Mood Lifter Monday - Remember the color GREEN?

click to enlarge for full effect "greeniness"...

Yay for green, Boo for mud!

If the first step is admitting you have a problem and need help...

HELP!

My seed flats are now officially staging a hostile takeover. It wasn't bad this past weekend with temps in the 60's and sunshine some were spending the days outside and it didn't seem so crowded - so I started more...

Then the rains came and now some of the cold hardy plants that could go outside are camped in my kitchen again and they are literally on every available flat space, even perched on stools!

Today has been busy with a sick kid and seedling chores:

Like this. Is there any of us that doesn't cry inside a bit when we have to thin out seedlings? No, I'm not crazy enough to have put a bunch of extra tomatoes in the cells, they are all tiny seed herb thinnings! A highlight was that I had enough Thyme trimmings from legginess to use for chicken tonight!

Lemon Balm, Verbena

One of only 2 Artichokes that I got to sprout this year - I hope it lives!

Don't you just love those little "mitten" leaves on tomatoes?

That's all for now, I am now heading over to wintersown.org and see what they know, LOL! My fire code for vegetation limit has been reached - I think I will be doing this for all my marigolds and more stuff I haven't even started yet... I WANNA GREENHOUSE!!!!! (she says like a whiny 2 year old...)

Busy Weekend, Finally!

We had a very productive weekend and start to the week, FINALLY! I feel like a bear coming out of hibernation, and my yard shows it! We spent the whole weekend cleaning up the yard, picking up twigs and branches that had blown down over the course of the winter, topping off the beds with compost, constructing trellises, and chopping back perennials. It felt so good to have the sun on our faces, although I probably should have dug out the sunblock - but who thinks of that in March? It is also so nice to have something to report on besides my quest for the ultimate organized home and The Chronicles of a Bad Knitter - although you aren't out of the woods yet, I'm still working on both and will be sure to subject you to the updates, lol!

Notable weekend events:

recruited neighborhood children to plant peas - I think a little hard work is good for them, and as a bonus, I got the comment "Peas grow in the ground?" ...priceless!

yours truly stacking my straw bales for future use in the potato cages, I don't think the neighbors in the large new construction homes behind me think much of my white trash urban farming... too bad... I will have fresh tomatoes!

The dog free training zone is back in action - after I planted the peas I stick every available stake or trellis in the beds so my dogs don't go tearing through it. They are really good about staying out of them once the plants grow, but they really enjoy vaulting over and through them in the off-season!

The "puppy" is the one at most fault for the garden-bed-running. Meet Sprocket, the most troublesome yet useful dog around! She is a Jack Russell/Australian Shepherd Mix, a strange blend. Other than the Aussie "frosting", she is all Jack Russell, digging up moles and voles and generally anything she can tunnel into is fair game. Thomas, this is the dog you need for your burglar-mouse, she's have it in her mouth in about 5 minutes! We made up a new breed for her, "The Outback Jack"! The Australian Shepherd brains seemed to have escaped her too, sadly. At least she's cute :) (to us!)

I've been busy repotting seedlings and starting to harden off some of the cold hardy ones such as the greens and lettuces. The operation has now spilled into the kids' room and since I volunteered to start plants for the annual Master Gardener Plant Sale, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The main seed start area in my kitchen holds the heat mat and my tomatoes, peppers and basil now, since it has more light, and the kids' room is reserved for the annual flowers which are just getting window sun supplemented with one light.

This is the first batch of tomatoes and peppers, just repotted from their little cells. I will be starting more this weekend probably.

Today it's over cast but supposed to hit 70 degrees! Scheduled to get rain the next 3 days followed by cooler temps in the 40's this weekend again, but who cares?! We have seen the signs here that it is ending, and we set the clocks for one more hour of daylight this weekend, so we have seen the light (literally) at the end of the tunnel! It won't be long now...

and what the heck... I just heard a minute ago that Corey Haim is dead? a sad day for a true 80's girl...

