A photo day...

I got nothing done today except a trip to the vet for the dogs' annual vaccines, so random pictures are the only thing happening!

The Colonnade Apple Trees surprised me!  They are just 5 ft tall and 1 ft wide, amazing fruit set for such tiny trees!

Anyone know what this is?  I didn't plant it, and they are smack dab in the middle of this grassy weedy stuff that pops up under the bird feeder every year.  They almost look like they came from a bulb, although I haven't dug down, but I didn't plant them!

The bottom of the plant looks like this...

Below are some more things I "weeded around" because they looked like "something", but now they are getting huge and I didn't plant them?

Love, love this shot of a bush bean sprouting - there is no better thing to show the kiddos when it comes to botany 101 !

Speaking of things growing... my sourdough starter is now about 3 weeks old, and is really developing some great flavor.  I'm still working on getting the loaf just right, but so far the flavor is there and the crust is a wonderful chewy texture, but my loaves are still a lot heavier than I would like.

The other night hubby brought home a Luna moth that he had found in the aircraft hangar bay, not doing too well apparently... he boxed it up and rode home on his bike with this lovely specimen to show the kids - complete chaos ensued!

 

  I don't get it - the kids were terrified of this beautiful moth, I guess because it was inside the house?  They love butterflies, beetles, worms, etc but when I opened the box to peek at the moth, it flew out and around the house and they looked like they had seen a ghost.  We removed it to the back deck since apparently it was indeed healthy after buzzing the living room, but that night after they went to bed they laid awake for quite sometime worried that it was inside the house.  Weird kids, they think nothing of keeping lightning bugs in their room though...

The below pic better shows the cool leaf-looking antennae...

A bit of "Miscellany Monday" for you...

What is up with this guy?  That's the Canadian flag flying high while the American flag is down hanging limp on the other side?!  I'm all about the Canucks, I'd probably be one by now if they'd let me in LOL, but come on now, you are in the USA - fly them at the same height or don't fly them at all!

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(as an FYI, that is proper etiquette for flag flying - when 2 countries are flown, they should never be flown on the same staff, and never one higher than another.  To have a country, foreign or our own flown lower than the other is a sign of disrespect.  So when flying 2 or more countries, always fly at the same height, different staffs, equal size flags to show respect to all and indicate that we are at peacetime and not war with the other.)

Finally!

SALAD!

It's about d@mn time!  I've been picking a few spinach leaves here and there, just enough for a pizza occasionally, but feared taking too much too soon!  I have one bed with several varieties now and they are big enough for 3-4 of these salads a week now.  I just have to remember to get out there next week and plant more so we can continue to have enough.

I picked Mizuna, Olympia Spinach, Deer Tongue, Mache, and some random spring greens and lettuce mixes, as well as some leeks and scallions.

Of course now we are anxiously awaiting some real tomatoes, peppers, broccoli & peas to top the lettuce instead of relying on cheese and "fake" hothouse tomatoes (ever notice how those store bought "hothouse" heirlooms have lots of color and absolutely NO flavor?!)

Yesterday Finn surprised me by announcing that he wanted to have dirty hands that day.  I took him outside and he helped me plant all the peppers and eggplants.  Here he is putting a "dog catcher" around one of the eggplants.

I didn't get much of anything done outside today.  I admit I have been feeling a bit down lately, not sure why, maybe just overwhelmed.  I would feel bad if it didn't look like at least something happened while hubby was off working hard, so I decided to make my first loaf of bread the real way.  I'm ready to use the bread machine for bb gun practice in the backyard, I hate that thing!  It takes 3 hours to mix a dough and then it's only halfway mixed LOL.

I followed instructions from the book "BREAD" (go figure)

Here's me the first time mixing by hand... I don't even watch hubby when he makes pizza dough so it's all new to me at this point.

I won't show the kneading process since I got so messy and glue-y that I didn't dare start walking around looking for the camera at that point.  I think I added a couple of tbsp too much water since it didn't rise like I had hoped.  The good news is that although it was kind of flat, it tasted good and I finally got that chewy crust I like.  I used the spray bottle of water on the oven walls method.

Here's Finn smelling it... he must have sat there for an hour picking at the hot loaf burning his fingers, waiting impatiently for dinner :)

Below you can see what I mean about the loaf coming out "flat".  But it was much easier that I expected and I think I can fix it for next time and bonus:  no stupid bread machine or kitchen aid to clean up!

Off to go have 'Family Reading Time' and then lounge the rest of the night away, hoping my energy and attitude improves very soon.

Oh! - I also made my first sourdough starter today which promptly overflowed it's container all over a wood cabinet hubby built... ooops!

