Zucchini Bread

My day began with Eddie leaving for the temple around 6:30 a.m. I actually got up too. I decided today I would try and use the torpedo zucchini and make some bread. I don't think I've ever made zucchini bread, but I have a good recipe from Viola Thurber in West Valley 3rd Ward. It was easy enough. I was able to get two loafs our of maybe a fourth of the zucchini. Okay, maybe less than a fourth. I suppose we'll be shredding the rest and freezing. The bread was done before Mom was awake and ready for breakfast. It's de-li-cious! I made some scrambled eggs to go with it. She's taking a piece with her to dialysis. I just had a brilliant thought...we'll send zucchinis to dialysis too.
This is the part of the yard I planted petunias and hydrangeas in. The far hydrangea is not happy. The one in the middle has several knew blooms! The petunias are doing fine.

This is the next plot of dirt I'm going to garden. There's already the stumps of my Grandma Wanlass' naked lady plant. It's dormant. In the next month or two it will have flowers popping out of it. It's really hard to find out how to take care of it. You can't google "naked lady plant" and not get bad stuff!!!! Actually I haven't even tried, but I know better than to open that door! I need to find the scientific name for it and look it up that way. It needs to be thinned and possibly re-located! It's was moved to this spot from Bakersfield, so I know it's possible!!! What will I do with this spot???? I want a pumpkin patch, but don't tell Eddie 'cuz he doesn't want me to grow pumpkins!!!! Probably not a good place for a pumpkin patch because it's next to the sidewalk and the gate and across from the trashcans! We'll see!!!

This is the aloe vera I need to replant and thin and make about 12 other plants out of! At least I haven't killed it yet. My friend, Dottie gave it to my last October when I went to visit her in Las Vegas! She has a good green thumb.

I was going to blog all kinds of stuff the last few days, but I didn't! So, this will have to do for today! I'm tired. Should've slept in!!! Nah! I got lots done this morning! Well, until I blog again!

Trick-or-Treating in the Garden

Before church Eddie went out and took a peek in the garden! He was very pleased with himself because he found two squash that were ready to be harvested. After church I decided to go out and take a look at the garden. I was so surprised! I went back in the house and told Eddie he was terrible at trick-or-treating in the garden!!!! I made him go out and look again! In one corner we found 3 huge torpedos!!!! The other side a little large one and then I made him pick 3 cherry tomatoes!!!!
That's the big one!

This is what we found in the garden!!

Our harvest!

The tomatoes are turning a little yellow! There are tons of them! When they are ripe...they'll be coming to a blog near you!!!!!

Wicked!

Saturday, July 12th was the last day of our 2nd anniversary celebration. We went and saw Wicked again!

We were on the opposite side of the stage from last year. So, we had a different perspective. It was still wonderful! Most of the cast had changed, but they were still good!

We always forget that there's more to the show than what's on the soundtrack! Besides being a good story and great music...it's hilarious as well!

I suppose it was our last trip to OZ!

It was a great visit! A great adventure! Maybe somewhere over the rainbow or down the yellow brick road we'll see it again!!!!

What Stinks?

So Eddie tells me last Wednesday night, "I think something died in the garage?" I was so thrilled to hear this! He opened the garage door, took me outside and WOW! What a smell! He said, we'd figure out what died in the morning. Nice way to get a good night sleep huh?! So the next morning we opened the garage and he was walking here and there in it, trying to figure out what was smelling so bad. I told him it reminded me of my grandma's house....gas leak! When we'd leave the garage door open for awhile, the stink would move out 2 or 3 feet! So we called the gas company they said they'd send someone out between the time I called and 8pm. I guess we're staying home today! So, while we waited for them we would go out and smell every now and then to see if we could figure out where it was coming from. We didn't. It would be in one spot and then another. It was a very tricky stink! The Gas Co. showed up around 1:30pm. They did find a gas leak, a small one. He fixed it, but it wasn't causing the horrid smell. By this time, my mom was at dialysis, I had a headache from inhaling the stink and so Eddie took me out for ice cream! I gave up Coke on June 1st. (I was really proud of having gone this long without a caffeine binge, except for the occasional chocolate, which I'm not addicted to, like I was Coke.) My head was feeling so bad, I was really thinking, you DESERVE a coke! Plus! He was taking me to Ruby's Diner! They have de-li-cious Vanilla Cokes! I was so talking myself into the Vanilla Coke. Thankfully, when we got to Ruby's Diner they handed us a little menu with their shakes of the month! It's all about Chocolate! I ended up with a Chocolate Banana Shake! Delicious! So, I still haven't had a coke in 44 days! Woo Hoo! No more altered state of reality for me. It's kinda funny now that I've been off it, I realize how much it does mask alot of .... senses let say!!!! Oh, so sorry, I have gone on a coke tangent! Back to what died in the garage.... So, we decide that the next morning we will pull EVERYTHING out of the garage to find out what died. We woke up the next morning very much not looking forward to hauling EVERYTHING out of the garage. So, I told Eddie just get the Miracle Grow out and we'll see if that helps! He kept saying that the stink was organic and it had to be the fertilizer! So he filled up his lovely wheel barrow (see other blog!) and that didn't help the stink, but it was keeping it in one place!!! We smelled the back corner...no stink there. We smelled by the dryer....no stink there. We walked past the work bench! YUK! Stink!!! There was a big red tub that had "stuff" in it, and then more "stuff" piled on it! I bent over and took a whiff! What a mistake! I found the STINK! So I ran and Eddie pulled the red tub out and went through it. There in the bottom of the tub was an OLD GLASS bottle of MALATHION!!! INSECT POISON!!!!! I now feel sorry for bugs! So, Eddie did what only a guy could do, he wrapped it in a couple grocery bags and DUCT TAPE! I provided a box we stuck it in and then we put it in a 5 gallon pail! Eddie seat belted it in the back seat of the car and we drove with all the windows opened to a Hazardous Waste place out past DI in Los Angeles and disposed of it!!!!! A few things lost their lives. A couple of Eddie's "work" shirts and the Red tub and who knows what else! Oh....the smell! So my advise to you is don't keep your old glass bottle of malathion around. It might tip over and eat a hole in the lid and kill you! Tomorrow is the 18th anniversary of my Dad's death. The malathion was one of his garden treasures we hadn't parted with, until Friday!!! Don't keep bug poison around for over 20 years!!!!!

