Monday Garden Club

Well, hello there, long time no blog! Before I get to the garden, I'll give a quick update on what the heck we've been up to since I last checked in.  I've been busy taking pictures.

  

The Gardener has been mowing lawns 2 nights a week (ours and one other), and just yesterday started a new garage project.  He found a 2 car garage on craigslist for cheap, so he bought it.  The only catch is, the garage is currently standing in someone's front yard, completely assembled.  The Gardener and his dad removed all of the shingles and a bunch of other parts yesterday, and hopefully by next weekend, he'll have the wall sections ready to be moved.  We need another giant project like we need a hole in the head, but doing it this way is much cheaper than starting from scratch, and our little one car garage, besides being too small for much of anything, is falling apart. Yeehaw!

The Gardener and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last Thursday.  We went out for dinner Friday night and displayed exactly how old we are by deciding not to go out for an after dinner drink and instead go home and SLEEP.  No, really, it was awesome and much needed.

The girls were gone for the weekend with Grandma N and Uncle T, boating and swimming (Apparently in their underwear and T shirts because somebody forgot to pack swim suits. Oops!)  and when they returned, look what they found inside a jar in the house!

A few weeks ago while on a walk through the garden, I noticed my parsley plant had been completely eaten.  All that was left of it was stems, and on those stems were lots and lots of bright green and yellow caterpillars.  I ran to find the girls and minutes later there were about 10 caterpillars in a re-purposed pickle jar.  2 formed a chrysalis and the rest apparently didn't appreciate their new environment because they didn't do much of anything and are still laying lifeless at the bottom of their makeshift cage, as removing them would disturb the remaining chrysalis which is attached to the side.  Anyway, look how pretty!

After admiring the beauty of the new butterfly, Mae released it onto a flower...

And while I no longer have any parsley growing on the garden, I have patty pan squash,

cucumbers,

LOTS of sunflowers,

watermelons,

tomato trees plants,

and we're still getting some broccoli!

I made 3 big jars of pickles last week, blanched and froze some broccoli and beans, and cooked and ate damn near my weight in summer squash.  I still have lots of produce to preserve and use up but I'm hoping I can get some roasted veggie pasta sauce made in the next few days, and when I do, I plan to post the recipe here, if I don't get distracted by Facebook, or editing wedding photos, or a dog eating yet another pair of shoes.

Anybody else gardening this week? If so, grab the Monday Garden Club button on my sidebar, paste it to your blog entry and link up below with Mr. Linky.

Trick or Treat 2010

Alternative title for this post: MOM, STOP CALLING ME ASKING WHY I HAVEN'T POSTED TRICK-OR-TREAT PHOTOS YET.

Here you go.
So, besides training a new puppy (who is very slowly learning that shitting in my living room is not okay) and photographing and editing thousands of family photos for other people and making lots of phone calls to our insurance company after last week's wind storm that ripped apart a sizable section of shingles from our roof, I also had 2 Halloween costumes to make before the weekend.

As much as I like to make fun of my mom here on MY blog, and as much as she drives me crazy (love you, Mom!), I always appreciate that she took the time to make Halloween costumes for us when we were kids. As Halloween would approach, she would stay up all hours of the night at the sewing machine and ironing board making sure that our costumes were ready for the big day. I have carried on the same tradition with my kids. Well, the stressing about it and staying up all hours of the night to finish part, at least. The fabric I ordered for Binny's pumpkin costume came 1 day before the Halloween parties at school, which left me very little time to make my own pattern and sew it all together. Also, I thought I ordered two yards of the orange corduroy but turns out I only ordered one. That would be why Binny is wearing her Arctic Cat snowmobile hat instead of a cute pumpkin stem hat. I just barely had enough for the pumpkin itself!
Mae's ghost costume required very little effort as far as assembly went, just a few seams and an easy hood. Putting the damn thing on proved to be more of a challenge since it seemed to keep getting smaller even after I added extra inches for seam allowance and warm weather clothing underneath.
We went Trick-or-Treating with the same bunch as last year, and this time the little frog was big enough to participate and walked the whole way unassisted with a firm grip on his candy bucket.
Even Flash got into the Halloween spirit and dressed up in a last minute costume put together by the Gardener.

Wardrobe Wednesday

Guess who found the basket of winter accessories?
Anybody in your house wearing something noteworthy today? If so, link up!

So Long Leroy!

Your eyes are working correctly, that is in fact a photo of my Binny in praying position. That can only mean one thing....... Why yes, the Public School Holiday program was last Friday.

