Heat Crazy!

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That is from the tv show Foster`s Home for Imaginary Friends. Natalie and Chelsea used to watch it back in the day. Once they said this script of it is HOT in TOPEKA. Well, who knows how many years later and that is something I say cause it is too damn humid.
 I am going a little heat nuts. We are supposed to get some relief maybe today or tomorrow. More dangerous thunderstorms like yesterday will help drag the cold front in. Here in our area was just a couple booms and some rain. Nothing bad though. In upper part of the state near the Mass border was bad. Tornado watches and Flash flood warnings. Chelsea`s trip to New Haven got canceled because all the trains were running hours late and her commuter train canceled for the evening. She was very upset.
I keep talking about all this stuff that I have to do but I get started doing it and the sweat pours down. We need to buy another AC. Either a bigger one for the livingroom to cool off the whole downstairs or an extra one here in the diningroom. I have ac and fans going and still there is that clamminess in the air. Yuck!
 The only good thing about this weekend being a wash out is the rain. I do not have to water the garden. I should be down there weeding. I have been sick, it has been hot, and I just did not have the dedication this year to completely keep it weed free. I am embarrassed at the amount of weeds I let grow. Oh well. Season is almost over anyway. I will do better next year. This year was a disappointment anyway. ALL the broccoli in the whole garden (not just mine) bolted early. Before you could even get any. The kale is a late bloomer. The brussel sprouts are not performing at all. I have tomatoes, beets, and carrots. How sad is that?
 It was our crazy weather. This weather scares me some. I try not to think about global warming but it is right in my face.
okay, enough of that. No gloom and doom!
 Today is humid like yesterday. Gonna clean the kitchen and possibly get to the damn pantry. It needs to be cleaned! Shelves emptied, wiped down, and food put in bags for donation. Then re-organize and make notes on things I need for the winter.
 I think I am determined to do it this time! LOL
Wish my sweaty butt luck.

That was long enough

Hello! How are you? What`s been going on?

    I know I said I was coming back on August 1st but now is as good a time as any. Right? Right!

 I had to step away from the computer for a bit and reflect on some things. I am glad that I did. I was able to wash away some things that were weighing on me for a long time.  I learned who were my friends and family. I was still going on Facebook but I was not like on it ALL THE TIME. In fact,  I do not have to be on there as much any more. It is not a priority for me to have to be there like before. It feels good to let that shit go and relax. I had to decide if I was going to be a bitter bitch over a certain situation or not. I had a long talk with a couple friends about it. I decided that I  had to let it all go. And I feel good and free from it all.   I had to decide to move on for my health and well being. I cannot get mixed up in toxic shit anymore.  I was guilty of it in the past. So I guess I got as good as I gave.  I hope no one is proud of it. Because I am not. I am glad I was able to not dwell on it anymore.  I had to. Dwelling on bullshit makes your ass cramp. And nobody wants that.:)

  I have been getting some stuff done around the house. De-cluttering a lot of things. I have been cooking and cleaning every day except on those past days where the dew point was like in the 70s. Those days I laid around and watched True Blood on DVD. I was able to get seasons 1-3 from the library and I am waiting for season 4 to arrive. Then I will be up on Sookie Stackhouse until season 5 comes out. I found some TB fans/friends out there and I love you. :) You all did not spoil it for me and I appreciate that.
  We still do not know what is going on with Fred. He is back to work though (thank goodness) We are waiting on tests results from urologist to come back. It takes 3 weeks to find out. Should know something next week. No stones so they are searching for other things.
Garden is what it is. The cucumbers were attacked by a boring beetle so I did not get even one. Tomatoes are okay. My kale and brussel sprouts are finally showing some promise. I have beets and carrots growing by leaps and bounds. It was a strange growing season because Spring took too long to start but I am happy with what I have grown so far.
I have been steadily picking blackberries every two days for freezing. When the bag is full, I will make a batch of jam with it to put in half pints.
The yard is a freaking jungle! I cannot wait until we get some genuine cooler weather so I can pull and hack away at all of it. Hopefully after this storm, we will get some cooler weather.




I will be back on the weight loss journey again ...yeah yeah yeah. Sure, Heidi. Natalie wants to give the gym another try before I pull the plug and cancel all the memberships. My period is on it`s way so I am thinking we will wait until Monday.

I told you I was not going to be gone for good. I just took a little brain vacation. I have some new plants I want to share and some new recipes that I have tried. I even have a new tattoo to share! But that will be another time.

Have a nice Thursday!

More effin rain

We need some sun and heat, dammit! My tomatoes are very unhappy. Everything else is growing like gangbusters but not the tomatoes. They are having too much rain. I know what is going to happen. The fruits are going to have bottom rot. Pisses me off!

