The Garden Game Plan

Nick got the garden mostly planted a little over a week ago, finishing up this past weekend with a few extra tomato plants and some garlic sets.  It's been fun watching him check the garden every day.  He points out what is sprouting and how things are growing, an it helps me to learn along with him.

Our plan is simple: he will garden, and I will process the produce.  While I've been leaning about canning methods and freezing techniques, Nick has been studying up on vegetable varieties, sun exposure, and compost.  Our goal is to grow the vegetables we would consume. So, though I don't use peppers or onions in my cooking generally, as Nick hates them, we are in fact growing some to use in the salsas, pasta sauces, and ketchups I hope to make with our tomatoes.

Eliza helping to sort the seed packets.


Here's the list of what we hope will grow for us:

• broccoli
• cauliflower
• beans
• peas, both snap peas and shelling peas
• carrots, in a variety of colors
• onions
• garlic
• spinach
• a variety of lettuces
• pumpkin
• summer squash
• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• sweet potatoes
• potatoes
• and a variety of herbs such as dill, basil, parsley, cilantro, thyme, rosemary....

  I'm keeping a garden journal on how we do from year to year, but I'll tell you more about that later.  We'll keep you posted on how everything grows!

My house is clean

And I'm wallowing in it.  Truly, it's very rare for everything to be in its place and the place clean.  Ok, so I could do some dusting.  And the kitchen is no longer clean after we amped up our planned dinner tonight for Nick's folks.  But still, it doesn't look like a ticking time bomb of dishes went off in there.  I keep telling myself that when it's this tidy all I have to do is maintenance.  But... maintenance can be hard when the dishes pile up faster than you can clean them and you have little kids whose needs are more important than my need to have a tidy and efficient home.  Some day I will have a dishwasher.  Some day, we might have enough room for a "play room" where I can just toss all of their toys, out of sight/out of mind.  Someday, my children will be old enough to train to pick up their toys.  Until then, I am willing to handle feeling out of control with the house if it means being able to spend a morning hunkered down face-to-face with my daughter, watching her laugh and exchanging kisses.  But tonight, I am going to walk through a few more rooms before I go to bed to enjoy the uncluttered live I have for the next... 8 hours.

Friday Quick 5

1.  You can tell school is out: there are kids all over the place.  Yesterday, as I was driving to the grocery store, I had three different sets of kids fail to "stop and look both ways" as I was passing them. I'm glad I was looking!  I also hope that school being out means more opportunity to spend more time with my teacher-friends.  There are several I would love to see more of.  While I'm not a big fan of the high temperatures, I think I can appreciate summer for the social time it can afford.

2.  The garden is planted!  Nick spent much of is time last weekend getting it finished.  We need to go back to the farmer's market for a few more tomato plants and he doesn't yet have any lettuce planted, but otherwise, it's all in.  We'll see what grows.  I have several garden posts already planned but I need to figure out where the usb port on this computer is before I can upload the pictures I've taken.  More on that to come.

3.  It's been three days since my last Pepsi.  If I make it through the afternoon, it will be four full days, 96 hours.  This in itself is not a huge accomplishment, yet.  Sadly, my longest stint without a soda is five days.  Yes, once upon a time, I rarely ever drank a soda.  Then, I took it up again when I found it constantly around at my parents' house.  (Viscous cycle: Mom bought it because I drank it, and I drank it because she bought it!)  But now, it's time to stop.  I told Nick that I was giving up soda except when we have pizza.  Now, I should clarify, and to him as well, that I only mean to have it when we order pizza, at a restaurant or for delivery.  We have pizza quite often.  I love pizza.  This summer we are going to grill pizza and I'm hoping to convince him to skip the meat and load them up with a produce.  On those occasions I'll stick to water or some drink where I can control the sugar content.  Soda, from now on, is a special occasion.

4.  A couple friends and I have signed up with a food co-op called Azure Standard.  We'd read several times about this West Coast-based coop on several food blogs, especially those following the whole foods or traditional diet movements.  While I am not certain we could ever make the leap to a strictly traditional model, such as in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, I do appreciate some of the principles of a whole foods diet.  Such as, make whatever you can from scratch and buying little to no-processed food.  I read Mark Bittman's Food Matters a few years ago and am sold on the fact that processed foods are not that friendly to our health.  I know I should pick up other tomes on the subject, such as Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, but I can't imaging that I'd make it through at this stage of life.  Maybe when the kid's are a little bit older.  Still, I read several blogs that embrace the whole foods or slow foods, or whatever you'd like to call it, philosophy.  And they have lead us to Azure Standard.  Mostly, I like the idea of getting food in bulk at a good price.  Today we'll hopefully pick up our first order and learn about how this works.

