Garden Projects and a Pregnant Woman's Patience

I am treading on thin ice with all my ambitious garden projects and plans. My wife is 7 months pregnant and seems I always have something going on. Does any else have similar stories?

http://georgiahomegarden.blogspot.com/2012/02/garden-projects-and-pregnant-womans.html

Personally I think I would have had to kill you. LOL I was NOT a very nice end of term pregnant lady.

Since you're such a "hands on" kinda guy, I think your next "project" should be learning how to give massages and pedicures and planting that woman some flowers.

We had just the opposite kind of thing here. Whenever my husband would go to Iraq he thought this was the PERFECT time to have stuff done to the house. We would have extra money to have someone else come & do projects in the house. Although his dad was a contractor, hubby isn't very handy. The first time he went I had both bathrooms redone (I did the demolition on the downstairs bathroom) putting in a body spray & rainhead shower downstairs and a corner jacuzzi tub upstairs.

The second time I had new floors up in throughout the house. LOL yes, the definitely thought this would be a good time to have this done. I managed to "dance" the furniture from end to end as the guy stopped work each evening.

While not in Iraq, this last time he spent 6 months in Copenhagen and I had new hardscaping done, some windows replaced, new siding put on the front & back (I helped my son with the rigid insulation) and gutters (which are attached to the rain barrels).

Inside I had two closets extended and had some dry wall patched. I painted downstairs, but contracted out the upstairs (sloped ceilings). Oh, and I had mini-split ductless a/c put in (with supplemental heat).

He LOVES to see all the work done, but REALLY loves not having to be inconvenienced. That's OK Honey. You make it, I'll spend it.



Trying to remember where he was when I had the roof replaced (50-year shingles) and the shed built?

All this is in preparation for retirement.

The kitchen is the next (and hopefully last) major project except for a better greenhouse. I will have to save the $$$ for that since he won't be traveling for the next 18-24 months (new department). Actually we're keeping the oak cabinets and hubby's going to use his wood working skills to "customize" the interiors and rebuild the drawer boxes, install better shelves and restain the exteriors.

Wonder how long that will take. He's been working on a Man Cave/Guest Room for MONTHS now.

Wow, those are a lot of projects. Glad I am not the only one. For some reason, I feel more alive when doing something and staying busy. I hope I always have the ambition to keep learning new things in life. Home improvement, gardening, you name it. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

Ha ha ha .. a willing donkey is always heavily laden

At 61 yrs old I can tell you always having something on the go is satisfying to the body & soul but not always the same for the other half of the relationship. Exit the first wife .


My second version is much better .. she actually enjoys me doing things for our family and also helps , even to her mixing over nine tons of concrete to make our drive & pathways whilst I laid & smoothed it etc.

Though nowadays I'm a bit crocked & crooked. It came as a nasty surprise when we had to actually employ some people to brick build and landscape the new gardens to make them disabled friendly for me and for Alison in later life ( she is much younger than I am ) , when I'm long gone after my birth certificate has run out .

£ 23,000 ( sterling ) later we have discovered how much we used to take for granted everything we have done .

We have done four complete house renovations , rewires , plumbing & gas & water systems , building a farm , walls etc inside & outside etc. etc. etc. plus a log cabin with 60 amps @240 volt of power down the garden .

For the permit jobs , we/I did all the labour and installed all cables & pipes etc.. made all connections except the final ones that were done after the work was tested passed by the registered person / trades person before thing were closed up /plastered in ..

Each time we sold up to move on up we made fantastic profits , had we paid for everything we'd have been broke years & years ago .

Do however give your lass lots of support & love before and after the munchkin arrives . Compliment her daily , do the best you can for her & munchkin , then you'll have a fantastic life together like I have this second time round.

I so wish I had the knowledge and was as handy as you all, with things like in house electric projects and such. I will be borrowing a friends wetsaw and learning how to tile a bath/shower stall in the near future.
OH, and having the correct tools makes everything easier.

camprn wrote:I so wish I had the knowledge and was as handy as you all, with things like in house electric projects and such. I will be borrowing a friends wetsaw and learning how to tile a bath/shower stall in the near future.
OH, and having the correct tools makes everything easier.

