playing in the new yard

funny that it's been over two years,and i still think of this house in which we live as the "new house" and the yard as the "new yard." until this spring, my intentions for this yard have been mostly just intentions. my road to hell is well-paved. and i know, i know-i had a baby--yadda yadda yadda. but that baby is mostly an excuse for times when i just can't get my shit together. and gardening? well--it's hard! and i am ignorant about it, and digging holes sucks. and sweating. and when it's too hot, i tend to prefer sitting onthe porch with a big glass of iced tea to being out where the evil sun can smite me. but as always, i digress...

this spring has been different. this spring, i have started to get my shit together. i have read books, researched, sketched things out in my head, and formed some long term plans. it's as though i am mentally accepting that we really do own this house and are allowed to do things like plant stuff in the actual ground instead of just in pots. oddly enough, our planting efforts seem to coincide with holidays. on valentines day, we bought two trees for the back yard: a red bud and a dogwood. old school, traditional trees i have loved since childhood. i learned that there are one million types of redbud and basically two types of dogwood, although the cherokee dogwood does come in two colors. i picked white, which is what i had growing up in the woods that surrounded my house. the redbud is a lovely lilac-y pink with these gorgeous shiny purple leaves. we got big-ass trees. the hippie dug big-ass holes. they bloomed a LOT, and are now leafy and thriving. one day, they will make a bower of shadiness between them, and i will put a garden bench there with a blueberry bush at either end. and there will be bulbs around the bases of the trees. and periwinkle. and stuff. but not yet. for now--they are just trees.

easter weekend we planted dirt. we dug out the from flower bed (if you can call it that), and replaced about a third of the existing dirt (by which i mean clay with rocks and construction debris in it), with a mixture of peat moss, fertilizer, soil conditionaer, limestone, and perlite. i have become a wheelbarrow chemist. we added a thick-ish layer of mulch on top. then on the following monday, i went to garden supply, which is AWESOME, and got two azeleas, two gerbera daisies, a dahlia, and a scabiosa plant. i had to dig my own holes this time, and i actually managed to get it all in the ground while the critter was a'napping--a miracle. so far, nothing has died and everything is blooming. yay!

this weekend, the hippie is going to help me make a box for a small raised vegetable garden in the back yard. and we are going to extend the from flower beds to accomodate some herbs. this part scares the beejeezus out of me. the herbs i think will be fine. the vegetable box could well be a huge unmitigated disaster. i have never grown a vegetable in my life. however, i am going to give it a shot at least. and if it works out, i will add a second box next year. and if THAT works out and i end up enjoying that part of it, i will add some raised beds to my long-term landscape architecting plan for the back yard. this plan is very long term, and involves things like retaining walls and screened in porches and how the neighbor's tree will grow to chade part of the yard, etc. there is much to consider.

there are days when i miss our old yard so much! it was insane, but it had once been heavily gardened and loved--there was ALWAYS something blooming, and things would come out of nowhere and surprise you. i miss walking through the yard and cutting little bouquets for my little bee bottle. but at the same time, i now get to create a whole little landscape, literally from scratch. it's kind of thrilling, but also intimidating.

so look people--help! if you have ideas or suggestions, or sources of information, or good gardening books to recommend, PLEASE share them! especially on gardening in the south, and vegetable and herb gardening in small spaces. i ahve been relying heavily on don hasting's book, month-by-month gardening in the south, which came highly recommended and has yet to fail me, but i know one resource isn't enough. so you know, help a sister out.

ps--i took all those flower pictures with my new camera, which is really not all that new at this point, but which i am finally starting to learn to use. the hippie gave it to me for my birthday last year, so he's been a little annoyed that i haven't used it more. again with the intimidation. however, so far, it's awesome! i think it will get even better if i get around to reading the book of instructions. hmmmm...

used to be...

