Woohoo For Growing Something I Can't Eat Raw!

Raw tomatoes are too acidic for me.  As well as grapes.  And oranges.  I wonder if it has something to do with my allergy to guava?  Who knows.  The body is weird.  It's reactions are even more bizarre.

Moving on...

I wanted to take a moment to show off the last remaining plants I have living in my raised bed seeing as how I've lost nearly everything else to my murderous black thumb.

Here's my raised bed July 2nd.

Everything was green and tiny.  Even the Pumpkin was still alive but puny.   The back left are Sun Gold tomatoes.  They were received as a gift already fairly large.  This was when it had about doubled in size.

In the center was the last Roma tomato plant that I grew from seed.  The right was a purchased New Mexico Green Chili plant.  

It's against all that's natural and good to not grow green chili when you live in New Mexico.  It is just plain wrong.

I think.

Here's the raised bed as of this morning from a similar angle.

Yep!  I CAN GROW STUFF!  WOOHOO!  I ROCK!  I AM AWESOME!  I DIDN'T KILL IT!

Oh... you're still here.

*nervous clearing of throat*

Check out all those little tomatoes!

See!  I can do it!  The Sun Golds are looking good.

Apparently they are rather haunted.

*shudders at the site of orbs*

Look out behind you, by the way.

Green chili's are starting to get little buds, too.

No orbs here.  It's just the sun golds.  What's up with that?  Maybe it had something to do with these guys that Deebo caught about two weeks ago.

See.

Here's another one in Deebo's little hand because Diva and I shared this reaction to the idea of picking them off the plant.

Yeah.  That's pretty much how I felt about it.  DISGUSTING little creatures!  Even though they are kinda' cool looking.  Still don't need to touch them though.  That's what children are for.  I have no idea how I'm going to slaughter a chicken someday.  I don't think the rugrats will handle that one on their own.  Just a thought.

Deebo pulled off six of these hornworms and managed to only injure one of them.  Of course, we thought torture was a better idea.  So we threw them in this Chinese soup take-out container, poked some holes in the top, threw in some leaves and let them bake on the kitchen window sill over my sink for a week.  We finally set them free on the brink of death out by a bush in my front yard (not the courtyard).

By a bush where a bunch of rabbits live.

Now I have orbs around my Sun Gold tomatoes.

I get it.  I deserve it.

But WOOHOO for growing something I can't eat raw anyway!

*puzzled look*

I Wish...

That Tsunami's pumpkin plant didn't wither up and die for no apparent reason.  One day...

The next, such withered, brown devastatingly ugliness that I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture to show you.

I wish that my Clematis didn't go from this...

A plant clearly trying to grow to this...

One very dead plant.  *sigh*

So, I turned my luck around and wished for green.  Of course, wishing for green anything in New Mexico when it isn't a cacti, agave nor chili plant, you're in for a lot of work. A. LOT. OF. WORK.  A lot of work or not, I am determined to have a pretty little oasis within my courtyard, a relaxing environment in the backyard for entertaining, and an incredible place to play for my kiddos.  All while growing a lot of my own food.  And maybe collecting my own chicken eggs.  Someday.  We'll see.

In the meantime, I went to the big blue store that really isn't exactly a nursery to see what they had on sale in the middle of summer.  You know they needed to get rid of some stuff.  And I had lost enough plants throughout the beginning of the summer and had some that didn't bother to grow at all, that I was going to try it anyway.  Try what?

Plant in July.

In New Mexico.

When it's nearly 100 degrees outside everyday.

And drier than the Sahara Desert.

Okay, not really, but it feels that way.

I was pleasantly surprised by the finds I retrieved.  To replace my Clematis (my poor, sickly Clematis that I so desperately desired), I found the Trumpet Vine.

See that pretty orange flower?

I hate orange.  But for whatever reason, THIS orange is okay.

