Garden Tour

While making dinner last night, I went out to the garden to pick some vegetables and I decided to take pictures of the garden for a garden tour. Now our garden is not outstanding by any means. There are no awards here or people coming through for regular garden tours. It is a work in progress though and we love it. We started with some lumpy, bumpy, weedy grass and dirt and turned it to a lumpy, bumpy, weedy grass and plants. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I'm pleased with what we have accomplished so far.

Here is the hanging basket that I made from a flat of annuals from Fred Meyer. It has grown more than I expected. A hanging basket at the market was $35. I bought two flats of 48 petunias each for under $30. I filled two hanging baskets, one window box, two pots and used the plants to fill in bare spots in the front and back yard. We created the window box to give our neighbor something pretty to look at out her kitchen window. Her window looked at the side of our house and now that we have extended our fence and built a shed, it looks at the roof of the shed. I thought I would be nice and give her some flowers to look at.

Daisies. I love them along the back fence. I need to plant some more. They are mixed in with chocolate cosmos and behind a dahlia and peony. I want some more so I can have a cutting garden.

Sage. This was actually in a pot until last summer. I can't believe how much it has grown. Big Daddy wondered what I was doing when I planted it in the ground, but it blends well with the other plants around it.

Our first peach from our tree. There are about 4 peaches and 1 plum that I can see. Last year we had quite a few plums, but this is the first time we have had peaches. We thought we had placed the tree perfectly, but some of the front branches have died and the others are leaning over into the neighbors yard. We either need to turn the tree or train it to lean into our yard.

Our one lonely tomato. This one is a Roma. We have four plants, but only have a few tomatoes. I'm hoping for a lot so I can make tomato sauce and freeze it.

Our Walla Walla sweet onions. Some are doing better than others. The ones we put in the planting bed look good. The ones in the ground outside the planting bed have not done anything.

Zucchini. Lots of flowers, but no zucchini yet.

Our radishes that I think we left in the garden too long. They are a little woody.

Mmmm... Broccoli. Lovey is excited for steamed broccoli with Parmesan cheese.

Sugar snap peas. The ones on the back of the trellis did better than those on the front of the trellis. It was too hot for the ones on the front of the trellis.

Basil. I'm thinking pesto. Yum.

Lettuce waiting to be harvested. We have so much lettuce between our garden and CSA that I ate 3 salads yesterday.

I've never had so many blueberries. Some are even ripe already, but unfortunately they don't taste very good.

This is my Lady in Red hydrangea that is blue. Hmmm... I think I need to amend the soil. I love blue hydrangeas, but this one is not supposed to be blue.

I love this hydrangea. This poor plant had a large beam crash through it a few months after it was planted, but it bounced back beautifully. Blue hydrangeas are my favorite and this one, Endless Summer, blooms on old and new wood and blooms all year. We had hydrangeas and calla lilies at our wedding. I don't have any luck growing calla lilies.
The mock orange. This one was doing really well and even had flowers this year, but slowly the leaves are turning brown. I don't know what is wrong with it. Ideas?

The tomato plant in the black pot is looking sad. I don't think it gets enough sun.

Well I hope you enjoyed the small tour of my garden. Big Daddy designed it. I just add the flowers I like.

Summer to do list

I love lists. They help me stay organized and help me remember what I need to do. I love to cross off things when I have finished them. There is a sense of accomplishment to it.

I helped Lovey and Littlebit make a list of things they want to do for the summer. Lovey really wants to learn to read so that is on his list and Littlebit wants to play with a duck (?) so we added that to the list.

Some of the things we have already crossed off like camping (see the previous post) and going to the beach. We also be doing these things again.

The kids like looking at the list to see what we can do and it gives them something to look forward too.

Our camping adventure

Since the weather has been nice and it was Big Daddy's three day weekend, we decided to go camping over the weekend. Why do my great ideas always turn into a folly.

We actually got out of the house on time, but leaving town was another story. We drove all over looking for the Starbucks instant coffee to take with us, but we couldn't find any.

After stopping at my work and to visit my mom, we finally made it to our destination. There were very few people in the campground, so we had a lot of sites to choose from. We chose the site with the biggest area for the kids to run around. After setting up our tent and getting things situated, we decided to go the general store.

