The Working Graduate Student Care-taking Piano-Playing Organic-Gardening Mom

I have a lot of titles these days.  First, I'm a mom.  A relatively new title in the scheme of things as baby is only ten months old.  This means that my evenings are filled with play time, walking practice, crawling, nursing (and so much of it), feeding, bathing, bedtime stories, laughing, crying and eventually bedtime.  I love my little one like nothing else in the world, but the sweet release that comes with bedtime is akin to what I imagine people on drugs must feel like after the first hit.  Its not her fault, I want to play and interact and bond and nurse, but while she's the most central part of my life, there is a lot of life competing for that number one spot.  This job coincides with my other job of being a wife.  I'm a great wife.  I remember important things, say nice stuff, indulge in thoughtful gestures and gifts and remember to speak my mind but do so in a way that won't permanently damage our relationship later when I'm not mad anymore.

Secondly, and second in the life-competing competition, is that I am a teacher.  My days are filled with hard work, singing, love, discipline, grading, testing - sorry, assessing, and occasionally teaching.  My grades come home with me (although admittedly less than they use to thanks to babykins), my lesson plans haunt me when I try to sleep and I spend a lot of time wondering if I actually taught anyone anything today.  Its a taxing job and it comes with a lot of negatives, but while I hate some of the tedious paperwork parts of my job, I LOVE the part where I'm teaching real students.  Kids who live in big houses and have loving parents, kids who don't.  I love them.  I care if they learn, I care if they succeed and I miss them when they go.  Like bedtime, there is something about the end of the school year that just calls for a sigh of relief.  People who say teachers are lazy have never spent 10 months raising teaching 30 (or in my case 650) other people's children with the constant threat of being fired hanging over their head and then gone on to do it for another 30-50 years.  

Third, and related to teaching, is graduate student.  I'm in an odd situation in which I am simultaneously attending teacher induction programs and also racing to get 24 credits completed by the end of the school year.  See, in Pennsylvania teachers fresh out of college have six long years of active service to get their requirements for their Level II (or permanent) teaching certificate.  I had one year, then 6 months of long term subbing, followed by a few months of day to day subbing, followed by more long term subbing until December of 2012 when I was finally officially hired.  Being a sub does not count against your 6 years.  Being a long term sub apparently does.  I found that out with two years to go and only 3 credits under my belt (and no teacher induction certificate, another requirement).  For those of you still reading, that meant 21 credits in slightly under 2 years.  And then I decided it was time for a baby.  I like a challenge.  I will finish the last two classes online simultaneously on June 22nd of this year, 12 days after the last day of school but two months before the paper work needs to be processed (here's hoping PDE gets to it by then... I wish I was kidding here!) and 10 days after the baby turns a year old.

I also keep our house relatively clean (the definition of which has changed dramatically around here), keep the 3 cats and 10 chickens (6 of whom are babies who were living in our office until two weeks ago) alive and relatively happy.

I've also taken on piano lessons.

And an organic garden.

Also, I'm a bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my dearest friends in three weeks.

Until now I didn't really think I had taken on that much, but all of a sudden I understand why I am so exhausted (yes, the baby sleeps now).

And Jenn, if you read this, I am totally stealing this photo from you because it is from one of my favorite episodes and is to date the only episode that has ever made me tear up (although everything does that now.  Which is totally unfair because I thought that was supposed to stop.).

Homer covers the original message, "Don't forget, you're here forever." It hangs in his office as a reminder of what's actually important in life..

A Week Ago Yesterday

It's been a while.  Having a baby makes it hard to get household projects done, which was the original intent of this blog.  When I shared this thought with a family member, she said "Yeah, however your house looks now is how it will look for the next 20 years!" with a laugh.  I'm okay with that.  The only room we haven't painted or done anything with is ours (although technically the kitchen is unfinished as well, it's just harder to notice).  In the meantime, I'm going to write a bit about experiences or otherwise - utilize this blog (or whatever you want to call it) as it's name would suggest.

