Finally!!

The exciting thing in this picture is not the broccoli (although it has a nice flavor). The exciting thing is the okra in the basket. I realize it isn't enough for a meal, but the kids and I are frying it today anyway. We have been patiently (or in my case impatiently) waiting for it ALL summer.

This year has been a strange one for our garden. The summer started out unseasonably cool--good for broccoli and Sadie's third grade cabbage. Bad for okra and tomatoes. The okra is finally beginning to produce and I am hopeful that we may harvest at least one tomato before frost. We have enjoyed potatoes,onions, squash, zucchini, corn and broccoli, so I shouldn't complain. The black-eyed peas are finally producing and the green beans are thinking about blooming. We'll probably dig the rest of the potatoes next week--it is too wet to right now. We have four different varieties of pumpkins growing, too.

Am I going to be able to put up all the vegetables I had hoped? No, but there is always next summer.

Sadie's Flower Mirror

I finished Sadie's mirror today. I can't decide which one of the three I like best. It is hard to see but there are thin lime-green stripes and even some glitter stripes.

Please join me in hoping that Hobby Lobby restocks soon, or I"ll have to rethink some Christmas gifts.

BTW--any project you see here is available for purchase--leave a comment and let me know if you are interested (sorry for the shameless plug, I'm saving up for a nice camera--you should really help me out, it'll make reading my posts much more enjoyable when the pictures are better.)

Project

I just finished making jewelry holders for two of our friends for their birthday. I found simple wooden flowers with mirrors in the center. I painted the flower and added four cup hooks and some ribbon to hang the flower. I thought these would be neat to hang necklaces, hair bands or whatever little girls need to hang.

My next project is a picture frame that I'll paint, add cup hooks, and attach hardware cloth to the opening of the frame. The hardware cloth will be for hanging earrings. I've got several different sized frames to try. It may be a while before you see the finished product--we still have to finish Sadie's room and I have an order for 20 clip boards.

Win Free Ice Cream!!

I read a blog called We are THAT Family. You can go there today to enter for a year's worth of FREE ice cream!! Way cool. While you are there you can sign up for her newsletter that is coming out in August. I think it'll be interesting.

I think you'll enjoy the blog. I've found it entertaining. Go check it out.

Post Script 2

So if you read yesterday's posts you know that I had severe problems shopping the other day. Now that Wal Mart has changed their packaging, I now have to actually READ the box of resealable bags before grabbing one out. Used to, I'd grab the red box for regular and blue for freezer. Easy--just grab and go. Sadie did point out that regular has a picture of corn on it and freezer has strawberries, but my feeble mind can't process such things. I stand there thinking, "Was corn freezer? No, it was regular, I'm not sure." If Wal Mart only knew the amount of time they are taking from my day by changing things!!

Post Script

While I was cooking lunch, I remembered that I meant to add a few more things to this morning's post:

While confused in Wal Mart because of starting at a different end of the store than usual, I had trouble finding items that I buy all the time. Why wasn't I finding them? I reached for the Great Value quart and gallon bags that are always in the same spot, red for regular, blue for freezer. Well, Wal Mart went and changed the Great Value packaging on me. Can you believe? Such nerve!

I finally found the bags--the new packaging is a very boring white. Sadie realized that regular have corn on them and freezer have strawberries (I think, it may be the other way around).

This confusion continued throughout the store. Each time, I thought, "You're kidding, they quite carrying ...?"

I guess I should be embarrassed that I am such a slave to routine and things being the same. No telling how long it will take me to get used to the new packaging.

Routine

Wednesday Sadie and I HAD to go to the grocery store. My list was incredibly long. I go to Wal Mart--I know there are those of you that despise the place, and let's face it, it isn't my favorite. That being said, they have nearly everything I need in one place and I really have checked prices on the groceries I buy every month, and, well, it's where I shop.

I have a routine there. I park on the same aisle (I have a habit of misplacing my car). I go through the store the same way. Sadie thought it would be fun to start at the front of the grocery part rather than the back. By the time we were half-way through, I gave up and went to the back and practically started all over. It seemed to take forever and I felt like I was in a foreign land until I went back to what I was used to.

Isn't it crazy how we are creatures of habit?

Eating Locally

Yesterday, without meaning to, our whole lunch was grown locally. We enjoyed roast from a beef that our relatives raised, fried yellow squash (I used the egg from our hens for the batter), roasted potatoes with onions, and zucchini bread. I guess the only things we didn't get locally are the flour, spices and shortening. I thought it was kind of cool for all of our main ingredients to be home-grown.

Flower Beds

When we moved out to the farm, we removed some old cedar bushes that had just become too overgrown. The problem is, the trunks are almost impossible to remove without a tractor. If we remove them with a tractor, we will have to take part of the fence down, and, we are fairly certain that when uprooted, they'll tear up the majority of the yard (which might be the only way I'll ever get a sprinkler system...)

So, this year I happened upon a small stock-tank that had a hole in the bottom. I brought it over to the yard to use as a flower bed. (I have big plans of actually putting in a bed in front of the house, but that will require quite a bit of labor, and I'm pretty sure the dog will get in it and make a mess.)

I wanted to build a bed around the cedar stump, but didn't really want to spend much on it. This spring, to my good fortune, and mom's misfortune, we found out that the large stock tank in the pasture by the house had a hole in it. Robby was kind enough to cut the bottom out of it and cut it in half. We placed it over the stump and filled with cheap top soil, potting soil and peat. I planted flowers in both tanks and am pretty pleased with the results.

I planted perennials with the hope that they will eventually fill in the whole bed. I added some vinca (an annual) this year to fill in some gaps.

Firecracker Fun

When I was a kid, my mom taught me how to "blow up cans" like she did as a child, now my mom is teaching my kids how to do it. I love the traditions we hand down from generation to generation. If you have never done this before, you need to try it--it amounts to hours of entertainment at our house.

First, find two cans that, when empty, just fit inside each other. (Mom was nice enough to find some out-of-date ones in her pantry and empty and clean them out when she came. She's also very smart--she brought a set for each kid.) Then, punch a hole in the end of the can so a firecracker will fit very snugly.

Pour a small amount of water in the large can. (You'll learn that the amount of water affects the height the can goes--that's the fun part, experimenting)

Place the can with the firecracker in like this:

Mom says the secret is to put the can in the can with water, then put the firecracker in.

Light fuse:

and get away:

The can will launch into the air.

Collect the can, and do it all over again.

To see more photos and read more about our family celebrates the Fourth, go here.

Waiting...

Before we left on our trip to Hico, T.S. and I planted pumpkins. We planted the mini variety directly into the garden. I don't have the spot ready for the other varieties, so we went ahead and started them inside. We planted three different kinds: Big Max--these are supposed to get really big, Jack O'Lantern, and Lumina--these are white pumpkins. Last count was 27 seedlings. Right now we're waiting for the garden to dry out so we can transplant them.

Hopefully we'll end up with a lot of pumpkins and either be able to sell them or share them with our friends.