Tubs

We will be dumping the clawfoot. The problem with our clawfoot is that the water level remains well below the rim. So low, in fact, that there is no deep soaking going on it it at all, I have even resorted to stuffing things in the overflow to try to get it to hold water. So with that, the clawfoot will be getting the ol' heave-ho and we will be getting a tub, a nice deep soaking tub. We will be surrounding said tub with white subway tiles and adding a shower as well. The plan is to get a 6' tub, the current one is a 5' which is the standard size. It will also be 36" wide, a standard tub is 32" - so basically, this thing is going to be a bathing dream. The decision has come down to the following tubs:

 American Standard Cadet

 American Standard Colony

 Kohler Archer

Kohler Mariposa

We are leaning toward the Kohler Archer...thoughts?

Gardening Re-think

I have mentioned before that we had great luck with our organic garden the year before last and then last year, we massively expanded our garden and proceeded to have horrible luck. I am {yet again} re-thinking the garden. This year, I will have a lot more time to devote to the endeavor so that is helpful. I will have time to learn how to can, preserve and create. I will also have time to train, prune, weed and learn about soil nutrients and other tricks of the pros that help in growing a magnificent garden.

I am especially committed to making a great garden this year because we are trying to save green {the money kind} and produce is supposed to become astronomically expensive. Besides, there is something really great about knowing where your produce came from and what {in our case, none} chemicals were used in the production of the produce. An interesting side note is that I loooove garden grown tomato's out of our garden. I haaaaate any other tomato's, like will not touch them. I am a picky tomato eater. They have to be bright in color, crisp in texture and crunch and NOT mushy at ALL. {Let's not even get into how I am with bananas...slightly green, no brown spots, no mush, not overly sweet...}

In the first year {2009}, our garden list was as follows {I am also making note of whether it grew or not} I have made things that grew very well green, OK or well Orange and Didn't grow red

• Zucchini - Grew like crazy
• Yellow Squash - Grew ok
• Lettuce (mixed) - Grew very well
• Kale - Grew like crazy
• Carrots - Grew well
• Mint - Grew very well
• Tomato's (several varieties) - Grew very well
• Bush beans - Grew well
• Pole Beans - Grew well
• Snap peas - Grew well
• Cucumber - Barely grew
• Yellow cucumber (pole variety) - Grew well
• Bell peppers - Did not grow
• Basil - Grew very well

Int the second year {2010} our garden list was as follows

• Lettuce (new mix, hated it) - Grew very well
• Onions (yellow and red) - Grew ok, got too wet and rotted or stopped getting bigger
• Strawberries - Plants grew, berries did not. Plants took over garden, became a weed
• Tomato's (many varieties) - did not grow
• Carrots - Did not grow
• Mint - Did not re-plant, grew back from previous year, became a weed
• Zucchini - Grew like crazy
• Yellow Squash - Barely grew
• Pole Beans - Barely grew
• Snap peas - Barely grew
• Bell peppers - Didn't grow
• Vine Watermelon - Did not grow
• Potato's - Grew very well
• Corn - Grew well
• Cantaloupe - Did not grow
• Pumpkins (various) - Grew very well
• Blueberries - Not fruit bearing this year
• Raspberries - Not fruit bearing this year
• Basil - Did not grow

As you can see, the years were very different and with the major expanse of garden, we did not end up with more produce. So this year, I am re-thinking the garden and what I will plant. I will not be planting bell peppers. Lesson learned. I also will not be planting and melons. Sad. I will not be planting Corn either. Yes, corn grew well, but there were several things that I hated about growing corn. It took up a ton of space, it was all ready at the same time, there were earwigs in the husks (which are good for the corn because they are eating the bad bugs but nasty to peel), and once our corn was ready - corn was practically being given away at farmers markets and grocery stores. No corn. 

I will be trying some new tactics as well. No pole beans. I will be planting bush beans only. I will plant the vine cucumbers again in the place of where the beans would have gone. I will be trying to dig out the mint. I never imagined that mint would become a total weed. No more mint in the garden unless it is potted. I will be trying to eradicate strawberries. This is another thing, like corn, that I will either purchase from someone else or not eat. I have had enough of strawberries and their creepers that establish new strawberries and take over my garden. 

Weed 1 and weed 2. How sad

I will be adding some new things to my garden to see how well they grow. Broccoli, beets and new lettuce varieties. Maybe I will even do some spinach. We are going to try something new with herbs. We are planning on building a box on or near our back door to plant herbs in. That way, they are right outside the door and I will be more likely to use them. 

I spent some time today getting the gardens ready for more planting. I have weeded and "tilled" (I did it with one of those open hoe's) 3 of the 4 garden beds. The final one has some new strawberries that need to be pulled and the mint that will have to be dug out with a shovel and it started raining so I bailed. 

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so I plan on spending some time getting my hands dirty (and no doubt, Mr. Helpful will be getting his paws dirty) in the garden. I will be recruiting Nick to help me set up the raspberry vines. We will be planting our raspberries in a raised bed. Better drainage and (hopefully) fewer weeds. I need to move several of my blueberries and get several more. I will be planting the second row of snap peas and re-planting the carrots and broccoli because guess what, they aren't even sprouting. I may get a jump on bush beans but I will be consulting the farmer's almanac. 

In the mean time, here is my to do list before planting:

• Obtain soil testing kit and test ph
• Fix any problems with ph (I suspect the soil is acidic because there is a ton of moss)
• Add nutrients to soil (I will be talking to the friendly staff at a garden center for this)
• Building tomato cages (I will be doing wood ones from here forward, the metal ones are cheap and need to be purchased new each year)
• Making a planting schedule (following the farmer's almanac)
• Kill the grass surrounding the beds, fabric, add bark mulch

Whew. I'm tired just looking at the list. I will keep you updated on the progress of the garden and let you know what the friendly people at the garden centers have to say about nutrients, etc. 

