Molly's Surgery & A Garden Update!

As many of you have heard our little precious dog, Molly, had to have surgery on friday for her ACL. A few days prior she got out of our fence and started chasing a cat. She must have turned wrong on her knee, because as David went to go find her she let out a big whelping cry. We were very thankful to have found a great Veterinarian and place closer to our house to have this done so fast. We just wanted to get it done as soon as possible so we could begin the recovery process, which is around 6-8 weeks. She has a wrap around the area where the stiches are just to protect it so we haven't seen the actual scar area. We want to keep it on there as long as possible so she doesn't try to lick or irratie it. We go in about 10 days to get the stitches/staples out. We also went to a wedding on Friday night (I'll post on it soon) and we're so grateful that Amber and Preston could watch Molly for us while we went to Athens for the wedding. Here is a photo of Molly taken on Saturday morning as she is trying to milk David for attention.

This next photo was taken in the backyard. She decided to take a rest in the back by all the bushes. It was gorgeous outside so she was enjoying the weather. Isn't she so cute?

While we were back there I checked on the garden, (I am watering every day and keeping an eye out) and I saw something in one of the squares!! Now this could be nothing, even though it looks like something. They said I wouldn't get weeds, so I'm crossing my fingers. It is in the lettuce square, but if you look close enough you can see 2 little green sprouts!! I will keep posting with my findings this week.

Top Three Thursday- Fears

This week's top 3 is on our biggest fears. I have a lot of small/med. fears, but these are the most prominent ones.

1.)Bugs (bees, spiders, roaches, etc..)- If they would just mind their own business and stay outside we wouldn't have a problem. If the bees would just hang out by the flowers and not want to buzz and attack me, we might be friends or at least tolerable acquaintances. Spiders, have you not heard my spider story yet? Here is the quick run down. Last year, or the year before that David was traveling a lot for work and one day I came in the kitchen and saw a BIG spider. It looked like a big wood spider ( I was going to put a photo, but I just can't do it, yuck). Well I called my mom for motivation to kill it. So, I grabbed a fly swatter so I could be at a good arms length away when smacking. Well I smacked it good and ran away screaming like usual. So I was freaking out and a little bit later my mom said you should just go make sure that you really did kill it. I go back in the kitchen and see what I think are tiny little ants everywhere!! WELL they were not ants at all, they were BABY SPIDERS. IT WAS A PREGNANT SPIDER AND IT LET ALL THE BABIES OUT. It was disgusting. I got wasp spray or whatever I could find to spray and smack them with. It was traumatizing to say the least. We now have a nice relationship with the pest guy, he brought special spider juice to protect the premises.

2.) Home Invasions- I have a fear of our house being broken into when I am in it. I think I watch too many movies, "Taken" rings a bell for this one. I just wish people would find other things to do besides break in and take things or hurt people. Not nice, it can be a scary world out there.

3.) Heights & Stairs with holes- This one you probably will find kinda funny. I was a cheerleader and on top of all the pyramids, thrown high-up in the air so it's hard to believe that I am afraid of heights. It's really only in certain situations. I can not go near the edge at malls on the second floor. I have to walk FAR away from the edges. I don't know if its the clear glass they use, but it's pretty much anywhere. I also have a fear of flights of steps that don't have
backs on them. It's fine if it's only a few steps, but I am really referring to is Seabreeze & Darien Lake (NY peeps know what's up). They have tube water rides where you have to carry your own huge tube up flights and flights of stairs. Well they have holes in the stairs and you can look through or down. Not to mention people are bumping you all over with their tube. Not a good experience, I don't go on water rides anymore.

What are your top 3 biggest fears?

Planting in our Square Foot Garden

It's gardening time! I've been anxious to get the garden started with all this warm weather. I looked at the 10 day forecast to make sure we weren't in danger for frost-like temperatures. It has to be above 38 degrees technically for no frost. We gathered all our supplies and were ready to start. You use Mel's Mix (he is the guy that wrote the book on square foot gardening). It is 1/3 compost, (it is good to have a variety of diff. composts, which i didn't read until recently, oops) 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. You can find everything, but the vermiculite at a home depot type store. We went to a local nursery and got better prices for everything. I think we spent around $45 for all the mixture. There is a bag of potting soil that was in the garage that accidentally made it into the picture, but you don't use any real soil/dirt, just the above mentioned items.

I also did a lot of research on how many seed holes to plant in one of your squares. There are simple conversions, but I found the best website to learn about all these. Go here and start reading away. She has an easy chart that has the common vegetables to plant. I also researched what would grow well next to each other and what things to keep far away. I downloaded these sheets from $5dollardinners. You can also keep track of your anticipated harvest dates.

Here is the drawing of my garden layout! You can also see the dots that indicate the holes that you drop 2-3 seeds in each one. It all depends on how big the plant/vegetable will grow and spread out.

