Guest Post: general stores

Have you ever been to a modern day general store? They seem like the cutest stores to visit or to own. If I ever had the chance to visit one in person, I would probably need a helper to carry out all the things I'd buy. Here are some goods from two general stores I would love to visit.
Brook Farm General Store in Brooklyn:


Donna Hay General Store:

(both found via Decor8, here and here)

Web Finds Wednesday!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

Roasted Butternut Squash

Pink Your Drink Cocktail Recipes

Winter Squash on the Grill

French Toast Recipes

Easy No-Roll Pie Crust Recipe

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie w/ Candied Bacon

How to Make Teriyaki Chicken

Sour Cream Apple Pie

Guest Post: Fall Comforts

Hello! This is Alli from Hooray, and I'll be popping in this week for a few posts. While Stacy & her hubby are off on a sunny cruise, those of us in the Midwest are clinging to our sunshine and bracing for cooler temps. So, I put together a collection of inspirational images as an ode to the current season & mood. Below I also posted my homemade recipe for chicken noodle soup - it's super easy to make and has a rich, creamy broth. Yum! Happy Monday!


Image Credits: 1: Swans Island Blankets, 2: Martha Stewart, 3: via Creature Comforts, 4: from domino mag via frolic!, 5: Lonny Mag, 6: via Snippet & Ink, 7: via frolic!, 7: via Snippet & Ink via here)

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
8 c. broth (or water & bullion cubes)
1 c. each chopped carrots & celery
Leftover chicken, cut or shredded
1 tbs. dried parsley (or fresh, if on hand)
1 1/2 c. egg noodles
1/2 stick butter, softened
1/3 c. flour
Boil broth in a soup pot, then add carrots & celery. Simmer, covered, about 5 min. Stir in noodles, simmer another 5 min. to soften. Add chicken & parsley, heat through. While chicken heats, make a paste by mixing together the softened butter & flour. Stir in paste to thicken broth, add salt & pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy.

PS. If you have any favorite fall recipes, feel free to share!

You'll be in good hands!

I'll be unplugged here for a few days - but I'm leaving you all in good hands, dear readers, so don't you worry! My dear friend and fellow blogger, Alli from Hooray Design, will be joining us for a few days as a guest blogger to keep you all occupied until I get back!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Sewing Pattern: Easy Lunch Tote (Christmas craft idea!!)

Bavarian Pretzel Recipe

Twenty Uses for Baking Soda

Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Anatomy of a Frugal Cleaning Closet

Awesome and Easy Apple Crisp

Lion House Dinner Rolls

Gina Neely's Spicy Potato Wedges

My First Giveaway!! Do You Have An Escape Plan?

I normally like to keep things light, happy and cheerful - except for the occasional rant or two - here on Squirrel Chatter - but it doesn't hurt to prepared and informed. So even though I am pumped to have a great giveaway for my readers - I am also a little grounded by the serious issue it's about.

I was recently contacted by representatives at AnEscapePlan.com who's having a great free public safety training event at Conseco next week that they want to get the word out about.

An Escape Plan provides quality custom programs to help educate, train and empower people to be proactive with their personal safety. And with October being Domestic Violence Awareness month and they've planned a City-wide FREE night of proactive self defense education and training on October 14th 6:00-8:00PM at Conseco Fieldhouse and sponsored by St Vincent’s Women’s Hospital and hosted by Pacers and Sports Entertainment.

Please visit their web-site to learn more and to register for this free event: www.anescapeplan.com

But, for you, my lucky readers! I have a special pre-event freebie! Comment on this post and enter to win one of Escape Plan's DVDs from their series "Protective Thinking." The series is a product of over 20 years of research and self defense by founder Jeff Patterson. It is a no nonsense program that successfully addresses real life situation with real solutions. The three part program and is all included on this one DVD!

To enter the giveaway leave a comment with your email address so that we can notify you if you are a winner. Earn an additional entries if you blog or tweet promoting the event with a link to the Escape Plan website (www.anescapeplan.com) and leave a comment with the link to your tweet or your blog post.