5.  I have found myself in a season where I am spiritually hungry.  Maybe that's because it's a season of change: learning to be a family of four, being a mother of two, trying to become healthy, learning to be an "urban agrarian".  Maybe it's just that it's past time for a spiritual growth spurt.  I don't know.  But I find myself gripped by a strong desire for a small women's accountability group: a place to be real, to be encouraged, and to make fast friends.  Someplace where I am challenged and refreshed.  I am not yet sure where to find this or how to get it, but I'm on the look-out.  I have some hopes for a lead.  Until then, I'll keep plugging away and keep praying that God will use what is in place in my life already.

Hope you're having a great Friday!  It is chilly and rainy here.  I desperately wish I was cooking down some banana butter or bubbling some marmalade on the stove.  As I told a friend, today's the kind of day to have something sweet and sticky percolating on the stove.  Alas, I didn't have the foresight.  As much as I wanted a rainy day like this today, the forecast was sunny.  So I made plans for the zoo instead of doing prep work for orange vanilla marmalade or going to the store for the bananas.  However, my plans have also changed for tomorrow, so maybe I'll cut some citrus rind tonight and set it to soaking so I might can orange tangy goodness tomorrow.  Happy Weekend!

Weight loss motivation, looking back and looking forward

I've been overweight before.  When I was in grad school several years ago now (really?  several years?), I lead a very unhealthy lifestyle.  I sat most of my time, reading required texts, writing papers, writing lessons plans for the part-time teaching gig I had, and grading papers.  Nearly my entire day was on my rear.  I also had a very tight food budget and little love for vegetables and a love for easy meals, which all combined to produce very unhealthy eating habits.  (The irony is that one of my roommates and good friends loved to cook healthy meals.  She was such an example, and I ignored it!  I now wish I had learned from her instead.)  So, much of my day looked like this: sitting around and eating junk.  Combine this with a great deal of stress, and my weight ballooned.

Not long after I left grad school and move home, I had a routine eye check-up for my glasses.  To my surprise, I was attended by a very good-looking, younger doctor, who then proceeded to ask me if anyone had ever talked to me about my weight and the risks it had for diabetes and eye degeneration.  Talk about mortification.  To this day, I wonder if he noticed that I noticed he was good-looking and if it contributed to his less-than-gentle delivery of such news.  I went home deeply embarrassed and my eyes opened to my new figure.  Round.  Everything about me was round: my face, my arms (not in a good way), my thighs, my tummy.  Even my hands and feet.

I still feel insecure when I think about that appointment, but it served its purpose.  It gave me strong motivation to lose weight.  My grandmother had died from complication of Type II Diabetes.  I researched my chances, and according to the American Diabetes Website, my chances were only moderate.  Mr. Good-Looking Doctor had lead me to believe they were a basic certainty.  I researched what weight would take me to zero chance, what was within healthy parameters, including my BMI, and set a goal.  A friend of mine had just gone on South Beach and I checked out a book and hoed in.  It was hard, but I stuck to my guns.  My determination astounded coworkers when we went on work lunches: I drank diet soda if not water and skipped all the goodies on salads, leaving the yummy fried taco bowl and sour cream on a taco salad once.  I had that doctor's voice and face in my head.  And I lost 35 lbs.

Today, I find myself in a similar place.  I weigh very similar weight, but for slightly different reasons.  My pregnancy is not all to blame, but it can take some of it.  I have similar reasons to lose the weight: I may not need to impress single men, but I like to look good for my husband.  And I want to avoid diabetes: I have two children to be healthy and well for.  That doctor's comments, and more his cold expression, still bother me, but his power has waned.  After all, who wants Mr. Good-Looking Doctor when I have Hotty Hubby?  So that burning motivation my take a little bit more work this time.

