Gardening - 27 Weeks After Average Date of Last Frost - Weekly Goals

      Can back on this Gardening year, I do not believe that it is good as I could have. I don't know if I overwhelm myself or just let stress get to me but I wasn't in the garden. They best thing about gardening is there is always next year. Spring always brings a renewal to the land.

Weekly Gardenign Goals

1. Inside plants - Work on organizing the plant that are in the basement
2. Re-potting - I need to repot my fig trees. 
3. Gardening 2015 - Start to plan out next years garden. I want to learn about using a teepee for my cucumbers and luffa plants next year. 
4. Planting Seeds - I want to plant my basil seeds. 
5. Research - I would like to research more on stevia and how to plant them. The cutting I made didn't work. 

What are you doing in your garden? Are you still harvesting out of your garden? 

Reading ~ Free Kindle Gardening Book

I so excited with the free books Amazon is giving away! It is awesome that they give free books away everyday! Here is what I downloaded for my collection today.....

 



Grow Fruit Indoors: The Ultimate Beginners Gardening Guide To Grow Exotic Fruits Indoors (grow fruit indoors, grow fruit trees, grow fruits indoors for beginners)

I read a different Book like this and learned a lot of information on growing fruit indoors. I can't wait to see what I learn from this book.

 

Grow Fruit Indoors For Beginners: Surprisingly Exotic Fruits That Can Grow Indoors! (beginners gardening, grow fruits indoors, urban farm, indoor gardening, ... organic fruit grow, grow exotic fruit,) 

Here is another book on growing fruit indoors. Hopeful this books help me keep my fig tree, lemon tree, and orange tree alive this winter.

 

 

The Organic Gardening Handbook 

I can't wait to see what knew information I learn in this handbook!

 

I guess today Amazon want people  to learn about growing thing in doors. This will be helpful for a lot of people that live in cold climates. Which books did you download?

 

 

 



Daily Goals ~ Monday, November 10, 2014

     Good Morning, the sun is up and so am I. It was hard to get out of bed. But one of my goals for the day is to workout as soon as I get up. Therefore I was up and moving. I got everyone feed already and the wash going. It has been a busy morning here.

Today's Goals

1. Workout ~ I want to get on the elliptical for 5 minutes this morning.
2. Work ~ I work today from 8am-6pm. It is me and little an this morning.
3. Workout ~ yes you are seeing this 2 times. Today Starts my full (6 days a weeks) Slim in 6 workout program. It is going to be hard, but wedding is coming up fast!
4. Wedding ~ Finish the 5 save-the-dates tonight. After doing the wedding count again, I saw I could invite a few more friends. I would have love to invite them before. But didn't know where we were money wise. We found out we could.
5. Cooking ~ make weekly menu

      This is what I' hoping to get done today. Its going to be busy. What are you doing today?

Couponing - Giant Deals for week of 11/8

Here is what it look when I plan for a couponing trip 

I'm finally getting my mojo back into couponing. I stopped a while because I was working on the THM lifestyle and i'm still going diet for the most part but my family who just need to lose weight would like something that they are used to.  

So I promised my husband I would build back up our stockpile because it's dwindling. He likes to have it for emergencies and I like to have it because of my faith in their beliefs on having a stockpile. 

This weeks giants deals are Great! In italics will be the THM's food. The rest of the food that my family eats like regular cereal and stuff like that. 

Here is what I'm buying this week for my stockpile 

24 cans of Del Monte Veggies $12

16 cans of Dole Fruit 19.04 

     I'm going to do 16 different transactions. 

           16 coupons (.40)2 = 12.08

               Total after transactions and coupons ~ $6.24

16 bags of Malt - O - Meal Cereal $16

     I'm going to be doing 16 transactions. 

