Bragging on Young Men

Jared (14) fulfilled his last requirement on Thursday night at CAP. They have to wait 60 days from his last promotion to submit a new promotion. At the end of this month they'll submit his package for promotion to Staff Sgt. It was his goal to make this rank in his first year of membership. He did it.

Josiah (19) is nearing the end of his freshman year at the University. Last week he turned in a research paper for history. He was to write on a controversy in History and chose to write on FDR and the suspician that he knew about Pearl Harbor in advance of the attack. Josiah cited that FDR did not know; another classmate took the opposite view. Friday, Josiah had to give an oral presentation representing his stance in his paper. This was the last assignment in this class. He'll still have the final. ANYWAY - he says he wasn't nervous - but he left here saying "this is lame" (speaking of his slide show and presentation). We had planned for him to practice in front of us - but he had to work lots of extra hours last week and that didn't happen. In fact, he didn't even run through it before class. Josiah was homeschooled all his life. He doesn't liken nor has he practiced, speaking in front of groups. We told him we'd pray. We did. He texted us....he made ***100%***on his presentation! WooHOO! It's hard to believe that just a few short months ago I was stalking him on his first day at college.....He's done well.

Ode to DIRT!

Mike and I went on a date. To Lowe's Building Supplies. It was wonderful. He picked out carpet pad, a yard storage container, and a pond kit. I walked through the garden area and felt my spirits soar.

I remembered living in Hardin, MT. Every year my Uncle and Grams would ask the children and I to drive them to Billings to buy DIRT, and seeds, and plants. My uncle would spend hours during the winter pouring over seed catalogs. I had a HUGE garden in Hardin, and lots of flowers. Those are good years to remember. My Uncle died the day Arielle was born, 10 1/2 years ago. Some days I just miss he and my Grams intensely....and the dirt took me back in time.

Our family went military....Mike built some gorgeous flower beds for our first base house. Then we moved....and we realized that we had to leave all the landscaping behind. We could never get the hang of gardening in TX. We moved to Alaska and there aren't a lot of gardening months. We're back in TX again...... I did not inherit the green thumb of my mom's family. I kill things. It didn't make sense to spend $$$ on temporary gardens and beds et al. We quit buying houseplants (of which I had zillions when we were civilian) because we have to leave them every few years....

BUT a little over a year ago, when Mike was deployed, Debbie gave me a little plant to care for. It lives. On Valentine's Day Mike gave me another plant. It lives. I've been dreaming of a small palm for the entry......and I asked Mike about a garden. I was shocked when he thought it would be a good idea. We'll be planting the back yard next spring before we move......

As I sauntered through the plant section, smelling the dirt, examinging petunias.....I got very happy thinking of planting a garden. I know we're LATE but we think we CAN garden year round with a bit of planning down here.....so it will be o.k. I bought a bag of potting mix to replant my little houseplants. I bought a few hanging baskets for the front yard.

I came home and googled "square foot gardens" as we have a very small yard. I'll have to plant some things in pots. I found steps, pictures and more here. I was talking about my square foot garden plan at chapel fellowship today. Ivey said she has the book and wondered if I'd like to look at it. SO....I'm going to find vermiculite, peat moss, and compost (and hope to start my own).....build a bed and go for it. Have any of you planted a garden with this method? Do you have tips to share? Did you use the little grids for the top of the bed? The best luck I ever had with a garden was the year we did it all in raised beds.....I just sort of threw it all in...and it grew. LOL

Of Concrete and Carpet

The day began well.

Then we began to work...and all the furniture et al from the little boys room ended up in the living room.

New pad....


But finally the boys have CLEAN carpet and new pad in their room. I wouldn't recommend this method of cleaning carpet for an entire house but it sure worked. I love knowing it hung in the sun for a good long time - killing germs. We decided to reinstall the carpet rather than paint the concrete. Today we'll organize their room.

Passover Countdown

Passover is next Saturday Sunset - Sunday Sunset. We're gearing up. Does anyone know where you can get a sound track for Dayanu? I was going to put it on Playlist so we could learn it - but the only place I found it was youtube and not good quality. Though I did find "Passovever Things" - a song to the tune of "Favorite Things". ::snort::

I had thought I'd buy all the things I need for Passover and now I realize they won't make it in time. Hmmm.... I needed a cup, a Seder plate, an afikomen cover...guess we'll just make them this week...or something.....

If any of you have been holding out on tips to make this easy and/or meaningful for the children - nows the time to share.

OH - and if you don't like the Passover Mood Music that Jamin and I selected to play in the background of the blog this week, just hit mute, turn your speaker down, or scroll to the playlist and hit mute.