Egg carton planting :)

Planting AKA dirt scooping :)

Cory and I just planted carnival colored bell peppers, sweetie cherry tomatoes, and matina early tomatoes in some egg cartons.  I know, I should have done this last month...but at the rate the garden plot is moving along (read:  barely moving), I think I planted them at the right time.  I'm honestly thinking of trying the pallet method that my friend Liz linked me to.  By the time we build the tiered garden wall and rototil, I don't know if I'll have it in me to put cut the cardboard boxes in strips to put down seeds...that might have to wait until next year.

Pallet gardening idea

One Day a Kitchen & Bath Renovation will be in our Future

So, I know I've said this before, but our house is old, as in, built in 1900, old.  Just squeaked by to not have to carry the "Century Home" label.  Prior to our moving in it was last updated in the 1940's.  Maybe I should give it a bit more credit, some of the wall paper and carpeting were updated more recently in the 50's or early 60's, but yeah, even though it still needs lots of love, it's SO much better than it was.

So at any moment we have a house project going.  We'd like to be lazy, stop worrying about it, and just let go, but I guess we're just gluttons for punishment :P

Summer 2012 projects include building a garden with railroad ties and a fence to keep out the bunnies and deer, installing 6 rain barrels, finish painting the basement, power washing the house, repainting trim and the front porch, replacing the lattice under the porch, and finishing the front porch railing.  We'd also love to create an official back deck, renovate the bathroom and kitchen, and paint the exterior of the house :P  Oh to dream.

See the awesome 1940's sink? Pic from our original house walk through.
We've since replaced the laminate flooring, and though it's very sad
we've replaced the blue toilet seat and pink swan. :P

So, today we made our weekly visit to our local home improvement stores.  It was the least expensive trip there in the last 3 years - we only bought a kid garden shovel!  We were looking at bathroom sinks with vanities, tub/showers, kitchens cabinetry, lawnmowers, decking costs, and screen doors.  We really need a new bathroom.  We really need a new kitchen.  We really need to finish all of the outstanding projects on the house.  But I don't know how much longer the bathroom and kitchen will hold out without some fixing.  The piping under our bathroom sink started leaking last week and while we could just replace/fix that, I really think it's nearing time to take on the bathroom.  And the kitchen, boy, would I love to have it re-done...why can't I ever meet anyone from Home or Yard Crashers at Lowe's or Home Depot?  Come to the Cleveland suburbs guys!

The problems to all of these well-intentioned plans: we're cheap, we're dreamers, and we have to work too darned much to finish all of them.  But we're probably going to making a trip out the Kraftmaid warehouse soon to find a bathroom vanity, and dream about a kitchen remodel.  I looked it up tonight.  I'd been told a number of times it's in Lordstown, but it moved to Warren some time ago.  Since it took me some time to locate the current information I'm posting the address here in case Google in it's insane wisdom sends you my blog.  The current Kraftmaid outlet address is 3418 Elm Rd E Warren, Ohio 44483, and phone number is still supposed to be 440-632-2106.  Now they're only open every other Saturday too, with the next Saturdays being April 14 and 28.  Here are some outdated blogs, that still have some seemingly useful information - this and that and Baker Kitchen.

IZR the Leopard Gecko

Cory LOVED the lizards and geckos of Florida.  Multiple times he was holding my hand, dropped it, crouched to the ground, and said "hello".  The first time he spotted one was in the zoo, in front of the loud screeching monkey enclosure, and he's sitting on the boardwalk talking to the ground, and I'm looking at him wondering who he's talking to.  The last was when we left Golden Corral after breakfast on our way home, when there were so many we were sure we could catch one, but they were too quick.  

Since we got home he's been asking about the beach, talking about swimming in the ocean, riding a boat, seeing Aunt Jean, and the lizards.  Yep, Disney and seeing Mickey Mouse and Buzz have already been forgotten.. 

As of St. Patty's Day 2012, we're the proud owner's of a leopard gecko, which Cory promptly named IZR.  He's a pretty chill little guy.  He's mostly asleep during the day, so I'm not sure how it'll go with the childcare kids, but so far when we wake in the morning, he's ready for bed and before Cory goes to bed at night we get him out and give him some gecko lovin' and a few crickets.  He's only a baby and about 3" long now.  Hopefully he's just as docile as an adult at at 8" or so.

Florida Trip - Feb/Mar 2012

We just got back from a really nice time in Florida.  We went down because Dan was invited to the Grainger trade show, held annually at Walt Disney World's Coronado resort, and decided to make a family vacation out of it.  As such, we spent much of the trip in Orlando, but did venture to Venice Beach to visit family and drove the A1A for a bit on the way down and almost fully on the way home to see some of the Atlantic coast.  

