Garden!

So this is my garden! There are Iris's, a dhalia, basil, oregano, dill, sage, rosemary, lemon balm, mint, a hosta, a succulent, and a hydrangia

There is also a couple of cucmber plants













On the far left is a lilac tree that will eventually be moved to another location.
In front of the Lilca is a green pot that Katilyn and Kassie helped me plant garlic and regular chives in last night.











This is a pot of iris's that Dad and Judy gave me. There is also a calla lily just coming up.

















This is the veggie garden. There are Walla Walla onions, lettuce, beans, radishes peas and strawberries. Look how big the lettuce in the middle is!












This is lettuce that I started from seed, It'll be ready to eat in about a month I think.












This is another type of lettuce that I started from seed. The huge gap in the middle is where the carrots would have been if the squirrels hadn't made a feast of them!









And these are beans and radishes. These beans grow in a bush instead of a vine. We'll see what happens!





~

Domestic Goddess- darn toot'n

Now THAT's my blueberry pie! Looks pretty good doesn't it? It was really good. The recipe said to use 3 Tbs of cornstarch, but all the reviews said that was not enough, most said 4 was perfect and 5 made jello pie. So I chose to use 4. It was way to runny. The next one will have 5 Tbs. Should be perfect. It didn't bubble over at all, it did however spill it's juices all over my carpet like a CSI crime scene. That's how I found out that I needed more cornstarch. So I'm also including a review of Shout Carpet Stain Remover. Works like a damn. No stains left on my carpet.

I'm not a rat stuck in an endless maze!

www.gethuman.com
The key to getting a real person on the phone. No more following the endless promps that inevitably end with "I'm sorry that option is invalid, please try again." The genius behind this website has cracked the codes, and listed their secrets. Like say you wanted to call Sears credit card - how would you ever know that in order to get a human you must press "0000000; and then press 0 at subsequent prompts" or that at Virgin mobile you have to ... "At prompts say "English", "More Options", "Ask a Question", "Live Advisor", "Something Else", then enter mobile # or say "I don't have one." wheew! This could be a lifesaver. It's an american based website, but there is some Canadian stuff, like the code for Air Canada.

We all have our moments of stupidity

Salem hangs out on my balcony, there is no way for her to get off of it, I leave the door open all day so she can come and go as she pleases. This morning I was making breakfast, when I heard a noise, not a crash, more of a thump. So I go out to investigate. I don't see anything, I figure she has gone inside. I look down to see if anything is amis in the neighbour's yard. Then I see my neighbour standing there, open mouthed. Seems Salem was watching him dig (moving the Rodos finally) and she lost her balance and fell off the balcony, landed on their patio umbrella, bounced off and hit the ground, where she promptly remembered the dogs. 2 retrievers. It all ended well. Thankfully the dogs are training to be seeing-eye dogs, and are well behaved enough to not kill a bewildered kitty when told. 8 Lives Remain.

As for my moment of stupidity:
I was contacted by a guy about a week ago who wanted to buy one of my books. However he wished to pick the book up in person, rather than have me mail it. He sent me several emails, one of which was where he suggested that he pay me cash in person. I hoped he would go away. Instead he bought the book online, from me. So I emailed him and agreed, sure you can get the book, lets figure out a time and place. My Idea: Come to shoppers (where my male co-worker would hand him the book instead of me). His Idea: Can I come by your house between 10:00- 11:30 tonight.
ALARM BELLS
um, no. I don't think that will work for me.
Panic at the disco. So at 12 noon Shannon, Angie, Emma, myself, 3 kids and 4 cell phones await this guy. As we wait we joke that this guy may not be a mass-murderer/stalker, but may actually be super hot and be the guy I eventually marry. In the end he was just some normal guy in a very nice mercedes. However thanks to Shannon, almost the entire co-op knows my stupidity. We now have a new policy in place- no pick-ups thank you very much.

Domestic Goddess

So this is the blueberry pie I am trying to make, it's in the oven right now. In 45 minutes we'll know if it looks anything like this. My pastry was too flimsy, so I couldn't do the lattice thing, but I did do a criss cross thing. Stay tuned for pictures!

