Retaining Walls Finished!

     Today Tracy, our landscape/hardscape guy, finished with the retaining walls and the window well in our backyard!  Here are the before, during, and after pictures.  :)

Before

During

This is the root system of the cursed bush that I cut way back.  That thing is huge!

Goodbye, fir tree.  He saved the hydrangea bush, though.  :)

After

It looks so much cleaner.  And he saved two more of our flower plants, too!

 The dark soil is some kind of mulch; our dirt doesn't absorb water very well,

and so this stuff will help with water absorption so things don't flood when it rains.

I used to have to practically force the kids to go out into the backyard to play,

but now they ask to go outside!  They love it!

 He used our existing rocks and blocks up on the hill so that we could utilize what we have.

These are now blocking up some rather large holes under the back fence where the soil eroded away.

More rocks to cover up the drainage pipe, and there's also a gap here which allows access to some water basin things and shut-off valves that we will need access to at some point.

He regraded the dirt in the back there so that it would be level all the way around the window well

(and now the side gate can open easier, too).

I looked up pictures online of window wells, and I really didn't want to look out of my window and see what looks like the inside of a metal bucket.  So he made a window well for us out of the same blocks and capstones that he used for the retaining walls.

  This is what I see when I look out the window.  I love it!

     It was a two-week project and Tracy worked alone.  He did an excellent job!  He was very precise with his measurements and his leveling and with the spacing of the blocks, and very exact when he cut the capstones to fit together (that was the most time-consuming part of the whole project).  I very much appreciated his attention to detail.  His work and the final product were absolutely worth the money!

     Next on the list is the deck!  Tracy also does decks, and so we'll have him back to do more of our upcoming yard projects.  I already love this backyard so much more than when we first moved in, and I actually like being outside now!  And now that everything is where it needs to be, we can start watering the grass again.  ;)

Plant-Based Diet

     Back in March one of my friends sent me a coupon code from the Safeway/Albertsons monopoly game; it was for a free cooking course from an online cooking school called Rouxbe.  I checked out the terms of use and it was legitimate, so I signed myself up for it and it was great!

     The course I took was called "Plant-Based Cooking" and it focused on a plant-based diet: no meat (including fish), no eggs, no dairy.  In the beginning of the course they explained why they use the term plant-based rather than vegan: "vegan" has political and ethical implications to it, while "plant-based" refers only to the food and culinary skills.  They also refer many times to the Standard American Diet (SAD) which is meat- and dairy-centric and high in processed foods, because that's what we in this country have to let go of in order to eat more healthily.

     One of the things they linked early on in the course was a video of a man named Dr. Michael Greger, an American physician, author, and public speaker, who explained how the top 15 causes of death in America as of 2012 when this video was made (except accidental injuries) can all be prevented and sometimes reversed by adopting a plant-based diet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30gEiweaAVQ  It's a 55-minute-long video but it's well worth the time.
And I just found four shorter videos on YouTube which are titled "Why doctors don't recommend veganism".  They're so good!

• With Dr. Greger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajhX5jWmlL0
• With Dr. Barnard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLeee0HRyHM&spfreload=5
• With Dr. McDougall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuOa3avtdNA
• And with Dr. Goldhamer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ef16V_6Vvo

     What I loved about the course is that the demonstration videos were excellent and they showed me how to do the various cooking methods--- boiling, simmering, steaming, roasting, sauteing, etc.  It gave me the knowledge of how to cook so that I could later focus on what to cook.

     The kids were surprisingly open-minded and willing to try what I made for them.  Little One has a new-found love of couscous and the course's recipe for "power cookies", and Baby Girl tried a lot of new vegetables.  We've switched to Almondmilk which the kids like and Mc thinks it's okay, too (I actually don't like the taste so I've basically stopped eating cereal altogether).  We don't eat meat anymore for the most part, and we've been eating a lot more vegetables.

     One of the first things the course covers is where you will get your nutrients now that you're not eating meat or dairy.  Dairy actually isn't a very good source of calcium, but it's one of the most popular sources in Standard American Diet; and meat is an easy source of complete proteins and iron, so you have to eat different combinations of other food to make complete proteins.  Here are where you can get the nutrients you need on a plant-based diet:

• Protein: legumes (beans, lentils), nuts, seeds, whole grains, and vegetables
• Calcium: green vegetables, beans, fruit, and some seeds
• Iron: spinach and other leafy greens, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, lentils, white beans, etc.

