Friends & Cheap Labor & Crafting

Friends are in town! We have had a blast! Mary & Amelia are best buds. I kept hearing one say to the other "I love you!"
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Cheap labor! I sent them to work on the shed. They had a blast. First they did hand prints all over, and then they smeared them! Good fun...and it is washable!
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Amelia drew Miles in time out. We don't usually cage our kids, but it is a good idea. ;)
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This past weekend I got busy doing iron ons. It was good fun. They turned out lovely too!

Have a great week!
~Karen

The Gardens, A Big Helper, & Babies!

Garden 1 is doing well. We picked weeds while Moe slept. It is unbearably hot here in Indiana. We have to take many breaks and drink lots of water. I wish the tomatoes would ripen. I look every day.

My helper:

Garden 2 is filled to the rim with zucchini, butternut squash, and acorn squash. I guess none of my yellow squash grew....Oh well.

Look what I found in the middle:

A baby acorn squash!

Wait! There's more! Look!

A baby butternut squash!

Oh. Also, if anyone is thinking of composting...Sam's Wholesale sells the containers for about $40. (Ours is the black container to the left of the first picture. See?) We are thrilled to finally be composting. I will try to chronicle those adventures as well. And maybe I will have a tip or two.

Not much else to report. I wish I could report rain, ripe tomatoes, and a clean house!
~Karen

Coffee High & My 1st Quilt

Friends A & N introduced us to Dunkin' Donuts coffee. As a gift they gave us a bag to take home. It is like regular coffee x's 5. Seriously. I have been wolfing it down, and getting a lot done!

Yes, I made this! It is VERY FAR from perfect. Trust me. I have less than $10 in it too. All the fabric, backing, and thread came from yard sales and Goodwill.
The bias tape scared me. That is the biggest reason I have never tried anything like this before. Then I remembered what my friend Adrienne (who btw, has some mad sewing skills) once said. She said to make it curved, and that way you don't have to tackle those corners.

Off to drink more coffee.
Karen

A Fungus Among Us

Here is a recipe Kevin has been using to kill any fungus in the garden:

1 tablespoon of baking soda
2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon castille soap (We use Kirk's)
1 gallon of water

Mix the first three ingredients and a little water.
Microwave for 30 seconds.
Stir well and mix with gallon of water.
Shake.
Put in gallon sprayer. (We use a cheap-o garden gallon sprayer we got a hardware store.)
Periodically shake while spraying.

Spray weekly.

Happy Gardening!
~Karen

Mini Vacations & Gardening

We visited friends this past weekend. We had a blast. It was great hanging out. The kids played hard! Thanks for having us A & N! :)

We brought our Garmin Nuvi along to help direct us, and I must say that thing was worth the $95 I spent. I hear you can get one with Snoop as the voice. I wish I had known that when I was shopping for one! Imagine being in a big city and having Snoop help you get around. There is no way you could be stressed. LOL!

We came back early Sunday and found 18 zucchinis! We were only gone 3 days, and none of them were big when we left! I wish we had come home to some tomatoes, but I will settle for zucchini! We have a weird fungus attacking the tomatoes, so Kevin sprayed them down with a recipe we found online. It worked wonders last year, so hopefully we'll survive this year too. My daylillies are in full bloom too. They are looking lovely.

Kevin goes back to work tomorrow. We loved having him for a couple extra days. Thankfully he still has a couple weeks vacation left. It always seems to go by so quickly.

Have a great week!
~Karen

^SIGH^

Amelia: Mom, I want to go on a vacation where we stay in a hotel.
Me: Any place in particular?
Amelia: No, just any place that we have to stay in a hotel.
Me: Why do you want to stay in a hotel?
Amelia: Because they probably have cable tv.

Ah. Cable tv. The joys of vacationing are not seeing the sights or eating the food, but rather they can be found in any ol' hotel.

Birthdays & Gardening

Moe recently had a birthday! He is so big now. I can hardly believe it. He is still a pretty laid back kid overall, but lately he has been throwing some huge tantrums. Also, I think proper words like "please and thank you" have been removed from the language portion of his brain!

His sister made him a Wiggles birthday card:
Oh my! Did this card ever warm my heart!!! She put a lot of effort into it, and he was so excited to get it. It makes me think maybe we just might be doing some things right! I am sure that shortly after I had this thought they began beating each other!
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Ah! The gardens are producing food. I couldn't be happier. We are mixing it up a lot this year....Trying to make the most of the same ingredients...Pastas, soups, quiches, grilled veggie sandwiches, and veggie filled tortillas. So far no complaints from the family, so I am guessing I am doing a good job mixing it up!

Have a great week!
Karen

I saw this on the Friendly Atheist, and thought it was worth re-showing....

How do you know you can't dance?

You watch shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" and you can't tell if the dancers are good or not.

Seriously. I tried watching last night. They all looked about the same to me. I seriously was amazed when the judges cried over someone's performance. They were moved to tears over this dance? Really? I must have zero moves....zero skills. I can't even see it in others!

~Karen

Art, Butterflies, & Crafting

Our 5 butterflies entered the world this past weekend. It was a lot of fun. We released them in the back yard. We are in a zone that is okay for this kind of butterfly or otherwise they would have lived indoors for 4 or so weeks. It was very exciting for the kids. They took many pictures.

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Amelia has been drawing us. I love it! Her depictions have changed. See what I mean:

All those years of orthodontia paid off. Look at those smiles. :) I like Kevin's wacky eyes.

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Here is Miles hard at work:
He said it is a boy who is crying because a spider bit him.
I love it!
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Here is the latest blanket I finished. I am looking forward to giving it to the recipient.

I hope she likes it!

Have a great week!
~Karen

Butterflies & Art

Hungry, anyone?
hehehe!

We are raising butterflies.

I like the fact you can keep ordering them and reusing the netting. I think we will keep on doing it until all interest wanes. It is fun to peek in on them.
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Mimi's self portrait:

Mimi & Daddy

Miles' portrait of Kevin:

Looks exactly like him. I love this stage of portraits. When every limb comes out of the head. And usually there are no feet or hands. I also love the way he draws glasses. :)

Karen