Herb Garden

Last summer I purchased a tall plant stand and 6 Mexican hand painted pots for my various herbs. It was an experiment, seeing as I do not have much gardening experience on my resume of life. But as I have begun cooking, I use a lot of fresh herbs. It can get expensive buying fresh herbs all the time. A few things went well... like the cilantro did okay for a while and mint turned out great. Bryan's pepper plant did well, except that we forgot to pick the peppers. Bosco destroyed the parsley, as it was on her level. Then eventually the herbs were scorched in the sun when I forgot to water them. And then Bosco managed to destroy all the pots but one. (That one now sits atop my fridge in the kitchen with some dried flowers in it.)

But with the approaching warm weather, I've been thinking about trying herbs again. This time inside. My plan is to add a few shelves in my laundry room which is mostly windows, but I think I could put a few small shelves up.

In a few weeks I'm going to take a week off and this will be my paint the laundry room and start my indoor herb garden week.

The Plan:
1) Finally paint the laundry room the light blue of my kitchen. NO MORE YELLOW!!!
2) Paint and install shelves.
3) Purchase terracotta pots and paint them the dark teal of the kitchen.
4) Purchase these saucers for the pots.
5) Purchase starter herbs or from seeds (I haven't decided yet) and plant them in newly painted teal pots.
6) Put it all together and enjoy fresh herbs for as long as it will last.

Anyone have any advice?

Lightbulb Conundrum

When we bought our house, it came with two small light fixture/fans in the kitchen. They are great. We especially love the dual fans in the warmer months. However, they light the kitchen with an odd shaped light bulb. We've probably wasted $50 on light bulbs that do not fit.

Not only finding the right size super annoying, but they burn out frequently. They generally burn out every 3-6 months. We've replaced all the bulbs multiple times already.

At this point I'm so frustrated I'm willing to buy new fixtures.

Any ideas as to why we're having problems keeping light bulbs in these suckers?

Happy Valentine's Day

To celebrate Valentine's day this year, I surprised Bryan with a brewery tour at Ghost River Brewery downtown. It was actually a better tour than our Sam Adam's Brewery tour, which turned out to be an even better surprise.

We spent the rest of Saturday relaxing at home and watching Olympic games.

Today, Bryan surprised me with a custom made ring. Its gorgeous, yet understated, and if I'm able to get off the couch in the near future, I might post a picture of it. We had leftovers for lunch after church and watched more Olympic games. (Two sports I've never heard of before: Biathalon and Nordic Combined). Other highlights include a nap and Bryan cleaning all the dirty dishes left over from Friday night. (Didn't I marry well?!)

We have dinner reservations at a nice restaurant, which I'm excited about.

Hope you had a great Valentine's with your true love.

Facial Hair

I leave you this Saturday with a series of pictures. Enjoy

















Don't worry, the Fu Man Chew (is that how you spell/say that?) did not last long. He's now clean shaven and I'm still wondering if he's actually my husband after living with a bearded man for 8 months.

Cabin Fever

Yesterday, Memphis experienced a bunch of winter weather. I was homebound (sick) and the husband joined me for the majority of the day. Today the roads are bad and we're not going out. While I'm content to sit in my pj's, lounge around all day reading magazines and books, playing sudoku, and just looking out the window with a glass of water. Others are not. Specifically the husband and the dog.

Since its so cold and icy out, I feel bad letting Bosco stay outside for any length of time. So I've been trying to keep her in and she's about to drive me crazy. Normally we give her a bone and she's content to chew for a while. But she went through three bones yesterday before getting tired of it. She is constantly roaming the house, trying to find something she can do to get herself into trouble. She is always successful at this.

The husband wants to know what we're doing next. What we're doing tonight. At least I don't have to chase him through the house. He's played Wii, we've watched episodes and movies. He's been for runs and helped in the kitchen.

Essentially... my cohabitants have cabin fever. And I think I catch it in waves. A little while ago I found myself vacuuming and polishing the stainless steel in the kitchen. Odd, I know. But I would be nice to get some things done in all this free time, I suppose.

Wouldn't it be nice if they would catch my laziness? I think so.

Happy Birthday, Baby

Today is Bosco's first birthday. In her honor, I give you a retrospective of her growth this past year.


The youngest picture we have of her. I think this was 6 weeks.


The day we brought her home.


At 11 weeks old.


16 weeks


18 weeks


21 weeks


23 weeks


8 months


9.5 months


10 months


Christmas morning, 11 months.

2 things

First, Christmas is gone, leaving a Christmas tree sized hole in our dining room. Nothing really was there before, but now it just seems so much emptier. Suggestions? Not considering a ficus. Never.

Second, Bryan plugged in my iPod and turned it to a regular shuffle (I've been listening to Christmas only shuffle for over a month now) and am rediscovering my music. I have good taste, if I say so myself. What are you listening to?