Maybe it's the Pregnancy Hormones...

but I was super annoyed when I heard this song today. I like to listen to Pandora Radio when I work. It is great! You can create your own "stations". I have stations ranging from Jazzy, Musical Theatre, Foreign, Classical, 80's and the Beatles. This song was piped into my wonderful noise reducing headphones and I was so bugged! I am so glad as women that we don't live in this culture anymore! Thank heavens those times have passed, well for the most part. Here is the song. Happy reading!

Wives and Lovers

Hey, little girl,Comb your hair, fix your make-up.

Soon he will open the door.

Don't think because There's a ring on your finger,

You needn't try any more.

For wives should always be lovers, too.

Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you.

I'm warning you.

Day after day,There are girls at the office,

And men will always be men.

Don't send him off With your hair still in curlers.

You may not see him again.

For wives should always be lovers, too.

Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you.

He's almost here. Hey, little girl.

Better wear something pretty,something you'd wear to go to the city.

And dim all the lights,Pour the wine, start the music.

Time to get ready for love.

Dim all the lights,Pour the wine,start the music.Time to get ready for love.

Time to get ready,time to get ready for love.

Time to get ready,time to get ready for love.

The Grand Planter Box

Today was an EXHAUSTING day! Remember my first gardening post a few weeks back? Remember how I bought those raspberry and blackberry bushes and a grape vine? Well, we finally pulled our resources today to make a planter box for our plants. Inspired by the Pioneer Women and her post about making planter boxes we set off on our grand adventure. Here is her post on how to make your very own planter bed.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2009/02/build-your-own-raised-flowervegetable-bed/



We decided instead of buying bags of dirt to buy dirt from Aposhian Gardens. It was $49.99 instead of $72 dollars for the amount of dirt we needed. We of course do not have a truck so we asked to borrow Wes' parents van and trailer. First we headed out to Lowe's to buy our lumber and other miscellaneous items including a bird feeder and seed which the girls are so excited about. Anyway, the lumber cost about $54 dollars. We loaded everything up including a brand new (but cheap) wheelbarrow. We went over to Aposhians and got our dirt. They loaded it for us which was wonderful. I even bought a few veggie plants because they were only $1 a plant! Wow!



We started driving home and were alarmed to feel the van lurching and to hear scary noises. Lo and behold the trailer had a flat tire! Just our luck. We were about a mile or so from Wes' parents so we walked over to their home. We spoke to Wes' dad who gave us a spare and a jack. We headed home for lunch (cold, leftover pizza since we were in a hurry) and then drove back to the van to fix the trailer. At this point we had about $200 worth of merchandise including our dirt and we weren't going to just abandon it! Wes started to remove the wheel when suddenly to his dismay he realized that his father has given him a four lug nut tire, when in fact the trailer already has, and requires, a five lug nut tire. One of our neighbors stopped by to make sure everything was okay. Thank you Jeff! You are so kind!!



Well we decided we were just going to repair or replace the tire since the only spare that Wes' dad had was worthless. We headed over to Discount Tire. The parking lot was bustling with people. Wes took in the tire and was informed that they wouldn't have another one for him for 2 hours! This was just to replace the tire, not even to put it on the trailer, but just to hand us one to put in our trunk. We headed home again. Wes in his anger started digging holes in the yard. At first I was alarmed and wonder what in heavens name he is doing. I learned though that he was just digging a new line for the sprinkler system that will go to the planter box (Phew!). In the process of digging though he did manage to bust on of the pipes. Thank heavens he had extras, but when he went to glue it all together he found out that his PVC glue from last year had in fact hardened almost to a solid mass. Nice!



We finally got a call from Discount Tire and we all loaded up in my car to continue our adventure. We stopped off at a small hardware store to get PVC glue, a new sprinkler head, and wasp poison. The wasps LOVE our house. They always have. Anyway, we got the tire and headed over to the van perched which was on the side of a very busy, bustling road. Wes got the tire replaced and who happened to show up again? Our neighbor Jeff! Really he is super! Wes and Jeff rearranged the dirt in the trailer so it would stop leaking out the back. Then we headed home! Finally!!!!!



