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I’ve been working hard on my garden. Sad that this year, I only have a couple hours a day unlike previous years when I could spend 40-50 hours a week on it. But I suppose it’s a blessing in disguise, because those two hours a day are really hard on my body, leaving me limping and unable to use my knee much. It’s so odd to me to only be able to get a few seed starts out a day though instead of doing all of the ones that are due at once. I’m kind of going to miss being able to see what plants do what when, since they’re all timed differently now, it’s hard for me to compare.
 One bunch of my many crocuses that actually bloomed this year! 3-21-11 I have crocuses flowering like crazy today, unlike last year when they didn’t flower until MAY! and then sucked because it was too hot for them. And the rest of my bulbs are coming up, the old ones are well up, but not a lot of them show bloom shoots  the new ones are just starting to poke up in the last 5 days because I planted them deeper on the recommendation of a forum. But I’m not sure how great that idea was. I’ll have to see how they come out this year and read some more and decide if I should dig them up in the fall and reset them.
I’ve also added this year a white fence border, a couple stones by the stairs to create a retaining wall instead of it being a hill, and am putting river stones around each “plot” in the potager to create some more structure. I think it will look a lot less wild this year.
 The potager as of 3-23-11 So far I have in starter pots:
- Giant Zinnia
- a Wildflower Butterfly Mix
- an All-season Wildflower Mix
- Butterfly Flower (which I totally missed was a perennial last year or I would have made more effort to get some decent ones going last year!
- Calendula from my cousin’s garden
- French Dwarf Marigolds
- Bright Lights Cosmos
- Thyme - a TON of it since I’m trying to introduce it as a ground cover in the front garden
- Catnip – haven’t been very successful with this barring one year when I got it in the ground and learned that if you have cats, you don’t want catnip in your garden or you’ll have a big, bare dirt spot in it.
- Broccoli
- Roma tomato – bush variety
- Jalapeno
- Lavender – have never gotten this to sprout, year three attempt here, lol
- Genovese Basil – I probably did way too many since one bush last year provided us way too much fresh and probably 2-3 years of pesto!
- Rosemary – I had 3 seeds left, I’ve never gotten this to sprout either, but my rosemary did not survive the winter That’s a black thumb for sure, killing rosemary!
- Sungold Dwarf Sunflower – after last’s years disastrous 9′ sunflowers, I wanted something to attract the birds, but did not want monsters again.
- Harlequin Dahlia
- Sungold Cherry Tomato – I’ve heard really great things about these. But they’re indeterminate, so I am concerned about where I will put them
- Zucchini
- Butternut Squash
- Gentry Squash
In the ground:
- Peas – unknown heirloom variety from a friend
- Peas – sugar snap
- Radish
- a ton of Lettuce varieties
- 2 spinach varieties
In a regular pot:
- Sugar Snow pea – this one has a purple flower, so I decided to use these to try them out in a potted application, where you put bamboo stakes all around the edge of the pots and when they’re all grown up, it’s a beautiful looking pot. But in looking for the pictures I saw last year of this that were so gorgeous (which I couldn’t find!) I found this. Which I might try also…or maybe I’ll just switch out my stakes for branches now before the germinate. Nah, Ill just plant more!
 Lots and lots of itty bitty thyme plants! This will hopefully turn into the ground in my potager  3-23-11
I’m missing so much stuff here, so I’m going to do another run-through catch-up post.
We got our tree the Saturday after Turkey-Day. We went to the same farm where we got our Halloween pumpkins. It was pretty awesome, got to cut down our tree ourselves for the first time ever! Plus the guy gives out free hot apple cider, and he had some squash left for sale, so I grabbed a few We’ve managed to get lots of people to use him, and it looks like he’s getting really good business, so I have high hopes he won’t be feeling the need to conform to the commercialism anytime soon.
