Most mornings when I get up, I don't even look at my hair in the mirror. I already know it's a mess, it probably resembles something like a nest to a large rodent of some kind, and it has enough tangles to tie a boat to a dock and keep it there through a hurricane.
But over the past few weeks, there have been a few occasions in which I accidentally catch a glimpse of my hair before I rush to a brush to "fix" it. And I'm starting to notice that... it doesn't need fixing.
Let me use today as an example, and I'll backtrack through time like Quentin Tarantino and show you how I realized what I did this morning.
Okay so I get up this morning to the sound of a large truck out front. Realizing someone was here, I rush into a pair of jeans and into the bathroom to grab my brush. I glance into the mirror first, and I notice that besides some light frizzing, my hair didn't seem to be messed up at all... it actually seemed to be curly. Mike was dressed at this point and went outside to greet our visitor, which gave me the time to actually examine my hair and what it was doing. It was indeed curly. Not like, a bunch of small, tightly-wrapped curls; not large, perfect Shirley-Temple curls; just light, relaxed, loosely flowing, natural curls that started a few inches from my head and got more defined as they went down. This was so intriguing, that my hair was actually curling on its own, that I decided instead of brushing it out, to simply run my fingers through it, gently breaking up tangles and calming frizz with my leave-in conditioner. The curls were less defined for a few minutes, but just moving throughout the house, getting a drink, and checking again showed that they had already reformed.
I started to think back to all those times over the past weeks that I had noticed my hair in the mirror, and I realized that it wasn't just a mess. It was starting to curl. The natural waves that my hair has always had, the annoying ones that bend and curve in odd directions, they were forming into curls. Over the past few weeks, or perhaps over the past YEARS, my hair has been trying to curl. And so far, it seems it's slowly succeeding!
So I thought back yet again. How long has it been doing this? And why now, out of nowhere, is my hair curling? What inspired this change?
Was it having the kids? Did pregnancy do this? ...no, because my hair was still mostly straight with waves after having David, as it has been ever since high school.
Ah, high school. Reminds me of when I first started dying my hair. My favorite color to dye it was that "Cherry Coke" color; it's actually a deep burgundy, but it always reminded me of Cherry Coke.
THAT'S IT!
That's when it hit me. I've been dying my hair since high school, but I stopped dying it after I had David. The last time I dyed my hair, I was 7 months pregnant with David, and I told myself I was done with it after that. Not only did I want to see what my natural hair color was (and your natural hair color is not just the color your roots come in between dye jobs; you have to let it grow out a bit to get a real idea of your natural color) but I also didn't want to have to worry about dying my hair anymore when I had a newborn to take care of.
For the first year after I stopped dying my hair, it was still weighed down with the dye, though. It took a while for it to grow back out, and it took two trips to the salon to get all the dyed parts cut off so that my hair was still at least shoulder-length. Which of course means it took a year, until I was pregnant with Levi, before my hair was completely, 100% natural.
Now, once I had my natural hair back, it still had some repairing to do. It was so used to being dyed that I assume it was much weaker than it could be. I changed hair products every few months, trying to find one that actually seemed to give me some improvement. And each change I made did make my hair better... for about a week or two, then it went right back to being "blah" and broken. Split ends, frizz, easily broken... I was going crazy. I finally stopped with TRESsemmé Split Remedy, and so far it seems to be doing much better. I've noticed a HUGE decrease in breakage, so let's hope it keeps working!
Anyways, I guess I should have noticed that my hair always seems to be the same length, even after it should have been at least an inch longer... probably because it curled up that last inch!
I wonder if it will continue to curl? Especially as the right hair care products really kick in and make it even more healthy? Hm. Can't say I'd really complain. Even after brushing out the curls, it's still a much prettier curve than the "waves" it had when it was dyed.
I know this was just a really long post that could be summed up with "My hair is starting to curl! How exciting!" But I felt like telling a story today. =)
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Little Life Update
It's been a while since I blogged, and I thought to myself this morning, "Who cares?" Well, I care.
There were a few different things I considered blogging about over the past week or two, but I just didn't have enough of anything to give you a good blog post. Well, it's the little things that count, and they sure do add up! Now I have more than enough to tell you, that will be more than "Hi blog, that's all. See ya."