My long time readers will remember that last year I threw a bit of a stink* over the program because of some of the content. I was disappointed that the music teacher chose only Christian songs to celebrate the Holiday season and conveniently left out songs that represented any other religions that happen to celebrate this time of year. In addition to the Christian slant, the play portion of the program included a character named Leroy, wearing denim overalls and a John Deere hat, dancing around the theater while the 8 year old singers on the risers sang Leroy The Redneck Reindeer.Even with the inclusion of Binny's class singing Go Tell It On The Mountain (...where Jesus Christ is born), I have to admit that this year's program was a HUGE improvement over last year. There was no acting thrown in between songs and most certainly no mention of Rednecks, just each grade singing 3 mostly non-religious Holiday songs. Mae's class didn't even sing a religious song at all. After last year's Jesus and Redneck extravaganza, I tried to set up a conference with the music teacher this year to discuss my concerns, but the day before our scheduled conference, she had to cancel. She wrote me a note requesting to reschedule but never returned my calls. Whether or not my complaint to the principal had any influence on the the changes, I was pleased that the music teacher decided to make the changes, period. No, it wasn't void of Christian references but the teacher made an effort and I appreciate that and agree to compromise as well.

On our way out of the building I spotted the principal in the office and decided to turn back and give her my opinion on this year's program. At first as I explained to her who I was (Last year we only spoke on the phone, not face to face.), a concerned look came to her face but as soon as I told her how much I enjoyed the program and more importantly the changes, a smile returned to her face and I'm sure she also felt a sense of accomplishment that she's doing her job.


* Links to the posts I wrote after last year's program:
My initial post.
Follow-up after another blogger challenged my first post.
Follow-up after I spoke with the school's principal.

Pumpkin Pie Making

As Binny and I were adding ingredients and stirring the pumpkin pie filling, she looks up at me and says... "Mom, this smells like wet dog."

As she put the ginger root back into the freezer she asked, "Mom, what is this?" It's ginger root. Kind of like a tree root, but it's ginger and we eat it. "Is it a root from the gingerbread tree?"

Too cute not to share! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

RTT- High On Easy Off

Well it's Tuesday and the best way to get everything out there is to pull out the Un Mom's Random Tuesday Thoughts badge and get to it.

Shall we?

After three years of dealing with an oven door that doesn't completely seal, I decided to call sit on hold for 20 minutes with the extended warranty people and request that a service person come out and fixes it. After I scheduled the appointment I took one look at the oven and was overcome with a feeling of Holy shit, I can't let someone work on this filthy thing. So I rolled up my sleeves, put on a pair of kitchen gloves and huffed Easy Off for an hour and a half. I'm still not sure what bubbled over and was crusted on the bottom, but it was a real bitch to scrub off. This was a long time coming and I knew that a good cleaning was in order because every time I would heat the oven above 350, the smoke detector would alarm. My kids have mastered the art of waving a dish towel at the blaring thing though.

While still high on oven cleaner I decided to keep the cleaning going and vac'd and scrubbed the floors until Binny arrived home from school. I don't know about anyone else but a clean house makes me happy. Maybe if I did it a little more often... Or if the house could stay that way longer.

As Binny bounded off the school bus yesterday she told me of a surprise that was in her backpack. Not hand turkey time yet (a Thanksgiving thing) but it was even better. I took out the surprise, read 2 pages and put it away so that we could all enjoy it as a family after dinner. The children in Binny's Kindergarten class are learning their addresses and phone numbers and as a fun project, the teacher had the children draw a picture of their homes and explain how to get home from school. The teacher then typed out what the kids said and attached the directions to the drawings then bound it all together in a folder to take turns going home with each student. The Gardener and I could not make it through the entire book without laughing so hard that I thought we were going to lose consciousness. The adorableness of it all was too much. So much in fact that I immediately typed out all of the directions and because I'm sure I'm not the only one who will find this completely cute and hysterical, here they are:

"Go around the circle. Turn at the next turn. Go straight. Then there is another turn. Go straight. Turn onto Elm Court. Look for the tan-ish brown house at the end."

"Go straight. Take a sharp bend into the road. Go straight and turn again. Look for 266 Washington Lane."

"Turn, then turn again. Than go into the country. Turn by a blue house, then drive a little to the brown house."

"When there is a turn don’t turn, go straight. Turn at the stop sign and it is next to a stop sign."

"Go close by Jack’s house. Go straight and you’ll find a gray house, that’s mine. Oh yeah, make sure you see a dog.

Drive to Town. Look for a white house but DON’T go to that one, Go to the next white house."

"Go straight that way. It is a white house on a black road."

"You go straight then turn. Go to the gray house and turn again. Turn down another road and in the middle there is a gray house."

"You go into Town where you see the brown house with the pool, trampoline, and dogs Ginger & Drake, that’s my house. If you see Emma’s house mine is right across the street."

"Go straight. Turn, then turn again the other way. Go straight. Skip a little bit of houses. Look for a blue house with a gray car in the garage."

"Look for the Smith’s house, then look for the yellow house and pull in the driveway."

"I live in Town."

I changed all of the names for anonymity. Not mine, the children.

