5-7-10

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY TO JONATHAN!!


Off to a rough start this morning.
Boy I could have slept in easily as
my butt is dragging.

So much to do. Clean & tidy up house
for Jonathan's birthday tonight.
Make cake. Wrap presents. Yard sales.
Get car trailer ready for tomorrow.
Picking the car up sometime Saturday.

___________________________________________________

12:30pm

back from yard sales.
Didn't find much. Got a few books
and a couple glass decorative jars
with peppers in them. The smallest
jar says $25.oo Khol's on the back.
And I'm sure the larger jar was
more expensive when new.
I paid .50 cents each for them.
I'll use these on my kitchen counter
with other jars that I have filled
with pasta.




I picked up a few books for Jonathan's
birthday. I'll have Christopher give
them to him. One is a science project
book, a puzzle book and Charlotte's Web.
He is reading that one in school.
That books says $10 or $11 when new on the
front. I paid .25 cents each.



I also found 3 canning books for .25 cents
each and a curtain making book for .50 cents.



So Christopher didn't feel left out with
all the gift giving I got him a
Weather hard back book for .50 cents.
The Lab book is for mom for Mother's day.
Remember I also got her a necklace that
I gave her already. Then took her out to
lunch one day last week.



Once home I raced to get the cake made and in the
oven. Got the ice cream softening on the counter
to mold into the pan for later on when I assemble
it all. I ended up going with a white cake mix.
I crumbled up chocolate cream filled cookies
and put in the batter.

___________________________________________________

Ok let's back up a few to about 8:00AM this morning.
Getting ready to pack the kids up in the Explorer,
since Tony took the Tracker to work, when the kids
call out to me and say it was broke into! I knew
this crap was going to start happening again with
the warmer weather. That's the only thing Winter
has going for it, no break ins. And you know what's
funny is just earlier this week I talked to the
neighbor and Tony about getting some wireless
night vision cameras to put outside.
I think I jinxed myself when saying that.
I don't know when this break in happened as
the Explorer has been sitting for about the
past two weeks. The doors weren't locked
because I don't have nothing of value in there.
If someone is going to break in my vehicle
I would prefer they don't break my windows
doing it. Get in, rummage around and move on.
I'm not sure what they are looking for. Drugs maybe
as I found my plastic change section ripped out
of my console as if I might be hiding something
down inside out of sight. In the glove box
is a plastic baggie of quarters (emergency money)
that they left. The CD player and all CD's are
still there. So that's the only thing I could
come up with as to what they were possibly looking
for. They better keep looking somewhere else
cause they ain't finding that stuff here!




___________________________________________________

3:15PM

Almost to the finish line! Got the cake almost
done. It's baked and I have the ice cream layer
in place. Popped it back in the freezer
so I can frost it soon but don't need ice cream
melting while I do it, lol.

I'll be ready for bed tonight that's for sure.
Been running around here like a chicken with
it's head cut off. Got the house tidied up
enough for company and got birthday
and Mother's Day presents wrapped.
Will be giving the Mother's Day presents
this evening since we won't be here Sunday.
I even managed to plant a bunch of Cucumbers in
the garden today also.
I'm thinking maybe it should be a pizza night
for Jonathan's birthday. Less work for me :o)

Whew it's getting warm in here.
Just checked and it's 82 degrees.








__________________________________________________

Almost 5PM

I had originally planned to have the
grandparents over for cake and ice cream.
Now at the last sec it's more like grandparents
and a couple of Jonathan's friends.
We will be having pizza then cake and ice
cream for everyone.
I'm not one for hosting parties so
we'll see how this goes.

I see we have a tornado watch for the area
and some severe thunderstorms coming after
10pm. Oh goodie. I don't see much
sleep in the near future with kids
and animals in our room in the middle
of the night.