          16 coupons (.75)2 = $24

                 Total after coupons and transactions ~ Free (Giant won't give money back so it'll just be free)

1 Ocean Spray cranberry sauce 1.70

     In-store coupon- free Giant cranberry sauce 

               Total after coupon 1.70

8 boxes of Pillsberry's brownies $10

           6 coupons (.35) only one will double = $2.45

          1 coupon ($1/2) = $1

          In-store coupon - $.30 off gas after you by 8 items = $7.50 

               Total after coupons and gas points -.95 (I will make $.65) 

Total money spent out of my pocket is $27.20

Total money spent air to gas points is $19.80 for 66 items. 

     Average cost per item ~ $.30

(These are items that I know my family will eat before they expire and will be a huge help my stockpile)

Hopefully this will help both the THM dieters to find cheaper food and other people who aren't on the head and help them find cheaper. Thank you For The Mamas for your Facebook page helping me put together my stockpile buy! 

Work it off Thursday - Progress report

     I want to be honest this weekend was horrible for me. We didn't eat healthy, aka eating out once a day. I also ate a lot of candy and doughnuts over the weekend. We did a lot of active, deep cleaning the house, walking around the blocks, and paint our bedroom. I don't think it made up for what I ate. I might have gained weight or stayed the same.

One of my workout videos 

     Oh well, I'm not going to stress about it. It is a new day. Time to focus. How did you do last week?

     This week my goal is to workout 5 times this week. (The program I'm following is 6 day workout. I'm not there yet. Close but not there.) I will be using my videos.

 Here is my measurement for this week . . . . 
My weight is 149lbs - I start this week because of the horrible weekend of eating.
My belly button measurement - 35"
My true waist measurement - 31"
My arm measurement - 13"
My leg measurement - 20.5"

How did you do this week? Let me know. 

Daily goals - Thursday, November 6, 2015

   

My rain and cold morning

     Good morning it's cold and rainy here how's the weather where you are? It has already been a long morning I had to be up and out of bed before 4:30 AM. Then will finish washing of last nights dinner dishes, I don't know pot of water on me. The to top that the dog stole one of hubby the socks, I had had run down the basement wet rain to go get new one. I hope this day gets better. 

Today's goals

1. Work - I work from 615 until sometime in the afternoon around three or four. It'll be nice to get out early for getting up early to go to work was hard this morning. 
2. Parent meeting -Today Hubby and I are going to my daughters school to listen about, why they're giving the kids iPads. They are also going to tell us how this whole thing is going to work. I personally feel like, it's a bad idea and we're going to try to see if we can get my daughter out of it she already owns an iPad. I'd rather her use hers then use the school and somehow her break it
3. Couponing - I haven't been really focusing on coupon and because I've been focusing on my new diet. Our stockpile is starting to get low. So it's time to add some more stuff to it. Today I want to work on the store flyers and see what's on sale. 
4. Work out - today I'm going to have to get my work out as soon as I put the little ones down. I think that's going to be the hardest thing. Reason being I used to waiting an hour after they go down and time for me to come down and get home I'm prep work done. 

My workout video yesterday 

Yesterday's Goals

1. Work-I work from 8 AM to 6 PM. - yesterday was a very nice day I thought liaise behind most the day but the kids were awesome! 
2. Gardening - yesterday found out that the sun comes up around 630AM, because of daylight savings. Now I have a little bit of time to go jump in the garden and pull some of the stuff things to come out for the fall. I'm super excited! - I wanted to get into the garden so bad, but I didn't get to everything on the blog page just kept going down. Then I ran out of time. 
3. Cooking- Today I'm going to make a freezer meal. Not quite sure which kind to make it but it is nice to have them in the freezer ready to go. - My boss decided she didn't want a freezer meal and we were pretty good, therefore we decided just not to do freezer meals this. 
4. Taking little one up at her dads- My little one has cheer today, so I'm going to grab her at her father's house. Because her stepmom is they say it helps with me working to get her to and from her things. Sometimes it's a pain in the butt to get her, because until eight but I know it's what's best for her. And I always do it with a smile on my face because I know she loves cheer! - we picked my little one of her chair I'm going to hit the grocery store there's an awesome deal but I just didn't want to miss. 
5. Workout - Today is a another workout day. I will be doing a video while The littles are taking a nap. This seems to be working great with my schedule of the day. - I got my workout in today great. 

