Preparing My Garden and A Day Like No Other

Today was bliss!! It really was. And it's not because I did anything overly exciting or extravagant, nor did anything overly exciting or extravagant happen to me. Instead I spent the day doing things that made me extremely happy.

My day started off with a visit from my parents. My Mom's car has been broken for a couple of months now, so I've hardly seen her in that time which is unusual for us. So they came by for coffee and tea and chocolate cake. Thankfully I had made a simple chocolate cake the other night and had just enough left for each of us to have a sliver topped with a dusting of icing sugar. The sun was shining, the conversation was great and the cake was delicious. After they left I got started on a gardening project I had been meaning to do since last year: building a square foot garden bed. Before I get into details, I will give you a bit of a tour of my backyard so you can see just how much space I'm working with.

 

Here is a view of the right side of my yard when I'm standing just

outside of my sliding patio door



Here is the left side of my yard



Here is a view looking back at my townhouse



Here we are back to almost the beginning photo.
As you can see, my yard is a fairly good size for a townhouse,
but quite small for gardening. The wall that the birdhouse is on will be
the home of some Super Sugar Snap Peas very soon



Yesterday I threw a permit on my van (I've taken the insurance off of my van and am again attempting to go car-lite, which I will blog about very soon) and ran some errands to pick up everything I needed. I already had 4 4-foot length cedar boards from last year so all I needed to buy was the components to make prime square foot gardening soil. I'm told from the square foot gardening book, that the best soil for this type of gardening is a mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. Since I'm a lazy compost turner (translation: I don't turn it) it takes a bit longer for the stuff to break down into soil, so unfortunately I couldn't use any of it for my new raised garden bed. Luckily my grocery store had a sale on for 4 20L bags of organic compost for $10.00. As I was shopping my local Home Depot for vermiculite and peat moss, I came across this stuff:

As you can read from the packaging, it is made from Coconut Coir and is a green alternative to peat moss. I though I'd give it a try because I like doing environmentally responsible things, and because the package was much lighter and much smaller than a 3 cu. foot bag of peat. What! Those bags are awkward!

After gathering everything that I needed, I put together my raised garden bed. I love working with wood, and this was probably the easiest thing to put together. I just pre-drilled 3 holes into the end of each board, lined it all up so everything would go together evenly, and drilled in the deck screws (very important to use deck screws). It took me all of 10 minutes.

After it was all together and beautiful I had to find the perfect place in the yard for it. The spot in the picture is where I settled on. I needed enough room around each side for tending to the plants in the bed and also for mowing with my manual mower. I also wanted to leave enough room on the right side of it in case I ever wanted to put in a smaller raised bed next to it, or if I want to expand the bed which I have already dug up (where the stones are lined).  

After the bed was put together, I opened up the package of BeatsPeat. The directions seemed simple enough: "Combine BeatsPeat with 39 litres of water or until saturated. Watch it expand like magic! Mix into your soil for improved growing results". Easy, right? Umm, no. After searching unsucessfully for something to hold 39L of water in, I ended up filling the bags the compost came in with enough water to cover 2 squares of BeatsPeat (it comes in 4 squares), so I filled two bags. When I put them into the water, I half expected (okay way more than half) them to expand like magic, just like the trusty directions said. I pictured it fluffing up to the equivalent of a 3 cu. ft. bag of regular peat moss and then I would gracefully spread it into my bed. Nothing happened. So after 5 minutes of watching and waiting, I went inside to avoid that whole 'a watched pot never boils' thing. After 10 minutes I went back outside and still there was no change. I touched them and poked at them and they felt the same. So, the impatient me that I am, I ripped off a corner of one of the squares and broke it up with my hands and dropped it into the bed. Seeing that I wasn't getting anywhere fast with this stuff, I decided that is what I was going to have to do. I started breaking pieces off of each square, breaking the pieces apart and spreading them into the bed. Here is a picture to give you an idea of the size of the squares right out of the package:



BeatsPeat squares laying in my square foot garden bed,
which is 4ft X 4ft

It took me 1 hour to break them apart. My fingers were not happy campers after that. Once I had them all broken down, I mixed them together with the compost and the vermiculite and this was the result:

Beautiful, beautiful soil. I couldn't stop running my hands through it. It is the lightest, fluffiest, softest soil I have ever laid my hands on. As you can see though, I didn't end up buying enough of everything because only half of the garden bed is filled. In a few weeks I will make another trip to Home Depot and fill my lovely bed up. As for the BeatsPeat, if you are looking for an environmentally responsible peat that doesn't infringe on our fragile peat bogs then I wholeheartedly recommend this product. While I can't comment on it's ability to house any of my food just yet, I can say that it feels incredible. If you're not wanting much hassle with your gardening endeavors and just want to get the dirt in so you can start planting, by all means go for the bag-o'-peat. Your fingers, and your patience, will thank you.

