FIRST strawberry harvest!!!!!

Yes, oh, yes. This is a strawberry. And yes, it's growing in our backyard!!!!!!!! :)

Because I'm the impatient sort, I picked it and gobbled it up!


It's so exciting to see BUNCHES of flowers in the strawberry patch. Especially after last year. Last year, we planted 6 plants and they started to take off. But to be sure they really established roots, we pinched all the flowers off last year so the plants could focus on growing good, strong roots. Well, they are now ready to ROLL!!!!!!

As you can see, I'm a *little* excited about the strawberry. :)



I guess now would be a good time to do an update on the rest of the garden.

This spring, I doubled the size of the garden. :)


With all the new room, there is now space for the zucchini.


And the decorative squash and gourds (they'll go well w/ the hardy fall mums!).


And we even planted a few rows of beans! Last year, they were pretty chaotic, but I think with fewer plants, they won't turn into a tangle.


Lastly, here's our lettuce. The seeds are so darned tiny, they all ended up in a big cluster. Ugh. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

But I still plan to work on putting them in a gutter garden, because I'm not sure what the rabbits will do....

A wild hair ....

Our middle bedroom is just a "catch all" place. Every once in awhile, I'll get a hankering to attack it. Truly, it looks better now than 6 months ago. But you might not believe me....


The love seat from the living room was moved here b/c I did some rearranging. But there wasn't enough floor space, so I had to put it on its side. Crazy, I know!


So Friday night I got one of my hankerings.

The double beds are now in the basement store room, and we're finally able to put up the full sized bed in that room.


Of course, everything had to come OUT of the room before I moved mattresses.

And in the end, all of it went back in. It's not really that there's less STUFF, but it's easier to get to/organize/access.


My goal is to have it ready by the time my friend gets hitched in October, because we'll have a boat-load of friends/family in from out of town. It's gonna be a FULL house, but then we'll have room for quite a few extra people to have beds to sleep in. :)


Of course, Esse is an opportunist .... and she can't resist a big pile of blankets. :)


"Buzz off, Mom."

Salina's 2009 Reader's Choice Awards

Ok people, here's the skinny: the Salina Journal has lets readers choose their favorite businesses.

That's the up side.

The down side is .... well, for your vote to count, "Ballots must be at least 70% complete (72 answers)." Oh, and here's the other thing: "Salina Journal employees and families are not eligible to participate." .... so I can't enter. If, however, YOU, our awesome blog readers want to vote for us, that would RAWK my world. :)

Ugh. That doesn't make it easy as pie for you, my faithful blog readers.

So I'm pulling some options (if you really and truly have the patience to answer all of the questions). I'm even suggesting some possible winners, and you just have to copy and paste. :)

Oh, and on some of them I have several options ... that means I don't have an opinion and vote for whichever one sounds good to you!

RESTAURANT

Bakery-Donut Shop: Carol Lee Donut's
BBQ: 2 Buds BBQ, Hickory Hut
Best Place For Lunch: Moka's
Breakfast:
Buffet: Hong Kong Buffet, The Hickory Tree
Caterer: 4 Bears Cafe & Catering, Best Dinner, Gutierrez Restaurant, Martinelli's Little Italy
Chicken: Martinelli's Little Italy
Chicken Fried Steak:
Coffee: Moka's
Coldest Beer: Paramount Bar
Dessert: Moka's
Fast Food:
Hamburger: The Cozy Inn
Ice Cream Place: Bogy's, Freddy's Frozen Custard
Italian Food: Martinelli's Little Italy
Mexican Food: La Fiesta, Gutierrez, Chili's, Carlos O'Kelly's
Onion Rings:
Asian Food: Hong Kong Buffet, Imperial Garden Express IV
Pizza: The Scheme
Salad Bar: Dillon's
Sandwich: Moka's
Seafood:
Steakhouse:

PEOPLE (Specific Name & Place Of Employment)

