You Capture - Depth of Field

"A can of worms, indeed."  (That was the original title, before I decided to use this post for You Capture instead)

A few days ago, out of the blue, Daniel says to me, "I think we should start composting."

"Sure!"  Why not?

"With worms."

 As in...earthworms.  Red wigglers, to be exact.  Imagine my struggle to keep a straight face while asking the guy at the bait shop for a few dozen "red wigglers."  Apparently they're the worms of choice for composting.  Without worms, you'd have to stir up the compost regularly to "aerate" it, helping it decompose evenly or whatever, but this way we don't have to do that.  Thank goodness.  Sounds like a job for Mike Rowe.

Getting everything we needed and setting it up was surprisingly easy, and while documenting the whole process, I took this shot just for this week's challenge:

 

You'll see where it fits in later.  

First, start with two big tubs.

Drill vent holes in tubs.
(FUN)

Shred a LOT of paper and moisten with a little water.

Put paper in tub.  5,845,671 points to whoever can identify the ripped up pizza box...

Add dirt on top of paper.

Pay no attention to the baby behind the curtain!

 

Add worms, to taste.
(Ewww...bad joke bad joke)

Do all of this right next to your dinner, cooking in the crockpot.

Thanks for reading that entire post, just for You Capture!  Check out everyone else's depth of field over at Beth's, at I Should Be Folding Laundry.

The "lawn" and short of it [pt. 2]

I came up with this new title for our lawn improvement saga.  I like it better, don't you?

So the grass-seeding and weed-killing are really starting to take effect.  The yard is officially dandelion-free!  We've been watching the tiny green shoots come up out of the bare spots a little more every day.

I can't wait to to something with the flower patch under the front window.  This picture doesn't do those blue flowers justice...they're gorgeous (and I wish I knew what kind they are)!  However, with the big empty spots, and the ugly black rubber divider (lower left corner) and the grass growing over it, the whole thing is kind of an eye sore.  Anyways, here's a good "before" picture:

I don't know when the "after" picture will be, because we now have our yard budget tied up in a slightly more important issue...

We have a drainage problem, which we knew when we bought the house.  It's not really a problem at the moment, but it could be in the future.  There are a few spots where the ground slopes down toward the house.  No bueno.

We got a quote from a guy, and the price tag was a liiiiittle higher than we were expecting.  Unfortunately, this is really the only reputable guy in our area who does yard drainage work.  After some deliberation we responded in the negative (thinking we'd put it off, and save up), but he countered with a payment plan that would work for us, so I think we're gonna go for it.

We'll keep you posted...

Dinner and a show

While I was visiting my family in Phoenix last month, my mom and I found ourselves just sitting and being entertained watching Hollie eat. We got thinking about how great it would be to buy one of those old-timey dinner theaters, and run a show that would just consist of a bunch of babies in high-chairs, up on stage, eating things like mashed potatoes, beets, etc. The really messy stuff. I would soooo buy tickets to that!

I'm not talking about child labor or exploitation or anything like that. It's just that I could watch her eat for hours on end (which I hope never happens).

It got me in the mood to do [yet another] post dedicated to mealtime.

She was adamant, so I gave her the spoon and the bowl (she's pretty tough to argue with).

Had to try out both ends...

She couldn't quite master the scooping technique, so she mostly just stabbed at it, like so:

I don't know what's going on here...

Goopy fingers!

Wait for it, wait for it...

The way every good meal should end. :)

Here's another memorable meal: mashed potatoes and steamed veggies.

Look at it. In the hair, the eyelashes, the ears, the nose...

More goopy fingers!

When dinner was over, we took her shirt off right in the chair because you better believe she was going straight to the bath tub (do not Pass Go, do not Collect $200). I guess she wasn't happy about that.

The hair...

(Finally) Trip to Phx - April 2010

Exploring the backyard

Hmmm...these rocks look good!

Helping my mom fold laundry!

Duke.  My [10-year-old] puppy.

A computer within reach!!  Irresistible.

 Haha!  I had unearthed my old high school graduation robes and mortar (is that what those goofy flat hats are called?).  Had to put it on Hollie.  :)  The tassel kept swinging away from her...so frustrating!

Woo hoo!!

Oh gosh, her and that tail!  He tolerated her for awhile, before just getting up and moving along.

Out for a walk...

 

This has to be my favorite picture from the whole trip.  Duke's face...

Her very first swimming pool!!  At first she was, well...unenthusiastic...

 



 ...but soon she was having a great time.  Here she is letting us know exactly how she feels...

She kept trying to drink the pool water.  Ewww...

Nevermind...this is my favorite picture.  :)

Who doesn't love pruny baby toes?!

Sneaky sneaky.

Out for a walk at the park.

I can take this, right?  (My dad's giant camera case.)

Haha...and then, she got ahold of Duke's leash, and off they went, with my dad and I following like the world's proudest paparazzi.

 

I should stop saying this, but actually, this one might be my favorite.

Or this one.

You Capture - Yellow

Once again, it's been awhile since I've done a You Capture challenge, but I always go to check each week's theme, and this week...yellow just happened to sneak up on me.

These are all my bottles and pumping stuff, which I am packing up until our next little one comes along.  Because I don't work, we never used them much except for when we left Hollie with babysitters (aka grandparents!), or when I had to go somewhere and leave her at home with Daniel.  For awhile there, we were also giving her a bottle daily, to which we added her liquid vitamin supplement.  That stuff tasted nasty...there's no way she was taking that from the dropper!

Anyways, with solids comprising more and more of her intake (I'd say her diet these days is pretty evenly split 50/50 between solids and milk) we have just not needed to have all that extra milk on hand "just in case".

I know it's not really a big deal, since we're still breastfeeding, but as I'm packing all of it up, it does have that sort of "end of an era" feel.  My baby girl needs me just a little less.

Don't be yella.  Check out everyone else's entries at Beth's! 

I saw the sign!

So...I got the camera thing worked out, but at the moment I'm too lazy/busy (yes, it is possible) to finish that post about the trip right now.  It will be done soon...I hope.

Anyway, just a few days ago, Hollie used her first sign language!  We just finished a 5 week sign language class (for babies) through Kindermusik.  We've been doing their music classes since last fall, but this is the first signing class that we've tried.  She hadn't really picked up on any of the sign language til now, probably because I haven't been very consistent about using it at home.

We were pleasantly surprised the other night (Daniel's mom was visiting, no less!) while she was eating her dinner and...out of the blue...asked for "more".

We got some video of it...but we're back to the lazy/busy thing.  I'll get to it, I promise.  :)

It was so surprising and so encouraging, that since then I've been focusing on another sign that we learned in class: "all done", as in finished.  We like our meal-time signs around here!

She used that sign for the first time today.

I guess that because she doesn't speak any words yet (except for the occasional "dada" and the even more seldom "mama") we don't realize just how smart she is becoming.  Of course we are noticing more and more that she's carefully balancing toys on top of each other, or fitting a small cup into a bigger one, or pressing the correct spot on a toy to make it play music, so we know that her little brain is working away, but this kind of real communication (even just "more" or "all done") is just...WOW!  Totally caught us off guard!

She's amazing.  :)

Heeeey....

...Sorry about that.  Hollie and I spent a wonderful week in Phoenix visiting my family, and I hardly had a spare minute to sit at the computer, much less post an update.

We had a great time!  Unfortunately I'm having issues with getting pictures from the camera to the computer, but as soon as I we Daniel gets that worked out, you'll get to see all our dog-chasing, walk-taking, park-visiting, pool-swimming (!), golf-cart-riding, pebble-collecting fun!