Hooray! We got Chicks!!!

Also, I managed to get some seeds in the egg carton starters. This I think will be great because it still seems to be just a tad cold outside to be starting things. The stuff I planted hasn't done, well, anything. I thought this might happen so I only planted a few things and just a tiny bit of each--no big loss. Yesterday I started all my tomatoes (a little late, but still they have at least two months before they can go outside, so no biggie) all the pepper seeds I had left from last year--lemon drop chilies and sweet chocolates--and also some cippolini onion seeds, as well as fennel and frisee. I could have planted the onion seeds outside but I was thinking it wouldn't hurt to give them a few weeks head start inside where it's warmer since I really should have started them a few weeks ago. They'll go faster that way. Oh and! Romanesco. Yum.

So, back to the chicks. We got three chicks on advice I was given that if we want to have two chickens, get three chicks. I am hoping that all goes according to plan and we really end up with three living hens all the way to laying age. We have sort of been telling the neighbors we probably would have two chickens, but I think once they get over the actual physical presence of them, having one more really won't be a stretch. We got started on the coop later than I would have liked, but we made ok progress yesterday even with the large time-gap of actually going to get the chicks, so in the next six weeks I think we will be on schedule with the coop if we can get in a couple of distraction free days.

The chicks are three different breeds. A Barred Plymouth Rock, a Rhode Island Red and a Black Sex-Link. I wasn't able to find the breeds I wanted this week, so I guess I'll have to plan more carefully next time around. I was a little disappointed at first not finding what I wanted, but once I acutally had laid eyes on the chicks and had them in a box on my lap in the car it didn't matter any more. The first barred rock we got was too aggresive so we had to turn around just a minute out of the feed store because she was pecking the other chicks eyes pretty non-stop. I knew there would be a little bit of "pecking order' establishment, but that was little bit much. It was the first time that the chicks had been in a space with chicks that weren't their own breed, so they had some buddying up to work out, and they all seem to be fine now.

They all have distinct personalities already. One chick, the barred rock (or bard rock as Joe likes to say) actually sleeps on her feet wuite a bit, which is hilarious. The red has the most wing feathers of them all and is a total loudmouth, and the third--the sex-link--is pretty quiet and little bit more meek than the others.They are living in a big plastic tub with pine wood shavings on the bottom, and we have them on organic feed/scratch mix. It's so exciting!

Now I gotta go back and check on them. It's been awhile and I get a little anxious when it's too quiet.

On Sunday I managed to get some things into the ground. Onion sets, radishes, peas and lettuce. Also put in some beet and carrot seed though it might be a hair early for those last two. We shall see. It was nice to be out in the blustery weather--I took advantage of the few minutes of sunlight that we were blessed with in the afternoon even though it was super windy and I got hailed on at least once. I love spring in the PNW because it is slightly unpredictable in an unusual sort of way. It is highly variable--as in 2" snowchunks falling Sunday morning, then almost 50 degree weather with 25 MPH winds in the afternoon and maybe some hail but definitely some rain. Even with this variance you at least know it will be unpredictable--you learn to always wear your raincoat because you just never know, do you? It can never make up its mind which I like. It does get tiresome though, when watering said seeds becomes an unpredictable schedule.

In addition to that, we spend a weekend on the coast checking out wedding stuff. We reserved rental chairs and dishes, which is great cause we can take that stuff back dirty and it's all reused and reusable. Also we reserved a picnic/kithcen shelter in a small state park with beach access for the actual ceremony/reception part. There are a lot of reasons this is good, the most awesome being that is a built in rain plan and there is a tavern up the street. Probably the only tavern for miles on the coast, which is awesome. We can't wait. Something funny has started happening--people will ask how wedding planning is coming and I say something like "oh you know, slowly but surely" and they almost invariably say "well, you still have lots of time" which is true, I technically do have almost six months still, but it goes by so fast, and a week can go by without doing a thing. On the other hand, which is that part that makes this sound really funny to me is this phenomenon: people will ask Joe if he is getting nervous because "the wedding is less than six months away and boy is that soon! " Like when you are the chick, the wedding can't come soon enough, but on the opposite side obviously the longer you wait the better. I think that is a total stereotype. I also think that I probably can do nothing to change it, so oh well.

