OKAY! I remembered!

OKAY! So I forgot about this for a while... Honestly I really have been VERY busy!
4 days after my last post Dustin called me to tell me that his sister Jessica wanted to talk to us at his mom's when I got home from work, so I was to go right there and not home. Now, Jessica and I have never been the "best" of friends and for a long time we just down right didn't get along. I didn't have a problem with her except that she always was so mean to me and told everyone that she didn't like me. ANYWAY it was VERY shocking for her to ask to talk to us in a very serious manor and that it had to be at the in-law's confused me even more (witnesses maybe??). So when I got there EVERYONE was there so now I'm thinking someone has died, or something is VERY wrong..
Inside we went! Me, Dustin, Jessica and Breanna (Jessica's 11 year old daughter). Well Jessica said that if it was okay with us, Breanna would be staying with us for a while until Jessica could get back on her feet. Well of course it was okay with us, what were we going to do?? Tell Breanna she had to live on the street?? Uh, NO!
She came that night! So, all in a rush we were suddenly "parents" but not. We've tried to let Breanna know in everything we do that we are in no way trying to take the place of her mom. And we try to let her know that everything that's going on is because her mom loves her so much and we love her that we just want her to be in a safe place.
Wow... So... Did we ever start out crazy.. 11 y/o girl problems in abundance! Mean girls at school ( Ignore them, I know it's hard but that's the only way to get them to leave you alone. When you don't let them get you mad they won't think it's fun to pick on you anymore and they'll move on), make-up (No.. "But momma said...!", *sigh**check with "momma"* fine but I want to see you everyday before you leave for school and if I think you are wearing to much you have to go wash it off and NO eye shadow!), shaving( It's OK with "momma" and she's been doing it for months), cleaning her room( We are most of the way into a weeks grounding for stuffing things under the bed, in dresser drawers and into her overnight bag instead of "cleaning" like she was supposed to), CELL PHONE( no way, but her mom's ex gave her one.), and BOYS BOYS BOYS! I love Breanna (and if you read this I really do love you!) but I hear a new name almost daily! It's not been nearly as bad since school got out.
Now don't get me wrong, Breanna has her up-side too! She's very smart, and can be sweet when she wants. She always hugs us good-night and tells us she loves us (yes we respond with the same). And even though Dustin picks on her constantly, she has yet to cry about it.
I don't know if I was ready to be the caregiver to an 11 y/o girl. There are SO many conversations I didn't think I would have to have for YEARS! I am NOT going into them for your benefit (trust me...)! I don't know if I like it. Is that bad? I want kids more then anything, but I guess I wanted the chance to raise them the way I wanted, not get one that is already set in her ways. I feel like I'm doing it all wrong, I feel like she hates me already (And I've been warned from people that have been in my position that she WILL hate me). I feel like we are constantly getting on to her! "Don't put dirty dishes in the cabinet!, Put the milk/tea/juice (etc) away when you are done using it!, Don't leave the fridge door open!, Why do you have 5million lights on!, You don't need the T.V. on if you are listening to the radio!, Why did you just throw that? etc etc etc...
Even in writing this I feel like I'm getting on to her, but in reality I'm pointing out my own flaws. I feel like I'm going about this all wrong. I feel like I'm a bad "parent". If I'm not ready to take care of someone else's child, how could I ever be a good parent to my own? Maybe I shouldn't have kids. Maybe that's why God hasn't given them to me yet. Because I'm not supposed to have my own. Maybe I haven't shown him yet that I deserve that gift, and now I never will. Because I'm doing so badly with Breanna.
My want for a child is like an ever growing gloom rushing over me. I thought at first having Breanna in the house would help, but now I feel like it's just making it worse, now I see all my faults as a parent and it just makes me I shouldn't be one. So if I can see that, then why do I still want it so badly?

A Little more Garden! + How to Cook what comes from it!

First off, you knew I had to post some pics of our ever growing garden! So here ya go!






