Back in the Saddle

Well it's been some time since I have posted anything new, My kids just went back to school last Wednesday after a very lengthy Fall break. We went to Disneyland for 4 days and it was a whirlwind of playdates, sleepovers, and playing, lots of playing. Whew! now that that's over I can go back to my schedules. My house looked like a cyclone struck it up until this weekend. Man when the kids are home for extended periods of time there is no use trying to pick up. Plus we were'nt home too much. Now, let's get back to "normal" shall we?

First order of business....Christmas. I know, I know it's only October, but listen, the time to plan is now. My kids have been working on their lists for Santa because I plan to have items bought and hid this year. I don't want to go out on Christmas Eve looking for a gift. It can be a mad house out there. I am also making a few gifts this year so I better get started. I'll save the details for another post.

Secondly, my garden. Things are doing fairly well. I do have a white fly problem that I am trying to combat but I a m super excited that I see young sprouts popping through the soil. My carrots, spinach and swiss chard are all doing nicely. I have not seen hide nor hair of my cilantro or my lettuce. Where are you lettuce? I'm treating you with lots of love. Anyway, gardening has turned into a family activity. Alexander loves to water the garden with me and everyday when he comes home from work my husband asks me how the garden is doing. It's not too late if you want to plant a few things.

Lastly, I am continuing my journey by re-discoving hobbies I've loved in the past. Reading is a big one. Check me out on www.goodreads.com if you want to know what I'm currently reading. I am also still knitting. My next goal is to find a project I can finish. Knitting really is very relaxing. As I continue my journaling I have noticed that I feel more balance in my life and it is a great time. Maybe that is what I needed. We shall see. There are new things for me to discover right around the corner and the anticipation I feel about trying those makes me feel alive.

No More Procrastinating

A few weeks ago I mentioned that My dad and I attended a gardening how-to class and that I had always wanted to start a garden but had never taken the time. Well now is the time. I have taken the plunge. My dad built me a small raised garden plot from scrap wood to get me started and furnished me with some seeds that he used for his garden. Okay so it did take me a couple of weeks to actually get down to Home Depot and buy the remaining items that I needed but the point is I did... yesterday. The family and I high-tailed it down to the big box store and bought some dirt to fill the box and some additional starter plants. My initial investment so far has been $54. If you have pretty good soil in your backyard your investment will be even less. Our soil is extremely clay-like, rocky and it doesn't drain well so I thought I should give the plants a good foundation and start with some good soil.

We came home and started right away. Gerald helped me dump the dirt into the raised bed and the kids took great pleasure in helping me spread around the dirt. I bought 3 different kinds of dirt and mixed it together. I will keep you updated as to how this works.

I planted the starter plants first: tomato plants, basil, and strawberries (my hubbys idea). Next I planted a row of lettuce, cilantro, spinach and swiss chard seeds. I hope they sprout because when you grow things from seeds you just never know. I have to admit, there is something fun and relaxing about digging in the dirt. This is definitely something the kids are excited about and that is a plus. I'll have help when it is time to pull weeds (maybe).

Check out the picture of our garden plot. It is small, but since this is my first year I didn't want to take on too much. If all goes well, I will add another plot for the spring planting season and add a greater array of vegetable choices. I would encourage you to head on down to Lowe's, Home Depot or your local nursery and get a couple of vegetable plants. You don't need anything elaborate, you can even try container gardening.

This is one thing I can scratch off my " I've always wanted to..." list. Boy does it feel good to get out there and begin something new. My journey continues....

I had a problem

I had a problem that I have been working on for the past few days. This problem had totally taken over my life. I had anxiety about it, I had frustration about it and my kids were starting to emulate it. I was........(gasp!) a PILER,PAPER HORDER! I had piles of newspaper articles and recipes I wanted to keep, I had piles of important school paperwork that I needed or wanted to keep and one of the biggest piles was the kids artwork that I thought I should keep. Well over the past week I have implemented a system that allows me to touch paperwork ONE TIME and actually know where it is supposed to go. Please, please hold your applause until the end.

I have always been a piler and an incessant keeper for most of my life. It all started when my family moved us across country from Indianapolis when I was 12. My mom wanted to cut down on items for the moving van so she was throwing away my treasured items all the while saying things like "this will weigh the moving truck down" (she was referring to my paper maiche pig that won 1st prize at the county fair. We all know how much paper maiche weighs don't we?), or you don't really need this, as she put my prized Babie Townhouse in the giveaway pile. As I got older I started to save every momento that said something, anything about my life. Now don't picture a home that needs to be visited by Neicy Nash and her CLEAN HOUSE crew. I have always kept things somewhat under control and certainly kept it to one box of momentos; My highschool graduation gown, my college graduation cap, my pet rocks, my Jamie Summers Bionic Woman doll with her stop-action feet. Well I was on the road to recovery until October 22, 2008 when we lost all of our possessions in the fire. Thank God, we only lost possessions because the fire was moving quite aggressively. Well there went my momentos, again as well as any artwork, kids mother's day cards, handprint, report cards, and class pictures that I had been saving for my kids or should I say myself. Now I'm not telling you this to generate sympathy, I'm telling you this because I know that I had a problem. (SEE ABOVE). Notice I continue to use the word HAD. I know I am not cured but if I talk about it enough it will come to fruition.

Here is the system I have implemented for our household. I have 5 binders filled with page protectors and tab dividers. Each binder is labled with a childs name with one labled household (Cabb, Andre, Anisa, Alexander, Household). Within the individual child's binder I have tabs like, report cards/progress reports, calendar, stellar work, keep, return. From the week of endless papers that are sent home we choose 1-2 items to put under stellar work, reading logs are kept under "keep," I have a monthly print out of the current month for their activities. In the household binder I have the master calendar for the family, restaurant coupons, and coming events that I may want us to attend as a family. I actually filed the recipes in my recipe box.

To say this is a work in progress goes without saying but it already seems to be working. For example, we went to Parent Teacher conference yesterday and was absolutely inundated with work, artwork, report cards and the like. Both Anisa and Dre, came home and put their "stuff" in their own binders with everything else being recycled. (I have to keep telling myself: It's okay not to keep all of their work.)

After I completed this project I was proud of myself. It felt good to look on my counter and in my kitchen drawer and not see any paperwork. To know I will be saving time looking for lost reading logs, lost field trip slips, recipes and upcoming events makes me happy.

Whew! Now if I could magically make my laundry disappear I would be super happy!

I'm on my way!

I have officially entered the gardening world. Now I'm not Ina Garten yet with her vast herb and vegetable garden BUT I did start my compost pile. I have to admit when I first heard about backyard composting I was a bit intimidated but the Vegetable Gardening 1 2 3 class answered my questions, and the city of Chandler supplied me with a free backyard composter. Well it's more like an old garbage bin, with holes drilled in the tops and sides for aeration and the bottom sliced off, but hey, I did mention it was free right? If you would like more information and you live in Chandler call the city recycling line.

Composting is so easy to get started. Save some newspaper, pesticide-free yard clippings (no weeds), some discarded cut up fruit, veggies, eggshells and coffee grounds. Layer with some dirt and you have a compost pile. I will admit to you the thought of maintaining this pile, because you do have to stir it, water it, and feed it more clippings etc, is exciting. Yes, I did say exciting. I've wanted to have a garden for the past 2 years so having a compost pile means I am actually following through with one of my dreams and that is extremely exciting to me. That's what this blog is all about. Get back to basics girl, find the things that used to make you happy while simultaneously stepping out of your box to explore something new. Dang! If only this site accepted pictures taken from my phone carrier you could see what the actual garbage, I mean compost pile looks like. It literally took less than 10 minutes to finish the first stage of this gardening project. I should start my actual gardening in a week or so. Here's hoping my backyard doesn't turn into a scene from Mimic.

