dearest daughters & son

Sand Circle DIY

Dearest Daughters,

I've wanted a sandbox for a looong time. For you, of course.

Not because I have memories of Great Grandma Gibbs' (well Lolopop's childhood) sandbox. Or because it seems like an awesome way to simultaneously stay in my pajamas AND go to the "playground"/"beach"/"camping".

I've looked for one of those used plastic-turtley-thingy-or-others off and on for the past couple years. But, I couldn't bring myself to buy (even used) a big hunk of plastic that would surely break and end up in a landfill with my fingerprints on it. Also, they just aren't big enough for two growing girls.

I wanted something quality and durable and nice to look at. You know, made of wood or something?

I could build a sandbox, I thought.

Well, I could. With Lolopop's help...

So, then, I'd hop on-line and think, I'll just buy a nice wood one and be done with it. Except, then I'd go back to thinking, I could make that for waaaaaay cheaper. But, then I never would.

Oh and Pinterest was ever the tease.

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Terry on Pinterest

Source: remodelista.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: dana-made-it.com via Melissa on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

Source: younghouselove.com via Melissa on Pinterest

 

This weekend my dreams (for you) finally came to fruition. Because of three factors.

1) Having spent an entire week somewhat paralyzed by anxiety, I had a bit of I've-done-nothing-productive-cabin-fever. And, I decided it was fitting to play the part of a real crazy person, by taking on this task in one day.

2) Lolopop, who is a very handy guy and who holds the tools hostage, has had a lot of projects on his Honey-Do list and I got tired of waiting until he was ready to do a project that I could very well do My Own Self.

3) But, doing it My Own Self meant lacking those tools and his nuanced expertise. So, I hit up Pinterest and craigslist with a vengeance. And was inspired by some no-nail solutions, coupled with stumbling upon a nearby arbor company with a massive pile of free wood.

The inspiration:

Source: google.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

Source: recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

And thus, our sandbox, um, sandcircle, was born:

Pile o' free wood, mostly fir. Just took a car-load of smallish and shortish rounds and hoped for the best.

Big thanks to my ever-supportive husband who indulges and muscles my whims.

Honey? I turned the kids into tree rounds. Also: yay for our new big car. I feel so empowered by my ability to transport large objects!

Plotting the course. Didn't do much concrete planning before (other than killing about nine feet of our crabgrass and therefore, having a general idea of size). So, just had to make sure we had enough rounds to go a-round (har har).

Found the center of our dead lawn and made a make-shift measuring tape compass to spray paint a nine-foot diameter circle. Then, got to digging up the dead sod.

Still digging. Whew! If I had to again, I would use Lolopop's roto-tiller first. Or rent a sod cutter? By the end, we had a system down, though. Tanned and toned to boot!

Ta-da! We could have just put the rounds straight on the ground like one of the Pinterest examples. But, digging down gave us a few more inches for sand-digging later on and a way to stabilize the stumps--sinking them a few inches below the dirt on one side and, of course, the sand on the other.

Dun-zo. Daddy-o.

While beadle napped, Unkinan and I laid two perpendicular layers of Weed block and pinned them down around the edges and center with landscape staples. We wanted to make extra-sure sand or your fingers wouldn't get this stuff up so we were enthusiastic with the staples; Unkinan had to make more out of wire coat-hangers. Shoulda done that from jump and saved a few bucks.

Don't underestimate the importance of placement! I let Unkinan handle this one! He was determined to make these rounds fit together like a puzzle, which is a good idea if you want to keep the sand in and the dirt out.

Rounds set on landscape cloth, all snuggled up to each other and the inner edge of our circle. We tucked any sneaky-peeky landscape cloth down and filled over it and into the exterior crevices with dirt.

We did some pi-r-squared math to determine the area of our circle. The hardware store had a handy chart to let you know how many bags you need based on your area and the depth of sand you want. We ended up with 30 bags, that's 1500 pounds of the good stuff: pre-washed (hopefully not too much silica) play sand. "You got a big sand box," the customer pick-up worker noted. Um, yes, sir, we do.

Various sand-pouring, dumping, stabbing and waterfalling strategies.

Yay! Done in a day! Now to figure out the rest of the landscaping!

And after a day away with Lola and Lolopop, the moment we were waiting for: the big reveal!

