Water container

Instead of spending my weekend in 105° and sun I got to spend the weekend with 44° and overcast skies. 

Not quite the weekend I had planned and I am still disappointed that I couldn't go to Vegas. That being said no way I would never leave a sick Bug.  I also realize it could always be worse.

Saturday my husband and I took the large container I found the transfer station and turn it into a water holding system. It was super simple. 

I post the photo on Facebook of the container and it turns out it holds the salt pellets for a water softening system. I took the container to the car wash and clean the inside of it really well. I also got my own shower in the meantime. 

I stop by the hardware store my way home and pick up the supplies. When I got home I had my husband help me because I was afraid to ruin it and only had one container. 

We first decide where to put the spout and I drew a hole. My husband uses spoon bit I  picked up and drilled the hole for me. It wasn't something I wanted to make a mistake on. 

After the hole was drilled and cleaned up a bit, we got the parts and installed the housing and the spout.

Like my nice nails? Practical for Vegas, not so much for all my yardwork. 

 The seal was so tight we didn't even need to use silicone. The whole project took about 15 minutes, and cost around $30 including the car wash. 

We do not have gutters so I want to haul water to the container. Not excited about that, but I'm cheap and don't want to pay for water that we have hauled to the house. I can go get the water for free at a well about 5 miles from the house I'll just fill little containers and then go back and load this. Sounds like a lot of work but it's free. I like free. 

The garden beds are all prepped and ready to put plants in the next few weeks is still too cold. I also need to build a Moose fence due to recent visitors. Going try to get that done before put the plants in.

Use your Words - Ode to Vegas

Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them. 

I’m using:   Monkey wrench, jock strap, bull whip, corn field, banjo, radiation          

They were submitted by:   The Momisodes 

It is Tuesday. This will post on Friday. Friday I will have been in Vegas for 24 hours. Sin City. Currently, I am BEYOND excited to leave. I will miss the Bug terribly, and his papa, but...sleep! I can't WAIT. I'm sure that when you read this someone will have thrown a monkey wrench into my dreams of sleeping a solid 8 hours. If you've never been to Vegas, it is the only place I have ever gone where I was ready to leave after 4 days. I am going with some of my best girlfriends. The movie "Hangover" could honestly be inspired by our first trip to Vegas 5 years ago. It was quite the experience, but true to the saying, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."  

The last time we went to Vegas it was 4 am before I even noticed that I was starting to get tired. 4 AM!!! HOW!? Maybe this time we'll see a guy wearing nothing but high heels, a jock strap, and a bull whip. Last time, we only saw that high heels and the bull whip. Seriously. Anything can happen in Vegas.  

That being said, I present to you, a poem, entitled "Vegas." An original master piece by me! (YOU saw my words, what else did you think I'd write about?!)

Oh Vegas, dear Vegas, how I love you so, 

with your half naked men and their jock straps to go.

You warm my body and heart with your sun and fun, 

but do not like when it is all done. 

Hopefully this time there will be no monkey wrenches,

my suitcase arrives without me sitting on benches. 

There will be no banjo music to lull me to sleep, 

because sleep is for the weak, (I know, this poem's deep.) 

Men with bull whips will make us think twice, 

about the choices we make and how to play nice. 

The sun's radiation beating down all day, 

makes me wish for a gallon of sun spray.

The goal of the trip is to stay safe and come back without skin peel, 

OH, and don't end up dead in a corn field. 

-Fin 

Best thing ever, right? I'll expect the talk shows to be calling me any day now wanting to interview me....also, if you don't hear from me by Tuesday, someone start a GoFundMe page to bail me out of jail.

**Side Note: Vegas was canceled. Well, my trip was cancelled. Bug started puking at 10:30 as I was loading the car to leave. No Vegas, No warm weather, No friends I haven't seen in a year. Bug's just a baby once. I'll go back, but MAN does this suck. Talk about a monkey wrench.**

Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:

http://bakinginatornado.com                       Baking In A Tornado

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                Battered Hope

http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/              Confessions of a part-time working mom

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com            Someone Else’s Genius

http://fbxadventures.blogspot.com                 FBX Adventures (In Parenting)

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/            Spatulas on Parade

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/        Stacy Sews and Schools

http://www.outmannedmommy.com                 Outmanned

http://www.eviljoyspeaks.wordpress.com           Evil Joy Speaks

http://www.healingtomato.com                        Healing Tomato

http://themomisodes.com                           The Momisodes

http://www.JuiceboxConfession.com              Juicebox Confession

Step by Step

I feel like this song needs to go in here....maybe play it while you read this post. Humor me.

