Gardening!

Chris got my raised vegetable beds completed, soil brought in and I got the seeds planted by May 30th. I am quite impressed with my little garden's progress so far. I *think* my veggies are growing better than they have in the past, but that could be just me thinking that this grand idea of raised beds and premixed gardening soil is doing the trick!

Here are a few pics of my little garden:

Along the back are tomatoes, which I started inside in early May. Then I have lettuce, spinach, chives (from bulbs, not seeds so they are quite big already). In the second box I have carrots, beets and 3 rows of potatoes.

I've also been really happy with my flowers so far this year. Apart from some that didn't survive the ongoing rain we had and a few others that were protected from the rain but I forgot to water. Oops. How's that for irony?

Up the front walk. The Welcome basket and the small square pots on the steps have seed Nasturitums (sp?) growing but they are still pretty small. I also have a few smaller pots down along our driveway.

The beautiful trellis Chris built me. I'm still waiting for my Morning Glory to grow tall enough to climb. I'm hoping that they start soon!

Oh, and yes, in case you noticed, it IS being held on by bungee cords. This is the trellis that I mentioned in my last post that was blown over by the wind. So, I strapped it on like that *temporarily* until it could be screwed to the steps or house.

This flower bed was last summer's project. I've got lots of beautiful things coming up and am loving it! But, it's full, so.......




Here's this summer's project! Since we've moved in, we've hated the white rock. It looks dirty and I also think it makes the house look a little dated. We just haven't gotten around to digging it out yet though. You'd think it would be fairly easy, but no. Its not.

So, I have to finish digging up the grass, dig out all the white rocks, bring in some soil to build it up a bit, bring in some mulch and then plant more perrenials!

I get so excited when I see those first little green plants poke through the ground after a long, cold winter. I'll be excited next year to watch 2 gardens come to life!

Oh, and apart from rototilling the triangular garden last year, I did all the digging, etc myself and intend to to as much as possible myself on this new one too. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment and its a good workout too, judging by the sore arms I have today!

Friday Night Leftovers

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  It is so windy here today and it is making me so mad! The beautiful 10ft high cedar trellis that my wonderful husband built me was knocked over and with it the new Morning Glory plants that I had nursed indoors from seeds and just planted. I had to go out in the wicked wind and right the trellis, bungee cord it to a post and replant my baby plants. Not a great start to the morning! Plus, the wind is blowing the petals off my tulips!
  


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  A bunch of gals from town got together and ordered coffee disks for our Tassimo coffee makers from the states. I had a Caramel Macchiato this morning and it was wonderful! Since I only ordered 1 package to try, I will have to savour them and not share! Haha!
  
  


A great way to start the morning in my favorite mug!





Chris went away on a "guys weekend" on May Long and for some bizarre reason, I decided that it would be a good time to potty train Levi. Levi turned 3 in April and I had been putting it off and putting it off because of my struggles with Luca (see here and here and here). On the Friday morning I put Levi in underwear and we started the routine of going to the potty regularly. He was doing great and by late morning was even initiating the need to go. At nap time, I decided to leave him in underwear and hope for the best. I told him it was quiet time and that he could only come out of his room to poop or pee. He came out twice to pee (I think mostly because of the novelty of being able to come out) and then came out and said he had to poop. Not really believing that he would actually do it (especially on the first day), I didn't follow him in. A few minutes later, he called me to come look and sure enough, on day 1 of potty training, he was initiating the need to go AND he pooped on the potty all on his own. To say I was ecstatic is an understatement! Since that day, we haven't looked back. He has had some accidents, which is to be expected, but I can confidently say that Levi was potty trained in a weekend. After the fight to get Luca to this point, I never thought I'd be able to say that!




Just after Easter we bought a new (to us) vehicle. We got a 2007 Yukon Denali and I am absolutely smitten with it. I had been wanting something with a bit more space and after riding in a friend's Yukon, I was in love. It took me about a month to convince Chris, but in the end, he was hooked too. We've had it for about a month now and it is still wonderful.





In just under a month, Luca will be done preschool and celebrating his 5th birthday. In just a few months my boy will be starting kindergarten! (Excuse me while I dab my eyes...)



A few months ago I was so discouraged about how slow doula business was. Well, I'm thrilled to say that I am now fully booked until mid-September! I'm on call from now until then and will have a short break (unless I get another client) in September and the beginning of October before another baby is due to arrive at the end of October. Even though it means a quiet summer around home, I'm so excited to be so busy helping families welcome their newest family members!




I haven't had good luck with a vegetable garden since we've lived here. We've decided that it is a combination of poor soil and drainage. This year, my dear husband built me raised beds and we brought in a garden mix soil from a local garden centre in hopes that this year we will have luck. I planted on Tuesday, so here's hoping that it will be successful! I'll keep you posted!



I've really grown to love gardening and choosing perrenials for my flower bed and annuals for my numerous pots and baskets. It gives me great joy to see bulbs, seeds and plants grow and multiply in my garden! I never would have guessed that this would be a new hobby of mine!



The boys are playing soccer this Spring and are doing well and enjoying it. Luca was into it from the start but it took Levi a few practices of crying and clinging to either Chris or me before he would get involved but now he likes to show off his moves!

Please don't look at the disaster that is my living room!

Books of Late

I've gotten so behind in blogging! Oops! I'll try to catch up in the next few posts. Today's post is my monthly book list which I think I'm about 2 months behing on. Oh well.

I just commented on a friend's post about how I find that I am no longer immediately drawn to "fluffy, chick lit" types of books, but actively search out more "meatier" topics. I find that I am really enjoying being challenged in my beliefs, thoughts and am (gasp!) enjoying historical fiction!
My theory is that when I was a student and working, I wanted something for escape so would choose light reads, usually romantic comedyish books. Now that most of my days consist of laundry, housework (rarely!), playing outside, some subbing and occasional births to attend, I find I am longing for something that stimulates my brain a bit more and makes me think. No longer am I looking for something to just pass the time, but I'm looking for something to learn from.

Not that I never read "fluff" any more, but definitely less frequently. Anyway, on to my latest reads:


As I wrote my last book post, I was getting ready to read


The Midwife of Venice

by Roberta Rich



I absolutely loved this one. I loved the storyline and loved that it was historical in setting. It had a wonderful story, laced with mystery, suspense and drama. Highly recommended.

Sarah's Key

by Tatiana de Rosnay

This one was also great. I'd heard many good things about it and its been sitting on my bookshelf for months waiting to be read. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. It was haunting, heartbreaking and incredibly sad at the same time as being humerous, relateable (is that a word?) and a great story of one woman's quest for truth, both in the past and for her future.

The narration alternates between two females: Sarah, a young girl in Paris during WWII, who happens to be Jewish, captured and sent off to a concentration camp with her family and Julia, an American journalist living in Paris and writing for a magazine based there. Both characters are ones that are easy to relate to and easily fall in love with. Following their journeys brought me to tears in more than a few places and when I was done, I sat for a moment, just thinking and thankful of the life I am priveleged to have.

In case you haven't guessed by my review, I highly recommend this book. A definite must read.

From Sarah's Key, I moved on to something a little lighter.

Sleepwalking in Daylight

by Elizabeth Flock

In all honesty, this book was just mediocre. It was an easy read and tried to deal with some pretty juicy characters- a promiscuous, lost, drug using, adopted teenage daughter and her lonely and adulterous mother- but in truth, it didn't stand up to its potential. Not only did I feel that it just dusted the surface of what it could have delved into with these characters, but I thought the ending left too much open. While I was happy with the choice made at the end, it still left me with some unanswered questions and without a sense of closure.

The Red Tent

by Anita Diamant

I'd heard this book talked about, especially within the circles of birthing professionals, but hadn't really given it much thought. When I finally decided to search it out at our local library, I started reading it immediately and absolutely could not put it down.

At first, it is difficult to follow with many Biblical names being thrown into the mix, but after bookmarking the family tree provided at the beginning to use as reference, it got much easier to keep track of who was who.

Here is a short summary taken from Amazon.ca:

The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery.

"Remembering women's earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it's been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God's daughters, instead of her sons." --Gail Hudson


There isn't much that I can say about it other than it was amazingly wonderful, and I have plans to re-read Genesis 27-50 and compare the story in the Bible, to this female version of the story.

Absolutely recommended.


I'm currently reading
Island of Lost Girls
by Jennifer McMahon




I've only just started but the beginning definitely drew me in. I think its going to be an interesting story.