Organizing the Nest

Man, once I get going on a kick, I really get obsessed! Yesterday, I emptied out all of my kitchen cupboards and reorganized them. There are labels everywhere! Today I am moving on to the hallway linen closet. That is a disaster and constant source of frustration. I swear there are 30+ year old linens in there that Mike hasn't let me donate/throw away because "we might need them." Mind you, many are for a twin-sized bed, which we don't even own. That, and there are some choice polyester blend ones that he would never consent to sleeping on. I used a couple of them to make some random crafts and covers for around the house and he was not pleased. Finally, he is so frustrated trying to find a washcloth in the packed closet that he is giving me the freedom to purge as I please. It is really difficult living with an irrational packrat when you are nesting, let me tell you!

My next goal is to accomplish this type of purging in our third bedroom, currently known as the cat's loo and neglected library. It's terrible that we never use one of the largest rooms in our house because it's filled with unneeded clutter. We are at a loss as to what we will be doing with the cat's litterboxes once we have all bedrooms actually set up as bedrooms. Ugh. Litterboxes. Litterboxes and books. Lots and lots of books. What to do with clutter in an ever-filling house? I sold or gave away loads of my books when I moved here because there just wasn't room to keep things that I was never going to read again. Somehow, I need to convince Mike of this reasoning. Wish me luck.

So, you can tell that I am succumbing to the nesting madness. Once I start, get out of my way! I was eyeing the underside of the fridge yesterday and considering pulling out the fridge to clean under it. That's when I knew that the crazy cleaning phase had begun!

So Sick

We all have what must be the slowest-progressing head/chest cold ever! I didn't think I was going to get the full she-bang, but it was just really taking its time settling in. I am in such a fog today and Juliana decided to get up at 6 a.m. Tierney quickly followed. Blech. At least T is feeling better. Juji is having a hard time kicking her first sickness since weaning. While I was nursing her, she never got the full brunt of any sickness we passed around.

I think I am going to skip walking T to school today and take the easy way out. I'll drive her and then hit the grocery store to get some last items I need for pot roast tonight. I have never made a pot roast, so this is a new endeavor. I bought a share of a cow last year and have used up all of the meat from the freezer except for two big roasts. It's time to break the seal. Actually, now that I think about it, I did make a lamb roast once before when I was 22. I had invited over lots of friends over to eat it with me. Problem was, it never cooked! I had forgotten the all-important step of searing the meat before putting it in the oven to roast. I think we ate around midnight! That must be why I have had a fear/aversion of roasts. Mike's Prime Rib Roasts have made me appreciate the tastiness again, so I'm giving the Barefoot Contessa's recipe a try. Looks tasty.

Planning time

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a seminar on home organization. It was called "Chaos or Organization -- It's Your Choice." This is like manna to feed a nesting pregnant lady's soul. I was so jazzed to implement some new organization methods that I immediately invested in a labeler. While I waited for the labeler to arrive via the postman, I slowly lost my drive. Now, the labeler is here and I need to get fired up again and get this place organized while I have a rainy weekend to keep me housebound. The next time you come to my house, you'll probably see everything from the front door to the toilet having a label on it -- just in case you forget what they are.

We've all been pretty down in the dumps with sickness, hence my loss of energy. I caught it last and seem to have the least virulent strain, so that at least says something good about my immune system right now. May I just say that I am REALLY thankful to not be having another January baby right now? The girls are both in the midst of mental growth spurts and are pretty much both looney tunes at the moment. If I had a newborn crying for me right now on top of their cries/whines, I think that I would seriously have to check myself in to an asylum. I seriously hope that we are in a better place come June.

I am ready for Spring to arrive. I just got my seeds and a new gardening manual in the mail yesterday. I am going to finally get to plant some crops in the backyard! I think that I'll still need the front yard, though, since I decided to plant corn for the girls and it requires a lot of space and sun. I am trying a new method called Grow BioIntensive that allows you to plant many plants on a small plot. It's a system that actually builds the life and quality of your soil over the years instead of depleting it. I have a lot of reading to do, still, so it's good that I have a few weeks before the soil dries out enough to work with. I'm finally going to plant a patch of asparagus, so I have to figure out a place that won't get accidentally tilled under for the next three years. It takes 3-4 years before you get to harvest, but after that they come up annually for decades. I am looking forward to Mike making me a raised bed frame.

It's morning snuggle time with my sickies. The computer's place on my lap is highly coveted :)

Happy Birthday to my Girls

Despite a seriously nasty week weather-wise, we managed to have a nice little birthday celebration for the girls. Her little friends and cousins were able to come and enjoy our brief taste of sunshine. Tierney had her own lemon raspberry cake and Juliana dug into her favorite "choc" cake. Tierney was concerned that when she turned four this morning, that she would no longer fit in her toddler bed. She was pleasantly surprised to find that she wasn't a giant when she awoke. She knows that, like many things, the bed won't fit her when she's 7. The age of 7 represents ultimate maturity to her since her cousin, Emma, was 7 last year when she started understanding the concept of age. Juliana is talking up a storm and has really grown up over the last few weeks. I'm going to enjoy this year with her. She is such a snuggler and a gentle soul -- except when she is hitting T, her new skill. Tierney is getting excited about the "baby in mommy's belly" and is really careful not to "squish the baby" when she crawls on my lap for rock-a-bye. She's going to be a great help to me when we have a little one again. There are new photos in the slideshow -- finally!

