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!

Christmas Update:

I must say, I had a lot to be thankful for this Christmas. My health is getting better, my family is back in the same city, my best friend not only lives with me but also works with me, my marriage is good, I have a beautiful "new" home to live in which I can actually call my own, I have a job, I was able to buy nice presents for everyone this year, and I have finially settled into a church and officially made some friends there.

If that wasn't enough, I got to spend a couple of days celebrating Christmas with my family, and my hubbies family. All went off without a hitch, and everyone was happy and healthy. I even gained a new family member this year, Shannon, who made it that much more special. I really enjoyed seeing her appreciate my family and the way we celebrate the holiday. Some times it is easy to take for granted what we have until we can see it through the eyes of some one else.

I really hope to be able to slow down a little bit more, now that I am back into the groove of working, to post on here more regularly. I miss keeping every one updated and getting wonderful comments.

Love,
me

Who? me? Working?

I work as an independent contractor for a company called America Views Inc. They shoot aerial photography of peoples homes and homesteads and sell them via sales reps. Once ordered, the sales reps send the orders in to the office. This is where I come in. I find the files on CD's and order the files with the orders. Then I open the correct picture from files and I edit to their specifications. Crop for size, adjust the levels for color saturation etc. Then I edit out or add in what they want. On a normal day, I take out cars, trees, buildings, people, garbage, pools, neighbors houses, dead grass, etc. On a normal day, I add in, deer, cows, horses, crops, grass, water to pools, personalizations, etc. I then print them, cut the print down, laminate or canvas it or whatever. I then frame it or burn CD's of it.

Some day's I may just photoshop, or cut and laminate, or frame and ship. Most days I do a little of it all.

Check it out at:

http://www.americanviewsinc.com/

Here is quick sneak peak of my new craft site!

Please mind the dust and errors as my new site is still in the works! I plan on launching it on Etsy.com when I have ironed out the wrinkles and have made some more product. Let me know what you think!

http://thesewingapple.blogspot.com/

This one is just for you ladies!

        I have been using home made, cloth, feminine products for the last 4+ years. I decided to do this for environmental, money and health reasons. I did all sorts of research and I really didn't want to buy any so, I came up with my own pattern and just used what I had made. The originals that I made are still holding up wonderfully and I am still impressed with them after TONS of uses. I have made some more of my original pattern recently that I love and decided to share with you, and everyone else! I also decided that I would try out some other patterns, and let you know what I think of them. I have plans of selling my version 1.0 and 2.0 on Etsy in the near future. Keep an eye out for them! I will let you know on my blogger where/when/how much before I post them! Let me know if you have any ideas, imput etc. I would also love to make some specially for my friends so, let me know if you have any thing you would like/need (ie. heavy flow and would like extra thick ones, or long ones, or night ones, or a certain pattern).

Version 1.0
This is the original pattern that started it all! I love this one the best, and you can't find it anywhere! It's all in my head! :-) It is made out of 100% terry cloth cotton. I can make it with buttons or snaps, and the center is "hollow" so that you can slide in more absorbent layers (I will post pictures of this in the future). I can only make this one in solid colors.



Version 2.0
This is the new pattern that I am going to test out. It is made from 4 layers of 100% cotton flannel. I have not yet added snaps to it but, it can be made with snaps or buttons. I can make it with any pattern(s) of fabric. I want to try adding a layer of PUL to it for a vapor barrier and maybe a fleece layer too. I have plans of adding a nice little ribbon on the outside (in an out of the way place) for hang drying!



I hope you like them! I will add some more to it tomorrow!

Family Planning Cycle beads:

     When I decided to get off of birth control pills, for various medical reasons (like ruling it out of my health issues and not wanting to put TONS of chemicals in my body), I looked into Natural Family Planning. I read lots of articles, and a book teaching all about. I read all the up to date info. about it that I could. It teaches you, "to take your temperature in the morning before you get out of bed and interpret the pattern of temperature rising which occurs at ovulation. You can also combine that symptom with a check if the cervix and/or the quality and quantity of mucus discharge from the vagina." I was super excited about doing it this way. I printed out and learned how to record everything on these super high tech calender-on-steroid pages. I was pumped. Then I thought about taking my temperature EVERY morning. Even the tired ones, and the rushed ones. Who wants to do that? I DO NOT. NOT AT ALL.

     I found a simpler solution. MUCH simpler. It is called Cycle Beads. Instead of being 99% effective (as Natural Family Planning claims to be) it is only 95%. I can handle 95%. I am ok with that. "Cycle Beads are being marketed as a way of practicing NFP (Natural Family Planning) however they are more akin to the old style Calendar Rhythm."

     Here is how they work, "Cycle Beads represent your menstrual cycle and function as a tactile ovulation calendar. Each bead stands for a single day. On the first day of your period, you simply place the rubber ring on the red bead (representing cycle day 1). On each following day, simply move the rubber ring ahead by one bead (an arrow reminds you which direction). As you move through your cycle days, when the ring is on a dark or red bead, fertility is low and your odds of conceiving are less. However, once the ring moves to a white bead - typically cycle day 8 through 19 - you know that you are nearing ovulation or perhaps already ovulating. While the ring is on a white cycle bead, you are at peak fertility and your chances of becoming pregnant are high!

     Cycle Beads offer an easy method to increase your odds of conceiving (as well as provide a natural, safe method of family planning). Proven effective, Cycle Beads provide an unambiguous visual method for tracking your ovulatory cycle and identifying the fertile days when conceiving is likely (as well as the infertile days when achieving pregnancy is less probable). Moreover, Cycle Beads are based on a natural family planning practice that has been shown to be over 95% effective!"

     These are great! ...and ugly, and $10. I decided to make my own. I have attached a picture of the ones that you can buy, and the ones that I made. I like mine better. Mine have a little tag that says, "Made with love." I think mine will look less "weird" on my nightstand too! ;-) Please tell me if you would like me to make you one. I will gladly make it for a nominal charge. :-)

Comments:

Ok people, the teacher is getting on your case!

I have updated my comment information so that anyone, regardless if they have an account or not, or if they want to leave anonymous comments can do so. You have no excuse now! ;-) You MUST comment. In all honesty, I love the feedback. It gives me a reason other than "just knowing that you read it" to write these. Other wise, why keep writing. I can write in a diary just as easily.

The fleece just keeps hanging around...

     When hubby and I decided to have a poker night he was quite bummed that we did not have the proper table for it. I was also bummed because that meant we would be playing on our nice hardwood oak dinning room table. We were also bummed about the fact that most poker tables can not really accommodate very many people and all of their food and drinks. We found some that would but, they were either hugely expensive or you had to make your own dedicated table and they took up tons of space. Come on, who REALLY plays poker every night or a few times a week? Don't answer that. I am sure there are plenty of men who do. Either because they are single, or wish they were. :-)

     The solution to our problem was very simple. We would make a
felt cover for our table that we could remove. Table felt is kinda expensive and not readily available. We would have to buy it online and wait for it to come. We decided to try normal felt from the craft store. Once we got there we realized that it was affordable but, could never be washed and would pill easily. Thats when we saw it. The FLEECE. Non-pill even! Yay! Since it is close to the holidays it was super cheap.

     Here is where the fleece issue came into play. Hubby wanted to make sure that he got plenty of it. I mean PLENTY. I understand wanting to have enough but, like a yard and a half too much? Well, we bought gobs. It turned out great for the table (you can see a few pics of it in the Poker Night slide show) but, we had a lot left.

     Yesterday, I took it upon myself to use some of it up. I had just come inside from raking, and bagging leaves and my feet were cold. I decided to make myself some fleece socks. What a great way to use up the fleece! Yay! I thought it should be super easy! Not quite. I didn't have a pattern so, I painstakingly created one to use. I had to do some changing once I realize that my pattern was not going the way I wanted it to and I had to remember witch way the grain (and stretch) of the fleece needed to run. My finial product came out well. (Please excuse the cat fur.)

