The Fruits (er, Vegetables) of my Labor

Menu Planning Madness is brought to you today by the letters E, P, T, and Z. (No, not a pregnancy test, Thank goodness!!!) Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini. As in, those are the veges growing in my garden :)

I harvested my first three vegetables yesterday: three zukes were just the right size! I have one tomato turning red (which means gadzooks of them will probably ripen while we're away on vacation...), and even though my green peppers are small, I think they're done growing. They're turning brown which I read was a sign of ripening. My little eggplants are chugging along as well.

I went on a rampage last night looking up recipes to use up all these vegetables as they ripen. Menu planning will revolve around what vegetables are picked that week. My best guess for this week is as follows:

To use up the ranch dressing and potatoes before we leave for vacation:
Ranch Baked Chicken with Ranch Mashed Potatoes
Zucchini Casserole
Plum Upside Down Cake to use up the plums

Italian Sausages with sauteed bell peppers and onions are on the menu later in the week after all that above is eaten. That should do it for the week, and then bright and early Saturday morning we leave for Tennessee! Woot, woot!

Green Thumb Thursday

When it comes to gardening, I've got two left feet. (And neither of them are green). I somehow managed to all but kill my hanging tomato plant.

Does anyone know why when I water it, the water just drains straight through the soil and lands on the plate underneath? I think that is why it's dying. It's not that I'm not watering it (though I admit that I probably don't water it as much as I should...), it's just that the water doesn't stay in the soil.


Here's my next question for you gardening gurus out there: why are my green peppers turning brown?




And other question: are Japanese long eggplants supposed to be white? Will it turn purple later, or do I have a prize-winning albino eggplant on my hands?


Finally. Something is growing normally. These two tomato plants are thriving. *Knocks on wood*


This is my Dusty Eggplant. He's purple. And tiny. Look closely- he's there.

Garden Check-in

I'm still here, folks (Hi Katie; thanks for checking in on me!)

I got the call from my employer telling me that I can have a job back. A job, that is, not my job. It's a job that entails lots more work plus working throughout the summer for pretty much the same pay. Boo Hiss. I was really looking forward to being a stay at home mom, or at least to have six months with my son. Instead now I have an infant and even less time than before to spend with him. Don't get me wrong; I am glad to be working. I know there are lots of people who want jobs and can't find one. I understand that and am sensitive to that. I just had dreams of being a stay-at-home mommy and now my dream has crumbled.

I started back to work the day they called (last Tuesday). So that's where I've been. My school year has started already. My husband will be quitting his job to take care of our son because we really don't want to put him in daycare. Daycare would be half of his salary anyway.

So do you want to know what's ironic? I dragged my feet for years when it came to planting a garden. I finally broke down and planted a garden this year, and this summer, as it turns out, I have to work. Go figure. But anyway, here's some photos of my plant babies. Some people have "fur babies" ... I have plant babies :) I have two little peppers, a baby eggplant, and several little tomatoes.

Gardening with the Aliens Among Us

Tomatoes are red
Zucchinis are green
Whether my garden will be successful
Has yet to be seen.

Bell Peppers are Green
And can be yellow or red.
Stay tuned for adventures
In my vegetable bed.

I finally broke down and did it. I bought some vegetable plants and got some dirt under my fingernails. You may remember how much I hate gardening. Really what I hate is the sunshine and the heat, so I figure I can take care of all things garden-related either early before it gets hot, or later after the heat of the day has passed.

Once it gets hot, all I am going to do is sit inside, sip some lemonade, and write about gardening. For example…

My Bucket List

• Create a topsy-turvy upside down tomato planter from a five gallon bucket (Get it? Bucket list? Sorry, I couldn’t help myself)
  
• Buy some vegetable plants
  
• Weed the flower bed so I can plant the veges there
  
• Get down and dirty with my plants (That didn’t come out right. What I meant was plant them in the ground
  
• Water my babies regularly

So far, I have accomplished the first four things on my Bucket List. Hopefully I can do the fifth and final one as well. I’m not holding my breath though.



So you are jealous of my attractive upside-down tomato planter and want to make one for yourself? Well let me start off by saying that Becky over at Crafting a Green World somehow managed to tap into my brain power and blogged about how to make an upside-down tomato planter before I got a chance to.

My husband the conspiracy theorist is always telling me I should wear a little tinfoil hat. That way Becky and the aliens won’t be able to read my thoughts anymore. See what I get for not listening to my husband? Note to self: add “make tinfoil hat” to my bucket list.

There’s really no point in me explaining how I made my tomato planter because Becky did a nice job (Of course she did. She stole my brain waves, after all). I will say however that some people say to use burlap to keep the dirt in, others use coffee filters, but I used some stiff tulle fabric from my bridesmaid dress. That dress is like the Energizer Bunny, isn’t it? It keeps going and going and going…

I’ll leave you with some photos. If you look very closely, I’m pretty sure there’s a flying saucer in that first photograph. I sure hope they're here to do some weeding.


PS. A forum my husband frequents called Above Top Secret says that France is about to come clean about their knowledge of extra-terrestrials. Other European countries will then follow suit. Maybe we should start crafting ourselves some tinfoil hats. Remember, you heard it here first, folks.

I have some weeding to do

Here are some photos from my front yard:





But this isn't the kind of weeding I was referring to in the title! Although now that you mention it, I do need to tend to the flower beds too ...

Actually I was referring to weeding out unnecessary things from our budget. Now that I will be unemployed we have some reevaluating to do. Is Netflix really worth it? (My husband thinks so and is unwilling to give it up). I gave up my $200 ancestry.com membership. We're giving up eating out, and I'm slashing my grocery budget. I'm also cutting back on thrifting, crafting, and buying fabric. Yes, my friends, buying fabric is on the chopping block. I think four (er, five) super duper large totes filled to the brim is enough for now!

I had a long talk with my house and told her that she needs to hold it together for the next few years. I don't want to spend any more money on her for awhile. She already has a new roof, remodeled basement, new grout in the bathroom, newly painted kitchen cabinets, a new garage door, a window replacement, a new garbage disposal, a new fireplace mantel, new carpet throughout the second floor and basement, and a new fridge.

So I went through my old credit card statements for the past five months and added up how much I spent in four categories: eating out, groceries/toiletries/etc, gifts for others, and gasoline. Here's how we fared:

• $432 on eating out at convenience stores, fast food and sit-down restaurants. Average of $86.40 a month
  
• $1567 on groceries, diapers, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. Average of $313 a month
  
• $1184 on Christmas gifts as well as Mother's Day, Valentines Day, and five months worth of birthdays. (The Christmas number should actually be higher because I buy lots of Christmas gifts throughout the year so I don't have to cram it all in December).
  
• $409 on gasoline, most of which was spent by Jason. Average of $82 a month.

I think I can weed out quite a bit. Eating out will be reduced to almost zero. I'm aiming for under $200 for groceries. Gasoline will have to stay about the same, but we will not spend nearly as much on Christmas this coming year, saving us a great deal.

Also, this month I will be participating in the Eat from the Pantry Challenge. You're allowed to buy fresh produce and staples like milk, eggs, and bread, but other than that, you're supposed to avoid the grocery store like the plague. That's going to be difficult for me since I just found CVS-ing, but I think I can do it.

Must. Not. Spend. Money.

If it's practically free after coupons and catalinas then I will allow myself to buy it. Even if it is the seventeenth bottle of body wash in the cupboard.

I Hate Gardening

That's right. Someone who's as frugal and eco-friendly as me, well you would think that I enjoy gardening. Growing your own foods so you don't have to rely on pre-packaged veges at the grocery store, that sounds like a "reducing" from the 3Rs if you ask me. Well the only thing I am growing is clover in the yard so I can feed it to my rabbit. And even that is a weed.

Notice the thistle weed on the right side of the picture and the baby redbud tree sapling on the left. That darn tree is always dropping its babies everywhere. I've never seen such an invasive tree before. It such a pain to go dig them up all the time. Oh well; at least it is pretty in the spring. I guess that makes it all worth it.

My husband is in charge of mowing, and I am supposed to be in charge of weeding the flower beds. It's a running joke around here that I am systematically eliminating the flower beds by turning them back into grass. The side of the house has a flower bed that used to be full of perrenials (which I do love the look of) but lately it's just been home to thistle weeds. I plowed it under, planted grass seed, and it is no longer my problem. Next job to tackles is the ginormous flower beds in the back yard that go around two sides of the sunroom. I always thought it would be nice to plant veges there, however it never happened. The only thing that grows there these days are weeds. That's right folks, I am a horrible gardener. I don't like the heat nor do I like the sun, and so being outside to pull weeds is utter torture.

This is about as close to gardening as I care to be-- sitting in the living room looking at pretty pictures from my favorite decorating magazines.

I do a little container gardening. I had an aloe plant, which I mistakenly thought might like to live in the sunroom. Oops. It's almost dead now. I also have a plant on the kitchen windowsill that's in pretty sad shape. I guess I lack the gene that causes the condition known as "green thumb." My aunt got all those genes.



I do like the look of terra cotta pots. I saw once in a magazine where they took the itty bitty ones and wired them together to form a wreath, which they hung on their gate. It was the most adorable thing I ever saw, not to mention a good way to repurpose something! I grab the little clay pots at garage sales whenever I see them, however so far I have not collected too many, so I can't make my wreath just yet.

In the meantime, here are two ladies who have made a version of the terra cotta wreath. I especially like the first one because it's a little bit fuller with more pots on it.


When you visit her site, you'll see that this woman is really into gardening. She has such fun, funky, and recycle-minded ideas!


This site isn't oriented toward gardening, but instead on Trash to Treasure. This is one of my favorite past times-- taking what someone else thinks is junk and revamping it into something beautiful and/or useful!