It was at this point that Lovey became stuck in his car seat. Seriously. I laughed and laughed and I am still laughing because really what can you do. One of the latches would not release and he was stuck. We have had this car seat for 4 years because Lovey still fits in it, but I guess 4 years of daily use and crumbs being spilled into it caused it to stop working - with Lovey in it. The nearest store I could think of that would sell car seats was Walmart and it was 45 minutes away. I hate Walmart and this visit reinforced that. I finally left the store with a booster seat even though Lovey is not quite 40lbs, but I wasn't spending $200 on a car seat.

We were ready to cut Lovey out of the car seat and stopped by my dad's for some scissors. Dad was able to free Lovey from his car seat (it had been over 2 hours) and we installed the booster anyways. (Dad later put some WD-40 in the latch and it seems to be working again.)

We finally made it back to the campsite, well after the kids' dinner time. We roasted hot dogs and made smores (or snores as Lovey called them). My mom and Scott came out for dinner too.

After freezing all night long, we went hiking in the beautiful sunshine. Littlebit had to be carried some of the way to the waterfall, but Lovey walked the 1.5 miles.


That night we made hot dogs again, but we were rained on so we didn't make smores. My mom and Scott left early and we crawled in the tent to read books.

By Sunday I was tired. Our air mattress deflated during the night and the ground was rocky. (whine, whine, whine) On our way out of town we had a delicious lunch at my grandparent's to celebrate my grandpa's birthday.

It was a crazy weekend, but we had fun.

Free Glidden Paint?

Glidden is giving away free quarts of eggshell finish paint. Seriously.

Go to Home Depot or the Glidden website, choose your paint color, and in 3-4 weeks you should have a quart of paint. You have until July 2nd or while supplies last.

Now to choose a color. Frosted Green Grape? Cappuccino White? Oh, the choices....

My washing machine saga

Yesterday I spent over nine hours waiting for the Sears repairman to come and fix my Kenmore Calypso washing machine.

I HATE my washing machine. I liked it when I bought it 5 years ago, but in the last year or so, it has caused me nothing but trouble. The point of a washing machine is to clean your clothes, but mine come out with dirt on them they did not have when the went in. I have been told it is because it is a high efficiency washer and there is not enough water. Then I have been told that I need to clean my machine. I have also been told that the dryer takes off the lint and debris, but I don't dry all of my clothes.

They no longer make this machine and for good reason. Of the ten settings, five of them are too harsh and will shred your clothes. Yesterday the repair woman told me that the heavy duty setting is for car parts. What?! Yes, I find myself putting car parts in my washing machine all of the time.

I have had Sears out countless times for this dirt/lint issue. We have even taken the machine completely apart twice and washed in to get all of the gunk off. I am so ready to rent a steam roller and run it back and forth over this piece of junk.

So last week after having my new sheets come out of the washer with dirt and grease stains, I called them to come back out again. I selected the 8-12 time frame. By noon, no one had called or arrived. I called and checked on the status and was hung up on in the process. (Okay, so maybe I didn't need to make the sarcastic comment about my machine not being able to be fixed, but I said it laughing and not snidely.)

Two hours later I called again. This time I asked to speak to a manager or someone else. I finally said I wanted to file a complaint.

Thirty minutes later Andy called me and said that I had been put as the last call of the day. When I told him that I had the 8-12 slot, he said he would look into it and what could they do for my troubles. I asked for a new washing machine. He said no. Boo. He called a few minutes later and said someone would be at my house around 3:30. Fine.

At 4:00 I tried to call Andy, but was connected to the retail store, not the repair center. The retail store was nice enough to call Andy and have him call me. During that time a repairman called me and said that he couldn't make it to my house today and the next available day was Thursday. This totally set me off again. I told him that Thursday was completely unacceptable and I had been waiting for eight hours. He said he was at a call and wouldn't make it for a couple more hours. Whatever.

Andy called back and said they were looking into this, someone would be coming today and he would personally keep an eye on this. Fine.

At 4:45 I receive a call from Kelly, saying that I have just been added to his route and he will be at my house when he finishes up his next appointment. He wanted to know how late he could come. I said, "I've been waiting since 8a.m., so I guess it doesn't matter."

