Home Grown Goodness

I LOVE to garden. When hubby and I first got married, we rented a small home with a smaller yard. There started my fixation on gardening. At that time, it was only flower gardening. I just wanted my home to look different from all the others.

A couple years later, we moved to a home with a little more than an acre. The landscaping was already very pretty with lots of flowers. My only job was to beautify more without ruining what was already there. I think I succeeded.

My favorite part has been learning the names of all the plants that grow around our yard. We are surrounded by wooded land and there are all kinds of wild things that grow next to our yard. I have learned uses for many of these things. For example, did you know you can make a salve out of jewel weed to put on poison ivy? It works extremely well! You can also take some of its flowers and rub it on mosquito bites and the itch leaves in seconds.

I have also tried vegetable gardening in the last couple of years. I can not explain to you the complete delightment that I get from growing something from a tiny seed, watering it, weeding around it, harvesting it, and then finally serving it with, or as, a meal and having my family relish it.

Have you ever tried fried pumpkin blossoms? It must be food of the angels. It tastes like a cross between a morel mushroom and a fried green tomato.

Do you like to garden?  What is your favorite home grown treat?

Day Dream Believer

I did it! I finally finished my list of things I want to do. I was inspired to finish this list after watching the movie "The Bucket List." Tell me what you think and what you would put on your list.


Not in any particular order...

1. Read through bible in one year
2. Get a degree in Elementary Education
3. Learn to drive a stick shift
4. Get an A in algebra
5. Read every book that Liz Curtis Higgs has written
6. Walk in a marathon
7. Camp at Yellowstone National Park
8. Travel to a different continent
9. Learn Spanish
10. Skydive
11. Lead my "little sis" to Christ
12. Read the Word of God everyday for the rest of my life
13. Get 50 blog followers
14. Get to a healthy weight
15. Finish painting Olivia's room
16. Memorize 10 scriptures this year
17. Camp 3 times this summer
18. Buy JJ Hellers newest CD
19. Scrapbook 10 pages this year
20. Go on a mission trip
21. Finish every page of my Bible study
22. Go one week without any sweets
23. Do one art piece on canvas
24. Stand in two states at the same time
25. Eat at a formal resturant
26. Go on a cruise
27. Complete one nature journal
28. Try sushi
29. Have at least one family night every week until kids are grown.
30. Have date night with hubby at least once a month
31. Give an encouraging word to someone everyday
32. Learn 10 new words this year
33. Read 10 books this year
34. Play in the mud while it's raining
35. Make a birdhouse
36. Complete this list
37. Break 100 in AWANA
38. Sing a duet with my sister
39. Write the novel that is floating around in my head
40. Raise children who are after God's own heart
41. Clean my room and keep it that way for more than a week
42. Put a walking trail in our woods
43. One summer with NO sports for the kids
44. Get a full body massage
45. Pray for my children's spouses daily
46. Train my dog not to eat my flowers or shoes
47. Complete a fast without cheating
48. Attend a midnight Christmas mass at a beautiful cathedral 49. Visit Jeruselum
50. Get some teeth whitening strips
51. Learn to do a cartwheel
52. snorkel
53. figure out how to display the header I made on Powerpoint
54. Figure out strike through
55. Coordinate VBS 2010
56. start small group study
57. Take another vacation to Williamsburg
58. Be in a play at the Park Theatre
59. Learn to identify 50 kinds of trees
60. Build a shed/craft barn
61. Get all the laundry done
62. Pay off all credit cards
63. Make a quilt
64. Go to an opera
65. make a pottery piece on a pottery wheel
66. milk a cow
67. drink fresh cows milk
68. talk to someone in sign language
69. go snow skiing
70. go house boating with family
71. stand on an active volcano
72. sit on a jury
73. conquer my fear of math
74. worship with persecuted church
75. take dance lessons
76. work in a soup kitchen
77. learn to pan for gold
78. be able to make breakfast, lunch and dinner from things I've grown.
79. hike the Appalacian trial
80. take an art class
81. go canoeing
82. have lunch on an airplane
83. Leave a 100% tip
84. watch a broadway play in NY
85. Visit Ireland and Scotland
86. Sleep under the stars (not in a tent)
87. Attend the Olympics
88. Play paintball
89. Make maple syrup candy-Laura Ingle style
90. Get a passport
91. Drive a motorcycle
92. Go to the Kentucky Derby
93. make exercise a regular habit
94. Keep in touch with my closest friends, forever
95. Ice skate with my husband on Christmas Eve
96. Blow glass
97. Carve my name on a tree
98. Stand on the Great Wall of China
99. See the northern lights
100. Shower in a waterfall
101. Learn to juggle

The Big Choice

Hello bloggy friends!

My daughter has been asking me for awhile if she could write on my blog. She loves to write but at the age of 11 is not ready for her own blog. That said, friendly reader, please read below and if you would be so kind as to leave her a comment, then she would be a mighty happy little girl.

The Big Choice

Almost every body thinks life is so hard. But I am about ready to prove that wrong! Because if you trust in God things may not be so hard. That does not mean things won't be tough or that you won't have to work but things may be easier . You should trust in the Lord anyway though. I feel that if you don’t believe and trust in the Lord with all your heart and all your soul you will NOT go to heaven! That’s why I am on the mission to bring people to Christ. I think that everybody has a choice of where they go or where they do not go. I believe everybody has a choice.


Written by: Olivia Rice
7/1/10