Garden Creation, Day 2

After dinner, the guys headed out to the garage to start on the garden boxes.

Tonight's mission - get the boards for the boxes

Mom can't help with her own Birthday Present". Now of course, that was never said, I was just getting other stuff done in the house. But tonight I didn't have to do anything. They had everything under control. All the boards were cut to the appropriate length, double and triple checking the numbers of course.

Darrin helped with the measuring, marking and sawing of most of the smaller boards and then John tackled the 2x6's with the "big saw" as Darrin called it.

After all the sawing and banging I heard, of course I was curious. They were on a mission! I guess my job for the night was taking the pictures. Apparently Darrin told John "oh yeah - mom can't help make her own birthday present!" But of course no one ever said that LOL

Once the boards were all cut and final counts were done, it was to move to the next step. Darrin wanted to help here, but John got to do all the drilling.

Once everything was cut a prepped, they decided that they needed to at least put one of the boxes together to make sure they were going to be what I wanted. So the small 2x2 box was the lucky on.

Looks good to me! Phase 2 begins tomorrow

Dear Menards, Can I please have 2+ hours of my life back?!

On Thursday, as we were getting in the car to head up north, John told me that part of my Birthday present was on the seat of the car. Now keep in mind that my birthday is still about 3 weeks away. So of course I was curious...

It was the newest edition of the "Square Foot Gardening" book. I have been talking about wanting to plant a garden for a few years but with all the deer around here all the time, we were hesitant. The neighbors tried a few years back (before I moved into the neighborhood) to have a garden, but gave up because they just ended up feeding the deer, rabbits, squirrels and whatever other 4 legged plant eating varmints that happened to be within smelling distance of the house. And this was all with a fence around it!!

After seeing the success that my uncle has had with his garden over the last year, keeping in mind that he had a deer feeder not even 30 yards from his fenced in garden, I wanted to try. John remembered his mom watching this guy's show on TV as he was growing up about Square Foot Gardening... and come to find out, he had a new book out!

So for my birthday this year, I was getting a garden! We spent the weekend going through the book, reading up on the "directions" for a proper square foot garden... grow everything in 1/3 the space of a traditional "row" garden. Sounds good to me! I figured out who big I wanted my garden, leaving the option to "grow" in the future if the need or desire arises. An 8x8 ft garden sounded like it would give us what we wanted in the space we wanted to use.

Tonight we spent 2+ hours at Menards and Steins picking up part of what we needed. I am convinced that Menards has some weird force-field or something that automatically takes away 2+ hours of your life just by walking in the door. We were at Menards from 3:45 until just after 6pm! I know that we left Menards to go to Steins for a bit (basically right across the street), but we were only there long enough to find out that they didn't have much of what we needed for the "magic" mix that we needed for the garden. (apparently only a few places in town carry Vermiculite, and everyone was out of stock so we had to order it) So we went to Menards to but most of what we needed. It was not until I got back into my car that I realized it was after 6pm! Granted there was the time spent looking for my lost keys at Menards, but that's a whole different story!

There was still a few more "ingredients" that we would need, but we at least had everything we needed to build the boxes. We called Darrin on the way home and told asked him to throw a frozen pizza in the oven since neither of us felt like making dinner!

Starting on the construction part tonight was a thought, but that was as far as it got! Guess we start tomorrow instead!

Too much to try and catch up on everything...

so I'm not even going to try! It's been a crazy, busy few months. Between work, Boys Scouts and everything else, it is amazing that I can still (mostly) sane!

Today was the 10th annual Cellcom Marathon. With record registration, we knew it was going to be an awesome day! With over 10,000 people registered in one of the 3 events, there were people everywhere! This year they did something a little different and started the 5k race at 7am and then the Full and Half Marathons at 7:30. They were trying to cut down on the congestion at the start of the race. So Darrin and I had to be there a little early... but wanted to get there early enough so that we could actually find a parking spot semi- close so that we would not have to walk a mile to get to the start of our 5k.