See that price?  Cut it in half and see what I got:

Yep.  Pretty darn well grown already.  Not one sick or beaten or battered branch nor leaf on the entire plant.

I dug a whole and turned my sickly looking Clematis corner into...

*drum roll*

So much better!  Eventually, this beautiful plant will grow and grow and grow and just keep growing until it's draping over my courtyard wall showing off it's pretty (ugly?) orange flowers.

*insert giddy happy dance here please*


Then there was this minor problem.

Ick.  I hate the brown.  I hate the cable wire coming straight down OFF CENTER between my bedroom windows.  I hate the sandy clay that won't grow anything right there.  And I'm dying to have those planter boxes stained and set level and filled with beautiful, rich soil.

I had had a Delphinium planted there.  It died.  Even though I buried it's healthy root system in really amazing soil and kept it watered appropriately.

Whatever.  The Horticulturist's Universe is out to batter me and leave me broken and bruised in my desert clay grave.  Yes, "The Horticulturist's Universe" exists and requires title capitalization... because I said so.

So there.

For this vomit-inducing section of my courtyard, on the front of my house, where everyone can see, I needed something that will grow quickly.  Something tall.  Something GREEN.  And something truly tougher than the desert it's fighting against.

This pretty flower had me sold.  I've seen it everywhere in our neck of the woods, as well, so I was feeling pretty confident that I wouldn't kill it.

I dug a huge hole.

I dug a bigger hole than recommended on the label.  A lot bigger!  It might have had something to do with my anger with Bad Boy that day.  Gardening is rather therapeutic for the frustrations ones spouse may cause.  As well as the stresses your spawn seem to constantly throw straight at your gut.  In the diaphragm.  The stresses that seemingly knock the wind out of your lungs so fast you barely have time to catch it before it explodes all over the room.

Shovels are awesome.  Just sayin'.

Side note:  why in the WORLD does "diaphragm" have a "g" in it?  Words like this baffle me.

See how much better it'll look already without it even having been put into the ground?  Eventually, it'll look like this:

That sucker can get to be about eight feet tall and can be pruned back like a shrub.

PERFECT!  I buried the beauty in excellent soil.  Watered it well.  Kept it watered.  Gave it a basin to drink out of and everything.

It almost died.  Almost.  The stubborn thing is still putting out new leaves and blooms daily though.  So I'm not worried.  I like stubborn plants.

In the raised planter bed outside my kitchen, the Sun Gold Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes and New Mexican Green Chili plants are thriving! 

Yep.  There was my first orange Sun Gold right there.  Three weeks ago (when I INTENDED to blog about it).

I'll keep wishing for stubborn plants while these succulent beauties get obese.

Does Life Ever STOP Getting In The Way? No? Okay. Cool.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't feel like doing squat.  Am I alone here?  No?  I didn't think so.  There hasn't been too much going on around here as of late because life got in the way of the virtual world and trampled any possibility of blogging.  So after life got in the way, I didn't do anything.  And I haven't done anything whatsoever since the 29th of June.

I can say, however, I don't know too many people that actually ACT on not doing anything as frequently as I do.  I confess it.  Many times a week, I sit on my butt, play Facebook games or Angry Birds on my new phone.  Yes, I finally came out of the stone ages going from this:

A slide cell phone without Android to this:

A T-Mobile Sidekick 4G WITH Android.  I get my touch screen with fun apps (Angry Birds) AND I get to keep my keyboard.  AND we're saving $30 a month on our cell bill.  But I digress.


Sometimes I just sit around and watch movies all day when I'm not feeding children or breaking up childhood arguments.  But, that's the blessing of summer and having an enclosed courtyard for the children to play in.  "Go outside" is my favorite phrase during this time of year.  I've had plenty of time to sit around and do nothing while the kiddos bake in the sun with smiles on their faces.

Speaking of summer and children playing outside, Deebo had no idea what Kick The Can was!  I believe I about had a heart attack when her mother confirmed that they had not played it ever.  *astonished*  Deebo gave me this expression when I asked her about Ghosts In The Graveyard. 

