Project Baby!

 

Yep--that's right! I am PREGNANT!

12 weeks

I now only have 23 days to go... and that means I have put off writing this blog for 257 days since I found out.
Yes, I have been slacking. And now I finally have a reason!

Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen! Right where I should be!

A lot of changes are happening at Castle Debauchery, and none of them are getting finished it seems.
We have converted the  office to a nursery and workout room to include the office.


We have piles of baby stuff everywhere! 

Practice baby

The garden sadly has been neglected most this year.


Don't look too closely!

The garden does not approve this picture!

 

I had this fantastic idea to get some straw to keep the weeds down and the moisture in back in June...

Oh so pretty back in June!

Worked out great until the weeds started growing! I guess I need to look in to SEED FREE straw?
So there was a lot more weed pulling, that I didn't do.
Thankfully I have good friends to help pull weeds and water the garden.
We didn't really BBQ or throw any parties.
We didn't even eat meals that required more than 10 minutes of prep!
No energy or appetite does that to you.
I didn't want Kale, Collards or Chard much, so those over grew!
I didn't feel like making something new with tomatoes either.
I ended up letting the last harvest go to waste because I always thought TOMORROW I would do something with them.
I seriously cried over spoiled tomatoes. I will blame baby on this.

Meanwhile in pregnancy land:
I have been very fortunate to have had a relatively easy time being pregnant.
It started with carpal tunnel in my right wrist. All those extra fluids push on the nerves, but should go away once baby is here. Meanwhile I just wore a wrist brace at night--and it made my wrist usable during the day!
Heartburn most days. But I have a giant bottle of tums, tums in my purse, and made a trip for tastier tums!
It really is amazing what you can get accustom to.

Cuddling with new baby quilt. Baby is going to have to fight me for it.

Extreme Fatigue in the first trimester. I took a nap every day after work and still slept about 8hrs at night. No plans were possible. Extreme fatigue could be a new sport it was that serious.
As bad as all that sounds, I have been extremely lucky and feeling pretty okay most days! I have worked full time thru it all.

Since we are almost to D-Day which is 12/31/12, I thought I would finally get my butt in gear and tell the world about it.
We have 3 bedrooms upstairs, all with 1978 carpet.

Not enough time, energy or want to paint and redo flooring. We like the beige(Sand Motif) on the walls, so we left it. Decorations can add color. We also want to install wood floors through the entire house so we didn't start yet, as we were afraid if we did this room now, the exact flooring wouldn't be available once the rest the house got started. It is pretty dark on the east side of the house
So our solution was a bright light colored rug and light colored furniture!

Almost finished here--Travis spent a good 3 days assembling it all. Since we are having a boy, he used wood glue on the dresser and changing table and it took a while to dry.
We have since rearranged and added some art work and new blinds. The angle of the room doesn't let me show you any good pics though.

 

Anyway--I needed to get this all out for documentation--I have much much more to tell you!
2012 has been a busy and exciting year here at Castle Debauchery! And it is only going to get more exciting!
Never fear--I do not plan  on turning this in to a mommy/baby blog at all. I plan on keeping us, the baby & the world  up to date on what we are able to accomplish, meanwhile with baby in tow!

I am sure it is a pipe dream, but I hope to finish out the alphabet before baby gets here (loud laughter) but I have been saying this for a year now huh?

QRSTUVWXYZ!

O' Joyous home improvements

Since day 1, we have hated this window. It being the accent piece to the whole house--everyone noticed it right away.


See Travis here thinking nasty thoughts on it:

Finally the day has come! For us to replace public enemy #1.

Before it was like our house was crying:








(It is now October while I am writing this-and I had already forgotten how BAD that window was! It is so much more cheerful inside. No more disgust when I look out the window!)


After:

It is so clear it is almost like there is no window at all!

 Here is a shot on a nice day.

That hanging light REALLY needs to go soon honey!