I finished an entire wedding project--making all the fascinators for the ladies ("bridesmaids" and moms) and my veil. I am fairly happy with this progress. I felt like I wanted to be able to get a whole fun project out of the way so that later when the stress sets in the project will a) be done and b) will not have been overshadowed by various deadlines and other stresses. It was really fun to make them. I have been collecting feathers and ribbon scraps and then went to Pacific Fabrics and bought a few more things. My cousin Chessa (one of the aforementioned "bridesmaids. does anyone have a not so stupid term for this?) helped out for a bit on Saturday, and then I finished them up yesterday. Pictures here. 

On Saturday night we went dancing at Noc Noc after drinking a few grape-aid vodkas. these are made with lemonade and three olives grape flavor. they are way too delicious for anyone's good. Sunday was not a very productive day. Ah well, I guess that's what sundays are for sometimes. Noc Noc was an interesting experience. A lot of older people and transvestites. I do love transvestites though, they know how to get down.

So, my mom told me over the weekend something that was related to her by her acupuncturist's mother. She said that traditionally in Chinese culture there is the belief that however your day goes on the new year, that is how the rest of you year will go. This woman is Vietnamese, and it sounded very intriguing.
I remembered this about halfway through my day and it made me stop and think about how it was going so far. It was a weird morning because I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night. I had intended to get up and swim this morning but could not drag myself out of bed, even though I knew swimming would probably give me more energy for the morning. Instead I lay in bed with Joe and felt warm and sleepy and monday morning-ey. When I got to work it was just a normal monday. It's been slow so there wasn't a whole lot to do at first, then it turned into one of those days where I had more than I would like to be doing in one day on my list. There were several projects that I would have liked to avoid today that couldn't be avoided. All in all it made for a longer day than I had planned, which was good because I missed a day last week for our trip to Portland, but made me get home later than I had though I would. I had a pretty good attitude about it all, and felt very in control of all my various situations, as well as being extremely productive today. I had to grocery shop on the way home and did a good job with that too, not getting any snacks even though I was hungry, and not taking a sample at Trader Joe's. We have been having a challenge at the bakery to not eat the leftovers and to not sample and nibble, which I have felt really in control of. I know that if I can conquer my cravings for just a couple of weeks I will have a much easier time getting myself to not eat a lot of crap. Losing weight/getting healthier when you are a baker is not very easy. When I got home I knew that if I sat down I would have a very hard time getting back up because of my tiredness level, so I just kept going. I put away all the groceries and made dinner (a pretty good leftover meatball and mashed potato pie. I forgot to cook the carrots before I added them so they didn't get done all the way and it could have cooked a little longer in general but very good flavor. and a lot left over.) and treated myself to a glass of wine and finished cleaning the downstairs of the house where I left off yesterday. By then Joe was home so we had dinner. I think it was a great day. I anticipated this year to be amazing anyway because I have a lot of projects I am really excited about--p-patch, getting chickens, getting married, etc. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

so we were in portland this weekend visiting joe's uncle arthur and his son benny. it was interesting because the twins offer the chance for some interesting dynamics to happen. being what they are, which is 5 and 1/2 year old twin boys, they are a particular brand of excitement laden energy and can be very extreme at times. this is being nice. at their best they are hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable and super cute and very very sweet, not to mention very bright and with great senses for the humor and profound in life. When they are like this, it makes me envious to not be able to call them my own, and makes me long for the days when maybe i will maybe (if i should be so lucky) have a chance to call such a child my own flesh and blood. at their worst they are the exact opposite--namely little jerks who don't think about anything before they act, say terrible things that hurt your feelings and then maybe even throw a punch or two for good measure, all the while screaming at the top of their lungs about how they aren't listening to you and they don't care and maybe slamming things around in the house or spitting and other various obnoxious and semi-dangerous behaviors. or maybe just being annoying on purpose, which is a favorite past time no matter what attitude they have about it.

now a description of the cousin--he will be 11 in june and has a really laid back dad who toured and worked with the grateful dead for years, and who now works for the special olympics, all while living in a beautiful house in portland, about a mile and half from the studio where he does hot yoga. his mom is remarried but i've never met her or her new husband, but i know that all three parents have a great relationship. there is only benny and no siblings and so much attention has been lavished on him, not without reason. anyway, he is generally a good kid as far as i can tell, but not without his own issues. anyway, he is a very anxious kid and had a hard time sharing, and also really into video games and some of them not appropriate for 5 year olds. he had a hard time letting go of control of his house to share with guests and doing the "don't touch that, put that down, clean that up, do this, do that, over here, not that, no, stop, kind of stuff which of course just makes five year olds of the sort listed about go even more in the direction you don't want them to go in. it was joyous, i tell you, just joyous.

