{ Home, garden, a tip and a recipe }

Good morning everyone, hope you're having a great start to your day.  

 

It is Friday, and I for one am so happy.  For one reason because it's the start of the weekend, and also because Curt and I plan on doing a little date tomorrow morning.  You know those kind of dates that you start appreciating when you're older?

 

In our youth a movie and a dinner was what we considered a good date, but the past few years, in our fourties, we realized that the kind of date we enjoy is a Saturday morning, thrift store browsing, book shopping, hitting up either Lowe's or Home Depot, and a little lunch before heading home and relaxing the rest of the day.

 

It may sound a bit boring to some of you, maybe the younger ladies, but I think for us ladies around my age and older, it's exactly the kind of moments with our husbands that we appreciate.

 

Before I start talking to you, I must say that I'm proud of myself this week, for keeping my camera glued to my side, taking pictures, and making a conscious effort to blog every day.  It has felt so good, it's like meeting an old friend.

Thank you also for the kind comments on my last post about old fashioned blogging, I knew you all would understand what I mean.   Kristina from A Pioneer Woman mentioned that she is most likely ending her blog she doesn't want to be boring, and doesn't get many comments.

I completely understand what she is saying, and I used to feel this way too, but I was reminded by no doubt God, that I'm not blogging for anyone other than myself.  That this is my little corner to jot down my memories, to keep a record online of my life and that although comments are wonderful and I certainly love receiving yours, they are not a must have for my blogging.  The minute I changed that way of thinking, I felt such pressure off of me to blog, to continue just writing as if I'm journaling.  It honestly frees you up.

Now do you want to see what I did yesterday?  Come on with me, I promise I will even give you a cup of coffee or tea.  However I don't have any cake or sweets, because I haven't been eating them, although talking about it now makes me want some.  Oh no LOL

I wanted to show you my garden real quick.  We opted for container gardening this year, save for a few things like potatoes, rosemary, basil and mint which are in the ground, but everything else is in containers.  I wasn't sure how that would work, and I've always envisioned my gardens in the ground, as I've done for years now, but hubby convinced me this year to try it this way, and I'm very glad that I did.

Everything is thriving and I've harvested a few a couple of times, and as you can see they are growing again.  I have quite a bit of chili peppers this year because I use them a lot and also want to can some for later in the year.

The only plants that I have had no luck with this year, have been my tomatoes.  I have 5 tomato plants and none have grown, given me any tomatoes.  I thought it was just me but I've seen multiple people complaining about the same, so I am stumped.  Not sure what happened.  Oh well, maybe next year.

I pottered around the house, doing what needed to be done, but also taking a few moments between washing laundry, or waiting for my instant pot to finish cooking, to read a few pages in my book.

 

The book I need to mail off was wrapped, and I have to remember to get it out by the 14th so that I get my book credit.  A little frustrated at the moment, because even though I placed it in my mailbox yesterday, the mailman didn't take it and it's still sitting there.  If it is not taken by the end of the day, I'll have to physically drop it off tomorrow morning when we're in town.

I know, it's not the end of the world but it's a little annoying especially since I tried to get it out as quick as possible, after the request came in.

 

 

Also cooked up my chickpeas for the next week or two.  I buy the dry chickpeas and then cook them, divide them into ziploc bags and freeze them.  I just remove a bag as I need it and it saves me a ton of time during the week.

 

Now, let me show you a little tip.  I shared it I think last year on my Instagram stories and it was one of the tips that got the most reactions from my followers over there.  

 

It's something that is so simple but oh my gosh, I wish I had known this years ago, it would have saved me from frustrating when dealing with Tupperware that is stained with any kind of tomato sauce.  You make a yummy tomato sauce based meal, you save it in the Tupperware and then it's stained orange for the rest of it's life.   

This trick will stop that from happening and it really does work.  I learned it through a Brazilian older lady that I saw on Youtube.  You will love it.

 

Basically, you are going to take your Tupperware, and it's best to do this right after you remove the food, don't let it sit for too long, although I have had success even with those stubborn stains.

Pour a little hot water into the bottom, add some dishwashing liquid, and then add a small paper towel.  Close the lid tightly, then shake, shake, SHAKE it.  I usually just shake it hard for about 30 seconds or so.  That's it.  Open it up, toss the paper towel and be amazed.  It's crazy, really!

 

Try it and let me know what you think.

 

Ok, now just quickly wanted to share this super easy recipe that makes a perfect breakfast or lunch, and it uses up leftover roasted vegetables.