Hurry and enter, This giveaway will expire 10/08/09 @ 6:00pm EST.

Latest Garage Sale Find! A Vintage China Cabinet!

Need to get a better picture of this with natural lighting maybe tomorrow - but check out this amazing find Matt and I stumbled across at a garage sale today! A gorgeous dark solid wood china cabinet for $40!!

We've been looking for one for quite some time now - we have two sets of gorgeous china - one from my Great Grandma Pearl on my Dad's side and a beautiful gold rimmed set from Cindy! Also been collecting lots of glass and ceramic odds and ends along the way - the trifle bowl from Pampered Chef, the 3-tired glass stand and lots of apothecary jars in various sizes I use to serve punch at parties and for storage as well. The white Crate & Barrel casserole dish Matt got for me for Christmas.

I was able to fit both sets with room to spare for our crystal glasses, stemware and tumblers and even have a drawer left over for miscellaneous party supplies (plastic party cups, plastic forks and knives, etc!) ...might even bring my table linens downstairs and see if I can get them to fit in!

Many, many thanks to the marvelous Queen of Free for loaning out her other half, a truck and one of her pretty princesses to come help us get this great deal home! And thank you to our wonderful friends and neighbors, the Prescotts, in coming in with more manpower to get this puppy out of the truck and into our house! Yay, for great friends - you rock!! :)

Reminiscing About National Parks

Watching a WFYI special tonight - The National Parks: America's Best Idea got me reminiscing. We took many family road trips to several different national parks all across the United States growing up. We'd pack up our van with plenty of clothes, shoes, snacks and books and take a few weeks during the summer months to travel across the US. We moseyed through many grand places like The Grand Canyon, Arches National Park in Utah, The Badlands of South Dakota, Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Georgia and all the places in between!

At the time I may have been an moody teenager/child/young adult, sick of hours cramped in a vehicle and quarreling with my siblings, rolling my eyes and huffing at anything that annoyed me - but those trips with my family really did mold me. I hold those memories near and dear to my heart and hope to give my children the same experiences one day - eye rolling and all! :)

Here's a few snapshots I recently came across and scanned from some of those very trips! So many great memories!


My little brother and I in Washington - Olympic Park I think. Pulled over on the side of the road for this pic!


My father, sister, brother and I at Badlands National Park - South Dakota.



My sister and I at a state park in either Oregon or northern California.


My sister, brother and I at Arches National Park, Utah.


My dad's hand showing how big the slugs were at the redwood rainforest in either Washington or California.



My sister, brother, mother, father and I at the Chandelier Tree in California.

Web Finds Wednesday!

Hand Embroidery Network

Learn to Fold Origami Online

Cadbury Creme Brul'egg

Labor Day Barbecue Muffins

Red Velvet Cake with Fluffy White Frosting

Three Ways to Cook Bacon

JagerDoodles (cookies made with Jagermeister...huh)

Thinking Comfy Thoughts!

With the weather cooling off like it has this week, I've been thinking more and more comfy thoughts - even got in the mood to crochet a little, buy more yarn and start thinking up all the perfect crafty Christmas gifts I could make for my family and friends. Amazing how one rainy, chilly 50 degree day can do that to you!

Here's a project I whipped out earlier in the summer no-less, but had neglected to post about. I had this lovely ribbed sweater I had gotten for Christmas a year or two back that just would not shrink down to a wearable size - but I loved the texture and look so I kept it around. And then inspiration struck! A comfy pillow! Though the idea was good enough, my cutting, measuring, sewing skills have much to be improved upon. The original idea was supposed to be a pillow made entirely out of the fabric from the sweater. But in my excitement I cut it wrong and then tried a different idea and ended up rendering a good length of the fabric as useless.

But managed to save the project with a bit of grey and white striped cotton as a backing - still looks lovely and comfy - especially up against my Heather Bailey patchwork pillow!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Mozzarella Pesto Grilled Cheese

Coupon ABC's - Tips to help you save big at the grocery store!

