Garden

I just realized I never updated the progress on the garden. Here are some more recent pictures...

These pictures are obviously from earlier in the summer... seeing as our tomato plant is now practically as big as Toby's truck! And that's Toby with our scarecrow... yes, she's wearing a thong!

As for the garden's progress... I'm sad to say our sweet corn didn't turn out... it produced, but worms got to it. The sweet peas didn't really work well either. We did get a lot of lettuce, but only for a little while.

We could open a stand with all the damn cucumbers and cherry tomatoes we have... and keep getting!!! It's crazy! We did make pickles, which I love... and plan to make salsa with the rest of the tomatoes. We grew lots of different herbs, but didn't really use them. The banana peppers and jalapenos are my favorites. And we're starting to get green peppers, which I'm very exctied about -- I could eat those things whole! And we're getting 100s of chili peppers, which will be wonderful! We buy so much for seasoning... it'll be nice to use home grown.

And, I'm happy to say the brocolli are finally coming in! I'm not a green-thumb by any means, but Toby knows a thing or two. We planted 6 or 8 broc, and Toby was aboslutely miffed that they weren't producing... they were growing and growing... but no "little trees" were showing. Totally confused, he mentioned it to Tricia, who explained they don't produce until the fall... duh, Toby! Good thing she mentioned that... he was about to give up on the broc, but now it's coming in! I'm EXTREMELY excited to eat our first garden broc!

I love having our own garden, even though I have to be forced to water it. It's not as fun as watering PVT and KT's allotment! :-) This year was definitely a learning experience... for example, we'll only plant one cucumber plant next year... NOT SIX!!! Same with the tomato... unless I plan to start canning. I can only eat so many tomatoes in a day!!! I think we'll also do spring onion, carrots, and maybe brussel sprouts. Three of my faves!

I'd like to thank everyone that had a hand in creating Simpson Garden. We love you all and think of you often. We couldn't have done it without you. As a matter of fact, I think I'll send you all a dozen cucumbers as a sign of our gratitude!!!

Whew! It's been a while...

Sorry it's been so long. I tend to foget about this blog.
Alot has happened since the last time I wrote. Some good, some not so good. But everything happens for a reason, and life goes on.
Deer hunting season opened on Friday, and Toby is PSYCHED! As if fishing weren't expensive enough, he had to choose yet another sport/hobby that requires CRAP LOADS of gear! But at least he's having fun. Here are some pictures from 2 weeks ago when we put up his tree stand.

A man and his tree stand. Can you believe that a man DEATHLY afraid of heights, so much that I have the clean the gutters, chooses deer hunting as a sport? Crazy boy. You can't see it in the last picture, but the seat actually has a bar that comes up over his head and rests in front of him... kind of like an amusement park ride. You'll also notice he has a lot of butt room... that's because it's a two-man stand! He originally bought a one-man and the seat was way too small for him... he was scared enough being so high up, he wanted to make sure he didn't fall out! :-)
So this stand has a large seat, arm rests, protective bar, and the works! It also came with a strap system to hold him to the tree. Can never be too safe! Plus, he's not allowed to hunt when I'm not home... so if he needs assistance, he can call me or walkie-talkie me and I'll ride out there with the quad. And, #1 rule of hunting... no drinking! So it might not be as much fun as fishing! :-)

The Garden

Here are a few quick pics of the garden's progress...
The raised beds are built!
Toby works on putting up the fence.
Jim assists Dave to build the most beautiful gate in the world!
The finished product...
Can't wait to reap its benefits!

hmmm...

i hung out with a friend last night, and she asked what i've been up to, and i honestly couldn't think of anything... what HAVE i been up to? i mean, sure i work all the time... but what do i do when i'm NOT working?

in the past month, i've spent a lot of time helping toby with the garden/yard. it's looking great, and i really need to post some pictures of the raised beds -- they're awesome!

the family went camping over memorial day weekend, but we stayed close to home, since the radio station had our huge summer kick-off party that saturday. unfortunately, it rained for a little while, so it wasn't as huge of a success as we had hoped for... but it was still a pretty good turn out! i had a lot of fun!

other than that, nothing huge stands out... i just spend a lot of time sitting at home, working around the house, going out with friends, shopping with mom... or hanging out with toby. pretty basic stuff, really -- but it's what i like to do... spend time w/ the people i love. people like you.

Simpson Yard

As promised... here are some pictures of the yard, as of 5/14/07... and a pic of the beautiful raised beds... and a pic of Toby transferring some little baby plants (notice Tucker on the left; he loves to help!)

Cheers to Mr. Messy!

