At The Nursery

Rick cleared the weeds from one side of the house, and is trying to stay on top of things and get the landscaping done before the weeds grow right back. It's just a small space, maybe 12-13 feet between our house and the neighbors, and only half of that is ours. So we are keeping the landscaping basic with just a few shrubs, gravel, and maybe a small tree.

With that in mind, we headed to the nursery today and picked out some plants.

I was completely distracted by the vegetable plants and the herbs. Isn't this the prettiest bunch of basil you've ever seen?

Well, I didn't need any convincing, some of it was coming home with me. Oh, and some cilantro too. I was looking for some Italian parsley, but they were all sold out. Darn!

Back to the boys in search of some suitable shrubs.

Rick ended up picking out some boxwood and some red twig dogwood. Now with that out of the way, it's time to get to work. It's around 92 degrees today, and I can't even think about working in the yard. At least it cools off decently in the evening. Maybe Rick can get started after dinner or tomorrow morning before it heats up again.

A Look Outside

My garden is coming along, slow as it may be. All the plants had started to turn brown soon after we planted them, probably due to shock from the transplant. But now they're recovering nicely, for the most part. The tomatoes are looking great. The bells peppers and eggplant...not so much. As for the seeds we planted, they are a little hit and miss.

Here are the peas. Aren't they such rock stars? I can't say as much about the green beans, as I've only seen one sprout so far. In their defense though, we may have planted them a wee bit too early (as in the soil wasn't warm enough yet). But the weather is in the 80's now and headed for the 90's, so those buggers had better get with the show.

The tomato plants are looking good...nice and green. We should probably think about putting the cages around them soon. Believe me, it's 1000 times easier to do when the plants are small.

In the front yard, we have one tiny splash of color that I love! Tyler's marigolds that he planted back in March have finally bloomed. Phew, it took forever, but I'm so glad to finally see some flowers.

And on the backside of the house, we have a few guests. A couple of brown birds have made a nest on top of one of the roof supports. I thought it was cute, but Rick was less than amused. I can understand, he's cleaned more than his share of bird nests (and baby birds) out of the satellite dishes at work. For the moment, the nest remains, but we'll see how long that lasts.

Potpourri of Fun

Everyone was up bright and early this morning, so we could drive across town and make it to Lowe's in time for the Build and Grow project. We missed the other one this month and Tyler was pretty upset about that. At least we remembered about the one today. They were making "Ready To Go" kits, little boxes to fill with things for emergency situations.

Not my favorite project. I mean, what the heck can you fit in that tiny box that you would need in an emergency...some band aids?! Honestly, I don't know. I'll have to think about that one. Oh, and don't mind Tyler's silly face...he's still working out how to say "cheese" and smile at the same time.

After Tyler finished up his project, we headed over to the mall, which is right next to Lowe's, and browsed around for a bit. We peeked inside Gottschalk's for their "going out of business" sale and I was surprised to find the exact pair of capris that I was wearing for 60% off. They were a different color and under a different brand name, but otherwise the same, so I snatched them up. Besides, I already knew they'd fit perfectly. I also found a Christmas apron for $1. It didn't have any tags and looked homemade...maybe it was something left behind by a former employee. Whatever, it's mine now!

Once we successfully wasted more than a few hours about the town, it was back to the house and the chronic chore of working in the backyard. But there was some good news today, the majority of the sprinklers are finally up and running. Tyler liked that part. I'm sure the weeds didn't mind either.

Sure, three of our neighbors have swimming pools in their backyards, but can they run through the sprinklers while getting muddier by the moment....nope! And isn't that more fun anyway?

Not The Same As Store Bought

The other day I finally reached the bottom of a Costco sized container of Biscotti. I call them "coffee cookies", so that keeps Tyler and Rick far away, leaving more for me. At any rate, it was time to replenish my supply. That's when I got the brilliant idea to try and make my own.