The plants are doing well despite the lack of lots of sun like last year. I am hoping for a bumper crop of brussel sprouts. I was unsuccessful with them last year. The plants did not even take off at all. This year..well they are the ones in the top picture right next to the mustard greens (yellow) and next to them is kale. On the other side of the greens are cucumbers. And I have that big old sunflower that sprouted on it`s own from the garden. I decided to leave it. Yesterday I went and planted a couple basil plants and my sweet pepper plant. The basil are getting eaten by something here at the house (bug) and I want basil so I brought it to the garden. I have really stuffed the fuck out of those boxes. It will come to the point I wont have to weed at all because they will be crowded out.
This year I did cucumbers and I have not done them in a very long time. The green caterpillar bugs that like to eat them, freaked me out a bit back then, Where the fuck did you come from and why are you in my yard?
I am not as squeamish as I used to be.
Today I am going out and buying a carpet steam cleaner. We always rented because we only needed to use it every few months. But now that we have Ruby and she is being a beast to housebreak, I need to carpet clean more often. So it is cost effective to just buy one. I have narrowed down to a Bissel. I will go to a couple places today to get the best price.
We are also going to go to BJs wholesale and buy our monthly meat supply. Oh so much cheaper then the grocery store.
Hope you have some sun shining on you today. I will be dodging rain drops the whole time.

Where is the sun?

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Another dreary and cool day weather wise here in Ole CT. Yesterday I received a pleasant surprise. A neighbor above us brought me some veggie and herb plants that she could not use. I kind of knew about them. They were bought for her work program with kids to have them build planter boxes. She had left over plants but she had to wait till she had the okay to get rid.
4 lemon boy tomatoes, 2 lavender, 2 rosemary, 3 chive, 2 peppers, and 2 cilantro. I have a friend that could use in this bounty so I am giving her 1 of each except for the peppers, lavender, and chive. I would not know where to put it all so I feel good about giving.

So after I drop off plants, I need to get to the store and pick up animal food, and potting soil. Oh and some cheese. I am making chicken quesadillas for dinner. I do not feel that great today. I ran out of my acid reflux pill on Monday and I cannot pick up the new script until Friday. Oh so I suffer. But it is okay. I will survive. That is why this post is so scattered. I have no direction cause my ass does not feel well.
 I did go out in the yard and plant some of my bounty. The chives are in my chive pot on the patio, the lavender is out front, and the rosemary is on the side of the house. I will plant the tomatoes when I get the dirt later on this morning. .

That is all. Hopefully I feel better as the day goes on.

Basil!

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Today was the first day of the Farmer`s market downtown. The pickings were slim because it is early in the season. I did get some garlic snapes to make pesto with, radishes, and 6 small basil plants ($3). I am happy because I missed out on the plants at the community garden sale. We love basil and we love Pesto. I did not have any more room at the garden so I planted them on the side of the house in the small bed where the rosemary is. I had one plant left so I put it in this pot on the porch. It gets really sunny in that spot so it will be good. I will move it if I have to.
Tonight I am making chicken wings and Spanish rice for dinner.
I have a great recipe that I lost but I found a similar one. I will share with you just in case you would like to try. 

 

• 1 tablespoon sofrito sauce (check out recipe # from my recipes)
• 1 (15 ounce) can pigeon peas (any canned bean will do)
• 0.5 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 (4 ounce) can Spam (don't ask a lot of people use it, substitute a ham steak)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package sazon goya
• 6 -10 pitted green olives
• 2 cups rice (rinsed)
• 4 cups water

Directions:

1. Rinse starch off the rice, this IS important.
2. Dice ham steak or Spam.
3. Pour oil into 4-5 quart cooking pot ( make sure its a large wide pot, not a thin deep one).
4. Add sofrito and fry on medium heat for 1 minute.
5. Add ham and fry for 1 more minute
6. Add tomato sauce and heat through for 30 seconds.
7. Add sazon, salt and water and bring to a boil.
8. Add pigeon peas and olives and boil 5 minutes.
9. Add rice and mix around with spoon once.
10. Bring to boil on HIGH heat until water has evaporated to the rice line.
11. Lower temperature to low/medium low and cover TIGHT with lid ( add foil or banana leaf if need be to make it a tight seal).
12. Cook for 25-30 minutes.
13. Uncover, serve and enjoy!

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/arroz-con-gandules-rice-and-beans-145279#ixzz1wZTaMIJH

That aint your baby!

Growing!

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Plants in the garden are doing well. Every time I go, I pull baby weeds. The water was good too. If you pull away the surface of the soil, you can see how far down it is wet or dry. It was very good! I only had to water the top surface. Keep growing babies!
Speaking of babies...

Is it creeping when a couple (more one then the other) posts status updates about another couple`s kids and calls them *their* kids? "Look at MY baby! I helped MY baby get dressed. I am going to buy my baby the best for their birthday!"
  They are not related at all. Just friends. Not long old friends either. Cause I have hugged up close friends kids but I never went as far as posting their pics on MY wall and calling them my kids. That will be when I have grandbabies one day.
 Some people that I know do it all the fucking time. They are young and it is not that they cannot conceive. They have just decided that one of this couple`s children and the one that is in the womb are theirs.

You are probably going huh? I do too. Every time they post.  I just thought i would throw it out there. It is just bizarre to me. I have never seen it before. And part of me wants to post.
THAT IS NOT YOUR KID!!!

