Tomatoes – GROW!

Life is a series of unfinished projects to us. Not only all the unfinished projects that come with life – out-of-date scrapbooks, cooking projects, renovations, blah, blah. But we bought a “charming” older house, so there is ALWAYS a house/yard project nagging at the back of my mind at any given time as well.

WELL! I can pull at least ONE thing out of the black hole of the unfinished abyss!

MY HOT HOUSE!
Well, technically it’s just a “greenhouse” I think, until I get my heat lamp in there, but I just like saying hot house more. Hot house. Da hottest, baby.

Clean out old crap? Check! (Thanks, Hubby!).

Install new tempered glass? Check! Well, almost… Middle pane coming.

Buy tomato plants (b/c it’s too late to plant from seeds) and buckets to stick ’em in and dirts to fill ’em up? CHECK!

Et voila!

the low boxes in front are onions + shallots. I hope. one day.

a beat-up outdoor-ish old storage room. perfect.

I bought tow-maters in 4 different sizes, hoping they’ll ripen at 4 different times?!

You can tell I’m excited about tomatoes – I’m using a lot of !!!’s!

Now, tomatoes – GROW! Zebras – GROW! Golden boys – GROW! Pineapples – GROW! Romas – GROW!

I can taste the salads and pasta sauces now… AHhhhh.

tuesdays for tea 09.05.26

We’re drinking a Cream Earl Grey today – ahhhh. With just a touch of added vanilla – ahhhhh. But I have been trying to drink more lattes lately, so I can have the used coffee grounds for my garden!

Things are GROWING! Yesterday someone came and measured our old window down in “the hot house” so we can get new, safer, tempered glass. It’s in direct line of back-yard play, which means it WILL get hit, and inevitably break. I also went out and bought 12 new TOMATOES to put in there! I bought “goldens”, “zebras”, “millions” and “romas”, all in different starter sizes. Am I the only one out there that gets this excited about tomatoes?!?

I also bought some small onions and shallots for our planter boxes that weren’t doing anything anyhow. We’ll see how they do, but at $3.00 per bag of bulbs, I may as well just buy ’em at the grocery. I do want to try my own garlic next year though…

Hubby and kids being tired of travelling, I got to take B down to her Seattle/Bellevue vball tournament over the weekend! My Mom/Dad/Nana came along and we did all the shops along the way. I was PRETTY GOOD, until we hit Banana Republic at Bellevue Mall. I-ya. I cannot resist that store! THEN I went for the first time ever into a Crate & Barrel. OHMYGOSH I love that store!!!!!! Kitchen supplies up the ying-yang! And affordable! Well, not for me right now, but in general AFFORDABLE! I’m sure everyone on the planet already knew that store, but I’d always assumed it was like Pier 1, which I don’t care for, so I never went in. Like I need another favorite place to shop.

Well, better get breaky going. Gotta take Tt to an Astronomy field trip today! How cool is that?? He still talks about making his movies (and commercials, and…), so we HAVE to get on that. Boo was up about 30mins last night with what I think were night terrors. FUN. Def have to turn off the TV more.

Over and out, bloggy buddies.

10 Things I LOVE : 09.04

1. Spring! When it’s NOT raining. It’s not my FAVORITE season – that’d have to be fall, but I do love the newness and anticipation that Spring brings. I love the starting over. I love knowing that summer is near(ish). I love starting to get outdoors again. I love making all our holiday plans!

2. Eating from my own garden! There is nothing better than making a recipe and saying “Oh, I have this ingredient down in my garden. I’ll go get it.” Of course, all I’ll have this year are tomatoes and raspberries, so we’ll be eating a LOT of tomato salad and raspberries on French Butter Cake…

3. BLOGGING 😉. I’m 160 posts in, and busy as all heck, and still manage to have things to say just about every day. People are even reading – AND COMMENTING! I love – LOVE – getting comments and answer every single one. It’s validating, sure, but I also enjoy the ongoing conversation of it. The comments always add to the piece, so it’s cool that way. I already have the Poetry of Life poems set up to post twice a month through until OCTOBER. Ooooh, the anticipation !!.

4. Dinners. Family dinners, dinner parties – give me 90 minutes in the kitchen, and preferrably an unlimited budge, and I’m in my happy place. Dinners out get harder the better you begin to cook, but if it’s something I woudn’t cook at home, I still enjoy it! Once a year I get two dinner cravings – and only ONCE a year : for a Big Mac and for Chinese Food. Chinese was done last night, so I’m good for another year. We’ll talk about that Big Mac.

5. My sleep… Oh, I do love my sleep. I miss my sleep, desperately. I love my pillow – I take it with me on every holiday to ward off bad sleeps. I love my warm fuzzy blanket. I love my med-hard bed. So far these two hotels have offered THE ABSOLUTE BEST sleeps : Manteo Resort in Kelowna, BC and the Sofitel at the Heathrow Airport in London. THE best beds in my life.

6. OPI. We have a bit of nailpolish and are ever-collecting, but must say OPI is our fave. Not only great colors, but they go on smoooooth as silk, and aren’t too soupy or gloppy. Are soupy and gloppy words? Who cares. We particularily liked the “France” collection.

7. Fashion. Love to look at clothes. Always have. Always will. Wish I had money and time to dress half way decent. Always have. Always will. ‘Nuff said. Check out my “wish list” and my “Fashion picks“. I won’t bore you with a photo of how I currently dress. Yawn.

8. Homeschooling. I’m so excited for September to come! To get a teacher-aide, to get fresh new boxes of books, to watch Tt on his first soccer team, to sign up for piano (oh, wait… that will likely be painful…). Ahhhh, it’s hard to wait for Sept when you really don’t even have to ;-). Tt? Not sure I would use the word “excited”. He still thinks that school IN ANY FORM is “optional”. *sigh*.

9. Thrifty shopping! Guilt-free shopping – who knew? So far the only things I pick up are collared shirts for the boys (mostly Boo – the older ones are too worn or just plain old UG-leee), and kitchen gadgets, but it’s the thrill of the hunt. We’ve about exhausted the thrift stores and will be moving up to “home consignment” stores in the near future. Will keep everyone posted, I’m sure ;-).

10. Tea. Nothing like beginning the day with a cup of tea while making the boys breakfast, reading our Bible story and talking. And nothing like ending the day with a cup of tea while softly tapping away at my computer (except for that DANGED “I” key which Boo yanked off that never sits quite right and so I BANG it into place and say bad words) visiting people near and far. Ahhhhh, tea. Especially on tuesdays ;-).

Which ones do YOU love too??

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Other posts you might enjoy:
10 Things I LOVE : 09.03 Recipes!
10 Things I LOVE : 09.02
10 Things I LOVE : 09.01