First Day of Spring

I can't believe it is half way through March & I am just now sitting down to get serious about this blogging weekly (goal is to post at least once a week for right now).  It is officially the first day of spring but here in the Willamette Valley Mr Winter & Jack Frost still have a very tight grip & I don't think they are ready to leave.

In the last week we have had so much rain areas have almost flooded again, there has been snow, hail, and rain all in one day. CRAZY WEATHER!   Not much else you can do but play IN the puddles.



 The worst part of it is most "valley" people have spring fever so bad all we can think about is tilling our gardens or mowing our lawns (depends on what brings a smile to your face;-)  For me I want to till that new flower bed I covered last fall, it is just begging to be turned into a beautiful addition to our yard.

Anyway back to this BLOG as a whole, I am promising myself one post a week about what is going on here in the valley & what I'm working on in the garden/yard, course sometimes I'll deviate to some other project that is being completed (most of those this year do have SOMETHING to do with the garden/yard;-) 

So......last weekend was St. Patty's Day & here in the mid valley (rye grass country) it is also Daffodil Festival time.  It's one of those little town/area "festivals" where everyone comes out to see the locals.  On the way out to the festival you get to enjoy all the wild daffodils or not so wild ones that everyone has lining the roads/streets in the area.

Another thing that has happened in the last few weeks for most of us, we were able to get our roses trimmed & ready for the first blooming of the season, hopefully in time for my birthday in June;-)  Many others have started those wonderful little peas seeds that if the weather ever warms up a bit will get moved out to the garden.   Come on sun we need ya', I have plants to buy, move, & divide, seeds that need planted and so much more!

Well there it is the first post of the year (nothing like three months late) BUT it was on the FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!

Happy gardening everyone.

New Beginnings

Last weekend Jerry & I took the train to PDX, OR.  It was sooooooooooooooo relaxing, we both think traveling by train is the best!

While we were in PDX I took him to my favorite book store; Powell's in Burnside.  Wish I had as much time as I want to read as much as I want.  Anyway, the first section I go to is almost always the garden section (I really did get to any other section this visit), but I did find a GREAT book that I am hoping will help me out just a bit to stay more focused on blogging.  the book is 365 Days Of Gardening by Christine Allison. There are great quotes, home remedies, recipes, and helpful hints for the garden/gardener. Can't wait to start sharing the information with you.

Our first quote is "Those new to gardening should know, however, that most gardeners hate to part with dirt, clay pots, pickle jars, really good labels, stakes, tarred twine, and any kind of wooden box.  They do not mind give a plant that sells for $40.00 if they an extra one, but the other stuff (which may be worth a dime) it tears the heart  to part with.   -Henry Mitchell

Worst luck....

On May 7th I had the worst luck anyone could have in one day; tiller wouldn't start, hot water heater leaked all over laundry room floor, and Adri ended up with a "boot" on her right ankle (wasn't a confirmed break).

When Adri woke in the AM she wouldn't even walk down the hall, she said her foot hurt.  She had fallen the night before in the dining room while playing with Jerry and Katie.  A very freak accident.  Most of the day she just sat in the chair saying she couldn't walk so I had to carry her every where.  I decided shortly before lunch to call the Dr. and get her in to she what might be wrong.

I went down to the local hardware store to rent a small tiller so I could get my garden ready to plant, but when I got it home I couldn't pull hard enough to get it started (thanks for the screwed up shoulder Molly).  So I called Jerry at work and got all frustrated cause he was there and I was home and couldn't do something for myself.  I loaded the girls back up and returned the tiller. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

When I got home I went out to the laundry room to pick up the towels I had put on the floor to soak up the water that I thought I had splashed all over; the towels were SOAKED!  I looked at the wood step and it was wet, CRAP the hot water heater was leaking.  So I called Jerry again and told him what was going on, he said he'd call his dad to come over and help, I said I'd try to get some information from my friend Larissa (her husband owns a plumbing company).  I was on the phone, computer and talking with my father-n-law all morning then Jerry got home at lunch time and after seeing what was happening we decided just to go to Jerry's to get a new hot water heater and new plumbing.