It makes us so happy we do not even mind that our pockets are empty!

Or that Travis has to climb up and patch up some damage around the new window or has to climb up outside to paint the trim!

Not happy here. Did I mention Travis is scared of heights?

 

I promised to cook him something yummy while he works!

A bit of damage for us to fix.

It wasn't a completely painless operation. The company originally came out and measured in early April with a May 10 install date. The wait was painful but we knew it was going to be so worth it!
But once they got here, they realized the big window was cut/measured just an inch short!! So it was temporarily installed while we waited for the correct one.
June 1 it was finally completed!

We also had 1 other window replaced during this time, but the change is not as impressive.

This is little yard section from previous post from another angle.

 

This is the final photo from July-trim painted, sticker removed and house touched up!

 

I am so glad we finally got that project off our list. 2 years and 3 months after we moved in!!

Super exciting project next year is to replace all the siding on this side of the house!

No more!

We have been slacking on new projects so this is a good time to put a halt to adding ANYMORE to the list! (Also I have been slacking on this blog, because NONE of these projects have been touched since I started writing this 3 months ago. So while it is out of date, it is still true!)
More often than not a new project comes up in the middle of another one, that demands to be done in order to finish the original project.
Those will get done because we rarely have a choice.

Meanwhile here is our list of unfinished projects:

Installing wood in attic to reach far side of house
Installing bathroom fan in master bath
Installing security cameras
Installing smoke alarms
Finish last 16 stones of patio(this is a lie now, maybe next year?)

Projects that are delayed

Accomplished

Before and After

What is left

Built a new sifter for this project

Finished section with rocks to deter cars from parking ON our yard. It works!

Lower moat-this one entails way more effort than 9 letters can describe.
-Separating 1ft wide strip river rock from dirt/weeds/roots, 100 feet long! (About 1/2 done!)
-Clearing weeds and old weed paper
-adding mulch to each section as finished.
And finally
-Adding plants to lower moat(now looking at fall)
*I bought many plants that are dying in their pots!*
I have convinced Travis to start mowing the lower moat, so it at least looks presentable during the wait. I would really like the rain to stop so we can get out there and make progress, even if only 10ft at a time.

Digging trench thru gravel drive way and installing river rock to help water runoff.

Painting vaulted area upstairs and large wall in entry

South yard to be garden, full revamp. I have an idea now and plants!
I want to start with the small section closest to the house and see how it goes before digging up the whole front yard.
-Remove sod from 10x20 area
-Call 811 for new markings as all our lines run thru this side of the yard.
-create rock paths over utilities lines, gas, power, etc.
-create raised area next to walkway
-bring in dirt
-Plant things!
-Install mulch
Oh wait--is this on the delayed projects list?! Whoops! I guess all the projects above are for Travis, and this one is for me... it does involve plants... I already have Lavender, Daphne & a peony to plant!
Only problem is I need his help to remove sod, build wall and get rock, dirt and mulch!

Our idea of a fun outing: Simply Rocks, a place that sells just rocks!

 As you can see this area is not huge. Had we started it, finishing would be no problem.
Yet here it is October, and the yard looks identical to this August picture.

 

Asparagus bed edging-this will probably wait til spring. Almost time to cut down asparagus, which will make adding drainage to edges and edging much easier. Adding edging will make it much easier for Travis to weed whack the edges without fighting the vegetation.
This is the asparagus bed in June, it started falling over so I tied it up.
Maybe next year I will fashion some chicken wire, since it didn't hold it up ENOUGH.

 

 

Here is a project we DID finish.

We still haven't committed to wood blinds for the living room,

so we get lots of sunlight and heat in the summer.

For a fraction of the cost and little decision making we got some external sun shades! 

This sure helped make the living room bearable in the evenings.

10pm and previously it was still day time highs inside!

Who wants to cook when it is 80+ degrees inside?

 

During installation and sunset. View is not completely obliterated, just obscured.

