Trying out delayed posting. . . .

It's Monday night as I type this (6.27pm to be exact). I wanted to post more this week so I was hoping to get in to the routine of typing a post in the evening and having it upload after midnight (so the date is correct for that day's posting!). Sadie sent me the directions a little while ago so I'll try it out tonight. I'm only mentioning this in case something goes wrong and the post is all messed up tomorrow? If it works out ok I won't mention it any other time I use it ;-)

Judy asked if the recipe for the Kooky Cupcakes was on the ice cream cone box - the answer is yes. I was going to take a picture of it, but I looked on line instead. If you go to Keebler.com you can find the recipe. I couldn't get a direct link to the page because the url didn't change, it just constantly says keebler.com no matter what page you're on! So when you enter the site via the cute little door in the tree, you will see 3 main options 'Crackers' - 'Cookies' - 'Other Goodies'. Click on Other Goodies. Ignore the box of cones on the shelf but go to the 'Recipes' box shown along the bottom of the page - click 'other goodies' again, then click inside the box that says 'choose a product' then click 'cones'. Then click Get Recipe. Another list pops up and from there you can click on Kooky Cupcakes!

Phew, that sounded a bit long winded, I should have just taken a picture after all!!

Jason continues to do well on his healthy eating lifestyle, although we do tend to side-track a little at weekends. He seems to lose about 3 or 4lb during the week then gain a couple back again after the weekend, so for the most part he's still losing maybe 1 or 2 lb a week - so it's all good (at least he's not gaining!). Tonight for dinner I made a yummy Spaghetti and Zesty Bolognese. I didn't get a picture of it I'm afraid. Usually if the camera is upstairs when I'm dishing up dinner downstairs - well, pictures don't happen! But you can CLICK HERE to see it and get the recipe.

OK, not much else to write about and I have no photos so I'll not make this post too long - it's always boring if there's no pictures to look at (imo) !!

Pictures in next post, I promise!

Kooky Cupcakes . . . and other fun stuff!

It's hard to find time to blog when you're having so much fun! The last fews days have gone by so quickly. I thought I might have blogged again after Thursday, but here we are on Monday morning already. So, I better start the week off as I mean to go on. . . . and that's with a blog post!

Kooky Cupcakes? Well that's the name given to these cupcakes on the ice cream cone box and Kristen insisted all last week that we try to bake some. It's basically cake batter cooked inside the cone instead of a paper case! You wrap foil around the cones while they bake so they don't get too brown and you stand them up inside your muffin tins. I only made 6 of these but the recipe says it will make 24!!! I just made plain cupcakes with the rest of the recipe and put them in the freezer - to be taken out now and then for Kristen to have as a treat.

So here's the cakes just out of the oven, cooling. As you can see some of them were just about to spill over a little, but they were ok.

All you do next is pipe on frosting so they look like ice creams, and add sprinkles. It's that simple.

She's ready to give it the taste test :-) And yes, it got two thumbs up.

Yesterday we celebrated Grandma's (my mil) birthday and I made a special birthday lunch for her after we got home from church. I didn't take many pictures, but on the menu was :

Grilled Teryaki Salmon, asparagus, green beans and boiled baby new potatoes. I did teryaki chicken for Jason cos he doesn't like fish of any kind. I didn't have to make different desserts though - every one enjoyed the double-chocolate strawberry shortcake I made (you can click on the picture to see the recipe)

Have a great day, and I hope to post more this week (haven't I said that before?)!! We bought some new patio furniture for our deck, I'll share those pictures later this week.

I'm Still Here!

Gosh, is it really Thursday already? And no post from me since Sunday! I'm sure a few of you are wondering where I am or whats up. Well, nothing is up, and I'm still here :-) Just the days whizzing by as usual and the feeling that I just didn't have anything to blog about.

I still don't have anything to blog about really, but I thought I'd make a quick post as it might be a day or too again before I write anything else. We have no school tomorrow which I'm really happy about. Getting up at 6am every day just seems to wear me out! I'm ready to have a rest by the weekend, so a day earlier is even nicer. Kristen and I are planning on going over to her friend's house so they can play and I can catch up with her mom, Brandi. We see each other for just a couple of minutes each day to pick up the kids, but haven't gotten together for a while to have a nice chat. I'm gonna stop at the grocery store and pick up some sushi for us for lunch. The kids will probably have chicken nuggets, I know for sure Kristen would not even want to 'sniff' at the sushi!

Oh, about that soil. . . . . . we got the results back last weekend. But let me tell you first, that my genius of a husband had already figured out the problem :-) He was out there looking around at the beds, which as you've seen from the photos, half are still filled with dead weeds etc. What he noticed was, there were actually 'live' weeds growing in some areas. And it seemed that where the weeds were growing was in the same spot he'd planted pinto beans.

