Spring is Here!

Where’s my “Git r Dun Fairy!”
Upon waking on Saturday morning after my trip to Hawai'i, I realized what month it is, and decided I needed to get a move on with the Spring house projects. You know Spring has arrived when you start getting that feverish urge to clean like a nesting Momma. You see dollar signs as you prepare for the seasonal yard sale, or you have that case of the "I don't wannas" and stuff your unwanted things into a bag to donate. In our case, I see a chicken pen that needs to be expanded and the new coop moved into said pen, a garden that needs planted, a gopher that needs drowned in his own stinking tunnel, and an overabundance of clothes that need to be reassigned to the next proper sized man cub. Where's my freaking "Git r dun Fairy?" This lazy thing ain't gittin r dun at all!

Spring puts me in a mood to start tearing things apart and rebuilding. That's scary for Paul. He knows how that can turn into additional projects real quick. I have a problem leaving things alone--kinda like his problem leaving his vehicles as is--There will always be a project. There's no getting away from that. Home improvement is a never ending money pit, but it does pose several opportunities to teach something new to the man cubs and learn something new ourselves. It's an adventure even when the experience isn't ideal. Doing something yourself is quite rewarding as well. However, I would love to pay someone to tackle our hill, fill in the gopher runs, level the yard, and put some freaking grass back there. "I love sweeping dirt daily" said no Mother ever...

Speaking of projects: Curtains, people. Curtains. What's the dealio with curtains? I'll tell ya. I hate window shades. They're noisy, impossible to dust, they break far too easy, and quite frankly, they're ugly. Me no likey. Curtains however, are relatively inexpensive (unless you have windows as wide as you are tall--raises hand), easily washable, and kill the desire to paint a room by providing a splash of color. The last time I bought curtains and rods, was for our 2 sliding doors that stand roughly 80 inches tall and 60ish inches wide. I had to buy 84 inch long curtains and put 4 panels on each door to fully cover them, AND curtain rods. That was...260 bucks.

This particular curtain project I'm referring to has long been overdue. We have had vertical shades over our large kitchen window since we bought our house. They looked gross because they are white--white in a kitchen conveys the message "do not eat here" after someone starts using it. I hate white anything in a kitchen. In my personal experience, white cabinets appear to be so nasty after a simple night of frying wings. Its' gorgeous to look at at but as soon as you start using the kitchen, it stains yellow quickly. Yes, I told you how I really feel. You're welcome. 

Anyway, Saturday, I got a wild hair and ventured out to buy curtains with all 4 man cubs. We survived Bed Bath & Beyond....yes, BEYOND! Careful in that place. Husbands will find little interest unless you stop in the outdoor and grill section. The rest, has wifey written all over it. You've been forewarned. Anyway--Curtains. The 2 elder man cubs helped me pick. They picked quite well! Except now, I can't have my pretty blue wall that's half painted. I might do it anyway. The blues don't match and I like to break the rules though so I may just get away with it. I had to go back to BBB to buy another curtain panel and valance panel because the measurements were not what I envisioned to fit the kitchen window. On a whim, I decided to do the last window in the TV room with the same curtains in the kitchen. Bed Bath & Beyond is not cheap, and neither are curtains when your windows are wider than you are tall. I ain't telling how much I spent this trip. There is a reason I don't venture into that place more than twice a year.

Here's a small piece of amusement for you. My annoyance is your amusement. If you take a look at the picture (below), you'll notice we have a skylight above the sink. Blessing and a curse, that window...Let's disclose what it took to get the darn curtain rods up there, shall we?
First, I had to stand on the counter. I tell the man cubs not to ALL THE TIME and here I am, standing on the counter in the window, next to the sink. This could go bad real quick, and yet, I'm still standing on the counter. I had to unscrew 4 screws and give the shades rail a wack to pop it off the dry wall. Took some dry wall with it too. I had to do this while tiptoeing the 5 inches between the window and faucet.  I realized, as I'm straddling the sink and trying not to wack my head on the beam behind me, that the type of hangers I have for the curtain rods will not work if I don't put them in just the right place because there is less than 2 1/2 inches of wall on the left side of the window and the hangers have to face out, not inward as would have been ideal for this particular set up (like a tension rod for example).
Hallelujer, I have curtains and not shades in my kitchen window! Looks so much better! But it took an hour from start to finish on this project. I'm done with curtains a while.

