Ugh. So tired. So busy at work. I must have really annoyed someone last year to be given 6 classes and two subjects I've not taught before when I'm only around for a term. I'm spending so much time on preparation it's crazy. Anyhow, it's time to pull out the other half of the garden round up I typed a couple of weeks back.
Disappointments
- Capsicum - One capsicum on the plant. Same thing happened last year so I think it may be about the Canberra growing season more than anything else.
- Zucchini - Plant didn't grow well. Two zucchini to date, although it looks as though it's picked up in the last couple of weeks so there may be more yet.
- Butternut Pumpkin - was mown over by A in it's early days - opps. Despite this, there is one pumpkin growing well. Like the zucchini, it seems to have picked up in the last week or so, so maybe there'll be more!
- Radish - very small harvest for amount planted.
- Strawberry - we got one strawberry each. They were fantastically delicious. I think the chooks and birds may have enjoyed more than we did.
Complete failures
- Spring Onion - I put the seeds in, nothing came up!
- Coriander - grew but went to seed without producing a significant amount of leaves.
- Eggplant - overwhelmed by giant tomato plants. Had flowers but never set fruit.
Yet to be judged
- Self seeded pumpkin next to chook pen. The vine is huge. It's taking over the back fence - probably the only thing holding the fence up if I'm honest! There are about 4 or 5 pumpkins growing with many more flowers. Fingers crossed!
- Chilli - lots of little chillies, should be able to test them out in the next couple of weeks.
- Celery - Growing...we'll see
- Beetroot - growing well, just picked the first one the other day and it was delicious. I reckon these will be moving up to the 'success' list!
Any recommendations for the winter growing season?
Well, quote number two came in. We were happier with the service of these guys. I think it helped that A was pretty upfront about budget constraints and told them that there was a number we wanted to meet and it was their job to tell us how we could do that! After saying that at the top end the quote could start with a 5, yes, that's right, a 5, they made a lot of sensible suggestions about how we could change things to cut costs without sacrificing the design too much.
So, the quote...at first glance $26,000 seemed much more reasonable...until we saw the list of exclusions that we would be responsible for! Which would mean the total cost would still be in the mid 30s. Gah!
So, the back breaking hard work back up plan looks like it might come in to play after all.
The back up plan is supported DIY - we don't want to fiddle with shifting plumbing, electrics or waterproofing and most of the demo will have to be done by an asbestos removal professional. That's fine, it's kind of important that we get that right, so we pay for it to be done but do a lot of the other stuff ourselves. Tiling, I'm told, is slow but not too difficult with a bit of education and the right tools. If people on The Block can build a stud wall in a couple of hours, we reckon we can do one with the technical support of our builder neighbour. A's dad is conveniently about to open a plumbers account with a company for his farm irrigation. They also sell bathroom and kitchen supplies so we'll get trade prices there at about 40 - 50% off retail.
Just to keep things sensible though, we're going to start with the toilet! If we can put in a simple new window, new gyprock, tile a tiny floor area and install a new toilet without too much stress, then we'll tackle the next stage.
A is quite cool, calm and collected about the whole situation. If I'm honest, I'm a little concerned! June and little Baby A are getting closer every day - 99 days according to my little counter today - and I don't want to get stuck with a half finished bathroom and a newborn! On the other hand, the thought of only spending $15,000 is very appealing. It means we might get a deck out the back quicker and will feel a lot more comfortable about having 5 months next year on one wage.
For interests sake and because if you've made it through this post you deserve a reward, here is our bathroom inspiration picture! The colours will probably be different but the concept of having the shower and bath in a wet area is surprisingly space efficient!
I'm home. The weather gods were kind, the illness and sleep gods were not. Time and some serious catch up naps are necessary before I comment any further on the camp week. I need to gain a little perspective!
What I did love was coming home this afternoon, letting the chooks out, sitting on the back step and having Lucky run straight up and jump onto my knee. Bless her little chicken feet.
So, here's a post I started putting together a little while ago. Hopefully I will get time to replant some parts of the garden this weekend.
....
It's nearly a year since my lovely dad came to stay for the weekend and helped to build our veggie garden. When I say helped, he was definitely the brains and half the brawn of the operation! So here's the good things to have come out of the garden over the past 12 months. The bad and the ugly will follow later!
