I sometimes think I lived on a farm in a past life...though if I was, my proclivity for sleeping until at least 9 am would have been a problem. I have the itch to grow ever more in my garden and am gradually branching out into other areas like growing from seed, composting, and canning. It's addictive! My husband has been itching to get a couple of chickens, and for the first time I am thinking I should agree. Then I think about cleaning the coop and having to find someone to care for them when we go away. I also think our senior German Shepherd would be a problem...rather than herding, I suspect she would treat the birds as prey.
This time of year, as the weather gets warmer and we start spending more and more time outside, I love to be in my vegetable garden. It is ever expanding, despite the fact that the wildlife in our suburban neighborhood makes a pretty substantial fence around the garden necessary. For years, we had green garden fencing about 6-7 feet tall, with rabbit fence buried about a foot deep. We figured that the buried rabbit fence would thwart the many, MANY groundhogs that seem to be drawn to our yard. For the most part, it did, with only one exception that I am aware of. We were trapping the groundhogs and relocating them across the river from our home. There was one groundhog that would not be caught, probably because he was too big to fit into our have-a-heart trap. I couldn't figure out how he was getting into the garden to take two bites of our unripe produce before discarding it on the ground for us to find until one memorable night when I came out onto the second floor balcony in the back of our house and saw him HANGING from the top of the fence. He was scaling the fence to get in and out for his munching sessions.
That worked (the one ornery groundhog aside) until the unfortunate day when we found that somehow a deer had leaped into the enclosure and then panicked, knocking over and smashing several tomato plants and cages on his way straight through the fence on the opposite side. He was clearly fine, he demolished the fence with one charge and it didn't even slow him down. Happily, there was no blood or fur left behind, so I am confident that he was fine, having watched his panic and subsequent departure in horror.
So that brings us to our current fence, ten feet tall and with posts set in concrete. I love it! There will be no deer getting in from now on - safer for them and for my heart. I planted from seed this year, so of course I have more plants than I have space in the garden, but have been happily giving the extras away to friends.
I kept way more than I probably should have, so I know that if all goes well with growing this season, we will have more harvest than we will be able to consume. One year I happened to be unemployed when planting time came, and I planted 75 tomato plants. They were different varieties, but there were 75 of them! From this past experience, I know that we will have more than we will be able to give away, even though we will be well under a total of 75 plants. We grow tomatoes (beefsteak, heirloom and cherry), peppers, zucchini, squash, bush beans, sweet potatoes, melons, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. I am toying with the idea of putting some of the extra harvest down by the street with an honor box - a common practice where I grew up (about an hour from here), but not sure how it would go here.
I also just invested in my first pressure canner. Despite hearing horror stories of them exploding and being afraid of the process, if I can get the hang of it pretty quickly, it will save both produce and freezer space. I have canned in the past, but never ventured beyond the water bath canner. I need to be able to can low acid foods, which you can't do with a water bath canner. I also really like to make soups in my crockpot, and it would be nice to be able to can several batches of our favorites. I went with the All American 921 21.5 Qt, but I've heard very good things about the less expensive Presto pressure canners as well.
Now I'm off to craigslist to prospect for more canning jars - hopefully I'm going to need them!
Friday, June 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Dancing With The Stars Withdrawal Begins
It has been one week since Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) had its finale, and already my two year old is going into withdrawal. Of course, this could have something to do with the fact that she still has no concept of time...everything is immediate for her still. I really work on not telling her about places we are going or events I know she will be excited about because she wants it to happen immediately and if it doesn't, like any two year old, she asks about it EVERY. FIVE. SECONDS. So for my own sanity, I give her at most a couple hours of lead time. More than two hours real time seems to equal an eternity in toddler time. It just occurred to me that the no concept of time thing also seems to work in reverse, as she also refers to things that happened months ago (our trip to Great Wolf Lodge waterpark, her cousin's first birthday party back in April) as though they happened yesterday. Hmm. Interesting.
Back to DWTS - between the fact that it does always seem to be in season and that we DVR it, Little One really does think it's on demand. (And WOW does it eat up DVR space.) She thinks all of the female dancers, whether celebrity or pro, are Cinderella. She differentiates between them with the color of their costume each week, so we have "Red Cinderella", "Yellow Cinderella", etc. The exception was this season, after she saw pictures of Sherri Shepherd's son as a baby, she became "The Baby's Mommy". Brooke Burke-Charvet is the "Cinderella Who Doesn't Dance", and Tom Bergeron is "The Boy Who Talks" or "The Boy Who Doesn't Dance".