A week ago yesterday, John and the baby and I were literally just setting out towards Tioga County, PA.  I can use the word "literally" here because as I'm writing this, it's currently 5:27pm and that's the exact moment we left the driveway.  I had spent the entire day packing the car, a task which used to take just under an hour, and John had managed to leave work a little early.  If you've ever met his boss, you know this is no small feat, although if you haven't met his boss, I'll have to fill you in another time.  Let's just say he's not a big believer in vacation time, unless it's for him.

The car was packed to the brim with exciting things I only get to pull out once a year.  We had the kitchen box - a plastic storage bin with various kitchen necessities like a toaster, some knives, paper and plastic dinnerware and a bagel cutter in it, and the bedding box (whose contents should be self explanatory... Bedding and towels).  I said "exciting" at the beginning of this paragraph and then described storage boxes full of household items.  It may be time to reevaluate my life.  Anyways, we packed those and we also packed a week's worth of clothes for us, a bag for the baby and the two big baby items I knew we'd want/need/use; the pack and play and the stroller.

Packing light is not something at which my husband excels.  He means well, but forgets that we are only leaving for a week and will be in civilization so we don't really need to pack up the entirety of our belongings.  I say "we" but I mean "he".  It's something we argue over as I pack the last of this year's hobby (drones, thanks to a relative on my side) his bag overflowing with clothes ("You know it's only 6 days right?") a second bag with some shoes and things that didn't fit into the first bag (an eyeroll for this one) and some miscellaneous alcohol (two six-packs and a nice bottle of Jack Daniels to which I say "You know there's going to be beer up there, and there's a liquor store in town, and aren't you going on the winery tour?") because it's hot, the baby won't stop fussing, I've been packing all day and I am wearing my cranky pants.  We all have our faults.

At 5:27 I put my foot on the gas pedal and our arguing stops ("Sorry I snapped at you, it's been a long day.  I am glad you get to bring your drones, that will be fun!") because we CANNOT be sad when we leave for the week that I know we are about to have.

This is the week we look forward to all year.  More than all year!  It's the week we look forward to as soon as the vacation ends.  On our drive home you'll hear "I can't believe it's over... I can't wait for next year!".  We are headed to Tioga County, PA to spend a week at a state park in their cabins with my extended maternal family.  Each family member who wants one reserves a cabin at the park (or rather, sends a request for a cabin to my Uncle Dan who then spends a large amount of time, effort and money - which is reimbursed- reserving the cabins for us).  It used to be five cabins, one for my mom, three of her four siblings and one of her cousins, but now John and I require our own and the tally is up to six.  The cabins are all on a single road so it's a bit like having a commune or familial neighborhood for a week, which is great, and also probably long enough.  We generally rent out the end of the road if possible, since we all have preferred cabins after 14 years of this tradition, but the park recently made Cabin 1 dog friendly so now we rent out Cabin 1 and the end of the road.

Depending on how you feel about nature, cabins, camping or family, this may or may not sound like a great vacation.  Some of you are probably cringing and thinking we are insane to get excited about sleeping in a cabin with no wifi, cable, cell phone signal or otherwise (although they do have electricity, indoor plumbing and a small kitchen area) in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere.  Some of you are possibly looking online to find out where these cabins are and how much it costs ($482, at my last tally) and some of you are saying "Cabins! Psh, cabins are for the weak.  Give me a tent any day!".  I fall into the second and third category as I clearly enjoy all things nature, cabins, camping and family.

The first night is not something to which we are ever privy.  My husband (and his previously mentioned boss) usually works until 6pm, gets home at 6:35 at which time I tell him he has 10 minutes to get to the bathroom, change, grab something to eat or drink in the car and get buckled.  The trip for us used to take 4 hours (no stops, and 9 miles over the posted speed limit the entire way if possible) putting us at an estimated 11pm arrival time.  By that point, the rest of the family has enjoyed dinner together, chatted and caught up with each other and are now in their respective cabins sleeping off a very long day.  John and I know from two earlier trial runs (the McInroy reunion, my dad's family, as well as the Laurel Festival) that we will need about 4.5 hours.  We managed to get on the road by 5:30 so we could get in before midnight, but we still missed the Friday night festivities.

