Grandpa with sweet Zai, who finally fell asleep on Grandpa’s lap after resisting everyone else.
Friday was dubbed, “The Day I Was Buried In Boys!” It was a super exciting, busy day. My nephew, Jake, had spent the previous night and the 2 neighbor boys were coming over to play with him since both of their parents had to go into work that day and there was no school here. It was a golden opportunity for Jake to have someone to play with, as well. All 3 boys had a great time. I expended a LOT of energy, especially when we all went to the park–those boys can RUN!!! Everyone was good and waited for me at the next bush, next car, next whatever while I trotted along behind, always catching up, but always making it just in time for them to run to the next bush, car, whatever:). Whew! So glad they all listened so well. On the way back, Rob trailed behind carrying badminton racquets, discarded coats, and enough other things that one neighbor lady stopped and spoke to him about it:). “Out for your daily walk ? ? ?” “need help?” etc. :):)
Badminton was played in the back yard, board games were played, books were read, bubbles were blown and there was lots of running. Jake was so tired and happy afterwards. I’m so pleased. THEN… our daughter, J, got called into work unexpectedly and I got to keep the babies for 8 hours. Thank goodness for Patsy and Rob. We divided and conquered and had a great day, at least on my end. I had fun. My life is not boring, and I love that!
I also was able to enjoy a day celebrating one sister’s birthday with our other sister, Mom, Aunt and some nieces. I had a very relaxing day. It was a week of contrasts, for sure.
I was able to slip outside a couple of times this week and get to work on my raised beds. I cleaned this double one out from all the dry plants from last fall and weeds that grew. Raised beds dry out faster than the regular garden, which is one reason I do both. The kids planted radish seeds as a fitting ending to their 4-week, 20 experiment radish science unit. I want Jake to see how much better radish seeds actually grow in the ground compared to the little planters and glass jars, etc. I got the strawberries weeded, and some early seeds planted, such as lettuce, snow peas, green onions, etc. It’s a bit of a gamble for some of them. It’s very early. But, most are pretty hardy and we’ll see what happens.
I actually got into the garden a little and planted a few things in there, such as carrots, beets, boc choi, a very few Swiss chard seeds, spinach, and winter lettuce. The garden is a little wet, but we were able to get a small area ready to plant things in. One thing I did was put some bagged steer manure/compost in that small area, and some compost from one of my bins to improve fertility. I have 2 sections of my compost bins that need to be shoveled out sooner, rather than later so we have somewhere empty to put weeds/scraps, etc. I was a bit sore from shoveling after a winter of not shoveling, so I obviously need to get out there more frequently and build up my shoveling muscles. It’s great exercise!
Malcolm tried to use his little tricycle. He’s not quite big enough to manage it alone, but between the two of us, and Donald, he had a pretty good time. This trike was given to him by another child who grew out of it. The bell is his favorite part. We took him on several stroller rides this past week, and sometimes we even let him out to walk at times now, when it is safe.
After having so many people and babies through the house, I couldn’t put off the grocery store for another week. I needed diapers for one thing, and I’m not willing to go without those when I just never know when I will need them! Saturday afternoon I finally went. I grabbed the specials and items we were out of from both Fred Meyers and Safeway and hopefully won’t have to go again for 2 more weeks. I downloaded coupons from both stores onto my phone before I went and used a gift card and Bottle Drop money for part of the bill, so that helped tremendously. At this point, I’m well within my grocery budget for the month.
We cooked brownies, chicken soup, banana muffins, steak, home-baked chicken nuggets, sandwiches, peach crisp, and more. We used a lot of home-canned and frozen items, along with many, many pantry items. I’m actually noticing a few emptier spaces in my freezers and blank spots on my canning shelves. That’s good, because Rob has my little baby plants going in the greenhouse and the cycle will start all over again.
Sounds like a busy week, but what fun. Children are a joy.
They are!
Wow! Sounds like a crazy but fun week of boys! Becky, with rising prices, are you still able to keep within your $300/month grocery budget?
I’m really going to try. There’s nothing I can do about toiletries, tp, soap, etc. That’s all included in that budget. But, I can continue cooking with scratch, growing and canning and preserving all I can, buying in bulk, and using things wisely. So far, I actually have a few things I could cut from my normal grocery shopping if I had to. I don’t really NEED Diet Cherry Coke, for instance, but I think I do some days:). My plan is to use cut back a little on those kind of things if I need to, and squeeze every penny as hard as I can and I have high hopes. But, there’s no way to read the future, so I’ll adjust if I have to.
My goodness! You were busy! Looking forward to your garden this year, Becky. I planted a few seeds, but, our weather has been up and down and very few seedlings are coming up!
Nothing is coming up yet, here, either. Sadly, the weather took a turn for the worse. Once it gets better, we will see if any seeds survived or if they all rotted. I know it was a gamble this early, but it was worth a try!
I got out and worked in the garden the last two days. It is going to definitely be a different garden year since Bill isn’t able to help. I have been unloading the wagonload of horse manure. Bill could do it in two and a half hours using the big wheelbarrow. I can hardly pick it up so I am using a small plastic, lightweight roll behind trailer. It is slow going and my shoveling muscles are hurting also! There is also no way he will be able to plow it and the boys are too far away. Right now I am turning it over with a pitchfork. Just a little bit at a time then I am sitting down to rest. He is doing the laundry, light housework, and learning how to cook. Just a little at a time then he is sitting down to breathe. Together we are making progress. Our roles have completely changed.
We are both inspired to work hard – me to grow as much food as possible and him to get better. The medical bills are pouring in and are piled high on the kitchen table. We are slowly sorting through them then sitting down together to catch our breaths.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Bless your hearts! It reminds me somewhat of those years where Rob couldn’t do almost anything physical, before his hip replacement. I had to do so much. In truth, he still have some struggles, and so do I, so we either work together, or do the parts and pieces we each can do.
I know you can grow a lot there. It’s good he is helping more in the house, so you can each do what you can do. Rob says to tell Bill he is praying for him.