Some other plans I have for my yard include the following:



That whole length of fence and lattice will house the sweet peas
I planted on Friday. I was going to stick with all edibles in my yard,
but I already had this pack of seeds on hand so I figured I may as well
use them. They will make for a lovely privacy curtain between mine
and my neighbours yard. The area in front of the compost bin
will hold a few blueberry bushes.



Here, at the end of where the sweet peas will be,
I will be growing Yarrow (Parker's Variety Achillea). It repels aphids,
attracts beneficial bugs to the yard, and can also be used a variety of ways
including tea or as an herb for use in cooking. It even helps speed up
the composting process! Yarrow grows up to 3 ft. tall
so it will fit nicely in this space.



This section of lattice will house my Purple Peacock Pole Beans, a
bean that is purple in color but turns green when cooked.
How fun is that?!



In this section of soil that is in front of where the Purple Peacock
Pole Beans will be, I will be planting Chamomile to be used mostly for tea.
I already have a Day Lily growing here (the green plant to the left) 
which the hummingbirds love, and just in front of that my Bleeding Heart
has begun to come back. I have a couple other flowering plants in here
but I don't remember what they are. I'm also going to be growing
Dwarf Munstead Lavender and some Calendulas,
but I haven't decided if they will be in pots or in this garden bed.



This I received for my 30th birthday from my sister.
It will hold small bunches of herbs that I don't use often
and won't need too much of.



This plant stand I also received for my birthday and it
currently holds my Rosemary. You can't see in the picture,
but the stand holds 3 pots.
In the other two pots will be Basil and another herb.



Lastly are my Chives and Parsley which have come back from
last year's planting. I recently had noticed that I had a bad infestion
of aphids at the base of the chives and they were also on the
underside of the parsley leaves.
After mixing together a solution of hot water, 1 tsp. baking soda,
1 tsp. of salt and a few drops of liquid dish soap in a spray bottle,
I gave the aphids a good blast.
I did that once a day for two days in the morning and now they are all
completely gone. After I did that, my chives took off
and have almost doubled in size in only a week.

Things are coming together and I'm very happy. After I was done for the day with my square foot garden, I couldn't stop looking outside at it everytime I was in the kitchen. I can visualize the food that will grow there, and I can visualize myself tending to my little garden. While I was mixing the soil it was so peaceful outside. The birds were chirping but everything else was silent. It was slightly overcast out but the clouds weren't thick, and ever so often the sun would peek through and light up the yard. I had my hands in this living soil that was going to help produce food for my family. I found myself feeling more peaceful and content than I ever recall feeling. I was in awe of God and His provisions for us, how He thoughtfully pieced everything together to work perfectly. From soil comes food. Something so simple, and yet so incredibly complex and beautiful. Today was a very good day.


This post was shared on Homestead Barn Hop #6

Hello Cable-Free Life

The last two weeks in my home have been glorious. Why, you might ask? Well I did something that I've wanted to do for a very long time, and finally after several arguments with myself, I cancelled our cable. I have to say it is the best decision I have made in a very long time. At first it wasn't easy. There was a lot of this happening inside my head:

"Okay. NOW is the time, cable needs to go. I'm sick of it, I hate it, and I don't want it anymore"...

10 seconds later-

"Well, maybe I'll just get rid of the digital cable package and hold on to basic cable, just in case I need a TV fix. And I'll definitely NEED to watch the news. A person can't live in this world without up to the minute information on what is happening on the other side of the planet.......right??"

7 seconds later-

"NO. No-no-no-no. The point of cancelling cable is to CANCEL the cable. The basic package is not necessary and I don't need it."

5 seconds later-

"..........but what about that show 'Parenthood'??? It's getting really good now and I can't miss the next episode because the one girl is dating that guy behind her parents back and now she's gone and run away from home just so she can date him and......oh screw it. Cable's going." 

You know what the really sad thing is? I had conversations like that with myself for DAYS. It really shocked me at just how addicted I was to a box in the corner of my living room. What sealed the deal for me though, was seeing the immediate change in my kids just as soon as the power came on on the TV. They were instantly transformed into zombies, unaware of their surroundings and put into a state of complete mush-brain. It could have almost been turned into a game. Turn the TV off, they snap out of it and start playing. Turn the TV on, they freeze, flop onto whatever piece of furniture is the closest to the TV, and are motionless and unresponsive. I could have had fun with that. Anyway. After convincing myself that neither me or my children were going to die from lack of television provided entertainment, I made the announcement that there would be no more Dog the Bounty Hunter or Billy the Exterminator, and that was that. Not a whine or cry was to be had by anyone, surprisingly. The first day without the TV on was a tiny bit strange. There was a quiet in the house that wasn't typical, and of course we were all left up to our own devices to keep ourselves occupied. It turns out it wasn't that hard of a thing to do. I started catching up on books that I've been "too busy" (because of watching TV) to read, and Gabe and Vaeh started getting along in a way that I don't see very often. I started noticing that we would sort of migrate to the same areas to be near each other, even if we were doing our own things. I would be in my cozy chair reading a book, Vaeh would pull out a puzzle and find a spot on the floor right by the chair I was sitting in, and Gabe would put together a stack of books and plant himself right next to his sister on the floor. There would be this blissful, content quiet throughout the whole house while this happened; all of us peacefully enjoying our chosen activity but also silently enjoying the closeness of each other. We are a very close family as it is, but this was something new for us, and it was beautiful.

