Garden is a go

Clark and I got our garden started over the weekend beginning with a trip to our favorite nursery: Buchanan's on 11th. Having a toddler help me on this one may have been poor judgement on my part, but it was exciting nevertheless. Freedom to dig his hands in gravel and dirt is a dream come true for Clark, so I let him have at it.

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

He had a sad moment at one point, which I attribute mostly to teething and not gardening. We had to take break when I turned around to see Clark covered in dirt, gagging on a portion of it that made it into his mouth, and holding a just-planted (but now ripped from its home) tomato plant in his hand. Clearly my two hands weren't enough to keep perfect order. A lot more dirt and gravel ended up on the ground, clothes, and in Clark's case, mouth, than I would have preferred but I'm glad he was involved since he gets excited to check on the plants we worked on together.

Have Tools, Will Use

Stevie made an uh-oh to our compressor while backing into the garage a while ago. The coupling piece got sheared off, leaving some of it behind in the regulator. I took the compressor to a tool repair shop, who then referred me to the Makita service center. Once there, they told me they'd need to replace the regulator and coupling, which they estimated to cost me about $150 or more. No can do, I thought! Especially considering the whole compressor was $150 in the first place. It's hardly been used, so I took it back home and called my dad to see what else could be done.

Using my dad's suggestions, here are my supplies for the repair:

1. broken coupling :(

2. went to Kwik Kar for oil change, inspection, and mechanic advice for my compressor

3. mechanic advised me on what tool I needed (extractor) and gave me one

4. #5 extractor I purchased later since gifted one didn't fit COST=$4.09

5. roll of teflon tape to wrap threads of new coupling COST=$0.98

6. wrench for Clark to use (to pound on the compressor) to help his mom

7. wrench I used

8. piece I successfully extracted

9. shiny new coupling COST=$2.98

$8 later the thing is as good as new. This is my "I fixed it, take that, Makita!" wink.

I'm still trying to figure out what the guy at the hardware store meant when he sold me the extractor and said, "tell him to pound on this a little bit, then he can unscrew it." Whoever he is never showed, and quite frankly he's too late, since I already fixed the thing without his help. Next time, Mr. Magical Fix-It Guy, next time...

Posterior Accessory

A few months ago a well-meaning acquaintance, with significantly more children than myself, mentioned that having just one child is like having an accessory.  If that's the case check out my darling (but angry-looking) accessory:

Sometimes I wear him on my back to jazz it up when we're hiking in the forest. 

Occasionally I'll don him on my backside when I need to do something hands-free (like take photos). I like the look, especially when (added-bonus!) Elmo comes along too! 

Lessons in Lego

Here's Clark next to one of his many daily Lego creations:

(he seemed particularly proud of this design so when I suggested we take a picture he stood still for a few seconds)

and here's the master at work:

We got him the Lego set for Christmas, but back then all he could figure out to do with them was throw them and put them in containers then dump them back out.  One night in January when he wouldn't go to sleep I let him stay up late with me and that's when he figured out how to connect the Legos together. Since then he's built all sorts of things, but mostly new vehicle designs.

Sometimes when he can't get the Legos to line up just right, and they don't connect how he'd like, he gets frustrated and tosses them. To me it seems a silly thing to get frustrated about...which makes me wonder how many things I get frustrated about that are probably totally inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It's just one of many lessons I'm learning from Clark, my sweet little 17-month old. I love that boy!

Sparks Fly on Valentine's Day

2.14.2012.  crocheted heart garland made and hung. check. (idea found here)

nails painted an appropriate love day color. check. (but already chipped from lugging a compressor around. a story for another day.)

Steve's favorite treat baked early this morning to surprise him later. check.

red shirts on. check.

end planned events here, enter chaos:
20 minutes before Steve was coming to pick me up for a special Valentine's lunch date I was prepping to photograph the brownies (above) and smelled something hot/burny. After a few minutes I identified the source as the doorbell chime and took the cover off to discover a crackly sound coming from it. It was arcing--on its way to burning up, essentially.  Imagine how delighted I was to find the other chime doing the same thing! I switched off some breakers, pulled out a partially depressed doorbell ringer, and my dad talked me through disconnecting the wiring from the chimes. Sounds easy, but at the time I was in full panic mode.
Despite our Valentine surprise we left Clark with Grandma B and left late for our date after contacting an electrician. Here we are upon arrival at the restaurant:

and here we are about 20 minutes later. at home. 

the electrician called us at the restaurant telling us he was coming by in 30 minutes. so we took our order to go. Steve headed back to work, the electrician came and I picked his brain about doorbell switches and troubleshooting, we used my pink tools to make the repairs, and my house didn't burn down. yess!!

More exciting of a day than I'd have preferred so let's end with some eye candy.

Nice sweater

This is another one of those "I-think-my-child-is-so-cute-so-here-are-lots-of-pictures-of-him posts." I love this sweater on him so I had to document. 

He was showing me his full repertoire of serious faces, complete with eyebrows, pout, looking off in the distance, etc.

 He stood still for a long time so perhaps he's figured out how this picture thing works.

He loves waving to cars.  Not the people in them, just the cars.

I wasn't sure what he was doing here, but he stood there a long time so maybe he was trying out a new pose. I love this little guy and all the things he comes up with.

Warehouse Shopping Gone Bad

Steve got more than he bargained for while shopping at Costco last week:

He had just turned into the parking lot and a distracted fellow driver crunched into him. Everyone is fine and Steve's ride should be good as new in a few days.