Victory Garden Season!

Hey Yall! Wow it has been awhile since i have written anything on here. Well it is summer and what does that mean?
1) Sitting by the pool
2) Drinking a alcoholic fruity drink (If you are old enough, anyone under 21 stick to the Virgin drinks)
3) Partying
4) Making your Victory Garden.
5) Finding that one cute guy to take you to that awesome country concert you have always wanted to go to.

Wait...what was number four? Yes I said it. A Victory garden.

You don't know what that is? Shame. Well let me tell you in a brief description. A Victory Garden is a garden like your ordinary flower garden. Instead of daisies, sun flowers and pansies, there are tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, strawberries and my favorite rhubarb! Man my mom makes the best Strawberry Rhubarb Jam! Anyways... the official definition is "A vegetable garden, especially a home garden, planted to increase food production during a war." If you think about it the USA is in a war so it would be a legit Victory Garden. Where did it all start though? You can thank your Great Grandmother, or Grandmother.

In World War Two when we were being pulled from both sides of the world fighting, women were at home taking care of the children, working in the factories and plowing the lands. Women at home had books that would be used to buy certain foods, such as 2 lbs of sugar, a cut of meat canned foods any thing that you see in the grocery store today was rationed. I guess that was how we had gotten "Food Stamps" That we have today! Well to grow more produce they made "Victory Gardens." Government propaganda (Or really convincing fliers) said that it was patriotic to have a victory garden. They also said to can all of your foods so they were preserved. To save during the winter months. Smart Moms!

Woman did A LOT back on the home front when the boys were fighting! So how do you make one?
Simple! get plants from your local store or green house (Luckily I have a friend who works at my local store and will bring me home plants!) get yourself some nice dirt, and plant! It is seriously that simple. Since I live in an apartment I have mine in little pots works about the same, but much easier to move if I need too.

"So what Veggies can I plant?" 
I plant tomatoes. potatoes, zucchini, lettuce, cabbage, rhubarb, green beans cucumbers, cilantro, mint, dill, squash. really its anything and EVERYTHING! Just make sure your soil has the correct vitamins for the plants ( Potatoes need to have an acidic soil while, Tomatoes need more of an Alkaline soil). always look up which plants need different PH levels.

"When can I start?"
Right after reading this! If you have potatoes you can plant them in the ground right now! Just cut them in half and stick it in the ground! Make sure you remember where it is though so you can water it! Make a hill to protect the plant when it sprouts.

"I live in the city there isn't much room on my balcony, is there a more space saving way to make my 'Victory garden?"
Glad you asked! Yes there is! You can make a Pallet Shelf. A quick little DIY project The example I have has pictures in it but you can put the plants in and it has a place for the water to drain out!
to find out how to make it, Click this Link http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-RUSTIC-PALLET-WOOD-SHELVES/

After a day of gardening, I think its time to kick back, relax, and listen to some 40's songs with our sweet tea!!

Kindness goes a long way.

Today, I have learned there are some really great people in the world.

Today I was talking to my friend (Lets call him....Garrett for privacy sake). He works as a barista in Starbucks, conveniently this is also in my workplace. Garrett hadn't known that I had lost my sweet dog Missy and I have known him since my sophomore year of High school. So he is a really great friend to me. Of course I have the "I'm sorry" and I just say "I'll power through it."

Well a woman had overheard the conversation and asked why she wasn't cremated. I said I had to pay bills before I could bring Missy to her resting place.

I start working and my fourth customer comes and she hands me what looks like a brown envelope, however I see the "STARBUCKS" on the outside of it in shiny gold foil.

Thanks to my store Policy, I had to decline her three times before I took it. My co-worker said "We will just act like you refused three times. The woman left telling me to have a better week and that the card made my week a little better.

Honestly, it did It made me feel so much better. What most people don't realize is that if you are still in the store you can get a refill on a tea or a drip coffee. Well I drink a lot. I am constantly talking all of the time and my throat gets dry and hurts. Granted I could get water for free, but honestly, I need something that will also calm my headaches, and give me that "Southern Comfort" I am looking for.

It made me happy, it was unexpected and honestly that card will last me two three weeks. It really warmed my heart because she wasn't seeing me as an employee of a grocery store, she was seeing me as a person who really needed a pick me up, who needed to see a little light in a, currently, dark world.

Honestly it did make my day and it really made my week. If I could find that woman again I would give her a hug and say thank you all over again. Her kindness gave me a little bit of light in a dark whirlwind of pain and hurt. Now I am not saying to give everyone in a really bad mood $15. No I think the whole world would be broke. Just do something nice for them, wait a little longer, give them a smile. flowers are nice if you can afford them. If you live at home with them, do some chores around the house, clean. I know that they will appreciate it.

So remember, kindness does go along way. It could help someone in dark times. Or make them even happier than they were before.

So lets Kick back and Relax, and drink some sweet tea.

