Fudge

The kids and I were getting into my car and my drivers door handle just fell off. I let out some choice words which consisted of "Oh FUDGE!" (my kid appropriate F word). Both kids let out an audible gasp and looked at each other with their mouths open. I looked at them incredulously and asked why the gasp, stating that I didn't say the "F" word I just said fudge. Greta looked at me and in her quite little voice said "I thought fudge WAS the F word".

Tower Garden

I've become pretty obsessed with tower gardens. What is a tower garden you ask? Well, it's a hydroponic tower that circulates water around while growing tasty vegetables. I was intrigued the first time I saw the gardens at our church (they have three) and then the gal that tends to them asked me to help. I was hooked. Once a week we would meet at the church and add water, plant seeds or harvest goodies. It was fun!

I started researching them and after running the numbers decided we needed one at the house. It will take about a year of growing my own greens (and not buying them from the grocery store) to pay for the unit. It is a large investment up front ($525 for the unit plus $250 for the grow lights) but growing your own food is so satisfying.

Right before Thanksgiving we arrived home to a giant pile of boxes on the porch.

It was like Christmas! That is all the components to the tower garden including the base, LED lighting, extension unit, minerals and rock wool.

Thanksgiving day my parents were over and helped us put it together. It went together a lot quicker than we all thought it would. There isn't much to it.

 Here is the unit built but without the lighting. I did opt for the extension which makes it two rows taller (an extra $70). I waited to order mine until the new LED lighting was released. I didn't expect the lighting to be so bright! It was blinding! Should grow some great food.

We pushed it over where we wanted it and ordered a hot water heater pan to put it in (in case of drips or leakages). I filled it up and added the mineral blend and let it run for a week. I started seeds after a week. I started them in their own rock wool in a tray and once they were coming up I popped them into their own little chamber on the tower. I planted the top two rows with kale, then a row of romaine, a row of basil, two rows of black seeded lettuce and the bottom row is cucumbers.

It's been growing for a month now and I've harvested lettuce for the first time this weekend. I made lettuce wraps and used these big old lettuce leaves for the wrap. Growing food in your own home in the middle of winter is very cool. I really love it!

Christmas 2017

Well another great Christmas over and done and I wouldn't change a thing. My parents were here along with my sister and her family. It was nice to have a full house for the Holidays.

We did all of the traditional things like make sugar cookies:

Our elf, Christopher, came for a visit. He likes to hide every morning in a new place. This was our favorite hiding place. He seemed to be missing Santa Claus there at the end.

All of the kids had a great Christmas morning unwrapping their treasures. Greta finally got a Hatchimal which she is super excited about. It plays all sorts of games and even mimics you as you talk. We had a great time watching it hatch.

Wesley was so excited to get a video camera as he wants to start making YouTube videos. He's been shooting video and is busy reading all about techniques.

He and the nephews were also excited to get some Nerf guns. The new Nerf Rival guns shoot little foam balls that are (in my opinion) more fun. The boys and Grandpa went out and had a Nerf battle.

Even the dogs got to unwrap some new toys. Winston loved his new ball he even went to sleep with it in his mouth.

The other 3 all enjoying the new dog bed.

Radio Show

A lady at church approached me and asked if Wesley and I would like to be in the radio show they are putting on for the community. I, being an age that had never seen or heard a radio show, had no idea what she was talking about. She explained that it was like a play but instead of acting we stood at old time square microphones and read our lines from a script. It didn't seem very difficult so I said yes.

It must be said that I'm not a public speaker. I don't like reading in front of people. I have a box and I don't step outside of it very often but I decided a little change is good. Plus I knew Wesley would have fun with it and it would be a memorable thing to do together with him. And it was!

The play was "It's a Wonderful Life" and we all dressed in 1940's clothes and hair styles. I had to look up hairstyles on YouTube and learn how to roll my hair. It was a learning experience. My parents came to see the show and taste all the food. I'm thrilled they came!

 Here's to stepping outside your box!

Mayor for the Day

What an exciting day Miss Greta had! There was a coloring contest in the elementary school for kindergarten through second grade. The entries were collected and the mayor had to pick her favorite. The winner this year was Greta! As a prize she got to ride with the mayor and Santa in the Christmas parade and throw out candy. She also won $25 and a plaque. She was so excited!

She anxiously took her money to Build-a-Bear (.com) and ordered a reindeer stuffed animal with her $25. Here is her winning picture. Good job Greta!

Santa!

It's not Christmas without the annual trek to the local library to see Santa. We've found the wait to see Santa has slowly been creeping up over the years and it takes about 1.5 hours to get the picture taken (you get a card when you enter and then they call the picture on the card when it's your turn). So this year we got our card and went to a restaurant and ate pie to pass the time. Worked great, got back to the library with 10 minutes to spare.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home with my parents. You wouldn't know that by the amount of food that was on the table! Snow crab made another appearance this year. We made a small turkey breast and four pounds of snow crab for the omnivores and I made several plant based dishes for the non-omnivore.

My parents brought over Just Dance for the WiiU and everyone danced! It was great. I have a video of my mother dancing but she'd kill me if I posted it. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Autumn

There is roughly one nice day a year in which the leaves are very yellow on the maple trees lining the driveway. Then the next day they have all fallen. I caught that perfect day and drug the kids out to take some pictures. We are skipping the family pictures this year so this might be their replacement.

Sore Hands

Have you noticed my lack of blogging? Yep, it's that time of the year when I do nothing but sculpt sculpt sculpt. It sneaks up on me each year and before I know it I have a list of Christmas orders a mile long that I've promised to get done in time. This year is no different. I took on 29 orders that I have to accomplish and have shipped and received before Christmas. I'm doing pretty good only having 9 left as of today. Yay!

I am grateful that I have a job where I bring smiles to many people. The stress of the season is overshadowed by the wonderful, heartfelt messages I get from dog owners having just lost their dog and getting a little sculpture to remember it by.

I have lots to blog about but it will have to wait a few more days. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Halloween!

Halloween is still great fun for our eight and ten year old kids. I'm not sure when trick-or-treating starts to be uncool but we're not there yet. This year Greta went as a Minion and Wesley was a whoopie cushion. He's very much into bathroom humor at the moment and this was a fitting costume.

We actually remembered to buy pumpkins and carved them before Halloween for a change. I let them use the tiny saws and carve them all by themselves, they did great!

Yep, a poop emoji.