I can't say that TV has been non-existent in our home as we have started a nightly routine of watching Little House on the Prairie on DVD every night before the kids' bedtime. Does that even count though? And if I am absolutely desperate for a TV fix, there are always programs out there like Netflix and of course online. I can honestly say though, that we haven't missed one second of not having cable in our home, and it makes me wonder why I didn't do this ages ago. The last two weeks have been filled with baking, reading, crafting, conversations, cuddles under blankets, story telling by the fireplace, and a terrific feeling of freedom. I can't recall a time in my entire life where I didn't have cable. I grew up in front of a TV so it's no wonder why I was addicted, and the fact that it played such a prominent role in my life made me wonder if I could even do this without breaking out into a cold sweat and calling the cable company, begging for my service to be restored while I'm curled up in the fetal position. Let me tell you, if I can do this anyone can. It really does feel like breaking free from an addiction. It's a sad thing that something like cable can have such a grip on people, and I'm so glad I'm no longer one of those people.

Goodbye cable. Hello life.

Love Me Some Fall

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had the day off, so after breakfast the kids and I headed out for a walk to the mailbox and to play in some leaves. The streets in our neighborhood are covered in a gorgeous blanket of crunchy redness and it was just too hard to resist stomping on all of it. I thought it would be a great opportunity to collect some leaves for our compost bin as well.

 Composting has gone well for us and has been a fun experience. In the hot days of summer we encountered excessive amounts of fruit flies taking up home in the bin and that wasn't so pleasant. I'm still learning though and realized it was because I had too much food stuff in the bin, not enough browns (leaves, grass, newspaper, etc.) and I wasn't stirring. My bad. Now that the weather has cooled there is not a bug to be seen and the bin smells like wonderfully rich soil.

As we headed out yesterday, the kids couldn't contain their excitement for our walk. I don't know what it is, but my kids have a tendency to *always* run to the mailbox.

On our way back from the mailbox we headed for the leaves. I think they enjoyed themselves. What do you think?

 

As it turns out, we had a bit of an audience.

After our noses started to match the shade of the leaves on the ground, and our fingers curled up inside of our coat sleeves, we decided to head home. Within minutes of us taking off our shoes and coats, this is what it looked like outside.

 It was a lovely walk, and even lovelier to come back to a warm cozy home minutes before a rainfall. I love this time of year.

Birthdays, Biking and Bad Moods

It has been a busy week! It started off with a celebration of my Mom's birthday with a family dinner at a nearby restaurant. My Dad had the idea to treat us all to dinner and the restaurant they chose just happened to have a location a few blocks from my house, so I suggested we hold the dinner there so me and the kids could walk. I figured since I was always the one driving out to them whenever there was an occasion, (most of my family lives in their city, which is only twenty minutes away from me) maybe they would be okay with coming out to my neck of the woods, and they all did. So far my family has been great and supportive of my move from driving to biking/walking. I do get the occasional "Really?! You're going to WALK to the store? Isn't it a little far, with the kids and all? I mean, it's almost 6 blocks each way" and to that I just kind of chuckle, and then realize that used to be my mindset as well. It's been almost 2 weeks since I took the insurance off of my minvan and parked it, and I still haven't had one ounce of regret. I walk past my van everytime I leave the house and I've yet to look at it with any longing or wishful thinking. Instead, I look at my bike trailer as my new car. I've made two grocery trips with it so far, both walking trips, and I am in love with it. If anyone is looking to buy a bike trailer I highly, highly recommend the Croozer 535. With Gabe in it, I can fit all of our groceries and it's still super light and manageable to push home. Some grocery stores are a little more difficult to maneuver it in which can be a bit frustrating. The Real Canadian Superstore (or Loblaw's) is great and I have no issues with the Croozer there. Other stores like Safeway leave me with an inch of clearance going through the store doors, and I have to use the wheelchair checkout, but other than that it's a dream. I think the best part of it though is the fact that we are getting outside and walking more as a family. No more excuses about not being able to carry enough stuff in an umbrella stroller, or not being able to go out when my daycare kiddies are over. Parking my van has actually given us more freedom (I didn't ever drive daycare kids), which I wasn't sure was possible.

