Irish Potatoes!

   Top o' the mornin' to ya!  Too much?  Okay...Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I personally don't do much celebrating for St. Pat's, other than wearing a green shirt to avoid being pinched by rude people.  I am fairly certain that being a generic white mutt, I probably have some Irish in me somewhere, but it's never been a *thing* in my family to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  There is, however, one thing that my great-grandfather, and therefore my grandparents, insisted on.  You must plant your potatoes on St. Patrick's Day.  Lesson #2 learned.

Me and my Daddy-o

   So this morning, we headed out to the farm to get some potatoes in the ground before it starts raining tonight.  It's Spring Break here, so my mom and sis are out of school this week and my dad took vacation to hang out with us.  Somehow I talked them into coming with me to plant potatoes.  (C'mon guys, it'll be fun...)

   The seed potatoes had been cut and drying for a day or two, so they were ready to go in the ground. Dad did the hard part of raking up the soil into a little mound for me.  That way you don't have to dig so far to get your potatoes when they're ready.  

  My sister and I went behind him making holes and popping spuds in the earth.  After that, we covered them up and smoothed over the top of the mounds, and gave them a little drink.

   The potatoes were much quicker to plant than the onions.  Partially because there were much fewer of them, and partially because I had help.  We ended up with two rows of potatoes, and Grandpa says each plant will likely yield 8 or so small potatoes.  Not bad!

Two finished rows of potatoes!

My Seester and I

   It was fun to get in the dirt with my dad and sister.  Even though I finally live close, I never get to see them as much as I want.  Grandpa didn't get too involved today.  He showed me what to do, but then he went to fix a fence with a couple of youngin's.  I think they were looking to make a buck, and he needed some help, so he put them to work!  The farm was hoppin' today!  Abby Kate played in the house with my mom and grandma again today.  We had planned for her to stay down in the garden with us, but it ended up being much colder and windier than I thought.  She was perfectly happy to have tea parties and read books inside!

Arugula babies!

   I did get surprised by this bit of green on this St. Patrick's Day.  My arugula seeds have sprouted already!  Not even a whole week in the dirt and they're already popping up!  When they're a tiny bit bigger I'll transfer them to some big feed tubs out in the garden.  They're pretty cold-hardy, so they'll do fine.  Very exciting!

   I'm not sure what comes next in the garden.  I think I'm in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, waiting until the frost danger is over, and waiting for my little seeds to grow.  I'm looking forward to getting them in the ground and seeing what grows!  What's growing in your garden?

Spring Has Sprung!

   I am officially declaring the end of winter!  (Hear me, Mother Nature?  No funny business.)  The past week has been gorgeous, even the rainy day seemed to promise changes and new life.  Sigh.  I love it.  I love the end of the bleak grey cold.  I love the end of darkness.  I love the end of a stuffy stale house.  I love the end of trying to come up with ways to entertain my toddler indoors...(only partially kidding about that last one).

   My new undertaking this season is a garden.  Not just a few bedding plants in the front yard--I'm talking grow your own food, mud up to your knees, need a tractor to till it up garden.  No, we did not move to the country, although that is my heart's desire.  My grandparents, however, already live out of town a ways, and have had a massive (half an acre?) garden that has fed the family, neighbors, church members, and anyone else who needed produce for the past fifteen years.  After last year, Grandpa declared that he was done gardening, said it was too hard on his knees and he just wasn't feeling up to it anymore--well, maybe a couple of tomato plants because, you know, the ones you get at the store aren't fit to eat.... He kindly offered his well-tended garden to me, said he'd plow it up if I wanted to plant anything.

Our blank canvas!  Love that red dirt!

   I have a not-so-secret desire to be Ma Ingalls and a dream of having a little land with a clothesline and chickens and a garden, so I jumped at the chance to learn from the master and see if I kill outdoor plants as quickly as I kill indoor ones. So Grandpa got out the tractor and tilled up the earth, and I bought some seeds.  He informed me that the first thing to go in the ground was onions, but we'd be planting sets and sprouts, not seeds.  Lesson #1 learned.  When it quit snowing and the ground dried out last week, we set to work.

