What a Weekend! -- My Little Town Edition

As always, the weekend was here and gone in a blink.

I ran errands alone first thing on Saturday morning. I quite enjoy this "adult" time. We live in a very small community, so a morning's worth of errands provides a good opportunity to visit and catch up with neighbors and acquaintances while getting work done. My "to-do" list had about eight items, and I finished them all an hour!

Mr. C. took Wallaby to the local John Deere supply to pick up a lawnmower part. That was an errand planned just for them. What little boy wouldn't want to visit the tractor store with Daddy?

Waverley and I walked to the post office and library. Drop off mail, return books. Stop at the corner market on the way home for lunch provisions.

We live only two blocks from a little corner market with a nice deli. A market that: is closed all day on Sundays; that will run a credit tab for you, if you make arrangements; that runs a raffle each week for fifty dollars worth of store credit. I absolutely love living in this little town founded long ago by thrifty and fervent Catholics. When I look out the kitchen window and over the neighbor's roof, I can see the steeple of my home church and the gold cross gleaming at the top. From the living room, I can see the parish church where I grew up, and the parochial school I attended for a time. City hall is in view from my yard, and we can watch the trains go by on the nearby track. When the weather is nice, we can hear the tinkly chiming of glass soda bottles being refilled at the bottling plant, where the work is done with the doors open most of the time.

And always time, its flowing marked by the deep ring of the church bell each quarter hour, and the Angelus bell at twelve and six.

The Only Leverage....

First of all, Mr. C. and I have been living at a mile-a-minute since two Fridays ago. On one hand, we're only able to function at this pace because we've been perfectly in tune with one another. (Praise God!) On the other hand, we can only keep up this way for so long, right? Right? There is no end in sight, which is both exciting and exhausting.

This past weekend presented the arrival of perfect Spring weather here. Saturday afternoon also presented all three children napping for the same two hours. Mr. C. and I worked on the site of our soon-to-be garden: It had been landscaped with rocks by our home's previous owners. We shoveled, and shoveled, and shoveled some more. We dug out a ton of rocks. Literally. It was fantastic. The sun shining, the breeze fresh and soft, the dirt just damp enough to give way easily, the aroma of turned earth rising up like perfume.

Two hours of shoveling cleared out about one-third of the area we're wanting to plant.

I used everything I'd ever learned about "lever," "fulcrum," and "pivot" in my search for the most ergonomic shoveling posture.

Given the current economic climate here in the States, my goal is to have our house paid off as soon as possible, and have the only "leverage" remaining in my life that of the shovel's handle against my thigh.

7 Quick Takes Friday -- 3/13/09 -- What a Weekend! Edition

1. Traveling with 3 under 5 on the "Spring forward" time change weekend? Foolish! Fortunately, everyone woke up in time and in a pleasant demeanor on Sunday morning, and we arrived at 8:30 Mass just as Father was giving his opening announcements.

2. Despite the folly of our scheduling the visit, we had a fantastic time with my in-laws. The travel was easy, hospitality generous, company warm, and weather delightful. Wallaby and Waverley enjoyed the run of the farm all of Saturday afternoon. Sunshine, wind, and small children freely running. It's their little slice of heaven on earth.

3. We also enjoyed some delicious food. In addition to homemade fried chicken, I ate the best yellow cake I've ever put in my mouth. The trick? Add a tub of sour cream and a package of instant vanilla pudding to a yellow cake mix.

4. Waffles. Wallaby and Waverley had never eaten waffles, so Sunday after Mass, Grandpa treated us to breakfast out, and we all ate waffles. Now I know that two tiny kids can devour a waffle in 2 minutes flat. If they ate all their meals that quickly, they could free up 7 more hours a week.

In praise of waffles:
Wallaby: "How come we can't stay at Grandpa's house?"
Me: "Because we have to live here at our house."
W: "Can we move this house by Grandpa?"
M: "It is possible to move a house, but Daddy and I aren't going to do that."
W: "Can we build a house by Grandpa?"
M: "You'd have to ask Grandpa, 'Can we build a house in your yard?'"
W: "No, I don't want to build a house in Grandpa's yard. I think build it a little closer to that waffle place."

5. Our garden seeds arrived Monday! The seed company, Baker Creek, included 2 free seeds packets: a lettuce and a parsnip. Mr. C. worked up a seed bed for the early plants, and on Monday evening we set out carrots, parsnips, beets, cilantro, silverbeet, and lettuce. Monday evening we started all the indoor seedlings: tomatoes, peppers, basil, and amaranth. The Love-Lies-Bleeding amaranth has sprouted already, but there's no sign of life from anything else, yet.

6. When we came home from our trip, I remembered that Tigaloo was scheduled for her first round of fever-inducing vaccinations on Wednesday morning. Surely enough, by Wednesday afternoon, she was running a fever and acting sluggish. Her fever spiked up Wednesday night, and yesterday was more of the same. I get scared when my babies run fevers. Fortunately, her fever broke last night.

7. A big "Thank you" to everyone who offered prayers for me last week! Last Friday's event went as well as could be expected. I look forward to the day when the conflict we are involved in can be resolved peaceably. Until then, there is little to do but pray. And that is no small thing.

Here's to a great weekend!

for more Friday Quick Takes, stop over at Conversion Diary.

What a Weekend! (or, An Appeal to Gardeners) -- 3/2/09

Saturday, Mr. C. and I took the children with us to the bank to close the loan refinancing our home. "Herding cats" comes to mind. The loan officer was very gracious with us. It is such a relief, given the current economic atmosphere, to have been able to re-fi to a shorter term with lower interest. I'd consider this a huge step towards our goal of financial independence.

While Tigaloo was sleeping Saturday afternoon, I cooked up a huge pot of chicken and dumplings. Then Mr. C. and I started seed shopping for our garden. This will be our 3rd attempt at gardening. (The first summer after we married, we planted a garden in a tiny patch of dirt near the confluence of Ignorance and Enthusiasm, and our yield was nil.) This time around, we've the experience of having successfully grown 3 tomato plants and some lettuce, which sets us one tiny step above Woefully Ignorant. And we still have plenty of Enthusiasm.

Here's the list of the seeds we ordered:
Amaranth:
- Love-Lies-Bleeding
- Golden Giant
Beans:
- Jacob's Cattle
- Blue Lake Bush 274
- Hutterite Soup
Beet:
- Albino
Carrots:
- St. Valery
- Berlicum 2
Cowpeas:
- Purple Hull Pinkeye
Marigolds:
- Harlequin
Herbs:
- Genovese Basil
- Slo-Bolt Cilantro
- Lemongrass (to repel mosquitos)
Lettuce:
- Tom Thumb
- Forellenschluss
- Little Gem
Peppers:
- California Wonder
Chard:
- Five Color Silverbeet (Rainbow Chard)
Squash:
- Sweet Dumpling (winter)
- Crookneck - Early Golden Summer
- Cocozella di Napoli (zucchini)
Tomatoes:
- Arkansas Traveler
- German Lunchbox
- Mama Leone
- Rev. Morrow's Long Keeper
- Cherokee Purple
- Isis Candy Cherry
- Yellow Pear
Watermelons:
- Blacktail Mountain
- Wilson's Sweet
- Black Seeded Ice Cream
- Golden Midget

So we're probably in way over our heads. I would be appreciative of any suggestions from any gardeners out there! Anyone? Anyone?