Weekend Update: Garden, College, and Gossip. . .

My little side herb garden/bulkhead is planted.  Yayyyy!!!  My seedlings I was trying to start did not do so well so, I bought some plants to start my herb garden with.  I am  so excited and I cannot wait to clip my first sprigs of Lavender and put them in the bath, awww how relaxing that will be.   Below is the picture after we planted.

I also planted some Dianthus in this bed and some garlic, yes I am going to try my hand at garlic one more time. 

My next adventure is going to be a cutting bed somewhere in the back yard.  I absolutely love fresh cut flowers.  I have some that I cut now when they bloom but I would like a bed devoted for that purpose alone.  I use to have beautiful and very fragrant roses and they died.  I am going to plant some more this year.  

So I got a call from the Dean the other day looking for Sprat, she thought she had called his cell number.  Long story short they believe that Sprat's roommate may be suicidal and wanted to talk to Sprat about the roommates recent behavior.  Well, this just sent me spinning into never never land.  I am a worrier anyway and this was a lot to handle.  I ask that you keep the roommate in your prayers as well as Sprat because I did not know everything he had been dealing with this year.   Being far away from home is hard and add not knowing anyone in this new environment is very difficult.  Sprat was trying to help the roommate cope with some things, I love that my child wants to help everyone, but sometimes our friends need more than just a friend.  Prayers for  them both would be most appreciated.

On to the Gossip train. . .   So my husband went to Atlanta to interview for a job, the job was not in Atlanta the hiring manager was.  At this particular time while he was out of town Big T needed a ride home from lacrosse practice because I was having to work that night too.  I guess when he asked if he could get a ride from one of the players someone else overheard him and only got part of the conversation.  This how rumors and gossip get started, you  only hear half the story and then run with it.  The interview was about two weeks ago and while I was on the phone with Sprat about the roommate he asked if we were moving to Atlanta.  LOL!!!! One of his friends that is in college in another town  texted Sprat in Boston to ask if he was moving to Atlanta.  LOL!!!   All of that because a kid overheard half of a conversation and just went with what he assumed was going on.   Kids can make rash assumptions just like adults and all of a sudden your moving and did not know it.  

That's it for our update.  Stay tuned more college stuff going on and maybe some Lacrosse tournaments and camps for both boys this Summer.  

A Planting I Will Go. . .

I love playing in the dirt and in the yard.  I have a beautiful trellis that my hubby gave me one Mother's day and each year we plant sweet potato vine to run on it.  I went yesterday and picked up my sweet potato vine and a Gerber Daisy.  I love the garden shop.  I potted my daisy in a new pot for my front porch to go with my huge Geranium.  
Last night we had grilled chicken and I was fixing a marinade for it, this is a garlic and wine marinade.  I noticed my garlic was sprouting,  well I decided I would try and grow some garlic.   It already had a little green shoot so I filled a pot with some potting soil and stuck my little toe of garlic in the dirt.   I left a little bit of the green shoot sticking out of the soil.  Below are my pictures.  I used a good size pot so there would be room to grow some delicious garlic. I have never done this so I will keep you posted on how it grows.  We tried a few years ago to grow garlic in the garden but it did not do anything.   I hope this works.

This is my sweet potato vine from a year ago.

Everyone Should Have a Hobby or 12. . .

Everyone should have a hobby, I have many hobbies.  I do not know if they are really hobbies but these are things that I love to do:  knit/crochet, reading, gardening, cooking, DIY (do it yourself stuff), fishing, and shooting.  I guess you could add blogging to that list too.   I have only recently learned how to knit and crochet.  I am not very good but I do enjoy it.  I do mostly scarves and shawls, I have made a hat or two.   I have found since starting to knit and crochet my eyes are really bad.   My distance vision is very good but up close I have to squint and strain, I think this is old age and I do not like it at all.

I have been painting too, this falls under the DIY section.  We have a cute wrought iron table and chair set for our back patio that has some rust and weather wear.  I decided I would steal wool the rust off and seal it with a spray to protect the iron.  Then I  sprayed in a gloss black, it's original color.  I got both chairs done but I have not done the table pedestal yet.  That is on my list to do this summer in between running the boys to and from football workouts.  I will share my chair pictures below.  

 I grew up fishing on our family vacations, I do not like lake fishing, I love salt water fishing.  The hubbs and I enjoy fishing together.  That is how I hooked my hubby.  I know corny right?  We went to the beach with some friends and he wanted to go fishing and he was surprised that I wanted to go too.  I out fished him that weekend and the next week he proposed.   Before we had the kiddos we would take little trips to the beach and go fishing all the time.   One time we even drove to the beach just to eat crab legs and drove back.   We were much more impulsive then, something about having kids that grounds you and makes you more responsible.  I would not trade our six years of impulsiveness for anything though.  That just makes me smile.  

