Economic Collapse = Gardening

The current state of the economy has strengthened my desire to become self-sufficient. As a child, one of my favorite TV shows was "Good Neighbors", which gave a wonderfully romanticized view of living off the land. Possibly the best thing about owning a house is that I now can finally plant a real garden.

I may have gone a bit overboard, but here's what I planted:
- tomatoes
- sweet corn
- sweet tomatoes (cherry tomatoes)
- yukon gold potatoes
- Russian banana potatoes
- sweet potatoes
- ummm... another kind of potato
- bell peppers
- sweet peppers
- kohlrabi
- arugula
- sugar babies (mini watermelon)
- casaba melon
- soybeans
- bush beans
- pole beans
- eggplant
- zucchini
- lettuce
- butternut squash
- brussels sprouts
- broccoli
- yellow onions
- dill
- pesto basil
- red basil
- garlic chives
- oregano
- aloe (not for eating but for burns etc)
- sunflowers (not in the garden, but as part of a living fence)
- marigolds (an attempt to keep bugs out of the garden)

I can't walk outside without gazing at it. What a beautiful sight.


Our house came with a mature apple tree and pear tree so if things go well I will be making all sorts of fruit things to eat all year! Watch out, soon I'll be buying goats and chickens and making a solar-powered generator.... actually that sounds like a great idea!

Thankfully Zander is pretty happy hanging out in the yard watching me work and entertaining himself - for a little while anyway!

Mysterious Giggling

I put Z down for a nap this afternoon and several minutes later heard giggling. I peeked in to discover that he had lifted up his shirt and was tickling his own belly.

My First Mother's Day

I guess you could say that my first Mother's Day began shortly after midnight, when I arrived home from Kzoo to find that my wonderful husband had cleaned the entire house. While I did not successfully transfer the sleeping Z from the car to his crib without waking him, it was only a short bout of screaming and nursing before he was out again.

I spent the first 11 hours (amazing!) of my first Mother's Day in bed, with my beautiful child handed to me a few times for nursing. He spend part of the morning sleeping with me in bed (so cute) and the rest playing with his dad.

Then I had a lovely brunch of scrambled eggs, waffles and sausage and did NOT change an incredibly stinky diaper.

The big event of the day was Zander's first experience with paint. My original plan was to make the standard hand-print-foot-print-I-love-my-mommy thing. It quickly became clear that my curious little boy would not allow something so mundane to happen.


Zander, enjoying our backyard, has no idea what fun is about to take place.

Kzoo with Aunty Yvette

Yvette was in Kalamazoo for a conference this week, so Z and I headed west for a visit. I was pleased that he took to her immediately. In typically Z style, he grabbed and chewed her name tag until it was covered in slobber. She was very kind about it, and let him keep the goo-covered mess.




We went out to eat at Bilbo's, a Hobbit-theme pizza joint. It was pretty cool, with Wizard ales and Dragon brews. I had hoped that the waitstaff would be dressed as Orcs, but no luck there. Z, on his first restaurant outing since Christmas, handled himself quite well.

Less baby, more kid

Zander seems to have moved beyond infancy into the incredibly exciting stage of early-mobility. He's learning new things every day. He now claps which, in addition to being adorable, makes me feel like he is so grateful for everything I do (yay! you changed my diaper! yay! you picked me up!)

He sat in a shopping cart for the first time which was wonderfully liberating for me and pretty exciting for him too, I think. He seemed to take it very seriously, as if he was now a real part of the very important task of grocery shopping. He applauded for the check out lady, which she really enjoyed.

He has pretty much outgrown his bathtub, and doesn't like to sit up in the tub (really, who does?). He likes to lounge and soak, but in order to do this he has to hang his legs out of the bath.


He can sit in the swing by himself at the park. Check out his little Red Wings jacket!


He helps me make the bed in the morning. Okay, well he sits there and pulls on the sheets, but it's a start.


He has been teething for months now, and still no teeth. One of these mornings he's going to wake up with a mouthful of teeth.



Grandma got him a stuffed duck that is as big as he is, and Zander adores it.



It looks like they got into a disagreement and Z is scolding ducky.


Livin' the high life.

First Attempt at Solids

A few photos

This photo cracks me up. Our furnace broke on New Year's day, and I also chose that day to lose Zander's winter hat. We resorted to using his summer cap, which Jason modified to cover his ears. Poor kid looks ridiculous.

Hangin' out with papa.

Zander was playing and grabbed his "lamb" skin rug. He pulled it over himself and ... well, basically started wrestling with it. It looked like he was being attacked. Pretty funny.

Christmas and the New Year

We had a fantastic Christmas, with three celebrations. First, we had an early Christmas with Jason's family in Michigan, then we spent a week in Minnesota with my family and our friends. It was so nice to see everyone again! We got back home to Michigan and celebrated our first little family Christmas on New Year's Eve. All in all, a wonderful few weeks.







All the pictures we took of our little Christmas celebration look like we dropped acid.






Here are some fond memories of the holidays:

- Christmas dinner was delicious. Mum prepared her traditional feast and I absolutely stuffed myself.




- Phillip received the entire seven seasons of Buffy on DVD, so we spent many many hours watching that. It was the first time I had seen it since having Z. Very strange to see another Zander on screen!

- We went to the Brave New Workshop and Zander attended his first live performance. The kid was amazing, just hanging out and watching, then eventually falling asleep. (That's not a reflection on the show, which was really fun!) We even went out to the Mill after a show where Z just slept in his carrier while we hung out.

- On our last night in Minnesota my parents took us out for a nice dinner. Zander was sitting on my lap while we were eating. My dad finished his food then took Z from me so I could finish eating. I looked down and thought, "that's strange, how could I have spilled something all over my lap?" A few seconds later I realized that I was covered in poo. Jason was wonderful and whisked Z into the bathroom to clean him up.

- We were awakened on New Year's morning by the sound of our furnace breaking. After hearing the astronomical rates that repairpeople charge on holidays, we decided to brave the cold until the next day. We bundled up and huddled around the space heater. I'm very happy to say that it is now fixed!

Also, our shower is finished! This morning I took my first shower in our house since November. It felt so luxurious.