Cov-et :   verb    2. to crave

I covet these lamps from Crate and Barrel, here http://www.crateandbarrel.com/table-lamps/home-accessories/1 and they are very reasonably priced.  I need to see them in person though as they re oval and so is the shade - not sure why but I’m thinking it might be weird.  Or not.  Love the base though.

I seem to be all over the place with wanting things for the house and I seem to be jumping from room to room.  I’m trying to focus on Francesca’s room right now, but I got the Crate and Barrel catalog and fell in love with these lamps.  They also have one in blue that would look so pretty in our bedroom….. okay focus, focus…. although maybe I need to look at the dimensions and see if they’ll be the right size for the living room.  I need to stop looking at catalogs.  Or perhaps I need to land another client for a new project so I can fund some of the items on my “to buy” list.  It’s getting longer and longer.

General Ramblings today.  I’m slightly unfocused and scrambled today.  So you get some Random Thoughts.

We have sprouts!  The Roma Tomatoes, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Basil and Shasta Daisies are sprouting.  Ever so slightly and probably not even picture worthy.  Once they’re poking up a little more, I’ll post photos.

Favorite part of Barney (and I.do.not like Barney - but alas, Francesca does) is at the end when he sings his “I love, you, you love me” song” where he says “with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you” - Francesca walks up to everyone in the family (including the dog and cat) and gives us each a big hug and a big kiss!  So very sweet - it makes Barney appealing.

Want to see a five year old boy smile ear to ear?  Get him a bicycle helmet and knee and elbow pads.  Long after he was done riding his bike today with his brand new safety gear, he still had the knee pads and elbow pads on.  He finally removed them shortly before bedtime.

Why oh why do cats like to eat houseplants?  I am a much better nurturer to my children and to my outdoor garden than I am to houseplants.  That is why I never have any.  Ross received a spider plant from his old daycare way back before Pre-Kindergarten started, so back in April or so.  I finally got around to removing the rooted plant from the container with water and putting it in a pot and placing it on the kitchen windowsill.  The cat promptly nibbled on it and ate most of the leaves.

Sisters can be so loving and yet so cruel to each other.  I met an old friend and her two daughters for lunch today and then we stopped in Target.  Her girls are 11 and almost 10.  The ten year old wanted to buy a purse.  When her mom told her it was a little too expensive and we pointed out that it was an “evening bag”, her sister said “Yeah, it’s for going out on a date and you’ll never do that!”  The 10 year old proceeded to sulk for the rest of the shopping trip.

If you stand close enough to Ross when he is in a toy aisle, you will hear him say every so often “Santa, Can you get that?, Santa, can you get this?”  Apparently, since Santa can see you all the time, there’s no need to actually make a list - he’ll just tell him what he wants through the year.

Planted the rest of the flower seeds today.  Hopefully those too will be sprouting soon.

Day three of constant watering.  I reseeded the back yard on Monday and have been watering like a fiend.  Trying to get the grass to grow before all the birds and animals eat all the seeds.  Sam said to me the other morning “You should have heard all the birds chirping this morning when I left for work!”.  Yeah.  I bet they were telling all their friends.

Francesca is finally talking more and more.  She does not say alot but then every once in a while she surprises me.  For the child who barely says one word here and there, today she said “No, it’s MINE” at the top of her lungs when Ross tried to take her ball.

I can no longer take a shower by myself.  Pretty much the last place I could go for privacy was the shower.  Francesca loves water so much that when I grab a towel she starts taking her clothes off and wants to take a shower with me.

And lastly, perhaps it’s time to start potty training Francesca.  At 27 months, she is now in the habit of removing her own diaper when she pees in it.  I always catch her in the act, but maybe it’s time to get proactive (haven’t used that word since I was working - My God, how overused of a word that was at work) and start sitting her on the potty.  Her pediatrician wanted me to start at 18 months.  Yeah. Right.

Okay, so those are my many ramblings today.  Will return with a more cohesive post soon.

Today is a very melancholyday for me.  Fifteen years ago, my mom, Rose passed away at the age of 72.  She had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer just before Christmas.  We met with all of her doctors and agreed to follow their recommendations of chemotherapy.  We were all very optimistic that mom would  get better and be with us for a longer period of time.

Many times we have played the “what if” game.  In retrospect, perhaps we should have skipped the chemo.  Not sure what that would have brought for mom, when she was diagnosed she had not been in pain, except for when she had the shingles.  The chemo , it turns out, was too strong for her weakened heart and in the end, her heart gave out.    

