Lapse in judgement

This started out with me about to get onto the dog. It didn't end that way at all! I will admit, I had a lapse in judgement today on what was more important. Damn dog!

 "Skylar, what happened to your face!?" 

 "Hardy jumped on me and tried to get my sandwich."

 "That's it, this PITA dog is driving me nu....aww, you're so cute....who's the cutest doggy in the world......." 

"MOMMY! He scratched me!"

 "Cutie goochie *baby talk words* cute doggie. Mean 'ole Skylar wouldn't share his sandwich, huhhhhh." 

".....uhhhh, I'm the kid here, momMMMYYYYYY, HELLLLLOOOOOOOOO.....UGH! WHATEVS!"

Our Garden Currently: Starting our seeds for the summer garden

It's that time of year again, when starting seeds indoors for your garden is the norm for most yard-gardeners, like us. We always start with the basic seed pods that come in the ready-to-use sod, seed starters from the brand Jiffy® are kind of our go-to brand.  We like these a lot because they are so easy to work with, especially when it comes to the tiny, itty-bitty, little seeds.  You can get your own seed tray pellets with the soil pods at a local farmer supply store or purchase the ones pictured, here.

We soak them with warm water overnight and prepare the soil pods.  This is a great activity for kids to get involved in.  My son loves to help!

We are really big into herbs right now because of how much better they taste.  Here we've planted Rosemary (my favorite) and Chives.

Then we branched out to Oregano and Spearmint.  Spearmint can be used for pretty much anything really, but I like to make a tea with it and add it to hot cocoa.

I often save my seeds from the different crops from year-to-year and these seed packets make it super easy to do that because they are made from plastic and tend to last longer than paper seed packs. 

I am still working on a good seed container to store my seeds in through the down months of no planting and growing.  I've had some suggestions, but nothing seems to be really working for us.  I'll keep racking my brain till I figure something out other than a large plastic box (what I am using right now, ha!)

And there it is.  We'll cover these up and see how they do.

And, I have finally managed to get my ground cover to take off the way it should in my front flower bed.  Now to clean out the flower bed so it looks "normal."  

This ground cover I used is called 'Common' Periwinkle.

Road Trip: Our great adventures at the Daffodil Farm in Oregon

This Daffodil Farm has been in Oregon for quite some years and we love it.  Over the years more and more people have found out about it and have taken advantage of all the flowers too.

So many different varieties of daffodils to pick from and the stand even has ones already cut and packaged if you don't want to get out and pick them yourself.  We think picking them is the best thing though because you get what YOU want.  20 stems for $5, can't beat that!

I love this little daffodil stand, so cute.

           With the snow-capped mountains in the background, such a great little place.  Don't you think?

We planted daffodils around the hawthorn trees out front and hope for a good showing of them next season.

Grow your own Dirt Baby

Dirty babies are such a great way to get kids in the habit of taking care of plants.  And, with the summer weather, while the sun is out, it's the perfect time to teach little hands what it takes to keep a living plant alive.

Here's how it's done.

Materials you'll need:

• Knee-high stockings (Panty hose)
• Rye-grass seeds or other grass seeds
• Potting soil
• Wiggle eyes, pipe cleaners and/or felt
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun

Depending on how many you want to make, you will need stocking/panty hose to make each Dirty Baby.

Here's what to do:

Now this is the fun part, kids can get in there and get their hands dirty and make the Dirty Baby to however they want it to look.  The grass can be the hair or a beard with the dirty baby upside-down.

Open the stocking and roll down the top to where the bottom is easy to access.  Pour about 1-2 tablespoons of grass seeds into the stockings and then add about a cup of potting soil or more depending on the size you want to make your dirty baby.  Make sure you place the seeds in first before the soil.

Shake the Dirt Baby so the soil stays at the bottom of the stocking and roll the hose back up.  Grasp the panty hose and shake the soil to the very bottom to make a ball with the soil and the grass seed on the bottom.  Make it as round as you want or even into the shape of a football for a funky head shape, if you like.  Then tie a pretty tight knot into the hose to secure the contents.  Leave about an inch at the knot after you tie it and then trim the rest off.  You won't need the rest of the stocking that you cut off, or you can save this piece to use later on in your garden.

Now you get to decorate the Dirt Baby with the wiggle eyes, pipe cleaners and felt.  It's your call on what you want your dirt baby to look like.

Place your Dirt Baby in a dish to catch any water run off while it grows.  I used a small salsa dish here but, any small saucer or bowl will work just fine.

Over the course of the months you will see little changes in the growth of your Dirt Baby.

Be sure to keep it well watered and in a window so that it can have as much light as it needs to grow.

Your Dirt Baby will grow his "hair" and will need to be trimmed from time to time.

And, eventually you will have one hairy little Dirt Baby!

Skylar and his Twitter

My son has been begging to have a Facebook account of his own for quite sometime now and well, being eight it was not only allowed by Facebook.  I also wasn't too hip about allowing my eight-year-old to use Facebook anyway.  A lot of silly things happen on there and I just don't think he is ready for something like that anyway.  So, I settled on allowing him a Twitter account and he has been very good with it.  I went on his Twitter last night and this is what I saw.  I laughed quite a lot at what I read, it made my day!

Of course, I am pleased that he gave a shout out to his mommy.....paint me proud!  :)

Putting it off......

So, I've been putting things off a bit on moving my Serendipity blog here, over to Blogger.  I've been procrastinating because I just can't let go of my blog I've had for a great long time.  So, I made a new one and will be placing TU on hold for a moment.  I might transfer everything over to the new blog once I get situated, or I may even save everything and dispose of it, I haven't decided.  Nonetheless here we are with a new blog and I will keep up with it just the same as I did with TU.....

Enjoy!