Ready For the Weekend

I broke my favorite tea cup yesterday. It was a really pretty one and I loved drinking out of it. Now it will get glued back together and look pretty without tea in it. I dropped a coffee cup and a jar of pickles, neither of which broke. I have not had a stove in my kitchen for two weeks and am very thankful for George Foreman and his grill. My refrigerator and dining room table have found a home in the living room for that long as well. Tonight things are supposed to get back to normal because, drum roll please.... my kitchen floor should be finished! Tears of joy, sighs of relief. I will take some pictures when it is all done. I have to make some new curtains too. That will be the finishing touch.

 Thank you God for the weekend, even though I have a lot to do, most of it in the garden. Plus my mom and I are going blueberry picking. I will take pictures there too!

Garden Time

Finally some more photos from the garden! The first is a pretty good shot covering most of the garden. This was about two weeks ago. Everything has grown so much since then!!

Here is a little tomato plant.

Here are some grapes growing.

And the first bite of a June apple. Yum Yum. Can you tell it is my hand with paint on my fingers and the dirt under my nails?

More to come soon. We have picked our first zucchinis and peppers. The beans should be ready to start picking this week. The cucumbers are starting to make babies and the eggplant is almost large enough to pick our first one. 

Mom's friend has also invited us to her house next weekend to pick blackberries and whatever blueberries might be ready. We are so excited! We counted our canning jars, lids and rims. We have enough for a few batches of jelly. I still have to get down to Grandma's to get the bounty of quart jars that she has offered me before the beans come in strong and the tomatoes start ripening. Grandma also gave me a great idea for some of our extra zucchini. She used to make zucchini bread and freeze it. What a great idea!

I will make sure to have my camera handy next time I am in the garden. There is so much growing so fast that I can hardly keep up! 

Turning Tassels

Tomorrow morning I walk for my degree, an Associates in Applied Science specializing in Environmental Horticulture. I am starting to get excited. I haven't really been excited about the formality, but it kind of hit me tonight. I got highest honors and a golden cord to wear around my neck. In the morning I get to turn my tassel on my cap and make it official. Maybe I'll even hang it from my rearview mirror. Why not live a little?

I am thinking that I might want to celebrate tomorrow night or Friday night. The family will probably go out to eat after the ceremony in downtown Acworth. But tomorrow night, I am just not sure what I want to do. Maybe I will come home and read a book in my jammies. Maybe I will come home and look upon my newly installed kitchen floor. Maybe we will go out on the town with friends. The possibilities are endless!

So, tomorrow I say goodbye to a chapter of my life. As Dave says I will be Associated. Woohoo!!

Moving right along

I really need to get some pictures up from the garden, but I have been too lazy. Maybe this weekend I will. It is amazing how fast things have grown. Truly the tomato plants grew a foot, the zucchini and squash have babies, the peppers are blooming, and the apples ripened all in a week and a half!! It will be picking time soon. I can't wait!! I did pick one hot hungarian pepper on Sunday. 

I realized that I never elaborated on the manure tea. This is the main fertilizer that we are using on the garden. To make manure tea, we use black cow compost(which is mostly manure, but without the weed seeds) and mix a half a bag with about 5 gallons of water. you can use fresh manure if you have cows, chickens or horses nearby. You might get some weeds. We make a big huge can of it and keep it down at the garden. You let the "tea" steep for a few days, then you water your plants with the water, not the thick mud. After you use some you can add more water and steep again. The plants love it!! The best part is that it won't burn your plants like some fertilizers or manure do. All natural gardening my friends!! Try some in your garden and let me know how it works for you.

Come one, Come all

Alrighty folks, the garden is at a slow point for a week or two and Dave and I have decided to dig in and take care of  our overly neglected backyard this Saturday. The thing is, we need help! Many hands make light work right? Anyone with willing hands is welcome. If you like to cut things, bundling things, dig things up or just hang out and make the work fun, come!! We are starting early, say 7am. I know, I know. It's Saturday. But we will wrap up with lunch grilled out, eat some watermelon and enjoy each other's company. How about it? Leave me a comment and a way to get in touch with you. 

The New Earth

I don't know if you all have been paying attention to the book that Oprah has been promoting. How can you not notice it? It has become a number one best seller. The pastor at a church that I used to attend is doing a series comparing the book with the Bible. The first sermon was fantastic. If you are curious you can find out more here and find links to the sermons(this was the first of three over the next three weeks). I think as people in relationship with Christ we have to be informed. Take some time to listen. I think that you will find that you are reminded of some Truth. Let me know what you think.

Summer Job

I started my summer job on Wednesday. I have been wiped out. Painting is tough, yo! I caulked all day yesterday and last night my hands were swollen and red. Yikes.  

I did make myself ride the bicycle Wed. and Th. for a while. I got hit on by two 6-7 year olds. Pretty funny. It went something like this (said with a slight southern lisp)"Hey gu-u-u-r-r-r-l-l-l, he thinks you're ho-o-ot. Hey, he thinks you're sassy too!" Hahahhaa. The next time around the block they told me I was fast and asked me to race. I told them that I thought that would be unfair, but they insisted. I let them win. 

