List update...

Tonight is a list update. 

I have no kids to write about tonight. They are living the good life, getting spoiled by their grandmother in eastern Kentucky. I'm sure they will be total brats by the time they get home. I dread that part. I miss the little birds... but when they come home, they act like the little prince and princess that they've been treated like at their mamaw's. :) But, they have fun... and they have rules that involve no more toys for a while, which is good. They did get a cat (that will stay at their mamaw's) and apparently it is all the rage. So much that my little man, who typically is ready to come home by now, wanted to stay one more night. It worked out nicely for me... since I have the appointment with the surgeon at 10:45 in the morning. Yippee. 

So... back to the list. 

I'm slightly disappointed... well, flat out disappointed, that I can't do Habitat for Humanity this weekend. We (being Brad, Cilla, Bret, Dawn, and Brandon) had planned this in June. All three of us ladies want to do this... as do the guys, I think... and it sucks that my gallbladder is preventing that. Boo. That's two list items that it has interfered with... camping and Habitat for Humanity. Have I mentioned how much I can't wait to get this gallbladder out and be done with this? 

Anyway... I'm working on other things though. 

Our garden... is growing. Some of it is dying, but lots of things are growing. Well, lots of tomatoes and peppers are growing. That's pretty much it. lol. The squash and zucchini must have had some infestation of insects or something, because it was growing great and then BAM! It all died. All of it. So did my baby watermelons! The plant is HUGE, but the watermelons that were growing turned completely black and shriveled up and died. I was not happy. The pumpkin plants are getting too hot and I don't think they're going to make it. That made me more sad than anything. I was so excited about seeing pumpkins growing this fall. My butternut squash, however, has done really well. There's one almost ready to pick. So... I'm learning. I know next year to spread things out more... I think the bell peppers would be bigger by now if I had put them in front of the tomatoes. The plants got too big and shaded the peppers too much. No habaneros next year... they are just going to rot away because no one knows what to do with them. lol. They are just too hot. And, hopefully my blackberry bush might come back next spring instead of completely dying. We'll just see. While I have lots more to learn in terms of gardening, I think it's safe to say that I can mark off my vegetable garden on the list. So... one more thing comes off the list! :) 

Running. Well. I'm not running because of my health. Enough said. My goal right now is to get healthy and get over this surgery and everything and start training again. I was hopeful that I might be able to come back fast enough to run a 10K this fall, but I might just plan to skip the 10K altogether and just train for the half marathon in the spring. I don't know. I'll just have to see what happens. 

I also have on my list some things about reading. I want to read Newsweek's Top 100 Books of All Time. Well, actually, I don't think I should have put that on the list, because there are a few on that list that I flat out do not want to read. So, I might just never accomplish this one. I actually might change it to something more like "read the books I want to read off of this list and create my own list of Top 100 Books." :) Until I make that executive decision to change it, I am reading some of the ones that are on this list that I actually do want to read. Today, I visited the library and picked up The Catcher in the Rye and Gulliver's Travels. I think it's quite funny that I never have read either of these two. I know the general synopsis of both and have heard references to them throughout life. I just never have read them. So... I'll let you know what I think about them. :) 

Also, at the library, I picked up the second round of books to read to the kids, as part of the 50 Books To Read While In Kindergarten. We have marked off 6 from the list and I picked up 7 more today. I am surprised by how much the kids enjoyed it. Actually, I really expected Bailey to, but Jake shocked me. He doesn't typically like to read, unless it's about superheroes. But, he loved the books! He especially loved A Splendid Friend Indeed by Suzanne Bloom. Funny how certain things appeal to certain kids. 

I'm still working on the list and have some additions and changes to make to it. I was planning to wait until my birthday to make some changes to it. But... I think I'm going to have to do it sooner. There's one thing that I was going to add that I am going to be able to accomplish in September (surprisingly), so I'm going to have to at least make that change. :) I'll let the curiosity drive you all nuts... except Cilla who I already told about it. :) 

The Garden...

And, while I'm updating everyone on running and cooking, I might as well give you an update on the garden. My lovely garden. I love it. I come from a long line of farmers (been doing some research on my family tree... to come later), and it's definitely understandable why. They must have loved it, too. Obviously, they actually farmed large gardens and had animals and all that. I have enough plants that I could name them all, but still. It's fun. :)

The garden is doing wonderfully... the tomato plants are getting so big that we had to invest in the "cages" or so I call them to stake them. We also had to stake our jalapeno pepper plants. And, our squash and zucchini are on track to take over the world. I'm pretty sure they will. They are getting bigger and bigger... we are so screwed. I totally should have planted them somewhere away from the other plants. But, I didn't. Live and learn. :)

The most exciting news... we have two jalapeno peppers that are ready! YAY! They probably could have stayed on the branch a little longer, but we were just too excited to leave them. I hope we get more soon!

List items!

Working on my list... oh yes... been working on it. 

Nope, I am not officially adding to it, although I do have things to add. 

I have been training for my 5K! And, it's going well. My ankle is fine, which is really nice. I'm still not back to the same level of running, but I think I can be by the end of next week. The heat doesn't help me. I feel like I'm going to stroke out when it is about 75 outside, so that's no fun. I guess I'm going to have to take pointers from Brad and get up out of the bed at like "early bird gets the worm" early in the morning and get out to run. Maybe then, I won't collapse of heat stroke and have to spend 15 minutes standing half-naked in front of the floor fan in my bedroom. lol. 