As soon as DWTS comes on, Little One runs to get her Cinderella dress and shoes. The dress is a hand me down from when one of our neighbors was two and went to a wedding. It's very sweet, but has seen better days, so it is perfect for playing dress up. She pulls it on over whatever she is wearing, which makes for some great photo opportunities. Then she dances along, which I like, because she isn't just parked in front of the tv, mesmerized. The only downside is that she often wants me to dance with her, which I just can't sustain for an entire 2 hour episode!
This weekend, Little One went to the hardware store with her daddy. On the way home, from the dark backseat, he hears, "Welcome back to Dancing with the Stars!" I've created a monster!
It's going to be a long summer of "I wanna watch Dancin', please" and trying to explain that it won't be on again for quite a while. Hopefully she will have so much fun playing outside this summer she will forget all about it...
Back to DWTS - between the fact that it does always seem to be in season and that we DVR it, Little One really does think it's on demand. (And WOW does it eat up DVR space.) She thinks all of the female dancers, whether celebrity or pro, are Cinderella. She differentiates between them with the color of their costume each week, so we have "Red Cinderella", "Yellow Cinderella", etc. The exception was this season, after she saw pictures of Sherri Shepherd's son as a baby, she became "The Baby's Mommy". Brooke Burke-Charvet is the "Cinderella Who Doesn't Dance", and Tom Bergeron is "The Boy Who Talks" or "The Boy Who Doesn't Dance".
As soon as DWTS comes on, Little One runs to get her Cinderella dress and shoes. The dress is a hand me down from when one of our neighbors was two and went to a wedding. It's very sweet, but has seen better days, so it is perfect for playing dress up. She pulls it on over whatever she is wearing, which makes for some great photo opportunities. Then she dances along, which I like, because she isn't just parked in front of the tv, mesmerized. The only downside is that she often wants me to dance with her, which I just can't sustain for an entire 2 hour episode!
This weekend, Little One went to the hardware store with her daddy. On the way home, from the dark backseat, he hears, "Welcome back to Dancing with the Stars!" I've created a monster!
It's going to be a long summer of "I wanna watch Dancin', please" and trying to explain that it won't be on again for quite a while. Hopefully she will have so much fun playing outside this summer she will forget all about it...
Friday, May 18, 2012
Everything Must Go! Okay, Not Really.
I felt much better this week. Happily, our house didn't fall down around our ears while I was sick. Having routines in place for the everyday tasks like laundry and dishes really made a difference. Knowing that each thing would take less than 15 minutes to do made it possible for me to wrap my head around actually doing it. Also, knowing that the laundry is mostly caught up, it really was not a big problem to skip a day here and there. Now that I am feeling 100% again, it was easy to pick up where I left off and do just one extra thing each day. That is pretty unusual for me, and felt great!
I am still digging out from when we were putting our addition on. One would think you'd start with this great, empty new space and only bring into it the stuff you need on day one. Unfortunately, there really isn't a day one when you do something like this unless you are living elsewhere! We wanted to get rid of the expense of having a storage unit as quickly as possible, so the furniture and boxes that were stored went right into - you guessed it - the new parts of our house. I am still digging out almost a year later. I got through 6 boxes this week!
In those boxes were many items that we no longer want or need. Many of them came from when my in-laws moved (almost 10 years ago) from a 3 story house with full basement to a four room condo. I didn't realize until recently how much of the stuff that was in the old house found it's way to our house. I thought we did a pretty good job of turning them down, but it is now clear that we really didn't. (Avoiding the mounted buck's head seemed like a big victory at the time.) Most of it is just stuff - we don't need it and we don't particularly like it. We are not knick-knacky people, and my in-laws definitely are. Also, our taste levels differ wildly. So many of these items must go. I don't have room to store other people's cast-offs.