Tightwad Tuesday: Quick and Cheap Breakfast Idea

Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe

Hungry Girl's Bake-tastic Butternut Squash Fries

Baked Potato Soup

Bubbly Pear Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Latte (Just Like Starbucks!)

Indy Blogger Day at the King Tut Exhibit

Happened to see a tweet earlier this week from @TutIndy about a Indy Blogger Day for the King Tut Exhibit at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. I got details and spread the word to other fellow Indianapolis bloggers and made plans for Friday!

We met up with Jessie from Incidental Indy and ran into quite a few other blogger pals as well! (It was good bumping into you - Joanna, Ann and Quatro Mama!)



The whole museum is decked out for this great exhibit. We're were a little lost at first, not having been to the museum since their recent remodel - got just a tad turned around! :) But love the new open space!



Here is a view of entrance of the exhibit. No pics inside, so this is what you get. :) They gather you up in small groups and have you wait in this little room, dimly lit by flickering faux torches on the walls - where you watch a little intro video - very dramatic! And then you;re ushered in to the exhibit itself, which twists and turns into various rooms and feels a little like you're exploring a tomb yourself!

Didn't see the handy map that was in our "press kit" until I got home - should have looked at it before hand, because I was getting all worried when 5 rooms into the exhibit we still hadn't seen any actual King Tut artifacts - only items from other pharaohs. It all makes sense now, looking at the maps of the exhibit - first you go through a little history of pharaohs, then pharaoh family and private life - including a royal toilet seat! , their court, their gold - beautiful!, religion and finally you enter another little room called "Discovery of a Pharaoh" with a plasma screen that plays a very dramatic prelude about how the tomb was found and then you enter on to the final 7 rooms full of artifacts from King Tut's tomb.

I loved how we were able to take our time, being so late in the evening and having much of the exhibit to ourselves except for a few other people. I was able to read, reread and walk around all the way around the pieces and see every detail without worrying about holding up the crowd. The exhibit is well spaced so even if there were more people, they can control how many go in at a time with the Introductory Theater. And there are so many rooms to go through that you can't possibly get bunched up.

Also, enjoyed how close up you could really get to everything. The glass cases were kept impeccably clean - could hardly tell there was a pane between you and the artifacts.

The exhibit was very informative - even for adults. I learned quite a few new things - especially about Tut and had to go later and read into the items in my press kit to answer a few questions - and will probably go on a Google hunt for more info. I was also impressed at the large artifacts. This exhibit is not just limited to small, intricate pieces of exquisite jewelry behind panes of glass - there were colossal statues as well.

One thing I really liked was how the walls of the Tut exhibit had large photos of how tomb looked when it was first discovered - all untouched - and you could see the item on display in its original place amongst the rest of the tomb's treasure.



I never mean to actually take shadow pics like this - but love how they turn out! :)



This exhibit goes on until October 25 - so you still have a little time to get out and catch this great exhibit before it leaves Indy! I definitely recommend it!

Indianapolis Apple Orchard Hopping

Last weekend it was cupcake crawling - this past weekend - apple orchard hopping!



First stop was the Apple Works out in Trafalger, Indiana. A good 48 minutes from us, but didn't feel like it took that long really. There was ample parking and as you can see from the picture above, it is very picturesque as well as kid-friendly - with lots of great educational things, even a petting zoo and large play yard!



The shop was filled with fun and crafty home decor items, hot sauces, jellies and jams, candles, etc. In addition to apples, apple slushies, pies and the like - you could also get yummy looking ice-cream, fudge and candy apples.

My only gripe about the experience were the actual apples - and maybe a little about the spacing (lots of people - not a lot of space to move around). The pic above, with the long line and the 2 ladies in green serving apples behind the blue bins is pretty much the entirety of the actual apple get-up at the Apple Works. I couldn't really see what apples they had available or really get a good chance to taste them at all. If I wanted apples, I was going to have to wait in a really long line of people to get up to the blue bins and then hurry and make my decision because there was a long line of people waiting behind me.