Really Sassy Mama?  I know she said "mm-hmm" when I asked her, but this face isn't exactly too convincing.  Granted, Deebo and Tsunami definitely get plenty of outdoor activities, so I'm not worried about them being corrupted by technology like I have become.  But... wow.  What has happened to awesome games from our youth?  I am too scared to ask if she knows how to play Red Rover.

In Sassy Mama's defense, my kids didn't know how to play any of them either.

*hangs head in shame*

So, it's been my goal to get the kids outside doing some more traditional activities this summer.  As you can see above, the sandbox is being very well used at our house right now.  And you can see I need to pull some weeds.  Goathead weeds nonetheless.

*head meet desk*

We started on Li'L Sausage's third birthday with a mega water balloon fight in our courtyard.

Tsunami and my little Diva are bestie's.  You can see it all over their little faces.  And the fact that they made pets out of their pink water balloons has me somewhat concerned.  I don't know how I would feel to see a happy purple smiley face flying at my head knowing it's going to explode in my face.  It's somewhat disturbing when you think about.  These girls have something ticking in their brains.  They're too sweet and innocent looking for it to be believable.

And regardless of how much dirt ended up inside the pools, the children had a blast getting soaked in mud.

I think the adults have forgotten what the word "cheating" really means.

Because it was thoroughly abused.

On Father's Day we had some good ol' traditional kite flying in the park.  We have a GREAT park full of hills and few trees just perfect for it!

So we gathered the kids and the kites to enjoy the walk around the corner to our little park.  I rather enjoyed teasing Bad Boy about carrying around a pink kite.  Nothing like teasing a man about his masculinity when he has infinite amounts of self-esteem.  He takes it rather well.

Or so he says!

After arriving safely in green open spaces the kids cut loose... And complained about climbing a hill.

*rolls eyes*

But that was remedied quite quickly when our old Bad Boy taught the stinkers how to fly kites.  You know.  Because there's only ONE proper way to do it of course!

Diva didn't surprise us at all when she took to kite flying like a fish takes to water and fly her kite for a good thirty minutes straight.

After our Father's Day visit to the park, some time went by and we then proceeded to take off to New York for my baby sister's wedding.  I spent an entire day going from extreme stress to tears of joy to laughter all to see my baby sister marry her high school sweetheart.

I had the best time in New York and will most definitely share the highlights in my next post.  I MUST go back someday (without the children).  It would be nice to see Manhattan without having to visit a McDonald's.

So, am I sad that life got in the way of my virtual life and my blog that I had JUST restarted (again)?  No.  Sorry virtual world.  The physical world is pretty darn awesome!

The Skies Are Clearing!

Sorta, anyway.

Most days are more clear now.  And being that we've been dealing with sub-zero temperatures over the winter to be followed up with smoke and ash filled skies, being cooped up in the house has not been fun for our little family of five.  We don't have a large house where people can get away from each other, so it has a tendency to wear on the nerves of everyone.

So instead of doing much gardening, I've been enjoying some much needed ALONE time by kicking the Littles outside!

My favorite line of summer is, "Go play outside.  You're driving me nuts!"

Hehehehe.  Not the best example of my parenting, but it's true. And I truly believe that TV plays too much of a role in my kids lives at the moment.

But what do you do when the Li'l Sausage man of the house tears up every board game when you try to play it?  And you've built forts about 9,008,584,209,083 times?  And you've played with every toy you own the same amount of times?  You watch TV and play video games.

What in the world did people do with themselves during long bad or unhealthy weather BEFORE vehicles and techie toys?!

In any case, I was blessed with two happy children on a beautiful, smoke-free day this week.

Check out that gorgeous New Mexican sky!  Diva, Li'l Sausage and I enjoyed some time at the park.  Just the three of us.  Bad Boy stayed home.  The Literary Musician was off at Vacation Bible School with Grandma.  And the weather was PERFECT!  Not hot.  Not dry.  And just the right amount of cool breezes.  Mama got some cute pictures of these two perfect children.

