have we talked about the potatoes?

we decided to try our hands at growing potatoes, too. i figured that the odds were in my favor because my late grandfather was a potato farmer in pennsylvania.

mom thought the potato we had looked a little sad and it might be too late to plant. well, our potato had other ideas. we planted four chunks, all which had really strong eyes. three have shot forth and become these beautiful plants. one is slower, but it's there.

each time i see the growth, i cover it...as i am supposed to. and each day i go out to visit my plants, i am amazed by how much this little guy is poking out. so i cover him up again. i need to drag the bag of really amazing dirt out of the potting shed to have on had 24/7 by this guy. the mounds will have to be quite big soon.

i can hardly wait!!

the rise of the greenie beanies

hello big world.

greenie beanies will grow again.

this time, even more. planted the entire length of support, instead of just half like last year.

beans coming out of my ears, you say?

yep!!

i spy with my little eye

can you see it? i know you can. if not, click the pic to make it bigger.

you see now? two little sprouts. what are they?

CORN!!!

i planted roughly 40 seeds (two rows) and we have about 10 coming up right now, with hopes for more.

our zucchini sprouts have started too. out of the 9 i planted, 2 are emerging. we'll probably even cull that to one plant (will let the little boogers grow to see who is going to look the strongest).

i could hardly believe my eyes when we took the tour last night. i swear, every single day i walk through the garden i spy something else new and beautiful.

we've got quite a bit of garden work that kind of dropped in our laps last night, however. the tiny italian plum tree is covered in aphids. we have rock to spread. there are always weeds to pull (but that isn't new, so not really something that "dropped" per se).

look ma! i weeded

when mom and dad were here we worked our fingers to the bone. we weeded almost every single day, or at least it felt like it. there was one spot mom really had wanted to get to, but her hips were hurting and she was done. so, with the aide of some amazing tools provided by my neighbor, i did the spot last night. the garden weasel and a claw...

got that space nice and neat, didn't it?!

perhaps that is the reason i am tired today? all this playing in the dirt?

i also trimmed up the grape vines that were obstructing the view of the garden from our kitchen. we can have none of that!!

so what do you think, mom?

thank you garden

i got to harvest some spinach tonight. the first of hopefully many. there wasn't a whole bowlful, so it was lucky i had some more in the fridge we bought when mom and dad were here, but what i had was amazing. so meaty yet tender.

i look forward to more from our garden this summer. we've gotten our beans and corn planted as well as potatoes (not sure if it's too late or not to plant those, so we'll see). all nine of the asparagus crowns i planted have sprouted, just about half are ferning out (which is necessary to allow happen as to strengthen the root systems). our broccoli hasn't put up any buds yet, but all six plants are looking healthy.

our garlic will be ready to come out right around july. i am looking forward to it because we have none left from last year's harvest.

thank you, garden.

for my knittahs!

i've been remiss. i've failed to keep you all updated on the progress of the dress. it is coming along quite nicely. i did get to try it on at one point, when i'd just finished the top but hadn't started on the skirt yet. it looked great. took a photo with my old phone, but can't get it off that one.

anyway, i took a couple of shots today. the sun was just lovely, a breeze coming in through the window. i'm happy to say i got to work on it almost every day my parents were here.

i kind of changed my deadline from the weddings i have in july to going down to california to meet my nephew. i can hardly wait.

yeah, i might be nuts, but i really think i can make it. the thing that will be hardest is weaving in all those ends and picking up the stitches around the neck and arms.

speaking of my beautiful dress, i think i shall go sit with it for a while. the simpsons are on, the breeze is still coming in through the windows while the sun is shining in the sky.

we've got friends coming over to help eat some of the amazing leftovers we have from the visit in a while, so i have to get a few minutes in...

then it's lakers with the asatos.

busy bees

mom and dad left this morning. tears came to my eyes this time. not sure why, other than i will really miss them. they are such amazing people.

we had many bottles they brought with them, most with labels removed. we finished the tomato bed and started in on the lettuce/asparagus bed yesterday.

we also started clearing out a bunch of weeds in the back to create a zen garden. a little earlier than planned, but ian (our landscaping neighbor and friend) gave us a bunch of crushed rock and i want to get it out of the driveway. we still need to get the weed barrier as well as more rock. will have to ask ian where he got the stuff he gave us so we can get more to match.

mom, dad...thanks for everything. we love you both so very much! still wish you lived closer...

planted

well, mom and dad are here and we've been busy already...

today we were out pulling weeds, planting veggies (tomatoes, hot peppers, corn, beans, zucchini) and cutting back some plants. we're all hot and dirty. well, dad's not anymore since he was the first in the shower.

we're going to have a light dinner of spinach salad with grilled chicken.

kev should be getting home from work shortly and perhaps we'll get to play a game. and drink wine. we need to make more empties for the rest of the beds.

i think it's my turn to jump in the shower...

they're on their way

just spoke with my parents and they were getting ready to leave sacramento. it is just over 600 miles from there to hear and if we average the speed to be around 55mph, it should have them here near 6:00 tonight. i get off work at 7:00 so i will have to remember to put the key out in its hiding place. of course they do have to stop for meals, so we might all be pulling up at the same time. that wouldn't be so bad, either.

the house is as clean as it is going to get before they get here (although i am really hoping kev makes the bed when he gets up...). their room is all ready with the new sheets on the bed, towels fluffed and waiting, and a drawer in the guest dresser is empty awaiting their things.

i am excited. i just hope that time flies today. who knows, maybe my coworker will offer to stay the last hour if i mention the time they are estimating their arrival.