On the right MORE RADISHES! And on the left you've got some Rutabaga's... Read below for how these turned out on my first attempt to cook them...







I'm so excited about this cabbage, I LOVE cabbage! My new favorite recipe is Cabbage Beef Soup Add Chili toppings to it.. It's amazing! (but it will give you the poots! so weekends are prolly the best time to make it ;) I got this Bierocks recipe from my Brother Russ it's also really good! But he showed me to use the cans of pizza dough! You just roll it out and cut it into squares!
I also like it sauteed with a little ham and butter! Or you can add link sausage instead of ham. I'm going to be trying








OKAY! So who wants some Squash? Because I'm going to have a TON of it soon... This was the biggest one when I took this picture last week, but now I've got about 20 this size and who know how many a bit smaller! PLUS, They are still getting blooms! So I've promised my mom some and I'll probably give some to a few of the older people in our neighborhood. (this is actual size btw, though it's bigger now because like I said, this is a picture from last week!)







Can anyone tell me what they see here? If you said a Green Bell Pepper, you are correct! This is our first one on these plants! It was so tiny! I put my finger with it so you can see just how tiny it was. It's now 3 times bigger, AND (!!!) It has 5 little siblings! Dustin has already planned Stuffed Peppers for these little ones. I don't have a link to that recipe, Sorry! He made it up! I do know it has 2 boxes of Mexican rice,1 can tomato sauce,1 can diced tomatoes,1 lb hamburger and cheese.. LOTS of Cheese! salt and pepper to taste. Start by browning your meat, While that is browning, wash and cut out the tops of your peppers (this recipe will make 6 large peppers but have 7 on hand) clean them out with a spoon. Then you blanch them. Put 6 them in the pan you'll be baking them in, and chop up the 7th adding it to your ground beef. Add both tomato cans mix well. Add about 1 cup of cheese mix again! Fill the peppers with your mixture, surrounding them with the extra rice mix and top it with cheese, bake at 350 until the cheese is toasty and eat.... YUM!


OK, so the other day I realized that while I have shown you everything we've been pulling out of the ground, maybe you'd like to know how we knew things were ready! SO, these... are ready! You can see they stick up over the ground so MOST of the time it's really easy to tell. But sometimes you get one that stays under ground, and it's not easy to tell in that case. BUT at least with radishes, you can brush away the top soil and look to see, not ready? Cover it back up and leave it for a few more days. The radishes out of everything in our garden have the fastest growing time. From seed to pick they were ready first.. Umm about 4 weeks? Maybe?



These are R.E.A.D.Y(for us I know some people like them darker red but.. not us)!! We picked them right after I took this picture! And BOY they were good! Dustin said he likes to eat them like an apple when they taste like this... And I have to admit, after my first slice I could have too!




This is Bob... Yes, Bob the Tomato Plant.. He loves me, I bought him from a little ol' lady in Blountstown. Every first Saturday of the month, they have a.. well I don't know really! You just go up there and set up a booth in the square! They have people selling all kinds of things, for puppies, to pickles! Tomatoes to, Furniture! All kinds of things. Anyway, back to "Bob"! He's a plum tomato plant, and as you can see, he's bloomin'! Still none ready.. :( but they will be soon!



........ I love them..... I had them at a church dinner for the first time and BOY they were awesome! So I decided to try to cook them.. It didn't come out so "awesome"... First off, (MISTAKE#1) I didn't know how they lady form church had cooked them, so I just guessed! I looked it up on google, and found one that started off right. Well,(MISTAKE #2) of course I didn't read it all the way before I started! And by the time I got to the end they were talking about adding pepper and I knew hers didn't have any of that, Hers were SWEET!... *sigh* so I left google to it's own, and started adding things on my own. That was MISTAKE #3! because I do NOT have a good sense of what will taste good with what. Needless to say.. I ate about 5 bites and the rest are in the trash.. :( So if anyone knows a GOOD way to cook them, let me know! I've got 2 more in the ground!

