Jack of All Trades, Master of... Well, Whatever...

I've never been one to focus, undivided, on one task. I'm always coming up with some new thing I want to try. That's why stores like Joann's, Home Depot, heck, even Target are so hard on me. I walk in and all the little project neurons in my brain start firing up until I leave with smoke coming out of my ears and bags full of random items none of which are the actual item I came in for in the first place. I know the people who run the stores are all too familiar with my kind. I suppose there's a bunch of government funded researchers somewhere tranquilizing aimless shoppers coming out of Michael's to tag them for further consumer monitoring. We must do what we can to lift this recession, you know.

Well, here are a few of my latest little endeavors:

I was able to sneak in a day of raspberry picking. I froze a ton of them, but also made a batch of freezer jam. Can't wait to put a little of this in my fro-yo!

Of course I'm still working on the garden. I've got some fun little peppers coming in and some great tomatoes! Lately as I've been eating the garden-fresh tomatoes I've been wondering what those red things I've been buying at the store all year are. They look the same, but the taste doesn't even compare!

David and I finished our 50 Mile Challenge last month! Yay us! We finished it on the fourth mile of the 8K we did together. Now we are preparing a fun chart for our next challenge.

Melissa gave me her old sewing machine a couple months ago, so that's really getting the wheels turning on some projects. Dad gave me a bookshelf that I've been wanting to spruce up, so I decided to see what I could do with some paint and material. I love color, but I think I got a little too pastel on this one. I like the material and the paint, but together they look like they belong in a nursery. I'm still pondering this project... I've also been experimenting with my dining room wall. I added some vinyl words and want to surround them with pictures, but haven't gotten everything in frames yet.

Oh, that's just a sampling. I also have other projects scattered about my home and my life. We'll see what turns out and what doesn't! Now, if you'll excuse me, the last time I came back from Michael's I blacked out and when I came to I had this big, plastic bracelet on. I'm gonna go see if I can get that thing off...

*D*

Summer To Do List

My schedule has been scattered all over the place this summer! Luckily I've been able to mark some important things off my to do list like...

Pick strawberries

Meet with friends for a walk


Stick pink, girly tattoos on foreheads, noses, cheeks (ahem... not those cheeks!), arms, a boyfriend, and ankles

Play... lots

Watch things grow

Do some journaling

I hope you are getting some important stuff done this summer too!

;) Deanna

Gardening Begins!

It is official! I have begun my garden. My compost is looking great!

I got some tomatoes and peppers going.

Some flowers in my Goodwill and dollar store mash-up of containers. :)

Some begonias and impatiens.

And some herbs.

I'll be adding a bit here and there, but I'm off to a good start!

:) Deanna

Catching Up on my Goofy Life

Oh readers, you have no idea how often I (Deanna) think, "I must blog about this!" I truly write blogs in my head all the time, but am loathe to sit in front of the computer after eight hours of it at work. Oh, to blog in a notebook with crinkly lined sheets and spaces to doodle to my hearts content. I guess that would be more like a klog (we-blog, noteboo-klog). Well, since my klog is mostly private, I will blog some things I've been meaning to for some time.

I was taking a walk this evening and I felt like I wanted to capture every second of summer like Cindarella before midnight. I know, this sounds very dramatic, but I do get rather dramatic when summer is coming to an end. I want to fully experience it until it is completely gone. Then I have to have some grieving time. Finally, I'm ready to jump into fall with all the gusto of one of those gorilla suited guys jumping out at small children in the corn maze. One of the activities I will most miss from summer are the outdoor movies in the quaint little Perry District. You show up at dusk to sit outside of an old car shop converted into a coffee shop.

On this particular night they were showing "Galaxy Quest", so the Jewish pre-movie band was all dressed up in DIY space outfits while they played their accordians and clarinets and danced with crowd members. My particular favorite was the medly of Star Wars/Trek/Quest/Jones songs they had composed in Jewish style, because, like the band leader said, "there are Jews everywhere".

I also have been wanting to give you an update on my container garden. I would have to say that for the most part I was fairly successful. Here's kind of a side shot of it:

Here's a close up of my tomatoes, peppers and basil. I thought they looked really pretty.
Oh, and here's my one yellow squash that grew... I guess I won't be leaving any on my neighbor's porch this year...

For people who used to read my previous blog you may remember my post on the 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar and what a colorful tourist trap it is. Well, I just want to give you a surprising update. It is no longer the 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar. That's right, there are now 50,000 silver dollars! I give to you the new (well, just the "fives", as you can see from the photo) and improved (well, if getting more varieties of toothpick holders is an improvement) 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar!