He then went and looked up some info on pinto beans, and found out that they actually put nitrogen in to the soil. Jason figured out that the organic soil must be low on nitrogen so he went to the store and bought some Organic Bone Meal to add to it. Later that day the mail came and the results for the soil. . . . and yes! that is exactly what it said too “very low in nitrogen”. So now we’ve added the nitrogen and we’ve planted a few more plants but I don’t know how long it will take for us to see if things are going well. So far it’s hard to say, but it’s only been a few days.

Weather is forecast to be nice, warm and sunny this weekend. It’s mother-in-law’s birthday on Saturday and I’m making dinner for us all on Sunday to celebrate. So I’ll be quite busy getting ready for all that until then.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

It's a hard life. . . . .

. . . . . but somebody has to do it! :-) Of course I'm joking - I have a wonderful life, and I know it. Yesterday Jason took Kristen over to his friend's house in the afternoon, and as you can see from the photos, I made the most of it.

I took a bottle of 'fizzy' up on the deck and sat and browsed the 'Taste of Home' cooking magazine that I'd just bought. It was so relaxing and peaceful.

And I was joined by my handsome little guy who kindly kept my seat warm while I was setting up the camera!

Jason called later in the evening to say he had decided to stay the night so he could have another beer. So I had a very quiet and relaxing evening too, watching Bridget Jone's Diary and knitting. I went to bed around 11pm and got up at 7.45am this morning. Jason and Kristen arrived home at 9.30am in time to get ready to go to church. We've had a lazy Sunday afternoon , just the way I like it. Usually I will try to go grocery shopping today so I can come straight home from the gym on Monday mornings and start housework, but today I felt too lazy! I'll go to the store tomorrow morning after the gym, which is not a bad thing really, it's the quietest time of the day, hardly anyone is in there at 8am :-)

I hope you've all enjoyed your weekend too.

Yard Work!

Not much to chat about today, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of the front garden/yard I was working on this week. I took a break from it yesterday as my back was really starting to ache, and I don't want to over do it and hurt it beyond repair! Usually just a couple of days rest helps it feel ok again.

As you can see from the photo below I've added a border around the flower bed under the dining room window. This will help keep the grass from growing over the edge and it makes it look much neater.

The flower bed extends forward down the side of the front patio and curves around a little in to the front yard. Hard to explain but I think you can see what I mean from the pictures. I'm hoping the marigolds fill out and make a lovely colorful border along the edge. I still need a little more mulch to finish off covering the soil, and a few more plants are needed to go along the side too.

I also added a border around one of the trees in the yard, which I didn't get a picture of yet, and I have one other tree to do. I'll try to get a picture once it's all finished.

I hope you ladies took note of the BSE reminder yesterday(doesn't that come around quickly?). Take two minutes out of your day (if you haven't already) just to do that quick check. I did mine last night. :-)

BSE Reminder!

. . . . about that soil!

One thing I keep forgetting to mention when I post, is about the soil 'issue'. Yes, it's still an issue, because since we added the manure over a week ago and put in the tomato plants, peppers and herbs that we bought at the grocery store. . . . well, as we would say in England, they simply "look crap"!!!!!

It's as if the life is being sucked out of them. They look pale, the leaves are withering, they just look 'sick'. It's got to be the soil! I'm not over watering them, or under watering them. We've had no frost since we planted them, the days are warm. So last week Jason took some soil, put it in a small ziploc bag and I mailed it off to some place he found on the web that tests your soil. We will get to the bottom of this if it's the last thing we do. I mean honestly, how can you buy organic soil and not have things grow in it? We're hoping they tell us something is just slightly off with the soil and that we need to 'add' something to balance it? Whatever the results (unless they say it's normal that is) Jason will take it to the garden center that sold him it and let them know - see what they have to say about it.

I know I mentioned the parsley was doing good, but we think it's because it's a hardly plant and managed to get it's roots down in to our good soil before the organic stuff killed it off - that's why it's now thriving. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

Yesterday I went out and bought more flowers for the front yard and some edging to put around the border. We were forecast for thunder and rain, but didn't actually get any, so I was able to do a little planting. I will try to get the mulch added today, and I'll take pictures when it's all done. I've skipped the gym the past two days because bending down doing the garden is causing my back to ache a lot. It's never been the same since I had Kristen and I find it difficult sometimes to bend over without it 'tugging' on one side. I don't want to hurt it more by trying to lift weights. I'll use my yard work as my workout this week ;-)

No sun again today but it should be a warm day, up to 82 degrees. I'll put on some laundry then get out in the garden to work.... hope you all have a lovely day.