Rutabagas!

OK, so last year Dustin and I started to go to church again. Well, every 3rd Sunday they have a lunch after church. At one of these lunches, I saw something that looked like potato's, but they were in an very pale yellowish/orange juice. So I thought it must be butter and some kind of spice on potato's... It wasn't... It was Rutabagas! And I loved them! They had a slightly sweet, buttery taste and they melted in my mouth. mmmmmm... *drool*

So when Dustin was asking that I wanted in the garden I said (can you guess!) RUTABAGAS! So, Here they are, 2 of them at least. Dustin and I disagreed about if they were ready or not so he pulled up 2 and I made him leave the others in the ground.

Last night I tried my best to cook these stubborn things. First off, they have the texture of a potato when cooked, but they have a peel that you have to get off. It LOOKS like an onion peel, so you would think it would just pull off pretty easy right?! NOT! I had to get a peeler and peel, and peel.. and peel.. it's a lot thicker then it looks and harder. I got it off, and cut it into slices and got it in the water to boil (the "true southern" way to cook the according to google!) added the 1/2 tsp of salt called for despite my thoughts that something sweet should not have salt in it. "Bring to boil and then let boil for aprox. 16 minutes"...... really? aprox. 16 minutes? so 15 won't work? sheesh.. OK, brought it to a boil, boiled for 16 minutes... OK maybe it was more like 20 oh well,I may have ruined them. And then began to "add butter salt and pepper to taste" WHAT?? pepper??? There was no pepper in the ones that I had at church! They were sweet I tell you! So I do the unthinkable... I close the computer and take matters into my own hands... And after adding a few things from the fridge I tasted it.. and it was OK.. more crap from the fridge and it was tasting a little better! The problem was that I had already eaten dinner, and wasn't hungry anymore! So they are in my lunch for today! Hopefully they will taste as good today as they did last night. We'll see!

Radical Radish!

WE'VE GOT RADISHES! WOOHOO!

I really don't know why I'm excited about the radishes, I don't eat them! BLAH! But I'm so excited because they are only the first of many things to come! We planted a whole row of radishes because Dustin's mom LOVES them. Normally Papa, Dustin's dad plants them for her. But he's been ill and is on full time oxygen now, :( so this year WE planted them. Aren't they pretty? That's the first batch we picked!

When I saw those were ready I decided to really start looking and do you know what I found????




Banana Pepper Blooms! For all the little blooms a pepper will grow! It's kinda hard to see them but they are the little things in the middle of the picture!

Wait I'm not done!!









Yummy! LOOK at those TOMATOES! I don't know about where you are, but in my area tomatoes are over $2.00 a pound! YIKES!


So, I don't think I had ever even HEARD of a rutabaga let alone eaten one before Dustin and I started going to the Methodist church lunches. But I L O V E them! This is the smallest of the 4 I planted (Dustin doesn't like them so I didn't want to plant alot) and it's the only one that has some above the ground, so I'm excited to see the other below the ground! GROW BABY GROW!




I'm not really into the bell peppers, I'll eat them though. I don't like the texture, but I love the flavor they give! Look at those blooms! There will be a pepper for each bloom!














Okay, NOW we are talking! I LOVE grape tomatoes! mmmmm In a nice avocado and tomato salad! HM.. Maybe I need to look into planting an avocado tree! That would be AWESOME!















I used to hate cabbage! Now I can't get enough of it! But then, I've found some really great ways to cook it! Like This! Add a bit of sour cream and cheese and it's pretty much Chili! lol, Just with Cabbage! I love the fact I can prep it the night before and then put it in the crock pot the next morning and not have to worry about it!










Look at that! It's a teeny tiny little squash! HA! Right now, that little squash is about the size of a paper clip! Squash... Aww how I love thee... I can't wait to cook you!