The Early Results Are In!

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Can I just say I love the Chore Chart that I created? It has helped me be a little more organized when it comes to housework. This chart is just like having Ritalin for my housework ADHD! I have stuck to it all week and have had time to 1) read an entire book, 2) practice my knitting AND 3) complete ALL of my laundry. That hardly ever, ever, ever happens. I’m talking sheets, towels, cleaning rags, everything! Granted, this was the first week but I was extremely proud of myself so I will definitely continue to incorporate this into my everyday TO DO list. To finish off this week’s chart I went ahead with my grocery shopping and meal planning today. I wanted to share with you what we will be having over the next 2 weeks. Now I don’t cook everyday but I do cook most days.

· Ground Turkey Meatloaf, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Frozen Veggies (2)
· Chicken Chimichangas, Spanish Rice and Refried Beans
· Fried Chicken, Sauteed Spinach and Rice Pilaf (2)
· Grilled Chicken, Salad, Baked Beans
· Chicken Alfredo, Garlic Bread, Green Beans
· Rotisserie Chicken, Mac and Cheese, Frozen Mixed Veggies
· Chicken Parmesan, Salad, Rolls (2)
· Frozen Pizza, Popcorn
· “Ham” and Beans, cornbread

As you can tell, Fry’s has chicken breast on sale this week so I made my menu from their sale paper. Where you see (2) these are planned leftover days. That is where the cooking most days comes in. In my family I literally have to place the leftovers in the fridge right after I prepare the food or it will be gone! I like how this menu looks because of the variety and the limited amount of pork and beef that are in the dishes. “Ham” indicates it is really our version of vegetarian as there is not any real meat in this dish just a packet of ham flavoring. This actually turns out better than you would think. I will post that later in the week or maybe next week, whenever I decide to fix that.

Another thing you will notice is I have not assigned days to the menu. I don’t want to box myself in. I can choose what I want to fix from the above menu instead of saying, on Monday I will fix. I like it better that way.

The other part of my menu planning was to go to the grocery and I will let you briefly know about that: First I spent $138 for the next 2 weeks for a family of 6. Now I still need to go to Sam’s club (for a few items, I try not to go crazy even though Sam’s Club is a definite $$ trap, I’ll save that topic for another day) however, I do keep a well stocked pantry to cut down on my grocery bill. I buy multiples of these items when they are on sale. Second, we take part in a fruit and vegetable co-op called Bountiful Baskets and we get all of our fresh fruits and veggies from there. If you would like to know more, please visit their website listed below. This saves us a TON of money and we only take part 2x per month. Here’s a partial list of what we got this past weekend:

· 8 ears of corn, a bag of green beans, 8 med. sized sweet potatoes,
· 2 big bags of grapes, 8 apples, 10 plums, 10 peaches, 8 pomegranates
· 1 head of cauliflower, 2 bunches bananas, 2 heads leaf lettuce,


If you would like more information about this all-volunteer fresh fruit and vegetable co-op please visit http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/.

I continue to journal, try new things and not outwardly complain. This seems to be working for me. Let me know how you are doing in the comments section. Keep Slapping the Bull everyone!

The Great Chore Chart Experiment

I've been thinking lately, what would make my life easier? How can I get more time in my day? I mean the amount of housework that hits me in the face everyday is truly overwhelming. Our house is not that big (1300 sq. feet), and with a family of 6 it seems there is always something to do. I feel like I am spinning my wheels when it comes to this issue. Hire a housekeeper you say? Well, for some of us that is just not an option so on Tuesday I made up a Chore Org. Chart. Oh yes I did go there. What's the purpose of this? Well here is my plan: the org chart will help me stop running through the house and doing a little of this chore, a little of that chore, but truly getting nothing done. I will have days to complete an entire chore so that I feel like I have actually accomplished something. Has that ever happened to you? You start off in one room picking up and as you go to another room you see something you want to pick up in there and soon you have Housework ADHD! So this is an experiment that I am sharing, the Chore Org. Chart. Here's what mine looks like:

