Gardening 2013

It's garden season folks! Finally, I might add. 

After what I like to refer to as "the longest winter known to man" it's time to enjoy those beautiful spring days.

Last Tuesday I was able to get my garden planted after a couple days without rain. I've got a feeling I may have timed my planting perfectly again this year. Want to know why?

This is why...

...everything is sprouting!! 

Literally, everything I planted is popping through the dirt. The photos are from planting last week and when I checked it all out last night. Only 6 days after putting it in the ground! In case you can't tell I'm totally fascinated and amazed that this can happen in under a week. I'm also super excited for the produce to come. 

Gunnar "helping" me plant corn last week. That's potatoes to the left. May 14th.

Planting the Peaches and Cream sweet corn. Last Tuesday, May 14th. 

Onions on the left followed by 3 rows of potatoes. Next to the potatoes are two rows of corn.
Photo taken last Tuesday right after the corn was planted. May 14th

The corn sprouting last night! May 20th.

Strawberries that were planted last year and will produce this year. You need to pick the blooms off the first year so that they will grow and produce a lot the second year. May 20th.

The onions have more than doubled in size since last week.  May 20th.

Cant' remember what this is...cantaloupe maybe? 

Potatoes last night after doubling in size since last week.
These are the same ones Gunnar was sitting next to in the photo above. May 20th. 

Please ignore the weeds, it's been to wet the last couple days to weed and they sort of multiply when they get rain. 

There is lots of other stuff I have planted but haven't posted photos of yet. Including 10 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, a jalepeno plant and a serrano pepper plant, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, squash, and pumpkins. Plus a few herbs like cilantro which is great for salsa. 

My husband loves spicy and so I hope to be making him lots of spicy salsa, with all those peppers, later on this summer. 

If you have any gardening questions feel free to let me know. This is only my second year with my "own" garden but my mom has had one my whole life. I have/had grandparents with Green Thumbs on both sides of the family so I'm hoping I got lucky and got the thumb and not just beginners luck last year. 

Spray Paint Love!

You see, I'm what many people might call indecisive and a touch ADD. Just ask my husband and he will tell you I can't even clean without flying from one room to the next before ever finishing anything. I get bored easily and have a strong urge for instant gratification. I blame the digital age for that one. So, starting new projects always sounds like a good idea but ends up just being a half-finished-pile-of-stuff stacked up in the garage or a spare bedroom. FOREVER. 

Well, yesterday I was Inspired by my new bloggy friend Kala. I decided to quit being indecisive and to take the plunge into a project I've been wanting to do for approximately 3 years now. And no, that's not an exaggeration. 

After work yesterday, I skipped my normal Thursday night workout (for more reasons than just this project) and headed to Wal-Mart for some puppy food. Seriously, I feel like all I do is buy puppy food. Pretty sure our grocery budget has doubled because of Gunnar. Anyway (see, ADD) while at the ole' Wally World I happened to stumble across the painting aisle. I decided on a can of yellow gloss spray paint and a few sheets of sandpaper before rushing out of the aisle in case I should see another color and change my mind 12 thousand times. I checked out and headed home determined to complete my projects that night!

What were my projects you asked? Well, 3 years ago my grandparents realized I like cool old things, like blue mason jars, oscillating fans and lanterns. Apparently that means I like all old things, which  I won't argue, but that means they gave me a few treasures. My Grandma (who this blog is named for) gave me her old yellow milking stool that she had when she was a little girl along with a neat old lantern. 

The lantern had the original glass in it until my dog broke it (while it was in it's pile of junk in the garage) but it's still pretty cool without the glass. Both of these items were covered in rust and dust and were looking a little bit rough, overall. 

So I dug out my stool and lantern, which were at this point in the junk room inside my house, and decided to get to work sanding. I just scrubbed all over with my sand paper until I got bored and figured, "eh, good enough". I washed off both items to remove all the dust and grime and then patted dry. Since I also happen to be impatient (it's that instant gratification thing) I decided the stool was dry enough to give the paint a go. I pulled off the lid of my spray paint and went to town. After several light coats I let it dry and started on the lantern. Several more coats on the lantern and then the stool and then the lantern and I was thrilled!! They turned out adorable and I can't wait for them both to dry completely so I can bring them inside to place proudly somewhere. 