Our garden is coming along! I will have pictures soon, but I wanted to update you! Toby has been working his butt off... picking out material for the raises beds, designing the raised beds, building the raised beds, shoveling the dirt into the raised beds, mowing the lawn, watering the lawn, watering the flowers, digging out the clay/rock along the driveway, putting down dirt & grass-seed, followed by more watering... he's been a busy little bee. But don't get me wrong... I helped my fair share... dug out all the grass in the raised beds and shoveled LOTS of dirt!! And of course, I cleaned up after Mr. Messy! Tools everywhere... kind of how he is when he cooks -- uses EVERY pot & pan in the house!
But that doesn't matter -- the lawn looks beautiful & I'll put some pictures up soon.

Raise a glass and cheers to Toby for all his hard work!

No more snow!

Phew! The snow is all gone... and it's warm & sunny! Woo hoo -- bring on the flip flops!

Tricia and KT are arriving today for their 10 day visit... well, we acutally only get them for 6 days, because they're taking a "roadie" to Niagara Falls and back. "Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch..."

Anywho, I'm very excited for the Brits to invade my house! They'll be here in about 2 hours and I can't wait!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend -- enjoy the sun!

April "showers"

"April showers bring May flowers"

Okay, then tell me... what do April SNOW showers bring???? Mosquitoes the size of cats?!?

Can you believe this maddness!?!? It's April 11th and they're calling for 10 inches of the white stuff!! And it's not fun, fluffy, pretty snow... NO, it's wet, soggy, heavy snow that's REALLY HARD TO DRIVE IN!!! Luckily, mom didn't have anywhere to be today, so I brought the Durango to work (bottom right of picture). Can you see the Focus try to battle its way through this weather? Ha! That's funny.

So yeah... needless to say, I'm a little grumpy about the weather. This picture was taken around noon, when the Winter Snow Advisory was supposed to START! Yeah, it's been snowing since 6am!!! And it's not supposed to stop 'til tomorrow afternoon! Ahhhhh!!!

All I want to do is wear flip flops & open the windows... is that too much to ask???

Charlie & Steve were here to visit 3/16-3/26. We saw them off Monday afternoon, and a tear came to my eye as the limo drove off. I absolutely loved having them here & really wish that we could see each other more often! They're so much fun!

And, over the last 10 days, I realized how much Charlie & I have in common... it's kind of creepy. One of the main things -- niether of us ever take the first item off the shelf. Who does that!? It's comforting to know that there's someone just as wierd as I am! I truly do think that we were "meant" to be friends... and sisters!

Let's try this again...

Wine, beer, cheese, pasta, chips & salsa, corned beef hash, eggs, hashbrowns, pizza, more beer, more wine, some more corned beef hash, oh and some salad. That's pretty much what I ate last week. Yeah, so much for Weight Watchers!
I'm sorry, but I was on "holiday" and Charlie & Steve were visiting from England. There was NO way I was going to watch them all eat and drink. So, not only did I take a vacation from work... I took a vacation from WW!
I'm back at it tomorrow... so I told Toby we're having lots and lots of pasta for dinner! Then tomorrow I starve. No, it's not that bad. I can eat whatever I want -- it's just all about portion control. It's not hard at all... I actually found myself with points left over after lunch, and since you're required to use all your daily points, I could have a snack or a glass of wine after dinner/before bed.
I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but my mom last 6 pounds in her first week on WW! That's amazing... way to go, mommy! I'm really hoping the pounds just fall off me too. I only want to lose 20 or so... but I'm sure it'll take a little while. A few months or so... and then summer will help, because I'll just sweat the weight off! :)

Those 35 extra points...

Every week, I get 35 extra Weight Watchers points I can use if I want (if I go out for a special meal or something). Well, I had deemed them my "chips and salsa" points, but hadn't needed to "tap into" them yet (remember, I've only been on WW for 5 days!).
Well, I learned last night they're also very good for going out drinking! (12 oz of Miller Lite is only 2 points!) So... Toby and I met for a drink after work last night, and we went to the Cactus Club. I'm friends with a lot of people there, and the GM kept bringing Toby different foods to try, so before I knew it, I'd used 16 points! Between chips & salsa (complimentary!!!), beer and nibbles on chicken wings, shrimp, etc... those points really add up! So, I was hoping I could go all week w/o touching the 35 points -- so much for that!
And I HIGHGLY doubt I'll be able to do it next week either, seeing as Charlie & Steve will be here -- those 35 points will be my "wine & beer" points, I'm sure!

Erin... knitting? Nooooo!

