Does she need glasses?

On May 30 we took Lilyana  for her 5 year well  check.  The nurse did a basic eye exam with one of those spoonlike things (hereinafter known as "the spoon").  As Lilyana had her right eye covered we noticed that she was trying to peek around the spoon.  The nurse declared her vision 20/30 and suggested we could take her to an eye doctor.

So I finally made the appointment and we took her in today.  The doctor was very patient with her.  He did her right first and she did well.  Then came the left.  After one or two lines she definitely had some problems.  He then suggested that we dilate her eyes.  He actually wanted us to take her home for a few days, get her used to drops and bring her back but I didn't want to do that.  I just don't have time to be running back and forth.  So he examined her eyes again after dilation and confirmed his original diagnosis.  She is slightly farsighted in her right eye and much more farsighted in her left to the point he feels the left eye is not working as much as the right.  He explained that if left alone the left eye might possibly become lazy and the right become nearsighted.  Or the left would just stop working.  Dan's mother had one of each.  He explained it had most likely been that way since birth.  When we told him she was premature he said it was a risk factor.

So the bottom line is she will get glasses to gradually bring the left in balance with the right.  She'll go back in 8 weeks and before six months to be evaluated and possibly have the power adjusted.  She may not have to wear glasses forever; just until the eyes are working equally together.  We tried to pick the best looking glasses from the ones insurance pays for.  Fortunately insurance should pay for all of it because she doesn't need complicated lenses like Dan and me.

It's 9 days after June 1st when I was going to update you on my garden.  Nothing has been going on since I planted it ... except watering.  In Minnesota we have barely seen the sun or 70 degrees so the plants aren't growing.

However, yesterday when I went out to water I found this ....

Yes, that is a tiny tomato.  

On my two early girl plants.  

I'm not sure it will amount to much considering the plant is this tall ...

When I bought my tomato plants, two of them already had one or two blossoms.  Thus the tomatoes.  I probably should have plucked the flowers but I didn't think it would take this long for the plants to grow.

Praying for warmth and sun.  

Too bad my brother didn't pack some on his way here from Las Vegas where I heard it's 110 degrees.

Hopefully July 1 will be full of tall plants and growing fruits and vegetables.

Today is Saturday, May 25, 2013.  I braved the cold and mist to plant my garden today.  Here are the plants.

 3 tomato plants in this bale

 3 tomato plants in this bale

 1 cucumber on top of this bale

 1 cucumber on the inside edge of the same bale

 1 cucumber on the outside of the same bale

 4 kohlrabi in a 4th bale

 1 pumpkin on the outside edge of a 5th bale

 2 pumpkins on the top of the same bale

 1 pumpkin on the outside corner of a 6th bale

 6 "red sails" lettuce on top of the 6th bale

 1 zucchini on the outside edge of 7th bale

 1 zucchini on the top of 7th bale

 1 zucchini on the end of 7th bale

 1 zucchini on the inside edge of 7th bale

The idea with the vines/crawling plants (cucumbers, pumpkins and zucchini) is that we will train them to cover all the bales.  Instead of trailing out into the grass they will climb up and around the bales.

 These two pictures are the whole layout with tomatoes on the left and zucchini on the right.

I had originally planned only to put stakes and wire on one side of the tomatoes.  But Dan thought that enclosing the whole thing might be better to keep the critters (including Cinder) from eating things.  We got two sides secure (the far side and the end with the bales).  We ran out of time for the other two sides.  Now that we've had enough rain for a little bit, I'll be anxiously waiting for the sun to warm things up more.

Wow!  It's been exactly ten months since I've written anything on here.  It isn't because nothing is going on.  I've been very busy with adding jobs and leaving jobs.  I am now working 50+ hours a week between my own business, a full-time pca job and three bookkeeping jobs.  We've decided to homeschool Lilyana and I've begun a straw bale garden.

For the rest of the summer I will be updating this as my garden progresses.  I'll post any day that I do something and around the first of every month I'll post a picture of how the garden looks.  I hope to keep track of how much I've spent and how much yield I get.  But for now enjoy the beginnings of my garden.

Early in May I was bemoaning the fact that having a “normal” garden is too hard for me.  Our soil is full of clay which makes it very hard to till and weed.  I have a lot of pain from various disorders and just cannot do the stooping or sitting or kneeling required to maintain the garden.  I work more than full time so I knew I wouldn't have the time to commit to a traditional garden.  In addition, a group of people came and cut wood for us in March and about five dump truck loads of wood are on top of my garden area right now. 