in the midst of all this i read one entire fiction novel entitled "roommates wanted" by lisa jewel. it was good and lighthearted. i thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it for a light fast read. i don't read fiction a whole lot anymore so it was a nice antidote, so to speak, for the other book i am reading--collapse by jared diamond. it's heavy.

i also opened my first jar of dill pickles homemade by me ever! and--they were delicious. kinda spicy because of the amount of garlic (a lot) and chilies (also a lot) and very dilly but just at the beginning when it really counts, then the kick takes over. and just the right crunch. so delicious!! hooray for homemade pickles!! i love them and i love being so self sufficient in the middle of winter and i love being a homemaker. i said it. i love being a homemaker! hear that world? bring it on!

haircut!

silk!

turkey sandwich!

this is like an almost 100% awesome afternoon. now all i need is a cocktail of some sort.

I think that overall I had a pretty good year last year. There weren't any major disasters, I was healthy and my life just kept getting better. Joe and I got engaged, we bought a house, we elected an amazing person to the white house (finally) and I became an aunt for the first time. It was so great to have so many special things happen to me in one year, because for so many years absolutely nothing special happened. The special and amazing things have been picking up pace in the last few years and I anticipate this one to be a continuation of that trend--and hopefully not a peak.

Everybody is excited for this year. I must admit I am getting a little worked up about not feeling ready at all for the wedding planning. I have been steadily moving towards getting things done that involve planning. I ordered silk today for my dress and for a few other things that we are going to make. My niece's dress (she's going to be a very very small flower girl! I am so excited!) and neckties for the dudes and stuff like that. It has been an exciting process, this dress. My sister is a seamstress and so she is making it. We looked at lots of patterns and I decided on a reproduction of a 1952 ball gown that we are going to alter a bit and give some personal touches. It is going to be a truly one of a kind dress. Picking the colors was so much fun because they all turned out just perfect together and will be so good out there on the beach. It gives me butterflies in my stomach thinking about how soon it really is.

The next step is meeting again with out Rabbi. And we have to go to a pre-marital counseling session or two. That should be interesting because Joe and I communicate very well and our arguments are almost non-existent, but there are a few behind the scenes things that I guess we could use an outside opinion on.

Ah, 2009. How much 1t holds and in what shape, nobody can really say, but I thinks it's going to be a good year.

i had my very fist aliyah today, as a real live jewy jew. it makes me feel more jewish somehow, which joe said is not weird. everyone at synagogue said I was amazing and beautiful and natural and nearly flawless, which was great to hear because i was so nervous. as i was reading the blessing, i felt this rush of blood and then there was a noticeable lack of a rush of blood immediately following that. it was the opposite feeling of feeling flushed, but not like feeling faint. it was cold but combined with the " i was just extremely flushed" feeling it was really weird. i said the whole b'rucha and it felt so good, to be there and saying it and then the rabbi said some words about me converting and how it is like a renovation or renewal of the neshama, the soul. it was neat. i had totally forgotten that he would say something to me in front of the congregation. i was there for a few of my classmates first aliyot after their conversions, and the rabbi always said something. i was so wrapped up in the nerves of speaking publicly in a foreign language, and the order and the choreography of the whole thing that i totally forgot the humanity of it. it was a relief to have it be over, and so amazing to hear all the people say mazel tov and yasher koach to me. it was such a warm and truly welcoming experience, i wouldn't trade it for anything.

so the rush has started at work. because we are bakers who make delicious things, the demand for out product is high during the season when people traditionally gorge themselves on baked goods and other calorie rich things. that means that, despite the poor economy (which has been impacting us pretty noticeably up until now) has not deterred people from purchasing their cookies and cakes and pies. this is good for my pocketbook, not so good for my outlook on life. it is hard to work ten hours on your feet. or more. the last three days were progressively longer and so i anticipate the next two will follow this pattern. i am tired but will become more so. the problem is the caffinated drinks in the afternoon, from which i get energy when i need it most, but then keep me up beyond when i should be sleeping, which really should be like 8 pm. but whatever.

