Garden Progress

The garden is growing some with the warm weather. Here's the peas.

And the tomatoes and pepper.

And corn. Now there's not much corn showing, and I think it's because I had to have one of the sprinklers fixed and the guy stomped all over everything I planted. So I planted more in a different spot and am waiting to see what this will do. I will probably replant it later.

And my prettiest strawberry plant.

Also, I went to a Relief Society Enrichment night last night on gardening and it was very interesting. All about how to seed your own tomatoes, squash, etc., inside in the spring. Also on composting and how to plant. She recommended the book Square Foot Gardening, and I bought it today. Check it out on my Shelfari shelf. I'm wondering how much of the actual building (boxes, trellises, etc.) I will really have to do. It seems like a great idea, though.

Old Scrapbooks

So I've been wanting to scan my paper scrapbooks so I would have them to duplicate or just in case something happened to the actual books. I finally did it this week! I had three 12x12 ones to do and one 8-1/2 x 11. They are now all scanned and I'm cropping and adjusting them so they will be ready to post online soon. Looking at all the paper ones almost made me want to go back to paper! But not quite... I am a little more motivated to do more scrapbooking, though.

Poor sad little pepper!

So the other night it got down to 34 degrees. So sad! The sprinklers had run at night and everything had a layer of ice on it in the garden! The wall-o-waters did their job on the tomatoes and zucchini, but the poor little pepper plant died and so did the basil. Parsley is fine! And I went out there today, and my peas are just barely starting to poke up out of the ground. I planted three rows of lettuce, spinach and carrots out there, and I can't remember which one is which, but one of them has lots of little leaves in a nice straight row, so that must be something coming up! Yay! AND it's supposed to be nice this weekend, so that will help, too.

My plan is to plant more peas, corn, carrots next week so they will be a few weeks apart in producing.

Gardening! and Genealogy!

I just finished planting tomatoes, Anaheim pepper, jalapeno pepper, zucchini, red potatoes and strawberries! I have peas and corn soaking to plant tonight! My other peas never came up!

I've been working hard to find some names to take to genealogy class, and I have a few that need work done. It will be nice to get some of our own work to do at the temple. I discovered online at findagrave.com that the brother of my great-great grandfather is buried nearby! So we went over to the cemetery yesterday and found the grave; it's so fun!

More Reading

Haven't done much crafting, etc. this week. I've been reading, though. All Barbara Michaels, who is also Elizabeth Peters. I think I like her Elizabeth Peters stuff better, though. I read Search the Shadows, Other Worlds and Greygallows. All fine, not amazing.

I have also been working on getting all my books cataloged so I don't buy duplicates. I'm up to 410 books, and that's just in the loft bookshelves!

I did a bad thing

I did a bad thing today.  I went and bought material to make my daughter's prom dress more modest (not the bad thing) and then I went over to the stitchery aisle...  And I bought some fabric and a punch needle to make a punch needle project.  I really want to try it since I saw my daughter do one!  But I didn't spend the money to get a kit, so that's good, right?  I'm going to design my own.  Maybe a quilt square pattern.

I'm reading an Anne Rice book, Interview with a Vampire.  It is more of a horror story than I thought it would be, but interesting. Someone at church asked me what I was reading and I told her.  Then she told me she was reading an Oprah book club book, and I felt, well, less enlightened. I'll have to work on that, I guess.  Not that there's anything wrong with Oprah or her book club books, just that I sometimes want to read just for the escapism, not to think.

Photo Cookbook

So I have been thinking (for years, actually) that I would type up all my recipes and put them in a binder instead of having them in all the cookbooks and in my card file.  And then I had the brilliant idea of making it a photo cookbook, where I have pictures of the food.  'Cause it's nicer to be able to look at the food when you're choosing what to make. I can't say I'm absolutely committed to the idea, but here are my first photos!

Chicken stir fry

Fried rice

April is almost gone!

So the weather has been so nasty this month that the peas are still not coming up.  Maybe soon? I hope so. I also haven't planted anything else for the same reason! But the city water has been turned on, now, so that's one excuse gone.