Lydia and I unloaded the car while Wes finished the sprinklers. Then Lydia and I filled in the sprinkler trench while Wes started cutting the wood for the planter box. Lydia and Adelle ended up being Wes' helpers while he built the box.

Once the box was built Lydia and Wes hammered in the stakes and then screwed on the second level of the box.
From there we all unloaded the MASSIVE amount of dirt. I stood on top and compacted everything while trying to rake it level.

After a SUPER LONG, TIRING Day it was done! YEAH!!!!!!!!! It is so super easy to plant in the box and I think it looks WONDERFUL!

I planted green bell peppers,

Jalapeno Peppers,

the grape vine,

Cilantro,

The Raspberry Bush,

Basil,

and the Blackberry Bush! I told the plants that the need to be fruitful and multiply especially after all of the hard work and money that has gone into building them a wonderful home.

Adelle was a wonderful helper and especially filthly!

Lydia was the dirtiest! I am so proud of my girls being such wonderful helpers. Wes was amazing!! What would I do without him! We are all so tired and I don't know how much longer I am going to make it despite being covered with a layer of dirt. Pregnancy sure doesn't help the energy level either. I was thinking that the planter box will probably be wonderful for my growing belly as I won't have to bend as far to weed or harvest. As I sit her aching from head to toe I am imaging fresh salsa from my tomatoes in the regular garden, my jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, and cilantro. YUM! Also I can imagine wonderful salads from my fresh spinach, basil and tomatoes. I know it will be worth every ounce of sweat and hard work. I hope we get bountiful crops this year. If not, the plants will be hearing from me!

Happy Pictures of the Week

These are the presents we gave to the moms for Mother's Day. Can you figure out what it means? Word seems to be getting around so we thought we'd share.

Having a Bad Day?

Looking at the cat made me laugh. I swear she can scowl more than any human sometimes. You would think that her life was so hard!

My Mother's Day

My girls were wonderful yesterday and made me a yummy breakfast; eggs and toast. They set the table with my best tablecloth and runner and even picked some wild flowers from the backyard which blossomed throughout the day. Lydia also made me a special picture at school. It is a tulip made with thread. It is beautiful. I really should frame it.

Wes gave me the "Anne of Green Gables" DVDs which I was so EXCITED for! I enjoyed watching them in the afternoon. I visited with Wes' mom and my step mother earlier in the week and gave them a fun surprise. I have made it a tradition these past few years to make Mother's Day as relaxing as possible and to take time to enjoy my family.

Topaz Mountain

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to Topaz Mountain. It is a mountainous area located near Delta, Utah. You can sift in the dry stream beds and find topaz gems. Topaz is generally clear. At times it can be pink or brown. The girls had been looking forward to the trip for a while and were excited to head out. We went with Wes' family and one of his mother's co-workers and boys. After a 3 hour drive (some of it scary I might add) we made it to our treasure hunting spot. It was busier than I had ever seen it before, but still very fun. The only downfall to this area is that there are NO facilities whatsoever. You learn to get close to nature and make do.

Supplies needed: small shovels and screens for sifting the dirt. From there you pick through what is left to see what shiny thing awaits you. Some of the gems are of better quality than others. The sizes we found ranged from an inch to teeny, tiny bits. They aren't super valuable gems, but it is still fun. The last time we went to Topaz Adelle was just over a year old. She loved digging this time on her own and discovering things. Lydia was quite self sufficient as well.
A lot of family members also went hiking.

Devin, Lexi and Jeff camped out overnight and Lexi remarked how cold it had been! The girls are scared to camp out there since they heard a story from their Dad about a scorpion that hung out under his tent once while camping at Topaz. I was more than happy to just make Topaz a day trip :) We didn't see any scorpions, but we did see a lot of lizards which I enjoyed. Lizards are one of my favorite animals. It was fun to see them sunning themselves on all of the different rocks. They were small, little things less than 6 inches long.

Wes' Dad was thinking of taking Devin and Lexi's engagement photo out at Topaz, but that was quickly rejected after a night of camping without any facilities.

After a full day we headed home with our little, Ziploc bags of Topaz. Adelle totally zonked out while eating Cheetos.

