Thursday, June 2, 2011

My Vegetable Garden

I had been talking to my darling hubby about starting a vegetable garden in our backyard. I thought a vegetable garden would be a nice touch to the backyard oasis that I plan to eventually complete in our backyard....little by little.

So, we had some funds in our house maintenance fund...(Side Note: I love our ING Direct bank and that allows us to setup up different accounts/funds and name them different names. Hubby didn't understand why I did this before we got married, but I love earmarking money for certain reasons....instead of just all in one big "savings" emergency fund/account). Anywho, one Saturday I went for it and decided I would get it. I purchased the raised bed kit from Home Depot. I got some soil for vegetables and flowers, some hummus compost and some top soil (all also from home depot). I purchased the vegetables at wal-mart. Walmart had several herbs and veggies (in plant form) for about $2-$3. I bought parsley, basil, green bell peppers, yellow bell peppers (to add some different color to the garden) and some cherry tomatoes.

Walmart has some raised bed kits, but they were not made of cedar, and I read cedar is best as far as it not breaking down in the outside conditiions, etc. Also, the guy at home depot mentioned that I could probably build a bed myself of treated lumber (2x6's)...ummm, no, I read that the chemicals in the "treated" lumber will evade your soil. So, I kindly declined his offer. I've read that if you go the treated route, a way around it is to cover the inside of the bed with something to help prevent the chemicals from invading the soil. But, I didn't want to risk it.

Hubby was at his mom's when I purchased the items, but I texted him letting him know what I had purchased. He said, oh you should have gotten some jalapeno peppers. So, I went back to wal-mart and got the jalapeno peppers (in seed form). I thought it was a great idea to try our hand at growing at least one item from seed. Plus, the seeds at wal-mart are about a $1 each...extremely cheap!

The next day hubby put together the raised bed (with MY supervision LOL. ...which basically consisted of me reading the directions (guys just do NOT like to read directions ) and making sure he completed it correctly. The bed was pretty easy, despite a little snafu with hubby's electric screwdriver going dead, but we finished in no time.

Next, we decided on placement, the place that I orginally planned to place the bed did not look right and there wasn't much sun as the garden would need. So, we moved it to the far end of the yard...ummm, no,  the bed looked lonely. Then we moved it kitty cornered in the opposite end (corner) and it looked great! Plus, that area gets full sun and I can see it from my kitchen nook. Hubby said that he can just picture me saying...let me pick some ____ for dinner tonight. Or, honey, can you go pick some____ for dinner tonight. LOL He's so silly :-)

I read online that newspaper is best to be put down instead of landscape fabric since the newspaper breaks down over the years and helps the soil. So, I laid newspaper down and we got busy pouring the mixture of soil, compost, miracle grow soil.
I think it turned out great!

We have already noticed that the jalapeno has started to sprout. It was too dark to take a pic tonight. Right now it looks just like leaves LOL....But we know that it is our jalapenos.


Boobee! Read the directions!


Almost there. I guess he doesn't need directions any more :-)


My shade tree worker LOL






The electric screwdriver....must need new batteies
 
My "Secret" Vegetable Garden LOL

And a little sexy music from Quicy Jones :-)

Monday, May 9, 2011

Miami, Catalina Island, & Waikiki, Hawaii

One of the blogs that I love to read is doing a "Show us your life" series on favorite vacation spots. It gives a chance for all the readers to post their live once a week (sometimes the topics is show us your home, bedroom, etc. This week it is your favorite vacation spot.

There were several entries so I thought I would enter as well.
You can see the other entries here
http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2011/05/show-us-your-life-favorite-vacation.html

Hubby and I love to vacation. Actually, Hubby is a newbie to it, but now he is infatuated with (since his first airplane ride a few years back).

3 or our favorite places are:
1. Miami Beach, FL - we have been 4 years in a row...so I guess that shows how much we love it.









2. Catalina Island - is just off the coast of Los Angeles, Cali. We did a short getaway to LA about 2-3 years ago and we went to Catalina on a day trip. I LOVED IT! I did not want to leave when our ferry arrived at the end of the day to take us back to LA. it is such a cute fun town. You can get around via golf carts :-)










3. Waikiki - We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and stayed 5 days in Waikiki. I like Hawaii a lot. The 8 hour plane ride was bit treacherous though so it will take some convincing to hubby to make the trip back.










Thursday, April 28, 2011

Things that I am loving

Just a list of my favorite things and things I am currently loving!