I have also started riding my scooter again. it is fairly cold and many days are wet, but that is the great PNW for you. it was a little scary at first. i pretty much lost all my confidence in riding so it was like the first time again. but i have gained it back with each ride. today was pretty easy so that is good. the rain yesterday gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach quite often. i guess it will take some time to get over my accident. i still won't ride past the spot where i crashed. it is too nerve wracking so i avoid it, which actually shaves time off my commute so it works out for the best.

i went to the dentist today. i was cursed with terrible terrible teeth. they are like sponges for sugar and bacteria and so become even more like sponges--lots of holes. i have to get a cavity filled next week, about which the dentist told me to cross my fingers and hope it doesn't require a root canal. she even made me schedule it for a day when the root canal dentist is in the office. yikes! if that happens it will be the second in a year. i will never miss a dentist appt. again, let me tell you. it is not pretty when you finally get there. on the bright side, i have no new cavities and only have two that need to be filled besides the dangerous one. and! my gum numbers are great. i know this is probably really really exciting to all of you who might happen to read this, but rest assured it is truly exciting to me. let this be a lesson to all of you who avoid the dentist. it is not worth it. if you don't go because you are broke, it will still cost you an arm and a leg later. or worse, your teeth, which i am thankful to still have.

now. to eat some yummy yummy yam fries. garlicky, mmmmm.

i just finished the book "middlesex" by jeffery eugenides this weekend. it was a great book. one of those books where you get knots in your stomach from the anxiety that the story gives you while reading. there were times when I would have to put it down because the story was working me up so much, and i would just need a break. i love that feeling when i read. i think it's akin to loving to scare yourself or watching totally gross things on tv because you just can't look away, even though whatever it is is making you feel a little queasy.

I haven't posted since like may. i don't really know why. i still read everyone elses journals pretty regularly. i guess i'm just a slacker.

oh well.

so i finally get to ride my scooter tomorrow, after three months of waiting. i was in an accident in august and it took more than two months to get the scooter repaired and to get my new helmet in. so hooray for that!

I finally got a plot in the p-patch on my block. hooray for that too! the people who had it before me left a whole lot of stuff in it. there are raspberries planted and this week when I started cleaning it out of weeds and stuff I picked a whole plastic produce bag full of bean pods full of dried or drying beans. mostly white navy beans but also some scarlet runner beans. and then there were also enough tomatillos left to make more than a pint jar full of salsa. yum.

plans for the chicken coop are coming along. i cannot wait to get chickens, but first you have to have a house for them to live in. i have a pretty good plan, now i just have to dig out the tree that is in the spot where it will go and start collecting appropriate scrap material. I think i may go scavenge some boards and stuff from the construction site on our block. If anyone knows of a good place to get (free) scrap material like planks and boards and wire fencing and cinder blocks we need all of that stuff. or if anybody wants to help me actually build it when we get all that stuff together, that could be fun too. like an amish barn raising but smaller scale. now i just have to spill the beans to all the neighbors. the part i hate--talking to people.

i am going to make a conscious effort to actually keep track here of what I am doing. there are some things going on that it might be nice to look fondly back on when I get old. my new niece growing up (four months old already!)planning our wedding, liking my job, my closest cousin finally returning from the east coast after years and years, and all kinds of good stuff like that. so that's it. like a self challenge. i'm terrible at challenging myself. here goes nothing though, right?

So today I dug up a bunch of herbs. Last summer I established a couple different varieties of mint and a lemon balm. I also planted some kind of oregano and a rosemary and a purple sage. I dug the sage and the rosemary and about 1/3 of each of the lemon balm and each of the mints. I also dug up the parsley that may or may not come back. It was great all fall and winter and then started to flower and go to seed so I hacked it all off. It should come back but if not I've got a back up. A few weeks ago at the Tilth plant sale I bought a chive and a new cilantro and a lemon thyme and some other stuff I can't remember and so I will have a pretty rounded out herb garden once I get everything in the ground at the new house. I can't wait!!! I also bought some strawberries that I think I will just put in a pot for this summer (maybe I can get my hands on a half whiskey barrel) and then see what happens. I bought two varieties to see which one works best for the new house's growing conditions.
I also dug up some daylilies I found growing along the fence that separates our current house from the neighbor's yard. They were kinda growing right along the fence, some on either side, so I just dug up a bunch. They were growing underneath a bunch of overgrown bushes and I didn't even know they were there (they never bloomed) so I don't feel bad taking them. I wanted to bring them out into the light of day so we will see if the gardening karma gods look kindly on my plan. I also dug up some of the many many grape hyacinth bulbs and some of the tulips I had planted but none of the daffodils because they were freebies to begin with.