It was a cold morning (38 when we left the house) so we opted for nylon pants and t-shirts instead of shorts. I am sure that if we would have gone with the shorts, we would have been fine once we got moving, but I didn't want to take the change with the wind - that was REALLY cold!

We left the house at 6:10 and arrived at Lambeau Field by 6:20. After getting a lucky parking spot right by the greenhouse in KMart's parking lot, we headed across the street to the stadium. After making a loop through the atrium and seeing the mile long line for the restroom, which I was not in the mood to stand in forever, I was on a mission. Back out of the stadium to find the restrooms.

After a quick wait in line, it was time to head to the starting corral for the start of the 5k. They were already lining up the faster pace runners (definitely NOT us!). We were completely content to stick toward the back of the pack... let the congestion head out in front of us!

Formality's completed (race statistics, thank you's to all the marathon volunteers, national anthem) we were off! When you are moving with such a large group of people, it is really hard to NOT let yourself get caught up in the hype and just go at their pace. Darrin did head out ahead of me, and I just let him go. He has been training at school for the Bellin run, so I know he has an idea of what his pace should be. Shortly after we rounded the corner heading away from the stadium, I did catch up to him. Over the next few blocks were running within a few hundred yards of each other., but once we were about 1/2 mile into the race, he was left behind me in the crowd.

Last year I stayed back with him to push him along. This year I decided that I was going to let him go it on his own. He knew what his time was that he wanted to beat (40 minutes was his ultimate, but he wanted to at least better his time from last year of 44:38) and I wanted to let him accomplish that on his own. We decided that if we were able to keep ourselves to the pace that we wanted, to achieve our personal goals, we should be IN the stadium by the time the Marathon started at 7:30

It started out as a very chilly morning but it was the perfect morning for a run. Once I was finally able to focus and block out everyone else around me, I found myself enjoying the gorgeous morning that it turned out to be. This year I did have the advantage of knowing the course so I could use that to help pace myself. From time to time, I found myself checking behind me to see if I could see Darrin back in the crowd. But he was never there.

Before I knew it, I was less that a block away from the stadium! Not really sure where my running partner was, I made sure that my focus remained on getting to that finish line. With the stadium in view, I found myself thinking about how my pace was... was I going to be able to beat my time from last year (42:48)?? As I rounded the corner, heading into the Lambeau Field parking lot, I saw that the marathon had started... and I was not in the stadium yet...


but I was not going to let that discourage me. I still could beat last year's time.

I kept pushing on.

Running through the tunnel and out on the the field in the stadium this year was just as exhilarating as last year. Granted, last year was the first time that I was actually IN the stadium but this year I was actually able to really take a look around and see some of the details that I missed last year. It still amazes me on how big it is once you get into the field. As you are running around the perimeter of the field, you can't help but feel like a mouse in a vast space!

As I was leaving the field and running through the tunnel, I found Darrin! He came around the corner and as soon as he saw me, he had a HUGE smile on his face. I could tell right away that he was very proud of what he was accomplishing on his own. He was determined to reach his goal. and this gave me motivation so see is I could do the same.

As I was heading out of the tunnel, I saw a clock up on the wall that said 7:38am. If I wanted to bean my time from last year, I was going to have to put it in gear. My ultimate goal for today was to not only beat my time from last year, but to do it in less that 40 minutes. I know that the time on the clock only gave me 2 minutes to finish, but I also know that I the time that I actually crossed the start line was later than 7am. But I was going to see where I could get!

As soon as I left the stadium, heading out through the loading dock, I kicked in the final push. I found myself passing anyone I could reach. When I can around the final turn, and the time clock at the finish line came in to sight, all I could see what 39:xx. I never really saw what came after the 39. All I knew was that I wanted to cross that finish line before it hit 40.

And that is exactly what I did!

Granted, bu the time I got past the finish line, I was exhausted. I pushed myself and my body pushed back, but I did not let it get the best of me!

Once I crossed the finish line, caught my breath and found some water, it was time to see if I could find Darrin crossing the finish line. I grabbed a spot along the gates as waited (still trying to catch my breath!). Before too long, I spotted him! Still wearing that same grin from earlier.

