Suburban Foraging: Wild Blackerries!

(Me and my little helper - picking blackberries!)

One of things about growing up in rural Indiana is that you get the chance to learn a little more than the average suburban Hoosier about what grows native in Indiana. Especially if you lived near any sort of wooded area, etc.

A favorite memory growing up in northern Indiana is picking blackberries with my siblings from the brambles just down from our house at the edge of our property. Your fingers get stained purple and you're bound to come away with a thorn or two lodged in your wrist, but it was all worth it when my mom made it all into a delicious blackberry jelly!



Though we now live in a more suburban area, I still have that eye that roams the ground and while I have had zero luck in finding any morels or arrowheads near our new home, I have had the pleasure of finding a fairly decent sized blackberry patch!





Out walking the dogs we walk the path that loops around one of the man-made ponds and on the far edge of the pond is a line of trees that separates the community from the field next door. And, yup, that is exactly where the blackberries grow!



Blackberry cobbler here we come!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Five Fast Grilled Suppers

How to Make Lemon Shake-Ups At Home

Carmel Grilled Tostada Hearts w/ Honeyed Vanilla
Marscarpone, Fresh Mango & Mint

Five Things to do with Leftover Bagels

Quilt Binding Tutorials

Kielbasa and Vegetable Packets

Fruit Salsa & Cinnamon Chips

On the Ballot for BLINDY!

Very humbled and excited to have been nominated and actually be on the ballot for 2009's BLINDY Awards - Best Hoosier Blogger category! Thank you to all who nominated me, I am still in shock! :) Definitely made my week/month/year - especially after having a particularly rough weekend.

My readers are fabulous and in case you don't hear it enough - YOU ROCK!

We've got till Saturday to vote!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a tidbit off the BLINDY website:

The 2009 BLINDY Awards will recognize Indiana's best blogs, bloggers, and social media magnates for their efforts across a spectrum of categories. Help put your favorite blogs & bloggers in the hoosier spotlight by voting!

Please, only one vote per person. We're just going to toss out any extra ballots you fill out, so please only vote once - it'll save us a ton of time.

Voting ends at 12:00AM Saturday, August 15th.

The 2009 BLINDY Awards will take place Saturday, August 15th during BlogINDIANA's Saturday Social Media Summit. Tickets for the summit are available for $49 - reserve your seat today.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Actually been very impressed with my newly installed strawberry patch this summer! Wasn't sure how it'd do, especially when I didn't see anything for weeks. Lately though, we've been able to pull off 2-3 good strawberries a week - even now (Early Aug)! And, OMG, are they are delicious! Like no strawberry you can buy in the store - ahhh, homegrown tastes SO GOOD!

A little surprised at how much it has filled in the 2 x 4 raised garden bed we put them in. They are even vining out trying to reach the ground around the box! Good grief! I might just let them! :) No harm in more backyard berries!

Speaking of Stars

I can't believe I didn't mention my Hibiscus (or are they rose of sharon??) when I gushed on and on about my flowers. These dinner plate blooms are right outside my dining room window!

Sadly, they got a little bullied as well by those severe storms.

Flower Fun

Really enjoying my flowers this year! The last two years have been very labor heavy getting shrubs, trees, etc in our yard but this third year has been more like coasting in the yard department. We did put things in overdrive once or twice - we planted tons of lovely plants that a coworker had separated from overgrown areas of her yard. But mostly it has been nice to just sit back and watch things bloom.

Right now the stars of the show are my Black-Eyed Susans and Gladiolas!



See my bright pink Glads on the corner! Swoon! I wish I would have gotten a better picture before Tuesday's storms decided to slam them around - they look a little beaten at the moment.

Web Finds Wednesday!

Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins

Certified Wildlife Habitat Here We Come!

I know we live in the suburbs and have a fence and neighbors on all four sides, but by golly we have lots of frogs in our yard and I want a sign! ;)

Certify Your Wildlife Garden

Join the thousands of wildlife enthusiasts across the country who have been recognized for creating havens for neighborhood wildlife in their very own yards. These individuals have provided the essential elements for healthy and sustainable wildlife habitats and have earned the distinction of being part of National Wildlife Federation's Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program.

Start your certification application here >>

When you certify with your application fee of $20, you'll receive all these great benefits:

• A personalized certificate that recognizes your NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat™.
• A free NWF membership which includes a full year's subscription to the award-winning National Wildlife® magazine and 10% off all NWF catalog purchases.
• A free subscription to the quarterly e-newsletter, Habitats, full of insightful tips and information on gardening and attracting wildlife year after year.
• Your name listed in NWF's National registry of certified habitats...to recognize all you've done for wildlife.