While I was at my mom's I went to that nursery/store and got some more dishtowels.  They are huge!  And nice, and cheaper than the ones I ordered online.  If anyone wants me to get them some, let me know.  Also got a few patterns for stamping on them.  I couldn't decide between all the cute veggie ones. My mom is no help.  She said, "Get them all and it will only be $5."  So I did.

Books! Books! Books! My daughter and I went to the library book sale at the Salt Lake Library and ooooh, it was fun!  They had waaaay too many books.  So we relieved them of 29 of them. Hard backs were $1, books on tape $1 and paperbacks $.50!! I need to take a bag next time. The aisles were not big enough for the cart.

No scrapbooking to report. I did get the training I ordered from Scrapper's Guide for the new Photoshop Elements (which I don't have yet).  So hopefully will get doing some things on that soon.

Genealogy has been a little more fruitful. I was able to get some old letters from my mom's correspondence that have group sheets, so I need to compare those with what I have. Unfortunately, they are from 1970, so the person she was writing is gone now. But I have a cousin name who also got these letters, so hopefully can write to him and see what documents he has.  I also got a response from my postcard mailing on George Brown. A lady sent me a group sheet for his mother's family. Have to compare this, too. It's so fun to get responses! I went to my genealogy class yesterday and got one more generation of names for about three lines off the Pedigree Resource File. Not sure if I want more names to check on, but I'm sure it's good!

Conference Stitchery

It's snowing again today!  Aargh!  Well, conference was great this weekend, and I did get some stitchery done.

Did these dishtowels during conference.  I need to stamp another one today.  Only four more to go to have a week's worth!

This is the stitchery I have been needing to frame since 2005, when I went on trek with our ward.  We did the stitchery in the evenings after walking.  I finally framed it!

I finished reading Stolen Lives, which was really a very thought-provoking book.  You can look at a review (not by me)  on Desperate for a Good Read.  Now I'm reading a Daniel Silva book. He writes pretty much like Robert Ludlum, spy novels.

I went to genealogy class last night and learning more about getting information from the Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File.  I will be downloading some things from there for my class in two weeks. I really like how the program (we are using Legacy) will do the typing for you for these searches. You go to the person in your file you want to search on, then do the search from there and it puts in all the information in the blanks in FamilySearch and then you just enjoy the results!  I did find some more names I didn't have on Pedigree Resource File.  I'm planning to send out some postcards to people who are listed as submitters on the names William Brown and Hannah Clark to see if I can get any source information from them.

Update on Everything!

Well, it's not that I haven't been doing anything...  It's that I've been doing too many things!

We had a big snowstorm that dumped about two inches on the ground and then blew all over the place in drifts a foot high.  It actually took a few days to melt, too!  So I haven't done any gardening at all.  But I have bought seeds for lettuce, spinach, carrots and watermelon.

We had a project day with my sisters-in-law and daughters and I worked on my new dishtowels.  I got the ones I had ordered, and they are really nice weave and big!  Here's the website I ordered from: Soy Works Candle Company.  They didn't ship very fast, and I think when I emailed to find out where my order was, they realized they hadn't sent it and shipped it that same day with three extra dishtowels in it for me (I ordered 7 and got 10).  When I emailed regarding the extras (there was no note or anything) they said they had shipped to the wrong address and when they figured it out, they reshipped to me.  But the towels are great!

Oh, but I just talked to my mom and she said that she found some good ones that are a little cheaper in Logan, so I may have to get them from her.

This is the one I stamped about four years ago and just finally finished.  It is on the yucky cheesecloth-type dishtowels.

This is the one I started at the sister-in-law project day and I just finished it.  I started a new one today.

I did two scrapbook pages this week and that emptied out my folders on my desktop, so now I get to set up some more folders for my next pages.