Runaway successes Corn - Would happily plant the whole backyard full of corn. The first cobs were a meal in themselves and the sweetest, juiciest, most delicious I have ever eaten. Subsequent cobs were smaller but still good. Even picked a couple of baby corn to try them out! They were planted where the Snow Peas had been and companion planted with the beans. This is apparently the thing to do as the peas and beans put nitrogen (I think) into the soil that the corn needs. However, I've not got anything to compare them to to be sure this is why they were so good!
Beans - Really good producers and delicious. The only downside of planting them and using the corn for them to grow up is the corn finished before the beans and some of them blew over, taking the still producing beans with them!
Carrot - easy to grow for most of the year, even if they take a while. Consistently tasted good and the strangely shaped ones provided some entertainment!
Lettuce - easy to grow but need to be more organised to play successive crops as we ate them so quickly!
Tomato - Have never had such a heavy crop that actually ripened!
Rhubarb - Consistent performer, delicious but the stems never go red. Not sure if it is the variety or something about the soil/weather.
Basil - Going strong. Will have plenty to freeze for winter.
Broccoli - grew well and tasted good. Was a magnet for caterpillars though. At least the chickens got the benefit of those!
Mild Successes Cucumber - got about 6-8 cucmbers which were crunchy and delicious then the plant just died. Oregano - Growing in a herb planter - did much better when it was in the garden bed. Thyme - As for Oregano. Parsley - Overwhelmed by giant tomato plants but still got enough to be useful.
We're just back from a 'rockstar' visit to Victoria - thanks Sammie for the terminology! I do think that rockstars would fly, but funds dictated that we drive :-( So after A's birthday BBQ on Friday night we got up, hopped in the car, 7 hours later we were at his parents place ready to head out to an engagement party. Got up again this morning, had a late brunch, got in the car, 7 hours later we're home.
Home, just in time for me to pack my bag for a week of year 7 camp. Oh joy of joys. 176 twelve year olds and a forecast of rain every day. Please pray or cross your fingers or wish upon a star or do whatever it is you do for me that the forecast is wrong!
The 'A' party went well, we had Angels, Arabs, Andre Agassi, Army men, an Aquarium and I ended up being the Amazon rainforest with a plastic vine thingy from Hot Dollar draped over a flowery dress.
And an update on the bathroom. I'm glad you were all equally horrified by the quote, A laughed out loud on the phone when he was told and our neighbour's dad who is a tradie (but lives in Melbourne) said it was insulting! We have someone else coming to quote tomorrow and a potential backup plan which I'll tell you all about later.
Right now though, I need to get some sleep as I don't think I'll get as much as I'd like this week!
A is turning 30 on Friday and we're having a birthday BBQ dinner with an 'A' theme. That's all very well, he's all excited and organised to come as a character from Avatar - blue morphsuit and all! I, on the other hand am not a costume party kind of girl. I generally avoid them like the plague so I have no idea what to wear! I've suggested being 'A's wife' and 'a pregnant lady' but apparently they don't cut it!
Anyone got a better idea than 'astronaut', 'Albus Dumbledore' or 'apple'?
Apple was my dad's suggestion after seeing a my 22 week belly pic - thanks Dad! Oh yeah, and I have to be able to put it together for THIS Friday. While you're at it, if you have any good 30th gift ideas, that'd be great too. Nothing like having 6 weeks of holidays I could have used to work this out but leaving it until now!
Work has started for real and is going well, tiring, but well. The last two nights I've woken up with leg cramps and I'm really hoping they are just happening because my body is not used to all the standing and walking and stairs and that it's not a pregnancy symptom that is here to stay!
We got a bathroom quote. Are you sitting down? $39,000!!!!! Who are these people kidding??? How hard is it to remove a wall, put in a few pipes and slap up some tiles???? Ok, so I know I'm over simplifying things here but I didn't think what we had planned was that complex. Needless to say we'll be going back for a 'third time lucky' quote. The first one we got was $25,000 and we thought that was steep!
Finally, here's the cheekiest chicken saying hello through the (horrendously dirty) kitchen window. I was surprised and a bit concerned that she could get up there as it's a fair way from the ground and higher than our fences so I know she could get over them too if she wanted!
Dear Chicken, please do not take to visiting the neighbours yards when I'm not looking. They have dogs! Big ones!
Yaeli over at Mummy In Progress tagged me (quite some time ago, I'm ashamed to say). So I'm finally going to attempt this, however, as nearly everyone has done it now I'm being slack and skipping the pass it on bit!
11 things about me...
