The Beach

Busy.  I have become busy with nothing. Mainly because I am on vacation. For the last three days I have been constantly doing something.
And I love it.
Because all of the things I am doing are the things I wished to be doing. Things I daydreamed of doing while working a double shift, in the middle of winter, vacuuming the carpet.
This morning I got up early to take sunrise photos and look for seashells.  Yesterday I visited birds and rescued sea turtles. Tomorrow I kayak in a wildlife refuge!!
(I am squealing excited about tomorrow.  Bucket List time!)

Oh, and then I start a new job.....

Babies

We have a nursery!  I am so excited to have a swallow family living on our front porch. The parents had been nest building for a couple of weeks and I held my husband' s phone up there this morning to snap this photo.
Yay!

Garden update

I'm getting a lot of squash right now, but the cukes and watermelon have a ton of blossoms! I am thrilled and already planning on expanding.

It's a Date

Keeping up With the Neighbors

My garden, as you know, is doing well. So well, in fact that I was able to enjoy a straight neck squash and share one with Roberto, my neighbor.
That's the amazing thing about a garden, you get to share and share and share. A thing that I think we forget too easily. But I am determined that while my family won't go hungry, neither will my neighbors.

Mobile Garden

I have left Jerry Jones and have ditched my flip phone for a new smartphone.  I'm overwhelmed but really enjoying being able to blog on the fly. (And post garden photos! I hope.)
Texas has been experiencing a rainy season the last week or so and I am loving it! Everything is growing like mad and my rain barrel is overflowing. My garden heart is happy.

Squash

In visiting the garden this morning, I discovered a couple of baby squash!  I am so happy!  At least, for a moment.  Then I was a little dismayed to remember that I didn't have a whole ton of squash recipes!

 Squash soup, check. 

Ratatouille, yep.

Squash in butter, a given.

And there's where I end.  Now, given that I have four more of these plants, I could be in serious trouble in a few weeks.  So I am now combing Pinterest and the internet for things to do with squash.  Some of them are pretty cool. 

I'll post what works and gloss over what doesn't.  LOL

More Baking?

Today was uncommonly busy.  Meaning, we didn't have a ton of people in the hospital where I work, but we were swamped!  I couldn't believe it. 
On top of that, my boss called me in to the office and said that I need to do more baking because people were telling him I need to do more baking.  At first I was pissed.  Mainly because I felt that I was already working my ass off and now they were bitching.  But, after my walk tonight, I had to laugh.  "They want me to bake!"  Is that a cosmic joke?
 In any case, I got the hint and I'm going to bake like mad. 

Happily, my garden is growing and growing and growing!   The tomatoes have little yellow blossoms, as do the squash and the bean that The Youngest brought home is taking off up the trellis we installed for all the beans.  (I have no clue as to what it is.  I know it's not a Blue Lake, but it's definitely a climber.)
I'm loving this Texas weather. 

Has anyone read 'Eating on the Wild Side'?  It looks really interesting, but I'd like a gardener's recommendation.
 

The Un-Dewberry Festival

Yesterday we headed to Cameron, Texas for the annual Dewberry Festival.  Wildly excited at getting the change to try a dewberry (I believe that it's similar to a blackberry/marionberry) and filled with all of the canning/baking/cooking dewberry possibilities, I was disappointed to discover that there was nary a dewberry on the premises.

That's right, a dewberry festival with no dewberries. 

There was just this:

 

Stunning, isn't it?  Yep.  We all stood in horror and watched.

 

 

 

The Marque de Sade bounce house.

It was not pretty.

 

 

 

 

Updates!

It's been almost a year since my last post.  I almost wrote "I've been busy", but the fact is, I really have been.  Plus, I forgot about it!  Oops!
I'm still working at the hospital, now as the lead.  A couple of people have left, a few more have come in and right now, I really like the whole crew.  (Another one starts today!) Patient counts have risen and the days we're swamped far outweigh slow days. 
I just got off a seven day shift and I desperately need it!  I am soo tired!! 

But, enough of that! 

We all have settled into Texas life.  The girls enjoy school, although we're into the last couple of weeks.  The Hubby has completed the required state tests and is looking forward to taking the classes on field trips.  (I use the "looking forward" term a little too liberally with all of the planning required, but it's the thought that counts.)

My garden for the year is in! 

I have tons of tomatoes, peppers, beans, watermelon, squash, and some onions.  I have herbs tucked in there, filling in spaces and helping to keep bugs away.

 

First Day of Work

I will admit it....I LOVE MY JOB!!    It's only been a week, but I love everything about it. 

I am blessed to have found such a great job and I am so THANKFUL!!

I Made It!

I just like this photo, that's all.  Nothing that has to do with the blog.  :)

Anyway, I passed the background check and got all of the immunizations and the food handlers card!!!  I'm good to start work tomorrow!!  Yay!  Yay!  I'm so excited.  I have orientation on Monday and Tuesday and then I'm hitting the ground running.  YES!!