I've never made biscotti before, but Rick has. Strange, I know! He and Tyler stayed up one night after I went to bed and made a batch for me. Given his extreme lack of experience in the kitchen, I can't go on enough about how good the cookies were (and they looked great too). I figured that if Rick could turn out a top notch batch of biscotti, then certainly, I could too.

Long story short....at least they tasted good.

Note to self.....when the directions say to form the dough into a log, make it a skinny log, 'cause those babies are gonna spread. So what if Rick mistook my biscotti for french fries. They tasted great even if they were a little on the flat side.

(How about that Marvin mug? I'm glad I had it hiding in the kitchen cupboard because I donated the rest of my Marvin collection to the Goodwill the other week when Rick was away in Arizona. In an attempt to declutter the garage, I filled the car up and made multiple trips to the Goodwill. My Marvin collection was just one casualty.)

Not to be outdone by the biscotti, were my homemade hamburger buns.

Rick and Tyler were both in complete awe over the novelty of homemade buns. I wasn't as impressed. They came out a little too dense, like sourdough bread bowls, or something. A little awkward to eat with chicken patties, but at least they looked good.

Here are the recipes I used:
Cardamom Almond Biscotti
Belles Hamburger Buns

My Latest Torture Device

After at least 2 months of waiting, I finally have my adjustable PowerBlock dumbbells. I ordered them from a local fitness store back in February and it took them this long to get them back in stock. Let me tell you what, I'm going to think twice before I place another order with them.

But aren't they pretty?

I think so.

I'm so glad to have some heavier weights, my 10 pounders just weren't cutting it anymore. And not only that, but I've been waiting on these weights so I could get started on the STS program. It's a 3 month exercise program that focuses on strength and muscle building. I was telling Rick that if I get started soon enough, then I should be able to finish the rotation before our trip to Hawaii at the end of August.

The only teeny tiny hitch is that before I can start the program, I need to test myself on each individual exercise to see the maximum amount of weight I can lift with good form for 10 reps. There are 97 exercises to test, some more critical than others. So I got started last night and completed the test for around 15 of the exercises.

This morning when I woke up, my first thought was....Ouch! My back and arms were so sore. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Cathe Friedrich means business. If I'm this sore just from doing the pretest, I can only imagine what the actual workouts will be like! Yikes, what have I got myself into?

Out For A Spin

I've been busy in the kitchen all morning, prepping food for dinners later in the week. Boiling and shredding chicken meat for enchiladas. Making a large batch of meatballs, which I divided and put half in the freezer. Then I shelled half a pound of shrimp for tonight's dinner and baked a batch of bran muffins for good measure.

When I was done with that, I was finally able to take Tyler outside to practice riding on his new bike. It's a 16" bike and it's a little big for him, so we make sure he puts on his helmet and knee pads.

He rode it around the driveway for a little bit, but ended up switching it out for his scooter so he could make sharper turns. Go figure!

When it was time for a break, he did his next favorite thing....tell some knock knock jokes.

Knock, Knock
Who's There?
Needa Tish
Needa This Who?
Why is your nose running?

Don't ask me why he had to tell knock knock jokes with a winking pirate eye.

Hamburger Noodle Casserole

Last night I made Hamburger Noodle Casserole from the Light & Tasty 2008 Annual. It makes a huge amount so I ended up halving the recipe. It's along the lines of a lasagna, but super simple, using egg noodles and a tomato sauce seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic.

I baked it up in one of my Corningware casserole dishes. You know, the white ones with the glass lids? I ended up burning my hand, while I was adjusting the lid as I put the casserole in the oven. I was reaching for the knob on the lid and in doing so, touched the back of my hand to the broiler element. Arghh! Of all the klutzy things I do in the kitchen, burning myself, thankfully, is not one of the usual suspects.

Running through the middle of the casserole is a deliciously creamy mixture of sour cream, cream cheese, and ricotta cheese (or in my case, pureed cottage cheese). Yum!

There was plenty left over for Rick to take to work, which he did, in its entirety.