Growcology 101

                   Today was the first day for our Growcology community gardening classes. There are eight sessions. One every other Saturday for the next couple of months.

                 We  were introduced to how the program works and the itinerary of the the course.


               We met in a hundred year old barn and listen to several people speak their spiel and seen some amazing photos of Steven Wynbrandt, from west L.A. Wow what can be done with a backyard garden when one puts their mind to accomplishing their true heart goals.

                   We will have home work. Homework?  yes homework.... We have to look up terms like Bio-Intensive? And some others also.
           We will meet again, I think on the 19th of this month.

                                                                                        

We had to be teamed up with people from the same area. Like ward 4, 5, and 6. 

Our team is named the 'Sprouts'. 

more folks

Lots of folks

                       And I am so excited about what we will all learn from this time of gardening together in the community.

Purpose...

fresh picked

love the colors

Well this morning as I was trying to keep calm for the school day. I decided to make use of my time. I made more Orange Marmalade. This time I used Blood oranges along with a couple of Navels. Boy was it a good turn out. And it didn't take long either. Three hours from the time I sliced the first orange , until last jar popped close seal.

the beginning roll...

I so did not want to be angry because my star student was late again. I tell you what, with her mommy not having to be up and about for work due to work related injuries, I am just like HELLO. SCHOOL is in SESSION.



Okay now that I got that off my chest. We started another late day and finished just the basics. Come on now how can we excel. I don't know why we try sometimes.

finished

But we finished our puzzle today, even if I am the one who did it after school hours.
                                It helped me to relax.

New Feelings

We have had a much better week  all around.
Monday turned out to be a SNOW-Day and she had a blast with her mommy.




My cold is gone , okay almost all of it. My granddaughter is so much herself and we are enjoying some warmer weather.






Today we actually got to go to my WBS. that I have missed the last two weeks. Wow was it a great feeling to be around like minded believers again.
     I haven't even be able to serve in Children's ministry due to the yuck I had. So two weeks away and I was hungry for some true fellowship.
      After we came home we had a great afternoon outside doing our school work in the warmth of the sun.
Even Punkin was glad to get back in the swing of things.
When we finished what we were going to accomplish for school today we worked on our puzzle again. We have decide to use this for brain stimulus and hand eye coronation building. Like that?  It is all part of learning we are applying to our education.

Just a little something to stay in the game of blogging:)

Refreshed

Today I was refreshed.
   I stayed home and watched church service via internet and I was refreshed.
     Then I did some of my WBS( Woman's Bible Study) and I was refreshed.
 I was even able to work on a few scrap blocks for my scrap quilt that seems to to be forever going. But it helped to refresh me.
     My daughter came by and picked me up and we went to Borders Book store, and browsed bargain books and I was refreshed.That was the first trip out of the house since the trip to the E.R. on Tuesday.
       So all in all I feel better and I am refreshed.
I am so glad that this blooming' cold yuck is almost gone. I pray my husband is not coming down with it.

Just wanted to keep updated here. Until next time,
Happy quilting, reading, and gardening.

Oh did I mention I picked up a couple of new books?
One is Herbs and Herb gardening, and the other is a slow cooker cookbook.

My Girls

My girls are the besets and them some.
 They come through just about teverytime. This week has been one of those times.
    Punkin's mom, became her teacher when I so needed the rest and my baby girl came through with fixing my husband and me dinner for two to three nights. It was great and we had a good rest of the week.          

   Tonight we finished the last of the fried chicken and corn chowder soup. Home cooking with great flavor and warmth. The best food ever.
 Yesterday, momy hand carpal tunnel surgery and my baby went with her to the doctors and was there to get her home and stay with her until some else could stay with her for the night. Punkin and baby and I had a sleep over, or so we all slept at my house anyway. Isn't that a sleep over?
 Okay, so this morning we had bananas muffins and a late start day for school. But it was all good and we even had a special time for some creativity to flow.
   We are working on helping get the word of the Lord out to the homeless.
Check out  the blog site of hopenmotion.blogspot.com for more on it.
        I love the idea. Today we made a few more bags and Punkin was able to make picture frames for gifts.
  We made get well cards yesterday for mom and we had a good time. So today she was able to let those juices flow some more.

         Well I need to continue to rest to get this ugly sickness that I have had for more than a week now. So If there is anything that I have forgotten to mention, Oh Well.
      

     Hope you are all well and good.