It wasn't long before both girls were out. After a restroom stop, and sugar though the girls were wild and hyper the rest of the way home. We had fun telling jokes. Adelle's are especially silly because they don't make much sense. Sometimes it just makes us laugh harder. Here is a classic Adelle joke. "Why did the egg cross the road? It didn't it got chopped into sevenths!" Like I said, they don't make any sense, but they make us laugh. Poor Lydia also got nicknamed "Lydia Chicken Butt" at one point which sent us girls heartily laughing. I think Wes and his Dad thought we were nuts!

We didn't apply sunscreen as well as we had thought. We entirely missed the back of Adelle's legs and they are bright red. Just call us the parents of the year. Wes' legs were quite toasty red as well as his ears and the back of his neck. Because I burn so easily I purchased a LARGE sunhat which I wore the entire time and I slathered myself in sunscreen. One of my socks shifted though and I ended up with a burn on one spot on my ankle. I looked pretty silly at church the next day and I did get a few remarks. Lydia was the only one that didn't burn which is pretty regular for her. She has her father's complexion. After we all got baths it wasn't long before we all headed to bed because our fun day had completely worn us out. Even though we enjoyed Topaz it was good to be home.

What to do with my children

So I have been working from home this afternoon because Wes had court again. He has been VERY busy, which is good. Adelle recently received a CD player from Wes and I for her Birthday and she really didn't seem interested in it much at first. She really got into it when she found out she could listen to stories in her room. We borrowed "The Diary of a Worm" from the Library and she has been listening to it over and over. Also, she got a brand new CD in her happy meal last week. It is a Kidz Bop CD and has all sort of upbeat, poppy tunes. Adelle decided that she likes the music so much that she was just going to blast it. I could hear every word that was being sung all the way in the living room. It was SO LOUD. I asked her to turn it down and it struck me "Do I really need to say things like this already". She was quite upset when I came into her room to adjust the volume to a reasonable level. She melted into tears and advised me it was too quiet. Later she came out and advised me that she needs cheering up. Sigh. Why are my children so dramatic?

There was something interesting that happened last week as well. Lydia isn't the best at giving me papers from school. It is just how it has always been. Last Friday I was noticing the stack of papers Lydia had unearthed from her backpack. On the top of the list was a notice for the school maturation program. I looked at the date on the paper and noticed that the blessed event occurred 2 days earlier. I ask Lydia about it and she confesses that she gave it to me late on purpose because she didn't want to go. I advised her that I wouldn't have made her go. I state that it was probably mostly about periods anyway. She got this blank look on her face and I think "Oh No...doesn't she remember going over this". Lydia and I had to have the talk when she was 8 due to some things that the boys were saying at school. Anyway, I start to remind her about the blessed time of the month when each girl bleeds. Her eyes get all wide and she says "It happens every month!". I then realize that when I said "at a certain time each month" was interpreted to mean "at certain months". Poor Child!

I forgot that Adelle was listening and she gets all panicked and says "I don't want Lydia to bleed!" and "I don't want to bleed when I grow up". She didn't understand really anything except that we were talking about blood. She huddles in the corner all worried saying the same things about not wanting to bleed. I try to calm down my dramatic child while Lydia advises me that she doesn't want to talk about it anymore. I had one of those mom moments where I think "Great! I have traumatized my children".

Speaking of blood I have now found out that Lydia gets sick at the sight of blood, which isn't very different from Wes. I got some blood work done on Monday and the girls happened to be with me. I made Adelle hide under my coat, especially because of her freak out moment when we had just discussed blood the week prior. Lydia decides she wants to watch. The nurse proceeds to find my vein and starts collecting a small vial of blood. Lydia suddenly says "Ooooh! Gross!". She then proceeds to be dizzy and nauseous all of the way home. She didn't throw up, but I think she was pretty close.

We then proceeded to have a movie night after dinner. Wes was gone at a client meeting so we popped in "The Little Princess". It is one of my favorites! It really has some tender moments. It was interesting though to find myself tearing up and then to hear both of the girls bawling, not silently crying, but audibly bawling! This happened a couple of times in the movie. Seriously, what am I going to do with my dramatic girls! The house was just oozing estrogen and I was glad Wes wasn't there to encounter it.

I really do love my girls, but having two dramatic, somewhat sensitive children can really make life interesting at times.