And, once you complete your application, you'll be eligible to purchase the "wildly" popular Certified Wildlife Habitat™ yard sign that shows your commitment to conserving wildlife.

All you need to do is provide elements from each of the following areas:

• Food Sources - For example: Native plants, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, nectar
• Water Sources - For example: Birdbath, pond, water garden, stream
• Places for Cover - For example: Thicket, rockpile, birdhouse
• Places to Raise Young - For example: Dense shrubs, vegetation, nesting box, pond
• Sustainable Gardening - For example: Mulch, compost, rain garden, chemical-free fertilizer

Need help? Call 1-800-822-9919 or email info@nwf.org

Finding More Frogs! Maybe Northern Leopard Frogs?

Remember back when we caught a frog? How I swore my husband was seeing things when he told me he saw one so next time he mowed he caught one for me to see when I got home? Well, apparently we have a whole family of frogs now! May have to look up more about them because I just do not understand how they are living so close to our house. We have a few ponds in the neighborhood but not in our backyard...more like down the street a few houses. So HOW exactly are these little guys flourishing and reproducing it looks like!

I caught the little guy above right outside our front door!



We've spotted at least three larger guys like the one we caught last year in the backyard and several little guys like the top pic! Too cute!

Ok...did a little research on the Indiana DNR website and really can't tell whether our frogs are Pickerel Frogs or Northern Leopard Frogs. Probably Northern Leopard Frogs - which are a "species of special concern."

Hmm...I think we should get some sort of wildlife protection zone for our backyard for creating an apparently safe haven for these guys. Pretty sure they are feeding off the insane amount of huge scary wolf/grass spiders we have and our tons of grasshoppers!

Makes me wonder, though - is our house sitting on some sort of unstable marsh land or maybe we have an underground creek?? We DO always have really mucky wet areas on one side of the house...the "side of doom" as we've come to call it because nothing...and I mean NOTHING will grow there. If you dig a hole it will fill with rain water and sit like that for DAYS even if the rest of the yard it cracked and dry...hmm?

Here's more info from the DNR website:

Northern Leopard Frog

Description
2-3” (5.1-9cm). Dark spots on back with white margins. Spots mostly larger than eye. Dark spot on snout, no spot on external eardrum. Green, tan, or brown with a white belly. Dorsolateral ridge extends to groin. Slender with a narrow head.

Call Description
Deep rattling snore that lasts 2-3 seconds, followed by a chuckling sound, like a heavy creaking door slowly opening. Also sounds like two balloons being rubbed together. Difficult to distinguish from southern leopard frog unless heard on the same night.

• Call in MP3 format
• Call in WAV format

Indiana Range
Northern, central, and extreme southeastern Indiana. This is a Species of Special Concern.

Diet
Eats terrestrial invertebrates such as insects and insect larvae, spiders, slugs, snails and earthworms. Large adults also eat other frogs.

Habitat
Marshes, bogs, moist fields, lakes, streams, and ponds surrounded by wet meadows.

Breeding Habitat
Marshes, wetlands, fishless ponds, and roadside ditches.

Breeding Season
Mid-March to May

Eggs
Females may deposit 3,000-5,000 eggs in globular clusters. Usually laid in shallow water and attached to submerged vegetation a few inches below the surface of the water. Hatch in 1-2 weeks.

Reader Opinion Needed! Accent Wall?

Thinking about painting an accent wall in our living room Bittersweet Chocolate. Here's poorly photoshopped image with the color artificially slapped in. Whadaya think?? Kinda worried that the color will actually turn out a lot darker than this pic, but we will see.

P.S. That stupid palm tree in the corner died - loved it while we had it but it died in like 2 months.

Also, do you think I can cover this whole wall with one quart? Prob not huh? Maybe just 2 quarts?? Let me know your thoughts...I have no painting experience when it comes to how much I actually need.

Web Finds Wednesday!

How To Bake No-Knead Bread On the Grill

Jen's Freaking Awesome Oatmeal Pie

Pizzas on the Grill

Fast & Easy Dinner: Jerk Burgers With Mango Salsa

Homemade Carpet Freshener

Little Peach Cakes

Coffeecake Muffins

Happy Hour: Watermelon-Tequila Cocktails

Garden/Yard Wish List

(Me falling in love with Cosmos at the Indianapolis Zoo...that is my "can't we just dig some up and take it home with us" face! ;))

Every year it seems I fall in love with a new plant that I can't wait to add to our yard and garden. Earlier this year I just HAD TO HAVE peonies, bleeding hearts, strawberries, asparagus and purple coneflower and catnip...and I do have one of each at least planted! Woohoo!

