garden '09

well, i'm trying to think of what i want to grow for next year. you know, what worked, what didn't.

i don't think i'll be doing watermelon again...ever. the kids wanted me to grow them, so i did. we got about 5, and they ate part of one. that's it. i can't stand watermelon, so i didn't eat any. so i wasted a lot of space on something no one ate.

i want to to zucchini again. hopefully i can figure out what happened to my plants. they all died. i got maybe 4 zucchini from my 4 plants! i thought they were a plant you couldn't kill!

maybe one cucumber plant. so many people i know liked them. maybe i'll try to make pickles next year.

i need a greater variety of tomatoes. i grew all big ones, and i really missed having the smaller cherry or grape tomatoes.

the sweet potatoes turned out good. some of my kids really liked them, some were not too impressed. my in-laws like them, i liked them ok.

peppers, well, i didn't have too great of luck with some. the bell types i had didn't really produce, but i think i overcrowded my garden. the hot ones did great, but i didn't' use them as much as i should have. and i didn't do any freezing (dumb, i know). so i wasted them. the smaller ones, well they were so hot, alex was sick for 3 days with acid indigestion from just part of one on his quesadilla.

broccoli, well, there is nothing better than home grown fresh broccoli. i will keep growing them.

green beans, i'm not sure. they didn't produce like i thought they would. the flowers are beautiful, but i only had one plant that survived being outside...that and the sweet potatoes spread out over them.

the lettuce didn't turn out well at all. it was tough and bitter. it was green leaf lettuce, and i'm not sure if that's the way it's supposed to be, or if i let it go too long. this was my first year with lettuce. it's easy to grow, but i'm not sure i did it right.

i think i would like to add regular potatoes, carrots maybe, onions, yellow squash, and i'm not sure.

so next year's garden will be tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, onions, yellow squash, cucumber, some peppers, and maybe another type of melon.

i would LOVE to plant some blueberry bushes, some strawberries, and some fruit trees. i don't know if that will happen, but it's a goal.

water water everywhere

well, except for our house. it is pretty close. we live on the west side of 79. the water is on the east side. when the hubby leaves to go to work, he sees the flood. it's behind his workplace, it's around the roads he takes to get to work. we are really lucky to be able to not only get out and get around, but just to be able to live in our home. we know people that have to boat in and out of their homes. we know people that have been out rescuing fawns, and other wildlife. this has got to be the worst time for animals...spring is the time of babies, and now there are going to be so many that are going to be separated from them. north of us is where the levees broke. so many lost their homes.

haley is home from disneyland. (that's the one in florida, right?) she had a blast. she brought gifts home for us all, and i am so glad she's home safe and sound. she came home saturday morning, and so i had one whole day of having all five kids home...before alex left today for 4-H camp. he's going to be home on wednesday. haley starts basketball camp tomorrow. my SIL, dawn, is taking her. dawn is one of the coaches that is in charge, so it works out well for us.

i am having a tough time keeping up with everything. the house is not anywhere near as clean as it should be. i have been wanting to scrub the floor for a couple of weeks now. it still isn't done. i'm lucky to get it swept every other day. i am doing dishes constantly.

i must say, i have been cooking more now than i ever did before. i make lunch every day. i make brownies and cakes a couple of times a week. i could be a domestic diva...if someone felt like keeping my house clean and doing the dishes for me. anyone? anyone at all? i'll make you some of the best brownies you've ever tasted if you clean my house, or just scrub my floor.

my garden is doing well. i've already picked a couple of cucumbers and a green hot pepper. i am hoping to get some more straw down in the next day or two. i think i have room to plant some potatoes, and maybe some other stuff. right now i have 3 zucchini, 5 tomato , 4 broccoli, 4 sweet potatoes, 2 hot pepper, 2 watermelon, and 2 cucumber plants. i didn't plan to plant any cucumbers. i don't care for them, and no one in my house likes them...but they were mislabeled as zucchini plants, and i didn't realize what they were when i planted them. i know some of my neighbors like them, so they won't go to waste.

not much else to blog about. i guess i could talk about the show Swingtown. (love it!) but i have a very sleepy little guy on my lap right now, and it is getting increasingly more difficult to type with a tired head on one wrist and a flailing arm on the other.

