1.  Plowed the garden and planted 4 rows of peas and 40 onion plants.  What I'm going to do with 40 onions, I have not a clue.   I'm pretty sure some will die and that none will grow to the promised 4 inches in diameter. 

2.  I had planned to do a series of raised beds in the back yard, but apparently Shawn and I were on something last fall when we calculated the price.  From $100 to $700.  I think we may have missed a decimal--or 10.  So instead it will be just another garden plot in the backyard.  I'd skip it all together but have already ordered plants. 

3.  Repotted the remaining seedlings.  Moved the broccoli outside to begin hardening off.  Hopefully, I won't forget about it and let it die from lack of water.

4. Decided that this weekend would be a great weekend to throw in another weight workout.  Combined with my yard work weekend warrioring, I can hardly move.

5.  Some minute progress has been made on the Arabian, but not enough to dignify it with a picture.  Progress will soon halt all together since I have to switch focus and work on the baby gift.  During busy season, there is no such thing as craft multi-tasking.

I have a guilty pleasure.  I love infomercials, and since I’ve been getting up so early, I’ve had plenty to choose from.   I don’t buy the products, but I do enjoy being sold on them.  I like the weight loss/fitness programs, as long as they aren’t too gimmicky like the ab circle or that ab belt thing that is supposed to give you a six pack by just wearing a vibrating belt.  I like the ones like Slim in Six, Hip Hop Abs, Insanity, 6 week body makeover, etc.  I’m a sucker for a good weight loss/get fit testimonial.  They’re inspiring.  My reigning fitness favorite is P90X.  Those transformations are amazing; those people are pretty hardcore.  It looks like something I’d like to take on but I don’t think I’m there mentally or physically--yet! : ) 

I also love the one for the Cricuit Express.  I don’t scrapbook, but it sure makes me want to, want to scrapbook.  The stuff they craft is so professional looking.  The cut edges are crisp.  The colors are vibrant and coordinated.  The pages have flow and symmetry.  It’s great.  I need to find a reason to get one.  They show how it cuts fabric for appliqués in quilting, but considering I haven’t finished the first quilt I started, I probably ought to wait until my track record is more proven before dropping the kind of cash it requires.  *sigh*  Oh well, until then there is always the infomercial, all fantasy and none of the work!

  The Age of Innoncence by Edith Wharton was the 1921 winner of the Pulitzer Prize.  Thankfully, it was much better than the movie (which after all the movies I’ve seen that failed to measure up to the book, I really should haven’t let that give me pause).  I imagined that this would be an epic struggle me against the book, but it was quite good.  The main characters, Madame Ellen Olenska and Newland Archer, struggle with morality, ideals about individual freedom, and society’s social mores as they deal with their feelings for each other (Newland is married to Ellen’s cousin, which does make things a bit awkward).  I often find older novels to be a bit to dramatic to the point of maudlin with their stories, and while this one strayed close to the edge, it didn’t go over it (unlike the movie *insert eye roll here*).  The points concerning personal freedoms and following your heart (or lust as the case may be) are still pertinent in today’s world, making this a good read for anyone.

Dang.  Already month 3 of 2010.  Well here is what I’m planning for this month.  I’m scaling back this month since work will be very busy this month as well, and I didn’t hit all my goals for February.

1. Exercise daily (can you tell I’m trying for a new habit here?)
2. Read 1 book.
3. Weed the flower beds (I really slacked off on this last year and it shows).
4. Put down fresh mulch.
5. Plant peas, onions, broccoli, spinach, and strawberries.
6. Start melon seed, pumpkins, and watermelon.
7. Work on diaper bag.  

So, the end of the month is here, and February wasn’t quite as stellar as January.  Based on this month’s results, I’m scaling back for March.  

Goal 1:  Exercise daily. 
Results: Done!  5 am comes early but I’m a morning person.  It’s working for me.

Goal 2:  5 a day fruit and veggie consumption.
Results:  Done!  Most days I’m good with this one.

Goal 3:Transcribe 1/2 of the interviews with my Grandmother.
Results:  Fail.  Didn’t even get started.

Goal 4:  Complete another 1/4 of the Arabian cross stitch.
Results:  Eh.  I got quite a bit done, but fell short of finishing 1/4 of the pattern 
done.  This one will have to roll to March.

Goal 5:  Read 3 books, one of which is off the Pulitzer list.
Results:  I got the Pulitzer book read, Age of Innocence. read, but no other books were completed.  

Goal 6:  Get the insulation installed under the floor and roof.
Results:  Done!   

Goal 7:  Find a housekeeper.
Results:  This may have to wait as I don’t have time now to interview.

Goal 8:  Purge excess stuff from the upstairs bedroom.
Results:  Um.  Stuff is still there.  Fail.

Goal 9:  Start remainder of the seeds when they in.
Results:  This one isn’t my fault as the seeds have YET to come in.

Goal 10:  Put down crabgrass preventer.
Results:  Done!

Goal 11:  Decide on a baby gift pattern and purchase yarn.
Results:  Done!  Pattern will be the felted crochet bag modified to be a diaper bag that will be lined with a super cute vinyl print that I found.  Yarn is purchased, and I’m ready to get started.