For the first 3 days of our trip, Dan was pretty busy with trade show stuff, so Cory and I visited the zoo, swam in 2 of the many pools at the resort, visited IKEA, and did a lot of walking.  It was 85 degrees in February, so I felt absolutely certain that we should soak up as much of the sun as possible and be lazy beach bums.  I'll be honest, the weather made me fall in love with Florida.  If 80 degrees is part of winter?  AWESOME!

Grainger paid for our hotel room for the 2 nights during the show, which was pretty cool.  In fact, we would have considered staying at the Coronado for the duration of our trip, as we really liked it's cleanliness and multiple nearly always vacant pools (which almost made up for a ridiculous 2 hour check-in that had us loosing shoes and other items), but upon looking into the pricing - $400/night, wth? - we knew it wasn't for us.  

So finally, Tuesday afternoon Dan got free of responsibility and we checked into the hotel we'd booked  - the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista (for $44/night on Hotwire!) - and walked around outside at the Disney Marketplace, soaking in some more sun, taking a ferry ride, eating a lobster (me & Cory) and steak (Dan) dinner, and spending money on a few awesome things.  Among the awesome things are Darth Tater and Storm Trooper costumes for our Potato Head collection, and a really sweet personalized and hand-drawn name sign for Cory's space themed room.  I'd recommend spending a day or afternoon/evening at Disney's Marketplace to anyone.  We had a really good time, and Cory felt like he "met" Buzz and Mickey and Minnie, since he got to hug their statues.  

Wednesday (Leap Day) we set off early for Magic Kingdom.  We thought it would be a great day, as they were open from 6am-6am - a full 24 hours - but it ended up being a mistake, because so did the rest of the state of Florida...  We tried to have a good time, rode some rides, walked around to see everything, but it was pretty busy, and really not much fun.  It may be because we live in Ohio and take Cedar Point for granted, but honestly, we all enjoyed Disney's Marketplace a lot more than Magic Kingdom, and we didn't have to pay money up front for it.  I do think that Cory enjoyed the rides though and we'll likely be taking him to Cedar Point or Kennywood this year.  We left around 4pm to get Cory a nap and went back that evening, but it just got busier.  I guess I'm glad we went, but we definitely won't probably ever go back.

Thursday we drove down to visit Aunt Jean in Venice.  We went to lunch and then to see the ocean.  It was Cory and Dan's first time playing in the ocean!  I can't believe my husband is 36 years old and had never been to the ocean.  When I was a kid we went every 2 or 3 years...  Regardless, age 2 seems like a much better age to visit one of the awesome things about the world, so I'm glad Cory got to go.  He had fun picking up shells and playing in the sand much more than the water though.  He's still unsure about being splashed, so high tide + sunset, while romantic, really wasn't for him.  We left as dusk was falling, and Dan said he wanted to live in Florida.

Friday we started our journey home.  We didn't want to leave, but journeyed up the A1A anyway as I stared longingly at the beaches, gardens overrun with vegetables that grow year round, farmer's markets selling fresh local produce, and glimpses of the ocean.  We made it to Virginia before we decided to stop because of the rain...

As soon as we got home Saturday evening I started looking up the names of the beaches, economical places to live near the coast, and tried searching for jobs down there.  There aren't many jobs, and that's the reason that it's economical to live down there at the moment.  But now that we're headed into gardening season, I've realized I'd save a lot of money if I could grow most of my own food year-round, so we could likely live on a lot less, we could own a smaller home for decreased utilities...  There are many things to think about, surely.  

Well, yes, that was our trip to Florida.  Much too short, too much business to visit  much of the state, but we're definitely going to head back.  Maybe in August or September to see what Florida summers are to ensure our love of the state isn't fleeting.  Oh, and in the insane off chance anyone reading this blog happens to need a Production Supervisor/Plant Manager or a Project Administrator/Executive Assistant near Flagler Beach, definitely comment or email me  :)

Coming to terms with myself as a mother

It's taken quite a lot of time, but I finally feel that I've nearly come to terms with myself as a mother.  That seems funny to say, but honestly, it's true.  I really lost myself in it...Dan and I got married, pregnant 3 months later, bought a house, found out I was a high risk pregnancy, bedrest, premature birth, NICU, quitting my job, being a flat-broke shut-in for a year, struggling with going back to work, then quitting to stay home, and now doing the childcare thing.  It was crazy rocky ground for awhile there.  And now I'm finally gaining some footing and moving along on the path again.

