gardening gnome newbie spring summer series returns rita slanina
house and home, How To, humor, self-help

Gnome Gardening Newbie Returns

The gnome gardening newbie returns to the scene of the garden for yet another go! THE GARDENING GNOME NEWBIE DITL DECLUTTER REFRESH

GARDENING GNOME NEWBIE DITL DECLUTTER REFRESH

We’re back for another season of the SPRING SUMMER SERIES FOR 2022! Okay, I’m not a gnome, but I sure as heck feel like one as I roll around in the soil, plucking, planting, kicking up my heels in the dirt! It’s declutter, refresh time and It’s my second year to plan the dirt kicking, plant the seeds and somehow I don’t feel like I’m getting much better at this squash sitting thing. I digress. Let’s DITL!

BRUNO

Bruno the puppy has more gnome-like qualities though as he goobers mischief as soon as my back is turned! So, with high humidity, soon-to-be lazy days ahead this fine Summer, and loads of videos and television watching in my future, I thought it was time to hit ya with the first installment of how my garden started this year, how I prepped and planned it!  So… let’s…..

GET SEEDS & GET GROWING!

A FEW LESSONS LEARNED IN R2

Ah… the monsoons are back, and the garden is a’growin’!

  • ITS NEVER TOO LATE! If you haven’t gotten your seeds for your garden and aren’t getting it growing; you are NOT missing out! But, don’t continue to sleep on it, y’all! There is still plenty of time to get outside and throw down some seeds! I was binging some vids the past couple days on what seeds to put out in your garden in July for you slackers that will produce a harvest that you can still rave about to your friends as though your a gardening savant!

CORN, RADISHES, BEETS, BEANS, CAULIFLOWER, SQUASH

  • FIND YOUR ZONE! I find it’s best to check the farmer’s almanac to find out what ZONE you are in first to make sure but the veggies mentioned above should fare well regardless. I’m in zone 8a, which means, I get humid heat & snow in the winter. But I also average a 200 day growing season… what luck!! Woo! However, what works in fall/winter does NOT necessarily work in spring/summer. But it’s fun to just try and see how it goes. That’s literally half the fun of gardening.
  • DON’T TAKE GARDENING TOO SERIOUSLY! It WILL drive you nuts. Just enjoy the journey. For real. Some plants will make it and some won’t. That was probably my biggest hurdle last year. I was so frustrated but this year, I realized, it’s a learning process and until you toss down the seeds and see what happens… just for the fun of seeing what happens… that’s when you will get it.
  • BUY SEEDS FROM YOUR LOCAL FARMGIRL, HOMESTEADER, FARMER’S MARKET. Another lesson I learned from last year is that all the seeds bought commercially are pretty much one size fits all. They come from the same place, no matter where you have bought them. While – in theory – this sounds fantastic, it’s not always practical in application. Sure, you’ll harvest something but when I started buying from the farm girl in my town who literally has been doing this her whole life, my gardening took off! For roses, I did buy from Jacksons & Perkins, and they have fared quite well. My grapevines from Gurney’s, were a 50/50, one made it/one didn’t. I purchased some seeds from Lowe’s online and some are doing great and others were buttkiss.

The upswing in homesteading, growing one’s own food, or learning how to just rock a great herb container in the windowsill has skyrocketed in all our homes. A lot of peeps are now thinking – Holy Poo! – what if this no-grocery store thing – goes down again? How will we eat? An economic collapse bc of a tyrannical government is feeling less conspiracy and more probable these days! How do we handle it if something this cray cray goes down?

*uh oh.. impending tangent ahead?

No lol ..but my interest in this topic is deep.

Circling back… *wink

oh thank goodness.

Early Fall Season Deals! Save up to $30◊ off our Fees on Flights Use Coupon EFALL30.

PLAN. PLANT. DECLUTTER. REFRESH.

broccoli leaves gardening rita slanina GARDENING GNOME NEWBIE DITL DECLUTTER REFRESH
Broccoli leaves are just as tasty & useful as the florets themselves!

This is my second year gardening and believe me, when I say, I used to believe I could keep a plant alive to save my life  and now I am harvesting my own greens for salads everyday… it’s awesome to know that anyone can learn to do this! ANYONE!

So… show us!

Geesh , so impatient. Check out the fun on my DITL on how I got organized this year, what I planted and my blunders! THE GARDENING GNOME NEWBIE DITL DECLUTTER REFRESH! Hopefully this full 20 minute video on Rumble will inspire you but if you’re short on time cruise down to the shortened version!