Sectionals

So modern, clean lines. I love them







Vases


I am a vase-a-holic. I always see tons that I just love. Just saw these in a catalog (west elm) they look like beehives





Outdoor furniture




 

White sofas (Sectionals)


Outdoor round chairs

Tufted Headboards
(west elm)

 

These Drink Coasters at CB2


Garden Decor- especially this garden trellis to light your path (at Pottery Barn)


mmmm, Pergolas

Thursday, March 31, 2011

To my sweet cousin - I love you, rest in peace

Last week and weekend were very difficult for me. We lost one of my favorite cousins.
My first cousin, Dorothy Beth Hageon Davis passed away.
Upon hearing the news, I was deeply saddened. Dot was such a wonderful, beautiful person inside and out. She was intelligent, always had a smile on her face and most importantly she was a Christian.
Dot did a lot of work in the church and the community and even ran for school board last year. She was a part of the Women United Choir and was Choir President at St. John Baptist Church in Silsbee.

To this day, I still feel like I am in an awful dream and just can not wake up. Her death was sudden. She had just found out that she had a cancerous stomach tumor and started chemo. I never thought we would lose her so soon.

All last week, I cried so much....On the way to work, on the way home, before bed, in the middle of the night.....asking God for understanding. Primarily, the pain hurt so badly because I had just spoken with her on Wednesday at lunch and she said that she was fine. She asked where was Jerry. She loved our relationship and our love for each other.

A week before her passing, I had an awful dream that someone passed away in my family. It wasnt her, someone else, but I woke up crying. In my dream, I kept saying "but I just talked to her, how am I gonna talk to her now". After hearing of Dot's passing, I thought, "but I just talked to her" I instantly thought about the dream I had just the week before.

In a way, I am little angry with myself because I wish I was able to do something...I don't know what - move her to MD andersen in houston, help her get a better doctor (she didn't have insurance) or just be there to question the emergency room doctors she had. But, I have told myself that God is a God all by himself and there was nothing I could do. He needed her more.

This whole incident made me think of my dad passing away with lung cancer when I was 11 years old. He was doing fine and was being moved to a nursing home the next day, but passed in the night....we had just saw him.

I remember a sermon from way back when...the pastor stated that it is no longer here today, go tomorrow, it is now..here today, gone today. So, you really have to tell your love ones you love them.

On our drive to Silsbee for the funeral, Jerry and I admired the tons of beautiful pink flowers. I guess they were azalaes but we saw them everywhere. It was ironic that Dot's funeral was a pink theme sort of...pink casket, pink programs, she was dressed in pink, and had pink flowers. I take this as sign that she was right there with us on the drive there, back, etc. At the funeral, she looked at peace and to me had a smile on her face. I never been to a funeral where the person looked like they were smiling...at total peace.

To Dot-- you were such a wonderful person, rest in peace and enjoy your mansion and the streets made of gold. I love you, but God loved you more.

You will be greatly missed!
Your cousin,

Tonya




Dot (always smiling)

Dot, Aunt Mable (her mom), and Ann (her only sister)

Taken at my mom's house Christmas Eve 2010

Friday, March 4, 2011

Ice Cream Sandwich Casserole

Just when you thought ice cream couldn’t get any better, there’s a recipe to show us all different. Last year sometime another blog that I follow, posted this recipe on her blog. Of course, I immediately copied it and tucked it away so that I could make it later. Well, we were having a party at our house one time last year. So, I grabbed a copy of recipe and ran to the store.  HOLY GREATNESS!!! This is one dessert you don’t wanna miss!!!! It’s TO-DIE-FOR DELICIOUS!!!







ICE CREAM SANDWICH CASSEROLE



24 ice cream sandwiches

toffee chips {I used Heath, but any toffee chips would be yummy}
1 tub whipped cream

hot fudge topping, {melted, I used Smucker’s}

caramel topping {melted, I used Smucker’s}

Heath/Skor/Symphony bars {to crumble on top}


Get ready to work fast because you don’t want the ice cream sandwiches to melt!! Unwrap 12 ice cream sandwiches and layer on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. You’ll have to cut a few to make ‘em fit…get creative!






Melt your hot fudge and spread a layer on top of the ice cream sandwiches. The caramel will spread pretty evenly without being heated, so mix that in too :)








 
 
Top with a layer of whipped cream…





and add the toffee chips.





Now repeat the process…ice cream sandwiches, syrups, whipped cream and toffee chips. The other recipes said to take a toffee bar {like Heath/Skor/Symphony} and crumble them on top. That would’ve been AMAZING, but I forgot ‘em at the store and I had to split my bag of toffee chips between the middle layer and the top. It was still AMAZING!!!!! So, everytime I make it I just use toffee chips only









This is the PERFECT treat! SO YUMMMMMM… Sadly, this dish never stays in the freezer for long because we couldn’t stop eating it!! HA!! Seriously though, you can keep it in the freezer {covered} for about a week…if it lasts that long ;) The majority of time I give half of it my friend, Kim, so she can give it to her kids....as not to tempt myself to eat the whole thing LOL.
 
This is one of those desserts that has you sayin’, “why didn’t I think of that before?!?!”. YUM!


I just took this dish to an 80's party and everyone LOVED IT!