Dirty Pretty Things Giveaway

I entered a give-away from http://ravenxxxx.blogspot.com/ and I won! I won a zippered pouch and a tissue holder. I received them on Friday and they are absolutely lovely. I was so excited that I won, and then when the package came in the mail it was like Christmas morning and let me tell you I ripped that envelope open. Thank you to http://theseawithin.etsy.com/ check out her website to see all her awesome creations.

Care Bear’s Garden

I went to the garden with my mom and Paulette. We checked on my tomatoes and onions…Picked all the yucky black radishes, which I don’t like and won’t be planting next year. My tomatoes at home that I started from seed are full of tiny green tomatoes…I am so happy!! I still have plans for making some salsa, since I am new at this it should be an adventure. My son Joey, loves salsa, so I hope it turns out.

Jewelry Crafts

I managed to make a few things for my sale next weekend. I am so busy right now trying to keep up with the orders for the Roughriders necklaces and earrings. I even had to meet a couple at Tim Hortons and lay out my goods on the back of her car. It was a good contact though, since she’ll be advertising for me.

I am setting up another artisan booth at a conference for Missing Women: Desalinization, Third Wave Feminisms and Indigenous People of Canada and Mexico. I am pretty excited for this one.

Storms

Holy crap, you should have seen the storm last night. We had to drive through part of it and it was scary. The lightening, though I don’t like it, it was brilliant. There was not a whole lot of wind, lots of rain, the ditches were full.

I have Peas...

I checked on the garden today as I was worried last night's hail would have pummeled my garden into the dirt. However, as I walked closer I noticed that it was still standing and there were stakes in my garden for the peas...and what did I spy. Peas, and my sunflowers are flowering. I am sooo excited.

Still no lettuce, darn rodents. I do see my onions are getting fatter and fatter. Lots of flowers on my tomatoes.

Something ate my lettuce...

Well I had a wonderful, tiring night last night. The girls and I went to babysit Christian, and wow he is full of energy. We went to the park, a long walk and he was still ready to run. Karen had a good time playing with Christian and Juhnea spent most of her time on the computer. I cooked and watched and played. It was a great night. He is always fun to be with. I don’t know how Paulette does it…I don’t remember it being so tiring. I took tons of pictures.

So I went to check on my garden and some nasty little something ate all my lettuce, right down to the soil. It’s gone, all of it, but the roots. It’s kinda disappointing, but at least I planted some at home and that is doing well. I see I didn’t pull all the black radishes, which I am thankful for. I have to go back tonight to stalk my tomatoes and maybe even get some of my peas off the ground.

All other happenings…

Well I must say I am a little disappointed in my self for not going to my garden this weekend. I know it needs to be weeded, but it rained most the weekend. I did do some weeding in the plants I have at home. I even gave my mom my very first harvest from my potted plants. She took home a bag of lettuce, onion and a radish. I had a radish and the little sucker was hot.

I spied flowers on all my tomato and pepper plants. I am so very excited with my plants this year. I hope my garden at the university is doing well, since I have only been out there once last week.

My sister Paulette and I drove my son out to Craven for the Country Jamboree. I hope he had fun, I still haven’t seen him since Saturday. I trust his friends are taking good care of him and each other. They are a great bunch of kids. It was kinda funny cause Paulette would not leave him at the gates and had to wait for his friends to come and pick him up. Plus she questioned the security to find out how many people were working and how fast any emergency calls were responded to. I thought I worried. She is a good auntie, and my kids love her dearly…

I started a pair of beaded baby shoes. I don’t know how they will turn out since I am not too impressed with my color choice, but I thought I would finish them anyways since I already had them started. Hopefully I can get those done tonight.

Well our friends and neighbours are moving out next door…they should be moved out this week sometime. I hope the new neighbours are going to be good ones…

I’m Baa-ack!!

I have prettied up my backyard and my tomato plants are doing great. I even met this wonderful little lady at a convenience store across the city. This wonderful little lady gave me a bundle of winter onions. They were loaded with little bulbs (?), so that I could plant them in my yard and all year round I would have onion. I have to make a trek out to my garden plot today, I have a feeling the neglected weeds have grown to mammoth size. We did have one death in the plant family…my gourd plant has died. Its one lonely little gourd has shrivelled up and died. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I did try to save it.

I have beaded for a bit over the weekend. I haven’t done much, since I was thinking that my next sale isn’t for a while. Well opened my email to the pleasant surprise of an invite to another celebration to which I can have a table. So I think I might prepare for that one. It’s three weeks away, I wonder if I will have anything ready?