The other day my Mom stopped by so I could go to an appointment and I of course rode my bike there. It was a 20 minute ride in each direction and it was a mostly cloudy, slightly cooler day which was fantastic. When I was headed home I got to an intersection where the light was red. At that intersection I encountered my first "grumpy driver". I was stopped at the line, waiting for the light to turn green. I "took the lane" (instead of remaining to the right of the lane, I hugged the left of the lane) while waiting because just through the intersection I had to turn left onto a dead-end side street. A woman pulled up behind me in a car and instantly laid on her horn because she wanted to turn right and I was in her way. We had a very short conversation that consisted of her telling me I shouldn't be in the middle of the road, and me telling her that I was where I should be. Our conversation was only about 15 seconds long and ended with an eye roll and a "WHATEVER" from the driver. To be honest, as short-lived as it was, it did shake me up a little bit. It was only my second time being on the road with cars, and she was pretty upset with me. More than anything I think it caught me off-guard because I was really hoping that I wouldn't have any kind of encounter with a driver, ever. I suppose that was wishful thinking. I think it taught me to really prepare for everything while on the road, and it also taught me that drivers really aren't aware that the rules that apply to them apply to cyclists as well. 

The week ended with a celebration of Canada Day at a park just down the street from my house. I love it when events happen just a few blocks away from me so we can walk! I also love supporting local community events because I think we need more things going on around us that drag us out of our houses and force us to come out and socialize. It amazes me how much the sense of community has diminished in society. We all (well, most of us) congregate to neighborhoods, complexes and buildings to live in, close-knit and tight with other people, but how many of us know our neighbors? How many of us even smile at our neighbors? I often sit and think about how we are on this planet at this moment in time with all of these people, who, like us, are on this planet at this moment in time and yet we are strangers. And we like it that way. I suppose that is a topic for another blog post though :) All in all it's been a really great week. My yard/garden is slowly but surely coming together (pics to come soon!!!) and we may actually have a glimpse of summer weather next week. Now that is good news.

I didn't get much of a chance to take too many pictures of our Canada Day celebrations as Gabe was not in the best of moods. He's been going through some terrible 2's stuff lately, and he's added in a no-more-naps agenda just to make things interesting and keep me on my toes. I'm still fighting him on the latter. Gabe + No Nap = Terrible 2's On Steroids. I've also found it a bit difficult to take all of the pictures I want to take when I've got two small kids to manage. I've only got so many hands! I'll leave you with a few images of what I did manage to capture of our day. Enjoy your weekend!

A Lovely Little Garden

I'm really working hard on making my little yard into the prettiest garden I can. Living in a townhouse, I have a small yard with a patio area, which unfortunately doesn't leave much room for planting pretty things and growing yummy food. I'm trying to be very creative in how I manage the space because I would like to grow as much of my own food as possible, as well as have room for little bursts of color that make me happy. I started my garden last year not long after I moved in, and planted some Bee Balm, a Daylily, Bleeding Heart (my favorite!), some Pansies and some chives and parsley in a planter box. I had also begun upside down gardening which was a first for me, but with my little space I thought I'd give it a try. I grew cherry tomatoes and cucumbers last summer and they turned out wonderfully! If you are tight on space I highly recommend upside down gardening. It is super easy and we had so many tomatoes and cucumbers to eat. My Mom, who is an avid gardener and knows her stuff, couldn't believe how big my cucumber plant was and how much it was yielding. This year I'm doing Beefsteak tomatoes, cucumber again and will be trying zuchini which I read does very well upside down.

Tomorrow I'm going to do some work in the yard and hopefully will have things finished by the end of the week. I'm going to be building an above ground garden bed and will be picking up the supplies for that (simple 2"x10" pieces of wood and some screws) but first I need to dig out the area where that will go. I also need to dig out some small unruly bushes that are taking up valuable space in the corner of my yard and will put my new composter there. I will of course cut up the bushes I dug up and those will be used to start my compost. Once that is all done I will prep everything for the autumn planting season, which will hopefully be a little truer to a typical autumn than our summer has been to a typical summer. We finally hit 20 degrees celcius today and the sun made an appearance. It was magical. We have hardly had any sun this past month and it has been a little depressing. I'm hoping the sun is here to stay, at least for a while. My garden hopes so too.

Day 1.5 of Being Car-Lite

So I suppose I cheated a little bit. I know I told you that I was taking my van off the road on the 20th, today, but it turned out I ended up taking it off the road yesterday.

