The Green Texan

The Recycler Has Struck Again!

2011-12-26T21:17:00.000-06:00

I've been working at cleaning my house today. The funny thing is, I don't just throw stuff in the trash anymore, I recycle! I actually consolidated two Christmas wrapping crates to one, just by taking out all the old tissue paper (wrinkly old stuff, really) and putting it in an old paper gift bag for recycling. I'm bad about this consolidation thing, though. I will find things that can be recycled, but still have stuff in them, such as lotion bottles, and empty them, just so I can recycle the bottle. I also take this time to go through those bags and piles of papers, separate them, and recycle what I can, shred the rest.

Somebody stop me! Actually, don't. It's good for me to clean up and get rid of stuff cluttering my little house.

The Slide Downhill from Thanksgiving to Christmas!

2011-12-06T09:30:00.001-06:00

There is always that time between Thanksgiving and Christmas that I really begin thinking that I should just lock my door and sleep for a while. This year is especially inviting to that thought. It just makes me so tired thinking about it. I can understand why Daylight Savings Time was invented. I get up in the dark and come home in the dark. I am really just ready for bed at 6pm. I force myself (sometimes unsuccessfully) to stay awake until at least 11pm, just so I don't wake up at 3am (I also have a bad habit of only sleeping 5-6 hours on weekdays). All the "events" in a holiday season just seem to get in the way of that lovely sleep time.

My mom's birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving, as was the case this year. I love my mama, so it was wonderful going to the Dallas Arboretum and having a late lunch/dinner at Eno's Pizza Tavern in the Bishop Arts District on the Wednesday before. As an educator, I get the whole week off for Thanksgiving Break, so I'd had plenty of rest up until that point. It was really a beautiful day...much like spring than nearing winter, so it was very stress free.

Then, Thanksgiving hit. Sometimes being around family really stresses me out. I can handle being around a lot of people at once...I work in a school, so I am constantly around people all of the time. But sometimes I just get a little stressed out being around family. They expect so much more of me than I am willing to give. It might be because I am around 90 teens who only expect me to listen to them that makes it easier to be around them. When it comes to actually having a conversation, sometimes I just kind of freeze up and can't think of exactly what I want to say. I hate that about myself sometimes. It makes me just want to take a nap and get away from everyone for a while. Sometimes I do just that. This year I successfully did not.

Then I had to clean my house for my dad's visit/decorating for Christmas. I get easily distracted by different issues in my house and this time was no exception. I have several (it's a lie...probably 15) boxes that have been packed up for about 3 years from several non-moves I didn't make. So far I've been able to live without those items packed up, which probably means I don't need them. I really want to de-clutter, but it's so hard when you are a collector of various "things." I envy those nice, clean lined houses with only a few very choice items on display. I don't think that style is in my DNA. I try, but I still go over the top! So...I successfully emptied out about 7 of those boxes, swept, dusted, changed sheets on the guest bed, and put away my Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations...and promptly got my Fall Crud attack that Saturday. I'm still working at getting rid of that.

This Fall Crud has also taken it's toll on my spirit. I haven't been able to go to yoga (not good to downward dog when you can't breathe and snot is running all over the place), which has hurt me in more than just my physical well being. My mind just isn't in it right now. I don't think anyone really realizes how much missing just one yoga practice can hurt you. I certainly do. It's like any other workout. You miss one, it becomes increasingly easy to miss more. Today I actually have had to choose going to yoga over going to a district librarian holiday party. The spirit of the party might be good for me, but I need my yoga spirit back.

And...I still need to decorate for Christmas. I finally got all 12 of my decorations crates out of the garage last night! I spent most of last week being sick, feeling like crap, and sleeping (I gave in), so the 5th of December was my mighty move in of Christmas. I didn't take any of it out of the boxes, but at least it's now in my house. It is just tough for me right now. I don't know how to explain it, but I just am not there yet when it comes to Christmas. Hopefully today, after my yoga practice and dinner, I can get some of that "magic stuff" out, put on the Charlie Brown Christmas CD (and Bare Naked Ladies...and Squirrel Nut Zippers...because I'm well-rounded like that), and get into the mood for this next round of holiday daze. I still have 19 days, though...

Save Money by Not Wasting Food (Waste Not, Want Not?)

2011-11-15T12:16:00.001-06:00

I try my best, but even if I have a fully stocked pantry, I sometimes want to eat out. With the Thanksgiving holidays coming up (and my Mom's birthday!), I've worked very diligently to actually cook what I have at home, and use the leftovers for lunches when in a pinch. I'm loving the extra chicken curry and green chili that I pull out of the freezer when I need something fast and warm! Just cook some brown rice (Texmati, of course, going local!) and it's all ready to go for the next day.

I've been getting quite a few great ideas from The Chew, where I have found that my well stocked pantry is actually pretty well stocked! Tonight, I am going to make what looked on tv like a wonderful tomato and blue cheese soup from this recipe. I can't wait, and the best thing is, I already have everything in my kitchen to get this dish made.

Why is it so hard to recycle?

2011-11-04T10:23:00.001-05:00

The post title is a bit deceiving, but that is because I am a compulsive recycler! If it can be recycled, I recycle it. If it can't be recycled, I try to figure out why and how it can be alternately used. I guess that would lead one way to my question: why are there things that can't be recycled? Many things can be repurposed, but what about those that are just not accepted in any recycling program. What do you do with those things (like non-CFL lightbulbs that have burned out...I don't replace them with CFLs until they do burn out, but what do you do with those?). Again, not the topic at hand.

What I actually want to address here is why other people find it so hard to recycle. I guess it may just be because I am organized (I have bins in my kitchen labeled "paper" and "plastic, glass, can"). It's just not that hard to dump everything into a bin outside and set it out by the curb. It becomes harder for people who do not have curbside recycling, but it can be done with just a little effort. That's the problem. It does take a bit of effort to recycle and some people are just lazy.

I work at an urban high school and see first hand how thoughtless students, faculty and staff alike can be. A recycling container can be two feet from them, yet they will wad up paper and toss it in the trash. They don't even think about it. I'm pretty sure it is just because they are not in the habit of doing it, but why is that? It's second nature for me to recycle and I've been doing it for over 20 years. How does the current generation not have this habit?

This is just something that has been bothering me because if 16 and 17 year-olds don't see the benefit of recycling, where are we going to be in 20 years when they are my age?

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:53:00.000-05:00

It's Halloween Night and what is the treat for the Trick or Treaters at the Rock House: Kettle Corn!

It's not just any Kettle Corn, its "All Natural," because only the best can be given to my little Goblins, Ghosties, Witches, Fairies, and Spidermen!

Poor Henry had to go to bed early, though. His favorite trick is to bark and scare all the Trick or Treaters away!

Chilly Weather...Chili Weather?

2011-10-29T17:21:00.000-05:00

The weather here in Texas is getting quite chilly lately. It is late October, so for the rest of the world, temperatures in the 40s and 50s are not unusual. They kind of are here in Texas, though! Thursday night, while trying to avoid the crazy up down run score of the Rangers World Series game (which they lost, then lost the Series on Friday...), Mom and I decided that it was time for the first fire of the season. To the left is that fire (very bad cell phone photo, but still looks cozy!).

I am going to admit something that someone who has had a fireplace for 10 years should never admit: every year my first fire totally smokes up my house. I usually smell like I've been barbecued when it is all over with. Thursday was no exception! One log was just a little too large, so the fireplace did not get hot enough and the smoke began billowing out. Oh well. It was still nice and warm, even if we couldn't breathe!

Today, while avoiding a trip back home after having lunch with my cousin and his family, Mom and I decided to stop off at the farmers market (not really one that has local products, but it's not too bad). I looked over towards the bell peppers and had an epiphany: tomatillos= Green Chili! It was the only item for the wonderful New Mexican Green Chili recipe sent by step-mom Sharon that I didn't have. I purchased 16 of them (sounds like a lot, but they are tiny little suckers) and will be making a big pot in a few hours. I will even be using up some pork loin that I cooked last year and stuck in the freezer (I hope it's still good!?!). If it works out, I'll post pictures and recipe tomorrow!

Well, time does fly when you're not blogging!

2011-10-25T11:33:00.006-05:00

It has been well over a year since I posted my last blog entry. I've been keeping up with my green things, though, and have even added a few more.

I still:
Recycle, use my drying racks as often as possible, garden (finally did a fall veggie garden this year--more on that later!), use as many natural products as possible, use reusable female products during "that time," and try to cook at home for as many meals as I can.

I did start something new last summer and have had great success with it. I now use reusable coffee filters. At first it was kind of a pain. You have to empty the filter, let it dry, empty any grounds holding on, then soak as much of the coffee out as possible. Then, every few uses, you have to boil a pot of water, add baking soda to it, and sterilize the heck out of them. You then find out that you did not get as much coffee out of them as you thought (the water turns a horrible shade of brown...much like coffee!). I originally purchases 3 of these filters, so every 3 days I had to really work at cleaning them out. I'm not sure how much money I've saved...the initial cost was $4.49 each, plus $6.99 for shipping (total= $20.46). I know a whole heck of a lot of paper filters can be bought for that much. I've been saving paper, though!

Today, in honor of my first entry in 2011, I purchased 4 more. This time it was like I didn't even spend any money at all, though. I used points earned from one of my credit cards to purchase them on Amazon. Love those points!

And...here is a photo of what I'm talking about:

Pizza Obsession...

2010-07-20T13:27:00.004-05:00

Okay, I can't help it. I think pizza is one of my favorite food groups. I am always looking for ways, though, to make it a little bit better for me (ie...maybe "fake" healthy?). The best way for me to do that is to just make it myself instead of ordering out. This recipe is one that I've borrowed and adapted from one of my favorite food bloggers, "Kickpleat" or Jeannette (whichever name you want to call her), from Everybody Likes Sandwiches.
Follow this link to her recipe, or use my version.

FYI- I don't always use the rosemary in the dough, especially when I am adding other toppings. It's all up to you!

