The Beast Is Back! plus recipe!

Among the annoyances last week that culminated in me getting locked in at work and having to jump a fence so I didn't end up sleeping in a greenhouse...

I managed to break the jar thing on my beloved blender. This thing was a solid glass monster and we used it every day for smoothies until my sink ate it. My sink has now eaten at least half a dozen pint glasses AND a blender. New sink will definitely be stainless steel if I ever get to redo this kitchen. Sigh. But the point is, at 7pm tonight the UPS guy finally showed up with our new blender jar thing. And all is right with the world. So I am off to watch a cheesy movie.

For an awesome start to your day:
1 banana
6 strawberries
1 c. orange juice
1 c. mixed froz. berries
1 T. ground flaxseed
whatever looks good at the farmer's market should that be an option.

Blend together in your nice new blender and enjoy. Below is our blender - not my picture of it of course though. But I say NO to ice in my smoothies. Frozen berries do the job much better.

I did it!

The seeds are in!

Carrots (pre-soaked) are interplanted with spring radishes - the radishes mature earlier and don't grow quite so deep, so they will be out of the way before the carrots get anywhere. Beets are the only other attempt at root veggies, I've never done ANY root vegetables before so this is very exciting.

Mixed greens and kale are my other attempts, I am doing two different types of mixed greens so we will see which ones we have luck with. The little extra space is for either one more type of greens that do a little better with heat (depending how the first batch does), or a second batch of carrots interplanted with summer radishes (better tolerant of heat than the spring ones, apparently).


The empty side of each bed awaits the Co-op's grand opening, which will include a spring seedling sale. There the goal is to get tomatoes (mostly cherry) and peppers for the rest of the beds. The messy trench on the left is for viny things. I dug it out and added a bunch of amendments so that is going to have my attempts at stuff that needs room to sprawl: zucchini and possibly melons if I'm feeling adventurous (I'd stick a cucumber in there if I liked cucumbers, but...).

Next on the list... get the metal recycling out of here. Talk about ugly! Hopefully it will be worth something at the recycle place, it's a bunch of old iron fencing and stainless steel rings from old half-barrels that were made into planters (and promptly fell apart). Soon it will be gone and in it's place the fight will begin with the neighbor's intrusive (but pretty) wisteria.

Other sundry places in the (slightly shadier) perennial border already have some very happy strawberry plants and quite a few aromatics. After the last frost I will also be adding green beans (at least two teepees worth, if I don't have time to build a third), and a bunch of basil. Basil plants go crazy if I hide them in the shade behind my shrubs. They are kind of up against the fence and a little bit inconvenient to harvest, but they are so happy there that who am I to argue?

What is going on in your gardens? My perennials are greening up so I am trying to leave them alone and just concentrate on the edible garden project for now.

I am SO behind!

So this might be a little bit of a random, stream-of-consciousness update:

Yesterday before work the dentist determined that, even though I wear a night guard now, I STILL grind my teeth enough that it is wearing down my teeth and giving me cavities. Grr.

I then was SUPER productive at work and found out that somebody has started locking the back gates early. When I was still out in the greenhouse. They are pretty darn secure. I ended up jumping the fence to get back to the lab. That seems ridiculous, considering the lab was still full of people - what if they had needed to get out to the greenhouse and, like me, DID NOT HAVE A GATE KEY? This necessitated a very polite phone call to the gate-locking people which determined that THEIR hours were 7:30 to 4:30. So basically screw all you people who want to work until 5. Double grr.

Then we had a very sedate girl's night out - I managed to get my sister-in-law (very quiet, polite Chinese concert pianist) to make Matt's brother babysit the two little girls and we got her to come out for dinner. So it was low key but very nice.

And this morning was the triumph! Due to Nevada's tax structure, a lot of stores have their main warehouses for some big places like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Patagonia here. This morning was the Skagen warehouse sale. So not only did I get myself a new casual watch, I got an awesome watch for my dad for his birthday (he is high on the impossible-to-shop-for list), got a new battery for my good watch and got it polished (it was all scratched up since I was wearing it every day), and finally took a pair of necklaces in to be repaired. This was all stupid little stuff that I just hadn't dealt with in forever. So it was very satisfying to get it all done.

