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How our first garden grew is a lesson in mistakes. Very little went as planned. You can read about how completely not planned it was in our original post about gardening with kids. Because gardening with kids is a whole other story. Let's take a look at what we got... Pinto Beans
WeedsOh the weeds! Over half of our plants ended up being weeds. We put orange sweet pepper seeds into the cups. Instead of orange sweet peppers we got a bunch of 5 foot tall weeds. My friend, Marla, tells me they are generically known as red root here because they are red at the start of the root. Peas We did successfully plant and grow peas. They simply died into a shriveled brown vine before we picked the first pod. Come to think of it, there may have only been one pod. BasilThe basil we planted has done very well. I've begun pulling the leaves and drying them. Then my eldest took a pair of scissors to them. Ah, well. This is probably a better container plant than a garden plant. TomatoesWe were successful at growing tomatoes. Our eldest was always excited to go out and check them for new tomatoes that were red enough to be picked. That enthusiasm waned by the end of the season. We still have to remove quite a few green tomatoes. SunflowersThe sunflowers grew tall and pretty. But no sunflower seeds. The stalks were not strong enough to hold the heads once the seeds formed and they all snapped in a storm. WatermelonWe planted this one and the vine grew all over. We saw several watermelons growing but none made it to be picked. The squirrels got every one of them. So many, many failures...A lot of failures in our first garden. We still had a lot of fun. We will definitely be growing another garden next summer. Imperfect Mommy is a series of posts about life and parenthood. If you'd like to read more, select the Imperfect Mommy category in the sidebar. If you enjoy this, or any of the posts, please leave me a comment below.
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Forfeiting Adam releases on December 8th on Amazon. Click the cover image below to pre-order for $2.99. In this excerpt, a partial of Chapter 20, you get a snippet of what Edee does during her Thanksgiving break. You'll also meet Edee's parents, her younger brother, and Grandma Rosie. I hope you enjoy this look into Forfeiting Adam.
Well that was a surprise. I texted back: Awesome. Why were they there? Adam replied: Invited them. That one thing, his inviting two guys who were more my friends than his, was part of why I liked him. He looked out for others. I texted back: Dad took 3rd in his age group. Grandma Rosie bustled into the kitchen and told me, “Make a dang call or take that infernal device out.” I grinned and left the kitchen to her. Adam and I continued to text. Not much was happening so, several minutes later, I stuck my head back in the kitchen. “Grandma, can I go through your patterns? I want to knit Christmas presents.” “Knock yourself out,” Grandma muttered without even looking at me. The counter I’d finished cleaning less than an hour ago was covered. “Do you need any help?” “Nope. Got it all under control.” I edged out of the room with an “Alright. Call if you change your mind.” I couldn’t swear to it because I was already turning away, but it looked like she took a drink from a bottle. An hour later Mom stopped by the craft room, formerly my bedroom. Mom had installed an entire wall of shelving within a month of me returning to Smith and Guy. I was relegated to sleeping on an air mattress or the couch when I visited. “What’re you up too?” Mom asked. “Picking patterns for Christmas gifts. Do you think Grandma would go with me to the yarn store tomorrow?” I handed her the stack of patterns I’d set aside. “Sure she would.” Mom sounded too happy. I looked up from the pattern I’d been reading to see her shrug before adding, “Do yourself a favor, get her to let you drive.” “Um, ok.” I felt uncomfortable even thinking about how to do that. Mom continued, “We might have to take away her license.” “She’s not THAT old.” “She’s had three fender benders since you left.” “Geez. I didn’t know.” Mom sighed as she pulled several patterns out. “These are too complex. Stick with simple stitches. And don’t tell your grandmother. We’re still hoping an eye exam will fix things.” “You just said you have to take her license,” I pointed out. Mom snorted. “There’s the hope and there’s the reality.” “Reality being?” “She goes ten to twenty miles below the speed limit and people rear end her.” I winced. Mom shook her head. “She refuses to drive with her hazards on. Your Dad and Jacob even tried to rig the hazard lights into a permanent on. It didn’t work.” “Wow,” was all I could think to say. Mom handed me four patterns. “These are good choices. Where is Grandma anyway? I thought she’d help you with this.” I gave a nonchalant wave toward the kitchen. “She’s in the kitchen. I offered to help…” The sound of off-key singing drifted into the room. Mom muttered, “God help us.” I scrambled after Mom as she left the craft room. Dad and Jacob met us in the kitchen doorway to discover Grandma Rosie dancing in bunny slippers and singing a show tune. Dad looked helplessly at Mom. “She made eggnog,” he said. “What’s wrong with eggnog?” I asked. I’d never seen Grandma Rosie even tipsy before. “She drinks too much while making it,” Mom replied. Jacob snickered. “At least we know where Dad gets his singing voice.”
Enjoy your Thanksgiving. From me to you, have a great time but don't overindulge. Those overindulgences always hurt later!
#ForfeitingAdam
How my email list grew:Where I was when I signed up for Instafreebie:
When I initially signed up for Instafreebie:
Then I joined a group of 35 authors to cross promote:
From 2 readers to 1,500 in less than a month!I was over the moon with these results. Completely thrilled. I did lose subscribers when they unsubscribed from my welcome letter. My unsubscribe rate was 7%. I was still quite happy because I knew that my book might be seen and read by 1,700+ people. And that's the most important thing: eyes on your book. Potential readers who may become fans after reading my first book and be interested to read the second. So, that's the beauty of Instafreebie. I'm still working through the data and preparing for a second launch. I'll keep you posted on that after I see how the first week goes. Release day is December 8th for my second book, Forfeiting Adam. In the mean time, have a great week. Enjoy the process. It's slow going for me right now but I'm learning and hopeful for the future as I get better at running this business. #MondayBlogs #AuthorResources
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