iron. deficient.

I have been exhausted lately, and then a friend at church asked me if I've been taking iron. how could I have forgotten? I've had iron-deficiency anemia since I was a teenager. I was beginning to think I had chronic-fatigue syndrome. I have been sleeping hours and hours and hours, and then napping in between. It feels horrible to sleep your life away, when all you want is some energy to do the things you love.
so I bought a multi-vitamin and also went online to see which foods were the richest in iron. you'll never believe it. oxo beef cubes are super high on the list. k. tells me that animal sources of heme are more efficient than vegetable based, so I'm eating mr.noodles with oxo cubes everyday now, and raisin bran also has 50% rda. oddly enough, dried thyme also has tons of iron. but how much thyme can you eat in a day? anyway, this is all ood news. I started yesterday, and already I'm feeling so much better.
so how's your heme?

the unconstant blogger

yes, that's what happens to me in the summer. though I still read many, I don't sit down to the computer quite as much when the weather is so beautiful. Also, we have a kazillion projects on the go right now. Hopefully they will all be finished by Canada day, and then all of July and August can be spent on the newly covered back porch, beside the monstrous new pool, sipping iced tea and reading lots and lots of books. sigh. life is good. so here it is in pictures:

the monstrous new pool.
(19 feet, 52 inches deep.
the boys are in heaven)
notice the almost covered
back porch as well...

the girl is our painter extraordinaire:

kurt and his papa:

the boys have been helping out a lot:

even painting
(though perhaps less carefully than the girl...)

we painted our computer room too,
and hopefully the flooring should be done
by the end of summer.

and of course, the gardens
are coming along nicely.

hopefully your summers are
going just as swimmingly.

the new regina spektor

my babies? ouch!

they're going to kill me when they see this, but it was just too funny. these were done at disney at their 'this is the future' pavilion. a machine took your photo, and then aged you according to whatever bad habits you selected (ie: smoker, overweight, sun-damage, etc.)
they're a little scary, eh?

HAHAHAHAAA!

(click on the picture to see a better show)

my girl, she drives me crazy...

the girl who reads Middlemarch, The Scarlet Letter, The Poisonwood Bible, with not only comprehension but insight, hates English 10 and may therefore have to repeat it.
Then, I buy the ingredients for this recipe and ask her to make it and she does! and it's delicious.


ah my capricious girl. what can I do but love you?

oh to be in Bristol:

Banksy has a real art museum exhibit there right now! Check it out.

I broke down.

(listen while reading, it's light and cheery,
which is just what the day called for)

and bought a new computer. gah! our old one served us faithfully for about 7 years, which is pretty good I think, in computer years. the kids and I were going stir crazy. sad, eh? we really rely on our computer. our computer replaces:
1. phonebook
2. maps
3. encyclopedias
4. dictionaries
5. telephones
6. a social life (ha! kidding)
so anyway. I guess I too, am weak. :P

in other news... the garden really took of during last weeks hot weather. sadly, not everything made it, but the stuff that did.. wow! here's a sample:

basil

corn:

my father-in-law told me to compost directly into an empty area of the garden for quicker results, and these popped up! watermelon plants! we'll see how they work out...

tomatoes:

2/6 of the cauliflower:

I've also just read about squarefoot gardening, which has been around for years apparently. what a cool idea though maybe too late for this year.
so that's what's going on right now. not a lot, but what is, is good. I am looking forward to a full summer.

so much to say:

we just came back from a weeklong vacation in California. we took the kids to Disneyland. they had never been, and they had never flown either. double bonus. we had a really great time. exhausting and great. there were many blessings on this trip, but the finest day we had was the day we drove down the coast to spend the day on Laguna Beach. We first stopped for a stroll down the charming avenues of Balboa Island (where the girl and I found some great pre-season sales at their cute little boutique shops), then the afternoon was spent lying on the beach and boogy-boarding, which I had never done before and was SO much fun.
that evening we were invited for dinner at the home of people we met at church. in fact, I had been following her blog for a few years now, so to get to meet sara (bluecanopy) and her family was a special blessing. what a great family. what a great visit. I should also say that St.Barnabas, where we went to Liturgy our first sunday there, felt so much like home.
yes, it was a fantastic vacation. now how to aclimatize myself back into work and school for the next few weeks!
in other news, k. is leaving for Calgary today until thursday for the clergy synaxis. this would be fine, except for the fact that my laptop just died again and he must take his with him. so I will be computer-less for the week. which just might be a good thing. we'll see.

from "The Pilgrim's Regress"

Do you not know how it is with love? First comes delight: then pain: then fruit. And then there is joy of the fruit, but that is different again from the first delight. And mortal lovers must not try to remain at the first step: for lasting passion is the dream of a harlot and from it we wake in despair. You must not try to keep the raptures: they have done their work. Manna kept, is worms.