An old sandbox is the best place for a garden. Especially when the surrounding soil is hard clay. The sandbox here was full of wild strawberries, a wild raspberry and lots of weeds. I felt terrible taking out the strawberries so I left about a foot on two sides so we can eat lots still. Mom and I picked up the ol' rototiller and I cleaned it up. No more pricklies, no more weeds and a lot less strawberries. I need to take a rake to it now to get rid of a lot of the tilled up weeds and I should till it up a few more times but I'm starting to see how a garden would look there. There used to be a canopy over the sandbox but the tarp is gone now. A frame is around the garden now though so I think I should string up some ropes here and there for growing beens. Or maybe I could tie up some tomatoes there. The space isn't really huge and I don't think gardening in a row would be the best use of that space so I think I'm going to quarter it. I'll have a walk way going through the centre of the garden from both directions and then I should be able to reach into the middle of each section for weeding and harvesting. I have to remember that this garden isn't for production, so much, as for enjoyment. A few good tomatoes and a meal of ? peppers ? beans ? is all I should expect. I want to dig up a small area at the back too for a couple plants of zuccini and pumpkins. They can grow as much as they want back there. Maybe we'll get a zucchini bread out of it too.
I hope there'll be some pictures to follow!

The shower was a hit. We all had fun and 2/3 games were almost completely original. Here's a few pics.
I always forget to upload the larger version of the pictures so take out your magnifying glasses for these:

This cupcake was the winning cupcake from our competition. Larissa said the unibrow reminded her of James. ha ha ha


I'm trying to get a good pic of the expanded version of Larissa. She looked even bigger tonight in her hoody at the baseball game.

Here's Brenda decorating her cupcake.
And here's Oma W. smelling the diaper to see if she knows which chocolate bar was melted into it. Supposedly that was a new one for lots of people and really grossed them out. I didn't even see how they turned out but there were lots of extra chocolate bars to eat afterwards.

That's it for now!

A day off

... means lots of work.
I'm hosting a shower at mom and dad's today for Larissa and James' baby. The kid will be born in a week (!!!) so we're having a last minute shower. Judging by what was left on the registry she's really going to need it too. I won't write exactly what's going on just in case I ruin it for those coming tonight yet but we have to clean the house, go grocery shopping, assemble snacks and game (hee hee hee) and they look our best yet for tonight. Oh ya, and we have to eat supper yet too.
I went home and saw my family this weekend. We had our mothers day celebration a little late. It was fun seeing almost everyone again and just hanging out (although it wasn't really a long weekend). Baby Grace was still just as cute but I can see so many changes in her already. I love the fat cheeks... they make her look grumpy but I think that's cute. Her bottom lip can actually stick out farther than her nose. And when she cries, there's actually a stream of real tears coming down her face. Oh it's so heartbreaking... but really she's just being pushy cuz she wants her food NOW! A girl just like the rest of her family. I'm not a baby any more so I can't out right cry when I'm hungry but I sure get grumpy and mean. It's a family curse.. what can I say.
I hope the weather turns nicer for tonight. We were really hoping to sit outside. Oh well, I don't mind bumping shoulders. We'll just all have to move about in different rooms.
I'll try to take pictures of the shower for you all.

Monopoly update

Last night I got home from a long day and Caleb was right there to pin me for another game of Monopoly... of course now I'm hooked so I had to say yes. That kid is ruthless. He's trying to take everything I've got! And then he laughs! of course he did give me some grace and super good deals a few times but I think that was just to keep the game going. Either way we had to quit at 11:00 since we all needed to go to bed. We tucked the game away though so that we could finish it today... sigh.
I did get dinner delivered to me though. Mom came up and saw that I was stuck already and made me some pork and beans with hot dogs and apple sauce on the side. Isn't that awesome? It's speaking now, though. Good thing I've got the house to myself. :)

aakk, monopoly

Yesterday I probably spent 5 hours playing monopoly. Considering that it's monopoly and I actually played 2 games that's not too bad but it was bad enough to make me dream about it. What an awful experience! Have you ever played so much solitaire that when you close your eyes at night all you can see are different solitaire plays? Well, that's what happened with Monopoly. The first game I played against Caleb and James. I won, of course. :) But Dad couldn't stand seeing me win and insisted that we play again and I would get to see a real challenge. I didn't want to hurt his ego so I lost the second game for him. :) Mom didn't like the way we were playing (trading and loaning) so I think she just wants her chance to try to beat me. Even though this first night sleep was terrible after so many hours of Monopoly I think I'll challenge them all again (but maybe play in spurts) especially since I'll be a single woman for the rest of the week.
Dan is going to his training for his new job that he's got for the summer. He'll be working as a park warden all summer. I'm really looking forward to it since it means a lot of camping for the both of us and a job that will make him happy and excited to do. It will be a different schedule for us though. He'll be working evenings from 6-2 but only 5 days a week. That means I've got lots of day time with him. It really opens up my schedule at work though so we'll see how busy we both get this summer.
I haven't planted anything yet but I might get my hands in the dirt this week a bit. I want to plant at least a couple of herbs, some different tomatoes, zucchini, ... any suggestions? oh, peppers!
Living here has been very busy. I guess this is just life as normal but I'm not used to having so many people around. The days are just wizzing by. There's usually someone around for me to do something with. Lots of friends live close by and there's baseball games to watch at least twice a week.
Well, my husband is packing up and getting ready to leave so I'm going to hang out with him a bit before we're both too ferfalent (?) (I think this is a Wikk word meaning a mixture of anxious, bored, pesty and just plain not unhappy) to get any visiting in.

