Gardening Weekly

The Big Seed Purchase:

I'm afraid we've out done ourselves this year! We are doubling the size of the garden and bought a lot of seeds. The Johnny's catalog is filled with little yellow tabs and stars on what we "need". I'm not sure about starting things inside and I don't have a cold frame yet so most of the seeds I'm buying are good in cold weather and can be ground sown... so it says :)

I'm planning on buying my tomato plants... I know those are to be started inside and there is just not enough light for all the plants I want.

The plants that have been chosen are:
Corn: xtra tender
Sugar snap peas: sprint
Cukes: genuine
Lettuce: black seeded Simpson and concept (I'm putting these in flower boxes... who needs flowers??? I want to eat what I grow!!)
Alfalfa sprouts
scallions: White Spear
eggplant: Orient Express
sweet bell peppers: Ace
Jalapeno peppers:
zucchini and yellow squash
and tomatoes! Red Grape, Big Beef and Valley girl... as plants!

We are also going to start a strawberry patch and a grape arbor. I'm going with the smallest batch of strawberries (25!) and 2 grape plants. Other fruit choices are:
Cantaloupe: Sarah's choice
honey dew: honey orange

It doesn't look like a lot when it's written down here. I know I'm missing root veggies... they are cheap and I'm sure the CSA will have a bunch of them for me. I'm also missing herbs... don't worry I'll get a bunch, they are going in flower boxes out back this year. I do have my onion and potato experiment to plant, and the pumpkin seeds from last year. This is so much bigger than last year's tomatoes peppers, cukes, and herbs!!!

Can I tell you how nervous I am about this??? Seeds scare me! The work involved, the failure rate, and the sticker shock. I looked at the order and couldn't believe how quickly they added up. I'm still thinking I should have gone to Skillin's nursery and bought plants. Nice safe seedlings :) What do you think????

YOU KNOW YOUR GETTING OLDER....

When your Birthday goes like this:

~Instead of singing "Happy Birthday", Your kids wake you up singing "Stay on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, stay on the sunny side of life (slide whistle sound wooowooot) you'll feel no pain as we drive you insane, stay on the sunny side of life (whoooowoooot)" and you think it very fitting for your life::

~You enjoy selling girl scout cookies at 9am in the fog and drizzle because your out with people and only one of your children::

~Your mom is acting more like your grandma and your *gasp* acting like your mother!::

~You spend your alone time with your hubby at a home and garden show, Cabella's, a cooking store wine tasting, a music store, and dinner with your favorite cousin::

~You can't believe they put you on a saddle to sing you happy birthday::

~You tell the waitress you just turned 23 and she smiles and loudly says "She's turning 23 AGAIN!!"

~You go home at 9pm exhausted::

~You go to bed thinking "What a great day!!!"

Fab Fridays

We finally made the kites! I thought that deserved a spot in Fab Fridays... I mean, geesh, I've been talking about them long enough!!


I am sad to say my photography skills were lacking. It may have been that we were doing this at 8am on a few sips of coffee or that I was so excited to finally make them that I forgot to take pictures, and hurriedly took the ones I did. Any way, this is the only 1/2 way decent picture taken of the kite making process.

I thought it was a lot like making paper airplanes. you folded the paper in the middle length wise then each side corner to corner (like a triangle). We used 12 X 12 scrap booking paper. The girls decided to put the print on the side with the rudder (so they could see it in the sky). One huge tip: put the hole for the string at the top of the rudder or it will fly upside down... oopsie!!

This is the finished product (with the pretty ribbon tail cut out, shucks!). With no wind they didn't fly up in the sky. No matter, if you ask the girls they were wonderful and flew great! That's all counts :) Well, and that they are just adorable and make a cute spring decoration.

Notice thing 1?? She's sporting her two loves. Her kite is decorated with water colors, and she's wearing her favorite PJ's!! Flying kites at 8:30 am requires you to still be in PJ's... but I did talk her into wearing pants under them... that's what I call success.

Just in case the girls decide they want to fly kites up in the sky, I found these at the dollar store and decided to stock up. I heard they fly great and also fly right out of the store so I bought a bunch. Really, you can't go wrong for $1!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone! See you on Monday!

Crafty Wednesdays

There may be two posts today... the girls want to do the kites today but they are content playing with their friend. I'll see how the morning plays out. Now I want to give you what we did yesterday. This was kid driven all the way, totally their idea... which means it was my favorite!!!!
UPDATE: I may be doing these kites myself... we didn't get to them again!!!

We started out with water paints. We haven't done this in a while and the girls love it.

Then thing 1 decided to make "codes" with her white crayon
I had forgotten that I used to do this! It tickled them pink to give each other codes to figure out. (this one says I love you)

Here is some of our finished work:

Try this today! So simple and so fun. We didn't want to get ready for the bus.

Gardening weekly

The vegetable bowl experiment:

**Disclaimer**: I have no idea what I am doing!!!
I'm just going with my gut and hoping for the best.

Last week I found this large onion growing in my veggie bowl. (Oh I see those looks! Are you going to tell me that's never happened to you???) It looked so healthy I couldn't throw it away. I should have looked on the Internet but I went with my instincts and tried to root it.