OOOhhh, I tried painting. I bought a canvas, some acrylic paints, and brushes. I stared at this little canvass and imagined what I would paint. Well I painted and I don’t like it. I totally thought I would just create a beautiful masterpiece, and I was disappointed. So my first painted creation was a disaster, I will try once more, since now I have kind of an idea what I want to make.


The Candy Shoppe

I went to this Candy Shoppe and it was wonderful. It was like a store that they would have on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I bought a pre-made candy bag for Karen and her friend, since it was obvious that they were having problems picking candies. My turn came to buy and I wanted to get something I wouldn’t find in a normal candy store. So I walked out with a box of Bacon and Cheese flavoured Crick-ettes, and two flavoured honey straws. Oh and they were real Bacon and Cheese flavoured Crick-ettes…real Crick-ettes the kind that jump and make music from the hairs on their drumsticks…as read on the back of the box. So I tried the drumstick, breast, wings, rump and flank….All this in one crick-ette. Needless to say I couldn’t look at it as I popped the hard and dried little carcass into my mouth. Crunch, Crunch, tastes like a bacon puff. Seriously!

Houses and Plants..

I had a very busy night last night. I went to pick up Chelsey, we drove around to look at some houses. Karen stayed to play with Teanna and David. We didn’t find her a house, but we had a good time looking for one.

After I dropped her off, Karen and I made our way to the garden. We planted melons, beans, sunflowers, peas, lettuce, radishes and onions. Our tomatoes have yet to be planted. I didn’t take my camera, but as soon as it sprouts I will take a picture. I have also decided to start a garden journal. This way I will know what to plant for next year and how well these new plants do. I am so excited, I can’t wait for the first sign of green sprouts.

As for my Alphalfa sprouts at home, they are sprouting. I think I might have made a little too much, but whatever, half are for Geri.

A little bit of this, A little bit of that!

Let’s see what did I do?

Spent the part of the day with my mother and niece Taylor. We went to three different parks, fed the birds and there are babies already, went to the museum, had Slurpee's and ice cream. We went and looked at my garden plot, I am excited. Karen spent the night at my momma’s with Taylor.

Geri came over for a bit and got ready to go out on the town…I wanted to go, but decided to be good for a change. I am joking, I am usually pretty darn good.

Had a barbecue with Karryann, Rod, Christian and Drew. Had some barbecue drinks.

Joe, Vernessa and I hit some garage sales…fun, fun, fun. I found some really good deals and I even still had money left.

My son got a pocket quad, silly boys look funny riding those. We got a new family member for a while, Cody is one of Joey’s friends.

Juhnea went to the farm, she is also going to Kanye West and Rhianna concert. I hope she has a ball. She even babysat her sisters Janessa and Mandy.

Visited with my dad, Bonnie and my sister Patreece. It was really good to see her again. I have missed them lots. I plan on writing letters to my brother Caylum.

I made 6 key chains.

A Pretty, Darn Good Weekend.

"We blew away our fallen eyelashes and the ladybugs that landed on us, together with our wishes, to the nearest star." - Tessa Kiros

I was assigned my garden bed today. I am so excited. I really need to think about what I am going to plant. I know I want to get some radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, tomatoes, peas and beans…so far that is my plan…plus some sunflowers. Maybe try a pepper and a tomatillo plant. Oh gosh, I just hope that I can do this and not make a garden bed full of weeds.

I did successfully make Fresh Rolls…and they were tasty. I really liked them and I will make them again. I need to go to the Chinese market to find peanut sauce, the one I found was spicy. I also found some Aloe Vera juice, and I will say that it is tasty stuff…I especially like the little pieces that float around in there. It’s pretty darn yummy.

As for my crafts this weekend, I didn’t make any.

I went out for a bit with Paulette on Saturday night, it was loads of fun.

Past is past…

“ If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. ” - Lewis Carroll

I had a rollercoaster ride for the weekend. My heart was up and down and swung around.

I did manage to finish the loomed pieces I had cut off the loom, and I wound up with 6 barrettes and 2 key chains…oh and 1 bracelet that Juhnea made. Eric had made Vernessa a loom and he also made me another one. I like the one Eric made, but I am giving it to the girls to bead on. Karen was so excited that she already started a bracelet last night, and guess what? She finished it.

It was a good time with my dad and mom. My dad picked me up for dinner and I ended up taking the rest of the afternoon off, and it was well worth it. I enjoyed this visit with my dad. My grandpa is not doing that well in the hospital, and I hope they he comes out fine.

