The Spring Clean

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Momzoo

I am finally back to my SPRING clean. It has been a wet, rainy day around here, so my flowers and gardens weren’t calling to me and things were really quiet around here for a few hours, so I decide to TACKLE a couple of cupboards.

Here are a couple of before shots. I am famous for just shoving things into cupboards. Each item has a specific cupboard they belong in, and each cupboard has a theme, I am just not so good at put things away neatly!

I also DECIDED that I wanted to participate for the first time in “Making your Home a Haven Monday” over at http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm so I needed to take some before and after pictures.

Here are the “before pictures”

When we moved in 7 years ago this shelf (picture below) was never installed. I finally got around to alerting PIC of the problem and he had it fixed in about 30 minutes I really should have had him do that sooner…hmmmm.

TAAADAAA!!!

Here are the after pictures. I threw away some stuff, but mainly I just put things in a proper order. The trick will be keeping it that way! HA!

For more ideas and pictures of what other ladies have done head over to Biblical Womanhood http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm

The Sabbath Day

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Momzoo

I have been thinking a lot lately about something my Stake President said during our ward conference. (Our ward conference was back in January, it takes some time for me to wrap my brain around things!) He talked to us about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I have always thought that I obeyed that commandment. Our family has certain things we don’t do on Sunday; we don’t ride bikes, go boating or camping, we don’t shop or do yard work, our children don’t play with friends, we don’t do major house cleaning chores, etc.

Really I have given this topic very little thought, I figured I had it nailed, until my Stake President’s talk. He suggested that we could do more to make the Sabbath a spiritual day; he suggested that we get to church not only on time, but early so we could settle in and feel the spirit; he also suggested that we have a family prayer before leaving. I thought that was interesting, a family prayer before going to church meetings.

Then the other day I read a blog post by a Jewish woman who talked about what they do for their Sabbath Day observance. It took her the better part of Friday to prepare for sun set and their Sabbath to start. She prepared special foods and they have special prayers and even special clothing, all for Sabbath.

Now, I am not thinking of converting to Judaism. I happen to really, really believe in my religion, but it got me to wondering about my Sabbath Day observance.

Is Sunday just a different day, or do I make it a special day? Honestly I think I just tolerate it.

Here is my typical Sunday. I get up about 6:30, that is when my husband leaves for his meetings, and I hurry to do my hair and make-up. I wake the kids and give them a quick bowl of cereal and turn on the TV. I get the kids dressed, and iron a few items, the older ones can dress themselves, but I need to be on them so they get it done. One, by one I call the girls in so I can do their hair. Mike usually gets home about 8:00 and while I am finishing up a couple of hair-dos and getting myself dressed he will dress the baby. At about 8:30, when our meetings have started we are rushing out the door, while I am yelling at the 9 year old punk to go get her shoes on for the 10 bazillionth time I am frantically putting together a bag and we are running out the door. We arrive harried, breathless and sleepy to church, sneak in the back and feel proud of ourselves if we make it before the Sacrament. I brave church, half listen; half juggle children and sleepy baby and watching the clock wanting to go home. When church is over I make a quick lunch for the kids, change clothes, put babies and little kids to bed and send the big kids to play in their room while I take a long nap. Husband goes back to church to meetings. We have a big Sunday dinner (I do like this part, I love to cook) hurry kids off to bed and sit on couch watching TV until bed time.

No where in that day did I stop and worship the Lord.

That day was different from my typical day, but there was nothing special about it.

I haven’t quite decided what I am going to do to change how we spend our Sabbath Day. A little more preparation on Saturday would help. Going to bed earlier and getting up earlier on Sunday would help. I do think I am going to try the family prayer thing before we all go to church.

What do you guys do to make your Sabbath Day special?

The Spring Garden

Posted on April 2, 2008 by Momzoo

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood is talking about gardening and how it can help your food budget. I thought I would post an old article about gardening. I am an avid gardener and this year we planted 32 potatoes this year in a 4×8 raised bed and they are doing wonderful! Anyway, this post is mainly about timing and how you can have a garden almost year around even when you live in the Rocky Mountains like me.

A lot of people have the misconception that you can’t plant a garden until the absolute last frost. This is so not true! In fact if you wait until that very last frost (which around here is around Mothers Day) you have missed a whole season of wonderful crops. This is what I have planted in my garden right now. Peas, Sweet Peas, Early Carrots, Cabbage, Spinach and three different varieties of leaf lettuce. This is by no means a comprehensive list of early spring vegetables. You can also plant radishes, onion, garlic and a few others.

You can plant these seeds as soon as you can get out and work the soil. I planted my spring garden the first part of March, I have planted as early as mid-February. All of these plants are very hardy and can handle the cold, in fact items such as spinach and leaf lettuce do better in the cold. Sunday I woke to 6 inches of snow on my little plants, and as you can see, they are no worse for the wear.

The hot days of summer will make the lettuce and spinach go bitter and bolt faster. By the time these early spring plants are ready to harvest it is time to plant you tender summer vegetables; corn, tomatoes, bean, squash and cucumbers, this is a great way to maximise your garden space. There are mid-spring vegetables too. Things such as beet and potatoes. Beets have about a 50 day cycle. Meaning from the time you put the seed in the ground to harvest it usually takes 50 days. If you plant your beets in April you can harvest mid-June, replant, harvest again end of August. You have harvested twice from the same garden plot. Potatoes are a little different, they require a longer growing season. I am going to plant mine the end of April and they will stay in the ground until the first frost.

This Earth has the ability to give us a bounty of beautiful, fresh food. All it takes is hard work and a little planning and you can serve fresh vegetables to your family almost 12 months out of the year.