Working In The Garden

Finally we are able to get out into the garden and really work. Kevin, Teya, and I went out and dug up and prepped a row for the peas. We plan to do two 8 foot rows but, we are taking it slow. We'll work on the second row tomorrow.

Our tomatoes that we started from seed are doing great!! We will have Italian Roma, San Marzano Redorta, and Black Cherry if all goes as planned and they don't all die.

Pretty much all the cucumbers died when we planted them in bigger pots. We have 2 left...yup, that's right 2 little cucumber plants survived our transplanting disaster. I guess we'll just have to make due with those for now.

Hopefully we can get to rototilling the tomato and cucumber area this weekend.

Seed Starts

So, Kevin's little seed starts are taking off! We have 42 pickling cucumber plants, and about 30 Roma paste tomato plants. We started them 2 weeks ago. They are sitting on our kitchen counter, growing like mad, waiting to be planted. I think we'll let them get a little bigger before they go out into the garden.

Today we will be planting some more tomatoes (Black Cherry and San Marzano Redorta). We may even plant some bell peppers but, that is up to Kevin. :D

Kevin got fish a little while back and he is absolutely loving them. He started with 3 and now he has 7 (Happy, Hungry, Zebra, Snowman, Mazy, Elephant, and Swimmer).

We are going to sell off some of the seed starts to fund a bigger fish tank since he is doing so well with it. So, if any of you, our local friends, are interested let us know. We were thinking the plants would sell for about $1/each.

Kangadu Grand Opening Today @ 3pm EST

The day has finally arrived. I am ready to open up shop. Wool soakers and longies will be available @ 3pm EST. So, if you love wool, come on by and see what I have stocked @ Kangadu Children

Kangadu Grand Opening Delay

So initially I was planning on doing the grand opening yesterday but, life got in the way. In a good way. :)

We have almost finished moving our junk from downstairs. We will soon be ready to rent the lower level of our house. Thanks are in order, my father-in-law, my hubby, and a couple of other guys worked really hard. Teya also took a 3.5 hour nap, (yeah, that's what i said 3 and a half hours!!). So I was able to help move and rearange the junk in our sheds.

Anyways, back to the store. The grand opening will be taking place on Sunday February 14th at 12 noon (PST). Be sure to check it out then @ Kangadu.com

Until then, here is a preview of some of the items that will be available.

Coming Soon....

I have been working on getting my online store ready for the world to see. I will soon be stocking my store with wool soakers and longies made from recycled sweaters.



So far preparations for this endeavour have been extremely exciting. I have spent the last two Wednesdays, with my Mom, running around town in search of wool sweaters. I'm not a pro yet but, I have gotten pretty good at spotting wool from a few feet away. I have 40 wool sweaters to prove it!!

On Friday I got all the materials for making my tags. When I got home I went strait to work cutting, stamping, and ironing. They are not perfect but, I made 100 tags. In case you are interested, this is what they look like.



Tonight Greg helped me get together a tracking system. When I get ready to cut up a sweater, I cut out the tag, put it in a binder, and give it an id number. He created a spreadsheet that keeps track of the items I make with each sweater. It's a really neat system and I am glad that he is helping me keep this stuff orgainized.

Well, if I'm gonna get this shop up anytime soon, I better get back to sewing....

So I Have Been Thinking......

This last weekend we were all sick so, we didn't do much of anything. Just lazed around, watched movies, and slept a lot.

During this time I got to thinking about a children's story I had written two years ago. I would really love to get it published but, am debating on weather I should send it to a publisher or try to publish it all by myself.

With everything I have going on right now that I don't think it would be smart to try to self publish. There is just too much work involved and as much as I would love to have full creative control over my story, I don't think I really have enough time to do it properly.

I think I am definitely leaning towards sending it to a publisher. Wouldn't it be super awesome to see the name of a well known publishing company stamped inside my book? Yeah, that would be the ultimate in, "See, I did something successful!"

Truthfully, I am a little scared to send it off and it be rejected. But, what author isn't afraid of rejection, right? Seriously, if they like it, they like it. If they don't, they don't. End of story.

Road Trip!!

So we are on our way back from a birthday party in Stockton. We're just driving back and I am bored so I thought I would post a blog. :)

We got to see a bunch of family from my dad's side. We didn't get to talk much but, you can't expect to much conversation when your voices are being drowned out by Chuck E. Cheese and a bunch of screaming children. Kevin had fun though.

I wanna make another trip down some other time for a quite visit. :D

Antique Singer 31k15

I am so excited, I will soon be restoring my first antique sewing machine!!! It is a Singer 31k15 treadle/electric machine that was manufactured in 1947 in Scotland.

As soon as the weather clears up (it's snowing), I will have Greg bring it in from the shed so I can begin working on it. Until then, I will have to be content to just read all about it online.

Boy this is going to be a fun learning experience -- I can't wait. :)

Real Baked Potato's

When my microwave bit the dust 3 months ago I had to find another way to enjoy one of my favorite foods. I thank God for my broken microwave because had it not been broken, I would have never actually baked a "baked" potato.

All these years, I never knew what I was missing. They taste so much better when cooked in the oven...I will never cook another potato in the microwave. Oven baked potatos are so worth the 45 minute wait. In fact, as I write this post, a delicious potato is baking.

I know that you are dying to know so, I'll tell ya how I make them.