I was amazed that after sitting in the water for a day roots began to grow! This is after 4 days of being in the water. What do I do next??? I have no idea to be honest. I don't know what kind of onion it is (is Shaw's Yellow a good variety??) I'll give it a few more rooting days then I'll plant it in a bucket until it's a little warmer outside. If anyone has a better idea let me know!!

In the same sad veggie bowl were a couple of potatoes with eyes. They were pretty much beyond the point of safe consumption so I decided to stick those in water too. I feel like I've seen this before, but they were cut in half.... do you know why they were cut? These shoots have grown since being in the water. There are also little hairy roots growing.

This isn't the first the first thing that's gone bad that I've tried to rescue. With my frugality (and ah humm... laziness) I am beginning to understand how beef jerky, sundried tomatoes, and raisins were created. I'm learning that the middle process might be unsightly and seem gross (like leaving wilted parsley in my crisper drawer for a few months) but the end result is again surprisingly edible (voila, I now have dried parsley!)

I am enjoying this. Not sure if I'll get more potatoes and onions out of it but won't it be amazing if I do?! If not, It all goes into the compost pile... where someone else probably would have put it in the beginning.

I challenge you, what can you rescue from your garbage today???

Maine Maple Sunday

We participated in our first Maine Maple Sunday. It was a crisp beautiful day. The small sugar operation was quite busy, we even saw friends of ours! Here's a glimpse of our day:I loved that they had some old fashion buckets near the shack for us to see.

I think they are beautiful.

The girls loved the new way of collecting sap. All those blues hoses looked like a maze.

They couldn't believe how much sap was collected in the big bucket.

We waited a long time but finished the day with a horse drawn hay ride then a little shopping!

As we were leaving the wind picked up and it started snowing! Very pretty, but oh what a reminder that we live in Maine!!

Fab Fridays....

Calendar Spring is here!!! From my years as a preschool teacher and mom in New England I have learned to call today the first day of "Calendar Spring". Why??? Because kids think of spring as trees full of leaves, beautiful flowers blooming, warm air, and butterflies. I have had more than one child come to me very disappointed that the snow did not melt and the leaves and flowers did not pop out overnight!!!!

In Maine, it is now "Mud Season".... Spring as the kids know it, arrives in May. Calendar spring is still a great time of year. Its a time of hope, with the brightly shining sun there is a knowing that warmer days will soon arrive.

We have spent the last week drawing with chalk outside, riding bikes (being sure to peer around the snowbanks and watching out for ice and mud puddles), and blowing bubbles. It's over 30 degrees... spring enough for us!!! It helps that we have a paved driveway and road, as long as they don't step on the little bits of exposed grass there's not much mud...thank god!!

Today, the twins and I went on a Spring Cleaning Adventure!!!!! We took out our bottles of homemade "Go Green Cleaner" (made of equal parts vinegar and water) and our reusable rags and went to town. I cleaned the yucky smelling wood stove and all around it while the girls cleaned the windows, TV's, Baseboards... whatever they could think of... they love to spray!! This is the first time they've actually wiped things well too!! A few streaks remained but that doesn't bother me... as the Flylady says, even cleaning done wrong blesses the family! Boy do I feel blessed! That wood stove smells great when it is running but stale wood smoke is just gross! I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the smell for the longest time. It finally dawned on me that cleaning the dusty soot off everything may just help ;) Yep, I'm a smarty ;) The vinegar really helps neutralize the odor too... after it stops smelling like deviled eggs!!

To end today I again want to wish a Happy Calendar spring to my New England friends, and Happy Spring to the rest of you! For a glimpse of spring that I'm totally Jealous of check out the Pictures Jess at KadyHope took this week. Oh to live in California!!!! LOL!!!

Crafty Wednesdays...

Of course the first day I want to start this new blogging idea the girls are not at all into crafting. We spent the morning playing "go fish" and "candyland"... very nice considering we have been playing Disney Trivia 2 for three weeks straight!!!

Today I give you a craft we want to do....

I found this on Craft Crow today. Kites!!! Thank you Ordinary life magic! I'll be reading more of your blog, it's great!!!

Thing 2 has been begging to make "a real kite that flies". It's been a week since the total meltdown temper tantrum she had over the fact that we need to buy materials and find a pattern. (If you are a reader of my blog you'll know she's been having trouble with this lately).

The "mean mommy" inside told me to never ever build a kite! (and some other things...oopsie) The "Good Mommy" sees that she has calmed down and gotten over it (and that she really is a pretty sweet kid). Things are also coming together for the project. We have found a pattern and surprisingly we have all the supplies! I'm hoping to make this tomorrow. I hope it flies!!! Wish us luck!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

Those Sneaky leprechauns struck our house yet again this year! They turned the kitchen chairs upside down, they also turned all our picture frames upside down! They sprinkled our house with gold (which looked a lot like rolos). The most amazing thing they did was turn things green! Toilet water... green! Mystery green cereal and oatmeal... only turned green when the kids put in the water or milk! Sneaky little buggers!!!