Here Comes Christmas!

The day is approaching. Am I ready? Of course not! I think that I am heading out to the big Hanna Andersson sale today at Valley Fair to score some clothes for the girls. I'll wrap them and put them under the tree. T gets so much more excited about clothes if they are presents to unwrap. For example, I ordered some gymboree underwear online. When a big envelope came in the mail for Tierney, she was so excited. You have never seen a girl fawn over panties so much. She always searches through the underwear drawer for the "panties that came in the mail."

Our tree is truly beautiful this year and hard-earned. We literally found our tree at the furthest point on the mountain farm away from our car. We had to trek back up the mountain with our newly cut tree. It was quite a hike, in the rain. Fortunately, we had hot cider waiting for us back in the van. We had the tree lit and trimmed in record time that day and Mike put up the lights on the house. Juliana says "Wow" anytime she sees Christmas lights. It's fun to drive around town with her at night and listen to all of her exclamations over Christmas decor.

Our solar panels were installed in one day and they are up and running. They even hauled away our broken solar pool heater that was going to be a messy job for us to do on our own. Unfortunately, they thought that meant that they should install the new panels on the roof where the pool heater had been. They had already gotten started bolting in the braces when Lance noticed and stopped them. All was right in the end, though, and we look forward to our first PG&E bill post-installation to arrive.

My parents came up last weekend for a nice, visit. Tierney has been wearing the tutus Gramma got her ever since. I'm going to have to peel her out of them before I can ever get the chance to wash them.

Mike finally got a much-deserved pay raise after two years of pretty dismal business at his job. It seems, we hope, that the cabinet-making business is finally picking up speed after all of the economic distress of 2008-09. His boss wanted to give him a raise many moons ago but was hanging on the precipice of just trying to keep Mike in a job at all. It's been rough, but I think that things are going to improve. Hurray!

I have my second appointment with my Midwife on Wednesday morning. This time, I'll be almost 14 weeks, so she should be able to get a heartbeat on the doppler. Sometimes, I feel huge and ready to breakout the maternity wear already. Then, after a run and a night's sleep, I'll drop a couple pounds of water weight and feel pretty darn normal in my clothes. I am certainly bloated, but not baby bumpy yet. I have been crying at every sappy, or not sappy thing on TV, though. Good grief, I'm pretty silly with hormones.

Coffee time so that I can brace myself for the mall madness. . .

Happy Holiday

We went down to Bakersfield for the Thanksgiving holiday. The girls were wild about playing with their cousins. Juliana "loved" on Eleanor so much that Eleanor lost quite a bit of hair in the process. Tierney gets so excited to play games with Emma that she absolutely refuses to sleep, lest she miss out on some fun. As a result, they are pretty wacky with sleep deprivation and Juji has caught a cold. We are trying to get our naps back into the daily game but it is proving to be difficult with T. Tierney watched "Sleeping Beauty" for the first (and fifth) time at Grandmas and now is even more in love with fairies. Flora, Fauna and Merriweather are pretty fascinating. She thinks it's hilarious the way that they fight over whether Briar Rose's dress should be pink or blue. We had fun cooking with Grandma and eating the yummy results.

Juliana said her first three-word sentence to me yesterday. She was humming in my lap and I was trying to talk to Mike. She put her hand to my mouth and said, "No, don't talk!" Okay, then. I am not allowed to talk, sing or look at her when she is composing. I must not disturb the genius at work.

Tomorrow I am registering T for preschool. I am looking forward to seeing how external discipline will effect her behavior at home. I am hoping that it will help her with the structure that I am not always able to provide while minding J and the house. I know that she is going to LOVE preschool. Every time we've visited, she's thrown a fit when we have to leave.

Mike is on a mission to get Solar Panels on our roof by the end of the month. Merry Christmas! That is our big Christmas gift. I hope Santa can still land on our roof. We want to get them in by the end of the year so that we can get the tax credit back when we file the 09 taxes. It's a big chunk of change but it is a better investment with a much quicker return than anything we could invest our money in market-wise. Plus, the salesman hit one of Mike's buttons when he said that in 10 years we'll probably want electric cars and they will be a big energy consumer that solar will help with. Mike is like "in 10 years? I want one NOW!"

We are going to get our Christmas tree on Saturday and I am excited. I need to get the house clean and ready for the tree. First, I need to get myself off of the couch. I just cannot get enough sleep lately. I am forcing myself to walk to Starbucks today despite the crummy weather. If I don't get some exercise soon, my muscles will turn to jelly.

Happenings

Juliana has taken me by complete surprise this week and has decided to potty train! She runs over to me, does a little impatient dance, points at her diaper and says "poop, poop." We go to the potty and she does her thing, complete with wiping. I am excited to think that I might have a brief window of no diapers before the newby comes.

I was kind of hoping that this time around might be at least slightly different than my previous pregnancies in the morning sickness department, but no luck. It came on more gradually this time, but every day gets consistently worse. I just tried my normal jogging route to Starbucks and ended up having to turn around at the halfway point. I just was too lightheaded and icky. It's irritating because the longer I lay on the couch, the more restless and nauseated I become. It takes a lot of determination to even stand up, let alone really go somewhere or be active. Sigh. 3 girls, here we come!