Celebrating a Couple of Loved One's Birth Month

My two daughters have a birthday later this month. I've been celebrating their birth month with small goodies every day. I leave these treats, one each day, as surprises for them to find. One day it was a small box of raisins, another day a small piece of chocolate, another day an individual fruit cup, you get the picture. It's not so much the actual treats that I think makes them happy, but me taking the time to do this each of the days before their birthday. I also leave a brief note with each treat wishing them a happy day. I love surprising my family and putting smiles on their faces.

Today's treat was a baggie of pretzels. I had some pretzels leftover from when I dipped them in chocolate for Valentine's Day. But I'd been holding these back as a treat for sometime in the future instead of putting them out for us to snack on. (I don't buy pretzels very often.) 

Anyway, I used bags from buying spices and cocoa powder that I'd washed and dried. These bags don't have zippers, so I needed something to tie them up with. The ribbon box is upstairs, near where my daughters were talking this morning. As I wanted to surprise them, I had to find some sort of tie or ribbon from my downstairs supplies. In my sewing stuff I have a bunch of fabric scraps. I used my pinking shears to cut "ribbons" from some black and white gingham scraps. I wanted to mention this as I've found that ribbons for tying gifts are a good use for narrow fabric scraps that don't seem to be big or wide enough for any other use.

As sappy as this sounds, I've been blessed to have family for whom I can do special things. It's a part of what gives me purpose.

Wednesday Gardening Day

Hi friends, 

I intended to write this yesterday, but something went wrong with my head as I was finishing up with garden stuff, and I had a bad dizzy spell. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening motionless and without electronics. I woke up feeling better today. So, hopefully this was a one-off thing. I do get dizzy easily from movement, so there's that. Not to worry.

Anyway, back to gardening.

March may signify the beginning of spring, but it's been cool and wet this week. Nevertheless, I did get some gardening stuff done. 

First, I got out my gardening journal (my pink spiral notebook that doubles as my "motivational journal") and listed what seeds I have already begun for this season (tomato, kale, beets, celery, onions, and Brussel sprouts). I began these seeds two weeks ago in flats under lights indoors.

Next, I pulled out all of my seeds, even old ones. I discarded really old packets -- more than 10 years old was my guideline. Then, I sorted the seeds according to when and where I'd start them. Would I start them outdoors in the ground or indoors in flats? Would I start them in March or April or May? Once sorted, I labeled several boxes (when and where starting) and plunked seeds into each's appropriate box. I now have a firm plan and some organization for starting all of this year's seeds. The beauty of sorting into boxes is that after I begin particular seeds, if I want to succession sow (plant some more later in the season), I can plop the packets of seeds into a second box after starting in an earlier month. Ex, I plant lettuce several times during the season, so after starting lettuce this week, I'll put the packets into a box labeled "late May" for a mid to late-summer harvest. And again for veggies like kale that do well in both spring and fall here, I'll have a box for starting seeds in June.

After this organizational exercise, it was time to start some more seeds in flats under lights. This week I began turnips, a different kind of beets, several types of lettuce, Swiss chard, nasturtiums, and red, white, and "blue" (really a deep purple) petunias. I also soaked parsley seeds in water overnight to start today (Thursday) in Wednesday's tray. And since I love to make lists, I entered the types and quantities (how many cells or pots) of seeds that I began this week into my "gardening journal." I gave my flat of seeds some water and have them under lights for a little heat while they germinate. And now I wait.

If you're on the fence about planting a vegetable garden for this upcoming season, I think it's worthwhile if you have the sunny space and time. From what I've been hearing, we can expect even more food inflation later in 2022, due to increased transportation costs, higher prices on crop fertilizers, and water restrictions for farmers in key growing states like California. There's always something that doesn't grow as well as I'd planned or has some sort of pest problem, but I've never had a garden that didn't give me my money's worth.