Kreative Blogger Award! Come see!

Back in April one of my readers, Christi  (website, "living green in a colourful world") at this link below
http://fatbottombags.blogspot.com/2010/04/marvelous-monday.html
nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger Award.  I kept trying to remember to fulfill the requirements and have now finally gotten to it.  Sorry for such a delay Christi!  And thank you for the honour.

Here are 7 things you probably don't know about me:

1. I collect old paragon porcelain tea cups and accessories - in the fancy patterns with lots of gilding and those lovely dish style cups.
2. I have been following Flylady for a while and it appears to be working (most days, lol) - google her to see what that's all about - hint, it helps me stay sane in a chaotic home.
3. Houseplants stand no chance against my black thumb of death - outside ones do fare better
4. I used to have pet rats
5. I work in conflict resolution
6. I like soft boiled eggs with buttered toast 'soldiers' when I'm sad. It's a comfort food that reminds me of my grandmother
7. I used to volunteer for the SPCA and spent a couple of years as a volunteer coordinator since I loved it so much. (that's where all our fur-babies came from)

Now it's my turn to nominate some pretty awesome blogs for the Kreativ Blogger Award.  Definately worth a  peek - and you may just have to follow them so you don't miss out!  Here they are:

1. Rhondi over at Rhondis Rose Covered Glasses  http://rhondisrosecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/ has a beautiful blog and she just had a porch party.  A must go see - I loved it! 
2. Alicia of Posie Gets Cozy  http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/  also has a wonderful and creative blog.  She's got her first book coming out!  And I have to say, her little baby book on the blog is just so sweet.  Go take a look
3. Tracy at The Enchanted Cottage http://seasideenchantment.blogspot.com/  inspires me.  In her new home, she is having fun making it her own - and she's writing a story A Change of Heart.   Go and take a look (the story beginnings are on the left in the side bar under 'my writings')
4. Heidi at All My Scattering Moments 
   http://allmyscatteringmoments.blogspot.com/   will inspire you with her talent - she's an amazing quilter and I think she has a way with displaying things to look so pretty. 
5. Rhonda over at If You Do Stuff - Stuff Gets Done  http://ifyoudostuff.blogspot.com/ (don't you just love that name?) shows you that's exactly true!  I love her blog - and can't figure out how she gets it all done.  Yep, she's got talent!
6. Robin - Life with Robin http://lifewithrobin.blogspot.com/  shows off her nest.  And Robin has been developing quite the photographic talent (get it?)  I love looking at all her pictures.
7. Lesley has a new blog Country Roses and Roots http://countryrootsandroses.blogspot.com/ that I think you will love.  Beautiful pictures and some great thoughts there. 

For you 7 Kreative Bloggers, here are the guidelines for accepting this award:


You'll want to post the award on your blog.
Be sure to thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog
Share your own list of 7 things that you probably don't know about me ... (or were afraid to ask

Nominate and link to 7 other creative bloggers who you follow and pass the award on. Be sure to leave a comment on their blogs so they know they've received the award

What's A Girl To Do?

Why Shop of course...  OK.  that really does sound cliche, but it is a nice segue into my topic.  If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you'll know I used to have a dirty little secret called a diaper genie (long gone). Well, now I have a new secret... are you ready for this?   I love to shop!!!

Ordinarily I reserve that for second hand shopping - it allows me to splurge, but I'm not really contributing to the using up of fresh resources (this is how I justify it to myself) but lately I've noticed myself slipping. While I work hard to declutter - heck I even participated in a neighbourhood garage sale a couple of weeks ago! - I keep buying stuff at.. gasp... the dollar store.  Now I know, I know, this is a big bad 'no no'. It's cheap stuff, made with cheap labour and it comes with an environmental, and. likely, human cost.   It gets worse.  I've also been shopping at... double gasp... that big box store that sells more things than there are people on the planet.  You know the one.  And its for things I don't need - but suddenly discover in my basket (OK  cart)at the checkout!

Granted, a few things were on the list.  I needed some balls for a training thing at work; I needed sheets and they had the exact ones I wanted... but the rest?  Yeah... not so much.

I will be off for five weeks this summer and I will endeavor to cut that shopping habit in half, if not more.  It's going to be tough!  We also will be at two weddings and I plan on having 'fun packs' set up for my kids so they stay busy and not naughty.  While they have some stuff already from the first of my bad choices, I promise to look through what we already have to finish them up. And if I don't have what I need, to look for it second hand. 

The shopping bug has crept up on me.  I know I love it, and I used to be pretty aware of what I was doing, but lately I'm out of control.  If I want to teach my kids the lesson that less is more, I've got a LONG way to go.  And if I want to walk the walk, I need to lace up my shoes and get on with it. 

I'll let you know how I do!

Little Garden Growing

This is just a quick update to share about our little garden.  We've got strawberries on the vine, waiting to ripen, raspberries, too, and we've cut the rhubarb.  Lots of rhubarb came from that and we've shared with friends and family and frozen some for pies. (waiting for those strawberries!)

A few things didn't go so well - and I blame it on the lack of sunlight and endless rain we've had.  Nothing sprouted for a long time and of those that did, the spinach barely came up, same with the carrots. We have lots of leaves on the radishes, not so much the radish part, though!  and our lettuce started out ok, then bit it.  I saved 4 little ones and moved them into a shadier spot.  I'll plant some more over there soon.

So there are lots of things in the garden - the biggest are the sunflowers, cabbage, cauliflower and a few of the corn.  Of course, the corn that's growing well is in the wrong spot, tucked in with a sunflower.  Hopefully it'll move ok.  I put all the tomatoes and most of the peppers in pots. This is a sunny spot (when we see that yellow ball in the sky) and gets hot here for then.  As you can see, I ran out of pots, so I drilled holes in the old kitty litter containers and used those! (now how's that for re-using!)

I've put up some pictures for you to see.  The rest of the garden, well, that's another story!  One I might blog about here as I fight the weed battle. (with a shovel and plenty of recycling bags for curbside pickup!!)  Speaking of weeds, yep, there are some in the veggie patch, only problem is they are little and i'm not sure which is the veggie and which is the weed!