Now the trick is disposing of these things. Having had a couple, I am opposed to yard sales. I end up storing stuff that I do not want for months on end until I find a convenient day to hopefully have lots of people tromp all over my front lawn, with no guarantee that the stuff will actually depart. I like donating things, but some of the items can't be donated to my favorite charities, and some of it is actually worth enough that I am considering selling it on eBay or craigslist. I don't love that either, as it still means dedicating part of my house to storage until I take photos, figure out how much I want to ask for it and then hopefully sell and ship it. These are all steps that take me longer than they should. I think I am going to test run 1 or 2 items and then if it is too much of a hassle, I will have to freecycle them or figure something else out. I'm hoping that having a plan helps me to overcome my inertia on this. I'm becoming highly motivated to get the white elephants out - they take up too much space. I've also realized that many of them stress me out because of negative relationships with those who caused them to come into my home.
I am trying not to get too far ahead of myself with the decluttering, lest it become overwhelming. I get overwhelmed by this rather easily, and then instead of taking a few minutes to accomplish something small that moves me in the right direction, I find myself completely incapable of getting anything done.
I also promised myself that I will spend as much time as possible outside this summer. I will need to make this work with continuing to move myself forward with decluttering the indoors. Maybe I will commit to maintaining and making sure it doesn't backslide, then anything else I accomplish is icing on the cake. Yes, I realize I am playing mind games with myself, but it really does seem to work. I apply the same principle with my employees at work - set clear, attainable expectations. It works there, so why not give myself the same?
I am still digging out from when we were putting our addition on. One would think you'd start with this great, empty new space and only bring into it the stuff you need on day one. Unfortunately, there really isn't a day one when you do something like this unless you are living elsewhere! We wanted to get rid of the expense of having a storage unit as quickly as possible, so the furniture and boxes that were stored went right into - you guessed it - the new parts of our house. I am still digging out almost a year later. I got through 6 boxes this week!
In those boxes were many items that we no longer want or need. Many of them came from when my in-laws moved (almost 10 years ago) from a 3 story house with full basement to a four room condo. I didn't realize until recently how much of the stuff that was in the old house found it's way to our house. I thought we did a pretty good job of turning them down, but it is now clear that we really didn't. (Avoiding the mounted buck's head seemed like a big victory at the time.) Most of it is just stuff - we don't need it and we don't particularly like it. We are not knick-knacky people, and my in-laws definitely are. Also, our taste levels differ wildly. So many of these items must go. I don't have room to store other people's cast-offs.
Now the trick is disposing of these things. Having had a couple, I am opposed to yard sales. I end up storing stuff that I do not want for months on end until I find a convenient day to hopefully have lots of people tromp all over my front lawn, with no guarantee that the stuff will actually depart. I like donating things, but some of the items can't be donated to my favorite charities, and some of it is actually worth enough that I am considering selling it on eBay or craigslist. I don't love that either, as it still means dedicating part of my house to storage until I take photos, figure out how much I want to ask for it and then hopefully sell and ship it. These are all steps that take me longer than they should. I think I am going to test run 1 or 2 items and then if it is too much of a hassle, I will have to freecycle them or figure something else out. I'm hoping that having a plan helps me to overcome my inertia on this. I'm becoming highly motivated to get the white elephants out - they take up too much space. I've also realized that many of them stress me out because of negative relationships with those who caused them to come into my home.
I am trying not to get too far ahead of myself with the decluttering, lest it become overwhelming. I get overwhelmed by this rather easily, and then instead of taking a few minutes to accomplish something small that moves me in the right direction, I find myself completely incapable of getting anything done.
I also promised myself that I will spend as much time as possible outside this summer. I will need to make this work with continuing to move myself forward with decluttering the indoors. Maybe I will commit to maintaining and making sure it doesn't backslide, then anything else I accomplish is icing on the cake. Yes, I realize I am playing mind games with myself, but it really does seem to work. I apply the same principle with my employees at work - set clear, attainable expectations. It works there, so why not give myself the same?
Friday, May 11, 2012
Back to the Drawing Board
This has been a crazy week. Actually, May has been a crazy month thus far. I'm happy, yesterday it finally stopped raining here and the sun came out. We had crazy warm weather back in March (80s - unheard of for NJ that time of year!) and it seems that May decided to make up for it. Happily, it is getting warmer and I am hopeful that the allergens will finally start to die down so I can feel like a human being again.