And on the way home, there was a guy selling fresh strawberries. Score!

P.S. there was a detour for yard stuff too, if I get yard projects done this afternoon I will post pictures, I swear!

P.S.S. Like the new look? I guess it is a bit springy, that wasn't intentional but I like it!

Oh My God This Is So AWESOME (not just for SCB, but she will appreciate it)

Via these guys

This is what the internet is for, people. Spreading joy. Seriously. I just wish there were more close-up shots.

And no, I didn't just watch it four times in a row. I did NOT.

Craigslist don't fail me now!

I have been hunting for a nice bench for the gravel patio, it looks a little empty right now. Thus, home sick, supposedly working, antibiotics for a sinus infection while I'm at it, I find this on Craigslist. It looks comfy, I could probably get a pillow for it, and it is a rocker!



We shall see. The price is beyond awesome so I wonder what kind of shape it's in. Real update soon-ish. Including garden pictures if it keeps being nice out and things keep growing leaves...

Sarah Haskins bringing the funny

My next favorite one of these is her ripping on yogurt ads. But this is definitely the best. Advertising industry FAIL.



Plus points for name-dropping the Sarlaac from Return of the Jedi!

Short week

I have been sicky sick sick all week. So basically nothing got done in my house except basic family weekend recovery (laundry, naps). And I had lots of good posts that all got lost in the naps. Awake time was spent bumming on the couch, playing with polyvore and reading. If I get on my shit I will post a picture of the one project I may or may not get done this weekend...

How would you...

...clean concrete? Somebody told me I can use a floor sander, that seems like it wouldn't be TOO hard. The more the rest of my yard improves, the more my back porch is looking nasty. There is a mix of green paint and yellow adhesive all over it (from when it was covered in AstroTurf, apparently) and it is gross. And I don't just want to blast it with a pressure washer and get the rest of my yard filled with green paint and adhesive too.

Sigh. Projects, always projects.

Although this is kind of just stalling to avoid thinking about the fact that we have ants. AGAIN. Extermo-dude should be here any minute to fill my house with toxic chemicals, oh great. Thankfully, these don't look like the ones that were eating my house, they are much smaller and there is not a ton of sawdust around them. Double sigh.

I survived!

Barely...

Friday night was peaceful by comparison - everybody was tired from driving so they came over, had dinner and bailed. The kiddoes were too tired to dye eggs so that got put off for another day. I made a pasta dish and my dad drove to his favorite barbecue joint and brought back meat. It was relatively chill, surprisingly enough.

Saturday, we trekked up Mt. Rose with family, thermoses of cider and sleds. Helpful brother-in-law's even more helpful brother (whom you may remember from garden posts past) brought a sled that was about 7 ft long so there were unexpectedly great amounts of adult sledding. As in, I can fit on it with my dad. And that much weight on a big ass sled means SPEED. Who cares about the kids? Well, truthfully I can also fit on it with at least two kids safely so that happened too. Also, my upper butt/lower back is SORE. But it was worth it.

Saturday evening we celebrated Matt's birthday. We did burgers and turkey burgers and salad and it was not too crazy. And I picked up a gorgeous cherry black forest cake from the awesome (but too expensive for anything other than the occasional birthday) Austrian bakery right by my house. Even those of us without sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) were angling for seconds so I consider it a success. And Matt loved his presents too, so double success. However, I forgot candles, so -1/2 success point. Then I put down drop cloths and bailed while the kids dyed eggs in my kitchen. There were at least two parents/grandparents per kid (4 kids, age range 2ish to almost 6) and they only had 3 doz. eggs so I felt fully justified in getting the heck out of there ASAP.

Sunday morning the weather was totally sunny and beautiful and one kid was home throwing up (as-yet undetermined reasons but he is two and cake and candy etc. is all a bit much so hopefully it is not contagious). So I hid eggs and baskets for three kids only. This was a bit funny as it is still early spring in my yard (hence no pictures until everything leafs out a bit more, it is a bit sparse and freshly planted looking right now) so I kind of went down the path looking for plants big enough to hide an egg in. Good thing there weren't too many eggs...



We had ham and smoked salmon and awesome walnut strudel and good things from the Bavarian bakery by my work and cleverly enough, I managed to make it so the only things I needed to cook/assemble were the asparagus and the salad. My cousin stayed with us and her boyfriend brought fresh produce from his farm so that got incorporated, a couple of friends came and brought a pear kugen (kugel? something like that) that was very popular. And I made other people disassemble the ham and salmon so I didn't have to. It was great. Everything was delicious and we have yummy leftovers for dinner tonight.
And most of the cleaning doesn't need to be re-done. There was only one major red wine disaster and thankfully that was pretty much all on the couch. The 10-year guaranteed stainproofed super-toxic whatever of a couch. We got it all out. With water. It was AWESOME. A nerdy triumph.

Easter! by ajftuba featuring Clarks shoes

And I looked cute as all get out. With this on.

...cue ominous music

The family is descending tomorrow. We will be "celebrating Easter" all weekend. As completely non-religious people this includes dyeing eggs with the kiddoes, possibly going sledding, and eating lots of ham and smoked salmon. I have been maniacally cleaning my house all week in preparation.

Does that make sense? I'm about to have a horde of people including toddlers descend upon my peaceful home and my first instinct is to clean. Should be fun though. Friday night is egg-dyeing, Saturday is sledding (depending on the weather) and who knows what else, and Sunday is egg-hunting! We've all been trying to get some little stuff for Easter baskets that is less than completely candy-centric so I picked up bubbles and sidewalk chalk - I figure that's what I would have liked when I was that age (an excuse to play outside).

Updates/photos will be forthcoming based on whether I survive or not. And all the garden prep I did may be for nothing if it is rainy all weekend like it is looking to be right now...

Whew.

I did SO much this weekend I am burned out. But I think I successfully avoided a sunburn this time. I'll think of something clever to post tomorrow.

Here's the breakdown:
finished edging path in backyard
planted shrubs and perennials in backyard too
helped scrape and prep floors at the co-op so they can install the tile
shampooed the carpets in the dining room and spare room
watched about half a season of Doctor Who in between projects

I am burned out.

You have got to be kidding me

This charming website has provided me with the best quote ever about what is wrong with those darn kids these days.

On up-and-coming Style Stars:

Jane is one of the few high schoolers we know who isn't afraid to mix the super high (as in Balenciaga) with independent labels like Wood Wood, Quail, and Catherine Holstein. We're loving her recent foray into jumpsuits, floppy brimmed hats, and Annie Hall-worthy sunglasses.

What a f-ing rebel we've got here. I must have been such a milquetoast with no style in high school because I WASN'T CLEVERLY MIXING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF COUTURE IN WITH MY EVERYDAY STYLE. I was wearing stuff I wasn't scared to get peanut butter on.

These people are aliens.

I'm in looove with my yard

So let's just say I am pretending it is spring. It was 70 last Saturday and I managed to get lots of yardwork done AND the first sunburn of the year! Which of course means it's supposed to snow tonight. So if everything survives that and if the weather is decent I will be doing some more work out there this weekend. But I have made some progress:

The flagstone patio is the newest achievement - that is what the forsythia will be surrounding (eventually). Right now it is just an improvement on the view from my kitchen window. I'm also thinking about putting out the birdfeeder I got for Xmas so I can see it out the kitchen window. I figure I spend a lot of time there doing dishes etc. so I might as well have a good view!

And yeah, I could have stood to move that hose. Oh well. Next picture.

I am waiting on this bit, I will be getting some seeds in this weekend but no tomatoes until the snow is off of Peavine! The decomposed granite will hopefully help keep the mud down:


And the title reference: