Already Another Simple Woman's Daybook

Hmm... I can't get the picture to paste...

For Today: June 29th, 2009.

Outside my window: The crickets are serenading me. :~)

I am thinking: I can't wait for the 4th! Going swimming with my favorite cousin at my aunt's house! :P Tehee.

I am thankful for: Cream soda! It's absolutely delicious!

I am wearing: A cute summer dress that I got at Walmart.

I am reading: Brian Jacques's Castaways of the Flying Dutchman. (I love pirate books!) (I have an older brother to thank for that...)

I am hoping: My foot will stop hurting! (Bee sting! See post below.)

I am creating: Mass chaos and widespread panic. *Giggles* I thought a baby blanket would sound boring...

I am hearing: The garbage disposal gurgling again. *Sigh* Yet another thing that needs fixing around the house.

Around the house: Asleep? I think... methinks they are at least all abed.

One of my favorite things: Countryside magazines!

What I accomplished since last week: Picking, shelling, and cooking a whole pot of purple hull peas and pole beans!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Going to swim with Madison on the 4th, and hopefully meeting my new little sister. Tehee, no, we don't have another child in the house. It's just me and my brother. Our church has some of the more committed high-schoolers "adopting" an 8th grader that is coming into high-school. We have to meet with them and tell them about our highschool ministry. 'Twill be fun. I've never had a little sib before!

Here is a picture I am sharing with you:

This was my SCRUMPTIOUS blueberry banana parfait that I made for an afternoon snack! I had no granola, so I substituted some yummy maple cereal. Being the chocoholic that I am, I just had to add the chocolate chips and chocolate syrup!
Here are some other pictures of it. (It was too pretty to pass up taking pictures of it!!)

Peas and Bees

Interesting news today.
The nice news, is that I was able to harvest my pole beans and cow peas yesterday, and they made MORE than enough for dinner. We even have enough for lunch tomorrow! I was so excited, because I've read that peas take so much work to grow and shell and cook, with so little gain, that they aren't really worth growing. Some of the peas I got were a little under-developed and green, but they were all right. (Just REALLY hard to shell.) Anyhoo, they tasted wonderful, and we had a great meal.










(All the scraps!)

The not so nice news, is that I stepped on a bee or yellowjacket this morning and got stung on my foot. I was watering my herbs, and I decided to remove the little bitty mamosa tree that was trying to grow in my dill planter. Being so kind hearted towards plants, instead of just ripping it out and throwing it away, I gingerly dug it out, planning to replant it in a heap of old potting soil behind our house. A few feet away from it, practically before my foot even hit the ground, I pulled it away with a yelp. I immediently hobbled away crying, so I never got a look at what stung me.
I've been stung by yellow jackets before, but never a bee, hornet or wasp so I don't even know what those feel like. My mum gave me a Benadryl right after it happened, and I kept an ice pack on it for a while, so the swelling isn't TOO bad. There wasn't a stinger, so I didn't have to worry about that, but my foot did swell up enough that I can't walk on it right. I've been an invalid all day, which is kind of fun! :P Hehe, I'm just kidding of course, I've still been helping around with what chores I can. I would post a picture of my foot for you... ... ... tehehe... but it looks a little... erm, well... FAT. :P Hehe. I told my mum, "If this is what it feels like to have fat feet, I'm surely never gonna be fat!!" The few times I've tried walking flat footed, it's felt *really* weird. And it hurts, so I don't really try.

Hope Chest

As you might have read on my cousin Madison's blog, we went yard-saleing today! It was a good morning. :) Before I write about today however, I must tell what I got yesterday for my hope chest! I got this precious set of a throw and pillows from Cracker Barrel's outdoor sale for $20. (And the cute/adorable/elegant little bird - it was $2 even on sale, but I HAD to get it!)





I didn't want to take the throw out of the case, but it matches the pillows. They were all 60% off, or else I wouldn't have dreamed of getting a set like that from Cracker Barrel. I looove Cracker Barrel, but everything is sooo expensive! (Like the *gorgeous* patriotic quilt I drooled over for 10 minutes that was $60 alone.)

Now for today's buys.

Firstly, I got this "set" of plates for... well, I can't remember how much it all came out to be, but I think they were under $10? None of my pictures are very good, because I was taking pictures of them in my lap in the car! :)



All the salad plates have different plants on them, and they all have names of herbs written in calligraphy on the edges.






(The purple flowers are my favorite!)


They are SO me, and I love them all! There were only three dinner plates, and one was badly chipped, so I only got two, and I plan to hang them up on a wall with salad plates in the middle. I got all 4 of the salad plates because they are so pretty and unique!

And lastly for today, the biggest and most important purchase...


...


...


...


AN ACTUAL CHEST!!



