Archive for May, 2009

2 weekends of blisters

Monday, May 18th, 2009
The berries are coming!

The berries are coming!

So it’s spring here is Portland. The winter rain as given way to the spring rain. And with it comes the new yearly task of keeping up with the neighbors.

Last year we tried a vegetable garden in our back yard and there just was not  enough sunlight  getting to the back yard area. So this year we are trying to set up the yard so that we have to do as little to it in the future, yet still look cool and groovy. To this end, we spent that last two weekends cutting up the front and back yard.

The old owners of the house had rose bushes scattered all over the yard. We moved them all to the front and in the back built a rose trellis for the 4 climbing roses we found.

In the front yard we cut out a corner of the yard and put in a little bark dust garden with some cute low bushes. We used a neat black trim for the front and loved it so much we are planning to force Sam to install it on all the borders over the next few weekends.

The blueberries and raspberries are coming in great this year. If fact we planted 3 new yellow fall bearing raspberries so next year we should have berries all summer and fall. We also planned nasty weed called rhubarb, which can be made into Joshua’s favorite type of pie.

Joshua has big plans now for the back yard and keeps talking about a pond…..

Love & Logic – The first class

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

love-and-logic-logo

So last night Joshua and I took our first class in the Love and Logic. The basic idea of the Love and Logic parenting system seems to be helping your kids fail in a good way so they can succeed in life… but don’t quote me on that, we are still learning!  But so far we really like the class.

The class is taught by the same teacher we had for our SNAC training last year. In fact we are meeting in the same room. Our teacher is real hoot. Very funny and very skilled in what she knows and she know A LOT!

Unlike the SNAC training which was a full room, the class size this time was very small. Only 3 1/2 tables of parents. Should be good as we can ask a lot of questions and get a lot more individual attention.

One neat thing is we were not the only same sex couple in the class, we are not alone! Which again really shows how far we have come and helps me at least stop worrying that we will be blocked or denied based solely on our sexual orientation.

 We did have one freak out moment. Joshua came downtown and picked me up from work and as we started driving away, the car died. Luckily it started right up. Then about 10 blocks later on the 1-5 exit, it died again. So our poor car has the flu and is going off to see the car doctor. Normally I would be freaking out, but strangely I was the calm one this time. Joshua does the family finances and only saw more bills, I see it as a chance to get my all Electric car.