No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth ............. and I haven't eaten any ham. LOL I'm just not feeling in the blogging groove. I've started three different blog posts and then deleted them all over the past few days. I think we are in the winter doldrums. January and February are just so ......... BLAH!
On an up note.... taxes are filed and will shortly be in our bank! This means that we are one step closer to getting our second vehicle running! I will get the van back!!!! :happydance: It has been around 3 years since I lost the use of the van to Mark. The kids and I have been stuck at home for three years! I can't even begin to tell you what that does to your psyche. Being able to get out amongst other people, albeit not the friendliest people around, will be awesome! I can hardly wait.
Another project our tax refund will fund is our Square Foot Garden. Our plan is for 4 or 5 LARGE raised beds, 4' x 16'. One of the beds will go entirely for asparagus, half of another one will go for rhubarb. The rest of the beds will be for the standard veggies, tomatoes, squashes, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, herbs, etc. We also want to plant 5 or more apple trees in the backyard, but that will have to wait until next year probably.
Our tax refund will also pay for another year of homeschooling supplies. Books, books, and more books!!! I project my expenses for our homeschooling this year to be around $500 to $700. I try to buy most of our books off of Ebay, Alibris, or Amazon and am quite happy getting older used books. There will be a few things that I have to buy new..... Latin, for one, and maybe Logic. The following year the girls start high school and the books required will be much more expensive. They will also need a microscope and appropriate science equipment, not cheap. I hope our tax refunds can keep pace. LOL
Finally, our tax refund will allow us one very special treat that has become so rare for us. We will go out to eat in a nicer sit down restaurant. I know!!! How exciting!!!! LOL With the way the economy has been we haven't gone out to eat much at all, and never to a place above the fast food ranking. So this is it, our once a year splurge!!! Woohoo! El Metate, here we come!
We owe EVERY year so I'm in no hurry to file....
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of a garden expansion! I've run out of luck-hubby won't drive any more posts. Sigh.......
I'd love to build some raised beds but the idea of plunking money into wood and soil doesn't appeal to me. And DEFINITELY doesn't appeal to the hubby. I have some wood left here by some previous own that I could build one or two long ones (2 x 8 ft) in my main garden area, or a couple of small ones (like 1 x 4) but what I really need is good soil.
ReplyDeleteSue...we're just beginning our serious gardening endeavor. We have a large raspberry bed that was only 1/4 filled with raspberries when we moved here, so we used the other part for veggies...now we want the whole bed to be for raspberries and we are going to construct a bunch of raised veggie beds. We'll probably let the kids do some selling of the veggies at the local farmer's market ... but mostly I want to learn how to preserve what we grow.
ReplyDeleteTam...nobody had worse soil than we had in GA...rock hard red clay. Mark and I started taking our kitchen scraps and digging them into our tiny (4 x 4) garden bed...within a year we had the most awesome soil in that little garden and grew some great veggies....some were even volunteers from our kitchen scraps (pumpkins and winter squash). It would be worth a try. :)
ReplyDeleteI do have a compost pile. But it's an open one (just some wire fence around it) so it takes forever. I've been thinking I should just throw stuff straight into the garden. YOur plot was a lot smaller than mine though. Would take longer! But for raised beds, I'd still need soil to fill the boxes anyway. And I really like the idea of the 'neatness' of raised beds with paths between.
ReplyDeleteI started compost heaps years ago just so I could get soil for raised beds and a rock garden. It was fairly secluded so dh built it with a chicken wire frame. It seems he wasn't too worried about it's placement because there are woods that go way back. Now the county bought that land for a park, they plunked a big post with red streamers right in the center of our compost heap! We just let it fall and rot and kept on with our composting! It will be several years before they get to our area. We also have a black plastic thing for composting that the county gave out free.
ReplyDeletePam, I love your slideshow with your older photos!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chris. That is my Mother's family....and my next scrapping opportunity. LOL
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