i do still have to work tomorrow and monday (since they were originally arriving on sunday, monday is not a surprise to them, but saturday...they'll survive, though). but after that i've got a couple of days off (remind me that is why i worked a 6 day work week) and plans to play in the dirt with them! i hope they remembered to pack their gardening gloves and clothing! :)

speaking of the garden, kev had gathered more bottles the other evening. he sunk them all yesterday!! i was honestly very surprised by that. he soaked them, removed the labels, and arranged them in the ground so perfectly! then, then he sent me a picture. i love my husband!

it's what you do

i have a friend named amanda. she and i were friends in high school. when she went away to college we tried to keep in touch, but in 1996 we spoke for the last time. it wasn't like we had a fight and we screamed and told one another we hated each other. on the contrary, i still adore her...and i hope the feeling is mutual.

imagine my surprise last friday evening when i got a phone call. it wasn't a number i recognized so i allowed it to go to voice mail. let's just say, i've since added the number to my phone. amanda, after 13 years. she was calling to say she was coming into town and even though she knew it was last minute and i might already be busy, she thought she'd call and say hello (the plane was getting ready to take off at this point so she said to call or text if i got the message). as soon as i hung up the phone from voice mail i typed in the text, "i have no plans, you are now my plans! call me when you land."

she had no definite idea where she was going to stay, nor how she would get there once she figured that out. she came here without much planning (hell, she'd bought her ticket that morning at 1:00 am) to help a friend. she called, i asked, she had no clue where, i told her i'd be there in twenty and she'd stay with us, at least the first night.

i warned her that josie would probably bark and be weird, as she often is when meeting new people. yeah, josie proved me wrong. she adored amanda, which honestly now that i think about it, doesn't surprise me at all. in fact, the next day while kev and i were at work, before she hooked up with her other friends, the two of them went on a walk. it made it that much easier to have company over later (it was the night of the fab dinner party) as josie wasn't all stressed because she had too much energy.

it was sweet and funny and not weird at all to be talking with this woman whom i'd last seen on her wedding day in 1996 (the wedding where kev and i had just started dating and her mother asked the two of us if wedding bells were in our future...). she is no longer married to him, but from the sounds of it, it is for the best.

we found out we are both doing the garden bed bottle border, although she is thinking she needs to drill holes in the bottom of the bottles so water doesn't collect and give the mosquitos down in texas a place to breed. i don't think that will be a problem, as the wells aren't all that big and as soon as the sun is out the water starts to evaporate.

anyway, after all those years we found we had grown in very similar ways.

beautiful, no?

i could have laughed all night

we had a little dinner party last night with two other couples. our dear friends jill and mark, and the woman who helped us find this amazing house and her boyfriend, alia and asit. alia hadn't seen the house but once since we'd moved in and asit hadn't ever seen the house. she couldn't wait to see the kitchen and show asit the "man den" in the basement!

last night kev asked if i'd taken a picture of the table. i brushed him off saying, "no...no...i don't need to" but now i wish i had. it was quite lovely. imagine, if you will, an 8 foot long table with a table cloth. candles running the length, with beautiful little purple flowers lying down between them and the plates with the oil and vinegar for the bread. oh, and imagine this table outside on our back patio.

i had so much fun getting that table set up. when they all arrived the oohs and ahhs were at the right times by the girls as they saw what we'd done. the conversation flowed so easily between the six of us. laughter filled the night air. the din of jazz music filled any silences, but honestly...there really weren't any.

when everyone left kevin and i just looked at each other and smiled ear to ear. THAT was a dinner party! our first real grown up dinner party. i was sure my sides would hurt this morning for all the laughing we did...

new post

i took my mamasita-in-law to the airport this morning. i told her that next time, she better plan on more than two full days book-ended by travel days. i would have no more of it! i want to see her for longer. she's a pretty fantastic lady.

let's see, a recap of our events:

tuesday i picked her up at the airport. jill came with, which was a surprise for mamasita. the three of us headed to dots for lunch (yum) and then we dropped jill off at home and got the tour. mamasita loved it, with good reason. the two of us headed home and kev arrived shortly after we got in. he brought an unbaked pizza home from work for dinner. that will happen again in the future for sure! quite possibly the best pizza i've ever had. (yes dad, i'll put in the request to him now) but before we had dinner we walked over to north (bar) and had dollar pabst with one of kev's friends from his last job. it was really fun.

on wednesday we went to sweetness bakery, oh mah gawd! and while there we decided to go to the japanese garden, despite the fact it was a little drizzly. the gardens were gorgeous, even when the rain picked up. afterwards we went to mother's bistro for our anniversary lunch. yum! i had a bowl of stuffed potato soup with a salad. then the three of us shared a dessert. from there we headed to ikea, since mamasita is not near one where she lives in arkansas. that evening we went to the stone for our anniversary dinner. it was the perfect low key night.

thursday we got up and decided to go on a light hike in the gorge. such beauty. josie was thrilled to be along for the fun. well, until the skies opened up and dumped on us. big, fat, juicy rain drops. we were all soaked by the time we got back to the car. hungry, too! we grabbed lunch on our way to the house (one of the rare times i will eat fast food, and it was burgerville so not as bad as some). after we all were clean and dry we ran to the grocery store as well as target and tuesday morning. we got things so i could make lasagna, which turned out really good.

this morning we just got up and ate a light breakfast at the house before having to get her off to the airport. i am sad she's not here tonight. i missed her the moment i woke up this morning.

love you mamasita! i'm serious about next time lady!!

in a few hours

i got an email this morning from my mother-in-law (let's call her mamasita). it was two lines...

"on plane. see you soon."

i can hardly wait until 11:20 for that is when i will be standing in the airport waiting for one of the most amazing women i've ever met. she jokes that "what woman would want her mother-in-law visiting during their anniversary?" well, without her, i wouldn't be having an anniversary. i mean, she did give birth to kevin...

mamasita, this woman wants you visiting for her anniversary! i can't imagine a better gift!