Coupons and stuff

So I'm having mixed feelings about my coupons lately.  The obsession has worn off.  I still think it's awesome that you can save so much money, but my desire to put in the effort is not real high.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that every time I try to browse coupons, they make me want to throw up...literally.  This pregnancy has been different than either one before.  I was REALLY sick with Kelley (throwing up almost every day, sometimes more than once) and not at all nauseous with Tyler.  This one I haven't actually thrown up that much, but just don't feel good.  Thinking about food is often hard because nothing sounds good and some things (like spaghetti...an old favorite before!) really make me want to just loose it even thinking about it.  GAG ME!  Anyway, so browsing pages and pages of food coupons...yuck!!!!!!!!  But my grocery bill was so high before, I feel like now that I know what I know, I can't go back to ignorance.  So I'll keep doing it I suppose.  

Also just so you all know...we aren't going to find out what the baby is until he/she is born!  Now that I have one of each, I think it will be a fun surprise.  I was sure I would know right away because Kelley and Tyler were so different.  But this one is in the middle, so it's perfect!  Joe thinks it's a boy, I think it's a girl.  Of course ;)

And I finally got both my garden boxes planted.  This is the first one...isn't it pretty????  I'd never heard of Square Foot Gardening before this year and now it seems like so many people are doing it.  My neighbor next door even has one!  I haven't blogged about this yet have I?  Well last year if you were reading my blog you know we traveled out to my mother in law's all summer to do our garden.  It was a great piece of land and it was perfect to have so much space, but it's a 20 minute drive out to her house!  Gas was super expensive and although I really enjoyed it, it was a time sucker!  This year, especially knowing we were going to try to get pregnant I knew we had to do something different.  

(By the way...I think it's really funny, for us, there is no try, only do ;)  This is the second time we've been able to plan exactly when we wanted to have a baby :)

I just didn't think we had enough room in our backyard.  Well my daycare licensor told me about Square Foot Gardening.  LOVE IT!  I guess I shouldn't say that yet, because we have yet to be successful, BUT I love the concept.  This garden box can grow as much veggies as a normal garden FIVE TIMES the size.  Between our two boxes I think we will have as much if not more growing (with the exception of corn) as we did in our huge garden last year.  And it's supposed to be nearly maintenance free.  You start with only compost, peat moss and vermiculite.  You DON'T start with the weed seeds you get from your natural landscape dirt.  Besides, our soil STINKS here.  For a garden this size, it's a little expensive to get started (buying all the soil), but I doubt we spent what we spent on gas last year, and my time is really at a premium now.  After the first year though, you just make your own compost and add that every time to plant a section.  You don't need to fertilize, you don't need to till, hardly need to weed.  

So in two boxes this size so far I've got: corn (40 stalks) and will grow pole beans up those (old native american trick), 2 each of eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and cantaloupe, some lettuce, chard and radishes, acorn, yellow, butternut and zuchinni squash, lemon and regular cucumbers, 7 tomato plants, four peppers, carrots, onions, turnips, chives, oregano, lemon and sweet basil and cilantro.  And I have room in 20 more squares I haven't decided what to do with yet.  Luckily for me, fresh fruits and veggies actually sound really good most of the time.  I'll keep you all posted.

Also, coming soon...pictures of the new and improved back yard!  I'm so excited about this.  I convinced Joey to spend our tax returns on the backyard this year and it's going to be SO cool.  Joey has also spent most of his free time for the past several months back there too.  He's the best!  More on this later.