On a sad note, we didn't read up on broccoli before we planted it, and due to the heat our broccoli has all "gone to seed". That's a term I've gotten to know quite well! Basically, broccoli will only grow if the temperature of the soil stays between 50 and 80 degrees. If it gets to warm, it will "go to seed" meaning bloom all over with seeds and then they fall off and the plant dies. :( I really was hoping to save some money there! But oh well, we'll get it in this fall and I'll have to plant lots and lots of it and then freeze it for next year. (on a side note, Dustin pulled it all up this morning)
I saw the blooms and thought we were about to get A LOT of broccoli! I didn't realize that some plants have blooms that turn into the vegetable, while others (like broccoli) the bloom is the seed, not the veggie.

So, What do you think? Do any of you have gardens? What are you growing? Dustin's an ol' pro but do you have any tips for a newbie like me?

Can't wait to start reading these!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary. How does your garden grow?

4 weeks ago, Dustin and I decided to get some goods in the ground! So how did we start? By making a garden box of course!
Garden box you ask? After last year when bugs totally ate EVERYTHING we planted, I was talking to one of the wisest gardeners I know (my pa-in-law Bill Graham!) and he said that if your garden isn't on the ground then you'll have less bugs! So.. I take this and R-U-N! I told Dustin I wanted a raised garden. He thought that I meant like all girlie, flowers and such, but I was having none of that! (okay... maybe a few flowers but I'll explain in a minute!) So, We build it! SEE!!!! This is Dustin (my hubby and the other "D" of DandD!)screwing the sides together and putting on the legs. We had issues with the legs at first, and Dustin was having a problem trying to figure out how to attach them.. So I figured it out! I even thought to use the scraps from cutting the angles as braces to keep the legs from sliding! GO ME!
















(see those legs? yea, those... they're ALL me!.. that's right, I figured those out!)












So we built and built and after a while we had a pretty good looking raised garden box!











Doesn't Robby look excited about the garden??




SO we began to plant and plant and plant! We had SOOO many things to plant



















And then......



















Well? What do you think? Now to explain the flowers! Another wise gardener (my hubby) said that if you plant marigolds around your plants, you don't have to worry about a lot of the air born buggies! So plant I did! Stay tuned for updates on my happy little garden!

Our House, Our Home!

The past few weeks Dustin, Robby and I ( ok mostly Dustin and Robby) have been working on making our house, into our home. We were given a house, and we are SO greatful, but it always felt like it wasn't ours. We tried everything, hanging pictures, moving the funiture, but until we started getting serious about making it ours, it just didn't help. So Dustin and I talked, and decided that we would start slowly and do a room at a time (yea right, I should have know better!) until everything got done, the way we wanted.
We started off with what we needed the most, and BIGGER closet! For a long time, we hung what we could in our little closet and had some in the laundry room, but on wash day, when everything got clean, it was like attack of the clean cloths! Shirts hanging on windows and pants across chairs, no room to hang anything anywhere! So I made the decission that, THAT would be the FIRST thing done, and for the most part it was... Except it's not done! It's still being worked on! I do have to admit that is partly my fault, because I changed my mind about what exactly I wanted done, and the cost of what I did want done was more then what we had planned on so we went on to the next item!
A PANTRY! Now, it must be said that really the pantry and the closet are a combined project, as it was all one room..See?


Inside the closet we had a single bar on each side about 3 1/2 feet long. Not nearly enough space!

And Now it looks like this!

WOW! SOOOO MUCH BETTER! Now, not all the shelves are up, and it's not been painted, we still have to do something about the floor, but that's how it's going to be.

The Panrty IS done though! SEE!!



Wall's up!


Floor Covered!


DONE!!!!


Second angle! LOVE IT!!


Things are really moving along now! We've almost finished the bedroom, and are still working on the closet but I keep changing my mind about how many shelves, and if I want a second 2 story cloths bar or just a shelf and a single cloths bar under so Dustin said he wasn't going to touch it until I was absoulty sure! (smart man!)

Moving on, time to log off this here com-pu-ter as it's tiime to close! There will be more so don't get worked up! Until then... :)