May 18th, 2009
it is with utmost affection for our friend brandon that i tell this story. britta and brandon came over for a few hours on sunday afternoon. miles had been really excited because he adores britta and brandon and oz got very excited once they arrived. unfortunately miles was pretty loony and had to take numerous trips to timeout before he was able to develop some impulse control.
after we took the boys in and gave them a bath and i got miles down for bed (and then came back outside to find that erica had oz outside in his pajamas) i was finally catching my breath. brandon, who will be a dad by the end of the year, said, “so, do you find that weekends are less restful than weekdays?” my response, “are you kidding?” i love my life, but we left the realm of the restful years ago. we no longer have a position relative to the state of restfulness.
Posted in Miles, Oz | 6 Comments »
May 4th, 2009
i followed a link to an article titled “33 surefire ways to screw up your marriage” not because i was looking for tips but just to be able to give myself a pat on the back for not doing most of them, i guess.
all was going according to plan, then i found this one which made me spit my coffee for so many reasons:
16. Your idea of the perfect vacation is one you take with the kids. You would never hear of going away somewhere just with your spouse, even though you have many viable baby-sitting options.
i can’t even begin to enumerate the reasons that this does not apply to my life. that aside, the list is actually pretty decent and the first comment is awesome. but i can’t vouch for the rest of the blog contents. i’m about to read “12 surefire ways to get in the mood.” i have a feeling that entry is going to make or break it.
Posted in Aaron | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2009
today was also supposed to be rainy but was actually beautiful. we started working in the yard fairly early. i took down all the bamboo and erica cut the stalks close to the base. and that was when we got our first visitor. during the course of the day, everyone who lives in the circle of houses that surrounds ours had to stop by and ask why we were cutting down the bamboo.
they all said something that alluded to the fact that our bamboo situation had been a conversation topic in their homes over the past week or so. ugh. so embarrassing. but in case you were wondering, numbskull gardening project = quick way to meet the neighbors.
Posted in Aaron, Erica | 2 Comments »
May 2nd, 2009
we had a completely weird day today. we had pretty good weather on thursday and friday but the forecast for all of this week is rain so we didn’t expect to be able to work in the yard much but also didn’t have any other plans.
i had been trying to track down some bamboo to replace the monster bamboo i had gotten during the craigslist debacle. the root balls may be sprouting something but the huge 30′ culms aren’t making it. i’m not heartbroken about that because my big dream was never to have such tall stalks, but after i’d put that much blood, sweat and time into procuring them i at least wanted to give them a chance.
in looking for not-free bamboo on craigslist i found out about a couple plant sales at the fairgrounds of two counties just outside of portland. and according to our custom we just loaded up and took off, because well, why not?
the two were on opposite sides of portland but the same time away from us so we decided to go to the canby master gardeners’ spring plant sale because i had a line on some $10 bamboo which, based on the price, i was certain would be plenty small, and it was relatively close to canby and to another nursery i wanted to visit if things worked out.
it was about a 45 minute drive and oz was asleep before we even got on the highway. that kid loves to sneak in a late morning nap any time we happen to be in the car between 10 and 12. when we got to the fairgrounds we immediately realized two things: first, this was going to be seriously awesome, the place was packed and we had to park in the third lot and second, we were woefully unprepared. everyone who wasn’t a plant sale rookie had a wagon, and they didn’t even have kids.
oh, and we didn’t have a stroller in the van because i had emptied it to clean it after the bamboo ridiculosity. we resigned ourselves to the workout we were about to receive and went to check out the plants.
the sun came out and the plants were beautiful. we didn’t buy much because we didn’t have enough arms and because we’re just getting started this year but if you do the gardening thing i highly recommend getting yourself a wagon and finding your local super-duper plant sale on the first weekend in may.
we took off a little before lunch time and oz had tossed his binky at some point plus he was hungry so he was just a deep well of unhappiness until we found a little place in oregon city called pioneer pizza where they had pizza by the slice.
we refueled and headed to the nursery i had wanted to visit. the guy was selling everything for half-price. i guess he’s a landscaper and since no one is building houses now he had to find a way to reduce his inventory. erica tracked down a couple of large blueberry bushes that should bear fruit this year. we found another cool bush and i found some tiny bamboo.
we loaded up and started on the way over to craigslist bamboo guy’s house and it started raining pretty heavily. i hopped out of the car and got my sufficiently small $10 bamboo and we headed toward home. oz again descended into the realm of dissatisfaction and miles decided to join him.
it was a sad drive home. oz was suffering an acute case of binky separation anxiety and miles knew it was almost nap time and he likes to start his protest campaign early, usually succeeding only in convincing us just how badly he needs a nap.
we got home and amazingly the boys both went to sleep right away so we all got a nap. i woke up at four because there was some crazy wind happening outside. i looked out the living room window to find a serious amount of sideways rain coming down. it lasted about twenty minutes and then cleared up really quickly and the sun was out again. then at four thirty there was a severe weather warning on tv. nice.
erica and the boys woke up just before 5:30. she wanted to know what had happened to her pansies. the wind had blown the heads right off a bunch of them.
since the boys napped so late and long, we weren’t quite sure what to do with them for the evening. we ran a few more errands related to yard projects and then finally go the boys to bed a little before nine.
and that is a ridiculous rundown of the day that never seemed like it would end. i can’t imagine that this is particularly entertaining to read, so sorry about that, but i did take the time to write it all out so here it is.
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