Well first of all, I should mention the garden. The day after I planted it, we had a huge storm that washed away pretty much everything. All that grew was corn, sunflowers, some cantaloupe, and a squash plant. So, last week my father-in-law came over and tilled the entire thing up, made nice pretty rows, and the ground was nice and soft again. I replanted everything, and over the past few days, Mike has set me up a new sprinkler system. It's four sprinklers that mount on the top of T-posts, and they are aimed so that each one waters a quarter of the garden. They are up higher, so when (if) plants grow, it will still be able to reach everything. We're just waiting now to see if they actually grow this time. If nature tells me yet again that I am not meant to have a garden this year, then I will finally listen. This is my last attempt... let's hope something grows! On the bright side though, the corn and sunflowers are doing very well. If sprouts start coming up in the next week, then I can start posting Garden Updates like I did last year.
Next, we move onto the kitchen. We have been under construction for a while now, and things seem to be at a stand-still. Which of course is my own fault, since right now the next step is sanding and applying texture (both of which are my job). We did recently install a brand new dishwasher, the first that I have ever owned! I'm so excited about it, too. Dishes are finally ALL done, and have been staying done. It's as easy as unloading it in the morning, loading it throughout the day and turning it on before bed. Now we just need a new dryer... I know, that has nothing to do with the kitchen. But it does slow me down as far as household chores go. It broke a while back, and with hopes of it being fixed quickly, laundry began piling up. It finally did get fixed, and it worked perfectly... for one day, and three loads. When it broke a second time, I gave up. I had no hope of it working again, and I could not wait so long to do laundry again. So as soon as the weather cleared up outside (about a week later) I began washing loads of laundry and hanging them out on the line outside. I have to hang them either outside the yard, or high enough so the dog can't reach them, because all she sees is chew toys. At least it's getting done, I suppose.
Then we have my doctor appointments. We started setting them up regularly, every two weeks. Yesterday's appointment I finally let down a few walls and started actually discussing real problems and issues, rather than just being vague and skipping around. I'm not going to go into detail, but I will say that I have a homework assignment before my next appointment: set up a date with my husband! Just me and him, alone, no kids, no friends--just the two of us spending time together, talking, hanging out, maybe taking our time and really enjoying a meal together, or cuddling up to a movie. Just being "us" again, and remembering why we got married in the first place... who we are as a couple has nothing to do with the kids; we were "us" before we were "all of us" if you get what I mean. My doctor did also bring up the "M" word yesterday... medication. It was just a passing comment, at the end of a session; nothing much was said about it and I didn't have much of a response to it either way. I'm sure it will be brought up again in future sessions, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I know I don't want to be medicated and relying on a pill to tell me how to feel, but I also don't want to rule out an option that has been proven to work and that could help me. I just don't know... all I know is, I want to get better and get away from the emotions I am having all too often. But I can already feel myself being lazy about things... I want to get better, but I don't want to put forth any effort or work to do so. Such a vicious cycle.
Well, other than that, life goes on. I feel a bit overwhelmed sometimes, knowing that I have to take care of the kids, the animals, the garden, the pool, the house, the cooking, the cleaning... but I guess this is the job I signed up for. I feel like I get my break in the evenings, when I settle down for some World of Warcraft. As it is, I'm looking forward to playing tonight, because it's Wednesday--every Wednesday a few guildies and I get together and run Firelands. All this time and we still haven't killed Ragnaros yet... but we got him less than 50% last week, so I know we can totally do this. It seems like Dragon Soul is easier, which is crazy since it's newer. But as long as I'm running with friends and guildies, I'm happy.
And now, back to the real world for a few more hours. Back to laundry, dishes, sweeping, mopping, dusting, picking up toys, and keeping children entertained until their daddy comes home... and probably well beyond that as well.
PS: Thank you to whoever invented the slow cooker; your invention allows me to cook dinner perfectly on days when I'm too busy otherwise to do so. ♥
There were a few different things I considered blogging about over the past week or two, but I just didn't have enough of anything to give you a good blog post. Well, it's the little things that count, and they sure do add up! Now I have more than enough to tell you, that will be more than "Hi blog, that's all. See ya."
