Domesticity ?! With a toddler in tow ?!!

*snort*

yea right.

I must admit, since ending my positive parenting class, things have gotten a little more ‘pre-class’ around here. The weekly meetings were a good reason to try to stay on task in the face of adversity i.e. homework and non-napping.It was also helpful that the weather was crap during that time, so I was given lots of opportunities to practice my tools.

Spring has sprung around here, and there’s shit to get done now! I’ve begun to take a good look around our new property with some trepidation. I’ve never been a “gardener”. I know the basics: Water them, prune them, and sun them… some of them.. more for some, less for others. No, pot them.. no wait… dry them..?

Ok. They are green, mostly. And they need water. Those are the basics. I know daisies, roses (which i hate to have on the property) and now blackberries. I know what they are called, and that’s about the jist.

So here I am, on just shy of an acre in the very GREEN Northwest and it’s my first spring in the new house.

Holy Pollen, Batman!

The sun finally emerged yesterday and we’ve been hacking away at weeds and grass. I’ve been sneezing my brains out and hacking globs of “allergies”. Interspersed with those fun activities has been poisoning wasp nests (literally had no less than seven starting in one corner of the roof!!) knocking down spider egg sacs – and doing the heebie jeebie dance, and all the while keeping my tidy little itty bitty raised garden watered.

But now it’s time for the big leagues. Tree pruning. Rhododendron pruning. My friend tells me it is the state flower, and whomever lived here prior to us must have loved them. They are only surpassed by the blackberries on this property in space. Thankfully they smell heavenly, but they are a hive in and of themselves for the bees.

Now thrown into the mix is my three year old daughter who ABHORS bugs. Bugs of any kind free to roam about her head, shoulders, knees & toes. (knees and toes)

I went outside after my son’s orthodontist appointment, school drop off, and Real Housewives catching up at the early hour of noon today in the hopes of yanking out a good handful of blackberry sprouts and bagging the humongous weed pile I pulled yesterday. My daughter was fed and watered before this, and out we went.

And around the house.. and through the garage, and back into the house, and around the back and through the woods to the yard work we went. I rinsed and loaded up her shiny new water table that has yet to get a booger or snot on it since she refuses to play at it longer than it takes to fill it. I set up all my new gardening toys my mom got me for mother’s day (thanks, mom!) and my water bottle was even chock full of icy refreshing water!

Did I get to anything? Nope. I actually pulled two blackberry sprouts (and the three foot long roots) before the shrieking and screaming and prancing and jumping began. First she screamed and cried because she had to go inside to pee, and then once outside again she was so unhappy with the bugs, she actually chose the option of only going into the house to take a nap.

So now, not only did I get zero yard work done, she’s actually napping now which means she’ll be up until 9 o’clock tonight preventing any respectable semblance of domestic productivity.

I even tried to make a game out of being outside. I gave her a bucket and suggested she fill it with all sorts of treasures she could find around the yard… the portion that was near me, even!

Nope. Nap please.

So now i’m inside. In the cool shady house, while all my tools are baking in the sunshine. I’ve done three laps around the house just grabbing all the necessities to prepare for the yardwork. I’ll be damned if i go out there now!

_____________________________

lo and behold, look who is crying again and demanding I do her bidding?! So now I will get zero respite from the tyrant child.

*sigh*

This is why weed pulling has become so rewarding,  I think. It’s a great stress release and frustration solution for mommy.

Tasks accomplished today so far:

Dinner in the crock pot

Dishes done

Raised garden watered

Make the daughter cry

Do not drink before 5

Rock and cover ears in favorite corner

 

Tune in tomorrow to find out if I manage to make it back outside!