The girls just love to find what the leprechauns mess up. They love the little treats even more!

Sunshine is my favorite on St. Patrick's Day!! She dressed in green from head to toe (none of it matching... sorry to say I can't find my camera... imagine that!!) including a green leprechaun's top hat. A little bait net was tucked into her backpack in case she sees a sneaky leprechaun at school. She's also ready to pinch anyone not wearing green... watch out!!

We are watching for other signs of St. Patrick's day! What pranks did the leprechauns do to you??

This week....

Has been filled with the ying and yang of life.

Happy moments when your so proud you could bust. Bike riding, making play dough, an afternoon hanging with my favorite cousin, girl scouts, giving of items to someone in need, everyone working in the kitchen prepping a meal, good conversation... "Life can't get much better than this" moments that make it all worth while.

Hard moments when you want to pull out your hair. Bus warnings and bus slips, stubborn independent 5 year olds, temper tantrums, Too many bad X's to win a prize, shoveling snow in a rainstorm because the puddle at the bottom of the driveway is bigger than the kids, mean people, having to stand up and say what's on your mind because it's right (SOOO HARD)... those lift your head up and shout "SCREW IT" moments.

I'm trying to love the good, learn from the hard, and just carry on. How was your week???

Cookie Time...

The cookies are in, the cookies are in!!!


This is the first year I took a step back and let them do it. Sunshine is old enough now to do things correctly and the twins were eager to sell! They made the phone calls to family and friends and we bundled up and went door to door.

Today after I came home from a busy day of helping sort the 12,000+ boxes our town sold and the 1,400 and 840 boxes my two troops sold, I helped the girls sort the 120 boxes we sold.

Each girl sorted their own orders, bagged and tagged them. I took them one by one into our makeshift warehouse. They did a great job!

Oh the things you can practice and learn while organizing girl scout cookies!

Counting

sorting

writing

colors

name reconition (all those cookie names!)

Manners... a thoughtful "thank-you" on each name tag.

Goal setting.... each troop had a goal and each girl had a goal, they exceeded their goals and were so very proud!!!

Selflessness.... Even though the twins had the same goal, thing 2 is so proud of her sister. She tells everyone "She sold 7 boxes and gets to go to Mcdonalds!!!!" Thing 2 actually went door to door (unlike sissy) and sold more cookies. She never mentions that part.

Concentration....I was proud of my Sunshine. She had a very hard goal to achieve. 100 boxes to go on a group overnight. She did it! I had expected to do most of the work today sorting... it's a lot and she does have ADD. I was shocked, she did the whole thing with minimal help!! She took it very seriously and is the one who made sure everyone had a "Thank-You" on their tag.

What lessons did I learn?

That there is so much more to selling Girl Scout cookies than making troop funds!

To stand back and let my little ones do things on their own.

To use patience and cooperation.

To wear my wrist brace and the glory of a nice warm bath!!!

Most of all I'm proud of my girlscouts!!!

Webkinz Momma

Have you heard of them?? The cute stuffed animals that have special codes to enter an on-line world of fun. They are great for gifts, reasonably priced, and the website has snuck in learning without the kiddos even knowing about it!

I have come into the next generation of webkinz! Sunshine loved them from Kindergarten til sometime last year. Just as they were going "out" in Massachusetts we moved to Maine and right back into the craze.

I thought they had run their course through the house, til last week. My nephew wanted to play with his online while he was here. That was all we needed to spark the craze again! This time with the twins. Then, they went to a friends house... and lo and behold! She has about 50 of them and goes on everyday!!! Even more fuel for the fire!

We are now regulars on the webkinz website. They both had stuffed webkinz that hadn't been added to the site yet (like I said, we weren't really into it anymore) which was good since it only lasts a year from your latest adoption.

Even I'm getting into it! Yes, I'm a webkinz momma ;) It's fun, and if your going to play computer games why not earn your babies some Kinz cash (they can buy their pets food, toys, decorations for their rooms etc...).

These guys at ganz really outdid themselves... we love webkinz!!!

I did a little updating

Jodi asked me a question that made me realize I haven't updated my profile in a long time. I had the time on this lazy Sunday afternoon to write a new "about me" and update my picture. Take a look and let me know what you think!

What's new you ask? Not much really. The girls have all had their share of tantrums but I see an improvement. Thing 1 has 6 X's, Thing 2 has 5. Sunshine still has the one she earned last night. She has told me it will be her last, we will see! I am sure she will not fill up her bad X area as sure as I know the twins will! When the twins see Sunshine get a prize and they don't I bet I will see even more improvement. It's just being diligent about it. Slow and steady progress is all I'm asking for!

Yesterday was busy running from one activity to another... winter carnival, Sunshine sang with her chorus, basketball, soccer sign ups, birthday party... a lot of fun but we were all really tired after. Today is much more laid back. Hubby got the newspaper, the kids played outside, we played a couple of rounds of Disney trivia... nice lazy Sunday!!

We are hunkering down for another snowstorm. Let's hope it stays to our south. Massachusetts didn't have any snow on the ground before this so it's their turn!! I'm just thinking of the kids really ;) They need to get in a little more sledding ;)