A New Garden Project

The sun came out for a week or so and served its purpose to infect me with Spring Fever. Now that I am fully under the spell, the sun has gone into hiding and sent rain in its place. If that isn't utterly frustrating, I don't know what is. I've been sneaking out in the dry spells and working on my newest garden project which is part recycling, and part long overdue garden structure.

When our new neighbors moved in they asked if they could remove part of our fence that looked like this:

We said yes, and that we would like to keep the panels that were removed. So, that left us with this:

And now, I am transforming them into these:

I've actually gotten into a bit of a rhythm with the deconstruction, which turns out to be the hard part. I'm really cranking now . . .I think today I should be able to pretty quickly create another six to ten. I've already completed five, with another set of materials all cut and ready.

We'll just see if the garden is any easier to manage, more productive or just prettier with raised beds this year.

And, on another note (pah-dum-dum) here is a picture of Brady with his violin that I particularly liked:

IT bands . . .who knew?

So, it's not what you're thinking . . . gangs of nerdy computer people huddled around a mass of musical instruments? Not at all! I've been sidelined with a hip injury since late January. It was exacerbated by the heavy walking on hard surfaces that we did on vacation. The pain got to be so bad that literally every step I took was painful.

It's been a few weeks of rest and, finally, a definitive diagnosis of . . . ."tight IT bands". They run along the outside of your legs, tying everything together from your pelvis to your knee. I had never heard of such a thing (until my kind running friends informed me right away that this was the problem, though I must admit I did not completely believe them). I finally gave in and went to see the doc who confirmed that he was pretty sure it was a tight IT band. I realized, far too late, that ramping up a running program with no knowledge, no plan, and no stretching was not a good idea. I know . . .duh! But really, I thought I could just run and if it was too much I would know!

I've learned my lesson. I've been stretching the IT bands since Saturday and today was my first day without pain every step. Yay!!! Such a huge relief! I have been cranky beyond belief for the past three weeks. I feel like I am finally coming out of the cloud as I can see some light at the end of this tunnel.

My new mission (as assigned to me by the doc) includes regular stretching, regular cross-training, regular core strengthening work, a slow start up on my running program and a subscription to Runners World. Again, who knew? I thought it was a magazine for die hard runners but it turns out that it is for newbies too!

So, a new pair of shoes (picked for me by a running specialist with a slew of cool tools) and a new outlook! I'm actually excited to finally have some guidance on how to avoid injury. I really do enjoy running and I think I'll like it even more if I am not injuring myself doing it.

Playing Catch-up

Ok, so it's been awhile and here is the long overdue update. But I have lots of good excuses. I really do. First it was this . . .

A really bad cold that hit the whole family . . . Brian and I the worst. And then I suffered the indignity of trying to get some "real" cold medicine. It's really quite ridiculous what one has to go through to obtain good cold medicine these days . . . so I'm hoarding it. But I did manage to get some and it did a world of good.

Then there was this . . . .

A long overdue update of the barn. A finishing really. We had to completely finish one side (drywall, paint, floors, trim) and then do the other half. Here is the halfway picture. It is now finished, except for finishing touches and putting everything back in place.

But, I did manage to finish up a few other things, like the blueberries . . .

They all seem to be doing well . . .all of them have little buds on them, so I think they survived the transplant. Now we just have to wait about six months to see if they bear fruit.

And finally, the very best excuse of all, is that we took a family trip to Mexico. We had a great time and loved our hotel. We took a few excursions and enjoyed an all around terrific vacation.

The view from our room at Moon Palace.

Brian and I waiting for a bus to somewhere (we waited for a lot of buses).

The family at Tulum, overlooking the sea.

Brady finally got relatively close to one of the iguanas.

Brian and Brady on the top of Beach Palace--a hotel in the hotel row of Cancun.

The boys spent hours and hours and hours playing minigolf which was just outside our hotel room.
Brennan at the activities center. We played a lot of tennis, rode some bikes, played some ping pong, and Brady hit the X-box on the days he needed to avoid the sun.

A close up of one of the iguanas . . .they were everywhere . . .and they were huge!!

We spent two days at Wet n' Wild and the wave pool was one of the boys' favorites.

Brady's favorite was the bumper boats.

And, in the midst of all of this, we passed the one year mark of Cooper living with us.

Phew. And there you have it!