     During the course I did do the plant-based diet and I lost about 8 pounds.  As I cut out sugar from my diet I've been able to taste the natural sugars and sweetness levels among various fruits and even vegetables.  And it's hard to describe, but my body felt cleaner inside.  Since the course ended I've gone back to just a vegetarian diet but I've eaten processed food and sugary snacks a bit more and so my weight has leveled out again.  Because I am overweight and because I have a family history of diabetes, I need to lose about 80 lbs. to be at my ideal weight.  My goal is to get back to the strictly plant-based diet so that my whole family will be healthy and so I can start to lose weight again.

     This was an excellent course.  The demonstration videos, the explanations, the motivation pages, all of it was excellently done.  If you come across one of the monopoly coupon codes for a free cooking course with Rouxbe, take it!  You won't regret it!

New Bedroom Window

(I changed up the background of my blog today.  The other background was a too blue and cold-looking for me, and I wanted something new and different with a little more color.)

     This is one of about 20 house/yard projects on our list of things that need to be fixed or improved.  Some projects are small and some are large; some are cheap and easy fixes while others are pretty expensive.  I would call this one a medium-sized project.

     We are using the downstairs bedroom as a computer room, and because it has a closet it's technically a bedroom.  But the only window we had in the room was 6' above the ground and very small--- much too small for a proper fire escape--- and so it's officially labeled a nonconforming bedroom.  It also lets in way too little natural light.  I wanted a window on the south-facing wall that lets in the sunlight throughout the day, that faces the backyard so I can be in here and watch the kids play, and so it's the proper size and height for a bedroom window.  Here are some pictures.

Before

As you'll see, we had to cut into the foundation.

The room.  This is the middle of the day, and look at how little natural light there is!

Where the window will go.

During

The initial cut into the sheet rock.

That grey part on top is the foundation.
We had to move some wires over, but luckily no plumbing needed to be rerouted
(the kitchen is right above this room).

That's what the foundation looks like on the inside.  Pretty cool!

 The Finished Product

Installed, framed, and the wall repainted.

Look at all the natural light we have now!
(And please ignore the mess--- we're still putting the room back together).😉

     This project took a long time to do and it was expensive, but it needed to be done.  Now that this is checked off of our list, the next project is to fix up the outside of the house around the window and then landscape the backyard.  Onward we go!!

Little One's 5th Birthday

     Yesterday was Little One's 5th birthday!  Actually he's not so little for a 5-year-old; he's already wearing size 7 clothing.  I'll add his stats and percentages to this post when he goes for his well-visit.

The first exciting thing happened last Thursday: he lost his first baby tooth!

     We put his tooth in the little tooth pouch and put it under his pillow; and I left him a quarter in its place.  We've told the kids that the Tooth Fairy isn't real---that I'm the tooth fairy--- but this is still fun for them and we'll do it for all of their teeth.

* * * * * And now for his birthday * * * * *

     We made his birthday celebration last a few days because Monday wouldn't work for everything.  So Saturday afternoon we went to Olive Garden for his birthday lunch (I forgot my camera).  He loves the bread sticks and the broccoli, so we had plenty of both.

     On Sunday we had his cake.  He wanted a brownie cake with rainbow fruit on top, so that's what I made.  I feel like I gained 5 pounds just looking at it.  ;)

(One note on the cake: it's really rich with two layers of brownie;

if you're tempted to make this, then make only one brownie layer)

     And then yesterday on his birthday he woke up to this!

     It snowed a few inches overnight, so school was cancelled for the day.  So he got to spend the day here at home playing games and playing with Baby Girl.  We had a good time.

And then that evening he opened his presents.

     A few puzzle games, Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, a fun bubble machine, some new clothes (he's growing out of his clothes so quickly!) and a card from Grandma & Grandpa and Nana & Pappy.  Oh, and a desk for his room is on its way from Grandma.

     All in all, this was a good birthday for him.

     I love my little boy.  He's tall, he's physically active, he's competitive, he loves playing with friends at school and with his sister, and he's protective of his sister, too.  His verbal skills have gotten SO much better over the past year, and he'll be ready for regular kindergarten next year!

     Happy birthday, sweet boy.  ♡