Seedlings

I'm not a naturally patient person. I try. I put forth the effort. Sometimes it involves clenching my teeth, putting on a far too large smile and faking it. But I tend to get impatient.


So when the seeds I had planted and set in the window hadn't come up after two weeks I was, shall we say, concerned. I checked out my trusty friend Google and confirmed that I had somehow screwed something up and all my seeds were dead.


And it was possible. I had kept all my seeds together in a single envelope and during a cleaning frenzy they had been placed in my large kitchen window. While perfect for seed starting the window can get very hot and given the strangely warm weather it was completely conceivable that I had fried my seeds.


I grieved. I wept. I moped.


You see, I'm a seed snob. Sure, I could buy the plants from the store but in terms of saving money there is no cheaper way to do it than by planting seeds. PLUS I have the luxury of having heirloom, non-GMO seeds growing things I just can't buy at the nursery. The nursery doesn't carry carrot plants at all but if they did they wouldn't be the sweet Chantenay Red Core kind. And while they have plenty of pepper and tomato plants they don't carry my Sweet Yellow Stuff Peppers or my Fox Cherry Tomatoes.


Too late to place another seed order, I stopped by the nursery on my way home from work one night and picked up another round of green bean and cucumber seeds and resigned myself to buying tomatoes plants in a few weeks when the weather was right.


Imagine then my surprise when I came home to find 2 possible squash/pumpkin plants growing in my front yard. And then in the raised beds I spied 3 sugar snap peas finally poking their heads out.


I could have cried.


Until that point I was pretty sure the only thing I was going to manage for the year was garlic and weeds.


Now, a few weeks later I have 5 -6 squash or pumpkin plants in my front yard (they look the same and I possibly planted both close together), 12 pea plants coming up and at least 3 cucumber plants poking their heads out of the ground. Additionally I have a melon seedling of some kind hanging out with the garlic (thanks 2 year old son) and my potatoes are finally starting to poke their eyes above the dirt.


I suppose it just goes to show. I needed only the faith in the mustard seed. Or was that faith as small as the mustard seed?

Seed Hoarder

I had actually meant to start a few seeds inside in March but it seemed that time kept getting away from me. Today, with only a few weeks to go before when I should be transplanting I took some time, pulled out my seeds, and began to plant.

I love the smell and feel of the potting soil. The colors on the seed packets are always vibrant and make me long for the sweet smell of wet earth and fresh carrots.

I realized though when I pulled out my seed packets that I perhaps have a problem.


Hi. My name is Lacy and I'm a seed hoarder.

Every year I buy my seeds and instead of throwing out what I don't need or better yet, passing them on to others, I put them in Zip Lock baggies, label them and put them in the garden shed.

I was admittedly surprised packets of the same kinds of seeds purchased year after year for now three years in a row. (I'm looking at your Green Beans) Frankly, it was a little embarrassing.

I also noticed that my gardening know how and ability seem to have increased.

When I first started I just grabbed whatever seeds in the garden store looked interesting. Not sure what I was thinking when I bought jalapeno seeds. I don't even LIKE jalapenos!

Now I only purchase heirloom seeds and I think long and hard about how I want to eat what I grow. I wont plant lettuce again since my family are not big salad eaters. We love cucumbers though and I think we need a few more plants around here of those.

This year I'm trying a couple of new things. I'm going to try and grow watermelon and another kind of melon. I've added garlic.

And I threw out the old seeds. Anything from 2010 just had to go. A couple of the 2011's went too.

And I planted tomatoes. Amish Paste and Fox Cherry. I also planted mini yellow peppers. Just for fun. (And because Kylie and Lizzie will eat them.)

Veggiepalooza 2012! Viva la Tomato!

William and Elizabeth

Micah recently became interested in his family tree. Which means I became more interested in mine.

He joined Ancestry.com and entered the information from his family bible into the family tree. He did a little research.

He bragged to me one night as he was falling asleep that he had gotten (at that point) all the way back to 1650.

Since I often compete with people over stuff that a)doesn't matter and b)they have no idea was a competition I got up, went to the computer and began researching.

2 hours later I had gotten all the way back to 1044 on one link in the family and declared myself the "winner".