I took the kids to see Toy Story 3 as planned and my Mom came along with us. She enjoys coming out to the movies with us and really gets into the 3D part of it so I put out an invite to her and she happily accepted. It ended up costing me quite a bit more than I had initially expected. Turns out they didn't accept the half off admission pass I had on weekends, nor do they accept it on opening weekends for a new movie. Bummer. So whatever, I said okay to the cashier and said we want to see the 3D one as they offer both the regular and 3D versions at the theater, and 3D kicks butt. "Okay", says the cashier, "that will be 3 dollars extra for each person". Ouch. So my ticket cost $14.99, Vaeh's ticket cost $11.99, Gabe was free and my Mom paid for her ticket (thank goodness!). I have a bad habit of needing to buy junk food while at the movie. I can't enjoy a movie at all unless I'm munching on popcorn and chocolate. I get mad at myself every time because I know I shouldn't  be buying food at the theater. It costs a small fortune for just a snack. I never learn though. I HAVE, mind you, changed the way I purchase said snacks. Instead of individual drinks for me and the kids, I get a large iced tea and we share. I also get a large popcorn for us to share, and one (sometimes 2) bag of chocolatey goodness. While this still costs quite a bit (almost $20 for those items, with a 10% discount using a Scene card) it is cheaper than if we went crazy and each got what we wanted. A kids pack, which consists of a small popcorn, drink, chocolate Kinder egg and toy, is $7.99. This is why we don't go very often. Here's a tip though: if going to a movie, go after eating. Pick a movie time that is after lunch or dinner, or even after you've had a large snack. You won't be as tempted to indulge yourself while at the theater. Another tip is to bring your own, much cheaper snacks you bought at the store. Technically it's not allowed (no outside food or drink in the theater) but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

After the movie (which was AWESOME!!! Definitely go see this movie if you are a Disney/Pixar fan!!) we headed home. I figured since my Mom was with us, it would make sense to have her watch Vaeh and Gabe while I whipped down to the insurance agency on my bike. So I did just that. As lovely and flat as my neighborhood is, it was a lot of work to ride. I haven't been on a bike in so long (17 years!) and I really didn't realize it would be that difficult. While I was riding it wasn't so bad, but when I got back home I was completely wiped out. Granted I did have to try 3 different insurance agencies because they all closed at 4pm on Saturdays so I did quite a bit of riding my first day. I should have taken it a bit easier and gone on some short trips beforehand, just to get back into the swing of things. If you are at all considering doing more bike riding in your near future, please take my advice and work your way into it.

I really should take my own advice too. That would be wise. After yesterday I guess I figured I would do better today and pushed myself a bit further. Okay, what I thought was a bit further ended up being way too much. I had to make a trip to the bank this afternoon, and because Vaeh isn't good on her bike yet, I didn't want to have her ride that far (about 3km's round trip) so her and Gabe hopped into our new bike trailer (which I bought yesterday). Let me say that I am almost always excellent with putting together and installing things, but for some reason getting the trailer attached to my bike was a pain in my bottom! I finally got it, but somehow managed to pull a muscle in the base of my neck and upper back. Oooh man it hurts. Anyway. The kids got in the trailer, I got on my bike and off we went to the bank. It was really easy to pull them and I really didn't feel them until I had to pedal even slightly uphill. I took a spin around the neighborhood to make sure I could handle it, and had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath. I'm so out of shape it's quite sad. I actually thought I was in okay shape, but after today I feel like Homer Simpson. Since I absolutely had to go to the bank I knew I couldn't just turn back and go home so off we went. I went right for it and rode on the road, even though I was very unsure about doing this and it made me very nervous thinking about it. Once I had seen the size of the bike trailer after it was put together, it looked like a Smart Car in my living room.

That's a picture of me getting ready to hook the trailer on to my bike. Okay it's not. But that's how it felt. I knew there was no way I was managing this thing on a sidewalk. I'd be pitching kids and seniors 15 feet in each direction as I rode.
I stuck to roads that were minimal in traffic and steered clear of busy areas, except for the complex my bank is in. Things went very, very well. Cars kept their distance and weren't screaming profanities at me as I had pictured them doing. The kids were squealing with joy in the trailer and having the best time. I had to stop about a million times because I got winded, even on the lowest gear on my bike, but I managed to stop whenever I needed to without any problems. Going into the bank complex was a bit scary because I had to use arm-turn-signals and all that foreign-to-me stuff. I know all the gestures, it was just weird doing them. In the bank complex I had to tend with speed bumps and a lot of traffic but we made it. I even went through the drive-through atm at the bank. It was fun. After I (finally) got home I almost collapsed. I'm not even kidding. As soon as I got off my bike my legs stiffened up and I could hardly bend them. I opened the front door to my house and instantly I wanted to throw up. I've never felt like that before. I needed to lay down so badly, but I had to get the kids out of the trailer, unhook it from my bike and collapse it so I could bring it in the house (it's too wide for my front door, and too big for my teeny foyer) and then I had to bring my bike in. After all of that, I flopped down on the couch and didn't want to move. I was moaning and whimpering and acting like a big ol' baby. It was pathetic. I asked Vaeh to bring me a cold, wet cloth for my forehead and Gabe came and laid down on top of me trying to comfort me. I felt better really quickly, but the kids felt so bad for me that they decided to step up and take charge. Gabe got off of me and tidied up the living room. He put all the toys away without me asking or even suggesting. Vaeh insisted on rubbing my feet and sat down at the end of the couch and did just that. She even massaged my calves. When Gabe was done tidying up he came back to me and showered me in kisses. I was all better. My kids are phenomenal. They know how to melt me :)