At 5:20 they finally arrive, right as I'm putting dinner on the table. I show them what the washing machine is doing to my clothes, they go about replacing the U-joint. I ask if the washing machine will now clean my clothes. She said I shouldn't have any problems. Right, that is what the said the last five times they have been here. She tells me that washing machines no longer have lint traps and the debris comes off in the dryer. Anything that doesn't come off can be scraped off with a fingernail or I could use bar soap and a scrub brush. I said, "I thought washing machines were supposed to clean your clothes." In my head I thought, "And while I'm at it let me go beat my clothes against a rock down by the river."

I am done with this machine. I HATE it. And as soon as possible I will be buying a new one or I'll be down by the nearest river beating my clothes with a rock.

Gifts for friends

Although my blog doesn't show it, I have been busy sewing. I made a skirt for a classmate of Lovey's for her to wear on her birthday. I used the same fabric to make an applique for the shirt and I used scraps for a hair tie. I forgot to take pictures of it though. Her mom says she wants to wear it all of the time.

I embellished some dish towels for a friend for her birthday and for Lovey's teachers for the last day of school. I love the apple and pear fabric.

I also made my friend an apron. She loves polka dots because she says you can't look at polka dots and not be happy. I used an apron I already had as the pattern. I think next time I would make the top wider.
Next on my list are a few dresses for Littlebit and a pair of pajama shorts for Lovey.

Ten Years Changes Things

As Lovey's preschool graduation approaches, I realized that ten years ago I graduated from college. Ten years ago, I received my diploma and teaching certificate, had a summer teaching job lined up and another job for the fall. I spent the summer living with different friends while I finished my summer job and before moving to my new job in my hometown. I remember a feeling of hurry up, so I can get on with my life. Things were on hold until I had started my job and moved into my own place. Funny, that ten years later, I find myself in a different place than I imagined, but still on hold and waiting as we are waiting to hear about my husband's job.

I find my life slightly different than I imagined it to be. When I walked across that stage ten years ago, I was ready to teach. I was excited and full of energy and ideas and I couldn't wait to get into the classroom. Never had I imagined that I would be a stay at home mom, I wanted to work and I imagined that I would put my children in daycare. Then Lovey came around and I decided to job share, it was wonderful and I would do it today if given the chance. Then Littlebit came and job sharing was not an option. I decided to stay home. Who knew? Some days I think I am crazy and I've lost my mind and other days I love it.

There are so many things that I do on a daily basis that are just not what I imagined I would be doing.

Who knew that I would learn to cook? And cook pretty well, my family says. Pretty much every night the meal on the table is one that I cooked and it didn't come out of a box, though there is nothing wrong with that. I even cook things like chicken tagine, smoked gouda mac and cheese, and margarita angel food cake. I make my own jam and pesto. This may not be amazing to some of you, but this is from the person who started a fire in the oven and the microwave. This from the person who served her high school boyfriend mini pizzas on english muffins before a dance.(I'm embarrassed and I apologize.) This from a person that after making quiche for dinner for her family, they asked her high school boyfriend to make another one. I remember in high school making bread in the bread maker and it came out rock hard. Even in college the only thing I could make was chicken stir fry. When we were first married I did not do the cooking. It wasn't until Lovey was born that I decided I was the one home and if I wanted to eat before seven I had to learn. Now I am the one to plan all of the meals, make the grocery list, go to the store, and cook the food.

Who knew that I would learn how to garden? This one took me quite a few years, but I have a beautiful vegetable garden to show for it. My first year teaching, the principal gave me part of a plant that she had had for years. She said that it was impossible to kill it, but I did. I'm still not that great with houseplants, but the few I have look okay.

Who knew that I would learn how to sew and enjoy it? Ten years ago, I would have never imagined that I would take an old shirt and make it into a dress for my daughter. Or that I could make curtains for my office. Now I'm not an expert and I could be better if I was more patient, but this was just not me ten years ago.

Who knew that I would hear my mom in my voice? Ha! I can't believe how many times I have thought, "I sound like my mom."

My life is definitely different now than I imagined it would be and sometimes I am not sure how I got to this place, but I am glad I did.