"Mommy, thanks for the sandbox, but will you build me a bunk bed now?"

Come on over! You know where to find us.

It was a long day, but worth the time and sweat. It was good to be out and about and not freaking out. And to do something productive, spending QT with your daddy too. But, most especially, it was worth it, knowing we've created a space for your childhood memory-making.

Also, there's this: GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY IN THE SANDBOX, uh, SANDCIRCLE!

Love,

P.S. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Lola and Lolopop who watched you girls all day, to Unkinan who lent his muscle, landscape staple-making sklls and stump-arrangin artistry. And to your daddy, who did a lot of the grunt work and is above and beyond supportive of me and my endeavors.

P.P.S. Forgot to break down the materials and costs, which were insignificant, compared to most scenarios of buying AND filling a sandbox.

1. Weed Block - 3 ft x 50 ft - $16

2. Landscape staples (pack of 10) - $3 plus another 10 homemade staples (free) - could've skipped buying these altogether!

3. Twenty Douglas Fir (because that what's they had) rounds, approx. 12-18" diameter each - FREE - holler!

4. Play Sand - I mentioned our calcuations above and we probably only used 26 of the 30 bags to obtain about 5-6" depth. We'll save the trouble of returning the extra bags and keep them for when we need refills in the coming years. I've read about play sand safety controversy and using alternatives like pebbles, but we just went with this stuff. It did have a small warning about containing material known to cause cancer, i.e. silicia, which from what I know is an element of all sand situations. This stuff was pre-washed and easy. And aren't we all going to die of cancer anyway? We might as well enjoy our lives as we live them in the BEST SANDBOX EVER? - $5/bag x 30 bags = $150 - 20% OSH discount = $120.

That is all. Grand total = $139 (plus tax, of course!)

P.P.P.S For now we're covering it with a tarp-bungee cord configuration, but am considering options for a more permanant solution. Any ideas?

Veggie Beds or Bust!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Whitney Farms for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Dearest Daughters,

This time last year, after we got our chickens (Gold Rush, HIckety Pickety, Houdina, Katsu and Four) settled into their accommodations, I was in a big rush to start a garden.

Not only do I want to feed you girls healthy and responsible food (how more local and organic can you get than from our backyard!?!), but also I want you to be raised knowing where our food comes from; not from the store, but from the dirt, from people's hands and hard work and from chicken butts, of course!

Last year, I had Unkinan dig up some sod in the corner of our yard and roto-till a couple of times. We threw down various seeds and planted some things from the nursery: strawberries, tomato plants, basil.

We had a handful of a harvest:

But, with our hasty and poor planning (hello, weeds! and poor sunlight) and with you two taking up all my time (RUDE!), our garden went wild.

The strawberry plants are hanging on amidst the weeds and the chard we planted from seed keeps growing despite our anthropomorphic talks, "It's okay, chard, it's not your fault. It's not your fault. You can let go now."

But, it's a new season! And I have new plans!

Get rid of the crabgrass and pesky weeds! Start with healthy soil (maybe some of this organic soil could do the trick or some compost from our local dump roto-tilled in)! Build raised beds! In a sunny spot! Irrigation! And weeding! And feeding our plants some organic plant food!

Because this is just sad:

This unseasonably warm winter and spring are making me feel a little left behind, but I'm determined to follow a somewhat-thought-out plan this year. And in California, you can find something to plant all year round. So, even if it takes me until July, I will harvest something from the earth!

My mantra has been: #veggiebedsorbust

BTW, if any People are in the same boat as me and the Dearest Daughters, trying to grow some yummy stuff with organic methods, just click through to Whitney Farms® for a $3 coupon to try their organic products.

Love,

The Stay at Home Momdrobe, Part II - Accessories

Dearest Daughters,

I wrote before about the four foundational pieces of my Momdrobe.

For my birthday, my sister, Auntie-Mommy Dee, as we call her, gifted me with The Best Present Ever: Lucy yoga pants.

I got them on Tuesday. I have not removed them from my person. That's how awesome they are.

The other three elements, I'm still working on. You can't rush these things. Don't underestimate the importance of finding just the right sweatshirt. I mean, hood? No hood? Full zip? Half zip? No zip. These are important first world conundrums.

While you go sit and consider those mind-boggling things, I wanted to add some accessories to the mix.

