garden update

It's raining. Again.

My garden is floating away. {not really}

I'm so glad that I put my seeds in the ground last week. They are starting to pop up. Unfortunately, some of my seedlings are actually drowning. I'm really sad about that. I watched them grow for weeks.

Bummer.

My garden

I finally got my seeds and seedlings planted. We have some serious clay soil. That can make for some difficult planting and growing. I have been adding compost to the soil in hopes to amend the soil. It is back breaking work to haul compost, spread it and then turn it under. Oh to have a rototiller!

We have experienced monsoon time rains here in Colorado. It has been amazingly wet lately. Sad to say, some of my seedlings didn't make it through. (insert sad face here)

We are expecting more cool temps and even more rain this week. The sad part is that I am actually on time with my garden plantings this year. It just makes sense that the weather isn't going to cooperate with me! Ha ha...bummer.

The only thing to do is to wait another week and replant some veggies. I was really hoping to save money on my plants by growing them indoors, from seed. I really didn't want to buy established plants. Oh well.

yummy tostadas!

We love tostadas here. They are quick to make and soooo yummy! I'm not a fan of commercial tostada shells, so I fry up my own. It's so easy to do. You just need some corn tortillas and olive oil. {or other oil of your choice} I use my small cast iron skillet to fry them. Keep an eye on them so that they don't burn. You will go crazy over the taste of these. Hubby will eat these alone!




Then, you need to cook up your pinto beans. With one pound of pinto beans, you can make the equivalent of 3-4 cans of refried beans. And they taste so much better homemade. {my recipe is below and also on my recipe page}

You'll see that I love to reuse my jars.

After cooking, I like to add a bit of salsa, to the beans, before serving

Ahhhh...yummy tostadas. {we also added chopped onions and chopped romaine to the tostadas}

Refried Beans

1 pound of dried pinto beans
4 cups water
1/4 cup bacon grease {optional}
1 T garlic powder
2 T chicken bouillon
2 T chili powder
2 T butter


Place beans and water in a large stock pot. Soak overnight. Drain beans in a colander and rinse thoroughly. Add 2 cups fresh water to pot, stir in grease and next 3 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally. Beans are done when soft. Mash with potato masher or fork and serve.
At this point, you can add more seasoning or salsa, if desired

I know that you mean well, but.....

I have really nice neighbors. I like to sit outside and visit. It's actually quite pleasant. It's nice to know that if you need help with something, that you have someone next door, or maybe across the street that can lend a hand.

Then, you get the unsolicited advice. What do you do with that? When you have a neighbor, that's never been married, give you marriage advice. Or when your other neighbor, in his late 40's and never had a child, gives you advice on parenting. Hmmmm. First of all, I never even asked for advice. Secondly, I'm not too sure how you can be an expert on something that you've never dealt with.

Personally, I think that my marriage is going very well and although I would never claim perfection, I think I'm doing okay as a mom.

So then, how do take lawn advice from a neighbor that has dead grass and weeds for a lawn? Ha ha ha ha. My hubby thinks if that guy comes by to talk about our lawn again, that I should offer him advice. Maybe he should water and/or mow on occasion!?

I find myself looking over my shoulder or running inside if I see one of them heading in my direction. It takes longer to do yard work this way!

It's challenging to deal with neighbors in this way. I don't want any negative feelings towards them. I just listen to their advice and smile and nod. When they are through, I change the subject. Then I go inside and vent to my hubby. Poor guy. He thinks that I should speak up for myself and tell the neighbors to mind their own business.

Maybe one day...as for today, I will weed my garden in the dark, so that no one sees me. Then, I wont have to receive a lecture on the best
way to raise my son.

Sigh.

super busy!!!

First of all, I've been very busy hiking this trail...

So Peaceful! It just reminds us that God is good. Sometimes you just have to take a moment and appreciate all that He has created for us.

I've been so busy with that ole to-do list lately. Sometimes I just want to go back to bed and get up when the list has been done! Well, since I'm the one working on the list, that just won't work! he he

I have almost all of my seeds planted and my indoor seedlings are ready to be transplanted. I have been hardening them off this week, in preparation to plant this next week. I'm so excited. I can already envision the beautiful veggies. Yum!

I've been working on my spring cleaning. I am not a fan of spring cleaning. I understand that it must happen, but...blech! I prefer outdoor chores at this time of the year. Weeding is a welcome chore in spring. I just love to be outside. Come late summer I'll complain about that as well! ha ha

We've been doing really well on the new budget. I'm so excited for December of this year. When we make that last payment on the student loans, I may just shed a tear of happiness. After that, we will just have the mortgage. I listen to Dave Ramsey almost daily. It's great encouragement. When I think...hey we have a few bucks, lets go thrift store shopping, I just turn on the radio and listen to his ministry. It reminds me of what we are trying to accomplish.
DEBT FREE LIVING!!!!!

finding new blogs to read

I'm really enjoying finding new online "friends". It's so nice to read others' blogs, and know that I'm not on this journey alone. There aren't many, in my neighborhood, that are Godly homemakers. It's great to communicate with someone, if only on a forum or blog posts.

I'm really enjoying this blog:




Take a moment and check it out for yourself. If you have another blog, that you think I may enjoy, please leave it here. I love to find new blogs!

Sometimes, I just need encouragement. To know that I'm doing the right thing by staying home and taking care of my family. I allow myself about 30 minutes per day, to take time and read blogs. It's a good way to unwind and take a break. It's also a good way to learn a new way to do something.

Blogs are like like reality TV. You get to take a glimpse into another's life for a few minutes. I guess that's why I really enjoy reading memoirs as well. {not celebrity ones, real life ones}

Many blessings!

freebies and seedlings

Last week I went to Target and came home with five bottles of body wash. They were $2.99 and I had 5 $3 off coupons. Yep, that's right. I made a profit of $0.05! {well then they added in taxes, but still they were free!} I also scored 2 free hamburgers and 3 free ice cream cones at McDonald's. Yesterday, I got 5 free packages of turkey hot dogs. {getting ready for a kids' birthday party} How? Well my groceries' pharmacy has a promotion that you can get $5 of free groceries after getting 5 punches on my RX punch card. Well, needless to say, it's been a sickly month around here, so I got 5 punches pretty quick. Hopefully, it will take a long while to get to the next 5 punches reward! ☺

This week, I will be setting out some of my seedlings. I'm so excited for spring! I am going to add a little bit more compost today and turn the soil in preparation. I planted most of my seeds in egg cartons. This will make it so easy to transplant. I just tear off one section {they are now weakened by the weeks of watering} and place it in the soil. I will slightly rip the bottom of each cup, to further along the decomposition process.

Reading the Bible in a year

I am currently following the read the Bible in a year program. I have studied each book individually, but can't remember ever
reading the entire Bible in order.

Does it make me a bad Christian to say that the New Testament makes me sad? Does admitting that I have skipped verses, due to the violent content, make me a bad person?

Can I still say that I followed the entire reading plan, if I have skipped a few verses?

I hope so.

I can hardly wait to get to the New Testament.