In the Belly of the Beast

After some serious thought (and almost pulling down a potentially load bearing wall) we decided to pull out all of the ceiling. We had previously decided not to, in hopes of using the original ceiling and saving ourselves the time and effort. But, in the end we're glad we chose to pull it down. Seeing now what was up there, I wouldn't have felt comfortable moving my kids into that house. Now, it's just a big empty shell of a house. Studs only with a view straight to the roof. It's actually kind of amazing to walk into a house and be able to see it's bones. Somehow it seems like you're standing in the ribcage of some prehistorical beast.

Let me warn the faint of heart...NEVER EVER DO THIS YOURSELF. Unless you just love pain and misery and nasty nasty things. Now that it's done, I am very proud of us for what we've accomplished. But I realized yesterday (when we weren't even halfway done) that I would much rather relive the pain of childbirth than to spend another day shoveling out old insulation and dry wall. Plus there were the snake skins, the multitude of dead rats and mice...and so much more.
Here is the house after Jon pulled all the ceiling out (doesn't he look cute in his Tyvek suit and my hot pink hard hat?).


And the end of the day after we picked it up...

We wondered if we ordered too big of a dumpster...apparently not. We filled that sucker completely full. See how big it is compared to the truck? We did that...every piece of wood, dry wall, insulation, flooring, appliances, etc...we tore it out and dumped it in there. Talk about sweat equity...I've never sweat so much in my life. (though I think technically so far it's all sweat and no equity...)


Now it's time to take a little break. I promised the kids no work at the house for a few weekends yet...it's time to make up for some lost family time that I have been sorely missing.

Jon says it's Poplar, I say it's Beautiful

My spot under the tree.

To CSA or not to CSA...

Community Supported Agriculture is awesome. It's fun, it makes you feel good about what you're doing and what you're eating. So why the question? Well, for one, it's not cheap. And if you live near a farmer's market you can accomplish the same thing for less money AND have the power to choose what you buy. With the CSA mystery box, it's a fun ritual to tear through the box and see what you have. But, it could be just a big box of kale. While I've never gotten just a box of kale...I've gotten pretty close. There is a time during the growing season where it seems like all I see is kale, swiss chard and collards. So many collards.
As it happens I am not anywhere near a farmer's market right now, so that makes a CSA a good option. But at $30 a week in the spring, and $35 in the summer that is half of my weekly grocery budget. And it doesn't fit all of our produce needs, typically it's just vegetables. Which means more of the weekly budget will go towards at least fruit. So this is a pretty large economical decision for our family... to be exact it's a $530 decision.
I'm leaning towards yes. I enjoy what the box does for our family. I enjoy the kids being excited about veggies, and me too. I enjoy having to stretch my normal cooking and eating limits. Ever had collard pesto? It's not too bad...and what else do you do with all those collards? (I'm only southern by location...not by birth...sorry I don't get the appeal of a big pot of slimy green goo!!)
I don't have long to decide...there are limited shares. Oh the suspense!!

Easter Baskets

I had no idea where last years Easter baskets went. But, thankfully after a mad search through the kids toy boxes I was able to find their baskets from last year at the bottom. After a good ironing...they didn't look the same. If I had time I could have washed and dried them, but I didn't, so still-a-little-wrinkly had to be good enough for me.
Here is what they looked like in their former glory, along with some of their friends that I was busily making last year. The bunny is still my favorite.