Sunday - Laundry, Menu/Dinner Plan for the week ahead, Sunday night: have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away so we can start the week off right
Monday - Masterbedroom, (clean, vacuum, change sheets), Dishes This is a "light" day because Mondays are generally rough for me, I can barely function Monday night: have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away
Tuesday - Clean Master Bath, steam mop entire house, dust/glass cleaning, Tuesday night: have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away
Wednesday - Laundry, vacuum, paper/mail purge, dishes, Wednesday night: have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away
Thursday - Laundry, clean out microwave, pickup in Master Bedroom, dishes, Thursday night: have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away
Friday - Straighten up counters, and clean as necessary in Master Bathroom, steam mop entire house, dishes, Friday night: have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away
Saturday - Laundry, change kids sheets, Saturday night: have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away

If you notice there are certain chores not listed. There is not much vacuuming because we have only carpet in our bedrooms with a small rug in the family room. I do not clean my kids bathroom. My oldest son Cabb cleans that every Saturday with Andre, who is ten, picking up in there during the week. I do not do laundry for my two oldest kids, (18, 10) because that would truly be too much laundry. I have mountains just for four folks can you imagine trying to do laundry for 6?!! I know there are some of you that do it so I give you kudos. I do not take out trash or recyclables. I supervise my kids cleaning their room with me fighting the urge to go back over it. If you have older kids I would say deligate, deligate, deligate. I decided to add have kids pick up their 'stuff" from family room and put away every night because you have no idea how much time I spend picking up other peoples shoes, dolls, psp's, books, etc. Listen, my name is not Hazel, or Florence or Alice. They actually got paid to pick up other peoples stuff, I do not. I'm putting my foot down, its your stuff, pick it up.............daily. I have not listed monthly chores like cleaning out the fridge, cleaning baseboards or wiping down walls. I need to get a handle on the day-to-day so I am not swimming in chores. Now who knows how this is going to work out but I am going to try it and see how I like it. Already I like the fact that I know which chores I am going to do when I get up in the am AND I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Of course this is my list, yours may look different, especially if you work, but you can do something everyday and not let your laundry, or dusting or whatever pile up until the weekend. Share your ideas in the comments section. Do you have a better way? What do you do about housework that saves you time?

Harder Than I Thought

Okay, so last night I attended the Vegetable Gardening 123 class with my father at the Environmental Education Center. Which by the way is gorgeous. Its out on Chandler Heights and Lindsay. Anyway, I mentioned this class about a week or so ago. Let me start by saying it was chock-full of information and this was only the 1st class out of 2. Now I have absolutely NOTHING started. No plot, no compost, not anything. My dad keeps asking me. "Have you started your compost pile yet?" "Well no dad I haven't. DUH!" My father has had a successful garden for about the past 3-4 years. He went with me to see if he could learn something new about gardening since he was self-taught. He learned a couple things but the first class was geared toward the beginning gardener. I learned that starting a completely new garden has lots and lots and lots of preparation. I don't know why I was thinking I could just dig up some dirt, throw in some seeds, water them and BAM! instant garden let's eat. Well, I need to re-think that plan, or lack thereof. Seriously, it is going to be an undertaking and quite an investment for beginning materials. I want to have a raised garden but here is where the investment comes in. You have to buy materials to build the garden, you need to buy good dirt as well as an irrigation system as well as stakes and so on and so on. I may scale down what I want to plant since this is my 1st year so I don't have to take out a second mortgage just to get started. I did enjoy hanging with my dad and getting his ideas for my garden. That was a definite plus. I can't wait until next week when we talk about what grows well here in AZ in the winter. I am blessed to have my dad living in the same area as I do but if your dad lives someplace else you can still connect or reconnect with him. Call him up and ask about his hobbies, or explore a new one together albeit long distance. Take an interest. If your dad is anything like my dad, he is not really a talker, he's a doer. Now I have something else to talk to my dad about when I see him. You know what makes it even sweeter? This is our thing. No one else in my family has taken an interest. It feels special, sort of like when I was younger and we would get up every Saturday morning and wash our cars side by side and we would talk. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

