2015 -- First Harvest

Last weekend the weather cooperated and I finally got the plants I bought planted.

These pots contain tomatoes, Pecquin Peppers, Mint, Cilantro, and hiding behind the dirt bag is Rosemary and Mint.  I've got lots of Cilantro growing.....because I love it and we use it a lot.  I also learned from last year not to plant the vine-growing veggies or fruits, because they don't exceptionally well in these 5 gallon buckets.

I still have all my seedlings growing and in the next couple of weeks they should be ready for their pots and go outside.

We've got Jalapeno, Tomato, Mixed colored bell peppers, and Cilantro growing here (told ya I love Cilantro).  I still need to get a couple of tomato plants, because we love fresh tomatoes off the vine.

Got to go out and harvest my first crop this afternoon......

Rosemary and a little bit of cilantro (for my tacos tonight).  My Rosemary plant is going crazy and still has a lot of cuts that need to be made.  I'm excited about growing again this year.....there is something so fulfilling about going outside and cutting something off your plants for dinner.

Anyone have any great Rosemary recipes?  I wanna use this up before it goes bad!

Day 4......St. Augustine (part 1)

Well before I share the exciting details on what happened on Day 4.....I have to say Happy Anniversary to me and my hubby.

We've been married 18 years ago today.  I have an amazing marriage and I am so lucky to have met this guy.   Life is good when you are with the right person......love you baby!

And now back to the story................Day 4 found us waking up in St. Augustine, Florida.

This was going to be a full day.  We only had about 7 hours of sightseeing that we could do, as we had to get back on the highway to Orlando (which was about 2 hours away from us).

Of course, I had to go out and enjoy the view in the daytime.  Seriously......this is one of the most "fantastic view" hotels I have ever stayed in.  It was so awesome to sit on the porch in the rocking chair and just soak it all up.

We got all packed up and got Paul coffee'd up and then we headed across that bridge to see what St. Augustine had to offer us.

The decision was made to take a tour called the Little Red Train which started at Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.  This way we could see at the sites and then decide which ones we wanted to visit on our own.

Of course, we had to document our elegant tour transportation!

Awwww.......I love this guy!

Paul insisted that we take several pictures of the life size statue replica of David.  He claimed that it was his favorite statute.......????

The crown jewel of St. Augustine is the Castillo de San Marcos, which is the oldest masonry fort in the United States.  And what a beautiful and preserved place it is.

It was fun crossing a real drawbridge across a real moat and exploring all the different rooms in here.  Best of all was the GORGEOUS views that you had when you stood on the top.  You can see why it's such a great place to visit.

(I should not carry a fanny pack under my jacket.....it makes me look pregnant)

 

Well after all this sightseeing....we were hungry, so we ventured up St. Charles Street to find us something interesting to eat.

We ended up at a Cuban restaurant where we feasted on yummy food!

It's always a hard decision to make sure you get the perfect thing to eat!

In order to keep your rapt attention and not bore you (and because this posting is already too darn long) I'll share the rest of Day 4..................tomorrow (maybe)

The latest breaking news and other small details

Here's some of the highlights (and lowlights) of our week:

When our little puppy was in the emergency vet, Paul stopped by on his way home from work and checked in on her.  How funny, that he was taking selfies with her!

 This was her with the satellite on her so she wouldn't rip out her IV.

He claims he was only taking the pictures so I could see that she was doing better.  But I'm beginning to notice a pattern here with Paul taking selfies lately. (stay tuned to later in this blog entry).  The good news is the dog is doing great now......the bad news is we have to have an emergency kit here with Benadryl to give her immediately if she gets bit by an ant.  And another trip to the vet.....boooo.  Hopefully, we'll never have to go through that again.

Other exciting news at our house is we've been enjoying our new spa almost every night of the week.  It was further enhanced earlier this week when Paul decided we needed Bloody Mary's to drink.  I couldn't agree with him more.  Sitting in the spa with the best husband in the world sipping on Bloody Mary's is pure heaven!

We actually got to enjoy two days off this week (which was really supposed to be our mini vacation where we were going to fly off to some exotic location).  We ended up being lazy and shopping and driving around small towns near Houston where we had never been.  That is actually so much fun.  These little towns have so much character and you'll never know what you are going to find that is unique, different, and fun to do. 

The seedlings are sprouting.  Some day these plants are going to give me Cilantro and Jalapenos for my tacos!  I need to get out this weekend and plant the ones I already have.  The weather has been so crappy and rainy for so long.....and it's going to be like that again this weekend.

Paul is selling this.  It has absolutely no importance to you I'm sure, but when I was getting pictures I found this one.  I advertised it on Craigslist for him yesterday.  So far, no bites.  If you are interested in it.......contact me.

And another selfie of Paul.  This was one of our ex-employees who stopped in to say hi.  We are so lucky to be the first job of so many high school kids and we love when they come back and tell us how they're doing.  This particular kid and his brother (who also worked with us) were foster kids (we've actually hired about 8 kids out of this same house).   It's nice to see how they have grown into wonderful adults!

Well that's all the exciting news from this week.  I would have loved to be posting pictures of some exciting place that we just visited, but maybe the nice, quiet, and restful time that I spent with my husband is really what we needed.  Yes.......life is good!

Remembering Orlando and remembering our family......Day 3

Well.......I should be working, but I've busted my butt all day long on boring paperwork and doing a truckload of laundry.  So I've decided to treat  myself and get the rest of the Orlando/St. Augustine trip documented (before I forget).

Our third day in Orlando was going to be a busy one.  We woke up and after another fabulous free breakfast at the hotel....we were off to do some things that we really didn't want to have to be doing.