Pizza Blanco
1 packet of yeast
1 c warm water
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs fresh rosemary, chopped

toppings:
1 tsp olive oil, and a bit for the baking stone
grated cheese (last time I made it with torn fresh mozzarella, grated fontina, and grated parmesan)
Salt and Pepper, to taste (sometimes the cheese will be salty enough!)

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, add in the yeast and warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Add the flour, salt, honey, rosemary, and olive oil and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

I use a baking stone, so wipe the stone with a bit of oil, then form the dough in the shape you want it on the stone. Spread olive oil over top, sprinkle with grated cheese, salt and pepper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until pizza crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

Enjoy it!

Recipe: Pizza Crust topped with Lemony Grilled Asparagus and Ricotta

2010-07-03T16:30:00.003-05:00

This delicious recipe was adapted from the July/August issue of Everyday Food. They grilled the pizza, but I've just been too lazy. So, this is what I've come up with instead of using the grill:

Pizza Dough

1 tsp. Sugar
1 packet of Active Dry Yeast
2 tsps. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for the bowl
1 tsp Salt
2 ¼ c. All-Purpose Flour (I use unbleached), plus more for work surface

1. Mix 1 cup warm water and sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle top with yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.
2. Whisk oil and salt into the yeast mixture. Put flour in a large bowl, then slowly pour in the yeast mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until incorporated (dough will look dry).
3. Turn dough mixture onto a floured work surface and knead (fold ends in toward the middle) until it comes together in an elastic ball (about 2 minutes).
4. Transfer to an oiled medium bowl and brush top of dough lightly with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, set it in a warm, draft free place, and let it sit for 45 minutes, until dough has doubled in size.
5. Punch the dough down and re-cover. Let it rise another 30 minutes.
6. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 4 equal pieces for individual pizzas, or use whole round to make a huge pizza. Any leftover dough can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the fridge up to 2 days or frozen for up to a month.
7. Let rest 15 minutes before using.

To Cook…
I use a pizza stone and have not used a metal pan, so I don’t know how the results will be otherwise. Try it and let me know!
1. Heat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Lightly brush pizza stone with olive oil.
3. Form dough into the size and thickness you want it to be, trying not to leave tears in dough.
4. If you are using heavy toppings or a thick sauce that may keep the dough from cooking all the way (or making a thicker crust pizza), bake crust for 8 minutes, pull out and top, then return to the oven for another 8 minutes. Otherwise, top before baking, and then cook for 12 minutes.
5. Let cool for 8 minutes before eating, or the roof of your mouth will regret it!

For the Grilled Asparagus and Ricotta…

Depending on how many you are making:
8 Asparagus stocks for each pizza
½ Lemon, for juice and zest
1 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste
3 Tbsp Ricotta per pizza

1. While dough is rising, trim ends off of Asparagus, place in a container, and squeeze lemon juice and olive oil over the top. Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper. Set aside for 10 minutes to marinate.
2. Use either an outdoor grill or stovetop grill pan, and grill until Asparagus is flexible (pick it up with tongs and lightly shake it. If the asparagus moves, then it is ready!). About 6-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of your asparagus.
3. You will want to bake dough for about 8 minutes before adding topping.
4. Remove crust from oven, spread ricotta over the crust, arrange the asparagus, and then sprinkle the lemon zest across the top. Salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Bake for another 9 minutes. Remove and let sit for 5 minutes.

I’ve made this crust several times over the past few weeks with different toppings, but this was the first time with the asparagus and ricotta. The only thing I would do differently would be to cut up the asparagus into smaller pieces before I put it on the pizza. It’s pretty to have them whole, but not easy to eat!

Enjoy!

June is too hot!

2010-06-22T16:16:00.003-05:00

It has been way too hot for my garden to look good. There has just not been any rain to help me out, either. So, in the meantime, here are pictures of my flowers and herbs from April and May!

Until I post pictures of my garden...

2010-05-06T09:17:00.004-05:00

Listed under...the things you can learn from listening to Sam Champion on Good Morning America:

Here is an interesting organization to assist you in getting rid of all that unwanted hair you have just laying around the house...really.

http://www.excessaccess.com/

Basically, they take loose hair, clippings, and even fur, and stuff it into pantyhose to create oil booms, which will apparently soak up oil like nobody's business.

Go ahead...sign up for it. I did and will be sending donations not only from me, but Mom, Henry, and Ruby!

Better late than never!

2010-05-01T14:42:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,
I am sorry I have not posted since January. I've been busy. I've been cleaning house, gardening, and recycling, just like I should...I just haven't been writing about it. I'll post pictures soon, dearest Blog, so you will not feel as if I am neglecting you!
Love,
The Green Texan

The Craziest Thing That I've Ever Seen...

2010-01-18T13:13:00.002-06:00

While out enjoying my government holiday, I saw the following walking down Main Street in good ol' Downtown Fort Worth...
I couldn't quite tell if that was a mouse on top of the cat, but you just don't see a cat on the back of a dog being lead down the sidewalk everyday. Especially in Fort Worth! I am so glad to live in the technology age so it could be captured on the Blackberry!

Made me laugh!

Do Not Attempt To Become Healthy IF You Are Sick!

2010-01-03T12:23:00.002-06:00

Just a little FYI for any of you out there who thought this may be a good idea: NEVER go out riding your bike in 45 degree weather when you've had a head cold for several days. It will always be a bad idea.

I thought I'd ride my bike yesterday to my cousin's house so that I could feed his dogs. Well, about half way there, I realized that there was way too much cold air going into my chest for it to be healthy for me. I made it there, but had to put my tail between my legs and call my mother to bring my car to pick me up.

One Word: Miserable.

Never Again... It was a slight setback for me and I'm still feeling the chill in my chest today from it.

A New Year, A New Green Texan!

2010-01-01T12:27:00.005-06:00

This picture says it all: I'm BACK!

After two years, I've earned my Masters, which means that I will actually be able to return to the blogging world! I am so happy about it, too!

In honor of the New Year and the return of The Green Texan, here are my resolutions for 2010:

1. Write more, professionally and on the blog!

2. Return to a healthy lifestyle (sitting around on the couch for days working on papers can really widen the backside).

3. Continue to garden, but do it well instead of half...way (trying not to curse so much, too!).

4. Read for pleasure.

5. Start planning improvements to the house. I can afford it now, so go for it.

6. Get a life. I started on this a bit for the Fall, but it would be nice to, you know, actually go out on dates...or something like it!

7. Travel for fun. See #6 for reference.

8. Re-green my life. You'd think The Green Texan would be a little more green than most. I forgot how to compost, though, when I went through the craziness that was "selling the house," which, of course, did not happen!

9. Cook more at home. Not only will I be able to ensure that I know where my food comes from, I can control how much I spend (see #5, #6, and #7 for reference!).

10. Be happy. Not always the easiest thing to do, but definitely a goal to work towards (um...see #6 and #7 for reference...).

I'm pretty sure that I will be able to keep these resolutions this year. I have no reason not to!

So, just remember, this is the year I take my life BACK!

Sincerely,

Rachel

Two Days of Tomatoes

2009-07-25T14:31:00.002-05:00

The rain has been wonderful for the garden, but terrible for going out picking! Over the past two days, I've picked an overflowing basket of tomatoes.
Because of this overabundance, I've been getting creative with cooking. Yesterday I made a cheddar omlete with tomatoes and this morning I made a goat cheese omlete with tomatoes (pictured below).

Thursday night I watched a preview viewing of Julie and Julia, which is based on the book of the same name by blogger Julie Powell, who spent an entire year cooking though Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogging about it. The film alternated between Julie's (played by Amy Adams) life and that of Julia Child's (Merle Streep, because, ya know, who else could pull that one off!) life in France. It was a truely hilarious and touching film. Nora Ephron did a fabulous job at the screenplay and directing. Since then, I have been putting way too much butter in the pan to cook the eggs. You know what? They've been the best and most beautiful omletes I've ever made in my life! Vive le beurre!!!

Rainy days (thank you, thank you, thank you!)

2009-07-23T15:38:00.002-05:00

The rainy days have actually made me long for my newly acquired outdoor furniture. My mom has this crazy thing about changing stuff out every few years in my patio (it could also be that I happen to buy crappy stuff, so it needs to be changed every once in a while!). The way she sees it, its like buying a new comforter for your bed- don't just change the sheets, change the curtains and rugs as well. Hence, cushions were bought as well...all on sale, thank goodness!

This set of chairs and the table were actually at one time on my Mom's front porch. They've been sitting in the bamboo jungle (aka, Mom's backyard) for over a year, just collecting vines.

The table and chairs are all new, as well as the umbrella (ya know, "curtains."). I love sitting out there now. Surprisingly, under the umbrella I can work on my laptop without the glare I had before.

Love it, love it, love it.

The Sauce

2009-07-22T20:00:00.007-05:00

The tomatoes are finally coming into their own and I have way too many of them! I've decided to make some tomato sauce from the recipe found in Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

10 quarts Tomato Puree (about 30 lbs tomatoes)
4 Large Onions, Chopped
1 Cup dried Basil
1/2 Cup Honey
4 Tbs. dried Oregano
3 Tbs. Salt
2 Tbs. Ground Lemon Peel
2 Tbs. Thyme
2 Tbs. Garlic Powder
2 Tbs. Dried Parsley
2 tsps. Pepper
2 tsps. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

Soften Onions in a heavy 3 gallon pot. Add small amount of water if necessary, but no oil. Add pureed tomatoes and all seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 2 to 3 hours, until sauce is thickened, as desired. Stir frequently, especially at end, to avoid buring. Freeze leftovers in easy to use containers.

First, part of the ingredients: Tomatoes (10 lbs worth in the large gray bowl, and onions from my garden) I had to do a 1/3rd of the recipe because it calls for 30 lbs!!!

I chopped everything up, putting the tomatoes in the food processor, then got them going on the stove, with a few dried herbs added (can you believe that cinnamon is an ingredient in tomato sauce!?!). It started out kinda...pink.
The end result was a nice, lovely red with a deep, rich flavor. Very much unlike any tomato sauce I've ever tasted.

It made up 10 1.75 cup containers and 2 2.5 containers full of sauce, all nicely stored in the freezer, ready to pour over pasta or to make pizza whenever I want! Yum! I can't wait!