Last year and the year before I was pining for rhubarb, snowball bush and lavender.

Here is this year's/next year's "to plant" list:

• Cosmos (orange)
• Clematis
• Zucchini
• White Daisies
• Butterfly Bush
• Russian Sage
• Bearded Iris (have the bulbs - just haven't planted them)
• More Lavender and purple coneflower!
  

Post Anniversary Update + Indianapolis Zoo Review

Just realized that I didn't post an update about the fabulous time my husband and I had on our day off celebrating our five year anniversary!



We lunched at home and had lunch-time dessert at the Grand Traverse Pie Company - highly recommend the Strawberry Rhubarb!





Then headed off to the zoo where we got to pet and elephant and dog sharks! I was very impressed with the shark petting area, it was my first time seeing that exhibit since they added it...very cool!



The Komodo's, though, were not so exciting. Seemed like they were in a ramshackle-put-up-at-the-last-minute area...the exhibit was sooo tiny and everything was plexiglass so any pictures you took just got the reflection of the guy standing next to you.

Then headed downtown for a little shopping - my husband got himself a new pair of swim trunks for our upcoming cruise! Which he wears around the house every night now I swear! He really likes them. LOL.

Dined at McCormick and Schmick's...had a marvelous berry lemonade martini and a yummy smore creme brulee - not to mention a fabulous steak! Matt had seafood - I did try a mussell - not too bad. LOL. One really cool thing is that the restaurant had made personalized menus that had a special "Happy 5 Year Anniversary" message printed on it that we got to take home with us! :)

You can also read Matt's take on our anniversary festivities on his blog!

Blah

Know what I hate? Feeling crummy.

Kinda feel that way now, just had a long day of driving. Tried to make it up north for another family reunion, this one was on my dad's side.

Problem was that the hubby didn't have the day off, he was going to ask for it off but somehow he has next Sunday off and not this Sunday. So, it was either leave him here or do all the driving myself while he slept.

We opted for the sleep and drive, though next time I may just leave him here because it is just too stressful to worry about getting back at a certain time, especially when it is a 2.5 hour drive.

And driving in silence is not fun - unless you are reading, which you can't do if you are the driver. So, Mrs. Chatty-in-the-Car had to be quiet and that got me all in a wide-eyed driving-forever trance that I just could not shake off. I mean the radio was on and all - but it is just weird making it a point not to talk to the person next to you because you know they need their sleep. I kept catching myself almost saying something every 20 minutes...sigh. :(

Then, of course, I was less than pleasurable to be around once we got there - in fact, my hubby and I were both quite sticks-in-the-mud. Sigh. I think knowing that we could only stay until 2:3oPM tops when we just arrived at 11:30 kinda made us all anxious, aloof and grumpy.

Felt like I let everyone down... :(

SPF Chihuahua

Tried out my new swim suit for our upcoming cruise and tried to catch some rays last weekend, but the chihuahua would have none of it! She's isn't a good outside dog - she always wants to be right on your lap if you're outside even if it is super hot out. Silly pup!

Web Finds Wednesday!

How-To Tiny Delicate Tissue Flowers

Watermelon Cooler Punch

Garden Sliders (recipe to use up some of our squash and cucumbers!)

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Sweet Basil Lemonade

Celebrating 5 Years!

Very happy to get to spend the whole day today with my love - celebrating five years of marriage! Possible plans for the day include: komodo dragons, swim trunk shopping and dinner downtown. Pics of our adventures to follow as usual.

Love you, Matt!

Adventures in Guest Blogging!

Just a heads up! I am guest blogging this week for Alli at Hooray Design while is off vacationing with her hubby in Florida and visiting Disney World- very honored and excited at this great opportunity! My first post is up already! Check it out at http://hooraydesign.blogspot.com/!

Alli and I are friends in real life, not just in the blog world, it's always cool to have a friend who "gets" what you are talking about when you ramble on about blogs, rss feeds and Twitter!

Crochet Afghan Update

Slowly getting somewhere on my crochet afghan. 8 squares down - 62 more to go!

