Evolution of My Garden Lettuce.

Step One. plant enough lettuce for about 10 families to eat solid for a month. I thought about what we were eating and we really ate a lot of Salad so it seemed smart to plant it. I got lots of varieties. I like spinach and John likes mixed greens. I think I had over one flat of salad.

Step Two. Put it in your plant greenhouse. I built a little indoor greenhouse with wire shelves and plant lights. It lived by the window. I watered them. Danielle watered them. we loved our plants. Except the 20 that died because I guess they didn't like the peat pots I put them in.

Step Three. Mark.
seriously. some days at least four plants died before I caught him. The fist is faster than the running mommy.

Step Four. Mark again.

Step Five. And again.

Step Six. Move your garden outside. some of the few remaining plants didn't make the transplant. I guess the Mizuna thrived in the move because it suddenly is on steroids. Should I be skeptical about a plant that bugs and bunnies avoid? I don't know.

Step Seven. go the the local Nursery and buy some more lettuce. Plant it. I had to pull out all the clover from the BRAND NEW bed. Since then I've weeded more clover. Sometimes I wish clover tasted like lettuce. I'm really good at growing it in my grass and if it was lettuce I could get my daily salad EASY.

Step Eight. Mark. He helped in the garden while I was transplanting plants.

Step Nine. Bunnies. It seems as though even though I try to water every day and get rid of weeds I forgot to bunny proof my backyard. I realized this the other day when our secret bunny deterrent named Austin went flying after them. I don't think Austin would ever be fast enough to actually catch a bunny. and what would he do with it if he did? Lick it probably. He just wants to catch them to say hello. He must really feel unloved that all his potential yard best friends run away from him.

Original Plant Count: 75
Final Plant Count: 5 Mizuna and Hopefully 1 spinach, 1 organic lettuce and four leaf from the nursery. I say hopefully because at this point they are only feeding the bunnies.

You are probably thinking- wow she is a fantastic gardener I wish I could be like she is.
I think it's cheaper to buy lettuce at the store.

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Sunday Thoughts.

John cleaned the whole house while I was gone. Also I feel like the second Mark and Sara arrived their house was clean.
the second they arrived.
and it wasn't me doing the cleaning. Every time I visit them a few things have happened.
1. They have completed another repair project. This time they had a chicken coop and a shed. an AWESOME shed you can't see from the street. How the heck did they build it? Also they had a little stepping stone area and landscaped area in their yard. Judging by the speed with which they dispatched the mess I left their house in (I tried but those last four hours before the kids went to bed undid all the work and I just lost my motivation) I think their home projects took them about two hours.
2. Eddie speaks you know. I was wondering if he just mumbled and then as soon as his parents came home he came in and talked to me. What. The. Heck. I literally thought he was just really behind in speaking but no- Eddie missed his parents and was giving me the silent treatment all weekend. I didn't feel as bad Sunday because he was talking to me again. A three year old who never speaks to you because he is mad at you is a terrifying thing. Eddie is pretty funny you know.
3. Six kids is too many for me. I felt like I was a zombie running around all day and Aida just explained everything to me. I swear all the kids went to bed without feeling bad when they didn't have Aida as a sympathetic listener. Maybe I am just paranoid though. Baby Mark wanted to stay up all night and Maya and Eddie woke up around 6:00. Mark and Sara somehow keep them in their rooms until 7:00 but I am not the young child whisperer so I didn't. They made it to their appointments on time (except soccer in the rain, which I skipped- still feel guilty) and I think all of them like their parents more at the end of this.
4. I would totally do it again. Sara said she wants to have a vacation where her kids go on vacation and she gets to stay home with Mark and I told her that I would come get the kiddos. I really would but Sara will never take me up on it.

Maybe because I blog about babysitting and I do such a shoddy job. Maybe her kiddos boycotted me, which I could understand. I was so excited about our house I wanted to play a game. and our friends came and we did. It was really nice. But some rodent ate ALL OUR STRAWBERRIES while I was gone. I was so sad. Danielle cried.
JOHN CLEANED THE ENTIRE HOUSE. I died a little of happiness. Now I get to go into the basement and work. the nice, not too hot basement.
and to top it all off I got a gift card to Home depot for my birthday. I'll be off spending that this morning. I do love the home projects. Maybe I'll buy some new plants- squirrels chipmunks and rabbits seem to keep eating ours.
rude.

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My Project Collection: Kitchen

We are still wildly working on the kitchen- the painting is almost done. I really like this hardware from Anthropologie and we ordered drawer pulls from the hardware store- THRILLING! Knobs are a harder decision because John doesn't like the glass knobs that I like. Also some of them are really expensive. I love looking at them- I look online a lot. I am glad we went with a light paint color because our kitchen looks cleaner and brighter. It makes me realize that our non-functioning oven hood doesn't match our oven. Jen noticed it right away when she visited and now it bothers me. It already bothered me that the hood didn't work. I decided I wanted the freak out and call mom print somewhere in my kitchen. That happens to me so frequently in the kitchen after all...

The current countertop in all it's worn out glory. My least favorite part of the kitchen is the floor- it's original linoleum. Someone told me you used to have to refinish linoleum and that might be why the finish is so strange. I covered it up with a rug so I don't have to think of it until we get the time to put tile in. My uncle was going to come help us do the floor but my house was too messy so we backed out. As soon as that happened a little piece of my heart died. So I had to go and buy the stacking kit for the washer and dryer (in the kitchen) and three shelves. Our microwave is going to live in the closet with the washer and dryer. When I got the idea I emptied out the current shelf and took down the rod. Then I realized we had to repair the wall. Is it wrong to wait on putting things together because I want to paint the closet. Then I thought maybe I should wait until we do the floor tile. Sigh- luckily I found new homes for all of the cleaners.

Our Kitchen adventure continues. If you ever want your life to be torn up for a few days just decide to paint your kitchen. It's like being naked- everything in your cupboards is on display. Danielle kept stealing my nutella. Maybe I shouldn't have food that I hide my kids- if I have to hide it I shouldn't eat it. Of course this morning I hid in the bathroom and ate my nutella toast and banana, grateful that the cabinet door was on. I don't know exactly what we will do with the back splash- I want to do a Tiffany blue porcelain subway tile but I'm not sure if it will be universally appealing since we probably won't live here forever.
To paint the cabinets we
cleaned them-
filled the holes with wood putty (if you want to level the surface just use a wet rag rather than sanding it flat- it works great)
sanded them
cleaned them again
painted primer 3-4 coats
paint 3-4 coats (sand between coats)
I used really light coats with the detail roller which I liked- for the corners I used a paintbrush for thicker coverage.
I had touch ups after the doors were hung.

My advice if you are painting cabinets-
Get the little detail rollers- I really liked using them and felt like the painting went faster.
Primer is wonderful.
It took us like a billion coats and you need lots of space to paint that- if I could do it again I would follow the advice I read to just get a line in your garage and paint them all rather than putting them all over in the kitchen- so I would paint when it is warmer. That being said I have kids so I can't just disappear in the garage all the time.
It takes a lot longer than you think- I read some thing that said you could do it in a weekend. umm OK maybe if that is your job- I think at least a week is necessary.
Off white is not white. No white porcelain sink for me.
John doesn't like Chrome- who doesn't like Chrome. that's not related. I love projects.

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