the day the cucumbers died

We have our first casualty. I'm not sure why or how, but the cucumber plant is gone. Just gone, not wilted up and brown and dead, but missing!? It's still early enough to try again, so I'll replace it but isn't that strange? I guess it died and blew away, but still.  I'm a little concerned about my little garden as I watered it last night while I took the dog on a walk, came back and it was pretty drenched (standing water). I figured it'd dry out today in the sun. Yah not so much it's been raining all morning and doesn't look like its stopping any time soon. So we may end up with a marsh. Whoopsy as Klaire would say:)

our garden!

Well the garden is in.  I recruited the rest of the family to "help," we shopped and planted the whole thing in one morning!  Honestly, we ended up going to Menards and grabbing a bunch of the burpee plants that were on sale...so not as thought out as I imagined, but planted nonetheless.





We bought 5 kinds of tomatos because we weren't sure which ones are good, including roma and cherry, so we'll see!

The girls had a blast helping and I think it will be fun to watch it grow...assuming it grows.



Here's what we ended up with:
5 kinds of tomatoes (ha ha)
cucumbers
green peppers
red peppers
onions
some garlic onions, which I thought was garlic, oh well:)
2 kinds of hot peppers
cauliflower
green beans
strawberries
we forgot carrots, but I think I have room so might stick them in too

virgin harvest

We have the perfect little plot (maybe 10x10) for a garden at our new house....I've been thinking about growing a garden and I think my girls would love to watch things grow, then get to eat them!!!!  I mentioned this to a friend at work, she said there 's a blog I read that's having a 'virgin harvest.' Perfect and how clever!!!  Here we go!

I've read to only plant things you're really going to eat sooooo my plan is this:

Tomatoes (regular and cherry)
Cucumbers
Strawberries
Onions
Carrots
Green Beans
Jalapenos (thanks Anne:)
Garlic...can you grow garlic?? ;)
Basil

I know!

I've been slacking. BUT I've been busy...taking pictures of these two little sweethearts! Jayla and Weston.

I sooooooooo want to do this!

I really don't think Brian will go for it.. but seriously, when I saw this I thought someone had taken a picture of MY kitchen!

Ths is my kitchen....(picture from when we moved, excuse the mess)

This is their kitchen redo before:

and after!!!

How awesome is it!! And I was even thinking green (Benjamin Moore 488 Mountain Lane).....a girl can dream can't she??

If you're curious, here's more details on how they did it, exactly. I'm not giving up yet... filing this in the "to do someday" file.

Featured!

I was featured...well my dresser was! Check it out here!

eco-friendly cleaning

My friend Leah heard I was having my little girls help me clean and promptly brought me some "natural stuff I have to try" all the way from Ohio!

It's Trader Joe's Next To Godliness Multi-Purpose Cleaner, Cedarwood & Sage.

So far we have used it with success for all kinds of cleaning: windows, counters, appliances, etc.!

I also read that its recommended for granite counter tops!:

"The benefits of a “Neutral pH” cleaner are twofold, for one it wont deplete the sealer in your stone or grout like acidic and alkaline cleaners do and second, it wont leave a residue on your shiny granite or marble floor to attract more dirt and finger prints."

  Thanks Leah!