Get back to the gardening already!

So one of the many things I love about the Pacific Northwest is the fact that Spring actually starts around here when it is supposed to, i.e. months before it starts in the Midwest where I grew up. For example, there are crocuses blooming in the yard and the daffodils are about to pop. Can you believe it?! It is not even March yet! While the Midwest continues to get buried in snow and generally really f***ing cold right now we are planning the garden for this year. I have even already gotten to plant some seeds (granted they will be residing in the greenhouse in Colton where the family bee farm is) and will get to start a bunch of "starts" in nary a week. Did I already mention that I am super excited for the garden this year! I have never started from "starts" before and NONE of the seeds I planted directly in the ground grew last year grew - I am hoping it is just because it was bad year in general for gardening, not that I have some kind of black thumb. Either way, I am very hopeful that starting from starts is the way to go this year. My Mom is coming to visit this weekend and we plan to take her to the farm for some greenhouse fun. I am super excited for the flowers I plan on planting this year - getting a little closer to a cottage garden every year is my plan. In my imagination I can see out 'secret garden' already.... On the list this year are more foxglove (love it!), lots of sweet peas, morning glories, something that looks like a green flower from Mars called "Irish Bells", Mexican sunflowers, holly hocks and a few others I can't remember right now and don't have in front of me. We are also planting three rows of vegetables of all kinds and have raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, 2 baby apple trees and 2 baby pear trees. I will be sure to take lots of pictures of our progress.

"What fresh hell is this....?"

Well, maybe “hell” is a bit mellow dramatic but damn! it has been a little rough around here lately! When you are married to a beekeeper you quickly learn that are stretches of time in February and March when your loving man will be running off to California with a few truck loads of females and leave you flying solo for two weeks at time. This is because commercial beekeeping means you transport your bees to orchards and fields and such for them to do their work and pollinate. That is where the real money is – not in honey or wax but in the “sexy” part of what bees do. Which begs the question: did I marry an interspecies pimp?! Okay, I digress (the beekeeping community would also be horrified by me right now). Now is one of those times and it seems that we are cursed! A plague upon our house complete with illnesses and mechanical failures of all kinds. I have been struggling with a flu (which manages to encompass every kind of symptom you can imagine –yuck) for a good 9 days now, our asthmatic cat has been having a marathon asthma attack that has been flaring up for over a week and Little Buddy’s nasty wet cough is back again. My mother-in-law ended up getting sick too which meant she was unable to babysit this week so I had to take more time off work. If the truth be told this was not so bad since I am still trying to fully recover myself; a seemingly impossible task when you have an energetic, willful, dare devil of a toddler to look after all by yourself. The car is also now leaking transmission fluid like a mutha and various minor household appliances have been acting wacky. Now in the face of all this I do recognize that these are relatively minor problems that will all seem terribly small once my Honey comes home but in the meantime: OUCH! It makes me realize how truly amazing single parents are and I commend them. I think we should propose as National Single Parent Awareness Day where free child care and free drinks should be provided along with free massage, free movie tickets and free entry to sporting events to all single parents. Those guys and gals need a serious break a little appreciation! Who’s with me?

Compared to Cancer and Meningitis things aren't so bad! AKA Happy Holidays! Post

So I recently deleted my last post because it was mostly a crybaby monologue, be it a funny one (thanks, Nathan & Susie!). I also got a very healthy dose of reality immediately following it's publication. I learned that a dear friend was in the hospital with viral meningitis and that my stepfather might have either liver or pancreatic cancer (luckily, it turns out neither). My petty complaints suddenly seemed exceedingly petty indeed. It is hard not feel like an asshole complaining about work stress, PMS, lack of sleep and on going bed bug worries when you are confronted with truly horrific news of loved one's real misfortunes. That being said I will simply bid you all Happy Holidays and Happy Solstice! I will post more soon when it is not such a mad frenzy of gift buying/wrapping and Christmas Eve dinner planning. We will be having 8 people over for Christmas Eve dinner at our very small house. In attendance will be my hubby's 90 year old Grandmother and my brother's 21 year old stripper girlfriend. Should make for quite a lively evening and an interesting follow-up blog post! So, stay tuned and ENJOY your holiday traditions with your friends and family. "Faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more,".

Four words: Bed. Bugs. Oh. F***.

My husband is getting me drunk right now. He just refilled my wine glass for a the second time. On a Monday night. "Why?" you might ask. Because he loves me and he knows that the idea of crawling into our bed tonight makes me want to cry....and vomit. Or vomit and then cry. WE HAVE BED BUGS. And the exterminator can't come until Thursday because they are getting up to "15 bed bug calls a day," at this point.

How in the world did we get bed bugs?!" you might also ask. I have a job that requires that I make home visits to some not so savory apartment buildings. As near as I can figure I must have had a nasty little stowaway hitch a ride on my clothes or bag or something. I could also blame this whole nightmare on hubris as I was feeling quite untouchable in the face of the recent bed bug hysteria/media scare. I thought "we live in a house now, we're safe" and "I don't take public transportation anymore so we don't need to worry about bed bugs,". The universe answered me with a resounding "WRONG."

