lizardblog ( the blog of liz creech

April 28, 2005
Gardening

I am not going to put out a garden this year. Not like it is ever a BIG garden but I usually intentionally put something other than flowers out. There is a huge hankering for one though. "It would be fruitless", I keep telling myself, "you won't get to reap any of the benefits", and that is true. I guess it is anyway. We had someone come look at the house on Tuesday, a Chef from my work, I don't know if they are very serious though. They are getting married soon, so I don't think they are very serious yet. There have been 2 calls about the price and one buyer agent asking for his client. We can not pay any fees, we have to have every penny in profit we make to go toward the new house. I balk horribly, (no offense meant to any realtors out there, I know you work hard for your money), at paying someone 9000.00 to sell my house for me. Yeah, it might be slower than having them do it, but there really isn't an alternative. Any way, rabbit trail there, I want to put some stuff out, like basil and tomatoes, maybe some green peppers and some cucumbers. Like last year. I sure plan on a garden next year, in MY NEW HOUSE! All those things and a little herb garden some where near the kitchen door! We did have some of the roma's come up on their own again. I transplanted a couple to pots on the deck, so we can take them with us. How is that for selfish? I want to take something from here to my new house. We planted those tomatoes about 4 years ago and they keep re-seading themselves. I like that, something kind of conquering about it. And I am going to miss the raspberries. They have grown to 6 plants out of the 2 that survived. I transplanted them to the bottom of the yard so they get more sunlight and I bet they will just have loads this year. There is one lone plant I missed but I will move it soon. I started filling behind the wall with compost yesterday. There is nothing like free compost from the Kentucky Horse Park to make a person feel good. I had hoped that just 2 loads would do, but I think it might take 4 to fill it right and spread out some to the existing areas. At least they load if for you at this time of year. I hand shoveled 3 truck loads myself back in October. Good exercise, but my wrist is injured and I don't think I could do that without more injury right now. So, I will try to get a couple more loads on Saturday before our open house on Sunday. So it will look more finished. And I bought the stucco to finish the outer side and make it look better. I am really going to miss that area to plant some great stuff in.

I suppose I could go on and on but the day calls. May your Spring be filled with beautiful flowers and pretty bird songs!

posted by Liz at 9:25 AM - permalink - -

April 24, 2005
Flip flops and toe socks

Oh, to be so innocent as to not have a problem wearing the two together. My daughter McKenzie is doing that today, she can't find her tennis shoes, which, with all the cleaning and moving stuff around, I am not surprised. And with this wonderful Kentucky weather they are an anomaly today. We had snow on the back deck when I got up this morning. Just silly.

This weekend was our first open house, and the house looks good, I can deal with it although there are some little things that still need to be done. And someone took an information paper out of the Info Tube we have on the for sale sign. We got excited about that. No one has actually walked up to the door and asked to come in. Makes me worry some, but I believe that it will all work out and we will sell this house.

I have a stupid cold again - that sucks. I think I am just too stressed out to let myself get well. I never really got over the first one, all the hacking and flem - Yuck! I need a massage, I think I am so tensed up that I am pinching a nerve to my right arm, it keeps going numb. Just silly.

I need to make Alan put some pictures up for me - so you all can see all our hard work. A big thank you goes out to Matt who helped on Saturday and did a wonderful job cleaning the ceiling fans, in-take grate and attic access. What is a shame is that peoples houses look like this all the time and it took us 8 weeks to get it looking like it should. We are slobs, but I am hoping this is the beginning of good habits - some that should have been in place a long time ago. Well, just an update, I need a nap now. HA!

posted by Liz at 1:38 PM - permalink - -

April 19, 2005
Getting there

Well, our first open house is this week end. I am scared but the house will be done. We have been working kind of hard, at a good pace but not frantic. We finally got the kids rooms arranged upstairs. We had all 3 girls in one room, Conor in another and then had one for guests. Now all the bedrooms are functioning bedrooms. It took a little fineagaling, moving a little at a time, and I still need to get a few things out of the hallway, but it is "done". I have a short to do list for the down stairs, one of which is to get the stupid toilet to quit leaking. Now, that has been a fiasco. When I was painting the bathroom to "neutralize" it, I stepped on the toilet to reach a high spot and broke the seal, so it started leaking. I knew we were going to tile in there so I just waited. Once we finished tiling, I broke the flange in one spot putting the toilet back on. So, after about a month with out a working potty in there, I got the pieces I needed to fix it, and....it still leaks! My brother in law suggested a second wax ring, it is a hassle but a lot less expensive than a plumber.