(credits:  Quickpage by Lynnie Smith, alpha is WinterDawn by K Aicken of Scrapper's Guide)

(credits:  background paper and striped paper are DS Free Lisa Boys will be Boys kit, blue frames are by Michelle Schfeveland of DSP in her Holiday Sparkle Elements, alpha is by Gina Cabrera - alpha essentials)

I've also  been working on emergency preparedness quite a bit.  We have made sure our money is all FDIC insured and tried to reduce costs on some bills including internet, phone, extra subscriptions, etc.  We have put some cash in our 72-hour kits.  We are in the process of videotaping our house for insurance purposes.  Purchased a ladder for evacuating an upstairs bedroom, checked to see what our generator to our house actually powers.  We're looking into having  a gas fireplace converted to wood.  We are also looking into buying a half a beef for food storage.  We have an excel spreadsheet with our food storage stuff on it that we need to update.  And above all, we are trying to USE our food storage and rotate it properly!  If you want the spreadsheet, email me.

I started going to a genealogy class on Sunday evenings.  The idea is to eventually get to some names that need their temple work done.  So far it's been kind of boring, but I have high hopes for it!  I had a friend over the other day and showed her all my computer hobbies, web stuff, genealogy, scrapbooking.  It was fun.  She's just getting into it and is taking this genealogy class, too.

And lastly, I'm reading the book Stolen Lives, which so far is really great!  Check out the description on Desperate for a Good Read.

Roto-tilling and Sprouts

I went and rented a rototiller from Home Depot to do my garden.  I brought it home and got it all going, and I was having a really hard time getting it to do much without a whole lot of effort on my part.  The front wheel kept getting stuck in the holes from last year's corn.  I gave up and went to have lunch.  Then I looked up the manual online and figured out that...  you're supposed to move the wheel up out of the way!  In my defense, I haven't done this myself for two years. Anyway, I fixed it and it worked great!  Even got a little sun on my arms.  Here's the garden now.

Also, I was discussing things to do with wheat with my SIL last night and she mentioned sprouting.  So of course I had to look it up.  Did you know you can sprout about a million different kinds of seeds?  I guess probably all of them.  So here's pictures of my wheat sprouts which are just getting little white tips on the ends (I'm assuming this is where the sprout comes out).  I plan to eat them when the sprouts are about as long as the seeds because that's what my book says to do.  Probably on a sandwich or in a salad.  I'll let you know how they taste.

Recipe:  1/4 c. wheat and water.  I used a pint jar (in case I don't like them) and put in the wheat and filled it half full with warm water with a piece of panty hose over the top held in place with the jar ring.  Soaked overnight, then drained for a few minutes (through the nylon), rinsed and drained again.  Set on the counter under a dark towel.  Rinsed again at lunchtime and again tonight.  Supposed to rinse 2-3 times a day and they are ready to eat in about 6 days.

New book, peas and page

Started reading a good book that was recommended on Desperate for a Good Read called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  Really interesting!  Especially now that I'm starting a garden.  It talks about her family growing their own food and eating all local food for a whole year and how they did it.  There are recipes, too!  Makes you think.

I got my peas planted, yay!!!

And I finished another scrapbook page (a few days ago, but I didn't have it saved all the ways I needed to!).

(credits: background paper is CFR_ARC_TwilightSky12x12Paper, striped paper is from I close my Eyes kit by Beth Nixon of DSP, plaid paper from Beautiful Blessed by Marcie Duggar of DSP, Alpha from Winter Dawn by K Aicken from Scrapper's Guide)

Finished Book

So I finished Iron Kissed today and it was really good.  The last two books in this series are fairly violent, so there's your warning.

Still haven't had time to do another scrapbooking page, but keep checking back!

I'm sooo jealous.  My dad rototilled his garden yesterday; it was all dry for him.  WE had a snow/rain storm last night and mine is still pretty wet.  He says maybe he will come rototill mine next week.  That could be cool!

Busy Week

I haven't had much time to scrapbook the last few days.  I'm getting ready for my son's birthday party and have to speak in church this Sunday as well as play for the choir to sing.

I have read some, though.  I finished All Quiet on the Western Front and I thought it was great. Probably a really good thing for anyone to read who's concerned about war.  It's all from the perspective of one soldier, and he goes through being at the front, being on leave at home, being wounded and at a hospital, seeing friends die and also some funny stories.

