Saturday

This has been a crazy week weather-wise.  It has really affected how much I could get done outside.  My husband bought some tubes of sand to put around the edges of my greenhouse, so now it is anchored.  I was afraid it was going to blow over in some of  the wind we have been having.  I managed to get the chicken coop shoveled out Thursday evening and my husband cleaned the skylight panel in it's roof to let more light in.  Now it needs a good power-washing inside and then a coat of white paint inside.  I've been researching nest boxes on the internet to find some plans for new nest boxes that my son-in-law is going to build and install.

Three co-workers plus one of Elsie's friends are having babies, so I've been doing some knitting for gifts for them.

I bought Malachi a new booster seat for my car.  Zach is ready to move out of the infant carrier and into a regular car seat, facing backwards of course.  So Malachi gets the new booster seat and I completely disassembled the old car seat and gave the cover a good cleaning.  I couldn't believe how black and dirty the water was.  Zachary will get to start with a nice clean cover.  :)

Hopefully this week I'll get some weeding done outside and some projects done inside.  I need to be productive!

~Jane

Rainy Days

Last weekend, I cleaned part of the greenhouse.  I hoped to get the rest cleaned this weekend, but the weather is not cooperating.  Nor is work.  I ended up working very late two nights last week, one night to 11 p.m., and the other to 1 a.m.  By this weekend, I am dragging and I still have to go in on Sunday.  Hopefully this is the last big push and we are done, because I have lots of other things I want to get done this spring.

Malachi, my husband and I went out and purchased chicks today.  I wanted a dozen, but we ended up with eight.  Hopefully they all make it and aren't roosters!  They are living in a box in the garage under heat lamps for  now, but in a few weeks they'll have to move out to the chicken house.  I want to get the chicken house all spruced up for them before then.  It needs to be cleaned out, then sprayed down and disinfected, and then I want to paint it a light color inside so the light will reflect better.  I'd like my son-in-law to make me some new nest boxes that you can access from the outside.  Inside needs some new roosts.  So that has to be the first priority.

We purchased some weed blocker cloth for the floor of the greenhouse.  That needs to be cut and put down and covered over with pine shavings before anything else is done inside the greenhouse.  I am still thinking of painting the outside with a clear gelcoat marine paint for fiberglass.  I'm kind of waiting to hear back from a manufacturer about that before I try it.

My mother's house is sold, papers signed and everything.  Just to finish up with the estate accountant and the lawyer now and it will be done.  Well, except for sorting through everything I drug home.

I have one sock knit to the heel and I love the way it's coming out all diagonal lines and lace.

I'm back to knitting on Malachi's cable sweater.  The entire body is now done and I have the collar and sleeves to go.

We finally got the new TV installed on its stand, so the stand isn't in the middle of living room where it's been for the past couple months.  The coffee table is back where it belongs and things are looking a little more settled.  I just need to continue cleaning and sorting.

My little Zach has been dropping off the bottom of the length charts and they ran tests and found that his thyroid is not working correctly.  The poor little guy has to be on medication.  So glad they figured it out though before he fell behind too much developmentally.  My Malachi is as funny as ever.  Grandma sure loves her boys.

~Jane

The Greenhouse

My mom passed away three years ago leaving a house filled with stuff.  It's taken me this long to liquidate and sort all of it.  Now admittedly, I have procrastinated on parts of the project.  There was just so much to go through, it was pretty overwhelming.  One of the things I've wondered what to do with was the greenhouse.  My mom had an 8-foot by 17-foot molded fiberglass greenhouse in her backyard.  I don't think I ever saw her really grow much in it.  At first I remember her starting some seeds, or baskets of fushia starts or begonias.  But I don't think she ever really "grew" plants in it.  Later on, she used the back half for storage and gradually it just kind of filled up with stuff.  When we started working on the house, when she was still in the hospital, we needed to move some of the stuff out of the house so my brother could have a bedroom to live in.  He emptied one bedroom to a rental storage place for several months.  When my mom passed away, I suggested he move the stuff back since it probably wasn't worth what he was paying in storage.  We decided to empty out the greenhouse and store the boxes and tubs in there.  In the process of cleaning out the greenhouse, he found a bunch of bees and a nest of rats, plus tons of blackberry vines.  For three years, we stored all the garage sale stuff in there between sales.  Then the estate sale ladies sold the rest of it.  Now the house is being sold and what to do with the greenhouse?  It is old, very dirty and a little fragile.  It has been sitting there for at least 25 years.  I doubt it was ever washed.  My mother had often commented that she wished it was smaller and could be moved to my place, since I have always wanted one.  I had visions of it shattering if we tried to move it.  I finally decided at the last, that I wanted to try to move it to my place if possible.  My son-in-law did a wonderful job of stabilizing, moving, and installing it in my yard.  This morning my husband and I scrubbed down one side of the greenhouse.  The two of us worked a couple hours on it, scrubbing and spraying.  Wow, what a difference!  Next Saturday, we'll clean the other side. Then to get things set up inside and start growing. I can just imagine my mom up in heaven saying, "Hank, look! She got the greenhouse home."   She would be happy, I know.