Stepping out of the Box

Yesterday I had two huge Slap The Bull moments. First I joined a Meetup group. What's Meetup? Its a website you go to to find a group of people that are interested in the same things you are i.e. hiking, or scrapbooking or in my case, knitting. I've been wanting to learn knitting for a few years but have never taken the plunge. So, I went to www.meetup.com, searched for a knitting group that meets in Chandler and....wait for it......attended a meeting! Before you ask, no I did not know anyone before I went, I just went. It was quite rewarding. Everyone was extremely nice and because I have NEVER knitted before I was taught how to cast on, how to knit and how to purl right at the meeting. I was also given some knitting worksheets and a website, www.knittinghelp.com for future reference. We met at Wildflower Bread Company at Chandler Mall, so it was very close to my house. I enjoyed watching the more experienced knitters zooming along as they worked toward the end of their projects. I also learned two basic stitches, stockinette which is to knit 1 row, turn, and purl one row, and the garter stich which is to knit every row. Peep pics of my beginner's kit with my practice stitches below. I was extremely proud of myself for throwing caution to the wind and learning something brand new AND meeting some new, interesting people to boot. I would encourage you to get out there and learn something new today. Your brain, and your spirit will thank you.

Reflection

Recently, a friend of mine posed a question to most everyone she knows,

"what is it that, deep down in your heart, more than anything else, you want to be, have or do in life? What do you want to be famous for?

and to tell you the truth, I could NOT answer. I think this question is not unlike the "Who are you?" question. You want to say something really profound, or really intelligent, or really witty but all I could muster up was a measly-sounding "I don't know." Since then, this question has been on my mind, not because I am trying to answer but I want to know why couldn't I answer. How utterly frustrating it is to feel you dont know yourself as an individual anymore. To be so out-of-touch with your wants, dreams and desires that all you can say is "I don't know." Now when I was in the working world I was taught if you don't know something it is perfectly acceptable to say you didn't know IF you followed it up with a "But let me find out for you and get back to you." I absolutely know what I used to want and what I used to enjoy, and certainly before October 22, 2008 what I used to materially have but I know it's not the same anymore. There are so many variables that have shaped me as a person over the past 5 years: my stint as a stay-at-home mom, my marriage, the fact that now I am on the OTHER side of 40, the all-encompassing tragic loss of a fire, the death of loved ones, unexpected chronic health problems, my husband's cancer............... I could go on and on, but you get the picture, they affect you as a person and alter what it is that you want in life. I have been so busy living in the fast lane of motherhood I have not taken the time to stop at the rest stop and recharge myself. Listen, don't get me wrong, I have seen some very funny, insightful, inspiring, and proud moments as a mom, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but I can say that I have had tunnel vision probably for the past 10 years. Focused on one thing: my family. Making sure our experiences as a family have been memorable, because after all that is what a mom is supposed to do right? Making sure my child is NOT the child that starts Kindergarten not knowing all the right things, or meal-planning, or budgeting, or......the list goes on. Life comes at you fast and I so wish I could have quickly answered that question but for now "I don't know, I'll find out and get back to you."