Some days it seems like I can get goals done for the day and some days things just seem to get in the way. By writing the goals and keeping focus at least, I can feel like I accomplished something when the day is done.  Did you get all your goals done yesterday? Why do you write goals how does it help you throughout the day? 

Reading ~ Free Gardening Kindle Books

Looking for something to read? But also want to learn a little? Check out these gardening books!

 

Homesteading For Beginners: Teach Me Everything I Need To Know About Homesteading In 30 Minutes (Homesteading - Mini Farming - Self Sufficiency - Gardening - Urban Survival)

This book sounds to good to be true. I want to read it because I want to see what the author has to say. I don't believe you can get all the information you need in this book to be a homesteader. I also really wondering if it will only take a half hour to read.

Homesteading For Beginners: A Homestead Survival Guide for the Backyard & Urban Farmer (Homesteading & Urban Farming) [

I guess Amazon is having a homesteader day! At least this book isn't making any promises.

 

Gardening Box Set #3: Greenhouse Gardening for Beginners & The Ultimate Guide to Vegetable Gardening for Beginners (Container Gardening, Greenhouse, Companion ... Flowers, Fruit, Outdoor, Organic)

I love two for one book sets. I also love that they are free! I can't wait to read some more on green house.

 

Get these while they are free and read along with me! Join me on Facebook at Pa Gardeners!

 

 

 

Gardening - Growing mint indoors

     What do you do with your pots of mint at the end of the summer? I bring mine inside. I do this for three reasons.

     The first is ever year my mint dies if it left in the pot outside. I don't quite understand why that happens but the last two years I had to replace my mint plants. 

I knew the leave would brown because I bought them in.

     The second reason is I like the smell of mint and it add it to the room. The mint smell wakes up. It also help keeps mice away. (Which is needed were we live because they are all around the woods.) I put two plants in my little ones room. She said when she got home from her dads my room smells good. Then later realized, I put the plants in her room.

     The third reason is because I like to have fresh tea in the winter. By bring the plant inside I will have fresh organic mint tea whenever I need it. This is very helpful for the winter colds!  



I love mint!!

     Now I being them in and put them by the windows. The seem to be doing well with the watering weekly and using the water bulb. 

     What plants do you try to save year from year? Do you bring them inside. 

Wedding Wednesday- Picking Out Bridesmaid Dresses

Isn't the color perfect???

     Last weekend I went bridesmaid shopping with my daughter, mom, and one of my bridesmaids. I'm still not sure if one bridesmaids in it and the other one lives far away, so she will buy her on her own. 

     When we got there, I thought I was going to use David's bridal's make mint green. I thought the color was perfect. But once I got there and have the girls try it on I thought like it look more blue than green. Then my little one tried on different a dress in the Clover green.  I looked at my mom and said "I'm changing the color to this color." My mom agreed that the darker green look better on the girls and would work better for a March wedding.

     I had a lot of fun trying on the dresses with the girls. They tried on about four dresses until they tried on the dress. As soon as I saw this dress on my daughter, I knew it was the one. The girls loved it to. It fit them nicely!!

It's perfect!! You can see her cowboy boots!! 

    The F15608 CLOVER style dress was prefect for the wedding!! It was long so we keep them warm during the cold March, but it was short enough to show off their cowboy boots!! It looked great on both of the girls. I'm so excited I can't wait to see the dress walking down the isle!!! 

    How did you pick out your bridesmaids dress? Did your girls help you or did you pick it out? 

Daily Goals - Wednesday, November 5, 2014

     Well frustrated that this is the second time I'm going to be writing this blog. My site crashed and I lost last part for it was saved. Ugh, I hope this isn't a sign about how the days going to go. Oh well time to finish us up and get to housework.

   

My Mint plant

     Good morning hope you're having a better morning than I am. Today should be a nice day because the first half of the day is shopping and making a freezer meal for my boss. These days are nice because I feel like I have time to get the kids stuff back in order. 