i used to design textiles. it was a lovely and rewarding and creative thing to be able to do for a living, an i am unbelievably glad for the experience of it. here's one of my designs:

last night, i had dinner with an old friend from the industry, one of only a tiny handful of people i know doing this now and possibly the best working relationship of my whole life. she's great, and seeing her was awesome--she is in NC for the high point furniture market, which is a shadow of its former self, but still important to the shreds of the american furniture world. but--we were talking about the state of the profession in the united states today, and friends--it is bleak. i know this, and have known since NAFTA passed that the textile industry in this country had numbered days. in fact, it's a huge part of why i left the industry when i did to go back to school. there were many reasons, but that was one of them. anyway. it's depressing as hell to me that this once great profession and industry, once something like the 3rd largest in our country, was basically handed over to other countries on a silver platter by our own government. where was the bailout money then? further, what are all those people i knew in the 6 years i spent in that industry now doing for work? i can count on one hand the ones still affiliated with textiles. there's no going back, i don't think, and it's woefully depressing.

today a friend from my current job, which is not at all creative, sent me a link to the website and blog of a wonderful woman in australia, and she said to me--i think this woman has your dream job. and she does. it's bittersweet to find things like this. on one hand, i LOVE her work, and i find her life inspiring. on te other, i am just not sure that kind of thing is even possible right now in the united states. i know people do it, but the ones who do always seem to have some other means of financial support and an etsy shop on the side instead of making a living designing beautiful things.

*sigh* i am not looking for a solution or huge insight here. i am just feeling a little melancholy today for the career that was and can never be again. i'll get over it.

lemons

this weekend, the hippie was out of town, and my good friend meredith was in town. i helped throw a baby shower for another good friend, and meredith and i had other friends over for brunch on sunday. there was much running around. the critter came to the baby shower with me, and was quite a hit. he provided much entertainment. i also made red velvet cupcakes, a cheese plate, and lemonade for said shower. and i decided you people need to know about this lemonade, as it's easy, fabulous, and excellent if you want to bring an easy-to carry beverage to a party. kids and adults both love it.

here's what you do. in a 1-quart container (i use old chinese soup take out containers for this, but a mayonaise jar or mason jar would also work well), combine the following to make lemonade concentrate:

• 1 cup of fresh lemon juice (about 5 large lemons worth)
• about a teaspoon and a half of lemon zest (from about half a lemon)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of hot water

now, shake it up. put this in the fridge until you need it--you can make it anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 weeks ahead. when you get ready to use it, just pour the concentrate into a pitcher and add about 8 cups of cold water (or seltzer, if you want some bubbly)--that's two quarts, so you can just fill up the container it's already in twice to get the right amount of water. it looks lovely if you top it with a few thin slices of lemon. pour over ice to serve, and add lemon slices, mint, or you know, vodka, if you want a little something extra.

enjoy!

mama's potato salad

ok. i know. by tomorrow, what i meant was THURSDAY. and i know. there's no picture. this is because i can't remember shit anymore. but anyway--here's the cookbook entry all the same, and i promise it's tasty and pretty even though you can't see a picture of it! :)


my mama is famous for this potato salad. i can't tell you how many times i have eaten it at barbeques, cook-outs, pot-luck lunches, picnics, and holidays, and i still love it every time. of all us kids, my brother doug is really the only one who can make it like mama. i still try, and other people always seem to like it, but to me, it is just never quite the same. maybe it's because there are no measurements to speak of in mama's kitchen...the measurements are usually things like "some" and "a little."

• potatoes (idaho, peeled, or red skinned, not peeled)
• eggs
• sweet pickle relish or salad cubes
• onion
• mayonnaise, or Miracle whip, if you want to be authentic
• mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

so this is a dynamic sort of recipe based on how big your bowl is and how many people you are going to feed. let's assume a pretty big bowl, and that this is a side for a cook-out with like 10 people. i would start with one medium potato per person plus a couple of extras, so let's say 10-12 med. potatoes. peel and cube these, and then boil them until soft, about 20 minutes. drain well when done. at the same time, put 8-ish eggs in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil. boil 10 minutes. cool and peel the eggs, then chop and add to the drained potatoes.

ok--this next part is where you get to use your zen. for this amount of potatoes and eggs, i would start with a big heaping tablespoon of relish, and about 1 and a half medium yellow onions, chopped. add these to the potatoes. next, add about a teaspoon of mustard, and about 2 heaping tablespoons of mayo. stir it up, and add mayo a little at a time until you get the right texture. taste often, and do not hesitate to add a little mustard or relish if you think it needs it. salt and pepper to taste--it takes more salt than you think it will, and don't be shy with that pepper!