We did not, however, miss out on a great time.  We took a different route than our usual one and it led us through what some call Pennsyl-tucky.  The middle of the state is a very different place than the ends.  I once heard someone say that Pennsylvania had two liberal bookends with Alabama in the middle.  It's hard to argue with that.  As we drove, we encountered a litany of American-made trucks with giant tires and off-road suspension that had stickers relating to the NRA, the South, Rebel Flags, Don't Tread On Me slogans and general American things (flags, eagles, PBR, etc.).  I suggested a game of  "Radio Roulette" in which a person presses the scan button, stops when they hear something interesting and no one is allowed to change the station until the song/topic of conversation has finished, regardless of what is playing.  I stopped when I heard a banjo.

Have I ever mentioned my weird love of bluegrass music?  Well, now's probably the time for that.

Anyways, I heard the banjo, pressed the scan button to stay on the station and we listened until the end of the song.  The radio tag let us know that we were listening to Bluegrass Gospel music.

Wait, what?

Like, bluegrass or gospel music?  I guess that could work.  It seems like a weird combination but I suppose maybe there's not enough of either genre to have a real radio station with the appropriate amount of variety.

Oh, nope.  It's bluegrass AND gospel music.  As in, bluegrass music with very religious words, like you'd find in gospel music.

Now, I have no problem with religion of any kind, or with religious music, but I was rather dumbfounded that this very VERY specific genre of music not only existed, but existed with enough music in it to be radio station fodder.  We listened until the station turned to static, it was exactly the right music for that portion of the drive.

Shortly after we left bluegrass gospel territory, we saw an elderly couple pull off to the side of the road and proceed to fight, physically fight, as in kicking and pushing and hitting with canes (I wish I was joking).

Ah, America.

Neither John nor I knew what to say since all the elderly people in our lives are sweet, baking, advice-giving types.  Not the pull-the-car-over-ass-kicking types.  We rode in silent disbelief after that for a while.

After the geriatric throwdown, the ride was relatively uneventful.  We pulled into our cabin around 10:30, unloaded the car and settled in for the night, excited about the morning and the week to come.

To be continued...

A Very Brief Update

It has been a while.  I'm taking two online graduate courses so that my teaching certificate doesn't lapse next May (thanks, Pennsylvania for that little rule) and am busy trying to find time or energy to do anything while hauling around a 30 pound basketball that is permanently affixed to my front.

It's been a long two months.

Some quickie updates to be followed by more interesting posts:

1.  We've done some work in the nursery!
2.  John turned 30 and I threw him a surprise party.
3.  We hired a landscaper to come help us outside since we are hopeless.
4.  We finished the office and it looks great! (NO MORE TEAL!)

To be continued...

Outdoor Projects

**Author's note:  This was originally written in September, but I forgot about it for a long time.  I finished editing it just yesterday!  Also, sorry for the state of the photographs.  I'm not sure why they're so hazy.


If you remember from this post, we have a lot of work we want to complete around the house.  We decided to tackle all the small stuff at our own pace and made a list of big ticket items we want to take care of in the next year.  The big items are new flooring for the downstairs, a new water heater, and a new washer/dryer set.  It's good to have goals.

As for the small stuff, we've been chipping away at the outdoor tasks while it's still nice out.  We figured once it got cold/wet/rainy/snowy we'd be more inclined to paint, but it's really hard to be inside when it's 75 degrees and sunny.

The first task was to take down the awful arborvitae and yew bush that lived outside of our house.  I hated them.  With some help from the family on both sides (and a chainsaw), those two plants were history/firewood.  Gilbert loved this.

Everyone loves using the chainsaw!

I also wanted to start tackling all of the weeds we had let grow.  It was a mess!  I took the chainsaw back there as well and hacked away.  A lot of these plants will be replaced by nice, easy maintenance plants (hostas and such).

This does not look good.  We have a lot ahead of us out here.

We are going to lay new mulch and clean out weeds and old plants.  We'll be putting in new low maintenance plants in the summer. 

Gilbert Looks on from his shady spot.

Pulling out the branches.

A kitty castle made of branches!

We also wanted to add a fire place out back, and found this little guy at home depot.  We have no furniture out there, so this is good for now.

The addition of a fire pit out back, although we still need/want furniture.

My garden is mostly in, but I decided I wanted to try grapes too.  I got them planted and they grew fairly well, but will need somewhere to climb since they are vines.  This went up in a matter of about an hour.

