Egyptian Pumpkin

Happy Halloween!  This is the infamous  “Old Ancient Egyptian Writing” Pumpkin.  Pumpkin decorating was serious business this year.

A Clone Trooper, Go Go Dancer, Princess and Pumpkin - the cousins are ready for some trick or treat fun!

A haunted house pumpkin. 

Scary Pumpkin

Proof positive that they are indeed closed!  Or at least you would think.  Alas, I am told that he was just blinking.  All super heroes sleep with their eyes open you know.

With the trees removed, we were able to plant a vegetable garden in the back yard.  We grew tomatoes, basil, carrots and pumpkins.  The photo above shows the pumpkin plant - ONE pumpkin plant, which took up much much more space than the photo shows.  What a lesson in growing for Ross.  We harvested 2 good pumpkins (medium sized) for carving and three smaller ones for the front porch. 

Here’s Ross (Vanna style!) showing off the first decent harvest of tomato and basil.  We made some pesto and used basil for tomato sauce.   We got a late start - everyhing was planted in the ground on Father’s Day, next year it will have to be earlier.

We will grow another vegetable garden next year, tomatoes and basils are a must, but I want to expand and grow more items.  Any suggestions?  No more pumpkins though - hopefully we will have a lawn next year!

June 2008 - This was the view of the North side of our back yard.   A big old pine tree with no grass underneath.

This was the view of the south side of the back yard.  This cottonwood, huge and mighty allowed no grass to be grown and dropped branches the size of trees when there was a storm.  Last August a wind storm tore off a branch the size of a small tree that crashed down on the playhouse, crushing it, and narrowly missing our bedroom window.

Although I love trees, and we live in the “city of trees” - it was time for the trees to go.  We never used our backyard.

We received expensive permission from the city to remove the trees and had a tree removal service come do the work.  The backyard instantly went from full shade to full sun. 

We had plans to plant a vegetable garden and to begin researching perennials that could be planted in our new sunny back yard.  Then we planned to have the yard tilled and leveled so we could seed it and actually have a grassy, green lawn in the back.  On my next posts, I’ll share some of the perrenials we planted, the vegetable garden and finally, the tilling of the yard.

The back yard is a work in progress, one that will take years, I’m sure, to complete.  I’ll be sharing the progress here on Tomato Drill.

The new Pottery Barn Thanksgiving/Autumn  catolog came in the mail yesterday.  I love looking through the catalog for ideas, and Rossi enjoys looking at it with me.  He likes to go through item by item and circle what he likes.

One of the pages is of a place setting with a note written in white capital letters shown over a napkin and the title “Celebrate Joyfully” written above in a more cursive style.  When we got to that page Ross asked me to read what was printed.  I did.

He then looked at the cursive writing and said “Oh, I wish you could read to me what that says”.  When I told him I could and that it reads “Celebrate Joyfully”, he looked at me completely astonished and said “HOW could you read that, it’s in Brittish!”  That’s just how smart mommy is.

When I worked outside my home I envied the friends who were able to work from home, or even better - stay at home and have their children with them.  A good friend of mine, ironically enough, envied me it turns out.  She envied me being out and about in the corporate environment, working and having adult conversations with adult colleagues, lunches with business associates, creative brainstorming sessions and enjoying the perks sponsorhsip brings.  Funny that.

And now, by a turn of events uncontolled by me, I am home with my children.  It has been wonderful, we miss the second income for sure and it has not been easy, but none the less it has been wonderful.  And I have taken on projects.  I am good with projects - I like to be busy.

It is not easy working on projects when you have little children.  Oh it’s easy enough to place phone calls when they are occupied, or napping.  Most of the time though you get voicemail and have to leave a message.  No big deal right?  Oh but wait.  It is Murphy’s law that when the return call comes in and you are trying to be your most professional self, one or two of your children will be wrapped around your leg, screaming and yelling and otherwise trying to gain attention.  It works.

It makes me just a little overwhelmed.  My current project will be over in less than two weeks and things will get back to normal - or at least for what passes for normal in our house.  I’ve enjoyed the adult conversations, lunches and collaberations.  I’ve been stimulated and able to enjoy the work that I love.

I hope to remember though, that when I am feeling a little envious over something, that the grass just seems greener on the other side.  Our grass, weeds and all, is  indeed green enough and just fine with me.

For those of you in the Chicagoland area, consider this.  Last year, the Greater Chicago Food Depository helped more than 500,000 hungry men, women and children in Cook County.  With the economic climate such that it is, unfortunatley, that leaves more and more hungry neighbors that will rely on the Greater Chicago Food Depository for sustenance this year.

Almost all of us have had to tighten our belts, some more than others, and ride out the storm.  If you are fortunate enough to be doing okay financially, consider helping feed the hungery in our community by attending the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s Bag Hunger Auction on October 22nd at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, in Chicago.                  

Proceeds benefit the hungry and you will have a most enjoyable night out.  Over 25 local Chicago area chefs will be sharing their signature dishes and fabulous cuisine.  A silent and live auction with fabulous unique Chicago experiences, travel packages, sports event tickets and even a kitchen redo with all new Electrolux appliances are there for the bidding.   

Tickets are $100 each, $900 for a sack of 10.  Tickets at the door are available for $125 each.  Tickets can be purchased online until 10/21 at www.chicagosfoodbank.org look for the Bag Hunger Auction info.