I actually got so far back the first names in my family appear Latin. It's interesting because there is a MARKED difference in a couple of generations between the Latin/Pagan names and when we must have converted to Christianity because the names literally go, Nicol, Leolphi, Leolphus, Lyulph and then Philip. Philip goes on to beget Adam, etc.
And yes, all those names are male names. Somewhere around 1333 we started caring about the women in the family but before that it's only male names.

I confirmed what I've always known about myself. That I come from a pasty people. Lots of Irish/Scottish/English in there with some Danish for good luck.

While this family research is incredibly fascinating I discovered something I find incredibly unique.

In the one branch I've researched pretty thoroughly there are three different generations of brothers and sisters named William and Elizabeth. My paid actually makes the fourth. That would cool in and of itself but as Micah initially pointed out those are both popular names, historically. And he's correct, they are.

Except other popular names don't have that kind of similar pairing. Within the same family line there are Sarahs and Catherines, Roberts and Edwards but never does and Edward and say Sarah show up as a sibling pair but once. No other name combo ever appears as more than once EXCEPT for William and Elizabeth.

I think it's pretty neat actually. I carried on a family tradition without knowing it. Especially because I didn't even want to name my son William. When we did name him William it took Dora/Nana to point out that it was a family name going back to William Doyle.

Which, by the way, there are LOTS of William Doyles in our tree.

Sadly, or maybe not, there is only one Lacy.

The day I realized I'm really a 70 year old woman

who probably lives alone watching Wheel of Fortune and eating canned tuna with her 28 bajillion cats. (Yes, bajillion is the scientific term. Trust me.)

A few weeks ago I had gone to bed, like I tend to do prior to midnight but just barely. I was just slipping into the deep ocean of rest when the dogs started barking. Well, it was probably only one dog but after midnight they both sound the same to me. I stumbled out of bed, opening my bedroom door and hissed into the darkness "SHUT UPPPPPPPPPP". Silence followed.

I closed the door, laid back and bed and took a deep breath. Almost instantly I was free falling into the clouds of slumber when suddenly there went the dog again. I jumped up, angry and prepared to possibly beat something. The barking of course wakes me up and that's awful but it has the potential to wake Wilbur up. And a woken up Wilbur is WAY more terrifying to me than I am to the dogs. Obviously.

As I marched out into the living room I realized that my house was shaking slightly. I could hear music in front of our house on the street and loud voices of teenagers.

I stomped to the front door, flipping on my porch light and yanked open the door.

And this is where you have to really close your eyes and see this this in your minds. Because what the teenagers outside saw was me, with my long hair experiencing a mad case of bedhead and sticking out in all directions wearing a mint green nightgown with cats all over it that hangs roughly down to my knees and does nothing to hide the fact that I gave up my bar earlier in the evening. I also, for affect, was wearing red pajama bottoms with snowflakes on them, in flannel. And I was mad. Very, very mad.

I screamed something to the effect of "Turn that damn music down, I have kids and your going to wake them up. SHUT UP."

I might as well have waved a rolling pin and yelled "you damn kids get off my lawn".

All the kids stopped and stared at me. My blurry vision caught at least one kids jaw drop.

As the neighbor kid began to apologize I slammed the front door, locked it and turned off the front light.

I turned around to see Micah standing there, trying not to laugh and fairly evaluate the situation.

He should have hailed me as a hero because the noise from the street died instantly.

Instead he said something like "I didn't know you had turned 70 on your last birthday".

Whatever. Me and the cats are perfectly content. Now where is my Pat Sajack?

That groundhog is a liar

We had had a very mild winter, despite the pictures in my previous post with all the snow pictures. This weekend while Micah and I were cleaning the backyard of the dog "presents" and old leaves it dawned on my to check my garlic.

There's something I never thought I'd say. Check my garlic. Almost sounds like code for something else coming from me doesn't it?

Anyways, last fall, probably in October, I decided to expand my gardening horizons and picked up three varieties of garlic and then promptly forgot which kinds I had picked up.

In any case I planted them in my half whiskey barrels and walked away. Leaves collected in the barrel and I thought nothing of it really until Sunday.