I want to grow grapes and they need something to grow up, so John and his dad put in a lattice for them to climb up.

It's sort of a mess right now, but we are getting there.  We have the next two months to come up with a plan for the front yard.

Can't wait to get the new plants and trees in!

New Dining Room Floor!

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  To be honest, there haven't been any updates in the house in a while.  When the school year started back up, time suddenly became very scarce.  Shortly after the beginning of the school year, we found out we were expecting (a human, hopefully).  We do have a list of things we want to do in the immediate future.  Those tasks include, but are not limited to:

1.  New carpet in the living room (projected cost $1200 - we can't/choose not to do this ourselves)
2.  The nursery - paint, furniture - projected cost - $60 for paint, not sure about the rest yet.
3. A new water heater - ours is old and on the way out, we'd rather plan for it than be surprised by the bill.  Projected cost - $500
4.  Master Bathroom - the most costly.  Projected cost $4000.  We are hoping for a great tax refund this year to fund this project.  The bathroom needs everything.  We will have to hire a plumber to move stuff around, we'll be demo-ing cabinets and walls and we'll be replacing everything in there.  We have talked (briefly, with varying degrees of seriousness) about tearing down the wall that separates the bathroom and walk in closet to make it all the bathroom and then putting in a new closet in another part of the room, but that's going to be exceptionally expensive, and labor intensive.  For now we've settled on:  New vanity (or possibly vanities) with tops and faucets, new fancy tub, add a shower (yeah, no shower in the master bath.  What?), tear out the giant cabinet, add paint and tile and decorative elements.
5.  Master Bedroom - Paint, crown molding and new window treatments.  Projected cost - $250
6.  New floors in the dining room (accomplished! Yay!).

Our dining room had carpet.  15 year old, eaten on, family with pets/kids carpet.  When we moved in, we knew we'd be replacing it we just figured we had time and could do it "whenever".  Then we discovered that the cats loved the carpet... As a litterbox.  The carpet was so stained to start with that we didn't notice immediately, until I was walking by one day and smelled it.  I broke out everything in my carpet cleaning arsenal and tended to the task, but the more I worked the more obvious it became that they had been using a section of the carpeting for quite a while.  Suddenly, "whenever" turned into "ASAP".  You can't un-smell cat pee.

We like to look at flooring and fantasize about it regularly.  Every time we go to the hardware store we wander the aisle and pick up samples; we check out Lumber Liquidators website regularly.  We knew we'd be able to do it ourselves, so we really just needed the materials.

On Saturday, we headed to Home Depot for crown molding and paint supplies (project number 5), and were perusing the flooring aisle when we came upon Pergo flooring for $1.29/sq. ft. in a color called Gunstock Oak.  Lots of perks here - Pergo makes the most sense as we are both prone to dropping things, have cats, will probably have a dog some day, and are starting a family.  This stuff comes with a 30 year warranty against scratches and damage.  Perfect.  We also knew we wanted a warm, dark color in the dining room to offset the lighter wall color and curtains we'd chosen.  Also perfect.  As it would happen, I knew the exact dimensions and square footage of the dining room by memory, so I knew just how much flooring we would need.

We grabbed seven boxes of the flooring (20.17 sq. ft. per box, 132 square foot dining room = seven boxes.  and a brief review of sixth grade math).  We got extra lucky when halfway down I spotted writing on one of the boxes!  "This box only 50% off missing two planks" has never sounded so romantic.  For those of you keeping track, seven boxes is 141.19 square feet of flooring, we needed 132, two planks was not a big deal to lose out on for $13 dollars.

Our total for the flooring: $169

FYI the underlayment is called FloorMuffler, which we thought was hilarious.

Then the underlayment.  After the cat pee fiasco, we both wanted the best underlayment we could find.  We wanted it to be waterproof, smell proof, insulating - basically all the bells and whistles a floor underlayment has to offer.  Turns out, you can have that for $0.65 a square foot, but it comes in 100 square foot rolls.  Two rolls of awesome underlayment - $130.

That's right:  $299 for the whole thing.

As soon as we got home we unloaded the car and got started!  We are not patient people and the carpet HAD to go.

