Counting down

The new year is almost upon us. I am wanting to make some wishlists for the new year and some goals.  I am also contemplating editing out my blog.  There is a lot of crap, and I mean crap, that I've gone through this last year and though I needed to vent at the time I no longer feel that it deserves space with my original vision for this blog.  It's a purging and cleansing Im going for.  What better time than now?

Christmastime in Decatur

Made it up to Decatur and it is beyond cold up here, it's snowing and my doors on my car have already frozen! But it was worth it to see my folks who I only get to see 2 or 3 times a year. Here's a pic of me and my zany mom taken on my laptop. I hope all of you are having a wonderful winter season.

Well, I got the Aerogrow up and running today.  We got my stepsons last night as they didnt have school today and my stepdaughter and her baby are over and we are going to do pizza and presents tonight.  I got a hankering for baking when everyone got here so I whipped up some Cinnamon Raisin Swirl bread and Im waiting for it to rise. I gotta get stuff cleaned up then head into town to meet Helen to get the last of the stocking stuffers and pizzas. Pictures soon!!

Cool Yule gift and Recipe dilemna

I now am the owner of an Aerogrow spacesaver 6 elite grow system.  Helen got it for me for Yule :) We are really bad at waiting to give gifts in this household. The seed set that came with it is Incredible Edibles, which is edible flowers.  They have a couple awesome sets, including a salad set, herb set and a create-your-own type of set.  I can't wait to set it up!

In other news we are trying to find a recipe software program that will allow Bill to database all our recipes that we have now and catalog new ones.  I see there are a few programs out there.  Does anyone have any experience with them?

At about 8:45 pm we got the power back.  The kerosene heater is doing a splendid job though so we decided not to run the furnace until we get ready to go to bed.  Showers are taken and phones and computers are charging.  Lights are still minimal as we were thoroughly enjoying the glow from the heater and tea lights

Well I should have known better. The wet stopped and the wind kicked up.  Now my town and about 30 others have no power.  I woke up at 5am and noticed it was out.   Its suppose to get down to 16 degrees so on lunch I went to Rural King and picked up a kerosene heater, thanfully I am getting my xmas bonus on Friday I should be able to not feel it soo much in my pocket for a while. The latest information from the power company is they hope to have it back on by 5 or 6 tonight. We will see. I am torn if we don't have to use it tonight on whether to return it.  They told me if we didn't open the box it would be fine.  But A) I got it for a good price and B) This is the "beginning" of our winter and what if this happens again.  Well, now that I actually wrote that out...I think I know the answer.

Hows the weather?

Its wet as in really wet.  While the top half of this state gets the blizzard down here in Southern Illinois we get wind and rain. Its getting cold this last week. Night before last it sleeted a little but it was gone by the morning. No actual snow yet.  Bill wants snow for his birthday.  Me? I just want to get the shrink wrap on the windows.
Right now Im hanging at Burger King on my lunch soaking up the free WIFI.  My friend Brenna also works here so I got to gush about gardening with her.  We are ready for the planting to start.  She oohed over my spreadsheets and we have seeds to swap out to each other.  She informed me that come next Fall she will be moving to the Columbus, OH area which sucks for me, another loss on the urban homesteading front and one less person for me to hang out with in person and talk shop with.  But Im glad she's getting out at the same time. 

 The second loofah batch stilll has some black spots on them. Im not sure if I should do another bleach soak or just cut out those sections. Any ideas?  I need to figure out something fast as some of these were going as Yule presents. Which leads me up to the goings on at the house......We have a small Christmas/Yule tree up.  Its on top of the dining room table instead of the kennel.  Now the cats won't stay out from under it.  Aggravating but it is too cute. I just hope they don't break any of Helen's ornaments.

I decided to take inventory on our seed stock and also do some spreadsheets to keep it straight. No more rifling through the boxes to double check whether or not I have something!  My stepsons Dylan and Donovan helped me out by reading off the packet information so I also have the maturity information on the veggies.  There are a couple that I need to do viability testing on as they are 2 years old but other than that the rest seem fine.  I already have a wishlist of things from Seed Savers Exchange that I am interested in.

We are processing a small batch of loofahs that I let soak overnight as they had some particularly stubborn spots.  I need to drain and rinse them.  The ones that are hanging in the garage are not looking very good.  I hope they turn out alright.