Next project that cost me far less than those darn curtains are the flowers and veggie plants for our garden. I decided this year, that I was not gonna start with seeds. That I would bypass the most delicate part of planting due to my insane schedule with 4 man cubs and my unexpected trip to Hawai'i with my husband. After purchasing the curtains, I took the man cubs into Lowe's for plants. We didn't leave with much. I'll have to shop another store for more of what we eat a lot of later, but the main ones are handled for now.
We left with a special flower for each of the elder man cubs, and then a tray of 12 flowers that Grandma Thelma ALWAYS had an abundance of at the end of her garden for the bees; 1 tomato plant, 2 bell pepper plants--1 yellow and 1 red, 1 jalepeno plant, and 3 strawberry plants. I have several bags of strawberry bulbs so we'll have a decent patch this year (I hope).
Last year, my garden was a disaster. I have no idea what type of deficiency was in the dirt (yes, that's a real thing) and I was not able to take a sample to have it tested so the garden was a huge failure. My mother visited twice prior to Paul deploying and she had no idea what was wrong with it. Neither did my friend Carl. Those are the people I would expect to have all the answers for gardening and neither had any clue how to help. With the exception of the sunflowers, none of the plants grew taller than 6 inches, and most were barely an inch tall and then died. It was a hot summer. Aside from that, I don't know what could have happened. So I took a different approach before planting what little we bought Saturday.
Seeing as we have chickens, I took advantage of the torrential amount of rain that flooded their coop, and scooped out several shovels full of mud, poop, and straw, and turned it over in the garden with part of my compost that sat for a year. I bought 2 bags of organic dirt and mulch and turned some of that over in it as well. I expect that should help immensely. The plan is to water more--maybe the amount I was watering wasn't enough, maybe my dirt was vitamin deficient. No clue. Gonna cover all my bases. Now the tricky part is to keep the chickens out of it until I get their pen expanded. Paul is not enthused about the poop on the deck soooooo I gotta get that pen handled soon. Wonder if keeping the man cubs out or the chickens out of the garden will be more difficult? The chickens respond to their Mother Hen quite easily (unless it's the Loudmouth chicken). The man cubs are sneaky...gotta be smarter than the spawn you create.
Isaac helped me plant today. I sawed down a small bush that died over the summer and covered the hole with some of the organic dirt I bought. I don't think I'm gonna replant anything there. It isn't the ideal spot for much with the water hose hanging on the wall behind the previous bush. I planted some of Grandma Thelma's Iris bulbs though. Several of them sprouted in the box I was keeping them in while we were gone. Who knows, they might grow quick now that they're in ground.
Oh, a neat thing I'm trying out is an Aero Garden. My MIL didn't have much luck with it--or wasn't overly impressed, I'm not sure. Anyway, she gave it to me. We started the flower pods 2 days ago. Supposed to see sprouts between 4 to 10 days. When those are ready, I'll move them into the flower box with the others. I'm hoping it works well enough that I can have an herb garden inside all year around. Herbs can be so finicky sometimes. I've either had an overabundance or the plants simply died.

That puts a small dent in the work that needs done around here. Technically, the garden isn't fully planted, but the ones we did plant are the vegetables we spend the most money on. The man cubs love bell peppers. I like them a lot as well. As far as tomatoes, only Ethan will eat cherry tomatoes. I'm a BLT fan so I need my fresh maters. Besides that, I'm gonna try to make ketchup over the summer. That plant better do well.
I'm hoping to can some this year. Tomato products will be first on the list--particularly soup. Isaac has found a love for tomato soup. Paul likes it as well. That will be the #1 canning item next to ketchup. We spend far too much money on ketchup with not so good ingredients in it.
Mom and Grandma always canned green beans and pickles like there was no tomorrow. I'm looking forward to some dill pickles myself. with fresh dill from my garden. Mmhm! And Ethan...that punk would eat an entire jar of pickles if I let him. By the way, check your pickle ingredients. Explain to me why you need a yellow dye in dill pickle juice. That's right, you don't. Dill pickle juice should be a light green with a hint of yellow if any at all, naturally. Avoid the artificial dyes. The only purpose they serve is to bring attention to the product. We eat with our eyes, and unfortunately, our eyes are trained to be more interested in artificial dyes than the natural ones. There's a little of my crunchy side for you. You're welcome.

The list of things I need to get finished before April, is not small. I'd like to have all that done before the end of March but with Paul still traveling, that's quite far fetched. The man cubs are beginning to help more--or at least Isaac is. Nolan only wants to when Nolan wants to, not when Mom wants him to. He's always been the independent child. Isaac has to be right alongside. Not a bad trade off sometimes. Not sure how I'm gonna wrangle that chicken pen alone. I'm tempted to, trust me. The Git r Dun Fairy gets a wild hair sometimes and either accomplishes easily or chaos ensues and creates another project. I know I need an extra set of hands for this project. I'm impatient though. I don't want the chickens eating my plants.
We are on the tail end of Isaac's first year of Kindergarten in addition to the huge list of projects we need to get finished. There have been some gaps to fill with all the travel, then David being born, and my unexpected Hawai'i trip in the curriculum but he's done well with all of it considering. I may repeat a little of the Kindergarten curriculum that we didn't dive into as deep just to be sure he grasps the concepts. But as far as what a child in Kindergarten is required to know, he's good. The perks of home schooling, is everything is a lesson, not just what's in the curriculum. We also go year around. We can accomplish more and take more time in trouble areas if we need to. This year has been the perfect test for a "what if" scenario. I will be happy to see the final curriculum week and move on to more fun things--less paper. Nobody likes paperwork.

Go outside, get your hands dirty, enjoy the sun. Get out of the house! Spring is here!