___________________________________________________

8:30PM

Well the night is winding down. Party has been going
since 5:30pm and we still have the neighbor and his
3 kids still over. Jonathan had a couple friends over
earlier from school. And grandma and grandpa were
here. My eyeballs are heavy and I can't quit
yawning but trying to sit here and keep company
somewhat entertained. It's been a long couple
of days but it's been worth it with everyone
who has stopped by. The kids should be wore
out and lets hope they sleep pretty good tonight!
ha, ha, ha.

9:15pm

The neighbor and his crew just left.
But just got word that Tony's friend
and his dad,
(who's on call at work and nearby)
is on his way over. I swear there's
a lot of night owls around here.
I'm ready to pass out and people
keep flocking over. Ahhhh!


Since I don't have much more energy and pictures
say a thousand words I'll let them do the rest
of the talking for this evening, LOL.

5-6-10

I tried to snap a better pic of the garden
before the sun set in the sky.
I might do one of the trellises for
some cucumbers and the rest for
a couple different type beans.



Yesterday I got as far as planting
scallions in the trays. I wanted
to get the chives done also but the
neighbor and his 2 kids, not in school
yet, came over. I didn't think it would
be a good idea to have tiny seeds out
with two little ones running around
being curious and wanting to touch
everything.

Tonight we're going to Ci Ci's pizza buffet.
The grandparents are taking Jonathan there
for his birthday, which is tomorrow, but
we felt by going a day earlier we'd beat
the Friday rush.

I gotta start his ice cream cake today so I can
allow some time for it to set in the freezer.

This morning I have to get the tags done
for the car trailer and Tracker.
I'll have one of those $20 fees tacked onto
the car trailer since I am late getting
the tags renewed. Those new tag fees really
suck let me tell ya. Always something they
do to get more of your hard earned money!
Just like the curb side yard waste pick up.
It used to be free then they wanted you
to pay for the services. Now out of the blue
they are going back to being free. What is
up that crap?

I have a church sale I want to take
mom to this morning also.

So it's not looking like a day to spend in
the garden. And I see on the news it's looking
like more possible rain this weekend.

__________________________________________________

12pm

Back from all the running I had to do this morning.
Also stopped by Arby's and Dollar Tree while out.
Wanted some headbands for my hair. I can't
stand it being in my face!
While there I found some hot patches
like Thermal Care for Tony's back.
And found some sugar free packets
(Wyler's & Hawaiian Punch)
for water bottles when we travel about.
They come in a box of 8-10 for a buck.
Also picked up a couple helium
birthday balloons for Jonathan.

Looks like I might go out in the garden and start
stringing the pea trellis.


1pm

Just finished my web, I mean the pea trellis.
I'm starting to call this my garden web with
all the twine and rope I have weaved and
put up!
I hope I am done with the construction
and now can get to work with planting
more!





__________________________________________________

Busy, busy, busy.
Never seems like a dull moment around here.

Thursday- Ci Ci's for Jonathan's Birthday.
Start ice cream cake this evening.

Friday- Yard sales. Finish ice cream cake.
Jonathan's birthday party at home.
Pick up Trans Am in Blacklick.(blue one)
(either Friday or Saturday eve)

Saturday- Drywall repair work on South end.

Sunday- going to Indian Lake for Mother's Day.

Ok about the Trans Am situation. Yes we will
be trading Tony's motorcycle for our old Trans Am
as we got the ok on that after going back and forth
with the wheeling and dealing.
The kids are tickled pink to be getting back
our car. Do you know these two have already discussed
which one gets which car when they are older, LMAO!
These two cars will remain with the family for
years to come and the boys know they will be
passed down to them one day. And at 9 & 10 years
old are deciding who will get each one!! Geesh!!

___________________________________________________

Well it's 3:30pm time to get the kiddos off the bus.
I managed to get 8 tomato plants planted in the
garden today and I dug out the irrigation
stakes. I really need to replace the 2 liter
plastic bottles on them with ones that aren't
cut off so they do a better job.
These irrigation bottles will help if I forget
to water or go away for the weekend.
They slowly drip water into the ground
next to the tomato plant.
I use rain water from the rain barrels which
is better for plants than tap water.
Tap water contains chlorine and other
chemicals which may stunt the growth of
the plants.