Waiting

While I await my background check and drug test results for my dream job (it's taking FOREVER!), I've been puttering around the kitchen.  Today, I made a blueberry crisp.  I mean, I think it's a crisp.  It might have been a buckle.  Whichever one is topped with oatmeal.

I made that one. 

And it was decadent!  :)  It's so nice to be able to walk into my own kitchen and whip something up. I like even more that it's amazing.

But, I really hate waiting for everything to clear.  (It'll clear, I just want to get to work!!!)

Coming True

Today is one of the best days of my life!! 

I was offered the job of my dreams!!!!  And I jumped all over it before the girl could get the formal offer completely out!  (I'm sneaky like that) 

Go me!! 


(I'm still in awe)

Wishcrafting Wednesday

After taking a small break, Jamie Ridler is back with Wishcrafting Wednesday.  I'm thrilled.  I've missed it (and her!).


Today she asks, 'What simple pleasures do you wish to enjoy?' 

Mine is going to sound weird, but I wish to enjoy the making of bread.  Homemade bread.  The kneading, the rising, the baking smells.  I want to get my hands in the dough, mix and see that smooth, therapeutic dough in the bowl.  I finally have counter space in my little house, I should be making more bread.

 I really love this little recipe.  She has a couple of really nice, easy and quick recipes. 

 

Keurig Planting

Not having any peat pots, I decided to use what I have....lots and lots of Keurig cups!! (I love my Caribou Coffee in the morning!)  Woo woo!  Let the planting commence!

I gathered all of my Keurig cups, potting soil, and clippers.

 

 

The first thing to do is to remove the little liner on the top of the cup.  Make sure you don't spill the coffee.  Yet.  You want to put it on your compost pile.

 

 

After getting the lids off, dump the coffee in the compost pile and you'll have a filter underneath....

 

 

 

 

Just rip these off and put them in the compost pile too.  (It's not quite as easy as that, but it's fairly easy once you know what you're looking for.)

 

After cleaning those up, you'll want to head back over to your Keurig.  That little hole on the bottom of the cup that your coffee drips out of?  Yea, you want a couple more of them.  I had my youngest daughter drop the cups into the Keurig and punch a couple more holes in each cup.  You end up with something like this:

 

I then dropped a little potting soil in there and a few tomato seeds and I was good to go.  The seeds came up fairly quickly and since I didn't have grow lights, they got kinda leggy.  Which is okay, I have Blue Bell ice cream pints ready for them to go into.  :)   (Those pictures will come a little later, I just got them transferred over. It looks like we eat a TON of ice cream, but I rounded a few outsiders up!)

And that's how you can completely justify your Keurig!  :)  LOL

 

Workforce

I have applied for tons of jobs and my interviews are starting.  It's a weird thing, doing interviews.  I'm not a good interviewee, I feel too nervous most of the time.  But, these last couple have gone pretty good.    I won't hear from anyone until after Monday so I have the weekend free.

While waiting for that phone call, I got another call to fill out another online questionnaire...one of those 'what would you do in this situation' type of things.  I hate those even more than interviews...they never have exactly what I would have done!  I got as close as I could (which they tell you to do), but nothing ever sounds like me. *sigh*  I'm hoping for the best.

So, I've got those out of the way, and this weekend, I'm heading to a seed saving clinic and a farmer's market in Austin.  I might start some seeds - picked up some squash and since I have developed this parmesan cheese on zucchini fetish, I need to get some starts!
 

Compost Bin

I forgot to post the completed compost bin photo! 

 

 

I only got three good pallets, so I did what I could.  No worries, however, it seems to be working like a charm.  I will keep my eye out for another pallet to make it better enclosed, but I'm more than happy with it.

Photo From Yesterday

The Hunny and I went for a drive yesterday.  We found the local swimming hole and I snapped some photos on the drive home...

And:

 

Compost Baking

After getting my recycled compost bin up and together (holypostdrivers, Batman! and photos will be posted later, when I can lift my arms), I decided that it was time to bake some bread. I've always loved making bread and needed that comfort,  I guess.  I had read earlier on Facebook that a friend of mine had brain cancer.

Actually, she wasn't a "friend", really.  She works in my old local running store.  We shared a name and she was always, always, always kind to me.  It upset me that someone that wonderful was going through something so dreadful.  I needed to be creative and bake.  I needed to make something.  So, I was off to the kitchen!

I realized instantly, that I needed to be really be creative - no bread pan.  I had to do some Internet hopping to find recipes.

Happily, I found this: Easy No-Knead Skillet Bread.  Having lugged my grandfather's skillets down from Montana, I was ready. (I had been wanting to try another no-knead bread for a while, after pretty decent success with this recipe, but my mother was not parting with her dutch oven.  I really
recommend it if you're fortunate enough to have a 5 quart dutch oven.) 
I got flour on my bare feet and my fingers are still a little greasy from the dutch oven seasoning.  It was wonderful and exactly what I needed. 

 

It was kind of an ugly thing - I should have used the 8 skillet, not the 10.

 

 

But, it tasted great.  The kids ate it up and it'll be a great base for herbed bread this fall.