Here's what I've done:  I've taken two "before" pictures of myself.  Not in regular clothes, but in leggings and a tank top.  You can't hide in clothes like that.  When my regular computer is at last fixed and running, I intend to set them as my background with the caption, "Make this look good."  That is, after all, my goal.  I want to look good in leggings and tank top and not feel embarrassed to wear them around my own house.  Never fear, though, I won't wear them out of the house.  This, then, is my incentive to change.  To remind myself that I can look good and I can reach that goal.  The picture I have in my head that I want to achieve isn't perfect, but it's healthier, and that's what I want.  Second, I've arranged with my husband to give myself a reward when I make it to that goal.  It's not huge nor really expensive.  I simply want a professional to color my hair.  It's not something I would normally pay for and it sounds like fun.  It could get really pricy and I don't plan to go overboard (treat yourself, not blow the bank on yourself), but it's something I'm excited about.  And I'm willing to work towards it.  The last bit of motivation is that I intend to keep a journal,  record really, of my progress, and I mean to make it show some.  I'm almost more excited about that. I don't intend to track it weekly, as that could be discouraging, but I want to give myself an opportunity to see that progress.  So, I have to start somewhere.

The one last thing that I am doing is not necessarily motivation, but it is support: prayer.  I am asking, that if it might align with His will, that the Lord will grant me success and uphold me in this.  I admit, the biggest reason I want to lose weight is I'm tired of feeling negative towards my reflection and my body.  Another, though, is to honor the Lord.  I have been given stewardship of this body and I've been doing a really poor job of it.  I haven't taken care of it, and I should. It's one of the many gifts He's given me.  So, it is my prayer that the Lord will bless me as I try to lose weight and become more healthy, as I try to create a new lifestyle, and grant me the year to do it in.  And that from this day I will continue to be a good steward of my body.

So far, I've taken the pictures.  Now its time to write down my measurements so I can start keeping record of change.  Please, Lord, grant me success and wisdom in this venture so that I might better serve you with my heart and body!

Friday Quick 5

Some good news, some not so good news.

1. Eliza and Simon both had check-ups with the doctor this week.  I went in thinking that they were both going to have to have shots, but thankfully that wasn't the case!  Eliza only had to have one shot (it's not unheard of for us to undergo four or five shots at one pop) and Simon doesn't actually begin his baby shots until next month.  Whew!  Both of them are growing very well.  Eliza had lost some weight from her virus, but nothing to be concerned about.  She's still mid-range for her age group on weight and height.  Simon, too, is midrange for all of the above.  I guess we've got two average kids.

2.  Then again, maybe not.  Simon can hold his head up for minutes at a time and he's begun cooing!  Both a little ahead of schedule.  He can also track with an object a little bit.  The doctor was excited when he cooed for her and told me that they typically don't coo until at least two months (he's six weeks today).  I confess: I was a proud mama!  Eliza, too, showing signs of development. She can now string together two words, though most of the time it's "Oh no", etc.  She now says, "I don't know", though it sounds more like, "Ah no no."  She puts her hands up in the air and shakes her head when she says it and I just about swoon.

3.  I had hoped to put up pictures of a planted garden by now, but it hasn't happened.  I've told Nick that tomorrow we have to be planted.  Otherwise, I doubt we'll have much success.  We may not have much this year anyways.  We shall have to see.  Our plan is to take a trip to the Farmer's Market to look for some established plants and then plant tomorrow, rain permitting.  I've been considering devoting a day each week to post about our garden, its progress and produce, and am already starting to plan some posts.  But it won't happen if we don't actually get it planted!

4.  A friend of mine who lives overseas is due to come home next month for a little while.  I'm ridiculously excited, especially as she has promised to come visit me.  She's a great organizer, and I'm not.  But I've been inspired by some posts I've read in the blogosphere, and well....  I think I have a few projects for us to work on while she's here.  I think it will be fun!

5.  My grandfather has been in the hospital this week.  We thought possibly his liver was beginning to fail.  We began preparing for the worst, but the worst seems to be put on hold.  Not pushed back, per se.  They don't actually know what's going on.  His billirubin (that toxin that causes jaundice) is very high.  They did a scan and thought they saw "sludge" in his gallbladder.  Only, he hasn't got one.  It as removed a few years ago.  So, it could simply be a blockage; it could be liver failure.  It could be a fluke.  We don't know, but the doctors are talking about discharging him.  In one way, it's a relief: he's still with us.  Yet it does make me think, we might go through this sort of thing a lot before he finally passes.  It's going to happen one day, likely sooner rather than later.  He's 91.  But the thing that allows me to remain calm is knowing that he'll be "going Home" to be with the Lord Jesus.  I don't think any of us want to say goodbye to him just yet, but it is a relief knowing that I can be confident in saying that he truly will be in a better place.  After all, Heaven is going to be very cool.

That's my 5.  How about yours?  Anything happening in the lives of your family and loved ones?

