I'm Baaaaaack .....

Hey there lovers!
After my week off I got back to work and was absolutely clobbered with a bunch of stuff, so I am just now getting back into the blogosphere.  The week off was good, although it could have been more relaxing.  I also had to lay down some ground rules for the anklebiters of our neighborhood.  All of a sudden our house is THE house to be at, which I'm fine with - but seriously, apparently no one teaches their kids manners anymore, whatsoever.  Among the standout quotes:
"I'm hungry. What do you have to eat?"
"Ewww, I don't like that.  What else do you have?"
"I forgot my towel, on purpose.  I'll just use one of yours"
"Where's my lunch?"

I swear to god.  I started out nice and my the end of the day I was stomping around with a war face on, and all the kids were scared, which I was fine with.  If it keeps them from running through my house dripping wet because "I was hot!" then so be it.  And seriously, our pool is a crappy rinky-dink plastic pool I got for about $15 at KMart, not a freakin in-ground monstrosity with built-in jacuzzi, and they still flock over.  Whatever.

Soooo ... I had this fear of making pickles.  It just seemed super complicated and like you had to have 2 uninterrupted hours to make it come out right.  I planted our one little cucumber plant thinking I'd have enough for salads etc, but not excess.
WRONG.
Zac chased a rabbit into our garden last week and trampled two of my zucchini plants (they are fine, though).  After he squashed them I discovered this :

 

About 8 full grown cucumbers, just hanging out.  I had already collected a basketful 2 days earlier and was kind of wondering what to do with those - it was PICKLE OR DIE time.

And I did it!!

 3 jars of dill hamburger chips, 3 jars of sandwich slices, and I had 1/2 jar leftover that became refrigerator pickles.  And the big, beautiful (seriously if I get married again I would carry them down the aisle) dill seed heads came right out of the garden.

Here's the perpetrators of my insanity.  Sure, they LOOK cute ...

Don't be fooled.

Our little mystery vine has fruited.  Did I say little?  This sucker has snaked it's way through my neighbors fence, and because she's a cool lady she's fine with it.  When I saw the fruit I told her it is shaped kind of like a butternut squash - she said the ones on her side are definitely pumpkin-shaped.  So mystery vine may be TWO mystery vines!

Here's whats happening on my side of the fence:

 And next to it, something else that I didn't plant - some sunflowers coming up below our feeder

 I had this idea to grow sweet potatoes, but I got discouraged because everything I read said they spread like crazy.  So I found an article about growing sweet potatoes in a barrel - all I needed was a sweet potato slip.  So I suspended one on toothpicks over a jar of water and put it in the sun, just like suggested - it rotted.  And the next one, and the next one.  I gave up.  Butterbean is my sweet potato queen, and I had picked her up some at the Co-op and had them in our pantry.  I reached by them one day and yes - one great big tendril, about 8" long, had sprung out of that thing!

I ran to Home Despot and got a cheap ($12) black plastic trash can and some organic potting soil.  I used a very sharp knife and cut out semicircles all over it, so the potatoes would get good sun and drainage.  I put about 4 inches of soil in the bottom, dropped the potato in, and covered it with more soil.  The conventional wisdom is that you add more soil anytime the sprout is 6" above the soil - obviously I need to go pick up more!

So excited for this.  When you are ready to harvest you just dump the barrel out, how easy is that?  Our family loves sweet potatoes!

  Peas are gone.  I pulled them out and harvested what was left as starters for next year.  In their place went a cantaloupe plant generously donated by a neighbor, 3 rescued pepper plants, and some heirloom lettuce.  I want to find some little corner to put in more radishes.  (Pickled radishes!!)

 One of our dumpster-rescued pepper plants is going ca-raaaaazy.  I have no idea how hot these are, the Mister will be recruited as taste tester/guinea pig.  I can make some salsa with them and THESE

Holy effing hell, I am going to have a buttload of tomatoes.  Most of the time this makes me want to dance, and then sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat wondering what the hell I'm going to do with a ton or two of tomatoes.  Speaking of which ..

This lil heirloom tomato plant has no home :-(  He is an orphan. Once he had a name (Blondkopfchen?  Black Tula?  Peacevine Cherry? Green Zebra??)  He now has no name, and no home, because some fool forgot that her little garden could not possible handle 80 gazillion tomato plants.  I swear every time I walk by him he looks at me with this pathetic little look, waving his sad lil leaves like, "Whyyy??  Why don't you love meeeee??"  I think I'll kick my now-done bean plant out of it's big roomy planter, and move Lil Dude in.  I can't take his complaining anymore.
So what did I miss?  Who's pregnant?  Who fell off the wagon, and who climbed back on?  Who was forced into a psychiatric facility?  Catch me up!