It is cooler today then the past two days, THANK GOD! I took Natalie to school so she could get some last minute work done. I am going to slowly putter around the house today. I did not sleep much. I woke up at 5am with something in my eye. Eyelash? Dust? I dont know. But it hurt enough to wake me up. I flushed it out and I was up after that.
Do not know what I am making for dinner. I wish I could make chop suey but Natalie hates it. Maybe I will make it anyway! :)

Community Garden 2012

Front and middle beds

See the freaking weeds? Both of these beds were full of weeds and they were tall. I had to use a garden fork to get some of them out. So yes, it is uber messy. I got all of the big weeds out and now I have itty bitty ones. Everyone`s beds look like this. He bought weed infested fill one year and now we all get to pay for the privilege of fighting them. And we CANT use chemicals!!

 I almost did not plant this year because of the weeds. Then the garden had a plant sale and I changed my mind. I have marigolds in the front like usual. Three tomato plants. Got to remember to bring the cages next time. Habenero pepper. Cucumbers and I have beet and carrot seedlings. The weeds were choking them out so I do not know what will happen with those.

Middle bed

See! freaking weeds!
This bed has bush beans, kale, cucumbers, mustard greens, brussel sprouts, broccoli and that is one wee strawberry plant in the corner that I planted last year. When I do not do this bed anymore, I am going to take that plant.
I think I will buy some hay and spread it around the plants. That will help with fighting. Otherwise I will have to go here almost every day. It has been raining pretty good so I do not have to go. If it does not rain today..I will go tomorrow.
I spent hard earned cash on those plants and I want them to flourish. At home I have four more tomato plants, spinach, mustard greens, and some purple kale that I need to plant.  There is a sunflower growing at the other end. I did not pull it. I love sunflowers and I will let it flourish in my garden as a decoration.
I planted all of these plants on a rainy day. It got so bad that at one point it was downpouring and I had to go under the awning to wait for it to let up. It felt good and I did not care. The plants needed to go in the soil. I did not want them to die.

I need to buy some soil for the house. I have a bunch of plants to plant in pots and I want to get some spices growing in pots out on the back patio also.
Maybe today. It looks like rain and I am not in the mood for it today.

I will continue to take pics of their progress...

Garden, Interrupted

Book Barn Cat. Not my cat

*267*

 The spinach seeds in the barrel out front are sprouting. My chives in the back are not. I have pepper plants, Kale plants, and now Mustard green plants sitting on top of my fridge. There is a window above the fridge, so they get sunlight and heat from the box.
 It has been too cold to plant. The seeds that I planted in the community garden never even sprouted, but the fucking weeds have! This is my last year there. They added some bogus weed filled fill last year and we all have been fighting it ever since. It is bullshit.
 But I am mad cause I have all these plants ready to go. I have not even bought tomato plants yet!! I should have them in the pots already in the back patio. But we have had freeze warning three nights in a row.
Anyone else having this issue?
 I should stop complaining. Farmer`s Almanac says that New England is going to be muy caliente this summer. So I guess this is okay *scuffing foot* . I refuse to turn the heat on even though we are all cold.

So yeah. Chelsea went out with a friend of hers and he brought a gift for her/me. A six pack of mustard greens. I have never grown them but I have grown greens before. I will fill one bed with the mustard greens and the Kale. Then I will plant the peppers in the other plot. I will save a couple for here at the house. I need to buy more utility buckets and start buying soil. Ugh! Everything costs money. Then I need to buy some annuals for the planters that are hanging off the front porch. I am waiting because of the weather.
 I want something that will hang over the sides.
Gotta think about it...

Brrrr!

Death to the landscaper!!!

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God damn landscaper! I dislike him so much. I did not even know he was going to be here today and I took my allergy medicine anyway. Like I sensed his ass.
 He mows the lawn for the people next door. He has been doing it for about 3-4 years. I dislike him because when he mows and then blows the stray stuff in THEIR yard, he blows it in OUR yard. Especially the patio. I know my house is not neat as a pin but do you think it is fair that I have to FINISH YOUR JOB??
Then he unknowingly  kicks up my allergies big time for that day.
So I hate him!

Planting Seeds for my Fall bounty

Stop being so damn nosy!

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Today I have all my seeds laid out for the community garden AND the big metal container out front. The container is going to be Spinach..and only Spinach. I will plant some seeds now and some later in the summer. I should have enough to last me quite awhile. I have all my popscicle sticks marked and after this blog post and slapping on a brassiere, I am off. In one plot I am going to try bibb lettuce, cabbage, beets, carrots, and summer squash. I am saving room in the other one but in one corner I want to plant some bush beans. See how they grow. I will post pictures of the progress. Oh. I also plant marigolds at the end of the row. It makes it look nice and I always know where my garden plots are.
As for nosy Gladys,  I thought she needed to be told to stop poking around where she doesn't belong. If you want to be part of the blog community, say hello! Let me get to meet you.

Have a good day all!