40 Weeks + 1 Day

I have been asked a lot lately if I have had the baby yet. A friend just sent me a great link that made me giggle in reply to that very question.
Yesterday was a great "due date" day for us. We woke up, ate a yummy breakfast, played peanuts (card game), went to Chris and Melissa's for lunch, played scrabble, took a nap, went for a long walk, ate dinner, played rummikub, went to bed.
Ryan and I both have colds right now, so I looked online to see if I could take cough drops or not...they said that pregnant women should stay away from cough drops with menthol because they may cause contractions...I decided that meant I should have as many cough drops as I need/want. :)
The only "problem" with not having had the baby yet, is that all of our yummy treats that I made last week are almost gone now and the cupboards will soon be bare again...and well, my mom and dad don't get here until Friday! I guess it's time to go to the grocery store again. :)

In Bloom!

Today is my official due date. And while I've had some contractions...I'm not in labor (yet). Perhaps there will be a different update I can share with you later in the day. However, the fence in our backyards in in full bloom right now and I'm absolutely loving it! There is nothing (and I mean nothing) like the smell of wild jasmine...

And, the bank roses are multiplying every single morning. I sure do love March in Tucson!

Last little bit of nesting...

Everyone keeps asking me, "Are you nesting?". I think I am. I don't think you'll find me scrubbing the oven with a toothbrush or our baseboards (ever)...but I feel like in other ways I've been creating our little nest, just right for our babe to come home to.

The diapers are washed...


More wool covers have been made, this time using recycled sweaters...


Our bedroom now has all the necessities for a little one to join us...


Our living room is ready for rockin'!


A fresh batch of yogurt is in the crockpot as I type...


And of course, I had to make some granola to go along with the yogurt...


It wouldn't be right to allow spring to begin without some homemade sorbet (lemon-blackberry flavor, that is)...


And, of course the ginger snap cookies that must be eaten with the sorbet...


Ryan and I have been enjoying lots of great quality time together as just the two of us, eating dinners on the back patio, going for walks, and playing cards. We are very eager to meet our little one any day now!!

Four Years of Bloggin'...

Today is my 4 year anniversary of blogging! I am pretty sure that more people read blogs now than they did then. In fact, I don't think too many people knew what blogs were then. It was a time before "blog titles" mattered (hence my very simple "The Green Family" blog title and my non-matching blog address of "ryanandabbygreen.blogspot.com"), before fancy blog backgrounds existed, and to my knowledge before people earned livings off of blogging. If I knew then what I know now...maybe I would have entered into the blog world a little differently. But to be honest, I'm glad I didn't know then what I know now and that my blog is just simply "me" with no agenda of having sponsors or making money...just sharing a little bit of green living with friends and family. (Though, donations will always be gladly accepted. :)
Here is my first ever blog entry.

Bountiful Baskets!

There is this great thing going on in the western part of the country called Bountiful Baskets. It is similar to CSA, however instead of it just being Tucson farmers, it is growers from the western part of the country. (If it was just from Tucson, we'd only get citrus, and maybe a head of lettuce...a.ka. we'd starve.) The beauty of bountiful baskets is that you don't have to commit for a whole season, you can choose from week to week if you want to pick up a basket or not. On Tuesday or Wednesday you sign up online, and then on Saturday you go to your designated park and pick up your laundry basket of produce...it's awesome! And, it only costs $15 ($18 for your first time)!!

Today in my basket I got:
2 heads of orange cauliflower
2 bunches of asparagus
3 bunches of green onions
1 bunch of celery
1 head of romaine
6 or so roma tomatoes
1 head of savoy
1 head of purple savoy
1 bunch of bananas
6 or so apples
4 mangoes
a container of strawberries
a bag of kumquats

probably other things too that I'm just not remembering right now...it's quite the deal...and its communal...and at a park...what's not to love?!

Blanca and Estrella in line to pick up their baskets!


Baskets ready for pick-up! Each person gets a basket of fruit and a basket of veggies, you actually don't get the basket itself...everyone brings bags, their own baskets, etc to fill up.


Estrella tasting the goods!

sock pocket!