Now I feel fine, just my neck is killing me. I can't believe I pulled a muscle installing a bike trailer. So lame.
So folks, please learn from my mistakes and take it easy when starting something new. Never in my life have I pushed myself to the point of wanting to throw up. After all of that though, I don't miss using my van. I was worried that at first I would miss the convenience of jumping in and going wherever I needed to, but so far that's not the case. I've made it through my first day (and a half) and so far so good.

This message has been brought to you today by the letter OUCH.

Ants and My Final Week of Driving

Yesterday I had an exterminator come out to my house to investigate my ant problem and see what he could do. I told him my situation, he explained his 6 month guarantee of no ants, told me he used a non-toxic chrysanthemum-based spray, I said that all sounds like bliss, and he went right to work. 10 minutes later he was done. In just 10 minutes I was ant free. I could not believe my eyes!!! I searched everywhere for ants in my house and in my yard, and all I found was ONE in my kitchen, and it had already been meandering around for awhile, but moments later succumbed to his demise. If you've never had an insect problem before, I cannot express to you the absolute relief I am feeling. I feel like I have my house back from some force that was unstoppable. I really felt helpless, as funny as it sounds considering I was up against such a small creature. There is not one single ant to be found on my patio, where before there were soooo many. I never wanted to go out there, and that was really disappointing, because I've been working really hard at making my little backyard into a usable garden and a peaceful place to sit and enjoy long summer days and warm summer evenings. There were so many ants in my grass and in my dirt where my pretty little flowers are growing, it was really disheartening. Walking out there yesterday felt amazing! To top it off, last night I had the best night sleep. I didn't have one creepy-crawly feeling, no creepy-crawly dreams, and I slept ever so nicely. I am on cloud 9 today :)

This week marks the final week that my minivan will be insured. My insurance will be up on Sunday and then that's it. I've been working hard to get as much done as possible where I need the van, whether it be to pick up large items, or travel distances that are more difficult without a vehicle before I take it off the road. On Friday I am picking up a big compost unit that I'm purchasing from the city for $25.00, which I think is a great deal, and need the van to pick it up. I've been wanting to compost for quite some time now, but in all honesty thought they were a lot of work, I thought I didn't have the room, I thought you
had to use worms (and I don't have anywhere to bring them in to during the winter), I thought they attracted bears (which we have a lot of in my area, sometimes in my complex) and I thought they cost too much. After actually doing a bit of research on the subject, I found that they really aren't much work at all, and if I can re-purpose a lot of food waste into nutrient rich soil for my garden, instead of tossing it into a garbage can then hey, I'm a fan. I will definitely share my composting journey on my blog. Also on Friday I am picking up the bike trailer I talked about in a previous post. Lastly, on Saturday I am taking Gabe and Vaeh to see Toy Story 3 at the theater. We don't go to movies all that often mainly because of the cost, unless it is one that we have really been anticipating seeing. Toy Story 3 is for sure one of those movies, and yay me, I have a half price coupon for my admission! The theater isn't far via driving (about 10 to 15 minutes) but it is not at all accessible by bike with kids in tow and I'm not quite ready to tote the kids around on transit in certain areas of town because I just don't think it's totally safe for them, or for me. So these trips I'm okay using a vehicle for. After this weekend there won't be a trip to the theater for a long while, but luckily the mall just down the street from my house is having drive-in movie nights in the summer in their parking lot. We plan to bike-in :) There is also a company called FreshAirCinema that has an inflatable movie screen that they set up in parks throughout the Lower Mainland for people to come watch movies, totally for free. You bring chairs, blankets, toys for the kids, picnic stuff, whatever and you spend an evening chilling out in the park. I haven't been to one yet, but we will be all over this during the summer. I'm very excited to be parking my van. I'm excited about the challenge that lay before me. But more than anything, I'm thrilled that I'm taking a step away from my reliance on oil. Whenever I drive by the gas station and see the $1.12 per litre gas price (that's what it has been at for the last few days) I have a little giggle to myself knowing that very shortly I will no longer have to worry about that cost, and that feels good. Not only that, my health is going to improve as will my quality of life, my childrens' health will improve as will their quality of life, and I will have a little bit more money in my pocket, and that is always a good thing.

(photo courtesy of www.amsterdamize.com)

Cycling is Hard!

