Shinji's new hobby

Now we can't keep full glasses on the arm of the couch or on the coffee table without having this little visitor come to take his share. I guess the water bowl just isn't cutting it for him anymore!

everything is blooming

We've been enjoying some lovely tossed salads every evening and we haven't had to go to the grocery store for about a week (although the cupboards are getting pretty bare around here). The garden is finally starting to pay off and we love it. Jon and I have finally started to like eating all types of tomatoes. We normally avoided the fresh tomatoes in favor of stewed, sun-dried, roasted or chopped up in salsa tomatoes. Boy were we missing out.

These grape tomatoes can't seem to ever make it inside...they're all eaten on the spot whenever a red one pops up. It's a good thing that I don't work on a tomato farm harvesting grape tomatoes...the company would surely lose money with me around.

The green peppers are starting to bloom...we've got about 15-20 blooms in progress so far.

And the impulse buy dahlia plants that we bought at the tulip farm back in May are finally worth the $3.99 that we paid for them (lots of the other tubers we bought never sprouted). These blooms are huge...about 6" wide.

And, wow! I was just looking back at old posts...look how small the garden used to be! It's grown so much.

stupid sock creature

My friend Kristen surprised me with this stupid sock creature last night after she found out one of my hidden talents is sewing. It's so soft and squishy and I love it. Aren't the lips hilarious? They sort of remind me of those ugly Nickelodeon cartoons from the 90's. She let me borrow the book, Stupid Sock Creatures, so I'm on the hunt for some cute, colorful, striped socks to try making one.

overheard in the car on Sunday while listening to a 90's pop station...

"What band is this...wait, let me guess. Green Day?"

"No"

"Weezer"

"No"

"Wait, don't tell me."

"Think: large vegetable."

"Eggplant, Squash...OH! The Smashing Pumpkins."

the shack

We went up north for the weekend to Lupton, MI with our friends Liz and Elliott. Elliott's friend owns a little cabin on forty acres of undeveloped land so we got to enjoy the great outdoors without interruption from fellow campers.

Elliott described the shack as being completely rustic with only a table and chairs and two bunk beds. He forgot to mention how cute it was...vintage dishes and furniture, and old wood stove, retro hunting posters and Michigan maps and shutters on the windows. Needless to say, I thought it was the perfect weekend cabin. Jon and I would love to own something like this one day...a cozy little place to escape to on the weekends.

We went canoeing on the Rifle River on Saturday afternoon and met quite a few interesting characters journeying down the river along with us! We spent the rest of the weekend building campfires, enjoying the delicious well water (no, really) and playing Settlers of Catan.

the weinermobile

We ran into the weinermobile on Wednesday evening in Royal Oak after my family and Jon and I had dinner at Café Habana.

We, along with a whole slew of people, including a Royal Oak Police officer with a camera phone, stopped to take pictures.

the veggie garden

We gave my family a tour of our vegetable garden earlier this week. It was the first time my sisters have seen it and the first time my parents have seen it since they helped us plant it the first time.

I had to laugh because my sister, Ruth, asked me if the vegetable plants were already here when we moved in.

Uh, not exactly...we dug up the sod, roto-tilled, added compost and planted the whole thing twice...it didn't just come with the house. I wish!

We've had an influx of cucumbers and butternut squash lately. I have been scouring the internet for recipes using these veggies. The tomatoes are getting bigger, but they aren't quite red yet. Jon and I did get to enjoy our first two ripe grape tomatoes on Monday...we ate them to fast too take a picture first. And, our broccoli is starting to bloom.