How does your garden grow?

In San Diego we seem to have spring like weather all year long, so growing seasons overlap. This year we are going to take advantage of this opportunity, by getting an early start with tax returns on their way to fund our garden project. As you'll remember, one of the things that makes me feel blue is wasting a blue sky by being inside. What better way to be outside?! Gardening is not only a fun activity but very productive! It will save money on produce and teach our kids innumerable lessons about nature and the life cycle of plants and the critters that fertilize them. Not to mention we will know exactly what we are putting on our dinner plates. You can find tons of gardening tips and ideas on my Pinterest board "how does your garden grow."  I could go on and on about the benefits of having a fruit and vegetable garden, but I'm more amused by the format that our garden is taking this year...... Do you recognize this infamous symbol?

January expectations vs reality

January has been crazy! I haven't been posting since we moved into our new home because I haven't had the Internet for three weeks. You never realize how much you depend on technology until you don't have it lol.

Let me say right off that so far, my idea of the formal family meeting has failed miserably. My husband kinda thinks its silly and has a hard time keeping a straight face the whole time. I'm brainstorming on how to reinvent this meeting into mini meetings every night at dinner time. Only this time I won't tell the man of the house .. And maybe he won't read this lol!

Our schedules are working out great, the girls even woke me up for school one morning completely ready to go! I've made myself a loose schedule (mostly for cleaning) so that I am more productive during the day. I have planned out meals so that everyone knows what to expect every afternoon, and have an app on my phone that organizes my grocery list by aisle. All of these things have made my household more efficient, and I'm much more relaxed because of it.

One of my personal resolutions was to buy less prepackaged snacks for the kids lunch. I've developed a couple of great cookie recipes and have two rolls if yummy dough rolls in my fridge to make baking them more convenient. Ill be posting those recipes if you're interested. :)

I'm still gradually unpacking and organizing, but I'm limited by money. I've made it a habit to spend a few minutes looking at the free section of Craigslist, and pinteresting frugal repurposing projects. So far I've acquired an old ladder, and one wooden pallet. Updates and maybe even a tutorial soon :)

Lastly, for those who know us personally, you know we are animal people. In our efforts to serve as a family in some way, we have decided animal related service will fit us well. We've taken care of anything from snakes to horses, guinea pigs to rats. We found our new pup at the Humane Society and he's fitting in quite nicely. Once he settled into our routine we found another dog to foster and train until he is ready for his forever home. So far so good! We're really enjoying having animals in our home again, from protection to affection, they bring great things into a family.