Floor tools.  Spacers are important so that the floor has room to expand without buckling.

I took all of the pictures, but I promise I helped a little, poor John did not do the whole thing himself (just most of it).

We had to rip up the old carpet.

Pulling up the carpet

We locked Gilbert out at this point since the carpet tacks were sharp.  I found this out myself two seconds after the carpet was removed.  Thankfully, I had an encounter with a rabid animal earlier this year and am up to date on my tetanus booster.  My life is great.

Gilbert says "Halp!  I don't want to be out here!"

The other cats were terrified of the loud sounds like you would expect cats to be, and they hid out upstairs away from the construction.  It was a long and horrible weekend for them.

After we got up the carpet and the carpet pad, we came to the gross conclusion that no matter how much vacuuming I did, I would never get the carpets clean.  Literal PILES of dirt and dust!

Eww...  Check out all the dirt and dust! 

  We vacuumed like crazy, sanded where needed, and then painted the subfloor with something called Killz.

Sanding and Vacuuming.  We love the Shop-Vac!

  Killz is a latex paint and primer that is meant to cover up smells and I think helps waterproof, but I'm not sure.  At the very least, it would reduce the amount of liquid/smells that could pass through the new flooring.

Kill it.  Kill it with Killz.  John's favorite paint job!  No fuss and gravity is there to help!

Then we laid out the underlayment and taped it to the floor.

Lay the underlayment perpendicular to the direction the planks will go.

Look how fancy.  FloorMuffler!

 Then we started assembling and putting in the floor!  It's a click lock system meaning that all of the pieces snap together (in theory) and the floor "floats" (is not nailed down or adhered to the subflooring in anyway).  The planks are 4 feet long, and our dining room is just short of 12 feet long.  Each row required the cutting of at least one piece, although we would have had to cut anyways to offset the planks enough (8-12 inches).  This was the longest part of the task, although even this wasn't that challenging.  The hardest thing to do was measure and cut the boards the right way so that there was always a tongue to lock into a groove (snicker).

Adding the planks.

Measuring to make the cut.

Meanwhile, Gilbert had a better idea.

We got about halfway finished with the floor by 10:00 that night and called it a night.  We cleaned up the worst of everything and went to bed.

Calling it a night.  Lots of progress for 5 hours of work! 

Both of us were up very early Sunday morning thanks to my new inability to stay asleep or be comfortable in a bed/anywhere (another joy of pregnancy), so we had breakfast and got started.  Plus, we wanted to be finished by the time the Puppy Bowl came on at 3, and I had food to make and we'd have to get it all cleaned up before our friends showed up at 2:30.  The clock started at 7am.

Finishing Touches...

The last little strip along the edge, then the baseboards and we are done!

Upon opening box 6, we discovered that the flooring inside, while labelled Gunstock Oak" most certainly was not... It was several shades lighter than all of the other boxes and had a totally different grain!  We also discovered that the baseboards near the cat pee area needed to be replaced, so it was back off to the hardware store.

Flash forward an hour and $100 later and we were back home and ready to finish up.  I left John to it while I went to the store for Puppy/Super Bowl food and groceries (and Starbucks, we both needed it) and returned in an hour to find the floor nearly complete!

From there John put in the transitional pieces to connect to the living room and the kitchen, added the trim, and we finished and had the living room cleaned up just as our friends pulled in the driveway.

The finished product!

Side note: I am very thankful to have crockpots that will cook while I do other things.  It's probably the closest thing I will ever have to a personal chef.

Today I went on a cleaning rampage and am finally able to enjoy the new floors!

And because I love a good before and after...

Ta-Da!

An Egg-cellent Update!

It has been awhile since I've posted and even more so since I've posted about the girls! By which I mean the chickens, obviously.

This summer we got our first egg from the chickens!

Huzzah!

  I had been reading up on the egg part of chicken ownership, so I was ready for the event.  It turns out, you are not supposed to eat the first few eggs.  The chickens need "practice" and usually have a few kinks to work out.  Many times, early eggs have thinner shells, cracks or even holes in them allowing bacteria to get in so the rule of thumb is to wait about until they have laid about 4 eggs to start eating them.  Could you eat the first one?  Probably, but I was in no hurry.