__________________________________________________

4:05pm

Back from the bus stop and mom's
and a haul of 26 (7oz) bags of Combos
that I got for FREE!!

Where my step-dad works they have
a few snack items for sale. Once
they go out of date they were throwing
all these items out!! WELL, I told
him to haul it home whether he wants
it or not, we'll eat it! He's not
one to eat expired foods even if
it's a day past it's expiration date!
But me, I say bring it on!
Most stores have to sell by the expiration
date but that does NOT mean the items
have gone bad. Now I won't buy pop
that has gone it's expiration date
as I have bought ones that were bad or flat.
But items that are dry goods such
as chips, nuts, boxed things, have
a much longer shelf life.
These combos expired 2 months ago.
I opened them up and they are as fresh
and tasty as can be.
What do these buggers go for?
Probably $3 to $4 a bag.
So I got $78 to $104 worth of Combos for FREEEEEEE!!!
These will come in handy for Tony's lunches
and kids snack time after school that's for sure.



Well going to get me and the kids ready to head
out as soon as Tony gets home. I'm taking the camera
along to Ci Ci's.
It's always a part of me, if you haven't noticed.
Later!

___________________________________________________

Got home about 9:30pm.
Did the Ci Ci's thing.

I gotta tell ya this story as I'd never
ever see it again in a million years.
As we are driving down Morse Rd
to go to Stoneridge Plaza I noticed
a bunch of what looked like trash in the
road. Some of it was but upon further inspection,
since traffic was slowing and I was the passenger,
I see money floating in our lane
and on the side of the road!
I'm not shitting you either!
I don't know how much but I know we probably
ran over a few green bills. A guy walking
on the sidewalk was dodging the traffic
trying to pick some of it up! Don't know what
that was about but it REALLY, REALLY sucked that
traffic was heavy and moving at a steady pace
because I would have had Tony stop the car
so I could get out and snatch a few up.
Knowing my luck it would be reported stolen
from an earlier bank robbery.
The story of my life!

Here's Morse Rd. returning home.
All trash and any money had been cleaned up.




Object in mirror is bummed for not
being able to snatch up the money
blowing around in the middle of the road.



After Ci Ci's we headed off to the grandparents for
gifts and goodies. From there
went to Kroger to get a prescription
for Tony.

Never, never, never, enough hours in
a day to get things done!!!

9:30 to 11:00pm
I'm up making sandwich cookies for
Jonathan's class tomorrow for his
birthday. Just a quick throw together
made from a cake mix. Then I didn't
have enough frosting to go round in
one tub so I mixed in 4 ounces of cream
cheese to stretch it further.

Not going to get to Jonathan's birthday
cake until tomorrow. That will be fun
as I cannot find the ice cream cake
pan anywhere!! I am stressed out.
Where in the heck would it have gone.
Time for plan B I guess because I have no
other choice. Gonna make two round
cakes. Freeze a round cake pan of
ice cream and make it like a layer cake
except with ice cream in the middle.

It's 11:15pm and I am tired after
making all these cookie sandwiches.
Time to get to bed while I still can
so I can have a fresh start tomorrow
when me and mom go yard saling.




Jonathan's birthday with the grandparents:

5-5-10

These pics and video are for my aunt
who had assumed my garden took up our
entire back yard.
The yard is a decent size. It extends out past
the one shorter wooden fence, which I would love to have removed
and take the other fence down to the property line
by the chain link fence. It just makes
the yard look smaller. Plus the yard extends out
past the longer wooden fence out by the street
and is used as a place
where we park our vehicles. There is also a carport
and a cement driveway on the backside of the house.








