Organic little seedlings

Its snowing. Can I say that I am tired of the nasty weather we've had. I mean really, wind, snow, freezing temps. Doesnt it realize that its SPRING!!! Come on already!!

The winds have been fierce as of late. They've tossed my greenhouse from the back yard to the side yard. And our woodshed? Um yeah it died a quick and painful death during last weekends gale force winds. Our roof? Thank heavens we will be replacing it this summer because half the back shingles are laying on our front lawn. **sigh**

Broccoli seedlingsOnions

But there is hope. My counters are littered with green little seedlings. I mean this quite seriously too. My island is covered with 180 little pots (you know like the ones that you buy petunias in, the little 4 inch black containters). I have HUGE ones that in the end equal to 180. but thats not all, nope. I also have 144 more little ones on my dishwasher and counters. Then there are 2 long planters with all the onions. It is a crowded green world in the kitchen as of late. It is sweet and beautiful if I may say so.

Snap dragons and marigolds: Umm yeah the snap dragon seeds are tiny and well I put all of them in like 4 cells. In my defense I couldnt see the little buggers so now they live side by side, really, really, really close. I will have to thin these but they make me smile so I will wait.

Tomatoes: These babies have had a hard time. It good to see they are even growing, I worried about that.

Okay remember the nasty weather I just mentioned. Well remember it when you are looking at these really bad pics. There is no natural light in the house right now so every things looks.....well dreary. None of the plants look this sad in real life. Okay have a good day hope its warmer and sunnier than mine! Time to trim the onions!

Home managment week in review

So the last week was not a good week for me. Laziness kicked in big time as well as the upcoming arrival of family. I lounged the first part of the week and then scrambled on Thursday and Friday to get back on track. It is not a pretty picture in the laundry room because of this.

So today I woke up renewed to get back to my schedual and so far so good. I had to do much more than maintaince cleaning just because of all the visitors and the mess made there. The laundry is stacked up but I am working through that pretty well. I am not really going to focus on kitchen day today but will bump that to later in the week when everything is back on track.

A few things:

* the major cleaning I give the kitchen every week as helped a ton as far as up keep. I notice that things like the baseboards and wall (near the garbage can) look a lot better all the time. I usually give these wipe up jobs to the kids as they think its fun.

* Doing Laundry all on one day is fine in theory but it sure is a complete bore and I usually end up leaving a load for the next week. I am thinking about doing a load every other night throughout the week so it never piles up. (This is assuming I make it through the current pile!)

* Making 2 batches of granola each week is PERFECT. We are loving it!

* The kids seeing me take the time to do this each week are slowly improving on their own cleaning. Since getting their room organized with the bins they keep their room much tidier. Also the mess does not get as out of control as before.

This picture: Mainly herbs but some perenial flowers.

The garden is coming along great. Dean got 2 raised beds this weekend and we ordered 15 fruit trees. They should be here in about 6 weeks or so. The raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and asperagus that we ordered will be here next month. We have a lot to do to get ready for them but we are excited.

Broccoli, cabbage, brussle sprouts and other herbs and flowers

The starts here in the kitchen are covering nearly all the counters on one side. It is annoying to a degree to have all the space taken up. The kitchen never quite feels completely clutter free. However all those little green sprouts totally make my day. Most of them have their first set of true leaves coming in so that is great! The tomatoes had a harder time this year germinating. I think this is because I have them in a different place that doesnt stay has warm. They finally popped up last night, although I am still waiting on quiet a few to show some action.

Top: Onions, they smell fantastic already. They need to be trimmed down a bit.

Bottom: My poor tomatoes. Today they will be moved to the dishwasher by the window. I am hoping that this place gives them more incentive to perk up and get growing!

Homemaking week 1

Really its like making those lists was all I needed to kick my butt into gear! My kitchen looked great (notice past tense, need to work on that one!) and I actually got everything done except for the bread. (I didnt need any and not enough freezer space.) The granola turned out incredible. Seriously some of my best ever. I also have used my crock pot nearly every night and that has been so nice. I tried a pizza recipe the other night that I will definatly be using again. It was YUMMY. I wasnt as good about my office day yesterday. I didnt get my work space cleaned but I console myself with the fact that somehow I got ahead in to of my classes! WOO HOO. So not to shabby there. Today I wont be going to town so I will clean the desk area, go through the toys, move a few bookshelves and otherwise do big organization day.

Something that I stared this week with the kids are chore bags. Happy chores and mad chores to be exact. I have a baggie of little strips with chores like scrub the toilet, wipe the cabinets, and vacuum the chair on it. Every morning they wake up and seriously BEG me to pick a chore (happy chore bag). Its great and they actually wanted to do more. :) I didnt let them I want those little strips to remain a novelty as long as possible! Then the mad bag is when they get mean and ornery with someone. They have to pick something out and do it. Some say a simple chore I know they like doing like dusting but most of them say things like do the hokey pokey, sing a silly song as loud as possible, or run around the house 3 times. Ian had to take a mad strip this morning and boy was he sour!! He got the hokey pokey and he pouted the whole time. It was entertaining but afterward he was so much happier.

Things like this seem tedious to me most of the time. I want everyone to be helpful, happy and kind all the time but we all know it rarely goes that way! This has helped a lot this week so hopefully the trend continues until it becomes habit.

I started seeds on Saturday and yesterday and I have a ton of sprouts already. I always get so excited to see those little green things poking up. It makes my dad. The kids love to lift the lids first thing in the morning to see what kind of activity went on while we slept.

The little things, they keep life interesting.