Balcony, Baseball, and My Best Boys

I interrupt this blog drought.

Main reason: I've had pneumonia for six days. After a couple days of increasingly worse chest and back pain, and a fever, I went to the emergency room at 3 AM on Friday. They ruled out heart problems with and EKG, took a blood test that showed I might have a blot clot in my lung, and did a CT scan that showed I had pneumonia. I don't know how I could have gotten it. I've had no congestion or cold or anything. Turns out pneumonia is incredibly painful and draining. Brian was predictably awesome about taking care of the boys and taking them out so I could rest. I'm still only able to walk around for a little while at a time without feeling winded.

This morning when I woke up I suddenly had an idea: a good way to spend some winded time would be writing a blog entry. Then I rolled over and saw a hockey goalie helmet on my bed, which wasn't as weird to me as it should have been. Neither was the distant, raspy sound of the Darth Vader helmet telling me my powers were weak. I don't know the power of the Dark Side, it told me.

The boys had gotten up before me and, using a broom, gotten Cheerios down from the top shelf in the pantry and made themselves breakfast. Fortunately I spotted the lidless carton of milk without its lid on it by the edge of the table before the boys knocked it over and learned the power of my dark side.

It's a lovely morning and Teddy and I had a nice time watering balcony plants and then he drove his stuffed animals to Gammy's house:

Then we made a bubble bath in the cooler, which consumed the better part of an hour:

Just add blue food coloring...

We smelled the flowers and herbs.

We watched for buses and garbage trucks. ("BAH-good-j trucks" Teddy says.) And saw a loud fire engine. A bee prompted some Teddy-Mommy snuggling.

And Teddy got a dry shirt and snack.

Even though breathing in deeply isn't something I can do, it's been a lovely morning.

While I'm at it, here are some pictures from our Reston Little League end-of-the-season picnic yesterday. Brian was awarded the Coach-of-the-Year award for the second year in a row! I'm proud of him for all his work and I love to watch him with the kids, who adore him. They've all improved and his coaching has somehow become even more creative and fun to watch.

Marlins Rookie Ball representatives: Andrew in the Fastest Runner competition, Clark, Arlo, Charlie, Shan (not pictured) All-Star game players, and Calvin in the Farthest Thrower competition. What a great season we've had!

Cousins discovering Italian Ice

...in their baseball gear

Blue ice tongue

Running off the Italian ice

National League Rookie Ball All-Stars

The Pledge

Players introduced

Watching Big Brother Clark the Shark in the batter's box

Okay, I've caught my breath sufficiently. Blog drought reinstated...but hopefully it won't take pneumonia to prompt me to put together another entry.

Thursday Thesicle

There are good days and there are 

good, show-your-baby-brother-how-to-watercolor-on-the-balcony good days. 

(and paint your fingers and toes with watercolors days)

Small Family Living- An Inspiring Guest Post

Today I'm sharing a guest post written by a friend. I first met Lindsay about five years ago when she married a friend of mine from college. We've only actually seen each other a few times- once floating the Boise River together pre-children, once here in Virginia during newborn-phase, and then last summer in Boise in hardcore toddler/preschooler mode. Lindsay and I have several important things in common: she and her husband also have two boys, they also live in a small condo, and they are also from Idaho. 

As you know, we are forever trying to use our condo space more efficiently, and Lindsay and David's space is even smaller than ours. They are an inspiration! They make it look easy. 

Lindsay recently started her own blog, My Wild Idaho, chronicling her family's tales. I'm a fan. And I love the name. Read her post below, then read her blog, and then like her Facebook page!

She's also publishing one of my posts to her blog today so check it out here. Enjoy!

..................................................................................................

My husband and I are raising two young boys in 714 sqft. of space (plus a 12x8 storage unit). We love it and it’s challenging!

The background to this: When we got married we fell in love with a certain area in Boise, so we found a 450 sqft. basement apartment to rent. Neither of us owned much when we met, but moving into our tiny apartment required further downsizing. We loved our place but finally grew tired of living underground and “throwing our money away” on rent. We found a beautiful condo to buy in the area.  

            In the meantime, the economy tanked and we stumbled across a Dave Ramsey book. While we were already frugal, we started incorporating more of his financial advice into our lives. Living in our condo started out as a short-term plan but has become a longer-term plan. We changed our 30-year mortgage to a 15-year and have been making it work ever since.  Side note: condo living is not typical for most Idahoans. Idaho isn’t exactly short on space. Don’t tell anyone though. =)

How we make it work:

·         We are realistic about what we actually use and value.

·         We don’t frequent yard sales, thrift stores, store sales, or even Craigslist without a list.

·         Instead of storing unneeded items we sell them, donate them, or find a family that needs them more than we do.

·         We stay organized, using our space wisely.

·         We don’t own seasonal decorations other than Christmas ones, and we don’t own China dishes (or other lesser used items).

·         We get our light beige carpets professionally cleaned every year (very important to our sanity).

·         I do laundry often instead of buying lots of clothes.

·         We recently sold our TV (for many reasons) and made room for a play kitchen for the boys (the boys are playing with it/using it as a jungle gym right now.)

·         We have a queen blow-up mattress and complete bedding set stored under our bed. We can still accommodate those brave guests. =)

·         We even shop at Costco (an ever-increasing list)! (We just stagger the bigger purchases.)

·         We purge toys before Christmas/birthdays and keep only the boy’s favorites.

·         We purchase less and purchase smarter (quality over quantity).

·         We have a “give away” bag ready. When we don’t want an item it goes in the bag. Every couples of months we distribute the items where needed: thrift store, consignment, another family . . .

·         I use books to decorate. I already own them, I love them, and they have to go somewhere.