4th of July weekend- What I did...

2009-07-07T16:30:00.002-05:00

My 4th of July was very productive! I made these lovely blueberry muffins...
I took several pictures of Gabby with my sunflowers...

I proved to myself that I could draw facial features...

And cut them out...

Then glue them together to make monster masks for my Youth Services class.

Cute, huh?

I also made delicious hamburgers for dinner that night, but we were so hungry that no pictures were taken of them.

My garden attacked me and the dogs fought back

2009-07-01T21:59:00.007-05:00

Sunday night, after my great mowing and weed eating extravaganza of the back yard, I sat the sprinkler out in the herb garden, then took a shower. I went back out, in nightie and flip flops, to move the water. What I thought would be a simple task turned into a muddy nightmare! The trusty flip flops caught on the low fencing and I fell, face forward, into the garden. My left knee was attacked by a decorative mushroom when I landed. I'm telling you, it has taken me a few days to get over the trauma of it all!!!

Now, here are the pictures of the aftermath... the fence is bent and the devious mushroom is impacted about 3 inches into the ground.

Bent fence, but still keeps out the dogs and cats (don't ask me how, they could all jump it if they wanted to!)

Bruised and swollen above the right knee... no clue what I hit with it!

A nice, swollen goose-egg bruise on the left knee, thanks to the mushroom.

Ruby is very concerned...

Henry is ready for revenge (actually, he was just in the process of barking, but I couldn't resist the pic!)

I decided the fighting wasn't worth it, put the water in the garden again and sat back, relaxing with an adult beverage (mmm, Rahr Red Rocks!!!), a YA novel, and my IPod.

The Library, San Antonio, and HEAT...

2009-06-28T16:04:00.013-05:00

Okay, so maybe I won't have time to update my blog every few days...but at least I have an excuse!

The week after school got out, a group of boys decided that it would be a great idea to break into the school and break a bunch of windows. They made it to the library and found plenty more to damage than just windows...

This first picture is one of the 16 ft. window panels knocked out. They broke three of these, mostly by throwing the wonderful 1960s era wooden library chairs out the windows (they found about 10 chairs in the courtyard).

They then took the 10 freestanding bookshelves and decided to see if they would fall like dominoes if they pushed one set over from one end. They would and all the books came out as they did it.

The biographies made it to the floor as well by kicking them through from one end to the other side.

Luckily, the wonderful people at Library Media came to box up books with me that Wednesday. Even the Director of Library Services was there boxing up. It took 5 of us all day to box up about 6,000 books.

The reason for the boxing up is that all of the bigwigs from the Administration building came and saw not only the damage, but also the fact that the carpet was hideous! New carpet was laid last week!

I then left that Saturday for my mini-vacation to San Antonio. It was much needed after a week of working in the library! Ahhh...lovely flowers (this is a perennial hibiscus).

That Sunday we went to Boerne (pronounced like "Bernie") and did a bit of shopping. This is their gorgeous library...I wonder if they need a teen librarian?

After briefly shopping (bought 3 hankies and a set of 4 cloth cocktail napkins), we drove off towards New Braunfuls to visit Dry Comal Creek Vineyards.

Ahhh, the barrels...

Ahh, the grapes...

Ahhh, the vineyard...

We also went to Shiner to visit the Spoetzl Brewery, where we went on a tour, saw bottling, and did a bit of sampling, but I did not take pictures!!! Too much drink and not enough click.

We got back on Tuesday afternoon and, since then, it has been hot...damn hot (1oo+). So hot, dogs and cats have begun sleeping together...

Drying racks are out (I bought another one of these at IKEA on our way back home!). The clothes are drying on the rack before the next load is done. It's that hot.

The tomatoes are doing well, though. This is one of my Cherokee Purples

Obviously, this is a Green Zebra...

A real Italian Heirloom...

A fake Italian Heirloom (looks more like a Roma to me, but is on the IH side!)

The big bed with Sunflowers and inverted tomato cages. I am working on doing bamboo teepee stakes, but it just isn't happening very fast. I only have 35 plants to stake up, so I don't know what my problem is...

The little bed with Austin Red Pear, Tomatillos, and onions

The white onions are finally growing larger than green onion size!

Meyer lemons are healthy.

The dwarf fig is growing, but no figs yet!

And finally...the blueberry seems happy!

Well, that's it for now. Another post sometime this week may happen. I'm working on grad school stuff, but hopefully it will not keep me away from the fun stuff!

Last Official Day of School

2009-06-08T19:39:00.003-05:00

Today was the last day for teachers. That doesn't mean that I am completely finished, though. I still have paperwork to finish up and a deep need to clean up the back storage room and my office. I'm pretty well finished, though.

One of the things I would like to start my official day of summer off with is to create a summer plan. Right now, the plan is to finally get my house and yard in order. I even want to finish out the lower patio, so I need to get working on this first thing tomorrow morning! I'll take some before pictures to get a good idea of where it all started! So...this means I cannot be lazy this summer. I also have two of my last three graduate school courses to take. One of them is HTML, so I should have a really awesome blog by the time I'm finished!

First thing tomorrow...weed the upper patio and edge the curb at my house and Mom's!

Seriously? Really?... While I've been away...

2009-05-25T12:43:00.009-05:00

There is a lot of catching up to do on this blog! First off, in an attempt to get healthier by exercising, I decided to finally get that bike I was lusting after at Christmas. Mom and I set out one weekend (before Mother's Day...) to find it. We knew we were going to probably search several stores to find the right one, but when we arrived at the first Wal-, Mom found that she really liked this one blue bike in particular.

So she got it for Mother's Day (despite the fact I gave her a nice gift in New York!!!). I added the basket because, well, it just makes it look cuter! Hmm... this still left me bike less, though. We searched all weekend to find my pretty red Schwinn, but could not find it anywhere! Several of those Wal- stores had a place holder for it, but no actual bike. After Three days of searching Wal- stores, I finally gave up and ordered one online.

It arrived 4 days later. Turns out that the Wal- store do not put bikes together when they are ordered and shipped to the store, so my lovely, already-has-a-bike Mom, called up the store begging to have them put it together for me because she was afraid that I'd kill myself because I left a part or two off. Now I am the proud owner of....

A Red Schwinn...

With a big butt seat (um...because I have a big butt?)

And this morning, I put the basket on it. The lovely Mom then said it looked just like Pee-Wee Herman's bike. Not sure, but I think that might have been a compliment. I think it looks like the Fat Tire bike, myself. Ok, now I want a beer!

On the gardening front this year, I decided to build raised beds in my driveway. At first I was going to use wood to border them, but then I remembered that Mom had some red scalloped border from her former flowerbeds she had in the front. I'm all about the recycling, so here we go...

First, I laid out the black tarp and then dug in the compost pile and was able to harvest a meager amount of dirt before giving up and buying soil.

I did go for the organic Miracle Grow stuff, though, so it wasn't like I went all chemically on the garden (but that stuff sure does smell non-organic...I may need to research their claims a bit closer later!).

I realized I was going to need so much more soil than I thought. Since my seedlings pretty much all got steamed while I was off in NYC, I sewed the tomato seeds directly into the ground.

They came up! I transplanted some of them this morning to make them less concentrated and filling in the blank spots, so hopefully those will survive. The sunflower from last year spread its seed on its own and have created a border on the north end of the bed. I hope they don't shade the garden too much, or I'll have to chop them down.

I didn't have enough room for all of the tomatoes to go into the tomato bed, so the tomatillos and Red Pear ended up the centerpieces of the onion bed. I picked one white onion today, but it seems to be in the green onion stage right now. I'll keep checking on them.

So much has kept me busy and tired this spring that I am sad to say that this is as far as I've gotten in the garden this year. Hopefully some of my seeds that I haven't planted yet will become late summer, early fall veggies. I do have some work cut out for me on that, though.

This evening I hope to feel well enough to mow and build my tomato cages. If I do, I will certainly come back tomorrow and post pictures!

New Posts...Maybe!

2009-05-05T10:41:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I've taken a severely long hiatus since Earth Hour. It looks as if I just turned it all off and never turned it back on!

This week I am home due to the H1N1 Influenza, aka, SWINE FLU. The schools are all closed and I have had lots of time to finish up my grad school work for the semester. It is amazing how much time I can actually use for grad school when I have that time.

One more assignment to do and then I'll come on here and post like a mad woman.

Earth Hour this Saturday

2009-03-25T19:09:00.005-05:00

Don't forget- this Saturday is Earth Hour. I will be turning everything off from 8:30-9:30pm CST, so don't try to call me. I won't answer!

Official Earth Hour Poster- © Shepard Fairey

More information can be found at: www.EarthHourUS.org

The Angry Clouds...

2009-03-25T13:36:00.003-05:00

It definitely looks like a big storm is brewing. These pictures were taken from the windows of my library.

Best of the Fest: Shades of Ray

2009-03-23T14:07:00.006-05:00

Shades of Ray, a film directed by Jaffar Mahmood, was featured Saturday night at The Modern for the Best of the Fest Series put on by the Lone Star Film Society. Luckily, I was volunteering for the Society and had the chance to finally see this film that I had heard such terrific things about in November while I was driving around people in a car that cost more than my house!

I was impressed with the writing, direction, and acting from this nice little romantic comedy. What made the viewing even more enjoyable was the Q & A afterwards with the director, Jaffar Mahmood, and one of the stars, Brian George(a wonderfully brilliant character actor- you know, "That Guy" kind of person). The great thing is that, even if you don't get the chance to see it in a theatre, you will have the opportunity to watch it on Amazon Video on Demand. Check out the links for everything discussed here!

Enjoy!

Blogging in the Library- again...

2009-03-11T10:48:00.005-05:00

I love the rain. Today it is raining very nicely outside. I think that rain is the most wonderful thing in the world, next to the sun, the earth.... and clothes... and food. Okay, so maybe I would put it on a long list of things I love. The only bad thing about rain is that sometimes it can be dreary, which I actually think could be a good thing. Today... not so much. My library has an entire wall of 20 ft. windows on the north side of the room. My productivity level has been very low because I'm soaking in the rain (not literally, or I'd be wet!).