Last week I was down for the count with a sinus infection. It hit me fast and hard. I used to get somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to ten sinus infections a year, but over the past few years I have had good control over my allergies. Immunotherapy seems to be the key for me, despite the fact that after a year of consistently doing it, I still tested positive for all of my known allergens. I'm trying not to let that discourage me, as the timing of my re-testing was bad for morale. Right smack in the middle of the worst allergy season in decades, of course I am not going to be feeling great. I still need to keep getting the treatment. Okay, self pep talk over. Going to keep doing it. Moving on.
This week I had a couple of crazy days at work and then went on a job interview. I realized beforehand that I haven't been on a live, in-person interview in about five years. This led to some wardrobe panic the night before, when I realized that not one of the dozen suits in my closet still fits me. I've gotten so used to business casual that I haven't donned a suit in years. Not since before my daughter was born. Yikes.
Not having time (and not really wanting to spend money, to be honest) to go buy a new suit, I improvised. I have a nice business-y dress from Banana Republic that fits me perfectly and I threw one of the suit jackets over it, unbuttoned. I was happy with it in the end, it looked enough like a suit to be appropriate for an interview.
The interview itself went really well, I thought. I was very comfortable with all three of the interviewers and the more I think about this job, the more I want it! It would be a big change for me - it would take me from full time to part time, and it is in a totally different area than I currently work in, though at the same company. It would be a great fit for me though. It's an opportunity to get into a group that is tough to break into without direct experience, but is a logical fit for me with my legal background. It would also enable me to face a new challenge without disrupting my daughter's world - she would get to stay right where she is for daycare and get to spend more time with Mommy. Lots of positives!
I'm a little down today because I heard through the grapevine that there is a strong candidate for the job who is not me. I am hoping that I blew the doors off the interview and that I at least make the decision hard for the hiring manager. Fingers crossed! But I am also going to try to start talking myself down, because I really got my hopes up, and I don't want to be devastated if I don't get an offer.
I'm definitely going for a run today...I haven't run in almost two weeks! I hate being sick. I was going to try to run through my illness, but with what it was, I just couldn't do it. I decided it was better to rest and get healthy rather than risk getting further run down and either getting hurt or having the sinus infection progress to bronchitis or pneumonia, as has happened to me in the past. I was feeling nervous about getting back on the horse, because I was doing so well with training before I got sick. But the news I heard today about the job opportunity is providing me with more than enough motivation...I have frustration to burn off!
Wish me luck!
Last week I was down for the count with a sinus infection. It hit me fast and hard. I used to get somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to ten sinus infections a year, but over the past few years I have had good control over my allergies. Immunotherapy seems to be the key for me, despite the fact that after a year of consistently doing it, I still tested positive for all of my known allergens. I'm trying not to let that discourage me, as the timing of my re-testing was bad for morale. Right smack in the middle of the worst allergy season in decades, of course I am not going to be feeling great. I still need to keep getting the treatment. Okay, self pep talk over. Going to keep doing it. Moving on.
This week I had a couple of crazy days at work and then went on a job interview. I realized beforehand that I haven't been on a live, in-person interview in about five years. This led to some wardrobe panic the night before, when I realized that not one of the dozen suits in my closet still fits me. I've gotten so used to business casual that I haven't donned a suit in years. Not since before my daughter was born. Yikes.
Not having time (and not really wanting to spend money, to be honest) to go buy a new suit, I improvised. I have a nice business-y dress from Banana Republic that fits me perfectly and I threw one of the suit jackets over it, unbuttoned. I was happy with it in the end, it looked enough like a suit to be appropriate for an interview.
The interview itself went really well, I thought. I was very comfortable with all three of the interviewers and the more I think about this job, the more I want it! It would be a big change for me - it would take me from full time to part time, and it is in a totally different area than I currently work in, though at the same company. It would be a great fit for me though. It's an opportunity to get into a group that is tough to break into without direct experience, but is a logical fit for me with my legal background. It would also enable me to face a new challenge without disrupting my daughter's world - she would get to stay right where she is for daycare and get to spend more time with Mommy. Lots of positives!
I'm a little down today because I heard through the grapevine that there is a strong candidate for the job who is not me. I am hoping that I blew the doors off the interview and that I at least make the decision hard for the hiring manager. Fingers crossed! But I am also going to try to start talking myself down, because I really got my hopes up, and I don't want to be devastated if I don't get an offer.
