Preparing the Tot to Garden

While much of the country is embracing spring, in our area winter has overstayed it's welcome.  Spring tried to grumble its way in yesterday with a nice little thunderstorm and I'm just waiting for the temperatures to reach that spring warmth.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming my early garden bed and trying to figure out how gardening is going to work with a two-year-old helper this year.  We'll be working on our colors in an attempt to distinguish between ripe and not-so-ripe tomatoes and strawberries.  I think weeding is going to have to be done when my copy-cat isn't looking, or she may "weed" my whole garden.  While my brain is working overtime on the protection needed to preserve my crops from a toddler, I'm also looking forward to teaching her about planting and seeds.  It's about time to gather up all the gardening related story books we have and add them to the story stacks around the house.

While we were at the children's museum this past week, we practiced planting skills.  We'll be planting for real soon enough!

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This post is linked up at An Oregon Cottage's Tuesday Garden Party.

Sunday Sunshine - A Week of Celebrations

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week and practicing gratitude by giving.

The last week of March brings much celebration in our household as HandyMan and I both celebrate our birthdays.  Along with birthdays comes favorite meals and special treats.  GGirl benefited as well since we took some extra family time and visited a couple of the children's museums we can access with our annual pass.  I had a perfect day for my birthday and am truly grateful to celebrate another year of life and health.  We were able to spend a day with HandyMan's Mom and get a brief change of scenery and family time.

This week also brought the completion of a Trash Me Pants (blog is coming!) the addition of a great new-to-us couch to our home and a wonderfully mis-forecasted snow storm.  Friends willing to share their time with GGirl again highlighted my week.

It has been a good week.  I hope you are able to see the joy in your week and the peace in the night.

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:16 -The Message) May the light of the Father brighten your week!

ThrivingMama's Mission of the Month: April

This month I stumbled across Mama Jenn's Monthly Mission Of The Month posts.  It's kind of like an accountability circle to set goals for the month and report on the accomplishments.  I am currently surrounded by unfinished projects, un-written goals and general mayhem.  There is a two year old in the house after all.  Ok - no more using the toddler for an excuse.  Here's what I hope to get done this month:

Inside: Spring Cleaning

I know myself better than to think that I'll get the whole house deep cleaned.  My goal is to get four areas of the house deep cleaned and get rid of all the winter dust and cob-webs.

Outside: Garden

This year I am trying something different with my garden.  I have gotten the materials to set up one of my raised beds with a cover and plant some crops that I hope to get in early.  If the weather holds and night time temperatures stay above 27, I hope to get this bed set up an planted around the middle of the month.

Blogging

I have a half a dozen blogs started here in my software or in my head.  I would like to get 8 posts up this month of projects that I'm working on and want to share.

Charity's Candles

Charity's Candles (one of my WAHM projects) goes into hibernation after Christmas.  It is time for that little bear to start waking up. It is my goal to get my inventory replenished to restock for one craft show coming up and one retail location as well as a special order that's come in for a baby shower.

I'm looking forward to seeing how many of my missions I can tackle and complete!

A Perfect Day

Yesterday was a perfect day.  It started with G-Girl snuggling in and watching cartoons with me while HandyMan made me breakfast.  I got a full breakfast of biscuits, bacon, eggs and hollandaise served up to me with OJ and coffee.  On the side, a gift certificate for a pedicure.  So whenever spring decides to show up (or July, whichever comes first) I get a bit of pampering and pretty toes!

Breakfast was followed by some fun crafty time, instead of dishes.  Then came some kick-up-my-feet time.  I was able work on a bunch of blog posts that have been hanging out on my camera and in my head.  Lots of fun things getting posted next week- stay tuned!

A leisurely shower and we were off for a quick get-away.  I only had to pack and gather my stuff and ride along.  Dinner was wonderfully prepared by HandyMan's mom and followed by yummy cheesecake.  After G-girl gave into sleep, we played some games and nibbled on an amazing dessert called a Chocoalte Dome from a local gourmet bakery.  The icing on the cake - no, not the chocolate glaze on the dome, although that was amazing! - the big winter storm predicted for our area was a big April Fools joke on the weathermen and we are again on track for spring!