Well first of all, I should mention the garden. The day after I planted it, we had a huge storm that washed away pretty much everything. All that grew was corn, sunflowers, some cantaloupe, and a squash plant. So, last week my father-in-law came over and tilled the entire thing up, made nice pretty rows, and the ground was nice and soft again. I replanted everything, and over the past few days, Mike has set me up a new sprinkler system. It's four sprinklers that mount on the top of T-posts, and they are aimed so that each one waters a quarter of the garden. They are up higher, so when (if) plants grow, it will still be able to reach everything. We're just waiting now to see if they actually grow this time. If nature tells me yet again that I am not meant to have a garden this year, then I will finally listen. This is my last attempt... let's hope something grows! On the bright side though, the corn and sunflowers are doing very well. If sprouts start coming up in the next week, then I can start posting Garden Updates like I did last year.
Next, we move onto the kitchen. We have been under construction for a while now, and things seem to be at a stand-still. Which of course is my own fault, since right now the next step is sanding and applying texture (both of which are my job). We did recently install a brand new dishwasher, the first that I have ever owned! I'm so excited about it, too. Dishes are finally ALL done, and have been staying done. It's as easy as unloading it in the morning, loading it throughout the day and turning it on before bed. Now we just need a new dryer... I know, that has nothing to do with the kitchen. But it does slow me down as far as household chores go. It broke a while back, and with hopes of it being fixed quickly, laundry began piling up. It finally did get fixed, and it worked perfectly... for one day, and three loads. When it broke a second time, I gave up. I had no hope of it working again, and I could not wait so long to do laundry again. So as soon as the weather cleared up outside (about a week later) I began washing loads of laundry and hanging them out on the line outside. I have to hang them either outside the yard, or high enough so the dog can't reach them, because all she sees is chew toys. At least it's getting done, I suppose.
Then we have my doctor appointments. We started setting them up regularly, every two weeks. Yesterday's appointment I finally let down a few walls and started actually discussing real problems and issues, rather than just being vague and skipping around. I'm not going to go into detail, but I will say that I have a homework assignment before my next appointment: set up a date with my husband! Just me and him, alone, no kids, no friends--just the two of us spending time together, talking, hanging out, maybe taking our time and really enjoying a meal together, or cuddling up to a movie. Just being "us" again, and remembering why we got married in the first place... who we are as a couple has nothing to do with the kids; we were "us" before we were "all of us" if you get what I mean. My doctor did also bring up the "M" word yesterday... medication. It was just a passing comment, at the end of a session; nothing much was said about it and I didn't have much of a response to it either way. I'm sure it will be brought up again in future sessions, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I know I don't want to be medicated and relying on a pill to tell me how to feel, but I also don't want to rule out an option that has been proven to work and that could help me. I just don't know... all I know is, I want to get better and get away from the emotions I am having all too often. But I can already feel myself being lazy about things... I want to get better, but I don't want to put forth any effort or work to do so. Such a vicious cycle.
Well, other than that, life goes on. I feel a bit overwhelmed sometimes, knowing that I have to take care of the kids, the animals, the garden, the pool, the house, the cooking, the cleaning... but I guess this is the job I signed up for. I feel like I get my break in the evenings, when I settle down for some World of Warcraft. As it is, I'm looking forward to playing tonight, because it's Wednesday--every Wednesday a few guildies and I get together and run Firelands. All this time and we still haven't killed Ragnaros yet... but we got him less than 50% last week, so I know we can totally do this. It seems like Dragon Soul is easier, which is crazy since it's newer. But as long as I'm running with friends and guildies, I'm happy.
And now, back to the real world for a few more hours. Back to laundry, dishes, sweeping, mopping, dusting, picking up toys, and keeping children entertained until their daddy comes home... and probably well beyond that as well.
PS: Thank you to whoever invented the slow cooker; your invention allows me to cook dinner perfectly on days when I'm too busy otherwise to do so. ♥
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Top Ten: Random Memories
Throughout the course of everyday life this week, small random things have been stirring up old memories, and it got to the point that there have been so many, I was able to form a Top Ten out of them! I don't remember exactly what it was that sparked a few of them, but I was able to make the chain-connections to most. So, here is my Top Ten: random memories I have had this week.
