Helloooooo

 

Happy New Year!!

I have had so many blog posts in my head, but haven't had the right impetus to write them.

I'm here now, to just get the ball rolling so to speak. :)  

This is us on Christmas Eve!  We were able to safely go to Mass in person for which I am sooooo grateful!!  My oldest daughter and her family are still quarantining due to her compromised immune system.  But, thankfully, her and her husband have both received the first dose of the vaccine! 

What is new here? I am planning for the garden.  Watching videos, reading plant care information, and trying to be ready to grow with grow lights and a greenhouse!  We cleared a lot of trees this fall and made ready a site for a small greenhouse and shed.  I am excited and a bit apprehensive.  I have learned enough about greenhouse growing to know that I don't know nearly enough!  Truly.  Temperature, humidity, pests, cost control....but as I've been planning, I was reminded that I am and always have been a bit of a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of person and so I will keep trying to plan a bit, but will also be okay with winging it.  

This greenhouse is truly a gift from God.  It's a long story, but I had given up the desire for one because it did not seem doable for so many reasons.  About two years ago was when I finally gave up the "dream". (I put that in quotes because I'm not one to use the word "dream" in the sense of hopes for the future.)  This fall, while looking for an old shed to move on to our property to add some much needed storage space, I came across a site that sold shed and greenhouse combinations. I was prompted to call the company and had a long conversation with the designer of the sheds.  Before I knew it, my husband and I were planning on a Sunday drive about 3 hours away into Kansas to look at the greenhouse/sheds they had on display.  With activities so strictly limited yet, the idea of a Sunday drive to look at greenhouses was just so exciting.  I didn't care a bit if we decided against it, I just wanted an outing for our youngest girls and us to go on!  After about a week of prayerful consideration, we placed an order.  Just like that.  So far, it's on schedule to be delivered sometime in February.  Weather will be of course a consideration, but hopefully, it will be here before more snow comes.  If not, that's where my ability to adapt comes in, ha!  Even if I fail at growing things in it, it should be a wonderful place to take photos!  

My plan is to start the seeds indoors yet as it would cost too much to heat a place here in our climate for that long.  That is the main reason I had given up on getting one, but now I know a combination of seed starting indoors and a greenhouse can work together.  So I've invested in a seed heat mat and grow lights. The "where" of this little project is still to be determined.  Maybe downstairs in a storage room.

I'm also working in these winter days to organize all my photos in hard copies and digitally.  Oi.  It's a job!  I'm behind for sure, but it is certainly doable.  It's the decision making that trips me up on these projects. I do have a "system" for organizing the files, but it needs some tweaking.  Mostly it just needs to be used!  Sadly, being behind, has made me take less photos and videos because I don't want to get buried in files.  No room for remorse though, just a nudge to get at it.

Now, just for fun!  A few years ago, the tradition of taking a serious photo of the kids on Christmas Eve began, but my youngest always has trouble not smiling. :)

I continue to pray for our Country.  

For truth and peace to reign in the hearts of all of us.