They say time heals all wounds, and for the most part it does.  With only 3 short months from diagnosis to her passing, it was so sudden to us.  And much too soon.  My older girls lost their grandmother at young ages, Nicole was 13 and Ashley was 7.  And my mom never had the chance to meet Ross and Francesca.  She would have been crazy over them too. 

My dad, Frank (Frances) passed in September, 2006 - he had the chance to get to know Ross and he knew I was pregnant with Francesca - I was almost 7 months along at the time of his passing.  Dad lived to be 94 - and relatively healthy until the last 6 months when he was tiring out.

They’re together now, and I like to think that they are our guardian angels.  My brother and I laugh and talk about our times together and how we had such very different perspectives of mom and dad, since there is a 16 year gap in our ages.  My brother had the young, party animal parents who were always with aunties and uncles  playing cards and traveling; I had the older, over protective parents who worried about every little thing.

We both remember mom having the Polish radio station on Sunday mornings and it was not uncommon for mom and dad or them with us doing a quick polka around the house.  Mom also cooked everything until it was well done (burnt!).  Every meat I ate - chicken, steak, hamburger, ham, turkey was ate with ketchup.  It wasn’t until I actually had a steak out at a restaurant that I realized how a non burnt steak really was! 

Mom was always singing around the house, and loved the Andrew Sisters, Doris Day and Glen Miller but also listened to Rush or SuperTramp with my teenage self.  Mom yelled at dad all the time, and I always remember him as being more soft spoken.  They did deeply love each other though.  Mom would worry right away when someone sneezed or coughed.  We actually hid colds for as long as we could because we’d be whisked off to the doctor!  Every Sunday, as a child, we went for a “ride” either to visit an aunt and uncle or to look at open houses.

Mom loved her granddaughters so very much and was so proud of them.  I talked to my mom every day on the phone and we saw each other at least once a week.  When Ashley was younger she was quite the handful, much like Francesca is now!  My mom always said, after I told her about Ashley’s latest antics “not my Ashley!”.  She thought Nicole and Ashley were the most brilliant, beautiful young ladies ever.  Typical Grandma.

Mom washed all her dishes with  Linco (Bleach) in the water.  She always used Listerine (the original yucky tasting one) and she made awesome potato pancakes.  She always was breaking glasses or dishes when she was washing them.   She was a stay at home mom and never for a moment did I feel unloved. 

Sometimes I feel guilty that time has passed and I hadn’t thought of her for a few days and there are still times when something wonderful or terrible happens and I want to pick up the phone to tell her.  I miss you mom (and dad too, of course) - I guess it doesn’t matter how old we get - sometimes we just want our moms and dads to take care of us or just to talk to.

Knowing mom and dad are up in Heaven watching over us, and being proud of their Grandchildren, anxiously awaiting the birth of their Great Granddaughter, is a comforting thought.  Maybe we’ll play a game of 500 Rummy tonight, if I remember how - we used to play all the time in the winter, that or Yahtzee!    Maybe I’ll burn dinner.

Again we’ve had some warmer weather in our area so we took advantage of it and reseeded the back yard.  The kids were also able to get outside and ride their bikes for awhile.  It’s nice to know that even though we may still get some wintery weather, more of it will be nicer and nicer.

I also planted some pepper seeds and Jalapeno seeds in preparation for our vegetable garden this summer.  It’s so fulfilling to be thinking about the gardening season and at least be able to get started on some planting even if it’s seeds and it’s indoors!

Now keep your fingers crossed that we get the rain that we’re supposed to get - it will be good for the grass seed.  I’l post pictures when it starts to sprout - hopefully within the next 7 days or so.  I’m hoping for a decent yard come summer!

What a difference a few days make.  The other day it was 70 degrees outside and now it’s 20 degrees out again at night.  Here are the kids taking advantage of the 70 degree weather.

I also took advantage of the weather by bagging up all the leaves that were left in the backyard after we fenced it off and seeded.  You can see how patchy it is, the grass is missing from all the spots where the leaves fell.  I cleaned it all up and will re-seed again - maybe this weekend.

I also planted peas in the garden - first time planting them.  I  started our vegetable/herb seeds indoors too.  I planted Italian Parsley, Roma Tomatoes, Super Beefsteak Tomatoes, Genovese Basil, Cilantro and Oregano.  I’d also like to plant some lettuce and peppers.

We used egg cartons last year for the basil and it worked just fine.  I also have some flowers to start from seed.  I already started  Shasta Daisy, I still have seeds for Italian Aster, Sweet William, Oriental Poppy, Gailardia and Foxglove.  I’ll get those going by the weekend.