( 1 ) I was talking to my friend about our favorite bands, and I had suggested Story of the Year as a band he should listen to. That got me singing some of my favorite songs by them, which reminded me of a time back in high school when I was visiting my cousin. The two of us were sitting in her spare bedroom, playing Flicky on the Sega Genesis. A boy at school had developed feelings for me, and he had gotten upset that I didn't see him the same way. While my cousin and I were playing our game, laughing and having fun, the boy called me. I let it go to voicemail, then checked the message he left me. He had said that he had the perfect song to describe how he felt about me, and proceeded to play the song on the recorded message. It was "Till the Day I Die" by Story of the Year.
( 2 ) The previous memory actually reminded me of this one. In a very "high school drama" fashion, as networking between teenagers typically goes, I became close friends with my ex-boyfriend's sister, who asked me to talk to her ex-boyfriend for her, who in turn then wanted to introduce me to his cousin. I was shown a picture of him, and he seemed kind of cute. I agreed to talk to him, and we got to chatting online. He seemed to be a nice guy, until after two hours of talking he told me that he loved me and was so glad to have met me. Instantly knowing he was definitely not the kind of guy I wanted to go out with, I politely turned him down and asked to just be friends. He then proceeded to call me at least four times a day every day, and each time it went to voicemail he left a recorded message saying he loved me, he missed me, and he continuously played Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together". I still hate that song.
...am I the only one who sees a pattern there? Anyways, moving on.
( 3 ) I was playing my favorite online game, World of Warcraft, and I was running through a low level raid (a challenging series of boss fights with special attacks and spells that a large group of players must use tactics and coordination to defeat). One of the final bosses is a life-sized chess game, in which players must use their wits to defeat the other king. Well, in this chess game, the enemy "cheats". It got me thinking of the first real chess game I ever played. It was against my stepdad, who had just taught me how to play. I got up to get a glass of iced tea, and when I sat down, we finished the game -- I won. It wasn't until after winning, however, that I discovered my stepdad had cheated by removing my queen from the board entirely.
( 4 ) Driving down the gravel road with my friend, we pass a Christmas tree. A year ago, someone threw it on the side of the road after the Christmas season. No one ever picked it up, so last year my sister-in-law stood it up straight, decorated it, and put a few fake presents under it. It is still there now, and as we drove past it, I was suddenly back in Band class, in middle school. Our class took a field trip to the airport where we stood in front of the big Christmas tree that goes up each year, and we played Christmas music. We were encouraged to be as festive as possible, and we each wore a hat. Some of us decorated our instruments with garland or ornaments... I chose to go all out, and wrapped a short strand of Christmas lights around my clarinet, connected to a small battery pack that sat beside me. Everyone loved it, and it was nice to get into the spirit of things for once.
( 5 ) I really don't remember what made me think of this, but when I was in high school I was very self-conscious and often kept my eyes on the ground when I walked. Occasionally in large groups people would brush by me, and I would mutter an apology. Well, one day I was off in my own little world and walked into a wall. I backed up and apologized, only to then realize it was in fact a wall, and not a person. *embarrassed*
( 6 ) While cleaning the house one day, with my iPod on shuffle, a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers comes on. Suddenly I got much calmer, and felt as if I had slipped into a normal routine. It reminded me of when I had been in the Navy. Some of my roommates were on the same crew as I was, so we often carpooled. Our driver, fondly referred to as "Junkie", played RHCP every single morning on the way to work. It became a normal part of our day, regardless of how sick of it we got. We asked him to change it up once, and he began playing Metallica every morning. After a week, we gladly accepted RHCP back into our hearts.
( 7 ) Looking at where life is now, reminded me of meeting my husband. Not just the typical "this is how we met" flashback, but of that lovey dovey time together before we got married, when we planned out our dreams and wishes. Sitting together in his car, listening to country music on an mp3 cd that he burned for me, leaning in real close with a notebook and watching him draw an outline of a floor plan for our dream house. Planning where we wanted to travel to, where we would live, and how life would be. Drawing each other's names out in different styles and pictures, and putting our names together in a heart, or my first name with his last. It might not have been realistic, but it was very romantic and sweet.