For a person who has internet access everyday I sure haven't been posting much... or so dad W. says. :) I figure I'm just having too much fun hanging out with everyone. I know my cooking has failed in this department too. It could also be that I was reading a book though. For those of you who are on facebook this book list will be a repeat but here it is: Jamie at home, The Glass Castle, and Water for Elephants. I just finished reading Water for Elephants. It was a good suck-you-in type book but isn't on my top 10 list. The Glass Castle is on my top 10 list though, so I bought it and the Jamie at Home cookbook with my $50 gift certificate that mom gave me. I love those dates!
I don't think I like facebook even though I'm spending more and more of my time there. It's a good connecting tool but it really isn't as good as reading peoples blogs. I don't really like snooping through peoples pages. It makes me feel sneaky.
Tonight we had BBQ'd sausages with a side of fried up bacon/onion/perogies. mmm mmm mmm Now is that the best meal you've ever thought of or what?! what... potatoes are vegetables, right? and the cheese and sour cream hit the dairy food category. I don't feel guilty at all. In fact, I might go have a pop or something. gurgle gurgle...
Here is an attempt at my top 10 books:
The Brothers K - David James Duncan
The River Why - David James Duncan (I haven't read his 3rd and last book yet)
The Glass Castle
How I spent my summer vacation - W. O. Mitchel
Watership Down
Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
The curious incident of a dog in the night time - Mark Haddon
Jane Eyre
Lullabies for little criminals

I know there's more here that I forget so remind me if you know there's one that I love.
And one more thing... I have to say that I hate having the links bring you to a chapters or amazon site... I don't want to advertise for them but I want you all to be able to read up on whatever book it is that I'm talking about. If there's a better site that shows and reviews books that I could advertise, let me now.

A week later

Yikes! Here I am a week later after saying that I'd be posting everyday. Ya right. One step at a time. I remember when I had internet access all the time I started narrating my life in my head as if preparing for all the posts I would write about. I think that's too much. It feels like it has been a busy week but really, we haven't really done a lot. The week just goes a lot faster when there's more people in the house. There's something to do every night of the week and we're always upstairs socializing with the family. We're having family dinners almost every night of the week and Larissa, Caleb, Dan and I even went and visited with O&O once this week. I love the family dinners and the spontaneous visits in the kitchen that we're having. I haven't seen Brittany much yet this week but Larissa's been here a lot this week since James has been working nights and long hours. Tonight was mom's first baseball game of the season plus it was a double header night. It's probably been about 10-13 years since I've gone to see a baseball game. We used to go a lot when I was a kid but when Amy went off to university we stopped going... i think. I loved those summer evenings. There's a fun energy at baseball games. Tonight was cold but I know there'll be lots of nights that we'll be wishing it was a bit cooler. We had blankets and went for a coffee run in between games. Larissa kept score and I started to re-learn the baseball cheers and hollers. Mom's team has been undergoing a lot of changes which means that they need some practice. I think if they get in the right niche and play like they know they can win it they'll do awesome. Plus, the could use some fans too. There was about 5 of us there and we were all new fans this year. The more people, the more fun. Either way, they lost the first game but tied the second one... which they really could have won.
With baseball (cheering) once (or twice) a week and 3 different friends within 10 min. and camping for the weekends I think my weeks are going to fill up pretty fast this summer. Dan and I still don't have a lot of answers about our summer schedule and how it's going to work but things are really falling into place perfectly as if "it's meant to be" (i don't really believe in that saying). Soon enough we'll know more and we'll start to see how everything is going to work out. I'm not really worried though. I'm more excited to see what this summer is going to bring. This week has been a good one anyway.
To all moms: Happy Mothers day. My mom, Mom W, Oma W, Oma W, Oma Z, Oma D, Amy, Larissa even... happy mothers day! I love yas all!!

I don't really feel like posting much right now but I have to write a bit about where I am. Dan and I moved in with his parents yesterday. I was a really quick move even though our stuff(!!) was going to three different locations. I guess it really helps when you don't have any of your own appliances. We had enough people out to help us but at times I wasn't sure if we would have enough. Good friends and family are always around though. Most of our stuff went into James and Larissa's loft and the rest of it came here. I've already got a mental note started of all the stuff that I want to get from the loft (Sunday shoes, CDs) We'll have an interesting summer for sure. I think I'll enjoy having more people around all the time... more people to cook for... more people to talk with... and definately more internet. MIL (mom in law) already got me started on her favorite past time... Scrabulous. I hate it already. I love crossword puzzles and other puzzle type games but I suck at coming up with good words that make lots of points.
Pretty much, this short post is just to tell you that I'm here, living with the in-laws so now you all know how to get a hold of me. Expect more online and most of you should know my #.