For the last 2 years I'd been stuck in the world of blogging, reading how other people raise children, make food, create art, write, etc.  Sure, I'd read books on occasion over the last 2 years, but I was nearly always plugged in.  It's just what I did, I zoned, I nibbled on all of those short snippets of text.  I wanted to make sure the things I did were the "right" way, and the way of the world.  Silly, I know that now.  Then during foster parent classes last fall, and I started reserving books at the library and picking them up.  But they were all about children in social services.  Some were tales of hope, others how badly the system had hurt the children, but all were non-fiction, mostly autobiographical, emotionally-difficult reading, necessary, but difficult.  Then in January, I read my first fiction book in likely 3 years - "The Hunger Games".  I devoured it.  Then I read "Catching Fire" and "MockingJay" as soon as they came into the library.  Really, I felt full on consumption of them, reading each book in under 24 hours.  It's amazing how much I'd missed that.  Since January 1st I've read 12 books.  I'm eating them up, just like I used to, and boy is it grand.

Though my blog reading has slowed down considerably, my love of Pinterest has grown ten-fold.  Pinterest makes me want to cook, bake, and eat up all of the food, and I have been.  Making, serving, and eating food makes me happy, always has, likely always will.  Sure, it's not necessarily good for my figure, but eh, whatever, I'm still hot  :)  I know I should lose +/- 30 lbs for my health and my back, but it will go away when it's supposed to.  And honestly, we're saving money by not going out to eat, and probably some calories too.  I'm being active too, so it'll come off as long as I limit the cheese and desserts.  Pinterest also makes me want to make things, but unless it's kid-related, most of it hasn't been accomplished.  The answer is the same as weight, creating will come when it should, and I should be happy for what has gotten accomplished.

Speaking of activity, I'm toying with the idea of getting back into yoga.  Getting reacquainted and re-obsessed with it.  Possibly even including "yoga instructor" as my future career goal.  I've been doing some at home, 3-4 times a week, and I really need to find a place around here and commit to an outside of the house venture once a week.  Cory and the older kids love trying to do yoga poses with me, and the babies are fun added obstacle.  Holding a child in front of oneself, throwing off your center of balance will only make it easier when you don't have to do that, right?

And since I glazed over it in the last point, yes, I've become somewhat of a recluse.  Not on purpose really, but I've just realized I'm happier at home, and I'm finally trying to own it.  For awhile, I really thought mom's were supposed to have play-dates, do fun things with large groups of people they only knew because they were parents of other same-aged children, and I tried.  I really did try.  I joined Moms-like-me, I joined HiveMoms, I joined PlaygroupsUSA, but then a playdate would come up, and I'd either forget about it completely or hide in my little-Cancerian shell, cry, and not come out till it was over.  I did force myself to go on 5 "dates", and attempted to communicate, but I was never able to connect with any other moms on any deep level.  We recently joined Solon Early Childhood PTA (SECPTA), and I'm feeling similar feelings with that, but since Dan can go with me to meetings, and we get major discounts to fun things, like visiting the Brown's Stadium and going to Lake Farm Park for the Holiday Light Festival, I'm dealing with it.  Still haven't made any friends from that group, but there's a playgroup at the library tomorrow, and I'm going to drag myself to it.  I still want local mom friends, I just want them to be similar or at least accepting of me, ha.   And I'd like to have them over, or go to their house for dinner.  :P  Leading me to my next point...

Even though high school was over more than 10 years ago, I'm still somehow in the weird/nerdy crowd.  We cloth-diapered, did extended breast-feeding (made it to 25 months, but hallelujah, am I glad it's over), did mostly baby-led weaning, used a sling almost always, co-slept until nearly a year old, ate organic and local veggies, and probably many other "weird" things I'm not even aware of.  I realized I was weird mom within my first few months as a mom too...I went to the breastfeeding group at the hospital about a month after Cory was released from the NICU, and I was the only one not pushing my child in the carseat-stroller thing.  EVERYONE looked at me weird.  It was one of those high school moments on rewind, only my son was on my lap and my boob was in his mouth.  I'm finally realizing that it's really okay to be different after high school and the rest of your life, it's just hard sometimes, especially doing the mom thing.  I need to start a group for NEO weird moms, really.

All of that said, I'm very lucky that I have several wonderful couples that entrust me with the care of their children.  If not for them, I couldn't have written this post, and I doubt I'd be owning Mom-Amy.  I'd likely still be struggling, working, crying daily on the way to work, becoming an engineer (instead of a potential yoga instructor), and being frustrated with trying to understand why playgroups aren't working for me.  But thanks to the Moms & Dads who actually kind of like, or at least accept my weirdness, I'm digging Mom-Amy.  I like her.  She's pretty sweet, and honestly, she's mostly pre-Mom-Amy, but with a few extra pounds, a c-section scar, and the silliest wee-man you ever did see.  And the wee-man makes it all worth it.