Artist:
Attorney:
Auctioneer:
Best Employer-Place to Work:
Chiropractor: Gentle Touch Chiropractic, Pennington Chiropractic Center, Conner Chiropractic
Coach:
Dentist: Dr. David George
Hair Stylist: Nikki at the Hair Loft
Insurance Agent: Tim Newell Agency
Interior Designer:
Massage Therapist:
Newspaper Writer-Reporter:
Optometrist:
Pastor-Clergy: Fr. Nick Parker, St. Mary Queen of the Universe
Photographer: Karen Bonar, Heartland Photography
Radio Host:
Real Estate Agent: Heidi Brown, Coldwell Banker
Waitstaff: Martinelli's Little Italy

AUTOMOTIVE

Auto Service-Repair:
Convenience Store:
Dealer, New: Conklin Cars
Dealer, Used: Sankey Auto Center
Motorcycle Shop: Harley-Davidson of Salina
Oil Change:
Sports Car:
Tire Store: Peerless Tire

ENTERTAINMENT

Bar and Grill: Chill's, Applebee's, Shotz, The Blind Pig
City Wide Event: Smoky Hill River Festival
Comic Strip: Garfield
Family Entertainment:
Friendliest Place:
Hotel: Courtyard Salina, Fairfield Inn, Baymont Inn & Suites
Liquor Store: Pit Stop LIquor, Brooks Liquor, Laura's Retail Liquor, Real Stuff Liquor
Local Band:
Night Club: The Paramount
Place to Shoot Pool: The Paramount
Radio Station:

RETAIL

Antique Store: Laura's Antiques, Then & Now Antiques
Appliance Store: Lowe's, Crestwood
Carpet-Flooring: Carpet One, Carpet Central, Lowe's
Children's Clothing: Kohl's, JC Penny, Dillard's
Computer Store:
Department Store: Dillard's, JC Penny
Electronic Store: Radio Shack
Furniture: Jilka Furniture, Ashley Furniture Homestore, Forever Oak, Norris Furniture
Funeral Home:
Hardware Store: Ace Hardware, Lowe's
Health Food-Supplement Store: Vita Villa
Jewelry Store: Showcase Diamond Jewelers
Lingerie Store: Victoria's Secret
Men's Clothing: Kohl's, JC Penny, Dillard's
Music-Instrument Store: Midwest Music, Stringman
Optical Store:
Pet Store: PetCo
Place to buy Cosmetics: Dillard's
Second Hand Store-Pawn Shop: M & J Pawn Shop, Salina Pawn & Jewelry, Nick's Pawn Shop
Shoe Store: Tradehome Shoes, Footlocker, Famous Footwear
Shopping Center:
Specialty Gift Store: Best Kept Secret
Sporting Goods-Athletic Apparel Store:
Women's Clothing: Kohl's, JC Penny, Dillard's

SPECIALTY SERVICE

Accountant-Tax Service: Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, Olson Accounting & Tax Service,
Bank: Sunflower Bank
Cabinet Company: Koehn Construction Co
Dance Studio: Dance Academy, Vivette's Dance Studio, Tamara Howe School of Dance
Dry Cleaner: Fresh Look Dry Cleaners, Dallas Cleaners,
Electrical Company: Wilson Electric, Helm Electric, Watson Electric
Employment Services:
Fitness Center: YMCA
Florist: Salina Floral By Cunningham
Garage Door Company: Cheney Door Company, Overhead Door Company, Mod-Co Garage Door
Hair Salon: Hair Loft
Hearing Aid Sales-Supplies:
Heating and A-C: Waddle's Heating & Cooling, Comfort Heating & A/C, Pestinger Heating & Air Conditioning
Insurance Agency: Tim Newell Agency
Investment Firm: Waddell & Reed
Law Firm: Blackwell Blackwell & Struble, Hampton & Royce, Kennedy Berkley Yarnevich
Lawn Service: Lovett Lawn Care, Randy's Lawn Care & Landscape,
Nail Salon: The Hair Loft
Nursery-Garden Store: Earthcare Services Garden Store, Stutzman's Greenhouse
Pest Control: B & E Pest Control & Tree, Harry Lacy Termite and Pest Control, Hassman Termite & Pest Control
Pharmacy: Walgreens, B&K Prescription Shop
Plumbing Company: Holm Plumbing, Ludes Plumbing, BMK Plumbing & Solar
Printing Company:
Real Estate Company: Coldwell Banker
Remodeling Company:
Retirement Community:
Roofing Company: Truett Roofing, Kape Roofing, Ryan Roofing
Security Systems: Excel Security Systems, Midwest Security Systems,
Sign Shop:
Tanning Salon: Brooks Tan, Expressions Salon & Spa

