i love seed catalogs (and a review of our 2013 garden)

Right about the time Christmas cards started arriving in our mailbox, so did a smattering of seed catalogs. Mail doesn't get any better that the combination of both.

I love these catalogs. Similar to the way I used to pour over the toy section in the JC Penny catalog, I pour over heirloom tomatoes, a variety of beets that spans the rainbow and sweet corn.

Rory and I have gone on two dates this week (gasp!) and on both dates we spent most of our time talking about our 2014 garden. I even brought a seed catalog and a notebook in to the chinese restaurant last night and we sketched our game plan for the garden ahead while eating pot stickers.

Our 2013 garden was a pretty great success. We started with a lawn and ended up with awesome BLT's, lots of potatoes, sweet peas, eggplants, beans, onions, peppers and sweet corn. I'd consider that a success.

Here's my greatest gardening take away point (I think I've said it before...I'll probably say it again): gardening is all about trial and error. You try things. And some seeds, plants or methods of gardening work great, and others don't. So the next year you course correct and try something different. Sometimes you know why a crop didn't produce well, sometimes you don't.  I remember feeling pressure while planting our first garden to "do it right." And though there are rules in planting seeds that you should follow, there is also a whole lot of wait-and-see in gardening. So a girl like me needs to just relax. And then enjoy how amazing it is that we are planting teeny seeds that have life in them and will grow to produce food for us to eat!

Our garden in 2013 was basically strips on lawn that Rory rototilled up. Then he painstakingly went up and down each strip with a pitchfork and scooped the sod into the wheelbarrow. It took a long time. With each pitchfork he had to loosen the grass, shake the dirt off and dump it into the wheelbarrow. But he kept at it.

We planted berries in the front of the garden, in two patches running horizontally. We prepped one patch for blueberries, getting the soil to the right acidity level so we can plant blueberries this year.

Our only water spigot is way up on the side of the house. Which would be a pretty long way to drag a hose. So one Friday afternoon Rory ran an errand and come home with a trencher and proceeded to put down hose that would reach a second spigot out near the garden.

When he was done with that he built his own drip irrigation system out of pvc piping. Because in his words, "I'm not going to go out there every thirty minutes and move a sprinkler around. This is way easier." And of course in the long run it was easier. But watching him diligently drill holes every few inches down his pvc pipes didn't look super easy...

He used extra pvc to built a trellis for the sweet peas and for a while we protected our baby tomato plants with cement cylinders.

The potatoes were heaped with hay and for a while our garden was looking pretty impressive.

So much so that we had to put some fencing up to deter the animals. But my budget-happy husband only spent enough money to fence three sides of the garden. The plan was that we'd buy more fencing the next month when we had more money back in the "lawn-and-garden" category of  the budget. But that never happened, so we had a three sided fence all season. And actually not a lot of critters either. I think the animals haven't found us yet...

We were gone much of July and came back to a very overgrown, but wildly producing garden. This is the joy of gardening! Our first tomato was celebrated with much enthusiasm. Until Ivar tried a bite and threw it "far, far away."

And even better than the first red tomato, are the first fried green tomatoes. My absolute favorite. One of the biggest reasons I enjoy a vegetable garden. I think I made fried green tomatoes six or seven times last August and September.

This 2013 garden was largely Rory's venture. I wasn't really interested in helping out. But something has changed in me for 2014. I have been looking at canning books and working backwards: if I want to can this many quarts of tomato sauce, how many plants do we need this year? I have a sketch of our garden all figured out after our date tonight and I'm excited. And Rory is thrilled that I'm joining in.

And if I loose motivation, I will just look at this lovely picture and remind me: it is totally worth it. Because this BLT killed me. It was so good.

And now, if you'd like some seed catalogs to come to your mailbox, click on these links and fill out your address. It makes for happy, happy mail and makes for much easier garden planning. Burpee Catalog, Johnny's Catalog and Rare Seeds Catalog are my three favorite. And this site has links to 68 other free seed catalogs! (In case winter has got you down and you're needing A LOT of happy mail.)

i love this bedtime book

I found this little board book at a garage sale for 50 cents. And it has become my favorite bedtime book. It's a sweet and simple prayer, thanking God for many different things.

