For Mother's Day my darling daughter helped me build this...
These river rocks came from our own backyard. My husband says they grow in our yard! ;o) |
...a topsy turvy clay pot garden.
We first took two rebars we bought at Lowe's.
These are about 5 feet each.
We drove them into the ground with a hammer. They are about a foot or more... until they feel relatively sturdy.
For the pots, we used one 14" pot, two 12" pots and one 10" pot. We fed the 14" pot through the hole and then took some rocks and used them to tilt the pot to one side. You might have to play with the rocks a bit and move them around until the pot feels sturdy and doesn't wiggle. Once that was done, we fed the 12" pots through the bars. Once that bottom one is tilted each pot that's fed through will naturally lean to the opposite side of the previous pot.
We loaded up the pots with potting soil and then planted our herbs. Herbs are quite expensive if you haven't noticed. You can save a ton of money just growing your own - if you're a person that enjoys cooking fresh food. And you can dry the herbs and store them for future use.
The top one has flower seeds in it and so we are waiting for them to sprout. The pot on the left is showing sprouts, but the one on the right might need a re-do of seeds.
I have been wanting one of these for a year now, and I finally got to it. Hubby has been busy with the side business and hasn't been able to get to the "Honey-Do" List. :o)
For dinner my husband bought New York steaks and let me tell you what a treat that it for us because we are mostly poultry and fish eaters for health reasons. So we had steaks, baked sweet potatoes, a beautiful salad and we were so stuffed, we didn't have room for dessert, which would have been fresh mangos.
There was one other item that I was wishing for, but I couldn't decide if it was the wise thing to do. I agonized over it. On one hand it was expensive so the cost was frightening to me. And even though it was a once time cost, their was a monthly charge that I'd have to add to the bills. I also thought about how helpful it would be for blogging. It took a few weeks to mull this over (I started before Mother's Day) and there were so many ways it would be helpful to my everyday life.
After weighing everything out, I finally agreed it would be helpful and told my husband yes, I'd like it.
So he bought me this...
Yep, it's an iPhone! My favorite two apps are the icalendar and MyFitnessPal.
icalendar allows me to sink to my computer without connecting it. It syncs via iCloud. It has revolutionized my life and I am thrilled that I am not missing any appointments. I manage five calendars and that is why my life was crazy!
Missed doctor appointments can range anywhere from $20 to $40 dollars...if the spirit moves them. And it frequently moves them. I tried to manage a paper calendar on the fridge with my computer and it just wasn't working.
I am also able to take very nice pictures and they sync right up to the computer, again without having to connect it and I can blog right away! I love it!
FitnessPal is an app that tallies up your calorie intake. It has every kind of food in there, but if it's not in there, there is a barcode scanner that will scan your item and give all the nutritional info. It also lets you build your recipes in there and it calculates the calories of one serving. And you can change the portions, for example: if a serving size is 1 cup but you've only had 1/4 cup, it allows you to change it and it does all the math for you... I've already lost 1 pound doing this for three days! I'm eating 5-6 times a day (small, healthy meals & snacks).
What's not to love? I don't care about Facebook app or the email app. I pay little mind to them. The text I like..it's easier than my old cell phone, but it was the calendar that sold me!
What a wonderful gift! Had I not been able to get it, I would have been just as happy. Spending time with my daughter building the topsy turvy clay pot garden was fun. Weeding and fixing up the front yard with my oldest son was priceless (see my previous post) and eating steak with all of them was marvelous.
I can think of no greater gift than to be able to open my eyes every morning to see my husband's face and those of my three children that God has entrusted to us. They are the most precious gifts of all and make life as a mother the biggest blessing of all.
Forever in His debt,