I think I have definitely been inspired to branch out into the world of spray painting a bit more:)

Oh, and it was cheap!

Sandpaper - $3 (with a bunch left over)

Spray paint - $3.50

A Texas Saturday

After way too few hours of sleep, Seth decided 7:00 am was a great time to wake up and get our lovely Saturday started in Texas. I beg to differ. I managed to shower in the size of an airplane bathroom and got dressed for adventure. We decided to start our day by heading back to Tesky's to exchange the jeans Seth had bought since the button popped off when he tried them on. I don't sew. I also happened to stumble upon a pair of cute jeans that my husband insisted I buy and who's going to argue with that?

By the time we left Teskey's it was probably around 9:30 and we drove, over an hour, to a neighboring town called Bowie. I made Seth swing through the McDonalds so I could have a potty break and get an iced tea. Of course I got locked in the bathroom stall that apparently only opens from the outside?? Not cool. Luckily a kind lady freed me. From there we headed to a giant swap meet type thing in Bowie and walked around checking out the vendors for a few hours. Some of the stuff was normal garage sale type crap that you wonder about and then they had tons of rabbits and goats if you wanted to buy those. I was determined to take something home with me and when Seth held up a potato ricer to me I thought he was crazy. Until, he told me he thought it could de-seed tomatoes! I thought this was pretty sweet since I love to use my homegrown tomatoes to make salsa and homemade ketchup. 

After making ketchup last summer I told Seth I would never make it again because it was a pain to get the seeds out. Little did I know they make things to take the seeds out. Duh. 

So I spent my Seth's $5 and got myself a de-seeder. Along with a hamburger:)

We left the swap meet to head back to the camper where I managed a 30 minute power nap so I wouldn't be a huge grumpy butt later that night. Once I decided to wake up we got dressed in our finest Texas gear. Okay, it was just jeans, my new shirt and adorable boots. Then we headed down to the Ft. Worth Stockyards.

Going out with our boots on!

We made it to the stockyards at 3:59 just in time to watch them walk all of the huge longhorns down the main road. I'm not going to lie. I was expecting 100 or so but there were only about 5 longhorns. Still kinda cool though. From there we walked around looking in shops which were all pretty touristy. I could tell Seth wasn't feeling it and that he needed a Mt. Dew. STAT! I made it my mission to find him one since I was there to have a good time and I wanted him to have fun too and apparently he needed some Dew to "dew" just that.

Pretty sure these were real cowboys.

Take the bull by the horns.

Hey ya'll!

At this point I was obviously hungry again so we found a cute little outdoor eatery that was in between several buildings called the "Love Shack". They had burgers and nachos and stuff like that so we stopped to relax, have a drink and eat some delish nachos. The music and people watching was great as I wrote our names on a brick wall. Don't worry, everyone was doing it.

Um...yum. 

Our names are there...written in pen since I don't carry sharpies around in my purse.

More people watching was done as we walked around waiting for the rodeo that started at 8:00. I've been to rodeo's in my past but never one in Texas so I was expecting something pretty cool. We went in early and got great seats. Close enough to get hit by cow patties as I think Seth described a little more colorfully. Then the rodeo started. Bull riders trying there darndest to hang on for that 8 seconds that seems like an eternity. Girls flying round the barrels on their horses while trying not to tip em over. Calf ropers doing there best to throw those cute little baby calves to the ground. It was great.

The Coliseum where the rodeo took place.

Checking out the animals before the rodeo.

Let's get ready to rumble!!!

It's a bit hard to focus on a bucking bull. 

Or horse for that matter. 

The rodeo ended about 10 and we headed over the the worlds largest honky tonk, Billy Bob's, where we got in free with our ticket stubs. There is a small bull riding arena inside BB so we watched a few more brave fellas try to hang on for dear life as the bulls tried to kill them. 

