bare feet at last

We had a zillion things to do yesterday, but get everything in the ground before the rain comes was priority no. 1. Technically it's still a little early, but the forecast is favorable, it's been a warm year, and I just can't wait any longer. In went the tomatoes, marigolds, basil, chives, parsley, cilantro, cucumbers, and about a thousand flowers. The girls helped a lot, then got hot and hung out in the clothesline shade. I still need to dig up some sod to make room for the melons and squash, then a bunch of medicinal herbs I'm itching to try out. This new-to-me blog is a treasure trove of natural healing information. I've got this book on order at the library and am so excited about it. So now it's pouring cats + dogs and the plants are all bathing happily. Today's looking like a cleaning, coloring, movie-watching, popcorn-eating, puddle-stomping, baby pants-sewing kind of day.

green pond

This is my Father's world,

and to my listening ears

all nature sings, and round me rings

the music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world:

I rest me in the thought

of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world,

the birds their carols raise,

the morning light, the lily white,

declare their maker's praise.

This is my Father's world:

He shines in all that's fair;

in the rustling grass I hear Him pass;

He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world.

Oh let me ne'er forget

that though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father's world:

why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!

God reigns; let the earth be glad!

On Saturday we hoofed it back to Green Pond (near Lake Bonaparte... perfect for kids and preggy peeps). This song was in my heart the whole time. I've been so preoccupied with gardening lately and my heart surged with the realization that, while I've got my little 8x9 plot in the backyard, the whole earth is God's plot of land... He is the Master Gardener and has so tenderly created every tree, every flower, every spot of mossy rock, just because He loves us. 

Perfect. Day.

zealous.

The next 3 days are supposed to be incredible + then followed by a few days of rain, so I am in full digging mode. I keep reminding myself that I shouldn't get overzealous because the baby is coming smack at the beginning of August, but have you ever tried telling someone (especially yourself) who is in the thick of planning/planting a garden that they shouldn't get overzealous? Yeah-huh.

We were outside at 9:30 this morning running wild with the neighbor kid, worm-hunting and sod-digging and sun-soaking. I am so ready for this.

The most exciting news: SPROUTS! radishes, kale, mesclun, and arugula all popped up overnight and I feel like a brand-new parent all over again. To be fair, Lizzy told me yesterday that the radishes had come up, but it was raining and I didn't go outside at all, and honestly I halfway didn't believe her. Bad mommy.

This is my garden. 8x9. Small. The one area I've managed not to get overzealous. Ask me how big I'm digging the perennial bed along that fence, though. I don't know, because I haven't stopped digging yet.

Some unrelated freakouts:
Bach cello suites by Jorg Baumann. Totally affordable bliss.
Anna Maria's forthcoming All Set Skirt, which is going to cause a freakout all its own around here.
Sistah gettin down in WalMart at 39 weeks pregnant. Freaking rad.
Rachel's hanging map DIY caused the man + me to immediately order a rad map for the living room. Hasn't arrived yet.
Soap re-batching? Why has no one told me about this?

at dusk on a wednesday

* maren floated down the stairs one day with this wig on her head. my friend helen & i laughed forever.
* the girls have started randomly yelling "whu-BAM!" at appropriate (and inappropriate) moments.
* i just started the last book of the zion covenant series. i've liked it a lot.
* i am gardening with bliss and abandon.
* the baby will show up about the same time as the tomatoes.
* the garden primer and square foot gardening make me feel like i have an inkling what i am doing.
* we started composting again. holes drilled into a garbage can with a locking lid, rolled around in the yard every few days.
* there is a doorway of juniper that leads from one part of the backyard to another. it makes me think of narnia.
* i started making my to-do lists in pencil. that way i can erase the stuff that didn't get done and i don't care about at the end of the day anyway.
* i am making a ridiculous cake for book group tomorrow.
* i am getting huge.
* this is not an exaggeration.
* if this is what a third pregnancy is like, i'm a little nervous about the fourth.
* i don't believe anyone who tells me it's just because it's a boy this time.
* i loved michelle duggar's post on letting go of expectations.
 * we finally caved and bought a blender.
* this has thrown us into the daily quest for smoothie nirvana.
* have you tried putting an avocado in a smoothie? it's incredible.
* i am burying myself in books until nice weather comes back: organic body care, simple modern sewing, natural health, last child in the woods.
* i totally pre-ordered some ed emberley to make some pants for the boy. kid needs clothes, right? that's what i thought.
* i think we're all caught up now. how are you?