Sunday I looked in the barrel and initially saw nothing. Which good because it's early March and the chance for snow here is pretty high. I learned that at the end of April 2 years ago when a large snow storm hit after I had transplanted all my peas and tomatoes.

Then, upon closer examination I started to notice a little green.





I've tried to cover them with some leaves but they refuse to be denied sunlight. I truly feel sick to my stomach that they are growing in so early but can hardly blame them. Today we hit 70 degrees at a time when the average temperature is around 54 degrees. So it makes sense that the garlic bulbs think they have hit the jackpot and are sprouting early.

After all, they aren't alone. I found this stowaway in my larger raised beds. This must have been a pea that dropped and hid at some point and has now decided to sprout WAY ahead of schedule.


My yard work assistants were pretty intrigued with all the green. Wilbur offered to help "pick" while Lizzie Lou just wanted to hear what all could be eaten with garlic.



I hope our lovely weather continues because I'd really like for all my plants to live. I really hope that groundhog was a liar and there is no more winter.

Just in case I think I'll pick this weed...

Family Photos

So this FALL I took some family photos but apparently never posted them as I must have forgotten I had a blog or something.

In any case here are a few of my favorites but certainly not all of them.











If you do nothing else check out this last photo of my in-laws and their grandchildren. This is absolutely the best picture of all the ones we took. Having said that please check out MY younger daughter there on the left.

Yes. It truly is the best picture.

Playing in the snow

This winter in Colorado has been mild to say the least. We've had, until recently, very little snow and weather that never got below freezing. Our Christmas was pretty brown and un-holiday like.

Luckily the end of January came and FINALLY Colorado remembered that it's Colorado and not, say, Florida and we got some snow.

Of course we had to run outside and play in it.

Needed to bring a drink with him. Does not care that that it will freeze out here.

I love that picture. The children are in mid-stride running from the evil snow blower. Which they chased and then ran away from multiple times that day.

Couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

Drive way snow angel's are the easiest ones to photograph.

Snot's going on?

While we are not a particularly religious household we do subscribe to the idea of Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Which is to say we broke out snow shoveling equipment and set them to it.

Taking a moment for a little snow shovel guitar.

This is how you clean off Mommy's car - pay attention!

In all we had fun playing in the long awaited snow which melted a few days later. By then we were over that whole below freezing and warming up the cars thing anyways.



It sure was fun having our snow days though. Even Micah enjoyed it.


Don't tell him I posted that.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Brian and his wife (and their new baby) have finally moved to Las Vegas which means a whole new stage of our lives here in Colorado.

No more week on, week off, no more two households, no more Sunday night switch.

I actually like it better and I believe the girls do too. Consistency in a home is a good thing. While they both miss Brian he's been good about calling them and texting Ky etc.

But the move also means school holiday visits. Colorado has a fall break for a week in October and so this was the first visit since he moved at the end of September.

Because Ky is 16 now we don't have to pay the unaccompanied minor fee, she just has to be in charge of Lizzie. That is a nice money saver but also a worry for me because those two seem to get under each others skin.

Not really having a sister I assumed that because there was such an age gap between them this wouldn't be an issue. I was mistake. Lizzie has a way of teasing Ky that Ky takes VERY personally and she retaliates in a pretty mean way to Lizzie which makes her cry. My nightmare was that happening in the airport and Ky losing Lizzie at some point.

Luckily for me Frontier Airlines was very understand of my neurosis nightmare concern and gave me a gate pass. The girls and I made it through security and lucky for me Lizzie and I didn't have to go through the body scan. (Sorry Ky!)

After we got through security Ky's Kindle stopped working and so her mood went from Eeyore to MASSIVE TEENAGED ANGER so I was glad I was there. First to call Amazon and find out what the deal was and second to make sure Lizzie was watched over because at one point Ky just got up and walked away without telling me where she went. Nice.

The girls posed for me while we waited for their flight to be called.



Lizzie had a case of the fidgets in a big way and told me "I think I'm gonna SQUIRM" after I asked her to try and control her body. But she did LOOK as though she was fighting it.