Told you Patrick was a total grump about holding baby
He can be silly too
November 27 we went to the Bass Pro Shops because they have this Winter Wonderland deal every year where you get a free pic with Santa, coupons for the kids to eat free at the restaurant, games, crafts, and the kids love Bass Pro anyway.
 
They get to do things like play crossbows, air rifles, write a letter to Santa, that they get an email from him back! Ella wanted very much to write her own letter, so that’s what she spent most of her time doing. Myriam took off and did most of the stuff on her own. She’s becoming very independent and self-sufficient. I suppose being nearly 10, this is an appropriate age for that. I guess that’s one positive to their age gap, with Ella still needing so much of us, Myriam doesn’t feel left out since she wants to go.
We hit up Prince William Forest Park on November 20. It was a really nice day, probably the last good one of the year so we couldn’t pass it up.
Tried to take portraits but Ella is at this age that she refuses to do anything other than make stupid faces at the camera. They have this gorgeous, old suspension bridge there, I’m terrible at trying to take pics of the river that it goes over, but I love this shot of the supports.
I made aebelskivver for breakfast that morning. They were soooo good! Even if they were an awful lot of effort.
Alright, I think I’ve caught up November, it only took me two days to write this post
Our plan for Thanksgiving had been to go out to eat. This is big since it’s the only holiday I cook for. I go to my family’s house in CT for Christmas, and don’t tend to do anything for Easter. We decided to eat out though because I have not been on the ball with my super-couponing and that meant buying the fixin’s at full-price. So eating out was cheaper and we’re pinching every single penny these days to save for a vacation.
Thursday started nicely, I got to watch most of the parade (although I did end up making a nice breakfast so I still got stuck in the kitchen during it!!!), and then I started what I think will be a new tradition: Kids making the Christmas cookies! Of course in years future, the hubs will have to help them since I’ll be back in the kitchen, but that’s all good. They had a blast rolling out cookies and making tons of cut-outs. I bought this 150 piece cutter set a couple years ago for like $5 at the outlets with the intention to do them more, but I suck, because cut outs are way more work than drop cookies, and this is only maybe the 2nd time we’ve used them.
Around 3:40 I realize we should call the restaurant we want to go to. Hubs calls, and of course, they close at 4. Terrific. Well, we did have this friend call, email, FB post, to make sure we knew we were REALLY welcome , she said she got a strong feeling she was supposed to make sure someone knew, and she thought it might be us. So then I’m thinking, We’re supposed to go to M’s. BUT, my husband is shy and I didn’t want to cause him the tension, so I didn’t push for us to go there. So off we go to a Chinese/Japanese buffet that I knew was serving turkey dinner and had heard was pretty good. Well, the turkey was seriously undercooked, the stuffing was a grey paste that had puddles of water in it, the sweet potato tray was empty the entire time, so I didn’t go near the mashed potatoes and gravy. And the ‘fresh’ pineapple was rotting. So dinner was ruined for a price that was $15 more than the restaurant we had planned to go to. So we decided to hit TGIFs for desserts and to try to make it up (and it again crossed my mind that at this point we could probably call my friend and show up for dessert), but off we go. We get an appetizer, realize we’re STUFFED, and order our desserts to go. I ask them not to assemble any of the ingredients because I’m taking it home and not eating it for a bit. We get them home and they’re all partly assembled. So ice cream is melted by hot caramel which now has to be frozen so I can’t have hot caramel, and there’s fruit on these no-longer crispy chip things. Bah Humbug to the Nth. We shoulda gone to M’s.
This past year I had a flower bed on one side of our front walk that is about 6″ wide. I had tulips, allium, and crocus for bulbs in it for my spring flowers. I’d always had the plan to widen it and to expand my bulb selection each year, and it’s that time of year! So Saturday we picked up 5 bags of bulbs and I just can’t wait until spring now!