Anyway, since Spring/Summer is here, and the snow is gone, the amount of yard work that we need to do is very apparent.

VERY.

Our house was built in 2004. The yard has a slope to it, and when they built the house someone came with a backhoe and made a flat spot for the house, built the house and that was it. In our back yard there is a drop off between what is "yard" (if you can even call it that...treeless mud area might be better...) and the woods. We want to build a fire pit down in the woods and I wanted to do something that tied the two areas together.

We have had lots of ideas, but decided to put in some steps to start. This was our Saturday night project.

This is looking from the woods towards our house. It has been where we've walked up and down every time we go to get work done. It seemed like a logical place to put in some steps. 

To start I dug out some steps and put the dirt on a tarp to use as fill later. There are different ways to do it, but this seemed the easiest for now. 

My very cute assistant cutting a tree stump from one of the steps. See all those black things on him? Those my friends would be mosquitoes. They are huge and HORRIBLE. So horrible. I hatz them. 

The finished product! This photo was taken at 10:30 pm. Just to give you an idea of how light it is outside now. I love it! 

The Bug checking out Mommy and Daddy's handy work this morning. 

We still have to put something on top of the mud. I'd love moss or grass. We'll see what I can figure out.

One thing checked off....833,230 more to go!

Secret Subject Swap -

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week, 15 brave bloggers pick a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

My subject was submitted by Outmanned Mommy  My subject is "What would your perfect Summer vacation look like?"

Like most people, I spend the entire winter complaining about how cold I am, how much I hate being cold, how I want to move to (insert tropical island here.) Then, then the summer hits. It gets above 72, and I am convinced I'm going to sweat to death. Once it hits 80, I regret my months of complaining, and start dreaming of September. Then it hits 90, and forget about it. I refuse to leave my house, and drink enough water to fill an in-ground swimming suit. I spent my day getting a shower and laying on the ground until I am dried, and then repeat the process a million more times.

Long story short? I like it to be between 68-72 and sunny.

Growing up my parents took us to Chincoteague, VA every summer for (insert number here, I can't remember.) I looked forward to this trip ALL YEAR.

1. There were ponies.
2. There were ponies.
3. There was an ocean.
4. There...wait, did I mention ponies?
5. There were ponies.

 You get the point. I loved it! With the ocean breeze, it never felt "too hot." I loved it, and it is one of my favorite childhood memories. We went fishing and crabbing. I successfully caught a seagull, and my wonderful daddy took the hook out (and the image of him tacking a bird that I reeled in still makes me snicker, and I bet that was 25 years ago.)

We haven't been back to Chincoteague since I was 9, maybe 10, hell, maybe 11. It's funny how something goes from 2-3 years ago to 20 + years. Time does fly. I have dreamed of that place for years. My passion and love of horses was born there, and I want nothing more than to go back. I want to take Bug and walk the beach in the early morning looking for shells. I want to go and catch blue crabs and then have a feast. I want to stalk ponies and dream of which one I am going to take home.

I know that time changes places. Hell, in the 8 months I left Seattle so much was new, but so much was gone. If I could have my perfect summer vacation, it would be with my mom, dad and little brother and it would take place in the late 80's. I'd fight with my brother the whole car ride down. I'd try to convince him to "play the piano" (and I would stretch my legs across his lap.) We'd run into our hotel room and jump on the beds. The only worries I'd have on my mind would be waking up early enough to collect the good shells. I'd have my sand pail filled each day with shells, and by the end of the trip I'd have hundreds. My mom and dad would take me back to the beach at the end of our trip and I'd have to leave behind some of the shells...most of the shells....they'd fill the trunk. They'd tell me about the other boys and girls who would find them and how happy it would make them. I'd do all this, just one more time.