I am not a good hurry-up-and-decide type of decision maker. I like to mull around, shop, browse, taste-test, etc. And when it comes to apples, I don't know a jonagold from a granny smith. It can be summed up as being practically apple-idiot - so I need time to ask questions, have a sample if available and think about what we want to spend our next $6+ dollars on apple-wise.

And those six blue bins didn't exactly scream variety to me - though their website said they had 50+ varieties.

So, we opted to simply slurp on our oh-s0-good apple cider slushies, buy some hot sauce and enjoy the scenery.

But, not having actually bought any apples, I was not ready to end my apple orchard experience - so we googled directions to the next closest apple orchard.



Next up is Anderson Apple Orchard, in Mooresville, Indiana. Again, lots of parking - very nice. Even has a little playground - though no petting zoo or many educational type game stuff. No ice-cream or fudge- but plenty of elephant ears, apple butter & biscuits, hot dogs, caramel apples and apple fondue!



And, AH the apples! Lots and lots of apples - everywhere! Room to move around the apples and read the signs and taste and think, etc! See the little basket in the picture above - those apples are for you to taste what is in the bag. Have no clue what a jonathan apple tastes like? Try it!



The prices were a little more competitive and there was a lot more produce. You could buy pears or pumpkins, even chestnuts, gourds, sweet potatoes and mums. It was like a farmer's market of goodness - and with space to move around and tons and tons of apples!

Anyone have good suggestions of apple orchards to visit here in Indiana? Let me know! I swear there was another Anderson Orchard somewhere near I-465 on the southside...but couldn't remember where and couldn't find it online.

Want to see more pics from my apple orchard adventure? Click here!

Want to find an apple orchard in you area? Visit this page to see a full list of Indiana apple orchards!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Mini-Maple Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

Corn and Fingerling Potato Chowder w/ Bacon

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Blueberry Buckle

Can't Stop Staring: Indiana Wind Farm

Traveling to our hometown has been made just a little more interesting - a wind farm has come to the small rural area where my husband and I are originally from.

I can't stop staring - so sci-fi looking in contrast to all the fields and barns.



And there are so many of them.

For more info about this wind farm - click here.

Monarch in the Garden

Funny how I was just blogging about my little Monarch caterpillar friend - look who I was able to get a shot of! I've been complaining all summer about how all my flowers hadn't attracted any butterflies. I've got bees out my ears - mainly bumble bees but not butterflies.

Well, this guy shut me up for a while. :) And you can spot a few honey bees in the pic too!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Peanutbutter Bacon Cookies

Discover Indy Coupon Book Giveaway

Basil Sangria

Lavender Lemonade

Blueberry Crumb Bars w/ Lemon Cream Filling

S'more Popsicle

In Review: 1st Annual Indianapolis Cupcake Crawl = NOM!

The wonderful blogger from The Queen of Free had the FABULOUS idea of putting together the 1st Annual Indianapolis Cupcake crawl - and, of course, I was all in!!



Our first stop, Our Bake Shoppe, located less than ten minutes from my house in Olde Towne Greenwood!



Here a peek of all the cupcakes and a snapshot of the participating bloggers! Had so much fun with you ladies!! (Top row left to right: Joanna from Keeping Feet, Punkinmama from More on the Other Side, myself and Shireen from Just Shireen. Bottom row left to right: Cherie from The Queen of Free, Emily from designhermomma, Casey from Moosh in Indy and Shelli from The Worgress Family.)




My cupcake of choice at Our Bake Shoppe - the Smore! Chocolate cupcake with marshmallow on top and a dusting of graham cracker crumbs with the finishing touch of a Hershey chocolate square. My review? Loved the marshmallow on top - but was hoping for a bit more of pizazz - maybe toast the marshmallow a little or have a marshmallow or chocolate "surprise" in the middle of the cupcake - maybe have chocolate chips mixed in the batter. It was delicious - but needed something. Had the pleasure of tasting a little of each of some of their custom icings as well from the "make your own" station - love, love, love the icings. Chocolate chip cookie dough - icing? Yes, please!