And I haven't even gotten started yet! I've spent the last week doing research. Yes, research. On bike riding. Gone are the days where you just hop on a bicycle and ride to your hearts content. No my friend. There are rules. Rules aplenty! One thing I did know was that here in BC it is a requirement by law to wear a helmet while cycling. After doing a little reading on the topic, I was led to one law after another after another. It's almost become overwhelming, and I can honestly see why so many people don't bother to park their car and hop on a bicycle. That, and the requirements seem downright scary. For example, cyclists are considered vehicles and are therefore required to ride on the road with traffic. It is illegal to ride on the sidewalk. Period. I get why this law was put into place, and it would make sense if there weren't so many flaws with it. One major flaw is the serious lack of separate bike lanes which I feel is very very important. The way our roads are designed here are for the most part ridiculous on their own, and adding a cyclist to the mix I think is crazy. Another thing is not all cyclists are hardcore cyclists. For many, the idea of riding a bike on a major roadway next to crazy, road raging monsters is just too much. I am one of those people. Yes, it has a lot to do with the fact that I haven't been on a bike since I was 13 years old. When I rode a bike there were no helmet laws and nobody gave a you-know-what if you rode on the sidewalk. That was where EVERYBODY rode. Well, except for those hard-core-er's. So coming into this is, well, a bit daunting to say the least. The other thing I have an issue with, is that my children are required by law to do the same thing, ride in traffic. Gabe will be in a trailer but even that scares me. He would be down near the ground with a front row seat of huge tires rolling right by him. Ummmmm. Yeah. Scary. Then there is Vaeh. My little 7 year old, dainty little flower girl, is required to ride her bike alongside traffic. NO. WAY. I'm sorry but law or no law, I'm not allowing my babies to be that close to cars whipping by. I keep getting these images flashing through my head of her hitting a bump or just losing control and falling off her bike. Bam. No more Vaeh. So if it comes down to me getting a ticket because my daughter, or all 3 of us are on the sidewalk, so be it. I'm sorry to anyone who is reading this that is an avid rider but the safety of my children are way more important than any law out there, especially when that law is actually putting them in harms way. Until there are more cyclists on the road, and until there is more infrastructure in place keeping a solid barrier between a cyclist and a car, you will find me and my family ever so carefully, respectfully and politely making our way past pedestrians on the sidewalk. Now, all of that said, I do plan on planning our routes ahead of time every time we go out so we aren't taking major roadways and instead finding paths through parks, down "dead-end" (to cars) roads and on traffic calmed streets to get to our destination. I just think it really sucks that there isn't much carefreeness (yes, it's a word) to our society, and we are all bogged down with so many rules. I know there are people who are pro-alltherules but I'm not. Sorry. But, I'm going to make the most of things because at least I am able to bike ride where I live, and do it for free. Who knows how long that will last.

On a very positive note, I bought a bike!!! I don't have any pictures yet
but I will share some soon, I promise. I'm waiting for a nice sunny day to take it outside and snap some pictures. It's been raining here for 752 days. Okay maybe not that many. It feels like it though. I found my bike on Craigslist for half the price it would be new, and my bike is only 6 months old. I think I totally lucked out finding it. My bike new in the store would be $800 including tax. No thank you. Factor in the fact that I am boycotting the HST as much as I possibly can, as it is already in effect on certain items, and I am one of many who are against it. So by buying my bike used I managed to avoid it. Yay me! Next thing I need to get is a trailer for Gabe. I've been browsing Craigslist and saw a few on there that I would like, and after doing my research on the best trailer to buy, I settled on a Croozer 535. Ideally I would LOVE to have a Chariot trailer (*drool*) but those puppies require one to take out a second mortgage on their house. Given that Gabe is already 2.5, he's only got a couple more years before he's out of a trailer and on to a bike of his own, or a trail-a-bike. The investment in a Chariot just isn't worth it to me, even for a used one. A Croozer is a close second to a Chariot, in my opinion, and about half the price. For the trailer I really wanted to buy a used one, again to avoid tax and to save money, but after seeing how old some of the trailers are that people are trying to sell, and after going to look at one in person and seeing how beat up it was, I decided I should go new in this area. Gabe's safety is the most important thing, and I don't want him riding around on bent wheels, and attachment wheels that no longer function. Both of those were problems with the one I looked at. And I don't know if the person I'm buying from put it together properly either! The Croozers are great because they come with all of the different attachments included, Chariots and other models you have to purchase each kit separately (ie: jogging stroller kit, stroller kit, etc.). That equals more money on top of an already expensive item. We're all about saving money here people. So I'm saving my pennies and hope to purchase this trailer in the next couple of weeks, just in time for the Teddy Bear Picnic that is coming up! I can't wait for summer. Mostly I can't wait for the rain to stop.

It's About Time

I've really been trying to set aside time to sit down and update my blog, but that has been such a challenge! It's always one thing after another and the next thing I know, months have passed.