( 8 ) The summer heat has arrived in spring this year, so over the weekend we set up the swimming pool. Staring at that clear, sparkling water, memories of last summer were reflected back at me. My sister came to visit last year, which is the entire reason we bought the pool when we did. We did tricks and flips in the water, we chased each other around, we got thrown in and just laid back and relaxed... we even taught my son not to be afraid of the water, and to enjoy his floatie. I can't wait to make new memories this year.
( 9 ) I was talking to my online friends the other day through a voicechat server hosted by a service called Mumble. I ended up talking about how when I signed up for the Nuclear program in the Navy, the way it was described to me so I knew I would "fit in" was a series of questions based on things "nerds" would commonly be known for doing... such as 18 hour long movie marathons. It reminded me of just after joining the Navy, a few times in which my friends and I, in all our nerdglory, stayed up full weekends long to watch Lord of the Rings, X-Men, Harry Potter, and Dune. Gotta love those movie marathons!
( 10 ) The last memory I will list, although not the last random memory I have had recently, is not a distant memory at all, but rather one that is a combination of a past time as well as a time just yesterday. In World of Warcraft, you can form what is known as a "guild", which is basically just a club, in which you and other members share an inventory bank, gold for armor repairs, and a special "guild chat". Two years ago, my guild used to be very active and friendly, and there was always a fun interesting chat going on. I made so many friends, and we were always excited to see each other. Sadly, over the years, the guild sort of fell apart, everyone going their own ways. I still own it, however, and over the last 6 months I have been recruiting new members, as well as a few old friends who have returned. It is even better now, with the addition of our very own guild Mumble server, in which all guildies can actually talk to each other while playing. We had a full group of us in Mumble yesterday, talking and laughing and having a good time. It made me so proud of my guild, and I felt so blessed to know such amazing people.
Guild pride runs deep.
The Chosen One
Alliance
US-Icecrown
( 1 ) I was talking to my friend about our favorite bands, and I had suggested Story of the Year as a band he should listen to. That got me singing some of my favorite songs by them, which reminded me of a time back in high school when I was visiting my cousin. The two of us were sitting in her spare bedroom, playing Flicky on the Sega Genesis. A boy at school had developed feelings for me, and he had gotten upset that I didn't see him the same way. While my cousin and I were playing our game, laughing and having fun, the boy called me. I let it go to voicemail, then checked the message he left me. He had said that he had the perfect song to describe how he felt about me, and proceeded to play the song on the recorded message. It was "Till the Day I Die" by Story of the Year.
( 2 ) The previous memory actually reminded me of this one. In a very "high school drama" fashion, as networking between teenagers typically goes, I became close friends with my ex-boyfriend's sister, who asked me to talk to her ex-boyfriend for her, who in turn then wanted to introduce me to his cousin. I was shown a picture of him, and he seemed kind of cute. I agreed to talk to him, and we got to chatting online. He seemed to be a nice guy, until after two hours of talking he told me that he loved me and was so glad to have met me. Instantly knowing he was definitely not the kind of guy I wanted to go out with, I politely turned him down and asked to just be friends. He then proceeded to call me at least four times a day every day, and each time it went to voicemail he left a recorded message saying he loved me, he missed me, and he continuously played Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together". I still hate that song.
...am I the only one who sees a pattern there? Anyways, moving on.
( 3 ) I was playing my favorite online game, World of Warcraft, and I was running through a low level raid (a challenging series of boss fights with special attacks and spells that a large group of players must use tactics and coordination to defeat). One of the final bosses is a life-sized chess game, in which players must use their wits to defeat the other king. Well, in this chess game, the enemy "cheats". It got me thinking of the first real chess game I ever played. It was against my stepdad, who had just taught me how to play. I got up to get a glass of iced tea, and when I sat down, we finished the game -- I won. It wasn't until after winning, however, that I discovered my stepdad had cheated by removing my queen from the board entirely.