Leveraging Garden Goods for Barter

Our bounty of summer squash and cucumbers really paid off this year! Fellow blogger and designer, Ann from Prairie Vision Design, emailed me last week about a possible swap. Some of my garden goodies for a framed Babar poster! Of course I jumped all over that opportunity! :) Thank you, Ann - I love it!

Craigslist Crazy!

Matt and I have been having a pretty decent year with garage sale shopping this year. Scored an amazing wine rack for $40, lots of pretty ceramic bowls for my kitchen, a men's bicycle for $5, a dart board, some gas cans and a tool box.

Well, today we didn't make it to many garage sales but that is ok because Facebook and Craiglist came through with flying colors!



Found these two ladder style bookshelves for $40 ($20 each!!) on Craigslist!



And snagged this white bookshelf for free off of one of my Facebook contacts! :)

A pretty productive day! Love how new things in the house spurs a cleaning spree too! Yay for motivation!!

Brrr!

Wearing blue jeans, long sleeves and socks in the summer is too much! I don't mind if it's like this during the week while I have to hunker down inside and work - but the WEEKEND?! Come on!!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Lemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza


Pillowcase Market Tote Tutorial

How-To Wind A Center-Pull Yarn Ball

Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Fabric Checkerboard and Pouch Tutorial

Starling Crocheted Handbag Pattern

Lola Looking Back

Weekend in Review

Besides Saturday, which involved a dentist visit, nomming on all our favorites at Panera (baked potato soup, smokehouse turkey panini and yummy cinnamon crunch bagel) and sleeping the rainy day away - my weekend went by pretty fast.

Made it up to northern-ish Indiana for a family reunion (one of three this month! Though I think I can only make it to two). Had my Great-Grandma's delicious sugar cream pie or custard pie - good stuff either way, my Mom's great taco salad and a host of other delicious family reunion-type foods.

I toted my little Lola up for the trip to keep me company in the car and she managed both 2.5 hr drives without incident! Maybe we are finally past our car sickness stage! She had a fabulous time - got drug around by a toddler at the family reunion, rolled in something hideous at my Grandma's which resulted in being hosed off outside and given a bath inside, got chased by a goat and saw chickens for the first time! Exciting stuff for my suburban pup!

All-in-all a fabulous time, got to spend time just sitting around with my family, looking at Grandma's amazing yard full of flowers and watching the animals (i.e. goat) antics. Haven't got to do all that in a long time - it was nice.

Long Post about a Toothbrush. Brace Yourselves. :)

Matt and I had our 6 month dental cleaning yesterday morning - yeah, I know, Saturday mornings and dental appts don't really mesh - but I would rather get up early on a Saturday than use any more of my vacation time at work to have my teeth poked at.

I do love my dentist - A New Smile, they are so friendly and chipper - gentle with the pokers and make you feel good about your dental hygiene.

We've been to a few bad ones over the years - ones who shove $3,000 dental plans in your face to fix minor surface staining - dentists who insisted we were going to get periodontist disease - made me feel like I was some sort of sugar huffing, non-teeth brushing scum bag - yeah, will NEVER go back to them needless to say. LOL.

Our appts went good - got a clean slate of dental health! Though I do always brush too hard which causes AWFUL sensitive areas on my teeth. Been looking into sonic rechargeable toothbrushes for awhile now - they are clinically proven to be 1,000 times more effective than a regular toothbrush AND it turns off if you brush too hard.

I don't even realize that I am brushing too hard - it must be ingrained now because I just don't notice that I am doing it. I think my subconscience associates brushing hard with getting my teeth REALLY clean. Who knows?

Anyways, got to chatting it up with the lady cleaning my teeth - you know, the kind of chatting that requires just minimal throaty uh-huh's and oh's and mmm hmm's from the patient and the occassional brief sentence or two after you've been allowed to spit into the suction thing. But anyways, we got to talking because she hit a sensitive spot with the metal thing and I just about cried and she mentioned how I might brush too hard and I garbled a yes and pointed at the Sonicare Toothbrush display that was conveniently located near my head and managed to mumble how we had been looking at them.

She said they sold them right there at the office, about how it was a good investment and about how we would only have to buy one because they have color coded little brush heads that snap off and get cleaned every time in a UV sanitizer.

This got me thinking...because anything from the dentist I can put on our medical card...can't do that at Meijer...and about how we ALMOST bought each other one last year for Christmas....so yeah, we came home with one. :)

Couldn't go and use it right away though because we had that new waxy fluoride that has to sit all unpleasant-like on your teeth for at least 5 hours before you brush. And when I talked about going home and using it, the lady that was checking us out said not to use it until tomorrow...sigh. Must be pretty powerful if it would clean off all the fluoride they just put on.

