2016 Garden Update #2

A few days ago, while I was watering my seedlings all I could hear was the birds singing.  It was so peaceful.  :)

Listen.....

It was nice and sunny out.  Here's a picture of my feet in my garden clogs.

Here's what my green house looks like after today.  I don't have any sprouts yet from any of the seedlings I planted last weekend.  I should get some sprouts any day now.

I made some eggs for breakfast this morning and kept the shells.

I rinsed out the shells.  I poked a small hole in the bottom of each shell with a toothpick.

I filled each shell with some fresh soil.

I decided to do some more cherry tomato seeds.  You can never have too many tomatoes. 

I also found an onion sprouting in my pantry so I planted it this morning.

Have you started any seeds yet?  What do you like to plant?

Orchid Love

I have 3 orchids.  Two I bought August 2015.  One was dead and the other was perfectly healthy.  Then last month I bought a large orchid that I saved from clearance.  

The dead orchid is doing really well.  It's full of blooms.

The other orchid has just bloomed again.

Every day there is a new flower.  It's so cool seeing the flowers ready to pop open

The pictures don't even show you how awesome these colors are.

My big orchid has a new shoot.  YAY!!

It's getting longer and longer every day.  Pretty soon there will be blooms.  I can't wait to see them.

I did cut off the dead flowers so the plant will put all it's energy in the new growth.  While watering one of my orchids this leaf just fell off.

Here's all 3 orchids.  They are happy.  :)

Look at all those blooms.  :)

Chicken Dreams.....

I met up for lunch with my friend Melissa a few weeks ago.  She gave me some farm fresh eggs.  I can't say no to that.  :)   She was one egg short of a dozen when she gathered eggs that morning.  haha

Look at all the pretty colors.

I love these farm fresh eggs.  We talked about chickens over lunch.  Melissa has a bunch of chickens and she's full of chicken information.  She offered to give me baby chicks.  She said she will fertilize some eggs and in 21 days they will hatch.  I'm really considering doing it.  I want to go to Melissa's farm and see her chickens, coop and other animals.

I've made a pinterest board and I'm doing my research.  I've looked up the rules for my county and I'm allowed to have 2 chickens.  YAY!!  I need to submit my application, pay $30 and draw a plan on how my backyard will look with a chicken coop.

I also checked out some books from the library to read.

And then I picked up 2 more.  My husband took this picture making fun of me on facebook.

These are the 2 chickens I want.  Barred Plymouth Hens and Ameraucana Chickens.

I've even come up with chicken names with my BFF.  For some reason old lady names fit with hens.

I still have to convince my husband that chickens will be fun to have.  If we do it and we hate it then at least we tried.  But how can you hate getting eggs from your own chickens?  Yes, I'm sure cleaning a coop is a pain in the butt and I'm know chicken poop smells.  But you get over those little things.  We don't have any other pets right now and I feel like I need something to love and take care of and I think chickens will fill that void.  I'm not ready for a new cat.  I still miss my Harley.

Freezer Crock-pot Meal Prep Party #2

At the end of January I had my first freezer meal party with my girlfriends.

My girlfriends and I got together to do another one last weekend.

After looking around on pinterest, I came across a freezer recipe for stuffed peppers.

A friend of mine hosted this time.  She set up tables for everyone with a plastic tablecloth for easy cleanup.  Here’s my set up station.  (not pictured is the lean turkey meat).

Here’s all my stuffed peppers.  We had 5 people total.  We made 5 1/2 bags full of meals and then swapped.  (The half bag is going to one of my friends mother-in-law since she’s going through a hard time right now so we wanted to stock her freezer).

What did my friends make?

-Bourbon chicken- Ashley

-Mini meatloaf with a bag of dinner yeast rolls.- Kristen

-Beef stir fry with a bag of stir fry veggies.- Sharon

-Chicken, Broccoli, Potato, Bacon and Cheese Bake with a little bag of extra cheese to add to top after it’s done baking.- Crystal

-Stuff Peppers (I prepared)

This is such a fun way to get different meals that you normally might not think about cooking for your family.  We can’t wait to do another one.  And your meals don’t have to be just from crock pots either.  You can do meals that can be baked in the oven or cooked on the grill.  Just make sure they are freezer friendly and that you are using freezer bags.

I have already made the Ckn, brocc, potato, bacon and cheese bake.  It was soooooo yummy and my husband wants that dish again.    I've also made my stuffed peppers.  We loved them.  I had extra sauce that I put in a container and used it for Spaghetti.  It was good and nothing went to waste.  :)

2016 Garden Update #1

After my shed/yard clean up I decided to start some seeds in my green house.

Here's what I have planted.  Yes, I have little plastic dinosaurs in my green house.  Dinos rock!

I planted some cherry toms, peas, marigolds, green beans, and sunflowers.

Cute picture of my gloved.  :)

Here's my succulent that survived the harsh winter.

I figured the guy could use some fresh soil and a nice clean pot so I dug him out.

Here he is in his pot.

I had some red potatoes in my pantry that I let sprout so I could plant them.

I cut off some of the spouts.

Here's the spouts planted.  In a little over 100 days I should have potatoes.  :)

Top view of potatoes and succulent.

I can't wait or the full garden season to start.  I love all my little plants and especially the one that gives me a delicious harvest.  :)

Spring Yard Clean-up 2016

Last weekend, the weather was great.  I decided to clean up the shed and yard a little bit.

I started with the shed.  I grabbed all my garden containers and moved them outside.  They need be cleaned up real good and I need to throw out the cracked ones.  I also found some trash and some things I didn't want and just tossed it in the trash.

This huge bumblebee was in the window.  I heard a weird noise and I looked in the window and saw him.  I don't know if I disturbed him moving stuff out or what.  But he stayed in the window so I left him alone.

Here's all my containers.  haha  Do you think I have enough?  Pretty colors.  :)

I went behind the shed to see how my sycamore tree looked.  It needed a good trim.  There were branches going into the neighbors yard.  I didn't want to be that neighbor so I figured it was time to clean it up.

Here's the saw cutting into a branch.

I have a bunch of branches I still need to clean up.  My dad is coming over tomorrow with his truck so I can get rid of them.  I know the trash dump won't take them so my dad said he could get rid of them for me.  I have the day off from work tomorrow so I can get some stuff done.

I also have some rabbit holes in my yard.

I had some dirt I wanted to get out of my wheel barrow so I used most of this.  I have a little left that I want to use up.

This hole is at the gate.  My dad filled it in for me years ago.

Up close....

I had some fill dirt so I filled in the hole above and another hole that was on the other side.

We've had some rain so I'm sure the holes probably need more dirt.  I haven't checked yet.  I will look tomorrow.  My dad might be bringing me some fill dirt too since I don't have much more.  

We will see.

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

One of my neighbors turned 40 earlier this month and her husband planned a surprise party for her.  I told him I would make the cake.  I also made some of my chocolate chip cookies for those that didn't want cake.  :)

How cute it is?

I baked 4 round cookies.  Took about 30 minutes.  I bought 4 foil pans from the dollar tree.  I also got a cute little round nickel plate to display the cookie cake on.  

I made the frosting:

-3 sticks unsalted butter (soft but cool)

-6 cups powdered sugar

-1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

-1 tsp vanilla (I used my homemade)

Each cookie layer got frosting.  For the top I had baked up some baby cookies and two candles.  I wanted it to be cute and simple.

When it was time to cut, I just sliced a piece from 1 layer that way we got more out of it.  There was maybe 4 slices left by the time I left.  haha  Everyone raved about it.  I had a slice and it was amazing.  The frosting was perfect with the cookie.  :)