I had to make a trip out to buy some soil and pots for my plants. They are growing super fast. I do hope they don’t die cause that would crush me. My beans are about a foot tall already, my cucumbers are pretty big. I hope the containers that I bought for them will actually be good enough until I can put them out in the yard. I have a fan set on them to strengthen their little spines…Grow my pretties…grow!!!

As for my three angels…well, let me tell you there were a few feathers plucked off each of those kids this weekend. Sigh…

Gardening Adventures...

The snow is nearly gone now and I am desperately waiting for the first signs of spring, a new leaf or budding flowers would be nice to see. The geese are coming back and the bushes in front of the house are packed full of singing and chirping birds. It's getting so nice, you no longer need a goose-down filled jacket, instead I can sling on a lighter jacket and hop on my merry way. The seeds that I have planted are sprouted and a few of the plants are in bigger pots, I think I have a few that won't make it to summer. I knew there would be a couple causalities, as the wilting and yellowing leaves have suffered through lack of sun and drought from careless watering. When will I learn? I can admit I was a little premature in planting my seeds, but I couldn't wait. I anxiously planted and now I am hoping for some good summer weather so I can put my rapidly growing plants out. I will be extremely excited if the beans, cucumbers, and gourds make it to the outdoors. I can keep my fingers crossed and in a couple weeks I will start a new batch of seeds.

I try every year to have a successful garden, and every year it's met with some kind of disappointment. I know last year, I managed to grow a mere 6 tomatoes, the largest maybe the size of a mandarin orange. Okay I was being generous; it was maybe the size of a walnut. Plus I did grow a pepper. I will blame my lack of success on my constant moving and not being able to prepare the soil for growing veggies. This year I want to give it a really good shot...fingers crossed! Wish me luck in my veggie growing adventures.

I do have a secret weapon, it’s a garden gnome that Joey gave to me, he is a little neglected with peeling paint. So I may have to fix him up a little and he might just bring me some growing luck. Who ever heard of an unlucky gnome? Hello? There is none. I even picked up some really cute garden stakes, with dragonflies and butterflies made with marbles.

Update on my Dragon Fruit seeds...they are still growing although I don't think they have actually grew a whole lot bigger than inch. Bonus - they are not dead. Oh and I lied, it doesn't grow into a big 20 foot tree, but rather a climbing cactus of some sort.

Easter has come and gone...

What a wild and long weekend it was.

Since it was a holiday this weekend, my days kinda blurred together.

I had a sleep over with Taylor at my mom's on Sunday...so Karen, me, mom and Taylor went visiting, then we went to McDonald's and let them play. Watched a movie, made crystals and had a good time. I woke up to uncle Gus, jumping over a sleeping kid, curled and knarled fingers coming at me. He gives me the claw thing and it hurts, cause he has some boney fingers. Anyways, he was making fun of me (thinking Joe and I had an arguement and I ran to mom's), silly, silly man...

I made a new keychain, it's a Bob Marley theme...with a marble and a picture. I have pics, just none on the computer. I already have a couple orders to make, so I am going to be busy. I still have to get those darn barrettes made to.

At work, Arlene is back from Acapulco, and she brought gifts....oh I am excited... She got me a key chain with butterflies, a bracelet with my name on it. I also got a T-Shirt, some glass hanging fruit, a frog decoration and two necklaces. I like everything she gave me... Everything is just lovely and she even brought bracelets for the kids. How sweet is that?

Easter morning, I felt a warm hug, and opened my eye's to Karen lying beside me. "The Easter bunny never came", she said. "Oh, I wonder how come", I told her, "The Easter bunny does'nt leave anything for kids, whose rooms are dirty..., I'd look around the house". Karen says, "so your saying it could be hiding", and off she went searching around the house. She didn't even tell me she found it, all I heard was the wrapping being torn, and that was it.

Karen and I went for Easter supper at Paulette's on Saturday night, then Joe and I went for Easter Supper at Vernessa's on Sunday. It was nice. I think for next year I want to plan something at my place for a change.

I have transplanted many of my plants this weekend, bought two bags of soil, some pots and off I went. Now if only the sun would co-operate and give my plants some rays, then we will be in business.

Seeds and Gardening

So I am eager for spring and have started to look into seeds and plan a garden. I came across this website, www.grooveygreen.com and to my surprise you can grow your own Luffa sponges. You know the kind you use to shower or bath with, well they are not from the sea which I was shocked to learn, but a vegetable that looks like a zucchini. So my plan is to add that one to my garden and see if I can grow my own sponge. Wish me luck, trying to find the seeds. Plus I guess it's a vine, so I can hopefully get it to grow in my backyard up the fence. I am giddy with excitement.

Quote:

"Ultimately, nature will do the teaching." --Tom Porter