I'm definitely going for a run today...I haven't run in almost two weeks! I hate being sick. I was going to try to run through my illness, but with what it was, I just couldn't do it. I decided it was better to rest and get healthy rather than risk getting further run down and either getting hurt or having the sinus infection progress to bronchitis or pneumonia, as has happened to me in the past. I was feeling nervous about getting back on the horse, because I was doing so well with training before I got sick. But the news I heard today about the job opportunity is providing me with more than enough motivation...I have frustration to burn off!
Wish me luck!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
My Weekend in Review
I'm operating in reverse this week - I am currently spending my week at work recovering from my weekend. I ran an 8k on Sunday morning. It was great! I really enjoy racing. I was nervous beforehand because I have never run that far in a race and the weather was supposed to be miserable. Happily, the weather cooperated and it was about 50 degrees and overcast, but not raining. It started to drizzle at about mile 4, but the pouring rain held off until I was walking back to the car. It was perfect!
I had three goals for this race: 1) finish the race; 2) run more than I walked; and 3) finish in under an hour and fifteen minutes.
I achieved all three!
I am very excited, as this is only the second race that I have ever actually run. I have registered for a number of local 5ks for charity, but I walked all but one of them. I don't have a Garmin, so I have no idea what my splits were, but I do know that my pace was 10:36. In training, I generally seem to be in the neighborhood of a 12 minute mile, so I was happy with my pace. It didn't feel super fast, but when I hit the two hills on the course at around miles 2 and 4, I had enough energy to shorten my steps and speed up my turnover.
When I felt like I couldn't keep going, I kept giving myself permission to stop and walk at a point within sight ahead. Each time I got to the point I had chosen, I realized that I didn't need to stop. I ran the whole way!
Before I knew it, I was looking at the home stretch. Around mile 2, I chose three women running nearby (okay, slightly ahead) of me to pace myself. I told myself that I would try to stick close to them and pass them at the end if I could. At mile 4, one of them took off and left me in the dust. As I approached the finish line, I really didn't have much left in the tank, but I was able to power myself past my two remaining pacers. Being a competitive person, I was happy I was able to do that.
I finished the race in 52:44.83. I won't be winning any medals with that time, but I really enjoyed the race and can't wait to do it again. I have a PR to beat now! An added bonus: I test drove running with a new handheld Camelbak water bottle, which I really liked, and I ran with an Amphipod Airflow Microstretch belt to carry my phone and car key. In the future, if I do decide to train for a half marathon, I will need somewhere to stash fuel. I'm not crazy about carrying water, but I also hate trying to drink fast from a paper cup. With the water bottle, I had my nuun and could cruise right past the water stations. I am convinced that it made a difference in my time. I am going to call this a successful race and test run!
I had three goals for this race: 1) finish the race; 2) run more than I walked; and 3) finish in under an hour and fifteen minutes.
I achieved all three!
I am very excited, as this is only the second race that I have ever actually run. I have registered for a number of local 5ks for charity, but I walked all but one of them. I don't have a Garmin, so I have no idea what my splits were, but I do know that my pace was 10:36. In training, I generally seem to be in the neighborhood of a 12 minute mile, so I was happy with my pace. It didn't feel super fast, but when I hit the two hills on the course at around miles 2 and 4, I had enough energy to shorten my steps and speed up my turnover.
When I felt like I couldn't keep going, I kept giving myself permission to stop and walk at a point within sight ahead. Each time I got to the point I had chosen, I realized that I didn't need to stop. I ran the whole way!
Before I knew it, I was looking at the home stretch. Around mile 2, I chose three women running nearby (okay, slightly ahead) of me to pace myself. I told myself that I would try to stick close to them and pass them at the end if I could. At mile 4, one of them took off and left me in the dust. As I approached the finish line, I really didn't have much left in the tank, but I was able to power myself past my two remaining pacers. Being a competitive person, I was happy I was able to do that.
I finished the race in 52:44.83. I won't be winning any medals with that time, but I really enjoyed the race and can't wait to do it again. I have a PR to beat now! An added bonus: I test drove running with a new handheld Camelbak water bottle, which I really liked, and I ran with an Amphipod Airflow Microstretch belt to carry my phone and car key. In the future, if I do decide to train for a half marathon, I will need somewhere to stash fuel. I'm not crazy about carrying water, but I also hate trying to drink fast from a paper cup. With the water bottle, I had my nuun and could cruise right past the water stations. I am convinced that it made a difference in my time. I am going to call this a successful race and test run!
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