1. The Mom Hair.
Short, out of the way, and I mean business! Sometimes, I wish I had long hair, that I could shape into meticulous tendrils. But, 1) my thick, relatively textured hair don't play that and 2) WHEN. EVER. my hair is long, it ends up in a pony tail or bun. And not one of those cute, fancy pants, with braids and wisps and a romantic softness around the face kind of deals that are popular these days. Nope. We're talking high school athlete pony tail. But, with less sweat. OF COURSE. (Exercise? You can get hurt doing that.)

2. Hello? Hipster Glasses, duh.
Makes up for whatever street cred I lost when I cut my hair. Ugh. I'm getting to an age where I'm not sure what I can pull off anymore. I try to wear things that I won't regret twenty years from now when you girls pull out the ol' iPad12 to look through family photos. Unfortunately, I know glasses are one of those things that will date me. I can hear it now: "MOM! You wore THOSE? You look... you look... like a dork." And I'll reply, "Hey! Your cousins were wearing those glasses in the 2010s too." And you'll roll your eyes and be like: "Weren't they like cool 'tweens and high-schoolers at the time?" Uh, yeah, so what? And you'll walk away shaking your head, with a "my point exactly" look on your face.

3. The Whip.
It was time to enter Mom-car territory. Your daddy would NEVER go for a mini-van, not that I pushed it. So, an SUV took the cake. (It can also haul a LOT of cake). We could have survived in our four-door sedan, but I started to suspect we were getting minor brain damage from the number of times I hit your and my own head putting you in and out of the car. And if I ate one more donut, I wouldn't have been able to squeeze between the two car seats in the back. Now, we can carry more People and more Stuff! Like the good red-blooded Americans we are... driving in a Swedish car, in our Swedish clothes, hauling our Swedish furniture. BUT! BUT! I'm most excited, that now I can go buy REALLY BIG things at the lumber yard and build things with my own two American Pioneer Homesteader Urban Farmer Off the Grid Zombie Apocalypse and Earthquake Proofer hands. I digress. What's most important, is that I can commence donut eating in 4, 3, 2, 1...

This has been another quasi-helpful public service announcement for those investing in a Stay at Home Momdrobe.

Love,

We heart green food! (In time for St. Patrick's Day!)

Dearest Daughters,

I'm going to try something new today. In honor of upcoming St.Patrick's day, aka My Birthday Eve. And of your cute face.

Don't get your panties/pull-ups/diapers in a bunch, I'm not going bungee jumping or turning this into a cooking blog.

It's just that: I really do enjoy cooking. Though, I've warned your daddy, that I reserve the right, at any point in my lifetime, to change my mind.

People love others the way they want to be loved. I like to be cared for, my basic needs met. By no means am I saying that there are bad ways to show love (as long as it truly is love, not body parts, you're showing) or that I shouldn't be telling you "I love you" every single day of your life. But, I  personally could live without PDA's and compliments and, even, uttered "I love you's."

I could live on a lovingly and home-made loaf of bread and bowl of soup alone. Bonus love points if the ingredients are from a backyard garden bed. And okay, maybe I'd need more than a bowl. I could live on a pot of soup alone.

I first ate leek and potato soup at Super Auntie and Uncle's house. I was babysitting Auntie S and Uncle T, who were of a babysit-able age back then. I think Super Auntie and Uncle may have regretted giving me free range of the fridge. I think I consumed a gallon of soup.

Okay, fine. Not a gallon. I'm not a very precise person.

I cook by feel and taste, generally, so I don't have a real recipe to post here, but here are Pins/links to a couple of recipes for Dearest Daughter's favorite green foods.

Green Soup (Potato Leek Soup) - easy peasy, to make it greener, leave some of the green on when you trim the leeks. If you don't know how to trim a leek, look it up on youtube, or just buy the pre-trimmed Trader Joe's variety. There are a ton of variations on Potato Leek Soup: add cream, or top with creme fraiche, leave it chunky or puree (the girls like it pureed), if you're pureeing I've also added spinach (at the end), use chicken broth or just water. The best part is it doesn't have to be precise. If you only have two leeks, so be it, it'll be less leeky. Too thick, add more broth. Run out of broth, add half and half.