The Great Dialysis Scam

Well, today my Mom had an extra dialysis session. She came home goofier than ever, but still very entertaining. She was so serious and it was so hard to keep from laughing. I did laugh a few times. She discovered today that now that she's been at "all 4 sessions"(whatever that means!) it's all a big SCAM! They're ripping off the Government and she doesn't want to go back to dialysis again because she's going to get in trouble for them scamming the FEDS. She went on and on. I asked her if she wanted to call the FBI! I told her that if she didn't go back she would die. Her answer to that was, "That's what they tell you!" It's all a scam! I think we have her convinced to go again tomorrow. It will be fun to hear what stories she has when she gets home! She went for an extra session because she's very congested and it will help remove fluids from her lungs! I guess it also clues her into the great Scam that's going on! She was only on for 2 hours today, 1:30 - 3:30. She got home at around 4:15. According to her, they didn't put her on until 3:00, but she was on for 2 hours. No one talked to her, there were just a bunch of old people there and some nurse she's never seen before said, "Hi Billie!" when she got there! It's all a Scam!!!!! She told me she was afraid of getting in trouble for ripping off the government because she was too smart to play dumb! It was hilarious and I wish I'd had a camera to tape it all for you! Even audio tape would have been hilarious too. The look on her face though! It was priceless!!!! She even told us that her cute Dr. Lange would make more money selling his body than ripping off the Government!

Just another day in Paradise!

The Garden

I guess I don't have kids to write about, so I write about my garden. My brother, Bill, asked for a picture with the "Titanic" in it. So here it is. The last time I grew tomatoes, I grew them in the "Titanic." That was 2001. Tody and I made the "Titanic" for deep root watering! I should have planted them there this time too. They would have had more room. I keep saying I'm going to plant in this plot, but I haven't done it yet! I will!

This is a picture of the Big Beef Steak tomatoes that have appeared over night! They're huge!

There's a ton of them. The bottom half of them are starting to turn yellow!!! I know they're all going to ripen at the same time and I'll be up to my ears in tomatoes in various forms!!!

These are the grape tomatoes! They're huge!!! I found a ripe one today! It's the second one I've picked! They never last long enough to take a picture! They are delicious though!
These are the cherry tomatoes. They are huge too! Eddie thinks they're the beef steak tomatoes! They're bigger than any cherry, or cherry tomato I've ever seen!

They are hiding from us too! It's a good thing they turn red! That's the only way will ever find them all!! They're everywhere!

Speaking of hiding! We found 3 more zucchini's today. I keep forgetting the "h" when I spell zuccini. It never looks right when I spell it wrong, but with the h you should pronounce it differently! Sounds more Italian!!
Found this little guy today too. We may cut him down tomorrow! See all the blossoms! Signs of things to come!!!!!

The cilantro is still nuts. My friend, Dottie, told me to cut it back and it will be fine! The basil is going to seed I'm afraid too. It has blossoms. If anyone out there needs some basil, or curly parsley, or sage...let me know. If you're interested in tomatoes, I'm sure we'll be able to spare a few when they're ripe!

I Survived!!!!

It was probably the best Sunday I've had in a long time!! My lesson went okay and I was at church for all 3 hours. I think immersing myself in the scriptures in preparation for my lesson made a huge difference! We're definately going to do more of that. Immersing, not teaching! HA! I told someone today I hoped it wasn't an audtion!!! We'll see how next Sunday goes when I don't "get" to teach!!

We found this growing in the garden. It was delicious!!!! Our first crooked neck!

We may try shish-kabobing steak!!!

Eddie's really loving the chicken though.

Not so fond of the vegies, but he humors me!

Pray for me!

I get to teach Gospel Doctrine tomorrow. I received a phone call around 1pm, asking if I could teach. How can I say no to Victorious?! So, I've spent the most part of the last 5 hours studying Alma 13 - 16. Eddie even knows the story contained in these chapters!!! So, I need to study for another week or two, not a problem! HA! I haven't taught Gospel Doctrine since 2000, when I first moved home. It was Book of Mormon then too! I haven't taught anything in quite awhile! So, pray for me and I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow! A blessed Sabbath to you all! Don't forget, it's fast Sunday!!!!

Happy 4th of July!

We had family over the 4th of July.

Bubba even ate with us. Bill & Sheila were over and Sister Meservy came too! We used them as guinea pigs!

We've never BBQ'd Shish-kabobs before. I must say, they were yummy! The zuccini was from our garden!

We sent the Sheila's out to the garden to trick-or-treat for squash! They found five that were ready for harvest.

I had Eddie pick the 3 Purple Peppers earlier in the day. We haven't tasted them yet. I'm trying to find the perfect dish for them!!!

They aren't very big, but they sure are cute!

Maybe scrambled eggs tomorrow!!

Or an omelette!!!

The fireworks are already going off outside! I could live without the loud BOOMS of the illegal ones! My pyro husband is in our room, last I heard he was watching Blazing Saddles on TV. I guess I'll be blogging for awhile tonight!!! I did torture him earlier today with 1776! Yes, another musical. He seemed to take it well. Hope you have a safe and sane 4th of July!!!