Let the weight loss begin!

Okay, so I know it's really not that effortless.  In fact, it's the exact opposite of effortless.  I'm one of those people who gains weight far, far more easily than taking it off.  I like to say that all you have to do is say the words "gain weight", and I'll do it!

This week I had my check-up after having our baby.  My body has healed in good fashion and everything looks good.  Everything, except one thing.  With this pregnancy I gained more real weight, more lingering weight, than I had with my first.  I knew this already just from the changes in my body, but it was piquing to see the numbers on the doctor's office scale.  Not long after Simon was born, I started formulating a plan.  I hated the way I looked and felt: it was humiliating to catch an unexpected glance of myself in the mirror.  I definitely don't look the way I do in my head.  Yet, I don't want to be stuck there.  I want to do something about it.

My hope and goal is to take the next year to lose the weight.  I'd love to lose 60 lbs, but that would bring me back to what I weighed sophomore year in high school.  Possible, maybe, but not likely.  My body has changed for too much in too many ways for that to be realistic.  So, I'm instead hoping for somewhere between 35-45lbs.  I know that the BMI measurements and today's culture would tell me this is still overweight, and that I should work harder for that last 14 lbs. but I think for my frame and for my life, I can be content with this goal and be more likely to accomplish it.

There has only ever been one time when I was able to drop that much poundage.  Sadly, I've been this overweight before, and that experience is another post entirely.  What it took then for me to lose the weight was to radically change my diet and I went on South Beach.  After I plateaued on that diet (at an acceptable weight, though not my aim) I began biking a lot; I didn't lose any more weight, but I was far healthier.  For many reasons, I can't do that.  I can't lug two little ones on a bike.  I've tried to retry South Beach and I just didn't work for where I was at then, and extreme changes in diet, however temporary, aren't a good idea while I am a nursing mother. 

When I went on that diet, I had a burning desire and motivation to lose weight.  I was single and had a great deal more time and freedom.  Not true now.    The same kind of motivation, again another post.  But being a mother to two under two, well, that is definitely a restriction on time and freedom, one I certainly don't mind having.   Videos and in-home exercise seems far more practical/possible.  So here's the plan (finally, right?): first, we' re going to make healthier meals, mostly by adding in more vegetables.  It's another reason we want to garden: to ensure that we have to eat our vegetables by eating our produce.  Until then, I hope to buy veggies from the farmer's market and the grocery store and eat them up.  To this end, I've been collecting recipes and scouring cookbooks and the internet for interesting ways to prepare them.  Also, I plan to cut soda and flavored drink to a minimum.  This might be more difficult than I hope it will be, because I confess on a rough day I always want a soda .  As for exercise, there are a few videos in our collection that I have used before and with practice feel I can get some good exercise from.  But my primary goal is to make it through the P90X program.  Nick has it, and a friend of ours has told us that there's a cardio circuit of the program that would work well for my purposes.  (After all, I don't want to bulk up on muscle, but to slim down on fat.  I have few hopes of having a "beach body," just to get healthy.)  I know the P90X is intense, so I'll have to work up to it, but it's just the challenge I need to both motivate me and keep me going.  I want to conquer it.  Last, I've come up with some motivational tools to use, but I'll save that for yet another post. 

So, next year: May 19, 2012, I hope to have some results to show.

The Glad Game

As a child, Disney's Pollyanna was perpetually on my summer must-watch list.  In fact, just about any Disney Hayley Mills move was.  But Pollyanna, as well as Summer Magic, we owned on VHS, and so it was a regular part of our summer repertoire.

If you're unfamiliar with the story, it centers on a girl who goes to live with her aunt after her father dies.  It's a bit of a culture shock for all sides, as Pollyanna's aunt was quite rich and ran a large house with a number of servants.  Pollyanna, though, had been raised by her poor minister father until his death.  Pollyanna makes friends her aunt's elite friends and household staff alike, as well as orphans, invalids, and recluses. She could charm them all.  Part of her appeal, however, was that she was always bright and positive, able to look for the good in any situation.  She was taught this by her father with whom she played the Glad Game.

The Glad Game was a tactic father and daughter used to cheer themselves up when things looked blue, or even dire.  There was always something to be glad for, the pair believed.  Even when receiving a gift of crutches from a missionary box rather than the doll she wanted, she could be glad she didn't need the crutches.