My mom gave the gardening bug when I was little.  Mom always had a garden at the house and later she had one at the barn too.   Mom always had fresh peas, those were my favorite.  She used to get so mad at me because I would go out and sneak and pick her peas and eat them while she was busy in another part of the yard.  That has unfortunately bled over to my poor hubby, I sneak and pick his peas too and eat them before he can put them in the freezer.  I think he knows though, because each year he plants more peas.   I am so glad that my hubby caught his gardening bug from his mom and dad too.   I hope that my kids will learn from their dad and I the joys of gardening and eating fresh veggies.    Sprat loves the potatoes and he does help dig every now and then.  

My newest hobby is shooting.  My father-in-law gave me my first gun, he was worried about me being alone while the hubbs was traveling.  He was also a retired city police officer.  He knew the importance of a woman by herself being able to take care of herself.   I did not know how to shoot so I went to my dad, he took me out below our barn and taught me how to shoot my gun and a couple others.  I have since bought a new one and was in need of some refresher work with it.  I have found a great range that encourages women to learn gun safety and how to shoot well.  

Making progress on Monday. . .

The hubbs making great progress with the knee this week.  He got a fabulous report from his physical therapist.  He can now walk on level ground without his crutches.  I know that does not seem like a lot but since he has been on crutches for over a month now, this is great.   We had a great weekend filled with lots of baseball.  The kids did get back to Church on Sunday so that is good.   Sprat has been fussing because we have not been able to go since the hubbs surgery.   He loves being a part of the youth and being involved in our youth programs.   They are getting ready for the 30 hour famine again in May.  If you work with a youth group you should look into this program.  It raises awareness of people going hungry all over the world especially the children.  As we get closer to the date I will share the website and you can check it out.
At some point my hubby will have to go back to work but, I must admit I have enjoyed having this time together.  If this is a window into retirement, I am ready for him to retire now.   We have been binge watching TV shows on the Roku.  We are almost through Weeds, it is wild.  He has found the music channel and is watching old rock concerts some he went to and some that he did not get to go to.  Since he has improved and does not require a crutch as much, it is easier going places.  We went out to eat to celebrate his good report and the kids grades and he did great.  I am still concerned for him to be out in a crowd because people may not realize how very sensitive that leg is, especially if he is wearing pants and you cannot tell he has on his brace.  His brother took him to the garden store after his therapy visit the other day and he said he felt like a little kid going to the toy store.  He was almost giddy.   He loves gardening and working in the yard.  Today I mowed, which I enjoy , I also trimmed our bushes around the house.   He hates that he cannot help with the mowing and the bushes but, he did come out and offer his expert advice while I was trimming the bushes.
It has been very nice spending this extra time with my dear hubby.  Sometimes I think we find that there is so much going on that you do not really talk with your spouse.  There is a lot going on at our house too and we are both guilty of just going through the motions some days.   We do actively make time for each other but sometimes we can get bogged down in the day to day.  This whole surgery/hospital thing has actually been a blessing because, we have seen what retirement will be like and I think it will be fun.
Here is a shot of my phlox, I absolutely love them, they have such beautiful color.

Garden Tuesday

Dear hubby has been fretting over not getting the garden planted this year because of his leg.  Today his dear sweet brother came, while I was in class, and tilled the garden to plant.  He planted lettuce, radishes, potatoes,  peas, broccoli,  cabbage and onions.   Hubby was able to get out for a little while to see it.  That little trip outside wipped him out.  He still has a way to go on recovery but he is making good progress.  He has been doing his hand therapy everyday and his finger has improved greatly.   I know that he will approach his knee therapy the same way.  It is just a matter of time when they will start that.  He is still straight legged until further notice.  We see the surgeon again in another week.
I am so thankful for our friends and family, everyone has pitched in to help us out.  Our family is blessed.

Drying Herbs. .

I love my flowers, I love my garden, but I really love my herbs.   I have basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, mountain mint, lime mint, thyme, and chives.  Most of these stay around all year.  I dug my rosemary bush up this year, so I have recently picked up another to plant.   Basil I have to buy every year, but everything else is pretty hardy. 
I love using  my fresh herbs in my recipes.   I also like drying them, you just never know when a hard winter will kill your plants.  I have a basic dehydrator (Ronco).  It has 5 trays and a heating element.   I generally leave my herbs on for at least 12 hours, sometimes it takes longer.  
Today while I was out I noticed how good my sage looked.  I started picking leaves and decided I would dry them since I was not fixing anything tonight that required sage.  I noticed my oregano was looking pretty good too, so I cut some of it.   I ended up with two trays of sage  and two trays of oregano.  I left the tray on the very bottom, closest to the heating element, empty. 
Everyone probably has several recipes that they could use oregano in but I bet you only have a few that call for sage.   This summer, when we had lots of onions in the garden, I would take a couple and cut them a little and add some butter, garlic powder, and some sage leaves.  I wrapped it in foil and put it on the grill.  They were so very good.  I have found a brown butter chicken with sage I will try sometime in the next few weeks and of course everyone knows sage is a prime herb in dressing at Thanksgiving.  
My house should be smelling really good by tonight.