We spent four long days driving in the car this past week, spending around 8-12 hours in the car for three of those days. We took Winter to college this week, taking the baby with us. We left our other children with various family members, which gave us room to take her things as well…
Winter sewed a black velvet dress for herself using the same pattern she drafted for her green one in December (pictured above). She purchased the fabric 40% off at Hobby Lobby using a coupon. I stocked up on pantry items at the case-lot sale. I packed some of these items for Winter to take with…
This was one of those weeks where I spent a lot, but as frugally as possible! I purchased oats, popcorn, flour, and sugar in bulk for the lowest cost per pound. Some of each of these were packed for Winter to take with her to college. Using fabric that I bought on sale at Hobby…
I sowed seeds in the garden for poppies and larkspur. I watched the hummingbirds and the hummingbird moths (pictured above) in the garden. The moths turn into hornworm caterpillars, which means I’ll have to be extra vigilant in the garden this year, as they will eat a tomato plant to the ground in one to two…
The weather was gorgeous this week. We enjoyed having the windows open. In the garden, I sowed seeds for poppies, Bells of Ireland, larkspur, cilantro, arugula, chives, basil, and red noodle beans. I harvested Swiss chard (silverbeet), asparagus, green onions, peppermint, Meyer lemons, lettuce, arugula (rocket), and garlic chives from the garden. (I love that…
I harvested asparagus, Meyer lemons, lettuce, arugula, parsley, green onions, garlic chives, and Swiss chard from the garden. I planted seeds in the garden for poppies, Chinese Houses, and cilantro. I turned off the drip irrigation for a scheduled day when it rained the night before. I also reprogrammed the irrigation system to water the…
We’re having the most beautiful spring weather. I opened the windows to air out the house. I planted seeds in the garden for New Zealand Spinach, Swiss chard, bok choy, carrots, lettuce, celery, and green onions. The green onion seeds are one I had collected from my garden last year. The other seeds were purchased…
Winter is wearing her latest creation, a dress she designed herself. So . . . the whole reason Winter took the Hi-SET last week (a little bit earlier than she had planned to take it) was because her university school of choice had reopened their admissions for both spring and fall terms. If you missed the…
Winter has been wearing this coat for the last two winters. She wanted a vintage-looking wool coat that was very warm. She couldn’t find what she wanted, so she chose to sew one. She could not find a coat pattern to sew she wanted either, so she chose to adapt an out-of-print dress pattern (Vogue…
I kept my irrigation system turned off outside as we anticipated some rain and snow. For the first time in over a decade, we had snow! It was more than we received in 2008, too! Much more snow fell in other parts of the valley, so after playing in the snow at our house, we…
Our crazy wind has made it hard to get things done in the garden on time. January was beautiful and daytime highs were 65°, but February came in with cold and we are going to have freezing temperatures this week, after our last frost date. Normally, I put tomato plants in the ground on February…
I covered seedlings in the garden with glass jars to help them grow faster. They work like mini-greenhouses in the garden and I have found that covered seedlings grow three times faster than uncovered ones. I have been using smaller canning jars in the past, but I am starting to keep other miscellaneous glass jars that…