Seduction by Seedlings

Tonight Theric, the Big O and I ventured out to OSH to pick up plants and dirt for our garden. I had planned on purchasing only two tomato seedlings and eight strawberry seedlings, which would be grown in my two Earthboxes. The rest of the garden was to come from the seeds I had already started. I had a list and everything--I was prepared. And yet, I failed.

Standing in the nursery with my husband and child and a sign proclaiming seedlings to be a mere 84¢, I knew there would be trouble. I was right.

Theric was clearly excited by the varieties of vegetables. The Big O was also excited. I too was excited but remained focused on choosing just two tomato plants and eight strawberry seedlings. I selected the strawberries easily enough--only one variety there--then on to the tomatoes, of which there were quite a few varieties. I however, managed to narrow my search and select the variety I thought would be best.

Theric however was easily lured in by the tomato lovelies, he had to have them. In the end, however, he managed to select only two different varieties. Yes. Two. Because "Hey, they're only 84¢!" Oh, did I forget to mention that he was also seduced by corn? Yes, that's right, corn.

So, should all of these plants actually produce, we will be up to our ears in tomatoes, and maybe to our knees in all the other veggies I have already started growing.

When the crops roll in I may have more than I can handle. And you, of course, won't mind piles of veggies left on your porches during the night.

Colds = Dead Trees

It is never easy when one has a cold, but at least when one has a cold one is usually not pregnant. When you are pregnant you really shouldn't take any medication because it could hurt the baby. This is hard for me.

When I am fetus free and suffering from nasal affliction, I take whatever medication I can get my hands on that might help. So it really bites right now that I have a sore throat plus an itchy, stuffy, runny nose, and can not take anything for it.

All I can really do is drink LOTS of fluids, which just makes me have to use the potty even more than I already am. When you take all that extra toilet paper into account, along with the two and a half boxes of Kleenex I have used since Friday, I'm going to guess I have killed around half an acre of trees.

Sorry trees. Sorry I got sick and you had to die.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Theric and Lady Steed have an outing.

From this photo can you guess what we did and where we did it?

photo taken by 'sposita

Baby Panic!

Yesterday was the 18th of April. I realized this very last night, around 11:30pm. Some days I just never pay attention to the calendar.

A few minutes later I realized the full meaning of this date--there are only two months left until my due date, and possibly the baby, arrive!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out......)

I put very little trust in the ole EDD (estimated due date). It is, after all, only an estimate. I fully expect this baby to arrive sometime during the end of June, not on the 18th.

Regardless, I am not ready for this baby to come. There is so much to do--finish the Big O's room, set up crib, find newborn clothes (which are in a box in the garage somewhere), buy diapers, tour hospital, write birth plan, etc, etc, etc.

ACKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

NOT. READY. FOR. BABY!

She/He

The Big O reminded us, once again, at dinner tonight that he wants a baby sister. However, tonight he let us know something new about this baby sister.

"Me want baby sister first, then it will be brother when it gets big."

Oh. I see. How on earth does he know about protogyny?

We tried to explain to him that this is not how things work with humans. That if the baby starts out as a baby sister it will remain a sister, a girl, forever. But he would have none of that, "No Mommy, it will be brother when gets big."

We tried a different tactic and tried to explain to him that by this logic he would become a girl when he got bigger. But, Of course, this also was not true according to Big O logic: "No, me stay boy."

Apparently I am not growing an actually baby in my tummy but a hermaphrodite, an animal that changes sex during it's life-cycle. Hopefully it will be a cute hermaphrodite animal, like a clownfish. I think the Big O would like that.

You're vermi welcome!

Last week we welcomed into our home (actually our shed) some lovely little red wiggler worms. I am not sure how many we actually have, but I do know that their combined weight is about a pound. We acquired them through Craigslist from a local worm farmer--we met up on the streets of Berkeley and made a quick transition there, keeping a close eye out for law enforcement.

You may be wondering why we bought worms quick and dirty on the streets of Berkeley. Didn't you know, worms are tasty! Mmmmmm......kidding! We bought worms because we needed seed worms! To start our worm farm! Duh!

A month or two ago my mother gave us her worm farm which she no longer wanted. She bought it years ago but never got around to getting worms for said farm. Just prior to this I had mentioned to her a neat article I had read in my Martha about vermicomposting and how you could make your own little worm bin to go under your sink. I decided I would do this because we seem to have lots of kitchen scraps, it would be good to lighten the amount of waste we produce, and the worm castings are fabulous fertilizer for your garden. And I am now one with a garden--or will be very soon.

After mentioning this to my mother she brought over her unused worm farm--called 'The Wriggly Worm Wranch--and asked if I wanted it. By this point the Big O was all excited about being a worm farmer and so we quickly accepted the ranch. It is much larger than the one Martha made, but it fits nicely in our shed.

After purchasing the worms, which were handed over to us in a medium-sized Priority Mail box, we rushed home to the sounds of the Big O's excitement about the baby worms. We got their home ready and opened the package. Inside was a lot of dirt and a few worms. The Big O was so excited to see them, he squealed with delight and even held one, "Oh him soo cute! Cute little baby worm! Him loves me! We have take good care of them!" I wondered if we had got ripped off, but hoped that the dirt was filled with plenty red wrigglers.

So far the worms seem to be happy. I checked on them twice today and both times they were happily consuming the slurry of potato peels, egg shells and other various scraps, I had made for them last week. In fact, when I took the cover off and pulled back the moist cardboard, I let out a little yelp at seeing so very many red wriggling worms all in one place. It was a little scary, but then I was proud of my little worms, and warmth wrapped my heart. Sure they're not nearly as cute as baby chicks, which may actually be the cutest things ever, but we love them anyway.

Do you have it yet?

Has your LDOTFMOTNY letter arrived in your mail?

Let me know.

Hunger + Pregnancy

You know how they say that you should never go grocery shopping when you are hungry, because you'll end up with a bunch of food that is not what you need? Certainly you have experienced this before. Now try and imagine what might happen when you are hungry and pregnant.

It's not pretty.

Delicious, but not pretty.

Hungry, pregnant and grouchy lady grocery shopping, alone no less, results in many unneeded but delicious purchases.

The best thing I learned while shopping Saturday evening is that See's candy, just around the corner form my Trader Joe's, stays open till 9pm! 9pm, people! When the craving strikes for a marzipan, a raspberry truffle, or scotch mallow at 8:57pm, I can satisfy it! Sweet!



The final trimester is looking much brighter.

And delicious.