Now I'm reading Iron Kissed, which is the third in a series by Patricia Briggs.  These are fantasy books about werewolves, vampires, and fae.  The main character is Mercy Thompson, who can change herself into a coyote.  Okay, I know, maybe sounds weird, but they are well-written and there's some romance in there, too.  The first two books are Moon Called and Blood Bound. My older teen daughter is reading these, too, and she really likes them.

Also, it's getting to be time to plant peas, and I took the black plastic off my garden today and sprayed the WEEDS that are already growing there.  Hopefully they will die quick and I can get those peas in.

And with luck I'll post another scrapbooking page tomorrow.

Page and book

So here's my page for today:

(Credits:  Background paper by Scrapper's Guide from bonus travel papers)

So far I'm enjoying reading All Quiet on the Western Front; it seems like a pretty realistic picture of what war is like for the soldiers.  It's about German soldiers in WWI, just the day to day life.

3-16 Page

I haven't posted anything about what I'm reading yet, because I was slogging through a fantasy book I got at the library, and it wasn't great. I had to finish it, but I wouldn't recommend it! I reserved some books at the library that were listed on the Desperate for a Good Read blog, so I'm looking forward to picking those up. I also got All Quiet on the Western Front since everyone loves that movie (which I haven't seen, but I plan to) and I'll let you know how that reads.

Here's the scrapbooking page I did for today (names removed for privacy).

(credits: Background paper, Scrapper's Guide bonus papers; green paper Winter Bliss kit by Angie Svoboda of DSP; ribbons from Express Yourself kit by Ronna Penner; swirl corners by Karen Aicken of Scrapper's Guide)

I've put all my newest scrapbooking pages on my web page. You need a password for viewing these. Email me if you'd like to have that!

Password for Scrapbook Pages

FYI:  You can't get to my scrapbooking pages (with journalling) without the password, so if you'd like to have that, please email me or post a comment.

3-13 Page

Here's what I have for today.  I'm so happy to be done scrapping that particular trip.  There were so many photos, it was pretty daunting.  I feel like now I can get on with things!  For privacy reasons, the journalling is taken off this page.  If you have access to my family blog, you can see it with journalling there when I get it posted.

(credits:  background paper by Kristie at Shabby Princess, striped paper Shabby Princess Harvest Spice kit, brad from DSFree by Lisa in the Boys will be Boys kit.)

Today's Page

It's late and I so need to go to bed!  Just finished my page for today, so here it is.  I had a hard time with it, but I think it turned out nice!

Credits:  Blue paper from Christine Smith's Perfectly Periwinkle Kit, Gold Page Pebble Alpha by Lauren Bavin of DSP, Curled Edges Overlay by Jan Hicks of Scrap Girls.

Introduction

I'm at that point in my reading that I've read everything in the house (well, except all the church books) and I'm going to the library and randomly picking things off the shelves.  But I recently discovered a friend of mine has a blog about good books to read.  Click on the link in the list.

Last year I got into digital scrapbooking.  I'm using Photoshop Elements to scrap and iPhoto to keep things organized.  I recommend the training from Scrapper's Guide.  I'm really enjoying it and my goal for this year is to do one page a day to get my family books caught up.  I'm in the year 2002 and here's the page I did for today.

(credits below)

I'm noticing that all the nice dishtowels my mom embroidered for me are getting a little ratty.  I really want to have some new ones, and I have a pattern I bought a few years ago with cute little ducks and days of the week written on them.  I ordered some new dishtowels online the other day, and if they turn out to be the nice, tight-woven ones, I will let you know where I ordered them from!  Looking forward to that.  Maybe I can get to the Needles Night get-together with those!

(Credits for scrapbooking page:  Step corner by Karen Aicken, Scrapper's Guide Travel Bonus Paper 01; Northwoods Extras paper by Kim Liddiard at DSP; Fancy Free Paper by Jenny Binder for Scrapper's Guide; DZ Autumn Flowers brad from Scrapper's Guide)