Busy season at work is in full swing (as you may have noted by the conspicuous lack of postings).  I barely have more than a couple hours at home in the evening before it’s off to bed to rest up for another day.  I have to say, things would be way more difficult except Shawn really steps it up and takes up my slack.  He’s been cleaning and cooking and picking up the dog from her daily visits to doggy day care (aka my parents farm.  Hey, tired dog=well behaved dog).  About the only things I’ve managed this month are sticking to my exercise routine, which is brutal when it means hauling the butt from the warm, comfortable bed before 5 am, and reading my Pulitzer book, which I’m almost done with.  Thank goodness I had most of it read before it got really busy.

1.  It happened Saturday night.  I took the cover off to water and forgot to put it back on.  It wasn't quite the carnage of last year but I still lost 5 tomatoes, 4 peppers, and the tops off all the onions to a snack happy cat.  Peppers must be really tasty to cats because those are what got eaten last year.  There should be time to replant the losses.  They just won't have quite the head start as the others.

2.  I was surprised to find that the garlic that I planted last fall has come up and looks quite healthy.  It didn't come up before our first freeze in the fall and I had given up for rotted in the ground.  I hope we can get bigger bulbs this way since we get PLENTY of water in the winter but I can't seem to water them enough in the summer.

3.  One of the broccoli plants has gone to the field of green in the sky.  The rest are looking pretty good.  

4.  I purchased and planted some more spinach seed after all of the seed from the last pack failed to sprout.  That is what happens when you have to purchase from the hardware store because Parkseed put your spinach on back order even though you put your order in on January 12th and put it on backorder without bothering to notify you.  I have a bunch of other seed starting items I ordered that they haven't sent me forcing me to have to buy from a bunch of other suppliers.  This is the 2nd year in a row they've done this to me, and I doubt I'll be using them again.  The seed (when you get it) is quality, but the customer service sucks.  If they can't fill your order in the 2 weeks they promise, they should contact you to see if you want it on back order.  Instead they just string you along for WEEKS.  I ordered a warming mat in Jan. 2009; they finally got it to me in April 2009. By then I can just start it in the ground.

So it has been a few weeks since I started my tomatoes, herbs, peppers, broccoli, and spinach.  The tomatoes, peppers, and herbs are coming along nicely.  Broccoli is giving me fits, and spinach has flat out refused to come out and play.  Even though I had a grow light this year, my broccoli quickly became long and leggy, unable to support their own weight and flopped over.  From this point it is usually only a matter of time before they damp off and die.  I have repotted them and tried to bury as much of the stem as possible while lowering the light until it practically sits on the plastic cover.  The problem is I can’t take the cover off because the cats think I’m growing them a buffet and the plastic cover is a good 6 inches from the plants, preventing the grow light from being right over the seedlings.  It doesn’t look good for the broccoli.  The spinach has been reseeded and moved to the warm starter tray.  I’m not holding out much hope for either of them.

This week we’re having insulation installed beneath our floors and in our attic/roof area (we have no inside access to this area.  It’s really just the space between the ceiling and rafters.)  I chose a recycled cotton batting for the area under our floor.  It’s low VOC and recycled which according to the manufacturer’s claims (which I take with a heaping dose of salt) reduces the energy needed to produce it.  Unfortunately, I could not find an effective cost efficient (for us)green solution for the attic space so I’m going with traditional fiberglass.  From the research I’ve done I found recycled paper loose fill which could have been used.  However, it settles faster and that means that it loses its insulating quality faster than fiberglass.  Sadly, it also costs about 30% more.  Since I require more attic than floor insulation, this made green too expensive for the attic.  However, the overall effect should be to lower our heating and cooling costs which are BY FAR the biggest component of our carbon footprint.  I’d like to point out here that this brings up two pertinent issues in ‘’going green.” 

Balance and Consumption

I think we get a lot consumer pressure to try and buy going green.  But remember, the recycle triangle is REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE.   Ask yourself if you’re really reducing your consumption by buying more stuff.  “But, it’s energy efficient!”  cry the advertisers.  I did the math on this one.  Our refrigerator originally belonged to my great-grandparents.  It is as old or older than me (that’s over 31 years).  It’s a classic example of what the marketers tell us is an energy-guzzling monster appliance.  We’ve been using it for 6 years and it has given us no problems.  I bought a Kill a Watt two years ago and plugged in the fridge.  I don’t remember the exact numbers but in electrical savings, it would have taken 15 years to recoup the cost of a new fridge that was the same size.  I don’t call that a huge improvement in energy efficiency.   

Then there is the whole “how green is green enough aka as the Hummer vs the Prius debate”  In a nutshell, the story is that over the lifetime of the vehicle (from creation to disposal) a Hummer requires less energy than a Prius.  But of course, a Prius also burns less fuel creating fewer emissions so does that balance it out?  I got sucked into this is trying to find green insulation.  It was ridiculous.  I felt guilty for a while for not going with the green product even though the real objective was to lower our energy consumption and the fiberglass does that.  It’s not the ideal solution but it’s a greener solution than no insulation.   All in all, I’d have to say that much like dieting, the key to going green is to make changes that you can stick to, that work with your lifestyle.  

Sunset on Friday.

Where the pets spent the weekend.

Beef Pot Pie served over biscuits--perfect for a snowy Friday evening.  No recipe just winged it based off my chicken pot pie recipe, and it turned out pretty good. 

Sunday  morning, we had waffles topped with cooked cinnamon apples and for Shawn's (seen at right) bacon.  Salty and sweet!

 Remember orphan #1?  This is where I am today.

This is where I left off last summer.