My hands are tired. My back is weary. I have paint on my knee. How'd that get there?

Just a Bittoto

I got home from church this morning and felt inspired to write. I love seeing my friends. I love reading my friends blogs. I feel like this odd online blogging community is like a support group of sorts. I love seeing how one of my friends finds another one of my friends blogs and God uses that to connect us all, how we encourage each other and bless one another. I love you gals!!!

On the note of friends, I thought that I would share how the name Luscious Biscuits came to be. I have a couple of groups of old dear friends. One of these is made up of my cousin Julie, a friend from the age of 1- Jessica, and Mandy -who entered the arena via Jessica in high school and quickly became part of our urban family. In high school we used to go eat Mexican every Friday night and hang out, drive around, spend the night, be silly. As we grew older our times together became fewer, but birthdays are always celebrated in big ways. These celebrations can include trips to the Fox, Museums, trips to parks, all a surprise for the birthday girl. On one of these trips to the Fox we were entertaining ourselves in the car by doing Mad Libs. Remember Mad Libs? You know you fill in the blanks of a story by giving an adjective, noun, pronoun, etc. I still love them. It works your brain and you get some zany stories. Out of one of our Mad Libs came the phrase luscious biscuits. We all cracked up and thought it was great. The comment was made that if any of us ever started a business, it should be named Luscious Biscuits. That is just what I did when I started my sewing business. All of that has come and gone, but I still love the name and own lusciousbicuits.com. I only thought it appropriate for my blog. It speaks of all things wonderful and homemade. Things a bit luxurious, but with all of the comforts of home. 

There you go. One of the things on my list down.

I think I will spend the afternoon cooking lunch and cleaning the pantry. We have ants and they are driving me crazy!! If my lunch turns out well, maybe I will have a food post up soon too.

On the garden front, Mom and Dad report that the plants are taking off!! We gave them a good drink of manure tea last week and they seem to have taken it to heart. Everything can enjoy a good cup of tea right? More on manure tea later! I am off to the kitchen!! Where is my apron?

Schools Out for Summer!!

School is out! Except for the poor souls who have to go to summer school. I do not envy them. 

I have been wanting to blog for a while and have not been able to find the time. Lots to blog about.

The garden is growing!! Here is a shot of some bean rows. They are at least twice this size now! Everything is starting to sprout, take off, bloom, and fruit. I will take some full garden photos as things fill out. Most of our time has been spent mulching lately. We do a combination of methods. 

First we lay down newspaper

Second wet the newspaper

Third we top the newspaper with mulch

This really hold moisture in the ground and attracts the gardener's friend-worms. It also reduces weeds, time spent weeding and keeps dirt from splashing onto the fruit when it rains. Muddy veggies just aren't as appealing as clean ones!

We have our first blue blueberries. Aren't they beautiful? Hopefully next year we will have loads of them. The smaller variety of blueberry we have is just about to turn. I hope that they are as sweet as these.

I have yet to have some quality friend time while I have a break. It just hasn't worked out. Maybe soon. My friends and Dave were great this week. I was kind of down and emotional. Maybe because summer doesn't hold the joys it did when were kids, I don't know. I decided to take some time for myself and went to see Prince Caspian. I loved it!! Not only were the effects amazing, but I needed the story. A couple of things struck me. First, they kept fighting battles as best they knew how without knowing where Aslan was. And when Aslan showed up, the battle was fought in ways unimaginable!! (trying not to spoil it if you haven't seen it yet) This so reminds me of my walk with God in life. I live my life, sometimes trusting that I know what I am doing because I haven't felt lead by God to do otherwise. Then when He intervenes, does He ever!!! In ways that I would have never guessed. I love that about God. The second thing that struck me was Lucy's faith in Aslan. She knew that he was there even when others doubted and she fell into Aslan when she finally came face to face with him. Not only that, but with great courage she stood with her little dagger, ready to fight, knowing that Aslan was on her side. I feel like that a lot. Mostly like I have this wee little weapon or knowledge, but I am willing to use it!! God is bigger. I love that. I needed a trip to Narnia. It got my head back on straight. 

Today I worked in my own yard, weeding and planting annuals in my front flower bed. The weekend is upon us. My how it came quickly. Soon enough I will be starting another sort of job painting. Maybe the garden vegetables will take over and I will have to quit to sell them in my parents front yard. Just kidding, but one can only hope. 

Here is something that made me giggle last night. Can you see him?

He is rather camouflaged. I watched this neighborhood cat climb the dogwood tree last night. Up, up he went. Then he stopped. I walked outside and thought. "He didn't jump down. Where did he go?" I had to stare at the tree for a few minutes before I spotted him in the highest point of the tree. He was so well camouflaged. I called Dave out and made him look. It was so intriguing. Why did he climb so high? We think he was just playing. After a few minutes he made his way down. Needless to say, I am impressed. 

Well it is almost time for the Friday night ritual-eating Mexican with the fam. I think we have been going to the same restaurant every Friday night for 16 years. Me, my aunt, my cousin, my mom and whoever else shows up. It has grown to include our spouses and close friends. We have time to unwind and groan about the week past or to celebrate the week ahead. Good times. 

Until next time,

 Pray for rain!!