Payoffs

Payoffs
Originally uploaded by dino0477.

So a few months ago I met another monitor at a site and it turned out we were both living in the same town. We ran into each other a few more times at airports/flights and exchanged numbers. She is good about getting up early and walk/jog and I had mentioned that I was looking for a workout buddy. So this morning I got up @ 5:30am got the pup and off we went.

Besides the potential payoff to my health - still waiting ;)

This view was (almost) worth getting up in the middle of the night.

Gardening, cooking and movies

Its been busy since I got back from Germany.  Our garden is coming along nicely and since my travel has returned to normal levels I have been spending a lot more time in the kitchen trying out new things.

I started with just some herbs wanting fresh parsley, dill, chives, marjoram, basil and fennel for cooking. Hubby got me these cute baskets and they grew great in our enclosed porch.

 
While at a hotel on the road I saw on one of the morning shows how to use cinder blocks for thinks like an herb garden.  I thought that would be an awesome idea and hubby and I set out to figure out how to best put them outside.

We figured left and right from the stairs would be great. We have great sun exposure there.

 After some consideration hubby moved 2 of our bushes to each side and sprayed the stones green and placed them outside as borders.

The plants did really well with the move and are growing stronger. I love that all I had to do for some basil for Monday's pizza was to step outside and pick it.










Once I saw how well the herbs were coming in the porch I decided I wanted some Cherry tomatoes as well. I used some plastic cups we had for the seeds.

Once they were strong enough we moved them outside. A few went into the the topsy turvey grower and the rest we planted in buckets.

Wonder why we use buckets? For one our soil is very sandy plus we have lots of cute wild bunnies in the front yard. This way everything is up higher and out of their reach. We also decided to grow some beans they are in the white buckets.



While we were at Lowes i saw this cute little put with 2 watermelon plants. I just had to have it. Its has grown so much. I wish I had a picture from when it was little and cute - when i put it in the bucket below it was dwarfed by it. Now its spreading out and I hope to get some Melons out of it.

 So with all this potential success, I decided we should try a few more things - so we got seeds for cucumbers and sugar peas. The Cucumbers came up really fast but the sugar saps are catching up


 The other fun time for me is cooking I love making things from scratch. Last weekend I went up to Zina's Produce to get some more eggs (we have a beef and egg CSA with her) and when I saw the yummy veggies and strawberries I could not help myself. I had gotten asparagus, potatoes, zucchini and squash as well as some strawberries and peaches.

 Hubby's dinner was steak (grass fed from our CSA) new potatoes and asparagus. He loved it almost as much as his dessert.

Fresh Strawberries on a tortlette with sweetened cream cheese.

I made a version of stuffed squash/zucchini casserole for Sundays dinner. I had left over mushroom risotto and I mixed it with some sausage (so hubby can have his protein) and topped with cheese.

I can't wait for our summer produce share to start. 2 more weeks. Getting lots of yummy produce and fruit from local farmers will be awesome. Plus we'll get recipes too so we can try new things. 

Speaking of new things, whenever we have bananas that are about to go bad I usually throw them in the freezer to use them later for baking or smoothies ... . Well I hadn't done either in a while and hubby was asking me the other day when I was planning to use these. I didn't want to run out for ingredients so I looked online to see what I could make where I had all ingredients. I was losing hope when I came across this website that talked about 1 ingredient ice cream. The one ingredient being banana.

Hubby loves ice cream but I usually do not buy it. So with him having been super busy in the yard I figured that would be a great treat. I made a few bananas and added a peach and put it in the food processor until smooth.

Since I still had some bananas in the freezer and an open bag of wild berries I thought that mixture would be awesome too. See below for yourself.

I guess we'll be having more Ice cream in my house - but this kind which is only made out of fruit no sugar or dairy added. Delicious and healthy and so easy to make. So next time you have some fruits you can't eat in time - freeze them and you can make them into ice cream.

Last but not least. If you like horror movies or just want to support one? How about checking out Mr. Quiet. 

I have known JDC for a few years now and am so excited for this project. I hope it comes together fast and the way he wants it. Fun fact - due to my donation I get to be part of the victim pool. How cool right. 

So go pledge a $1 or $2 and promote (there is a chance of the sweetbox of Ms Jin)

Some much to do so little time

Germany was great and as always 2 weeks were not nearly long enough. Sis looked beautiful in her dress and it was about time that they walked down the aisle since they had been together 13 years and have 3 year old twins.

 Spent time hanging out with friends and family. Went to check on "my Castle" (still need to win that lottery so I can buy it from the city).

Went to the Zoo where I worked one summer and where I used to go as kid to feed bear cubs. Yes I fed and played with bear cubs when I was little.

Went to have lunch with grandma at this really cool hotel. Check out the carving outside there.

One of the greatest thing about this trip was that the 30April fell in it. I haven't been home for Hexenfeuer since the 90's. I loved hanging out with my friends around the fire and just chill.

I really hope I can convince hubby to go back for the holidays. I am working on it he says he'll go for 10 days so I just need to get 4 more days. I just don't feel like the cost and travel time is worth for just having 8 days there. even 12 days aren't enough :(

Now that I am back its off to pick up on my jet setting lifestyle again ;) Hotels, cars, planes - you know the drill.

We have been working in the yard a lot and I hope we get to bear the fruits of our labor soon - can't wait to snack on our homegrown veggies. I'll try to post more pics of that on here and go back to posting more if I get a chance.

It's been a while

I know I have used the title before especially since lately my posts are very far and few between. I guess that is because life gets in the way.

So whats been going on - well the adoption process is going well as you can read about here. We are working on the profile that will be on the agency's website and in their profile book where expected parents will be able to select couples to meet who potentially will raise their baby. Lots of more questions to fill out and we need to dig though our pictures to include so they can see who we are.

On work front things have been insanely busy with deadlines. Ours kept moving and thus creating more work for me since I am one of the few that still has sites where new data comes about every month. Hopefully things return to normal soon. I am also in the interview process for a new position in the company that is a step up but also would keep me home 90% of the time (unlike the 2% I am now). I had my first interview last week and figured since my boss is behind me, actually she has been asking me to do this since last year I have a good shot.

Well I need to run, finish making breakfast then 6 loads of laundry, packing since I head out again tomorrow, get things set up for Germany (19Apr-3May), work on the adoption profile and all this in the next 14 hours. So glad its not busy or anything. Will try to be on here more than less but then I have said that before ....

When was the last post???

Really November wow that is so long. I have been posting over at The Clumsy Eater and Can't wait to meet you but that is no excuse.

Life has been good but busy. Work has a deadline and everyone has been scrambling all over the place making sure its met.

Hubby and the pups loved being at our Westgate timeshare in the Smokey mountains. Sadly I ended up working though most of it but loved walking the pups everyday and loved my Spa visit and hanging out in the indoor water park. The pups loved spending time with us, they were too funny always wanting to go where the bears were.

I am leaving for Germany in 5 weeks. I meet up with Mom in Charlotte and then we fly over together. My sisters wedding is the first weekend we are there and then its off to meet up with friends and relatives.