___________________________________________________

I let nothing go to waste. I have managed to
recycle almost the entire wood from the gazebo.
They only thing I could not use was the brackets.
We sawed off some ends yesterday from the iron
panels. I even saved those little pieces.
I plan to cut one end into a point and
use them as stakes for the tomato trellis.
I noticed the other end already had a hole in it
from where it used to attached to the gazebo.
I plan to run twine from a top board to the
stake, driving the stake into the ground to
hold the twine straight for tomatoes to grow on.



I am trying to make do with what we have available
that is free to make this garden.

I know what the heck is a tomato trellis
and why not use a tomato cage?

A tomato cage is not tall enough or supportive
enough for tomato plants. Tomato stakes
are a little better. Just be careful
when using either to watch for the
roots of the tomato plants and try not
to disturb them.

A string trellis has a board across the top
in which you run string downwards into the
ground next to the tomato plant. As the tomato
plant grows you wind it around the string.

I don't have pictures of mine yet as I am still
in the process of getting it all put together.
But to give you an idea here is a picture I found
of one.



___________________________________________________

It's 7:35pm. We've spent the last 1 1/2 to 2 hours
making tomato and bean trellises.
I'm too tired after hammering, drilling, screwing
and sawing to start work on stringing the pea trellis
today. I might get to that tomorrow, we'll see how
the weather goes tomorrow evening.
During the day I have to get tags renewed on the
car trailer and tags transferred on the car.
Then I found a church sale on a Thursday.
That's hard to believe so will have to check that out.

Here's pictures from work we did tonight.
They probably aren't so good due to the
sun setting. Tomato trellises are in the back
and then I used the space in front of them
to run lines for the beans. All in all
it helps to support and hold the poles up
which are screwed in and planted in the ground.

I've read so many books dealing with companion
planting and gave up with trying to learn it all.
Some say there is no scientific proof that some
plants are better or worse with others.
It's just like a tradition passed down from
our ancestors and that is why we use it today.
So in my garden I just planted whatever, wherever!
Oh well it's my garden! I'll do it how I want to!
If it don't work out for me this year then I'll
plan something else for next year.

Let me tell ya setting up a garden is hard work!
I hope it gets easier next year since everything
will be in place.






This will be the pea trellis that I still have to string up.




>

5-4-10

Had to make a run to Meijer this morning
to pick up dog and cat food. While
there I got some more flower and
veggie seeds. Meijer's is the place
to go for seeds!! Walmart- NO!

I never have the camera around when I need it!
Remember me telling you I saw pig heads
at Kroger a couple month back? Well today
at Meijer I saw lamb heads! Talk about gross
looking. Still had the eyeballs and teeth!
I don't want to know who buys this stuff
and what they do with it!!!
This here is about what it looked like.
Imagine strolling along the meat section
looking for deals and you see this thing
looking back at ya! GROSS!



Got the potting soil into the seedling
containers and this morning planted:
-Crackerjack Marigolds
-Garden Beans
-Enchanted Rose Zinnias

Like my idea? I didn't have enough
shelves in the greenhouse so I put
a wired baking rack inside to hold
more seedlings.



I still have many trays to put seeds into.




I was also able to find a spot this
year to finally transplant the Concord
Grape plant into the ground.
I put it in the back of the garden
along the fence.



I saw that my Strawberry plants
are making a come back from last year.
Hoping to get them out of the basket
from last year and into the ground.



Gotta love it when hubby calls and says,
"you still love me don't ya?"
Ohhh I know something's up! LOL

So here's the scenario he ran by me today.
Cause he knows to run stuff by me first before
doing something or it could be a loooong
miserable week, LOL.

We bought a motorcycle I'd say a couple months ago.
I was worried that Tony wouldn't be able to ride a bike
with his nerve damage from diabetes. And I was right
but had to let him figure this out for himself
by letting him get the bike, because you know
guys, they can be stubborn headed and us
women just have to deal with it.
He's rode it only
a couple of times and complains it's hard for him
to hold the bike up and his hip joints hurt him
so bad.

So what to do. Do we list the thing on Craigslist
and deal with all the buttheads on there?
I wasn't ready for that again so soon.
So we had just let it sit for now until today.

So here is the deal he want to make with a guy
at work for the motorcycle...
The guy wants to trade back our 79 Trans Am
we sold to him about 4 years ago for the bike plus $200.
HECK OF A DEAL!! And Tony was worried I wouldn't go
for it.
Check this out.
Bike cost $1,200.
We sold him the TA for $2,500
plus sold him a set of tires and rims for about
another $200.
So all together made $2,700 on the car.
The guy replaced the hood on it,
fixed the passenger door which broke when
we owned it and it would not open PLUS
it comes with a set of honeycomb/snowflake rims.
Helloo, for someone like me who knows about
Trans Ams knows that those rims aren't cheap!!
They run about $500 to $2,000+ for a set of 4!!!

So if this situation goes through it will
feel weird actually owning this car again
after selling it 4 years ago.
We were in a delima though.
We lived in an apartment complex and they
complained we had too many cars so we
had to sell one of the two TA's we owned.
Plus the money was good to have at the time.

Anyone remember "Blue Thunder" our 79 TA?
Here's a photo to jog the memory.




Tonight's Supper

POTATO SOUP



leftover baked mashed potatoes from mom (free)
1 onion .10 cents
5-6 potatoes .50 cents
1/2 pound bacon .90 cents
1 pound roll maple sausage $1.50
"velveeta" cheese .25 cents
butter .10 cents
flour .05 cents
milk .25 cents
season salt, pepper, garlic & sea salt blender

TOTAL COST $3.65
serves about 8 @ .45 cents a serving

____________________________________________________

Tonight I was sitting here watching
Most Amazing on TruTV.
They had different segments from
all over the US. To our surprise
they showed a little market on there
that is about a block from here.
Ain't it amazing at what you see on tv?
At 9pm two would be robbers came in the
store with a gun drawn. The store clerk
took out a pistol and fired at them.
That sent the robbers running.
We don't take no crap here in Columbus.
I consider everyone armed and dangerous!
There was another clip of another store
from Columbus where a female clerk shot
a robber, who also had a gun, in the shoulder.
Well crap it looks like Columbus ain't the
place to be. There's yet another clip on
this show from Whitehall, Ohio, with yet
another robbery.

___________________________________________________

This ain't fair. When I asked the kids if they
had homework tonight, Jonathan says, " I don't,
but you do!". He thought that was funny.
I have to write out a favorite recipe so it
wasn't all that bad. My hand keeps going
numb from carpal tunnel though. I might
get through this, lol.

Here is one of my favorite recipes,
a non traditional green bean casserole.
I have been making this for years for
Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Serves 10

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon white sugar
* 1/4 cup onion, diced
* 1 cup sour cream
* 3 (14.5 ounce) cans French style green beans, drained
* 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1/2 cup crumbled buttery round crackers
* 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth, and cook for one minute. Stir in the salt, sugar, onion, and sour cream. Add green beans, and stir to coat.
3. Transfer the mixture to a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Spread shredded cheese over the top. In a small bowl, toss together cracker crumbs and remaining butter, and sprinkle over the cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden and cheese is bubbly.

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6:00 to 7:30pm

This evening we got the iron panels
(saved from the gazebo) trimmed down
and hung on the fence along the driveway.
Looks nicer than a bare fence and hey
it was FREE materials!
Flying Saucer Morning Glories are starting
to come up already. In the near future
those will get planted along the drive way
and use those panels to climb upon.



8-8:30pm

Had to run to Kroger and get some pop.
While there I picked up some oreo type
cookies and some frosting for Jonathan's
birthday Friday.
I plan to make him an ice cream cake filled
with cookies and cream ice cream.
Then top it with cream cheese frosting
with crumbled up oreo cookies on top.

It's 10pm and I just got done making a bunch
of breakfast sandwiches with egg
cheese and maple sausage patties.
About 5pm I started
the dough for the rolls. Ended up with 24
sandwiches which I packed up for the freezer.
So nice and convenient in the mornings.
Just pop in the microwave!