A lot has happened. A lot has changed. A lot has been going on. I began dating someone and a short time later it ended. I was pretty upset about it for awhile because it was a total whirlwind romance and was beyond anything I could have ever asked for. It obviously wasn't meant to be though, and even though it was very short, I learned a lot about myself. Shortly after that I started having issues with my church. I was seeing signs of teaching going on that was not Biblically based and not true. I had a really tough time dealing with that and wasn't sure how to handle it. I had gotten planted there, met a ton of great people, I was taking my Bible college course there, my kids loved the children's church and I didn't want to give it up. At the same time, I was very scared that I was being misled without even realizing it, and in turn so were my kids. If you aren't well educated in Biblical studies, doctrine and theology, it's not hard to be misled. I don't believe the church I attended was misleading people on purpose. I truly feel like they are uneducated, and listening to other "teachers" who are uneducated. I decided the best thing to do would be to not walk, but run away. As hard as it was at first, I know I made the right decision. Doing that freed up a lot of time for me, and I realized then just how much I had been getting involved in and slowly overwhelming myself. Because of my Bible course I was required to serve 20 hours per month at the church. That may not seem like a lot, but if you consider that I live 45 minutes away (in each direction), how often I was having to go back and forth, how much it was costing me to do so, and how much more kept getting added to my serving plate, then factor in non-church related commitments we had, it was a lot. And I still wasn't even meeting my 20 hours of service time. Serving was becoming a burden, and I kept getting told by church staff that it is our duty as Christians to serve. But isn't it supposed to be with a joyful heart? I just wasn't there. And I think that's okay! I can't do everything, especially as a single parent. I started to realize that maybe my job right now is to just be a Mom. That is the season of life I'm in right now so I need to embrace it and do the best I can. Before I know it, this season will change and my kids won't need me as much as they do. I want to make the most of the time I have with them now, and train them in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). Lord knows how quickly they grown up.

After all that happened with my church, I began looking for a new church, and one close to home. I think I have found one, but I haven't attended it yet so I don't have any comments to share about it. I did email the Pastor there and found out that he has been to seminary which I've learned is VERY important. I had never considered before if my Pastor was actually educated. I guess I just assumed that with having the title "Pastor" they would have had to complete some sort of education. This isn't so, and this is what I find frightening. How can you TEACH the Bible if you don't know it yourself? The Bible needs to be studied in order to be taught. I honestly feel a little bit burned, a little ripped off by my old church, so I'm taking a bit of a church vacation. I will attend this church close to home soon.

Now that I'm not making anymore trips into the city where my church was, I've found that I've not been driving much anymore. The city that I live in is, in my opinion, amazingly well planned and almost every single thing that I need to survive is within 2km's of my home. Lately we will go out to get groceries or pay a bill and that's about it. We've been doing this routinely about once a week. As I was reflecting on this significant change in my life, I started thinking. The first thought was that I was no longer impressed with how much money I was paying to use a vehicle 1-2 times a week. I'm lucky that my vehicle is paid off, but the costs of insurance and gas made my infrequent usage bother me. Gas prices keep rising steadily, and our government has also planted their hands deep in gas users pockets with taxes on the gas (somewhere around the 36% mark). The government has also implemented a carbon tax that increases each year for four years and started last year. For someone like me, a single parent who doesn't make much money, driving has definitely become a luxury, and a pain in the ass. Granted that with me driving less it means spending less on gas, but it's still money that I have to put out that I don't want to put out anymore. I also drive a minivan that is a hog on gas. The idea popped into my head that I could bike ride everywhere. Then the idea came to me that I should bike ride everywhere. Why didn't I think of this sooner?! All I would need is a good bike, a bike trailer to tow around Gabe, and Vaeh could ride her bike. If I got a 2 seater trailer I could put groceries in beside Gabe. I could then take the insurance off of my van, park it and start saving money. By hanging on to the van instead of selling it, it's there in case of absolute emergency and it's also there for the winter. This is the perfect time to tinker with such an experiment being that we are heading into summer. Right now I'm looking for a good used bike and trailer on Craiglist and once my tax refund comes we are getting started! The kids are super excited to do this, and so am I. I heard from somewhere once that the most dangerous part of a car is the seat. So many of us live planted on our couches, in office chairs, or in the seat of our cars and aren't being anywhere near as active as we should be. That's about to change for us. Pretty soon we will be a car-lite family and we'll actually be out and about in our community, not locked away in a vehicle or in the house all the time! You will probably be reading a lot about this as we move forward in this journey and I will share with you as much as I possibly can. Life is all about The Journey, The Adventure. Lets get out there and try something new! It will be uncomfortable at first not having a vehicle at my disposal, that I know. Trying a new thing is almost always uncomfortable, but it's in that discomfort where growth is born and if you aren't growing, you aren't living. Don't you agree? ♥