I also got a p-patch! Finally! So I have to start on that tomorrow. It is 200 sq. feet (10x20) of buttercup weeds. I am not joking. If I want to get anything edible or any flowers worthy of cutting out of there this season I have got some serious work ahead of me.

Also, scourge killed what I think was a baby rat today. I screamed, a classic scream, even though I knew it was going to be there because Joe told me. I couldn't help it.

Also, even though the heat has been great, I am ready for it to be about 5 degrees cooler. that would be awesome.

this is crazy! I can't believe how silly and awesome it all is. I can't stop smiling. people are already planning parties and toasts and I wish people could be this happy for each other all the time. plus joe keeps calling me fiancee which cracks me up. 

okay so I went to the Dr. on friday because my knee has been bothering me. I don't know if it has to do with bike riding (training for the STP) or what. I got X-RAYS!!!! more on that later, as I don't know what the results will be until next week. I might have to have an MRI. that would be cool and scary at the same time.

so even though it is sunny and stuff I am jealous of the outside people. Joe is riding his bike around Mercer Island right now, while I am stuck with the trainer so that if my knee starts to bother me I can get off right away instead of having to turn around and bike all the way back.

I'm sure glad the sun is out though, because that means that all kinds of fantastic stuff is happening in the yard,--daffodils, grape hyacinths, the pear trees are in blossom, and all kind of other stuff. oh! some little baby irises my grandma gave me. and the tulips will bloom soon, I can just feel it! hooray!!!

yesterday joe and I took a bike ride across i-90 and back. it was fun I guess. I haven't ridden a bike in about 8 years so it was kind of weird to be on one. it was like, well, riding a bike. you never forget--it's true. I thought it would be a lot harder of a ride because I am not in the best shape of my life right now. but I actually did a lot better than I expected. My muscles felt pretty good and I got a pretty good sense of how to use the gears to my advantage after a short while. It was pretty weird to ride next to the cars and on top of the lake though. I mean, the water is right there, and if for some reason you crashed you could actually fly over the barrier and into oncoming 60 mph traffic, which is a little scary, but whatever.

i wish weekend where i didn't want to do anything would actually happen that way.

this weekend was one of those where we planned to do not much and then today my boss asked me what I did this weekend and I just kept listing things.

dinner and margaritas at el chupacabra friday night with Rose and then skinny dipping in her grandparents hot tub.

synagogue and visiting with my grandma and mom on saturday. then chores and dinner at home and then sweeny todd at meridian 16.

sunday bike ride, memorial reception for Justin's grandpa (whom I never met but seemed like a pretty great guy). some on the fly just for fun open house drive-bys. dinner at home again then Dan Deacon at Neumo's.

it was a lot.

I get really dissapointed. by haircuts. I got this haircut last week that I hate. The last haircut I got I wasn't that happy with either, especially after it started to grow out and look stupid. times like these I miss my long hair. for sure. but then i think about all the fun it is to have short sexy no frills don't brush it hair and I am glad. I just hope this haircut grows out soon because it's really getting on my nerves.

I am still sore from my I-don't-even-know-how-many-for-sure-but-something-like-9-k snowshoe adventure on sunday.



I hope I get better at this because I'm going to be doing it on a more regular basis hopefully (for Joe's sake) soon. more pictures here.



in other news, I can see my breath in the bedroom. that, to me, isn't a good thing.

today I managed to actually get around to deleting all those 2-year old emails that I had sitting in my inbox. It's kind of silly really, that they were there, but I just never saw any reason to get rid of them.

it's kind of fun seeing what you wrote to people 2 years ago. I found some good stuff. Like a dream I had that I wrote to myself to remember. and a link to my cousins blog that I have never checked but it's ok because she hasn't updated it since last summer anyway. and some other stuff like plans for dates and outing and dinners and plans for my trip to france. emails from before joe and I lived together. just stuff like that that you never think about until you are forced to face it. I don't want to do it again though, because shifting through it for gems I might actually need someday was a pain in the ass.

in the last two nights I have had something totally weird happen to me. i didn't wake up when joe got up to use the bathroom during the night. this is weird because I am a notoriously light sleeper and usually, just about anything will wake me up. joe and I sleep very close (it's a combo of body heat, totally cheesy but unabashed love, and animal magnetism) and so him getting up will usually wake me even if only for a brief little minute. I knew he had gotten up in the night because when I got up to use the bathroom the toilet seat was up, when last I could remember, it was down. I can't explain this new deep sleep, but I hope it doesn't leave anytime soon.