Our new patio

Update Thursday June 24, 2010: I did not think the landscapers would be back until the water barrel was delivered, but I was wrong. When John got home from his run this morning he told me "the boys are back". I immediately walked out to our back deck and was surprised to see the edging had been installed!

They also leveled the space under the steps where this water "barrel" will be installed.

Update Monday June 21, 2010: The patio furniture was delivered this morning! This will make it slightly more awkward to apply the sealer but not a big deal.

Over the weekend I bought this clock which also tracks temperature and humidity.

I hung the clock this morning as well as filled in the holes on our stone foundation with "great stuff foam". The landscapers pointed out that we have carpenter bees burrowing in this wall.

It doesn't look pretty but we will sand down and someday get our whole house tuck pointed. I kinda felt bad for the bees trying to get back in, possibly for their babies. May be risking bad karma but it certainly helps protect my home.

The before picture (less the rotted out railroad tie bed borders).

First the layer of limestone mix was added for weed prevention.

John and I decided to go patio furniture shopping at this point. First we went to Frontgate Outlet and then Watson's. Surprisingly, we found what we wanted at the 2nd stop.

The name of this set is Como, made by Parker Jones. We like it because it seems like it will compliment our deck railings and patio "street" light in both style and color. Oh and the fact it is affordable and low maintenance was good too.

The manufacturer's description of this set is "timeless blend of yesterday and today, retro and contemporary". But what sealed the deal for us is the fact the chairs are stackable.

We delayed delivery for one week to insure the landscapers are finished. Next is a picture of how far they were the day we made the above purchase.

The landscapers laying the pavers on top of the leveled sand.

Pavers set ready for edgers to be set and sealer applied.

We are happy with the way the tumbled bricks add an antique look. We also like the pattern the different sizes form.

A 100-gallon rain water barrel is going to be installed under the steps. Overflow will still be piped underground as apparently 100 gallons tank can fill up quickly from roof run-off.

It was nice the landscapers could use the pet door to run electricity from the basement.

We had the pet door installed in May 2007 for Lucy. She didn't mind wearing the door sensor (blue thing on her collar) but refused to use the door. Lucy expected us to open doors for her. She was not shy so letting us know when she wanted out was no problem for her.

I found it so odd she would let you hang anything off her neck. Man do we miss that quirky cat.

While the landscapers were here for the patio they also replaced the perennial/ vegetable bed tier! Yeah no more pea gravel (like walking on marbles). The stone edging is a also a huge improvement over the metal border kept lifting.

A big reason we did this project now is because we still rent the apartment on the first floor and can take 1/3 of the cost off in taxes as improvement for rental property. We think we will keep renting the 1st floor apartment for the next couple of years but just don't know how adding a baby to our home might change that plan. This is also the reason I want to re-model the first floor bedroom in the next couple of years.

Ordered a crib today

Today I ordered this 4 in one convertible crib. It should be delivered at the end of the month. A convertible crib was something we knew should be important as our baby could be 18 months + by the time she/ he comes home. This last referral there were quite a few boys referred and at least one blog I read the parents were surprised and had to redecorate their nursery. Ironically I received 2 monogrammed bibs the day last referrals came out. I still only have a hat box of clothes which seems a good plan for now. So here is the crib:

Close up picture of the beadboard. We have a lot of beadboard on the 3rd floor so this looks planned. I'll buy the changing table, and hopefully the armoire, if I like the crib. Almost certainly I'll replace these knobs.

Today we attended SCPA's Open House

This morning John ran in the Redlegs 5K and I worked in the garden. We had talked about walking downtown to SCPA (School for Creative and Performing Arts) open house but did not have enough time and almost skipped it entirely. I'm so glad we did not. What a fascinating building and interesting school. SCPA is a magnet arts school and part of the CPS (Cincinnati Public Schools). This aerial shot is from Wikipedia's page on the school. Wikipedia describes SCPA as "one of the oldest and most prestigious art schools in the US". According to this site there are about 350 art schools in the country but this is the first one to "incorporate full range of art studies with complete college-preparatory academic program for elementary through High School." The building is 5 stories and takes up an entire block of Central Parkway. The L shape building has mostly academic classrooms in one wing and arts in the other. The circle at the point of the L are where the theatres are located. This building has 3 theatres. The smallest one, seats 120, is in the basement is called the "Black Box". The biggest theatre seats 750 and has a hydraulic lift for the orchestra pit. The next biggest theatre seats 350 and has state of the art acoustics. Interestingly the theatres seat more than their gym. A little history about this school. Pictured below is building SCPA is moving from which is on Sycamore Street. The school almost closed in 1996 after an unsolved arson and other personnel scandals. Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops Maestro, is credited with working with the community to build and finance this school in it's new location. Over $31 million was raised in private contributions and the building is named for the late Erich Kunzel who died of cancer in September 2009. Kunzel wanted to bring SCPA to Over-the-Rhine to help re-vitalize the city. The school originated in 1973 in this building on St Gregory Street in Mt Adams. This is the old Mt Adams Public School which now is residential condos.

