Veggies and Fruit and Herbs oh my!

Red Skin Potato patch!

View of my veggie garden from our bedroom window

One of the 2 patio Tomatoes im growing!

Strawberry Patch

Oregano

Sweet Marjoram and Rosemary

3 Different kinds of BokChoy

Garlic Chives

Lemon Lime and Tangerine Dwarf Tree

Spring! My yard and gardens!

I have spent every moment im able to outside working in my yard and gardens! I have also convinced the boys i want a washing line and after the ranting and raving on their part i guess complaining... I now have the makings of a clothes line all cut up and ready to be assembled and cemented into the ground.....YAY! I will post pictures in another blog! We relocated the fire pit and build/dug a new one! It is much bigger and looks lovely! Ive also tackled the one garden that is a sore spot in our backyard...and ive just let it run free with all its weeds....I tackled that garden today, it took me the WHOLE day to pull up all the evil violets.....and ferns....and other weeds..ok ok i know violets are not "weeds" technically but they grow like dandelions.... they are such a pain in the bum to get rid of! And the ferns yea i really know they arent weeds as well but when i first started in the garden i was like oh how pretty ill relocate these 3......yea ok 3 turned out to be 17....and i stopped saving the small ones and after i was done i tossed em out in the compost bin and ended up with 17 large ferns... So here are some pics of what i have been up to!

My tulips finally bloomed!

These are my neighbours tulips! They are stunning!

I am so glad the mole didnt kill my hosta's!

This is our "sore spot" garden in the backyard! It looks much nicer now :)

Here is a couple of the ferns that i dug up out of that messy garden above!

The old fire pit on the left which the grass seems to have taken off and is growing nicely! The new fire pit! We can not wait for the right weather to have friends over and roast marshmallows over it!

This little corner garden has Star Gazzerlillies in it as well as some cute lil pink/white/purple flowers i forget their names but we baught them at the local nursery down the road!

And this is one of our lastest outside pets...... There are 4 of these lil snakes...*shudder* this lil guy watched me while i pulled weeds in the garden he was so interested in wat i was doing... after he started gettin closer i threw lil weed bulbs near him till i chased him off to the side of the house!

New Look

So i got a new look! I havent had my hair cut in 2 yrs! The last time i had it cut i donated it to Locks of Love! I had 17inches cut off at that time.. This time around not as much :) BUT my hair is much shorter then it has ever been! I had 14-15inhes cut off this time and i went with an inverted bob style one side is longer then the other and i LOVE it! I went along with girlfriends Angie and Sara whom alos had lengths to donate!

And now the New Look!

So there ya have it :) I LOVE my new hair!

Easter and the last couple of weeks!

Sorry everyone who follows my blog for the lack of my blogging...

It has been a busy and sick last few wks for me and my family..

My son caught some gosh awful bug where he couldnt come away from the bathroom cuz it hit him both ends... Well being a mum..it seems we r always the ones to catch whatever it is our kiddies have! Me on the other hand seeing i have a supressed immune system i tend to get it and then some! So we evetually got over that bug... And then my son caught the flu.. Not only did i catch it this time but so did Hubby! Kevin actually did nt which was suprising.. so we had him looking after us a couple of days there!