Side note: Seth's Dad was a bull rider back in his younger days. Apparently he was pretty darn good to because he would enter the 16 and under competition and win and then enter the adult competition and win that also. I would love to see some video footage of him riding because I can only imagine at this point. Maybe I will post a picture of him riding a bull sometime. It's pretty neat. Plus I know he lived to tell about it:)

Performing at Billy Bobs that night was, Diamond Rio. They may be oldies but they are still goodies. Haha. Seth kept cracking up at how old they were and how they probably used to jump higher back in the day. I enjoyed the old women down front who were pretty darn excited to see there favorite boy band. I obviously made Seth stay until the end of the concert so we could hear, "I'll start walking your way, you start walking mine..." while we watched the diehards out on the dance floor. At that point I let him drive me home to pass out, from exhaustion of such a busy day as opposed to the two Malibu and pineapple drinks.

Diamond Rio was jammin'

Last photo of the night. Too bad it's fuzzy.

Sunday morning we managed to sleep in a little later before getting up for breakfast at a local diner. I then packed up and headed back home to a full size shower and happily awaiting puppy. Luckily I will get to see me husband again Friday which makes for shorter weeks:)

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

Texas Weekend

Well, I got a little bit country-fied this past weekend while visiting the hubs in the Lone-Star state. AKA: Texas. I think I surprised myself when I rolled over and actually got out of bed at 5:15 Friday morning (okay I snoozed my alarm once) to begin my drive. I'm not a morning person. Ever. Okay, once a year on black friday I will haul my butt out of bed to go watch the crazies fight over the $2 dvd but other than that, morning aren't my thing. Back to the real story...I was packed up and pulling out of the driveway at 6 on the dot to begin my 8 hour drive South. I passed the time by listening to audiobooks and realized I could probably be a trucker if they gave me audio books to listen too. And a big gulp. 

After a quick potty break at the truckstop/McDonalds on the turnpike (about an hour and a half into the drive) I decided I had enough grease and caffeine in my system to keep me awake for a few more hours before stopping to fill up with gas. From there I refueled on caffeine and grease and made it the last hour and a half into Texas.

On my way to Seth's camper I spotted his truck at the local gas station so I pulled in to say hello. He had just won $100 on a lottery ticket so I knew we were in for a good weekend. Sadly, he had promised the cashier half if he won since he had the guy pick the numbers. Oh well, $50 paid for my gas to visit so I still consider it a win. 

I followed Seth to his humble abode and home away from home. A camper parked in an RV lot. Sounds pretty glamourous right? I mean, we were basically glamping! Let me clarify that this is not a large camper. It's a pull behind and has no popouts or tall ceilings or anything of the sort. I'm so grateful for the things he deals with (like living in a camper) to help support us. 

Side Note: My husband gets a monthly per diem for working out of town. It's basically to pay for his expenses since he won't be living at home. When Seth started working for the company he knew he was going to be out of town all the time so he decided to buy a camper and live in that. He paid off the camper in the first year and now he just pays a monthly lot rent to park his camper wherever he's staying. This has saved some major bucks over the past 4.5 years since he's not paying a large monthly rent for an apartment. Plus, as soon as he is done doing the out of town thing (hopefully soon!) he can turn around and sell the camper for some extra bucks. He's a smart fella!

Well, after settling in to the camper (aka: carrying my suitcase and pillows inside) we were off to go take a tour of the local waste water treatment plant. Hahaha, I bet this is how most vacations start, right? Well, since my husband is working his butt of to build this darn wwtp I decided I better take a tour. Let's just say I was pretty impressed. Not by the sewage but by how the heck he knows what he's doing. It's crazy how many buildings and structures and this and that there are and he knows how to build it all and how it works. Blows my mind. 

Yep, he built it all...or told people how to build it. 