Maybe I should just get up that early, run, then farm my little garden like they would have done in the good ole days. :) Speaking of farming... my little garden is growing! We have banana peppers that are getting bigger and bigger. Our strawberry plants are starting to take off. Our squash and zucchini are looking like they'll start to produce things soon. Our blackberry bush isn't looking too hot... well, that's exactly wrong. It actually looks like it is WAY too hot, no matter how much I try to get out to water it. I did read that zucchini and squash like to hog all the vitamins and minerals in the soil, so maybe they are too close to the blackberry bush. I don't know. In any case, I think we will get some things from this garden, so I am pretty excited! Yes, I know I'm a dork... and I don't care. 

And, well, 14 days until our vacation... 14 days until I get to start working on a couple of other items, too. Can't wait! :)

My Garden...

The next list item that I'm working on was actually one that I had forgotten I had even added to my list. My best friend and her hubby have been planting a vegetable garden at their home for the past couple of years... and we love to go up to their house when all the veggies come in and steal a stash of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. Last year, we had so many cucumbers that we even gave some away to some of our friends and some still went bad. :) Anyway... each year, we say we are going to do a little garden, too. And, each year, we get busy and don't do it. Then, when late June comes around and everyone is pulling out fresh veggies, we are regretting the fact that we didn't plant a garden. 

Part of the reason that we haven't done it is because we are always so busy in the spring. There are sports (tball, etc.) to work around, the boat preparations, vacation planning, among other things, and we just don't ever get around to it. Another part is that neither of us really have much knowledge on what to do to successfully plant a garden and neither of us have ever had a green thumb (probably because we are usually too lazy to water and/or tend any of our plants). 

So, I decided that I was going to actually make it happen this year. Cilla had told me about a nursery that she and Bret had visited that had everything we could want. I think what really made me do it is that she said they had strawberry plants and blackberry bushes... two things that I knew I would love to have and that the kids would really enjoy. My plan was to go out to the nursery and get some tomato plants, a blackberry bush, and maybe a bell pepper plant. Cilla had given me a few strawberry plants, so I thought that should be plenty. 

Well, this place was freaking awesome and it sucked me in so fast. Before I left the nursery, I had purchased:

3 tomato plants

3 habanero plants

3 banana pepper plants

3 bell pepper plants

1 squash plant

1 zucchini plant

1 blackberry bush

2 pumpkin plants

1 watermelon plant

Yep... all of that. Now, people, we live in the largest subdivision in Lexington, not the country. :) 

However, we do have a good sized yard... a little less than a quarter of an acre (I know for your country folks, you are laughing... I would be too on a normal basis). In Lexington, a quarter of an acre is a really good sized yard. Anyway... I came home with all of this stuff. And Brad looked at me and said, "Where's it all going to go?" And, I pretended to have a plan. 

Really, I was thinking, "What the hell did I get all of this stuff for? I don't even really like peppers and what am I going to do with all of these pumpkins in the fall? Etc." 

This all happened on Friday night, which is also the night that a HUGE, HUGE storm came through Lexington. Yep, after I had just sat all of the plants on the back porch. So, I'm laying down with the kids and then I hear the storm coming through. I come running down the stairs, grab Jake's Spongebob umbrella (you know, big enough to cover my head, barely), and sprint onto the backporch to save my plants that are being knocked over as I watch. 

I saved them all. :) I was the hero. And I was completely and utterly soaked. My hair wasn't, but the rest of me was so soaked that when I came running back into the house from the porch, my flip flops hit the tile floor and I about went flying through the air, plants in hand. Fortunately, the table stopped me and I didn't die saving veggies. 

While Brad and Bailey went to practice on Sunday, I started my garden. I had walked through the yard about 50 times on Saturday morning and had a semi-good idea of where everything would go. Having never gardened before, I didn't really know how hard it would be to till the ground without a tiller. Ha ha ha. 

I spent Sunday evening in a pool of my own sweat, digging with a hand shovel in my new garden, pulling up grass and weeds in like 90 degree weather (I did get a good start on my tan though!). About halfway through, I thought I had lost my mind for sure and thought that veggies could be purchased at the Farmer's Market. But, I stuck with it. And, I have it all planted now. I worked on it and finished it all on Monday morning. Well, almost. The pumpkins and the watermelon are still sitting on the porch to be planted. I should get them in the ground tomorrow morning. I am SO proud of my little garden. I am semi-obsessed. I've been out there to check on it about 5 times each day. lol. I have a little fencing around it to keep the rabbits out. And, so far so good. I thought it looked like a rabbit had been in there yesterday, but if so, the plants seem to be making it. I'm even getting little banana peppers! :) YAY! 

This is what I accomplished on Sunday. I extended it on out to make it about twice this size on Monday (if you can see the shovel in the background, that's how far it goes over now). I will post complete pictures of the full garden and my pumpkins and watermelon after I get those in the ground. :) 

What's perhaps the most hilarious part of it is that I really made the crazy choice to do this on a whim. I hadn't really consciously decided that since it was on my list, I would do it. I just did it. And, now, if I actually get veggies out of this garden, I can mark it off that I have learned to plant a vegetable garden! Of course, I don't have any veggies just yet, but if I do, then that's one less thing on my list! So, here's the start of my "progress reports" on this particular item. And, I'm pretty excited to share... I'm going to post some pictures of the garden as it grows!