Gardening, gardening, gardening...

We had a gardening class at church today. 8:00 am is too early for anyone to function, but with lots of coffee and a strong will I met everyone at the Salt House to learn. Pepper Ashford, M.D. taught the class. He has beautiful raised beds in his lawn, which we went to after the class and that's where all the pictures came from. He taught us simple steps:

1. Find a place to garden
-Where does the sun rise and set? Any obstruction?
2. What kind of garden?
-Veggies? Fruits? Flowers? etc.
3. What kind of Soil?
-Clay soil? Sandy soil?
4. Do you have the right tools?
-rake, hoe, shovel, trowel, gloves, hose pipe, etc.
5. What are you going to grow?
6. Prepare the soil. Based on what you are going to grow you can figure out whether you need more calcium in your soil or more potassium or phosphorus. There are parts of your garden that need a low pH and parts that need a high pH. Tomatoes, being acidic, don't need soil to have a high pH. Stuff like that...I don't quite remember everything he said.
7. Till the soil, add your compost, fertilizer, sand, and till the soil.
8. Plant your seeds in rows, measuring for plant growth.
9. Weed plants regularly, inspect plants regularly. Deal with pests and bugs.
10. Harvest. Pick, freeze, can, etc, etc...


O.k. so maybe I forgot a lot already and maybe I remember some things wrong. It was so informative! But mostly, Dr. Pepper kept telling me to calm down (this was not a college course with a test at the end). It's a hobby that truly allows you to COMMUNE with the Living God in His fullness. I truly believe that Pepper knows what He is talking about, and I really want to commune with God in this way.

Father, please bless my thumb. Make it green. Amen!

Princess Party!

Well, I knew I wanted to do it! And I finally did! I invited 7 little princesses over to my house for a slumber party. There was no playing favorites or anything from church, just a few friends I randomly invited until I decided 7 was enough and it would be too stressful for more. Here are some of the fabulous pictures!

We had so much fun! The girls arrived around 6:30 on a Friday afternoon. We played tag outside while we waited for Calvin to bring home the pizza. The girls found their place mats, tiaras, and party favors on the dining room table and settled in for some yummy cheese pizza and pepperoni for me and Calvin (who also had a place man and tiara). After pizza, we played tag outside again and went to the park down the road in my subdivision. We came back home and as a group made brownies and chocolate cookies. Baking with the girls was the messiest, funnest thing ever! The little ones had shorter attention spans than the older girls. They were running around upstairs and tying Calvin up and it was all pretty funny. After baking, we all sat down and ate the brownies and had a little bible study (when I say little I mean like 5 minutes). I tried to explain to the girls WHY they are princesses...because God is King and He is our Daddy. Then I painted each girls' toe nails and after that we went upstairs, locked ourselves in my bedroom and found outfits from my closet for each girl. I did each one's hair and let them put lip gloss on and we had a fashion show that we made Calvin watch. The girls got to pick my outfit, but they didn't like the outfits I picked for them. They all traded like 20 times before settling on the final outfit! Elizabeth's outfit looked hilarious!!! She looked like a little Miss America! Cate had on the cutest blue dress, but then she put on my black (very large) pointed go-go boots. It looked hilarious!!! Olivia had on a cute dress and actually looked like she could wear it in public. Emily was so tiny, I couldn't keep anything on her. Molli Beth is the funniest thing in her prom dress. Carah put every dress I had on backwards...she liked her back showing! She was a sassy little thing! Abby had left by then, but it was a fun fashion show. I narrated it in a french accent! After the fashion show, we put in high school musical 2 and by 12:30am everyone was asleep. Funny thing is...the girls woke up at 6:00am ON THEIR OWN! We made huge cinnamon rolls and had an early breakfast. Me with my coffee, them with their milk. It was a beautiful princess weekend! :)

House Updates!

So lately I have been working a lot, but also trying to fix up the new house here and there. We still only have two rooms painted. For some reason, we are going really slow with that. I guess both of us know if we try to paint it ourselves we'll screw up our new home and who wants to pay for someone else to do it when so many people do it so good and they could help, right? Wrong. No one seems to want to paint. People that can paint well are usually busy painting their own homes. That's fine with me, I just wish I could get it done soon. Color makes a house feel more at home and lived in. The rooms I have painted upstairs are the rooms I love the most. We also got a new chest of drawers to match our bedroom suit which is now completed! Our bedroom is ALMOST done.

I'm really trying to get some landscaping done, but I can't get past how bad the grass looks. It's not very pretty. So I tried sowing some grass. Nothing has happened with this venture except that straw got everyone (A big homeowner's association no-no). I did plant impatiens and hang them in hanging pots on my front porch and they are beautiful! I love to get up in the morning and go outside and water them. I potted some Rosemary and Oregano and placed them in my kitchen window sill. Brother David (our pastor) has been talking a lot about the last days and how things could potentially get really bad for Americans. We haven't had to grow our own food in a long time. I'm getting into gardening this year...not only landscaping, but gardening. I want to grow a vegetable garden in my backyard. Wonder what my neighbors will think? :) More later!