 

After install, night time.
The shades add a new ambiance to
 the living room during the day.
 

 

 

 I have several other posts to write and catch up on.

Writing about months back take the oomph out of blogging, I hope I can get current soon.

I expect things to get more exciting from here on out!

 

More plants for me!

Having an April birthday is the greatest thing ever! I spent all month buying every plant I saw and wanted. Unfortunately they were small and unimpressive when they first got planted so I had to go recollect photos since only now are they doing much!
Here it is JULY!!! I am surely behind.


This is what I have bought and planted so far:

Edible
Borage
Chamomile
Cilantro
Basil

Strawberries x 3 types


Blueberries
-Bluecrop Northern Highbush
-Sunshine Blue Southern Highbush
Brussel Sprouts

Seems someone has been helping themselves to these leaves...

Artichoke
green onion
Garlic
Kale
Collard
Chard
Zuchinni
Pumpkin
Cucumber
Lettuce-various
Sweet peas
Sugar snap peas
Peppers: jalapeno, habanero, cayenne & bell
16 tomato plants

Ground cover
Elfin Thyme, for patio
We finally gave up on little star creeper. Elfin thyme seems to be more resilent to my kind of neglect.



Here it is slowly growing in. Along with some weeds here and there...Hopefully in 2 years it will be solid like the original stones we surrounded by it.

Flowers
Bulbs
Acidantheria-hybrid gladiola x30
Lilies x 10
Crocosmia x10
Gladiola x 30
Dahlias x6

A free volunteer, Wild Sage, found front and center in the garden!


Various annual/perennials
Angel Amber Kiss Viola

Variegated winter Daphne x 2 --if only this photo was scratch and sniff! Possibly my all time favorite flower(now, ask me again in a year!)

While flowering

Now, growing

I really should get these planted--I have had since early in the year. Only problem is the "garden" they will go in has yet to be worked! Maybe I see a new project in the future, if only to save these gorgeous plants!


Lupine, gallery red-Lupinus Hybrid (I really should go take a photo of this!)
Oriental Lily
Flowering onion--Missed photo of this when it was at its biggest.

Carnation-Dianthus Grenadin White
Carnation-unknown Red
Black and Blue Salvia
Poppies x4

Sunbini
White Hyacinth x2
Osteospernum x3
Agave

Fucshia x 3 types
Delphinium

 

 

Frog garden, under bird feeder

Hens and chicks, Mrs. Giuseppi
Sempervivum-pacific rim
Sempervivum calcareum


Lithodora diffusa-killed


Upper moat storage for someday lower moat:
Blue ice bog rosemary-almost killed.


For west yard
Sword Fern-not yet planted

Salmonberry bush-almost killed

Current status is NOT pretty, but seems to still be alive!



I can't be the only person that has to sacrifice plants to the garden gods when on a shopping spree?

Evergreen Huckleberries x2-not yet planted.

Stonecrop Angelina

Sweetbox -Sarcococca Confusa
Sweetbox -Sarcococca hookeriana humilus
Hellebore orientalis 'Royal Heritage'

Helleborus 'Ivory Prince'

Finally in the ground after MONTHS!

 Whew! That is alot of new things to keep track of! I bought, planted and promptly ignored!
I will do something about that soon if the sun ever comes out again.

And the full garden as of last week:
Plus-so much rain I haven't needed to lay hose for watering yet!
Minus-I haven't been out much because of said rain!

My peas are doing terribly this year. Last year I had far too many, and now I have far too few. Better get out and eat them now!

An update on Asparagus: Ferns falling all over each other had to be staked up. Yet a few still sneak out and fall over again.
Definetly not a "pretty" plant after the eating season is over. Next year will be delicious though!


An update on Chester--Still alive!
This is the view from where I sit now, at the dining room table on the notebook.


I actually have a few more blogs planned! Yippee! I really need to get through this alphabet so I can blog randomly about what ever is going on RIGHT now.