Muscles

Just call me muscles!

Two down, one to go...and she's a beast.

Sunday Pictorial

Basically, Scott is badass for braving the heat to prep, trench, and lay the pipes for sprinklers this weekend while I was reminded how much I am not designed for manual labor. And need a pedicure desperately on those dirty hobbit-feet.

Shout out to my mother-in-law who showed up to help as well. She's a woman who works the shovel well!

Jacaranda

Be careful what you wish for you, you might just get it.

While house hunting, Scott and I fell in love with a sweet little place on Jacaranda Place, but due to the property being a short sale and the ever important aspect of timing, it was not to be ours (or anyone else's for another 18 months.)

Hopefully the new owners (who've done wonders to the lawn) don't mind this photo.

Then, we found our current home, bought it, and got a jacaranda along with it.

People who proclaim the love of the jacaranda clearly don't live beneath one. They are gorgeous trees. But messy, sap producing, bee-welcoming arbors as well.

The part my parents probably love is that we have one at the house I grew up in and I loved collecting the sticks that fell from it during the fall and winter. Today, that translates to Shop Vacing the flowers and little buggers off the walkway and sidewalk.

This and that.

Every week I remark to anyone with a functioning ear "I can't believe it's (fill in the date!)" I think it began January 31 and has continued. Seriously, where has the year gone? It's almost July.

We really need a vacation. So if you have any ideas about where to go for a week's time I'd love to hear them. Right now my top picks are Savannah, New Orleans, Julian (a little more local), or somewhere I can fall off the grid and hopefully have a mojito. I have seriously dragged my feet updating my passport post marriage so suggestions need to stay in the US.

Last weekend I had a whirlwind Father's Day celebration, akin to Mother's Day. I do think it's smart doing it back to back, but there are drawbacks. The first being that I am a bonehead and bought a fridge without an ice maker because I didn't think we had the connection. Well we do and it just dangles, taunting me each time we have to refill our ghetto tray. Secondly, I am taller than my fridge, which makes engineering storage for parties of 18 rather tricky. But, we get 'er done. Having my mom's side over was really fun, and of course we got to give everyone a house tour. Good times had by all. My mom left her camera and I tried to steal the photos on it, but alas, I do not have the same USB cord.

Sunday night I had my in-laws over for Father's Day part II. Again, good times had by all. I don't know what family gatherings were like before Mason was around. Clearly we just sat around staring at each other quietly over dinner.

In honor of these visits I made a "quick stop" at Home Depot for potting soil. Yeah right. The produce aisle is the new hardware store is the new garden section. $40 later with herbs, succulents, and flowers in tow, I headed home. Yeah I probably spent too much but I can say that basil may have just been bumped as favorite herb to mint. I'm putting that fragrant little herb in everything, especially lemonade. See mojito craving above.

Speaking of plants, I also bought a great arrangement of peonies at Trader Joe's. It's the simple things in life. I have no photo as it's been so crazy and they are now dying, but they were a gorgeous shade of magenta and really brightened the living room.

A few other firsts-we had our friends Virginia and Shawn over for dinner Tuesday night. Virginia is pregnant and vegan which made for a challenge in dinner plans-however, a challenge I wanted to take on. We feasted on artichoke and bean crostini (Parmesan ok'd by V, and I kept some crostini sans proscuitto), tofurkey sausages with hummus, bell peppers, onions, on pita bread, as well as a garden and fruit salad. Shawn made silken tofu mud pie. Pretty tasty and most of all, good time had by all.

Last night Scott went to his first yoga class with me. There were times I could not look at him because I knew I would snort-not because of anything he was doing, but rather what the teacher was asking us to do. This particular teacher utilizes some interesting breathing techniques to say the least. His favorite part-being able to stretch his shoulders and reach his hands around his back and touch his fingers, on both sides, whereas I am unable to do it on my right.

Now as the week ends we have plans to celebrate Rob and Kerri's birthday this weekend and I'm off to Ashley's baby shower on Sunday. Seriously, it's almost July???

It's the Great Garlic, Oliver

A shoot has been protruding out of my flower bed for months. Painfully I've waited for it to bloom while the poppies and ranunculus have come and gone, and now the dahlias have made their debut. Still nothing from this frondy shoot. I was thinking it might be a type of palm for a while.

This week, while watering, I got a little closer and saw a bulb...was it an onion? I finally decided to dig it up and low and behold, it's a head of garlic. Who knew? I surely did not plant this. We've had surprises come up in the garden from the previous owner(s) but this vegetable is certainly a first.



My burners need a major cleaning. Don't judge.

(With Oliver for perspective-it was actually a grocery-store sized head. Not elephant garlic, but your generic Ralph's garlic.)

I hope he comes back next year.

There is a first for everything

Today I mowed the lawn.

Not a huge milestone in life, but the fist time I did the task on my own. I realize that women do this and carry water for miles on their heads every day, but I grew up in more of an indoor chore environment.

Scott gave me a quick tutorial in the garage last night and obviously it looked simple enough. I got a few rows in and then the engine started smoking. This was a dilemma. I wanted to finish the task and not have some wonky half mown lawn, yet didn't exactly want to meet my maker via lawn mower explosion. So I did what any sensible girl does. I called my husband. None of my man neighbors were around to help, so I did feel slightly the failure, but hey, I had a smoking lawn mower on the grass-direction was needed. At his direction, I let it sit for about 4 minutes and investigated the situation and found what I believe to be the problem. Fixed it, felt like I should win some kind of blue ribbon and finished.

While its not necessarily a military lawn mow, it suits and will provide a nice foundation for my tenants who are having a garage sale tomorrow.

No photos were taken so as not to increase the dork factor of this experience.

Say hello to my little friend.

He's been a long time in the making.

Gnomes are pretty expensive. I was really surprised when I realized you could be spending upwards of $50 for a piece of folklore pottery.

So, my bargain bum went to Michael's and found this guy for $1.50:
Thirty minutes later after some acrylic paint, we have our own Winkelbottom.

Someone in the Haselton home is not going to be pleased. Neener neener neener.

Mother Nature is Menopausal

Mother Nature is a wild woman. Besides the heartbreaking disasters worldwide, she is being quite fickle with the weather in SoCal as of late. Some days it's winter, some days it's spring, some days it's a season not yet defined.

Last week: high 50s, rain, wind, battening down the hatches.

This week: sunshine, breezes, and today a high of 90.

What gives ma? I like it a moderate 75 with a slight breeze. I don't have a/c and my poorly-insulated plaster walls don't do well with extreme heat or cold...but mostly heat.

In other news, a second variety of my poppies are blooming and our renters have given notice. If you are quiet, clean, and by culture like taking your shoes off before entering the home and want to live in an adorable 1 bedroom/1 bath duplex, give me a ring.

My Science Project

I've come a long way since lima beans, thanks to the help of my mother-in-law who weeds each time she comes over, since I cannot tell the difference. She very sweetly informed me when my 4 foot dandelion was in fact, not one of my seedlings.

I'm very proud of these poppies, even if they are akin to the leaning tower of Pisa. They are my little garden babies.

I'm still waiting for my poppies and dahlias to bloom. I did not grow the calla lilies-those were a gift from my mother in law, nor did I plant the hot pink shrubby plants-I was tired of the non-sprouting greenery and needed some insta-color.
We have a long way to go but we're getting there.