Money Problems SUCK!

We have all been in a very tricky situation with money, like it or not. We can't seem to pay a bill or we hold off on the one we have until next month. If you don't have enough money, you realize what I am talking about!

I am the caretaker in my home. My mom can't work because she is disabled and my little sister is too young to get a job. With my Moms Disability, I am the one who has to pay most if not all of the bills. after she pays the rent. It is hard to be the only one working. What sucks even more is that I am a 20 year old, by now I should have been out on my own in my own apartment. Heck I know an 18 year old who lives with a room mate!

No matter what I love my Mom, and I forever will. My mom isn't the problem though. Even though I save money throughout the month and get paid every week, I still can't pay the bills. I make above Federal Minimum Wage at 8.23 an hour, but if you look around where I live you can see that a house is 300,000 dollars, and that is for a two bedroom home that would need a lot of work. My apartment is expensive and I am on the lower end in a place where you pick yourself up.

When you are taking care of three people including yourself, and have to pay for everything, it is tough. Especially when you work 40 hours a week and have no social life.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we should raise Minimum wage, I just think that my store that makes over 1.2 million dollars A WEEK should raise their pay. But because of some Money grabbing big wigs in corporate that will never happen unless someone speaks up to them and frankly, I am a bit out of my league on that. I don't have a college degree in business, but i would make sure that my employees (No matter what rank they are in the company) has the means to pay their bills and maybe get something nice once in awhile or has some emergency cash on the side (I don't and that is really bad!)

So if any "Big Wigs" or CEO's see this, this is how someone in your stores feel. We work our butts off to stress at home if we can buy Groceries or if we can pay our electric bill. While you have it nice and easy making millions by the second, people are working so hard they could collapse at any moment.

SO, let's kick back and try to relax with our sweet tea.

Losing a Loved One

Losing a loved one is hard. It doesn't matter who it is, a family member, a friend, or in my case my little Maltese Missy.

Let me tell you a little bit about her. Missy was born in 2003. She was rescued by my mother from a coworker who would have made her into an outside dog (She was clearly not cut out for that). I was 8 at this time and had always wanted a pet that would stay. Now my Mother was in the middle of her first divorce to my Father and Missy really helped me through everything, I even held her as I cried.

Skip ahead to 2010. I knew that there was something very wrong with my Grandpa just how he was acting and talking wasn't right. When we moved in with my Grandma and Grandpa after my mom decided that she was leaving my Stepdad, we noticed my dogs (China and Missy) sitting next to him all of the time. Missy would sit in his lap or on the arm of the chair while China sat at his feet. On October 19th 2010 I lost my grandfather to cancer of an unknown origin.

Missy was there when I cried, when I found myself really depressed and lonely, my whole world had just been turned upside down. Later that year, I had gone through something traumatic and she was there for me. She saw me graduate Elementary, Middle and High school.

She was a sassy little dog, when she laid down on the couch and watched TV with us, she would curl into a ball or lay straight but crossed her front paws. Watching her walk was just funny, again with the Sass. She would shake her hips back and fourth not caring about the world. She had her bad sides though. She didn't like lightning and thunder, she would shake so badly that she would overheat and would hyperventilate pretty much. She also didn't like little kids. hated them and wanted to tear them to shreds. It was funny and a bit concerning at times.

At night when we all went to bed we would go into our rooms and at one time she slept with me in my room along with China. Missy would sleep next to my head and China by my feet. It made me feel safe and secure. She stopped when we had moved to our current apartment. It was her being in my Moms room that comforted her.

Then one day, she wasn't herself. She wasn't eating, her gums and tongue were white and she couldn't walk. I told my mom that we had to go to the vet that night after I picked up my paycheck. She wasn't my dog on that car trip. She wasn't excited to see out the window, she couldn't even hold her head up to look out the window. Her eyes were big, but I could see, she wasn't there, she had given up.

When we get to the Emergency Vet she was warm in her green blanket that was on my bed. It was hard to give her over to the nurse. My heart broke. After about three hours of trying to get financials figured out. We decided that we would euthanize her that night. On January 15, 2015, she passed away in my mothers arms.

Losing her is hard for me. She had been there for me for more than half of my 20 year old life. I have had to try and change habits i have had for years (Like grabbing two treats instead of one, Trying not to call China, Missy by accident or just wanting to look for her when I know she is gone.) I had hope that she would get better, she didn't. I was hoping that I would be able to take her home, watch a movie, and have her play around with my other dog. I cried for the next three days. I am still hurting today, but there are no more tears to cry. There are only hopes that she is with my Grandpa running around on a big green lawn with some of my past dogs that I have owned.

It doesn't matter if it is a human, or an animal, they are part of your family and it is hard either way. You have lost apart of yourself when they died.

Now as we kick back and relax with our sweet tea, lets reflect upon what I have said here today.