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)