How Does Your Garden Grow?

Not even a month later and it's amazing to see the growth in the vegetable bed! I've decided, despite the dubious looks and warnings that I've planted things too closely, that I really like the "square foot" method. I appreciate having a straightforward "system" that feels manageable and knowing that I can plant more squares as I am ready without having to do everything at once. I added a few tomato seedlings which just took off in the rich soil as soon as the weather warmed up. The corn is coming up, as are the snap peas and beets. I planted a few more seeds of the vegetables where I found empty spaces. I think I'll let the seedlings grow a bit larger before transplanting them. None of my lettuce seeds survived past the barest hint of a seedling- I think those really hot days we got a couple of weeks ago did them in, so I sowed more of those seeds too. Next steps are to fence in the veggie beds so the dogs are no longer tramping through there, and probably to make cages to protect the newly planted seeds from birds- I've noticed they've gotten more numerous and noisy as the weather has warmed- probably advertising to all their friends where the yummies are! Next month, I really should get the vertical supports in for the melons and squash- people are already pretty skeptical about the fact that you can train those large fruiting vines UPWARDS, but it supposedly works!

Pinch Me...Pt. 2

So the last few months have seen us getting settled into our new home. I got right to work painting most of the rooms before we brought the furniture out of storage. The house is much smaller than our last home, but its dark walls made it look even smaller. A fresh, lighter color just brightened the whole house!
The kitchen before...

during...

and after...

Dining room before...

and after...

We were fortunate that this house has freshly refinished wood floors and new windows. Once the new paint color went up, all our furniture seemed to make so much more sense than it did in the old house- what was left of it, anyway (remember, MUCH smaller house...must need to pare down!) We have beautiful hills and open space surrounding our neighborhood. I reduced my commute from well over an hour each way to about 10 minutes, and once the first day of school rolled around last fall, we were pleasantly surprised to find that many of Munch's preschool friends live within a block or two. We have so much more time together as a family, and are within a few miles of Munch's grandparents and cousins. Money is tighter than ever, having sold our first house at a loss and purchased this new one for more than double the value of the last. We're still trying to spruce up the house and yard, figure out our new routines, and have found that driving home still doesn't have that familiar feeling yet. But I NEVER would have guessed a year ago that we would be where we are today- it is so much more than I dared to want.

Pinch Me...Pt. 1

Wow. I was stunned to discover I hadn't posted in almost a year. Somehow, the blog just got away from me. It HAS been a busy year, after all.

We had been talking for the last couple of years about the possibility of moving. Both AudioDad and I had hour-long commutes from our home in an affordable part of the SF Bay Area to our jobs in the most expensive county, also the place where we grew up. The commute wasn't so much of a burden until Munch came along. Spending hours in the car every day, we didn't have much time for family life.

Still, I was surprised when early in May, AudioDad made the decision to meet with listing agents. Our house was on the MLS by that afternoon. Two weeks and an Open House later, we had a buyer and a move-out date in mid-June. The problem was, we didn't have a closing date on a new place yet!

Luckily it was summer, and between vacations, house sitting, and rotating between various family members' homes, Munch and I found ourselves enjoying our nomadic life. We stored all our belongings and AudioDad settled in with our dogs with other family for what we anticipated would be a couple of weeks. But as problem after problem surfaced with the house we were negotiating on, weeks stretched into months. When the deal finally fell through, we were within days of Munch starting kindergarten.

We quickly looked through a handful of homes for sale, put a new offer in, unearthed some school and work clothes from storage, moved more permanently into a corner of my 10-year old niece's room, and crossed our fingers. School started. Munch and I hardly saw AudioDad as our family was now split between two homes so as not to burden our accommodating families too much. We learned that buying a home in today's market was a significantly different and more complicated process than when we were first time buyers ten years ago.

At last, we received keys for our new home at the end of September. We could finally live together as a family again. But now, we were facing a significant amount of work on our new, old house.

Munch's empty room

Last day in the old house