Wee-Man - A self-portrait.

I know that's long enough, so, for now, Mom-Amy, out.

Sing Along with Putamayo

We love "Sing Along with Putamayo".  Since I'm mostly anti-TV (the hubby's definitely not, or we wouldn't own one), we have music on a lot during the day, and after listening  to it at least twice a week for over 18 months now, it's one of the only children's CD's that I'm not sick of.  It was published in 2004, but since it's old-timey music, that doesn't matter.

We also listen to a few stations I created on Pandora and the "Toddler" channel on Slacker radio a lot.  What are your favorite songs to put on for the kiddos?

Curly Girl: The Handbook

I borrowed "Curly Girl: The Handbook" from the library, tried out the technique they described during my Saturday morning shower, and it actually worked. I've tried no-poo, washing with only conditioner, leaving conditioner in my hair, all different qualities of shampoo, conditioner, tons of various styling products and though some have been better than others, nothing really has really helped - this did.


The book starts with describing different types of curls; mine is classified as wavy. For all types of hair they recommend scrubbing only your scalp with a sulfate-free shampoo or even just conditioner (I use Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle, which is sulfate free and under $4 a bottle!), rinsing, and then conditioning, running your fingers through your hair to pull out all of the loose strands and tangles. I already do all of that regularly, but then the next step was new. If you have ringlets or really curly hair, don't rinse all of the conditioner out, if you have wavy hair, rinse it all out or your hair will be weighed down. Then scrunch your hair while you're in the shower. Squeeze out some water, scrunch, scrunch. Get out, head down, and scrunch your hair with a t-shirt till mostly dry - don't use a towel unless it's microfiber, or else your hair will get frizzy.  Don't comb, don't brush, but with your head still down, put some gel in it gently and scrunch it into your hair. Then flip your hair over, and don't touch while it's drying. That's it.  Still pretty simple and not very time consuming.

So far this winter my hair has seemed so flat and somehow still frizzy, now the last two times I've showered my hair has looked nice, something which typically only happens on those perfectly temperate days, of which we have maybe 3 per year in Ohio. Maybe now I won't have to pull my hair back in a pony tail every day...

Wee man is sick

The wee man is sick. In general he doesn't seem like it, but he is. Every time he's laid down over the last 2 days he's woken up getting sick. He's mostly fine through the day though, aside from being slightly more whiny than normal, slightly warm, and a few disastrous diaper changes which have resulted in visiting the tub. So today we're home resting together, sans Daddy and kiddos. It seems so strange for it to be just the two of us today. I think we need another child or two soon. This quiet, while peaceful, is so foreign. Need to force the hubby to finish his foster parent autobiography so we can turn those in.

Edamame, grapes, and noodles in silicone muffin cups

Off to find some soft finger food that will be appetizing for the sick wee man.  I'm using my new silicone muffin cups that I found at the Dollar Tree - even though the idea of baking/cooking in silicone freaks me out, I have no problem using it to serve cold food.

I ran across the idea at "Meet the Dubiens", an awesome Mom who shares her kid's lunches on her blog - she TOTALLY inspires me, though Cory's lunches are never quite that cool. She's having a bento giveaway right now - go check it out!

Cloth diapering is over...

My family said we'd only make it a few weeks, if that...but after 28 months, cloth diapering is over. I gave up and bought an economy sized package of Pull-Ups yesterday.  Cory wore the first one around 10am this morning, and went pee on the potty shortly after, so maybe it'll be helpful.  Prior to yesterday we'd only purchased 3 small packages of Target brand diapers for trips.

We'll still use cloth part-time (mornings and definitely nighttime), but I just cannot clean another poopy diaper out in the toilet.  Can't.do.it.  It's gag-worthy.  I've considered feeding Cory less fruits and vegetables or forcing him to sit on the toilet during allotted times during the day, but knew neither was the right way to go, so we went there.  I'm sad.  I've loved being able to keep diapers out of the landfill, saving tons of money, very minimal chemicals against his bum...but I just can't keep it up anymore.  I'd really hoped he'd be potty-trained by now.  I've cried about cleaning poop...it's time to be done.  Now just to come to terms with it.

Anneke's 1st Birthday!

We were invited to Anneke's 1st birthday! She's such a fun little girl, with awesome parents, but I can't believe she's a year old already...

CAKE! Pumpkin-ginger cupcakes...mmmm.


And we fully realized Cory's musical interests, after nearly destroying a guitar, and hearing a lot of notes on the piano. I think someone may be getting something musical for Christmas...