Green Thumb

I can't think of a talent more appropriate for Tuesday's Talent than gardening, where being talented has it's own name--having a Green Thumb.  Unfortunately, I don't think J and I have one.  Now, I can keep a ponsettia plant alive after Christmas, but beyond that I think we've proven ourselves better at cutting plants down around here (Examples A and B, respectively).  I talked last week about our new container garden, and thought I would share pics of the plants in the containers, as well as the legend I made for us to keep up with what is where.

Container One

Container Two

Here's the legend:

Now, the pictures of the garden above were taken just after I planted everything.  I'm a bit concerned that today, one week post-planting, our tomatoes are yellowing and the herbs don't seem to be producing new herbs.  The cilantro, which I purchased recently trimmed looks practically dead.  Any suggestions? 

Update!

Remember last week, when I gave you my list of summer projects?  Well, I kind of left some things out.  Namely, the front of our house!  We never painted the shutters last summer/fall.  When the front door was a natural wood color and the shrubs covered most of the house, no one really noticed that the shutters were green. 

Before:  Mostly hidden green shutters that at least kind of match the oak door

Now that the front door is black and there are no shrubs, the green stands out like a sore thumb!  Also, the brass doorbell next to the brushed nickel storm door handle drives me nuts every time I walk in the front door. 

After:  Pretty black door, no overgrown shrubs, and eek!  Scary green shutters!!

So, add these to the list:

• Paint/Replace shutters
• Replace doorbell

And maybe, just maybe:

• Address brass porch light (replace or paint black)
• Buy/build black trellis for roses
• Build pretty new mailbox post

The bathroom edges toward completion, but I've still got a light fixture to order.  I'll post a picture when we pick one!

Road trippin'

One of my favorite things to do with J is take a road trip.  Since we live about four hours from our families, you'd think this would happen frequently, but sadly it really doesn't.  Particularly this spring, since I've worked most Sundays there just hasn't been time for a weekend trip to western KY.  This weekend, though, I cleared the whole weekend so we could go celebrate this little cutie:

You might remember I made a cake to celebrate her birth last June (pictured here), but this weekend was just about basking in her precious presence.  Isn't she adorable??  That's about as messy as her cake got, by the way.  She barely touched it until her parents went after her spoon, and even then she just used it to scrape off frosting.  Cute!

Saturday smells like... Shirataki Noodle Alfredo

We're trying not to overwhelm y'all with Atkins-friendly meals here at the MP, but since that is J's life right now, and he's the house chef, we have a lot of Atkins-friendly recipes.

I shared here about using Spaghetti Squash in a spaghetti marinara.  I loved the vegetable-ness that the squash added to the veggie-marinara, but when you use an alfredo sauce it just loses something.  J solved the problem when he came across Shirataki Noodles.  Shirataki Noodles are also called Yam Noodles.  You can learn more about them here, or just google either name.  Basically, they are made from a vegetable root and are very popular in Asia.  What makes them popular here is that they are naturally low in carbohydrates.  The noodles are a little rubbery, but they are much more like pasta in that respect than spaghetti squash.

Shirataki Noodles come packaged in liquid and smell a little fishy.  If you rinse them in very hot water, it removes the smell and makes them a little less rubbery, too.  For this dish, we grilled a chicken breast, sliced it and tossed it in a cheesy alfredo sauce that J found at Aldi.   Then, we added the prepared noodles and stir them all together.  There is enough for three to four servings, so plan to have leftovers if you're serving two people!

I took a picture, but honestly this isn't the most appetizing looking dish.  I suppose we could have served the noodles first and added the sauce later, then garnished with an herb of some sort to make it prettier, but we didn't.  Next time, perhaps...

Fiction Friday--June 10

Edit:  I thought I scheduled this to post Friday morning, but apparently it didn't.  Sorry about that.

When I was a kid I loved to read. I preferred fiction, but would read magazines, comic books, my mother's etiquette book, anything I could get my hands on.  Generally, but especially during the summer, my parents enforced a good book/bad book rule, which is to say that for every book of decent literary value I could read a bookor two of no intellectual value whatsoever.  Think Jane Eyre in exchange for Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High.  I loved the classics and poured through our copies at home, but often found myself borrowing books from friends and the local library, too. 

My recent 'rediscovery' of the local public library has lead me a rediscovery of how much I enjoy reading.  I'm sure my parents will be crushed to discover that I've not exactly left the chick-lit section of the library yet, but I promise to reinstitute the good book/bad book rule soon.

But not tonight.  Tonight J stopped on his way home and picked up Sweet Valley Confidential--a brand new book that checks in on Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield "Ten Years Later".  I loved the Wakefield twins as a kid, from the time I discovered Sweet Valley Twins in third grade until I finally gave up on the series in high school--I didn't really get into the SVU series that came out around then.  Because it is in such high demand (I was on a waitlist to check it out), this book has a fourteen day check out limit.  I told J to give me fourteen hours.

Did you have favorite books or series when you were younger?  Do you read as an adult?

Thankful Thursday--June 9

This is one of those weeks where I am so thankful that I don't have a full-time job!  I've had the opportunity to fill a wide open week with volunteer work, time spent with friends, time to clean my house (the big stuff, but the little detailed areas that usually get overlooked, too!), and time to be crafty (yes, I consider building the EarthTainer "crafty").  It's awesome, and I'm incredibly thankful that my lifestyle allows for weeks like this.

I'm thankful, too, for an incredibly sweet little girl who turned one on Tuesday.  J and I will be heading to western KY this weekend to celebrate the first year of her life with my best friend from college and her husband (also an old friend of mine).  The best part (for which I am extra thankful) is that S married a farmer who lives just a few miles from J's dad.  So while I get quality girl time, he gets quality family time.  Win-win!

Finally, I'm thankful for Steve at Hartland Computer Services.  While my laptop could not be saved, Steve was able to recover all of the important pictures and files I had failed to back up.  I'm also thankful that we live in a house with an overabundance of computers so we can hold off on replacing my laptop with minimal problems.

What are you thankful for this week?

The Great EarthTainer

So I'm totally cheating, since I promised to add this picture to yesterday's post, but it makes more sense to use it for a Wordless Wednesday post.  Here is our first EarthTainer before plants: