Wordless Wednesday: Adventures in Growing People

A Garden Update

Lots has been going on in the garden.  Lots. And lots is already finished.

When the squash bugs came a couple of weeks ago, I pulled up the cucumber, squash and zucchini.  It definitely wasn't the "oh no, will I? won't I?  I can't give up on my plants wah wah wah." that is was last year. I didn't have the time or energy to inspect every leaf for eggs everyday.  Up they came.  

While they were still in the dirt, the cucumbers did great, I was picking 5 or 6 a week and I used all of them for either salads or tzatziki.  The zucchini did really well too.  I was picking about 3 huge ones a week.  And either grilled slices or used them in vegetable curry.  The yellow squash didn't do so swell.  I think I only picked 4 all season. I think it was mostly because of being crowded by the zucchini.  The 4 I did pick were fantastic.  I'll have to be smarter about garden placement next year.

a musk melon.  We've already cut into 1 and I'm excited for this one

the biggest and best butternut squash.  The plant this one is on gets the most sun.  The rest of them are much smaller. 

the sweetest cutest (not smart) mut I know.  Every time I tried to take a picture of a plant, he'd step in between me and the plant until I took his picture. Come to think of it, maybe he's not so "not smart" after all.  :-)    

One of Husband's fennel.  We've both excited about these.  There's 7 of them.

one of the carrots.  The kids are excited about these!  Some are clumped together more than others and of course the ones that have more space look like they'll be bigger.

bell pepper

Thanks to these babies, it had been a bench mark year for us in terms of canning.  Wow, they taste fantastic.

Daughter's husky cherry red.  MAN, this thing is a SUPER producer.

I dug up the onions a couple of days ago.  And that's really all for the garden.  The basil and mint are still doing their thing and growing and growing.  It's been a good year for the garden.  And it's not over yet.

Discounts at the Zoo = We're There!

 Two weekends ago the zoo had $5 admission and FREE carousel rides.  um, YES.   So, after a morning of errands, we spent Sunday afternoon at the zoo.  (and I packed swim suits for the splash pad)

Husband and this rooster while the kids played at the splash pad

oh my! We rode the carousel 11 times.  And no, I am not exaggerating.  The kids picked different animals every time and loved every second.  I told Husband they will NOT understand why they can only ride it once next time we go and it actually costs money!  FINALLY, I lured them away with promises of the butterfly house and petting zoo!

On the Zebra.  Her favorite animal to look at while at the zoo is also her favorite animal to ride on a carousel.

The back of Son, Husband excited to be on a rabbit and Daughter in the background in a frog. 3/4 family picture.

Son got really excited when I showed him the mirrors on the inside.  He spent an entire ride just watching himself!

His favorite was the giraffe

Standing still in the butterfly house, waiting on a butterfly to land on us.

(Notice I'm wearing the Red Knit Maxi Dress?  Two ladies in Jo-ann and one at the zoo asked me where I bought it.  That was nice.)

This is the part of the day when we went to the petting zoo and a LLAMA SPIT ON SON AND I.  sigh.  And that's all I really want to say about that.  Son is still talking about it though.  "Mommy, llama 'pit on me."  "Yes, I know, buddy.  Me too."  Have you ever had to pretty much take a shower in a sink in a public restroom after a llama covered you in his spit and partially eaten food?  Well, say a prayer tonight thanking God if your answer was, "no."  And, sorry.  There is definitely no pictures of the llama incident.

riding train.  I was more interested than anyone else in the party.  I found the interesting information the conductor was saying, really interesting.

After the train ride, we were ready to go.  But Daughter asked for one more carousel ride.  And you want to know what she wanted to ride?  THE LLAMA.  "p-cause he spit on you and Finny and that was really silly."  Unfortunately for her, there was no llama and she had to settle for a deer that she said was a llama. seriously.

BTW, here is an old Wordless Wednesday of me at the zoo.  I'm probably somewhere between Son and Daughter's age.

Food Day Friday: Roasted Chickpeas

I've enjoyed Roasted Chickpeas since Megan shared her recipe for them over a year and a half ago!   And I follow it, except for one little change: when I add my seasoning.  I found that adding the seasoning AFTER the chickpeas have roasted help retain the flavor of the seasoning and prevents the seasoning from burning.

my copy, straight out of my recipe book (ie a 3 ring binder with page protectors for the recipes)

When I'm only using one can of chickpeas, the time on this is right on.  But when I use a 1lb bag of dry beans, I have to add more time.  I usually do 27 minutes at 350 and 17 minutes at 400.  And because the kids and I are all big fans of this snack, I usually end up either using more than one can or a whole bag of dried beans (which is a more time consuming process but SO SO SO much cheaper).  

the result. a nice golden brown.

Depending on how heavy handed I drizzled on the olive oil, I usually have to drain the chickpeas in a colander before I season them.

My favorite way to season them is salt, cumin and chili powder (sometimes garlic powder).  I just use all the seasonings I would use to make hummus.  It's fabulous and healthy.

Another quick trip to Mobile

Last Thursday found us in Mobile again. Our McWane membership was put to good use and we visited the Exploreum again. Or as Daughter calls it, "the other McWane." Then a late afternoon trip to the beach. And a drive over to Florida for some actual seafood for dinner before driving home.

ringing the bell. She also spent a lot of time at the Light House alerting everyone to the "loud storms" that were coming

Son spent a lot of time "swimming"

Then we headed to the beach. oh my. It was fantastic.

Son built a sandcastle.

Daughter tried to fill up "The Hole" with ocean

And Husband and I tried and tried to get the kids to play in the water with us. We picked them up and carried them out about thigh deep for us, and they were just having none of it. So we backed off and let them do their own thing. Before we knew it, the boy who thought the beach was trying to kill LOVED the beach.

sigh. I loved it and took a ridiculous amount of pictures in order to document the love properly.

WHAT? yes. He did this on his own!

He loved the yellow flag waves. I cannot even describe his happiness and excitement

He took a tumble or two in the surf but got right back in for more.

happiness.

He also did a fair amount of running and by that I mean he would just take off down the beach as fast as he could and Husband and I would take turns following him. When he got tired of heading one way, he'd turn around and go the other. We ALL got a workout and it was fun.

Daughter definitely enjoyed the water and sand as well, but that's not anything new. Doesn't this make you wince? It does me. I'm just not built to do that anymore!

No one really wanted to leave, but Husband and I were very hungry. So we started talking about "The Restaurant" which always works in getting the kids motivated to leave a place. They love eating out. Initially, Husband and I wanted to find this place close to the Florida line, on the water but not on the main drag, but we couldn't remember the name or how to get there. All we remembered was it was the last place we ate at the beach before Daughter was born and they have great royal reds. It was 8:00 and the kids were in no mood for all the riding around. So we settled on the Shrimp Basket in Florida. It's across the street from the ocean and bonus: we ate outside.

EXTRA BONUS: "Market Price" for crab claws at the beach is much cheaper than "Market Price" for crab claws in Birmingham. sigh. and they were fabulous. And there was shrimp in the cole slaw. AND the hush puppies were amazing. AND the shrimp was splendid. It was fabulous and then we headed home.

Trip well enjoyed.

Wordless Wednesday: The Things I Do For Love

Sleep, the enemy ...

Husband hit it out of the park with this library pick. Husband forgets where he heard about this book.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

It is best described as 50 First Dates (a movie I'm not so hot about) meets Memento (one of my favorite movies ever)

It's about a woman who, because of a severe head injury 22 years in the past, wakes up every morning not knowing who she is, where she is or who the man is she's sharing a bed with. She can remember her day until she goes to sleep at night and then it's erased and she starts the next day back at square one. Until ...

It really is a great book in the thriller/mystery/suspense genre. I tore through this book. When I got to the climatic point of the book, when I knew the answer was about to unravel, I had to put the book down. I didn't want it to be over yet. BUT I was anxious to know the ending. So, I picked it back up and finished.

I told Husband one of the things I like best about the book was S.J. Watson is a completely unknown author to me. Unlike John Grisham, James Patterson, Stephen King or Dean Koontz, who I've read so many times, I'm not usually surprised anymore, Watson kept me guessing and kept surprising me.

loved it.

SBS Blocks 4, 5 & 6

Three more blocks are finished and I find myself looking forward to Fridays more and more just so I can see what I'm sewing next!

The Pinwheels were fun.  The Arizona was exhausting and the Bowties were so refreshingly easy, I almost made two blocks of them!

blocks 4, 5, and 6

The Pinwheels

The Arizona.  This one was exhausting to make AND to make fabric choices on.

I tried out 4 different center blocks and 3 different triangle options were I ended up putting the  cream triangles.  I kept struggling with thinking the blocks were TOO dark.   Dark IS what I'm going for (hence the green background) but I don't want gloomy dark, just a warm dark.  So after lots of changing around and figuring, I think I struck that balance.

UM, while looking at the Arizona picture, I JUST REALIZED the top middle square of dark blue is different from the other three.  MAN.  Only time will tell if I decide to fix it.  (right now I'm leaning towards no)

The Bowties

This one really was so easy and now that I'm looking at it I see the colors are almost EXACTLY identical to the pinwheels!  Sheesh.  I'm going to have to consult previous blocks before piecing new ones to ensure diversity!

Blocks 5 and 6 I pieced with the new machine and I could tell such a difference.  I KNOW that being able to set the speed so I don't run away at a high speed is helping me maintain control of the fabric, leading to straighter lines and better lined up seams and a cleaner overall look.  

We're moving on to Flying Geese for the next 3 blocks and I know I've heard and seen the term before but I can't picture them in my head.  So, I'm off to google to see what I'm in for!

BTW, if you're interested in seeing what everyone else is doing with their blocks, this is the flickr group for the sampler.  Some of the are just genius.  Great fabric and color choices.