POTD "Fiddleheads"

Ferns just love it here on Whidbey Island. I successfully transplanted a few last year and they are even happier this year. Oh! And thanks to my neighbor Dick, now I know how to prune them and keep them looking great! 

I remember it was quite an adjustment gardening in Spain! I attempted to plant a bunch of marigolds in my garden, only to stand watering them every night and still end up with brown scortched flowers. After a year there, I conceded and planted a bunch of cacti. They thrived and I just adored them. It too, was an adjustment gardening here: very damp and dark much of the year, and the gardens in the front of my house see pretty much NO sun. I learned my lesson in Spain, and when choosing plants here I zoned in on shade-lovers.

So, the gardens are still works in progress (aren't they always?) but I'll post some more pictures soon. 

I just love my fiddleheads.

POTD "My Beautiful Bush"

 

Shortly after titling this POTD, I came to the conclusion that the wording could be... misconstrued. I thought to myself "YIKES! This title could make people a little uncomfortable..." And with that thought... I knew it was a keeper. :)

 

Northwestern Washington is very green. Our backyard is VERY green. So summertime, when my beautiful bush turns almost entirely pink... it's just awesome. It's starting to turn. And I am happy. I will be sure to post another photo of my big, blossoming bush at a later date. Ok. I just need to stop writing now.

POTD "Something Brown"

*it was just chocolate :) 

POTD "Monkey See Monkey Do"

The dogs dug a hole in the backyard and they're now proceeding to use it as a dirt bath of sorts. My white husky loves to roll around in it and get all dusty and nasty and then come inside and get on my bed. It's pleasant. It really is.

Well on this day, Finlay was apparently a witness to the dirt bathing. How do I know this? See for yourselves...

If only Fin's dog copycatting was limited to rolling in the dirt. Sigh. One of these days I just know I'm going to look out the back window and find him fertilizing the lawn. 

POTD "Family Selfie"

Rarely do we get all four of us in a photo, but the other night after tub we took a few family "selfies." I wonder if the term selfie has made it into the dictionary yet? If it's not there yet, it will be. Anyway, it took a few attempts to get us all looking, but we did it! 

Love all these boys. 

POTD "Dear Mr. Steak Salesman"

 

Yesterday I was just putting Kai down in his crib and the doorbell rang. THE DREADED DOORBELL! Typically when the doorbell rings, my husky and his husky-wannabe partner-in-crime start HOWLING and singing to announce the unexpected arrival. In our small house, it is reaaaaallly loud, so 9 times out of 10 it wakes up both kiddos and sends me into a small swearing fit, running to the door to try to silence the dogs.

 

Thankfully on this day, for some strange reason, the dogs did not start going crazy. Maybe because I kept my cool? (Whatever the reason, they got goodies for it.)

 

I was greeted by a young man with over processed blond hair who you could just tell thought he was MUCH better looking than he actually is. He was a steak salesman and he wanted to sell me steaks. I tried to quietly, through the crack in the door, while holding the muzzle of my large white dog, let him know that I was interested in hearing more, but that he'd need to come back. It was naptime, and that meant it was not a good time. Well, you'd think he'd have been very excited to hear that someone was interested, but he proceeded to act annoyed and confused as to why I couldn't talk that very moment. He just needed to get rid of "the last 5 steaks" on his truck so he could "get out of the rain" and "go home for the day."

 

After a short discussion I, again, told him to come back. He asked me to write down my address for him. Really? 

 

I shut the door and first: praised the dogs. Second: thanked God the boys did not wake up. Third: decided I would not be purchasing steaks from the tool. Fourth: let my facebook world know how annoyed I was at this meat merchant. Fifth: typed up a small note for the guy to find upon his arrival later that afternoon. I did not want to have to talk to him again.

 

So today's POTD is the note. I basically told him I was no longer interested in his product and gave him a few sales pointers for future cold calls. It read:

 

 Dear Mr. Steak Salesman that rang my doorbell during naptime,

You must not have children, or if you do, you clearly do not understand how CRITICAL it is that they sleep. If they do not, they turn into gremlins.

I told you that it wasn’t a good time to talk and asked you to come back ANYTIME in the morning or afternoon. That I’d love to hear your sales pitch and compare prices to our local grocery stores. In fact, I even used the words : “Yes, I’m interested.”

Here’s a sales tip: Acting annoyed, or like it’s an inconvenience to you to have to come back at another time (because it’s raining, or because you’re trying to get rid of the steaks on your truck, or because you want to end your day early… or whatever it was you were saying) is not a good selling tactic.

Here’s another sales tip: You seemed to find my house ok. Don’t ask me to write down my address. My babies are sleeping and my dogs are about to start barking.

Maybe next time you can smile. Or, you can try “Oh, ok. Really sorry to interrupt naptime, but I’ve got a few steaks left on the truck and I’d love to sell them to you if I can come back later today.”
Sorry, I’m no longer interested in your product. And I’m sorry you had to come back out in the rain. If I wasn’t so worried about my babies waking up, I would have told you to forget it earlier.

Have a great day.

PS. If you don’t like the rain, you should probably move out of WA.
PPS. Before I stayed home with my babies, I sold dental lasers that cost in excess of $100,000. I know a thing or two about cold calling.

Good luck out there.

.....................................................

 

When he came back, the boys were still sleeping and so I just hid in the back bedroom. :) So brave.  From my covert location, I texted my BFF neighbor, Dick, asking him to tell me when they left. He was a big help and alerted me as soon as the van departed the drive.

 

They took the note and never made a peep. No knock or doorbell.

 

Sometimes being a stay-at-home-mom can be adventurous. :) Sort of.

Our First Bike Ride!

Ok, it wasn't Fin's FIRST bike ride, but it was Kai's!

 

This past weekend, Matt took advantage of the good weather, put some air in the flat tires on our bikes and he and Fin took a short ride together. That was the first time Fin rode his bike on his own without the need for someone to help push from behind.

 

A few days ago, while Kai was napping, Fin and I used that time to finish the springtime bike tune ups. We oiled the chains, raised his training wheels a tad and tightened the breaks. Or, at least we tried to tighten the breaks. They appear to be working better for him.

 

Fin was VERY excited to go for a bike ride and he kept begging me all morning, but I told him we couldn't go till after Kai was awake and after we'd eaten lunch.

 

Finally... it was time. Thankfully the sunshine cooperated. Ready to roll!

 

Kai checking out Fin's rad helmet.

 

Fin checking out Kai's overall radness.

 

Can we go yet?! Ok, I'll give a half-hearted "cheese" for the picture.

One more selfie! (Ok, ok, no Kai does not have a helmet on, but in my defense... I tried to put one on and the poor kid was heaped over like a sack of potatoes. Secondly, I had no plans to leave our quiet dead end street.)

 

Our first ride together went great! Except for the fact that Fin stopped every two feet to point out ants, birds, poop, trash... etc. Stopping and getting going with the chunkster in the seat behind me is not easy. So there was a lot of "Come on Fin! Let's go Fin! Don't stop Fin! I'm beating you Fin! Hurry up Fin! FINNNNN!!!!"

 

Fin pointing out bird poop. I wish I was kidding.

It was a great little post-lunch, pre-nap ride... but we got home, and Kai had kicked off a shoe! DARN IT! So, off we went on a quick walk back to find it. Of course, it was all the way down towards the end of the street.

 

Fin retrieving the lost footwear.

 

PHEW! Got it mom!

 

Can't wait for good weather so we can do it again!

POTD "Picasso Time"

 

I FINALLY have Kai on somewhat of a schedule. Someone please knock on wood. I can count on him going down every morning some time around 9, so Fin and I use that time for fun "big boy" stuff.

 

The other day when Fin's friend was over, I pulled out his new brushes and "spill proof" cups. I use quotations only because I think they are grammatically correct, but they actually DO seem to be spill proof. :)

 

So, for a few day in a row now, we have been enjoying a little morning PiCaSso Time. I'm not going to lie, I've been having a little fun too.

POTD "There Goes Lunch"

Ahhhh. The Pacific Northwest. Where rain isn't the only thing that falls from the sky.

 

I was at the park with Finlay shortly after moving here, and he was enjoying chasing the seagulls around. Next thing you know, this lady starts dumping out a huge bag of bread crumbs she has for the birds. Awwww that's nice. She's feeding the birds. Well, it posed no problem for us until it started RAINING shells. The birds overhead, swarming in for the unexpected treat, were dropping whatever sh*t (let's be honest... they'll eat anything) they had in their mouths and making a MAD dash for the good stuff. You could hear the mussel shells hitting the ground all around us as the gulls realized that better, aka EASIER, food was to be had.

 

So yes. Seafood falling from the sky. On a completely different day in a completely different place, Fin and I were taking a stroll when I noticed something peculiar in the ditch. It looked like an octopus... but that couldn't be possible. Or could it? IT WAS. It was a squid or octopus or something of the sort, but whatever it was, it was not an organism one would typically find on the side of the road. I would have loved to take a closer look, but Fin was smaller at the time, so I actually did a small song and dance just to keep him from even noticing the dead (and potentially foul smelling) sea critter in the ditch. Still managed to snap a pic though. You're welcome. :)

 

 

My theory? Well, we weren't too far from the ocean (Ok, we live on an island so we are NEVER too far from the ocean.) and we were also close to an area that is a big eagle nesting spot. So I think an eagle picked this guy out of the water only to accidently drop it just before it's home. Whoopsies! There goes lunch! Either that or it went for the delicious salmon and discovered halfway home that it grabbed the octo instead. :) And then it was like "ew" and dropped it. The End.

POTD "Dead End Street"

Dead End. Something about that always sounded a bit eerie. There's only one way out! You could get trapped!!! When I was growing up, I was convinced that nothing good ever happened at the end of a dead-end street. I would see that ominous "DEAD END" sign and I immediately pictured ugly, hissing alley cats, dark corners and drug deals. 

How wrong I was! We live at the end of a dead end street here, and I absolutely love it. It's quiet, and safe, and friendly. (Somebody knock on some wood.) 

There are always neighbor kids riding their bikes up and down the street or drawing in it with chalk. Yesterday about 5 PM, we were waiting for Dad to get home, so we brought the stomp rocket out into the street to play. It was a big hit with the neighbors. We shot down the street and tried to catch it. Today's POTD is a mid-stomp shot of our neighbor Jasmine. Her brother, Jonah, and Finlay are waiting down the street in proper catching position. 

It was just such a beautiful Cinco de Mayo evening. I cracked open a beer and stayed outside playing with the kids as long as I possibly could. But, alas, I finally had to go in and cook dinner.

We had homemade margaritas, store-bought "fresh" salsa, and an Ortega taco kit. And you know what... it was delicious. There wasn't even a small part of me that wished I was out fighting for a seat at a Mexican restaurant. I was happy. Hope you had a great Cinco de Mayo as well. 

Kai watching the blast-offs. All those toys and he preferred the beer bottle. Boy after my own heart... :)