Gardening Ventures.

Well, since you would like me to keep posting on here, I will do my best to update more often and post some of the same things and different things from facebook. Who knows, I guess I'll just do whatever. Just keep in mind that facebook tends to have the whole story. I may post one thing on here for every ten on there. If there is something that is particularly interesting to you blogger only people (Samantha), let me know and I will post more about it on here.


So, on to new stuff. Craig and I have been working feverishly on our garden. It really has become our joint project of sorts. We have both been pouring our sweat and blood into it, literally. The plants are all waiting anxiously in the basement for their debut into the garden. Outside most everything is finished. We even have our peas in the ground. It's nice that they can tolerate the frost. I don't have to worry about them. If you know me well enough, if there is something to worry about, you know I will. :-)


This picture is the fence we put around the garden, obviously. It is electric (boogy, woogy). The edging went in Friday and the landscaping cloth and gravel or mulch still have to go it.



Yes, that is Shannon in the background! Hehehe.


More pictures to come I am sure!

I must be honest.

I have been spending most of my online time updating facebook... I know, its terrible. It just seems so much easier to post an album on there than here. For those of you who follow my facebook account know, I do ALOT of posting of pictures. I believe I have about 50 albums now. Which is kind of crazy. The number of notes I have posted is getting up there too.

I think the problem that I keep having is double posting. I never know what to put where and I sure as heck do not want to post double of everything. I would bore some of my friends to tears. However, there are some of you who ONLY follow my blog. You can see the problem.

What do you guys think. Double posting, or keep them separate? Humm.

Cats.

Who, me?

Beautiful things come in small packages - or at least relatively small.

The Sunday paper wins.


My non-subscription for the paper wins.


My mother-in-law wins.


I win.





What a beautiful, brown bag, sight.


In case you can not read the bag it says something along the lines of bring this empty bag in and we will fill it with yummyness. For free.

"Here comes the sun!"

I have thought many times on how my mood changes depending upon the season. I always just thought I liked the summer and spring better because it was the time of year that held my birthday, no school, and many other fun events and holidays. I never gave much more thought to it then that. This year it had seemed that the winter really took it out of me. I finially have come to a decision that I require sunlight, vitamin D, to be my happiest. Today the sun was shinning and the weather was warm. I was HAPPY. I am unbelievably excited for it to stay warm outside.


This led me to think about the possibility of having SAD, or seasonal depression. I would venture that I tend to have a little bit of this. Here is some information about it.


Seasonal depression, often called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), is a depression that occurs each year at the same time, usually starting in fall or winter and ending in spring or early summer. It is more than just "the winter blues" or "cabin fever." A rare form of SAD known as "summer depression," begins in late spring or early summer and ends in fall.


Symptoms


People who suffer from SAD have many of the common signs of depression: Sadness, anxiety, irritability, loss of interest in their usual activities, withdrawal from social activities, and inability to concentrate. They often have symptoms such as extreme fatigue and lack of energy, increased need for sleep, craving for carbohydrates, and increased appetite and weight gain.
Symptoms of winter SAD include:

* Fatigue
* Increased need for sleep
* Decreased levels of energy
* Weight gain
* Increase in appetite
* Difficulty concentrating
* Increased desire to be alone



I guess it is a good thing that SPRING IS ALMOST HERE! YEAH!

Our babies...

"Its a tricky thing, this gardening thing."

Even worse...

I just read this post to hubby. His response was,


"So, are we going to start?"


My brain is churning out 100, "how can we afford a baby" scenarios.


Any "don't to it" advise is greatly needed....NOW.

Baby-itis strikes back.

Recently I have been VERY happy to say that my baby-itis has been at a minimum. An occasional flare up was all that there was. Nothing to write home to ma about. I was very happy for this because my mind was able to ramble over other things in its idle moments. Things like starting my garden, and planning the fence that we want to put up this spring. Nice goals that will be obtained in the next six months. Healthy goals at that.


This weekend, hubby and I planned to go to a family reunion in WI with my fathers side of the family. I like to try to go every couple of years if possible. I really enjoy getting together with my family because its like a day has not passed since we last saw one another, even if it has been years. Also, I like trying to keep up with the massive amounts of new additions to our family each year. Thanks to my cousins Tina and Sheri, who each have just had number 6. That, however, is just the tip of the ice burg. My father would have been one in a family of 13 had all of the siblings lived. Each of them had multiple children. You can do the math. Just all of the first cousins can SERIOUSLY fill a room. When you get down to second and third cousins it gets crazy. I would venture to say that I have around 150ish living relatives on my dad's side of the family. Crazy.


