This week went by so fast! I had about 5 minutes in my garden. I did get to prune a couple rose bushes in between work and picking up the babe at daycare, you can read my guide to pruning roses here. I did get to read some, so here’s the run down on what was on my mind this week. We did pull down the cabinet in the pic below, which also has some other notes about what we’ve done and will do in the future (not including obviously painting or replacing the cabinets and the blue vinyl (BLUE!) countertops.
I’ve been listening to Michelle Obama’s book Becoming, it was an interesting read (actually, I listened to the audiobook). I loved getting acquainted with her young self and hearing her story, but it gave me sad twinges about the state of our political world. I try to use my recreational time to escape a bit and at first I felt like I was, but then I wasn’t. Mostly, it was a reminder of how much moms do, and how I truly wonder if a mother of young children could ever be President of the United States. I would feel guilty putting a woman through that, for the amount of anxiety and stress I have in my little family of three (plus pup), I can’t imagine what the weight of the free world would do to my nerves. There are two things this has led me to think about this week:
How frustrating it is to go into a hardware store and be talked to like you’re an idiot because you’re a woman.
How badly I want a minivan.
On the first, I stopped into the hardware store Sunday to pick up a saw we could use a tight space to get the cabinet down without destroying anything else. This is a locally owned small business hardware store, so the folks there are very helpful and knowledgable. The guy who approached me when I walked to offer to help (which they do for everyone who walks in), I said I was looking for a small saw to get into a small space, and before I offered any more information he said, “well, does he have a multi-tool”, I don’t know who “he” was, but I’m assuming he meant the man doing the project. I didn’t call him out, because it’s actually the first time this has happened at this store (it has happened so many times at others), but I said, I don’t have a multi-tool, I have a knife though. I think it was a slip on his part, but frustrating that his assumption was that I wasn’t doing the project.
Enough about that, and more about why minivans are so amazing! I have a Subaru Forester and while I love it, there are some major advantages to having a minivan that I can’t resist. The New York Times even wrote an article about it and I keep sharing it with people to hopefully take away the stigma of minivans so by the time I can afford a new car, it’s cool to have a MINIVAN. One of the points they make is this:
Vans are underrated haulers, capable of swallowing full sheets of building material or giant 70-inch television impulse buys. And unlike uncovered pickup beds, minivans keep those items secure and dry.
For a DIYer and self-certified handywoman, this seems like a great fit. Oh and the carseat can fit easily in there too.
Finally, I’ve been planning out my new vegetable garden and have some ideas about what it could look like, but am hoping for some input. I don’t want to spend too much money on the boxes themselves, the wood ages fast, but I’m trying to decide between $2 2x4s (practical) and $8 4X4s (trendier). Below are a few looks I’m thinking about—4x4 LONG garden beds with garden lights, veggie garden entryways and black stained veggie garden beds—and, of course, here’s my Pinterest garden board.
From Gardenista, 2014. Towering dill in Victoria Skoglund‘s black raised beds in August. Photograph courtesy of Victoria Skoglund.