You may also wonder A.) How we figured it out and B.) Why do you have to sleep in your yucky bed bug bed until Thursday? In answer to A.) Matt started to notice yucky bites on his torso (I had bites too but mine just looked like a slight rash because I am not as allergic as he is) last week. He started doing some research on the internet and realized it might be bed bugs. We searched our room and mattress and eventually found a few "nymph" bedbugs and a bed bug husk (they shed their skin). We proceeded to clean the bed room: spray rubbing alcohol all over the place, vacuum everything and wash everything in hot, hot water. We also bought impenetrable covers for the mattresses and pillows (if any bed bugs are in the mattress or pillows they are trapped and starve to death....in about 18 months!!!). Unfortunately, Matt still woke up with bites this morning :( In answer to B.) If we go sleep upstairs in the guest bed they will just go after William (our 13 month old son) in the next room and follow us upstairs/spread. So, we need to stay put and suck it up (get it?! bed bug humor!) in an effort to keep them contained/centralized and away from our baby! Needless to say this is a disgusting thought - thus, the wine. Just the thought of 3 more nights of being bed bug meat and 3 more nights of egg laying and hatching. YUCK! It makes me want to cry and vomit. Or vomit and cry. Either way: DISGUSTING. So, Dear Readers, be happy that not matter how bad your day may have been at least you don't have bed bugs!

The State O' My Union

The weird thing about getting married so fast is that you don’t really have a frame of reference for a lot things about your partner because you are still learning about each other/getting to really know each other in certain ways. This is good and bad. It is kind of exciting and exhausting to think that we still have so much to learn about each other. Even just learning how to negotiate each other’s moods and feelings and fighting styles is a bit of mystery sometimes. For example do you push a topic or give someone space when they seem like they don’t want to talk about something? Some people need to be pushed to get things out, some people will come back to you to talk about a painful/loaded subject after having a little time to sort it out in their own head. Sometimes it can go either way. I know that for myself – sometimes I need to be pushed and sometimes I need space. I also know that being married also lends a certain gravity to things – like I don’t ever want to let anything fester because I can see how easily it can happened and being really lifelong committed to someone means you have to work harder on things even if you don’t always want to. I know that in my single days relationships ended because communication stopped and the relationship either didn’t seem worth the trouble of digging things up or neither one of us had the balls to do it. I also don’t ever want to take my husband for granted or be taken for granted because I again can see how easily it can happen and it can be death to a relationship. I want this ship to last to weather all the storms and palmy weather in the future. The rest-of-our- lives-future is a tall order and a scary thing but also well worth the work.

Gratitude List

This weekend I attended a conference for work. One of the break out sessions I went to mentioned a study in which a group of test subjects were asked to think of a few things that they were grateful for before going to bed each night. The results of the study showed decreased sleep problems, including nightmares and general increased feeling of life satisfaction. This got me thinking that maybe I should start a gratitude list journal. I have been meaning to get back to journaling and this seems like a good reason to start. I could just list 1 - 5 things that I am thankful for each might before bed. So, on that note, here are a few things I have been thinking of in no particular order:
1. My awesome husband
2. My amazing son
3. My home
4. Sunday night Inspector Lewis on PBS
5. Hot showers every morning - what a first world luxury this is!
6. Ground Hog Day - really! it's very existence makes me happy because it is just so odd and pagan in this technological, ideological world that we live in.
7. Autumn
8. Seeing movies in a movie theater
9. My friends - new and old
10. The ocean
Once I started going I couldn't stop at just 5. My list is all over the place but once I started thinking of what I was grateful for my mind went all over. You should try it! I think that I/you/we all could have a lot of fun thinking up even just one thing a day that I/you/we are grateful for. Give it a try, it is scientifically proven to improve you sleep and chase away those nightmares too!

One glorious, terrifying year!

We recently celebrated William's 1st birthday - a little early because we will be camping this weekend with a few other families. I can hardly believe it has been a year already! Who can believe it is September already?! This time last year I was so uncomfortable and really ready to get the whole giving birth over already but scared to death about it too. I ended up being partially induced because I was a week over my due date. I say 'partially' because when I went in, a little after midnight on Sept 4th, 2009, I was already having contractions. They weren't very close together but too close for them to give me the medication to get things really rolling. I ultimately had a very speedy and uncomplicated delivery almost 24 hours later. When it finally happened ("transition" they call it) it was so fast there wasn't time for an epidural. I was happy about that after the fact because I had wanted to avoid it. At the time I would have had it if I could have: OUCH!

So, here we are one year later with an amazing, beautiful, happy, funny, bouncing (and walking) baby boy. He is also very flirtatious! He loves the pretty girls in the grocery store or wherever else we go. He really just loves people. When he was learning to walk he would walk right up (with Matt or I attached by his little hands grasping our fingers for balance) to strangers' tables in restaurants and smile up at people. This would force Matt and I to be way more socialable than we wanted to be. He certainly has changed our lives completely!

SO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE BUDDY! WE LOVE YOU!