Pickle Bucket Garden

At Church a couple of weeks ago I learned a new way of gardening utilizing a pickle bucket.

Drill holes in the SIDE of the bucket about 4 inch's from the bottom.

Fill with potting soil and plant a seedling.

The great thing about this system is you can move the bucket. If there is a late frost bring the plants in the garage. Inclement weather strong winds? Move inside. Need to conserve water? Set them in the shade for a couple of hours. You can sink the bucket into the ground to prevent the plants getting too top heavy. Different veggies have different fertilizer needs. This way you treat the plant and not the rest of your garden that is down stream.

Oh and the wire support? Salvaged from political yard signs littering the neighborhood.

5 Months

Pico Pico is a big boy today!! 5 months!!

Here he is trying his first bite of rice cereal.

Here he is spitting it back out.

On a side note an hour and a half later he is fast asleep. There may be something to eating this big boy food.

Plus Size Nursing Bra

I have finally done it. I think I created the perfect nursing bra. Perfect for me at least. I used an old Cacique Balconette bra that had a broken under wire. Took off the outer lining and fold-over elastic. Using a new Cacique Balconette I added a zipper next to the under wire channel. Cut the zipper track and then stitched the outer lining onto the inside to create a lining that protects my skin from the zipper. For an H cup I used a 12" zipper. A great bra now made into a great nursing bra.

Moving Day or Bad Parenting

What is the best part of getting a new room?  Moving your bed.

So fun we moved the bed several times.

So KTB shares a room with the Pico Pico.

This solves the problem of her unwillingness to go upstairs due to ghosts and monsters.

NAT gets her own big girl room. Now she dosen't have to share with a horrible little sister.

Pico Pico dosen't get an opinion because he's too small. Poor Baby is just a pawn in this whole sordid mess.

Bad Parenting?  Well did your parents let you slide down the stairs on a mattress? Mine didn't either. Besides after this bit of fun NAT said, "You are the best Mudder in the world! I'll love you forever!" Now I know I was being a bad and irresponsible parent. When I'm making good parenting choices she tells me I'm, the worst Mudder in the world and she hates me."

The Problem with Missionary Work

The problem with missionary work is that once you start it gets easier and easier to do more.  A friend asked me what church I go to so I told her the LDS Church.  She has gone there too and wants to come to Church again. I warn her that our meetings start at 9:00am. This does not deter her.

The Sister missionaries come over to eat dinner.  They encourage me to call my friend and invite her to Church the next day. I do, but I remind her that she may not be able to find church shoes in time.  She replies that she has already bought new church shoes and dresses for her brood.  She is ready to come.

My husband has not worked at all this weekend.  I tentatively invite him to come to Church.  He agrees. 

My daughter's preschool teacher asks me, "What Church do you go to? Is it the Mormon one?" I say yes and she says, "I thought so. I asked your daughter to sing her favorite song and she sang 'Follow the Prophet'. I remember it from when I served in Primary.  I haven't been in a long time, but one of the sisters invited me to an activity next week.  I have a Children's song book still, do you want it?"  What else can I say. Of course I want it.

Here I am quietly going about my own business and the Lord is throwing all these missionary opportunities at me.  I respond by trying to deflect them, but this gets harder and harder to do. So I guess I just have to go with it and "Trust in the Lord."  UGGH. I hate it when the lesson I diligently try to teach my Sunday School class is really meant for me.  Humble Pie any one?

BIG Horses

Meet Mitch:

Meet Mike:

These two larger than life personalities were on location at the Anheuser-Busch bottling plant last Saturday.

More of the gang...

X-max Redux

KTB got a camera for Christmas.  It is chunky and has rubber handles that let it bounce if dropped.  The picture quality is fine with me but by far the best feature is how fast it recovers to take another picture.  There is almost a stop animation feel when the girls get shutter happy.  I finally dug out the cord so we could download her first round of pictures.  She took a great picture of the X-mas ornaments we made this year.  Here is a link with some helpful hints. Important note:  If your baby is only 4 wks old... he will not open his tiny fist to make this work, maybe next year. 

Proclivity to Procastinate

Here is my goal to help motivate me to do the everyday cleaning up and sorting of the inevitable piles around the house:


20mins of Straightening = 20mins of SEWING = 20mins to Read


I never feel like I can take the time to sew so I just keep putting it off.  Reading is the easiest thing to do to when I've put off sewing.
I actually took a survey to find out how badly I procrastinate. Turns out I am right up there with the top 10% of the procrastinating population. All of you other slackers had better start studying, or is that not studying.  The website recommends I set a goal to help me lessen my proclivity to procrastinate.  Hence the goal.

Count Them One by One

So at the beginning of the year I am thinking about the things in my life I wish I could change.  The list runs through my mind so easily.  Dissatisfaction on autopilot.  I didn't like how it made me feel.  Then out of nowhere I wondered if I could make a list of things I don't want to change. It was a lot harder, in no way automatic, and pitifully short. 

I thought about the blessing I received before I gave birth. My body would fulfill all the needs of my son. I would be blessed with patience and understanding from my loved ones (which really means for my loved ones.)  Why do we worry so much about the things we wish we could change and forget about all the stuff that is Right in our lives? 

So here is my List: hard to identify, short, and so wonderful!

1. My son is a professional at nursing.  He has been from the first time I put him to the breast.  After all the drama with the other two I am so thankful that feeding him is relaxing and automatic.

2. In this economy where jobs are scarce I have a loving husband who has three.  Maybe he is the reason jobs are hard to come by.  All I know is that he loves he's family and provides for them with all of his hard work.

3. My girls are beautiful.  They are not perfect.  They fight and make messes and drive me crazy, but they love each other and their new little brother. 

4. I can make my friends laugh. I can tell them what is going on in my house and they understand the crazy and laugh with me or at me. It doesn't matter which just as long as they listen.

Making this list run through my mind takes effort.  It is not a reflex to think about my blessings.  I am working on making it one though.