Other things growing

 Morning glories it seems

 Lots of sunflowers again

 Knock out roses

Some things accomplished, others being worked on

I finally got another one of my wall decor sayings up :) Thanks to the boyfriend helping :)

And this monster sunflower, is finally and awesomely ready :) We cut it down tonight and I just had to take some pictures because damn this thing is just freaking huge.

 You can see I don't have model type hands, but it at least gives you a better scope of how fucking large this thing is. Oh and it's taking up the whole damn chair it's sitting on.

A carrot. The only carrot that survived (I planted several seeds but wasn't too concerned about ANY of them surviving, it was just an off chance thing) and it was a monster carrot. Seriously, my backyard is a place of mayhem in sizes for growing things!

I know, it looks a bit weird. I will be feeding it to the horses at my job tomorrow :) Yes, I cleaned it off already because it would not be nice to fed someone dirt. We didn't even find ALL of it !!


The thing being worked on? The sunflower. I have it hanging up in the attic with the other ones. I need it to dry out further so that we can take the seeds out :) Seriously, just this ONE sunflower out scopes all the others. It was a huge head, a huge stalk and it has a ton of freaking seeds. YAY.

Happy Friday Thoughts

I have today off, which is a much needed break. We were planning on going to Myrtle Beach this weekend but it had to get postponed, which is not real problem. Especially since they are getting more rain right now than would probably be fun. Hopefully when we do head down that way it will be sunnier, because I need a little color.

In other news, we stopped by Home Depot today and got an appointment set up for them to come to my house tomorrow first thing in the morning to see about my lovely shower stall. I know the general stall I would like to get and I am just hoping they will not be asking for an arm and a leg to get things done. I really don't mind demolishing my current one myself, I just want someone to put in a new one and make sure that everything is kosher with the base and whatnot. I have been reading a lot on what it takes to install one of these things and all I can say is DAMN.

So.

Other than that, I have laundry and little bit of yard work I would like to get done (and it's definitely not mandatory!) and some general house cleaning as well. That is more mandatory. But it's general stuff and not like Spring Cleaning thankfully.

Work has been good, nothing to wonky. I know it will be picking up in the coming up months and next year just because we have a huge project going on and I, lucky me in Logistics, will get to deal with some big ass equipment. Good times though :)

I do have a couple projects that I need to work on. One being a baby blanket or two that I need to finish and start/finish. I am going to learn how to make cheesecake (yum! First one will be pumpkin) and I want to learn how to make good southern biscuits. Weird, I know. I also want to get my attic organized and start cleaning stuff out of it. I will probably donate a lot of stuff in that, or at least sell it on eBay or Craigslist or something like that. My son has just outgrown them and I no longer have John here to give to (sad thought, that). So, I am hoping that someone else can at least get some form of enjoyment out of those. My son also wants to sell off all his Skylanders that he has. Which is quite a bit. Ugh. We invested so much money in those things and now he's all, I'm just not interested anymore. But that is life and there you go!

Anyways, hopefully everyone has a good weekend :) I will be getting some sunflower seeds dried (from the boyfriends stock) this weekend and hanging mine that are currently in the bathroom up in the attic because I think they will do better there. And hopefully that big ass one will be wilted enough I can cut off it's head. Hahahahaha, I always feel like the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland when I say that!!

Also, so far the Kid's grades are doing good this semester. I keep a daily eye on how he's doing because of the drama from last year. He's, of course, complaining about school, but that is pretty much damn normal. He's not the happiest with some of the kids he's in classes with but honestly, whoever is?? I've explained that you will always have those people that you don't like and that you don't get along with, in school and work, and that you just need to figure out how to you want and can deal with it. Do you want to let it bother you or not? Do you want to annoy another person so much that they hate you ? Do you want to just let things other people go and move on with your own life? Because, really, why let someone else determine YOUR feelings and how you want to do things? Fuck that, it's your life, be happy with who you are and don't let others get in the way of that. I am really hoping he eventually at least hears part of that. Who knows, it will probably be someone else make a similar comment and then it will click. I just hope it clicks.

Seriously Large Sunflower

I had my kid attempt to hold the stalk of this massive sunflower back a little bit so I could get a good picture. He had a hard time with that since it's so freaking heavy! My kid is now 5'8"...

I am coming to believe that whatever grows in my garden, can get immense and somewhat what of a mutant. Great....I will have a mutant growing possessed plant garden next year >.<

I am patiently waiting for this one to wilt so I can then hang it (in the attic more than likely) to finish drying out :) This one is just, huge!

