Week something-or-another... Life has been moving at such a blurring pace that I'm not sure what week this is. But I do know that it is the first week in May! At least I'm not that far gone.... yet.
Today is prom. J17 has her dress done- except for hemming it- I'm actually not sure if she got that done last night or not. Her friend A came over last night to spend the night and then to head out to prom later today. Once again, J17 is going with a bunch of her friends) since her boyfriend is still living in Colorado. I14 is off to the State Large group band competition this morning. He should be home shortly after lunch. This weekend is deck building weekend so this has got to be a pretty quick post. V got the ledger board up and the joist hangers up yesterday. Today, the posts and joists will go up- hopefully pretty quickly- and then we can start on the planking. If I'm not needed I'll be working on the new border along the south wall of the house.
But... time for the weekly IDC update.
Plant something- Sunflowers, planted the sage at the top of the herb spiral. Transplanted all the little pepper plants and a few more herbs. Everything is hardening off on the porch. My poor tomatoes got a bit flattened by a thunderstorm that whipped through Thursday night but they are looking much better now.
Harvest something- spinach, radishes, walking onions, oregano, eggs (44 this week)
Preserve something- Can't think of anything.
Waste Not- the usual- composting, recycling, scraps to the chickens. I can't wait to get the deck built so I can put my clothesline back up. It is down until construction is done and I miss it!
Want Not- Bought some sugar on sale for the stash- not that I need it but it was a good price.
Eat the Food- spinach salads- yum! Eggs, homemade bread and angel food cake. Good cooking all around.
Build Community Food systems- not a thing. I do plan to go to our new, more local farmer's market tomorrow. I desperately need to get rid of some eggs so I'll have to put out some feelers at work.
Skill up- hmm, working on my applique skills for quilting- not sure how much value that really has. I'm sure I'll be doing lots of learning today on deck construction.
I'll be sure to post prom dress photos. J17 has a rule that there will be no photos of the dress until she's ready to go.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Cool and not so hot
I stumbled across a visitor this afternoon:
I nearly stepped on it. It was lying quite flat and still on the deck.
I believe it is an Iowa Grey Tree Frog. But it is much larger than I've seen tree frogs in the past. I love the colors and patterns.
J17 came out to check it out and stroked it's back. I don't know if you can see but it puffed out its sides, trying to look bigger. Finding the frog was a little bright spot in the day.
Other things today weren't so hot. I charged my i-Pod overnight and, as usual, listened to music on the bus and checked my email and the news. No problem. But when I got it home and wanted to check the radar to see if more rain was on the way, it wouldn't turn on. Dead... nada... I tried plugging it into my laptop- nothing- it didn't even show up. I tried plugging it in to charge... still nothing. sigh.... My trusty companion for to and from work is no more. It has served long and hard for the last 5 years+ but this couldn't have come at a worse time. There is no way I can afford to replace it, especially since I14's phone is dying a lingering, painful death and we've got other expenses coming up this month. sigh.... I'll just have to take some reading material on the bus... but I'll miss my music. Sadly, I had lots of things on the calendar and notes to myself on there that I'm not sure have been synced to the laptop recently. At least all the music and photos live on my laptop. But this reminds me that I need to back up my photos somewhere else.
More good and bad of the day...
A bright spot is that my little plants from Territorial Seeds arrived today.
A downer is that V stepped on a nail while working outside today. At least he's had his tetanus shot recently.
And it is still rainy. sigh... I was doing so well with keeping up on the weeds in the garden until it started raining.
I'll try to be more cheerful tomorrow... today has been long and tiring. We had a thunderstorm come through a little after 4 this morning that woke me up early and work was really busy.
Other things today weren't so hot. I charged my i-Pod overnight and, as usual, listened to music on the bus and checked my email and the news. No problem. But when I got it home and wanted to check the radar to see if more rain was on the way, it wouldn't turn on. Dead... nada... I tried plugging it into my laptop- nothing- it didn't even show up. I tried plugging it in to charge... still nothing. sigh.... My trusty companion for to and from work is no more. It has served long and hard for the last 5 years+ but this couldn't have come at a worse time. There is no way I can afford to replace it, especially since I14's phone is dying a lingering, painful death and we've got other expenses coming up this month. sigh.... I'll just have to take some reading material on the bus... but I'll miss my music. Sadly, I had lots of things on the calendar and notes to myself on there that I'm not sure have been synced to the laptop recently. At least all the music and photos live on my laptop. But this reminds me that I need to back up my photos somewhere else.
More good and bad of the day...
A bright spot is that my little plants from Territorial Seeds arrived today.
A downer is that V stepped on a nail while working outside today. At least he's had his tetanus shot recently.
And it is still rainy. sigh... I was doing so well with keeping up on the weeds in the garden until it started raining.