( 4 ) Driving down the gravel road with my friend, we pass a Christmas tree. A year ago, someone threw it on the side of the road after the Christmas season. No one ever picked it up, so last year my sister-in-law stood it up straight, decorated it, and put a few fake presents under it. It is still there now, and as we drove past it, I was suddenly back in Band class, in middle school. Our class took a field trip to the airport where we stood in front of the big Christmas tree that goes up each year, and we played Christmas music. We were encouraged to be as festive as possible, and we each wore a hat. Some of us decorated our instruments with garland or ornaments... I chose to go all out, and wrapped a short strand of Christmas lights around my clarinet, connected to a small battery pack that sat beside me. Everyone loved it, and it was nice to get into the spirit of things for once.
( 5 ) I really don't remember what made me think of this, but when I was in high school I was very self-conscious and often kept my eyes on the ground when I walked. Occasionally in large groups people would brush by me, and I would mutter an apology. Well, one day I was off in my own little world and walked into a wall. I backed up and apologized, only to then realize it was in fact a wall, and not a person. *embarrassed*
( 6 ) While cleaning the house one day, with my iPod on shuffle, a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers comes on. Suddenly I got much calmer, and felt as if I had slipped into a normal routine. It reminded me of when I had been in the Navy. Some of my roommates were on the same crew as I was, so we often carpooled. Our driver, fondly referred to as "Junkie", played RHCP every single morning on the way to work. It became a normal part of our day, regardless of how sick of it we got. We asked him to change it up once, and he began playing Metallica every morning. After a week, we gladly accepted RHCP back into our hearts.
( 7 ) Looking at where life is now, reminded me of meeting my husband. Not just the typical "this is how we met" flashback, but of that lovey dovey time together before we got married, when we planned out our dreams and wishes. Sitting together in his car, listening to country music on an mp3 cd that he burned for me, leaning in real close with a notebook and watching him draw an outline of a floor plan for our dream house. Planning where we wanted to travel to, where we would live, and how life would be. Drawing each other's names out in different styles and pictures, and putting our names together in a heart, or my first name with his last. It might not have been realistic, but it was very romantic and sweet.
( 8 ) The summer heat has arrived in spring this year, so over the weekend we set up the swimming pool. Staring at that clear, sparkling water, memories of last summer were reflected back at me. My sister came to visit last year, which is the entire reason we bought the pool when we did. We did tricks and flips in the water, we chased each other around, we got thrown in and just laid back and relaxed... we even taught my son not to be afraid of the water, and to enjoy his floatie. I can't wait to make new memories this year.
( 9 ) I was talking to my online friends the other day through a voicechat server hosted by a service called Mumble. I ended up talking about how when I signed up for the Nuclear program in the Navy, the way it was described to me so I knew I would "fit in" was a series of questions based on things "nerds" would commonly be known for doing... such as 18 hour long movie marathons. It reminded me of just after joining the Navy, a few times in which my friends and I, in all our nerdglory, stayed up full weekends long to watch Lord of the Rings, X-Men, Harry Potter, and Dune. Gotta love those movie marathons!
( 10 ) The last memory I will list, although not the last random memory I have had recently, is not a distant memory at all, but rather one that is a combination of a past time as well as a time just yesterday. In World of Warcraft, you can form what is known as a "guild", which is basically just a club, in which you and other members share an inventory bank, gold for armor repairs, and a special "guild chat". Two years ago, my guild used to be very active and friendly, and there was always a fun interesting chat going on. I made so many friends, and we were always excited to see each other. Sadly, over the years, the guild sort of fell apart, everyone going their own ways. I still own it, however, and over the last 6 months I have been recruiting new members, as well as a few old friends who have returned. It is even better now, with the addition of our very own guild Mumble server, in which all guildies can actually talk to each other while playing. We had a full group of us in Mumble yesterday, talking and laughing and having a good time. It made me so proud of my guild, and I felt so blessed to know such amazing people.
Guild pride runs deep.
The Chosen One
Alliance
US-Icecrown
Monday, March 19, 2012
Garden 2012: Planted!
Zombie apocalypse survivability: I have it.
In other words, I have officially planted my garden for the year! I had been hoping to plant a few weeks ago, with the first signs of spring, but hubby wanted to plow the garden one more time, then we had almost a week straight of nothing but rain, and it was too wet to even go outside to plant! But the rain has let up for a few days, and this morning the ground was dry enough that I could walk through the garden and get my seeds planted.