this is a GREAT recipe to make a day ahead, as the onion flavor sort of makes it, and that takes at least a few hours to steep through the whole salad.

cookbook posts a'comin'

i used to have a pretty active website, back in the day. and part of the website was a little cookbook that started mostly as a way for me to keep track of recipes I had scribbled on pieces of paper--family stuff and things from all over the place that i didn't want to lose. i was making one such thing this weekend, it it ocurred to me that i should share these, as they are already written up and all...

so--these are on the way. look for #1 of them tomorrow. the rest i'll post as i make them again so i have pictures to go with them. :)

believe it or not...

i've been knitting!

yesterday at lunchtime, i sat outside in the lovely weather and wove in the ends on the blanket i knitted at warp speed for my friend kylie, whose baby boy is due in just over a month. this is a tried and true pattern for me, and one many babies love above all other blankets. plus it's affordable, machine washable and dryable (driable?), soft as clouds, and quick to knit. it's a simple 4x5 basketweave with garter edges. this one's 5 skeins of paton's melody in le grande bleu, knitted on size 15 addi turbos. knitted in less than 2 weeks, which for me, is nothing short of a miracle.

i also finished (and mailed!) the butterfly hat (free pattern on ravelry) for my friend amy in oregon, where she promises me it is still cold enough to wear it. i confessed to her that i actually wore it myself last weekend for emily and my walk on the beach in the freezing wind. it was a tad harder to mail after that--i may make one of thse for myself. this is knitted in malabrigo (the BEST hat yarn) in the velvet grapes colorway on size 8 something or others... anyway, totally fun to knit, and i love the result.

i've also been having a bit of a delusional cast-on problem lately. i keep starting projects with this kind of field of dreams mentality of "if i cast it on, somehow it will get knitted." this is the mable dress from erika knight's book, simple knits for cherished babies, that i have wanted to make for years. however, i have never before known anyone having a baby girl at the right time of year for it. now i do, but odds of me being able to get it finished in time? well, we'll just see. if i don't make it in time for boo, then some baby sometime in the future is going to get a lovely little classic dress knitted from jaeger sienna in the creatively named colorway, 404. i will refer to it as lilac. so far, it's slow going, but lovely.

and since mable isn't knitting itself up at warp speed, i needed a faster back-up project. thus this hooded tunic i am making for kieran. this is a pattern from knitting pure and simple that i have made before from noro silk garden--that one is one of my favorite finished objects of all time. this one is a dark grey (darker than the picture looks) wool, silk, and viscose blend called mas acero from brooks farm, which i bought at SAFF in 2007 specifically to make into a hoodie for my then-unborn baby. i was going great guns on this until i realized i might be having a weird gauge issue. i need to address that--there may have to be frogging and redoing on different needles--we'll see... so far, i am happy with the fabric, but i dislike how the yarn gives me corpse-colored fingers when i knit with it. this will get a vinegar soak before i wash it when it's done.

and as if that's not enough (and it's definitely not--who are we kidding?) i've started buying a new yarn here and there in spite of the fact i have enough yarn to last me a good 3 years of constant knitting. at the beach this past weekend, i picked up this lovely skein of be sweet magic ball in the lemonade colorway. nevermind that my pasty white face has no business anywhere near these colors--i want to knit a ruffle out of this. i almost HAVE to. my friend kerstin's fabulous suggestion was to make a skirt and put this around the bottom as a thin ruffle--i REALLY want to do that! now i just need to learn to sew...

i also bought yarn to make some chickens, but we'll get to that later. :)

6 or 7 years

6 years ago today, the hippie moved in with me. he's still awesome, and i still like him pretty well. we're not really doing much this year to commemorate, but he sent me some beautiful flowers at work--excellent surprise! the view from my desk right now is perfectly lovely. :)

love you, hippie!

in other news, it's also his mama's birthday, so we must include a happy birthday shout out to denise! :)

quickie

this past weekend, my friend emily and i snuck away for a little overnight jaunt to the beach to hang out, knit, eat, visit a fabulous yarn store, and walk on the beach. it was refreshing and awesome, and we got a bit of a break in that the weather turned out to just be cold instead of cold and rainy. here are some photos from our walk to make you jealous:

the rest are here.

ps--stayed in the seahawk motor lodge. it was all good till my bed was full of sand. ew. next time, we're trying the atlantis. it's been recommended, and the sign alone makes me want to stay there.