Then I'd take my husband and son and make new memories. One day I will, and I can not wait!

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts.  Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                          Baking In A Tornado

http://themomisodes.com                                       The Momisodes

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                     Someone Else’s Genius

http://fbxadventures.blogspot.com                          FBX Adventures (In Parenting)

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/                     Spatulas on Parade

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/                Stacy Sews and Schools

http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/                         Confessions of a part time working mom

http://www.outmannedmommy.com                        Outmanned

http://www.eviljoyspeaks.wordpress.com                  Evil Joy Speaks

http://www.impoverishedvegan.com                         Impoverished Vegan

http://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com                         Climaxed

http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com               The Bergham’s Life Chronicles

http://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com/                                 Sparkly Poetic Weirdo

http://dinoheromommy.com/                    Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

https://www.silenceofthemom.blogspot.com      Silence of the Mom

Weekly Wrap-up

The weekends haven't meant much to me since I started staying home with Bug. It meant daddy was home (yay) and that makes both Bug and I happy.

This past Monday I started watching a friend's infant. While he is adorable, having him and the Bug around makes me want a root canal about as much as I want another baby. He's easy, sweet, and adorable. Bug is amazing with him, and I think he missed him this weekend. BUT, having an infant around reminded me what those first few months (hell, 7-8 months) were like. NO SLEEP. Parents of more than one kid, and especially parents of babies close together. I SALUTE YOU. I can't even say that Bug is consistently sleeping through the night yet, and he's one.

"Formula fed babies sleep better." - False.

Anyway, we only have the bambino Monday through Thursday, so I planned every errand we needed to run for Friday. Bug had an appointment with the ENT. They discussed putting tubes in, but I want to give it a bit before we go that route. He already needs surgery (nothing major) at the end of July and that enough freaks me out.

After rushing to the ENT (where Bug attempted to destroy the office) we met up with daddy to check out the daycare that we have signed Bug up for last September. It was the only chicken in my basket, and I have heard great things about it. I was afraid Bug would hate it, and cry. No, who am I kidding. He did cry, but only when we left. I think he's going to love it.

So. You may be wondering why a SAHM would put her baby toddler into daycare. It's because I'm going to go back to work. I interviewed last Friday and found out last Monday that I was hired. I'm excited. It's at an amazing school. I get to do the same thing I did in Seattle, and I love what I do. It's funny. It's the school I said in October, "I want to teach there someday." I'm really happy. I am also so sad about putting the Bug in daycare, but he loves other kids so, so much and is such a busy guy that I think he will love it. I hope. He still gets to spend summers and holidays with mommy, so that makes me feel better. Daddy's office is close and I will only be 5 miles away (forever in mom distance.) I'll write more about it later once I have actually signed a contract.

Friday night we went to "First Friday" at one of the Greenhouses. I REALLY want to buy plants, but I have no place to put them until it's considered "safe." June 1st is the safe date, but many people are planting now. They are braver than I am.

Saturday, we ran errands that lasted forever. We took donations to the shelter in honor of Bug's birthday. He loves seeing the dogs. He calls then "woofs" and is dog obsessed. 

This is Bruno and he is 10!! Poor guy got dropped off my his family of 5+ years. It took all of my reasoning skills to not bring him home. Baby + cats + dog + jobs = crazy(ier) me. May need to check on him again....

 When we finally got home at 4, we all took a nap for two hours. It was glorious. I've been attempting to get the gardens together. I've heard about the mosquitos in Alaska, but HOLY COW, no one was kidding. They are huge, and vicious. Saturday night I tried to get some plastic down, but they were so bad I couldn't stand it anymore. My new working name for our garden is "Swamp Creek Farm" or maybe "Moose Snacks" because I found two piles of moose poop near the beds. I really hope Martha goes for a trip this summer and leaves my garden alone. I am taking a risk and not putting a moose fence in.

The beds all have plastic on them now, and my rhubarb is coming up (8 out of 9 plants) so that excites me. I can't wait.

Today we went to a park with a friend. Bug proceeded to steal my Italian ice. It's okay. He's adorable.