I do have some other posts logged away in my head, but they will have to wait for another day. I do, however, want to leave you with one quick update from a previous post. If you remember my Independence Day blog, I wrote about The Keeper of the Tambourine. Well, he is still going strong as I saw a photo of him dancing away at a community fair my church helps with. The moment they showed the slide show I knew it was him... too funny.

Deanna

Camouflage

Found this guy hiding among my flowers last night. I'm pretty sure it's a grasshopper, although I've never seen one like it with the leaf-like wings. How could something this awesome exist without a God to create it?
And a few more photos of my flowers... I was going for the wild, unkempt look this year, like an English-cottage garden. The sunflower wasn't intentional. I think a little bird carried it from our feeder & dropped it there. It's kind of pretty, though I wish the bugs would stop eating the leaves already.
M

Fruit for Thought

Saturday I went to one of my favorite places, Greenbluff.



If you're from Spokane, that name tends to set off a reaction similar to Pavlov's bell. Instant cravings for fresh fruit, honey sticks and pumpkin doughnuts grip me. Saturday was strawberry day. Oh how I love strawberry day.



Basically you drive out of town to a group of quaint little farms who have done all the hard work for you. Let me set this up for you. No planting, weeding or watering. All you do is pick, which still allows for the satisfaction of a job well done. Kids are wandering aimlessly picking those choice strawberries that never make it past the mouth into the flat. A babushka is a couple rows away shouting short Russian words to her family who keep smiling, picking and tasting. I chat with the middle age lady working the row beside me. There is no "type of person" that comes here, so most are in shorts and tanks while the teenagers sweat away in those cute jeans they bought at the mall last week. I pick the warm, juicy berries and some are just meant to be eaten the moment they are picked. My flat piles high and I wonder if I can keep them all in as I walk back to the farmhouse. Despite this I can't help but keep grabbing berries, not wanting to miss that perfect one or that perfect one, or those over there... All said and done, for the price of four small pints of strawberry representations from the store I bought eleven pounds of the sweetest, most juicy berries around.

Strawberries are definitely my favorite fruit...
well, at least until the raspberries are ready...
or the cherries...
oh, and the peaches ripen...

D

You know you want to read another story about garden gnomes...

I have to admit that I'm quite excited. My containers are full of soil and my very own compost. Each year I try something new and I'm starting to find what works and what doesn't. This year I decided to put a little effort into aesthetics. You know what garden aesthetics lead to... the ubiquitous garden gnome. I've been wanting one for some time, but the little guys can be pricey. Finally, I found him. Just the right size for my little plot.

He keeps watch over my impatiens and begonias with the utmost diligence. My only fear is a local chapter of the Garden Gnome Liberation Front. I know, you're thinking, "But, Deanna, everybody knows the Garden Gnome Liberation Front is based in France and you are all the way over in Spokane!" Well, after last weeks fiasco one can not be too sure what lengths those French might go to. After all, (and I am not making this up) a 53 year old man was charged with stealing 170 garden gnomes to exhibit in his 25o square foot garden! Folks, I've done the math, and that comes out to be a lot of garden gnomes for that garden! The most scandalous part of it all is that he actually repainted them creating havoc for gardeners everywhere holding on to the hope of reunification.
I did end up actually getting 3 gnomes in an attempt to balance the theme and create a feel of consistency (i.e. they were pretty cute and 50% off). But don't worry, I don't think I will be competing with the French's obsession anytime soon.

D

One Month After Planting

It's been exactly 1 month since planting our first vegetable garden & I find myself saying, "To hell with vegetables, lets harvest the weeds instead." Do weeds hold any nutritional value? Are they poisonous? The last couple of weeks as the rain fell spottily over Utah, it was easy to push the garden to the back of my mind. "We'll tend to it on the next sunny day," I said. Well, yesterday was that day. Jonah & I threw our tools in the truck & went to work. My gosh! The sea of weeds! We worked for hours pulling & hoeing in the hot sun & when our backs were aching too much to continue we looked back at all our hard work & you could barely tell a difference. Really. I wanted to cry. But I won't. I'm determined. We've got lots of awesome vegetables coming in...corn, spinach, lettuce, peppers, possibly a tomato. The pleasure of seeing those little plants blossoming is weighing oh-so-much heavier than the weeds.

That is one cute pup.

Happy Father's Day!

M