so this is Neverland. . .

Not to get ahead of myself. . .

For the last two years, I have 'meant to' participate in Project 365.  That is, for an entire year, take one photo per day to document the year.  One photo representing whatever is important to me, on that one day. 

365 times. 

But, for the last two years, with all of the activities and travel that is part of the Holidays, I haven't thought about this project until about two weeks into the new year.  Then, I feel like it is too late.  I am not a fan of make-up work. 

And then I'm mad at myself. 

Really mad.

So, this year, I am committing myself now.  Here, in front of all of you.  I will do project 365 in 2011.  I will.  I must.  And on December 31, when everyone else is trying to come up with New Year's resolutions, I'll already have mine.  I think this will be easier to stick to than diet or exercise.  And WAY, WAY more fun.  And certainly, with subjects like these, it will be anything but boring!

 

 

 

 

 

And speaking of New Year's Eve, two years ago, my resolution was to eliminate lunch box waste.  I switched everything that went into my kids lunchboxes to stainless steel or some sort of reusable container.  No more juice boxes, applesauce cups or plastic.  I can honestly say that I have not purchased a box of ziploc bags in over two years.  Although, I do slip now and then with juice boxes, but I'm always striving to eliminate as much unnecessary waste as possible. 

One of the products that has become one of my favorite all-time purchases are these:

 

Lunchbots. 

I hope they will forgive me for snatching this photo off of their website.  These are the best storage containers EVER!  Stainless steel, great colors, the orange ones are the perfect size for a sandwich.  It will hold two halves or one half and a side item.  The ones will yellow lids are too small for a sandwich, but great for fruit, nuts, whatever.  I have had these and used them for two years and you cannot even see any wear on them.  They are dishwasher safe, although, I don't wash the lids in the dishwasher because I want to keep the paint and logo on the lid shiny and new.  You totally could though. 

I even use these for leftovers.  Just don't put something wet and something dry in the same container.  The dividers are not sealed, so the water from your washed grapes will make your sandwich soggy.  Just so you know.

Now, why am I telling you this?!?!  Because they are not the cheapest things to set yourself up with.

And they are ON SALE!!

And they are never on sale.

Go here and use coupon code HOLIDAY at checkout to get 25% off.  But do it before Dec. 10th.

So, have you thought about your resolutions yet? 

Paula

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning."

 

 

 

Farming in the Burbs

Back in April I decided that it was way past time for me to plant a patch of vegetables here in my postage stamp sized, suburban yard.  I missed having access to my own homegrown tomatoes.  Now, I couldn't take away the immediate back yard because that is where my Babies play.  And we need to keep all the space we can for them.  I decided that the skinny little patch of grass know as our 'side yard' would be the perfect place.  Even the dog wouldn't pee on it.  (Foreshadowing?  Anyone?)

We relocated the sod to a spot in the front yard that was suffering.  I hated just to till it under.  Then I packed up my small SUV and headed to Lowes.  About 8 trips later, I had enough wood, organic humus and finely packed cow poo to get to work on my raised beds.  Barring a few minor setbacks, like torrential rains on sod-less ground, which caused my dear children to lose their pants,

 

and end up knee high in mud,

 

all went well in the construction. 

 

(My Beloved helped by taking photos.  He's skeered of worms.)

We bought some seedlings from various local farm stores and greenhouses and we also started several vegetable varieties indoors from seed.  (We were in the midst of a plant study here at Neverland Acadamy here, so it was a must.)

Plants took hold, seeds sprouted, and the tomato cages were placed just so.  Then the beautiful, giant tomato plants bloomed.  They were literally covered in them.  Gorgeous, amazing, look-I-grew-this-myself-with-no-pesticide-or-chemicals blooms.  I was proud as a peach.  And then,

that was it. 

The blooms just sat there, mocking me.  I read everything that I could get my hands on.  One garden guru said I should "flick the blooms" with my fingers to help them pollinate.  One said I should shake them.  I even tried soothing music and telling them reckless tales from my youth.  Nothing worked. 

Loads of blooms. 

No maters. 

I babied them, pruned them, feed them compost from my kitchen.  Nothing.  Nadda.  Zilch.

Finally, I gave up.  I declared myself a garden-variety failure. (Although we did enjoy many fresh herbs this summer and fall from my failing patch.) My brilliant idea to use the side yard had a fatal flaw. . .it was basically 10 feet of dirt surrounded on three sides by our house and fence.  Too much shade. 

I'm an idiot.  The end.

So, just for spite, I ignored that wretched patch of yard for weeks. 

Weeks and weeks.

You can imagine my surprise when my sweet children burst through the back door this past Saturday screaming,

"Mamma, Mamma!  Look what we found in the garden!!"

What to my wondering eyes should appear, but tomatoes.  Beautiful, perfect grape and roma tomatoes just the perfect scarlet shade for picking.

I fainted.

Then, I walked around to the side yard to find that the tomato plants that were now laying on the ground, full of weeds and completely un-cared for were full of tomatoes.  And we found a lone carrot that had taken hold and made a snack of himself.  And a pepper was almost ready to be picked.  (We won't even talk about how the pepper plants acted all summer.)  It was a Thanksgiving miracle. 

Tomatoes in November? 

Really? 

When they were planted in April?

 


So as of today, we have paid roughly $23.57 for these grape tomatoes.

Each.

Makes the prices at Whole Foods seem downright economical.
I think I'll plant me some pumpkins next year.  I hear they are fun to hide at Easter.

Paula

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning."

Something Fishy

I know you guys are probably sick of me talking about
"the lake".
BUT
we have spent every weekend there since early April,
except for one.  Seriously.  Every. Single. Weekend.
That's like 20 weekends from April until September.
That's a lot of lake.
So you can see, it is a huge part of our family life
during the spring and summer here in Texas.
And it is family time that we treasure. 
ALL OF US!

I grew up going to the lake and it made a huge impact on me.
I'm so glad that I have this opportunity to have my kiddos
experience some of the same things I did growing up.

One of my favorite things about it, besides the
quality family time and the plethora of activities. . .
is the fish.

 

These babies were caught on Saturday night and grilled on Sunday at lunch.
You just can't get much fresher than that! 
My wonderful hubby has become quite the
Cedar Plank Chef too.
He cuts his own planks from a tree that fell on some of his Dad's land.
So not only is the fish fresh, but the planks are fresh too.
I cannot even begin to describe the flavor!
The one problem with the cedar, though,
is that it smokes on the grill.
A. Lot.
It makes it hard to cook without protective eye wear.

And there is nothing like
a man in women's sunglasses grilling on cedar planks.
Mmmm. 
It is a good thing he has on that Texas A&M shirt to redeem himself,
huh?

Have a great weekend
and Happy 08/08/08!