Wow, long post about a tooth brush. LOL. Sorry guys, but, yeah, I am THAT jazzed up about it!

Dazzling Daylilies

When we first moved into our house, my Great Grandma Peggy dug up some of her day lilies for us to plant - and they are truely one of my favorite flowers in the yard. Most of the blooms look like the the one above - peachy, pink with bright yellow, orange centers and frilly edged petals.

But the ones below that just bloomed this morning are from the same bunch of day lilies but look so much pinker! I am glad I went out this morning shooting pics befoe my dentist appt because now it is all crummy and raining outside. :(



This might be my new desktop image!! Gorgeous triple blooms!

Outdoor Dining Necessity

Been looking for one of these nifty food screens for awhile now that we have our outdoor table up and going for the most part. Hubby is making benches and we still need an umbrella...but we've already used it twice to eat outside! With outdoor dining tho, comes bugs...which is where wanting these cut little food covers comes in.

I SWEAR I saw them a few weeks ago at Walmart or somewhere, but OF COURSE now that I want some I can't find them anywhere.

I did manage to snag one for $2 at my favorite antique store - isn't it festive?!

If you all know where to find more please, please, PULEEZE let me know!!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Ring-Tailed Lemur Crochet Pattern

A Yummy Fruit Salad Recipe to Try - From Hooray!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - from Closet Cooking

Asleep Under My Desk - funny new blog I found to read

DIY Table Top Biosphere

Happy 4th of July!

Went through all my archived pictures on Facebook and couldn't find a one that was 4th themed. My husband and I just really haven't done anything really festive for the fourth since 2005 when we watched the fireworks downtown while seated on the steps of the Indiana State Museum, eating our picnic and listening to some band play. Didn't have any digital camera back then I guess, or not with us anyway. I do have really great black and white pics I took from that night with my 35mm. LOL! Oh goodness.

So, I decided to post a pic of my favorite kind of fireworks! The kind that bloom in beautiful colors in my garden! :)

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

The Beginnings of a Bookworm

I have always been a bookworm and I think one of the big reasons, in addition to loving parents who read to us all the time, was the many great books I grew up around, many of which have take up residence on a little bookshelf in our new home. Looking back through them all though, there was one or two I knew I had loved but that I couldn't find. Of course, I vowed to find copies of these dear books and add them to our ever-growing collection.

Well, today while I was out perusing my favorite antique store guess what I found? TWO of my missing books! The Story about Ping and Seashells of the World!

I am not sure where the Ping book originally came from the seashell book (if my memory serves me correct) was in an old box of seashells that the owner of the house my parent's bought in Chalmers gave to us kids. I would take each seashell out and look it up in the book...ah, memories!



One of my favorite scenes out of the book!

Ok, Now What?

I've got squash coming out my ears now.

Anyone have any good recipes? I've got nada.

Yay, I Can Crochet!

Yup, I figured out how to crochet! Two granny squares down, 68 more to go if I want to make a blanket! LOL! :)

Web Finds Wednesday!

Zucchini and Potato Tortilla Recipe

Grilled Red Potato Bundles

Watermelon & Mint Ice Cubes

A Cool Trick to Make your Own Cucumber Water or to Serve a Summer Punch

Crochet Stash Basket Pattern

DIY Recycled Cabinet Door Turned Memo Board

Giant Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

Orange Thai Beef Skewers & Orzo with Peppers & Asparagus

Crochet Ripple Afghan

BLINDY: Who will you nominate?

The 2009 BLINDY Awards will recognize Indiana's best blogs, bloggers, and social media magnates for their efforts across a spectrum of categories. Help put your favorite blogs & bloggers in the hoosier spotlight by filling out the nomination form. Do you think something's missing? Propose your own category at the end of the form.

Oh, this sounds like fun!!! :)

The 2009 BLINDY Awards will take place Saturday, August 15th during BlogINDIANA's Saturday Social Media Summit. Tickets for the summit are available for $49 - reserve your seat today.

Stella & Dot

Had my Stella and Dot Party this weekend! Lots of margarita cupcakes and even a few margaritas were consumed and lots of fun was had! :) Thanks to everyone who made it!

I'm not closing out my party until the end of this week - so go on over and take a looksy at this fabulous new jewerly line and place any orders by Friday! Make sure to enter in your host name when you order (yours truly!).

