Learning to Garden

I know how to garden I grew up on five acres with a huge garden. My mom is a natural green thumb and has enlisted and taught us many of her gardening secrets and fun. But growing up in the wet temperate valleys of Southern Oregon is a whole lot different than the dry wild plains of eastern Colorado it should be a challenge in and of itself.

Oregon Garden

With our new house in closing and the budget I'm on I wan to not only save money on groceries but eat healthy and enjoy my food. Plus with my husbands gluten allergy (not to mention he eats his body weight in food daily) I will be  attempting to really utilities veggies and fruits.

So I'm spending my day not out frolicking in the sun with Archibald getting dirty and sweaty feeling accomplished and sexy. Oh no. I am online browsing what veggies I can grow in this dry harsh land. Okay so I'm not trying to grow watermelon in the Mohave but still gardening like cooking is a little intimidating for me but here it goes. Lucky me my mother-in-law is starting off the seedlings for many of my plants. Saving me time an money the only catch is I have to grow tomatoes and cucumbers for her.
     Another difference between planting in Oregon and planting here is I'm doing ingrown planting while with my mom we did raised bed planting. This helps with weeds, watering, soil placement and altogether planning.

Raised Bed

I wanted my husband to tell me what he wanted to grow/eat (let's be honest he'll only be benefiting from the fruits of the harvest). A really nice aspect to our new house is that we have mature trees which creates a nice shady spot for those plants and veggies that need shade. After using some websites (one I particularly liked was http://www.smartgardener.com/) and pinterest to research the zone and the seasons not to mention planning out the plant area have decided on some plants. 

Swiss Chard

Sun Veggies:

• Bell Peppers
• Hot peppers 
• Roma tomatoes
• Cherry and pear tomatoes
• Lemon Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Green Beans
• Strawberries 

Shade Veggies:

• Peas
• Broccoli 
• Cauliflower
• Lettuce
• Chard 

Also herbs that I'll put into pots and divide before the frost to put small portions inside my house in the winter so that I can have fresh herbs in the cold months too. 

Lettuce Mix

• Basil
• Cilantro
• French Thyme 
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Chives
• Rosemary 
• Sage 

Library Vision

Closing on my house has made me so excited. Its going to be so fun to decorate and be in my own house. Yesterday Kyle and I spent 2 hours just walking through Home Depot (next week will be Lowe's) it was relaxing and fun we got some new ideas and revamped others. Kyle is much more concerned with the porch and fire pit he wants outside. And I want to know the exact paint of all the rooms. The Library for we really do need one was food inspired. I had a basket of bright green granny Smith apples and Cuties (clementines). I will be painting the walls with a fresh coat of white (don't worry I'm not painting it orange I'm not that crazy) with black bookshelves that will line the walls. For my green and orange I have some awesome paintings that will go above the black shelves. At an estate sale I found the perfect green high wing-back chair for $20 its amazing I won't have to refurbish it or anything. I'd like to get three chairs for the room that are all older styled since the colors are so modern I want to tame it with antique furniture and odds and end. I have some green depression glass bowls and vases I bought on St. Patrick's Day I will incorporate into the decor. I meant to take a picture of the chair and forgot I really need to work on that.  

Archibald

Took Archibald on a walk today poor puppy was so tired all he could do was lay down. Found a chewed up power cord this morning. Puppy trouble of course.

Closing

A month ago Kyle and I put an offer on a house, well okay we but several offers on several house some that had no carpet, others that smelled of pet, and some that were a little quirky. The amount of houses we looked at was disheartening to say the least. But one day, when we were looking at puppies particularly the day we got Archibald, our agent called us and told us you have to look at this house well because we were looking at puppies and it was first come first serve basis we had a time limit. We shot over to the house and found it to be perfect without hesitation we said make our max offer and off we went. Well our offer got accepted out of the other 6 that were put on that same weekend. Then the waiting game began. We had accepted a short sale and we learned there is nothing short about a short sale. Everyone kept telling us that it would take 6 to 9 months and since out lease was up with our apartment we were staying with my parents and 6 to 9 months is a long time to be infringing on their hospitality. To increase the tension the house had been refinanced so we had to wait on two banks to give approval. The first bank gave approval within two weeks the second bank was being sold to another bank and that wouldn't go through until mid-April. All of this start to get our hopes of getting out of my parents anytime soon down but low and behold yesterday the banks called and gave us their approval. According to the contract May 21st is the latest we will take possession. Finely I can sleep in a queen bed again (Kyle and I have been sharing a twin for a month), cook in my own kitchen and decorate my first house. It should be fun!    

