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. 

Bicycle Race (or not)

I just feel that this post needs to start with that song!

Anyway! I like bike riding. I love bike riding when it involves a lot of mud, or an awesome Danish bike on flat ground (RIP FroCycle.) We want the Bug to enjoy riding, and have been tossing around the idea of buying a bike trailer for him. I was nervous we'd spend $300 for a large object to sit in our garage. On Bug's birthday we took him to a consignment shop that he likes, and to check out bike trailers (they had new ones.) They had a Burley Bee marked at 20% off, and after reading reviews, we decided to give it a try. "We'll sell it if he hates it." (That seems to be the new motto.)

With Bug being sick last week, and party-palooza this weekend, the first time we had a chance to try it out was Sunday. It took us 5 hours to actually get to go biking (naps needed to happen) but it was worth it. We bought Bug a tiny helmet and while I was SURE he'd scream bloody murder, he did okay. We practiced at home, and we showed him how his daddy had on, and he had one. He loves whatever daddy has. We put his helmet on, put him in the trailer and they went on a "test ride." His smile was totally worth it!

Everyone gets thirsty after a hard work out. Helmet off, bub in.

There is a great trail around Fairbanks, and it is away from the road, so I feel pretty safe with towing the Bug (and my husband did the towing.) We only went out for 20 minutes, but he really seemed to like it. It was only a little over a mile, but I'm hoping to be able to get him to enjoy it so we can go on longer adventures. I think part of the problem is that his helmet weighs as much as he does, but we'll get there. Next summer we'd love to bike into Denali with him in tow.

Bug's Party

Grab some coffee and get comfy...this might take a while! Also, I apologize for errors, or repeating myself....not much time to proof read with a Bug running around and a house to clean!

Bug's fever stayed around 101 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He had his 12 month appointment on Thursday, so I figured I'd mention it to his doctor then if it didn't go away. Wednesday night I was sitting on the couch with him and tickling him. He threw his mouth open and his whole little throat was bright red. The first thing I thought of was Strep. I quickly grabbed him a bottle and threw on my muck boots and ran out the door to Urgent Care. If he had Strep I wanted to get him on antibiotics right away, and I would need to cancel his birthday party.

Long story short, after a short wrestling session, we were able to swab his throat and the test came back negative. It did turn out that he had an ear infection. His third. This also earned us a referral to the ENT. Lucky, lucky us!

After two doses of antibiotics though, my happy guy was back and the fever was gone. He weighed 23.8 pounds and is 30 3/4 inches tall (82nd %tile.) His head stays at a solid 98th %tile. He's not talking yet, but babbling and the doctor isn't worried.

On Saturday we had his 1st birthday party! I spent the week trying to figure out how to pull off a "pond theme" and think I did a pretty good job. Luckily I found large green plates at Fred Meyer that reminded me of lily pads, so at least I had that and went with it. My poor husband. I decided I wanted to make a frog for the top of his smash cake, and then chocolate lily pads for the tops of the cupcakes (more on that later.)

Let me start by saying that I am the queen of procrastination. Usually I wait until the last second, but since the Bug I have started to plan things out a bit more. It's not possible to do everything at the last second, so I made the Frog on Tuesday, and what I thought would take 10 minutes took almost two hours. The molding (pre-made) took FOREVER to kneed. I guess that's the downfall of picking something up at the store that isn't used a lot. Either that or it is suppose to be a solid brick....

ANYWAY another friend of mine helped me with dying the chocolate green and gave me great advice on how to free mold the lily pads. I made those on Wednesday, and forgot to put them in the fridge...that meant when I went to put the on the cupcakes on Friday 1/3 of them were ruined. Opps! Lesson learned! She told me to put them in the fridge and poof.....just forgot!

Thursday Bug and I ran around for some final things for his party...and to get some stuff for his dad's surprise party. Last year my hubby got the shaft because we were just home from the hospital, I felt "wonderful" <-sarcasm and just didn't.

Friday I started watching my friends infant. (Side note: Bug will be an only child.) He's so sweet, but I do NOT KNOW how people have babies close together. After his momma picked him up Bug and I went on our ninja shopping trip to get supplies for his party AND his dad's party. He was a very good helper and we got home right before his dad.

Saturday morning, hubby went fishing with a friend while Bug and I got his cake finished, and the party set up.


So a photo montage of party decorations

I ruined 1/2 the lily pads so I decided on Salmon swimming...

Bug's BFF can't have eggs. I made a recipe that I found online, and it was DELICIOUS. Egg free and dairy free, it tasted like Oreos. YUMMY. I used this recipe for the vanilla cupcakes and this recipe for the egg free. Sadly, the frosting didn't turn out how I wanted it to. I didn't put enough sugar into it, but it was 11pm when I was icing them, and I figured I was covering them with a lily pad, SO it didn't really matter. Look at me! Not being anal! See how much I've grown?! I will say WHEN I follow directions, this frosting is A. Easy and B. Amazing (but add some creme of tartar to get it to keep its shape....if that makes any sense.)

Since I ruined 1/2 the lily pads, I needed to figure out what to do with the other cupcakes. Salmon and "bubbles" (aka blue Sixlets.) I think it turned out pretty cute! AND yes! I do understand that Frog's eat Bugs! Lol. We called Bug, Frog-man when he was tiny-tiny because of how he'd hold his legs. I also want to give credit for the lily pad idea. I got it from here.

Dirt Cups, which I forced everyone to eat. I'm such a nice host! 

Before everyone got to the house, and after daddy got home from fishing, we took Bug's final month photo. He's been sick all week and I wanted him to look happy. He's such a cutie.

Happy Birthday Buddy!! We love you! 

The party was perfect! Bug destroyed his cake. I laughed Friday night as I was icing it. SO much time for something that he was going to destroy. He did eat some of it, but we took it away before he had too much.
We have some amazing friends in Fairbanks. We are very lucky. It was the perfect day. There was nothing I would change about it.

Bug's friends left around 3:30, and I had planned for hubby's dinner party to start at 6. I had told Bug that morning that it was his job to distract his dad in the afternoon. I had NOT clue how I was going to get the squash all cute up, the asparagus cleaned and cut, the steaks to room temp, the potatoes baked, etc. without making him suspicious. I figured that I would just tell him.

BUT, around 4 hubby and the Bug took a nap together....for 2 hours! I had everything done, and his friends showed up JUST as they woke up! It was perfect!

He deserves perfect. He's a great guy!

Parties were successful!

Flour less chocolate cake with dark chocolate mousse and ganache....may look weird, but was pretty tasty!