2011 Gardening Challenge

So I am going to join Homeschool Creations 2011 Garden Challenge.  We did our garden last year and LOVED it!  It was our first year doing it, so we are hoping to be much more successful and prepared than last. 

We mainly used Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Gardening from 1978?  It is awsome!   We are going to be planting peppers (bell, hot, mild, sweet), corn, beans, pumpkins, tomoatoes, potatoes, onions, squash, peas, lettuce, spinach, watermelon, carrots, cucumbers (both reg and pickling varieties), sunflowers, herbs, and lots of flowers.  We are looking forward to canning again, but being more prepared for all of the yummy goodies we have!  We had a lot of waste last year as I was 9 months pregnant and then had a newborn right at harvest time.  So this year should be better.  We also go to local orchards and pick apples, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, and pears.  So another way we will be more prepared is to know the growing season, where is the best u-pick and then how to preserve the yummy fruit.  Greg eats a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so we will be making more jam this year.  We have found that using honey in our jams is much better and healthier.  However for peaches, sugar is best.  We will be playing around some more this year, and finding what mixures we like best.  

Jacob is looking forward to his garden.  We let him do sunflowers last year, and he planted them, watered them, and watched them grow.  We don't harvest the seeds, but use them as natrual bird feeders!

We tried doing starters last year, but our house just isn't warm enough and we do not have the space.  So we have this local farm stand where we went and bought all of our starts from last year.  Their prices were great and they had really good varieties.  Plus it is always good to support local farmers! 

On the road to Perfection...

So I have been obsessing about my house lately. I am cleaning from top to bottom, making sure every candle is just right, every cupboard is spotless, every dog hair is off the floor, every room just looks perfect. You see I am throwing our 1st ever big birthday blowout this Saturday. We are going to have about 20 kids and their parents here. We are also having a high school friend and her family stay that night as well. I want the house to look perfect.

Why do I have that desire to have a perfect looking house? Our house isn't dirty really (I mean the kitchen needs to be vacuumed, and bathrooms wiped down, but over all a pretty clean house). For the last week there hasn't been a toy out of place, a throw pillow sideways, book or magazine out of stack... What is this obsessive behavior that drives us to have perfect looking houses, perfect looking families, and let's not even get into the perfect marriage, perfect relationships...

Will the party guest gawk at a loose toy, or a spot on my window in a room they will never probably even see? No, because they too have children and live in their houses. I guess I need to let go and know that the friends we have and I guess the world in general, will accept us for who we are not what our house looks like.

So I really do believe that I would have done great in the 1950s...  For the most part, our society was much closer to God, families were way better, marriages were lived out the way God intended them to be, children (oh my) were much much more well behaved!  Life just seemed a little bit better...  Well someone sent me this article and I hope you guys can read it! 

I hope you all have a great Wednesday... I will be trying not to obsess so much!

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.  ~Romans 8:11

Spring Cleaning

So I have officially started spring cleaning around this house. Although you may not be able to tell... I keep getting distracted! I was cleaning the office/guest room and of course got distracted by the computer, but then I was washing windows and realized they needed curtains... Oh and I have that great sheer fabric just waiting to be used, I can whip some up real quick... So cleaning got put on hold but now the office has 4 new curtains~ my first ever, and I must say they look pretty good!

This weekend was awsome! We shopped for Jacob's birthday cake, I am making him a dinosaur cake. It will be a square on the bottom and either a circle or hexagon on top with dinosaur figures, trees, river and waterfall, some rocks... I am a little nervous but very very excited for his birthday party on Sat! We will have over 20 kids and it is his first party with friends! Oh my baby will be turning 4 on Thurs!!!!

We stated a Christian parenting Sunday School class and it was awesome! There are a few things I need to work on... (maybe I can expand for this weeks Blog hop... that problem solved!)

On Sunday we spent the afternoon relaxing with friends, playing WII bowling (I have learned I am a couch bowler... I bowl way way better sitting on the couch then standing... don't ask how it works, I dont know!)

Well, I am helping a friend paint in a few hrs so I better get as much Spring Cleaning done here as I can! What is your most dreaded spring cleaning chore? Mine this year is the heaters/radiators (the baseboard type!) they are such a pain to take apart, clean and put together, but boy do they need it!

Have a blessed Tuesday!