Blasted rain!

Okay....I wanted some rain, but this is a bit ridiculous. We got our garden just about finished on Friday - but now I think it was all for nought. I will show pics but you'll have to look very closely to see how bad it all is right now. The flash of the camera just couldn't go out far enough to encompass all the water. In the front, it's up past the sidewalk. In the back, it's completely covered the garden (and the other patch we've torn up but, luckily, haven't planted anything yet). Look at the reflections (where there shouldn't be reflections), and look at Biju's tires, and the boy's playset - you might be able to see the water levels a little. What a mess. I'm so sad. We're also afraid the water might do damage to Biju's car even tho it's been pulled up into the driveway.

As it's well known, animals know what's up with the weather long before we humans. There was a very odd looking bird in our backyard today. I think it was trying to get the heck out of dodge before the rains hit!

Latest update: As I was uploading the above photos, the doorbell rang (at 11pm!). I woke Biju, and together we learned that a young lady drove her car up onto our front yard. She said her car started smoking so she wanted to get it off of the street. She had to fight pretty hard to get the car up over the curb. I wonder what kind of damage has been done to her poor car! Her dad looked the situation over and decided to come back tomorrow morning to get it. The poor couple stood out in the rain trying to figure everything out, so I gave them a couple of trash bags to put over their heads. As they stepped off the curb to head to the father's truck, I noticed the water came up to mid-thigh on the young lady, and she was about my height.

Ohh, I can't wait to hear Ajay's questions tomorrow! Cross fingers we have enough of a break in the rain for the waters to drain, otherwise Biju won't be able to leave our driveway to go to work.

Did you eat an orange in my yard?

Someone ate an orange in my yard. Or rather, did not eat an orange.... There is most of an orange in pieces - so far I've found three - strewn about the backyard. We have not had oranges lately and it looks like someone did this earlier today by the condition of the fruit (and lack of ants). I'm completely puzzled. Why would someone chuck an orange into our backyard?? Is there some secret to gardening whereas you appease the gardening gods by leaving fruit out for them? Such a mystery.

What did you do for Earth Day?

And so passes another Earth Day. I wanted to look up stuff to do with Ajay - artsy crafty type stuff, but didn't. Bad me. However, we did do stuff today that I'm sure Mother Nature would approve of.

First off, we've been putting Alex in sposies (disposable diapers) lately. For awhile, it was because he needed special creams on his rash and I didn't want to ruin the cloth diapers. Then we visited my family and I was lazy and didn't want to do diaper laundry in a strange washer and dryer. Now he's in sposies because I don't have a good laundry detergent to use for them. You have to be careful with what you use or you could cause detergent buildup on the dipes, which leads to funky smells or repellency issues (the pee rolls right off the diaper instead of being absorbed). As I was throwing away the sposie this morning, the start of Earth Day, I thought to myself "why am I using sposies when I have cloth diapers just waiting to be used??" - so I've put Alex back in his cloth diapers, and that will force me to find a good detergent in the next two days!

I did some housework today, and I cleaned using vinegar and water. I used my spray bottle with half water/half vinegar and used an old newspaper to wash some windows. I then used the same spray bottle to wet my kitchen and bathroom floors. After a few minutes I used a washcloth to wipe it up. All the yuck (thank you, children!) came up very easily. The recipe (found here) said 1/4 cup of vinegar to a gallon of water, but I'd used up the last of my vinegar yesterday killing off the weeds on our brick patio. I don't think using a stronger solution hurt our tile any.

I washed three loads of laundry today and I used my homemade laundry detergent. I must say that I'm not entirely thrilled with the recipe (ivory soap, baking soda, water to which I added a few drops of lavender oil) - so I'm going to use a different recipe that uses Ivory soap, Washing Soda, Borax and water (and probably put more lavender oil in that batch, too!). I hung two loads of laundry out on the line, but went ahead and used the dryer for the 3rd load (c'mon, they were the whites, so all of the tiny laundry, like socks, and not-for-neighbors-to-see items, like undies!!)

This year, we're putting in a garden. We're going to make our garden organic - this is our first year of doing a garden, so it's not like we have to re-train our thinking. But we do have a lot of research to do as far as how to grow food, how to keep weeds at bay, how to keep pests away. So far we've planted peas, onions (white and purple) and a few kernels of corn. As we were out I saw one of our resident bunnies eyeing us. I told Biju it was watching where we were planting so it could have a snack. We'll have to come up with some way to keep those rabbits out! (Squirrels, too) Any ideas?? Ajay LOVES to garden and asks everyday if he can go out and work in the garden. If he's this excited now, just wait until it's time to actually eat what has been grown! Here are some photos of the gardening process. I didn't get any shots of him watering today, or planting the onions, but Biju got a couple shots of him helping me with the peas last Sunday.

Catching up

The boys have enjoyed being back home. In fact, Ajay kept saying "it's good to be home!" over and over. He then said "I want to see my toy box!!" and he and Alex went in and started digging out toys. Here are some photos...the first set are from the snow we had a few weeks back.

Here is Alex trying to dig up some Pringles crumbs:

Here are a few of the times Alex was caught mooching food. He was likened to a little bird many times!

This is Ajay having a go at the pinata:

A nice visit

The boys and I have spent the week visiting my family. We left town on Friday so we could see my nephew, Brandon, in the play Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He played Mr. Salt, the father of the spoiled girl. Alex behaved about as well as a 14 month old would be expected to behave. It was close to bedtime so I got him into his jammies at intermission. He didn't fall asleep but he nursed through much of the second act. Ajay sat still through the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed himself!! He's STILL talking about those funny Oompaloompas!
The family took a trip to see my younger brother's (Jeff's) old house - he's getting it all fixed up to sell. The kids had a fine time playing out in the backyard. Sunday was Jenna's volleyball game. Mom and Dad stayed home with Alex so he could take his afternoon nap while Ajay and I went with Matt, Brandi, Brandon and Jenna. Ajay learned the phrase "Go Big Green!" and shouted it, along with "Go Big White!" -- the other team was wearing white.
The rest of the week has been calm, and we've enjoyed the quiet time out in the country. I've got loads of pictures to get put onto our computer when we get home. I just wish Mom and Dad's house was a bit more child-proof!!
One more fun note - Alex cut his 3rd tooth yesterday! You can barely see it, but it's there.
Happy Easter to all!!