucy, is walking now - she and EmBaby disappeared to the sand pit and re-emerged ten minutes later, each missing just one shoe. It appears to have been intentional, but we don't know *why*.

Their Little David and our Little Smidge, both about the same age, spent the evening doing irritating from-left-field toddler things to each other and laughing over it. That's an age I just don't think I'll ever quite understand - but they have fun together, and that's good stuff.

And then they left. And it was so quiet. Fortunately, it was a sleepy, contented, sated quiet. We look forward to next week, when we'll have the family and the friends all together. (And with seven boys all together, that'll be almost enough to form a baseball team!)

What did you do today?

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Forever Home Weekend Update

Today was busy. We worked. A lot. Yet, it looks like we accomplished nothing. I hate it when that happens. There were quite a few stops and starts (duh, this *is* us we're talking about) - I started to chip out the glazing, but Zorak suggested we look at getting a heat gun (seeing as there are 11 windows, it'd save somewhere in the range of two months' work to get one), so I set that aside. Then I started to touch up the boys' window frame, but it's still too damp to work with and gummed up my sandpaper. I was going to caulk, but Zorak has that elsewhere in his mental timeline and he gets twitchy if I mess with his internal table of contents. I did watch flies stick to the dangling fly strip for a while. That was fun.

Zorak took out the seven bricks by the boys' window that were just sitting there balanced lightly against the studs -- cleaned them off, and set them back in place, with mortar and everything. I suspect they are the only seven bricks on the house that are plumb. It looks wonderful. He also rewired the porch lights and moved electrical boxes around so that now, instead of one light in the middle of the porch, we have a light above the door, and everything set for a ceiling fan on the other side of the porch.

I... um, I took one of the storm windows apart. I didn't mean to. Just wanted to get the sliding window parts out so I could clean the tracks and put some paraffin on them (so they'll glide easier). But the screws that hold the glass in also, evidently, held the frame together. The whole thing now looks like a giant Erector Set for big people, with screws and chunks of aluminum, and bits of rubber. Oh, I also stripped and cleaned one of the patio chairs. It looked like this before I got to it: OK, so it didn't really need actual "stripping" at this point. And the sad thing is that it almost looks worse now. Those weren't initially the patio chairs. That was from our dining set - wwaaaay back when there were only two of us. Then the table and three chairs made it into the school room, but this little guy has lived on the back porch for a year and a half. Not such a happy place for wood products, it seems. So, since we're likely never to take the time to shop for porch furniture (we could, but we'd rather play leap frog blindfolded on the Interstate, or try to remove excess veins from my leg with a pair of tweezers and a bottle of Jack Daniels - there are so many more enjoyable ways to spend the days), we figure we'll refinish this set and use it on the porch. *snort* I'll let you know how that goes...

We did get into town and finally, finally, finally picked a color for the porch. We went with one that wasn't even on our radar. I'm not telling what it was, because I need something to add to (er, to create) suspense about this project. Right now, I'm hovering at about 30% capacity, though, and this is all ya get. We got a color. I'm terrified to put it on. But tomorrow, on it goes.

Hopefully, tomorrow the storm window will go back together. (And I don't mean, I hope I'll get around to it. I mean I hope it *will* go back together *when* I attempt it tomorrow.) Zorak has big plans to touch-up sand and prime the porch ceiling, and then it's on to the porch itself! WOo--- *yawn*

'Night!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Hey, Honey,

I don't think we'll have to water the garden today.

The kids and I will be back in their room with books, snacks, and my cell phone, if you need us.

Wish you were here!

Love,
Dy

Birthday Blessings

Yes, today was my birthday. Thank you for the sweet birthday wishes. I'm 34 all over again! (Not because I've decided to hover there, but because I've thought this whole last year that I was already 34. What they say about the memory being the second thing to go? No, it's the first. Everything else seems to function just fine, thank you.)

We had a lovely, quiet day. Saturday we have plans to enjoy live music and dancing. But today was grocery day. Needleroozer called to sing me Happy Birthday. Then she laughed at me when I said my big outing would be the market. I know it sounds silly, but I really love and appreciate grocery shopping. I love taking the children along to help, to visit, to spend that time together. I love that we have so many options available to us. I love that, although we do budget, it's not a hard-core, beans-and-tortillas budget.

I remember one particular evening with Zorak, many years ago, we talked about all the things we would buy when he'd graduated and we weren't living off the Scholarship Fairy anymore. It was all food. Steak. Thick, thick, heavily marbled steak. Artichoke hearts. Sushi. Brown rice. The good ice cream. Yesiree, we were gonna live high. on. the. hog.

Well, now we've got four children and a little place of our own. We don't splurge the way we dreamed we would, but we do eat well, and we enjoy it. Although I'm joking when I tell Zorak we're off to blow his hard-earned cash, I feel like that's exactly what I'm doing as I pile our basket with fresh fruits and brown rice, with the occasional olives or a mango, and the wheat-free grains. I couldn't get a bigger high if I was buying Dooney & Burke Bourke purses wholesale. (Well, something like that. Obviously, if I can't spell it, I don't own it, right? I still can't bring myself to use something other than Zorak's old backpack or my messenger bag. Some things just fit better than others. But you get the general idea.)

Food, along with all the thousand other connotations and cultural messages it carries, sings a song in my head that says, "You are loved, you're taken care of, you're taking good care of those you love. It's the circle of love, and of life, and of...ohhhhhh, turkey sounds good."