It's time to mix! We just put 1/3 of each in and just mixed together with our hands (with gloves) and kept adding and adding.

An important feature of the square foot garden is that you can grow 16 things in one garden. To easily separate it out David made me wood dividers we put in. So it will be easy to keep track of what is where. I think it turned out so great!

After doing a lot more reading I am getting nervous about how this is all going to turn out. For the best results you are suppose to start your plants inside and transplant them so I already have that working against me. If none of this turns out, just promise you won't make fun of me. I could really be doing all this for nothing or it could be amazing! I have high hopes so cross your green thumbs for me! I'll keep you posted in a few weeks  when things start sprouting.

Easter Sunday Celebration

This Sunday we went over to Gina (sister-in-law) and Mark's house for a Warchol family Easter and Birthday celebration. The dinner table(s) were set with spring designed plates, colorful cups and napkins, and beautiful flowers.

 

Here is a picture of the Easter eggs David and I dyed that I will post about soon. They came out great, for the most part and were very easy to do! We'll be doing this from now on.

Before dinner we went outside to hide Easter eggs for the kids. I hid Annslee's, she found most all of them right away. Of course the older boys (David included) hid Jake's eggs in places that he was never going to find them. It was such a beautiful day to sit around one of Gina's many outside decks. I should have taken pictures of how nice her backyard and decks look. Next time!

Dinner was very good and we had all the fixings of an Easter Meal. The honey baked ham was my favorite!  Here is a group shot (David was taking the photo). I think we are missing some kids and Mary was sick so her and Kaleb didn't make it to the celebration. In total we would have been about 20-21 people, just for immediate family!

 After dinner it was time for the birthday singing to begin. David's mom made a delicious homemade cookie cake.

Here are the enthusiastic birthday boys. Atleast David looks a little happy about the whole thing.

 I have a few more posts that I am working on from the weekend including step by step instructions for those Easter eggs we dyed, David's birthday goodies I made and garden planning. Last night we officially planted the seeds in the vegetable garden!!

Easter Weekend Meals

Well this weekend I'm sure we will do a lot of eating since it is David's birthday weekend and Easter is on Sunday. I wanted to share some websites (which you've heard me talk about all the time) where I got my inspiration for what I am bringing for Easter dinner.

This is what the menu is looking like so far, there is still a few people who haven't responded so the list will grow:

Honey Baked Ham
Yeast rolls
Veggie Tray
Pretzels & Dip
Fruit Tray
Shrimp & sauce
Green Bean Casserole
Hummus (we're bringing)
Roasted Carrots & Asparagus (we're bringing)
Green salad/spinach salad (we're bringing-I'll make some variation of this)
Mashed Potatoes
Birthday cake




Click here for more Easter meal ideas.  Click here for ideas for side items. I think I will also make this carrot cake for David's birthday (minus a few pieces without that cream cheese frosting for me).

If I have time tomorrow I am also going to make these Easter Eggs. My mom has already tried it and says that it was pretty easy!

Happy Easter!

Top Three Thursday- Things I Can't Live Without

 

This week's top three is on things we can't live without. 

1 & 2. The Internet/Computer/iphone- I am on the computer/internet all the time... At work, at home & on my phone. With my family being out of town we have nightly "family chats" on AOL instant messenger a lot. I read blogs, articles and do all my research on there. David calls me "the internet girl" to all his friends. I would go nuts if I couldn't get online for a few days. 

 

 3. Friends and Family! (sorry I cheated on this one)- I really couldn't think of another "thing" that I couldn't live without. I will leave you with a pic of all our wonderful family, some near and some far!

What is your top three things you couldn't live without?

Also, Happy April Fools Day! I can't believe its already April. We had some tricks being played around our office today. They put up fake video camera's around like they were monitoring us (they even moved based on a motion sensor),  lots of fake bugs and cockroaches everywhere, and some funny texts and emails were shared by all. What tricks did you play or have been played on you?

David's Paintball Weekend

This past weekend David went to camp with the guys and play paintball. They try to go once a month in the warm spring/summer months. It's a great way for them to catch up and do "guy" stuff. Although I don't have pictures from this past weekend, because you know how guys and photos are, I'll show you some from previous games. Here are a couple action shots.

This next picture shows how many people come to the games. They are 24-hour games that start Saturday at noon and last until Sunday at noon. You don't play the entire time, but you can play at night if you have the right equipment. There is even little kids there as you can see. This game was up in Tennessee.

Here is a group shot that was taken a few years back when they started playing. Even Molly got to make it to a game! She was the team mascot. She is too mischievous now and wanders away so she's not allowed to go anymore. I'm glad he has such great friends and that they are able to take time to hang out for these weekends. I'm sure they are already planning for the next one!