Update

My garden has been less than happy with the change of weather. Molly the Eggplant is fully bloomed, but I may have to just take her inside into the garden windows. Yes, I know eggplants in Seattle is a farce, but I WILL HAVE EGGPLANTS, DAMNIT!

'Maters have basically stopped growing as well. :/

Peas and beans, tho'...happy as can be. I transplanted...er, something today into the area with the old bush beans. I thought it was either the romaine razzle or merlot beacuse of the red leaves, but I've written some things down wrong both in the garden and in the seed starting kit. :/ I guess I'll get what I get.
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In interesting (to me) news--the rows that have been covered with the row cover sheets...everything sprouted . Every. Single. Thing. The rows that weren't covered? Hit or miss. I even have a whole square of finicky parsnips ready to go.

Note to self: must get rid of current set up for fence so that everything can have a row cover. It makes a HUGE difference.

I'll replant more parnsips, rutabagas, etc, into the seed starting kit for those that didn't germinate. It won't hurt to have some veggies a bit staggered.

I really need to talk to my father-in-law about building another bed. I've changed my mind yet again. I'm happy with 1 more 16x4 bed in the back if I can also figure out a place to start an asparagus bed. I'm definitely building a raspberry bed in the defunct driveway as well as put 2-3 potato bags for next year. I figure if I only mention 1 large bed and 1 small bed, it won't be as freaky to him. I mean, I'm pretty sure he'll let me do WHATEVER I want, I just don't want to assume.

Speaking of assuming, the Japanese Maple in our front yard that he loves so much? Dying. No saving it. I googled it last week adn it looked like wilt. Had an arborist come out and it is DEFINITELY wilt. :(

This means that there is a very weird area in the front that will be empty. It also means that I can't necessarily plant whatever veggies or whatever I want there because wilt will last in the soil for up to 7 years. :/ I'd personally prefer to plant something that can be food, but I suppose this will be a negotiation.

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In other news, this weekend is really about relaxing on Saturday (and hanging out at the hospital as much as we can) and to gear up to look after my darling niece all day on Sunday.

Why for?

Because there will be a new family member this Friday. Yep, I will have a second little girl in my family that will one day call me: Most Awesome Auntie Ever To Step Foot On This Planet.

Guess who has been uber-weird about procreation this last couple of weeks? If you guessed "me"--you would be right. Hello, ticking clock. Everything feels so weird in my body these days, that I don't even want to talk about it. I just want to say that I'm sorry I ever had a big mouth about not having a biological clock. Fortunately, it's just pushing really deep buttons in my brain so I'm not obnoxious about it. But gads--that deep, primal urge is fascinating and totally has no basis in reality or consciousness. Yay, lizard brain!

I'm actually looking forward to hanging out with CeeMonster all day. She's going to wear us out, but being around an almost-2-year-old who thinks EVERYTHING is the coolest, most interesting thing she has ever seen?!? Awesome. She has non-stop energy, but there is nothing that is going to bore her, unless we slow down.

We're worried about slowing her down. The child has no "slow" button. I'm not even sure if she has an "off" button. She might have a "have to sleep right now" button, but I think that's it.
I can't wait to get some uninterrupted time with her so I can see who she has become.

Now that my sister-in-law is going into the hospital again, I'm remembering when she had CeeMonster. I know that I used to hate when adults would tell me, "I remember when you were a baby!!"--but I see Cee and I acutely remember when she was about 45 minutes new to this world. It's impossible not to contrast that with who she is today and then try to think about the person she will be 40 years from now. It's so breathtakingly amazing to me.

And I can't help but to laugh thinking about the future--when she is going to roll her eyes at me for remembering when she was just this little bean that could barely open her eyes and marvelling at who she becomes. More than that, I can't wait until she becomes my age and I can rub it all back into her face when she is in wonder and awe about it all with either her or her sister's or her cousin's families. I'll finally feel vindicated in the way my aunts and uncles laugh at me and my cousins now.

Yay. The circle of life. So individual and yet so much the same. I love it most of all. All of it.