Ok, back to the point. Being around SOOOOO much family that is wonderful makes you think about how ALL of that family happened. Well, we didn't just stumble into one another. It started with one lady having a TON of kids, who each had a TON of kids, who are having a TON of kids. Its great!


In order to have so many kids, many of our family members started having kids very young. Good, bad, or indifferent, that is what they did. For an example, my uncle Frank is just a few years older than my dad. He had three children. His children all together have had 12 children. That is 12 grandkids! Now, I have NO interest in beating that record but, here my dad is without ANY grandchildren. I mean, come on! That leaves my brother and I in the dust. We have some serious catching up to do!


On Saturday evening, I hung out with my cousin Sherri. She has six BEAUTIFUL, blonde haired, blue eyed, angels. They are some of the most well behaved children around. She stays at home and home schools the three girls. They even pull an "Anne of Green Gabels" once a week to have a mom taught knitting class. Mom and all three girls sit around (with their home schooling friends and moms) knitting. Quiet, peacefully, spending time together. How could I not fall in love with that idea. Long blonde haired children sitting around loving each other and their mom. My heart melts just thinking about it. Add in the fact that she cloth diapers, breast feeds until 2 or 3, has a garden, has instilled God into her children, wants to use my feminine product patterns, blah blah blah blah....you get the idea. She is many things I admire and want to be. Instant baby-itis.


Here comes the nail in the coffin...


Hubby tells me all weekend how much he loves being with my family and dislikes the fact that he doesn't have much. He admires the fact that we all love each other even though in some cases we really don't know much about one another. He said he wishes that we could have a big family. He knows that it will take time to have a big family. That we had better get busy. What are we waiting for?


(Insert half a dozen family members asking when will be be having kids here.)


I was doomed.


They were all young when they started. Why not us?


(Beating head against wall.)


Doomed I tell you.


Doomed for baby-itis forever.




(The picture at the top of this post is hubby making up some silly game to play with my second cousin Aubry. Heart melting...)

Our new wood burning stove:

My hubby grew up with a wood burning stove in his home and has always had an affinity for fire. Due to this, we were destined to have one in our home. Also, this winter has been particularly expensive for gas and has kept our family room bitterly cold. So cold, that we really don't go in there much. That is usually alright with us because we don't watch much TV and tend to sit in the living room instead. After a month or two of avoiding the room we missed being in it. A wood burning stove became a natural addition to the house.

Over the last few weeks my hubby has gathered all of the parts necessary to install the wood burning stove he recently bought. His dad came over to help him install it and make sure he had a helping hand through the process. I know my hubby was thankful. I don't exactly know a lot about stove installation so I wasn't any help. Cutting holes in my roof scares me.

I am happy to say, as I write this blog, that I am sitting next to a warm fire in the stove, enjoying my family room again. I am also super happy that we are burning some wood that we cut down from our own yard this fall. Free heat. We win!

Wordless Wednesday:

So, I thought I would become apart of the blogger phenomenon that is, "Wordless Wednesday." Today, I had to use some words to explain but, in the future it will just be pictures.


Tamsin Elizabeth, born Tuesday Jan 6, at 1:09am. 8lbs 7oz.

New Pursuits:

American Sign Language, English Sign Language, Pigeon Sign Language, call it what you will. It is beautiful.

My wonderful friend and I have been taking sign language classes at our church for the past eight weeks. We really enjoyed it when we began but, now we are totally obsessed. It is border line insane. We come home from work and stuff our already tired brains with it. The great thing about it is that we have been absorbing it like sponges and are able to keep up at the same pace as one another. It remains to be seriously enjoyable to learn with no end in sight. We have made a bunch of friends who are deaf and have even started a small group bible study that, coincidentally, has people who are hard of hearing and who sign. Weird.

My friend and I decided today that God has serious plans for us and our ASL usage. It seems to be strange perfect timing and God has woven various people into it. Matter of fact, today we got an invite to a monthly silent dinner group. This will be the perfect time to really get out into the deaf culture beyond just our deaf friends. I am soo excited about what God has in store for us! WOW!

I will definitely post more about it in the near future. Especially when we begin formal classes at Rt. Rita's school for the deaf!