Our second stop was the Flying Cupcake - if you've never been - you must. This place is as much a feast for your eyes as it is for your taste buds! Gorgeous retro shabby chic motif - just love it!



My cupcake victim at the Flying Cupcake? I normally go with the Red Velvet Elvis if we make it up that direction - but since we were trying different cupcakes - I thought I'd go with something different and try the "Here Comes the Bride" - an almond flavored cupcake with almond icing. It definitely tasted like wedding cake - it was good but the icing a little too rich - probably would have been able to handle it easily if I just hadn't mauwed down on the Smore cupcake just 20 minutes ago. :) Love how the Flying Cupcake's batter tastes so good - yum! The flavorings don't rely on the icing alone.





Stop numero tres, Holy Cow, Cupcakes....almost missed this one. In fact we drove by it twice! Kinda hidden as it is saddled up with a gas station - so if you're headed in that direction remember that tip!



Was a little cupcaked out by this point (having just been at the Flying Cupcake no more than 10 minutes ago) - so I ended up getting a vanilla cookie dough cupcake with chocolate icing to take with me (not pictured - obviously) but had to snap a pic of their Maple Bacon cupcakes - might just have to try one next time. And P.S. the vanilla cookie dough was great. Love how the cookie dough in the center of the cupcake was still a little gooey - and the vanilla cake had a great taste - good icing as well. Though, as they warned us, the icing is made of real chocolate, so if left in the car it melts...and yup it melted off the cupcake by the time we got home.



Fourth and final stop was at Paradise Cafe where we met up with the icing co. to try a few of their cupcakes (no store front yet). Here's a glimpse of a few of the flavors Katy brought us to try - you're looking at the classy carrot, the ganache, and lemon drop dots.




And here you're seeing dots of peanut butter explosion, pumpkin and strawberry (I think). Aren't they gorgeous? I love the tiny bits and the detail!



Definitely nommed up my fair share of these tasty treats - was able to revv up my cupcake appetite once again after lunching on some Paradise Cafe! Icing was superb, attention to detail with the little sprinklings of chocolate chip, chocolate shavings and dashes of nutmeg or cinnamon made these cupcakes glorious to look at as well as eat! Loved the lemon drop - it was like a lemon-shake-up in cupcake form! And the pumpkin was nice and fall-like! The peanut butter was amazing too - and the strawberry - so sweet and summery!

You can see all of my photos from the crawl here on Facebook!

And I already had a question or two about which was my favorite but honestly, how can you choose when it comes to cupcakes?? We're talking about C.U.P.C.A.K.E.S. here people. They all had things about them I loved - but a favorite - don't make me choose! Try them all yourself and you will see what I mean! :)

Bored? Break out the Board Games!

My husband and I have quite the collection of board games - ranging from Scrabble, Scattergories, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Cranium, Apples to Apples and Battle of the Sexes. All very entertaining games if you've ever had the chance to play them! Though after a bit it seems that you cab find yourself in bit of a board game rut.

For example - for a good few months there I could NOT get enough game time with Scrabble. We bought a travel version and took it everywhere - playing it in the car, at the pool and even at the winery with friends! I even bought this little book to record every move, etc. But alas, I am now in a rut with the game. Every time my hubby suggests a round I just about groan.

And then there's Apples to Apples - lord have mercy. That game was on fire with us for a good year and half and now - yup - if you mention it you might just get the same groan from me. Doesn't help that I recently played the game from nearly 7PM to 3:30 AM straight just a few weekends ago - oy! It is a fun game to get to know people - to break the ice and get talking and laughing together. But oy.

Last night, having dinner guests over, we broke out Battle of the Sexes - a game we used to play a lot but hadn't in a while. Ah, the humor and the fun when I break out my tucked away tidbits of knowledge that my husband has no clue that I know! :) Yup, I knocked my hubby speechless by effortlessly guessing the correct Rocky movie to whatever question was asked - something about some specific star that was in which rocky movie - WITHOUT EVER HAVING SEEING A SINGLE ONE. Yup, I am THAT good.

