just me, catching up

I've been really busy lately with sessions nearly every day, but because I also use this blog to document my personal life I want to make sure I get all of these things written before I forget!  So this will be a rather boring post, unless you find my everyday interesting.  And you should! 

1) My beloved tomato plants were ripped from the garden last week by a lawn man gone crazy.  Seriously, he must have been insane because why else would someone completely remove and chop up HUGE tomato plants that were in a raised bed and producing in aplenty?!  INSANITY.  When I opened the door to let the dogs out I just stood there in shock, like maybe if I stared long enough my plants would reappear.  They did not.  We planted that garden in April and those plants had yet to produce but they were huge and took up 3/4 of our garden.  Then one day last month Deran and I were picking okra and noticed the tomatoes, more than we could count.  They were on every branch and stem, and they were marvelous.  And now they're gone.  I did manage to salvage a few green tomatoes that were left scattered in the yard.  Avery went out to help me and as we were gathering them and putting them in the bag she said, "Why you so mad?  Lawn man knocked down you matoes?  You so upset!"  Indeed, I was...upset.  I know, I know, it's a first world problem.  My lawn man chopped up my tomatoes.  But SEVEN months of tending those plants.  Wah!

2) I've started using Deran's Old Spice After Hours body wash.  And I may smell like a man, but man I smell really good!  I ran out of Dove one night so I grabbed his and I haven't stopped using it since.

3) Avery has started demanding stories told to her often.  Mostly about the three bears and the three pigs.  Sometimes about dragons, and sometimes I can choose to tell a story about whatever I want.  One night I crawled into bed around 4:00 and she woke up and snuggled up to me on the pillow and said, "Tell me a story."  I totally pulled a Pop and fell asleep before the end.  My dad was a great story teller when I was little except that he always fell asleep mid-story. :)  And then last night she woke up around 3:00 growling at us.  When we rolled over she told us she was a tiger, then asked me to tell her a story about the three bears.  I was so tired that when Goldilocks tasted the first bowl of porridge instead of saying, "It's too hot!" I said, "That's a bad stomach waiting to happen right there" and trailed off.  About a minute later I snapped back awake and was like, what the heck did I just say?  After busting out laughing I turned on an episode of Dora and went back to sleep for 20 minutes because I'm an awesome parent like that.

4) Which brings me to number four. Avery has started saying, "Ayudame."  Dora and Diego are awesome, for real.  When she needs help she says, "Help! Ayudame! Help me Momma!" or sometimes she calls it out for her animals or babies in need of help.  Super cute!

5) Talk about Santa and Christmas is in full swing.  Avery does NOT want to see Santa Claus at the mall or her house.  He can bring presents but she will be asleep or with mommy.  We've also been talking about the real Christmas story and when Avery was younger she didn't hesitate when we asked where Jesus lives, in her heart of course.  But lately she looks a little concerned, like there's possibly a real physical man?  In her heart? 

6)  On the opposite side of the last note, let's talk about kettlebells.  I'm pretty sure Satan himself threw those out of the abyss for me to work out with.  No really, thanks Jen!  You're an awesome trainer, and not devil-like at all.  She really is sweet!  

I've got lots of great sessions to share and I'm considering a separate blog to keep up with my Avery Kate, at least through busy season. She's pretty darn cute every single day and I want to make sure I don't miss it.  She reminds me to find the joy in every day, and that's worth documenting.

I haven't done the 30 days of thanks like I did last year, but I'm certainly no less thankful for all of the things that make up my life.  Just for fun, here's a look back at last November 17th.  I have been blessed beyond what I deserve and at the end of the day if all I have to complain about is a couple of tomato plants?  Well, I'd say my life is pretty great. 

that's a lot of green

Our garden is still growing and producing vegetables!  Sadly, only our bell pepper and okra plants have survived.  We do still have two giant tomato plants, taking up space and teasing us with lots of blooms but no fruit.

At the end of last week I picked SEVEN bell peppers and one okra.  I had to throw away several pieces of okra because it wasn't edible, I'd let it grow too long.  I really hate it when that happens.  It's crazy how much our pepper plants are producing since I thought they'd never mature.  I swore we'd save money and buy seeds next year, but now I'm not so sure.  I really love those plants!