The socks:


I proceeded to make a scarf with pockets for my hands, tissues and such. It also has a split in it so that you can tie it around your neck without having to wrap it around your neck a million times. I had to come up with the pattern for this one too but, it was much easier. A scarf doesn't need to be so exact. It still needs to be ironed but, here it is.

The pocket scarf:


     When hubby came home from work at 1:30am, he asked me to make him a bag for his camping stove. I thought that even though it was late I would make it and it would be easy. I also wanted to make it because he left for a three day camping trip this morning and would be able to use it. So, I quickly made it. Hubby didn't like it. Ug. I had to cut it apart and make it again. This time smaller so that it had less bulk. Ug. I like the way the second one turned out but, I was not feeling up to it last night.(I don't have a pic yet) :-)

I saw enough fleece for one night. There is STILL more fleece left over...

Flirts Fitness:

     I have found a wonderful, amazing, and empowering place. Its name is Flirts Fitness. I found them when I was doing some research, a few months back, into pole dancing for fitness. Some people call it vertical dance, pole fitness, or what have you. Just to set the record straight (and I will only do this once). This is for fitness, not for stripping or for sexual endeavors. That is all I will say about that. If you are not able to open your mind up to such an idea, please skip over any future information or posts that you see about pole dancing. It will be better for you, and for me.

     So, back to what I was getting at. Flirts Fitness is one of two places that offers pole dancing lessons in the city and surrounding area. They also offer fun classes like, Zumba, Tai Chi, Yoga Groove, Belly dancing, Tap, Cardio Ballroom, Hip Hop, and Yogalates. Last week, and tonight, I went to their Yogalates class. Last week with Shannon, and this week with Shannon and Katie. I must say it kicked my butt. LITERALLY. Last week, my butt and abs were super sore. They are sore again tonight. I am sure I will really feel it tomorrow. No pain, no gain, right? Hah! I sure hope so. I am envisioning nice tight abs and strong, lean muscles in about six months. What do you think? Well. I am doing yoga at home with Shannon and spending plenty of time on my nice new shiny Christmas gift in the garage(can you guess what it is?). I think that all of this combined may seriously result in a better, more healthy body. I know I could seriously benefit from that. Maybe I can even cut out a little, tiny bit of the cheese from my daily foods. I don't know. We will see how it goes. Cheese is a big sacrifice for me... ;-)

Our Saturday Night:

        Saturday late afternoon, my parents came over for a cookout. The last one of the year we are thinking. They often have us over for dinner so, we thought it would be nice to have them to our house now that it is looking nicer too. Its always good to feel like we can give a little bit back to them for helping us out so often. The funny thing is that they insisted on bringing the meat for dinner. When they got to our house my dad had a HUGE amount of meat with him. Much more than the five of us could have possibly eaten. His intent was "innocently" to leave behind all of the meat that we did not use so that we had some meat for the upcoming week. Yeah right, how "innocent" was that! Hehehe. I love him dearly but, I can't even seem to do anything nice for him without it turning into an opportunity for him to do something nice for me. I am surely counting my blessings.

The dinner menu for the evening consisted of:

• Hamburgers (which Craig charred a little bit), Hotdogs and Brats
  
• Deviled Eggs
  
• Baked Beans
  
• Corn
  
• Sliced Pineapple
  

        After dinner, we planned to have a Poker/Game night and have a bunch of our friends and family over. Our guests started arriving around 7 and and were asked to bring a snack/appetizer and what ever they wanted to drink. All together I think that there was around 12 of us. It was the perfect size to have a large game of poker going and another smaller game of whatever else. The what ever else turned into a loud game of Catch Phrase. I was super impressed by the food that everyone brought.
Some of it included:

• Brownies
  
• Chips of various types
  
• Cheese cake with apples and pecans
  
• Spinach and artichoke dip
  
• Rice crispy treats
  
• Salami roll-ups
  
• Cheese ball
  
• A crudite tray
  

Craig also made a bonfire in the back yard so that people could meander in and our of the house. I have included a small sideshow of some of the pictures from the evening. I hope you enjoy!