A Working Weekend!

Finally! It's 50 degrees here today, sun is shining, and tonight looks as though it may be the last night for the low to go below 32 degrees. So I won't be posting til early next week, I'm working in the garden, yay! So far today, brush and perennials cut back, burn barrel going, BBQ got cleaned, and peas are soaking! Tonight we'll brew some Ale around the campfire, BBQ, and tomorrow we plant peas and set up the potato cages. Hope you all are having productive weekends too!

Again? .... and a proud moment for our city!

I heard the wind howling all night and fell asleep to sleet, but then woke up to snow, yet again! I posted on my Facebook page yesterday that I was sick of the cold winter we were having and my brother replied "You should move back to Minnesota where the winters are milder".... I got a good laugh from that one!

The good news? Even though it was coming down fast and thick at 6:00 am, there was no call from the school and no closing on the news! It appears the City of Virginia Beach has accepted their fate in the climate change and are just going to roll with it now... I am very, very proud of them!

More good news - the forecast for next week shows temps in the 60's... you know where I'll be this weekend - in bed! The outside beds, that is! Now I'm off to rearrange and repot seedlings, hope to update on that finally later today.

Here we go again... another Nor'easter expected in this afternoon to dump copious amounts of rain and snow on our area! I know there are alot of you dealing with the same weather system headed my way, I hope your garden braves the storm well. I will be busy this afternoon tying down the entire yard with 550 cord so we don't blow away, so in lieu of a seedling update, I leave you with this inspirational photo from last Spring:

Seedlings spending their days hardening off!

Don't worry, the weather will stop this relentless assault on us and we will see this soon I hope! Time to batten down the hatches yet again...

I KILLED CABLE!

We had a birthday over the weekend - Lochlann turned "7"! And of course, with that came another one of my (in)famous cakes, lol! Yep, I am horrible at cake decorating and so I gave up after his 1st birthday and now anything that sprinkles stitck to qualifies as birthday cake in my house. Mom, you'll like this one: I even wiped the candles off to save for the next birthday!

A huge event transpired last Thursday afternoon: I KILLED CABLE TV!!! Some of you may remember me debating this last year, but I finally did it! I did it while the kids were at school and hubby was at work, so I figured I would get the blank stares when they all came home, but I was pleasantly surprised. Finnegan simply shrugged, walked into his room and got his video game out. When Loch got home an hour later he said "What happened to Sponge Bob?", and I told him that Sponge Bob was banned from TV because the government thought it was a horrible show. Whatever, it worked!

Finn not watching TV, although this is just as bad...

A video of my TV minus the cable box!

I was prepared to do battle with Cox Cable over the phone, but they were very pleasant. The fact that I increased my internet speed from them at the same time may have had something to do with it. I first started thinking seriously about this again 2 weeks ago when I checked out the prices and promos on satellite TV. I realized though, that I don't have to cancel cable and hook up satellite on the same day! So we are going to live this way for awhile and see how it goes. The past 5 days has been a breeze, though. The only thing I liked about the cable was the DVR, but so far I don't miss that, either. We have just been watching shows on HULU or on the network websites from the laptop. I've had Apple TV for a few years so maybe we will hack that so we can transmit HULU or similar right to the TV. In the meantime, we have about 17 channels, some are home shopping though. We do have all the major local networks in HD, along with several PBS channels from VA and NC, and there is still a PBS Kids channel for appropriate cartoons - all this comes just from an over-the-air HD antenna bought cheaply a few years ago. I found it amusing also that I found several websites and blogs that are devoted to cancelling cable and helping people "kick the addiction" LOL.

So that's one more check on the list of trying to live within our means and at the same time we are finding more time for hobbies and reading and not so concerned about the time on the clock that was always blinking at us, lol! Whatever will I do without Celebrity Rehab and The Bachelor? I'm KIDDING!

Back to the seedlings this afternoon, more to come on that tomorrow.