Celebrate the Small Things

This weekly blog hop is sponsored by the amazing Lexa Cain, and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner from Writing Off the Edge and myself. 

What exactly are we celebrating?

Every week, wonderful things happen, tiny things, which make us smile. But as time grabs us up, we forget all about these moments as if they never existed at all. This is the chance for us to reflect back on those and remember that there are tons of things worth celebrating.

This week, I'm celebrating. . .

1) My stone wall plus veggie garden is up and thriving! I can't believe how well it's doing because...*cough* *cough*.... Let's just say that gardening and I have experienced our share of battles. But this garden is going so nicely that I'm planning on adding a second level behind it. Now, listen to the groans of my children, since they have to help me pick up the rocks from the creek and load them onto the trailer.

The wall goes up to the upper end of my thigh and currently has 2 zucchinis, radishes, spinach, lettuce and 12 tomato plants. There are two layers of rock to make sure it doesn't collapse on me, and the whole thing is filled with our homemade, fertilized soil (made from my lovely girls below.)

The light colored stones are what I added. Gosh, those corner stones are heavy! As in, they were shoved...never carried. Lol! I think they weigh more than me! The other, darker wall was already there.

And here are a few of my girls. The little black guy in the middle was born this last week. Now, we're complete with 7 cows, 7 calves and one super sweet bull. Yep, fertilizer production for layer number two is going well.

2) Plum wine! My husband has always enjoyed making wine, a hobby I'm glad he's found (and  trust me, he's experimented with every type you can think of over the years). Since we moved to the US, he hasn't gotten around to it. But this last Fall, we had so many wild plums that he decided to give it a go. The result? 25 liters of the most delicious, light wine...perfect for these hot, humid temperatures (and with only 9,5% *hiccup*)

3) My very own 'book' came out this week, A Glowworm! This is a Ubook (for those of you who haven't heard me squealing the past few weeks). What is that? It's a new form of book, being currently patented by the Black and White Publishing Company. The book plays out, sentence by sentence, on a video, while music, which has been composed specifically for the book, plays in the background to help create the right atmosphere. The music was composed and performed by Nathan Moran. I was lucky enough to also have my done in narrated form, so that it makes a lovely audio book as well. Thanks, Melanie Schulz! She had a little bit of a challenge since there are several terms in German, but she did a beautiful job.

It has a more 'artsy' feel to it and is lovely to listen to...especially with a glass of plum wine (if I may say so myself.)

This is about 1 hour and 10 minutes long and covers a lesser known event in history, which drastically changed the lives of hundreds of young women between the ages of 17 and 25 in the years following WWII in Germany.

Of course, I appreciate all shout-outs, shares and such...don't we all?

And that wraps it up for this week!

What about you? What put a smile on your face this past week? Hit those hot temperatures yet? Pop some fresh berries into your mouth? Find a new shampoo?

What are you celebrating?