But there prayer is simple and one that I have had memorized for a long time now, after many, many nights of reading this one with a baby in my lap.

"Thank you for each morning that we wake to a new day.

Thank you for the friends we have, our games and fun and play.

Thank you for the winds that blow, tossing leaves on high.

Thank you for the sun and clouds, racing through the sky.

Thank you for good tasting food, for eggs and fish and meat;

thank you too for lovely fruits, ripe and full and sweet.

Thank you for each drop of rain and thank you, God, for puddles.

Thank you for our special pets who come up close for cuddles.

Thank you for the silver moon, the stars that shine and peep.

And when the day is over we thank you for our sleep."

The book is illustrated by Stephanie Longfoot. Copyright Brimax Books Ltd 1995. I tried to find a link online, but I have a feeling your best bet is to find this book at a garage sale too. :)

i love mr. rogers

I really loved sharing things that I love last week. So much, that I decided to keep it going a bit longer. It's fun to think during the day of all the small things that you appreciate and love. I've got much more to share!

Rory started taping Mr. Rogers for the kids to watch. But it's actually turned into the family favorite that all four of enjoy watching. It's a calming and relaxing show with an incredibly slow pace. A very noticeable contrast to the flashy kids programming of today.

I am so excited I found the video of the segment below because it stopped me in my tracks. Mr. Rogers is talking about friends and says "some people think that friends are always happy, always having fun. Well that's not true. Friends often have hard times and sad times. But friends can come together again and again, and build a stronger and stronger friendship between each other."

Mr. Rogers was speaking to me. And I was so taken aback by how plain his lesson was. And how absolutely true it was too. it's not often that you hear someone speak so plainly about the reality of relationships. There was no animated happy ending to his lesson. He just spoke the truth.

Throw in a visit to the graham cracker factory, and you have yourself one quality children's program.

i love the olympics

This winter has been freezing cold. Which is why I feel so grateful that we have sixteen days of awesome television to enjoy while we continue to hunker down.

It's no secret I adore the olympics. I'm a huge fan. Love the back stories, love the panoramic aerial shots of the surrounding area, love the music that leads to and from commercial, love the P and G commercials about the mom's, and I enjoy the sports themselves. (Though I am no a huge fan of the team sweaters this year...a bit too reminiscent of an ugly sweater christmas party. But whatever...they're olympians...they can wear whatever they want.)

So bring it on Sochi. We're hoping our new couch arrives in the next sixteen days so we can have friends over to watch and share in another international smorgasbord. (Fun fact: we found out we were pregnant with Ivar during the last winter games. Crazy the changes in four years: two moves, two kids...)

I'll leave you with a favorite commercial so far that got me excited for all the fun that is to come.

i love samoa creamer

I just googled how to spell Samoa...and apparently these little cookies are now called Caramel Delights. And for some reason I took offense at that. Maybe because I went door to door peddling these cookies for many March's of my childhood.

Anyhoo. This stuff. It is my happy juice. I don't drink coffee in the morning, I wait until I need it most. Which can be any time between 1:00 and 3:00. If the kids nap, I save it for when they wake up. If the kids don't nap, I listen to them cry in the monitor until I have made (and drank) my happy juice. I consider this practice a healthy boundary.

I have never been a coffee drinker. Not through college, not after. But little kids sort of necessitate a caffeine hit. I know many get stuck on the stuff and later try to get off of it. But most of those people are in the 40's. So I've decided I'll try to kick the caffeine in my 40's too.

This non-dairy-what-is-it-then creamer is yummy. So yummy that a few weeks ago when I met my friend Erika (one of my bridesmaids, now living out east) who I haven't seen in forever at Starbucks, I brought my 2 Tablespoons of creamer in a little tupperware. It took me about twenty minutes of catch up to finally dig in my purse and tell her, "I love this stuff. Don't think I'm strange that I brought my own creamer to starbucks."

i love slugs and bugs

We have a few kids cd's in our car. Rory once said to me, "let's put something in that has no xylophone." The xylophone is sort of the staple instrument, apparently, in kids music. But it can be hard to listen to these songs again and again and again.

Enter Slugs and Bugs. I was first introduced to Slugs and Bugs through The Rabbit Room, a blog I like of solid Christian thinkers. There are many authors who write on the site. A few of them are musicians, a few are artists, a few are pastors. Andrew Peterson (whom I love) and Randall Goodgame (who I now love too) came out with the first Slugs and Bugs. I would describe the songs as Shell Silverstein poems played with an incredible band. The songs are silly and the music is awesome. No xylophone on a single song.

And the last five songs are stunning lullabies that have now entered our family repertoir. Click here to see a song list  (at the bottom of the page) and be sure to listen to #16 Beautiful Girl, #17 My Baby Loves to Dance (both lullabies) and #10 Chicken Wiggle and #14 The Boy who was Bored (both awesome and silly).

***

BUT THE NEW FAVORITE is Sing the Bible with Slugs and Bugs! (The yellow cd pictured at the top).

This cd is 100% straight out of the Bible. Each song's lyrics are taken right off the page. And the music was heavily influenced by Paul Simon with a strong Graceland style.

Here's the thing. I always wish I could memorize scripture better. And I know that if I really worked at it, I could do a whole lot better. But you know the scripture that comes to mind when I need a word from the Lord? Every camp song I have every learned. Somehow that scripture is at the ready when I need it most.

I feel like Sing the Bible with Slugs and Bugs is a sweet gift for me. We got this CD for Christmas just while I was beginning to think, "I should make a goal to memorize more scripture in the new year."  We popped this CD in and bam, I have a whole CD of new verses in my head.

The songs are great, the music fun, the words powerful and there are some really silly moments mixed in too.

It's a good one for kids and mom's and dad's. Everyone will like it.

So I just looked at the other two Slugs and Bugs CD's, one for Christmas and one called Under Wear? And they look great too. I just heard a snipet of a song called "I'm adopted" on the Under Wear? cd that sounded so great. So maybe just buy all four, while you're at it. Until then, you can't go wrong with the other two I wrote about. :)

To close, I'll leave you with Ivar's most requested song on the Lullabies cd. A song that starts cute and ends so, so three-year-old silly. He laughs his head off every time:

i love alba shampoo

For all of our marriage I have shared a bottle of Suave shampoo with my husband. It's fine. It seems to have done the job for eight years. But I have a strange confession: I love using other people's shampoo and body scrub and face wash. Because using someone's Aveda is like a little sweet luxury. Using someone's four step face wash system is like a day at a spa.

So it was during the second polar vortex here in Minnesota that I found myself wandering the aisles of Target telling myself that I deserve nice shampoos. That maybe after eight years of Suave I could justify a shampoo like the ones I utilize at friends' houses. So I crossed over from the Pantene-and-friends aisle to the Bed Head, Redken and Bumble and Bumble aisle. I read labels. I gasped at the $29 price tags. You understand there is a 50/50 chance this will all fall into the bathtub with my kids one night and wash down the drain...

So I wandered a little farther down the aisle and found this Alba stuff for $10 a bottle. Ten bucks still felt expensive to my Suave-buying self, but I smelled it and it smelled like Hawaii. And a little Hawaii in the middle of a polar vortex is always welcome.

It's sulfate free. And though I don't know what that means, I feel I can sleep better at night, knowing I don't have all those pesky sulfates in my hair any more. I do know it smells awesome and leaves my hair soft. I love it. 

That night I also got a foot pumice, a new lafoof thingy and a big bottle of shea butter lotion. And let me tell you, a little home spa is a wonderful addition to my winter life. Especially when my showers are basically shared with two kids in and out, opening the curtain, letting all the cold air in. It's nice to have yummy shampoos when I'm freezing because the bathroom door is wide open.

**And I think this goes without saying, but just in case. I'm a teeny little blog here that has no affiliates. I don't get any kickback for the products I'm telling about this week. These are just my own thoughts, my own opinions...for what they're worth. Up next: my favorite kids cd!

i love melanie claire

So this is sort of fun. I've decided to take this week to pass along a few of my favorite things. At the start of this lovely short month of February, I am going to share a few things I love. Because you may love them too. From shampoo, to kids cd's to favorite etsy shops, here are a few things I love.

Today I'm starting with a bang. Melanie Claire is a good friend of mine. She has a heart of GOLD and is a very empathetic listener. She's a joy to be around and if I were to describe her in one word, I'd use the word sweet. Kind, thoughtful, considerate...sweet.

And she makes the most adorable dolls and sells them on etsy and recently in a store in Minneapolis. Here's a question: Do you feel a certain joy when a friend you know opens up their own online venture? Or is that just me? Because I think it is the coolest, most inspiring thing to see someone take their own creations and offer their craft to the world. And to make some money for all the time time, love and labor they put into their craft. I don't know, maybe it's just me. But I'm inspired by people selling their goods.

Especially adorable dolls. Like this one I purchased for Elsie for Christmas, who we have affectionately named Melanie Claire. (Who was very cooperative this nap time for her window sill photo shoot.)

I mean, people. Short, red hair for my red head? Polka dot tights? A chevron skirt?!! How cute could a little fabric doll be? And how fun is it to use Elsie as my excuse to start buying dolls again?!!

Her dolls are getting a little face lift this month, and you can check out her new girl and boy dolls on her etsy shop: Melanie Claire Creates. And be sure to click on the doll faces to see the whole doll...because the outfits are cuter than I dress my own children.

Might be fun to surprise your little one for valentines with a new doll. Might be fun to surprise yourself by buying a new doll just for your own adult self. Might be fun to buy a doll to keep at your house for when your grandkids visit. Just sayin... Because I love them!

Back tomorrow with my new shampoo.

mom hours

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This was a good week for me. Monday during dinner I had a particularly helpful conversation with Rory. Monday was an especially solid day. I felt good about my role as a mama. I played hard with my kids. I ran a few loads of laundry. I had a plan for supper and had it on the table before little children came and threw themselves at my feet to "Eat! Eat!"

It was during dinner, and about the eleventh time I had gotten up to get something that I said to Rory, "hey, would you do bedtime tonight?" He said he would. A few moments later I added more. "And would you mind clearing the table and starting the dishwasher tonight?" He said he would.

And the strangest thought came into my head and I said it aloud. Without the typical exhausted emotions, without being an ounce dramatic or full of self pity I said, "I guess I'd just like to be done for the day. I put in a good days work, I was present with the kids, I accomplished many things, and any boss would be pleased by my performance today. I guess I'm done." I said something like that.

And Rory replied, "You mean, you'd like to go home now."

Bingo.

"Right! I would like to go home and disconnect from my work tonight. I would like to turn on the tv and eat chips and corn salsa all night long."

It was such a funny non-emotional conversation. Usually these conversations are intense with me exhausted and needing an out. But this conversation was so matter-of-fact. I just wanted to go home for the night, come back in the morning and once again give it my all.

Rory did load the dishwasher and I went out to feed the chickens. Then we put the kids in the tub to fill up the last hour of the day. The kids did go down, and eventually I was on the couch watching the bachelor eating corn salsa.

I just had wanted quittin' time to come three hours earlier. Because mom hours are long hours.

ivar quotes

+ A few nights ago we told him he needed to play nicely with Elsie in his room until it was time for her to go to bed. He came down the stairs a while later:

Ivar: I'm so tired of this! I'm so tired of this!

Me: What are you tired of?

Ivar: Of her up so long!

+ We have a favorite Sesame Street book and when he reads the characters he'll say, "and here's Bernie and Ert!" He also calls the remote control the camote untroll.

+ One of his best not-falling-asleep-stalling tactics is to yell from his bed, "I HAVE A BOOOOOGER!" Which means he wants a kleenex. I brought him one during his nap and he let me know, "there are teeny rocks up there."

+ After he and Elsie stayed with Rory's folks while we were at Disney he said to me, "When Papa was my daddy, he put a washcloth on my eyes." I love that so much.

+ Ivar is beginning to quite consistently drop his nap. I am in a season of grieving. While drinking my afternoon coffee, watching tv he came down the stairs quietly, sneaking out of his bed. He came up to me and said sweetly, "After this day I'll try to sleep for a long, long nap. okay, mama?"

And just tonight Rory tried to talk to him about his lack of napping.
Rory: Ivar, how come you aren't sleeping any more during the day?
Ivar: I'm not, because I'm not really into naps.

news from the coop

What a winter to be a chicken! I'm glad God made them with their own down comforters wrapped around their bodies because they need it. We have a heat lamp in the coop that warms the air about twenty degrees, which lately brings the coop to a nice, balmy, zero.

But in the coolest twist (and probably due to the heat lamp and added light in the coop) we are getting our best eggs yet. Four a day, most days, and bigger than they've ever been. And one morning we found two eggs, brought them in the house and cracked them open to find egg slushies. We found those too late, apparently.

So the chickens are doing well. We got a text from our next door neighbor letting us know he's seen cayotes in his backyard a few times this week (during the day!). So that's exciting. We're watching the coop and locking everyone up extra early. So far they're doing fine. And I have witnessed less scuffles and chicken fights. Probably because they have to snuggle to survive.

the land of make believe

I've had this play kitchen for the kids for a year now, but never purchased any food for it. Play food is about as expensive as the real stuff, and I'm particular about the kind of play food I want in my house. (I did see stuff at Ikea before Christmas that I liked, but then never got it...)

Anyway. Yesterday I brought the kitchen downstairs and shortly after Elsie was digging through our recycling. Genius, Elsie. I taped our empty food boxes up, found our old Ikea kids dishes and set up a little restaurant for the kids.

Just as I was beginning to stroke my Awesome Mom ego, Elsie threw the fit of fits. She did not want a graham cracker box. She wanted "A Crakah!" She did not want an empty bowl. She wanted, "Foo!" She looked at me with annoyance, clearly not amused by my taped up, empty boxes. What kind of stupid joke was this. She wanted food.

So I spent the morning teaching my daughter how to play pretend. Well, actually, first I gave her a bowl of actual gold fish crackers and actual raisins. And then I showed her how to pretend eat from an empty bowl. And pretend cut food on an empty plate. She watched me suspiciously while eating her raisins.

the grand finale

disneyparade from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

Ivar has watched this little video many, many times. He told Rory, "maybe when I turn four we can go there! Actually, maybe when I turn all the numbers I can go there!"

This concludes Disney Day. A record six posts in one day. Hope you enjoyed today's virtual vacation during this crazy cold day. :)

Disney on a Dime

A few things that I want to remember for the future, and that you may want to know too:

1. We flew Spirit Air and had a great experience. The seats are cozy, we paid for our one shared carry on (no charge for laptop bag or a reasonable handbag), they don't serve free water, but for $175 a round trip ticket, it is a price that would be hard to beat.

2. We stayed at a Holiday Inn outside of the park. It actually was a mistake on our part...we thought we had booked at the Holiday Inn inside the park. Surprise. But later we heard that the rates at Disney's All Star Sports, All Star Movies and All Star Music resorts were incredibly low. Like $55 a night for two double beds! (That's what one man told me he was paying while riding on the train around magic kingdom.) These resorts seem like they may be a bit older than the others, charging a lower room rate. Good to know!

3. Because we were not at a Disney resort, after landing at the airport we had to walk right past all of the free coach buses going to Disney and instead got in a taxi that charged $60 for our drive to our hotel. Yikes. So now we know we could have stayed in the park for a reasonable rate and not paid for the taxi to and from the airport.

4. No matter what, Disney is expensive. The tickets to get in each park are pricey, the food and everything else add up fast. So just plan for that. This is why the free monorail rides to explore each resort felt like such a good value. It was like free Disney, right in the middle of the park.

5. The weather in January is spotty. Our first two days both hit upper seventies. Awesome. Our day at Epcot was freezing. The morning was 41 degrees and windy! (You may notice in that picture with Mary Poppins I was literally wearing every single shirt I had packed.) So plan a winter trip to Orlando with no expectations for the weather. When we booked our tickets I was excited about weather in the 60's because that would have been 80 degrees warmer than what we were living though in Minnesota. My bar was low, and I was so pleased when the forecast was for 70. And planned for the day with the forecast of 45.

6. A perk of the weather at Epcot was that we did not wait one minute for a ride. Every single ride was walk up and get on. Disney World was a little longer wait time, but we got a few fast passes and were glad for those.

7. Go without your kids sometime. It's different. But totally worth it. I felt a little smug when I saw other parents lifting big strollers up and down curbs and stairs. I've been there. I live that nearly every day. It was so nice to be nap-schedule free, not carry a bag of tricks everywhere we went and to have the only exhausted meltdown of the day be my own.

8. Read each ride description carefully. We ended up in a line for Belle's Storytime, assuming it was a ride. Ninety minutes later (the very longest we waited for anything, by far) we realized it was a photo shoot with Belle. We died. Died that we wasted so much of our day to see a princess. Died we didn't have any kids with us. Died laughing. Died when we realized two hours had passed that we could not get back. Ah!

a jolly holiday

I saw Mary Poppins from afar, then saw her line wasn't too long and told Rory we should get a picture. Strangely, he was more game to take the picture. So we waited in line and when it was our turn I stepped forward and said hi mary, can I get a picture with you? And then she started talking to me. I actually wasn't prepared for it. She was so convincing and I got caught up in the moment. She asked me if I was on a jolly holiday. I told her I was, and that my husband and I came without our kids. And she told me, "well that's the most jolly of holiday's, isn't it then?"

Yes! Mary Poppins! It is!

From here on out we are calling all marriage getaways Jolly Holidays.

the very best part of our trip

By far the very best moment from our trip was the time we spent in these rocking chairs on Tom Sawyer Island at the magic kingdom. We were aware the whole time we were in Florida how we likely will never experience Disney this way again. Like sitting in rocking chairs for an hour and watching the park pass by. Pretty sure no children would ever stand for this.

When we sat in these chairs we started talking about the porch we want to put on our own house. We started talking about projects we want to tackle this spring and summer. We rocked slowly and got excited about our own lives back home. It was unrushed and sweet.

the magic of disney

It's another cold one out there. So how about a day at Disney? I think I'll just keep posting pictures and stories all day long so we can take a little virtual trip together and escape this cold. And this way we'll pump these posts out in a day.

Not having our kids on this trip meant we really soaked up the details this time around. And Disney is in the details. Like how every railing is custom made to fit the feel of the ride. The cement has imprints to fit the ride and the music, smells, signage and architecture all work to make you feel like you've entered another world. It's really amazing.

     

We spent Monday night going from resort to resort by bus and by monorail. There is no cost for the transportation once you're inside the park. And even though we weren't staying at a resort in the park, we could still visit the resorts. 

They are amazing. Each one feels like a little theme park unto itself. Monday night we visited Port Orleans, The Grand Floridian, Polynesian and the Contemporary and Wednesday while at Epcot, we took a boat to The BoardWalk, The Beach Club, The Yacht Club and The Dolphin resorts. I can't recommend this enough. You can eat at the resort restaurants, visit the shops, walk all over each property and go sleep at your cheaper hotel each night. :)

And for the record: The Polynesian (hawaiian feel and sadly, no pictures) was my very favorite, the Grand Floridian felt way above our income bracket, the Contemporary was cool and very trendy/retro (they must update the lobby every year to keep it contemporary!) The BoardWalk, Beach Club and Yacht Club were beautiful and it was fun to walk on the boardwalk with cute shops and food carts. The Dolphin is enormous and full of funny memories when we stayed there when I was in middle school. (Dad had a pastor's conference there! It was our fanciest pastor's family vacation ever.)

time to play

My friend Linda is fighting stage four cancer. When I first talked to her about it she kept telling me how much fun she and her husband Brian have been having in this season of life, just as they discovered her cancer. She cared devotedly for her parents as they fought their own illnesses and now with an empty nest she said she and Brian were having so much fun together. They started taking long bike rides and found adventures. Linda was most bummed about the cancer because she's loving this season of playtime with her husband.

Rory and I play well. We dream even better, which I think is our form of play. Or more accurately, Rory dreams, I get excited and on board, Rory executes and I document. It's our best rhythm. But with little kids, life gets a little trickier. So when Linda was telling me about how much fun she's having with Brian I felt inspired to add some more playtime into my own marriage.

It was during the first polar vortex that we booked our plane tickets ($380 for both of us!) and planned this trip to Disney World without our kids. The plan was to play.

So that's what we did. We played and we people watched. And we ate and we talked. And to keep this blog totally real, we fought. But even that ended okay, because some fears were verbalized and then put to rest.

Rory is a way better (and very serious) Buzz Lightyear than I am (note that final score above), which made me glad to be his wife. In case we ever need to fight aliens by laser tag.