I finally joined the Etsy world!! Yay! I've listed some sample sugar cookies that anyone is welcome to order. I'll even ship them to you!
Take a look-see. If you want something that you're not seeing, ask me. I love to do custom orders.
Also, if you're local I can do custom cakes as well. For now I'm only shipping cookies, though.
Sweet Daze Confections on Etsy
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Grrrr!!!
I may be killing me some birds soon. Every time I plant something, the freaking birds rip it out or dig up the seeds. They pulled out 6 tomato plants today, all but the biggest of my pickling cucumbers plant, 2 Straight 8 cucumber seedlings and every single time a bean seed sprouts, they pull it up too. I am so sick of replanting my garden and losing so many plants to those thieving birds!
And seriously, our new neighborhood is infested with birds. I have never seen so many birds in one area before.
Ash got a BB gun for Christmas. I'm *this close* to hiding out and using it on one of those demons.
And seriously, our new neighborhood is infested with birds. I have never seen so many birds in one area before.
Ash got a BB gun for Christmas. I'm *this close* to hiding out and using it on one of those demons.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The August Garden
The heat is almost over, thank goodness. Once the humidity sets in in late July and August here in Arizona, it really is unbearable. Give me the dry heat with 115 degree temps any day over 105 with 60% humidity. I don't even know why I do my hair and makeup with this weather. My hair just ends up being a poofy mess and my makeup just melts right off my face. It's gross.
I worked a little bit at a time clearing rocks and mixing in compost to two new vegetable beds. I really had to take it slow. After 15 minutes I felt dizzy and my heart would be racing. I finally got it all finished and Mike helped me plant my fall tomatoes on Monday. I always know when I plant the fall tomatoes that I'm going to lose a few of them. It just happens. So I grow some extras as back-ups.
As you can see, I moved all of the bucket gardens against the wall to make room, and I really wondered why I hadn't put them there to begin with. I like it much better. Oh well. I still have a little bit of tidying up to do, but here is the start of the fall garden.
I put those boards on the edge of the beds to help keep the rock from sliding back into the soil. We'll see how it works.
Basically, both new beds are devoted to tomatoes. Mainly because I'm a freak.
This bed still has the peppers and one last tomato plant that made it through the summer. I recently planted 3 types of cucumbers and 2 types of summer squash along the back.
The cucumbers have just started to put out tendrils to climb the trellis.
There are so many rocks in this bed! It's very frustrating. I remove as many as I can and then the next day, they're back. I'm pretty sure they're growing in there.
These little tomato plants were volunteers from the spring plant. I really liked that tomato so I pulled out all but 2 of the seedlings and am letting them grow. Hopefully they'll be the same as last time.
There's finally a little squash growing on this plant. It was attacked early on with squash bugs. I never got a single squash bug at the old house, but they keep coming back at this one. They are so nasty and I itch for days after I see one. The pumpkin plant next to this plant has also been attacked, but it's outlook isn't as promising. Boo!!
That's pretty much it so far. Here's to hoping for a very late frost and an abundant harvest!
I worked a little bit at a time clearing rocks and mixing in compost to two new vegetable beds. I really had to take it slow. After 15 minutes I felt dizzy and my heart would be racing. I finally got it all finished and Mike helped me plant my fall tomatoes on Monday. I always know when I plant the fall tomatoes that I'm going to lose a few of them. It just happens. So I grow some extras as back-ups.
As you can see, I moved all of the bucket gardens against the wall to make room, and I really wondered why I hadn't put them there to begin with. I like it much better. Oh well. I still have a little bit of tidying up to do, but here is the start of the fall garden.
I put those boards on the edge of the beds to help keep the rock from sliding back into the soil. We'll see how it works.
Basically, both new beds are devoted to tomatoes. Mainly because I'm a freak.
This bed still has the peppers and one last tomato plant that made it through the summer. I recently planted 3 types of cucumbers and 2 types of summer squash along the back.
The cucumbers have just started to put out tendrils to climb the trellis.
There are so many rocks in this bed! It's very frustrating. I remove as many as I can and then the next day, they're back. I'm pretty sure they're growing in there.
These little tomato plants were volunteers from the spring plant. I really liked that tomato so I pulled out all but 2 of the seedlings and am letting them grow. Hopefully they'll be the same as last time.