open house at the celebrity dairy

a couple of weeks ago, we went with friends to the bi-annual open house at the celebrity dairy, which is a working goat farm and B&B in siler city, nc. they sell cheese and eggs, and many of our local shops and restaurants feature their products. it was one of those absolutely gorgeous warm sunny days we sometimes get in the late winter here in north carolina--one of the many reasons i love living here. i've made a pact with myself to start searching out and taking advantage of some of the many free, cool, and interesting things my area has to offer, and to get kieran outside to see his world as much as possible this year. (thanks to betsy for letting us know about thisone!)

we met up for brunch, then headed to the dairy with jenn and harry and betsy and all the girls. there, we hooked up with amy and kelly and baby sage. we spent the afternoon tromping around the farm (in the mud!), checking out baby goats, pigs, one bright blue peacock, and about 700 chickens. gabriella chased chickens for two solid hours and then cried when we left because she couldn't bring one home with her--she is a born farm girl. even kieran got to get his little paws on one of them, which utterly delighted him, of couse. afterwards, kelly and amy spontaneously came back to our house to grill out and eat goat cheese (not me--because ew--but everyone else did), and we threw the boys into the tub so that the babies would have that clean baby smell and be a little less farm-ish. all in all, a fabulous, wonderful day.

the complete set of pictures is here.

fitness snippet

by some bizarre quirk of my body being weird, i weigh less now than i have in like 10 years. this is not normal for a person who has had a baby in the past year, but i am not knocking it. ( i do kind of feel like i have somehow cheated and am having some emotional issues accepting it as reality, but that's a topic for a longer, more self-involved post than this one, which i have about 2 minutes to write.) and being so oddly close to my goal weight, i figure i should maybe make an actual effort to get there. here's my thought of the day on that topic:

some days my thoughts go like this:
less simple carbs--more fruit--take the stairs--take a walk at lunch--yoga?--eat more veggies and less meat--how lean is this protein?--STEP AWAY FROM THE CHOCOLATE--can i run up these stairs?

other days, it's more like:
fuckit--fuckit--cookies--fuckit--fuckit--cupcakes--mmm...fries...--fuckit

what gives, self?

critter update

maybe fridays are the right time to check in on the critter, or at least post some pictures of him. kieran is two weeks from his 9-month doctor's appointment. he is growing by leaps and bounds and will soon be completely out of his 6-12 month PJs. time to go shopping again! he's a blast lately, although i could do without the sleepless nights that come along with this whole teething thing. the bottom front two teeth came in pretty easily, but man--the top two are a BITCH! you can see them through his swollen and tender gums, and he's clearly not enjoying the process. i wish they would just hurry up.

other than the teeth, though--we are having a great time with him, as is jennifer (our friend and nanny) and her whole family. he's become one of the pack at her house, which is perfect. he loves them as much as he loves us, and while this is sometimes hard sometimes emotionally for me, i think it's definitely the best thing for him. he's happy to go in the morning, and happy to come home in the evening, too. gabriella loves him and reads to him and makes up games for them to play. and he immitates her and wants to get into everything she's doing. she is why he can climb stairs like a champ at 8 months old. she's why he loves throwing himself down on the bed and laughing over and over. she's a big part of why he loves his books so much. we are lucky and grateful.

he continues to astound us with his mobility and crazy development. he can draw lines on paper, keep rhythm with his maracca (favorite toy in the world!), and LOVES LOVES LOVES music. he is superfast at crawling, pulls up and climbs on everything, and is a huge fan of the stairs. it's all awesome and scary as hell at the same time. mostly, we let him explore and spot him. he laughs at everything new, claps his hands^* with excitement over things he loves, and is definitely developing some rather strong opinions about things. he is starting to initiate games with us, which is great fun, and oh, so cute! he's showing signs of becoming more and more independent, too--preferring to feed himself rather than have us feed him and to get his own toys off the shelves and out of the baskets instead of us giving him things to play with. all normal and good. again with the lucky and grateful.

it also continues to scare the crap out of me on a daily basis--this whole parenting thing. i pray more. i hope more. i fear more. i just want him to be happy and healthy, and i hate that i can't just guarantee that for him myself. i am sure every new mother goes through this. it's so weird--it's not that i want to protect him so much as i want to somehow ensure that he doesn't get more than he can handle, if that makes sense. or more than WE can handle. mostly i just try to backburner these thoughts, since they are all related to things over which i have zero control. in spite of that fear, he is just a wonder and a delight, and i am so happy to have him in our lives! it's really truly unbelievable.

this series of pictures is from hanging out at home last weekend. kieran was "helping" his daddy put some chairs together. he "helps" a lot these days--must be in the thick of things at all times. wonder where he gets that?

