Boys To Men. . . .And Back Again!

When Morgan and Jesse were young, Lego was always at the top of the list when it came to Christmas and birthdays. There was no such thing as too much Lego.
The years passed until one day they realized that the Lego hadn't been out for a few years.

They decided that rather than letting all that Lego languish unused, they would rather pass it on to other boys who would enjoy it the way they had.

A much loved teacher with small boys just the right age was chosen.

I was told that teacher's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw just how much Lego the boys had accumulated. I was also told that the teacher was probably even more excited about the gift than his boys would be!

So here they are, Morgan and Jesse,  no longer boys but young men.

What do you think they brought home last night?

Well Jesse brought home. Morgan had to settle for a puzzle as this purchase was out of his reach. . .

The Millennium Falcon and a Star Wars puzzle

1254 pieces!

From boys. . . to men. . . and back again!

A Prize And A Gift

A while back I entered a draw over at Jenna's blog for a drop spindle and roving from her cranky sheep Maude.
Alas, someone else won.
But wait!. . .
Someone else didn't claim the prize and I became the lucky runner up winner!
Guess what came in the mail today. . .

Ooooohhhh!

Christmas holidays start in a week.
I'm sure the kids wouldn't mind if I choose to spin rather than do my Christmas baking. . .
So that was the prize.
Jenna didn't stop there however and gifted me with a copy of her book Made From Scratch as well!

How sweet was that?
This is a very good start to the week.
I hope your week starts out as well as mine did!

Special delivery

Okay, it's time for the big reveal.

Drum roll please. . .

What could those boys be making?

Yes indeed Brenda, you were right when you guessed the first time!

It's my very own greenhouse! A spacious 8'x12'! Whoo Hoo!!

Although it is called the Easy2Build greenhouse, I've got to tell you, it was anything but!

The worst part was the weatherstripping. The directions tell you 'insert weatherstripping in metal channel making sure it is facing the right way. No instruction is given as to how to accomplish this!

This is what Henry came up with to get the roof done.

The greenhouse was creaking in an alarming manner, so he decided to send me up there! Now if the weatherstripping would have just slid into the channel it wouldn't have been so bad but. . . that was not the case at all! To get the weatherstripping into the channel, you had to pry the metal back every inch and a half or so with a large screwdriver and shove it in as hard as you could.

Arghhh!! I was not made for this! I was just not strong enough to work on the roof, so Henry braced the greenhouse from the inside and did it himself. As a souvenir of my time up there however I was left with two rather large, ugly, bruises on the front of my legs where they were pressing against the ladder.

I did do most of the weatherstripping on the rest of the greenhouse though. That is one of the reasons it took so long to finish.

It is finished now. Henry spent a few nights getting it bolted into the concrete blocks (that required some serious fiddling as well. I'm sure glad he has lots of ingenuity!)

So come on in!

There's a nice place to sit.

A corner I will use to pot up plants. (and keep my eye on the temperature.)

Henry got Mr B (our handyman/contractor ) to bring electricity in as well, so I have both a light and an outlet for the heater etc.

Henry also managed to work things so that I still have my outdoor work area.

The big box holds my potting soil.

There you have it. My big garden project.

I will be spending lots and lots of time this winter learning about greenhouse growing and dreaming of the many, many plants that will grow there.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Remember This?

Remember this? No? Check out this link (anyone know how to have a word for the link rather than the specific "address"?) http://rose-gardendiary.blogspot.com/2008/08/special-delivery.html

What did you guess this package might hold?

Tune in later tonight for the answer. . .

Serendipity

Remember these?

You remember don't you?

Tamara (http://thegreenhousediaries.blogspot.com/) and the Big Guy were out for a seminar and left behind all the baby plants they used as props for their educational game.

I planted them up and babied them until late spring.

Two of these little guys along with some baby ivy were planted in a rusty metal planter, put under the apple tree and for the most part forgotten.

Oh, I watered them once in a while and picked the odd weed that sprouted, but mostly they went unnoticed.

Until a few weeks ago.

When I saw this. . .

Isn't it pretty?

And the orangey colour fits right in with the fall nesting theme.

I love unexpected gifts.

Look what the delivery man droppped off!

Blessings have be raining down on us in a big way lately!

I've been having trouble with my oven for quite a while.

The repairman came and fixed it.( For a price.)

It worked for a while, but then. . .

I started having trouble with the oven again.

Henry said "It's time for a new one."

Really!

Whoo hoo!

It took a bit of convincing on his part to get me to agree to a higher priced model. (I know, I'm weird.)

As you can see, this baby comes with 5 burners, one of them an oval in the center. There is a cast iron griddle that fits over that burner or you can put a grate over it and just plunk a big pot on there.

How amazing is that?!

The best part though (aside from the fact that it's gas) is the convection oven.

That's right ladies. . .

I'm going to be baking/roasting up a storm this fall.

Once I've finished in the garden you will likely find a lot of posts coming out of the kitchen.

I can hardly wait!

*And Jenny?I tried out the original recipe for cinnamon bread last week. It's almost perfect. A little sagging in the center but. . .I think it might be the oven. As soon as I'm hooked up I'll try it again and then I'll post the recipe. If it doesn't come out perfect I'll still post the recipe and let you fiddle with it! Lol.

Special delivery

Now what do you think the UPS man has in there?

Ooooh! That's a big box!

What could it be?

Stay tuned. . .

Tamara . . . shhhhh. . . it's a secret!

Unexpected treasure

While walking Jada this morning I noticed one of my neighbours was having a garage sale.

Once we had gotten back and had breakfast, I wandered over to check things out.



Look what I came home with!

I love dishes with roses on them and the little bowls will be perfect to serve dessert in one of theses days.

Henry stopped by for lunch and wanted to know if he will get more than one bowl. He seems to think they are a little small!



I also purchased these canning jars. I love the older ones with the glass lids, although it did just occur to me that, although I can tell when metal lids have sealed, I have no idea how you know with glass lids and rubber rings!

I'll have to do a little research.

Now I'm off to clean the house.

Remember? I didn't get it done yesterday. . .