GUESS WHAT? There is nothing like procrastination to make you realize you put a thing off for no good reason. If you have been visiting here for over 2 years, like Mike O, you might remember that I was going to build a wall at the base of my deck because the yard is so sloped. Well, my father in law bought me the blocks to do it and I had been putting it off for one reason or another since. It took me 2 days and a total of maybe 8 hours. Debi came and helped the second day, thanks to you Debi! Now the process calls for gravel behind the wall for drainage. We had a bunch of cinderblocks left over so me and Conor are going to bust them all up and use those. I have a bunch of flat rocks that I got from the side of the road, literally, to use as cap stones. Then it will be off to the horse park for some free compost to fill in so we can plant some stuff. I think it is going to look great. With some sod to cover up the dogs paths and a little stucco on the outside of the wall, everyone will be clambering for my house, I hope. I have a spiritual analogy - I had my level using it to make sure the blocks were level and after just a few, I realized I wasn't going to need them because the foundation I had put in 2 years ago was solid and level and made the rest of the wall easier to build. A good foundation goes a long way. How is that for short and sweet (the analogy part :-)

Well, I have stuff to get done and I just wanted to let you all know the progress so far. Hopefully I can get Alan to add some pictures here, he keeps showing me but I don't do it enough to remember how to do it from one time to the other. I guess it just isn't a priority. Peace Out!

posted by Liz at 7:06 AM - permalink - -

April 04, 2005
Iced Tea

Iced tea is one of the best drinks in the world. Sweet tea, I mean. Not syrupy tea but just regular. I want to be able to taste it not only sugar. I am boiling me up some right now. Got the pitcher with the sugar in it waiting. Did you know that your tea is better when you let it steep? If you boil it and immediately mix it with the sugar and water, it is weak and not so good. Steeping, a very good thing, even though it means waiting. It would be neat if I could come up with some good spiritual analogy right now, but I don't think I can right now.

I have been out of my mind here lately. It is good to have a husband who can point that out and bring me back to a sane land. This house stuff has been ridiculous. I have been ridiculous.

The Plymouth Voyager that we had before we got the Honda Odyssey had 2 transmissions put in it. That is one of the reasons I bought a foreign made car. They have a tendency to be more reliable. Guess what? The Honda is at the shop getting a new transmission! Ha. Well, not ha really. And a catalic converter. All of this would normally cost into the thousands, really. The dealership, for some reason is fixing it all for free for me. I still don't comprehend it, cause I don't just get someone I don't know giving me thousands of dollars worth of something for free. It is a shame I am still wondering about it.

Well, I am going to help my husband paint our bedroom. It is the last room in the house to be painted. Every other room has had something done to it but ours. I am off to rectify the situation!

posted by Liz at 5:58 PM - permalink - -

spiritual

> vine & branches
> vineyard central

blogs

> Garden Escapades
> Trish Hiduk
> Maryann
> Alan Creech
> The Vine
> Little Houses
> Amber Bishop
> Jody Nixon
> Laura Ogle
> Debi Warford
> Jason & Brooke Evans
> Eric Keck
> Beth Keck
> Pete Matthews
> Trudi Matthews
> Brian Phillips
> Bryan Sherwood
> Malie
> Kim Johnson

Homeschool

> vegsource homeschool
> discovery school channel
> saxon math and phonics

general interest

> john rosemond's affermative parenting
> lisa welchel
> thunderstruck
> Homestar Runner

gardening

> Kids Gardening

books i like

Here are some books I suggests if you are looking to homeschool or just for information. I gleaned a lot from them. Our church gets credit if you buy through these links.

In their Own Way
by Thomas Armstrong

Seven Times Smarter
by Laurel Schmidt

How to Talk So Kids Can Learn
by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Teen Proofing
by John Rosemond