In The Garden - February 26

Even though the ground around here is covered with about three inches of snow, I started planting my garden today!  It's time to begin planting all the cold-tolerant yummy things like spinach, chard, lettuce and kohlrabi.

The planting process is pretty simple.  I plant the seeds in small pots where they'll stay until they have their first set of true leaves.  Then, I'll move them into bigger pots where they'll live until they go into the garden proper.  In practice though, the process takes quite a while as everything needs to be completely clean and sanitized to prevent the damping-off fungus that can kill little seedlings.  So, I spent about an hour scrubbing old pots with a brush and then soaking them in a bleach solution to kill any lurking fungus.

After labeling each pot, I filled it with dampened seed-starting mix (contains no fertilizers) and planted the seeds at their preferred depth.  I put each pot into a clear plastic bag to keep the moisture at a constant level and moved them down to the basement to live on a heat mat, under the plant lights.

This batch of seedlings will be able to move out into the garden in early April.  I'll start additional spinach, lettuce and kohlrabi in about a month so that I have a long harvest of those yummy vegetables.  (Truth is, I'm afraid that I'm going to starve to death before I can begin harvesting that spinach again.  I simply can't afford to buy as much spinach as I would like to eat!)

I'll start the more tender plants such as herbs, zinnias, and morning glory in a few weeks.  I haven't grown my own tomato and pepper plants in many years as I have been soooo pleased with the plants that I get at Lambert Floral.  I usually make my first spring pilgrimage there in early April for the tomatoes that I'm also waiting hungrily for.

1/3 of the Way!!!

I've been thinking about doing this post for a few days.  Elder Coffey is actually well into the middle third of his service in Lifou.  He has said that they are making great progress sharing the gospel with investigators as well as strengthening the members there on their little island.  In addition, Elder Coffey and his companions have weathered a cyclone and several earthquakes, learned to build a grass hut, eat bats and spent Christmas Eve in the hospital in Noumea, New Caledonia.  Seems like he's really had his hands full so far!

He is filled with love for the people of Lifou and talks constantly of ways to improve the missionaries' service there.  Based on the information that he has shared with me, I think that he has certainly found his place in the mission field.

You'd think that with Elder Coffey's success and happiness in the mission field, his mama would be so pleased and proud.  And I am.  But I still miss him like he just left yesterday.  I just can't seem to get used to having my son and friend so far away.  And to top it all off, a young friend is preparing a missionary slideshow for her mission farewell and asked for song suggestions.  I, of course, recommended 'We'll Bring The World His Truth' sung by the Moleni Brothers as it has always been a real favorite around here as our family missionaries prepare to go out and serve.  And, silly me, I thought I'd listen to it while I was thinking about it.  BIG mistake.  I immediately began blubbering.  *sighs*  Maybe I'll be in better shape by the time Elder Coffey comes home....

Here's a link to the song so that you can blubber along with me:

WellBringTheWorldHisTruth

Work in Progress

Mike started putting up the chair rail today.  He was so appreciative of all the advice that I kept giving him...not.  Truthfully, I should really do stuff like this myself because I'm such a perfectionist.  That said, the sections that he finished look great.  They, of course, still need caulking, nail-hole-filling and painting when I paint the rest of the room.

And, speaking of paint, I think I've figured out which of my samples to use.  This photo does not show any of these colors truly.  The one I've picked isn't turquoise, isn't aqua and it really isn't blue.  But it is pretty doggone close to the color I see in my head!

Here We Go Again

I love the way that my kiwi green family room turned out (you can get a peek at it in the post above about my "chariot".)  That color just makes me so happy!  Well, now the rest of the house is looking a little tired and boring in comparison.  So, it must be time to paint something else!

Here are the colors auditioning for the dining room/stairs/downstairs hallway.  I can see the color in my minds eye...now I just have to translate that into actual paint!

I've begun removing the wall border (that explains the drippy looking spots) so that Mike can install the new chair rail.  I am in love with this Piranha wallpaper remover.  It makes a difficult, labor intensive job much more doable.  I'm hoping to have all the paper down by tomorrow.

The Mountain Comes to Muhammad

If you know Mike and I very well at all, you know we've been engaged in a power struggle over our indoor/outdoor thermometer for about five years.  The outdoor temperature function stopped working back then.  I thought that since the main reason we had it was to check the outdoor temperature, we should replace it.  Mike felt that since the indoor function still worked, we should keep using it until that part stopped working.  *insert eyeroll* So, we have battled over this, over and over, without resolution for five years.  Today, we discovered that Lowe's had nice wireless indoor/outdoor thermometers.  As you can see, one came home with us and is now giving us the information we really need.  lol!

My 1-11-11 Post

I have a chariot.  It doesn't go anywhere.  It has no wheels.  But it's going to take me right where I want to go....

I work out.  A lot.  In the winter, however, it's sometimes hard to make it to the Fitness Center.  And Richard Simmons and I can only spend so much time together or we both start getting bitchy.  So, my solution is to add a piece of equipment that I'll be able to use on all but the worst arthritis-painful days. 

DMBA, Mike's employer, has a program that refunds insurance premiums up to $200 for meeting various goals throughout the year.  Between both of our refunds this year and maybe a chunk of my hoarded Swagbucks gift cards, we won't be paying very much out of pocket at all!  Sam has loaned me some seasons of Smallville to get caught up on, so it'll be Clark and me everyday for a while.  The bike is so quiet that I don't even have to turn the tv up at all.

Between my arthritis issues and blood sugar issues and other assorted annoying health issues, I'm having to put a lot more thought and effort into my fitness plan these days.  I'll be seeing a dietitian in a couple of weeks and also a fitness and lifestyle counselor.  Although I've been doing a lot of the right things, apparently, there's more I still need to learn about and do.  So, this year, my winter project is...me!

In the Garden - January 1

 Ha ha.  No, not that garden.  In case you can't tell, there's a foot of snow on the ground out there!  No, instead of being out there, I'm planning this year's garden in my head.  It's time to order seeds!

This is just a few of the seed catalogs that I've received already this year.  To be honest, I look forward to getting seed catalogs each year as much as I look forward to Christmas presents.  I'd have a mighty hard time getting through these snowy winter days without my catalogs to keep me warm.  lol!

We had some roaring successes last year in the garden that I want to repeat:  snap peas, multi-color carrots, rainbow chard, green beans.  We also had some dismal crops:  melons, small pumpkins, gopher bait, I mean, potatoes.  I'm going to try to figure out some solutions so that we get much more production this year overall.  Carin and I could have canned twice as much salsa and other yummy things if we'd had more produce to work with. 

Off to draft a garden plan and make a seed list....