Out in the Yard

It was nice and sunny earlier this week and I was able to get a wee bit of yard work done. We are putting in a bed along the fence in the front yard for more veggies. In the top picture you can see how much is left for me to do. In the bottom picture is what I was able to get accomplished before I ran out of steam. This is where we plan to put our tomatoes, cucumbers and melons this year. I am starting to rethink my plan to dig beds. Maybe a tiller wouldn't be so bad after all.....

Wee Wonderfuls Spaceboy

This is our Spiderman Spaceboy. He is a wonderful design by Wee Wonderfuls . I love Hillary Lang's designs. Our guy was made from Spiderman fabric because my son has a love of all things Spiderman. It was so easy to put together because of the great instructions. The only thing I will do differently next time is I will use better felt. His felt belt is only 30% wool. That is just not as strong as it needs to be for all the activity my 4 year old puts this guy through. Now all I need to do is finish up his robot companion for my two year old.

What I Did While We Were Sick

I also started another pair of shorts that are multi colored and some socks. I am nearly done with the shorts and hope to finish them this weekend. I just happen to be resting again due to some cramping and it is perfect time to knit. I just heard "Daddy's Home!!!!!!" so I better go see.

Where did March Go?

Seriously, where? I am going to try to post a little more this month. We were under the weather a lot last month with that weird cough thing that went around. All of us had it some worse than others. But I did make a wonderful nourishing soup that helped ease the cough a lot. I am actually getting good at this cooking thing. We rarely eat out anymore and that is really nice. It's kinda weird because I never even think about that as an option for meals. Our garden is going good. We have radishes, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, onions, herbs and peas. Next year I am going to add brussles sprouts to the list. Turns out with the right recipe they are very tasty. Lidia has the best recipe. Cooking her recipes make me feel like a real woman. I just need my apron to complete the picture.

I Love Baking Soda

We have this wonderful orange 1969 Ford truck. I love to hear my husband drive up in it. Anyway it was having some problems and needed a new rear end. We got lucky cause my dad happened to have a spare one at his house. Then we were even luckier that Chris had a friend with a garage the tools and the knowledge to fix it. So he spent the weekend at this friends house fixing the truck.
As you can imagine his clothes were filthy. So I had him put them in the tub and I soaked them in some baking soda. I then poured some vinegar on them and sent them through the wash with more baking soda and some sea salt and they are clean. And the horrible ring around the tub is gone. All I had to do was sprinkle baking soda on it and rise with vinegar and it disappeared. Amazing stuff. It is hands down my new favorite cleaner. I just wonder why it is that I am just now discovering this???

Inspiration

My Sister goes to estate sales and a few weeks ago she picked up this gem. It is so wonderful. The picture does not do it justice. It is a quilt that was done in the 30's and has really inspired me to use up my fabric stash to make some quilts for my family. So far I have started a small quilt of flannel and minky for my youngest. It is larger than a crib quilt but smaller than a twin. Well I am in the mood to sew now. Peace

Busy Busy Busy

I always thought that winter would be a time of rest and reflection. I envisioned myself sitting by the fire knitting or catching up on reading seed catalogs. Well none of that has happened. I guess when most of your day is spent teaching your kids there is little time for leisure activities. I have got some seeds sprouting for spring planting so I am very excited about that. I have not finished any sewing projects and this winter exposed the need for quilts in our house so I have more sewing that needs to be done. I did finish my oldest son's night night shorts that I knit and he refuses to wear. I am at a loss on how to get him to sleep in clothes that will keep him warm. We did make good headway on school work and I am looking forward to our break in March to really get the garden going. We plan on putting in new beds and expanding some of our growing space. Here's a list of what we intend on growing:
broccoli
onion
spinach
lettuce
tomatoes (trying some purple ones)
hot peppers
squash
melons
Honeydew
Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans
Lemon Cuke
Mexican Sour Gherkin
Purple Hull Pinkeye
Little Marvel Pea
Thyme
Cilantro
Milk Thistle
Kiwano (African Horned Cucumber)
Pumpkins
So hopefully I can keep a journal of all of this here. I hope to have plenty to put up for the winter. Eating from the garden is so much tastier than what you get in the local grocery stores.
Okay off to try and read some Pride and Prejudice.