Sunday, March 7, 2010

Ramble On, Baby.

It's been so long since I posted anything here other than a few random photos that I have no idea where even to begin. The last time I really checked in, Mae had strep throat and an ear infection. I had pneumonia. The Gardener was painting his tractor and I was pissed about not being able to watch Olympic curling.

Mae's strep and ear infection went away but at the end of last week, her ears were bugging her again. Sunday morning she tossed her cookies but by the afternoon she started feeling better and was even able to keep a little food and some liquids down. I kept her home from school yesterday just to make sure, but today I was happy to put her on the bus. She complained about not wanting to go but by the amount of fighting she did with her sister this morning, I'm sure she's back to her normal self.

Binny woke up last Friday and came downstairs to tell me that she puked the bed. And not like, I woke up and my tummy hurt. No it was more like, I woke up and I noticed dried vomit all over myself, my bed and Monkey. I kept her home from school and in a day she was back to normal.

My pneumonia is finally gone and I'm feeling much better. Although I did seem to catch that pukey bug from over the weekend (maybe had something to do with me washing 6 loads of puked up linens and clothing....) which in turn made yesterday absolutely miserable for me. I gladly handed Mae the phone yesterday afternoon when she wanted to call Grandma and go play over there for the evening. Thank goodness Grandma was home and happy to spend a few hours playing hide and seek and the Wii with her granddaughters.

The Gardener's tractor is painted and up and running.
There was a recent change in our snow removal equipment and for a while we were completely without but now that the tractor is up and running we'll be able to use that if we should get any more snow before winter is gone for good. *For the record, that last sentence was in no way an invitation for Mother Nature to gift us with any more snow or freezing temperatures.

Work is slow for the Gardener so he had the choice of using up 2 weeks of vacation that he had saved up or file for temporary unemployment and lose our health benefits at the end of February and start paying for for Cobra. We decided that he would use up the 2 weeks to at least get us through another month without having to pay for health insurance benefits out of our own pockets. Hopefully things will start picking up as the weather warms and he won't be out of work for too long. At least that's what I keep telling myself. I'm not too incredibly worried about it. The farmer I work for is always happy to find something for him to fix at the farm and we have talked about a few creative ways to make money like recycling scrap steel and selling stuff we don't use on Craigslist. Hell, I may even put an ad in the paper offering to do some family photography now that Spring is on the way...

Anyhow, after a weekend of the Gardener moping around the house and worrying himself to the point of not being able to sleep, I looked into getting rid of him for a week, a little vacation if you will. It just so happened that the Gardener's dad was planning a trip out to see the Gardener's brother, B to help him remodel his bathroom. Driving ten hours one way (in the middle of the night and into an ice storm, no less) just to spend all week ripping out flooring and drywall, re-plumbing, re-wiring, re-drywalling and re-flooring a bathroom may not seem like a fun vacation to me but it's perfect for the Gardener. Plus the three of them love a good construction project.

Tomorrow my brother, T is coming over and we are going to start a bunch of vegetable and flower seeds and set up the grow lights in the basement. We may even drink an Irish coffee and toast to his Birthday!

I am so excited for Spring, I can hardly contain it. The garden, the sun, the flowers, hanging laundry on the line, opening windows and taking in that fresh warm air. BRING IT ON! With that enthusiasm, I am going to start Garden Mondays very soon again, perhaps even next Monday if I can get my crap together and no one else get sick...

Has anyone else started to think about gardening yet? I can't wait to get my hands dirty!

And with that I had better run and start some house cleaning before the day gets away on me.

7 comments:

Jenni said...

I've been thinking about doing a little gardening myself this year, mostly paring down our overflowing flower beds. I'm thinking of doing some veggies this year, but my dog Valentine usually eats everything before it is even ripe.

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

glad you are all feeling better. I'm thinking about gardening but haven't started anything yet. Bring on spring.

Chris said...

Yes! I am very excited for spring to get here too. The birds are singing more now and it just makes me want to be outside even through it's deceptively cold some days still. BUT I did go out and get some vegetable seeds the other day and hopefully this weekend we'll get the trays all set up. I even bought another Topsy Turvy because the red peppers did SO well in them last year that I'm not even going to put any in the ground, just hanging them up.

Unknown said...

My husband is going to start selling his plasma to make a little cushion money. As creepy as it sounds, it is totally legit, you know...if you are interested in opening a vein for cash.

I've actually had a few requests for family portraits sessions. I just have to get the nerve up to demand some money ;)

sheila said...

GOSh lots to catch up on here! In ONE post! lol.
Glad everyone is feeling better finally!
The tractor looks AWESOME!!!
Sorry to hear about work. And insurance. The last couple years we've gone through healthquotesusa.com for our health coverage. First I was leary about going over the internet, but this is the best service I've ever had! And I don't have to have people come to the house OR take a physical! BLEH! lol

Plus, we went from a $529 permium/month to a $308./ month. OH! Also, you could run rates through einsurance.com or maybe it's ehealthinsurance.com (I did that first to make sure I wasn't getting ripped off. lol. I'm not a trusting person I guess.)

Maybe you could save $$...I know Cobra is crazy expensive. good luck!

Shady Lady said...

Glad to hear you all are getting healthy.

Garden Mondays...sigh...with the absence of the Lizard King and the upcoming move in June, I will not be starting a garden this year. :( A friend about 30 minutes away offered up the possibility of coop gardening in her garden, but I don't know that I have it in me. Can't wait to live vicariously through you and your garden.

Wild Child said...

Glad to see everyone is better in the health department. I think I'm on the mend. Still coughing/clearing my throat, but otherwise, I think I'm back to normal.