weekending: making, planting, partying

this weekend started off with homemade peanut butter cups made for the occasion of welcoming papa home from his week away.  I don't think I'll buy peanut butter cups again, they are so easy to make.  melt chocolate (I used semi sweet ghirardelli chips), line little cups with a bit of the melted goodness, refrigerate until hard, add a dollop of peanut butter mixed with sweetener of choice (we used plain organic pb with a couple tablespoons of agave nectar), top off with remaining melted chocolate.  inhale as desired.

my fedco order arrived friday afternoon and really, it was perfect timing.  because it was spring here this weekend.  two days of full on sunshine and blue skies.  and do you see those prices for the seeds?  between $1.10 and $2.20 per packet and most of them are organic.  and they are a company I love to support.  a seed cooperative who stands up against monsanto and really gives a damn about customer service and has an amazing selection.

we made some progress on the beds.  switching out old rotten boards for cinder blocks.  at first I wasn't so sure about cinder blocks.  because, well, they are kind of ugly, right?  but now I love them.  I can sit at the edge of the bed as I plant/weed/whatever, I can plant things inside them, they aren't going to rot.  love them.  getting them level is what is making it take a bit of time.  these things are likely to be around for a while, and I don't want to stare at wonky beds forever.  a little wonky I can welcome and even embrace.  but obscenely wonky?  not so much.  we'll probably end up with the six main beds and a few more smaller ones here and there.  under the soil in one bed now sit lots of little teeny tiny parsnip and beet seeds, soon to be joined by an array of greens.  under the soil in some seed trays now sit quite a few onion, leek, parsley, kale, and pac choi seeds.  and as soon as we decide where they are going, the peas and potatoes are going in.  the bees are back there buzzing away, bringing in loads of pollen each warm day we get.  we're thinking of taking down the wire fencing around the hive and replacing it with a low step-over bamboo fence.  something to act as a barrier for the little ones, but that we adults can easily step over while holding an armload of bee paraphernalia.  and again, with the aesthetics, of course.

Claire's little red plastic dinosaur (named 'little floor') helped make the pancakes saturday morning.

I turned the cuff of a pair of loved-to-the-point-of-no-return smartwool socks into a cozy for my tea/coffee cups.  I actually just googled whether they're called 'cozies' or 'coozies' and apparently it is quite the debate.  I'm going with cozy.  as in, my tea is warm and cozy and this thingamajig is going to help keep it as such.

we went through a ton of tape this morning so that Claire could tape her little 'dots' to a bookcase in the office/classroom.  I tend to be scroogey with the tape, not wanting to waste it and all.  kind of like I used to be scroogey with bandaids when I first worked with kids.  like "oh, you don't really need one, it's not bleeding and anyway it needs the air" or some other lame line.  and mostly because I didn't feel like getting up and finding the first aid kit.  but then I had one of those lightbulb kind of moments and realized bandaids were magic and I've never looked back.  you need a bandaid?  sure!  how about two?     maybe an icepack to go along with it... just in case?  so that's me with tape now.  it is an amazing thing to her so let her have it.

we also attended two very fun three-year-old birthday parties.  both held at different equally awesome children's play places, the Treehouse and The Health Adventure.  one included grown up beverages for the adults and the other ended with C's papa bringing the fire truck over (his station happens to be across the street from the health adventure) for all the kiddos to climb on and around.  super fun.  though she mostly ducked and hid because she's not into big groups of people right now and seeing as how all the kids were gathered together around the big red truck, it wasn't her thing.  we had our own private viewing afterwards when we stopped for a visit on our way back home.  and speaking of her 'particularities' of late, a friend shared this ("46 reasons my three year old might be freaking out") with me and it is pretty darn funny.

man, I love this kid.  love, love, love.  yes, we have our challenges, our two-left-feet kind of dances, but  I suppose they serve their purpose too.


*weekending with amanda