If the tickets are a little too steep for the pocketbook this year, you can still help.  Look to the website for info on local food drives where you can donate non-perishabnle food items, volunteer or contribute to the cause.  If you are in need of asistance you can get food pantry info from the website as well.

Let’s help bag hunger in our community!

Rossi

 I think Rossi enjoyed our trip to the conseratory as much as I did.  With all the gardening work we did this summer, he has learned  the names of many perennial and vegetable plants.  Whenever we are out and about he points out Hostas, Coneflowers, Hydrangeas (his favorite) and more.

A Water park visit for a cousins birthday party was a smashing success.  Francesca could stay in water all day long. It was as hard to tear her away from the water park as it is to get her out of the bath.

Francesca

Have a good weekend everyone, enjoy!

But in addition to the overtly “girlie” things mentioned above, she is also big into all things Power Ranger and superhero and Dinosaur, much to her 4 year old brother Ross’ chagrin. 

 Typical little sister.  Wants to play with everything big brother has deemed OFF LIMITS.  But alas, having a big brother has paid off in dividends!  He has, by his own actions, taught her how to climb - and how to climb WELL.  Family members have nicknamed her “squirrel” or “mountain climber”.

We have long removed the ladder to the top bunk in my sons bedroom as she scaled that at 15 months.  In our kitchen, not only are the bottom cabinets clildproofed - so are the top ones.  It’s easy to scale the stools and climb on the counter to get to them!  If we move the stools she drags things over and starts stacking.

And if you pull the drawers out just right on the dresser in your brothers’ room, it makes a lovely “staircase” to forbidden toys.

Francesca Scaling Mt. Dresser

And now, Francesca has finally figured out that she is capable of climbing out of her crib.   The crib was the last place of “safety”.  That place that you could put her for a moment to run to the bathroom, with the other option being to take her with.  The place to put her to SLEEP at night.  You know -where she would actually stay and, GASP,  sleep.  Now, not so much. 

 I’ve tried putting the crib mattress on the floor to see if we might get a toddler bed.  Yeah - not an option at the moment.  It was a fun game though, of running to the door 150 times - each time being met by mommy and told to go sleepy.  Then we tried lying down with her on the floor.  Again - NO DEAL.  She will stay in the crib to fall asleep,  I am just terrified of her waking up and groggily trying to climb out and falling. 

So, I’ve been letting her fall asleep in the crib, which is surronded by pillows and down comforters on the floor and then when I’m ready to go to bed, I’ve been taking her with me.  I know, I KNOW what a precedent this sets.  She was so good at sleeping on her own, and we made the mistake of letting my son sleep with us years ago, and he still does.  So it’s me, Rossi, Francesca and Moose - our 90 lb Doberman who likes to jump up and sleep at the foot of our queen size bed.  My husband?  Sam mostly gives up sometime in the middle of the night and sleeps on the couch.   Suggestions?   Maybe I’ll just take the top bunk!

Ok, so this is it.  My first post.  No pressure here, just be myself.  Just be me…. who am I?  Well now, that depends…I am many things to many people - wife, mom, sister, friend, neighbor, business associate, and now - blogger!

I’ve wanted to join the bogging world for a while now but quite frankly haven’t had the courage.  I’m not a writer per se, nor is my life particulary fascinating.  I am not a fabulous crafter like so many other bloggers, I am not a designer extroardinaire with my talents showcased on my blog.   But to me my life is interesting and boring, gratifying and tiring, hectic and peaceful - all those things so many other peoples lives are made up of.  And having been an avid lurker on so many of my favorite websites - if I have learned anything it’s how much of a community the blogging world is.  You are supportive and opinionated, honest and caring and very communicative!

And so here I am.  Once the decison was made with a bit of prompting from my oldest daughter Nicole (and a whole lot of help - she designed this beautiful web site for me) and some teasing from my second eldest Ashley - the process began.

Nicole is the brains and beauty behind pinklovesbrown.com and makingitlovely.com and she offered to create this lovely blog for me and worked with me during the whole creative process.  And by creative process, I mean she was creative and I gave vague answers as to how I wanted the site to look, what type of font I like, etc.  And yet, she designed the site just perfectly, exactly what I wanted even though I wasn’t sure what I wanted.  She’s just that good.

Then, during the whole creative process I found out Nicole was expecting.  What joyous wonderful news!  Do you know how hard it would have been for me to start my blog and not share the news?  I am not good with secrets!!  SO now she has made the announcement on her blog and I can officially shout to the world - YAY I’m Gonna Be a GRANDMA!

Funny thing too, since my youngest little girl is 21 months old and my son Ross is 4 and 1/2, and they will be auntie and uncle!  It will be nice for them to grow up together.  Ashley is just waiting to meet her new little neice or nephew.  It’s a different feeling - knowing your daughter will now be a mother - she will experience all of the joys and trials and love of parenthood.  Nicole and Brandon will make wonderful parents.

And to that long list of who I am, I will be able to add one more name - Grandma.

I promise all my posts won’t be this long.  I’m just happy to be here.  I look forward to meeting you.  And a big THANK YOU to Nicole and Ashley for your encouragement and support!

Maybe for my next post, I can figure out how to post pictures!