* a note on the clapping thing: we've been playing clapping games with him forever, but something clicked in his head on christmas day when my 6'3", 280 pound, barrel-chested tree of a brother was playing pat-a-cake with him. this was one of the funniest things i have ever seen--doug was hamming it up insanely, and the critter was totally enthralled. 5 minutes later, he was clapping himself--it was such a sweet moment. it NEARLY made up for the horrific stomach virus doug gave me that day. nearly...

crockpotting

for christmas, my friend jenn gave me a crock pot--something i have wanted for literally years and have just never gotten around to buying for myself. this weekend was my first foray into the world of the slow cooker, and it was AWESOME. we made a BJ's run on saturday and came home with a lot of meat--a perfect time to bring out the crock pot, right? having no idea what to do, i googled, read a bunch of recipes, and then just made some shit up. here's what i did.

INGREDIENTS
1 4-pound pork loin roast
8-10 shallots
1 cup chicken broth
5 cloves garlic
4 large, lush rosemary sprigs
~1 pound green beans
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

DIRECTIONS
peel shallots and cut each in half. place cut side down in bottom of crock pot until the bottom is covered in shallots. salt and pepper the roast all over and rub in. this would be an excellent time to apply any spice rubs you find intriguing, but i didn't this time. heat some olive oil (maybe 2-3 tablespoons?) in a heavy skillet and brown roast on all sides. (this step also known as--make a big spatter-y mess out of your stove, but whatever.) place roast on top of shallots. pour cup of broth over roast. cut garlic cloves in half and place in a line longways down on top of the roast. lay rosemary sprigs on top. place the lid on the crokpot and cook on low for 8 hours. when there's about 45 minutes to go, add the green beans.

when everything was done, i picked out and discarded the rosemary sticks, put the green beans in their own dish, and pulled out the roast to slice it--little did i know that it was going to fall completely apart. this was ok with me--i am open minded. i used an immersion blender to puree the shallots and garlic with the broth and pan juices to make a gravy, and then added the pork back to the pot. i served this over rice noodles with the green beans on top, but in retrospect, i think it would be better with some wild rice or something with a little more body than the egg noodles. in any event, it was YUMMY! i would definitely make it again.

a note on the immersion blender. i borrowed one from my friend jenn to try it out, and now i need one. it was AWESOME--so fast and not too messy. i am currently lusting after this one. you need one, too.

i have been asking around for crock pot recipe recommendations from people who know from food, and here are my three faves so far, in order of how strongly they were recommended:

fresh from the vegetarian slow cooker (book)
a year of crockpotting (blog)
not your mother's slow cooker cookbook (book)

if y'all have favorite recipes, i'd love to hear them. i am all about trying stuff in this thing now!

monday knitting update: the amanda hat

mondays are for knitting updates. i guess--why not? i made a hat. hats are about all i can swing lately, but that's ok, as i have not yet gone through a round of hat gifting. there's a group of people on ravelry knitting 3 hats for january, and i thought about joining it. but man, i don't need the pressure. i am just knitting hats when i can get to them. i bought a bunch of malabrigo so i have many colors to choose from, and i downloaded many free patterns. excellent.

anyway--this is the amanda hat, which i knitted for kerstin, my friend and one of my bosses. this was my ONLY christmas knitting, and well--i gave it to her last wednesday. the good news is, she loves it! it fits her perfectly! it matches her shearling coat, which has this lovely ribbon trim in white, silver, and champagne. this hat is made from malabrigo, my current favorite hat yarn--soft and boingy and semi-solid. the color is called polar morn, and is the same color i used for my own foliage hat a while back as well as for one of the many umbrella hats i've made. love it.

note: posted on ravelry here.

ps--if you knit or crochet, and you aren't on ravelry, get on there. i mean it--there's just no reason not to!

