Planting!

A few days ago I posted a link to a video clip about making your own seed pots. And since then we have been busy at work rolling pots. I even sat in the lodge while the kids were skiing one day and rolled pots. Talk about a conversation starter.

Here is Rebekah rolling one of her pots. If she looks a little under dressed she is. She wont take off her new bathing suit.

Hannah caught on the fastest turning out pot quickly. Which was a good thing because we needed lots of pots.

Slowly the pile of pots is growing.

Then it was time to fill . . .

. . . and plant.

We were able to get green beans, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, broccoli, and basil planted. Not a bad start. We will be adding more tomatoes, a variety of peppers and more.

There is still snow on the garden, but we are hoping for an early spring! So what are you planning to plant in your garden?

WIP - Work in Progress Wednesday

A quick peek at a few more goodies in the works.

These crazy bug prints just scream spring. Don't you think? Perfect for a little ones Easter basket.

$10.00 Challenge - Well a little over

It has been a while since I posted a $10 challenge. But I thought this one was worth sharing.

These 22 items plus a bag of skittles (eaten by my little helpers on the way home) cost a total of $13.99! A little over my $10 challenge but I think this was worth every penny. Usually the solid white tuna is over $1.00 a can, and I purchased 10 cans on this trip. We were out of Cheerios, my girls favorite cereal so to grab a couple of boxes for $.49 was a good deal.

As you can see I really did spend only $13.99 and saved $40.88. I can't imagine spending over $53.00 for these items. I really hope there aren't people out there spending that. If there are many I should offer to shop for them and keep half the savings as my payment. They'd save money and I'd make money. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Quote - How much love

"In my life there is an infinite supply of love, it is in exhaustible, I can never use it all in this lifetime so I don't have to be sparing with it!"
Louise Hay

Whether you agree with Louise Hay's philosophy or not doesn't matter. This quote is so true and applies to all of us. And it really hit home for me today, a day when things weren't going quite the way I wanted. The kids weren't doing quite what I wanted. Man, even the house wasn't cooperating and cleaning itself. Then I received this quote from a friend and realized I was the issue, not the kids, not the house, but me and my thinking. A little adjustment, a little love and you know what the day is not going great!

We all have an infinite supply of love. The questions is whether or not we are sharing it, spreading it, showing it, or letting other things get in the way.

How much love are you sharing today?

Soap! A Simple Joy

I have been wanting to make soap for a while now, but every time the few people I knew who made it kept telling me how dangerous it was because of the lye. They didn't want to do it with kids around and that just doesn't work for me. Their warnings scared me enough to not want to try it on my own so I was out of luck. That was until I overheard another friend say she was making soap, and she has lots of kids and pets too. So of course I mentioned joining her the next time she made soap and hoped she would remember.

Jump forward a couple of weeks and joy! She remembered and I could even bring all my kids plus a few more. Armed with my camera we headed down for the afternoon to make soap. I had visions of all these fabulous steps to photograph and later blog about.

However, I was in for a surprise. There are only a couple of steps to making soap and they are quick and easy. So much so that the whole process was over before I even got my camera out. I was disappointed about the pictures, but thrilled that soap is so easy to make. I figured I would make it at home and photograph it.

To my surprise, my soap was delivered today! Yes she gave me the batch I mixed up! This is such a blessing. So now I have a self in my pantry with 18 bars of soap curing!

Aren't they pretty?

I still plan to make my own, but now it will be a while so you will have to stop back it you want to learn just how quick and easy it is to make your own soap.

Striped Socks!

Oh how I love socks! I think it comes from the fact that I really don't like feet, except for baby/toddler feet that is. And I like to knit socks now as well.

This is the second pair of socks I have knit. And except for the fact that once one is finished I want to move on to the next project instead of knitting the second sock they really are fun to knit. A little intimidating at first - the heal gusset that is. But once you have done it once and seen how it comes together it is really a piece of cake.

There is a technique of knitting two socks at the same time on circular needles. I think I will give that a try for the next pair. Then the pair will be finished at the same time.

On the needles next is a set of felted bowls. The pattern is for four bowls, but I think I will make 6 in rainbow colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. How I just need to find a top loading maching to felt in. Anyone?

How does your garden grow?

With the lack of snow and the unseasonable warm weather the garden planning has begun. We normally start in March, but most years it is hard to think about the garden when there are feet of snow in the yard and the temps are below freezing.

We saved a lot of seeds from last year, but do have to purchase some. And so the planning begins. It is actually a lot of fun to browse through the seed catalogs, my mouth watering at the thought of fresh, homegrown veggies.

Soon the kitchen table will be covered with seedlings. But first we will be making lot of newspaper pots. Check out this video for a great how to. A frugal and green alternative to plastic pots.

We will be starting beans, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, peppers and more. And there will be a few things that we buy started from the local organic farm. And the big addition will be a couple of dwarf fruit trees, apple and peach!

What are you planning for your garden?