Category: Household

Garden Plan

As soon as my seeds arrived from Botanical Interests, I sorted them out in order of when they need to be planted. I also included seeds I bought last year, and seeds we’ve been saving all year. I came up with a rough garden plan. It went through several revisions once we started working and sowing in the garden. It’s important to keep track of what was planted where so that next year we can mix it up and make sure each plant gets to know a whole new part of the garden. Keeps the soil healthy and happy.

Shade Garden

First in are all the seeds that love cold weather and would grow with at least 3 hours of sun a day. I picked a spot behind the house. It’s the only shady place on the whole property, and it’s close to a faucet and garden hose. While tilling the soil, we found old rusty nails and parts of rusty tools, an indication that at some point in the distant past, someone had a garden there too.

Advantages of growing these plants in the shade: I don’t have to water as much. The shade keeps the plant bed moist for a longer period of time. The leaves don’t get torched by the sun, especially important to leafy green vegetables such as spinach and lettuce.

What I planted in my Shade Garden: peas, sugar snap peas, spinach, lettuce, radish, beets and broccoli. We’re expecting harvest starting mid-March through the rest of spring.

Herb Garden

Next up are cool season herbs. These herbs like full sun to partial shade, so I’m planning on sowing them in front of the house, which faces south, but is given partial shade by large evergreens. We have raised beds surrounding the house and a couple of small ones in front.

Going in the Early Spring Herb Garden: parsley, cilantro, sage, chamomile, lavender, calendula.

Adding to the Herb Garden after Spring has sprung: thyme, oregano, basil.

Sun Garden

After last chance of Spring frost is over, we’ll be starting the Sun Garden: basil, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (basil and tomatoes are best companion planting buddies), corn, carrots, cucumber, green beans, zucchini, summer squash, sweet peppers, red bell pepper, watermelon, cantaloupe, and sunflowers.

Pumpkin patch: My daughter is a Halloween baby, so we want our pumpkin patch to be a big celebration. Three different kinds of pumpkins: Jack O’Lantern pumpkins for carving, sugar pie pumpkins for yummy treats and Jack Be Little pumpkins for decorating.

Fruit Trees

I save all seeds from fruit we eat. I’m planning on sprouting these seeds and growing them in pots until they’re big enough to transplant into soil. It could take years, but I have to start sometime. Apricot, different kinds of apples, lemon, cherries, tangerine, plums, pear, pine.

We also have grown trees that are sprouting babies at their roots. Olive and various other evergreens. I wonder if I could grow them from cuttings.

I don’t know if I’ll get to everything. I certainly have a full plate. I’ll be updating these garden plans as we go along. This is going to be an amazing year!

February 21, 2013
The Adventures of Cosmo

Look at my sweet little dog whispering secrets to my daughter. Cosmo is the best dog ever. Very mellow around kids, lets my daughter dress him up, follows basic commands like sit, stay, drop it, does a lot of fun tricks like roll over, high-five, jump through hoop, the works!

But.

Cosmo is a rat terrier. He runs very fast and is a killing machine. The other day my husband saw him with the neighbor’s chicken in his mouth. Cosmo got reprimanded big-time in our house. He chases squirrels up trees and keeps our house and farm rodent-free.

Most of the time we don’t see him in action. One time in Maine we saw him emerge from underneath our little red cabin with a mouse’s tail dangling off his lips.

This past weekend I was turning the compost pile while the kids were running around in the field, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Cosmo digging furiously. When I looked at him directly I saw him push his pointy nose into the hole and pull out little pink things, which he dropped on the ground and started eating one by one.

Baby mice!

I called the kids so they could watch their beloved mild-mannered carnivore fulfill the circle of life. Amid screams of Ewwww, I heard one of them dare my daughter to touch the baby mouse. So I picked up one of them, the mouse, not the kid, still alive, and put it right in my daughter’s hand. Suddenly all the kids wanted to pet the baby.

It was so small. Its eyes weren’t even open yet. It kept opening and closing its mouth, looking for its Mama, but no sound came from it. My daughter wanted to feed it milk and keep it as a pet. I said it was pointless to raise it just so our dog or cat could eat it once it was grown.