After the tour we headed back to the camper to change clothes and head out for some boot shopping and dinner. We visited a store called Teskey's that is apparently the place to get boots, clothes, horse supplies etc. Apparently, things close early in Texas because we got there at 5:45 and they were closing at 6. Seth still managed to find a couple pairs of jeans and two new shirts that weren't over the top country. I still hadn't found boots so we drove down the road and found a much smaller store with some way nicer people and that's were I found my boots!

They were all brown with some turquoise stitching on the sides and I loved them! Seth and the sales girl both tried to tell me they wouldn't be comfortable to walk in for long. I argued that I wouldn't be walking in them forever and they were CUTE. Plus they were the comfiest ones I tried on. Obviously I won, so we bought the boots and a new shirt and I wore my boots right out of the store and to dinner. 

Howdy partner!

Dinner was at a steakhouse that I can't quite remember the name of...Mesquite Pit maybe? After a sugary frozen daiquiri we were seated to enjoy a nice greasy appetizer of fried onions and jalepenos. Yum! Followed by a delish bacon wrapped filet mignon that basically melted in my mouth. I managed about 6 bites before I was stuffed and had to get a to-go box. 

We hit up the RedBox on the way back to the camper and rented a movie to watch since we had a big day ahead of us on Saturday. The movie was The Impossible and I will tell you that it was amazing and I cried approximately 4 times. You should rent it. Seth fell asleep and I had to blast the sound so I could hear the movie over his snoring. Oh, and apparently we are 90. 

Check back tomorrow for the conclusion to my trip. It includes rodeos, bull riding and the worlds largest Honky-Tonk!

Texas and My Husband

Tomorrow I'm hittin' the open road and heading down to Texas to visit my husband. Needless to say I'm pretty excited. I have only been to Texas once and it was in February of last year not too long after they had started the job he is currently on.

Seth is a Superintendent for a construction company that's located here in Kansas and he's been working out of town the past 4 and a half years. Not fun. This is his third project, building waste water treatment plants, with the company and each one of them has kept him out of town. Twice now he has been over seven hours away meaning he only gets to come home every other weekend. Again, not fun.

After being married and "living" together for a year and a half I still have no idea what it's like to live with him full time. I always like to joke that we are easing into living together when people comment how much it must suck to be so far away from each other. And yes, it isn't fun to try and fit our relationship into phone calls and crammed weekend visits but we're making it work. The truth is, I think it has probably helped our relationship (not that it was bad) because we are forced to talk to each and actually communicate since that's the only option we have. Plus, we know it's only temporary.

By temporary, I mean, once he has finished up the job he is currently on he will get to move home! We are thinking it should be in the next month or two when he is finished and I can't wait. Neither can he. After this job is done he will be moving up to Project Manager and be responsible for several projects,  but he will get to work from the office that is about 40 minutes from our home. He may still have to travel maybe a couple days a month but that will be nothing compared to now. 

Anyways, I'm going to visit him tomorrow until Sunday and I'm really looking forward to it. He has sent me pictures of the job he's building, but it looks so different from when I saw it that I can't even tell what anything is. It's always impressive to me that he can just look at the plans and build things. I mean, who knows how to just build a waste water treatment plant? Seth, that's who. 

We are also going to do some fun stuff like visit the Stockyards and go see some bull riding or a rodeo maybe. I even talked him in to taking me to get a pair of cowboy boots:) Oh, and I'll probably eat a lot. I'm really good at that. If any of you have suggestions of fun things to do around Ft. Worth feel free to send them my way! 

You can check out my Instagram (here) if you want to follow my weekend as Texas girl.

Ya'll have a great weekend, ya hear?! (just practicing my accent;)

Extreme Couponing?

I feel like I pretty much dominated at grocery shopping these past couple days. I managed to stock our freezer and cabinets fairly well while easily saving over a couple hundred bucks. 

To give you an idea of the savings I had on Sunday:

I spent $74 at Wal-Mart for 70 items. 

One item was $20 and it was my dog's flea and tick meds and this was the only item I didn't price match. 

So essentially I spent $54 for 69 items. 