Caramel topped Apple Gallette with a Butter Cookie Crust

Yesterday was a very satisfying day. I wasn't idle at all, physically, emotionally or spitirually. At about 10 am I was baking an Apple Gallette with a Butter Cookie crust drizzled with Caramel Sauce. Yes you read that right, I was baking on a Sunday morning. How did I go from reading the Sunday paper to baking you ask? Great question. I knew that I was to attend a pot-luck with some friends I had not seen or spoken to in awhile. I also knew that I had not been to the grocery store and that I didn't want to go to the grocery store so I rummaged through my fridge, my cookbooks and my cabinets to see what I could come up with. Well I finally settled on a recipe for a Blueberry Streusal Gallette. I changed the recipe to include apples (its what I had on hand) and no streusal topping (I didn't have any rolled oats or oatmeal packets). As I started mixing, and sifting and creaming, Alexander (my almost 3 year old) rattled off a barrage of questions: What are you doing? What's that? Why you cutting apples? Can I have an apple? What are you doing? The original plan was to make a quick caramel sauce with the standard sugar, water, and heavy cream but of course I didn't have heavy cream and no, I still was not going to go to the grocery store, so I settled for the jarred caramel ice cream topping we all have in our pantry.








So you start out by making a simple butter cookie recipe (see below for recipe) and refridgerated the dough. ment.



I then cut my 5 apples (that's all I had), put some reconstituted lemon juice on them so they wouldn't turn brown. You know, the handy dandy little lemon juice that comes in the plastic lemon container from your produce section. This is where I debated putting cinnamon and nutmeg on my apples like when you make an apple pie. I decided against it as I didn't want the spices to overpower the caramel sauce since I was kind of going for a caramel apple flavor.


I used half of what I made and froze the other half. After 45 minutes I then retrieved my butter cookie dough, and rolled it out on my new silicone baking mat



I sprikled my apples with 2 TBS. of sugar and placed on the butter cookie crust, folded the sides over but left the middle uncovered. This is a classic step in making a Gallette. (this is according to the recipe I altered as this was the first time I have made one) I threw it in the oven and hoped for the best. NOTE TO SELF: Do not take a shower and ask your oldest to keep an eye on your Gallette. Okay, so when it came out of the oven I was a little disappointed to say the least. the edges were overly browned and how the heck was I going to get this thing onto a serving dish in one piece, the cookie crust was already starting to crack because of its extended oven stay.



Well instead of keeping it in one piece, I pre-cut the dessert in bar-like pieces. I would drizzle with caramel sauce when I got to where I was going. Could I just say, the flavor of the butter cookie, which is one of my favorites, could not have been better. It was flaky, and buttery and for the most part the right consistency. Where the apples and the crust meet was like an apple party in your mouth. Subtle but you still knew it was there. I thought it worked on so many levels and I was proud to say I tried this recipe, and made it my own. Most importantly, my friends said they thought it was great. That's all you need to feel a new recipe has been a success, glowing reviews. That was a fun "Slap The Bull" moment.


Butter Cookies (From Williams-Sonoma Desserts)

3 cups all-pupose flour
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 TBS pure vanilla extract

Sift together the all-purpose and cake flours and salt into a bowl. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture and mix just until a moist dough forms. form the doug into disks and wrap separately in lastic wrap. Chill 1 disk until firm.

Caramel topped Apple Gallete with Butter Cookie Crust (adjusted from Williams-Sonoma Desserts Blueberry Streusel Galette)

Butter Cookie Dough
5 apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 TBS granulated sugar

Roll out the dough onto a rimmed baking sheet with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Prepare the apples. Slice apples into medium-sized pieces and sprinkle with lemon juice so they won't turn brown. Add 2 TBS granulated sugar to apples. Transfer to your butter cookie crust. Fold crust over apples loosely leaving the center open. Bake for 40 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Let cool on the pan. Cut into bar-like pieces and drizzle with store-bought caramel ice cream topping. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