First stop was the place where we had to go to sign the papers and pick up Paul's brother's ashes.  It was only fitting that the day was dreary and a little rainy.  After that task was completed, we stopped at a store along the way to pick up flowers for all the graves we wanted to take care of while we were at the cemetery.

 
 
 








Interestingly enough, as we got back in the car from getting the flowers and on our way to the cemetery....a song came on the radio "Only the Good Die Young".  That was strange, but not as strange as our drive to the cemetery when the song "He ain't heavy...he's my Brother" came on after we had been making remarks about our surprise at how heavy the box of remains were.  Ok....now that was also very strange.

Since we were early, we went and drove by the house that Paul's had lived in with his grandparents for a few years in Debary.  Brought back lots of memories for him......but the neighbor was a little suspicious why we kept driving by slowly and taking pictures. 

The cemetery is about 5-10 minutes from this house, so we headed that direction.  I LOVE this cemetery.  It's tucked back in the back of this little town and just has the most peaceful feeling to it.  It's run by volunteers and the records are kept in old receipt books. 

They had the hole already for us when we got there, so Paul did the honor of burying his brother.

I am so glad that we made this trip and brought his brother to be buried next to his mother. 

This same cemetery also holds the remains of Paul's Dad, his paternal grandparents and an aunt.  We made sure that flowers were put on each grave as we paid our respects.

After purchasing the grave marker, we headed on our way to St. Augustine, which would be about an 1.5 hour drive from where we were.

We chose to go through Daytona Beach on our way to St. Augustine and the plan was to find a beachside restaurant for us to eat lunch. 

Unfortunately, the weather was UGLY and WINDY so we didn't get out of the car and enjoy the beach, but we did enjoy driving along the highway north to St. Augustine.  I just love ocean front highways!

The weather was crappy, but the view was spectacular!

We found the perfect place to eat lunch in Flagler Beach (although it was 4pm) and feasted upon the best Greek Salad and fried mushrooms we had ever had.  The cold beer I enjoyed with my lunch made the meal even better......although having a spectacular view of the ocean makes everything better.

But then it was time to hit the road again on our way to St. Augustine!  We found our hotel and it couldn't have been more perfect and closer to the water.  It was older, charming, and quaint and had the most amazing view of the Court of Lions Bridge and Old Town St. Augustine.

It was decided that our entertainment for the evening was going to be live trivia.....and we found a local bar that was hosting one.  We had a great time.  The place was packed, the people were awesome and friendly, and we even had one old guy join our team.  We had a blast.

After a 4th place finish and a few beers.....the night was still young and Paul wasn't ready to go back to the hotel yet.  So we found a little bar right next door to the hotel and lucky for us it was free pool night.  The place was a little divey and the few people that were there were a lot younger than us.  But the DJ was playing awesome music and those kids were so much fun.  The waitress was bringing us our drinks on her head and turned on the fryer and made us some French fries.  We must have played 10 games of pool.......but we were having so much fun.

When it was time to go back to the hotel, I just couldn't bear crawling into bed without enjoying the gorgeous view and the sound of the water hitting the deck.  It was cold, but I just grabbed a blanket off the bed and enjoyed that quiet moment of life.  Tomorrow was going to be a day filled with sightseeing.  Life is good.

My 2015 Green Thumb.....hopefully!

Well even though I already had a billion things to do.....I went ahead and planted my seeds tonight. 

It's a lot of work, but I love to watch the garden grow and we love to eat it as well.

Here's a photo journal of my planting today.

 Soaking the little peat moss disks and prepare them for planting

 Getting the seeds and the other peat pots ready

 Have to do the labeling so I know what to plant together after my seedlings start

All seeds planted and covered so that they'll start sprouting

 

 

Hopefully if the weather is nice this weekend and we don't take off (which it really looks like we are not going to get the opportunity to leave).....I'll get the other plants planted that are sitting outside.

 

 

In other news:  my husband let me know that he thinks the soap my sister has in her soap dispensers smells really good and he wants me to stop buying that generic stuff.  Lucky for him......Bath and Body Works has heavenly smelling soap and with a 25% off coupon, a good sale, and free shipping.....I stocked up on a bunch of good smelling soap!

 



Seriously, they had so many good smells to choose from, I barely got through the list when I had my quota already picked out.  Ya'll need to visit us and wash your hands.....we have good smelling soap!

Good news. Bad news. In Between News.

Good News:
Yay....we got a hot tub!  Went to the home show on Saturday and saw it.  Had to buy it.  Now we can sit outside after a long hard day and drink a cold beer and relax a little.

It came yesterday.....and we've been waiting for over 24 hours to use it now

 

Now I can work at my desk all day and dream about how I can relax at the end of the day.

BAD NEWS:  We were hoping to get away this weekend.  Doesn't look like it's going to happen.  Boo.  We have hired about 12 new people during the last month.  We've been busy the last week or so trying to find a new Assistant Manager to help us.  Success.....he started today.

And although we can't get away for the whole weekend......we believe that we can get away for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  It's going to be a road trip and the top contenders are Dallas and New Orleans.  Cross your fingers.....we hope this is going to happen.

Although......I think someone is going to miss me.  Luckily, Cris is going to step in and take care of our baby while we're gone.

And of course, the baby is still getting used to the Master setting all the rules.

IN BETWEEN NEWS:  Had to spend 7.5 hours with the oldest son in the Emergency Room last night.  He's been having some bad stomach pains and cramping and yesterday it was out of control.  They did a CAT Scan and testing and didn't find anything.  Said it's probably a virus.  However, if it continues a visit to a GI doctor might be in order. 

Life is good......life is busy......life is stressful.....but overall, I'm pretty lucky.