I ended up calling work to switch days (at the last minute) then took Adri to Dr. while Jerry and Chuck (FNL) worked on heater.  By the time we got back from the Dr. office, the old one was out and so was all the old plumbing plus the UGLY cabinet that was around it (I had wanted it gone from the minute we moved in).  All we had left to do that night was prime so we could start to repaint in the AM.  While I'm getting ready to paint Jerry and I heard water running, which meant there was a leak somewhere under the house.

Longer story shortened; we finally got the new hot water heater in, the laundry got repainted & some new storage space.

We added shelving above sink, pot rack above washer/drier, two going to be three shelves and I took a shelf out of wall storage/canning area.
Guess I don't have a pick of the finished room (well the floor still needs painting- NOT putting carpet back in).

Fall.....

Been back from the camping trip a few months now;-) But have been very busy gardening, I know I should have written all of you.

Anyway it is fall so I should let you know a few things; first make sure your garden is all cleaned up (mine is all most done).  Get your stuff into the compost bin so that it can keep working for you, next spring!
We haven't had freezing weather yet so I have still been planting daffodils for next spring, best if done before the first big frost/snow or in our case non-stop rain. While talking about winter weather if you have geraniums/fuchsias/begonias get them in if you plan to winter them over for  next year.

Gone Campin'

We are going camping this weekend so I'm hoping I will have time to THINK!  I'm taking a pen & pad of paper so that I can write down some ideas I've had about this blog; things I would like to share with you about my garden & gardening in general (most of which I've learned the hard way;-).  Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

Dirt Therapy

I have been thinking lately that this blog should be more about what I really am interested in...gardening!  I have a saying about working in the garden I call it "Dirty Therapy".  I feel so good when I'm out in the garden/yard; sun on my shoulders, breeze blowing (hopefully;-), dirt on my hands and watching something grow or an area change from ugly to beautiful!  Soon I plan to change the name of the blog and hopefully this winter I'll get more into this blog so that I can add more links and ads to help you if you want just simply and easy hints to get more out of you hard work in the garden.  Please stay tuned for the upcoming changes as I hope it will be useful to many (pass the word on to your garden friends too)!

Eugene 1/2 Marathon- I did it!

I can't believe I finished the Eugene 1/2 Marathon yesterday.  I wasn't able to train like I really would have liked to (well I kept procrastinating when the weather would get too cold or wet and when I'd get a little cold).  But I knew I was going to do it no matter what, that even meant walking over the finish line; I did jog over the line but I ended up walking the last four miles.

It was an amazing feeling being cheered on at the finish, which happened to be Hayward Field.  As I jogged into the track I started looking for Jerry and he was in the perfect spot, right at the North West corner (where we round to the finish line).  He was cheering and waving so it made me determined to finish at a jog even though I felt I could hardly walk anymore.  It was very emotional in the most over whelming and fulfilling way.

He was my biggest cheerleader, even during the race he was at about the 7 1/2 mile mark; which was perfect as I was REALLY needing more motivation to keep going.  When I got to him he gave me a kiss and as I ran off he yelled that he was proud of me, all I could think of was getting to the end so it would be over.  The rest of the five miles were tough as I was getting tired and my legs were starting to feel like cement.  As I was running I kept thinking I just had to finish to prove to myself that I could do something like this.  Now I really want to do another one and have more training under my belt to see how well I could really do.

I can say that I finished just over the time I had in my head (3 hours), my time was 3hrs 12min.  My next one will be under 3 hours!

Jerry even thinks it might be fun to do one too, maybe this time next year I'll be posting that we both finished the Eugene 1/2 Marathon!!

There I am in the yellow hat and black pants. (in the middle of picture)

Changes

Last night I realized I needed to stop thinking about doing something about my weight & start DOING something about it!  Today I will start DOING; first no more soda and more exercise.  I'm also going to cut back on how much I eat.
Other changes I need to make are finishing projects and sticking with them until they are complete!  I guess that means it is back to my daily lists, that's not so bad really.  It did help me stay on track a bit and get things done.
I realize there are changes that can be made everyday, I just have to DO IT (as the Nike ad states).
Hopefully doing and making changes will effect the girls too, in a positive way and they will see that making changes is and can be a good thing.  I see good things in all our futures!