Grandpa gettin' work done

   Grandpa had said he'd pick up the onions to plant when he was at the store next.  It never occurred to me that he never asked how many I wanted to plant.  When I got to the greenhouse where they were being stored, I saw this:

Baby onions!

   That, my friends, combined with the sets he had for me, is THOUSANDS of onions.  Did I mention that green onions are grandpa's favorite thing out of the garden?  Apparently they are.  So we got to work, poking holes and planting tiny little wisps of onions.  It wasn't too hard, and I enjoyed spending the time in the red dirt that I missed so much when we lived out of state.  The weather couldn't have been better, and it was a rare chance to spend some one-on-one time with Grandpa.

Putting in the elbow grease!

   I was tired at the end of the day, but it was so satisfying to look back at the work we had accomplished.  I'm sure I'm romanticizing things, but I kept thinking about all of the generations of pioneers who had come before me, who had worked this red dirt and survived by the sweat of their own brows and the strength of their own hands.  It felt right to be learning something so ingrained in the state I grew up in, sort of reverent for everyone who made it what it is.  But like I said, ask me in September how I feel about gardening and I may have changed my tune...

Look closely--can you see my babies out there?

  I also started some seeds for some other things I'd like to try growing this year.  I'm considering this my experimental garden year, learning how things grow and what does and doesn't like the weather and soil here.  I started carrots, spinach and arugula, green beans, zucchini, and corn.  I have seeds for a few other things, but it's a bit early for them, and I plan to buy young plants for tomatoes and strawberries when the frost danger passes.

Seed babies growing in the greenhouse!

   I snapped a few pictures while I was there because everything felt so alive.  Spring was whispering everywhere, from the bluebird that visited the garden to the blooms on the fruit trees.  Every time I took a picture I thanked God for making all things new!

Our colorful visitor

   Before we left, Abby Kate, who had been napping and playing with my grandma, convinced Grandpa that she needed a ride in the Mule.  It's one of her favorite things to do at their house, and there isn't much that she can't convince Grandpa of, so they loaded up and went for a ride.  I love that they get to know each other, and that she loves them the way I do.  I hope she keeps these sweet memories forever!

Waving at Mama!

   I'll attempt to keep things updated as to what my kill count is--I'm not sure these poor plants know what they're getting into!  In the meantime, I have several flowerbeds full of weeds that are mocking me... Time to get a little more dirt under my nails!

Starting from Scratch

   I have been following an interesting fashion blog for a while now called The Vivienne Files. The author, Janice, is a proponent of small but highly functional and lovely wardrobes, often designed around an inspiration piece such as a favorite scarf, painting, or favorite flower.  She puts together stylish but hardworking capsule wardrobes for travel too.
 
   One of Janice's latest endeavors has been a blog series that she calls "Starting from Scratch," which is a step-by-step process of how to logically and systematically create the most useful and attractive wardrobe for yourself, hypothetically starting from nothing.  Perhaps you have entered a new season of life (entering or leaving the work force, transitioning from youth to maturity, etc) or perhaps you are dressing a new body (weight gain or loss, post partum, etc), or whatever your reason is for desiring new clothing options.

   I have read her "Starting from Scratch" series, and it was very interesting for me.  I don't need a new wardrobe at the moment, but I am currently on a journey to better health, which presumably means I will need new (smaller!) clothing eventually.  I like the idea of planning what kinds of items are most useful for you, given your typical activities, and creating a sort of "shopping list" to work from to keep you from wasting money on things that won't match anything else or that won't fit into your lifestyle.  So I'm going to hypothetically design my ideal wardrobe for my current life, and when the time comes that I need to replace some articles of clothing, I can do it knowing that my investments will be sound.

