January 25, 2011
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Seedlings!
Bear with me — I’m going to talk about the SFG yet again. By far the most exciting development this week (in terms of gardening) is that the spinach has sprouted!
Look closely: There’s a tiny seedling (with its seed leaves visible) in the upper part of the photograph (near the center of the pic), and one just starting to poke through the soil in the lower right hand corner
According to the book, you can plant nine spinach per square foot. So I’m still waiting for six of the seeds to sprout. They might not all sprout, but I’m hopeful. I just saw the first seedling yesterday, and today two more followed. So perhaps I’ll get a few more in the next couple of days. I’m still waiting for the sugar snap peas, but I’ve read that it can take 10-15 days for the seedlings to poke through the surface.
Meanwhile, my broccoli plants are doing really well. They’ve grown a lot in the last week and are getting taller every day.
I also planted onion and shallot sets over the weekend. Those were really simple to do. This upcoming weekend, I’ll put in the baby carrot seeds. Johnny has also hung up the nylon netting for the trellis, so we’re in full swing!
I also wanted to share a picture of my strawberries (which are in the hanging planter, not in the SFG). They’re coming out of dormancy. If last fall was any indication, these berries will be very flavorful.
OK, enough about gardening; moving on to the family. This past weekend was the last one that my in-laws spent at our house (for this year). Saturday night, all for of us adults went to dinner at a fusion tapas place (Orris) in West LA. My in-laws generously paid for our sitter and for dinner. Gotta love parents!
Unfortunately, I spilled half a glass of red wine on this gray sweater dress. It’s at the cleaner’s — I hope they can get all the stains out!
We also spent lots of time goofing around with the boys. They love giggling together on Jack’s bed.
And Mr. Derek loves to ham it up for the camera. I was looking at pictures on the camera at the end of dinner one night, and when he saw the camera, he said “CHEESE!” and wouldn’t stop until we took his picture.
Yeah, he probably knows he’s cute! Oh, and he’s mastered eating with a spoon (apologies if you’ve already seen this on Facebook):
This week will be a hectic one. Derek has a cold and a little stomach bug (he’s recovering nicely, but it still sucks when your toddler is sick!), Johnny’s gone to New York for work (will be back late Thursday night; he’s also sick, by the way), and I start Saturday morning tutoring this weekend. I recently finished up with two weeknight clients — one took his SAT, and the other had a crazy mom who started making insane/unethical demands — and accepted a job tutoring on Saturday mornings at a local tutoring agency. The pay is good, and the owner of the agency is really nice. She’s lining up private sessions back-to-back for me, so that I only have to go up there once. I’ll probably be there from 9 to noon, or maybe 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., each Saturday during the school year. Of course giving up a Saturday morning is a drawback, but it’s better than going out at 7 p.m. every evening, after a 12-hour day with the kids. Now I’ll get to stay home on weeknights, and I won’t have to pay a sitter when I tutor (Johnny doesn’t get home on weekdays until close to 9 p.m., so I was paying a sitter $10/hour while I went out to tutor). Small price to pay for a few hours on the weekend, plus it’ll give Johnny the opportunity to spend quality time with the boys, which he’s looking forward to. And, during school breaks and in the summer, we’ll have our whole weekend back. Not bad! Anyway, after this week we get a bit of a respite, where we don’t have much going on, and then Johnny goes back to New York (for New York Toy Fair) from Feb 11 – Feb 16. Yuck. Luckily, Michelle’s going to come visit me for a few days during that time — something to look forward to! Honestly, I don’t know how you military spouses do it. A separation of that long would be unbearable!
Comments (8)
I think that sounds great to work Saturdays instead of the evenings during the week. It will give you a chance to get away for a few hours without being totally exhausted already. Plus, save in major babysitting costs…yay!
Your boys are adorable. It makes me hopeful having two children because of the way i see them get along. Granted, i’m sure there are times when they don’t get along, but they seem like great friends. I love all the big smiles and funny faces. And i don’t know how you do it with Johnny getting hope at 9pm every night. What time does he go in in the morning? You are a patient woman!
Our broccoli is doing great, I hope yours does well. I love getting broccoli straight out of our garden. What I like to do is start my seeds in small containers (read styrofoam cups) until they start to sprout, then I transplant them into the larger garden. That way I don’t waste space on seeds that may not become seedlings. :)
The boys are cute, like always!
@JM_in_SC - I should definitely have started the peas indoors! I’ve read that some people start them in a wet paper towel in the fridge. I will do that next time and try your method. Thank you! I’ve heard that spinach doesn’t transplant well, so I hope the rest of them sprout. I’m a nervous nelly waiting for them to come up. Good to hear your broccoli is doing well — gives me hope. I love the idea of getting fresh veggies from the garden.
@ShamrockLover - Kelly, if Johnny doesn’t have a meeting in the early morning, he tries to leave a little later (somewhere between 8 and 8:30 a.m.). If he does have an early morning meeting, then he’s outta here before 8 a.m. Since the boys get up early (usually between 6 and 6:30 a.m.), that does give him time with them in the morning. And he’s great — if they get up in the middle of the night for any reason (doesn’t happen too often, but sometimes Jack has a nightmare or Derek is sick), Johnny is the one who’ll get up and go to them, and he usually is the one to get up with them in the morning, which gives me time to laze in bed for another 15 minutes or get a quick shower in before he leaves for work. I’ve conditioned myself to have zero expectations as to when he’ll get home on weekends. Fridays, he’s usually able to be home by 5 p.m. But, Monday through Thursday, I never expect him home for dinner, or home before 8:30 p.m., for that matter. I used to ask him, “When are you going to be home tonight?” And then I’d end up all disappointed because invariably, he’d be much later than he estimated, and he would get all absorbed in his work and forget to update me about coming home later. Finally I decided that instead of getting all stressed out and bugging him about it, which was unfair because he IS the one bringing home the paycheck (and it’s not like he’s out having fun), I would just not have expectations about his homecoming, and be pleasantly surprised if he did come home “early.” It’s a good thing he enjoys his job! I don’t want to sound ungrateful … but I’m sure you understand the frustrations of having a husband who works long hours. So the weekends are precious to me for two reasons: 1) finally getting to see Johnny, and 2) getting some “me” time!
@ShamrockLover - Oh, and yes, Jack and Derek are the best of friends, most of the time. They have their moments where they don’t share well, but it’s so neat to watch their relationship develop. I can’t wait for you to experience that with your kids!
I am alive! Your SFG looks amazing! I wish I had the patience to do all of that! I’m so glad to hear you are doing well. The boys are looking fantastic and I miss all of you!
@PeanutPuff - Jody!!! I’ve missed you! I’ve been keeping up with you on FB but miss talking. Let’s catch up soon!
Beverly, thats so exciting that your garden is growing and your spinach sprouted some leaves..woohoo! I love that you have some strawberries too. I’m so jealous of your cute little garden, ha ha ha! Please continue to post pictures of your garden’s progress and of course the kiddos. Your boys are growing up so fast and are so cute. Thats awesome that Derek can feed himself..what a big boy! I also hope the dry cleaners can get the wine out of your sweater..I hate when that happens. I’m always spilling stuff on myself, lol.
I LOVE the garden. I keep trying to remember to show Bill the pictures so he can make me one, ha ha. (not gonna happen) The boys are so cute. Love the pictures!