Is There a Support Group For This?

I love estate sales (not yard/garage sales they're usually junk) but old people getting rid of all their stuff usually ends up with really cool finds such as my awesome granny smith apple green high wing back chair for $20. Great right? Well you see Kyle and I have this problem, while most people collect stamps, coins or other little trinkets we collect books. Not just a few as of a week ago we had over 600 titles in our possession; all of which are cataloged categorized (fiction alphabetically by author and nonfiction in the Dewey decimal system) this collection does not include magazines, workbooks, or other such materials nor duplicate copies. When we first got married I knew I had this problem and after an estate sale learned my dearest husband did too, when he purchased a Freemason's life collection of books. To be honest that collection was a little odd but had some very interesting titles that made their way onto my bookshelves. 600 titles not so bad. I was home schooled I tons of people (with oodles of children) that have thousands of books. The problem is that they are not in their twenties and they have kids. If that was the end I would say not a problem. But when you see a bookstore and must go in and always come out with a stack of books you have a bit of a problem. Now for the real issue: this weekend there was an estate sale, tons of books. Kyle put a bid on all the books left over after the weekend that we would pick up Monday. Well since he has a job that requires him to work Monday the we he talked about ended up being a me (and my siblings that did such a great job). Before I detail I must say in Kyle's defense he thought it would be a car load (in my Subaru wagon) however when books are spread amongst three stories in every room of a minimum of 1800 square feet (the house was larger but I'm not sure how big) house and garage estimating can be difficult. It took three trips with my mom's minivan seats taken out stacked to the top to clear out those books. I started counting the books and gave up less than a third of the way through when I got to 2000. Granted with multiple titles and ones we don't need or want(not really into self help, needle point, or subpar science fiction) there are only about a thousand books. So in one day we have more than doubled our collection and now my husband is suggesting when we close on the house (oh yeah we're buying a house, perhaps another entry) that we do it to make some extra money on a regular basis, crazy man. Okay, just to clarify Kyle is not the only one after saying he was sorry I said its okay I needed these to fill the bookshelves I'm going to buy for the front room plus the sorting of keep sell was my job (plus my list of books we "need" because they're classics, out of print, ect.) My only question is where do the book buyers anonymous support group meeting?

Spring Semester

  The school semester is already almost over I just need to get through April and the first week of May. My little black lab/border collie puppy, Archibald, wishes school was out as well I might be home more often to play ball (I would say fetch but he has this habit of taking off and hiding the ball after I throw it). No mas Espanol, Art (worst class every I don't even go any more though attendance is not required and I have an A), or biological basis of behavior class (favorite class at this University thus far).

 Though as of half hour ago I am officially enrolled for the fall with 16 credit hrs, 9 of which are online so I have more time at home for the pup. This time I have decided to torture myself with US History to 1876, Language and Logic, The Fundamentals of Communication, Applied Statistics, and Microbiology (plus lab). It shouldn't be too bad I have been avoiding the, how do I put it, required yet (useless is too harsh, boring not always true, nonsense has proven false by Spanish) seemingly unimportant classes for my end goal should suffice. However to graduate humanities and social sciences are in order.

  My husband, Kyle, is also headed back to school. He works via correspondence school at Liberty University. He is working on his Masters after finishing up last Fall on his Bachelors in divinity (when he first met my parents he was so nervous he told them he was getting his degree in divination, just a bit different). At least he has the GI Bill for his school, one of the few benefits of the Marine Corps.