He did it on his own this year! No matter what his time, I am very proud of my little man for what he did this morning!

Instead of hitting the food tents for brats and rootbeer (I sorry, can't do brats before 8am!) we decided to head for the results tent to find out our official time.

The results....

Darrin 43:4. Not only did he beat his time from last year, but he did it by nearly 2 minutes!
Myself 38:42 - about 3 minutes off last years time!

After a job well done.... we celebrated by going out for breakfast! (and then went grocery shopping!)

Next month.... the Bellin 10k...

1st year for me, 2nd for Darrin. We WILL beat his time from last year!

Family Reading Night

Each spring, everyone looks forward to Family Reading night at the school. The kids start preparing for this night weeks in advance as they all have the opportunity to take part in the huge book swap. For 2 weeks before the big night, the kids can bring in books that they want to donate to the book swap. For each book that they bring in, they will receive a ticket for a free book at the book swap!

Every year, Darrin bring in a huge pile of books from his ever growing collection and replaces them with "new" ones. However, in the last few years, he has been finding it harder and harder to find books that he wants at the swap - many of the books are for younger kids. He has always been an advanced reader and many of the books were just too simple for him! We figured that this year was going to be tough for him to find many books at the swap.

But then he had a great idea! John and I had recently reconnected with an old friend and found out that she has a 5 year old son that, at 18 months old was diagnosed with an in-operable brain tumor. As any young child, Jayson LOVES to read and play games. Darrin decided that instead of picking out books for himself, he was going to pick out books for Jayson and then we would send these to him. I was very proud of his generosity! When he went through the books on his shelf, he ended up with 2 bags of books to donate to the book swap - 48 books in all!!

Now, with Family Reading night upon us, Darrin was on a mission to find books for Jayson.

This evening was filled with all kinds of exciting events, including a petting farm, open mic night, the book fair, basket raffles and of course the book swap. I think most of the kids spent the majority of their time playing with the animals in the petting zoo - including a snake!

By the end of the night, we found about 5 books at the book fair (gotta love when they book fair features buy one get on free books!), bought a bunch of raffle tickets for the basket raffles and found 30+ books to bring home - some for Darrin, but most of them were for Jayson... another fun successful family event at the school. With this being Darrin's last year at this school, we are going to miss the many events that they put on for the kids!

The Spring Landscaping begins

Before...

Today was the start of our spring landscaping project. We are not really sure how long it will take, or what we will end up with in the end.... we are still trying to get through the planning. The above photo was actually taken in April 2006, but it was the best photo we had that would really show everything that was there at the beginning. The only really difference between the start today and this picture (besides the size of the trees) is that we actually removed all the bushes in front of the front window last fall.

This is the start of our journey to redo the front landscaping ourselves this year.

This morning was the first HUGE step to our new "curb appeal". We have been talking for years that we wanted to do something with the pine trees near the garage. They have become overgrown and are we are really not even sure what the rest of the landscaping around them was suppose to look like!

We found out that Nick just bought a new chainsaw and was looking for trees to cut down to play with his new toy... so he offered to cut down our trees! He would cut them down, but we had to take care of all the hauling.

We had already started removing some of the lower, smaller branches and were discovering the hidden "treasure's" that these trees held. Aside from the 2 pine trees, that was 3 other smaller trees that were trying to grow as well as 3 other various shrubs that probably provided some great curb appeal when they were first put in. Now, they were overgrown and starting to die.

Nick made quick work of these trees. As he was cutting the branches off, we started pulling them away into a big pile so that we could get them hauled away later. It was really fun trying to get the trees to fall int eh direction that we wanted. There was a light incline that the trees were on so gravity wanted to pull them right towards the neighbor's house!

We have some great kids in this neighborhood too! When they saw us starting to haul the branches and wood from the trees away, they all came over to help too! What kids (ages anywhere from 4 to 10) want to spend their afternoon hauling brush voluntarily???? Apparently the ones in our cul-du-sac! I will have to say that if it were not for their help as well as all the neighbors that also came over to help, it would have been an even longer day that it already was!

