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I am going to have a little bit difficult time doing this. My question goes to, well, what should I do? Fiction? Spiritual? Children’s books? All three? I finally decided to do a children’s book this week.
Recently this book has come into my posession;
I love Usborne books. They books are SO nicely bound and fresh looking. So full of good information but keep the kids reading and reading! I am very interested in butterflies and nature (thank you Roger (for the clueless, time to watch Wives and Daughters from BBC)) and have found Emma to be of the same mind too. That’s my girl. So I bought this book.
It is so full of information, small snipets, more extensive, etc. that children CAN learn from and look forward to their next outting. I highly recommend this. I have picked up nature books here and there from yard sales, thrift shops, etc but I will say that this was WAY worth the money. The other books just had so little information that could commonly be applied as just common sense. I am learning from this book.
It does not ONLY go into details about insects but how the flowers or tree’s and such can benefit from the insects. Emma my 10month old baby loves to look at the pictures. I am not exaggerating.
This would be a GREAT gift. I am so so pleased I put the money out there. I have such a hard time buying new books. But this was worth every cent.
I have only one complaint about this book. I didn’t like the new book smell. 
Well this is very late in the day. So sorry. Its been a hectic day.
Today we did a little gardening. I am planning my fall garden and so far the vegetable plot will consist of,
~1 row of carrots (mini carrots are better for out here since it will either get to hot before they get long enough and will be biter or the frost will come and nip em again before they are long enough)
~ 2 rows of green beans
2 rows of peas (sugar snap and “normal”)
~ 1/2 row of spinach
~1/2 row of lettuce
~ 1/2 row of green onion with beets
1/2 row of squash
This is what has been planned so far for the veggies. List subject to change.
Today I concentrated on a small plot for some herbs and cosmos. It’s near the mailbox and I have been dying to work the soil there. At 7:30am this morning the temp. was already 92f and it was hard digging in the soil with a belly out to there and a child to watch, but we managed and here is the process;
1. First I had to pull the Bermuda or crab grass out. I didn’t get a before shot but this is what the plot next to it looks like. Just to give you an idea. Now, this took 1/2 hour to do because a) I am very allergic to the weed. I break out in hives. I hate wearing gloves. I love the feel of dirt and soil beneath my fingers so I don’t own a pair of gloves and find them a nuisance anyways when you are trying to work. THey are constantly falling off or doing something naughty. So It was all done by shovel and a spade and a small size rake.
2. I bought (yes I did! :O ) some top soil. Organic. I knew we would need our compost for the veggie plot and since that seemed more useful to me than a small hobby area I spent a whole $1.50 on some top soil. So here you have the weeded area and the top soil ready to go on.
3. This is now the soil worked in and wetted down. I wet my soil down before I do any plantin’. The reason for this is to get my soil even. Once the ground is wet and soaked down I will again work the soil to a more even setting. I like evenness.
Now I really can’t do much at this point and I have been outside an hour and the sweat is pouring all over me and babykins is ready for her morning nap. So I snap a few pics of my gardening/sodbustering partner and in we go;
Actually, we first went on a small 20 minute walk THEN she went to bed. I brought the camera with me and did manage to snap a few pictures for your pleasure;
Whats left of our flood. I think it makes our desert area look more authentic. LOL.
Wild Mint. I am going to figure out how to get some of that home!
Our street is famous for its flock of quail. I love it when the babies are out but never manage to get a picture before they leave the coop so to speak. I managed to snap this picture using our zoom feature but it still was dissapointing to be about 100 feet away and them already rushing away. But it made such a cute lil picture.
Our house at a first glance…
Once inside the gate…
And to the left… our famous garden.
You know, I have only been here about 2 years. My husband bought the house about 1-2 years before we were married. He got a job and bought a house when we became very serious in our courtin’ stage. And even then it was still 2 years before we got married… no it wasn’t exactly planned that way so we could have a nest egg. My dear husband wanted so badly to have the perfect home to bring his bride too. It was so sweet of him and he stressed about it so much that I reminded him that he needed to leave me a job for the home. I cant spend all day cleaning up after a meal we share in the morning and spend the rest of the day working on dinner. LOL. Poor guy wasn’t totally convinced that he shouldn’t ready the house. I felt like saying with Charlotte Lucas from Pride and Prejudice;
“I ask only a comfortable home…”
We came here to a deserted yard. We have made a compost bin and area. We have worked hard soil into a garden plot. We planted two peach tree’s that died. 1 ash tree that still lives and a sycamore tree that died. We are working on a drive way for the cars by lining the way with Michaelmas Daisies. All in all, we really have come very far! I could have done more during the 8 months of being a newly wed I totally admit. But once the children started coming while the process slowed, we ended up in the long run getting more done! It is amazing the way God works out even the small details in our life.
So, this has been your Tuesday report.
Today’s To-do list
Laundry- consiting of;
-
Wash
-
Hang on line/dry
-
Fold
-
Hang up
- Put away
Kitchen Duty- Consisting of
- Dishes washed
- Floor cleaned
- Fridge cleaned out
- Freezer defrosted
- stove and counters wiped
Livingroom-
- Floors vaccumed
- Table cleared
- couch cleared
- entry way swept
- piano dusted and cleared
Bedroom- Bed made and clothes off of floor
Dress a Day project
Package up packages
Car picked up (ie toys out and reusable bags in proper place)
Well, I’m worn out. Freezer and fridge and floor will have to be tomorrow’s project. How did you all do?
What’s on your do to list? Spend 5 minutes making a list that MUST get done today. Then write a list of what you would like to see get done. Tape it to your computer screen or wherever you like to “hideout” and get busy!
Ma Ingalls had a system for her days, we all know it;
Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday.
But I have my own way of doing things;
Maidin’ Monday, where my friend and I challenge each other to get as much done as we can during that day. Clean and organize your life. We challenge others too to join us and start your week afresh.
Sodbusters Tuesday- Gardening day! I hope to “Teach” as well as share what I have learned about gardening in the Mojave desert as well as glean from the comments. It’s getting near fall planting (for us desert dwellers anyway) so it’ll be a lot of planning and preparing. Strap on your overalls and grab your straw hat!
Off the Shelf Wednesdays- I hope on this day to share some of the books I am reading and maybe some reviews. I enjoy books so much and I am always on the lookout for good reading material. Some will be children’s books, some can be spiritual, or it could be an ordinary fiction/non-fiction book. Whatever. I’ll grab it off the shelf and write it down.
Provident Thursdays- Here I hope to share all the thrifty idea’s I have gleaned. The budgeting ways I have done. Basically, frugality for the 21st century.
Cafe Friday- New recipes, living Gluten Free, and much more.
Craft Show Saturdays- Learn a new craft project each Saturday. Beginners and experts welcome!
Bloggin’ Sunday- I hope to share different blogs I frequent these days and why I love to read them.
So, I hope you all will join us. Maidin’ Monday up next!
I am going to try something for the month of August but I’ll start Monday since I like starting fresh on Mondays after a Day of Worship with our Lord.
So here is the thing; I am going to have certain days for specific things, for example;
A friend and I (Beccastoggs.com) are going to have Maidin’ Monday. We have a challenge every monday to get our butlers (or in the case our maidin’s) kicked into gear for some of the things that need to be done, ie vaccuming, deep cleaning and whatnot. Tuesdays maybe I’ll have it dedicated to gardening. And so on.
I am very excited about this because A) I am hoping it’ll help me be more consistent with my blog, bring new readers in, teach what I know to those that want to learn about certian things, and so forth.
Now where does the blog contest come in? Well! AT the end of August I am hoping that people will comment on if they liked the blog, what they learned or didn’t learn, what they didn’t like, if they will come more because of that, basically GIVE FEEDBACK!!! Yay! Winner will recieve something, I have a whole month to come up with something extrodinary GREAT! Maybe I’ll choose seven winners. One for each day. So share this blog with your friends and increase you chances of winning. Tell me who recommend you, and if you recommended anyone. I love feedback.
So, I am off for the weekend. And I’ll see you all Monday!
Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday
Many people warn you the dangers of coupon shopping. Mostly because you actually can end up paying more for your purchases because most coupons are brand names over store prices. For the most part this is true, however for today I will be explaining why I choose Juicy Juice over store brands.
I tend to purchase juice for me and hubby and Emma will occasionaly get some. We have been trying to wean her off dairy so she has been getting more juice than I normally would give her. Gasp, a cup a day! (Baby size cup of course) So in my efforts to be more frugal I would purchase the store brand juice and delude it in some water. However it came to the point where it was actually the same cost to buy Juicy Juice with coupons (End up being .10 – .50 more than store brand a jar) and deluding that in water. It last so much longer because the Juicy Juice has a stronger juice taste. The store has been deluded enough. For normal drinking its fine and better cost but I like to dilude Emma’s in a lot of water. More than half and half. A typical bottle from the grocery store can last up to 1.5 weeks for us as a family. Juicy Juice because we will all delude it (and still have that great taste) last for 2.5-4 weeks.
Another reason I do Juicy Juice is because I have this thing about added sweeteners in my juice. Ok so both hubby and I have this thing. So when you look at the back of the bottles and compare prices and store brands and ingredients it boils down to two choices. Which will you choose?
Debate?
My Sister-in-law sent this to me and I thought it might be well to share with those that are trying to eat healthy. Some of it I could follow, some of it I don’t agree on but as a whole its an excellent chart.
Food Combining Chart
Source can be found here;
http://www.alderbrooke.com/images/chart.jpg
organizing frenzy
I had always assumed that here they were talking about carrying babies all day or making/kneading bread… I mean you earn muscles from doing that day after day. I have come to the conclusion that there is another way she does it as well. (she being the perfect Prov. 31 woman we all aspire to be). Anyway, she does this by making rice pudding.
That’s the rice pudding I made last night. A real treat for hubby and a workout for me. Being 100F here in town slaving over a hot stove is a lot of work. But it turned out ok, the verdict was cut the sugar by atleast half. Too sweet. I used this recipe.
After dinner I was able to finish my month late birthday gift for a dear friend in Scotland. I think she’ll like em. They are herb markers. I made three and stiffened em by fabric stiffener. It also worked as glue. They turned out so cute!
Have a wonderful weekend readers. Enjoy starting the week out by worshiping our Lord. 
I have a bookshelf right next to my computer. It should be filled with books like herbs, gardening, child rearing, a bible, a concordance, well you get the idea. However it’s also part of the kitchen counter therefore it has cookbooks, and children’s books on it. Oh yeah and SOME health books.
I always love it when people take pictures next to books. I read teh titles. So I thought i would just take a picture of the bookcase. Come on, you know you wanna see what books I have…
The bottom bookshelf is entirely children’s books. I am so proud of my small collection picked up from thrift stores, yard sales, and being a Usborne Consulant always helps develope that excellent taste in books.
Then there are the times we will pull out the special books and Emma and I will look them over. Today happened to be antique picture books. You know the kind that change pictures with the twist of the wrist.
I am so proud of myself. Today I *had* to condense our books. The shelf was just too full and overflowing. I managed to even make room for a few more. Duplicates left.
Sigh… our own personal library!
