It's Alive!

Remember playing "Where's Waldo?" or "I Spy" when you were a kid?  This is kinda like it, except with my tomato plant.  Can you find the first tomato of the season?  It's still green and tiny, but it's there...more importantly, my tomato plant is still alive!

Everything is looking good so far!

Walking!

Wordless Wednesday

Neat Freak

Though my house may not always look it, I am obsessed with organizing things.  I recently had this epiphany that most of my hobbies involve some organizational aspect to it.

- Couponing: Yes, I get a thrill out of organizing my coupons in my binder...weird, I know.
- Scrapbooking: Categorizing and labeling pictures makes me feel like those past events in my life are neatly organized and complete.  I also have a binder for all my supplies, borders, and stickers.

- Recipes: Though I may not be able to cook it, the recipe is neatly written out on a 4x6 card and organized categorically in my recipe binder.

Uh, I think I may also have an obsession with binders.

All that said, I came across Organizing Your Way, a blog that simply feeds into my newly realized obsession.  It's very motivating and even has a section where you can print off to-do lists, menu plans, calendars, stuff like that.  It's so helpful!  Check it out here...even if you aren't as weird as I am.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Cheesy

One of my favorite foods is cheese.  I simply love it and can eat it at every meal.  My college roommates and I used to have havarti parties (so cheesy, I know).  So, I decided to try to make macaroni and cheese some from scratch.  Thanks to The Pioneer Woman, I had me some yummy mac and cheese.  Thought I'd share the link to the recipe with y'all!

Click here for the most scrumptious mac and cheese you'll ever taste :)

Thanks, Shabby Blogs!

I just wanted to thank Shabby Blogs for my new blog design.  And for the amaaaaaaaazing tutorial on how to add all the stuff for non-computer people like me.  It was so easy to understand - she even has screen shots to show you what to look for :)  Thanks for the pretty stuff, Shabby Blogs!

Crossing My Fingers For A Green Thumb

This is what my back deck looked like this morning:

My first attempt at growing an edible container garden is exciting, but somewhat disconcerting since I have a history of having a black thumb.

How are these cute little sprouts supposed to stay alive under my care for the next few months?!

Yellow squash and zucchini plants in the foreground. 

An impatient dog in the background.

I do love the early morning rays that stream through the trees!

Will these tomato plants survive my black thumb?  Ummm, they already have yellow leaves...and I can't tell if I've over or underwatered them. 

I will keep you updated on my progress.  I am hoping to have an overabundance of tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, yellow squash, and zucchini this summer!  Oh, and the other somewhat nonsensical thing is that I'm hoping for all this produce that I don't even eat on a regular basis.  Maybe I think that if I grow the stuff, having it around will miraculously change my unhealthy eating habits.  I wish I had a chicken nugget and fries plant.

Wordless Wednesday

Donate Your Stuff!

Usually when I have a picture of food on here, it's a picture from a recent grocery trip where I scored an amazing deal.  Well, this is one of those, but I'm posting for a different reason.  Using three coupons from last Sunday's paper, I was able to score 15 cans of dog food for FREE!  So, what did I do with them?

I donated it all to the SPCA of Wake County, a place that does a ton for animals.  Before Abigail came, I used to volunteer there, exercising the dogs and loving on the ones that were up for adoption.  Sometimes I snuck into the puppy room to cuddle with the little fur balls before the center was open to the public for the day.  There is nothing like puppy smell!  It was something that I looked forward to...and something that I want to be able to do again in the future.

In the meantime, I'm donating food and supplies that the SPCA needs.  Kroger (on Six Forks and Wake Forest) has a collection bin in the front, which makes it easy to donate.  So, why not donate the free or cheap stuff that you score?  What a great way to help out!  And, by the way, if you're thinking about getting a dog or cat, check out your local SPCA or animal shelter.  There are so many animals that need homes!

And now a little video showing how much our family loves dogs :)



The next donation stop?  I'm collecting extra personal care items to donate to the Raleigh Rescue Mission...join me!