In my attempt to better myself, not only have I taken on cooking... I taught myself to knit last night! Yes, that's right... I said knit! Granted, I've only got the "casting on" bit down, I'm farther along than I ever thought possible! I'm hoping that when Tricia visits with KT in April, she'll help me out! My goal is to make a small blanket for the cats... I know, it's somewhat pathetic, but I thought a full size blanket, or even a throw, was too ambitious for me! Heck, I'll probably end up making a 4"x4" hot pad!
So I'm cooking, I'm knitting... I do laundry, I clean... I'm really turning into the wife Toby hoped for! He does always say he got me young because I was still "trainable" -- well, looks like he was right! I guess we'll see if I'm still so "domestic" in a month!

I did it!

I cooked dinner last night... and Toby actually liked it! He really liked it! It took a little longer than I expected, but it was a lot of fun! I promised Toby that I would keep at cooking, and that 10 years from now I hope to be cooking for him and our children! We've decided to "share" the kitchen from now on... I'm excited. I'm becoming a real house wife! :)
And I'm really liking the Weight Watchers thing... yeah, I've only been on it one whole day, but I did good yesterday! I thought I'd hit my daily points target of 23 alot faster! I actually only had 18 points yesterday (which is bad.. I'm supposded to eat 23, no more no less) Oops! I guess I could've eaten chips & salsa after all!
Another one of my vices is the Starbucks Frappuccino... I drink one every morning! Sometimes, I have one in the afternoon. Well, I always knew they weren't really good for me... but they're worth 4 points! Whew! (However, today's was only worth 2 points, because I spilled half of it all over my desk, including some of my WW stuff!) You think that's some sort of sign???

New Challenge

Okay, so mom and I signed up for Weight Watchers last night and attended our first meeting. I'm only looking to lose about 10 pounds or so, but I think it's going to be harder than I thought. As you all know, I'm addicted to chips & salsa. Thankfully, salsa's not a problem -- I could drink the stuff and be okay. However, chips are another story. As you may or may not know, WW is based on a points system. I have to eat 23 points/day. No more, no less. That's the number based on my age, height, weight, etc. 12 tortilla chips = 3 points! Aaahhhhh! When I eat chips & salsa, I can eat half a bag of chips! And not a little bag... one of those family size bags! I think I'm in for a challenge here, what do you think????

The good side to all of this is not only that I'll be healthier and thinner, but I'm going to start cooking more. (I say "more" like I cooked in the first place...) So, I printed out loads of WW recipes... now Toby will have to suffer too! j/k The food is the same as we always eat... it's just healthier/smaller portions. So if I make something with 4 servings, I'll just eat one and he can have the rest! hahahah

Tonight I'm making chicken breast wtih sauteed tomatoes and green beens. yummy! Tomorrow I'm going to tackle "chicken dinner in a crock-pot." We got a crock pot for our wedding, but I've never used it! So I'm learning something new! I'm excited. I just hope it tastes okay! And I hope Toby "lets" me use "his" kitchen! :)

Uh... no!

This is what I was talking about in my last post...

Get us out!

Ahhh yes... the cats love to lounge on the back deck. As a matter of fact, I think they're going stir crazy, locked up in the house all winter. I'll find them sitting at the patio door, meowing, talking to the birds and squirrels in the trees. Toby or I will open the door, but they don't dare step out onto the cold deck... or even worse, snow!!! It would freeze their dainty little feet. So, until the seasons change, TuckeDeuce will continue to long for their days of basking in the sun, in the comforts of their lounge chairs.

No kids, just cats

As of yet, we don't have any children... well, human children that is. We have our cats, the twins, Tucker & Deuce. They're brother and sister, about 4 years old. Tucker's on the left, Deuce on the right. They lay like this alot! One will be sleeping comfortably, and the other one (most commonly Tucker), will come and plop down on top! Not next to, on top! Yet, it doesn't seem to bother... they can lay like that for hours, and they do!

They're almost always together, and they look EXACTLY alike, so we call them TuckerDeuce.

They have totally different personalities. Tucker's the alpha, and a big bruiser (yet mommy's favorite) and comes when he's called (he's really part dog)... and Deuce is our little princess and she can't hold her licker!

Two of the greatest cats in the world, I tell ya! We're very proud parents.

Trying this out...

So, I've never really done the blog thing... but I've been inspired by Cousin Marie's baby-blog. I've no babies to blog about, but my cats are entertaining!
This is probably just going to be a total random blog... but it's a good way to keep people updated on Simpson Life... especially those of you across the pond!
I love to write, so I hope you love to read!