Sona Creidhe Homeschooling

I usually write a post each year on the kids' birthdays at our Life With Heathens blog so instead of posting the same thing here I will just give you the link if you would like to read it.

Sweet 16 For WHO?!

For those of you who don't frequent our LWH blog, heathens does not mean anything having to do with any religion. It's used in the context of "my rotten little kids". They are my heathens.

Here's a perfect example of a heathen! lol

The tomato seeds (and other seeds) we planted almost two weeks ago that is. It sounds goofy but the kids and I are ecstatic over this because we all have black thumbs. We fully expected everything to either not grow at all or die quickly.

On April 3rd, Lil Man and I planted a small pot of mixed seed flowers just for him. He talked about how big his flowers were going to grow and how pretty they would be. The Grim Plant Killer hangs over this family so heavily that while he was dreaming about his plant, I was trying to think where I could buy a small potted plant in a week or two so he wouldn't know his had died. Bad mommy, I know.

The next day we started our Tomatosphere experiment. Two days earlier I had gone to Blahmart and bought one of those Jiffy Greenhouse Kits along with a strawberry plant kit, and some organic garden soil for when we transplanted the seedlings outside. Tomatosphere suggested peat pellets and I have to say that the Jiffy kit is a lifesaver if you totally stink at gardening!

We planted the tomato seeds, spinach seeds, Blue Boy seeds, and Marigold seeds in the greenhouse kit on April 4th. The way the kit works is you add water to the bottom of the container and wait for the pellets to soak it up. Then you put the seeds in the middle and voila, just wait for them to sprout!

While we were waiting for the pellets to soak we started the strawberry kit which was alot of fun. You start with a brick of coconut fiber, add water to it, and watch it expand. When it has completely soaked you scoop the "dirt" into the pot, plant the strawberry plants, and again you are done! I'm telling you, it's like Gardening For Dummies!

By April 7th we already had germination! About 1/2 of the sprouts started to show from everything but the strawberry plant. Anyone know how long that is suppose to take? Packet "R" of the tomato seeds were the first to sprout but Packet "S" wasn't too far behind. By April 10th all of the tomato seeds that were going to germinate had done so. Out of 64 pellets for tomatoes planted (with a seed each) I think we only had one seed from each packet not germinate. We are still keeping an eye on them though just in case. Pretty good odds if you ask me! The Tomatosphere site says you get 70 seeds but we only got 67 (the cat ate three that Lil Man dropped).

Lil Man's plant sprouted on the same day as the others so we had all kinds of greenery around here! The site says that you transplant the seedlings at around six weeks but ours are already too tall and the roots are too long to be in just the peat pellets. So Today we planted all of the "R" and "S" seedlings and their pellets in seperate large containers (to keep inside).

We also began digging a shallow trench in our back yard along the house to plant the Marigolds, Blue Boys, and a variety mix that I have in a few days. Our back yard is nothing but sand, some weeds, and an indentation where we're guessing a pool use to be so we have alot of work to do on it. The little guy thought he was being a help by putting all of the pellets together that were left after we transplanted the tomatoes. Now we don't know our Blue Boys from our Marigolds from our Spinach. This should be interesting!

I think the best parts so far are hearing Lil Man tell people that we are growing Martian tomatoes (I can not wait until he sees GREEN tomatoes starting! FUNNN!!!) and the joy and relief on the older two kids' faces from knowing that WE are actually growing something.

I can't get the Flickr plugin to work so I can add pics to this post but you can see the whole set HERE.

I know I promised a post about our planting fun and how our tomato experiment is going but it will have to wait.

For today I just ask that you think of this mama and send her your healing vibes, prayers, and thoughts. Yesterday she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. They are still waiting to find out exactly what kind and the specifics.

I can say I know what it's like to be told you have cancer. I can say I know how it hits you like a baseball bat coming outta nowhere. I can even say I know what it's like to hear the words "inoperable". What I can't say is that I know how it feels to be told you have a brain tumor and feel the fear that comes with hearing that.

Cancer is scary no matter where you get it. There is no such thing as a little cancer or a "good cancer/tumor" to have. Anyone who has had or has cancer can tell you that whether it's in real life or online, the moment you hear someone else has been diagnosed with ANY kind of cancer your heart goes out to them. They in a way become a part of a special "group" that you have who at least know some of the emotions you've experienced yourself and they become the "newbie" that you root for and hope will "graduate" (aka remission) quickly and completely.

This mama, Heather, is my age and has a long fight ahead of her. I won't even pretend to know what it will be like for her. My heart goes out to her and her family right now and I wish I could have given her some of my cancer/tumor cooties instead (not that I'd want anyone else to have them at all but you know what I mean!). They (mine) are so insignificant compared to what she is facing and I just wish she didn't have to go through it at all.

Heather if you ever read this, all I can say is that your strength and your sense of humor will be two of the best weapons you will have through this (on top of your other "weapons" of course) and after reading what you've been through with your daughter I have no doubt that you already have the strength. Don't be afraid to laugh even if no one else thinks its funny. Don't be afraid to cry when you need too, even mommies have a right to fall apart.

I wish you the best of luck and I will keep my fingers crossed. My thoughts and my heart are with you.

*Before anyone asks, I did send an email to Heather already so I'm not posting this to get people to this blog. I want to send those who already come here over to her's so they can give her extra love.*

I was going to just post about our planting fun last week as we started our experiment for Tomatosphere with some pictures but then I saw on the Statcounter that people were coming from the Homeschool Blog Awards page for some reason.

What does my slow little blog have to do with homeschool blog awards? Well it looks like we've been nominated in the Best Variety category!!!

Thank you to whoever nominated this blog. It honestly means alot to me to know their are people who think that highly of us.

I guess voting begins on Monday. And here I just thought I had tomato plants and Tai Chi to look forward to this week! LOL. Make sure you vote at HBA for someone in each category. There are ALOT of fantastic blogs listed there who are very deserving of awards. I saw a few faves that I will be rooting for too.

We also started our Tomatosphere experiment last week and I have pictures to show. We had alot of fun and I can't wait to tell you all about it. I'll get that up either tomorrow night or Tuesday so check back! Until then, I've uploaded some of the pics to our Flickr and you are welcome to go have a looksie. Here is a direct link to the set.