Source: thekitchn.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

Green Noodles (Penne e Broccoli) - is a one-pot wonder. The following recipe says to use a serving bowl for the final step. I just drain the broccoli and pasta and throw it back in the pot where I mash it up with a wooden spoon. Use some good quality or infused olive oil to suit your taste buds, because there is A LOT of olive oil involved. And you can use a ton or scale down the parmesean, but save the Kraft "cheese sprinkles" (as Bel calls it) to top your spaghetti and meat balls! A good, melty parm is a must here too!

Source: epicurious.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

Bon apetit!

The Stay at Home Momdrobe

Dearest Daughters,

Only six more days of going to "work."

And of all the anxieties about my transition (back, I should say) to Stay at Home Parentdom, none is so pressing in my mind at this: what do I wear to my new job?

Do I even bother to change out of my pajamas?

 

Source: jumpinjammerz.com via Lexi on Pinterest

 

Or do i just wear my clothes to bed?

Source: freshfinds.com via Valerie on Pinterest

 

I do live in the East Bay, after all, so I imagine I can pull off that just back from yoga class, hot of the treadmill, took my dog for a sunrise hike kind of look. Comfortable, but put together.

I just need a few essential pieces.

1. The Yoga Pant

Source: lucy.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

When I was pregnant, both times, I wore yoga pants to teach and to the church wear I work. A good pair, made not to fade can give the appearance of a nice pair of pants. If you don't look too closely. These are the only acceptable form of stretchy pants to be worn in public. As such, I plan on embracing them to the maximum.

2. The Dressy Hoodie

Source: lagarconne.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

These are overpriced swaths of material, which can be fitted or baggy. They say: "I got dressed this morning! And brushed my teeth." Even if you didn't.

3. The Fitted Fleece

Source: images.thenorthface.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

For those chilly morning jogs that I'll pretend I took. MUST be fitted. A baggy fleece won't do to achieve the illusion of svelte discipline and attention to one's physique.

4. The Blingy Running Shoe

Source: shopnewbalance.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

Brightly colored running shoes are the showpiece of the Momdrobe. Peacocking at it's best. These fancy shoes tell the world of your plight. That you spend all day running around chasing children, wiping butts, trudging through the battlefield of Left on the Floor Legos and shards of broken glass your toddler likes to eat. The best part, you don't *actually* have to "go running" in them!

Or, there's always the great, old standby, the muu muu:

Source: lavahut.com via Susanne on Pinterest

 

Clearly, I have many important decisions and considerations before me. Please pray for me as I continue to grapple with this and other important questions, such as: if we walk to McDonald's, does it still count as fast food? And to what degree are fruit snacks really fruit? Or is there a statute of limitations on showering?

Love,

I'm Did Do It!: Babybel's Train Your Dragon Birthday

Dearest Daughters,

Babybel recently turned three.

And it wasn't going to be a big deal. You know, just the family.

By the way, there are about twenty-five people, just on my side, who we consider close family. That's a dozen cousins, their parents and Lola and Lolopop. So, by the time you feed that many people, you might as well make a party of it.

"Just invite them over for cake and ice cream. I don't know why you do these big birthdays. Just one, ten, sixteen and eighteen. That's what we did for you," Lola suggests. This is coming from a woman who never has less than twenty pounds of roasted meat for her guests to devour at her Non-Birthday-Parties.

"Well, I mean, all this other stuff," she clarifies. "You know, the decorations, the special cake, the favors. I never did any of that stuff. I bought a cake and fed people large amounts of meat."

I explained, it isn't a "big deal" to me. I like doing creative things, working with my hands, cooking for the people I love.

It just so happens that there are forty-five people that I love.

So, I give you Babybel's (No-Big-Deal-Big-Deal) Train Your Dragon Party...

Embracing reality in the bathroom.

Dearest Daughters,

When we moved into our house about a year and a half ago we did a fair amount of work. We ripped out smelly old carpets. Tore down a wall and demolished the kitchen. We repainted the house a neutral grey and a robin's egg blue in your room. Much improved from the technicolor rainbow left for us by the former owners. Had the floors refinished and laid new floor in the kitchen. Then, we survived about four months with just a sink and our shiny new stand-alone appliances as we put in a new kitchen, finished shortly after Danjo was born. And by "we" I mean Unkinan and Lolopop and our Uncle Chuck. Mostly Lolopop.

I was six months pregnant when we moved into the house. Beadle was traveling a lot. And Lolopop was newly retired. At some point I should probably post photos of all his handiwork on this blog. For posterity's sake.

