Victory Gardens

During World War II, food was rationed and the government encouraged United States citizens to plant gardens to provide their own fruits and vegetables. According to statistics, 20 million Americans planted gardens anywhere they could in support of this government plan. At one point, Americans were growing 40% of their own veggies!

In this economy, we might need to revisit this idea. In fact some people are already doing it. I was listening to a podcast on frugal living. The host was describing how she and some of her friends and Neighbors have formed a cooperative where they each grow different things and supply one another with fresh veggies. Talk about saving! They simply trade out. And, these veggies are pesticide free. Since I am planning to be off with no pay, for 3 months once we get the baby home, I am looking for ways to cut costs. I think a victory Garden is a great way to save money. My problem is that I live in an apartment. While many apartments in LA have either a patio or a balcony, I have neither. So, I am going to try to plant a container garden. There are all kinds of resources on the web with info about what varieties to use. So I am thinking tomatoes, cucumbers and pole beans. I have learned that they have some varieties that have small footprints. I am so excited to do this.

When I was a girl, I used to go to the nursery with my grandmother all the time. Though we lived in Chicago, we had a great garden in the yard in the spring and summer. She grew all kinds of things, including tomatoes, collard greens, banana peppers and even pumpkin and watermelon. She also had all kinds of flowers. She was from the south, A Georgia Peach. She had a very green thumb. One summer, I planted a garden with the boy next door,(my playmate, turned prom date.. By the time we were done, we basically had a muddy messy plot, however, we did grow a handful of beans and a few carrots. I made some sort of soup out of them. Hopefully, things will go a lot better this time! We will see if I inherited that green thumb!

So Here is my little Victory Garden! I have one tomato plant, one yellow bell pepper plant and 3 sunburst squash plants. I hope I can do this! Wish me luck. I am already worried that they won't get enough sun. I will have to figure that part out.





For more info on victory gardens click here

For more info on container gardening click here

Adoption progress: Well, we will be meeting our new little one in less than 3 weeks if all continues to go well. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, as I know you have been doing. Its very surreal. We are doing everything we need to do to get prepared, but somehow, its really hard to believe that its going to happen. If all goes well, a month from now, I will be holding my own little one! Pray!

Craft Day!

Well, I have been so busy lately, studying, writng a paper and preparing for our adoption. I have not had much time to craft at all. So, I decided that this weekend, I would craft all day long ( while washing 4 loads of clothes, of course!). My husband had to work ( on a Saturday, no less!) so I had the place all to myself. Our place is not that big so it was nice to be able to spread out and not get in his way. So I was able to make a dress. Its not quite finished because of course, I made plenty of booboos.

This is the pattern:
Butterick B5040



I am making view B. I still need to put the bands on the sleeves and put the hem in. But overall, I like it. Looks better on Me that on my twin.




And speaking of my twin, I got her from HSN last year. I just took her out of the box yesterdy. I really like having a dress form. HSN is so great because they have the easy pay option so that you can sort of pay a little per month until its paid for. I also got a serger this way ( which I have to learn how to use soon!)

I was given a lot of Jo Ann's Fabrics gift cards for my birthday in December. I have great friends! I was able to put them all together and purchase this at the After Christmas sale:

The best sewing table ever. It opens up on both sides and offers a pretty big work space. So much better than cutting on the floor!.

So, I had a great day, at home, doing my sewing thing. Hopefully, I will finish the dress today and take a picture of me wearing it!

Update on Me

I have had so much going on that there has been no knitting, crocheting or sewing or beading for the past several weeks. I am pursuing my masters degree and I had a big exam which I was not prepared for. Too much crocheting and socializing in the previous months! So, I had to knuckle down. And I am happy to say that I passed the exam! I was so relieved. Right after that, I had an 8-15 page paper due today. I am happy to say that it has been turned in! Hopefully, I wrote it well enough to be acceptable. So, I have officially finished the first year of my program a tad bit early. Which is great because we have some other good news! We have been matched with a birthmom! We are cautiously optimistic that we will finally welcome our child into our family. So, if I was not studying, I was dealing with all the things you have to deal with in this situations. So, I could not even think about crafting. I am hoping to do some crocheting and reading over the next several weeks before the baby comes. Hopefully, I will update the blog with some new projects and catchup on my blog reading.

Once the baby comes, I am planning to be off work for 3 months. Since I am not having a baby, I don't get to apply for state disability, so, I will be taking family medical leave, which will be unpaid. DH and I are preparing for this by researching ideas on frugal living. We will be pulling the belt way way tight from now until I return to work. My struggle will be to create healthy cheap meals. DH is diabetic so we cannot eat a lot of pasta and potatoes. Lucky for us there are some great whole wheat pastas and good ol' brown rice to help us. At first, the thought of living on one income was a little scary, especially since we are not debt free. But, we threw down the gauntlet and decided that it would be best for the baby if I can be home for as long as possible, no matter what adjustments we have to make. As we research it, its becoming a challenge. Hopefully we can do it!

More updates later