Today's goals

1. Work-I work from 8 AM to 6 PM.
2. Gardening - yesterday found out that the sun comes up around 630AM, because of daylight savings. Now I have a little bit of time to go jump in the garden and pull some of the stuff things to come out for the fall. I'm super excited!
3. Cooking- Today I'm going to make a freezer meal. Not quite sure which kind to make it but it is nice to have them in the freezer ready to go. 
4. Taking little one up at her dads- My little one has cheer today, so I'm going to grab her at her father's house. Because her stepmom is they say it helps with me working to get her to and from her things. Sometimes it's a pain in the butt to get her, because until eight but I know it's what's best for her. And I always do it with a smile on my face because I know she loves cheer!
5. Workout - Today is a another workout day. I will be doing a video while The littles are taking a nap. This seems to be working great with my schedule of the day. 

Chore Cards

Yesterday's Goals

1. Work -  I work from 8 AM until 6 PM. I'm not sure I might have all four kids say because of election day. We'll just have to see. ~ It was a very nice day having my daughter there maybe go a lot smoother. I ended up only having three kids during the day and four after school. 
2. Cooking - I want to make the menu for the week. This week is going to be all home cooked cook meals. ~ I got my menu done. You can check it out at 
3. Workout- Today is workout day. I have to remember to bring an extra set of cloths so I can trade them out. ~ I got my workout in. It felt  like 20 minutes a squat and then the rest stretching so I'm waiting for my legs to hurt today. Glad I got a 30 minute workout in. 
4. Cleaning - stick to daily chore card today. I want to keep this house in order! ~ We stuck to the chore card best we could. Had to hit the grocery store on the way home, therefore we didn't get home until like 730PM. Then I had to make dinner, and we had to eat. But we got more than half of the card done so I'm happy. 

     How did you do on your goals for yesterday? I did very well and I'm glad that I got them done. I ended up adding an extra goal today to bring you back up to 5 goals a day. What are your goals today? 

Reading ~ Free Kindle Gardening Books

     Have you missed seeing what books are free? My Kindle library is full, but free gardening books I will always add. Here are some free books, I found today!

 

Straw Bale Gardening: No-Dig Gardens Growing Vegetables With Straw Bales [Kindle Edition]

( This book will be a great winter read! I want to learn more about using straw around the garden.)

 

Mini Farming 101: How to Farm in Your Backyard and Grow Your Own Organic Food (Urban Farming, mini farm, organic food, sustainability, Self Sufficient, ... homesteading, backyard farming, farm) 

( I love the 101 tip types of books. I always learn a few tips that I never knew. As a gardener, I feel like there is some much to learn about!)

 

4 Steps To Vertical Gardening: Designs and Plant Selection for Vegetables, Flowers and Herbs (Vegetable Gardening Book 3)

( I find vertical gardening so interesting. It seem like an amazing idea for people that don't have any space.)

 

What are you reading? What type of gardening books grabs your eye? Let me know. You can always join me on Facebook at Pa Gardeners see what going on!

 

 

 



Gardening- I found my book!!!

My favorite gardening book!! 

  

   As a working mom and weekend gardener, this book has been very helpful!! It helps me keep on track of what I need to be doing. I was very lost this year without it. We search everywhere for it!! I thought it was gone, but when we went to move our bed there it was!! I found it. I don't know how it got under the bed and in the middle of it but it was there!! I was so excited. Hubby just laughed. 

What is one thing if you lost would throw you off? What is the most exciting thing you found under your bed? 

Cooking -Trim Healthy Mama's Menu ~ Meal Plan for 11/04/2014 -11/9/2014

My new cookbook

 

  I love looking at new cookbooks and finding new recipes to cook for my family. I am one of those people that don't want to have the same thing over and over and cooking is something I enjoy. My mother in law saw this cookbook, and thought of me and my hubby right away. There are recipes in this book that date back to the early 1900s which I think is so cool. 