So last wkend was my hubbys father's side for easter... We always hate goin to their things BUT once in awhile go for hubbys dads sake... It turned out to be pretty good and afterwards we headed to hubbys mums place to see them and hubbys childhood dog Tiffy who is 17yrs old and getton on in age... We arrived knowin she wasnt doin well but we didnt realise how bad she was...she could barely move but othing could stop her from gettin up and stumble and hop her way to Nathan and wag her tail to see him.... Hubby spent the few hours we were there sittin on the floor with her holding and cuddling with her.. She was headed to the vets last Monday to see what was up and after her visit we found out that she was riddled with tumors and she had extreme arthristis through out her body and that she was in pain...the vet gave her meds and pain killers to see how she would do but she just went down hill she stopped eatting and drinkig come thursday Hubby got the call that she was goin to be put to sleep on friday...it hit him hard him and this dog went threw alot together..she was his best friend.. It hit him hard and e had some decisions to make he spent most of thursday very upset and slept alot (his still sick so that didnt help) Friday rolled around and he fund anything and everything to do to so we would be late...we arrived at the vets and his mum was not there yet every car that pulled into the drive way i could tell he would hold is breath..and let it out with a sigh of relief knowin it wasnt them.. I hugged him cuz i seen them heading down the road and i comforted him and sobbed in his ear that they had arrived... And he fell apart in my arms it was so hard to stay strong for him and as he denied their arrival and cryed harder..his mum came to our car and knocked on the window.. Hubby opened the door and just flew into his mums arms like a child it was so hard to see him like this...she held him for a few mins and comforted him like he was just a small child..she asked him if he wanted to come see her and ofcourse he did.

I locked our car up and he was already over at his mums car kneelin down in the drizzling rain by the car huggin her as she layed in the front seat wrapped in a sheet... he picked her up like a baby in a blanket sobbing and we walked into the vets..it was so hard seeing her like that she had lost so much weight in the short amount of time she was almost ready to pass on she was lost control of her bowels while we were waitin for the vet she howled and barked and licked Nathans face and even wagged her tail while we waited..heartbreaking..we finally got to go back to a room and Nathan layed her down on the table and hugged her n kissed her she layed there barely moving and gasping..and still wagging her tail...we all stayed by her side as the vet gave her the injection we all patted her and said our goodbyes...god it was hard..We stayed with her body for about 10 mins said our good byes and gave her hugs and kisses.. Nathan decided to have her cremated so he can keep her ashes with him..

Its been hard but his kept it together extemely well i was not sure how he would react when we arrived at his mums on saturday for easter and Tiffy would not greet him with a smile and a wagging tail like she has done for many many years...

We had a lovely day at his mums house spending lots of time catching up with family we havent seen for a while one being Hubbys youngest brother who has been in Iraq his home for 2wks and then headed back.....and the other whom he and his wife live in another state 6hrs away and their furry daughter (dog) Kyla whom grew up with my son so Loche was THRILLED to bits to see her! The other lives not far from his mum but we dont see him often either. We all ate lots of food laughed alot and generally had a great time! Some of the boy's friends whom they grew up with showed up and we all sat down talking and laughin i must say it was a fantastic easter after all and i know Tiffy was there with us in spirit enjoin seeing the boys sitting around having a good time talking about when they were kids :)

Anyway im going to end this some what sad post for the time being as i have a few things i need to get done and i will be back with more later! I hope you all had a wonderful easter!

Honey Soy Roasted Carrots, A1 Teriyaki A1 Garlic Marinated Beef Tips with Sesame seeds, Honey Soy Oven Roasted Asparagus and........

So here it is the recipes for the following:

~Honey Soy Roasted Carrots~

(i dont do measurements remember!)

~What you'll need!~

Large sweet whole carrots

Honey

Soy Sauce

Garlic powder

Fresh ground black pepper

Olive oil

~How to throw it together~

Wash and scrape your carrots, top and bottom them :) and cut em up like your making carrot sticks! Put enough oil in your cassarole dish to coat your carrot sticks. Drizzle honey to taste over the carrots and then your soy as well, toss them around in the sticky mixture :) then sprinkle your garlic powder over the top to taste as well as your pepper. Place in your oven i usually have mine in at around 390ish every now and then im using tongs and tossin them about to keep em coated cuz you want them to get a lil crunchy as well! If you find you have to much liquid please spoon it out other wise you will end up with soggy carrots! Its up to you how long you cook them :) my boys like them cooked till they are almost crispy! Take alook at the pics as our reference if you like!

~Honey Soy Asparagus~

(i dont do measurements remember!)