SCPA's largest theater (I copied from their site.)

The Lunchroom.

View from the 2nd floor looking down to lobby entrance.

These student areas are in the corner of the L on each floor. The gymnasium.

Pictures from the art rooms.

One of the upper class man dance studios.

Photo of student dancers.

Since I finally asked if I could take pictures half way through the tour I wanted to go back to the Kindergarten rooms to get a few pictures before we left.

The staff was getting ready to lock up but a very nice man let us look around a few minutes.

The playground for the Kindergartners and 1st graders. That is Carew Tower in the background. Turns out the guy that let us take another peek was the principal, Mr Flowers. Really nice guy who told us they have 1350 students. In order to get your pre-schooler enrolled you need to apply a year in advance and there is an interview process. I read online that of the 1700 who apply approximately 60% will be asked to audition and about 250-275 ultimately accepted. The school is free to CPS students but open to students outside the city. If you live outside the city tuition in 2007 was $6400 in state and $9654 out of state. Approximately 10% of the students are tuition paid and some are international.

Below is a picture of the kindergarten room. These rooms have their own access to the playground and bathrooms in the classrooms. You can also see the camera in the middle of the room (in all classrooms) which is monitored in school main office.

The lowered sink to accommodate little kids.

This is a picture of the Gift Shop which apparently is run by Parent Volunteers who also have a dedicated meeting space adjacent to the store. It seemed like there was a lot of parental and we had at least one grandparent tour gude who was so proud of her family's connection with SCPA.

The Lobby.

Just outside the front doors looking down Central Parkway at Kroger Corporate Headquarters.

The temporary sign for the building name.

SCPA is also a significant partner for the World Choir Games which are going to be held in Cincinnati in July 2012. The event is the largest choir competition in the world and was formerly known as the Choir Olympics. It is held every 2 years for 2 weeks. Over 5,000 choirs from 90 countries compete in 300 events. Over 1/2 of the 200,000 + participants are children and young people under 25. This will be the first time the World Choir Games is held in the United States. The next host is Shaoxing, China July 15 - 26, 2010.

Planting sun perennials today

The clay soil in our front patio bed clay soil was removed and replaced this week. All we needed to do was buy mushroom compost and some more sun perennials. So after we loaded up the uncompostable yard waste John and I headed out to Evans and Burger Farms. We ended up making 2 trips as we bought 8 bags of mushroom compost, 9 bags of pine fine mulch and:

1. 3 tomato plants
2. 9 Salvia Sensation Rose
3. 3 Echinacea Pink Double Delight
4. 5 'Alaska' Shasta Daisy

Burger Farms & Garden Center entrance.

The tomato props we bought. On our 2nd trip we found these tomato props which we like a whole lot more than the bamboo ones we bought on the 1st trip. Particularly like that these wrought iron ones finials match our fence finials.

The final product planted. We were too tired and hungry to spread the pine mulch today so we plan to do that tomorrow.

In March I had purchased 6 Dinnerplate Dahlia's and 6 Peonies.

We planted the Dahlia's in and around the blue pots.

The Peonies.

These may take a couple of years to bloom but are supposed to be relatively easy care.

The Echinacea (or Coneflower) were a little pricey but they are doubles and have long lasting pom-pom like flowers.

Finally we bought these tall (approx 36")Shasta Daisy which we planted against the house.

View from the 2nd floor bedroom.