in for it

so it turns out that we have a crazy baby. he's 8 months old now--time flies. and lately his favorite activity is what the hippie and i refer to as, "gettin' into some shit." last night while i was out knitting, the hippie was on point. he turned his back for a moment, only to turn back and find this:

it's a blurry as hell picture, but i think it gets the point across.

the kid wanted a music box that was too high to reach on the living room book shelf. so he took an emptly diaper box (one of his favorite things), pushed it over to the shelf, climbed up on it, and helped himself to the lovely little hand carved music box i have had since i was 8. naughty.

this problem solving thing he's got going on is a little scary. as is the climbing. whew.

ah, 2009...

some thoughts on the last year:

so glad that i have a happy and healthy family and a great village in which to bring up a baby. so in love with that baby and his daddy, it's not even funny. so grateful to have a job, a house i love, two kitties i love, and a neighborhood i love. i have plenty (too much!) to eat and clean water to drink. there are many people in this world i love and who love me. i feel so lucky! i feel so lucky, i almost feel guilty about how much more i have than so many people in the world. i am blessed.

this past year hasn't been all fun and games, and it's been one of the biggest adjustments of my life so far. i am sure that's not over--we are continuing to find our groove with each other as a family and to re-prioritize all our stuff. but overall, it's been a good year--a great one, even. the hardest thing has been time--i never ever feel like there's enough.

for 2009, i have more overhanging goals than resolutions.

i'd like to focus the first two months of this year on finishing up with all the loose end things hanging over my head, so that for the rest of the year, i can focus on enrichment, personal development for all of us, and play.

in january,

• i'm going to hang the aplhabet cards i got for the critter's room.
• i'm going to get all packages in need of mailing into the mail.
• i'm going to organize the crawl spaces.
• i'm going to trim the crepe myrtle tree.

in february,

• i'm going to finish all the almost-finished knitting projects (there are a few...)
• i'm going to finish my massive flower bed overhaul.
• i'm going to do my level best to get two trees planted--a redbud and a dogwood.
• i'm going to get my studio organized.

general goals for myself for 2009:

• spend more time in the studio.
• focus on debt riddance.
• walk more.
• try yoga.
• read more.
• spend more time outside.

knitting goals for 2009:

• finish kerstin's hat!!!
• make the critter a sweater.
• finish and felt 3 almost finished bags.
• pick up the baltic sea stole again.
• get started on a sweater for the hippie.
• make hats for the critter, the hippie, tristan, and amy p.
• make baby gifts for 3 babies.
• start on a blanket for my house.

note: i have all the yarn i need for all of the above projects. and more.

two possible big-ass long-term house and home things:
1) ditch all the carpet and put in bamboo flooring?
2) puppy?

and last, but definitely not least, this is a year when i want to do something to give something back to the world. i need to live greener and lessen my footprint on this earth. and i really want to do something for others this year, whether it's volunteering or knitting for charity or what--something. suggestions are welcome.

pet peeve:

i hate it when i pay for rush shipping on a thing, and they ship it rush, but take 3 days to get it out the door. hrmph.

ten random notes

1. still hate herbal tea.
2. the kid is climbing stairs.
3. cookies? they're good. really good.
4. christmas tree is up.
5. work is slow. painful--feels like i am wasting time.
6. tired. teething sucks.
7. still need to buy christmas cards.
8. determined to finish 3 nearly finished felted bags that have been ready to felt for--oh--a couple of years now.
9. sucks when the whole family gets sick at once.
10. really want to knit a hat.

and as a bonus--a cute picture of the critter:

on gardening

alice bradley is moving from the 'burbs back into brooklyn, from when she came. i am positive that she has many many reasons for doing so, but the one i can relate to the most is the mulch. when we lived downtown, our house had a yard filled with lovely blooming things that had been planted 50 years earlier and loved long enough to become well established. the grass would not grow, but there was always something lovely and interesting going on. i had ideas then of gardening--of what i would one day do, given a yard of my own. i have a yard of my own now. i hate my yard. i hate my lack of time for it and how it alwyas looks just half-assed. i have these pictures in my head of what it may one day be, but in truth, i just don't see how it's ever going to get there--at least not till the kid is about 10 and able to help trim the holly bushes that threaten to overtake the porch. someone should really do something about all the plants i have that need to go into the ground. someone should also maybe finish the Great Soil Amendment Project of 2008^* that i started last march while still pregnant and filled with illusions of grandeur. someday i will finish it. someday i will plant trees. and bulbs so i have daffodils in the spring. someday i will repot all my houseplants. someday i will mulch. meredith's coming into town this weekend. maybe i'll make her hold the baby while i work on the yard.