1. I've lived in Canberra for 7 years now which apparently makes me a local and means I'm unlikely to leave.
2. I lived and worked (teaching English - as you do) in a tiny country town in Japan for a year after uni. It was the end of a train line and there was a river outside my house that was home to otters, bullfrogs (which I was amazed to find actually do sound like bulls) and fireflies. Sometimes I still miss it.
3. As a child I was bitten by a tiger snake and spent a night in intensive care. Unsurprisingly, I'm still terrified of snakes! I don't even like the non-venomous types, not even in cages!
4. I'd love to learn to play the piano accordion.
5. Despite fact No. 1 (and 3, I suppose) I'd like to move back to the 'country' so my kids can grow up there.
6. My favourite colour is green.
7. I like lists ( I think I've mentioned this before) and a love a good countdown to something whether it be an event or simply how many lessons I have left to teach for the term. Towards the end of my stay in Japan I was so excited to come home to A that my friends dubbed me CC (Countdown Christie).
8. If I could have a superpower, it would be the ability to instantly teleport from place to place.
9. The only TV show I cannot miss is Dr Who.
10. If I wasn't a teacher I think I'd like to be a florist.
11. A and I will have been together for 11 years in April! We survived a whole year apart when I was living Japan - hard work, but worth it!
Questions from Yaeli...
Cat person or dog person? I adore both really but I guess I qualify more as a cat person as we have a cat - Axel. Our falling down fence means a dog is not an option at the moment but I secretly look forward to the dog from around the corner escaping from his yard and having to look after him until his owners get home!
Who is your hero, and why? I don't know that I have 'hero' as such. I've read about or heard about so many inspirational people that picking one just isn't possible. Sorry, cop out answer, I know.
What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? Horse, in Japan, it was chewy but much like beef.
What's your favourite book? A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
What is your favourite song? I'm not sure that I have one favourite song so I'm going to cheat on this question too. The one singer I make the effort to see whenever he is in Canberra is Darren Hanlon, in fact I think I'm going to add him to the dinner party list!
If you could have 6 people, living or dead, over for a dinner party at your place, who would you invite? Nancy Wake, my four grandparents, Stephanie Alexander (to cook and give me garden advice), Darren Hanlon (to serenade us). Can I also choose to hold it after June so my grandparents can meet their great grandchild?
What language/s do you speak? English, Japanese and traveller's Spanish.
What is the number one thing on your "bucket list"? To see Polar Bears in the wild!
How do you like your coffee? I don't! I love the smell but would much rather a hot chocolate, chai or green tea!
Who would play you in a biopic of your life? Charlize Theron - not because I think she looks anything like me, but because I'll never forget her acting in Monster.
Which animal would you steal from the zoo, and how would you get it out of there? A Panda - I'd carry it out like a soft toy - it would have to be a small one I suppose. Then I'd keep it in the yard to eat the bamboo we just can not get rid of!
This could so easily turn into a whingy, whiny post, I've not had a great day. I've been back at work for just two days - about 45 to go, not that I'm counting! No kids yet, just meetings and preparation and more meetings that run over into preparation time (!). However, sitting down on the school chairs for hours on end is killing me. They are hard and downright uncomfortable. I feel sorry for the kids having to sit on them every day. At least when they are back, I'll have no time or real reason to sit too much!
I love my job, and I'll love it when the kids are back. I just don't deal well with office politics, last minute notifications of responsibility - "oh, yeah, you're coordinating 1st semester ..." even though I'm only there for one term and I have discovered I have little patience for staff members who plan to teach maths (for example) rather than teach their students maths. There is such a difference here, even if it doesn't seem like it to read! And in coordinating the 1st semester, I will be dealing with one of these teachers who I just don't see eye to eye with on, well, anything - not pedagogy (for the non teachers - how you teach stuff) and certainly not behaviour management. Gah, stress. Let's move on.
Baby A either loves me being at work or hates it as I'm feeling constant kicks and rolls and punches which, while I like feeling the movement, is not helping the comfort factor! It is a good entertainment strategy though. During some of the more repetitive meetings I'm surreptitiously watching my belly to see if I can see the big kicks from the outside!
In order to get out of this whingy rut I'm going to borrow Yaeli's Thankful Thursday, just this once, it might help me sleep tonight!
Today I am thankful for...
1. Supportive colleagues who share my philosophy on teaching!
2. My lovely mum
3. My lovely husband who is still on holidays and spent the last two days dealing with tradies to get a bathroom reno quote and hanging the Ikea blinds (no small feat)!