Always with my helper!  She got a little bossy when Oscar came sniffing around and she had to give him a stern talking to. :)  I miss the days when she said, "Oat-doh," you can actually tell she's talking about okra now.

I'm so glad we started the garden this year, it's been a great experience for our little family.  It's not too late to get a fall garden going if anyone is thinking about it!  

a growth spurt

Explosion may be a better description actually. Our garden has grown so much over the last three weeks!! The photos are mediocre at best, but dang I'm proud of our little garden. It makes me so happy to go check on the veggies and water the garden each day.

Per the gardening guru at Lowe's, we'll call him Awesome Mike, we bought cucumber bush seeds. I'd say they're bushy, but they vine out also. I'm okay with it, but I'm so glad Aunt Wanda moved some of our plants around on a visit in May. There's no way they would have all fit within the square in which they were planted. Those cucumbers are sprouting all over and in various stages of growth.

And you guys, that's a bell pepper!! I can hardly believe it! Just last week I swore those darn pepper plants hadn't grown an inch since they were planted and vowed to save a few bucks and go with pepper seeds instead of plants next year. And then today I saw not one, but THREE bell peppers. Oh, be still my heart!

I'm just so excited at the prospect of cooking with our home-grown vegetables and already we have plans to expand next year. Deran needs space to grow all of his salsa/chili ingredients and I'd like to add some beans and possibly onions. I just can't express the happiness and satisfaction at seeing these plants grow. I really do act like they're my babies or someone dear to my heart. When Avery finally wanders over while I'm watering I exclaim over the zucchini and she'll wave and tell them "Hi!" in the sweetest voice. Or when I'm showing her the little okra or cucumbers sometimes she'll say, "Awww, dute! (cute)" And I couldn't agree more. Baby vegetables, much like puppies, are very cute!

I picked the first cucumber and okra tonight. At this rate I'll be able to fill a plate by July and I'm totally okay with that. I've really enjoyed the experience so far and I'm really beginning to see that you reap what you sow. And there's your life lesson from my square foot garden. Go forth and plant good things on this fabulous Thursday!

square-ish foot gardening

Deran bought this book several months ago, but it wasn't until Easter weekend that we actually planted our garden. It was originally going to be 4x4 but once the area was cleared it looked...small. Like, really really small for all the veggies I wanted to plant. So because we had three, eight foot boards, we decided to go with a 4x8 garden. Deran ran out of twine so there's one row of squares and then some rectangles. According to his book that means we don't really have a square foot garden. And Deran follows the book. Whatevs.

My always helpful Aunt Wanda was in town and over helping us. Going with a bigger garden meant going back to the store for more supplies. A big thank you to Mike at Lowe's! Mike, if you ever happen to stumble across this blog, please know that you are awesome sir. The end.

Oh wait, the garden! I intended to document the whole process from building to gathering the harvest. But Internet, Deran and Aunt Wanda made me WORK. I had to carry heavy bags of soil, plant seeds, and tend to a toddler. So even though it hasn't grown as much as a certain helpful aunt expected, it's shaping up pretty well. We started out with two tomato plants, two pepper plants, and seeds for cucumbers, squash, and okra. Surprisingly, everything has actually sprouted! Though when things first started coming up I felt very much like I was in this scene (around the 5:37 mark) straight out of Second Hand Lions. Seriously. It all looked the same! But with the passing weeks it's changed and I think (hope!) we're on our way to some fresh summer veggies.



I think I'm most proud of the okra, which is crazy since I didn't even plant those seeds. But they all came up and I was so excited! Then there was a tragic accident while I was weeding one afternoon. Avery, my ever-present garden assistant, was also doing some weeding. We lost an "oat-doh" and some squash. In her defense, she saw me pulling things out and she was just trying to help.



Last night while I was giving the garden a little bit of water, I left Avery on the patio eating her dinner. That's right, she ate a lunchable for dinner. See, Deran was cooking dinner last night which meant we wouldn't eat until half past NEVER because he's the slowest cook ever. So I took Avery outside with me for a picnic. She only eats the "hom." I love the way she says ham, kind of proper.



For the last two days she's only wanted to wear WHITE! shirts and nothing else. If we're not in public, it's hard to keep pants on the girl these days. Sadly, the white shirts don't stay white for long. It's okay though, she's awfully cute.