1. If you do not stop chasing the chickens we are going back inside!

2. Alright, I want you kids to behave yourself while we are at the tractor supply store okay?
3. I think we needed more dill for that brine, the pickles are a bit vinegary.
4. I love the rain. It’s like free water.
5. OMG! Is that the spring 2011 catalogue… of Irish eyes garden seeds.



6. Dinner will be ready in a minute, I just need to go out back and pick some tomatoes and cilantro really quick.
7. Would you mind helping me paint the chicks toenails?



8. This salad would have probably cost 5 bucks if we hadn’t grown it ourselves, no make that $15 because it’s local and organic!

9. “Do you have the thyme?” “Let’s make a dill.” And other herbal jokes I torment my family with.

10. All I need is a milking goat and I will be I’ll be set.

I have been anxiously waiting to share what has been happening in our garden over the past 3 months and I thought this week would be the perfect time to do it. Nothing says America like fresh home grown vegetables (or fast food burger and fries, but that’s another story).

Today we are going to the traditional 4th of July gathering with J’s family and I volunteered to bring burger toppings, most of which will be from the garden. Then I realized I had some herbs that are ready to go and need to be used up before we leave town in a week.

So I found a recipe that uses cucumbers, mint, and scallions (all of which we grow), and bruschetta which will put some of our tomatoes and basil to good use.

I’ll be back later this week to tell more about what we are doing with our little piece of American soil, but for now I’m off to see some fireworks.

Happy 4th of July everybody!

I enjoyed almost 24 hours to myself on Monday. I reveled in the coffee for one, the shopping, the unfamiliar sense of peace and quiet. J even stopped by the house and “caught” me reading my Bible out in the backyard.

He didn’t even interrupt me, I found out about it from my friends who thought it was cute, but they just don’t realize how difficult it is to get alone with the B-I-B-L-E around here.

For example, the first thing J told me when he woke up on mother’s day was that he didn’t get a card. I said “It’s okay. I don’t care about cards. Mother’s day really isn’t a big deal for me.” By the end of the day I was exhausted from playing outside with the kids who had gone inside and tracked mud all through the house and this was after a long list of other things that were a far cry from Kodak moments. J was playing guitar for a Sunday night worship service and I was at home on my hands and knees scrubbing mud off the floor realizing that I DO care about mother’s day!
I wanted to avoid a repeat of this for my birthday so SEVERAL weeks before the date I sent him an email titled “Birthday Wishes” and it stated exactly what I wanted including that I don’t want to go shopping for my birthday, and an amazon wish list for gift ideas. The reason I was so specific was because in years past when he says “how about we go shopping and you can pick out something for your birthday” I hear “I forgot about your birthday and don’t feel like doing anything for you, but here is some money.”
He ignored my wish list and got me a purse because he knew I needed a new one and he knew I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. Ironically, I did find what I was looking for at a thrift store (on the right of the photo below) the same day he found this Fossil bag for me (shown on left)! I told him he obviously did a great job because we both bought almost identical bags and his bag was actually a lot nicer.
I suggested that since I couldn’t take my purse back I would return his and then go shopping with the money. He was shocked since that is the exact opposite of what I said I had wanted. This is true, but really what I wanted was to know that he put forth some effort in finding something special for me, which he did. So now I have a new purse and a bunch of other stuff. Happy birthday to me.

The first one was the Kung Fu Panda sequel. Both of the kids wore panda shirts. We all laughed and I even cried at the end a little.

Then next day a friend of ours offered us 4 tickets to see Cars 2 at 9:00 am on opening day! Well, we couldn’t pass that up, so yesterday we got up early and went to the theater at 8:00.

I had a yard sale last weekend and spent several days deciding whether or not it was worth it. In the end I think it was. I made over $100 after expenses, which included a babysitter and an ad in the paper. Next time I don’t think I will do either of those things.

At the end of March I did a little list called “Top 10 Things I will hopefully accomplish this Spring.” I have procrastinated reporting my success because there were something that I really just could not get motivated to do (like #5). So I googled when the summer solstice actually begins in 2011 and it is today, so I found a loophole to accomplish everything within the spring season, technically. Now for updated list

1. Fly a KiteCheck. My brother gave Z what is called a power kite for Christmas a few years back. It’s big enough to carry him away, but between that kite and a few cheap ones from the store we had a blast this spring. Really I can not stress enough how much fun we had. I hadn’t even flown a kite in like 20 years and just didn’t realize how freeing it would be. We are totally hooked on kites now.

2. Change Out Closet ClothesClothes are swapped and summer wardrobes are in place!

3. Go CampingWe went camping twice this spring and had a blast both times.

4. Walk to the StoreI love living within walking distance of some stores. I am so glad I put this on my list because walking to various stores means I get fresh air, exercise, and run some errands all at the same time. Our favorite thing to do lately is walk to the local Family Video. Sometimes the kids and I will walk there and pick out one of their free kids rentals which makes for super frugal fun.
5. Sell StuffI finally had a garage sale last weekend. More details on that tomorrow.

6. Get an iphoneCheck. I not only got an iphone (the 3GS), but I finally was able to replace my old macbook pro with a new refurbished one. Thank you tax return.

7. Get a TanI do have a bit of color right now. Thank you yard sale.
8. Spring CleaningOf all the things on my list this is the biggest flop, go figure, but the yard sale really did help me declutter so we made some headway.
9. Poetry ReadingI did do my first poetry reading and I think it was a success. I would love to do it again sometime.
10. Blue Bonnet PhotosForget what I said about #8. #10 may rightfully be the flop of the season. I actually got the kids all dressed up, put them in the field of flowers and gave up after 10 seconds of excessively strong winds that made the whole shoot pretty much impossible. I did get this spontaneous shot of some calves in a field though.
It’s not exactly the traditional Texas family portrait I had in mind, but there’s always next year.
So that’s my top ten list check out Oh Amanda for more.