   Janice recommends starting by choosing which colors you will work from when building your wardrobe.  She likes to work from a "wheel" of five colors: two neutrals, some form of white/ivory/cream, and two accent colors.  This is where I think I will diverge from her plan just a bit.  (Nothing like doing your own thing on step one, right?) I think that a five color wheel is a fine place to start if it suits you, but I like just a bit more variety.  Also, I'm building this imaginary wardrobe based on what I currently have and love.  I don't want to truly start from nothing because I can't afford to get rid of everything and buy new.  Here's the color wheel I came up with based on my needs:

   I chose black and grey for my neutrals because 1) I already have several items in these colors that I like and 2) this is my fall/winter wardrobe, and I think these colors will be most useful for the events/weather I anticipate that time of year.  I think my wheel could best be described as "Black, Grey, and Brights."  These bold colors look best on me with my coloring (although I'm contemplating a change of hair color...), and I wanted some of these colors specifically.  I MUST have orange in my closet during football season (and all year, really), I knew I would want some red for the holidays, and I have some pieces in the other colors that I love in pink, blue, and green that just look good on me.  Vanity is a strong motivator.

   This may turn out a lot like my Project 333 fall wardrobe, and that's okay.  I still have many of the same pieces in my closet from that time, and like I said, I don't want to buy anything I don't have to.  I don't think I'll be as strict on the "rules" for building this new wardrobe as Janice suggests, but I think to get the most enjoyment out of my clothes (and really, other than covering nakedness, isn't that what it's all about?), I will want a bit more variety than she suggests.  So I may add a bit of camel, or a yellow necklace, and I KNOW I'll throw in some leopard print, which I consider a neutral.  Maybe I should have chosen it as my second neutral, instead of grey!

   Feel free to build your own wardrobe with us, be it fantasy or more attainable.  I'll share mine when I get it all built, for anyone who is interested in a black and bright closet for a stay-at-home mom.  What wardrobe pieces will never leave your closet?  Do you have things that you never wear but refuse to part with?

Nursery Revealed!

As I mentioned in my last post, our families spent their Spring Break with us. However, don't be fooled. This was not a sightseeing, relaxing, refreshing vacation for them. They all very graciously volunteered to be my slave labor for a week to help us with nursery projects.  They arrived Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening was our Gender Reveal Party, and Saturday night began the work.  No rest for the weary.  All day Sunday and Monday were work days, Tuesday we took a short break to visit downtown, but Tuesday night and Wednesday night they were right back at the grind.  They were ironing, sewing, fixing, building, and primping things practically until they got back on the plane on Thursday afternoon.  I couldn't believe how much we (they) got done in such a short time, but I am forever grateful to this faithful bunch.  Our sweet Peanut has an equally sweet nursery to come home to that turned out even better than I could have imagined!  See for yourself!

Sweet little crib! When we decide on a name, there will be some sort of wall hanging over the crib. In the crib are the peanut doll from my mom and a little music box lamb that was mine.

Close-up of the recovered chaise, which is now my "Mommy Chair!"

Watering can decoration that my sister made!

Close-up of the yo-yo flowers on the walls

Window wall!  We plan to put our changing pad on the left side of the countertop.

Close-up of the lamp, which we found for a good price and "jazzed up" with yo-yos and trim.

Bulletin board on the back of the closet door.

Close-up of storage baskets under window.

 So there you have it, folks!  I love our little garden-themed nursery so much!  The colors are bright enough to make it feel happy, but soft enough that I don't feel overwhelmed in there!  As you can see, I could never thank our tireless helpers enough.  This totally would have never happened if it was up to me!

I know this post is getting long, but here's a quick list of resources that we used for our nursery:
-Fabric: The floral and stripe are part of the "Oh Baby" collection at Joann Fabrics. The yellow fabric has tiny white polka dots on it (that don't show up on camera), and is part of the nursery prints carried at Joann as well. My mom is amazing and did most of the crib bedding and curtain without a pattern. 
-The only furniture we purchased new was the crib, which I already posted on, and it came from Target.
-The lamp came from Home Goods, and then was accessorized by me.  :)
-I bought the storage baskets from Michael's. They were originally brown with a blue gingham liner.  My mom made new liners and my grandma spray painted them yellow.
-I've had the bulletin board since college. It too got painted yellow, then recovered and yo-yo'd.
-I should have taken more pictures "in the process" but I'll post a tutorial for the big yo-yo flowers on the walls soon.  