We decided to put it back in the hole it was found in, to give it a chance. Maybe it would die of cold or a stray cat would snatch it up. But maybe its Mama would come back and find it and take it far away so it could be someone else’s nuisance. Or… or… maybe it will come back as some kind of super villain swearing vengeance on my dog for killing its siblings. That would be really interesting.

January 29, 2013
Chalkboard Linen Closets

Since we moved into this old ranch-style farmhouse in the winter, we did not want to paint the walls and be stuck indoors with the smell of fumes. But there are child’s scribbles on some parts of the walls including these white linen closets. I tried and tried to scrub them off but they would not come off.

Inspired by the child’s scribbles, my husband rolled two layers of Chalkboard Paint on the Linen Closet Doors. It only took one 30-oz. can of Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Paint to do it.

Materials: Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Paint, Painters Masking Tape, Paint Roller, Metal Paint Tray, Drop Cloth, Sandpaper, Fan.

Sand your surface, make sure it’s clean. Masking tape the edges to make sure you don’t smudge past what you want to paint. Set up your drop cloth under your workspace. Then lay that paint. Since we are doing this in the winter, we had to keep one window open and run the fan. Instructions say wait 4 hours before rolling that second layer, and wait 4 days before using the chalkboard.

To prepare the Chalkboard, rub the whole surface with chalk, then erase. Now we’re all set to draw or write or scribble or doodle. I’ve never drawn this big!

I love my 8 year old daughter’s chalkboard art!

She takes after her Dad.

December 17, 2012
Chicken Kitchen

We just recently moved to an old ranch-style farmhouse on a 3.6 acre property. There’s a lot to do, and many springtime dreams of starting a garden, raising chickens and a beehive. Upon move-in, though, my first priority was to clean and set up the kitchen.

Let me show you our kitchen, the Chicken Kitchen.

The Chicken Kitchen is a charming old farm kitchen, with lots of chicken accents all over. We’ve got the chicken runner under the ceiling, the chicken tiles and the chicken cabinet knobs. Not in the picture are chicken light switches, chicken chain pulls on the ceiling fan, and a chicken sink drain strainer. Chick chick chicken!

There was a layer of greasy dust everywhere, from the tops of the ceiling runner, the cabinet knobs, drawers and shelves. Don’t even get me started on the stove.

So I pulled on the rubber gloves and set to work. First I threw away all toxic chemical cleaners and bleaches. I only used water, heavy duty scouring pads, scrub sponge and for really greasy hard-to-scrub areas, Barkeepers Friend.

This vintage Jenn-Air Downdraft Stove was so caked with burnt grease on the stove rings. The burner plates were black and ready to crumble into dust. The downdraft filter was gross, and I fished out a fork, an old spaghetti, and old food caked at the bottom. (Sorry if I’m making you lose your lunch. I skipped taking a picture because I didn’t want to lose my lunch.) The grill and griddle cartridge set was so caked with grease I deemed it beyond restoration, so it went to the trash. (I spied a used set on eBay for less than $50 plus shipping, so maybe, maybe after Christmas…) But the burners were fine. With a lot of elbow grease and new burner plates, this stove is back in business. Look at that polished chrome!

I scrubbed the greasy dust off the ceiling, runner and molding. No grease or dust was safe from me. Everything got the rub down.

When all was scrubbed and clean, I bought about 5 rolls of Magic Cover Self-Adhesive Shelf Liners in Polka Dots for the drawers and shelves. They’re over $7 per roll, and they really perk up my kitchen.

I measure my surface and cut the contact paper to size. If it’s a small piece, I peel all the backlining paper off. If it’s a large piece I peel off just a corner or a side. I put the contact paper into position and press down, peeling off the backlining paper as I press the contact paper down, smoothing out bubbles and wrinkles as I go.

Some of my shelves and drawers are unfinished wood, a little splintery, so I cut out extra on the sides so I can fold it over and cover the edges as well.

We removed the microwave since we don’t use it, covered the hole with contact paper and turned it into my breadmaker cave.