The boys were very sweet and affectionate with their Birthday Wishes. We all trekked out to see John's third game of the summer league. Both teams really played well. Our guys lost this game by one point, which puts them at 2-1 now. Not bad. Good game. Nice to see familiar faces. Even better to see that boy out there, looking bigger, bolder, more confident... James even asked, when John stepped up to bat, "Is that JOHN?" We got home, folded laundry, talked about the evening, the weekend, the upcoming visits. There was no time for a story, as four little heads hit the pillows with eyes closed in the time it took to say, "I love you."

This is a good time of life, I think. A good year behind me, and a good year ahead. A girl could get used to this. I've still got many things to work on, to improve, to do. Many books to read and discuss with the children (or at Zorak, through the bathroom door, if it's a really good book - although that may be one of the things he's hoping I'll work on...) What a blessing time and opportunity are, knowing the outcome is mine to decide. What a treasure my family is, and one I will work to be worthy of every day of my life. And that's the best of it there: my birthday gift is life. I get to do this all over again tomorrow. Or, to quote one of my sincere (yet less-than-subtle) relatives: Every day above ground is a good day.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

So Exciting!

We have family moving closer to our side of the bog! This, in itself, isn't huge news (it's been in the works for a while), but it's getting close now, and we're all getting very excited. The toe-tickling part, for us, is that they, too, have children. Delightful children. Children we have really missed being involved with as they've grown. It's just not as much fun when the child looks like an entirely different person in size, carriage, and personality every. time. you. see. him, and looks at you like you're a complete stranger (and why are you hugging me? Get away, weirdo!). But now, we'll get to see them more often. They may still think we're "the weird ones", but at least they'll know us well and we won't scare them when we run up and give them noogies. More importantly, the boys (both ours, and theirs) will have cousins nearby! (We don't have to be from here. We can just import family. Ha!)

To kick it off, the boys will be coming to stay with us for a few weeks while their parents have to stay behind and deal with all the icky details of packing, moving, leasing, blech. It'll be much more fun here at our place! (Well, actually, we're hoping the Big People will also take a little time to enjoy a bit of a second honeymoon period while they're traveling. You know, stop in Amarillo and try to get the free steak dinner. Spend the night in Memphis in a hotel with a view of the river, just because it's so pretty at sunset. You know, whatever adults do when they're suddenly without children. Then they can tell us what it's like.) And we'll be here, with boys falling out of every door and window. Kids in the meadow. Kids in the hall. Oh, dear me, I just realized we've still only got one bathroom... maybe Zorak would consent to installing just the toilet in the master bath? That may end up being a necessity at some point.

Zorak's been making plans all evening. "OK, we need to do something about the balcony. And the barn. I need to fix the ladder so they can play in the loft. And we need a mower, but if we can't find one this payday, I'll talk to Dude about bush hogging for us before they come. And we need to find a good fishing hole... and I can take S. to work with me one day, he'd like that... and..." I love it when he's as thrilled about something as I am. I also love that he cherishes his family so much.

Meanwhile, I've been going over the grocery plans and menus. I've probably sucked up all of The Hillbilly Housewife's bandwidth for the entire month, looking for good ideas for larger crowds. (Not that just two boys will add *that* much to our table, but I just barely got the hang of making enough to include DangerGirl's voracious appetite. Plus, we'll have the Engaged Cool Older Cousins out for most of the first week. So fun! So much food! I'm in heaven.) Going to have to make the bread ahead of time, because I am a scatterbrained fusspot in the kitchen when I try to make bread. And it's difficult to close off the kitchen/living room racing loop long enough to keep the bread from going Hindenberg on me. And it's been a while since I've made anything with wheat flour. So. Well, you know, we'll just deal with that before there are witnesses.

On to other, more mundane things. The Emperor is dead, and the Western Roman Empire is no more. We did it. We finished, *ahem* Volume One. It was a little sad, really. The boys spent supper "reminiscing" on their favorite highlights of the empire. (Didn't see that one coming. Cracked me up.) We'll hold off on beginning SOTW Vol. 2 until the beginning of September. I still haven't purchased any of the books for next year, and we'll have plenty to do between now and then. I do think the boys will enjoy diving into the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance.

The garden is... a learning experience, so far. The windmill bed is great for greens. The swiss chard is doing pretty well. Next year, that bed will probably be all greens. Oddly enough, the oregano is loving it there. *shrug* But the peppers need more direct light, and the fennel... I don't know what happened to the fennel. In the raised beds by the future-zen-thing, the eggplants are thriving. Kinda. The cucumbers seem to be giving it a good show. The tomatoes gave up the ghost. I think the bunnies may have helped there. (Balto is SO fired.) Down in the melon patch, it looks like somebody knows what he's doing! Wow. I don't know who's sneaking into our meadow to tend to that garden, but when I find him, I'm going to make him stay for supper. And show him the other beds. *grin* WOW. That's exciting. (That's also, incidentally, the only bed I've had nothing to do with... you can pretty much do the math and tell that we're all best off if I stay on the porch.)

The PORCH! The porch which will be stained this weekend. Yippee. (please don't rain. please don't rain.)

And tomorrow's grocery day (because the porch simply wasn't a dull enough topic to end on? sorry.)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Psst, Ernie...

A little bird told me you might like these.

 

And, actually, if anyone can tell me what these are, or how in the world I'd go about identifying them, I'd be much obliged.

My favorite is the white one in the bottom right corner. It's so very different from any of the other (literally dozens) of kinds of fungi we have on the property.

And, um, while we're discussing fungi... any idea how to keep the numbers to a minimum in the regularly populated areas of the property? At least until the small ones stop wanting to eat everything they find.

Dy