There's finally a little squash growing on this plant. It was attacked early on with squash bugs. I never got a single squash bug at the old house, but they keep coming back at this one. They are so nasty and I itch for days after I see one. The pumpkin plant next to this plant has also been attacked, but it's outlook isn't as promising. Boo!!
That's pretty much it so far. Here's to hoping for a very late frost and an abundant harvest!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Well, I Feel Gypped
Back to school day is today. The kids have been vibrating with excitement about this day for a while now. They started a countdown about 3 weeks ago. This year Mike said that I probably shouldn't walk Ash to his class and take pictures of him at his desk (a yearly tradition now) since he was going into the 5th grade and that would probably embarrass him. That was sad to me. But I still had Bella! I knew she would be alright with me coming into her class with her for so I could get some pictures and hugs.
This morning just felt off, though. Both kids were up before me and had dressed, fed, and packed themselves. It was like I was hardly needed. Ouch! Bella did ask me to put curls in her hair, but she didn't want me to style it. She just wanted to wear her giant flower headband. (That girl loves giant flowers and bows in her hair.)
Then I took them outside for pictures. Ash, for as excited about the first day as he was, looks miserable in all of the pictures. He's just too cool I guess.
Once we got to the school, we waited in the cafeteria for the individual grades to be called so they could go to their new class. Ash and his friend decided to just head out to their class by themselves. He said bye to me, but Mike was standing with Bella by her class and never got to say goodbye. Sad.
When it was Bella's turn, the principal made an announcement that the parents should just say goodbye here so as not to prolong any sadness for the kids. Kind of like ripping off a bandage quickly. Well, shoot! I really wanted to walk my child to her class and take more pictures. It wasn't to be.
As we were leaving, I quickly looked through the few pictures I took. There weren't very many that even turned out well. Overall, I just feel let down. Maybe it's really the feeling of my kids growing up so quickly and not needing me as much as they used to. Yeah, that's probably it. At least they still need me to pick them up at the end of the school day!
This morning just felt off, though. Both kids were up before me and had dressed, fed, and packed themselves. It was like I was hardly needed. Ouch! Bella did ask me to put curls in her hair, but she didn't want me to style it. She just wanted to wear her giant flower headband. (That girl loves giant flowers and bows in her hair.)
Then I took them outside for pictures. Ash, for as excited about the first day as he was, looks miserable in all of the pictures. He's just too cool I guess.
Once we got to the school, we waited in the cafeteria for the individual grades to be called so they could go to their new class. Ash and his friend decided to just head out to their class by themselves. He said bye to me, but Mike was standing with Bella by her class and never got to say goodbye. Sad.
When it was Bella's turn, the principal made an announcement that the parents should just say goodbye here so as not to prolong any sadness for the kids. Kind of like ripping off a bandage quickly. Well, shoot! I really wanted to walk my child to her class and take more pictures. It wasn't to be.
As we were leaving, I quickly looked through the few pictures I took. There weren't very many that even turned out well. Overall, I just feel let down. Maybe it's really the feeling of my kids growing up so quickly and not needing me as much as they used to. Yeah, that's probably it. At least they still need me to pick them up at the end of the school day!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Putting It Up
My strawberry plants this year did the best they've ever done. However, that's not really saying much since all the plants in prior years basically did nothing. This year we each got a few berries to enjoy before the heat turned the plants into crispy little dead things. That doesn't mean we won't be able to enjoy all kinds of strawberry goodness though.
My lovely sister Jenna recently found a smoking deal on strawberries so she ended up buying 18 pounds to put up in her freezer so they would have strawberries as they needed them. The next day I noticed a similar sale on strawberries in my area. I'm a big ol' copy cat. Now, I only bought 8 pounds because my family is not as big as hers, but who knows. The sale goes on for another couple of days so I may just go get more.
"Putting up" strawberries is super easy.
I first washed and hulled the berries.
Then I arranged them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer until they were pretty much frozen throughout. This makes it so your strawberries don't freeze into one large strawberry clump that's hard to do much of anything with.
Once they were frozen I could put them into a freezer bag and suck out the extra air. Now they will stay perfectly fresh and delicious for months to come.
And what to do with all of those empty plastic cartons? They are going to make perfect little seed starting greenhouses for some of my fall plants. Nice!