I mentioned in yesterday's Quick 5 that it's been a rough week.  Many times, I wanted to wallow in a little self pity as I was tired of crying children, administering tylenol in the middle of the night, struggling to find something Eliza would eat, and worrying over a combination of rash, fever, and cough.  I don't get enough sleep during this season with a small baby and was receiving even less also tending to my sick child and trying to ensure she didn't somehow pass it along to her brother.  I had to let the housework go as all my daughter wanted to do was sit in my lap and be rocked.  And debated over and over again if and when I should call the doctor. 

The verse from James, however, kept coming back to mind:  Consider it all joy, brothers, when you experience trials of various kinds.  I didn't see much to rejoice in.  But I knew that wasn't true.  I had much to be grateful for, much to be glad about.  And so I decided to play my own Glad Game.  Here is just a sample of what I cam up with:

I'm glad my daughter is normally a very healthy an rather happy child.

I'm glad my son hasn't caught this crud yet.

I'm glad I have a husband who loves me and loves our children.

I'm glad that God loves my children even more than I do.

I"m glad we have insurance to help cover healthcare costs and glad that Nick has a job to help support us.

I'm glad that God loves me enough to send trials my way so that I can refine my character and my faith, that He at least is not willing to leave things to status quo.

I'm glad that there's an end to Eliza's illness.

I'm glad for those brief times I do get to sleep and that I totally don't go without.




See how easy that can be?  What about you?  Do you have to struggle to play some version of the glad game when tough times come your way?  What kinds of thins would you include on your list?

Friday Quick 5

1.  What a week!  It's been a rough one.  It started out rough and has only gone down from there.  There were some stressors, some missing important documents that had me turning the house upside down in their search.  However, that was only the beginning of the week, and the rest of it was draining and difficult.  Much of this has been due to the fact that Eliza has had a combination of a virus that has given her high fevers, a sore throat, and aches and pains and irritable grumpiness as well as a rash on her poor little bottom.  She's been a very uncomfortable girl.  The virus basically has had to plague itself out, and we think she may finally have beaten it.  Unfortunately, we are going to have to call the doctor again: we've medicated the rash and it looks much better, but there are some other things popping up that have us concerned.  Poor kiddo.  I'm sure she's as ready as I am for her to be healthy again!

2.  We had a nice Mother's Day:  I got to enjoy church, listening to two missionaries we support whom I know (or have known) personally, lunch with my sister and her family, and then my parents joined us for dinner.  Nick grilled the whole thing and I simply did the accompaniments: steak, grilled corn on the cob, and seasoned potatoes roasted in a foil packet on the grill.  We'll have to do that again.  We also enjoyed watching the movie Red with my folks.  You always know my dad's really into a movie when he has an outburst reaction.  Case in point: there was a sudden appearance (someone jumping out with a weapon) and Dad yelped and jumped a little in his seat.  You know he's into it when he does something like that.

3.  Eliza and I got haircuts today.  Sadly, she didn't enjoy hers as much as I enjoyed mine.  In fact, she was so grumpy today that she cried through hers and barely let the stylist make sure her cut was straight.  I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed mine and am loving the shorter 'do.  I might try to finagle Eliza into taking a picture with me and we'll show off or cuts.

4.  The computer in our bedroom, where I do most of my writing, reading, and definitely uploading my photos, has crashed.  Nick is going to have to reload Windows and our Software onto it.  Which has seriously messed with my attempts to get back to my Bible-reading blog.  And also really messes with my ability to load photos onto this blog.  Talk about frustrating.  Hopefully it will be up soon.  I have plans.


5.  Planting starts in the garden tomorrow.  I'm totally excited.  I would post pictures of that, too, except, well....  See the above note.

Have a good weekend, folks!  After my week, I'm hoping to have one, too.

Friday Quick 5

1. Have you noticed how beautiful the weather has become, nearly country wide?  If you're in the Midwest, it's been gorgeous this week (especially after all the violent storms a little further East of where I am).  I love these 60-70 degree days.  That's perfection in my mind.  I am shuddering at the thought of 90 degrees next week.

2.  Eliza is growing.  This may not sound too monumental, until you realize the milestone she's reached: she can now reach on top of the dining room table, the cold water tap on the bathroom sink, and a variety of other incredibly inconvenient places (my desk?).  It's disconcerting to turn around and find her walking into the room holding something you were sure was well out of her reach.  We now have to redefine "out of her reach".  Similarly, Mr. Simon is growing, too.  He has lost that newborn look and now looks like a baby.  Didn't realize there was a difference?  I didn't either, until I had children, but it is quite a difference!  Newborns are small and their faces slightly squooshed, and their eyes seem to be more pupil than anything.  Simon's face has filled out and firmed up and he looks much like I imagine he'll look like at six months or nine months.  He changes so fast that every day he seems different.