So why am I baking a pie? Well because Shannon has never made a pie and seems to not believe how easy it is. So she gave me a ton of blueberries in return for a pie. She's a bit of a freak though... she made 4 batches of different muffins today, all before 10:30 am. She needs to get out more. Yesterday she made about 4 dozen cookies, a few loaves of bread and another batch of muffins. We've been joking that we're on the Fat-Fast diet! I'm now refusing to eat anymore muffins.

giggles

People put funny pictures on their blogs. These ones made me laugh.


This is why I don't own a Swiffer














Bathing suit season is almost upon us. The paparazzi are everywhere. Don't be an unsuspecting victim!!


















Man, art people are weird!

















~

Tarragon

Did you know that tarragon is called the king of herbs? Well it is.
Sarah gave me a bunch of it. I've dried it, but I have no idea what to do with it. Do you have any recipes that use tarragon that don't involve meat or bernaise sauce?

I have also decided what I'm going to do with the patch of dirt at the base of the stairs. Once my loser neighbour keeps his end of the bargain by removing the rhodos (he was supposed to do it 3 weeks ago!) I spent last weekend removing the wysteria. So anyways, I have a small lilac tree, and an hydrangia to plant- given to me by another neighbour. Finally I won't have to steal lilacs anymore!!!! I'm also going to put in a bunch of herbs, most of them perenials. So far: dill, basil, oregano, sage and mint. I'm on the hunt for lemon balm and chives maybe thyme. What am I missing? I also bought a succulent to put in the sunny bit, and a cucumber plant. The carrots are a total failure- lesson learnt. Some of the lettuce is almost ready for the first harvest. Stay tuned for pictures!

flowers

The sadest thing just happened. Some flowers were delivered to my house. They were so beautiful! And then the guy showed me the card .... addressed to Carol Williams!!!! She lives in the co-op next to Shannon, but my address was written. How sad is that!

Although it was kinda strange to receive flowers on Mother's Day...

And what did Shannon get? Well she went to a wedding the night before and didn't get to sleep until 3 AM. The girls were so excited to wish her happy mother's day that they woke her up at 4:45!!! Needless to say she is not a very happy mother today!

Salem

Salem is my cat. She is a lucky cat. Sarah use to give me a hard time that Elliot got premium cat food and Salem got cheap Whiskas food. Sarah said it was because I didn't love Salem! Well today Salem's stinky poo tipped the scales. She is now on super premium food. Did you know that there is organic human-grade food for cats? Yes she is now eatting organic non-genetically modified chicken breast turned into cat food, mixed with FRUIT, vegitables, grains and kelp. I didn't think she would actually eat it, but she is. Yeah fruit and veggies- cranberries, apples, potatoe and carrots. (The pet store would take it back if she didn't like it, so there wasn't any risk.) It's 3 times the price of Whiskas, but if her poop is 3 times less stinky it will be worth it!

Lilacs

I love lilacs. We had a huge one at Dad's house. I miss having them in the house. I have been stealing lilac blooms for the last week from people's yards. Yesterday I finally went to Nana's and stole some of hers. This morning I woke up to the smell of lilacs!

I got an email from the fox about the upcoming chili peppers concert. I would like to see them, but the tickets are $66 plus service charge. that's just stupid. So I did the math. If they sell out and sell all 20 000 seats, before expenses they make $1.32 million dollars in Vancouver. Times the 31 dates listed equals $40.92 million -assuming that all venues hold 20 000 people and all tickets are the same price. Not bad for 4 months work!!! Is it too late to become a pop sensation a la Britney Spears?

Hmm, It's been a while hasn't it?

Been busier than usual with Sarah and Ryan in town. So quick update for the last 2 weeks:
Watched a few baseball games, had a fondue with Shannon, Marcell, Ryan and Sarah. Dinner at Dads, Lunch with Nana, Aunt Irene, Sarah and Ryan. Baby shower for Barbara today. I'm sure there will be entirely too much cooing over little Otto! Poor little Jacob must be getting a little jealous. And lots of time spent looking for another job. Someone suggested Chapters- I don't really want to be in retail anymore, but if it pays enough...
Micah you worked there? What is the pay?

And my neighbour is expanding my garden space! He's transplanting the 3 Rhodo's at the bottom of my stairs to somewhere. So that means I can plant other stuff. I already bought strawberry plants to be put there. Maybe cucumbers? Tomato? Potatoes?