Nesting and listing

This weekend we:



Climbed a lot of trees.

Contracted poison oak. (Again.)

Found a tidy little pile of snake eggs in the compost and took pictures of the natural wonder. (What can I say? My kids have taken the farm girl spirit to the extreme.)

Moved the bunny hutch to a nice shady spot between the chicken yard and the garden. Perfect for composting. (Not so perfect if the rabbits escape. Think Farmer MacGregor and Peter Rabbit, only not so friendly am I as he to lettuce-munching pets.)

Watched the asparagus grow more than four inches. Except for the one crown that the chickens scratched back to its roots. Those hens are headed for the crockpot for sure, I tell you! (Reference earlier grandstanding statement about my mean nature.)

Finally got the lawn tractor working in conjunction with just enough sunshine just in time to save the property from grass tall enough to obscure a toddler.


I like this Royal We business an awful lot. Because while "we" did all of that strenuous outdoor work and play, "I" took some naps, a lot of photos, a couple of long baths, time for baking bread and time for a trip to town with Madeleine, who needed new jeans. AGAIN. (And some books. AGAIN.)

To tell the truth, my weekend was pretty restful but I am such a homebody these days that the trip to town just about undid me. Three stores and their requisite dressing rooms, not even for me, mind you, and I'm down for the count. As I said to my wonderful, truly hard-working husband upon our return from town, "There. I've had a date day with each of the big girls and so now I'm free to have this baby and stay home."

I'm sure I've entered some sort of nesting phase beyond even my normal hermitlike homesteading state because last week the girls and I rearranged furniture and purged cabinets and in general acted like company was coming. My sewing machine is perpetually out and the cushion covers for the den couch are 90% done. I chose a rust chenille corduroy for the main fabric and I am in love with it. I'm already envisioning a nap on the couch, waking up with telltale lines on my face. I keep getting distracted by new, smaller projects though -- like this easy pattern for a customized baby seat/shopping cart cover. We have new beds to assemble for Laura and Grace and a new ensemble of red and white gingham and floral bedding for their room.

I joke around that pregnancy doesn't make me "nest" but makes me "list." As in, I keep adding to my lists of preparations and projects. But then? Only a few weeks to go until all I'll be doing is watching the new one's eyelashes grow. Delicious.