The bathroom, for whatever reason, we never touched.

Until, a few weeks ago, not pregnant, inspired by Pinterest, time and a gift card on my hands, and fed up, I did.

From meh and messy...

To poorly lit, but less meh and less messy!

Some more befores, taken from the doorway, clockwise around the small bathroom:




And afters!

I'm really happy with the taupe color, even though it doesn't really come across well in the photos. It and the red work well with the janky 1950's pink tile, compliments it and hides it at the same time! And I'm super happy with my clever shutters and IKEA condiment buckets turned storage. It's a small bathroom used by four people. Instead of trying to hide those facts--the towels, the products, the small electrics--I embraced them. It's just not a reality that we'd put everything neatly away in our scarce storage spaces in our scarce morning minutes every single day.

We don't live in a magazine.

I say, embrace reality.

Yay! For a bit of paint, upcycling and IKEA!

Yay me!

Love,

P.S. Some details for the People who want to know:

Wall paint: Behr Premium Plus Ultra in Classic Taupe 290E-3, semi-gloss $38.00
Ceiling and trim paint: Kelly Moore White 100 in semi-gloss and gloss (leftover from our original housepainting job)
Towel hooks: IKEA Lillhomen $9.99
Shower curtain: Ralph Lauren from TJMAXX $10.00
Window curtain: Target clearance curtain panel  I hemmed $4.99
Art: Trees I painted in high school from a drawing by my Uncle, the faux-wood "Life is Good" and metal leaf cut out were on clearance at Kohl's $5.99 each (note: this is so not me, but I wanted the bathroom to look finished for Bel's 3rd birthday party; may or may not replace with "real" art)
Light fixture: Home Depot $39.00 (similar to this, same company)
Mirror: found plus black spray paint $3
Rail and buckets: IKEA Fintorp Rail $9.99, cutlery caddy $6.99 each, condiment stand $12.99, hooks $2.99, IKEA artificial grass $3.99
Vanity paint: Glidden Onyx Black $12
Shutters: The ReUse People $5, IKEA Grundtal s-hooks $2.99

Death By Raccoon and Other Sources of Guilt

Dearest Daughters,

This morning, I went outside to check on the chickens. I really can't say that I was doing this "as usual." Our chicken maintenance schedule is a little lax.

I go out to get eggs every day, but never at a consistent time. When I do, the chickens might get fresh food, or water, sometimes both. Depends on how many children were left inside playing with matches.

When I went out this morning to throw them some kitchen scraps, la di da di da, I reached to open up the human-sized door to their run. And at my ankles OUTSIDE OF THE RUN was my poor little Chicken Katsu. She rushed that door like a Tweener at the Walmarts Justin Bieber perfume display on Black Friday.

But, Gold Rush? My dear sweet Gold Rush?

Intergalactic Awesomeness

Dearest Daughters,

Sometimes we go days on end staring at our belly buttons.

Every once in awhile, lightning strikes.

Like last night. I was being addicted to Pinterest. Danjo was wreaking general havoc. And Babybel was sitting on the kitchen floor drinking a cup of milk, a mini Buzz Lightyear figurine in her hands.

"Mommy, I want Buzz Wings," she epiphanized.

"Okay. Put it on your Christmas list," which is my reply to most of your requests these days.

"No. You can make them."

And she was right.

So in two shakes of a lamb's tail we procured a take-and-bake pizza box (that's an important detail, because I don't want you to think I let you play with gross greasy cardboard) and we cut, stapled and colored our way "to infinity and beyond!"

Then, you spent an hour working on drawing Star Command buttons on the cardboard scraps.

How awesome are we?!

Awesome enough to defeat Emperor Zurg. I know THAT much.

Love,

RIP Maestro Mice-tro

Dearest Daughters,

I was just minding my own business this morning, picking up laundry off the garage floor and putting it into the washing machine. When I felt something warm, furry and twitchy brush against my hand.

I'm sorry to admit, I screamed like a girl, as the poisoned mouse fell to the floor.

Then, I took a deep breath and sent my curious girls and beadle back into the house, while I transported the slightly alive Rodent in Residence to the trash.

Glad to know I wasn't a crazy THERE'S A MOUSE LIVING IN MY PIANO lady after all.

Love,
Mommy