I'll try to be more cheerful tomorrow... today has been long and tiring. We had a thunderstorm come through a little after 4 this morning that woke me up early and work was really busy.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
May Day
Happy May Day! Or should that be mayday, mayday!! May is shaping up to be a hectic month for us. We've got two birthdays, our anniversary, graduation and its associated party, prom, two band concerts, the Senior Recognition Ceremony and several other school events and activities. And soon I will be able to plant the main season garden- if it stops raining.
We are hoping to be able to finish the deck extension but J17's grad party but the weather hasn't been cooperating with that either. At least that is a project that isn't the end of the world if it doesn't get done. I do hope to get the landscaping done on the south side of the house done before the party since that area ties into the deck and herb spiral. My little plants arrive this week (including my supposedly hardy Rosemary!) so I need to get places ready to accept them.
Yesterday, I did get the dining room walls painted and did some more work on J17's quilt. This evening I finished transplanting all of my remaining seedlings. I've got my plants sorted out into flats already, I've got an email in to my friend Jim to see what starts he wanted and the rest go to the plant sale on the 13th.
I did get the menu for the party finalized. Most everything can be prepped in advance and I'm keeping it pretty simple so I'm not actually too worried about pulling it off. Financially, it may be interesting. We've had extra expenses with graduation, college fees and deck construction that finances are going to be tight this month. I'm just going to have to be an extra good bargain shopper this month and we'll have to tighten belts a bit to make things work. But, J17 is worth a little extra expense for her party. It's my little girl all grown up. (Don't tell her... but I'm going to miss her when she's off to college!) She is a pretty awesome girl. I am kind of hoping to be able to finish her quilt in the next two weeks as well as a graduation/18th birthday present.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Cold, rainy Sunday
It has been cold, damp and dank here. Only into the upper 40's and rainy. It's that cold, bone-chilling weather that makes you want to curl up with a warm quilt... or work on one! While J17 has been working on her prom dress, I've been working on her Steampunk quilt. I've got a post up over at Dreams of Empires complete with pictures. Even V declared it pretty awesome. Of course, he preceded that comment with "It turned out better than I thought it would". Gee, Thanks.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
This cake is NOT a lie!
I did something today that I've never done before!
I made an Angel Food Cake from scratch!! A full dozen egg whites went into this baby! And with all the yolks I made a chocolate custard/mousse. Since it is a hybrid thing, V is calling it a Chocolate Elk! The Elk is still in the fridge- but this evening, we had a fabulous dessert (we very, very rarely have dessert!):
Homemade Angel Food Cake with freshly whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Absolutely heavenly!!
Independence Days 2012- week 12
I'm a bit late with this post. Normally I do these on Fridays but last night I was busy. First, J17 picked me up from work and we went to the fabric store to pick up a better coordinating border fabric for her quilt that I've got in my stash and to run a couple of errands. Then off to home where I needed to get started baking. It's my week to provide bread for church this Sunday so I needed to get that made so I can drop it off Saturday morning. Bread rising and dinner made, I had a few other chores to do so writing a blog post wasn't on the list. But today, before anyone else gets up, I'm out here writing before I go into whirling dervish mode again today.
But what has this week seen for the IDC?
Plant something- hmm, no seeds but I did manage to transplant my tomatoes and a few herbs and peppers.
Harvest something- chives, walking onions, oregano, lambs quarters, spinach and eggs (45 this week).
Preserve something- Not a thing except eggs in pasta for the freezer.
Waste not- The usual, recycling, composting and scraps for the chickens. I did use strips of cut up cottage cheese cartons for plant labels in my little transplants.
Want not- Made some pasta for the freezer to use up eggs. I even had to break into my 25 lb package of flour! I'm not sure it counts that while J17 and I were at the fabric store I picked up a few remnants for the stash. Our store occasionally has a deal where all the remnants are 50% off so that always makes it tempting. I'm also going to count the work on the herb spiral here. It is working to build a better structure for growing our own.
Eat the food- We had pasta from the freezer one night this week. Already eating up all that hard work from last Sunday. Used roasted squash from the freezer for making pasta.
Build Community Food systems- Stopped at the last of the winter markets last weekend. I do really need to sell some eggs at work- we're getting overloaded. Of course, we want to try to make mini-meringues this weekend to see if this is something feasible for J17's grad party.
Skill up- Not a thing new.
Seems like a lackluster week but we're in that odd part of the year when it's spring and the early stuff is in and growing but I can't really do much with the main season stuff. That and I've been preoccupied with other things. Still working on that elusive balance thing- I actually think I've been doing pretty well with that this week and even though they don't fit into these categories very well, I feel good about my week.
But what has this week seen for the IDC?
Plant something- hmm, no seeds but I did manage to transplant my tomatoes and a few herbs and peppers.
Harvest something- chives, walking onions, oregano, lambs quarters, spinach and eggs (45 this week).
Preserve something- Not a thing except eggs in pasta for the freezer.
Waste not- The usual, recycling, composting and scraps for the chickens. I did use strips of cut up cottage cheese cartons for plant labels in my little transplants.
Want not- Made some pasta for the freezer to use up eggs. I even had to break into my 25 lb package of flour! I'm not sure it counts that while J17 and I were at the fabric store I picked up a few remnants for the stash. Our store occasionally has a deal where all the remnants are 50% off so that always makes it tempting. I'm also going to count the work on the herb spiral here. It is working to build a better structure for growing our own.
Eat the food- We had pasta from the freezer one night this week. Already eating up all that hard work from last Sunday. Used roasted squash from the freezer for making pasta.
Build Community Food systems- Stopped at the last of the winter markets last weekend. I do really need to sell some eggs at work- we're getting overloaded. Of course, we want to try to make mini-meringues this weekend to see if this is something feasible for J17's grad party.
Skill up- Not a thing new.
Seems like a lackluster week but we're in that odd part of the year when it's spring and the early stuff is in and growing but I can't really do much with the main season stuff. That and I've been preoccupied with other things. Still working on that elusive balance thing- I actually think I've been doing pretty well with that this week and even though they don't fit into these categories very well, I feel good about my week.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Strange looks
I have to laugh! I got a very strange look from a guy this afternoon. Today, V picked me up from work and we made a trip to our 'favorite' local home store to pick up some concrete. As we shopped, we engaged in our usual playful banter/bickering. We checked out, I pulled the van around to the loading area and we began loading in our eight 80 lb. bags of concrete mix. As I put one into the van, I remarked that they were heavy. The next bag I was carrying, V attempted to take from me. "I can do this, I'm not a weakling" I protested. V reminded me that I had just complained that they were heavy and I retorted "I didn't say I couldn't do it, I just said that they're heavy!" At that point, the guy who had pulled in next to us, gave me an odd look, glanced at the bags of concrete loaded into the van, nodded and walked away. I'm not quite sure what to make of it but I thought it was funny!! It seems that most guys aren't used to seeing women hauling large heavy items. Hmm....
In other randomness... I got the garden tilled this evening. Well, almost. I ran out of gas with only about nine square feet left. I think I'll do it by hand because it's not worth the effort.
And, an amazing development!! My sacrificial cucumbers that I planted long ago when it was really warm are finally up! It must have gotten too cool for them to germinate quickly. But, that is just fine as hopefully now we are past the freezes that plagued us for a bit not long after I planted them. And I noted while I was out there that my potatoes are beginning to poke through. Hoorah!!
Tonight J17 is at the City High Film Festival. She is one of the co-MCs for the event and she has been working really, really hard for the past few weeks to get ready for this. She will be out until late. Fortunately, they don't have school tomorrow so she can sleep in. But, as long as it isn't raining, V has jobs planned for the children tomorrow.
We've got rain forecast for the weekend. Maybe that's a good thing. I've got lots of inside stuff to do and J17 still hasn't finished her prom dress (prom is on May 5th!) I've suddenly realized that I've only got about three weeks before J17's graduation party. Ack!! I'm not ready!!!! I've got a wall in the living room that still needs painted, the living/dining rooms look like a tornado hit and I've got to finalize the menu. I'm doing all the catering myself so I've got to get on top of this!! Also, in just over two weeks, J17 turns into J18! A legal adult. I'm not ready for THAT either. Isn't she still only five???
In other randomness... I got the garden tilled this evening. Well, almost. I ran out of gas with only about nine square feet left. I think I'll do it by hand because it's not worth the effort.
And, an amazing development!! My sacrificial cucumbers that I planted long ago when it was really warm are finally up! It must have gotten too cool for them to germinate quickly. But, that is just fine as hopefully now we are past the freezes that plagued us for a bit not long after I planted them. And I noted while I was out there that my potatoes are beginning to poke through. Hoorah!!
Tonight J17 is at the City High Film Festival. She is one of the co-MCs for the event and she has been working really, really hard for the past few weeks to get ready for this. She will be out until late. Fortunately, they don't have school tomorrow so she can sleep in. But, as long as it isn't raining, V has jobs planned for the children tomorrow.
We've got rain forecast for the weekend. Maybe that's a good thing. I've got lots of inside stuff to do and J17 still hasn't finished her prom dress (prom is on May 5th!) I've suddenly realized that I've only got about three weeks before J17's graduation party. Ack!! I'm not ready!!!! I've got a wall in the living room that still needs painted, the living/dining rooms look like a tornado hit and I've got to finalize the menu. I'm doing all the catering myself so I've got to get on top of this!! Also, in just over two weeks, J17 turns into J18! A legal adult. I'm not ready for THAT either. Isn't she still only five???
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