My Attempt at Gardening

Just because you've only got houseplants doesn't mean you don't have the gardening spirit - I look upon myself as an indoor gardener.  ~Sara Moss-Wolfe

The above quote pretty much summed up my gardening experience in life thus far. Many of you know I LOVE house plants. While my indoor plants have taken lots of abuse (constantly moving, toddlers, etc.) I do usually manage to keep them alive! And thus far I was perfectly content with that.  But, I had been talking about trying to grow some vegetables the last year or two.  

And it probably wouldn't have progressed past the talking point had my grandmother not given me a Topsy Turvey  for Christmas. I was at first very excited. But, as Spring grew closer I thought, "What am I going to do with that thing! I have no idea how to grow stuff." And in the process I discovered something about myself. I am not good at attempting a task I don't know exactly how to do. I'm not very good at just making it up as I go along. I like to stick to stuff I am good at like decorating, or baking. New stuff makes me nervous. (Now that sounds like me doesn't it!)

But despite myself I somehow managed to get caught up in the idea of making my own salsa and sharing the joy of Grace watching the plants grow and here is the result. Oh, and I might have done some educational reading on the internet as well.

The plant in the middle is a tomato. It has been planted for two weeks & has a bloom! The other two are peppers. I just planted them so I am hopeful they will do well also. These Topsy Turvey things aren't exactly aesthetically pleasing but they are supposed to be easy.

These two pots have herbs. I'm not exactly sure which herbs they all are because it was on sale and labeled "salsa mix." But I think I have sweet leaf basil, chives, oregano, and cilantro. Still working on figuring that all out.

The big pot is a squash plant. The two pots that are dirt I planted spinach & mixed greens. I am most doubtful about these. I just can't believe I can grow something from a seed, but who knows!

So there you have it, my first attempt at container gardening. If I am successful I plan to expand next year. I am hoping to track my progress occasionally on my blog to keep myself motivated.

While checking out quotes on gardening I found the following:

The best place to seek God is in a garden.  You can dig for him there.  ~George Bernard Shaw, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God, 1932

I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day.  ~F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace

I'm not sure how much truth there are in these quotes, but they seemed to fit my life so perfectly I had to include them. This Spring God has been challenging me big time! And the circumstances of my life have left me praying like never before, seeking God's direction. So wether its in my garden or not I'm praying he will speak some clear direction for our family. Please feel free to join me in praying for that! Is there something I could pray for you about? 

I have crossed over...

Well, according to my husband there is a coupon crazy subculture and I have officially crossed over and established residency. I have been "flirting" with couponing for over a year now. Pretty much ever since we got the internet. I started by always searching for discount codes online, using Ebates, reading Freebies 4 Mom, etc. But, up until this point I was still not willing to go to the store on a regular basis. ( I currently only go to the store every two weeks) But, Stephanie & Lindsay have officially inspired me to take it one step further. My story is pretty much similar to Stephanie's. I was a frugal person. Remember those Tight Wad Gazette books I read? Hysterical! I also shopped at Aldi, and used coupons occasionally on the very select few items I actually buy name brand. And don't get me wrong I am still committed to Aldi. (I mean when have you seen a coupon for produce?) 

However, I knew from talking to Stephanie & Lindsay it was possible to get stuff for cheap (yep, even cheaper than Aldi sometimes) or even free! So, I finally took the time to read enough blogs to figure out what coupon stacking, doing the drugstore thing, and all the other coupon lingo was talking about. And I have to say they have made a believer out of me. So, here is my bounty from my first trip to Walgreens. I got all the stuff in this picture for less than $40. 

So here is my pledge. I won't always share with you pictures of the stuff I'm buying. While I find this fascinating and very helpful on other people's blogs that isn't really the purpose of my blog. However, I LOVE a great deal so every once in awhile I will probably update you on how my savings are going. My goal is to save enough money to justify having cable/internet. The past year someone gave us this as a gift. It has been lovely. It was the first time we had cable ever, and the first time I've had internet access since we move to Hannibal. However, the year is over and I am really wanting to keep it. So, this is my answer to justifying keeping this added expense. (and I am so attached to blogging I'm afraid I might have to admit myself somewhere if I had to give it up completely) So, that means I will need to save at least $80 a month on my "house" budget. According to all these lovely blogging coupon crazy ladies this seems like an attainable goal. I'll keep you posted.

Coming soon a post about my other frugal endeavor, a container garden on my porch. Still working on that one. Now if I could only sew... (Nope, not happening! I'm sticking to Goodwill and Yardsales for the clothes.)

The Family Museum

(The closest thing I got to a picture of all five of them!)

On Friday the girls and I took a road trip to visit Nana. We were planning on going to the picnic at the hospital where she works for lunch. Then we were going to head to Wildlife Prairie Park. However, if you live in Illinois you know it POURED the entire day. So, instead we ate the cookout in the hospital cafeteria (probably actually easier with kidos). Then we headed to our rain location, The Family Museum, in Bettendorf. (So our trip included three states MO, IL, & IA) It was a lot of driving in the rain, but it was such fun that it was totally worth it.

We went with friends Carter & Ellie, Nana works with their mom Jessica. Caleb also came with his grandma, Jean, a family friend. We went to the Family Museum on our family vacation last fall. It was fun to see how much more the girls enjoyed this visit. Two sections were completely different then when we went so there was plenty of new things to explore. After the museum we went to eat chips & cheese (mexican) Grace's favorite and then spent the night with Nana. It was such a great adventure and I am really looking forward to scheduling our next play date!