Organizing

It's one of those things that has to be done. And it usually takes time, creativity, and money. All of which I don't have or want to devote to organizing. But after awhile the clutter and chaos eat away at the very strings that hold my sanity together and I hit a wall. I did just that with the kitchen a few weeks ago. I will not name names or point fingers or note how many times 'solutions' have been ignored but suffice it to say it's been enough times that I can no longer handle the situation.

The problem: the entrance which we use almost 100% of the time leads directly into the kitchen. The result is that EVERYTHING ends up a) on the kitchen table, b) on the kitchen floor by the door, or c) on the kitchen counters. NONE of which work for me.

The solution (in the works):

This soon to be lovely piece of furniture will sit below the chalkboard and will become the mail, key, junk, shoe, and whatever-else-lands-in-the-kitchen station.

The plan is modified from Ana White's salsa console.  The spaces in the bottom will be open and the husband has made it so I can have adjustable shelving in those three sections. I'll likely stain the top surface and paint the rest but we'll see.

Picture from Ana-White.com

The massive garden

We started here.

Then we had this.

Now we have this.

Under all of those massive zucchini leaves.

Running count of harvested veggies
3 zucchini
14 tomatoes
1 jalapeno

Of last count, the husband reported 63 tomatoes in the works. Now, lets just hope the red peppers bounce back from the caterpillar ravaging.

Seasons

One of the things about living in Texas that I've found interesting is the difference in seasons. As we begin to enjoy veggies from our garden, most of our friends and families are just now planting their gardens. As we enter into the beginning of weeks of 90 degree temperatures, our friends and families are enjoying temperatures in the 70s. I love that we will have a garden to enjoy for quite awhile and that we have two growing seasons - we'll get to plant another set of veggies in late summer. But I have to admit, I much prefer milder temperatures. Oh well. I can't complain though, because Texas is perfect for me and my dislike of snow and cold weather!

Some pictures from around our yard.

Baby grapefruit

Baby orange

Quick update

I've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks so I haven't had a ton of time to write for this blog (read: work is SUPER busy and life at home has involved less fun things). But I'll give you a quick rundown on what we've been up to.

1. We went to our first crawfish boil. Crawfish are pretty tasty but much like crabs, etc they are a bit too much work to make eating a bunch of them worthwhile. We also met wonderful people from NC!! :)

2. The garden is....still growing. I know, strange how that works out that way. We did get our first zucchini which the husband proudly displayed on facebook - all 15 oz of it.

3. Shadow gave us a bit of a scare, and my resulting thought process solidified my realization that I have an irrational fear of something bad happening to her.

4. I did what any transplant looking for friends does - I joined a social group and went to my first social meetup last night. It was surprisingly fun, we made fondant roses, learned how to make lemon drops and cosmos (although I already new how to make a cosmo), sampled said drinks and other drinks, and concluded at a wine bar. These ladies know how to have fun. What was especially nice was getting to meet other transplants. And randomly, one of the ladies is married to a NC State grad and lived in NC for 9 years - AWESOME.

Our little roses

5. I miss my people and NC - could you tell? You should see my face when I meet people from NC - they probably think I'm nuts.

6. We priced some tree services and are thinking about removing 3 large trees in the front yard and doing a complete overhaul of the front yard. If we go for it, we'll have to temporarily move all of the stone and mulch - yeah, we're nuts.

7. My new little softball team won the championship!  We get free t-shirts b/c we won.

8. The husband is building a piece of furniture for the kitchen - I'm excited! :)

That seems like enough of an update for now.  We're going to work on taking more pictures and such so I can have more fun things to look at here.