Tiling my bathroom walls was the worse tiling experience I ever had. I had done 2 or 3 tile floor jobs around the house and thought I had it down. Tiling walls was a lot harder for me. I took for granted how spreading thinset on floors vs walls would be much harder and MESSIER.

Good luck with your project, you can do it. Just be prepared to be patient.

Plantoid,

That was a great story and some excellent advice and I will be sure to do as you suggest.

Camp, I look at your gardens and whatnot that you have goin on round your place. I would say you're one very talented cookie

GHG, lol we gotta have our projects. That bathroom looks great.

My wife was always more than happy I was pre-occupied during her pregnancies During her first delivery, I kept my mouth shut (more from shock I think) unfortunately her best friend jabbered the whole time. Oh the filth that spewed from my wifes lips directed at her best friend! And her friend just kept goin on and on. For hours my wife tore this poor soul to shreds and never had to utter a single cross word in my direction.

georgiahomegarden wrote:

camprn wrote:I so wish I had the knowledge and was as handy as you all, with things like in house electric projects and such. I will be borrowing a friends wetsaw and learning how to tile a bath/shower stall in the near future.
OH, and having the correct tools makes everything easier.

Tiling my bathroom walls was the worse tiling experience I ever had. I had done 2 or 3 tile floor jobs around the house and thought I had it down. Tiling walls was a lot harder for me. I took for granted how spreading thinset on floors vs walls would be much harder and MESSIER.

Good luck with your project, you can do it. Just be prepared to be patient.

Patience is truly a virtue!

We used to have a fabulous tile maker in town, but they got bought out and moved production away last year, so no more seconds . I think I am going to cheat and go to HD and get the tile mosaic on that web backing. I am hoping this will make things easier. Thanks for the vote of confidence and good wishes.

Oh, when I was about 8.5 months pregnant, many years ago, my friend never showed up to help me move and install an apartment sized kitchen gas stove. I did it all by myself.

HD has a pretty decent how to tile book too camp. I had a wet saw and one of the score cutting types that you just zip across the tile and snap it. I actually liked it better than the wet saw. A wet saw is good if you have to make more precise cuts or, are not using porcelain tile. What I found worked best for me on doing walls, is to get a good base line set so you have something stationary and not "floating" on you. Use mastic fairly sparingly, and use the right grooved trowel for the size of tile you are using. And like GHG said, patience! I like doing tile. It's a pretty creative medium. You can bust up pieces and do table tops and planters and all kinds of cool stuff with it. Right up your alley camp

nKedrOoStEr wrote:Camp, I look at your gardens and whatnot that you have goin on round your place. I would say you're one very talented cookie

GHG, lol we gotta have our projects. That bathroom looks great.

My wife was always more than happy I was pre-occupied during her pregnancies During her first delivery, I kept my mouth shut (more from shock I think) unfortunately her best friend jabbered the whole time. Oh the filth that spewed from my wifes lips directed at her best friend! And her friend just kept goin on and on. For hours my wife tore this poor soul to shreds and never had to utter a single cross word in my direction.

Thanks, sounds like the Lord took care of you on that one.

We still laugh about it. Her friend would try to pull the hair out of my wife's face or wipe her forehead or something and my wife would go ballistic! I stood there, held my wife's hand and smiled.


I always know how old my lawnmower is too cause I bought it the day the twins where born. She was in the hospital with early labor and was actually supposed to be released that day. She had been in for like 2 days already and they felt she was good to go! So I pulled a GHG and decided to move everything out of the garage and went and bought a new mower. Bout the time I got everything strewn across half the place, the hospital called and told me to get there ASAP
My lawnmower will be 10 on April 13th. My sons have informed me that's a Friday

Good luck GHG! You're no longer a rookie. You will be just fine

nKedrOoStEr wrote:We still laugh about it. Her friend would try to pull the hair out of my wife's face or wipe her forehead or something and my wife would go ballistic! I stood there, held my wife's hand and smiled.


