Looking Back on 2010

All the blogs seem to be trending this style of ... blog this past week.  Let's take a look back at 2010!

Yeah.  I think it was a blessed year. 

On Being Pushed into Fall.

I am not a cold-weather person.

For the past few months, all I've read on blogs is how much everyone just SUPER loves fall.  I am so not one of those people.

I don't particularly like layering clothing.  Pumpkin-flavored-stuff is just marginally OK to my tastebuds.  I'm not exactly a sugar plum fairy when it comes to holidays.

I would much prefer it be warm all year round.  Call me lame.  Call me boring.  Call me a grinch.  I don't care.

I guess I'm kind of lazy, too, because I'm not looking forward to ALL the traveling that's involved with fall and winter holidays. 

I would so much prefer sitting out by my garden swatting mosquitos and lighting a million citronella candles in my sundresses. 

Only 5.5 months until reliably warm weather.

UGH.

That time Saul ate a Tabasco Pepper

That actually happened.  Yesterday.

Todd and I were outside harvesting what's left of the garden.  I'm talking Todd's head off while picking cucumbers when I hear coughing.

I look down.

Saul is spitting and there's a tiny red pepper coming out of his mouth.

TALK ABOUT HORROR!!!

I literally THROW the cucumbers, yank him up, do the mommy-finger-swoosh to get the thing out.

He gags a little bit, but nothing got swallowed (THANK YOU, JESUS!!).

We run inside and the only things we can think of to give him is milk.  Milk will help, RIGHT?!

I'm shaking so hard and crying a little bit.  Mom-guilt, you guys.  I'm like, "Ohmigosh, Todd! I wasn't looking!! He was right in front of me and I WASN'T LOOKING!!"

Todd, who loves peppers almost as much as he loves me (almost), is half-laughing at me, saying it's okay. Things happen. He didn't choke. He's alive.  It'll hurt for a minute, then it'll go away.

You know what?  Todd was right.

Do you know that that child hardly cried at all?!? He didn't puke.  He didn't cry really hard.  He just kinda kept moving his mouth weird and around his mouth got red.  He was just really excited (and by really, i mean kind of) by getting to drink a ba-ba an hour before dinner. He seemed more upset that Mommy was shaking and crying.

It obviously hurt, because ... homegrown Tabascos are really, really hot. But I'm so proud of him.  Within 15 minutes, he was running around yelling and laughing again.

I even called Poison Control just in case (aka I'm a crazy first-time mother) and they laughed at/with me. I think he was more laughing AT me. He said it's no big deal.  He might have the scoots. He'll be okay.  Put Maalox on his mouth if it stays red (but don't give it orally. Babies can't take it), but generally, peppers are food.  They aren't poisonous.  Umm... Duh.

Whew.

I just still feel SO bad.  

I think this classifies as a Grade-A Parenting Fail. 

Gross Garden

Well folks, it appears that summer is about over in my neck of the woods. Here's my sad little tomatoes and cucumbers. That is, what's left of them...

Baby, you got it!

While I'm waiting for Todd to come home from work so we can go to our neighbor's for a bbq (when did I become such a grown-up???), I decided to post a few photos.  Photos, that happen to be the exact same stuff I always post - garden stuff and little man! What else is there to photograph??

Lazy Days of Summer.

After an unplanned and unexpected hiatus, I'm back.

I have great aspirations for blogging, and none of which will happen if I keep letting myself go weeks and months (eek!) without posting.  Here's a mid-year goal: post at least 3-4 times per week!

Here's a look at what's been going on around here.

Saul picks a LOT of vegetables.

 

He also EATS a lot of vegetables.  Here, he's enjoying a orange bell pepper - "Yummy Bell"

 

And sometimes he's just busy being absolutely gorgeous. 

Dad looking gorgeous

I manage to grab him occasionally to take a picture before he's off to get into something else.

Honestly, it's been a very lazy summer.  A lot of watering plants, sweet tea, trips to the river and splash-park, and just laying around on the leather couches to try to keep cool.  It gets so hot here, you can't even think about going outside between 12 noon and 6:30, so that leaves evening playtime in the front yard as the most exciting part of everyone's day.  I'll have to get some photos of that, too.

I'm sorry about the hiatus.  I'm fairly certain that I'm back.

Long Time, No See

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever ... mostly because I haven't. 

Like my last post, I can't really say that there's any particular reason for it.  I guess I got a little burned out, maybe.  I hate the feeling of not having anything to say, and I haven't had anything to say!

I haven't taken pictures recently because my camera is always ( and i mean ALWAYS) dead at the most inopportune times. 