Several hours later... trees are gone and brush is hauled away... now just to get the stumps ground out so we can plant some grass!

The end results of our days work... (the photo is slightly distorted as it is a 180 degree composite photo).
Thanks again everyone for all your help!!!

Cooking... Mediterranian style

Tonight was the first (of many to come) cooking classes/demonstrations at Cooks Corner. I love shopping here and when I heard that they were offering cooking classes I didn't hesitate to sign up!

Tonight's theme was simple cooking with a Mediterranean touch, presented by Chef Larry London from Big Tomatoes. Nicole and I were looking forward to trying some new yummy foods!

On the menu tonight....

Salad: Panzanella/ Italian Bread Salad

Appetizer: Ceviche

Main Entree: Linguine with Forest Mushrooms & Truffle Oil

Dessert: Brazo deGitano (Gypsy Arm" sponge cake)

The salad was an interesting combination. At first, I was not sure about the "soaked" bread in the salad. That just sound liked like it was going to be flavored mushy bread. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! This was really tasty! The bread was soft, but not mushy and the combination of tomato, cucumber, garlic and herbs came together perfectly! Nicole and I decided that to bring this up to the next, we would try it with some fresh mozzarella in it....

Helpful hints from the chef... used a good quality Artisan bread for this salad. It's not going to work with Wonder Bread people! Remember to add your cut and add your fresh herbs right at the end so that you don't lose any of the flavor and aroma.


Next was the appetizer. The thought of salmon that was "cooked" by soaking in lime juice was a little intimidating. The trick is that you need a good firm fleshed fish that is perfectly fresh. The fish is "cooked" by the action of the acidic lime juice. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by this dish! Although it had a little stronger of a lime taste than I would have preferred, this can be adjusted by draining some of the lime juice from the fish before adding it to the rest of the dish.

The avocado garnish that was served with this fish was wonderful! Tomato, avocado, lemon juice olive oil and cilantro. I would eat this with so many other things also.. including as a "salsa" for tortilla chips!

Now it was time for Dinner! This was the part that we were really looking forward to! Shitaki and Oyster Mushrooms with a light cream sauce... who wouldn't enjoy this one! Just the smell while this was cooking was enough to get the taste buds going. The great thing with this dish is that you can use any combination of mushrooms that you prefer, as long as they are not canned ones!

Helpful hint: To bring out even more of the flavor in your mushrooms, roast them slightly before using. To do this, toss the mushrooms with some canola oil, salt and pepper. Put on a pan and roast in the oven at about 350 for 10 minutes. If you are working with bigger mushrooms, quarter them before roasting.

Now it was time for dessert... Granted we did not get to see the cake part of this actually being made due to limited time for the class, but we get to see everything else get put together. This flavorful simple dessert ultimately is put together jelly roll style and can be customized you a variety of tastes! A little Dark Run folded in with the whipped cream created a light fluffy filling with a lot of flavor. Personally, the Dark Rum was a bit too strong of a flavor for this light dessert. For me, when I make this at home, I will skip the Dark Run and just go with Kahlua or Bailey's for that lighter flavor.

The recipes for all of the above dishes will be posted on in my recipe box on our website. I am going to have to see what I can do with some of the dished to make them a little more Weight Watchers friendly! That will be a interesting challenge!!

Next on the agenda... Fabulous Fish on Thursday!

Lion Cubs on the move

image
Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

The lion cubs that were born at the NEW Zoo are one the move! These cuties were born 6 months ago (this photo was taken a few weeks after then were born) are on their way to their new home in Florida!

We knew that these 2 would not be a permanent resident at our zoo, but it is still sad to see them go! But at least they get to stay together for the next few years!

There are still 3 more lion cubs at the zoo that are only about 2 months old and by this summer they will be off to their new homes too!

Oh yeah - on another note from the zoo... it sounds like we will have a baby giraffe sometime in the future! Now that will be something interesting to see!

I guess you can say our little zoo here in town keeps growing!