6 pkg of Kraft shredded cheese - FREE

6 pkg of Kraft natural slices cheese - FREE

6 pkg of Oscar Meyer bologna - Free (I don't eat this but I donate it)

6 pkg of Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh lunchmeat - .49 cents each

3 pkg of Oscar Meyer Bacon - .99 cents each

4 - 32 oz bottles of Gatorade - .59 cents each

4 jars of Planters peanuts - .99 cents each

6 pkg of Green Giant steamfresh frozen veggies -.65 cents each

Can't remember what all of this was priced but the total added with the stuff above only came out to $54.

2 pkgs of Crystal Light

3 bottles of Hunts Ketchup

2 Velveeta Cheesy Skillets

3 pkgs of Keebler Cookies

2 - 4lb bags of C&H Sugar

2 - 24pk cases of Nestle Pure Life Water

1 - 12 roll pk of Angel Soft TP

3 - Butterfingers

1 - Cheetos

1 - Fritos

4 pkg of Hamburger Helper

3 cans of manwhich

1 - Ekrich Smoked Sausage

$20 dog meds

Wally world deals.

You might be looking at this list and thinking that's a lot of crap and cheese. I admit, there is quite a bit of junk in here but this is also not what we eat every day and most of this stuff will last my husband and I several months (not the cheetos, they are my weakness;). I honestly go to the grocery store 2-3 times a week and pick up the fresh produce but I tend to stock up every couple months on this other stuff whenever they have big sales. A lot of the stuff "freezes beautifully" including the cheese and lunchmeat so that helps as well. 

Monday I followed up my big food extravaganza with a little bit of shopping at the local Dillons (Kroger). I had to run in to deposit my paycheck and pick up a prescription so I thought I would check things out while I was in there. Good thing I did. 

1 Gillette shaving cream

2 bottles of Pantene

2  tubes of Colgate toothpaste

1 Colgate toothbrush 

3 cans of Van Camps pork and beans (bbq season is upon us!)

1 Dial handsoap

1 Downy Unstoppables (mildly obsessed with these, have you tried them?)

1 head of Romaine lettuce

Grand total $5 and change. Not bad if I say so myself. 

Dillons deals.

If you have any questions about what kind of deals I used just let me know. I use coupons a lot and I also always price match at Wal-Mart. Such an easy way to save money even though it does take a little bit of time. 

7 Quick Takes (2)

1. I'm loving my new phone! Not loving that my phone case from Amazon still hasn't been delivered. I mean, I placed the order Monday and it's Friday and still no delivery! Oh, and is there an app for patience?? Haha

2. I work for a printing company and they are very pet friendly. This is my newest co-worker, Bear. He helps me keep from stressing out some days. I would bring Gunnar but he would probably eat everything and ruin it for everyone so he gets to stay home.

3. My husband is on his way home to see me finally! Two weeks away is never fun but so glad that it should be ending in the next month or so. Then we finally get to take a vacay and spend the summer together doing fun stuff like going to Royals games. Love me some baseball!

4. I've been eating really healthy all week (minus my daily Pepsi's and occasional cookie) and the sales guys had to go and ruin it today by bringing us donuts for breakfast and pizza for lunch. No will power here...maybe I'm getting better though because I did only eat one slice of pizza and one donut. That's gotta count for something right?

From this...

...to this...

...to this. Oops.

5. I'm currently obsessed with the following songs: 

Boys Round Here - Blake Shelton

I know what you did in the dark (Light em up) - Fall Out Boy

Can't Hold Us - Macklemore ft Ryan Lewis.

All these songs make me want to jam out big time. 

6. It's May 3rd and it was snowing yesterday and acting like it wants to snow today. Come on KS, get it together! I need Summer NOW!!!

7. Earlier this week I bought a food dehydrator and last night I tested it out by drying strawberries, bananas, apples, pineapple, and blueberries. I tried a few of the fruits this morning and they are delish. I'm super pumped about trying some other stuff including jerky and then some herbs once it warms up enough for me to grow them in my garden. If you have any suggestions of good stuff to dehydrate, let me know. 

Happy Weekend!! You can follow mine on Instagram, here:)