Since I am in the library, I decided I could finally do one of those things that everyone thinks is so great about sitting in a library: read! My book of choice today is New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. It is the second installment in the Twilight series.

There are definitely things about this book that would make many a feminist say, "Whoa, we can't have a girl say that! She's devoting her entire being to this...guy...vampire...thing." It would be true, too. But it is also fantasy, and many could really use a good dose of that every now and then, especially today... while it rains outside.

Image from: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/newmoon.html

The Green Texan travels to...New York City!

2009-03-02T18:26:00.009-06:00

So, I'm going to New York City during Spring Break with Mom, and Chef Heather, and the thing that has been on my mind the most is probably the silliest thing to worry about. You see, we are going to eat at Babbo, Mario Batali's restaurant. We plan on doing the traditional tasting menu, which includes the following course description: "Pappardelle with Hedghogs and Thyme"

Hedghogs...ok. Is it this-

But I'm really hoping it is this-

According to Chef Heather, who should really know, it will be the mushroom version of hedghog. She has mistakenly thought, though, that we had a bet on this and that it will be solved in the restaurant. I do not make bets when it comes to food, so I finally found proof:

Hedgehog Proof- animal or fungi!!!

Now, honestly, I have to say that I really never believed that Batali would chop up a cute little hedgehog and try to legally feed it to people in New York. I have watched Anthony Bourdain, though, and I wouldn't put it past him.

Garden 2009: The Beginning...

2009-02-24T19:26:00.009-06:00

Since my seeds came in back in January, I've been eagerly awaiting time to start them. Unfortunately, I haven't been so eager to actually start them early! I saw a very interesting way of starting seeds, in eggshells, on a website, so I thought I'd try it!

First, you start with the crates and the shells:
Next, you get out your seeds. Today I'm doing all of my tomato seeds, squash, artichoke, and red bell peppers.

Then you put in the soil and seeds in the shells, labeling on the flap what you've put in it.

That's all there is to it. Here is a detailed list of what I started today:

Tomatoes: Austin's Red Pear, Beam's Yellow Pear, Cherokee Purple (a repeat from last year!), Green Zebra (another repeat), Italian Heirloom, Martino's Roma, Green Tomatillo

Others: Green Globe Artichoke, Bull Nose Bell Pepper, Summer Crookneck Squash

More to start this week!

Heather Hogan, Iron Chef...

2009-02-06T19:49:00.004-06:00

One of my very best friends, Heather Hogan, is a chef at Lili's Bistro on Magnolia, right here in Fort Worth. Last night she was featured on a cooking segment on the local NBC affiliate. Have a look at the segment!

Blogging when there is nothing to blog about.

2009-02-03T20:42:00.002-06:00

My last post must have really expressed how I have nothing going on right now, especially since it has been almost a month since I last posted! Wow. That is just sad. I've been extremely busy in the library and my grad school classes have started back up, so I'm not really doing much but library and library school. I'm also cleaning. I no longer have a drip in my tub, so I no longer have to save all of my water for the toliet. What, did I not talk about that? Hmmm. I guess I may not have posted my pictures. Maybe someday.

I'll be back again soon to say something important. Maybe...

Sitting in the Library...Unmotivated.

2009-01-06T14:25:00.004-06:00

Okay, so if anyone from work reads this, no, I really did not do this post while sitting in an empty school library at 2:30pm. Everyone else, yep, I did it. I guess I shouldn't complain about having absolutely no students in the library right now. I did state yesterday at our in-service that the teachers needed to remember that the library was not a place to send students because they were bored, but that the students must have a purpose. Hence, one student sent to the library during class time. I have had a total of 75 visitors, though, it was just during the two lunches and before school.

I've been contemplating things today (since I am alone, I can do that!). I'm working on the plans for my diet (that's food regime for anyone in the know), but I'm still having a difficult time being completely motivated by it. I am one of those people who really cannot think of eating just a salad for lunch or dinner when it is 30 degrees outside. I have to cook. Luckily, doing the Sonoma, I get to cook alot. So, the big thing is... what am I going to buy at the Farmer's Market today? It's winter! There is not really anything in season right now. I think I should have brought the cookbooks with me so that I can figure this stuff out. How to eat seasonally on a Mediterranean style food regime= not so easy... or is it? I have until 4 to decide!

Back to the boredom for a moment--- it's not like I have nothing to do, I just don't think I should do it right now. I sent out an email today to the teachers explaining why I was needing to close the library for inventorying. One of the teachers questioned me as to why I couldn't just keep it open and stop what I was doing to help, if it was needed. The only way I could explain it to him was to say that it would be like building a set of kitchen cabinets, using the saw, getting halfway through the cut and someone asking you to stop and help them rake leaves for 5 minutes. It just doesn't work, especially when you do not have a clerk. I do have a bit of lamination I could do... oh well. I may just heat up the ol' laminator and get to work. Unmotivated...

Shopping list?
Flip through Glamor to see if it is appropriate yet?
Read that book everyone is always saying I should be so happy to have time to read since now that is all I do all day?
Work on my writing (not the same as blogging in my book!)?

Nope, none of those appeal. Unmotivated.

2009 New Year's Resolutions...

2009-01-01T16:24:00.004-06:00

Today is, of course, the first day of 2009! Happy New Year! In the vein of years' past, I guess I should put a few resolutions here (remember, those are really goals for me...), so here goes:

Quit drinking soft drinks- I've done well on this so far, it's 4:30-ish and haven't had even one!
Eat healthier and exercise- main goal is to lose weight on this one, but also just to be a healthier person all round.
Plant a monster garden- I ordered the seeds already, so I'm close to there!
Do more work on and around my house- um... maybe finish that patio I talked about last New Year... and save money for the bathroom.
Make all As on my last 5 grad school classes- Just keep focused and I will!
Graduate in December!!!- Duh... I can't help but do that if I take the last 5 classes
Read More- This year I read 4 books for pleasure...I actually read about 30 books, but 26 of them were for school (boo...)
Write More...than just grad school papers- This will be difficult this year, but I'm going to try. Next year I will definitely have no excuse!
Get the dogs their shots and keep their spot stuff on their backs so there are no fleas on them- I actually think they may love me more for that.
Keep up my "Greening"- It will be on here when I do it, so we shall see!

New Year's Eve- Ordered My Garden Seeds!

2008-12-31T18:00:00.003-06:00

I think I may have started a new tradition for myself today- I ordered my garden seeds for this spring. Way too many tomatoes, squash, lettuce, broccoli, etc. I'll write more about specifics once I actually get the seeds from Seed Savers (www.seedsavers.org).

Tomorrow starts another year for my blogging. I'm hoping to try to remember to blog more in the next year. I should be able to come on here and post my Resolutions then. I look forward to doing this soon!

Tonight I am off to Elizabeth's house for our annual NYE celebration. I used to get crazy drunk at these celebrations, but I have begun to really gain control of my drinking. I will probably only have no more than 3 glasses of wine tonight! Mom has had to work tonight, so I'm hoping she does well when she gets in. I'm going to give her a call at 11 to see how things are going.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Eve...

2008-12-24T14:24:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, December 23rd, I found myself doing something I try never doing- going shopping. I thought I had all of my shopping done before December 15th, but my Grannie, who had been in Colorado visiting my Dad for three weeks, never got the chance to shop. She just had to get my mother and my cousin’s stepfathers’ wine purchase and she only trusted me to help her because, according to her, I have better taste in wine than anyone (ha, that was a good pun, right!). So, we made a lunch date, which ended up lasting three hours, to get wine at World Market. Most of that time was actually spent getting in and out of the parking lot- luckily Grannie had her handicap hanging tag, so we got a close spot. They really should just hand those out to

people once they are past, say, 75.
Once we shopped- I picked out one of my favorites for them, Llano Estecado Signature Red Meritage- I took her home. I remembered an hour later, though, that I really needed to go to Braum’s to get milk, eggs, and cheese (for the Christmas macaroni!). Did that, came home and began my baking- only to remember that I probably would prefer to go out to Wal-mart (ugh) and Home Depot to get gift cards on Eve Eve instead of Eve, which would be a nightmare! So, I stopped what I was doing, yet again, to head out. Fortunately, I had only gotten to cutting up the orange slices for the orange slice cookies, the cherries for the pumpkin bread, and the pecans for both.
I hopped in my car and headed for Wal-mart. I decided that, if the garden department was open, it would be best to park there, especially since that side of the building is also closest to the exit by the Home Depot. As I entered, I noticed why the garden entrance was open- they had about 60 bikes sitting out where the plants should be. As I wandered around the store looking for a last minute digital home thermometer for my mom (I put the original one I bought for her from Target in the greenhouse), I began thinking that maybe I should buy myself a bike. It would probably cost less to buy a new bike than to fix up my old one with the rotten tires and bad breaks. I found the thermometer as well as a new book light for myself and the dreaded gift card (I love you Aunt Beverly and Robert, but would you just start shopping at Target already!), and headed back out to the register in the garden department, which usually only has about two people in line. I got in the two person line and looked out the window at the bikes again while I waited. Really, those bikes would probably be cheaper than getting mine fixed. I thought I might just look at one on my way out…and I did.
As I went out the sliding doors, I spied what I thought might just be the most beautiful girls bike I had ever seen. It was a red Schwinn with a fat butt seat (not the real name for it, I’m sure). The man watching everything out side asked me if I thought my daughter would like the bike and that he would help me get it in my car if I decided I wanted to buy it for her. I laughed and told him I didn’t have a daughter but was looking at the bike for myself. He then suggested I do something that I never thought they’d say to an adult in a Wal-mart- he told me to hop on and give it a spin around the garden center. The weird part about it is that I actually did it! I hopped on and peddled around in several large circles around the garden area. I started giggling very loudly, which made several shoppers stop and stare at me as they left the store. I eventually got off of the bike, parking it where I got on. The very helpful man then asked if I was going to buy it. I paused briefly and then told him I’d think about it and come back later if I decided to. By the time I got out to my car, I had decided exactly what I was going to do- although the Schwinn cost $159, it would probably only cost around $65 to fix up my bike at home. So, I will probably just deal with what I already have for a while. But that Schwinn was beautiful!

Mom's Birthday Yesterday...

2008-11-25T15:38:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was my mother's 61st birthday. I treated her to whatever she wanted. It was decided we would first go for brunch at the Secret Garden Tea Room at the Montgomery Street Antique Mall, then take a long walk through the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. We finished the evening off with dinner at Mamma Mia's Italian Grill and dessert at our new favorite place, Emi G's Key West Cove. See the pictures and captions below for the whole story!

Fall has hit the Turtle Pond at the Botanic Gardens

One of my favorite flowers, Asian Poppies, in full bloom.

A wild female turkey has taken roost within the Gardens grounds. They don't know where she came from, but they love her (along with all of the feral cats hanging around).

Mom's birthday brunch at The Secret Garden.

The dessert after-party at Emi G's Key West Cove. Their specialty- Key Lime Pie, of course!

Brian, Kayla and the boys joined us for the dinner and dessert. We tried to go to all of the local places we could, and succeeded well. We must continue to go to Emi G's, though. It hardly ever has anyone there in the evenings (mom and I have been their only customer on many occasion). If you live in the area, take a dinner break and go. They have excellent sandwiches and a full bar to boot! OH, and don't forget the fabulous Key Lime pie!

Jack Kerouac is not my favorite writer...

2008-11-24T00:11:00.004-06:00

The 2ND Annual Lone Star International Film Festival was last weekend. As a member of the Film Society and an aspiring screenwriter, I love this festival as it is in my hometown of Fort Worth! I volunteered for the festival last year (see picture of me with Martin Sheen on this page!) and I did so again this year.

I was only able to see one film, One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur. I was a bit hesitant to see this film because, as the title of this post states, Jack Kerouac is not my favorite writer. He's not even on my top 100. I tried reading Kerouac in college, but only got to page 5 of On the Road, before I just had to stop and work on my Women's literature readings. I actually thought that I just didn't like Kerouac at all until I realized that it wasn't his writings which irritated me so much, it was his devotees. The Kerouac wannabes.

Ah, the Kerouac wannabes. They are an interesting group of guys (usually guys, because really, a girl could not pull it off. Most guys can't.). You can tell a Kerouac devotee from a mile away. They usually wear outsider clothes reminiscent of the 1950s (khaki Dickie's type pants, short sleeve button-ups in mute tones, undershirts, usually wife-beaters, all of which is possibly frayed at the ends). Also, their hair has that look about it that makes one think of the 50s without the oil slick you'd normally see. If they smoke, they will, of course, roll their own cigarettes. Then there is the attempt at intellectualism. Very few pull this off, but they try. Its the whole attitude that they know they are smart, but they don't care, they just want to write. Maybe poetry, maybe the next great novel.

It's kind of a strange thing to see, but I've witnessed it in person- in college and quite a bit in Austin. They just bug me. I don't really know why, except maybe it just bothers me that people try to cop an image of who they want to be like instead of just being who they are. It seems as if they want someone else's life. I don't think Kerouac's life is the one to want, especially since he really did have major mental and alcoholic issues, dying at the age of 47 because his body just could not take the abuse anymore.

Anyway, the movie was an eye-opener for me and made me admire Kerouac even more. I took my mom and she really enjoyed it. This is a woman who really does not like documentaries much, especially the literary ones, but she related to him so much. The idea that, when he dried out completely, he could not create, so he had to remain mostly drunk all of the time to do his business. I could only imagine what that must have been like. I know that my mom has a difficult time being creative when she takes her meds, but she has a hard time functioning as a normal person when she doesn't, so she takes them. The whole thing has inspired me to give Kerouac another try. I've ordered a copy of the Anniversary edition of On the Road. It is the scroll edition, meaning everything Kerouac wrote is in it, not just the edited version. I hope I get past page 5 this time... if I do, I may try others, including Big Sur...

The greenhouse, the fireplace, and hot chocolate...

2008-11-23T23:55:00.003-06:00

Mom, emerging from the greenhouse.

All of the plants are in place.

An almost full waterbarrel

The inagural fire.

Spiked hot chocolate.

The coolness has started to fall over Fort Worth, and the rest of Texas in general. A week ago, mom and I moved all of our plants we were not able to fit into our houses into the greenhouse. I love my greenhouse. I bought it last year in hopes of saving the hibiscus I spent quite a bit of money on, knowing I would use it for other plants as well. Brian and Kayla put it together mostly, while I helped and entertained the boys. This year, we finally got all of the gravel put in! I keep it warm with the sun (and sometimes a little heater, depending on how long it stays cold), as well as a large bucket of water, which helps create moisture for the plants.

Also updated is my fireplace. I finally got around to having the firewall fixed and a damper and chimney cap put in. This is something that has needed to be done for a while, but I just never had enough money to do it. I really didn't this time, and couldn't have, if I didn't have my mom to help. We've been sitting around a couple of days drinking wine, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate in front of it. Very nice.

I'm on my Thanksgiving break right now. I always look forward to this time, but I may actually be able to enjoy it this year. I don't have to grade papers, even though I do have two write two while I'm off. Winter break will actually be better since my graduate school semester will be over and I will have no TAKS benchmark essays to grade. I'll miss the extra pay, but I'll love the time to read and do whatever I want with my time off. It is certainly a nice thing to experience not having to worry about work while I'm home. I may actually get a book or two read, or possibly even write something... who would have thought?!?

Okay, now that was way too long for a New Post...

2008-11-12T19:56:00.007-06:00

OK, so it has taken me, what, three months to do another post? Way too long, if you ask me. I guess that's what happens when you start a new job in a library, start graduate school classes again, and have your cancer-free mother at home while she recovers and has a second surgery (not that I'm complaining, just that it takes quite a bit of time!). Anyway, it hasn't stopped me from taking pictures of my doings for the past few months.

This was one of my watermelons I picked in August!

My lemon tree produced four large lemons. I picked them just a few days ago.

Mom and Ruby supervising the crushing of the cans for recycling by my little cousins.

Brian and Kayla doing the tree trimming (I helped!!!) so that I could have my chimney repaired.

Cody and Chase continuing the can crushing.

I am really going to try to keep this up. I love my blogging, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Just a few more weeks to go for my classes to be over, as well!

Long time gone...

2008-08-22T00:33:00.002-05:00

Yep, it's been almost a month since my last post. I've been taking care of mom, who is now cancer free and in the process of breast reconstruction (she wouldn't let me take pictures of the progress for the blog, so, unfortunately you will all have to use your imaginations!). I have also been working on my library, trying to get it ready for the start of school next week, which I think will be almost impossible! I'm going to try to get back into the swing of posting, even though most of the garden has died away from the heat we had for a couple of weeks. I do have some lovely lemons and limes on the trees, though, so as soon as I pull out the camera, I will place pictures on here.

Thanks for all of your prayers! I promise I'll be posting more often!

Mom's date has changed!

2008-07-23T14:51:00.002-05:00

The date for my mom's mastectomy has changed from August 13th, to the 1st! I'm rushing around as I write trying to get my house, her house, and all of my school work done in time. Ugh...but I'm glad that it is not during the week of my library and school inservices. I will have a week to wait on her hand and foot before I have to disappear for a few hours every day. That makes it all good.

Update on Mom and a Cooler Colorado

2008-07-18T17:16:00.009-05:00

Mom found out today that her surgery for her mastectomy will be on August 13th, so it was a very good thing that I decided to go to Colorado last week to visit my Dad. I'm not quite sure how all of the in-services are going to work out for my new librarian job, but we'll get to that when August hits.

Grannie and I left on July 5th and spent the night in Salida, CO (if you've read my screenplay, this is where it's set, guys!).

The water has been flowing rapidly with the snow melt. So much so, that it has flooded their little riverwalk.

You have to love a tiny town, though, that has bike racks on every corner and in front of most stores!
They also make great use of those unneeded horse troughs (I just had to take a picture of the sheep!).
Ok, so those pictures were actually from the 6th. Then a whole bunch of nothing happened, unless you count me going crazy trying to read as fast as I could to get my school work done as well as work on a group assignment paper. Oh, and I smoked brisket on the "big pit," and it was good, but no pictures because I didn't think about it until after it was all done.

So...fast forward to Saturday, July 12th- Grannie wanted to go to the Four Corners, so we did! We pretty much knew nothing about the area, so I looked up restaurants online and found a well-rated one on Tripadvisor.com called Tequila Family Mexican Restaurant in Cortez, CO. The food looked so great, I took pictures of it...

This was my incredibly spicy Chipotle Chicken burrito.

Dad had a very out of focus, but delicious Pork Green Chile Burrito.

Sharon, holding up a wonderful cabbage concoction that I've only had in Colorado, and had what we all agreed was the absolute best Chicken Mole enchiladas ever known to man.

Grannie played it safe and ordered a Beef Taco Salad. She said it tasted just like a taco salad.

Then, we were off, driving through Southwestern Colorado on Reservation land.

Here we are, in the Four Corners (actually, it looks like only on three of them).

Surrounding the platform are Navajo vendors selling their crafts- I walked away with a cedar seed bracelet a lady put on me to see if it would fit and then refused to take off ($5), an unusual dream catcher made of grapevine ($12), a recorder/flute ($3), a black with white-flecks stone carved turtle on a necklace, representing the creation story "The World on Turtle's Back" ($5), and a pair of silver hooped earrings with the "morning star" design that this little old man grabbed my hand and said that he had exactly what I was looking for and did ($20 from Grannie). Oh, and a sticker for my travel case ($3). I was told that all they had was a bunch of junk there, but almost everything I saw was handmade and the money was going directly to the people selling it, so I was happy.

Pretty near by is Mesa Verde National Park, a place I've always wanted to go to since I was little and stared at the cliff dwellings in National Geographic. It didn't take much whining to get my wish!

These two deer were creeping along the road near the visitors center.

This is the Palace ruins, the largest of the cliff dwellings in the park. I didn't go down into this one because it was getting late and I would be the only one going down. Besides, there was an easier one to get to that was free!

We took the short hike to the Spruce Tree House dwellings. They are the easiest to get to and are unique in that they are by a water source, allowing trees to grow right up to the dwellings.

Dad used his big walking stick to threaten the running children...I mean, walk down the trail.

The park services reconstructed a kiva so that visitors can see how they were once used.

I just thought this was cool and proof that we really did go! This made spending the week with my Grannie worth it all!
The last look of the park- Wildfires swept through in 1996, wiping out nearly 3/4ths of the parks trees. Nearly all of them are completely gone, but the undergrowth is growing strong.

Happy 4th of July and Happy 2nd Birthday to Ruby and Henry!

2008-07-04T14:19:00.007-05:00

Today is not only the 232nd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but also the date of my cute puppies birth two years ago. At least it is the date I have decided, because I'm not quite sure since I've never asked. Chris (who saw a sucker a mile away when he brought the crate of puppies to my house in late July of 2006), if you are reading this, just ignore it if I'm wrong!

Mom, holding Henry the night we got them in August 2006.

Me, with Ruby, that same night. I found out during that week that she has a desire to fly because she would wiggle out of my hands and fall right on the patio as often as she could!

What a cutie hiding with her duck under the rocker.

Ruby was a very photogenic puppy, here posing with her "dog worm," and showing off her one blue eye.

Tug-o-War in the study floor. I can't remember who won.

This is the only picture I could get of Henry looking in the camera when he was a puppy. He used to not even look people in the eye. I've worked with him on that and now he stares deeply into your soul with his brown beauties!

I have no idea how I was lucky enough to get this cute pose. Ruby almost looks like a bat in this one!

They were a little older here on our first (and really only) out of town trip with them to Hot Springs, Arkansas in October 2006. We found it is still kind of difficult to travel in the US with dogs, unless you are camping. There are just not very many dog friendly places.

This is one of the outtakes from their First Christmas card picture. They were so tired, I had to hold Ruby's head up just to get her in the frame. The picture I finally used was the very last one and then they went to bed.

Henry and his glowing eyes...

They pretty much attack my mom when she comes over after work from the bakery. I think they want to lick the icing off of her shirt and arms.

Ruby in her "bedroom."

Henry in his "bedroom."

I found out Ruby loves tomatoes when she stole this split one out of my hand as I was tossing it into the compost pile. She ran around the backyard with it until she decided to stop and eat the whole thing in about 5 minutes. It didn't make her sick, so I guess if I run out of dog food...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Pups!

Saving Electricity and Water

2008-06-24T21:38:00.003-05:00

It takes quite a bit of work, and money sometimes, to save resources. Today I received my portable clothesline, delivered to my door by Mr. UPS Man. I ordered it Saturday, which means it pays to do the SuperSavers shipping through Amazon! Also, it means today was wash day! I don't want to run the electric dryer, not just because it wastes electricity on its own, but also because it heats the house up, making the a/c work harder, too.

I was very happy when I unpacked the clothesline and saw that it would fit perfectly into my umbrella stand. This is two loads of laundry on it so far (the towels are hidden inside).

Last Wednesday Mom and I traveled to Frisco (the long way) to Ikea trying to find one of those portable clotheslines, but this eagle design was what I ended up with instead. I've decided to use it to dry my night clothes and anything kind of short, since it can be hidden within the backyard. I do have a third clothes rack, my original wooden rack bought before they were cool to have, in the house drying my under things.

Now, I mentioned in the title "Saving Water." Well, this is why. I've had a slight clog in the drain of my washing machine for quite a while now. I had just been turning the washer on and off when it was draining, but I decided one day to just see if I could use some of that water going down the drain. I was so surprised when I realized exactly how much water I was sending down that drain. Turns out, a lot. I've started washing everything on low water, and it still fills up the trash can below, almost to the top.

Hmm... Ok, the pitcher hooked on the side is used to transfer the water from the can, into the mop bucket.

Then, the mop bucket is carried out to my rain barrels that I never got ready to collect rain (I tried, but I need a longer connector pipe... well, it really doesn't matter right now!).

I fill up the barrels.
Then, when it is needed, I use the water to water my non-edible plants.
They seem to like it.
Now, I kind of look at it this way. I paid for that water as soon as it left the pipe and went into my washing machine. Its my water, so I'm going to get a second use out of it. I use biodegradable soap and fabric softener, and it hasn't hurt the plants or the grass, so I guess I'm saving myself money, right? It's hard work and now I'm going to have a glass of wine to relax, except now I have to fold. Ugh. Never ending job, keeping up a house!

Garden 2008: Summer Solstice update

2008-06-21T19:10:00.015-05:00

Today is the first day of summer, so it is only fitting that I update exactly what is going on in my garden.

This week has been a bit hectic, but I did take time to look over the non-vegetable plants and noticed that the oleander in the back yard has put on blooms. This is a big event because this particular oleander came from a cutting I swiped off of a tree in Florida during a trip to Destin in 2001. The package I had it in had several cuttings from different colored oleanders, but by the time I got home, I couldn't remember which cutting was what color.

Mystery revealed after 7 years- it's pink! This must be a sign to bloom this color at this particular time, since pink is the color of breast cancer awareness (an update on my mom will be Monday when she finally decides what course she is going to take).

Now, the vegetables and fruit...
I picked this basket of tomatoes yesterday morning.
Here is a close-up of a Green Zebra.

The potatoes are not doing quite so well. I'm not sure, but they may be ready. The saddest of them all is the Purple Peruvian above.

The most prolific greenery would be the German Butterball.
But not too far behind would be the Austrian Crescent. They are supposed to be harvested 90 to 100 days after planting. I'm going to have to go back and look in this blog to see when I uploaded those pictures!

Here are two of my watermelons. I've found at least 6 globes on the vines, so I'll have to see exactly how many will actually grow to maturity. I'm trying the "no till" method on these since I really did not have a tiller available at the time of planting. I'm cutting the grass back away, but I've heard that using this method helps retain the moisture for the plants (I don't see how, but oh well!). The corn is not doing as well using this method. I'm going to clean out the grass around them either tomorrow or Monday to help them out.

I have three cantalope all about the size of my fist.

This extremely tall sunflower planted itself. I make it a habit never to cut down a sunflower that grows on it's own. There is such determination there.
This is that crazy tomato and bean garden as of today.

Finally I have several purple-ish tomatoes on the Cherokee Purple (about 7).
The Green Zebra is producing so many, I can't even count now how many are on this vine.

This is my one and only tomato on the Mortgage Lifter bush. It keeps producing flowers, I keep shaking the plant, but this is it so far.

Nope, there are no pictures of tomatoes on the Boxcar Willie, because there are no tomatoes on the bush at all. The thing grew straight up, about 6 feet, puts on flowers, but like the Mortgage Lifter, nothing. I'm debating on trimming it down to about 4 feet to see if it will have better luck then. It might kill it, but hey, like it's doing anything now except suck up water anyway.

My Mom...

2008-06-17T19:13:00.003-05:00

Friday my Mom received some bad news. She had a biopsy done on Wednesday and was told on Friday that she has a very rare breast cancer. Luckily they caught it extremely early and will be doing surgery soon. She has a meeting with the surgeon on Thursday and we will know more then. If you pray, please add her to your list.
Thanks.

The Past Few Days...

2008-06-17T18:41:00.008-05:00

Left- Mom and Me at the State Convention in Austin
Below- Chase's Birthday Party at Rosa's Cafe
Left- Elizabeth in her lovely dress at the annual Bungalow Party
Below- More Tomatoes!

Left- My most wonderful dinner tonight

OK, so these pictures turned out...a little strange this time, but I will work with it!

This month has been a little crazy for me. June 5-7th saw Mom and I travel down to Austin to the Democratic State Convention. It was a little strange, since everyone knew that Hillary Clinton was going to drop out, but it was an experience of a lifetime. Who would have thought we had over 12,000 Democrats in the state willing to go to a convention, let alone all of those who sent us there. I was a delegate, Mom was an alternate, but she quickly was elevated to delegate status. I just hope that the energy continues.

On the 7th I had not one, but two parties to go to, so we ended up leaving the convention early. I hope we don't get in trouble for that, but what can I say. I was there for the most stressful part- Being a Hillary Delegate (in a shirt!!!) in a sea of Obama supporters. The first party was for my little cousin Chase. We missed his brother's birthday in March (I was just studying too hard), so Mom and I will be taking them both out to eat at this place called Incredible Pizza. Whee!

The second party was at my friend Elizabeth's house. We had... adult beverages, relaxed and talked quite a bit. By the end, it was just Elizabeth, Heather, and myself out on the patio, just like old times. I actually got home by 2am! Who would have thought...

Monday, June 9th was my last day as a "teacher." It was also my last day at the high school I started teaching at six years ago. I don't think it has quite hit me yet that I will not be going to work over at the high school by the hospital in August, but I know it will soon. I have to go pick up my keys to my library this next week. That will make it truly official. I'll miss my people, but I know I have a new adventure ahead of me. Besides, we have email!

The harvest has been nice to me so far. The picture of the two bowls is actually out of date. By Friday of last week, I had three: one of Romas, one of Yellow Pear and Grape, and a full bowl of Green Zebra. I have been giving tomatoes away to anyone who will take them (really, just to my Grannie and Heather). Elizabeth had Heather and me over for dinner on Sunday, so I took a tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad (she made the most amazing mussels, YUM!). The leftovers were my dinner tonight, placed on slices of toasted Parmesan bread from Central Market and broiled for 8 minutes in the toaster oven. Double YUM!

Ha, I almost forgot... graduate school started back up on June 2nd. I got a bit behind with all of the excitement, but I think I am finally caught up...maybe....if that is possible.

Cooking with the Harvest

2008-06-03T18:14:00.004-05:00

My dinner tonight- a personal pizza with my home grown grape and yellow pear tomatoes, carmelized onions and garlic (Texas grown), goat cheese, kalamata olives, salt, pepper, and olive oil on a locally baked pita. My mother will look at this and say: That's just too much goat cheese! I love goat cheese, so there can never be too much for me.