FULL 20 MINUTE VIDEO ON RUMBLE BELOW

OR CHECK OUT SHORT VIDEO ON YOUTUBE HERE:

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humor, self-help, Writing Stuff

NOT The NaNo!

Photo Oct 22, 11 18 28 AM
Get fit for winning, NaNoWriMo!

NOT THE NANO! Can you feel it? Are you excited?

It’s not here yet; but it’s on it’s way! woohoo!

Which means, we’ve got more things to think about, dear writers and friends, than just NaNoWriMo this year… The getting prepared for it, kind of things, to think about!

I’m going to put into today’s post a few references to help get you ready; but, we’re going to focus on Pre-Preptober planning this week.

This sounds like more work. Aren’t you a pantser?

(a pantser is a writer who doesn’t plan)

Okay, yes, you got me there. But, I’ve realized more now that a little planning, even if you’re a pantser goes a very long way. And really, I plan pretty much everything. Even if it I appear spontaneous… I likely planned it. *wink

*slaps forehead

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It occurs during the month of November annually and is a writing challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days! If you have wanted to write a book or have wanted to challenge yourself to writing a book in 30 days or less, this may be just the jump start you are looking for! It’s free to participate and you will be connected to authors from all over the world!

So, since preptober is the “getting ready” prep time all NaNoWriMo participants take to start getting our shit together, let’s pre-plan, our prepping for planning… And, I’m definitely making up that there’s a Pre-Preptober, so don’t worry, it’s not like it’s a real thing.

I do that sometimes! ha!

Take a look at October’s Bullet Journal setup. It’s super easy, and fast to setup. And no, it’s not twelves pages of journal; it’s literally, two. An eerie, halloween vibe calendar next month that has your one menu to the right for bullet-style monthly to-dos.

It’s the healthy habits we need to integrate into our daily writing routine. Like hot dogs? No.

Coffee? No.

Well… actually, coffee is fine. I’m definitely problems, all day, if there’s no coffee.

So, I get that one.

Not only for NaNoWriMo but for our daily writing routine outside of writing 50k in 30 days! So, I came up with some easy suggestions below with the writer in mind. We sit so long, typing away, we forget that moving our bodies is a necessity!

Ever find yourself annoyed by the fact that you’re cramping up, your back hurts, your mind is wandering or you just feel blah inside? You want to keep writing but things just feel off? Well, this week, I offer you some simple tips to help get you re-energized, motivated and re-focused! In this week’s video, we cover our physical, mental and spiritual health that can become affected while writing our novels in sedentary.

This is true for all of us now who sit at our laptops and even on our phone to get everything done that we need! We’ve streamlined our tasks so well that we now can do more.

ugh! and yay!

Now, get me that Hot Dog Coffee!

three quick fixes for the underdog rita slanina blog recording your song for free
How To, music, self-help

Recording Studios: Quick-Fix for the Underdog

You put a song together, and now you need a recording studio.

Or do you?

As luck would have it, in under ten minutes,

I’ve got a quick fix for the underdog songwriter.

No budget? No equipment? No problem!

The idea is you need:

music software

cost of equipment

and the age-old question is… “NOW, what do I do with all this stuff I just bought?”

Music & Lyrics: a songwriter’s journal

200-page journal including lined sheets for both tabs and musical notation. An album and song title sheet with detailing fillables for music genre, mood, and tempo. Available on Amazon, or if you prefer signed editions head to the SHOP!

Let’s face it.

THAT’S OVERWHELMING!

And likely, make you not want to start recording your own songs at all.

FAST FORWARD

Three years later, you have spent thousands of dollars you couldn’t afford to spend in the first place, and its all collecting dust with half of the crap, half-in their boxes.

Oh, boo! It’s definitely too late to try to return them…

What a nightmare! No wonder people give up before they quit. You love music, you would love to get it out there; but, it’s been made into this well kept, secret that no artist is supposed to know about how to go about getting it done on the cheap.

Here’s where my

“How To Music Video Series” comes in.

The second installment takes you through an easy to follow 3-step process to put those lyrics and music tracks into a song. If you haven’t gotten your lyrics or music ready to go yet & need a starting point, check out last week’s video on how to do that.

So, without further ado… This week’s lesson: How To Record A Song (yourself) FOR FREE!

OMGosh, so easy, right!

Now, that you’ve gotten studio quick fixes,

do you think you can do this on your own?

I sure believe in you!

Happy recording, underdogs!