 

Just take your leftover veggies, or cut up some vegetables if you don't have leftovers.  In a casserole baking dish, add salt, pepper, whatever else spices you want, then add in some eggs.  It will depend on the amount of vegetables you have, I only added 4 eggs to mine. 

 

Give it a good stir, pop some shredded cheese on top, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until the egg is cooked and toasty and brown.

 

That is it.  It's healthy, it's delicious and like I already said, it's a great breakfast or lunch.

 

How yummy does that look right?  

Anyway, that was my Thursday, I didn't get to workout yesterday, wasn't feeling 100%.  I started feeling like I was developing a UTI, so immediately started drinking cranberry juice and upped my water intake too, although I already drinking seas of water.  I did my walking, didn't even hit my 10k steps, only made it to 7000, but that's ok.

I feel so much better today, and the UTI is practically gone.  So I will be back to working out today, thankfully, I actually missed it and feel so weird not doing it.

This post is much longer than I anticipated, so if you've managed to make it all the way here, thank you for hanging in there.  My word, I can talk when I get going.

Whew!

Right, I'm gonna end this post, but just quickly, the pictures I just posted above, are of what I am currently reading in my bible.  I felt like I needed to reread the book of Revelation.  Some people dislike it, some fear it, some love it.  I am in the love it camp, though I won't lie and say that some of the things don't freak me out or make me a big anxious, but I think overall the message is not to cause fear, but rather to inspire and to motivate us to walk closer to God knowing that at the end of this craziness that we call world and life, we will be in Heaven with our loved ones.

Now, with that said, I feel like even though I'm already on verse 18 and there are only 22 verses in Revelation, I am stuck.  I can't leave, and just have this overwhelming feeling of needing to dive deeper, to understand better and to stay in this book until I feel that I can move on.

I am currently looking for a good Bible study on Revelation, so if you know of one, or have studied it yourself, PLEASE leave it down below.  

I will look for a good one when we are downtown tomorrow, but in the meantime I am going to finish reading in the Bible, then I'm going to start again from verse 1, but this time I will read it, then read the commentary by J. Vernon McGee which my wonderful late mother in law Pat gave us for Christmas, many years ago.  It is the whole commentary for the entire Bible so it's a great study resource.

I honestly can't wait to dive deeper and understand a bit more.  There are just things that don't add up to me, especially timelines and so on.  

Alright, now I've babbled enough.  It's time to jump off here, get some steps in, do my workout really quickly, then finish reading Revelation and probably take a little break.  I need to lay down, I've got a horrid sinus headache brought on from the terrible allergies going around right now.  

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday.  I will show you what I get on my outing tomorrow, so come back for that.  

Have a blessed one friends,

xoxoxoxo

{ The beauty in gardening }

Life begins the day you start a garden. 

– Chinese proverb

Have you ever stopped to think about the beauty in so many tasks around us?

I mean, ok, we look at certain tasks as work and don't quite think of them as beautiful or fun to do, but I find that some are so good for the soul.  They relax you, andthey have a way of calming your heart and thoughts.

Crochet is one of those for me, so is baking, and reading and so on, but another that I didn't quite get to start enjoying until much later in my life, has been gardening and anything to do with planting.

Whether outside touching digging your hand into the actual dirt on the ground, or pottering around with containers inside your home. 

Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years.

 – Unknown

My daughters work had a huge sale, 50% off pretty much everything, and knowing that I love gardening and growing my own veggies, fruit, herbs and flowers, she grabbed a few goodies for me.

She is sweet like that.  :)

As you can see above, I got Kitchen Herbs which came with parsley, basil and chives.  Lavender and Chamomile, Daisies and Strawberries, Lavender and some Thyme (the thyme is not pictured because she had gifted it to be a few days prior to this photo).

I got everything set up on the kitchen island and then got right to business.

If you've never tried these little kits, they are the perfect way to get started with your gardening journey.  They provide everything you need and come with clear instructions to help you get going.

I have to say, I used to be so scared of growing anything because anytime I tried, it died.  I either over watered, under watered, didn't place it in the right window, gave it too much sun or not enough.  It was a bit frustrating, but I learned along the way that a little research on each plant, goes a long way.

Gardening simply does not allow one to be mentally old, because too many hopes and dreams are yet to be realized.

 – Allan Armitage

It is so calming.  I put on some worship music in the background and just pottered around for a while.  It didn't take very long to get all the seeds started and in their containers. 

