So today has seemed to have gone by fast!

Bob had a elders meeting this morning and got home for lunch. After lunch i made Bob play a Xbox game with me :) Then i headed to the store.

While i was gone Bob was able to build the potato bin-thingy that we wanted to try.

At the store i bought:

• Soaker hose for the garden.
• Paint for a game we are making for Anabel’s birthday party.
• Prizes that the kids can win by playing games and Anabel’s party.
• Material for the costume i am making for the Easter event our church is doing. (Hope i can make it look really good.) I think the material is a good choice, we shall see.
• Diapers and wipes.
• Some of the ingredients for desserts for Anabel’s birthday party.
• Some ingredients for Almond biscotti that i want to make for church.
• Clippers, collar, and flea medicine for Maddie our dog

Man lots of stuff to figure and thinking about when shopping… kinda was stressful but i got it done.

Then when i got home i started doing my plan to clip the dogs hair, wash her and get her ready to come inside.

Maddie has been outside most of time. We got her dog house build and the fence it all up with grass…. but…. since it is getting hotter i wanted to groom her and get her ready to start coming inside.

Her hair is so think and long that my clippers failed to cut her hair. So now her back is clipped but everything else is long… not the best look!

I thought i at least could wash her because of the storms and rain, she was quite a mess. Well for some reason this time she freaked out when i started washing her. It was all i could do to rinse the soap off i had put on her. Since she is so old it worries me to get her to worked up so i had to stop the bath.

I guess all i can do now is return the clippers and take her to a groomer. I don’t look forward to hearing how much that would cost but it needs to be done. Her nails need clipped to so groomer is probably the best thing for her. Let her get the work up. I hope i can get it done before next weekend when everyone comes over. I want her looking beautiful :)

That whole clipping/bathing failure experience was uber frustrating! So annoying! I thought i would have her clean and brushed and looking good and have inside by tonight. Now i will have to dish out lots of moolah before she can come inside. That’s how it is when you have a pet though, got to do what you got to do! And hopefully when she is ready to come in she would be messing in the house anymore… i have a hard time with that.

I hear Anabel up jumping on our bed LOL But she is being quite… usually she knocks on the door and asks to get out. She must be liking the alone time or something, she has been up there for awhile.

After dinner i’m hoping to work on that Almond biscotti that i want to make for church. I wanted to make it for the Saturday night pre-Easter service our church is doing, but i wanted to do a batch first to see if i can do it and get it to turn out good and yummy.

Wish me luck!

Well it’s time for me to go think about dinner!

Tootles!

Today almost felt like a break for me. Because of the storm last night and all the rain, i didn’t have to water the yard or my garden like i have been doing. So that was nice!

That gave me some time to get in to doing laundry that i haven’t done a whole lot of lately. It’s kinda sad looking, looked like our whole closet was down there >_< Now all but a load of blankets are done and it’s all folded. Now just to have the will power to bring it all up and put it away.

This morning was a quite morning. The girls actually played and was happy with no cartoons on for several hours. I like having the TV and all the sound off sometimes… actually i would have it a LOT but Daddy likes having the noise.

Then we played tea party on the front porch for some time until it was lunch time. After i got the girls up to nap i ended up taking a nap myself which was nice.

Now that Daddy is home he’s watching the girls (well more like napping last night i looked) while i am cooking dinner. I’m making homemade bacon and tomato pizza on Daddy’s request. I’m thinking on my side of the pizza i will add mushroom, black olives and onions. Sounds YUMMY and the smell of the bacon cook is making me drool. I haven’t had bacon in a long time it seems.

Learning how to coupon has been such a big blessing for my family! And thanks to Mom and Dad Risch when they bought us a deep freeze for Christmas that has allowed me to take advantage of great deals and stock up on food. We could last quiet awhile with the food in the basement. I love my meat stock in the freezer. Not to often do you find awesome coupon deals on meat but back a month or so there was awesome deals on bacon and sausage so i have a pretty good stock of those. We are at the point and for most things each month i am just buying food to restock my stockpile to keep it full so we always have a good selection. Sept things like milk and fresh produce which we have to buy every couple of weeks usually.

I just feel really blessed :)

Tonight i managed to finish the 3rd raised bed and got all my plants that i had brought planted. I had to finished shelving dirt in, stringing the square foot twine and getting everything planted including seeds.
#3 Has:

• 30 Radish Plants
• 18 Onions Plants
• 4 Cabbage Plants
• 4 Broccoli Plants
• 2 Brussels Sprouts Plants
• 1 Tomato Plant
• 25 Spinach Plants

(The Bug Cam)

After 4 days from being planted my onions are sprouting as well! 

Yesterday i suffered from a sick headache all day. I hardly got anything done. I did manage to water the grass and finish planted the second raised bed but it felt like that was it.

I was only able to get over my headache when Bob finally came in from working outside, got the girls to bed, got all the noise down low and turned the lights off for me and got me pain pills and water. Only then did my headache slowly ease. Bob even cooked dinner for me so i could rest.

Then today my day has still been going slow. It doesn’t feel like i am getting as much done as i should be. Let’s see… what have i done?