I take a freshly scrubbed potato (or 4), poke a few holes in it with a knife, rub a little olive oil and salt on it, toss it in the oven (right on the rack with a pan below to catch the drippings), and bake for 45 minutes @ 350 degrees.

Give it a try. Believe me it is soooooooooo worth it!

Starting To Think About The Garden

So yesterday we picked up the mail and guess what was in there. Yup, the catalog from Peacefully Valley Farm & Garden Supply. It got me thinking about the garden again.

The last two years we didn't have much success but, this year is going to be different! As always, I have a plan but this year it is much simpler. We are going to pick only three things to grow this year. We have definitely decided on growing a good "paste" tomato and are still undecided on the other two things. Kevin says he wants to grow broccoli but, he still refuses to eat it. So, I don't know about that option.

We are looking to grow things that will

1. Actually be eaten.
2. Do well being canned.
3. Grow easily/quickly (so we can see results)

We already have grapes, strawberries, and artichoke plants from the previous years).

Help us choose what to grow this year!

List Making - It Really Helps!

I mentioned before that we were trying to get things in order by making task lists. It seems to be working!! My living room, kitchen, and sewing room have been clean for 3 days strait. If you've met my son, you know how much of an accomplishment this is. (He likes to build super awesome train tracks and eat Cheerios in the living room.)

I've been trying to start this slowly so I can keep with it. Yesterday I added the master bathroom to the list of rooms to clean, and actually cleaned it. Yay, me! Today I added the guest bathroom.

Trying to get organized is a lot of work but so far I am liking the results.

Emergency Sewing Project!

We had a sewing emergency today!

Kevin was un-pinning something I had sewn. Aparently there wasn't enough room in my other pin cushion so, he informed me that we needed another. I had to stop everything to make him another one so he could finish taking the pins out of the other project we were working on. Boy was that fun! I love having such a good little helper. :)

We used fabric from our scrap box and stuffed it with human hair. Gregory's hair to be exact. Kevin said, "Is that Daddy's hair?". I think he thought I was weird for putting it in his new pincushion. I tried to explain to him that the hair helps keep the pins sharp but, I don't know if he understood. But, he likes "his" new pincushion and that is all that matters. :)



Now we need to make a few more!

Getting My Home In Order

We have so many things that we need to do to get things in order. So, I have been making task lists and checking things off as I get them done. I am amazed at how much more I can get done just by taking a few minutes and writing down what I would like to accomplish that day. I'm sure most people probably think I'm just a lazy slacker. But, seriously I really want to get things done...I just forget things really easily. Apparently writing lists helps me remember and keep me focused. Now I just need to remember to make my lists. :)

I have tried a few online list making software's and have not found anything that I think is really great. I'm looking for something that makes a daily list based on recurrent tasks and other random tasks. I want to be able to organize the tasks under larger projects. I also want to know what percentage of my daily list is completed and I want due dates for tasks. Oh and last but not least I want to be able to sync my list to Windows Mobile Pro device. This certainly can't be too much to ask, can it? Someone please tell me that this exists out there somewhere!

More Diaper Making Fun

I've been working on cutting out my diapers and getting them ready to sew together. It's taking forever but, I like to do things assembly line style. I have the outers cut for the rest of my woven diapers (3NB, 12SM, 12MED, 12LG). I have some knit fabric cut too but, I'm not sure how many of those I have.

I also have 8 cotton knit diapers sitting by the machine cut and ready to sew. Knit fabric is pretty hard for me to work with so they will probably sit there for a while...LOL. :P

I can't wait to finish these diapers so I have more pictures to show off. :D

Netflix + Playstation = LAZY

We don't get TV signal up here in the boonies so, TV Lazies have never been a problem for us. On occasion, we would rent a movie on the weekends. Sometimes we would rent 5 movies for 5 days for 5 dollars but, we never watched them all the same day. At most we would watch two movies at a time.

Access to all these movies and TV series are turning us into zombies.

Since Christmas, we have watched the entire Legend of The Seeker series and are anxiously waiting for the release of the next episode on the 9th of this month. We are now working on finishing season 3 of Heroes - we are on episode 6. We tried to watch some other series too but, we didn't like them. We may try Farscape next.

Really, I don't need sleep and I certainly don't want to clean my house (need to yes, want to no...LOL). So, if you want to fuel the addiction and you know of any good TV series that are available on Netflix, leave a note for me.

Almost a month has passed....

And I haven't written anything. What a lazy bum I am. I mean really, it's not like I don't have anything to write about. In fact, I have so much to write about I just don't know where to start.....

Teya will be 6 weeks on Friday. She is fun and Kevin loves his "baby siser". Last night he wanted to carry her around the grocery store. Of course he's too little so that couldn't happen so, we put him in the back of the shopping cart and he got to hold her while sitting there and shopping. Well, that is until two minutes later she started crying. It was very cute...I should have taken a picture but, I had no camera with me.

Christmas was wild and crazy. I don't even have time to write much about that. We got some cool presents and spent time with family.

We got sick right after Christmas and where pretty much out of commission for a week.

Cloth diapering is going well. I got some neat fabric for Christmas and just cut out my smalls and mediums. Can't wait to start making them.

Overall, this last month has been insanely crazy. Our sleep has been screwy. But that is to be expected with a newborn.

I guess that is enough for now. I'll write more later. :)