Week 17

Dear Baby,

I am working very hard to eat more balances rather than carb loading all the time. We (you and I) have incorporated oatmeal, fruits and more veggies! I am definitely showing, but no one that doesn't know you are in there has asked me "when I am due" - probably for fear that I am just gaining weight and not actually carrying a baby around. I would be the same way, I wouldn't ask someone at my stage either! A few words for the week. Headaches. Hungry. Exhausted. Anticipation. The anticipation is to feel kicks and to find out whether you will wear pink or blue. We will find out the pink and blue part at the end of this month but the kicks thing is completely up to you. I have a doctors appointment coming up on Friday. I most look forward to hearing your heart beat! Only 3 more weeks to half-way little bear!

xoxo
Mama

Dog versus Ram

Baby Belly 16weeks 6 days

OK, some pictures. Please excuse the hair, that's called - I washed it last night and didn't brush it til this morning due to horrible headache. After looking at other friends' pictures, at 16 or 17 weeks, I feel like my bump popped way sooner. I'm chalking this up to short torso long legs, then again, maybe I am in denial and need to get a handle on my carb fix that that seems to quell the queasyness that I am still having. Or maybe it is because my butt is as big as my bump which makes me look extra...bump endowed? Either way, here it is:

PS. I am not wearing make-up or anything either. Don't judge :-)

Bathroom Remodel Part 1

We have started the big bathroom remodel(s) that need to be done before the baby comes. We decided to start with the guest bathroom which will then become home base while we re-do our master bathroom. The reason for focusing on the guest first is because we are going to take out the fiberglass bath/shower combo and build a walk in stone shower in our bathroom. Because the guest bathroom has no shower, we need a shower while our bathroom has no shower so we will complete the guest bathroom first, then move on to our bathroom. 

OK, the guest bathroom. Our guest bathroom is the most awkward space EVER. The bathtub is behind the door, the toilet is in front of the door (um, have you ever used a toilet at someones house that is right in front of the door? Hope you locked it!) and then the sink is a tiny pedestal. No storage. The lighting is a nightmare. The fan is on one switch, a one light bulb light is on another switch. There was one light above the sink with a twist on switch underneath that didn't work. Nice. So we will be rewiring the whole bathroom, moving the toilet (fun!), adding a vanity with storage and doing something with the tub...more on that in a moment. 

The bathroom the way it began. 

 Mostly the same view. 

 Looking from the corner back to the tub and door. 

 Nick protects the wood floors

 Nick moves toilet to see if this is the right spot (yep!) Now we have to move all the plumbing. Fun!

 Nick removes toilet and sink (to be sold on craigslist) and begins tearing up the flooring to the sub floor. 

Flooring torn off to sub floor.  

 Same as above, different angle. Dry-rot was found on some of the subfloor by the tub faucet because someone (ehem, previous owners) didn't install the clawfoot right and it leaked. Niiiice. So we will be tearing up some of the subfloor too, yeay! (that is sarcasm in case you weren't sure)

And another view. There is the old toilet spot that were (Nick) will have to move. Lucky him. Oh and Demo is not done. The sheetrock will all be coming off. More fun! With the re-wiring, this has to come down. Plus, we are going to encase the bathroom in cement hardy board which is much better than wood plywood in a wet space. Plus, you can affix tile to hardy board. More on that in a moment. 

And here is Mr. Helpful who was not a fan of the demolition noise. 

Alright. Here is where we get into remodeling and the "what you were going to do" versus "what is going to be done." You always start with, lets get this done cheap and fast. Lets make things work. So, we were going to buy a new faucet for the clawfoot tub, put up a shower curtain, buy a new toilet and move it, build a vanity and tile the floor. Voila. Done. 

Not so much. We don't really like the clawfoot in there because it is not the nicest one ever, because the idea of leaning over the high walls to bathe kids sounds like a backache and because it is not right for the space it is in. But we figured it was HEAVY cast iron and so 1-it was cheap to use what we had and 2-it was going to suck to remove it. To pull up the floor, we had to slide it. Much to our surprise, it was relatively light (not cast iron, acrylic). It was at this moment that I realized I should be saying a little uh oh. Now that I knew it could be moved, I started getting ideas. Take out the clawfoot and put in a soaking tub with tile surround and shower. Move the toilet. Put in tile. Build vanity. 

What are yours, the readers thoughts on the clawfoot. They are so nice in theory but in practical life, they are less than ideal. Would you keep the clawfoot or go for the soaking tub/tile surround/tile combo? Decisions decisions. Nick gave me a week to have things finalized with ordering and decisions. Tick tock.

While this is not exactly what we would do, this is kind of an idea for what the soaking tub/shower would look like.

Note copyrights on picture as noted. 

16 weeks

Dear Baby,

You are 16 weeks old, what an accomplishment! I am definitely showing, although I don’t know that everyone who looks at me knows that I have a baby in my tummy, they might think I have just eaten way too many cheeseburgers. We are still in Hawaii and loving it. We have eaten lots of fish, yum yum. You must really not like chicken because I cannot stand to even look at chicken without feeling a little ill. I still haven’t felt you move (there was a moment this morning that I thought maybe I could feel you, but I really can’t be sure). We are getting very excited about the big gender reveal at the beginning of May! Not that I care what gender you are, it will just be very exciting to be able to begin planning for your big debut. I hope you are having fun and growing strong in there. Oh, and thank you for letting me remain a good sleeper. Other than getting up once per night to use the bathroom, I have been sleeping really well (other than the crazy dreams!) Until next week little bear. 

xoxo

Mama