Quilt is done!

My 1st full size quilt!

I finished yesterday morning but it was all day before I got around to washing it and getting it on the bed, but here it is:

 

I still think it turned out looking very "teenage girl", but I do like it!  It was done totally from stash fabric and I had just enough scrap left over for a couple of pillows.

Major hurdles and lessons learned from this project:

(some of you no doubt already have this stuff down!)

When ironing miles of binding, wrap it around a ruler to keep things neat!

As you are sewing the binding, wear it like a bracelet and just take off as much as you need, again, keeps things neat and untangled.

Below is a huge accomplishment for me, the binding process!  I finally got it down this time, and it is no longer the scary part :)

Below... the last few stitches upon completion!  My other bindings and mitered corners are so bad I will never show you :)

To sum up, I'm finding I'm pretty decent at all the piecing, the binding's okay, but my machine quilting is horrific!  Looks like Amy Winehouse got ahold of it and tried her best to make straight lines, HA!  I think that eventually when I make the "end all - be all" favorite quilt for myself I will pay the money to take it to a long-arm quilter.  This one, although the lines are all over the place will be loved however.  Mama Pea said the first big quilt is an accomplishment and so I think it will hold some sentimentality for me and will eventually become the dog eared canoe quilt - you know the kind, gets thrown in the canoe for a picnic, laid upon for 4th of July fireworks, etc... wonky stitching and all :)

One last thing... the bread is getting better slowly, hopefully I'll get it down soon so I can at least know one recipe without looking it up and getting consistent results.

My weekly "Living Small" redux will be late this week with good reason, hubby is going to build me a headboard to go with my new mid-century look bedroom, all done either from thrift stores or DIY.  Now he just needs time, a very precious commodity these days.  Luckily, after working 9 days straight of 14 hrs a day, he is home today - so tonight will be pizza night - his dough has been doing it's thing since this morning so it should be good and bubbly thin in a few hours, mmmmm.....

Speaking of bread... if you haven't seen Thomas' latest creation, get over there right now - it's almost unbelievable, except for the fact that we are talking about Thomas, bread baker extraordinaire!  Simply amazing...

Show me the sunflowers!

The other day, Mama Pea of A Homegrown Journal asked for her readers to show her their sunflowers, so here they are! Not as many as I would like this year, I kind of forgot... but thanks to our long growing season I was able to recover and let the kids plant a few!

If any of you remember my "mud clump" that I brought home last year, here it is - the green bush with no flowers yet in center of photo! A fellow Master Gardener had divided her perennial Maximillian Sunflower last fall and was kind enough to bring a truck bed-load of "mud clumps" to class one morning to give away. I am very excited to see it bloom this fall, it has grown immensely since I planted the 1'x1' clump of mud last fall!

I think it's time for her to visit the hive, she was so loaded down with pollen she was having a hard time fighting gravity and staying on the flower when I took this!

What a great way to start the morning... FOR ME!...

When I returned from my early morning harvesting and photo taking, I walked into the house to find my two kids up and had made themselves breakfast! Of course I would prefer they wear shirts at the table, but I'll take what I can get. I think we are finally turning a corner in the child self-sufficiency department. Only days ago my morning would have been greeted by them whining out the back door at me in the garden "I'm hungry, mommmmm!, NOW!"

This morning's harvest included the 1st Roma of the season, I would prefer a little more ripe, but as I was checking it fell off into my hand! Don't think those jalapenos are all that needed picking, there are at least 200 out there but I am ignoring them, just picked a red and green for a heat check!

I want to thank all of you who posted comments yesterday, I was having "one of those days", and it was so nice to know there are others out there making it work, and I got such good advice and inspiring words, I am ready to tackle today with a clear head. It is supposed to be in the low 100's today so I will be in the kitchen all day, and instead of brooding about budgets, I will be taking action! I plan on baking bread today, and organizing my cabinets better so I won't put it off all the time (like having the bread ingredients so high I can't reach them LOL). I have a renewed energy today for being finance-challenged and embracing it rather than ignoring it hahaha! Thanks for your support, everyone!

So Mama Pea, I see your sunflowers and raise you one "Summer Fridge"! How 'bout it, everyone? Let's see pics of your "stuffed away, don't know what I'm going to do with it, help me I hate this vegetable but can't bear to throw it out, pickled" fridge contents!

Oh yeah, some of you gave me way too much credit for my "mommying": don't think I'm super-mom with my kids all the time LOL, today for instance, with the heat they will be plugged in to kid's movies on tv all day or I would never get a week's worth of bread made and kitchen cabinets organized!