Feed Me, Seymour!

These are my tomatoes, peppers, Swiss Chard, and dill that I started 3 or 4 weeks ago. The light height setting is now about as high as it can go. I intended to transplant them into the raised bed this weekend, but I got a bee in my bonnet and started another project.  Its not like I need to get into that cabinet where my glasses and medicines are.  LOL

So I was thinking about it a few weeks ago and I decided I do not like my front yard.  The thriving weeds from the heavy rains in Cali this year did not help.  The house came with Sweet Pea bushes and I have never really liked them.  I wanted hydrangeas in the front yard ever since I was a little girl.  Back East we referred to them as snowballs, and I always said that if I ever had a house I would have them in my front yard.  One of the sweet pea bushes was totally dead, so I said today was the day.  I cut it up and dug it out.  I am proud of myself, but I am going to be hurtin' for certain tomorrow. I also cleared a couple of flower beds, which took half a day.  (I had been grieving so much for the past few months that I could not deal with my front yard.)  I had to hustle green can space from my neighbors.  I filled three cans, two of which were my awesome neighbors'.  

I have bought several hydrangeas, including a couple of Strawberry Vanilla hydrangeas that I have wanted for several years since I first saw them in an issue of BHG.  I will be putting them in soon.  In addition, I am putting in a Rainbird sprinkler system and some sod.   It will take me a few weeks but I think the end result will be spectacular.

I will be on a staycation for the first week of July.  For the past several years we always went out of town where Liesl would not have to be scared of fireworks going off.  I am really excited about working on my house, working on my classes and hopefully, doing some stitching and/or quilting during that week.

Here is my progress on my Prairie School patriotic smalls.  They are pretty easy to stitch and fun to work on.  Maybe, just maybe, I will get them finished before the 4th!

Have a happy week!

A Busy Weekend Around The Cozy Cottage

I am so grateful for all of the kind comments.  I wish I could adequately communicate how much your sweet comments mean to me.  They have given me so much peace and comfort.  Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts.

The weekend I have been working on my backyard.  It has been severely neglected and I have had to battle the weeds, which had been thriving with all of the California rain this year.  I had to mow, throw down some grass seed, clear the raised bed of weeds which were three feet tall and make a list of chores which need to be completed over the next few weeks.  I also got some of my herbs planted.  I am doing the Frankenstein walk and my body is talking to me, but it makes me happy and I would really like to have my yard looking good for a family barbecue on the fourth of July.

I have an Aerogarden that I use to start my seeds.  I bought the attachment which allows me to start 65 plants at a time, so I have to do some planning of my seed rotation.  One of the other managers at work and I love to grow heirloom tomatoes. We start talking seeds in December and she starts her seeds under a grow light in February and moves them into a portable green house.  My busy season at work is for the first 4-5 months of the year so I am usually late to the party.  This year I got my Aerogarden ready in early April, ready to plug in but I realized I could not find my seeds.  I go painstakingly through the Baker Street Seeds and Park Seed catalogs every year, selecting the ones which interest me and have high ratings.  I tore my house apart for weeks. looking for them like they were missing gold.  I finally found them stashed in a cabinet and started them in the Aerogarden.  These are the ones I am really excited about:

https://www.rareseeds.com/brad-s-atomic-grape-tomato/

So the plants are getting pretty big.  The lemon cucumbers started to really take over and the tomatoes and Swiss Chard were being really dramatic about it, looking like they were fainting.  So the lemon cucumbers were moved to the raised bed which has fresh soil and everything.  I am super excited!

I also got to stitch a little on my Prairie Schooler patriotic smalls.  These are really fun to stitch and the colors really pop!  I would really like to stitch all of the designs in the brochure, and put them on my table.

All of the crafters at work are super excited because we are getting a Hobby Lobby in Salinas.  It has taken them a long time and it has seemed like the project stalled for a long time, but one of my coworkers has done some recon and says that it looks like they are moving ahead.  We are all pretty excited.  We have a Michaels and JoAnn's, but we are really excited about the great sales at Hobby Lobby!

Wishing you many blessings in the week ahead!