My Hero's

             So two days ago, I was feeling better and thought I was heading to recovery,
When that night, I was struck by a pain in my chest that hit me so hard, It scared me. And IT HURT.
               I had been getting the night sweats and waking up two and three times in the night to have to change my clothes, they were soaking wet. I was so done doing this. And I was done.                                        

       Then two days ago, I couldn't get warm. I thought that this was strange. For days now I was riding fevers that went from 99.9 to 101.8. My temperature usually rides low, 97.8, but not this last few days. Anyway, two days ago, it was even lower, 96.4. Okay I am cold, blooded. As well as my blood pressure being very low on a good scale it was low. Normally it run 110/70, but it was 89/48.
         Yet I was not dead because I could feel pain, in my chest. Not my heart though, my chest, in my neck and arm, all on the right side. I awoke my husband to ask for help. I needed it, and he jumped right in to the roll. He did everything but make me go to the hospital. I hate them. He didn't make me . He made sure that I got comfortable enough to sleep though, and I did.
          Yesterday, I was taken to the hospital.
    I called to make an appointment to go see my doctor who never see's me, cause I don't need to go.
       On the phone I said I had chest pains; red flag; I was next thing I knew I was talking to a nurse , and then on my way to the E.R. Oh boy, just what I wanted to do, NOT!
          I just wanted to make sure I did not have pneumonia and that is what I did. But hey I was in and out in no time due to the fact that I had chest pains, oh boy.

           My family came through like real troopers. Mama, became the teacher, youngest became the cook and hubby was the great comforter ready to do whatever needed to be done. It was great and I am better for it.

        I am still coughing and I am still recovering, and I normally do not get sick, so all to say,
 "I love my Hero's".

Recovering

Young scholars field trip

As my last post was some time ago, I don't think that there was even a title, due to the sickness in me( I fixed it now :~). I didn't even think of the title.
Well today I am a bit better than I have been all week. I don't remember the last time I actually had the flu. I have been ill along with my grand-daughter.
Last weekend. we went to a field trip to the Post Office, then off to a small group meeting and combined park day for the children.

OKAY enough mail for one day!

So she went off to her daddy's family and I had the rest of the weekend to tackle.
 Friday night, my husband and I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased a Nook book, as a early birthday gift for him.
Then on Saturday, after he played with the nook and I had to many thing to accomplish before going to a friends husbands funeral. I was tried before I even went. But hey, it was so great to hear that the Lord was waiting for him to arrive to his eternal home in heaven.
It was good to see so many quilter's supporting her and suppling the reception with foods. And there was plenty.
Has I got home that evening, we had to do some more shopping, running around, because my garbage disposal was dust, as well as the blender. So needless to say, it was late before I was able to sit down to rest only to get up the next morning to to go to Sunday service and to serve in Children's Ministry.
 As I was starting to leave my youngest daughter was leaving and called me. We visited a bit and then she ended up coming to spend the day with me. She was recovering from having a cold.
Late that night I took her home to her grandmothers home and came home to crash and burn. Not realizing that I was really going to crash two days later.
On Tuesday morning I had a rough cough. Wow, where did that come from, I had wondered. It hurt. Punkin came to school with a head ache and before the day was over she had a fever of almost 102*.
Wednesday we didn't have school. She stayed home and I just kind of relaxed. But by the end of Thursday, I was just a wreck. I was not able to sleep in my bed on Wednesday, because I could stop coughing. I even tried the Vicks vapor rub on the bottom of my feet with socks on. I knew I had to let my husband sleep so he could go to work. I ended up in a chair, up-right.
Thursday, I slept in my bed almost upright. I could not believe the dreams I had. The heat I was producing within my body was over whelming. Hot spot all night long, but I made myself go as long as possible. It must have been about 4:00am , when I finally could not take the pain in my head any longer and got up to take some Tylenol. Talk about breaking a fever. I woke two hours later to a soaked bed. I thought I had just got out of a pool with a t-shirt on. The bed sheets clung to me like I had. I didn't know what to think, except that I had slept.
First things first was to change into dry clothes, then strip the bed and get the sheets washed.
Punkin was coming to school today, just like yesterday, but wow, did we ever have a laid back school week. But thats why we home school. If by chance things are not so good, we can do that. Sure we read our daily devotional, and did a little bit of book work, but not to much cause we were not all together well. Friday, was different too. We did our devotional and we read a bit, but then we watched the Sound of Music, and read American Girls story, Felicity. We talked about the times tables and we enjoyed just being together, while it rained and was cold outside.
Wow what a week. I am still recovering from this yuck of something. I have had three nights of wet sheets now, just not to the extent of the first time. I still have the ever ugly sounding croup cough that hurts, and I still don't have the strength to sew or make orange marmalade, but I am better.

Orange Marmalade with blood
oranges from a friend.

I can not stand to just sit or lay around, but I have had the time to read a book call 'Candle in the Darkness' , by Lynn Austin.
Just a bit of history in a novel, about the days of the Civil War.
So to say the least , hope all is well on the other side of the fence, and that to know I still have another day to recover from this  is reassuring, Tomorrow is Presidents day and there is no school .

Small Group meeting/ Park day
passing out valentine's

Yeah!!

First day sick day...

Well today was the official first day that my student went home ill. She had a fever of Oh I don't know, over 101*.
Mom came to the rescue with Children's  Tylenol and whisked her off to home.
 In the mean time I seem to have caught something which is not good. I have this cough that started this morning and it hurts when I do cough. NOT good.
So I guess I have not eaten enough garlic and drank enough water and washed my hands well enough.
Darn....
So after being around 20 children on Sunday in Sunday school, and then spending the rest of the day with my daughter who is not well, what would I expect , Huh!!.
  So I need to really doctor myself up these next few days so as to stop this ugly bug from ruining my days.
I hope I can beat this thing so it does not beat me.