I always know how old my lawnmower is too cause I bought it the day the twins where born. She was in the hospital with early labor and was actually supposed to be released that day. She had been in for like 2 days already and they felt she was good to go! So I pulled a GHG and decided to move everything out of the garage and went and bought a new mower. Bout the time I got everything strewn across half the place, the hospital called and told me to get there ASAP
My lawnmower will be 10 on April 13th. My sons have informed me that's a Friday

Good luck GHG! You're no longer a rookie. You will be just fine

"So I pulled a GHG"...now that is classic and got me laughing out loud.

Well GHG, when I was pregnant with my first I trenched the long side of our house, pulled out the landscaping, improved the soil (imported fill dirt) and planted roses. It took a long time (I did it while between jobs), and my DH did the heavy lifting when I found a dumped corner of sidewalk buried deep. Lots of planning and the results are still going.

Now I get my first bloom by her birthday every year. She'll be 18 next month. Admitting that is when I feel OLD. How did she get to be 18?!?!

With the second I was working so there were no big projects beyond pulling out the baby stuff.

A fellow plot renter is 7 mos pregnant and the driving force behind getting her garden set up. I look at her and think she must be crazy...working too long in the sun, not taking a break etc.

Except she's just like me.

Go figure.

I have no idea what I'll be like pregnant. lol my boyfriend says I'd end up a pain in the butt. But besides all that, my skills lay in sewing and then it's still beginner's stage. My momma taught me since I could walk how to use a machine. So I can hopefully keep my baby's clothes nice looking for a little longer. I'm gonna enjoy making thing for him and his son who's 8. Love kids... just none of my own yet.

lonewolfrissy wrote:I have no idea what I'll be like pregnant. lol my boyfriend says I'd end up a pain in the butt. But besides all that, my skills lay in sewing and then it's still beginner's stage. My momma taught me since I could walk how to use a machine. So I can hopefully keep my baby's clothes nice looking for a little longer. I'm gonna enjoy making thing for him and his son who's 8. Love kids... just none of my own yet.

Sewing is a great skill to have, sometimes I wish I knew how to sew.

It's a fun skill. If you have any local fabric stores and they offer classes, try taking some of them.

Georgia, how is your wife doing?

My fellow plotter showed up...she over did it that day and was out about a month before she returned to the garden.

Moderation in all things! Pregnant women and new moms need to take it easy and rest!

AvaDGardner wrote:Georgia, how is your wife doing?

My fellow plotter showed up...she over did it that day and was out about a month before she returned to the garden.

Moderation in all things! Pregnant women and new moms need to take it easy and rest!

She is doing good, she had the baby on April 2nd and I had her in the garden on April 7th.

Here is her first day in the garden.
http://georgiahomegarden.blogspot.com/2012/04/her-first-day-in-garden.html

That was a beautiful photo. Thanks for sharing.

Definitely a beautiful photo! And she was born on my birthday! Hope the jaundice clears up quickly; I know that can be a struggle from friends whose children had it. Garden time is perfect, for fussiness and jaundice.

givvmistamps wrote:Definitely a beautiful photo! And she was born on my birthday! Hope the jaundice clears up quickly; I know that can be a struggle from friends whose children had it. Garden time is perfect, for fussiness and jaundice.

Thanks Michelle, everything is good now with the jaundice.

dixie wrote:That was a beautiful photo. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Dixie

Thank you for posting! The B&W pic is wonderful. Congratulations to you and your wife. Y'all dun good! Hope mommy is doing well.

I was born with jaundice, too. Mom and I had different Rh factors, although I don't know if that effected it. Thankfully, she avoided taking any dangerous meds for it.

And I turned out okay...at least that's what they tell me!

Ava

I guess I HAVE been busy - this slipped under my radar.

Congratulations - how beautiful! You are certainly a blessed man.