Yesterday was DD's baptism, my Mom and Dad were gracious enough to offer their house for the baptism party, since our place is big enough for one side of the family or the other, but not both at the same time. DH's family all came into town for the baptism which was really nice of them since we live several hours away and the baptism was late on a Sunday afternoon, it wasn't easy to travel home for some of them.
It was fortunate for us that none of DH's family needed to spend the night at our house because we have been battling a flea infestation for the past several weeks. We gave the cat a flea bath and then put a flea collar on him thinking he was flea-free, and then we couldn't figure out why all the sprays and vaccuming we were doing didn't get rid of the fleas. It turns out that the cat was still infested, really infested and every time he came in the house, we would get a new crop of fleas to do battle against. The cat is now re-bathed (twice), sprayed, collared, and banned from the house until we are sure the flea treatments are working on him. There has been a significant drop in the number of fleas in the house so hopefully we are making some good headway.
In other news, our garden is off to a good start this year. The sugar snap peas I planted in February are taking off and should start putting out flowers in the next couple of weeks. Maybe this year we will have enough to serve for a meal and not just to snack on. We have some flowers on the blueberry bushes so maybe we will get a few to snack on this year as long as the birds don't get to them first. Dh's brother just gave us a raspberry plant from his yard that we will try to keep alive and maybe we will get some fruit in the next couple of years. DS and I started some tomato and peppers plants from seed this year. Most of the tomato plants are determinate so I hope to have a large crop of tomatoes so I can can a dozen or more pints of pizza sauce this year. The 5 pints I got last year turned out really well and I would like some to give as gifts this Christmas. To make room for more tomato plants, I'm going to move the pepper plants over to a spot next to the air conditioner, I think they will do well there. We planted some spinach, lettuce and carrots for the first time this year, but I don't think I planted enough, and since I want to plant tomatoes in that same spot once the lettuce is finished, I think it is to late to start some more without interfering with the tomatoes, maybe I'll do better next year. We also went ahead and bought some ferns to plant in the wet spot near the rain barrels in the backyard. They can get up to 5 foot tall so hopefully they will hide the barrels and take up a lot of the water to help with the mosquito problem we had last year.
I've gotten a couple of crib quilts finished too. One for DD, and one for DH's nephew's baby due in June. I'll have to post some pictures later. I put together a twin sized quilt top from the scrappy trips blocks I won from the Block Lotto last year. I finally got the top basted and then went into labor with DD later that night. I started the machine quilting on it but the back has a bunch of spots where the fabric wasn't tight enough and got folded over so I think I will rebaste the un-quilted portions before continuing. I don't think I will bother taking out the quilting I've done so far, since the quilt really isn't my style anyway and was just going to end up a charity or utility quilt. I've also started to put in the background pieces to the quilt I am making for DH and I. However, setting in seams is not my strong point and I have to redo almost all of the pieces I got done since I wasn't paying attention to how the seams were coming out as I was doing it. I bought fabric to sash the sampler blocks I won from the block lotto but that won't be cut into until after I assemble the top for DH and I. Oh, and the next-door neighbor is expecting a baby in July so I'm trying to secretly find out if they have any colors or theme they are using to decorate the baby's room and then I would like to make a quilt to match.
While DH was off work after DD was born, he was able to hang up a porch swing his father made for us after we bought our house. We have really enjoyed having it these past few weeks. It's nice to sit out and greet the neighbors as they pass by. DH also managed to install a walkway in the backyard. We thought he would need a lot of help with digging out the dirt and putting down the gravel and sand base for the pavers, but then we found these things called Brock Paver Base. They are really lightweight, easy to cut and they take the place of the 4 inches of gravel that would normally have to be used. With the amount of digging cut in half (or less) and no gravel to move, DH was able to do everything himself in just 2 days. It made a really nice walkway to go with the new fence and gate he installed last fall.
Well, I hope to add some pictures later on this week. And maybe next time it won't be so long between blog posts.