so basically...

my parents are the raddest ever.

over + out.

eat healthy // feel better

Whenever my husband is gone, I have a bad habit of lapsing into kid/junk food mode. Kraft Mac n Cheese for lunch. Spaghetti for dinner, a can of mushy green beans if you're lucky. I also have a bad habit of indulging in way too many mommy treats. Cookies and chocolate are at the top of the list, and I justify them easily because I need them to keep my sanity while he's gone. Right? Right.

Compound all that with a second-trimester appetite and you have one great big tummy ache. After 3 weeks of this nonsense I started feeling like serious crap and decided enough was enough. So, after a deal-sealing dinner of greasy Chinese takeout one night, I sat down and made a list. Because for me, half the battle is knowing what to eat while the other half of the battle is having it prepared and available.

It's been all of 5 days since I quit eating crap and started eating real food again, and I feel so much better already.

So, in case you could use some inspiration or just some different ideas, here's the list I put on my fridge:

Breakfast

cooked grains with milk, honey/brown sugar, and butter/coconut oil -- quinoa, wheat, farro, barley, oats (I cooked a big pot of quinoa this morning and plan to use it for breakfast for several days)

yogurt + granola

fruit + toast with nut butter

NO packaged cereal

Snack

cheese + apple slices

smoothie or fresh juice

popcorn

granola wrap

hard-boiled eggs with s+p

NO packaged junk

Lunch (usually my achilles' heel)

brown rice + beans with roast veggies + salsa (this one requires planning, but a batch of each will last all week)

simple egg salad -- mash a hard-boiled egg with mayo, relish, s+p, herbs

grilled cheese with sliced apple or caramelized onions or bacon

fancy wrap -- cream cheese + turkey + cranberry + spinach (my fave this week -- I've had at least 2 a day)

-- turkey + avocado + fruit salsa + cheese

-- turkey + hard boiled egg + bacon + avocado + blue cheese

-- chicken + spinach + feta + craisins + poppy seed dressing

NO mac n cheese

Dinner

beans + rice with grilled chicken + salsa

broiled or seared tofu + simple fresh veggie + grain 

sausages + polenta + simple fresh veggie

tabbouleh + pita + grilled chicken

butternut soup + chef's salad

real tacos

grilled flank steak + szechwan slaw

chicken salad in pitas + fruit salad

lentil soup + homemade bread

There's lots more dinner ideas over here from when I was the private cook for a sorority house for a year (didn't see that one coming, did you). What about you? What are your go-to real foods that taste good + don't cost a fortune?

on being a power drill weenie

So my man has been gone for a month. (Not deployed. Just in training.)

In Army life, that isn't too big of a deal. But still. It's a deal. 'Specially when you're cooking a small human inside your tummy and you have two other small humans outside your tummy to look after.

After a month by my onesie, I am so happy to tell you that 1) he's coming home, and 2) I ain't afraid of no stinking power drill no more. I decided that it was time to quit being such a weenie about drills, hammers, anchors, nails, screws, and other previously intimidating-to-me "manly" objects. and really? It's empowering to wield a power drill with a big mean bit on it with a big ole pregnant belly, to boot. 'Specially when I'm out with my belly in front of my house on a ladder drilling holes into the front of my house. Makes people drive by reeeeal slow.

Anyway, my point is, I drilled holes in a bunch of crap this month. Like my walls. Which is really not all that exciting. 

Except that it is.

My first attempt using anchors. I'm dumbfounded that it's still on the wall. Like, securely.

Ta-da! music box with wheels.

I found the most awesome vintage hook to use as a curtain holdback. Print from Graphic Anthology.

Sexy glasses, eh? This is a funny picture because my man is not short. He's 5'9. His commander is just ha-yuge.

Welcome home, love. I missed you. You can have your drill back now.