·         We practically live on our porch in the summer (Literally this summer. We plan to camp on it once in a while.)

Don’t get me wrong. We sometimes dream of an extra room, decorated in earth tones, where guests can stay, rest, drink the world’s best cup of coffee, and have great conversation (ha). We dream of a backyard where we can throw the boys the boys can play; where we can raise a puppy, build a tree house, grow a garden . . . (We do plan to grow some killer tomatoes on our porch again this summer). We dream of a big dining room where we can fill our family and friend’s bellies. A pantry. An extra freezer to participate in an organic beef share (Hello Scott Family). Maybe even a garage to park our car in (seems so extravagant!) and a desk to put our laptops (kitchen counter) and printer on (storage ottoman, not the most convenient to print something).

The benefits to small space living: It forces us to keep life simple; more family and friend time, fewer projects (all painting I did before having babies). No lawn to mow or yard to take care of. We have less space to heat, cool, clean, and decorate. It helps us value relationships and experiences more than what we do or don’t own. It also keeps us closely bonded, as we have no choice but to be in each other’s space. Our home is our haven.

~Related Posts: “Before” and “After” Photos.

Main living space

Different angle

Our bedroom

David and I share a standard size closet.

Laundry

Bathroom

Boys' room

Boys' room 

Ms. Sandra

Our area was prepared to be hit by Hurricane Sandy, and we were. There were some power outages and some flooding, but overall, from where I’m sitting, we weren’t affected as much as many thought we would be. Schools and a lot of businesses shut down. Public transportation shut down. The government shut down. Everyone hunkered. (I found it comforting to hear the word hunkered so often yesterday.)

Compared to all the coastal towns and New York City, we have very minor damage. I can only imagine what it would be like to live in one of the washed-away towns. It was an odd day. A bit of a boring day for me (thankfully). I was anxious and couldn't focus on the million productive things I could be doing with my time. We were trapped inside with the TV on, flashing images and speculations and measurements and important people jabbering on prettily.

We had moved everything from our balcony inside, including the Jack O’ Lantern, painted pumpkins, the slimy bubble toys still lingering from summer, and to my chagrin, several stink bugs. Outside the wind chime sang. Inside, our fridge and freezer sat full of ice and water. Our bread and non-perishables waited at attention outside the fridge. Brian worked on his latest computer project and I considered folding the laundry. The boys raced and tumbled, too often on my feet. I tried a craft with them that occupied them for awhile. I did a reading lesson with them, which, thinking back on it, was the best thing I did all day. We looked at their trick or treat candy and they both picked out identical lollipops to eat. I think I saw a white shoe fly past the dining room window.

When all was said and done, the boys went to bed and Brian and I lay on the couch watching, you guessed it, more pictures of the hurricane as the trees scratched and the wind yelled outside. One time the lights flickered. I woke up on the couch at 2am after having a dream about a large squirrel, and scuttled to bed to do some more hunkering down.

Today we went out a bit—for a walk to survey our surroundings and sip hot chocolate, and then to run some errands. Turns out the best time to go to Costco is the day after a hurricane. Not only were the customers few, but Costco employees had food samples out! Good ones too, not the diet energy drinks or cardboard chocolate bars. Of course there was still That Guy who ate like 47 pizza samples while mumbling about getting some for his daughter.

So, not much new to report.

Painting egg carton caterpillars

Made some carameled apples

Assessing damage

Hot chocolate sippin'



Cup lickin'

Balcony Harvest

It’s time for a balcony update! It’s been a great spring and early summer here on the balc. After I wrote this about the story of our balcony, I’ve been watering my little seedlings and accumulating more plants and flowers. The cilantro, lettuce, and pea seedlings grew up and surpassed all my expectations. Only one spinach plant and one basil plant survived. The peas took off so well that they don’t have anywhere else to climb and are folding over on themselves and dying. Right now there are six pea pods growing on there. I just picked the seventh one today. We’ve had the cilantro in black beans, lettuce and spinach in sandwiches and salad, and soon some basil leaves will be ready to be plucked.

I was trying to find some plants that wouldn’t have to be moved to the front of the balcony all the time, but would survive back more toward the door. After the fern plant died, I gave up and moved everything to the front. My primroses were new this year, and they have only flowered once. They seem to be healthy again, so hopefully they will bloom again soon. My impatiens and vincas always flourish, and I have two of those leafy spider plants that are supposed to survive against all odds. We’ll see. 

I had two bleeding heart plants that started off great—I got them because they like shade, and I think they’re beautiful. Oddly one just died after looking fine. The other bloomed once and then looked sickly for awhile. It now looks much better but hasn’t bloomed again.

I only have fertilized once, and it was with a homemade fertilizer—1 tsp Epsom salt in 1 gallon of water. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the bountiful veggie harvest, but maybe.

Here is an update in pictures of the spring and early summer on our balcony. First of, all-- the big story has been the peas.

We sprouted these in plastic bags and planted them.

They just kept growing so I added tomato stakes.

climbing...

These creepers were not jokin' around.

I added strings so they could keep themselves from falling over.

Pods!

I never thought peas would do well on my balcony!

Clark holds the first harvested pod.

Cilantro and basil sprouting

Lettuce and spinach pops up in the window box.

Water can, primrose, impatience, spade, beer

Cilantro and basil transplanted to window box.

Lettuce taking off...

Vincas do well in my shadier window boxes.

...as do impatiens

Yum...we used this on many sandwiches.

One corner

Bleeding heart

Cilantro did well...but only one basil survived

If you build it in miniature on the balcony, they will come.

Yummers. Cilantro in black bean tostados... after that they went to seed.

An inspirational place for watercoloring

Big lettuce harvest

First salad!