Finally their row was called so I walked them up to the ticket agent. Lizzie hugged me huge and I hugged her back. Ky of course is a seasoned pro of leaving mom on an airplane so I'm not even sure she said goodbye to me. I got this photo of them before I just started crying like an idiot in the airport.



They did make it safely and no one called security on me as I stumbled/cried my way back through the airport so I guess it was a good day overall.

Now I'm just counting down the days until they get back.

And eating ice cream for dinner. Because I can.

Hanging on with two hands

In two weeks I will be the mother of a 16 year old.

16.

Sweet 16.

I actually struggle to wrap my mind around such a thing because I keep thinking that it must be impossible.

How can my little girl be almost 16?

I still remember her staring at my mother with rapt attention as a new born while my mother sang her the "onsie song".

I can still feel the spit from her spit wet open mouth kisses on my cheek at 1.

Our family STILL says "Doing?" as short hand for "what are you doing?" just like she did at 2.

I remember the elaborate dance she made up to "Rum Tum Tugger" from the musical "Cats" when she was 3.

When she was 4 she could already read fluently.

She was 5 when the school district told me in Tucson that it didn't matter if she was reading college level material, she wasn't starting Kindergarten that year.

At 6 she fully believed in magic, so much that her birthday party included a magician.

I can still hear her at 7 making up stories with her grandma over the phone for hours.

When she was eight she chose going to Alaska to see her family over a birthday party and wound up with a surprise stop in Disneyland.

She was almost 9 when she called me at work to find out if she was going to have a little brother or a little sister.

I can still see her writing her letter for her grandmothers casket at almost 10. She had more poise during that time than any adult in the room.

At 11 she would still hold my hand at the store and didn't care if anyone saw.

I can still hear her singing in the basement at 12 loudly and like no one was listening.

I can see her crying uncontrollably at 13 and being so angry that I couldn't seem to help her.

When she was 14 she handled her parents divorce with grace I myself rarely felt.

I can still hear her at 15 screaming at me that she hated me.

And now, here she is 2 weeks from 16.

I am so excited for her as she grows and develops into the amazing young woman she is meant to be. But I still don't know that I'm ready for 16.

Luckily I have two more weeks of a 15 year old. And I'm going to hold on to every second of it.

Young Man

The other night I was walking up the sidewalk and noticed my son peeking out at my from the window of his bedroom. It was dark, about 9pm and he was supposed to be asleep.

"Young man, you get down from there and get in bed RIGHT NOW!" I said in my best stern mother voice.

He laughed at me.

"I mean it. It is past your bedtime, you go inside right now and get in bed." I was now standing in front of the window by at an angle and he was giggling maniacally.

"I mean it. If I have to come in there and put you bed myself I will."

More laughter.

"Fine I'm coming in there but you are not getting another bottle!"

As I turned around to go in the house I heard to my left, "Are you talking to me?"

Apparently my neighbor's 18 year old son was standing on his front stoop, I have no idea why. He thought I was telling HIM to go to bed. Of course he couldn't see the baby on the other side of the window or hear the laughter, he just heard the crazy neighbor lady scolding him and telling him to go to bed. At 9 o'clock at night.

Perhaps that explains why those neighbors choose to mow their backyard at 7am on Saturdays.

They hate me.

59 reasons

I love you....

