After nearly three weeks of winter temperatures and cloudy days, summer has finally hit up the coast. All the complaining I did these past few dreary weeks seems a little silly now that I’m stuck inside, chugging water with my feet up on the furniture to prevent further swelling of my pregnant self but whatever, I’m happy it’s here all the same. I’m currently on week two of my two-week vacation from work and loving every second of being home/not having to drag myself out to classes all over the place every day. We’ve been able to concentrate more on finishing up some interior house work (posts to come on that) and light gardening too. Christmas was spent relaxing at home and with friends, eating far too much and watching cheesy movies.

This morning we went out early to harvest greens and prune tomatoes before the brutal sunlight heated the plants up too much. Plus it stays light here until about 10:00 PM so early it is.  I found that I’m totally out of practice and way out of shape for the squatting, kneeling and strange maneuvers associated with farming. My big belly also made for some awkward movements and funny balancing between rows. I was just so happy to be in the greenhouse with the smells of fresh tomatoes and basil reminding me of home.

We also made another life-changing acquisition this past week; we bought a washing machine. (Or rather, received it as a Christmas gift from my awesome, thoughtful mama.) For those not living off-grid this wouldn’t be such a big deal but for us, this is huge. (We ended up with the LG direct drive 8.5 kilo model for you off-griders out there.) As we have pretty large water and energy constraints here, we have put off getting a washing machine for a bunch of reasons and so for the past four years we have had to take our laundry out to have someone else do it. They don’t even have do-it-yourself laundromats here! The decision to use cloth diapers for the baby was the last push we needed to finally get on it and I’m so happy we did. We’ll probably lose a lot fewer socks now too.

Hubby has been working on the addition as best he can. Again thanks to some wonderful Christmas  donations from parents (thank you!!!) he is planning to put down plank flooring under a roof supported by minimally framed walls over the next couple weeks as budget allows. Photos to come of that progress.

I’ve been feeling pretty great lately, primarily because I’ve had more down time at home. Walking with the dogs, being able to experiment in the kitchen ( kefir soda and flat breads this week) and adding more yoga to my life have helped me chill out too.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Peter, smartest dog in the universe, who after being bathed, escaped and came back home looking like this:

As always, thanks for reading! xo