The greenhouse before cleaning.  It is black with dirt and mildew.

After cleaning.

 



Left side dirty, right side clean.  What a difference in the amount of light coming in.

~Jane

Gluten Free???

I've done a lot of reading about gluten-free diets the last couple of months, and I can see why you might possibly want to try it.  I might even try it eventually.  I would probably benefit some even though I don't have celiac disease.  But I don't understand why people insist upon cramming gluten-free down your throat. 

I was reading another blog this morning and the writer was commenting on sick day traditions.  How when she was a child her mother always made them Campbell's chicken noodle soup to make them feel better.  She ended her blog by asking what other people traditionally did when they or their kids were sick.  Amidst the multitude of answers were a couple people chiming in that they ate their gluten-free chicken soup and their gluten-free crackers.  Now why was the gluten-free part important?  Who really cares?  Why couldn't they just agree that they also love chicken soup and crackers when they are sick? 

I know.  This is just a stupid rant.  But really?  Why do they have to include that fact?

~Jane

Greenhouse Growing

My mother had a 7x17 foot molded fiberglass greenhouse in her back yard which my son-in-law is going to attempt to move to my yard.  Has anyone grown anything in a greenhouse?  Do you have any tips or pitfalls to avoid?

~Jane

Struggling On

Here I have all these great plans for what I'm going to accomplish while my husband's away and I sure am not getting very far.  I have one closet cleaned out from my mom's and have brought it all home.  It is a lot of my dad's stuff.  Some framed commendations from his military days, boxes and boxes of slides, some reels of film, the projector, the splicer, and the screen.  A few family heirlooms.  The only catch is that I had to have a place to store it here.  I don't want more boxes in the way when my husband gets home.  I ended up cleaning out the closet in my daughter's room.  After all, she's only been married seven and a half years.  :)  So all of her stuff is stacked and ready for me to dump at her house for her to go through.  Once I moved all of it out, I had more than enough room to store all those keepsakes.  I did discover while moving things around and vacuuming out the cobwebs in the closet, that the baseboards in that room really need cleaning.  So now before I can move anything more around I'll need to wash them down.  Unfortunately, every job I've attempted has been similar.  Major cleaning once you start moving stuff.  Eventually, my whole house will be cleaner and more organized.  Let's hope it's before my husband gets back.

~Jane

Kind of Absent Lately

If you know me, you know I work for my state legislature.  They are in session this year from January to April and I'm usually pretty busy.  I work 12-hour days regularly.  It's worth it though, because the rest of the year I only have to work a 7-hour day and I love getting off that hour early.  The downside to session though is you can't take any time off.  So life is busy, my house is messy, and I miss my grandbabies like crazy, since I can't do any weekday babysitting. 

In the midst of all this, I listed my mother's house for sale.  It's been a week and I have two good offers to buy it.  Well, one good offer and one other.  I've been over there a couple times this past week cleaning out some more stuff.  My mom had a fiberglass greenhouse in her back yard.  My son-in-law is preparing to move it to my back yard.  I'm hoping it makes it and doesn't shatter.  I'm also trying to figure out how I'm going to utilize it.  My daughter had already offered to come over and help weed the vegetable garden this summer.  Now we can expand some of our plans.  I'm researching greenhouse growing.  :)

If the house sale goes through, there is going to have to be a major clean out one weekend in the near future.  There is way too much stuff to leave for the new owners to deal with. 

I'm knitting on a sweater for Malachi.  I already have Zach's knit, but I think I'm going to have to give it to him before Malachi gets his or he's going to outgrow it.  Trying to make things for two little guys is causing Grandma some timing issues.

My husband is out of town visiting his brother.  I'm trying, amidst everything else going on, to do some much needed cleaning on the house.  I have lots of plans.  Let's see how far I get!  :)

~Jane