I love that hat!

I love that smile!

I love that little man!

And he about killed me with several heart attacks climbing around in these death traps they call playgrounds.

But, man, oh man!  Check out that skill!

And after laughing at him for coming down a slide full of water (from where?), I got over it.

I watched from a distance.

And I enjoyed the brother and sisterly love they share so well.

I also enjoyed the fact that Diva rarely will allow me to take a picture of her without posing anymore.

I sneak shots of her now.

And even those sneaky shots are too adorable for words.  Of course, I'm incredibly in love.

They met a friendly dog.  Found a football that no one claimed.  All while Mama relaxed.

And proceeded to get sunburned because I regularly forget that I live in New Mexico at about a mile above sea level and incredibly close to the sun.

I should just live in sunscreen.  But nearly 30 years of living in The Land Of Enchantment has not taught me a thing.

Of course.  I'm stubborn.

What Do Children Do When They're Up In Smoke?

They get stuck in the house.

They get cranky.

They get bored.

And by golly, they get snotty!

Until Super Mom arrives with a balloon, a ton of blankets, some chairs and some pillows.

I'm sure you can figure out what the blankets, chairs and pillows can be transformed into.  At least I hope you can.  I'm concerned if you don't.  This is quite the travesty if you have no idea what I am talking about!

Pigs have officially been seen traversing over the Indian Ocean.  Just sayin'.

So while the New Mexican air fills with smoke and gives us beautiful shots of the mountains (before they vanished in the smoke), the children put their minds to good use and used their imaginations!

I know.  Kids.  Using imaginations?  In 2011?  I'm flabbergasted.  In fact, you could probably knock me over with a feather right now.

Not that that is difficult to do.  I have to have rocks in my pockets in a strong wind so all 107 pounds of me doesn't get blown down the road into a heaping pile of bones and flesh.

Here's Deebo, Sassy Mama's oldest, putting together some blankets over a dining chair.

This is the child, that while playing Apples To Apples, thought that the red card of "whips" went quite well with the green card of "spicy" earlier in the day.

Deebo is just slightly awesome.

And of course, she doesn't think she's awesome at all.  You can see her snag her spot in the shot of my little Diva.

Speaking of Diva, I love that she has a loony side.

^^^^^^  I say smile, and she gave me THAT!  ^^^^^^

Of course, Li'l Sausage wanted some pizza.

For a child that pretty much lives solely on milk (aka: "choka milk"), chicken nuggets and peanut butter sandwiches, I did NOT deny his request for some cheese and tomatoes.  No matter how deformed and filled with salt and sugar it may be.

And while I laid on the floor to get shots of Deebo and Diva, I was also able to capture this extremely rare shot of Li'l Sausage.

Please excuse the hair, the bags under my eyes and the general lack of makeup.  I have a three year old.

A very heavy three year old.

Well, it seemed that way anyway.  He did not exactly take a moment to sit gently.

*crunch*

Of course, discussions became quite serious over whether or not to give Li'l Sausage his own "room" in this rather magnificent fort they've built.

Li'l Sausage unfairly used his charms and wit against the all powerful Deebo.

And he had a difficult time expressing his pride after accomplishing his goal.

Of course, Tsunami, having been keeping to herself this whole time in the other room, decided to come out with the balloon.

What was with the balloon?

This little family decided to expand.

*shakes head*

If only she knew what pregnancy truly meant!

LABOR AND DELIVERY!

But, it was of no surprise that Deebo needed to be THE "mama" in this circle and the ONLY one at that. 

We finished off the play time with Deebo snuggling her pregnant balloon belly and Diva, while Tsunami decided to pretend she was giving Diva a manicure.

With the closed end of an ink pen.

And that concludes the 30 minutes this entire photo set was taken in.

*curtsy*