* the flower bed in the front of my house is full of builder's detritus and clay. i've been slowly digging this out and amending the "soil" with a mixture of peat moss, perlite, and fertilizer. it's working wonders for the weeds adjacent to the bed, and i am guessing would also be good for the plants in the bed, were there any. the hippie pokes fun at me for "planting dirt", but i maintain that this must be done before we plant anything else. last time i checked, plants and bulbs did not find tar paper and 10-penny nails nourishing. but i digress...

catching up to the present

a lot's happened in the last couple of months while i've been not blogging. time has been going by so quickly, i haven't even realized i've failed to blog it. so--let's catch up, shall we? some visual aids should help us.

labor day weekend, we went to visit my parents. kieran spent some time with some of his cousins and had his first rice cereal. he liked it. :)

we went to see the carolina rollergirls with many friends. fun, but jesus, it was HOT! the kid did pretty well with his first sporting event, in spite of the crazy loud applause.

then he got a nasty cold, but he was still happy.

luckily he was all better by the time we went to the beach, where we spent time with carrie, isaac, ella, meredith, denise, warren, and lani. i've been dreaming about putting his feet in the sand since i was pregnant, so this was particularly satisfying for me. he was very brave about the water on his feet, and he immediately put a fistful of sand in his mouth, as expected. there's a whole set of pitctures here, but here's one of my favorites, too:

there's been some knitting:

the critter started sitting, crawling, and pulling up.

fall came.

my friend tina had her baby, kyla christina. i was there with her, which is always an awesome priveledge and makes me want to become a doula. still thinking about that...

and then--suddenly it was halloween.

y'all want to tell me how the hell that all happened so fast?

and then i voted, but you guys already know about that.

whew! that only took 3 days to get posted. maybe i can get back onto the normal blogging schedule now. clearly, i should not make any promises. but man--i miss you guys!

ps--happy birthday, alyce! love and miss you like a fiend!!!
pps--good thoughts to lisa, who's having a baby as we speak!

i voted

this is the first time i have voted in my life. i have planned to vote for barak obama for president for some time, mainly because sarah palin scares the hell out of me. and i think it says something about our country that i finally registered tovote, not because i was totally gung ho for a candidate, but because i was so filled with bile and rage that i wanted to vote AGAINST someone. but i digress... anyway, i voted. and about a week ago, somewhere in all the reading, i drank the hope kool-aid. cnn just projected that obama was going to win. i have my fingers crossed that the coming change will be good. i am stunned that we have elected an african american as president of the united states in my lifetime. stunned and thrilled.

a month? really?

dang. it's been over a month since i've had the time to write anything here??? i didn't even realize it, which is pretty sad. and you know, i miss blogging--a LOT! i need to get back on it. maybe today i will try to get on here at lunch time and write the rest of the 5-month update i started--oh--at the end of september when kieran turned 5 months old. time flies, people. time flies...

cooking on the fly

having a kid makes you become first less efficient (A LOT LESS!), and then suddenly more efficient. i am finding a new groove at last. (thank you exersaucer!) i am learning to roughly plan ahead and to make stuff up on the fly. i now go to the grocery store with no real list, but instead, some vague notion that we should maybe have some food in the house and that some extra diapers wouldn't go amiss. and maybe more advil. for example, on saturday i just went to the store with this notion of coming back home with FOOD. and here is my smartest idea ever: buy a whole big family pack of boneless chicken breasts and all kinds of random vegetables. grill the whole pack of chicken. and then for days--you have dinner almost made already. i keep making random stuff with grilled chicken and veggies, and man--it's been pretty good. here are some successes:

one night i roasted a butternut squash--i chopped up half a pear (random) and put it in the cavity of the squash, rubbed the whole thing with olive oil, sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on it, and baked it for somehtng like 50 minutes at 350. when it was done, i scooped out the squashy goodness and mashed it up with a little more cinnamon, and voila. with that we had some cous cous (one of those near east boxes--i think this was the toasted pine nut variety) to which i added a handful of spinach. and by the way, i will definitely be doing THAT again. i just threw the spinach in on top of the cous cous and let it steam for a few minutes, and then stirred it in--it wilted beautifully, and man, it was good. and i think my hands on time for this whole meal was maybe 15 minutes.

