Planting Seeds - Day 1

Yesterday, the Little Diva and I started planting all of the seeds that we bought earlier this week.  She filled the trays with the "Jiffy-Mix" seed-starting soil (which we conveniently used with the seed-starting "you can plant directly in the ground" tray/cups) , and I helped her water everything.  Then, we added all of our new seeds, one veggie/fruit/spice at a time.  First, we added our tomatoes, then carrots, strawberries, chives, and last of all, cilantro.

Now, anyone who has been in my life for long knows that I do NOT have a green thumb.  I can't even keep a basic ivy plant alive in my house.  The only thing that I have ever been able to sustain and keep alive were some tulip bulbs that I planted in my backyard once when we lived in Iowa, and I really can't take full credit for that.  They just arrived on their own every March, and if they were lucky I would remember to water them until they finished blooming.

So, with that in mind, we shall see how this gardening thing goes HAHA!  The Little Diva can't wait for the "green plants" to show up, and she made sure to check them and see if they were there yet today.  She loves it so much that I am going to try my very hardest to keep my poor plant habits from surfacing! Wish us luck!!

Budgets, gardening, reading, and progress!

So, I'm actually making progress on my 101 in 1001!  I have sat down and began to formulate a budgeting system for our expenses.  Currently, it's a work-in-progress, but at least it's something, which is more than I can say about before.  Also, I paid off my student loan, which is great because now I don't have to throw money at that thing anymore. Just need to pay off the cars, and we're set!

I sat down with the Little Diva today to decide on what we wanted to plant in our "garden."  After doing some serious searching to find out what we could and should grow in our backyard pots, we made some big decisions.  We will officially be attempting to grow carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, and (for my choice) chives, cilantro, mint, and basil.  I'm actually just as excited as she is to see how this turns out!  I've been saving eggshells to make our starter plants, like this:  http://buildmakecraftbake.com/2009/04/eggshell-planters.html.  We are going out to buy all of our seeds and supplies next week, and I will keep everyone updated on how that goes :o)

Currently, I'm working on finishing this month's photography book, Beyond Portraiture by Bryan Peterson .   This has been a fantastic book (as are all B. Peterson books that I have read so far), and I have actually almost finished reading it in just over 3 sit-downs!  I love all of the ideas he has in this book for how to approach strangers and rarely have them say no to a photo op.  He goes through so many things including setting scenes, backgrounds, how to "see" what a photo could be.  Loving it so far and can't wait to finish!

Potty-training of the little Munky is in progress, but we'll see how that goes.  Currently, she just thinks it's hilarious to continually say "poopoo" and strip her pull-up off, have a seat on the potty for about 2 milliseconds, and then proceed to jump off and chase the dog around the living room butt-naked. We have our good days and bad days, but I'm letting her do it her own way since trying to do it my way with the little Diva took me almost 5 months.  So, we don't push, just leave the potty out, and she goes when she feels the need to. So far, it seems she's progressing because now she no longer will leave on a dirty diaper longer than the time it takes her to tell me it's wet.  By the time that I get back with a new one, she's already stripped herself down and having a seat on her little Ikea potty.  I highly recommend those by the way, Ikea potties.  I have three of them placed stratigically all over the house, and it has been amazing how much she attempts to use them!!