This is what’s already there:
- Crocus
- Tall Allium
- Purple-pink with white tip Tulips
This is the new stuff:
- An all spring red tulip blend. I don’t think this blend has as much white, but I couldn’t find a picture similar enough to the one on my package
- Campanulata mixed scilla
- Miniature mixed allium
- a blend of parrot tulips
This one is really cool. It’s called Antoinette and not only is it a bunching tulip as opposed to the typical 1 bloom per bulb, but it changes color through out it’s growth stages!
I know it’s a little heavy on the tulips, but the bed has odd lighting (the crocus don’t bloom until late April!) and tulips do really well there. Probably because most of the light comes later in the day (it gets a bit in the morning and then falls in shade for most of the day) so the light more mimics the northern light in The Netherlands than in my other beds. I really can’t wait! Bulbs are such a lesson in patience. Plant in October/November and then wait and wait and wait until FINALLY! Spring comes and you get your reward!
Finally, we’re back on track! Today was our first real day of school for the year. We got a late start because of a family crisis that happened right when we should have started. Then we went on a school-cation to Williamsburg for a week during homeschool days. So we got started today in our new schoolroom that is separated from the rest of the house! It turned out to be a wonderfully productive day. Lots of good school (did I mention I have TWO schoolchildren now?!), lots of cleaning, I made these terrific chicken pies, and I managed to get a double batch of white chicken chili in the crockpot for tomorrow’s dinner!
So here’s a recipe to share, not too exact, because that’s not the way I roll.
- Chop fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme
- Mix in a bowl with sea salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and olive oil to form a paste-like mixture
- Coat 2 butterflied chicken breasts in paste, bake at 350 for around 30 minutes
- Once chicken cools from roasting, mince and place in medium mixing bowl
- Add 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 minced onion, 1 minced roasted red pepper, 1/2 cup chopped cranberries, 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, around a tablespoon dijon mustard and a couple tablespoons of mayonnaise
- Fill empanada shells with mixture, seal edges, and place on heated baking stone (375 degrees) for around 30 minutes
It’s so good! And you don’t have to do the chicken right then, this would be great for leftover roast chicken, but I didn’t have any on hand.
 A week and a half ago I met my goal date for my weight loss. Like I said then, it was a reevaluation date, I didn’t want to set my goal too high, for fear I’d get frustrated. So I reevaluated, and I’m going for another 10 pounds/dress size. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done a great job, and I feel and look fantastic! All my “indicators of health” are in much better places now. The resting heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose are all down. All of which were going up just as rapidly as my weight. My knee with the torn ACL and meniscus is tolerating far more along with my collapsed arch. So I’m very proud of myself, but I still feel a little fluffier than I’d like. So a bit more to go.
Here’s my progress so far:
9″ off my waist
5.5″ off my high hip
5″ off my low hip
3.5″ off my thighs
That’s 26% of my waistline gone and 29% of my total body weight lost. I wish I had body fat percentages, but I don’t. They’re way down though!
The strangest thing though is that I use My True Fit to help me pick jean styles. This is quite possibly the biggest fashion mistake women make, is buying the wrong jean, so I like to use a little professional assistance. The site only suggests designer jeans at a pretty high price, but you can see the cuts and styles that are good for you. Especially now with a new body shape, after have a “boy” body for 30 years, I’m learning all new things about my shape and what to wear. In January, when I first entered my information, I was a big, fluffy square. My high and low hips and my waist were all within 1.5″ of each other. So the system told me to pick a trouser pant (and that’s what I thought too, go me!), nice and flattering, and gives an illusion of shape without accentuating my odd shape. The really strange thing though? This time when I entered my measurements, I actually have 20% differences between the measurements. This means CURVES! and I still got trouser pants Very interesting. I’m excited to get a pair though and see how it looks, right now I own one pair of high-rise, straight leg jeans, they’re okay, but I want awesome!