I've been saving stuff for my hope chest for a while, but until now, I've had no where to put it.
We got this wicker chest, that is huge, light, and in good condition, for $20. The chest was labeled at $25, and my mom only had a $20 bill with her, so we were praying that the man would take $20 for it. And of course, as God is so wonderful at doing, He allowed the man to very lenient, and even glad for our offer. He even helped us load it in our van! :) I am so happy, and God is so good!

I love the etching on the metal. I didn't notice it this morning.

My First Simple Woman's Daybook

Now don't expect one every week...
:P

For Today: June 27th, 2009.

Outside my window: Darkness...

I am thinking: My eyes are sleepy.

I am thankful for: Yogurt.

I am wearing: Jeans and a Cadillac Sky t-shirt. Cadillac Sky is awesome. My favorite newgrass band.

I am reading: Northanger Abby

I am hoping: I'll find some AWESOME bargains tomorrow when my mother and I go yardsaleing. I've never been to a yard sale. Always wanted to go... Looking for hope chest stuff!

I am creating: Too much. I'll post about my knitting tomorrow. (Hopefully...)

I am hearing: Crickets... faintly.

Around the house: Asleep.

One of my favorite things: Yogurt.

What I accomplished since last week: Not playing the one video game that we (my brother and I) really really like. It's a farming game... albeit a rather weird one. Japanese people are odd. No offense, but the games they come out with... are odd. But none the less, I've really enjoyed having it. REALLY. I play it too much. I haven't been sticking to my 1 hour a day rule. So, I went on a WII fast. :P

A few plans for the rest of the week: Yogurt.


... yes, I am very tired.


Here is a picture I am sharing with you:


Yes, this is proof that I'm tired.
... Goodnight.

My Garden!

Hey all! My computer has been having a little internet trouble for the past few days. I'm having to play catch-up on commenting and posting! (I also lost my camera for a few days...) :P

I'll hopefully do a post on all my knitting projects soon. I'll take pictures of my stash. It's been growing... and grooowing... and GROWING... I really need to stop buying yarn!
I'd love to hear your silly stash stories, those of you who knit, so be sure to comment on my next post!

So I'm FINALLY getting around to posting pictures of my garden! I've been meaning to do this for forever. So, here they are. (Now that my computer works and I've found my ever elusive camera!)

Watermelon climbing the fence

Teeny tiny watermelon. Just a little bigger than a pea.


Cucumber plant (No sign of any cukes yet though!)


Cow Peas! I'm really excited about these this year! We have a great crop, and there are NO YELLOWJACKETS!! Last year all the cow peas came in at different times, so that we'd only have a hand full of them ready for eating at one time. AND they were always COVERED with yellowjackets. I'm ALLERGIC and deathly afraid of yellowjackets.


This is what color they will become.



Here are some pole beans. There probably won't be enough to make a meal out of, so we'll just combine them with the cow peas!


Another shot of the pole beans. Next year I want to plant Sugar Snap Peas.


Sandy carrot leaves...


One of our weird, pitiful crook-necked squash. We usually have TONS and TONS of squash, but this year I've only picked two I think. The reason being, we had a nasty, rainy, wet week where several of the plants got powdery mildew. We've grown squash every year of my LIFE I think, and I don't ever remember having such a small crop of squash!


The hideous mildew...
(And maybe some dirt...)


One of our many bell peppers. (We have red, yellow and green.)

Banana pepper. My attempt at showing how big it was by using my thumb as a scale failed... my thumb is closer to the camera than the pepper, therefore, bigger.


Cherry tomatoes


A tall tomato plant (taller than I am...) (looks taller in real life.)



And a small tomato plant. (The size of my foot.)


Sideways watermelon plant and cucumber plant.


My precious pole beans! (I love them!)


My precious pole beans eaten by horrendous june bugs. I despise june bugs. The only organic way I know of to control them is to pick them off one by one. Or, shake them off into a jar. And let them die slowly and painfully. (Lol, not really. I hate to see ANYTHING suffer. EVEN june bugs. So I throw a couple of hydrogen proxide soaked cotton balls in with em' or fill the jar with water so the little buggers drown fast.)


And the adorable, semi-evil snail in my garden! I named him Dill. Isn't he cute?


And a picture for scale. Yes, that is my pinkie. :P Dill is small and cute. :)

Herb Pictures

It'n this cute? I thought up this little idea because there were three basil plants in the one container I bought, and I had run out of pots! I did another cement block with extra dill.
Parsley


Dill

Pinapple Sage (My two favorite colors! Purple and dark green!!)

Basil

Oregano.


Bee Balm



Anyhoo, these are my herbs! I'm gonna (hopefully) post some pictures of my garden soon! (My pole beans and cow peas are finally in!!)