Ok i’ve like 2 loads of laundry, 1 load of dishes, clipped 7 coupon inserts, and got Anabel’s birthday invitations in the mail and our insurance payment in the mail as well…. got the girls a bath and myself a shower. Haaa i should be out in the garden shoveling dirt into the third raised bed but i feel so tired and out of it. Maybe i should drink some coffee? But i probably need more water first so i don’t start feeling bad again. This sucks. I just want to lay around and take a nap!

Today i finished filling the 2nd raised bed with dirt. Got to get the square foot markers on there then i will be able to start putting the plants in. Hoping to go do that after the girls wake up…. i need a break! Not doing so good today with hardly any sleep last night.
3rd raised bed i got 3 of the sides put on, then i pooped out, but at least it’s getting there!

Before i worked on them today.

Left picture is before. Right picture after.

Pictures are after i worked on the beds this afternoon. Right picture is the one raised bed i already got planted.

I found this neat info on how to use your used coffee grounds. I knew it was good for your garden but didn’t know all this. Pretty sweet! I have started saving all my grounds :)

• Throw it in your compost: Coffee grounds are 1.45% nitrogen and contain calcium and magnesium to add some trace minerals you may not get from your other organic material.  Coffee grounds are a green material (I know coffee is brown, but same idea as grass clippings) so you should add with at least equal amounts of brown material (leaves) but if you are like me my browns are way to high already.
• Add it directly to your garden: I have seen some arguments that coffee grounds are acidic, but others claim it loses most (or all) of its acidity during the brewing process.  Due to my natural curiosity I need to know the answer.  So the answer is, it has an average pH of 6.9 so for all intents and purposes, it is neutral. Though if you are really tired and forget to brew it, it will be somewhat acidic.
• Fertilizer: Sometimes your plants need a little boost in the morning as well.  Simply add a couple cups of coffee grounds to a bucket of water and let it seep for 24 hours and apply to plant in the same way you would compost tea.  Using gardener terms I can’t think of any better name for this as “coffee tea”  If you are busy/lazy you also can use it as a side dressing on top of your soil and let the rain seep it for you.
• Annoy your pests to stay out of your garden: It has been said that coffee grounds can deter cats from using your garden as their own personal commode.  There are also reports that it can deter slugs as well.  I am not sure if it is the abrasive soil effect on their sensitive underside or just the cruel reality that with their slow pace they can’t do anything with the caffeine rush they get.  Coffee grounds may annoy ants to convince them to move their home elsewhere.
• Feed your worms: To worms this stuff is like ice cream, if you listen carefully you may hear them cheer your name when you add a handful to your worm bin when your greens from the kitchen may be a little lacking.

According to Starbucks brochure I picked up on my last visit, you should use the coffee grounds within 3 weeks to get the most nutrient value, though if you are composting I am sure you can start out the process in the bag if you really want to.  Given that 16.34 billion pounds of coffee is produced each year there is plenty for you to save from ending up in a landfill.  This is a great way to help the environment while also adding value to your garden without affecting your pocketbook.

Flowers Are:

Asiatic Lily ‘Tiny Orange Sensation’

Today we made our way to a garden center in Wichita. We where able to find almost all the plants i had wanted to plant and then some (Brussels Sprouts for Bob ick!). I was excited to find the Brandywine Heirloom tomato plants there which is what my father in law grows and they are our favorite tomato! You have to get over the odd color of the tomato (purleish-brownish) but they taste great!
Each of our plots are 4ftx4ft. We have 1 plot fully finished (today) and a second one built but i still have to add the metal mesh on the bottom and fill it in with dirt and stuff.

Plot #1

• 2 Bradywine Heirloom Tomato Plants
  • (Those are the purplish brownish tomatoes… YUMMY!)
• 2 Sweet Cherry Vine Tomato Plants
• 6 Spinach Plants
• 8 Lettuce Plants
• 2 Brussels Sprout Plants
• 2 Cabbage Plants
• 16 Radish Plants
• 8 Onion Plants
• 8 Carrot Plants

Plot #2

• 2 Bradywine Heirloom Tomato Plants
• 4 Spinach Plants
• 4 Lettuce Plants
• 2 Brussels Sprout Plants
• 2 Broccoli Plants
• 2 Basil Plants
• 2 Cilantro Plants
• 21 Onion Plants
• 24 Carrot Plants

Things I Would Need To Buy:

• 2 Basil Plants
• 2 Cilantro Plants
• 8 Trellises
• Watering Can

Day before yesterday when we got Anabel up in the morning she said 'Come on Pula'. We asked her what 'Pula' meant and she said it was her pretend pet. Later she told us 'Pula' was a crab. Sometime she carried it in her hand, other times we asked her where 'Pula' was and she said it was on her shoulder. And she hasn't forgotten about 'Pula' today either. I wonder if this pretend pet will stick around :)


Than again this morning mom we were coming down the stairs and she stops and goes 'Oh no Pula!' then runs around to the other railing, pretended to take 'Pula' off the railing and put her on her shoulder 'There we go' and then she was ready to come down. Hehe i love it!

3-17-12
Anabel is about one month shy of being three.