I Like Gardening

OK, maybe I should clarify. I like the idea of gardening, the practice is an entirely different story. We've got a 6 foot strip along the back of the house that's planted with strawberries. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like any one's weeded or thinned the bed in years. Tonight I thought I'd give it a shot. I thought I'd weed it, and then thin it out by transplanting some plants to pots that I'd bring and replant in my garden plot at school. I started weeding, but that was really hard to do without pulling out strawberries in the process because they're all so packed together. I did the best I could, but kept getting this weird foamy white stuff on my arms. I looked it up. Apparently it's from something called a spittle bug. Aptly named, right? Yuck! And then there were the spiders. I pulled out this one huge weed and its whole root ball came up with it. It was right along the house's foundation. When the root ball came out, about 30 3/4 inch fat black spiders came pouring out and climbed up the foundation, then froze in their tracks. It was like they were all staring at me and giving me the evil eye (or eyes) for destroying their nest. Ugh! gives me the creeps just thinking about it. So I quit weeding and moved on to replanting a few strawberry plants in little pots. That part went fairly smoothly. I moved the pots to the beds under the bushes in the front yard, and then watered them. The soil bubbled up and the plants started falling over. It was like they were planted in soup and not soil. I thought the little pots had holes in the bottom for excess water to drain. Turns out the "holes" actually need to be punched out first. I grabbed a nail and gently punched out the holes while trying not to pour out the plants and soil in the process. When that was finally done, I had dirt all under my nails. I had taken off the gardening gloves and forgot to put them back on. It's two hours since starting this little escapade, and I'm exhausted. This gardening business is way more work than I thought.

It's Official. We Don't Suck!

Really! We don't. Sure, we were standing tied for 13th place out of 18 bowling teams, but it's not because we're bad bowlers. We've really just gotten some bad luck in which teams we've been pitted against. Every week we go one-on-one with another team for two games. A point is awarded for each game won, and two points are awarded for the overall pin fall winner. We had played four times and had already faced the two-times league champions, and a few other top teams. We lost almost all games, but if you compare our pin fall numbers, we'd have beaten 3/4 of the teams in the league.

Anyway, last night we faced off with the number one ranked team in the league. They're a whole 3 points ahead of the 2nd place team and that's huge! Sure, they got us in the first game, but only by a measly 9 pins. We were encouraged. After all, these were they guys to beat. Then, we went on a tear! We destroyed them by something like 30+ pins in the second round and walked away with the overall win 3-1! Barb and I (That's my ball's name) even managed to bowl a 141! We may not be making it to the finals, but we can stand pround in that we beat number one! That's our team in the pick. We may not always have the skills, but we've got heart (and beer, did I mention beer?)

Big Week

This week was a big week for the Brow/Gwillim household. I awoke yesterday morning to the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of a lawnmower outside my window. It sounded a lot closer than usual, so I walked outside to investigate. Low and behold, there was Ryan...mowing our lawn! OK, so him physically mowing the lawn wasn't the incredible thing. The incredible thing was that he had gone to Sears first thing in the morning and bought a lawn mover. It's a craftsman self-propelled mower. Originally $300 but marked to $150 because it was scratched, and had been used a handful of times. The lawnmower could not have come at a better time. The mailman was going to have to start using a machete to get to our mail slot. The grass was actually taller than our bird bath.

To top it off, we have a few squirrels in a big tree out front who eat seed that Ryan leaves for them in the bird feeder. They scurry down the tree, and hop the 5 or 6 feet to the bird feeder, and feast. They've been doing it so much that they have left a well defined path in the grass between the tree and the bird feeder. When Ryan mowed the lawn, the path became even more obvious. Because the squirrels parted the tall grass along their path, sun was able to reach all the way to ground level along it. Now that the grass is cut, their path stands out even more because it's still green and lush and didn't turn brown from lack of light.

Ry Dye

Ryan dyed me a sweet disc recently. I've had this pic of it for a few weeks and totally thought I had already posted it, but I must have forgotten. Yup, that's his picture on it with a little heart. So sweet. Awesome addition to my bag!

Noah's Bagels, You Loose!

That's right, you loose. Another busy day today and I sped off to the lab without even grabbing a glass of juice. I decided to stop by a new Noah's Bagels that just opened up a few blocks from school and grab a bagel to go. "Asiago cheese bagel with butter on the side, please," I said. Then, in a moment of hesitation, I asked, "Wait, do you have real butter, or is margarine?" "Margarine," she tells me. Bleck! That's always been a pet peeve of mine at bagel places which is why I hesitated after ordering and asked. I specifically asked for butter, and the lady gladly took my order...full well assuming margarine would be a reasonable substitute...not even caring enough to ask if that was OK. Well, it's not. Margarine is OK for certain recipes and such, but never as a spread. It's unnaturally yellow, and just doesn't taste right. In my opinion, it totally ruins the bagel. I canceled my order, and walked out...sans bagel....and will definitely not be returning. Margarine? Bleck!

Another Thrift Store Score

Went thrifting again Sunday and found this little gem at only $9. How stupendously retro! Can't wait to bust this out in our Big Turkey Bowlers league.

Mr. and Mrs. Suds

Here's are the new additions to our home. Mr. Washer and Ms. Dryer (a.k.a Mr. and Ms. Suds). No more having to buy new socks and underwear because I don't have time to sit around a laundromat. No more waiting until I've gone through every single article of clothing I own before doing laundry. No more hoarding quarters. I can now do laundry in the peace of my own home. And there are, of course, additional benefits. 1) I enter the house through the mud/laundry room, and now it always smells nice and fresh. 2) The dryer vent hose leads into the garage (wierd, I know). This means we now have a "heated" garage and can use the workshop, or set up the ping pong table there and still play in the winter. Ah...aren't they beautiful?!

Cheeze 2. Chris 0.

Yup, it's defeated me, yet again. I've been trying to make homemade mozzarella. It' supposed to be simple. Heat milk on stove. Add citric acid and rennet. Watch curd form. Remove curd and microwave. Stretch, kneed, pull, and microwave again. Repeat until taffy-like and roll into balls. How hard could that be? Well, hard. I get curds...ish. They aren't melty or firm like the ones in the pictures, and they don't kneed or stretch. Picture trying to roll ricotta into a ball or pulling it like taffy. I'm not going to show any pictures, but trust me, it's just not pretty. I think I need to do a bit more research before stepping up and trying this again.