Category Archives: Square Food Garden

Random Thoughts Thursday- 5/16/2013

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  • Both little girls had eye appointments last week and we received some good news, Kendall’s eye are stable, corrected to 20/20 with glass so she will not need to be seen again for six months!  Lily’s weak eye has improved as well and she will no longer be patching!  She continues to need to be seen every 3 months but she is so excited to stop patching after 3 year!
  • All of Zach’s dental bill have been processed by the insurance company and after requesting refunds, which I will turn around and pay on the remain bill, we only owe an additional $93. This is a huge relief and praise as the original bill I received last week was $696
  • Budgeting this month has gone really astray. I am struggling to get a grip on the coming in but more importantly on the amounts we are spending. I know that a significant amount is school/end of the year related but man I wish it would slow down.
  • Haley is fast approaching Graduation from high school. She presented her final English project today and has a presentation next week that is very stressful for her. But she is counting the days till she walks across the stage. She also is searching for a job for the summer.
  • Matt has been working on the car, Haley purchased from Amanda, hopefully it will be completed and ready to drive by the end of May.
  • I have a student who is shadowing  me this week and starting next week will be “taking over my caseload” to complete her education. I did not realize until this week how difficult and stressful my job can be! But I still love it!
  • The only success I had with starting  my garden from seeds this year was the cucumbers. I hope to replant the other items this week.

Week In Review

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Just when I am getting in to a good groove and keeping up with things, I get so busy again that I don’t even know where time goes. This was one of those weeks.  Highlights included:

Monday- Matt picked up Zaycon chicken and Lily had tumbling practice. I did manage to exercise this night.

Tuesday- Matt had a Church Board meeting-Haley played in the schools powder puff game, Amanda came over to hang out for several hours. Squeezed in a second night of exercise

Wednesday- Church night.

Thursday- I spent most of the morning working on budgeting and bill pay. Matt made several contact regarding his business. After picking up Lily from school, we headed to Winston for groceries and a meal at Olive Garden.

Friday- Senior night at Football game followed by Fireworks.

This week has also been the first in a month that I have worked over my hours so it really was hectic.

Finally on Saturday, I had some time to catch up, I spend time cooking a couple of meals for next week, cleaning, laundry. The weather in NC is supposed to turn cooler to the point of freezing this coming week, so I decided to go ahead and pick all the veggies from our Square foot garden and prepare it for the winter. I did leave 4 pepper plants and one tomato plant in case the predictions are wrong.  Both Kendall and Zach helped with picking of the veggies as well as pulling up plants and adding dirt to the garden. They said this was the most fun they had all day!  A picture of what we were able to pick:

 

Square Foot Garden

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It is my blog and I can change things as I want to!! I had all intentions of posting about my Square Foot Garden on Monday this week. I even took pictures to show it. But life happened.so here is a picture

  

I have not talked much about our Square Foot Garden this year. First I planted too early and frost killed most of it. I did replant a second time and we have received a small batch of veggies. However, while on vacation, I pulled up all the dead/dieing plants, since then we have noticed a huge change. We are currently able to get a dish of green beans a week (3 weeks), green peppers  (small but awesome) jalapeno, freezing these for use this winter and some really GOOD looking tomatoes. After thought and debate we decided that next year, the plan is to make the garden deeper. We are adding a second wooden layer around the entire box which in turn will  make use double the amount of dirt. I hope this helps as the kids are saying that things from the garden taste better so we want to foster and encourage them to eat as many veggies as they can hold. Any other suggestions?

April 29? Huh

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This honestly has been one of the busiest months I can remember in a long time.  I now remember why I made blogging one of my goals. I get so busy that I just don’t have enough time in the day. So once again, I am offering an apology and going to make an effort to do better. I really like random list so that is my pick of the day. Here is a random list of the things going on in our house.