I also took some wooden sticks and labeled each so I would know what exactly was growing.  As you get used to planting there are some that you immediately recognize, but I'm not quite to the point where I know each and every single plant I am growing, just by looking at their leaves.

They've all been put on my kitchen window sill which seems to be a favorite spot for all my plants.  It is a part of the house that doesn't get direct sunshine, but plenty of light.

They seem to thrive there and pretty quickly start growing.

In the outside garden, life is springing up in a rush.  My Zucchini plants are huge, and I mean HUGE.

My tomato plants are equally growing in leaps and bounds, and the same goes for the beans, potatoes, basil, leeks and green onions. 

I don't think my lettuce survived and neither did my okra, or at least not that I can see, truth be told I can't even find it.  We have such high winds at times that I plant things and they sometimes get thrown around and start growing in different areas.  Hahaha

Nonetheless, I am finding such peace in my gardening, whether outside or in.  There is a special joy in watching something you plant start to grow.

How are your gardens doing?

{ Tackling the weeds, and repotting some house plants }

The past two days, I've spent a lot of time pottering around, literally, with my house plants as well as trying to control the weeds overtaking my planters in the front yard.  Pesky little buggers, they just take right over your whole yard if you don't stay on top of them.

The weather has been acting a little strange, so I wanted to start by showing you this photo I took of my pool, in the early morning hours.  You may not be able to tell, but there's steam coming off the pool.  Looks so neat!

Had quite a few of my house plants that had outgrown their pots, and I've been wanting to re pot them for a while but just never seem to get around to it.

Got them all repotted and even split my Dragon Wing Begonia into 3 different plants.  It was absolutely humongous and looking a bit squashed in it's previous pot.  Fingers crossed they do well with the fresh soil and with more room to grow, would hate for them to die from the shock of the transplant.

I left one in it's usual spot in the living room, then moved the two newly transplanted into my bedroom.

Also took all my little succulents that were in tiny pots, and transplanted them into this cute bench planter that I've had sitting around for a while.  My brother and sister in law actually gifted it to me last year for my birthday.  Isn't it just the cutest thing?

There's 3 in there on the picture above, but this morning I popped another one in there, same kind as the one on the far left.

2 years ago when my grandmother passed away, my wonderful mother in law sent me a beautiful Peace Lilly.  I was so scared of it dying, but it's been thriving and doing really well, so much so that it's tripled in size, and it took was needing to be transplanted and given a bit more room.

From one plant, I ended up with 3, which thrills me.

You know if you've been my reader from the beginning, you surely know that I was never good with any kind of plants, I used to refer to myself as having not a Green Thumb, but rather a Thumb of Death.

But I think that pushed me to start trying harder, researching, and taking some risks.  Since then I've been in love with planting and growing my own veggies and herbs, taking care of house plants and so on.  I'm nowhere near where I wish I was, my plan is to have tons of plants in the house, but not there quite yet, I still have some casualties from time to time.

But it sure is nice to see the fruits of my labor growing happily inside and out.

With us stuck inside, our schedule has been a bit all over the place.  Meals are simple, quick and easy at times, especially lunches which consists of frozen pizzas, sandwiches or leftovers.

But hey, as long as I get a good meal on the table at dinner time, that is what matters, at least to me.....well and my family too.

Just wanted to show you my laundry area.  I was giving it a good cleaning today and quickly threw on a coat of blue paint on the cabinet under the sink.  I want to make the laundry area tie in with the rest of the kitchen, and I think this works.  I still need to put on another coat or two, but I love how it looks already.  What do you think?

Laundry was done, weeds were tackled in the front yard, others were transplanted and repotted, floors were vacuumed and I even managed to reorganize and clean both my walk in closet and the master bathroom.

I've also cooked up some delicious food, and have been adding the photos to the food blog as well.  I added the Caramelized Upside Down Banana Cake recipe, and tomorrow I need to add my Beef filled Crepes.

By the way, if you follow me on Instagram, I usually show you what I'm making for dinner and take you along with me.  I've also started saving those to my highlight, so you can find the recipes through there too, in video form.  It's just a fun way to get the recipes and see how to make them, if that's something that interests you.

These are delicious and I think your family will enjoy them.  They're a Portuguese/Brazilian recipe.  I thought I had shared these on my food blog, I mean I've shared so many recipes since 2006, but I checked and it seems I never did.  I'll get the recipe up tomorrow.

Well, I'm going to grab my book and try to finish it.  It's pretty good, I'm looking forward to sharing my review with you soon.

Have a blessed night friends :)