A perfectly unfinished egg.

But it looks good from this side!

                                                     


After we found the first egg, the next step was to decide from which chicken it had been laid.  I had my suspicions because I knew that the chickens laid different colored eggs.  The Orpington and the Barred Rock both lay brown eggs, although the Orpingtons are a little lighter, the Dorking lays white eggs and the Barnevelder lays dark brown eggs which have become speckled as of late.

From Bottom to Top: the Orpington, the Dorking, the Barred Rock, and the Barnevelder

After we found the first one, we would get one single brown egg each day for the next week.  Then we found two.  Chickens are only capable of laying one at a time in any given day.  It takes them about 18-36 hours to produce an egg, so averaged out that ends up being one per day.  We knew there was a second culprit.

Our first and second egg layers out in the yard!

After that it wasn't long until they were all laying.  Having four layers means we get about four eggs every day, so now we have an abundance of eggs!  So, if you have a good egg recipe, let me know!  I am currently trying to sell the idea of quiche to my husband, who says it's gross (although he's never had it) because it's like an "egg pie."  He's not technically wrong, but it does sound worse that way.  Sigh.

Nighttime on the farm.

A List of Future Projects.

We've finally hit a wall.  There is just not enough time, or money, to do everything we want.  It feels a little overwhelming to think about all of the things, so I'm going to make a very public list and hopefully turn it into a completed projects list over the next year or two.  To make myself feel better, I'm also going to make a list of things we've done so far.

Outside:
We've already....
1.  Built a chicken coop.
2.  Put in a horseshoe pit (not a necessity, but fun nonetheless!).
3.  Assembled a raised bed garden.
4.  Planted things in said garden (specifically: onions, green beans, cherry and roma tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelons, kale, lettuce, arugula and beets).
5. Planted tulips out front.
6.  Weeded the brick walkway.
7.  Weeded the brick walkway.
8.  Weeded the brick walkway.
9.  Put up new exterior light fixtures.

We need to...
1.  Weed things beside the brick walkway.
2.  Put down that weed cloth and mulch around the house.
3.  Finish the herb garden project.
4.  Pressure wash all the things.
5.  Reattach a shutter that I found in the yard after a particularly windy storm.

Inside (get pumped):

Living Room still needs:
1.  Ceiling Paint.
2.  Outlet/light switches
3.  Some kind of storage solution for DVD's (built-ins?)
4.  New carpet (which, by the by, I just found out how much that costs... Eek.).

Living Room has:
1.  New paint
2. New throw pillows/blankets
3.  New decorations.

Dining Rooms needs:
1.  Storage for serving dishes, china and table linens (built-ins or hutch?)
2.  Ceiling Paint.
3.  Large Curtain Rod
4.  New window treatment.
5.  Hard flooring.

Dining Room has:
1.  New table and chairs
2.  New paint
3.  New large curtains.

Kitchen needs:
1.  Ceiling paint
2. Finish the regular paint
3. New sink (...Okay, I want this, our sink is technically fine).
4.  New counter tops (Soapstone... someday!).
5.  Storage window seat.

Kitchen has:
1.  New appliances
2.  Pendant lights
3.  New snazzy spice rack thanks to handy husband.

Hallway needs:
1.  Paint.
2. Decoration.
3.  Some kind of mail center/key rack concept.

Half bath needs:
1.  New sink/vanity or storage.
2.  New toilet.
3.  Touch-up on the paint job.

Half bath has:
1.  New paint!
2. Pretty decorations.

Stairs need:
1.  New runner/carpet
2. Paint
3.  Possibly paint on the rails/steps?  I've seen some neat ideas I want to try.

And thats just the downstairs!!

Upstairs we have four bedrooms and two baths and some miscellaneous closets.

Master suite:

Has nothing.

Needs:
1.  New paint
2. Window Treatments
3.  Closet update to be more useful
4.  A shower in the master bath (it's only a tub!).

Hallway needs:
1.  New paint

Bedrooms need:
1.  Paint
2.  Window treatments
3. Light switches
4.  Miscellaneous furniture items.

So I'm off to research all over Pinterest, Craigslist and Homegoods!  If you've found a site or other place you like for house updates, let me know in the comments section!