In January when I started actively losing weight, I set a goal date of my birthday for my first goal of 20lbs over my pre-pregancy weight. I always figured I’d want at least 10 more, but I didn’t want to get stuck on those last 10 like a lot of women do, so I figured I set my sights higher and reassess when I met it. Today’s the day and I’m 1 pound over my goal! Pretty freaking tremendous! I definitely want to go ahead with those next 10 pounds and need to get back to my workout for toning. Unfortunately, it’s not On Demand anymore so I have to buy the DVD. Maybe that will be my birthday present This has been a great adventure, I feel better than I have in years, and I learned a lot in the process. Thanks everyone for all the support!
My good friend, Portia, was kind enough to do headshots for my business in exchange for portfolio use. I got them yesterday and I’ve picked out my favorites, and am taking votes, let me know what you think!
And check out her Flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/portialino
Yesterday was an outstanding day! First, it was Myr’s 9th birthday. Her last single digit year! How did she get so old, so fast? Then, I had a secret up my sleeve that was half a surprise for her and half an errand for me and half a treat for me. That doesn’t add up does it? Don’t worry, I taught Myr fractions better than that. At 9:45am we loaded up in the car, and headed to Annandale. We were off to see an old friend from high school that lives in the area now. We were going to meet them at the pool, swim for awhile. Then it was off to their house to get my head shots done while the kids played.
Continue reading What a Day!
So all these months I’ve been pretty silent on the blog, I’ve been working toward a new career. I’m now a Labor/Birth Doula! I’ve spent years circling around the field, never finding a position that was a good fit for me. I’ve attended quite a few births in the accidental position and realized this year that this is what I should have been doing all along! This is an amazing opportunity for me to work in the L&D field without committing tens of thousands of dollars and being restricted by insurance guidelines. I love that I get to work with families together to help them have informed, and supported births.
This past Friday was my first birth as an official doula. M was being induced for hypertension with a prior history of pre-eclampsia. This was a big test for me. Induction starts off meaning two things, restriction of movement, and increased pain due pitocin not being able to cross the blood-brain barrier and not providing pain relief like it’s natural companion, oxytocin, does. Add to that the client being hypertensive which means much more restriction on movement and I was a bit concerned I wouldn’t be able to do what needed to be done to support her through it without an epidural. I was also concerned because baby and cervix were not ready yet, could we do this, with pitocin, with little movement, with a high up baby and an unripe cervix, and not only avoid an epidural but a c-section?
During our prenatals, it had been discussed that M’s husband, A, wasn’t the best labor partner. She was okay with him not being her go to, and he was too. So it was amazing to watch the change in A when I gave a couple small suggestions throughout her labor, and he just stepped up and really found himself! They really came together as one to support her as baby made his way out. I can clearly remember the minute that I switched from her support person, to the tool that would help them get it done, and it was glorious!
 During a contraction M went inside herself, she would meditate through each contraction, going somewhere else. I could tell though that she was struggling though. We were trying positions to both help her pain and to assist baby because he was not in the mood for this, and while she always seemed like she could make it through, I could tell she wasn’t always getting by so well. There was a point though that it clicked for her. Through her high pitched vocalizations, I kept moaning and telling her “low”, “down” trying to prompt her to change the way she was using those muscles. When she switched, WOW! M, A, and I all just moved into the singular purpose of getting this baby out. The midwife and nurse wouldn’t interrupt any of us.
 Baby T! When it came time to push, the midwife had M do one push to get the last little lip gone and expected that she would stop and let the midwife get situated at that point. I stood on the side of M, physically supporting her while she pushed, and I felt her not fully release from that push and looked at her and said, “Do you still need to push? If so, go ahead!” She changed again there, it was her body and her baby and they didn’t need to wait for the midwife to do business. She went all in and pushed and pushed until the midwife had to sort of yell at her to look, her baby was out enough for her to see! And of course, she, with her body, said, “not enough of him” and got her the rest of that baby!
It was exhilarating and amazing, and I’m so privileged to be asked in on these special times to help these families. I’m excited about my new career and the places it will take me.
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