My Trim Healthy Mama Book

     Now because I'm still following the Trim Healthy Mama (THM) Lifestyle, I will be changing the recipe a little bit to fit that way of eating. You will see crossing my menu, because somethings I feel like just don't taste as good if you don't change it. You will see my menu labeled as a THM, but know that my kids always eat a full meal so if it's an E I'm always adding a side to the meal like cheese or cream cheese something like that. If it's an S , I normally add a health E fruit to this meal so it ends up being a full meal for the little ones. 

      Here's what we're cooking this week! 

NOV 04 - TUESDAY
breakfast	(THM-S) Egg omelet With Green Peppers, Mushroom And Laughing Cow Cheese
lunch	(THM-S) Big Mac Salad
snacks	(THM-S) Blueberry Smoothie
dinner	(THM-Cross) Justin's Ham And Bean Soup - this is a cross because it has ham which is an S and beans which are E
NOV 05 - WEDNESDAY
breakfast	(THM-E) Strawberry Shortcake Proteins Overnight Oatmeal
lunch	(THM-F) Turkey Sandwich - I'm using lettuce for my bread.
lunch	Red Pepper
snacks	(THM-S) Blueberry Smoothie
dinner	(THM-S)Stuffed Porkchops
NOV 06 - THURSDAY
breakfast	(THM-S) Egg omelet With Green Peppers, Mushroom And Laughing Cow Cheese
lunch	(THM-S) Taco Salad
snacks	(THM-S) Blueberry Smoothie
dinner	(THM-E) Chili
NOV 07 - FRIDAY
breakfast	(THM-F) Trim And Healthy Mama's Custard Recipe
lunch	Leftover
snacks	(THM-S) Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie
dinner	(THM-S) Salisbury Steak
NOV 08 - SATURDAY
breakfast	(THM-S) Egg omelet With Green Peppers, Mushroom And Laughing Cow Cheese
lunch	Leftover
snacks	(THM-S) Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie
dinner	(THM-Cross) Chili Mac - Chili is an E and the cheese is an S. I will use dream field noodles for my macaroni noodles.
NOV 09 - SUNDAY
breakfast	(THM-E) Strawberry Shortcake Proteins Overnight Oatmeal
lunch	Leftover
snacks	(THM-S) Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie
dinner	Leftovers

Daily Goals - Tuesday, November 4, 2014

 Homemade Scarecrow

     Being a working mom the weekend sometimes are the only time I have to catch up on anything. They can be so busy sometimes, I don't know where anything is ever. I don't have time to sit down and even relax. This weekend was like that. Friday was Halloween, during the day heavy and I ran all our errands and then after my daughter got home from school we had an hour to figure out her costume and get her ready. We ended up being our late to my brothers house but her costume is Hilmi pretty proud of it. Saturday was the anniversary of my husband's father's death so we decided we're going to stay busy all day. Normally helps him if we're busy to working through the day. He worked on homework, and I worked on cleaning the living room. I steam vac-ed the carpet. It looked amazing looks being the keyword. Because then on Sunday we decided we were going to paint our bedroom. Everything in our bedroom went out and into the nice clean living room. But with We painted entire living room bedroom on Sunday from a dark red to light blue. It looks awesome!! Then yesterday I cleaned out the oven and went to my moms and discuss the wedding. Came home got my daughter dinner and then went to her football game that she was singing it. Like I said it's been a long weekend here. What did you do this weekend?

Everyone wanted to help

     Today go back to work. My little one has a school so she'll be coming with me. Kids will be so excited because they love when they see her.

Today's goals

1. Work- I work from 8 AM until 6 PM. I'm not sure I might have all four kids say because of election day. We'll just have to see.
2. Cooking - I want to make the menu for the week. This week is going to be all home cooked cook meals. 
3. Workout- Today is workout day. I have to remember to bring an extra set of cloths so I can trade them out. 
4. Cleaning - stick to daily sure card today. I want to keep this house in order! 

     I'm only writing for goals four today,  because it's a work day and I'm not going to push myself way too hard. What are you doing today what are your goals? Are you gonna be home when the suns out and get in the garden? I'm going to miss the sun all day today by the time I get to work and I'll be up by the time I get home I'll be down.