It's Spring!!

Hooray!!  It's spring!!  Ok, truth is we don't really have much of a winter down here in the South.  Some of my friends who live in the North would probably consider what we have to be a really wimpy excuse for winter.  Let me tell ya, though, it's plenty enough winter for me!  (Now please have mercy on me when I complain in July and August about the extreme heat we have here, though.  Along with the mild winters come terribly hot summers!) 

The weather here has been pretty warm for weeks and weeks now.  A "cool spell" from this point on pretty much means highs in the low 80s during the day with a heat index in the 90s or so.  As summer gets here, it will be in the 90s during the day and the heat index will be over 100 pretty often.  Although one April over 20 years ago, it actually snowed!  That's the truth too.  We were all shocked!  I'll bet it'll never happen again.  Too bad I didn't have a blog back then.  :) 

Anyway, with all of this beautiful spring weather, I've been itching to get my garden going.  Several weeks ago, I bought tomato plants, bell pepper plants, hot banana pepper plants, lots of different kinds of flower seeds, and some herbs:  basil, oregano, and 3 different kinds of mint.  The soil where I live is mostly clay, and plants don't like to grow in it very much.  I don't blame them!  So I decided to try to do some container gardening instead.

My hubby and I found some boards left over from when we built our house several years ago.  We used them to make a frame.  I know the boards will eventually rot, but for now it was the best material to use because it was free!  We also had some topsoil in a huge pile in the yard that we could use to fill the raised bed.  Our church had some dirt work done recently, and the top soil was just going to be dumped somewhere, so I suggested that they dump it in my yard!  ;)  It was such a blessing to be able to make a good-sized raised bed without having to spend lots of money on materials for it.  I am SO thankful!

I've already started most of my plants in small pots, so I'll try to move them from their pots to the raised bed in the next week or two.  My herbs are already beginning to outgrow their pots, my sunflowers are over a foot tall (and those were started from seeds), and my pepper plants are definitely in need of being transplanted.   The tomatoes I will leave in their pots because I found some HUGE pots that are just right for them.  I absolutely love home-grown tomatoes, so I want to be sure they do as well as possible.  My mouth is already watering thinking about BLTs with my own juicy, yummy tomatoes in them!  I even eat plain old tomato sandwiches in the summer when I don't have bacon or lettuce to go on them.  I just toast the bread and put a bit of mayo on it, cut up the tomato, sprinkle on a little sea salt, put it all together, and eat it.  SO yummy!! 

Besides tomato sandwiches, we also love freshly brewed mint tea using the mint from our garden.  (If you plant mint, though, be SURE to keep it in a container because it will spread everywhere and be hard to get rid of.)  To make mint tea, all I do is put a big handful of freshly cut and washed mint right into the pot while the tea bags are steeping.  (Stems and all.  No need to take the leaves off.  That just makes it harder to keep the mint leaves out of your tea.)  This year we planted sweet mint (my new favorite!!), chocolate mint (my old favorite), and a beautiful variegated mint with green leaves that have white edges.  

Do you have any favorite summer recipes?  Or maybe you have a suggestion or two for plants that your garden must have every summer.  I'd love to hear about them!  In the mean time, enjoy the spring weather if it has reached where you live! 

Busy, Busy Dreadfully Busy

Wow!  I didn't realize I'd been AWOL for quite so many weeks!  There's been a lot going on lately, and I just haven't made the time to blog while I've been so busy.  I'm sure you other moms can understand that, though.  We all have those times when there's just way too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it.  I've been trying (somewhat successfully) not to panic and get all anxious when my to-do list gets so long.  I'm actually making progress in that direction, although not as much as I would like. 

Have any of you watched the Veggie Tales video (it's about loving your neighbor--but I can't remember what the exact name of it is since it's been a loooong time since my kids have watched it) in which one of the veggies gets stuck in a hole and needs help to get out?  While the poor veggie is stuck upside down in a hole, several other veggies stop by, see him stuck in the hole, and then waltz around singing songs about being too busy to help him get out.  Lots of times when I get too busy, that song goes through my head. 

"We're busy, busy, dreadfully busy!  More than a bumblebee, more than an ant.  Busy, busy, horribly busy!  We'd love to help, but we can't!"  Another line says, "Busy, busy, you've no idea what I have to do!  Busy, busy, terribly busy!  Much, much too busy for you!" 

Well, I've noticed that, when I remember that song and try my best to make time for my kids even when I'm "too busy," home life seems to go much better.  I'm sure you've all experienced those times when you were in a big hurry to go somewhere or get something done, and your kids all fell apart, fussed with each other, had tantrums, and whatever other negative behaviors they could come up with.  I sure have!

So, how does this all fit together?  Where are my ramblings going?  Here's my point.  Even though I've been really busy lately, I've been trying to slow down in other areas (like blogging and even housework at times) to spend time with my kids in spite of being "too busy."  I don't plan to stop blogging, and I CAN'T quit doing housework (oh, well!), but I am trying to make time for my family first.  Then if something else doesn't get done, at least I've done what's most important first. 

I have definitely seen a difference in my family since I've been putting "family time" first.  I hate to admit that it's so hard for me to do that, but I'm getting better at it!  What about you?  Do you have any time-saving plans that help you get the "have to do them" things done faster leaving more time for the "want to do them" things?  Are you great at meal planning? (I'm NOT!!) Housework tips? I'd love to hear them! Are you "in the boat" with me? I'd love to know that too.