It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow, which means that my newly planted seeds will get their initial watering in the next few hours! Nature is helping me stay green by lowering my water bill! How nice. =)
Let's take a closer look at what we have going on this year.
These are all the seeds I planted. Like last year, I have a row of sunflowers and a row of corn, though this year I did 2 rows of each, side by side. The sunflower seeds I used were some of the ones I harvested from last year's sunflowers! I tested a few in a cup of water earlier this week, and every seed sprouted. I did the rest of the garden a bit differently. Instead of long rows of each veggie, I split the garden into 4 sections: peppers, tomatoes, squash and eggplant, and vines (cantaloupe, watermelon, pumpkin, and cucumber). Each section has columns rather than rows, so it should be a little easier to keep track of everything and a lot less demotivating when I get to weeding in the upcoming months. After all, it's a lot easier to weed small columns rather than 80 ft long rows.
I decided this year I would leave out the in-ground plants, and make it a bit more simple. I don't think I'm quite ready yet for onions, potatoes, or carrots. We'll see about those in upcoming years. This year I also decided not to mess with transplanting. Some of the plants last year took to my soil very well, namely all the pepper plants and a few tomatoes. But nothing else survived when transplanted, and it forced me to then plant seeds much later in the season then they should have been planted. So it just made more sense to plant the seeds from the get-go. (Or should I say, the get-grow? Yeah I know, corny. Haha, Corn-y... Right, moving on then...)
I want to say we'll have a bit more luck this year, since there will be no goats or llamas stomping all over my veggies, and we still have our rabbit-fence put up to keep out any pesky wabbits--I mean, rabbits--that try to sneak in.
Well, let's give germination a chance to take effect, and let the sprouts reach the surface. I can't promise we'll have an update by this weekend, but keep a look out in the next few weeks for the first of hopefully many garden updates this year!
Happy growing!
In other words, I have officially planted my garden for the year! I had been hoping to plant a few weeks ago, with the first signs of spring, but hubby wanted to plow the garden one more time, then we had almost a week straight of nothing but rain, and it was too wet to even go outside to plant! But the rain has let up for a few days, and this morning the ground was dry enough that I could walk through the garden and get my seeds planted.
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| The ground for the garden, nice and plowed and even and ready for planting! |
It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow, which means that my newly planted seeds will get their initial watering in the next few hours! Nature is helping me stay green by lowering my water bill! How nice. =)
Let's take a closer look at what we have going on this year.
These are all the seeds I planted. Like last year, I have a row of sunflowers and a row of corn, though this year I did 2 rows of each, side by side. The sunflower seeds I used were some of the ones I harvested from last year's sunflowers! I tested a few in a cup of water earlier this week, and every seed sprouted. I did the rest of the garden a bit differently. Instead of long rows of each veggie, I split the garden into 4 sections: peppers, tomatoes, squash and eggplant, and vines (cantaloupe, watermelon, pumpkin, and cucumber). Each section has columns rather than rows, so it should be a little easier to keep track of everything and a lot less demotivating when I get to weeding in the upcoming months. After all, it's a lot easier to weed small columns rather than 80 ft long rows.
I decided this year I would leave out the in-ground plants, and make it a bit more simple. I don't think I'm quite ready yet for onions, potatoes, or carrots. We'll see about those in upcoming years. This year I also decided not to mess with transplanting. Some of the plants last year took to my soil very well, namely all the pepper plants and a few tomatoes. But nothing else survived when transplanted, and it forced me to then plant seeds much later in the season then they should have been planted. So it just made more sense to plant the seeds from the get-go. (Or should I say, the get-grow? Yeah I know, corny. Haha, Corn-y... Right, moving on then...)
I want to say we'll have a bit more luck this year, since there will be no goats or llamas stomping all over my veggies, and we still have our rabbit-fence put up to keep out any pesky wabbits--I mean, rabbits--that try to sneak in.
Well, let's give germination a chance to take effect, and let the sprouts reach the surface. I can't promise we'll have an update by this weekend, but keep a look out in the next few weeks for the first of hopefully many garden updates this year!
Happy growing!
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