My First Award - Woot!

The fantastical Miss Colleen at Cheap Wine and Cookies hit me with an award!

 I am not going to promise to not get big-headed over this.
So lemme see if I can do this right:

•     Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post. You rock, Lawyer/Marine/Mommy/Wife Person!
  
•     Tell your readers seven (7) things about yourself.
•     Give this award to fifteen (15) recently discovered bloggers.
•     Contact those bloggers and let them in on the exciting news. 

1.) I am compulsively cheap.  I think this is why I don't enjoy clothes shopping like the rest of the female population - honestly I'd rather spend money at the farmer's market or Goodwill.  And yes, I buy clothes there - and get complimented all the time on the bohemian look.  :-)  It's also why I will probably never get a smart phone, I could think of lots of other ways to spend that money.  And it leads to me being fanatical about not wasting food or electricity.

2.) I have a bit of survivalist in me.  I remember reading Valley of The Horses by Jean Auel and being mesmerized about how this woman had to survive, and do so by her own wits.  With the state of the world being so crazy, being self-sufficient is very important to me.

3.) The first time I picked up a deck of tarot cards, it felt like I got an electric shock.  I randomly drew a card and it was the Queen of Cups.  I looked up the meaning and was thunderstruck - it fit me to a T.  To this day before I read the cards I sit and meditate with my hands covering the cards until I feel that hum of energy coming from them - and my readings are always insanely accurate.  Mooch now loves to play with the deck, and I had her draw cards the other day and she got a reading that was dead on.

4.) When I was living with an ex-boyfriend who was completely irresponsible (don't we all have one?)  he used to use my car and get a lot of parking tickets and never told me about them.  I found out via a scary letter telling me my license was about to be revoked.  I ran down to the court building to pay the fines, only to discover that I was $8 short on cash and they would not accept a check, they were closing in 15 minutes (and this was the last day to pay the fine) and for the love of all things holy I could not find an ATM.  Feeling panicky I ran into a little restaurant and went up to the man behind the counter and blurted out "If I write you a check for $8, will you cash it?   I know you don't know me (started crying here) but I'm desperate and the women in that building are evil and I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO."  The man behind the counter patted my hand, opened the till, and took out a $10 bill.  "Here honey, take it.  You would do the same for me."  Those words ran right through me.  Would I?  Would I have put myself out there for someone else?  The fact that this man was blindly believing that I was a good person and wasn't going to, I don't know, buy drugs; was so humbling.  I thanked him and he repeated it again "You would do the same for me."  That experience reminds me of the person I want to be, every day.

5.) When I was 5 months old, I almost died from intucesseption (sp?).  It's basically when your intestines get tangled and you can't release any waste.  I was bleeding out when it was discovered, and I was medi vacced to a hospital and operated on immediately.  I have a scar that goes completely across my stomach and created a permanent fat roll - but I could be dead, so I'll take it.

6.)  Running is spiritual to me - I run as much for the mental health benefits as the physical benefits.  And I had never liked running before I had Mooch - I started to lose weight and have never stopped.  One of my biggest fears is being injured and not being able to run again.

7.)   The Mister and I did all the "wrong" things when our relationship started - we went home together the first night we met, we basically never spent a night apart again, and we had said I love you within a month.  11 years and two babies later - take THAT, "Rules" ladies!

OK, tagging.  15 fucking people?  Ugh.  By the way, I like to swear when I'm not around my kids, I probably should have added that on.  
Anywho - I will tag

1.) Bumber's Bumblings
2.) Dear Goddess, Bless Me
3.) Green Witch With Sprinkles
4.) Dark Mother Goddess
5.) Mrs. BC's House of Chaos
6.)  Kally's Cauldron
7.) It's Not That Serious
8.) Sweet Bliss
9.) The Compost Bin
10.) Rue & Hyssop
11.) Return To Rural
12.) Olde Baggs n Stuft Shirts
13.) Pagan Culture
14.) Blissful Karma
15.) Goats In The Garden

Since I'm short on time, just be aware that I love all of these ladies and their posts make me laugh and think and all that good junk.  Have at it, ladies! :-)