Last Week’s Goals:

1. Change the school schedule slightly so that my 5-year-old and 7-year-old have reading with me first thing in the morning, with 5-year-old first and 7-year-old after he is done doing his after-breakfast chores.  This worked well 4 of the 5 days last week. I will be continuing this one this week until it becomes habit.

2. Have breakfast on time at 7:30. Everything gets delayed and moved when I have a new baby. I’d like to get things back to where they should be. Close, but not quite. I will be working towards earlier mornings and more breakfasts on time.

3. Finish sewing green church dress for Winter.

4. Hem blue dress for Winter. I thought it was done and then I realized I had forgotten to hem it!

5. Cut out and sew pajamas for Liberty from a sheet that came from Grandma’s house. This will be one of her birthday gifts. I started these, but did not finish them.

6. Make a flowered headband and some flowered barrettes for Liberty for her birthday. Started this when I had a chance to do some hand sewing.

7. Take care of some paperwork that needs to be handled right away (this is actually a goal for Monday).

8. If I have more time for sewing, start another one of Liberty’s gifts.

9. Plant Swiss chard seeds in the garden.

10. Pull weeds in the garden for 10 minute stretches on several days this week. I spent a lot of time in the garden this week pulling weeds. It’s not weed-free, but it ended up superseding other goals, and that’s okay with me–it really needed to be done.

11. Do one science experiment this week on Friday. I ended up with a chance to run some errands on Friday, so this didn’t happen.

12. Take photos of a new recipe for the website and get it up!

13. Put away all outgrown clothing (that is currently in my room) in the proper boxes. I was able to put away one size of clothing only.

14. Take pictures for another tutorial for the website. I’m going to move this to next week so that I can spend more time this week making birthday gifts.

This Week’s Goals:

1. Finish sewing pajamas for Liberty.

2. Finish sewing headband and barrettes for Liberty.

3. Make 3 (or more, depending on time) other gifts for Liberty this week. Any gifts from my birthday list that I don’t complete for her will be moved to my Christmas list for her.

4. Continue to work on having breakfast at 7:30.

5. Continue to work on having reading lessons with my 7-year-old and 5-year-old right after breakfast.

6. Plant more Swiss chard seeds, 3 tomato plants, and zinnia seeds in the garden.

7. Spray the squash bugs.

8. Finish sewing Winter’s green dress.

9. Do science experiment on Friday.

10. Finish boxing up outgrown children’s clothing into the correct boxes.

11. Take pictures of 2 recipes this week for the website. Get at least one up on the website.

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18 Comments

  1. What do you use for your squash bugs? Last year I gave up and let them have the squash, this year I have tried to fight them off with Sevin dust but it’s a losing battle. There must be about a million of them out there. They finally won the battle again this year but now I am finding them on other things (my bell pepper plants!) Grr! What to do?

  2. Same here! I just pulled out everything in the front plot except for the herbs and Swiss chard, and every time I water the chard I get hit in the face with squash bugs. I was thinking about spraying with some neem oil . . . but I too am curious about what Brandy uses :).

  3. I really like reading your goals to complete sewing and garden projects. I cleaned up a lot of my front plot, inspired by your daily weeding goals, and now I have space to plant a cool season crop. I’m hoping to get lettuce, Kale, spinach, beets, and Parisian carrots in this week. I have no idea if they will make it or not, but hey, it’s better than growing dirt, right? 🙂 I would love to plant some leek seeds as well, but can’t afford the extra $ even for a package right now. Oh well, next year . . . My other big goal this week is to start tearing out the carpet in our family room section by section after the kids are in bed. Our family room is also the dining area, and between the carpet stains and the recurring stench from previous smoking owners despite shampooing (plus a few kids with emerging allergies), I found out it has a decent linoleum/vinyl underneath.

  4. My grandpa swore by Sevin, but it did NOT work for me. It was quite a painful waste of money.Malathion is the only thing that has worked for me, and it is hard to spray when it is so hot out.Also, rip off any eggs. If the leaf has eggs, tear off that section of the leaf. Look underneath the leaves, too. Get rid of those in the trash.My friend Tisha experimented with a recipe recently that I want to try this week. She said it killed all bugs that had contact with the spray. Here is the recipe:You will need:A spray bottle1 qt. water1 tsp. oil (she used olive)1 tsp. Dawn dish soap1 pinch of cayenne Mix together and spray on bugs. I will also squish as many as possible. I’m hoping to get out there tomorrow or the next day, before they’ve killed the plants.

  5. Hi!This week I went through my children clothes and tossed out clothes that were to worn out to donate to others and donated the better clothes to others who could use them.Pat

  6. This sounds like a great recipe for your plants. The oil transfers the Dawn to the insects, the Dawn then dries out their exoskeletons, and they dehydrate and die within days. The cayenne works as a repellent for future invaders. We used this recipe (without the cayenne) on the outside of our house for the stinkbug invasion in the spring.

  7. I use a simpler recipe: 2 squirts of Dawn dish soap in the spray bottle, filled with water. Soap will kill any insect on contact, & rather quickly. Among other things, it clogs the breathing tubules, & that does them in. I have had good luck spraying not only the plants, but also the mulch beneath them. I have used the recipe on bean beetle, squash bugs, elder bugs & some unidentified red beetles we had last year. Killed them all. Adding a pinch of cayenne is a good idea, tho, since last year the EPA recognized both cayenne pepper & garlic as effective insecticides.You do have to be careful not to hit the bees, tho, because it will also kill them. I like the recipe because it is not toxic to kids or pets. – Marivene

  8. Hi Brandy – I just wanted to see if you might be interested in this article -http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/It talks about growing a garden without irrigation or fertilizer and this approach has worked well in the desert (according to the article).It may not be appropriate for you to put into practice in your backyard, but I think it is a really interesting read and you may gain some useful information.Pattie F.

  9. That’s an interesting article. It wouldn’t work for what I have already done; I’d have to rip out all of my fruit trees. and bushes; I’d have to destroy my entire garden to do this.I don’t know how he can get away with not watering it in the desert. With only 2″ of rain a year and temperatures of 116º for a month, it’s still not going to be enough water. The plants would die in less than a week.You’d have to already have trees in order to get wood for it; most people don’t have big trees like that here; most people don’t have trees. Rocks and bushes are the norm, with a few trees here and there, that look more like giant tumbleweeds. The area that is in the photos looks very humid and looks like it gets rain.I think this would be a great way to get natural humus in a more wet area.He doesn’t address the issue of grubs, though. All of that rotting wood would attract grubs. What would keep them from eating your plant roots?

  10. Sounds wonderful thanks so much for sharing this with us. Exceptional goals my goal is to have the kids feed by 7:15 out the door by 7:20 to work by 7:30. Clean house in the evening and be in bed by 9:00. Hope the cleaning house gets done while trying to play, do dinner and baths.

  11. Hi, I just found you again. I lost you during your last web change, and just found that you started a blog a few months ago! Oh, the times I wanted to contact you to say how much I loved this part of your site or that part:D I’m not on facebook so I am limiting myself sometimes.Anyway love your sit and love your blog!

  12. I saw on a blog I can not remember which one sorry but she rolledduck tape with the sticky side on the out side and used that like a stickyegg and bug trap for bugs maybe it might help. Thank you for share allyou do. It is so encouraging. Patti

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