J-Money and I had our 4-month doctor's appointment last week...According to their scale, I've gained a total of 2 pounds--Justin is convinced it's because I ate Taco Bell right before my appointment, but there's no way I could eat enough Taco Hell...I mean, Bell...to immediately gain two pounds! I'm pretty sure it was a legitimate 2-pound gain!
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| Looking pretty gross! Came home from work and fell asleep for an hour, then got up and tried my new (and lame) workout DVD...I'll save that rant for another day! |
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| Still no bump "bump" but just getting thicker! I bet J-Money that at Week 18, I "pop"--we'll see if I'm right! |
And no, I don't have any week 17 pictures to share. I had a few too many nights of getting home at 10pm and it just wasn't on my mind. But I'm hoping I'll remember a picture for the upcoming week! After all, we're just a couple of weeks away from finding out if Lil' Britney Griner is really a boy or a girl! And yes, we DID nickname our fetus Britney Griner...for the early stages, it seemed VERY appropriate ;-)
The past few weeks have continued to be busy at our bungalow. In preparation of painting our house this summer (and a different color scheme, at that) we've meet with several different paint contractors--and in an attempt not to screw up the color, we decided to contract with a local architect who specializes in historic preservation to help finalize the trim and accent colors. Yes, we're totally cheating BUT considering what a new paint job costs, I'd rather pay a nominal fee and make sure we're happy with the colors the first time around!
Aside from finalizing our paint plans, it seems that the past few weeks have been nothing but building beds, beds and more beds!
The first two years we lived here, we had a salsa garden on the backside of the house. I became tired with the tomatoes taking over the sidewalk so last year, I ripped out the plants and put in perennial Russian Sage. And then, out of the blue, Justin decided he missed his salsa garden...
So, I told him he could have his garden back if he did it himself...and that he did!
After watching a quick YouTube video, he was off to Menard's for the supplies. Composite decking, 4x4's, deck screws and a Skil saw. Personally, I think his motivation for creating the raised beds had more to do with "having" to buy a saw, but whatever--he took charge of the project and that's all I cared!
So, I told him he could have his garden back if he did it himself...and that he did!
After watching a quick YouTube video, he was off to Menard's for the supplies. Composite decking, 4x4's, deck screws and a Skil saw. Personally, I think his motivation for creating the raised beds had more to do with "having" to buy a saw, but whatever--he took charge of the project and that's all I cared!
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| First, the boundaries were marked with spray paint, then Justin tilled the dirt. |
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| The first bed took about 4 hours. Fortunately, all I had to do was hold the boards and mark lines for the cuts. Still not sure how it took so long, but at least it came together! |
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| Over the course of a weekend, both raised beds were finished. The second one only took 1.5 hours! This is from the backyard looking towards the front of the house... |
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| And from the front of the house, looking toward the backyard. The beds turned out WAY bigger than we thought they would--they're roughly 13.5'x5.5'! |
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| This time around, we were smart about where we put the garden. Not only did we make sure the beds would be right next to the water spicket, it's also just steps from our kitchen door. Something tells me the waterings will be more frequent and if we can see the food while cooking, we're more likely to use it in our supper! |
Finally, it was time to fill the beds with dirt. As a farmer's daughter, I do not understand the concept of paying for dirt--but, we do live in town and I wasn't about to dig a huge hole in our yard. We headed out to the garden store and apparently, dirt is sold in cubic yards. Per my calculations, we needed about $1700 worth of dirt. Was the garden store flippin' crazy?! But wait--turns out, my definition of a cubic yard and the store's definition were WAY different. And my math was way off--what's new?!
In all, it took 2.5 cubic yards to fill the beds--or, about $100 worth of dirt. Not $1700. At one point, Justin was convinced that he wasn't paying for dirt and he'd go out to his friend's job site in the country and dig some dirt. SERIOUSLY? If he wanted to, fine by me--but leave me at home so I can get some work done! But ultimately, he decided it was totally worth it to have someone from the store run the Bobcat and fill the truck bed up with top soil...
Now, the beds are in. We have tomatoes, strawberries, onions, peppers, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, broccoli and some herbs. Call me OCD, but I was paranoid about the herbs seeding out and creating volunteer plants throughout the beds. Sooooo, I decided to plant the herbs in plastic containers. And yes, my guess is that it's a huge waste of time and won't make any difference--but at least it lets us think that we may be able to contain the seeds and not have a huge mess on our hands! So far, we have one cilantro plant (with more to come throughout the season), boxwood basil and something that will be a bit of an experiment--curry! We LOVE curry and the plant smells absolutely wonderful! Even if we don't cook with it, I think it will be a smelly-good addition to the garden!
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| The tomatoes, strawberries and onions...probably won't have many strawberries, but it will be fun to see if they make it! |
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| 4 varieties of peppers, a cucumber plant, a sugar snap pea plant, a bunch of broccoli and some herbs! Seeing this picture reminds me--we need to put in the buckets for the future cilantro before the pepper plants get in the way! |
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| I've never seen broccoli grown in a garden--should be fun to watch! |
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| The onions sprouted within just days! Safe to say we were both surprised! |
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| Love this picture! We turned the soaker hose on and I noticed a rainbow in the mist--best part was that my phone captured the rainbow!! |
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| Last year's project was building a shade garden in the backyard...several plants didn't make it due to the drought but some of the foxglove plants are doing really well! |
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| Our peonies are starting to bloom! We'd love to plant several more in the backyard, but we shall see... |
This weekend, we tackled a fairly MAJOR project. We deconstructed the guest room and assembled some of the nursery furniture...eeek! The thought of starting the nursery seemed so premature but in all reality, my work season is just getting ready to pick up and it won't be over until the baby arrives...so with it being a three-day weekend and with no clients in town, I knew it was now or never.
We managed to score two pieces of furniture off of Craigslist--is anybody surprised?! Once we find out if Britney Griner is a boy or girl, it will be time to paint the walls and start accessorizing...until then, we just have to get the big stuff taken care of!
One of our finds is this hutch--the finish is incredibly worn in several areas, but with a fun coat of paint, maybe some new hardware and some knickknacks (not all the crap from cleaning out the room) it should be a great addition!
The "big" purchases involved the crib and changing table. I didn't want anything too frilly or traditional so we ended up having to buy something that had a more modern feel...thanks to our credit card giving us awesome cash-back on our groceries and gas, the crib and changing table only cost us $40...now THAT'S what I'm talking about :-) The part that really excites me is the drawer on the bottom--hello, extra storage!
This kid is lucky that its parents love one another. After 5.5 hours of reading senseless instruction booklets, having to attempt multiple steps several different ways and the two of us having completely different ideas about how furniture assembly should be done, we were finished. And still married. But barely. The whole experience was a great reminder of why I avoid buying furniture in a box...
Love the raised beds, good job Justin!
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