(That was to be sung to the tune of "Hot Pocket"). :)

My favorite socks finally wore out, with major holes in both heels. I was having a hard time throwing them away, so I decided a little recycling project was in order. I cut off the bottom part of the sock (the foot), flipped it inside out, serged (you could also sew) across the opening I had cut, flipped it right side out, and then added a little snap. It literally took all of about 5 minutes to do. I love it! My camera bag was too bulky for my new purse, so now I can just carry my camera around in my "sock pocket"! The other sock is in use as an ipod case right now. Last night I came across a lonely sock with no match, I think it may become our new GPS "sock pocket"!

Fire Brigade...

Nothing like a little morning excitement at the Green house today! This morning I was out and about running errands and then came home and parked the car in the garage and shut the garage door. Totally normal behavior. About an hour later I was in the back part of the house where the garage and house attach, and smelled smoke. I opened the door that leads to the garage and sure enough the entire garage was filled with smoke! Ack! I opened the garage door to air it out and called 911. Two full-size fire engines, 2 "ambulance size" fire engines, and 13 firemen arrived. The street was blocked. Neighbors were out gawking. It was really quite the scene. Turns out something under the hood of our car was smoking...I'd get technical here, as I really know cars, but I figure my blog audience probably doesn't care too much about the details. :) (aka, I really have no clue about cars, but if you do...the heater core went out). Our car was towed to our mechanic, and luckily it was under $100 to repair it. Had this not happened when it did parked like this, they said it could have really been quite the car fire next time I drove it as all of my radiator fluid was gone as well. They were great. Thanks Tucson Fire Department!

Loving so many things...

It is raining right now in Tucson. Rumor has it that we are already over our yearly average rainfall and it's only March 8th! I have to admit, now that I'm not working at the outdoor cafe which is negatively effected by such gloomy days, I love the rain! I'm sitting inside Spill The Beans Coffee Shop, enjoying its coziness of the indoors and watching out the window as the sun peaks out and reflects on the puddles jumping with raindrops. One of my favorite parts about getting rain in Tucson, is that the rivers finally have water in them! I know, we're a little batty in calling dry riverbeds "rivers", but we do, there are even signs that call them rivers. Living on a different side of town has introduced me to my new favorite place to go for walks, the Rillito River! Here it is with water...


I woke up with a nasty cold on Saturday morning, and I've been trying to nurse myself back to health with all sorts of natural remedies. A few favorites have been...

Ginger Tea: (good for congestion)
1 liter of water
4 whole cloves
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
and a bunch of fresh ginger cut into pieces

-put all ingredients in sauce pan
-let simmer for about 20-30 minutes
-add lemon and honey before sipping!

Honey Ginger Elixer: (good for sore throats/coughing)
1/2 C honey
1/2 C water
1/4 grated fresh ginger

-put all ingredients in sauce pan and let simmer about 10 minutes
-take 1-2 teaspoons at a time

And...the famous Neti Pot! I've heard about the Neti Pot for years, but have never really felt the desire to try it. But, I'm now a convert. It's a saline solution that you pour in one nostril and let it come out the other. Pleasant, huh? Do it once while congested though, and feel the difference...you'll become a believer too.
My CVS brand Neti Pot...


I don't know if I'm allowed to say this or not, but it's my blog, so I think I can say whatever I want...I love my profile! In fact, I think I'm going to miss the full-figure picture of myself.


It's hard to believe that I'm already 37 weeks pregnant, and therefor considered "full term"! I feel so thankful to have been able to carry our baby this far to where they now consider it safe and healthy for the baby to arrive. I really really really can't wait to meet this little person growing inside of me! Though, it is our prayer for an on-time delivery, so we are happy to wait another 3 weeks for this special meet-and-greet. :)

I'm also loving self-striping yarn! I found another pattern for wool diaper covers (well, to be honest, there are hundreds of patterns out there), but this one I felt called for self-striping yarn and baby green's lil' bum.
Here is what the cover should like in the end...

And, this is the self-striping yarn I'm using and the start of the cover...


And, I also loved the way I felt encouraged by SouleMama's blog today when I saw her photo of wool diaper covers drying in the sun.

(photo compliments of soulemama's blog)


I haven't done a whole lot of reading lately, but I have been loving the reading material I have on hand when I do pick it up...

(the book title is covered by the library bar code, but it's "Montessori From The Start".