3.  This past week I tried my hand at making some homemade items as a condolence gift for my brother-in-law, who lost his grandfather.  I made a "breakfast-in-a-basket" themed gift (though in reality it was breakfast-in-a-Walmart-bag.  Yeah, I'm non-Martha Stewart like that).  I made granola and a jar of pancake mix, but what I really enjoyed doing was making some homemade pancake syrups.  I made a honey-orange syrup, a molasses-cinnamon syrup, and a buttered maple syrup.  I tasted a little of the leftovers after I poured them into jars.  Can I say, yummy?  It got me to thinking: I'd love to do that kind of thing more often, offering a homemade gift to someone during a time of crisis or celebration.  Don't get me wrong; it was a difficult day, juggling two babies, pots on the stoves, trays in the oven, making labels, getting lunch...  I recognize what it will mean if I do it again (and again) and also what it will mean when I want to do some canning and preserving this summer/fall (some?  I want to do a lot!  I dream of shelves of glassy, suctioned-closed jars).  But I enjoyed doing it for my sister-in-law and her husband, as I thought of them and their family during the entire day while they commiserated with family and friends over their loss.  I may not be able to be a part of our prayer-shawl ministry, which does something similar, but maybe I could do this?

4.  I've realized that homemaking has become a bit of an obsession for me (one that sadly does not work out in practicality right now), and that my blog has begun to overflow with it.  I'm so looking forward to our garden producing anything and I dream of preserving and freezing and canning my rear off this summer.  I'm reading lots about it and trying to learn what I can before I do so I have a better handle of what I do in fact need to do.  But it's funny how this blog has strayed from what I originally started it for: a place to share thoughts.  Or maybe, it's just that my thoughts have taken a very different turn than when I first started here.  After all, I'm brewing on a post called "Postpartum Me", which I obviously never would have written before I married and had children.  I have to ask myself, am I okay with this?  With this new direction, or do I want to go back to my former roots?  Were those even that good?  Do I mind the fact that I'm mostly writing about my children, about my garden, about my housekeeping (yikes), or do I really want to dwell on some deeper things?  Perhaps, both.  Perhaps there's room for deeper self-reflection and contemplation as well as newsy/householdy things at the same time.  It's something I'm mulling over.

5.  It's Mother's Day this weekend!  It has completely snuck up on me.  I can't believe it's the second weekend of May already!  (I can't believe Simon is four weeks old already, though!)  There are lots of things that could be said about Mother's Day, and while I'd like to think there would be time for a post on that topic alone, I doubt I'll get the time to sit down and pound it out on Sunday, or this weekend at all.  So, let me just say to any Mom reading this post, congrats friend on that status.  It's a blessing as well as a challenge, isn't it?  And I hope you have a wonderful day being blessed by your loved ones around you.  And to my own Mom: you're wonderful, and I love you.  Small words, but they really do mean so much.  Anything else just falls short of how good you are.  Happy Mother's Day, folks!

The works progresses

Nick spent the majority of his weekend working out in the garden.  I really should have taken some "before" pictures so that you could see how far he's come on working on that particular piece of real estate.

The finished beds were on my right as I sat in the yard, watching Nick and Eliza work this weekend.  (Well, Nick worked, and Eliza "helped".  Simon and I chilled out in a lawn chair.)   Finished, as in built, I should say.  We haven't planted anything yet.

The bed frames and unbroken ground was to my left.  You can see our neighbors' backyard beyond the chainlink fence and his mini-greenhouse. Hope he doesn't mind...

And here are Nick and Eliza working in the middle.  Nick first broke up the ground, then picked all the weeds growing out of the dirt.  The he built up the beds within the frames and created little walkways between the beds, as you saw in the first picture.

And all of this after all the work he did to dig up unwanted bushes, chop down the lilac (which we would have moved if it would have survived, we'll just have to plant another one somewhere else) dug out stumps, replanted bulbs elsewhere...  It's been a lot of work and we haven't even planted yet!  But, this picture above is one reason why we want a garden: besides the fresh produce and providing it for our own family, we want to teach our kids to work in the garden, to learn a good work ethic and to appreciate the fruit of their own labors over a season.  We are really hoping and praying for success over the years in this respect.