  1. Our square foot garden that looked so good in this post, now is dead except for the broccoli and the tomato plants that are in separate containers.  In the past two weeks, we have had temperature swings that included 4 night of below 32 and days like today which the temp is 80. So I did cover everything the first night it was freezing but it still managed to kill most of it.   I am planning to replant the garden next Saturday. According to most web site and the almanac April 30 is the last frost day, so hopefully things will survive this time.
  2. Last Monday, we spent most of our time, re-organizing and moving our master closet. My plan is to post pictures on Wednesday, if I can remember to get them off the camera.  The total spent for the entire thing was less than $10. The room is 8×8, but feels larger now, this morning both Matt and I were able to get dressed at the same time. My plan is to purchase 2 more wire shelves from IKEA and then the room will be complete and very usable!
  3. One of the main reason, I have been so busy is that I agreed to coach the “Zone Teams” in Bible quizzing. Quizzing is for 7th-12th graders. The teams I have been working with over the past 6 weeks was the top 11 quizzers from our zone, which is approximately 30 quizzers from NC. Haley placed 6th this year and is the one of the reason I agreed to coach. In addition the competition was held at our church yesterday (April 27th). Not only was I coaching our teams but I also was in charge of the housing, food and organization for this event which include teens and adults from NC,SC and Ga. Haley ended up 10th out of 20 and I am proud of her. But honestly, I am so thankful it is over. I have been spending at least 30 minutes a day with this for the past month. I do have to say that there is no way I could have done it without the help of Matt and some great ladies from our church. The ladies supplied most of the food and one even had a play date for Kendall and Zach from 7:30am yesterday. I have some pictures from their day and will try and get a post together with those soon!
  4. I am really enjoying the produce box we are picking up each week now. This week we were given a recipe to try with the spinach. Spinach is not a veggie that I have ever purchased but I am actually enjoying trying different recipes with it. This week it will be a “green calzone”.  I have been able to freeze several serving of broccoli and strawberries. I am actually very proud of myself for using all the produce and so far, nothing has gone bad.
  5. My work has been crazy. I have actually worked around 28 hours for 3 weeks and last week, I enjoyed both Monday and Thursday off. The other news is that starting in January 2013, part time benefits will change. So far the changes that I am aware of are that Medical and Dental benefits will no longer be given. They are unsure if I will even be able to purchase these and if I am able to purchase then it will be at double what I am paying now. My first thought is that I should just go full time, the problem with that is that at this point, I am not sure that will be offered. I have decided that God will provide and maybe this is his way of directing my path. Please pray with  me that if I am to go full time this offer be presented in the near future or that something else opens up for me.
  6. Matt’s unemployment is ending. We received notice of this on Friday. We had expected this transition to occur at the end of June but instead it will be the second week of May. A major change for us financially, especially with the moving up by 8 weeks. Matt is currently working on establishing his web design business. Please pray for our peace and God’s direction in this area as well.  And of course if you are aware of any business, church or person in need of a website or even a updated website, email me!
  7. We are planning on a major yard sale during the month of May, Lily and Kendall are planning on a lemonade stand. My goal is to clean out the attic and some of the building. We have boxes of clothing, several pieces of furniture as well as an assortment of toys that need to find better homes.
  8. I LOVE my bathtub- so do the kids both Kendall and Zach are jumping in right now as a special treat!

Our Produce Box

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After several emails, missed deadlines and details, today Matt went to the “farm” to pick up our first produce box of the season. I was excited that instead of 10 weeks like last year, this year we have 15 weeks to get this boxes. Zach was so excited because he even saw a tractor at the farm and it was big.  Our first 5 weeks should be half the size of the rest of the boxes.

This box contained: 2 heads of romaine lettuce, a couple of green onions, a bunch of radishes, a pint of strawberries, a pound of spinach, and a large head of broccoli.

 The kids devoured the strawberries between the ride home and as desert this evening. Matt chopped one of the heads of romaine to make an awesome salad, to which I added a couple of radishes for the kids and myself. It honestly was one of the best salads I have eaten in a long time! I went ahead and steamed and froze the broccoli for use later on, since I know it is a cool weather veggie. As a special treat, Matt grilled several of the steaks I purchased last week on sale at Food Lion. Dinner was ready and it was awesome!

Did anyone else purchase a co-op box how does ours compare?

Random Saving Thoughts

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I made an excellent trip to CVS on Saturday, spent $4 for a pack of diapers, men’s deodorant, Biore pore strips and cleaner.

I am realizing that coupons this year are not as good as they were a year ago. The value on the coupon’s are generally less and store sales seem to be running on a different cycle than the coupons.

My stock up trip to ALDI was less than $50 today. I purchased several pantry items that I have not been able to grab on a good sale recently.

The reason this was a stock up trip is that starting today, Matt and I are going to try and limit our grocery shopping to the purchase of bread, milk and eggs until the beginning of June. This will encourage us to use up the food that we have previously purchased including the Zaycon chicken as well as you our usual $800 grocery budget for May to pay for a trip we are planning.

We are going to start picking up our co-op box of produce this week. I am excited to not only see what we get but also to try out some new recipes with the food we are given.

The freezing temperature of last week, mean the demise of the majority of my square food Garden. I am still undecided as to if I want to replant things that were lost or just give up this year.