~What you'll need!~

Asparagus

Honey

Soy Sauce

Olive Oil

Sea Salt and Fresh ground black pepper to taste

~How to throw it together~

Snap the ends off your asparagus and rinse them, place them in he dish and drizzle with olive oil you can toss them in the oil if you like :) then drizzle you honey and soy over the top of em and add your salt and pepper to taste. I like to add them to my already hot oven about 10 mins before im about to serve dinner up! Everyones different when it comes their veggies :)

The BEST dang Mashed Potato's You've EVER had!

(i dont do measurements remember!)

~What you'll need!~

Red Skin Potato's

Cloves of Fresh Garlic

Low Sodium Chicken Broth

Fat Free Cream Cheese

Low Cal Heavy Whipping Cream

Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper

~How to throw it together~

Leave the skin on your potatos wash em up good and then cut them into about 1/2 inch chunks throw them into a nice size pot (depending on how many your going to be making i guess!) Add your chunks of garlic cloves to the pot as well. Take our low sodium chicken broth and add it to the pot add enough till the broth JUST covers your chunks! Bring your pot to boiling point, keep them boiling for about 10-15mins, stir your taters and garlic (the smell that comes from this is amazing!) Then turn your heat down to medium, you want the broth to cook down some other wise you will have RUNNY mashed potatos! Stir your occassionally cook for another 10 mins. Turn your heat down to simmer and let it sit there for a few mins simmering you want almost all of the broth to be absorbed but not all of it. When the potatos are tender add your cream cheese not to much though you dont want it to over power the other flavours! Begin mashing your potatos and cream cheese add a lil of the whippin cream just enough to help combine everything! Add your salt and pepper in between mashing!

Your family will LOVE these potatos!!

A1 Teriyaki A1 Supreme Garlic and Sesame Beef Tips

(i dont do measurements remember!)

~What you'll need!~

Beef Tips or Stew Beef

Sesame seeds

A1 Teriyaki steak sauce

A1 Supreme Garlic steak sauce

~How to throw it together~

Take our meat throw it in a ziplocl baggie, get a hand towel throw it on th counter fold your hand towel over the meat so ou have some kind of padding! Being bashing/tenderising the meat! You want the meat almost flat specially if your using stew beef! Open the bag and add a couple of tablespoons of each A1 sauce, zip the bag back up and mix the meat with the sauce open and add some sesame seeds as much or as little as you desire! Toss the mixture into the fridge and marinate for however long you like! Add the marinaded meat to a dish and throw in the oven and cook till meat is tender!

Why is the oven still preheating after an hour and a hlf?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yep..an hour and a hlf dinner was in the oven....before i realised...that my oven was still "pre" heating....thank goodness it was just carrots that had been sitting in there!?! I opened the door and it was stone COLD! After much screaming and yelling and a phone call to the boys......i realised OH crap! What am i gunna do without an oven?!?! Yea yea i know "use those nice pots and pans you got the other day girl!!!" BUT that would mean more dishes for me to deal with...i know i was being lazy! But i had been sick the last couple of days with that nasty puking bug that was goin around and i just didnt wanna deal with dishes! I know im lazy :P Anyway being that i wasnt feeling the greatest i decided hmm ok lets check and make sure the whole entire stove isnt dead... not the case the stove top burners all worked fine....then i wondered hmm wonder if the broiler works??? Turned it on low and what did i do??? Yep i put my hand on it to see if it got hot.......i so had a blonde moment!?! (sorry for the blondes who follow/read this!) yup i burnt my hand...so while i was jumpin around from the burn and cussing myself out i thought well shoot im gunna go ahead n cook in the oven but with the broiler! Mumma came threw! Dinner cooked just fine and tasted delish! Heres the end results and the recipes will follow in the next blog!

Oh My Chives!

Nothing to exciting :) just look at how big the Chives and BokChoy are getting in my garden!