Yep, I think The Green Texan will turn into a food blog soon. It's hard to stop it from happening. I'm going to have to eat all that lovely food I'm growing at some point. I did cook the green beans the other night, but I have to say, they were not much of a success. I'm going to have to pick them earlier. They were just too big and tough. Oh, well. That is the fun in gardening. You learn about what works, what doesn't and exactly when you are supposed to pick things... like the Green Zebra. They need to be more golden in color, making the green stripes more prominent. Good thing I only picked one! I am definitely enjoying this locavore thing...

Garden 2008: Today's Harvest

2008-05-31T19:38:00.002-05:00

Just a short post to show what I harvested today: a handful of Yellow Pear and Grape tomatoes, a Roma, a Green Zebra (I think it may be ready...how can you tell when a green tomato is ripe?), and a good bunch of French green beans. I'll be cooking the beans tomorrow for lunch. I will post the results then!

Garden 2008: I am a Plant Addict

2008-05-26T20:14:00.011-05:00

OK, I admit it. I have a problem. I am a plant addict. I thought everything was fine. I planted all I could plant this year. It is impossible, and too late, for me to plant anything else this year. That was, until I went to the Belknap Farmer's Market on Saturday. There, as I was looking for a friend for my tomatillo, I saw them: two flats of beautiful Bojangles Sweet Corn seedlings. I ignored them... until after I left. I've been thinking about those corn stalks since then. I made up my mind yesterday that I would go first thing Monday and pick out five. So, I did.

The row is a bit off, but here they are! I was able to get 5 pots for .99 each, 4 of which were twins (two in one pot), making 9 stalks total. I may have more corn than I can possibly eat come August!

The cantaloupe are coming right along, blooming and making little knots of melon.

As are the watermelon...

And now an update on the tomatoes. The Roma has, from what I can count, about 30 fruits on it, one which is about to be just ripe enough to pick probably by tomorrow.

The Green Zebra are right behind with about 20 on the vine.

Purple Cherokee have three so far. I've been shaking them like crazy to get more, as well as rubbing flowers together (ya know, fake tomato sex). Not much more, but lots of blooms.

The Mortgage Lifter will not be paying off my mortgage this year, at least not yet. I have one little tomato on it right now. Again, I've been shaking it like crazy and trying to mate the blooms, but no more yet.

This isn't the worst, though. The laziest vines so far have been Boxcar Willie and the tomatillos (the reason for searching for the friend in the first place). There have been plenty of blooms, but they have been withering before they could be pollinated.

But, the garden is huge anyway! The Yellow Pear is at the top of the 6 foot fence now, and the Green Zebra is as tall as me.

The French Green Beans have actual beans on them. Several are probably ready to pick, hopefully enough to have for dinner either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Garden 2008: Smallest Harvest Ever and lunch

2008-05-25T15:35:00.003-05:00

These have got to be the smallest ripe strawberries in the history of gardening. Mom and I each had three, which gave us a "taste of strawberry" sensation. Probably the equivalent of a normal size small berry. Oh well, I guess this is what happens when you use a strawberry pot. Maybe next year I'll actually plant them in the ground.

On a better note, this was our lunch today. A mostly organic, mostly local meal.

Here's the rundown:

Tomatoes: grape and pear; organic, from the garden.

Chard: red, hot pink, orange, green, white; organic, from the garden

Chicken: organic, Texas raised from Central Market

Bacon: organic, Texas raised, also from Central Market

Romain lettuce: Origin a mystery, from Belknap (Sayer's) Farmer's Market

Celery: Origin a mystery, also from Belknap (Sayer's) Farmer's Market

The whole thing was especially good because the tomatoes and chard were picked yesterday!

Garden 2008: Harvest and Wait

2008-05-24T19:09:00.003-05:00

I decided that today is the day for harvesting my first cutting of Swiss chard. Supposedly, it is possible to continually harvest chard throughout the summer, even here in Texas. It is supposed to have a flavor and use similar to spinach. I had a taste of one of the stalks after I took the picture below, and it really does taste a bit like spinach. You can almost see my latest harvest of grape tomatoes sitting in the spoon rest to the upper right of the bowl. I picked about 7 today.

Here is where the wait comes in. The potatoes have mostly grown over the top of the containers, with the Purple Peruvian being the slowest of the group. I have get another bag of soil to "top them off" and then continue watering. We'll see what happens in September when it is time to harvest them!

Garden 2008: How high will that Yellow Pear Tomato Grow?

2008-05-19T19:33:00.002-05:00

That yellow pear tomato plant will grow at least as tall as my mother!

On a side note, I woke up Sunday morning to find this beautiful little bloom pod on my gardenia bush.

By 5:35pm, it had bloomed!

Dad's new toy...

2008-05-12T20:21:00.003-05:00

So, in an effort to save a bit on gas milage, my dad (who lives in Colorado) decided that the scooter was not going to cut it. He needed "Man Wheels." Hence, I give you this...

The Harley gets 50 miles to the gallon. Dad has named it "Hoggy Ferguson."

Garden 2008- Vegetables and so much more!

2008-05-11T21:49:00.006-05:00

This is my second ripe tomato (a Grape). Just after taking this picture, Mom picked it right off the vine and ate it. Sadly, no pictures were taken of the act.

Finally, the long awaited strawberries!

This is the smaller pot of the two.

This is the larger. If you look closely, you can see the starts of a few berries!

This is the giant so far. The Yellow Pear tomato is almost 4 1/2 feet tall. I'll have to get my mom to stand next to it (at 5' 2") so that the size can really be appreciated.

Gabbie loves the new cedar mulch.

Now, I do have other things growing besides my food garden...

The dwarf pomegranate (technically a food, but almost too small to eat) is blooming and developing pods.

The clematis is beautiful and creeping more around the fence by the day.

The scarlet magnevailla weathered the winter well in the greenhouse.

And... glory of all glories... the Confederate Star Jasmine is in full twinkle. At night, when the wind blows just right, I can smell it through my open bedroom windows.

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

Food Review: Unfortunate Name or Unfortunate Ice Cream?

2008-05-09T14:28:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I was in Braum's yesterday to get some cheese and I was drawn to the Light Ice Cream section. I've seen this in the cooler the last few times I was there, so I finally had to satisfy my curiosity.

As the title of this post states: is this an unfortunate name or unfortunate ice cream? I say maybe a little of both. The picture on the tub has Andie's Candies type mints on it. I like Andie's Candies, so I thought, "Why not?"

I had a hard time getting past the name though. Mojito and ice cream do not scream combination of success. Especially with chocolate. I started thinking of the ingredients in a mojito and it confused me even more. I get the mint, I get the rum flavoring. Those work with chocolate. It is the lime that was throwing me off. Lime and chocolate? I don't think so... but that obviously didn't stop me since it is sitting on my stove in the picture.

I took some time with this one. I didn't immediately dig into the tub. I'm not the crazy ice cream eater most people are, but I do go for the strange flavors. Once I scooped some up though, I noticed the chocolate sauce swirl mixed in. It turned out to be where the rum flavoring was added. The chunks of mint were nice. From what I could tell, there was no lime flavor anywhere to be had in this ice cream. The mint was overpowering, though. It was like having a frozen creme de mente grasshopper.

It was "okay" but probably nothing I would ever buy again. It was, basically, After Dinner Mint on steroids. Not really a "mojito." So, my conclusion is that there is a definite unfortunate name game going on at the Braum's plant in Oklahoma.

Garden 2008 Update: What happened while I was writing papers for finals!

2008-05-07T23:46:00.008-05:00

With finals ending on Friday and getting my life back in order, I have completely ignored posting for the past two weeks! Ooops! Anyway, so much has happened. It seems as if the tomatoes grow a foot a day, so my pictures here are probably already out of date.

Two Saturdays ago I bought some strawberries, watermelon and cantalope plants.

I planted the watermelon and cantalopes in the driveway. I was afraid they would get ran over because the fence is brown (you can't even see it in the picture, can you?). So, I placed old, dead CDs on strings to act as reflectors. They work very well and have an eerie glow at night.

Um... I should have a picture of the strawberries in the strawberry pots placed right here. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of them!?!

This is pretty close to what the garden looks like now, but I've added cedar mulch (local!) and, with all of the rain, everything is probably about a foot taller now.

Mom and I stopped and had a nice pot of tea (not local- Harrod's Earl Grey #42, YUM!) and blueberry scones from the Artisan Bread Company purchased at the Cowtown Farmer's Market. This was on an unrealistically cold last Sunday in April (27th).

We also had a fire. I wonder if the burn ban is still in effect?

I bought this terribly expensive organic potting soil from the feed store. It's from Austin. I had no clue that Miracle Grow now made an organic potting soil (but now I have two bags of 2 cubic feet each which cost the same as this lovely 1 cubic foot Lady Bug stuff). The potatoes are now not going to be nearly as expensive to grow as they once were.

The potatoes do seem to be growing several inches a day, though, so it's good I finally found something cheap and organic!

The Swiss Chard is finally looking like Swiss Chard!

And...

My first ripe tomato was picked today- A Yellow Pear!

It was delicious!

New Garden 2008 Pictures

2008-04-25T21:59:00.011-05:00

The garden is well on it's way. The potatoes are now sprouting vines and I will need to add more soil soon.

Purple Peruvian fingerlings.
German Butterballs (seem to be doing the best right now!)
Austrian Crescent fingerling.

With all of the rain, the ground garden is really going wild, especially with weeds! I'll have to spend a few minutes between papers this weekend pulling them up.

The largest tomato plant so far: Yellow Pear!

The French green beans are starting to vine up the bamboo poles.

Those little weird plants were the Swiss Chard! I have a whole line of these down the side of the garage.

The Meyer lemon tree has many little green nobs on it now. Unfortunately, the storms Wednesday night knocked off all of the limes.

Ok, now Elizabeth, you must be happy to see the update! I also have a little ball of tomato on the Roma, but it is too hard to take the picture as it is in the middle of the plant. All of the tomatoes have blooms, so more pictures will come soon. Plus, tomorrow I plan on going to the farmer's market or the feed store to get some strawberry and watermelon plants. I need more fruit!

Potatoes in a container

2008-04-10T22:31:00.010-05:00

I ordered seed potatoes from Seed Savers Exchange and received them on March 22nd.