New Look!

How do you like my new header?  Chris made it for me last night after I was complaining that I didn't think my blog was very cute!  We brainstormed for a few minutes, then he just whipped it up in about an hour.  Handy to have a graphic artist around the house I guess.  We've also been talking about way I could increase my readership around here, since I'm fairly certain there's about three people who read my blog, and two of them live in my house.  Chris suggested I go into a little more detail about some of our choices and decisions for the nursery, my pregnancy, and anything interesting that comes up along the way.  To avoid starting with an internet overshare on my philosophy of pregnancy, I think I'll start with the nursery.  That seems safe, don't you think?

Let's start from the beginning. Our goals for the nursery were few and (sorta) simple: First, it had to be easily undo-able, since we're renters.  We don't know how long we'll live here, and I don't want to invest time or money in things that we can't take with us, or that we'll have to undo when we leave, like a crazy awesome paint job.  Second, it had to be frugal.  We know that nurseries don't stay that way forever, and since we're hardly rolling in dough, we wanted to invest our money as wisely as possible.  ($800 crib?  No thanks.)  Third, we'd like it to be as eco-friendly as possible while still fitting within our other goals.  I'll probably come across on the blog as a tree-hugging hippie earth-mother, but that's only partly true.  I'll sacrifice a tree now and then for frugality and convenience.  Sorry.  With these things in mind, here's a few of our nursery choices thus far:

The Crib:  
We chose the Delta 3-in-1 Winter Park Convertible Crib from Target.  Originally we had our eye on a very similar looking crib from Burlington Coat Factory (yes, they have baby stuff--who knew??) for a fairly similar price.  We needed something that would be gender neutral (no canopy beds or racecar beds yet), and something that came in a medium warm finish to match the existing furniture in the room, that being the armoire and the cubbie shelves.  There we go being frugal again.  No sense buying a whole room full of furniture when we only need a crib.  The Winter Park crib seemed to be generic in style and correct in finish.  It was one of the less expensive cribs we found that wasn't also ugly like a butt.  Then Target went and put it on sale for $100 a month or so ago, and I couldn't help myself.  It was a done deal. 

The Paint:
This was an area where we opted for the "green" choice, not the frugal choice.  We decided on the Olympic Premium paint in Stonington. We wanted a no VOC paint, which means no weird chemicals off-gassed by the paint, and no paint-induced fume highs, and the Olympic paint was our best (if not only) choice.  It wasn't the cheapest paint we could find, but overall, it didn't break the bank.  (Here's where I have to make a little confession.  The paint wasn't entirely a nursery-based decision.  We had previously painted most of the apartment in the same paint and color, and had some left over so that's what went in the nursery.  The VOC reasoning still stands, but there's nothing magically "baby" about Stonington.  It was the best taupe for the rest of the place, so it went in the nursery too. )  Back to the paint.  As far as quality goes, it seemed to go on easily and cover fairly well.  We did have to do two coats, but I'm not going to blame the paint on that because we are certainly novice painters.  My artistically inclined husband decided a flat finish would look best, so I rolled with it.  In other parts of the house, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser seems to take off any smudges just fine.  And it was a nice neutral color that was pre-approved by the landlords. Yay paint.

I think that's a good stopping point for today, don't you?  I don't want to spill all my secrets at once, and besides, that's about all the decisions we've made for the nursery.  Wouldn't want to get too carried away with progress, would we?  More decisions will be made in the near future, since we find out Monday what the gender of our little Peanut is!  Counting down the minutes!  Until then, are any of you planning a nursery?  Painting walls?  Trying to live cheap and green?  Let me know!