I did however get a few things done.
1. I cleaned out my china cabinet and cleaned all of the glass surfaces in said china cabinet (seen up top after said cleaning). I still need to wash the wooden parts and wax it, but it's a lot better than it was. I got rid of empty bottles, organized my vintage Corelle (well some of it...the rest of that stuff is in my kitchen cabinets) and my Pyrex refrigerator dishes and made the cabinet look a lot more cohesive and better organized. It makes me happy every time I look at it now :).
2. I also started to get my furnace room reorganized now that it's emptied out. I hung up the kids snow shoes and got the vacuum bags hung up. I still have some more to do there, but I'm happy with the progress so far.
3. I got slip covers for the two throw pillows cut out. Still need to embroider them and sew them together, but at least I got that far. I have been having a terrible time with fatigue since I got that bad cold/flu bug and sewing was the last thing on my mind.
4. I found materials to redo the couch downstairs at the used store. I measured it out and I think for the 2.50 I spent on the material that I should be able to redo the majority of the damage to the couch, so I'm super happy about that. Then I just need to make a big slip cover for the couch cushions as they need one BAD anymore and the couch should be looking pretty good. I'm hoping to get to that this week.
3. I also weeded out more clothes from the kids that didn't fit them anymore and with my daughter I had her pull out some bigger sized pants to see if they fit or not. She could a couple of pairs that fit her, so at least we got that taken care of for now. Still got more weeding to do, but we're making progress.
4. And I cleaned the coils on the standing freezer and mopped underneath it (that was filthy!).
Seeing it all in writing, I guess I didn't do too shabby last week. Mainly I didn't get to what I wanted to do (like sewing and working on mending that quilt), but at least I got some things marked off my list.
Now onto my goals for this week!
General Goals:
1. Clean kitchen cabinets, switch shelves around (they are adjustable inside...I know...cheap, but it's what I got), clean objects on top of cabinets.Sewing Goals:
2. Work on couch in den. Get repairs done if possible (as it's going to look weird if I don't do it all at once).
3. Shampoo carpets.
4. Start to wash windows (they need it bad!)
5. Clean Dishwasher
1. Work on pillow shams for couch.Garden Goals:
2. Work on dress.
3. Make new bag holder (mending old one failed. The material is so old it's brittle and it's just not working).
4. Make pattern for some reusable shopping bags.
1. Make diagram of garden, this time taking into account where seeds and seedlings will be planted to figure out best layout for it.
2. Make list of items I'll need for garden this year (I'm planning on planting some things in planters and such so I need to budget for that).
3. Go through some flowers with daughter and figure out what she wants to plant (she REALLY wants to grow some flowers this year so I think I'm going to work on that with her. I'm also hoping to plant some bulb flowers, like daffodils this year to come up next year :).
You have been busy! As for the flowers, I would steer your daughter towards things that are easy to grow like zinnias and marigolds. Great success rates and the flowers last a long time. :)
ReplyDeleteWell she really wants purple pansies so far (we saw some in the store and I had to explain to her if we planted them outside right now they would die lickedy split) and she really loves the idea of planting some bulbs to come up next year, so I'm going to look into planting some daffodils this fall maybe. Every time I think I have a plan concreted out I either buy more seeds (which I MIGHT have bought more today *ahem*) or my daughter comes up with something she wants to do and I don't want to say no :).
DeleteCan you grow sunflowers in Alaska? Those are so fun to grow and you can eat the seeds, or feed the bird over winter with the "harvest". Perhaps you could make a Christmas present out of it, too...like maybe build a bird feeder with scrap wood or collected branches and include a bag of homegrown seeds with it.
DeleteI'm glad you are feeling a bit better. I have been struggling with this cold/thing for 14 days now! It does make me tired, but I can keep going most days.
ReplyDeleteA lot of bulbs, like daffodils and tulips, need to be planted in the fall. Some things like anemones and dahlia bulbs, can be planted in spring. So, you might want to check the planting time on the ones you want to grow.