My lovely sister Jenna recently found a smoking deal on strawberries so she ended up buying 18 pounds to put up in her freezer so they would have strawberries as they needed them. The next day I noticed a similar sale on strawberries in my area. I'm a big ol' copy cat. Now, I only bought 8 pounds because my family is not as big as hers, but who knows. The sale goes on for another couple of days so I may just go get more.
"Putting up" strawberries is super easy.
I first washed and hulled the berries.
Then I arranged them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer until they were pretty much frozen throughout. This makes it so your strawberries don't freeze into one large strawberry clump that's hard to do much of anything with.
Once they were frozen I could put them into a freezer bag and suck out the extra air. Now they will stay perfectly fresh and delicious for months to come.
And what to do with all of those empty plastic cartons? They are going to make perfect little seed starting greenhouses for some of my fall plants. Nice!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Well, That's Interesting
With the temperature at a balmy 108, I decided to get going with my fall garden. I've had my tomato plants growing in their little pots happily outside for about a month now. Just yesterday I began clearing more rock to make 2 more vegetable garden plots. (Mike said that as long as we can just cover the areas up with the rock again when it's time to move, I can make as many garden beds as I like.) Today I went out to my buckets and began pulling plants that I've gotten a little sick of looking at and tending to with little to no reward for my efforts. It's time to be planting green beans again and I was so unbelievably happy with how they turned out this spring that they're a must to grow this fall.
As I was pulling out the swiss chard (which is still growing like crazy even though it isn't shaded and I hardly pay any attention to it) I noticed the strangest thing. All of the plants had long thick tap roots that looked like carrots. The color of the stems of the chard matched the color of the root. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me since swiss chard is in the beet family, but I thought it was pretty cool to see. When Ash saw the roots he said "Oooh! Carrots! Let's eat them." I'm sure you could eat them, but I'm not going to. I'm a wuss. Or didn't you already know?
As I was pulling out the swiss chard (which is still growing like crazy even though it isn't shaded and I hardly pay any attention to it) I noticed the strangest thing. All of the plants had long thick tap roots that looked like carrots. The color of the stems of the chard matched the color of the root. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me since swiss chard is in the beet family, but I thought it was pretty cool to see. When Ash saw the roots he said "Oooh! Carrots! Let's eat them." I'm sure you could eat them, but I'm not going to. I'm a wuss. Or didn't you already know?
Friday, July 22, 2011
My Little Pony Cake and Catch-Up
I guess I don't really have much to say in this blog currently. Summer break is almost over for the kids and they couldn't be more excited about that. It's hard to have a great summer vacation when you live in the desert. Nobody wants to be playing outside in 115 degree heat. The two of them just really want to be back at school with their friends.
If all goes well, I'll be going back to school this fall as well. It's never too late to start college, right? I'm going to be starting with just general education credits and see where I want to go from there. I'm just waiting on the financial part of it all before it's set in stone. I am excited though. Excited and nervous. It's been 12 years since I was in school. I'm sure it will be quite the adjustment for us all.
I wanted to start posting the cakes I'm doing again, just so there will be a little activity on my blog. It's sad to see it just sitting here all alone.
Today I made a My Little Pony themed cake. As a side note, I find it funny how all the toys that were popular when I was a kid are just being recycled for today's kids. I do think the ponies were a lot cuter when I was a kid though.
Tangent over.
This cake didn't take very long at all to make. I bought the ponies because there was no way I wanted to try to make them. All of the other decorations are made from fondant. I was definitely going for the "more is more" look on this one. I think it turned out cute. It should be picked up in a few hours and then I'll find out how they like it.
If all goes well, I'll be going back to school this fall as well. It's never too late to start college, right? I'm going to be starting with just general education credits and see where I want to go from there. I'm just waiting on the financial part of it all before it's set in stone. I am excited though. Excited and nervous. It's been 12 years since I was in school. I'm sure it will be quite the adjustment for us all.
I wanted to start posting the cakes I'm doing again, just so there will be a little activity on my blog. It's sad to see it just sitting here all alone.
Today I made a My Little Pony themed cake. As a side note, I find it funny how all the toys that were popular when I was a kid are just being recycled for today's kids. I do think the ponies were a lot cuter when I was a kid though.
Tangent over.
This cake didn't take very long at all to make. I bought the ponies because there was no way I wanted to try to make them. All of the other decorations are made from fondant. I was definitely going for the "more is more" look on this one. I think it turned out cute. It should be picked up in a few hours and then I'll find out how they like it.
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