Crafty

So, I try to be crafty. I'm not very artsy, but I try to be crafty. I try to grow my own vegetables. I try to quilt. I try to knit. I try to crochet. I'm not very advanced at any of these things. But, I do try. My handiwork isn't always the prettiest, or nicest looking. And there's always flaws that I can't always seem to fix. But it's the feeling of accomplishment of making something. Making something that, even if it's not perfect, it will still be used and is special to the one who owns it, and that's all that matters!

Mistake

I was working on my quilt project today. I got quite a bit done. I'm working on a double nine-patch and am really enjoying the pattern. Until I realized I had started sewing the wrong side of the strips together. The pattern for the one block has four squares in the corners with the matching bottom inside squares matching the middle square of the block. I did that backwards and didn't realize it until after about ten blocks. So now I have to pull out stitches so I can fix them and continue on. After I get these blocks done, I'll be ready to sew my blocks together! It's all downhill from there!

Productiveness

Today was one of my days off this week. I spent it running some errands and made my own laundry soap. I have to let it cure for a couple of days before we can use it, but here's hoping!

I was also able to do a lot of other stuff today too. I made lemonade from lemons, I worked on a quilt, knitted a little, toned, and rode with my husband for a little while. The best part was sleeping in for a little bit. My husband and I don't get to do that together very often. Our bed is quite comfy and warm, so it's hard to get out of bed.

First Day

I started my new job at food service today. It went well. I do have a slight headache, which wasn't a big surprise. When I was a student, I would get a headache the first day back in the dish room. I think it's not being used to all the noise and extra heat. I'm sure I'll have a good time for the next three weeks.

As for my "unemployment" period, I haven't figured out what I'm going to do. There isn't a temporary position posted, so I don't think I'll be able to go back to my old job. Right now, we'll just have to wait and see!

The Wheels on the Bus

It amazes me how much little kids love to see buses. We had some friends down this weekend and one friend had two little boys, 3 years and 19 months. Since my husband works for the city's bus company, we decided to take everyone to the garage to see the buses. The two little boys were so excited! They got to ring the bell and honk the horn. And the oldest one wanted to get on every bus, all 70 of them. They also got to see the bus wash that all the buses go through and even got to see the driver check-in window. It was such an exciting tour! We went to lunch afterwards and the oldest fell asleep with his head on the table. Of course he was the one that hadn't taken a nap yet, so he was overdue at that point. It was fun to get to see our friends and play with the kids. Hopefully we'll get to see them again soon!

VEISHEA is Here

Today is the big day. Today is the official start of most of the VEISHEA events. For those of you not familiar with VEISHEA, it is Iowa State's annual spring celebration where the different colleges/clubs/groups/etc. get to show off what they've done and try to make some money. The celebration has lots of things to do and see, it's just that so many people from out of town come that traffic gets really bad. And since we live on one of the main roads, it's hard to get anywhere. Tomorrow there's a parade, so that makes traffic even worse. It's not all bad though. There are a lot of food stands to try and there are some really neat displays at the different colleges and on main campus. They even do some medieval sword play! It is a good time, but it always seems to rain on Saturday. Usually during the parade. The weather looks good for tomorrow though, so hopefully we'll luck out!

Kitty Bath

Since our cat has been shedding like crazy, we decided to give her a bath tonight. She always sounds so pathetic. She is getting a little better. It takes her longer with each bath to try to escape. She's never very happy with me afterwards since I do the actual bath part. Jason helped dry her off and usually helps with the soap. And the hair that is now covering our bathroom drain is way more than what is there when I wash my hair! She does get treats, but she usually for gos them so she can give herself a bath. Sometimes the bath winds her up and she runs through the house like something is chasing her. Not today! She is being pretty sedate and sniffing at Jason's tuba.

Flowers

So I finally took a picture of some of our flowers. We had a really nice day on Sunday where I was able to get a picture of the flowers blooming. I'm hoping to plant some wildflowers in the next week. I've also looked at some flowering shade bushes that I think will be really pretty to have.

We're starting to get things together that we want to get done this summer. It seems the list just keeps getting longer. It started out as re-doing our plumbing. We've added cleaning out the shed, power washing our siding and porch, sealing the porch, sanding and sealing the outdoor benches, and replacing our windows. I guess it's going to be a really busy summer!

Spring Time

I was able to be out and about for a little bit this morning. It was really nice and sunny...a gorgeous spring morning. I went to my second job for a little bit and came home to our daffodils and tulips blooming. They were so pretty! I had a dessert to make, so I did that, thinking to go outside once I was done to take some pictures of the flowers. Of course by the time I was done with the dessert, it had cooled off outside and the flowers had started to close. I was fairly disappointed. Then, it started raining. I know it's April, but it would have been nice for the flowers to bloom just a little longer!

Rain, Rain

So, I have cut our seed potatoes Saturday so they can "cure" before they are planted. We were hoping to have them planted Tuesday, but alas, they still sit "curing" on my counter. It thunderstormed Monday night and rained on and off on Tuesday. There was even a chance of tornadoes. Today, it has been raining on and off again. Pretty soon it's going to be May and we're going to have a very late crop of potatoes. If my prepared potatoes are still good, that is. We still have a large quantity of seed potatoes, so we have an ample supply to try again. I don't know if they keep from year to year or not. I guessing not.

My husband and I aren't completely new to gardening, it's just been so long since either of us remembered planting some of the stuff we've decided to try this year. We've also decided to try the hanging tomato plants in hopes that the rabbits won't eat them off the vine. Of course gardening for us is always and exercise in patience, and somewhat futility, since there are so many rabbits in town. We're thinking about live trapping them and taking to them to the wildlife care center. We may even get some stray cats that we'll take to the shelter.

For now, we just wait for the rain to stop long enough to work in the garden again. I have some wild hollyhocks that need transplanting since they are in with our strawberries. But our strawberries looked to have survived another winter and our rhubarb has started to come up. Maybe this will be the year I can make strawberry-rhubarb preserves!

Our Lawn

My husband and I did some yard work yesterday. I went around and collected all the garbage (we live on a main road through town) and came up with a full garbage bag. Jason raked up the leaves and sticks in the front yard. He ended up with a very heaping wheelbarrow full. We decided to get an outdoor fire pot so we could burn the leaves and sticks in stead of hauling them somewhere. Once we got our fire pot put together, it burned merrily. Of course we didn't burn the whole wheelbarrow full seeing as it was starting to get late. We'll continue to burn it throughout the week. Now we get to work on the backyard and our gardens. I have some flowers to plant/transplant and more weeding around the strawberries. We have creeping Charlie everywhere, so it seems like weeding is a never ending chore.

Planting

So it's Easter weekend, and we plan on planting potatoes and onion seed today. First, we have to re-till the garden and put up a fence to keep those pesky rabbits out of it. I don't know why, but there is a huge rabbit problem in this town. I haven't been able to keep green beans or carrots since we moved to this house. And it doesn't seem to matter how much blood meal we put out, they keep coming. And they will eat tomatoes, if that's what's left. We have about a month before we should plant anything else in our vegetable garden. I do have some bare spots around some fences that need some plants. Hopefully the begonia's I picked up will survive. I have a nice shady spot picked our for them.

I'm also hoping to plant herbs in the next couple of weeks. We're expected to have mostly sunshine next week, so that will be really helpful in planting.