Everyday Reasons to be Prepared

It's currently the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I had the great displeasure of having to make a last minute grocery trip to Wal-Mart. I did the bulk of my Thankgiving shopping at the beginning of the month, right after I made my meal plan and made my grocery list, but there are always the little things that I forget until go time. I usually make the last minute trip the weekend before but I had to work making the shopping trip a little difficult. So I had to go two days before the day.
Let me tell you now, it was crowded, more so than it usually is and especially for a Tuesday. People were everywhere and I'm a person that does not like crowds. I saw how rude some people can be. Shelves were getting bare, especially for basic things like flour and sugar. I, saw a lady yell at an employee because they were out of the only brand of all purpose flour she wanted, apparently she couldn't wrap her head around using a different brand. Another lady was upset because they were out of the large containers of peanut oil and there was no other way for her to cook her bird.
Luckily I was able to get everything I needed without having to cry about the store being out. I hated the whole experience and the whole time I was thinking one thing "if I had a proper food storage I wouldn't have to be here." I couldn't help but wish I was more prepared. As I was thinking about being more prepared I couldn't help but think about the empty shelves. I know that this time shelves would probably be refilled within a week but what if this was more long-term. What if there was a food shortage or gas shortage or, more believable last minute Christmas dinner shopping. Now I'm even more in the mindset that I should start building a better food storage and a more functional homestead so I don't have to deal with all the people that have their heads buried so far in the sand that they can't cook a different way or use a different brand of flour.
I doesn't have to be a life changing or doomsday event to see the importance of being prepared, sometimes it's the everyday real life situations.

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

I finished reading Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. It is a good book with lots of information. It talks not only about organic gardening methods but also conventional gardening using the square foot method. His method is to space out vegetables perfectly to fit within 12" by 12" squares. The method is usually used for raised beds but it can be converted to just in ground, digging out or tilling up 4' by 4' foot squares to plant in.
The book brought up things like building soil, choosing the proper seed for your climate, and different watering methods for different climates. It also discussed vertical gardening, using and making compost, pest control, and specialized gardens for those with special needs (like a garden lifted off the ground.
I like that it discussed specialized gardens for children, ones that are smaller, grow fast, and require less attention.
I like how it introduced the idea without talking down to the reader like other books I've read. One of the neat things it included was the maps in the back that had the average first and last frost dates. Also the final chapter was a list of common plants and how much spacing they would need.
I enjoyed reading and really do want to try to implement this method in my garden next year, maybe then I might get a better harvest.

Toddler Pictures

My toddler got a hold of the camera here's some of the wonderful pictures she took.

168lbs

That's what I weighed this morning. I was really surprised. I haven't been eating well or drinking my water but I'm down over 15lbs. This is the lowest I've seen the scale since Claire was born. I wanted to cry when I saw it, even though it is not my goal weight it means I've progressed. I hope that me working plus breastfeeding will lead to even more weight loss.

August Garden Update (2014)

Well, yeah, this isn't going to be much. My garden is at the failure point again. The squash have been devoured by bugs. The only thing I have left is a few tomatoes and one cantaloupe that I hope will ripen. The blackberry did well and I got quite a few blackberries this year, usually just a handful a day. The peach tree did produce peaches but they got eaten, I didn't expect the peaches to get as big as they did but my tree surprised me. Also I discovered my grape plant is not a grape plant, it is a muscadine vine, I love muscadines so it doesn't bother me. Maybe next year, since I'm starting over my seeds, will be better, and maybe I'll bet my raised beds built. I'm currently trying to find cheap wood chips for a back to Eden garden. Maybe next year will be better since the babies will be older and much easier to take outside.
Happy gardening.

Making a Little Order Wthin all this Chaos

Our house is just chaos right now. It's a complete mess, I don't get much done, and the little ones have no structure. I'm serious, we tend to wake up around 11 and don't go to bed until 1a.m. which is not fun when sometimes I have to be at work at 7 in the morning. A new project I have created for my household is to create a routine and structure to our days. I was reading articles about how routine and structure can help children, they will learn what to expect every day and what is expected of them.

My first plan is to create a morning routine of just getting up, having breakfast, cleaning up, and getting dressed for the day, all without TV. I don't have a specific wake up time just trying to create a specific wake up routine. I also want to keep up with a 15 minute pick up for a few days until the mess is not as big.

I'm hoping creating daily routines will lead to weekly routines, like meal planning, weekly goals, and maybe a weekly blog post lol.

Setting up pictures

I didn't realize, until I started posting lots of  pictures on my craft blog, how difficult it was to set up the shot. I mean the lighting is not great where I'm at in my little crafting corner. Also making sure my desk is decently cleaned. Most of the time I just shove what I don't need into the corner out of camera range and then it creeps back afterward. Also trying to come up with new blog posts when I'm not actually working on a project. It cost money to make projects and I only get paid every two weeks so I'm worried that on the craft blog that I'm going to be doing a post every day while I have material and then it might go a week or two without a post. I could do tutorials and a sewing machine review but I only have one sewing machine. A discussion of notions is in order and basic needs to get started sewing. I've got ideas just need to get off my lazy backside and do them.