Highlights

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We managed to add to the calender this week to the point where Matt and I actually did not see each other, for longer than 5 minutes on 3 of the 5 nights. Matt is currently serving on the church governing board and the pool board, this month both of the meeting occurred during the same week. I have also been picking up extra hours at work, Lily continues to have 3 nights of cheerleading a week and Haley’s birthday was Friday.
Things that I remember from this week:

1. Today (Saturday), church pictures and Haley’s birthday lunch. The pictures were really dark and I looked HUGE in them so I was not tempted to purchase any!  We ate at Texas Roadhouse for lunch and managed to finish the leftovers for dinner. The meal was really good and Zach had the only meltdown which occured at the end of the meal, while we were waiting for a check. All 7 of us enjoyed several hours together with no major drama!

2. Zach asked to wear underwear today. He managed to stay dry ALL day long even with us being gone alot!   I actually caught him in the act so he even pooped on the potty as well!!! I am so excited. He did not want to wear a diaper tonight so I am hoping this is the beginning of something big!

3. We have finally gone through all the clothes for the little kids. I am very hopefully that everyone has enough to make it though the spring and summer. Lily will most likely need new clothes for school  next year but I am planning to buy those at the end of the season so they should be less expensive. We have been so blessed in this area with Kendall,  not only have I saved alot of Lily’s clothes but we have been given bags and bags of clothes. I was able to totally change out her clothes to the next size today without purchasing anything.  On Thursday, we spent some time shopping for Zach, he needed shorts.  I did not realize he needed these, because several pair from last year are still way to big. I ended up spending around $80 but was able to purchase 4 complete outfits and 2 extra pair of shorts for him.

3. I actually only saw Haley the morning of her birthday! I had to work late, she and Matt have been waiting to see Hunger Games, since last August. They were able to get ticket to the 7:25 show. My parents watched the little kids till I got home from work and I was in bed before they arrived home from the movie.

4. Matt made Haley’s birthday cake. I got pictures on my phone and on the camera, if I can get the other computer to work I will try and upload for Wednesday this week. It is actually one of the best cakes he has made and it is almost all gone today.

5. I have gone WAY over budget for groceries for this month. Harris Teeter had a triple coupon event and we have made 2 trips. In addition, we most likely will be purchasing chicken breast from Zaycon this week as well. My plan is to replace this overage in the month of April. I also plan only to purchase necessities we run out of and things on stock up. I would like to spend including the pay back less than 400 in April.  This would place us in an excellent position for the summer.

6. Ruger has settled in some, he is still peeing in the house but it is down to once a day.

7. I transplanted broccoli outside and it appears that 5 of 6 may survive. I am not so sure of my chills, because of hail, we got today I am afraid it may have killed several of the plants. I am planning to plant both cucumbers and squash this week.

8. Finally I am excited about the weather. We have been have alot of unseasonably warm days. In fact, the temperature has been above 80 on several days. Matt and I have really worked at reducing our electric bill so we have yet to turn on the air conditioning. However, tonight it is cooler, suppose to be in the 50s and rainy so I will be sleeping well!

Lots of Thoughts

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Zach is going through a rough time at night..he has begun to wake up at night, several times a night and is currently screaming because I will not open his door!

Zach is asking to go potty at least once a day, he still does not EVER poop in the potty but this is an improvement.

Ruger is still peeing in the house, this is the only complaint I have with him. Otherwise he is so well behaved and lovable, I would have 3

With the unseasonable warm weather we are having, I need to make an effort to store all winter coats and go through all of Kendall’s clothes. We have already been through Zach’s clothes but I am noticing how small most things are looking on Kendall.

I have been work 4 days a week at the hospital so it feels like I never see the kids especially if Matt has a meeting! Please pray that I have more time with the kids….

I actually planted Broccoli in the square foot garden on Sunday. My plan is to plant cucumber and squash this weekend.  This is one of the earliest springs on record for NC.

At the book sale today, I purchased 2 separate book on financial stuff and budgeting. I am hope to get some inspiration! We actually are on track for the month but I want and had planned for some bigger results.

My weight loss is at a stand still, I am going to continue to exercise 4 nights a week and see what happens. I am hoping with it warmer outside I can eat lighter as well.

Haley’s Birthday is Friday, we also have church pictures on Saturday. She has agree to go out and celebrate on Saturday after the pictures as a whole family.

On Friday night, Haley and Matt will be going to see the Hunger Games. Matt hopes to finish the third book in the series prior to that.

Harris Teeter is having triples this week. I am planning a trip tomorrow and hope to spend less than $20 but really have no clue what I will spend. I will only be purchasing items that I have coupons for but still don’t have a clue.