Updates (a big long list)

Once again I have been neglecting this blog, I get on every now and then and get ready to post but I say to myself "let me just read everyone else's posts and then I will write mine". I have my ideas in my head then I finish reading and I dont feel like writing anymore. So today I am NOT reading everyone else's blog I am going to write on mine! Here are some updates:

• Our oven is FIXED!!! Finally! We practically have a new oven (on the inside) because of all the parts they ended up replacing, but hey Im not complaining. I WAS complaining......but now that it is working I am a happy camper cooker.


• We signed Kaylee up for soccer, if nothing else this experience will be entertaining. She has her first game this weekend, along with 2 more birthday partys. We have had 1 each weekend for the past 3 weekends. busy busy busy party party party


• Marcus got our computer fixed, I dont think I have even written about it but our iTunes wasnt working properly, which meant i couldnt sync my iPad and had trouble downloading apps. But in order to fix it, the ENTIRE hard drive had to be wiped clean. Apparently the last backup was done in August (before our Germany trip) so we have lost all pictures from that date. Marcus thinks that there still might be a chance that we have them, but I have yet to see them. I was really really upset at first, but I am sort of over it now.


• I have been hanging out more with the moms from Kaylee's class (which is so unlike me). I mean I am friendly and all, but I have never been quite the social butterfly, and tend to stay i my comfort zone when it comes to friends. But recently we have gone for coffee (I drank hot chocolate) and even on a walk after we drop the kiddos off at school. We decided we are going to walk everyday after drop off, whoever wants to join us can, its nice. It was quite fun actually. Today there were 4 of us, and it made me feel really good afterwards.


• We are gearing up for spring, we are experiencing an uncommon cold front right now, but besides that we have been outside A LOT, which leads me to my next update


• Ainslee has been experiencing some allergy symptoms. I figured I would wait until later to have her tested, but when she would not stop coughing for 12 hours I decided to make an appointment. She had the dreaded testing and found out she is allergic to trees and grass. PERFECT!!! After a long consult with the doc we both just decided to try and manage it with saline nose spray and Benedryl (I wont be using the Benedryl but he said I could try it if i was desperate). So far so good, she seems to be doing better with just rinsing out her little nose with some saline spray when we come in from outside.


• I am starting a GARDEN!!! I am so thrilled I finally decided to do this, just wish I wouldve made this choice a few years ago. I cant tell you how excited I am to start this new adventure. I hope it will be not only a learning experience for the girls but also a way to save money and eat healthier home-grown fresh veggies. One of the reasons why I had reservations in the past is because of our location. I would need to put up a fence to protect from all the wild animals roaming around, and then I would have lots of dirt work to do. I dont know what made me think about doing my garden upside down, OH yes I remember, I was checking out at WalMart the lady in front of me was buying 3 upside down garden planters. It was the last 3 they had and the manager said she could have them for 3 bucks. They were regularly 44 bucks so I asked where I could find them. She told me there were no more but I could have one of hers. I was very eager and thankful and thats what began all of this! I decided that if I was going to do this garden thing, I was to do it right. I am totally committed to this, and have so many ideas I am bursting at the seams. Right now the plan is to sink 3 4x4 posts in the ground and run another 1 (maybe 2) 4x4 posts across the top to make sort of a soccer goal, with 3 posts. then I am going to hang hooks from the crossbar and hang my baskets from the hooks. Right now the plan is to try and grow bell peppers, a few different varieties of tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, jalapenos, strawberries, and some cold weather crops I might try are broccoli and sugar snap peas. I figured the upside down gardening thing solved all of my reasons why I havent gardened in the past. I figured I would install a drip irrigation system to the frame of my garden as well, that way I dont have to worry about watering everyday (which is a huge CON to gardening that way, the watering can be brutal). The cost of my irrigation system was only like $35 and I used a GC we received last year for Christmas, so really it was free. I have so much more I would write about this, but will spare you........for now. I will just say that I am not starting the "BIG" garden this year, I am going to grow a few things in the upside down planter I purchased this year and see how it goes. And in the meantime, I am busy reading and researching more about how to grow a garden (I have the blackest thumb known to man, everything I touch dies), I am slowly going to purchase all the supples needed, so that I dont have one huge start up cost, build my contraption, and installing the drip system. I figure by the time next spring rolls around I will be more than ready to start my garden, so stay tuned.


• Marcus and I had a date night the other night, it was AMAZING! I dont know if I even told him how much I enjoyed it! We had an awesome talk over dinner, we both splurged majorly on dinner (me probably more than him), and then we enjoyed a movie. It was quite nice! We pledged to have a date night at least once a month, considering this was the first in like 4 months, we have some work to do. THANK YOU to my mom who drove so far to come pick them up and who kept them overnight for us, I really dont know how moms survive without the help of grandparents. I am SO THANKFUL!!! I am sure there is more that I wanted to write about but I cant think of it now, plus this post has rambled on long enough