Success of a Sort

I have three little watermelons. I hope they grow!

The radishes and beets I planted have sprouted. However, something is eating them. The beets have no leaves and several of the radishes have been ravaged. I need to get some Diatomaceous Earth to kill the little suckers.

My beans are doing great. They are getting loaded with blossoms and I am really looking forward to fresh green beans. Yum! And don't they just look beautiful in the morning sun!

And I think the greatest success is my fresh corn! One ear is absolutely perfect aside from being a little short. The normal sized ear is a little under pollinated, and then the itty bitty one is totally naked on one half (the bottom side).The puny ear was from a plant that grew from last years corn that I tried to plant, so it was probably a genetic thing passed on by last years puny ears. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Garden Progress

Here it is. Some of the corn is getting taller. I actually got a green pepper that was a little bigger; it was almost 2 inches. The beans are starting to vine up the tomato cages. I planted a few more herbs to replace the ones that died while I was away. The water melon is growing more too, has a few blossoms, hopefully it will get some fruit. I have one volunteer tomato plant hiding behind one of the bean plants that is still growing. It grew from one of the tomatoes that died while I was gone. I planted some radishes, beets, lettuce and spinach as well as some more beans and peas. The weather is finally cool enough the last week, that I think these cool weather plants will thrive. We have actually had the windows open during the day it is so nice.

Birthday Party

My little Josi is growing up so fast. She got invited to her first non-family birthday party yesterday. It was for a little boy in her primary class. She played at the park and had cupcakes.

They also did a three-legged race. Josi did surprisingly well, considering her lack of coordination. Her team were the slow and steady ones, they didn't fall down.

No more leak!

When we first moved into our house, I went through and made a list of everything that needed replaced either immediately or in the next couple of years. After I gave the list to Ben he said, "so you want all of this AND the kitchen sink!" Yes, the kitchen faucet leaked from the handle and was getting all corroded. I thought, as long as we were changing the faucet we should do the sink too. It is chipped and the color isn't quite right; it was more of a want than a need though.
Well, many other things took precedence, like light fixtures, a sprinkler system and living room furniture to name a few. The last couple of months the leaky faucet has gotten really bad and would even leak a little when it was turned off. I had picked out the faucet I wanted on the Lowes website and was waiting until we had the money for it. About 2 weeks ago I got a coupon in the mail for 10% off my entire purchase at Lowes Oct 1-5; I took that as a sign and went and got my new faucet on Monday. They didn't have the exact faucet I wanted, but they had a very similar one that was 2/3 of the price.
Well,

BEFORE:



My nasty, leaky, old faucet. The "chrome" plating is all worn off and it is turning a lovely green color in places. Not to mention the hard water build-up.






This is what I found under the faucet. GROSS!!!

Underthe counter was even worse. The parts that held the faucet in place were so rusted that it took all my strength and a good monkey wrench to loosen the bolt. I discovered afterward that the rust was stronger than the bolt and I actually broke it off instead of loosened it.

Drum roll please :)

AFTER:

It all cleaned up pretty good. Not all of the rust stains would scrub off and there are a few chips in the finish. But all of the hard water came off with the help of some barkeepers friend (thanks for introducing me to that Karin) and a razor blade.

And.... TA-DA! Here is my beautiful new faucet. The plate for the bottom covered up all of those chips and stains very nicely. I love that the sprayer is in the spigot, not separate. I like that I can put it on sprayer without holding it. And I love the black, it goes so much better with my countertops and appliances. I think the hardwater spots won't be as bad now either.

Another Tiny Harvest

Here is my latest harvest, bell peppers. They are all really tiny again. Can't figure out why. I added manure to the soil this summer and I have watered with Miracle Grow. My mom suggested maybe it's because the soil is so hard. Maybe.
There are a lot of them at least. There are about 20 more on the two plants I have.

My beans are growing pretty well and a few of the corn plants are getting tassles and ears on them. Still, they are only about 3 feet tall. I will have to get a tiller next spring and try tilling the soil a little deeper and see if it helps. I will have to replant peas, AGAIN! It has just been too hot for them still. This morning it was only 77 at about 6:30 so maybe it is cooling off enough.

Gymnastics

You may remember the tu-tu I made Josi a while back. She later picked out some sparkly, tie-dye, pink fabric so I could make her a leotard to wear under the tu-tu. I finally finished it yesterday, I kept forgetting to buy the elastic for it everytime I went to Joann's.


Here she is testing it out and showing her stuff. She loves to tumble. She can do a pretty good cartwheel which she learned from Harley Quinn playing Lego Batman on the Wii. I wish I was in better shape so I could better show her the proper forms.

She does an excellent bridge, she just needs to build those scrawny little biceps so she can do it from a standing position instead of starting on the floor like she does now.

And here was her best twirl.

Readin', Writin' and 'Rithmetic

I have been testing out homeschooling Josi. I have found a couple of websites that have lots of worksheets you can print for math and writing. I have also gotten a few booklets from the dollar store that have different themes like Disney or Carebears.
Here she is working on addition using M&Ms. She loves using M&Ms because she can eat them afterward.
You can see by the look on her face how much she enjoys doing her schoolwork. She really gets into it. She has a backpack she got from Hailey (her cousin) and she keeps all of her books and pencils in it.

She is quite good at math. She really understands it. She is still having a hard time understanding adding and subtracting zero, though. But it is coming to her.

We have also started learning to read. She is mostly just memorizing short words and we work on sounding out the bigger words. We will have to get a video of her reading up soon. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Rain, Rain ...

I am so happy it is finally raining here. During the day, no less. We have had a few night-time thunderstorms, but nothing we could enjoy. Right now the temperature is a mere 74 degrees and the kids are out playing with umbrellas in the sprinkle. It's about time; it's about a month late.

Yard/Garden Progress

Well it has been about a month since I last posted photos of the yard. The grass and garden are doing pretty good. I actually have to mow it once a week.

Here are the picture from last month and the one I took today.

You can see the three main spots have all filled into one big patch.

It is about the same area as the shed which is 8'x8'.

And this is the other side of the yard. This has all grown into one large patch too.

And there are several small patches forming that have several runners spreading out.

The older picture didn't include the bottom patch, it was barely visible then.

Here you can see the corn that I planted in the back 3 rows and the beans in the front one. I had to plant new seeds about 1 1/2 weeks after I planted the first time because they weren't coming up.







And here are a couple of pea plants. I had to replant them a couple of times. I just planted for the third time so we will see if any more come up.

Creative Juices

We have all had our creative juices flowing today.

I am sick of the summer. I hate the heat, I hate the water and electric bills, I hate being stuck inside or frying outside. So in an attempt to nudge fall in, I decorated my half-wall with an Autumn-y garland.

I bought a couple strands of leaves last spring for, like, 50cents in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby. One was missing half the leaves so the cashier let me have it for nothing. It worked out to be the perfect length once I cut off the naked part. I just need to add some pumpkins or something.

Here's a closer shot.

Josi and Hyrum spent about 45 minutes on the back patio drawing with chalk. Here are some cute pictures.

By the end, they were chalky from nose...

all the way...

to toes!