30 Days Later...

I realize it's been a month since I posted last and it's been a busy one. My M.I.L. Jackie was here (wish she was always here), followed closely by Robby having surgery to remove his tonsils (glad it's over), I took a business trip to Charleston, SC for a few days (lovely place) and then recovering from all that (we were damn tired!) And the boys are oblivious to all of this so they keep on plugging away at being 4 which adds to the aforementioned tiredness. 

Just when we thought the fun would never end, we invited an expensive, but prompt plumber over to our house Saturday afternoon.  Then we went with Robby's work group to a baseball game on Saturday night. All was going well until my boys knocked the lady in front of us with the stadium provided and sanctioned thunder sticks one too many times.  She became hateful towards my boys, me, our friend Jemma and her son Ryan. The 4yr olds were having fun and that pissed her off! That lady is lucky I didn't open a can of whoop-ass on her. She said a few choice words including fat and bitches. She was asking for a girl brawl, but I kept my cool, suppressed my stadium rage and simply called her an idiot and left it at that. 

On a less aggressive note, we wrapped up the tiring month with a pretty great block party last night. We did a dual hosting with our across-the-street neighbor Libbey and her husband Erick. We ended up barricading the ends of the street to general traffic which gave everyone freedom to wander around and visit. Which was great considering there was probably 50-60 people (including kids) in attendance. Everyone lingered and all in all I'd say it was a success. We've got FANTASTIC neighbors and everyone was willing to pitch in and help which was best at clean up time.

Anyhoo, we're looking forward to getting back to our normal levels of craziness. School starts again here in a couple weeks. Robby and the boys are going to need to adjust their leisurely mornings a bit. For me it's same old, same old with work, the gym, keeping up my end of house hold chores, etc. Yep, regular old craziness.

So I thought I'd share some pics of things about the house the last few weeks. Most of them are from the garden, which has been our place of peace during the difficult days of the last month. Some of the pics don't have great focus, but you'll get the idea.

This picture is for our friend Laura, who recently moved with her husband to Guam. Something about poisonous sea snails. They're scientists so there's no telling what they're up to with our tax money! :)  Turns out this beautiful blue pot weighed too much to ship to Guam so it's ours now. I just love it with the hot pink petunias! Thanks Laura!

Here's our window well of sweet basil. It's total bumper crop this year. The window well is the PERFECT place for just the right amount of sun and shade in this here desert climate. Want some pesto? We got your pesto. Really, let me know if you want some pesto. It's not dairy free, but we can make it dairy free upon request. It's actually less effort that way.

And here's my man.  He's growing his beard til his throat feels 'normal' again. I told him this would be a great Facebook profile pic.  He's all 'what's Facebook?'  And I'm all 'what, do you stay home with kids all day or somethin?' 

Here's a couple pics of my most glamorous plant arrangement to date.  It's dramatic and a great focal point in the back yard. It makes me think of Hawaii. I just love it and I'm crazy for the blue pot. I got it at Costco a couple years ago. Costco knows just what I want.  Ooooh them!

Me with the maroon hibiscus in the front yard. I used think I had a moon shaped face, but as you can see my round face is perfectly matched to the hibiscus plant!

Charlie pulling a face with the hibiscus. The flower looks good next to all types of faces.

Our garden bounty on our new little mini buffet in the kitchen. Found it at a place on the western edge of downtown SLC called CJ Sparks. They claim to sell furniture with soul. Which means it was expensive, slightly broken and dirty, but it was the EXACT dimensions we needed for this space so SOLD! Also it has sliding doors which helps us maximize the space.

Eli and Charlie with a couple of cukes each. We've got so many we can spare a few to be used for toys, huh Lisa? Okay that's an inside joke, but I'm sure you can figure out the innuendo. 

A shout out to Aunt Melissa! We love giving her props. Not sure if the White Sox are still in the running or what, but last time I heard both the Sox and the Cubbies were doing great. Go Chicago!

Eggplant. These have been great plants this year.  They are beautiful and shiny deep purple.  I can't decide how the plants can manage such large eggplant without breaking or leaning over. Beautiful and strong.

Lots of cukes this year.  This is actually a spare plant our neighbors Bryan and Marianne gave us. It's producing well and I'm eating a cucumber a day...no lie! 

And a sprawling plant called Aunt Molly's ground cherry.  Google it.  I think it's Brazilian.  It's got a crazy pineapple/strawberry/something-from-Brazil flavor.  It's berries look like tomatillos in the husk.  The boys like to rummage around in it for a snack. I ordered a bunch of tomatoes plants and this plant from Seed Savers Exchange. Hey I figured out how to make a hyper link or whatever it's called!

A HUGE gold medal tomato (heirloom from Seed Savers) that finally turned from green to yellow a couple days ago.  It was a easily 2-3 pounds, I swear. I told Annalyn I could hurt her with it. She said 'you wouldn't do that' and I said you never know what I might do (see note above about baseball game.)

My beloved okra.  Grow okra, grow! We're stowing each little pod in the fridge. Saving them up so I can make some curry to serve over a fraction of the 2 thousand pound bag of Jasmine rice Robby thought we should buy at Costco. Want some Jasmine rice? After the curry I'll only have 1.9999 thousand pounds left. 

This is a pink Dahlia.  It's a dinner plate variety, or something like that.  They really are large and stunning.  Especially in the same corner of the yard with the pink hibiscus...pictured below. Imagine my big head next to this flower. I just know it would look great!

Finally, I would like to invite all you Salt Lakers to the Dowtown Farmer's Market at Historic Pioneer Park this Saturday. It's official, I'll be volunteering for the Local First organization. We should be up towards the northeast corner of the park. I'm excited to join my friend of many years and Local First's director, Alison, for the day in support of our local businesses and farmers. Maybe we'll see you there!

And I think that's a wrap. I'm tired again. Hopefully I won't be away another month, but who knows what I might do...