To vote, please CLICK HERE.

Vote for this cutie!!!!

My friend's little girl (who I photographed ... above), is in a cute baby contest (Baby Idol, I think they call it).

Ellie is awfully cute, so CLICK HERE, scroll down to the bottom. Ellie is the second from the bottom, and you can cast multiple votes! This ends TOMORROW (Saturday), so go vote for her!!! :)

Eating the flowers on the front porch

Last night, I added some pansies to our salads. Erik ... well, he gave me the skeptical look, and watched to see if eating a flower that had previously been growing on the front porch would make me keel over. Evidently it didn't because he ate his without complaint! What a brave husband I have! :)

I decided to add them because I thought I read something in BHG about it, and after doing a bit of internet research, it was correct. You CAN eat pansies. :)


The only caution is to be sure there are not chemicals of any sort on them .... but since I don't use them, we were all safe!

Ok, for you curious kittens out there, here are a few links: HERE, HERE, and HERE (for more about other edible flowers).

One of the links has a recipe I might try. Well, it's more an appetizer or hours d'erves, but I like the idea: take a cracker, spread some cream cheese over, and top w/ a pansy. Not only would it be pretty, but tasty as well! :)

In the dog (er....cat) house ....

After my overly optimistic post about a team who shall remain nameless, things have started to tank for the team.

Erik is calling for an immediate removal of the blog post, but I'm afraid the damage is done. :( I'm really hoping things turn around, or I'll be forced to sleep in the cathouse outside.

Gardening, gardening EVERYWHERE!!!!!

I'm not sure how I got introduced to the blog, A Lovely Morning, but I nearly went into convulsions yesterday when I saw THIS on the blog:


Be still my beating heart!!!!!!!!!!!

You can check out the entire post by CLICKING HERE.

This has changed my LIFE. I have PLENTY of room to garden in the backyard, but am thinking of the battle I know I'll have w/ rabbits and lettuce this summer. What a clever way to outsmart them! Also, might get rid of the awful weeding, coz it's only done by one of the two of us in our house. My lettuce is already in the ground, but maybe next year!!!!!!

Sitting down on the job?

It happens.

Not often.

But, it happens. :)

I snagged this photo from Mike while working on getting Erin and Shane's wedding images online for their proofing.

Happy Mother's Day :)

Hey mommies!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to you all.

A little something cool I found in my new edition of BHG. :)


These are "play date cards" ... how clever is that? CLICK HERE to check them out!

Or, you could make simple ones ... I guess busineess card sized would work, right? :)

But try googling "play date cards" ... there's a WHOLE new world out there!

Rain Barrel update!

I'm excited to have my rain barrel up and running!!!!!!!

We tested it this week and it is able to drain to our garden! :) i've done a bit of testing with the soaker hoses, but they need a little TLC before they're 100% ready to go, so the jury's still out on that one.

Twice, I've drained almost 1/3 of the barrel, and twice it's rained less than 1/4 of an inch. Guess what the result was? It filled the barrel to the point of OVERFLOWING!!!!! Seriously amazing! I have no idea about the actual amount of square footage that drains to the barrel, but it's about 1/3 of our roof.

I have another barrel and I'm excited to get it up and running!

On the slightly down side, I have yet to make a screen to keep gunk out of the barrel. And I'm having some issues w/ light through it, so I have some algae ... it doesn't look the prettiest, but it works and is saving water as I water my baby garden plants! :)