How does my garden grow?

Well, it's official. My vegetable garden is dead. The gophers finally ate most of my squash plant and the okra has either stopped producing because it's too cold or the rats have finally figured out that okra is good to eat! (Most likely it's the latter.) So now we're going to subscribe to the OC Register and use the b&w pages to control winter weed growth. I discovered last winter that my veggie garden is way to wet and cold in the winter to grow anything except weeds, and there were lots of them! According to Martha Stewart, 6 layers of newspaper covered with mulch is as effective as weedblock cloth and better because it is biodegradable and never has to be torn up. So we'll try it and see if she's right.

On the other hand, my shade/flower garden is quite dry. It currently doesn't have many plants in it, but in a few days I'll get a shipment from Henry Field's with these plants:
Scarlet Bee Balm
Californa Garlic
Maximillian Sunflower
Double Hollyhock mix
Hardy Lavender
Purple Cushion Mum
I'm so excited! I have to plant them as soon as I get them. It will be a lot of work, but I think the end result will be very nice. You'll notice all of these plants are perennials, which means that once they are established it will take less work to maintain a nice looking garden, I hope. I've never tried to grow flowers before, so this will be a learing experience. I hope I don't kill anything!

Testing my green thumb,
Alberta

Was that me?

Sorry about the last post. I'm feeling much better now. Not less stressed, but at least I'm not letting it get to me.

Some friends of mine from college came to 'sunny' SoCal this weekend for UEA (Utah Exodus to Anaheim, they're all teachers). They've been spending most of their time at Dizzyland, but last night we met them for dinner at ESPN in Downtown Disney. Good times! The food wasn't stellar (though it was good) but it was fun to catch up with them. Afterwards we went upstairs to the game area and one of them was kind enough to let my older ds use one of her tokens to 'bowl' (not the real thing, but arcade style). He had a blast! My younger ds even took a turn to roll the ball toward the pins. Then the girls went back to Dizzyland and we went to the Lego store to play a bit before heading home. All in all a fun night out with the kids, believe it or not! I think the boys are old enough now that we can get them Dizzyland passes for Christmas.

In other news, my brother and sister-in-law had their second child this morning around 11am, a little girl, 8lbs 6oz, and a week or so early! If they're reading this (though I'd be surprised if they were right after having a baby) Congratulations! My sister and her hubby are due to have a baby in January sometime, their first and another girl. So when we head back for Christmas we'll get to see a new baby and my sister VERY pregnant! We'll take lots of pics.

Looking up!
Alberta

It's a mad, mad, mad household!

Whew! It's been a week since my last blog entry! Guess my life just isn't interesting enough to sustain a blog.

Everything is starting to come due! I've joined a Family Home Evening exchange group and the exchange meeting is next week! I'm still not done with my older ds's costume, and Halloween is fast appoaching as well! I've got to get the garden council together for a meeting with Verano Housing by next week. Plus all the Christmas stuff I've started working on... I guess that doesn't need to be done in a week, but if I don't keep up on it, it will pile up fast! I know, excuses, excuses. But there it is.

Perhaps I should be more like my youngest ds! The other day, he brought in his stackable toys and placed them on one of the recliners. He proceeded to sing a complete rendition of "happy birthday to you." He then blew out the top toy and applauded himself.

Why can't I get my shares of simple pleasures like that?

That's one share for being the mom, one share for being a person in the home, one share for almost going insane in the home......

Alberta

Do you like my hat?

Today's lunchtime concert was "The Potter Song" sung by my youngest ds with the words "water, water, water, water, weesey, weesey". I'm amazed he still remembers the song because he hasn't seen it for over a month now! We've avoided it because he is afraid of Snape so maybe it's a traumatic memory resurfacing. My older son tried to join in on the Snape refrain, but that was not acceptable with his younger brother! I can just hear the stories they will tell their therapists in later years....

In crochet news, darthem asked me for a 'tried and true' hat pattern for the cold winters at USU. Well, I've been living in Southern California since I've learned how to crochet, and my experience with winter hats is minimal. But here are some links to the hats I have made as gifts plus some I just found that might work. Enjoy!

Hats I have crocheted:
Homespun pom-pom hat
Hooded Scarf

Hats I like:
T&Q hat and scarf
Ear Flap Hat

More free patterns that you will ever use!
Lion Brand
Hat patterns galore!

I like that party hat!
Alberta

Finished Projects

Finally, a picture of the blue poncho!

And since it's taken me so long to post it, here's an extra; an extra long wrap. Too long really. And it needs to be wider. I should have shortened the chain or used a smaller hook. Oh well, I'm not going to redo it! It's based on a pattern from 'Crochet!' and I think the yarns they used were thicker than mine. Still, I really like how well the colors worked together. Now that I know how the pattern works, I can make one in any color and with the right proportions! Send me the yarn and I'll be happy to make you one. It's really quick.

These may be the last finished projects I'll post for a while. I've begun serious work on Christmas gifts and I don't want to spoil any surprises. I am taking pictures though, and I'll post them AFTER Christmas! I'll just say it's all really cute stuff.

Dreaming of a white Christmas,
Alberta

Happy Anniversary to us....

It's our Anniversary today! It's hard to believe it's been 6 years already! We had a babysitter lined up for tonight so we could go see a movie (like Wallace and Grommit or Oliver Twist or Corpse Bride) but as luck would have it the boys are sick. Nothing serious, just colds, but we thought it wouldn't be nice to leave the babysitter with a couple of snotty nosed kids to watch! So we put the kids to bed and are having pie (it's pie month!) and ice cream and watching a DVD instead.

Havin' fun!
Alberta

Feelin' the heat and dancin' to the music

Today was hot again. It's Santa Ana season which means we'll soon be having more fires. This is the worst weather we have all year here in SoCal. And tomorrow the power will be off in our apartment complex for 6 hours. wheeee. So we will be camping out at the library all day tomorrow. Story time starts at 10:30; after that we will play on the computers till they kick us out!

While we were waiting to go to playgroup this morning (and waiting for my youngest ds to finish his breakfast - he likes to take his time) my oldest ds began singing a song about "hear the sound of the engine". It was all about the Little Blue Engine of "I think I can, I think I can" fame. (He made it up on the spot.) Well, as he came to the chorus he cried out "sing with me!" at which point my youngest ds started singing along! He didn't get all the words, but he was singing a song he didn't know with conviction. The song ended with "chugga chugga choooooo!" repeated several times softer and softer, a real fade out! lol. I am amazed at all the creative things my boys do.

SAHM and lovin' it!

Alberta

Gonna hafta face it, I'm addicted to yarn.....

I wasn't going to post anything today, kind of a boring day, running errands etc. But I visited the craft store and picked up a copy of Family Circle Easy Crochet and look what I found advertised! They're giving it away until the end of January 2006! So go sign up! If you don't want one, sign up anyway and give it to me! I'll even make something for you out of it, if you want! (It's only one ball, so it won't be a big something...)

Please support my habit!
Alberta

This means something....

It's late but I just have to relate our lunchtime drama for today. We were having toasted tuna and cheese sandwiches. My youngest was actually eating his for a while, not a common occurence. So I went into the kitchen to get my lunch and when I return I discovered that he had started chewing on the sandwich, spitting it out, and rolling it between his hands. Ewww. But I figured as long as it was getting in his mouth we could work on getting it the rest of the way. So we worked on the 'chew and swallow' mantra for a while until I had to answer the phone. When I returned he had started adding water to the 'mix' and making mountians for the smaller pieces to climb.

I wonder if this is how Richard Dreyfuss got started.

Alberta