chicken caesars. easy peasy. use real parmesan for this, people, and you can't go wrong.

last night i took half a box of pasta and cooked it. then i added it to a saute of mushrooms, halved grape tomatoes, and some frozen soycutash from trader joes(although you could also use pretty much any frozen vegetable or a can of something), a cup of chicken broth, some sprigs of thyme, and a few red pepper flakes. and you know, chicken. fast, low fat, and delicious.

sandwiches with sliced chicken, roasted red pepper, basil or watercress, and herbed mayo. or if you want them to look fancy, drop the mayo and serve them open faced with shaved manchego cheese and a drizzle of olive il and balsamic vinegar. yum.

burritoes!!! take some of that chicken and add some avacado, some salsa, maybe some black beans and cheese, a little cilantro if you have it. roll it up in a tortilla.

tonight we will have some sugar snap peas and something. maybe a stir-fry. i'm sure i still have some other vegetable bits and pieces hiding in that crisper drawer--half an onion, a red pepper, some mushrooms...something...

i realize there's nothing earth-shattering here, but it's made all the difference to my psyche this week. last night the hippie was reveling in the fact that we're eating at home, and that it's not all PB&J (although yum! PB&J!). it's good, finally getting back into the swing of my kitchen.

ps--speaking of PB&J, can i just tell you how good this strawberry and rhubarb jam we found is? we bought it in a general store out newr my hometown, and holy lord--YUM! just sayin'...

blogging from the iPhone: a test

sometimes it's hard for me to accept that this phone i am using has more power and memory than the computers i learned to program on. technology is just crazy, man. a friend asked me to test whether or not i could write a blog post from my iPhone. apparently yes.

fragile

it's morning, and i am sitting alone in my living room thinking about how tenuous our grasp life is. it's that same kind of panic i have written about before i guess, but today it weighs heavy. my really good friend meredith's family is experiencing a terrible tragedy, and i can't stop thinking about it. her cousin's wife collapsed last week and turns out to have an enlarged heart, which led to a cardiac arrest and countless other complications. now, they are concerned that her higher level brain functions may be permanently impaired. i would normally not presume to write about their issues, but they have a blog on which they are posting updates about her condition, so it's already out there. and really, in this case, i think the more people praying for hyatt, the better. she needs a miracle. i have never met hyatt, but she is a young mother with two daughters--her baby is about the same age as kieran, which is probably why this is hitting so close to home for me. i believe that this is something that every mother fears. in addition to your fears for your child, you fear for yourself, because--who will take care of your baby if you can't? even if you have a plan in place, money and care provided, who will be his mother? who will love him like you would love him? it's about the worst thing i can imagine right now, short of losing the baby or his father. anyway--i am a downer on this bright sunny sunday morning. i am sad. i am overcome thinking about this family and what they might lose. and i am praying as hard as i can for them.

i knitted something

it's not a big thing, but i did manage to start and finish and gift something in less than a week--this little pumpkin hat for my friend lisa who's baby is due just a few days before halloween. i feel strongly that all babies should have at least one handmade thing to surround them with love--i may even be a little superstitious about this. and well, i just don't have the time to make blankets like i used to. this little hat though--i have made it before, and i knew i could do pull it off if i tried hard. i knitted most of it in the dark while we were driving to my parents' house for a visit, and then i did the stranding at home (the night before her shower). although i had to stay up late to finish it--it was totally worth it for the smile on lisa's face when she opened it up. :)

for the record, i also managed to knit a little hat in july for our frineds clay and heather whose baby was soon to be born while we were in pennsylvania, but i don't have any photographic evidence of that one. it was a dove grey malabrigo umbrella hat--i used the leftover yarn from my foliage hat, which was still lingering around in my knitting bag.

hats are the new blanket.

critter vs. crocodile

he's chompin' it on the nose. and almost crawling--yikes!