so good night folks! hopefully i will get to post some more soon.

the last visit of the year...

today is my last friday lunch with my grandma of the school year. my grandma lives pretty close, and so on fridays, we go and visit her after i get one of the kids off the bus. it's pretty nice. we meet up with my mom, my sister and my niece, and eat lunch and visit while the kids play. all the kids look forward to it. they love going there because grandma always has cookies for them. she is the ultimate hostess. my grandpa likes seeing us too, he loves my boys. he calls josh his little linebacker. i only get to go there during the school year. otherwise i have too many big kids and there isn't much for them to do there. so, until next school year, i will be missing out on grandma's hot ham and cheeses. darn it!

my nephew graduated from high school yesterday. his party is this saturday. it is amazing how far he has come since his accident this past december. he is walking just fine now. he is still brilliant, and his personality is the same or better than before. i hope he remembers how lucky he is to be alive...and holds on to that. i'm trying to decide what to bring for his party. do i bring brownies, or pot-luck potatoes? i don't want to make my twice baked potatoe casserole. it takes too much time, and my mother in law is already making potato salad (blech!)

i am getting my hair cut this wednesday. i am getting it all cut off. i like being able to put it in a ponytail, but i also hate having to put it in one every day. i'm not getting it colored though. i used to always get it highlighted, but i want to try it natural. i don't think i've had my natural color in 10+ years.
ok enough boring hair talk.

my garden is looking ok. one of my lettuce plants, and one of my tomato plants died. somehow they were broken off. the kids swear they didn't do it. i hope it does well. the plants i've been growing in the garage are doing pretty good. i need to get them out in the garden too. it's just been so darn cool. i am a little afraid to put them out there yet. i need to get some straw. i mulch with straw to help hold the moisture in the soil. it works pretty well. it also helps with weed control.

this sunday, we are having my mom, grandma and grandpa over for dinner. i didn't get to see them on mother's day, so we are having our own little dinner for them. i need to figure out what i want to do for them. i was wanting to do some pictures for them, but i haven't had the time (or camera) to do it. i want to get a collage frame and fill it with pics of my kiddos. they are so freakin' cute. i really want to get a picture of alex with his pig, too. how cute would that be!?

ok, so i didn't get around to posting last night...sorry. after getting home at 8, i had to fix dinner, help some kids with homework that should have already been finished, and watch american idol. come on people, i have priorities! anyway, i was sorry to see brooke go. i really liked her. she seemed so genuine, so pretty, and so nice. in the beginning, i thought she was the one to beat...well, i was wrong. it's a real shame. i think she could go on to have a good career anyway.

anyway, alex's hair looks so much better. when jeff got home from work, he said it looked like alex lost 10 pounds. i said "yeah, it was all hair too!". the kid doesn't have curly hair (as i'm sure you can tell in our family pic) but the longer it gets, the bigger it gets. he looks like he has a hair helmet.

my dryer is broken. not that it doesn't dry clothes, it does...just not all the way. when you look in your dryer, there are like 3 or 4 little wing things in there (at least there are in mine), and one of those things fell off. i took it out, but now there are like 6 holes where it was attached and i guess the heat is escaping from there. why couldn't it have been my washer that broke? i want a front loading washer so bad! maybe i can talk jeff into using it to buy me a front loading washer and dryer... ok, how pathetic does it sound that my biggest dream is a new washer?

we started our garden...well, we started some seeds in the garage. i'm not good at telling weed from wanted plants, so i start my seeds, or buy the plants. we had about half of them sprout. the kids kept watering the seeds that hadn't sprouted, and i think they are dead. so today i planted some more seeds (to take the place of those that didn't). the kids helped, of course. they are so proud of the plants that are growing now. all of our lettuce seeds sprouted, 2 bean plants, a zucchini, 3 tomato, and no watermelon. i felt bad for josh, he was the one that wanted the watermelon. he would go out everyday and look to see if any of them started to grow. so we planted some more today. i hope some of them grow!

i love spring time. i love to look out at all the trees and plants, and watching them turn green and bloom. it's amazing to watch. don't get me wrong, i love all the seasons, but i love watching the babies animals, and they are around so much more in the spring! i love opening my windows and letting the fresh air in. i love smelling people grilling, and flowers, and just clean fresh air wafting through my open windows.

bacon bits is doing well. she is loving being outside now. it's so funny to hear her when she sees the kids out playing. she runs to her pen door and grunts at them! she loves to be washed with a wash cloth, and have her back rubbed. the only complaint i have is she's getting spoiled. she does what she wants when she wants to do it. that won't fly with the judges at the fair. so i have been trying to get alex to work with her more. i'm not sure what i should be doing, but i'm hoping we are doing it right. i think if we want her to have any shot at her being something other than sausage, we have to get her to listen and listen well!

we are going to Florida this month. my dad has been there for a few months for work, and he wants us to come down for memorial weekend to visit. the only bad thing is we are going to miss grace's kindergarten graduation. that bites! she's ok with it. i just hate missing stuff like that.

jeff had a good april. he sold more than 10 cars, that earns him a bonus, plus he is tied for first place sales for the month (another bonus). i'm really proud of him. selling cars isn't easy, especially for someone like my husband. i don't mean to make him sound like he's not a good salesman. he is. it's just that he wants to make sure he gets a person a great deal on a car they are going to be happy with for a long time. not as easy as it sounds, unfortunately.

that's about it for us. at least that's about all i can remember. happy may everyone!

amy amy quite contrary

how does your garden grow?
well, by bitching and moaning until the hubby gets on the tractor and plows, that's how!

yeah, that pretty much sums up my approach to getting the hubby to do anything i want him to do. well, at least stuff he doesn't want to do. he and i had a nice lengthy conversation about my wanting a garden and chickens. he doesn't understand my need to have these things. yes, i would be growing my own food. this would cut our grocery bill down. but then again, it's work. he had to take care of this kind of stuff when he was a kid and doesn't want to deal with it again. i understand that. the thing is, i didn't have a veggie garden when i was a kid, or chickens. i begged and begged my parents for chickens when we lived in the country. i saved my own money for months, subscribed to different chicken hatchery newsletters, and even drew up my own plans for a coop (trying to impress my carpenter father! lol) all to no avail! why is it, as an adult, i still get screwed out of it?
ah, let it go...
ok, i still have some tricks up my sleeve. after all, easter is the holiday when people get things like baby chicks, and little ducklings as gifts for their kids. hahaha.
no i wouldn't really do that. the hubby would definitely not be too happy. that would make me not to happy. i just have to work on changing his mind.

ok, on to american idol. can i just say that i loved jason castro's performance? ok, i loved jason castro's performance. ramiele sang the song that my hubby and i danced to for our first song. i know, kind of a weird choice, but at the time it fit. so i will give her a pass tonight. she didn't do a bad job, just not an original performance. why oh why did kristy lee do that? it wasn't that it was a bad decision changing that song to country, because while it was definitely weird, it wasn't horrible. it was the way she performed on stage. she didn't connect at all. not only did her moves not fit the song or music at all, but her eyes were scared and not at all into selling the song. her performance was the worst of the night. that says a lot considering david hernandez's performance! he was horrible too! of course i don't really care for him anyway, so it's not a big let down for me. i loved chikezie's performance. he took that song to a place i never would have expected from him. totally loved it. amanda overmyer did good too. her performance was definitely not as big a show stopper as last week, she still did good. brooke white was not only awesome, but i loved the sign in the audience that her former employers were holding "we love brooke white, but miss our nanny!" and it had pics of the twins she had watched. loved it. carly's performance was great too. david cook totally rocked out loud! i love how he makes these songs his own. great job boy from missouri! syesha was ok for me. i didn't hate it, but i didn't love it either. what has happened to little davy archuleta? he wasn't bad, but he wasn't his "holy cow it this kid awesome or what?" self. i personally liked micheal johns' performance. (he actually looks a lot like my friend's hubby.)
now who will go home tonight? i have no clue. i really don't. i really hope it's not some of my faves but i don't vote (i know how horrible of me) so i don't feel like i can say if the "right" one is sent home tonight.
ok, rachel, your turn now. and anyone else that wants to chime in!

*i don't vote because by the time i actually get to watch the show, it's the morning after. just a tad too late to vote.