Update: Sunday morning May 29, 2010

I got up early this morning to mulch thr front perennial bed, do 2 loads of laundry, update this blog and now I'm going to walk to Krohn to input yesterday's sales #'s. The Gift shop has beat India (last year's Butterfly Show) and a good chance of exceeding China (2 years ago)! Plans for the rest of the day include: church, then off to Rahn's for windowbox flowers (the bulbs I planted last fall were a complete failure) and then a Memoiral party this afternoon. My cousin Barb (who moved to Cincinnati, got an invitation (from a patient) to a big party @ Highland Towers and the hostess told her she could bring us too.

Celebrating Birthmothers

This afternoon I attended an adoption event with this local group. It was touching. This annual event seems a good way in the future to honor my child's birthmother. It was also thought provoking in several ways ... including one that I find surprising about myself. Here is how today's event was described:

Cincinnati area network of families touched by adoption offers a free and open to the public event Saturday May 1 from 1 - 3 PM. Recognizing and honoring adult adoptees and their birth mothers, adoptive mothers, and birth and adoptive grandmothers.

What I also learned at this event was that since 1990 the Saturday before Mother's Day has been celebrated as Birth Mother's Day. It is meant to be a way for adoptees and adoptive families to honor birth mothers.

Patti, an adoption social worker with 20+ yr experience and adoptive mother, facilitated this event. She is quoted on the website and said at the beginning: "This event is to honor the triad of adoption: birthmothers, adoptive mothers and the adopted child". When I registered I let Patti know that I was a prospective adoptive parent. She surprised me how quickly she was able to guess the name of our homestudy social worker. I had read about this event in the paper and did not know this group was started by Adoption Connection, our homestudy agency. We do not know as much about Adoption Connection (they were recommended by our original HSSW Cheri) and are our 3rd agency due to consolidations and closings. The program did not get started until 1:30 to allow time for everyone to get there. After signing in at the registration table I joined the nearest table of women. Seated there were an adoptive mother and her 30 year old daughter who is also a birthmother and another woman who I never found out anything about. A few minutes after I joined their table the adult adoptee/birthmother asked me what my adoption story was. I did not go into much detail just stated the facts that we are close, expect to adopt this fall, have been waiting 4 years and when asked told them we were going to China. This is the part where I was surprised. First there was a slight gasp and somewhat stunned looks at my mention of the length of our wait. That part I am sure I am not exaggerating. I'm also fairly certain they were communicating why not domestic? This birth mother/adult adoptee (who btw is 30 years old) asked me "why I had not gone online to find a child to adopt". Then she passed me a picture of the daughter she gave up for adoption and told me about the child's (Emma) adoptive family as well as her own mother, by adoption, seated next to her. I told her Emma was beautiful (which was absolutely true) and basically said nothing else. There was no way I could have explained our adoption choices. The thing that surprised me was nothing said or implied offended me or even made me feel uncomfortable. That would not have been the case 4 years ago. I know I would have been fine at that table however Patti the facilitator must have picked up on something as she came over and said she wanted to introduce me to a few people. It was kind of her and I did get to meet some interesting women ... including a fascinating woman named Christine who adopted twice from China. So at 1:30 we (about 30 total) sat in a big semi-circle. The group consisted of about at least 5-6 birthmothers, adult adoptees and adoptive grandmothers each and the majority I would say were adoptive mothers. We raised hands to define the sub-group we were in and although technically I do not belong to any Christine, seated next to me, said that for as long as I've waited I should raise my hand. Also odds are our baby is born by now. The event started with poems being read from the programs we were given. Here is one example written by the mother of this child. My Little Baby

by Nada H.

I close my eyes and breathe you in

Enraptured by the touch

and the softness of your skin

Forever in my heart

A love so amazing

My little baby

You bless our lives through God's design

Before you were born, baby you were mine

And I can't imagine my life without you

Baby, mommy knows that one day

You're going to want to know

from where you came

A different kind of mommy

with a different name

She did the best she could do

Don't you ever doubt it

we can talk about it

You're going to have hurts

that I just cannot fix

With a there, there now

and your mamma's kiss

But my baby,

I can promise you this ...

I'll always be here for you.

I close my eyes and breathe you in

enraptured by the touch

and the softness of your skin

You're so amazing.

Following the poetry there was a votive candle ceremony. Then randomly people started telling their stories and pictures. The honesty was impressive. There were not many dry eyes in the room.