Moving forward on the greenhouse

We put this first truss up last weekend; mostly to see how it was really going to look.  Jerry still needs it as a template for the other three so we had to take it down after the pics were taken.  I am finished with the five single pane windows that make up the front & back walls, but I am still working on the six pane windows that will be the walls.  It has been super slow as the weather and my health are not working together, (yep I'm sick yet again).
I can't believe How big it is and that Jerry has truly made my dream of having a greenhouse come true.  In fact last week I was able to find a door for the greenhouse for only $25.00 and he thought it was perfect as I did.  Can't wait for the weather to break so that I can get the door outside to clean it up and then start stripping the old paint so I can re-paint it...red, black, and off white.

The door still has it's original hardware; hinges, handle, and lock. I know once I'm able to really take it apart it is going to look great!

Even my two "little garden helpers" are ready for the greenhouse & warm weather. Summer here we come!

More on the greenhouse

This is the first truss of my greenhouse; the whole thing is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO big.  I have all the front and back wall windows complete but I have come to a stand still on the side wall windows (I'm sick yet AGAIN).  This has been a bad winter for me, sick most of Nov/Dec; January I started training fora half marathon and was injured by my dog (she tripped me), then I got sick again at the end of February.

Jerry is busy measuring, cutting, drilling, and connecting more pieces for more trusses as I sit here writing about it.  I love him so much for making my dream of a greenhouse come true.

Last week I was able to fine the most amazing door for the greenhouse for only $25.00.  I loved the doors she had so much I keep trying to think up ways to use more.  Jerry won't let me buy anymore as I am still at my "5 project" limit (something he thought up last summer- funny man).

All the original hardware was still with the door; knob, hinges, and lock. Can't wait for the weather to break so that I can get outside and get the dirt cleaned off so I can start striping the paint off to re-paint it! It will be red, black, and cream.

And these are my garden helpers! Summer here we come.

First wall going up

It has happened; we were able to get to of the wall bases in place and the back wall up (supported of course).  I can now really see the "shape" of what my greenhouse will look like. It's going to be BIG!  So much bigger than I thought or even dreamed of; 9x9.

The three windows for the back wall are ready to be installed but we still need to get the firring strips (no idea what that really is but Jerry said we need it).  I have also started to glaze one of the two front windows, so really I only have 10 more windows to complete (HAHAHAHA), ONLY 10!

I just keep thinking about how much fun it is going to be to teach the girls how to start little plants/flowers/veggies start to grow from seed.  I'm also hoping the in the next few years I become better at seed saving (that will also save $$$$), then I can start to sell and MAKE $$$$ to put back into the whole garden/yard.  Time will tell.

Green House Begins!

Well today I finally started painting 1 of the 13 windows that will make up my "NEW" greenhouse.  There is still a lot of work to do as only 3 of the windows are glazed and ready for paint (thank to my brother-n-law, last year at this time he helped sand about 5 of the windows). 

There will be four at the west end and three on each side (north and south), then the I'll be able to go find a door out of BRING recycling. 

Hopefully on Saturday Jerry and I will be able to get the back wall (west side) put together.  Then I'll have to really get to work on all the multi-pane windows.  Stay tuned for more updates on the progress.

Green house!

It is offical, I am starting to work on my greenhouse. This time last year my brother-n-law did a lot of sandy on my windows (he was unemployed and bored at the time), so that I could glaze and paint the windows.  Well I only got as far as three windows half way glazed then summer took over (our roof project actually). SO.......

Now I have one of the windows on the table (its only about 40 degrees outside-too cold to paint outside) getting paint so that this weekend Jerry and I can start the building process of the back wall to the greenhouse.

There are 13 windows in total that will make up the greenhouse and as soon as we have all the sides up I will be able to go to BRING Recycling to find a door.  I'm hoping to find a door I can turn into a "Dutch" door, meaning it is split in half (top & bottom).  The colors will be an off white on the windows/trim and a barn red for the main part.  I'm thinking I may do some accented trim work in black, not sure yet?  Then after I get the greenhouse painted I will repaint the body of my shed to match with the barn red and the doors will also get repainted, which is where I will use the black accent trim for sure.

?????HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Well here on the back side of things it shows the import of our second blog I had tried to start (when Adri was born); BUT when I "view blog" the archives are not there. ????????????????  hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Going to try it one more time to see what I'm screwing up.

SO excited!

I was thinking last night, how can I get our two old blogs (yes we have tried to keep up two other times) imported into this new one?  I am determined to keep up with this one & get good at it!

Well this AM I got on here and started doing some searching...guess what I found?  YEP! The way to import old blogs into new ones and then I was able to delete the old one. So now I just need to try to remember the second blog so I can import that on too!