The garden is nuts.  I have tons of cucumbers, tomatoes (finally), peppers - sweet and hot, and herbs fresh for the pickin'.  My eggplants are slowly but surely shaping up.  Our onions are doing terribly.  I just planted some cut-and-come-again lettuce types in the shade.  It's a lot of fun, but a little overwhelming at times.  I definitely have my jungle-style patio in full effect. 

Saul is an absolutely angel-dream baby.  Since he's gotten the hang of walking, life is beautiful.  He's gotten so affectionate and snuggly lately.  It is just too good to be true.  He is, however, cutting a couple of teeth (!!!) and so I'm seeing occasional temper tantrums/whiney-for-no-good-reason-except-teething fits.  It's all okay, though.  I can swing this no problem.

Other things in life are chaotic, per usual.  Trying to plan our wedding for September.  No, I do not have a death wish.  We're just ready.  I am totally in over my head.  I don't want to get scammed or taken advantage of, so I'm doing tons of research in finding a place. 

I think we need to be wedding reception-site owners.  I swear they make WAY too much money. 

Anyway, that's the long and short of what's been going on around here.  I'll try to get the 'ol CoolPix out and take some photos so that people will actually be interested.  I love you all. 

Photo Dump

I've been a bad blogger this week, right?  Whew.  I don't even have a good excuse.  Oh well.

Here's a look at what we've been up to lately.

So that's about it.  Taking trips to the church to exercise the dog, gardening, picked our first 2 tomatoes (they're supposed to be yellow), and not much else.  

Oh, here's a pretty funny video of Saul dancing on command. 

I have other post ideas, but this is all you get today!! :)

Oh My Gross

Check out what we found on one of our tomato plants yesterday ...

This is the dreaded Tobacco Horn Worm

This little guy is HUGE.  It literally startled us once we saw it.  It's probably the most disgusting and interesting thing I've ever seen.  Seriously. the only bug that I've ever seen that's larger is a spider that was on the windshield of my car once.  That thing scared me to death.  I think it had to do with something about being a female; bugs are just too creepy. 

Anyway, one of these suckers can devour an entire tomato plant in a matter of days. We suspect he's also been munching on our little watermelons that were growing next to the tomato plant we found him on. 

Here it is next to Todd's finger just to show you how LARGE this fella' is. 

Also, we found out that having just TWO TO THREE in your garden means you're infested.  Holy Moly.  I've had Todd searching for any traces of others.  My dad said they'll eat your whole garden if you're not careful. 

Todd and I were talking about this last night.  Over the course of the past two years (mostly, this year), we have learned so so soooo much about gardening.  It's so fun learning about things that you otherwise never would have.  We already know about a ton of garden pests, diseases, fungi, watering habits, fertilizers, and vegetable growth patterns and cycles.  God, in Himself, is so vast.  He created everything so intricately and perfect.  It's so amazing to watch things grow.  It's absolutely glorious. 

What Happened to Beginner's Luck?

As a sophmore gardener, I thought we'd have just as much luck this year as last year.

I was wrong.

Although not all our plants are dead, it's been a rough season on the garden front.  Here's a few things I've learned so far this summer.

1. Container gardening is for the birds.  It has been the main reason for the troubles we've encountered thus far.  Skip the pots.  Dig a hole in the ground, add some soil conditioner, and call it a day.

2.  If you have to container garden, use good potting soil.  That's all.  You don't need to mix a million different types of soil and soil amendments.  Dirt is dirt (kinda).  We've burnt up plants, over/under fertilized, added too much of this, too little of that; it's all bogus.  We would've saved a lot of time, money, and nail biting if we had just bit the bullet and purchased good potting soil.

3.  Don't get overexcited like me and buy your plants too early.  Yeah.  Someone please remind me of this next March when I'm itching to go buy a bazillion transplants from Home Depot.  Todd had to throw out about 5 pepper plants.  The weirdly cold snap we had stunted them and made them all shades of UGLY.

4.  Plant lots of beans. Seriously.  Lots and lots of them.

5.  Growing from seed isn't as hard as some may lead you to believe.  I don't know that you get tomatoes any sooner, but my basils, cucumbers, purple tomatillos, and and beans were/are doing great! I think it makes you a more seasoned gardener, and it saves on costs!

6.  This is my own personal opinion, but FORGET ORGANIC!! Everything we've touched with anything labeled "organic" has gone to poo-poo.   The most recent mini-crisis was using organic fertilizer pellets, only to realize that flies are really into that kind of stuff, and pushing back mulch to reveal tons of MAGGOTS! Super Yuck.  Fungicide.  Pesticide.  It'll be okay.  It's still better (if you do so appropriately) than the hormones they pump into the cow's milk you drink. :)  At least I have some sort of idea what's on them, how long it's been since Todd's doused them, and how much.

That's all I've got for now.