Irony much?

They arrived in these cute little linen bags. I have fancy potatoes in more ways than one.

I was not ready to plant them right a way, which was lucky, because I had to let them sit for a few weeks so that they may develop eyes. (from Left to Right: Purple Peruvian fingerling, German Butterball, and Austrian Crescent fingerling)

That's me drilling holes in one of the plastic crates. I saw a post on Crunchy Chicken about container gardening and decided to copy her, mostly because I was afraid if I planted potatoes in my driveway, I would forget where I planted them when it was time to harvest.

Purple Peruvians going in the soil (Thanks to Elizabeth and Heather for the two huge plastic crates!!!)
German Butterballs. If they are that big when they come out, I'm going to have a lot of potatoes.

Henry and Ruby are wishing they had those crates on their side of the fence. Ruby would really like to dig around and I'm sure Henry would eat all the seed potatoes.

Once everything gets growing, there will be more pictures!

Terrible Storms Early This Morning

2008-04-10T22:24:00.005-05:00

A terrible spring storm woke me (and the dogs and Gabbie) up at 3:00 am. I couldn't go back to sleep because I was just waiting for one of my lovely trees to fall over on my house. The electricity went out, only to come back on around 5am. I checked out the damage this morning and everything was fine in my yard. My poor new neighbors were not so lucky, though.

This was taken this afternoon. I feel badly for saying it, but I wish that oak had snapped just below the outdoor light instead of just above it so it would no longer shine in my bedroom at night!

Garden 2008 Update!

2008-04-06T19:16:00.003-05:00

Udate on the garden!
Yellow Pear tomatoes are the most prolific so far.
Not far behind, though are the Grape tomatoes! Gabbie, in the background, is checking out the progress. She has always been a garden cat.
French Green Beans are coming right along.
This could be a weed... or it could be my Swiss Chard! If anyone reading knows, please email me! I have a bunch of these where the chard was planted, so I'm thinking that's what it is!
Ha! A very out of focus picture of one of my Meyer Lemon blossoms. You can see the messy lower patio very clearly, though.

I should be planting the potatoes in their containers this week, so another post is to come soon.

We Are Democrats: District 12 Senatorial Convention, March 29, 2008- Part 2

2008-04-05T18:49:00.004-05:00

This was the view from our seats. We were here for a little over 13 hours due to about 87 precincts being challenged.

Mom survived, but her eyes were tired and red before all was said and done...

Our lovely, dedicated delegates from all the precincts in District 12 were finally (at 7:15 pm) given permission to vote on who would represent the precinct at the State Convention. It was unanimously decided that I would be the Delegate (because I am a teacher!?!) and my mom would be the alternate. We are both going to Austin June 5-7! I guess that means I'll miss the last day of school.

We then had to vote on resolutions, which took at least an hour. At Large Delegates had to be decided as well... so some people got a bit bored waiting and began to...

dance the Macarena. Democrats on very little sleep do strange things...

So, at 10:30 pm, after being at the Gaylord Texan since 9:00 am, we left. My last thought was...

Peace out (Is peace out? How about we make it the new black!).

We are Democrats: District 12 Senatorial Convention March 29, 2008- Part 1

2008-04-05T18:31:00.004-05:00

The District 12 Senatorial Convention was held on March 29, 2008. Yes, I am late posting this because I had two papers due this last week!

I was a delegate from my precinct for Hillary Clinton!

This was what the line looked like to register and get credentials. Our precinct ended up having a challenge because the nimwit we elected as convention judge never took our paperwork to the Democratic Party offices!

We did finally get registered after arriving 3 hours earlier...
I was then credentialed!

Texas Country Reporter- Recycled Houses

2008-03-22T09:50:00.000-05:00

Cool and artistic recycled houses right here in Texas! Enjoy!

Dan's Website

Brigid's Paradigm

More tomatoes

2008-03-19T17:11:00.001-05:00

Green Zebra

Boxcar Willie

Mortgage Lifter

Toma Verde- Tomatillo

Tomatoes and beans!

2008-03-19T17:05:00.001-05:00

A bean sprout!

Yellow Pear tomato

Grape tomato

Cherokee Purple

Roma

The crop!

My Garden 2008!

2008-03-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the new garden!

The area before the garden. Will be in full sun by mid-April (taken around 3/6).

Taken on 3/9- Bamboo poles from Mom's backyard, French green beans and chard planted.

Tomatoes added on 3/16. Cages can barely be made out in this photo, but they are there! (photo taken today).

My herb and flower garden just outside my back door.

The next post will be of pictures of the individual tomato plants and bean sprouts!

Missing for a while!

2008-02-17T11:22:00.000-06:00

I think I may be MIA for a few weeks. I am currently working on my MLIS and taking 9 hours is about the least intelligent thing I have done in a while. It will keep me busy, that is for sure. I hope to be able to plant my garden during spring break, so I will post pictures of it once I do. So long until then (unless something really good comes up).

Until then, somehow, my little city of Fort Worth has been ranked 15th Greenest City in the nation: http://www.wfaa.com/projectgreen/greenarticles/stories/wfaa080215_wz_fwgreen.c3c54afc.html. I have no clue how that could have happened, unless they are counting Sundance Square Management signing Green Mountain Energy as it's provider (the largest business area in the nation to do so). I may have to check out Popular Science to see what the true criteria was for that and if they had any explanations as to how it is exactly "Green." That is, when I have time... whenever that may be.

My First Film Review!

2008-01-19T15:09:00.000-06:00

Here is the link to my first article for the Lone Star International Film Festival:

http://www.lonestarfilmsociety.com/winter_newsletter_1.9.2008.doc

Some day I'll learn how to do that whole "click on the name and it follows the link" thing.

Bags, bags, and more bags

2008-01-12T16:37:00.000-06:00

I began using canvas bags for all of my shopping over a year ago, even non-grocery shopping. I try not to preach to anyone about the evils of plastic bags, but chose to lead by example. When I first started this in my neighborhood Walgreens, the cashiers would freak out a bit, put my stuff in a plastic bag and then stuff it in my canvas bag. The first time, I just let that go. After that, though, I began to forgo a cart and place all of my purchases in the bag and take it out in front of the cashier. They seemed to get the hint here. Even the initial bad-grammar girl (who stated the first three times I did this to her "You don't need no bag?"). I always would explain to them that I had way too many plastic bags and just needed to stop bringing them into my house. Plus I had all of these free canvas bags! Eventually I just became known as the girl with the bag.

One day several customers were in line behind me and they saw my bags. They began talking about how they always wondered what they were going to do with their canvas bags they had laying around their house and now they knew what to do. Apparantly they took it to heart, because several weeks ago the bad-grammar cashier told me that there were about 15 people that have started bringing in their own bags and she blamed me (I"ll take that blame, thank you very much). I do wonder if she is just noticing the same 5 people carrying their own bags, but I don't push it.

Two weeks ago I was in Kroger and noticed my phenomena has spread. They are selling reusable bags! I never would have thought that my Kroger would be doing that, but they are! I wonder if it is because of me? They didn't try to pressure me to buy their royal blue bags with the big ol' Kroger symbol on the side, but they still gave me their 5 cent per bag discount and the cashier said that their bags were selling like hotcakes (10 for $10 at that!).

The greatest surprise came to me yesterday, however. I went into Walgreens to get my bad Diet Coke fix and what did I see? A huge display with very tastefully designed Walgreens reusable bags! I asked my favorite bad-grammar cashier about them and she said that their buyer saw them in a catalogue and asked the cashiers if they thought their customers would buy them. It turned out all of the cashiers told them about me being their first one to bring in my own bags and other customers begain to do it when they saw me. Apparently that sounded good enough for the buyer and they sold 20 the first day they put them out.

Now I say this is a trend that I started, but I know I am not the originator of the reusable shopping bag. I am glad this trend is beginning to catch on. I hope that soon I will stop having those annoying plastic bags stuck in my trees because nobody will be getting them!

By the way, I still use my old plastic bags to hold my household recycling. I must have had a million of them, though, because, even after a year, they have not run out yet!

What's Your Consumption Factor?

2008-01-02T16:47:00.000-06:00

This is an interesting article found in today's New York Times...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02diamond.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Goals for 2008

2008-01-02T16:27:00.000-06:00

It's the 2nd of January and I am doing what almost everyone on the planet is doing at this time: creating a list of how I am going to improve my life. Most people call these "New Years Resolutions." I refuse to do this because I hate to resolve to do anything. I just make a list of goals (same thing, I know, but it makes them more attainable if they are goals!). So, here is my list. I hope to use it as a basis to develop this blog.

Goals for 2008

Lose the rest of my weight (not posting it, just doing it).
Eat more local and/or organic foods.
Do not eat fast food or chain restaurants!
Exercise at least 3 times a week.
Quit drinking so many soft drinks.
Write, write, write!
Keep my house clean. It’s easy to do it, so stop whining!
Read, read, read!
Work in yard more.
Finish patio.
Plant and keep up my monster driveway garden.
Sand woodwork in bathroom and kitchen.
Stop spending so much money and try to save some, all the while paying off debt.
Do well on Master of Library Science.
Find a librarian job.
Train puppies to be better dogs.

That's it. I just need to get to it!

A brand new blog...

2007-12-27T11:26:00.000-06:00

I have to say, I have been a closeted blog reader for a few months now. I've always thought about starting one, but never quite knew what I would say. I've found, in reading other blogs, that really, the only thing that I need to include on a blog is whatever comes to mind for me.

Right now my mind is focusing on the environment. I don't want to be one of those bloggers, though, who is choosing to write about something because it is the cool, hip thing to do. I've always been passionate about the environment. When curbside recycling started in my city almost 15 years ago, I badgered my mother into letting me be in charge of the recycling. I didn't like taking out the trash, but I furiously recycled.

Now, I may not always write about the environment. If that is all you are here for, just skip those days, okay! I love many things that do not have an enviromental slant to them. I write, read, travel, and watch movies like crazy, so I may very well have something decidedly non-green on "The Green Texan." I'll try to figure out a way to incorporate it, though (if I can...).

Thanks for reading!