It has been so fun looking/reading the very first posts that we had (right before Katie was born).  Then our lives as a new family. Boy have things changed, well evolved more than anything.  I'm sure I will do that on this blog too;-)

Stay tuned for the second blog to be imported!

WOW, two months

Oooooooops!  I can't believe it has been two months since my last post. Where did Dec & Jan go?

Well we had Christmas in there (we were pretty sick most of the time) and that kept us really busy. Then in January we put together a ladder/stairs for the girls bunk bed we bought in Dec.  It took a lot of time with just the painting of all the pieces (so many colors too). The whole project was worth it, the ladder/stairs/storage look sooooooooooooooo good.

The next thing we are going to start( after I finish painting the last step where the stool is at) is my green house.  Again there will be many, many ,many, hours of glazing & painting; but this summer as I'm picking veggies from the garden I will know it will have all been worth it!  Anyone want to "volunteer" to help with the glazing or painting will get plants for their help;-)

LET IT SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

Today was the first snow day of this fall/winter, 2010.  When Katie woke I showed her and told her that later (after breakfast) we'd call the boys (Dalton & Garrett-cousins). As I was finishing breakfast I got a call from Garrett, "would it be okay if we brought a slay over and play with Katie and Adri?" OF COURSE!  You boys are always welcome.  I then told him that I'd make lunch, so he said we're on our way.  A few minutes later Christie (sister-n-law) texted about how excited the boys were, I sent on back about the fact that Katie was too!  Everyone had fun, including Molly.  Then everyone came in for a HOT cup of chocolate (it's all about the hot chocolate).

After warming up and drying the clothes; round two was about to happen.  I told them to go ahead and go into the back yard which still had some snow on the deck and grass.  They had some more fun, pulling and jumping off the steps of the deck, all I thought was I'm glad their young cause it looked like it would hurt the backside a whole lot.  But it did seem like they were having soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.
As beautiful as the snow was, I do hope tomorrow is NOT a white morning.  The girls and I need to get a few things done tomorrow  before Thanksgiving and Adri's birthday party.
Speaking of Adri's birthday, my baby will be officially two on Friday.  It's hard to image that it was just such a short time ago that I was awaiting the arrival of my second beautiful baby girl. She is such a joy as she never stops smiling (well except when she is crying) because she didn't get something she wanted.  Happy Birthday baby.

So much learning

My last few post have not been the most positive or information filled; so I figured it was time to pull myself up by the boots straps and put something up that was more positive and updating about our family.

I can't believe that in 1 week and 2 days (9 days) Adri will be 2 years old. She is so NOT a baby anymore.  About the only thing we have left to concurred as the baby part of her life is the potty training thing.  She is really making progress; this AM she told me she had to go potty so we went in and she did!!!! Oh, I guess you could say we are still working on the talking thing too.  It is funny hearing her try to say some words, at  least she understands what we are saying, even if we don't understand everything she is saying. hehehehehehe

Katie is doing really well in school so far; she can recognize all her letters in the alphabet; knows the days of the week in order (she's still working on understanding what day it is each day), and she can count all the way up to 30.  I just need to start working on writing the letters and numbers with her.  I'm sure Santa Claus is going to help with this issue (bringing her stuff to write with and on).

Speaking of Santa Claus, Katie is really getting into the idea of the big guy in red but I don't think she totally understand the WHOLE picture yet.  Last night on the drive into town she said, "mom you have to send him a VERY 'impotant' message; tell him I love him and thank you for all the presents he's going to get me."  All I could do was giggle, then when Jerry and I did the car/kid change I whispered it in his ear and he giggled a bit too. 

I really can't wait to take them to see and talk to Santa for the first time this year (hopefully they don't get too scared).  Plus I'm going to send them letters from Santa, I kept an article about how the USPS will mail your letters back to you post marked from the North Pole.  Jerry and I are going to sit down here in the next few weeks to do this.  It is really fun playing Santa;-)

Vertans Day

I have to thank ALL the brave and unselfish people I know that have or are serving in the Armed Forces.  It is because of them I sit in my warm, safe house knowing I live in a free country. I feel blessed that these men and women put their lives on the line so we could all have our freedoms, and to just say THANK YOU seems like so little....but       THANK YOU for your service.