Tomorrow is Mae's follow-up appointment with the immunologist down at Children's hospital. I talked with the nurse practitioner last week about Mae's test results and the idea so far is that Mae has an immune complement disorder, meaning that a very specific part of her immune system is out of whack. She said that there isn't too much to be done about such a diagnosis other than keep an eye out for any infection that should arise. I guess we'll find out more tomorrow when we see the doc.

That's about all the randomness in me today. Have a great day!

A Cubbie, 2 Cuties and a Funny

I think I forgot to mention earlier this week that we saw bears at the cottage last weekend! Well, we actually saw one bear, last years cub we think.

Tuesday morning as we were packing up to leave, we saw a big Mama bear strolling through the yard. I had my camera packed away so I didn't get a photo of her, but believe me she was BIG. The cub was great though, he hung around the yard for quite a while for us all to see.

*****

*****

If you haven't seen this new commercial from Hardee's, you must. I can see why it's a web only commercial and not suited for a TV audience but it sure is funny. The whole concept of biscuit holes is beyond me. I get that doughnuts have a hole and that's why the doughnut hole is so popular, but biscuits don't have holes! Why is that anything? Funny commercial though.


I still haven't caught up with my blog reading but I'll try over the weekend.
Have a great weekend all!

Never Trust A Surgeon With A Kool-Aid Mustache

"Binny what are you doing?"
Binny: "I'm doing brain surgery on myself."

Like duh!

Little Stuff

First things first. I have been trying to come up with a blog name for my husband. I really don't like the name Hubby but also have been too lazy to think of anything else, so I called my bro and he suggested I call my husband not a name, but one of his hobbies (clearly listed on my husband's facebook page). From now on my husband will be referred to as the 4 wheel drive gardener. (maybe just gardener for short) And this will be his photo. Hey, if he uses it as his Facebook profile, it's fair game, right?

What else? Grandma N gave the girls a new box of markers.

Ever since they have been turning out drawings all the while sneaking every sheet of white copy paper that I keep hidden in the printer, wedged in the bottom of our makeshift kitchen computer desk. Lucky for Mae, she's tall and thin so she can usually snake her long arms into the back of the cabinet, feel around for the paper, grab it with her hand and yank while simultaneously getting up off the floor to run into the living room to get started on her next project all before her sister, because "It's a race, Binny! I'm winning!"


That is not Charles Manson themed body art on her forehead, it's marker. Also, did you notice that Mae is missing another tooth? Upstairs this time.

Mostly the girls have been drawing houses and ovals, then coloring them, Easter egg style. Hours of fun, thanks Grandma N! Speaking of Easter... the girls and I were at Walgreens over the weekend to pick up some photos and guess who was sitting right next to the photo counter with a big basket of chocolate? No, not me, damn! Of course it was the Easter Bunny, a creepy looking, not so friendly, my 4 and 6 year olds were scared shitless Easter Bunny. The sweet woman working the photo counter offered to take their picture with Creepy Bunny, but my kids graciously declined from behind my right and left thighs. Apparently the candy is just for the children brave enough to actually sit on the lap of Creepy Bunny not for photo bribes.

Anyhow, back to what I do have photos of. Here's a picture of me. She said it was me, although she (kind of) wrote Daddy on it.

Looks like I've put on some weight since the last time Binny drew me. At the very least I look like I've been hanging out in a bee hive.

More eggs, Binny hung these on the bedroom wall last night so I could see them first thing in the morning.

I found this one under my pillow this morning.

Not much else going on. My afternoon will be spent making returns to Home Depot and Menards for the 4 wheel drive gardener. Sounds like a rockin' afternoon huh?

Little Singers

You know when you get a song stuck in your head and find yourself walking around the grocery store singing "Hooked on a Feeling?" Well apparently it happens to kids too. I picked up the girls from school the other day to take Mae to a Dr. appointment. As I was waiting for the girls to come out of class, I could hear a little boy singing. At first it just sounded like a bunch of mismatched numbers. Then all of a sudden it was clear. He was singing "867-5309 Jenny." He sang the whole thing! The mom standing next to me laughed so hard I thought she was going to pee herself.



Just last week as Binny and I were waiting for the bus I heard her singing the Michael Franti-Spearhead song "Light Up Ya Lighter." ... At least she finally stopped singing Jingle Bells.



Now make my day and insert a catchy song into my brain.

Adventures in Photoshopping

About a year ago I bought Photoshop Elements to help me do more extreme photo editing. Little did I know photoshop (even Elements) is a complicated program, for me at least. Hubby and I have used it a few times to fix a few huge minor errors but I have never played around with the different layer effects, until yesterday. Blogger Kelly posted a link to some free photoshop actions and I felt inspired to try it out. The actions are super easy to use once installed and produce beautiful photos! Thank you Kelly!!!

This was the color pop action adjusted almost all the way to B&W.