Colorful Crochet

I dabble in knitting and enjoy it, I really do. But one thing that is a little annoying about knitting are the all the needles you need. There are different sizes, then short ones and long ones and then round ones if you want to knit things like sweaters and blankets. And round needles are a tad expensive especially when you need a whole set of sizes. So, I've stuck pretty much to small projects like scarfs and things.

But I have been itching to make an afghan. So, I've convinced myself to learn to crochet. If I can figure out knitting, I can figure crocheting out too. Heck I even have two crochet needles already from my knitting stash.

Here's my recent inspiration!


Granny Square Joining Tutorial - photo from Carina's Craft Blog

I am going to start with this I think - a colorful granny square afghan.


Crochet Stash Basket - photo from the Purl Bee

And I need ones of these handy baskets.


Crochet Ripple Afghan - photo from Attic24

And this would be fun too!!

What to Do With My Herbs: Bee Balm

I love the idea of having herbs growing in my garden, but with my obvious lack of culinary knowledge I find myself at odds when it comes to actually USING the herbs I have.

So, this ho-hum Sunday afternoon, whilst the husband is off at work being the marvelous, motivating manager he is, I've devoted myself to researching what exactly I can do with my herbs. Exciting, huh? ;)

First lets start with Bee Balm, one of my favoritest (thanks, Sarah, for classifying this as a perfectly fine verb! ;)) herbs. I love the look of the plant - the leaves are gorgeous, the flowers are quirky and colorful and the scent!! Oh I love running my hands over the stems and then cupping them over my nose - such a lovely smell! Not mention that the hummingbirds and bees swoon with this plant!

Summer Punch
Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup Bee balm leaves
• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 2 cups cranberry juice
• 1/2 cup mint leaves (any variety)
• 1 47 ounce can chilled pineapple juice
• 3 liters of ginger ale

In a sauce pan dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice, over low heat. Add the bee balm and raspberries. Bring to a simmer, stir to break up the raspberries. When the sugar is dissolved, strain leaves and berries out of the liquid. Add cranberry juice and mint, stirring well. Chill up to 24 hours. When ready to serve, pour into a punch bowl and add pineapple juice, ice and ginger ale.

Bee Balm Iced Tea
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Bee Balm flowers and leaves
• 8 cups boiling water

Pour the boiling water over the Bee Balm. Cover and steep until cool, about an hour. Strain and discard flowers. You can sweeten with sugar if desired. Chill until ready to use and serve over ice.

Summer Tea Blend
Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. dried chamomile flowers
• 1 tbsp. dried bee balm leaves
• 2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp. apple or pineapple mint leaves

Mix all the dried herbs together in a jar. Use 2 tsp. of the mix per cup of tea. Steep for 5 minutes and strain. Sweeten with honey or sugar if you wish.

From http://oldfashionedliving.com/beebalm2.html

Uses for Bee Balm - from Creative Homemaking

Tea
This is a wonderful tea herb. To make a cup of tea, simply place tablespoon of fresh or one teaspoon of dried Bee Balm leaves and/or flowers in a tea strainer or tea spoon and pour one cup of boiling water over it. Allow it to steep for ten minutes and bring the tea out. Sweeten if you wish and enjoy.

Culinary
Chop the leaves and flowers and add to fruit salads for extra flavor. Garnish any type of salad with the leaves and flowers.

Here's more helpful links!

Bee Balm Recipes/Ideas from Gardens Ablaze

Glidden Paint Giveaway!

One thing we really haven't done since we moved in a little over 2 years ago is paint anywhere in the house. Our walls are an off-white and the trim is painted white. It is pretty and I don't mind it, plus I am a little worried about painting because our walls have that textured look to them. Not sure if I have to do anything special when I want to paint them a new color.

Anyway, Glidden Paint is have a giveaway! Choose any interior color you want and they'll send you a free quart within 3-4 weeks! I picked Bittersweet Chocolate. I want to add an accent wall in this dark color somewhere in the house - maybe the living room or our bedroom. I also liked the Tropical Blue color. Hmm...is a quart enough to paint on small wall?? Now I am kinda excited about the idea!

Here are some of the terms & conditions:

• This promotional offer is only available on glidden.com or by calling 1-800-GLIDDEN
• Offer good through July 2, 2009 or while supplies last
• One quart per household
• Quart is Eggshell finish
• Continental U.S. only
• No P.O. boxes
• No military APO or FPO addresses
• Valid e-mail address required