Thanks for visiting the Chicken Kitchen.

December 14, 2012
There’s no place like home

This Christmas was a challenge for my family. We had to move out of our home in November because of a mold issue in the house that was making us ill. My mother offered us my childhood home in the Philippines.

It excites us to think of spending a little time in the place where I grew up. A few years ago we spent a year in Maine where my husband grew up. My daughter, then only two years old, still has strong memories of kayaking in the lake in the summer and playing in the snow in the winter. The Philippines is as far away from Maine as can be, and I can’t wait to make new memories there.

First we had to move out of our home. We were all battling health issues from the mold, but we had to face the task head-on. For 15 days my husband and I packed up our belongings into boxes and drove them into a storage space. We donated a lot of things to Parca, and packed up necessities for keeping with us while we were in transition.

My daughter had been rehearsing for the annual children’s theater holiday production of Wizard of Oz since September. It was a blessing that she was kept occupied with the show. It allowed my husband and I more time to do all the packing while she was out of the house, and it also gave her a distraction from the impending goodbyes to school, her friends, her home.

My family has an empty home in the country two hours away that we are staying in for the holidays, before we leave for the Philippines. We made ourselves comfortable and hosted Thanksgiving Dinner. After Thanksgiving, we warmed the home with Christmas fare.

We were barely home. We spent a lot of time in a hotel back in the San Francisco Bay Area, during dress-tech rehearsals and the shows following. It was the culmination of all my daughter’s preparations for the holiday show. At this point she was homeschooling, and the theatre provided her with a social outlet and a feeling of accomplishment. We had to let her finish what she started, no matter the cost to us.

We traveled with a little Christmas tree and nativity scene, so we could set up Christmas with us wherever we went. My daughter performed in evening shows on Fridays and Saturdays, matinees on Saturdays and Sundays all December. We drove back to my family’s home in the country on the weekdays. When school let out for Christmas break, my daughter performed matinees on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and evening shows on Wednesday, Thursday and closing night on Friday.

Munchkinland from J.E.Moores on Vimeo.

We finally came home on December 24, thoroughly exhausted, under the weather, but fully rewarded by an unforgettable experience. There’s no place like home… and home is where the heart is.

December 28, 2011
A Child’s Creation Story

My daughter loves hearing about how she was born. I tell her about her beginning as a tiny baby the size of a pea growing inside my belly. I tell her about how happy I was when she grew big in my belly and I felt her kicking against me. I tell her about the dream I had of her being held by a larger-than-life statue of the Madonna whose face looked like Freddie Mercury. I tell her that dream meant she had the gift of music.

I tell her that a few hours before she was born, her Daddy and I took a walk around the neighborhood and rescued a lost dog. I tell her that when it was time for her to come out, three midwives came to our home to help me. She likes thinking of them as three fairy godmothers. I tell her that at some point I hugged her Daddy and he could feel her kicking against us, pushing just as hard as I was. I tell her that when she finally came out, she blew all the fluid out of her nose and let out a strong cry, her first song. I tell her that when she was all wrapped up warm in a blanket, her Daddy sang her the “Macaroni” song.

I tell her that three days after she was born, she started turning orange. I said, I don’t want a pumpkin. I want a baby! So we went to Children’s Hospital and put her under bright lights. In a few days she was back to being a baby and we took her home.

At five years old, she began adding to the story. She says that once she was an angel who wanted to be human. She looked over all the mothers and fathers in whole world and picked us. Then she came into my belly and started growing there. I tell her how lucky we were that she chose us.

I suppose it is natural for humans to be curious about our origins. Where proof ends, we speculate. Cultures create and appropriate their own versions of creation myths. Even Science has its own unproven theory of our beginnings. We need these stories to give us a sense of identity. These stories, like stars, guide us as we navigate the future.

August 23, 2011
Our Love Story

My husband and I met in New York City during the blizzard of 1996. He lived in a haunted Victorian Mansion, with a billiards table in the basement, taxidermy birds, fox and a giant elk, antique furniture piled on top of each other, grand pianos, giant ceramic demons hanging from trees, and feathered Indians made of stone. It was so different from the conservative Chelsea apartment I shared with my aunt.

One afternoon, he and I walked from the haunted Victorian Mansion to the Staten Island Ferry bound for Manhattan. He stopped me, and bent to pick up a black plastic Batman ring on the ground. Then, he took my left hand and slipped the toy on my ring finger. Realizing what he’d just done, we both became nervous. Just then a strong gust of river wind hit us. It blew for about half an hour’s worth of our walk. The Winding Wind, we called it later. The Lenape native tribe called the island, “Sandy Shores and Haunted Forests.” I like to think we were cosmically married by the island ghosts that afternoon.

Eight months after we met, we got officially married on a mountaintop overlooking Lake Tahoe in Nevada.

We lived in New York City for a couple of years, while visiting his family in Maine during the holidays and summer seasons. Here we are on the picture above, hiking up Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, the tallest peak on the Appalachian trail (8,000 or so feet elevation). It is also known to have the fastest wind speed ever recorded in history.

After that summer, we headed West to California. Together my husband and I run our internet home business and continue pursuing various creative interests.

After 8 years of being married, we decided to have our first child. We are very excited about becoming a family, although also happy that we have spent a great deal of time enjoying life as a married couple, before jumping into the new challenges and rewards of parenthood.

October 16, 2005
Placenta Fertilizer

One of the questions I asked my midwife as I neared my due date was “What do we do with the placenta?” Her suggestions: cook it up for a nutrient-rich post partum snack that chases away after birth depression; then plant the rest of it to fertilize the earth.

I had some placenta immediately after I gave birth. One of the midwives sauteed it with onions and garlic. It tasted pretty good all spiced up, but I must admit there was a huge piece that stayed wrapped up in my freezer for a few months. My mother once mistook it for beef and started to thaw it for supper. I knew I had to do something with my placenta, and soon!

So when one of my avocado pits sprouted while soaking in the kitchen window, I knew I had the perfect match. My husband and baby watched as I potted the placenta and avocado sprout. I wonder how old my child will be when it’s time to transplant the avocado tree into the ground. When the time comes, I will tell her of that tiny home she inhabited for the first nine months of her life, and how it continued to nurture our home through the avocado tree growing in our sunny backyard.

August 19, 2005
Children’s Fairyland

This weekend we went to Children’s Fairyland in Lake Merritt, Oakland, an outdoor amusement park with a fairy tale theme.

Created in 1950, this historic park still has the creepy allure of old-fashioned fairs. Attractions look like they are in need of a new coat of paint. The pen marked “Three Blind Mice” had a guinea pig and the pen that housed the Three Billy Goats Gruff only had two overweight goats when we visited. One of the goats strolled over to us and let us pet him. Our baby was reluctant to pet him, and I appreciated the goat’s kindness and understanding of what the children come out here for, but it still made me feel sad. I imagined the goat having the same low voice as Eeyore, sadly resigning himself to an activity he may not necessarily enjoy, but has learned to put up with.

When my baby wanted to breastfeed, we stopped by the little pond marked “Goosey Goosey Gander,” which housed two ducks. I sat there amused at the sad orchestral music playing, remarking to my husband about how the minor keys were making me feel so sad for the animals. Can you imagine being stuck somewhere and having to put up with sad music all day?

Children’s Fairyland is also home to a sheep, an alpaca and Coco the Pony, who is 34 years old!

All in all, we had a great time at Children’s Fairyland. There are lots of fun places to photograph – a Three Little Pigs roleplaying station, Alice in Wonderland, a Wild West setting – and tiny little houses for children to run around in. I would definitely come back again and support our local amusement park. It’s the only way I know how to make it a better place for my growing child.

May 23, 2005
No Counting

At a toy store, a mother started yelling at her son, approximately four years old. The mother wanted to leave, the boy wanted to stay.

The mother started yelling, “I’m gonna count to three… One!”

The boy cried loudly, “Nooo! No counting!!!”

It made me wonder if the boy would grow up hating math.

February 23, 2005