An unusual cinematic experience

Yesterday I was tired so while my mom took Alexander to the Science Center I decided to look at a movie on HBO. I didn't want to watch just any movie. I wanted to watch something that I normally would not get to see (for a myriad of reasons.) As I was searching I came across "Brokeback Mountain." Now I know everyone remembers the tremendous hype surrounding this movie. At the time it came out I did not want to see it. Not for the reason you might guess but because it was over-reviewed (everyone and their mama had an opinion on it whether they saw it or not), over-hyped, and the stars were literally inundated with questions about certain scenes in the movie. Well, I had made a conscience effort to not view this movie. Hey, it took me 12 years just to watch "Titanic" and I was so very very disappointed. Anyway, I sat down, actually, I layed down and watched it, uninterrupted for 2 hours and 10 mins. The scenery in the movie was breathtaking. The cinematography was like candy for your eyes, so very sweet. The story took place in Wyoming although I'm not sure that is where they shot it. I was mesmerized by Jake Gyllenhalls performance. He was very good playing the role of an emotionally distraught cowboy. Heath Ledger, who I had always liked, was equally as good, although his role was tougher to play. He played a cowboy emotionally dead because of something that happened in his childhood. I think I was surprised at how I enjoyed this story, at how I started to care about these characters. Ang Lee, the director, did a fantastic job of putting his vision for these characters to film. I must say WOW! Now let me also say I went into this movie knowing it was just that, a movie, entertainment so I don't want to get into anything biblical or moral or the like. I treated this movie like a book. As a matter of fact this movie was based on a short story. The bigger picture is that I tried something new and once again made a conscience effort to "Slap The Bull."

First order of business

Okay, I have not let any grass grow under my feet in my quest to "Slap The Bull." I just registered for a few classes that piqued my interest. I am starting small but I'm sure they will have a big impact on my future. I enrolled in a Vegetable Gardening how-to class through the city of Chandler Environmental Education Center. For the past 2 years I've told myself that I really wanted to start a garden with no action taken on my part. Well I have done some early on-line research and I'm ready for some hands-on know-how from some experts. The end of September is the winter planting season and this class is on 9/9 so I'm cutting it close. How satisfying will it be to pick vegetables from my own yard? If you have a garden and have some pointers, please post them below, I would love to hear them. Or, if you have thought about gardening and haven't taken the plunge, register and take the class with me. It was only $14 and it is open to non-Chandler residents. So I said I registered for a few classes. Heres the skinny on the other two: they are paper craft classes taught at Tumbleweed Rec center. I am excited about these classes because being creative in one area of your life seems to always spill over into other areas of your life. That has been my experience anyway. Imagine making your own greeting cards! I get all tingly inside just thinking about it and you should see the smile on my face as I type this. I think I'm on the right track. Starting a garden, which I have NEVER attempted before and feeding my creative side. I think I'm off to a great start. Be sure to check back on the progress of my garden. If you are interested in the classes mentioned above visit the city of Chandler website at http://www.chandleraz.gov/ and look for the leisure and lifestyle tab at the top. "Slap The Bull," everyone "Slap The Bull."

The first day of the rest of my life

I have entered the blogoshere and I am truly excited about it! What's up with the title of your blog you ask? "Slap The Bull" is a saying I heard that means Don't let fear overtake your life. Now fearful is not an adjective I would use to describe myself, but as a stay-at-home mom for the past 5 years I have definitely let myself get into a routine of the familiar. And let me tell you what happens when you "think" you are not moving forward, learning anything new, or putting your own dreams on hold. You become a complainer. You snap at everyone. Everyone else is the problem. There grows a knot of envy in your stomach because you know you aren't living up to the expectations you set out for yourself. As I write that it sounds so selfish. But these are real human emotions and I know I am not the only mom that has every felt this way. I certainly don't like this about myself so I had to look at the hard truth and say...What is wrong with you? You have this resentment built up but why? You are married to a wonderful man, You have great kids but hell after 5 years at home you are bored. You are not personally fulfilled. You are going through life aimlessly, with no real life goals set for yourself. What would make YOU happy? How can YOU make YOUR life a little more exciting and stop waiting for someone else to make you happy? What steps are you going to take to change YOUR attitude. Well after much thought, I have challenged myself to three things 1) Simply try something new. 2) Stop complaining. No one is in charge of your happiness but you and 3) Live "in the moment". In the words of Jill Scott "Start living my life like its Golden." Or as I like to say Slap The Bull! So come on this journey with me as I take control of MY life, MY attitude and MY happiness.