1. You weren't afraid to let your hair grow gray
2. You showed me women didn't need to wear makeup to be beautiful
3. You instilled a distrust of pantyhose
4. You taught me how to manage my money before most of my friends even had money
5. You let me get a rabbit as a pet
6. You displayed patience that I can only hope to achieve
7. You taught me fractions
8. You accidentally taught me an Irish drinking song
9. You found money for summer camp
10. You made me laugh every time I spoke to you
11. You planted flowers where ever we lived
12. You had true compassion for your fellow man
13. You got me a phone when I was 13
14. When I was 11 you shared me special powder after a bath because I was feeling so hormonal
15. You bought me bath gel that you wouldn't even buy yourself because of the cost
16. You suggested I share my middle name with my daughters
17. No one else's mom had green eyes
18. Even though I was you never made me feel like an accident
19. You bought me groceries when I lived in Vegas
20. You had more friends than most people have hair on their heads
21. You honored your mother, even when she drove you crazy
22. You taught me the importance of knowing your family history
23. You told me to finish a semester of college before I got married
24. You scrimped and worked so we never had to leave my childhood neighborhood
25. You made up songs for each of my baby girls
26. You yelled at the neighborhood creepy boy for me
27. You brought me mac & cheese when I was babysitting for the "all organic/sushi" family
28. You cheered at all of my junior high meets and games
29. You showed me that family is more than just the people related to you
30. You believed me when I told you I didn't steal the Baileys (I really didn't either!)
31. You had a life that revolved outside of me
32. But also made me feel like I was your world
33. You never told me how hard teenage girls are
34. You let me call you "Mammy" when we lived in Texas
35. You never kept me from my father, even when he was a huge jerk to you
36. You let me figure stuff out on my own
37. You introduced me to Josh Groban
38. You paid $25 for my flute for 3 years
39. You took me on roadtrips
40. You taught me how to cross stitch and knit
41. I never went without what I needed
42. You watched "Pride and Prejudice" with me
43. The last thing you told me was that you loved me
44. When the world was crumbling around you, you faced it with dignity and grace
45. I never saw you stressed out
46. The best quote I ever learned was hanging in your house
47. You watched Dr. Quinn and Saturday Night Live with in the same night
48. You taught me how to ride my bike
49. You let me order cream pies for dessert
50. You gained 60 pounds when you were pregnant only to have a 6lb 9 oz baby
51. You knew I was sick before I did or my Dr.'s believed it
52. You found me a mid-wife for my delivery with Ky
53. You let me change schools
54. You guilted me into getting my first tattoo
55. You loved with your whole heart
56. You took me to church
57. You defended me
58. You wouldn't let me be a statistic
59. You were born on August 10, 1952

Happy Birthday Mom.

I miss you.

Not a photographer

Lately when I show people pictures of my kids I get "Are you a photographer?".

The answer is no. But, I explain, it's easy to look like one when you have a camera more complicated than the space shuttle and such easy subjects to work with.






For the record, I STILL don't know how my camera works. But Micah does and that's all that matters.

When Kylie was a year and a half, she loved to watch Quasimodo on TV which was a VHS copy we had of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". The Disney version.

When Lizzie was a year and a half old she knew some colors and could sing some nursery songs.

Will is a year and a half. The following photos should explain why he knows no songs, watches almost no TV and has no interest in reciting colors for me.

Trying to climb the penny horse at the grocery store. Half of his shirt is under his armpit because he struggled to get away from me so hard.

This image is from the video camera we have set up in his room. We have it as a safety precaution, I think you can see why. This first image shows that Will has throw his favorite blanket on the roof of his toddler bed "fort" and is now attempting to climb up after it.

This image shows that he got up there, the canopy was strong enough to hold him and he sat up there. For almost 20 minutes.

Not shown: Pictures of Will climbing into his high chair while my back was turned cooking dinner. Also not shown: Pictures of him scaling the dinner table, patio table and various other household furniture.

Anyone taking bets on how many bones he'll break before he gets to Kindergarten?

Does anyone know how many near heart attacks a mother can have because in 20 months I'm pretty sure I've reached the 3 digit mark.

Baby's Day Out

While my brother in law Andy and his wife Sara were in town they decided it would be fun to take Will to the zoo for the first time. Sadly I had to work but Micah and his mom Leslie were able to join the fun.

Upon entering the zoo Will behaves like a good boy and holds Daddy and Grandma's hands. Any Monkey backpacks tail.

At some point Uncle Andy ends up carrying Will. He also admires Monkey's tail

Will rides in style. My understanding is that he wasn't all that impressed with most of the animals at the zoo. Probably because really he's only tall enough to see everyone's rear ends and feet.

There is a wonderful carousel at the zoo and it appears that Will and Grandma had fun.

Uncle Andy and Aunt Sara also joined in on the fun.

After a long, hot day everyone was tired, sweaty and over it. Will and he Monkey backpack said "bubye" to the zoo.

Is it me or does Monkey seem to be looking back a little wistfully?