I love gardening. I hope yours goes well. I'm sure your season is shorter in some ways up there, but you can probably get a lot of things to grow because the days are so long in the summer.
The biggest problem we really have is not only the long days but also the short season. Most people won't even attempt to plant anything until Mother's Day weekend, but that's kind of pushing it for most things. Really, unless we are having a REALLY mild year, the first week of June is usually the best time to plant a garden and by the beginning of October you're pretty much done with the cold weather crops.
DeleteIn between I end up battling spider mites (they nest naturally in the soil up here and are EVERYWHERE as soon as the soil gets above 70 degrees) and the fact that if you plant something in full sun...um...well packages when they say "full sun" don't take into account full sun in Alaska *laugh*, so you have to be careful not to let plants scorch or bolt because of the sunlight.
I have found some information on a grant to build a greenhouse possibly, though, so I'm kind of hopeful that I might be able to get one. If I can my growing season could really get expanded by a month in spring and in the winter, which would SO help and that's if I don't put artificial light and heat in one!
By the way, thanks for the tips on the bulbs. I am a complete novice when it comes to anything bulb related anyway, but when it comes to flowers I'm REALLY a novice. I tend to plant lots of marigolds to help keep bugs away and that's about it. We did successfully plant Johnny Jump Ups last year and they really helped to make the gravel patch that much more pretty, but yeah...I need to read up on flowers :).
DeleteI have no experience with your climate, but here's a few tips that work here. I am in Oregon, relatively near Portland. It is pretty mild here most of the time. We fight with mud in the early spring, and can't plant because of it in the big garden. I often get frost until mid-May, because of elevation, and get a fall frost mid-October. So, things like tomatoes, etc. die before and after that. Some flowers and vegetables can take a bit of frost and cold and some can't.
DeleteCool weather crops include: cabbage, broccoli, carrots, leeks, onions, beets, spinich, boc choi, asparagus, pansies, violas (your Johnny Jump-ups are one of these) bulbs such as daffodils, peas, snow peas, etc. There are probably more, but those are the ones I can get away with planting early, if I can get into the garden. I try lettuce, too. My garden here has one large section that is tilled, and several raised beds in another section that are hand-worked, and one section with permanent plantings of berries and grapes. It is surrounded by a tall fence to keep out deer. Of course, I'm moving, so won't have that anymore, but it's worked well for us while we were here. We have some pansies that overwinter here in our mild winters. I have seen them stay alive under a rare snowfall. A good way to know if they would live in your area is to look at flowerbeds as you drive around--if office buildings have them in their landscaping, it's probably not too early. If the ground is covered with snow--no flowers--well..... Maybe your daughter could get one pansy plant and you could put it on the center of the table or something inside until it warms up enough. If it dies.....well, it probably only cost $1:) and she would probably get that much enjoyment out of it. Or maybe she could plant a few seeds inside (in a place with excellent light) to watch them grow and then plant it outside when it gets warmer. A flower would work, or a tomato, if you could get them enough light to not get spindly.
I wait until late May or early June for: tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and a second planting of some of the others. For flowers, I wait for zinnias, petunias, marigolds, etc.--the traditional ones that people put in flowerbeds.
We battle slugs here. They eat every new seedling that they can get as soon as it comes up in the early spring. During the summer, they are not so bad. They can down entire broccoli plants, etc., after they are planted out. So, I surround the plants with slug bait if I need to. I try to use the least possible amount of bait as I can, as we mostly garden organically and I don't think my slug bait is organic. We've tried some other methods such as crushed egg shells, and bowls of beer with limited success.
I don't have any spider mites. I wonder if there is something that can deal with them:) Good luck with your garden.
Oh you have pink Pyrex! I only have one pink Pyrex...but I do look all the time in the thrift stores and antique stores. If I find a dish under $3.00 I will buy it.
ReplyDeleteI am a Pyrex fiend, and have been since my wedding when I was given a nesting set of Blue Pyrex~now almost 28 years later I do have a nice collection. I am now actively seeking~black Pyrex, dark blue, and pink!
Love your china hutch~it looks amazing.
Jennifer