Wordless Wednesday (See How My Garden Grows)

Oh my goodness!  No one told me how exciting it would be to see my seedlings grow into plants.  I love gardening!! :)

Gardening 101: A Beginner (me) and My Garden

I've been saying for years that I wanted to plant a garden.  Years!  I've grown tomatoes for the past two years.  The first year I planted three plants myself and they did way better than I expected.  Last year, they decided to come up all on their own and became their own little tomato jungle.  Oops!  Both years I had way more tomatoes than I could keep up with but it was so nice having fresh tomatoes whenever I wanted.  And I finally felt like I was starting to get the hang of this keeping plants alive thing :)  This year I said I was going to plant a garden no matter what because I love the idea of having all those fresh veggies just waiting for my family to eat!  Unfortunately, I am also what you would call a clueless gardener.  I've never done it before (besides tomatoes), and I admit that I haven't the slightest idea on what works best or anything else that goes into gardening.  This will be the year that I learn.  I'm not sure how it will go, if I will be able to keep everything alive, or even if I will be able to grow vegetables.  But I plan on trying my hardest and sharing the experience with all of you!

Last Saturday was the beginning of planning and planting my first garden.  My husband and Dad had worked together to build two boxes for me to use (see below picture).  It felt like the possibilities to what I could grow were endless.

The next step was going to the store and buying plants.  I knew that I wanted to try seeds with some of my vegetables, but I also wanted some starter plants that had already begun to grow.  I had a list planned out in my head of all the different vegetables I wanted to plant as well.  That list went out the window as soon as I found the gardening section at the store :)  This is what I ended up bringing home with me:

 

I came home with entirely too much but I was so excited.  Saturday we decided to dig in and get everything planted.

 

This is box number one and has all kinds of different veggies.  I planted green bell peppers, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, banana peppers, cucumbers, and four tomato plants.  Four!  Two are cherry tomato plants and two are regular tomato plants.

In box two I have broccoli and romaine lettuce plants.  For seeds I planted peas, radishes, green onion, beans, carrots, and sugar snap peas.  This is what you call insanity :) But in a good way of course!

I'm a newbie so I'm planning on going to the library to pick up some gardening books.  If you have any particular recommendations on this subject (or just with gardening in general) feel free to share!  I'm going to need all of the help that I can get!  Hopefully, by the end of the summer I will be sharing all of the rewards of having a vegetable garden in pictures.  Now, it is time to go water those plants!

The Sunday Salon (2014 Goals and Books)

Good morning everyone!  It was back to the grind this week and although I wasn't ready for a full week of work, it didn't go too badly.  It is nice to be back into a routine again but my kids were definitely not quite ready for it.  LOL!  My oldest especially likes to sleep in which makes me realize that sooner rather than later I will have a teenager on my hands.  Where does the time go?  Anyways, 2014 is already moving along and I realized yesterday that I still haven't taken the time to share with you all my goals for the new year.  Before I continue to procrastinate even further (and then eventually never do it), I thought I would quickly share my plans for the new year.

• Read more of my own books- This one is a given.  I read 76 books last year but only a very small portion of them were off of my own shelves.  And with the number of times that I bought books last year...well...this is going to have to change.  This also means accepting fewer review copies (damn you NetGalley) and maybe a few less book tours.  I try to always mix my review books with books that are for pleasure and just because but I want to do this even more.   So read more of my own books!
• Work out consistently.  Hahaha...I think that I am repeating my goals from last year!  I've started out the new year pretty well with this so far but I NEED to stick with it.  I'm bound and determined to shed a few of the pounds that I seem to keep gaining over the years.  And I just want to be healthier.  It is that simple.
• Finish some of the projects that I have planned.  I'm the queen of procrastination so this one is going to be hard for me.  But I really need to follow through and finish up some of my projects that I have had planned for years.  An example would be learning to crochet and knit.  Finishing up redecorating my bedroom.  Organizing all of my closets.  You get the picture, right?  There are a bunch of things that I always say that I'm going to do but then never get done.  This is the year that I'm going to knock a few things off of that list. 

Three goals is enough for me this year I'm thinking.  Now let's see if I can actually stick to ALL of them.  That will be the biggest accomplishment of all!  Anyways, let's move on to the books!   Since this is my first Sunday Salon post for the new year I'm going to catch you up with everything that I have read so far this year.  I've recently finished the following books:

Starter House by Sonja Condit was my first read of the year and definitely an interesting way to start off the new year.  This was a spooky read that left me turning the pages in anticipation of just what would happen next.  I read this one for a TLC Book Tour and my full thoughts on it will be shared this Tuesday. 

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews was SUCH a good read!  Whew!  I flew through this book and just couldn't get enough.  I'm so glad that I've made it a goal to catch up with this series because I think that it is definitely going to be worth my time.  I'm planning on writing up my thoughts on this one and for Magic Bites as well that will hopefully go up this week.  Maybe mini reviews?  I haven't decided for sure yet. 

In audio, I finished listening to Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell this week.  The interesting thing to listening to books that you have already read is that you find things that you missed when previously reading.  But I will talk more about that when I write up my thoughts.  I'm currently reading the following books:

Forbidden is for a TLC book tour at the end of the month.  And although The Winter People is also a review copy it is one of my most anticipated reads for the new year so I'm not complaining.  I'm reading this one on my ipad and have once again pushed back A Study in Silks.  On audio, I'm currently listening to Ceremony in Death by J.D. Robb. 

Whew!  That is enough out of me for one day.  I'm hoping to get lots of laundry done today, a little bit of reading in both of my current reads, and a few reviews written.  If I can get that all done then this will count as a success!  Oh yeah, and 28 days until The Walking Dead returns!  I cannot wait!

Happy Sunday and happy reading!

A Moment of Silence...

I'm sitting here trying to write up reviews and all that I really want to do is say how thankful I am for my blessings.  I know just how lucky I am to see these beautiful smiling faces every day.  What happened in Connecticut was awful but it served to remind me once again how much I have to be thankful for.  Before I can write up those reviews, I just want to take a moment.

A moment of silence for the lives that were lost.  And a moment to appreciate my blessings.

How I'm spending my Sunday...

Yes, we're Bears' fans....for better or worse :) Unfortunately, the oldest is sick so I can only share the youngest bears' followers in this household. I'm currently reading Blameless and I *heart* Gail Carriger! Seriously. Back to reading on Monday!

A Quick Break

I'll be back in a bit when life settles down but I'm happy to announce the birth of my son. He was 8lbs and 1oz and is doing wonderfully!