So Much To Do....

            So little time...
        
How can we fit everything in that we sign up to do.
            I am so concerned with what isn't taken care of today that I need to carry it into tomorrow and then, wish it was already done.
            I am amazed at how much I do get done with so little time. Yet I know even if I had more time I would have more to do.

           I think I really need to stop thinking that I am worth what I can accomplish. Therefore, I am worthy of ....what? I have NO clue.
      

I took a task and added a dream and then, life can with a blow and now I sometimes feel like I am over whelmed.

                  I am so Thankful that I have the Lord on my side. I think I would be stir-crazy and addicted to some thing. Oh yeah, I am....
        The Lord and His word,
           Water and food,
                   Fabric for quilts,
                         and my grand-daughter.

The Difference

last weeks emotional roller coaster ride

                       So last Monday we went thru the day without the ritual of taking the Monday morning bath, after the weekend away.

sent home from daddy's like this

                                                                                    


This Monday, I did not want to go thru it again.

weekend washed away
,

        So we took the ever refreshing, all iniquity removing, totally cleansing bath.


        
We had a nice day

No stress, 

No crying,

No hassels,

No break-downs,

Just a blessing.

We were done by three and we went for a two and a half miles walk/bike ride. I walked, she rode her bike.

It was a good Monday. What a difference.

February Friday, Whew...

    Finally it's Friday. Oh my, has it been a week of trying. Testing really could be said.

We had a different Monday, and then Tuesday I think was a blur,
 and Wednesday we had to get a birthday card ready for a Thursday evening dinner with daddy.


So today after tests and struggles of being with daddy last night and getting ready to get going to his house again for the weekend, OH MY......

WE made it with putting a Rain Forest puzzle together at almost the end of the day.





 And now I am relaxing and dreaming of the things I will possibly do this weekend.
Clean house, :(

Pull weeds, :(
 although it could be good to get out if it is not to cold.

Rearrange the spare apt, that was our original classroom, (before it got too cold).

Read, and read some more,

Do my woman's bible study, ; /

Sew....   :)

Lot's of options and everything really could use a touch, of something.
I guess I'll wait to see what the morning brings and decide then.

Until then, I think I'll continue to relax.

Why I live here

               I live where we do, because I do not like to be cold.

Because it almost always is sunny, at least part of the day,

Because I need sun shine,

because I like to have green plants almost all year around,

because I like to drive with out ice on the roads, and

because the mountains and the beach are about the same distance away and I can see the mountains with the snow on them without having to go there.

Because there are fewer bugs here, that fly around your head or crawl between your toes, or sneak in your bed.

Because I don't want toads on my porch swing, or snakes in my pool.

because I need Sunshine, and Because I do not like to be cold.

       Today, I had to go outside and sit in a lawn chair in the sunshine to be warm, cause my house was cooler than I wanted to be. 

But it was great outside and that is where we did better in school today.

No Bath Monday

                 It was a different kind of a Monday, not like most we experience here @everest ranch. We had are bible devotional time, with mom on the side listening. We didn't take our ever cleansing, over all rejuvenating, iniquity relieving, bath.(This is some of the most needed stuff on a Monday morning).

           We jumped right in and began even while mom was still here. But it was not the best day, just
different.
          Why you might ask. I was able to sew while the little one was doing Handwriting and Math. Yes, I was sewing on my never ending scrappy quilt that I have been working on for months.
Today I was able to sew strips together for four patches. Maybe, some day I will be able to do some more, while being a home school teacher again.

          Piano lesson two was today also and she was ready, Yeah!

  It was a good Monday, but I wonder what a refreshing bath would have done for her?

Sound of Music

            Today was one of the besets homeschool days yet.



    We went to see the play, "The Sound of Music". And it was delightful. Punkin enjoyed it very much. The singing was right up there with the original play. It was great.

     We did our spelling test and Bible memory verse test while standing in line. We talked of the circumstances of the plot of the play with the times of the war, so we touched on history.

In the play they quoted scripture from the bible, and the examples of Faith in the Lord was touched on.
     It showed how if you learn and then practice what you've learned, you become very good at it, and people admire you. There was a lot to see and experience in the play.

It made me want to sit down and watch the movie again.

 I have always enjoyed the movie anyway, but to many things to do keep from sitting that long to veg.

Anyway, Check it out this weekend or when you have the chance. It was excellent.

Kalanchoe

I was given a new plant today called Kalanchoe.
I was told to observe it and take notes on it. So I googled it and found out all kinds of stuff about this little guy. They say it is easy to take of and doesn't take much to keep it happy.
This is so kind of my friend to give me this science project to do. Some thing Punkin and I can do.
This is a succulent and it is pretty.

What do you think of it?