The only thing we started from seed last year was pumpkin, some basil and sunflowers.  I am anxious to see if I can be nurturing enough to get each of these varieties thriving and able to be planted outdoors come time.  Worst case scenario, we’ll have to but the plants at the garden center but I think we’ll do ok.  I’ll keep you posted!

Photo from Park Ridge Community Website.

We are off to the library to return some books and DVD’s and to redeem the kids’ reading patch booklet for their patches and start working on a new patch program.  What a wonderful resource the library is and it’s good to see that many of our neighbors take advantage of all the programs (free programs) that the library has to offer!  The earlier we go, the sooner we can get outside and start enjoying this 70 degree March weather.

I still have not planted my Snow peas - that’s a job for this afternoon and I need to rake the backyard.  Not many leaves but I need to get the ones that fell after we blocked off the yard and seeded.  Then I can reseed.  In the meantime, the kids can just run around the yard and maybe we’ll head to the park.  Enjoy your day and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I have been looking at my seed packages to determine when I can start to sow indoors and what needs to be sown directly outside.  On the Martha Stewart website http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/seed-starting-101?lnc=bddd289c2d2ee010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=lpg_home&lpgStart=1&currentslide=7&currentChapter=1

there is a nice little spreadsheet to list your plants and determine when to sow.

Based on working 6-8 weeks out from the last frost date (May 15th ish)  it looks like I will begin to sow them indoors next week.  I do have a packet of Sugar Snap Peas that should be sown outdoors in early spring.  I think I will get these out there and see what happens.

 I have never grown Sugar Sap Peas before, they grow in vines so I’ll have to put up support.  We have some fencing left over from when Sam blocked of the back yard from the dog when we seeded last fall.  That should do the trick.  It seems as if I just need to cover the soil with a blanket at night if it is expected to be very cold.  I can do that.

With Francesca in her own room now and sleeping in the toddler bed it was time to take the crib down from Ross’ room.   I hadn’t realized how sad this would make me.  All this time I’ve been talking the change up to  the kids  - telling them how they’ll each have their own room, Francesca will be in a toddler bed in her new room and Ross will have room for a reading nook once the crib was gone.  I prepared them but I wasn’t prepared at my reaction.   It hit me how quickly they were growing up and that we didn’t need a crib anymore in our house.  In reality, we probably don’t need the toddler bed and the bunk beds either since every one sleeps in my bed anyway, but that’s besides the point.

So now the crib is down and Ross’ room seems much more spacious.  In reality it’s a small room but with the crib gone it looks much bigger.  We moved things around a little and although there are a few more touches I’d like to add - like adding shelves to the wall where the “Ross” painting is, the room looks cute.

The ladder for the top bunk has been removed for now, since Francesca sees it only as a challenge.  When Ross does sleep in his bed, he sleeps on the bottom bunk anyway.  All in all, it looks much more like a big boy room.  I’m sure as he gets older he’ll appreciate the privacy.  For now I think we’re all mourning the intimacy a little.

Oh how I love a bargain - especially when it’s on something I have to buy anyway.  I went to our local shopping area specifically to look for a toddler bed.  This particular area has a large baby store and a large mass retailer directly next to each other so I thought  I might be able to price compare and save a few bucks.  I was wrong, instead - I saved a TON.

I’ve priced toddler beds online and they ranged from $55 to several hundred dollars.  I was looking for a plain white one since I’d rather put the money into Francesca’s big girl bed later one.  The large mass retailer had a white sleigh bed at what looked like an inventory reduction price of $27.50.  It was the only white one there - score!  When I got up to the register it rang up at $13.50.  I think my mouth dropped open and hit the floor because the cashier reiterated the price and then asked if there were any more.  I’d be lucky to pay that for a used one at a garage sale but this is brand new.  I love it when things like that happen.  It’s not that often, but when it does it sure is nice.

I put the bed together with Ross’ help and it’s cute.  I can’t wait to get the room painted and prettied up.  Here is the new toddler bed….

And here it is today - being used for the first time at nap time!

Now I need to get some new bedding - which I am sure will cost more than the bed itself!  I’m good with the sheets since it’s the same crib mattress but now I need some bigger blankets - ones that are NOT character licensed.  So much more work to do in Francesca’s room but it’s coming along.

My beautiful children!

At last, I have moved into the 21st century and have made the move to high speed internet.  No more dial up.   Can I tell you how easy it was to upload this picture of my children?  Easy peasy.  Off to play some more with this newfangled invention - ha!  Now I need to figure out why my pictures aren’t showing up when I view my blog and some of my other favorite blogs too.