We didn’t have one last year (2012) and I was resigned to the fact that we wouldn’t have one this year (2013) either. Then a friend of mine posted about her straw bale garden.  So I did a little research and posted on FB that I was thinking about doing it.  Then another friend pointed me to her friend's site.  This friend of hers has been doing a straw bale garden since 2009.  So I read and reread and reread her site.  So much good information.  I emailed her and she has given me so much more and answered all my questions.

And now I thought I’d record, as a sort of journal, in detail what I’ve done this year so I can go back and remember for next year.  I’ll know how to change things if I need to.  I’m going to keep track of each day that I do something and take pictures on the first of each month (or close to it as we will be gone the first three weekends in June).

It all began by us contacting a local farmer in May to get some bales.  He charged us $3 each and we got 7 bales.  I decided smaller is better for my first year.  I chose to use all blood meal as my main conditioning fertilizer and after researching on Amazon and other sources on the internet decided to go to the local feed mill in Gaylord.  They had 50 lb bags of blood meal for $41.  It slightly beat Amazon’s price, I supported a local business and was assured that it could be kept from year to year.

With bales, blood meal and water in hand we put out the bales and started the conditioning.  These pictures are of the bales after we set them out and before we started conditioning.  We put some old carpeting in the center to keep the grass/weeds down.  Next year I'll probably spread the bales from this year as a weed free bedding.

The recipe I followed is the same as Carrie’s.

Day one (May 11):  ½ cup blood meal and water – I also ordered my fertilizer for day ten (Dr. Earth 5-7-3 and Dr. Earth 6-4-6). 

Day two (May 12):  water

Day three (May 13):  ½ cup blood meal and water

(May 14):  we were gone all day and didn’t get back until late so I skipped this day

Day four (May 15):  water

Day five (May 16):  ½ cup blood meal and water

Day six (May 17):  water

Day seven, eight and nine (May 18, 19, 20):  ¼ cup blood meal and water each day

(May 21 and 22):  I was super busy and it rained for 1 ½ days.  On Tuesday, May 22 I got the package from Amazon which had been damaged in transit and it was one box of fertilizer short.  I chatted online with Amazon and they next day shipped me the item at no charge.

Day ten (May 23):  1 cup 10-10-10 fertilizer and water – I combined four cups of each of the Dr. Earth fertilizers and put one cup on each bale. 

And these are the pictures after I finished day ten.   

Now any day I’m ready to put up stakes and wire and plant.  I plan to take pictures after I’m done with the planting and will post it at that time.

Stay tuned to see how this first time garden experiment goes...

Homeschool

One Year. 

That's how much time we have to decide what Lilyana will do for schooling.  I am torn between homeschooling and the local charter school.

I want to homeschool because I want her to have the time she needs each day to do her school work.  If she needs more time than is allowed in "regular" school, then she should have it.  If she works fast (like I do) and gets her school work done, I want her to be free to do what she wants.  No sitting around in class bored while other kids finish their work.  I also want to be her first teacher and see her learn and discover.

The advantage to sending her to the local charter public school is that she will be able to interact with other kids, be in classes that include older kids and get a chance to learn how to behave in a classroom -- taking turns, listening to the teacher, no talking unless given permission.  So really this option is more for social interaction and social learning than academic learning.

Since we can't afford preschool, the academic learning she'd receive there is being done at home.  I plan to work on printing, more math and reading this year.  Preschool would also be good for the social learning which she doesn't get at home.

In either case, I am always on the look out for homeschool material, just in case or as an addition to learning at away from home school, should we choose that option.  While doing this I recently came across a huge giveaway of homeschool material for all ages, $700 worth.  Imagine how giddy I would be if I were to win this.  I might even share it with other homeschool moms I know.

I welcome comments to give me food for thought as we make this decision.

Summer

My senses came alive as I laid on the trampoline with my baby girl.

The sounds of birds singing, guns shooting, traffic moving.

The smells of canvas, wood smoke

The sights of blue sky, yellow sun, white clouds, green grass

The feel of cool grass, hard rocks

The taste of juicy, messy watermelon.

We'll ignore anything that's not to love about summer.  Today is all about summer fun.

The Relaxing Swing

I have a swing outside where I can put up my feet, tip back my head, close my eyes and relax the stress away.  I call it my relaxing swing.  I also have two companions on my relaxing swing.

One companion likes to relax with me, laying on my lap, sleeping and playing me music.
The other companion likes to move, crawl, kick off people and animals and just generally be the boss of the swing.

I put it off for as long as I can but eventually, even though I crave the stillness, the perpetually in motion four-year-old trumps the still, calm, purring furrball.