Goods from the Garden, Sunflowers and Spiders

Here's a quickie - stuff from my and the boyfriends gardens...and other annoying things ;)

Potatoes that came from the boyfriends garden (and a couple tomatoes), which made some seriously yummy mashed potatoes for that nights dinner :)

So...I came home Sunday to all of my sunflowers bowed over or broken from the wind/weight of the heads. You can see here the stalk of one of the heads and how it's bending. The 2nd picture her is all the different sunflower heads hanging in my downstairs bathroom. I will probably move them up to the attic and hang from the rafters, because it's a lot hotter up there to dry them out. The thing I'm sorta worried about is that at least half of these were too early to really be cut off. So. I have no idea if I will get sunflower seeds out of them. I still have 1 sunflower out back that is freaking HUGE. I will take pics of it if I can to show!

The view if you try to walk to front of my house through the side, before they were all cut down.

This is my bellpepper plant, I've already gotten 1 large pepper off of it, lost 1 that was just starting to grow (the whole freaking branch came away) and it has 2 growing on it.

My monster tomato plant, that I have cut off 1/2 of so far. I mean, damn. It's so heavy I can't get it back up.

The freaky damned spider I killed on Saturday morning. In my kitchen. FML, I really, really, REALLY hate spiders.

Sunflowers en masse

Some different angles of my sunflowers in my yard - they are all competing for the sun :)

I will be cutting off their heads soon as they wilt to get the sunflower seeds :)

A multi-faceted update

So I was home sick yesterday. I had started feeling icky on Wednesday and since the Renaissance Fair is Saturday, I *really* don't want to be sick. I was hoping to somehow avoid getting a full on cold. My left ear was hurting, I had a lot of sinus pressure (mostly my left side), was getting chills, had a runny nose and slightly achy. Yep, those lovely first signs of an oncoming cold for me. So. I made home made chicken stock Wednesday night (which means Thursday morning is was ready - SCORE with the crock pot!). I got the stock into ice cube trays Thursday morning while the kid was getting ready for school, emailed my boss and said I would not be in, took a muscle relaxer and then tried something different. Instead of taking my normal over the counter cold meds, I took Apple Cider Vinegar and Oil of Oregano. First was The Oil of Oregano - that shit tastes nasty. However, my sinus pressure was gone within 20 minutes. My ear stopped hurting. Wow.  I mean, DAMN. I took 1 tbsp of the apple cider vinegar 3 times (am, pm and before bed) and basically did the same with the Oregano. 2-3 drops each time. By late last night, I did not feel sick. At all. Granted, I was still very tired and I am tired (as in feel run down) today and slightly woo woo in the head, but overall, I don't feel like I am getting sick or going to get a full cold. Still sticking with these new meds today at work, so here's hoping.

Now the reason for the chicken stock into ice cubes (I got some ones that are 1 oz each and also some 2 oz freezable baby food containers for this purpose) was so that I can make 1 bowl at a time and not feel like I am wasting anything. So, for 1 bowl (see below) it was 2 ice cubes and 1 baby food worth of chicken stock, a little bit of water, thinly sliced carrots and celery, then some salt, pepper, paprika and garlic (the 2nd time I made it I added in curry which was awesome!) and some egg noodles. The chicken was the left over I had put aside in the frig from making the chicken stock.

So - homemade chicken noodle soup (almost ALL organic to boot), apple juice, green tea and lots of rest.

This is my tomato plant that fell over and I have yet to figure out what to do...because it's damn heavy! But still growing tomatoes !!

My 1 lonely carrot - and tomatoes that I threw away.

I have 2 bell peppers growing, I need to pick this one in the pic (I read that green bell peppers are not mature but taste sweeter, so I need to pick this today! They keep changing color as they mature)

Here's that saying on my wall :)

It looks kinda small I know, but I love seeing that every time I leave my bedroom :)

Oh and this is one of my sunflowers peeking over my 6' backyard fence :) He's next to the really short one that is staring at the fence. I will take some pics of the ones on the side of my house, because they are bending all sorts of ways to get more sun !!

Updated Sunflowers

Monster Tomato and Blooming Sunflowers

This tomato (organic) plant has turned into a monster. I need another trellis thingy (yes, I know, very technical here) to deal with it. I already lost 1 whole vine/branch that broke off because it was so freaky heavy!!! Haven't gotten an edible tomato off of it yet. Here's hoping I get at least 1. 

Silly Sunflower is facing my fence. I mean, seriously...But she at least has a couple friends :)

 Do you see how tall these suckers are?? I mean, DAMN. I wish their heads were bigger, but they are still awesome :)
                                                                                    Almost there!! Just a couple more petals!

 Opening  <--------------------------------------------- about="" hinking="" nbsp="" opening="" p="">

Top view of a difference Sunflower. I was on my stops and my still couldn't see it, so on my toes and blindly taking pictures :)

'