I rattled off what the main body of a ship was called - a hull - duh! And correctly identified what cuban item a "Havannah" was - a cigar. And me and my fabulous teammate successfully prattled off what color is associated with the positive end of a car batter - red!

And, oh, the great-fun as we watched them struggle over question over question when it was their turn.

"What item in the house has a deep feed and a top loading bobbin?"

Their guess? Washing machine! ahahahahahahahaha!

"How is the best way to store egg whites?"

A jar?

Heck no, boys, you freeze em!

"What phrase completes this advertising slogan: "I use L'oreal...."

Their answer: everyday

The correct answer: because I'm worth it!

Hehe! Oh the list goes on and on. It is funny because the boys always prematurely pronounce victory - even before the game box is open! They are all hooping and hollering about trouncing us in strategy and then end up cursing the game and insisting it is unfairly made as they lose miserably.

My theory - us women pick up more things and retain them better than our counterparts- even if the info is about boring old cars or sports or whatever. Our spouses would KNOW the answers to the girly questions about panty hose, cooking and make-up if they listened closely and tucked the info away - but alas, it goes in one ear and out the other. :) Though, maybe, just maybe a few are insanely hard - that we don't even know them and vice versa with the boy questions.

Any good games out there that you, my lovely readers, love to play? Tell me about them! I think after the last round we played last night, we may be in the market for a new one! ;)

Web Finds Wednesday! (Friday Edition)

I realize it is no longer Wednesday - but hey, apparently my draft for Wednesday was never put into publish mode - sigh. So here ya go! :)

Downloadable Pocket Stitch Book

Katharine Hepburn Brownie Recipe

Microwaved Lime Cheesecake Tarts

75 Things You Can Compost

How To: Make Your Own Worm Bin

Matt's Birthday Festivities Wrap Up

My husband's latest birthday festivities this month took us to the new Scotty's Brewhouse location in downtown Indianapolis. Luckily his birthday fell during the weeks of Devour Downtown - so we were able to dine out for quite the deal! (if you missed this past devour make sure to mark your calendars for January 25 - Feb. 6, 2010).



Matt tried the aloha burger off the 2 for $30 Devour Downtown menu (We split our burgers in half and each were able to try half of both - the aloha was great!)



And I had the Shewman Special - jalapenos and peanut butter on a burger! Yum! For some reason I am attracted to odd burgers like that - I loved the donut burger they had at Badaboomz as well.

The menu also came with an appetizer and a dessert (not pictured because we ate them so fast! :)) We had the nachos and the peanut butter pie! So good!



Would definitely recommend Scotty's as a must-try restaurant. They have such an extensive menu list that you are bound to find something you like whether you are feeling like something different or just wanting the same old burger and fries. And I love the patio - eating outside in the summer weather is so great because it only lasts so long here in Indy.

Oh and the drink specials are great! We enjoyed a $7 margarita pitcher the night we went - but there are different specials every night.

Yay for good birthday weekends! :)

Apricot Cobbler Recipe

If you have a few extra apricots hanging around the kitchen or you see them on sale at the supermarket - you've gotta try this recipe! My husband went gaga for it - even proclaimed it was the best dessert I've made (hmmm?). I am more skeptical about that statement being a chocolate lover myself, BUT it was pretty good! Especially hot out of the oven!

This is my second cobbler in the last month - last time it was with blackberries - apparently I get in ruts. :) Haha! Or more accurately - I have buy/find too much fruit in the summer months and don't know what to do with it all since I am the only one in the house who really eats fresh fruit and then waalaa! Cobbler!

Filling:

1 lb. fresh apricots, halved

Topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder

Sprinkle topping over apricots; bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
Delicious served with ice cream!

Recipe taken from California Apricot Advisory Board Recipe Booklet.

Found online along with other apricot recipes here

Our Visit to Lucas Oil Stadium

Finally a non-garden related post! I can hear you all sigh with relief! :)

Matt and I finally were able to experience the inside of Lucas Oil Stadium a few weeks back now. We were feeling like the only two Indianapolis area citizens who hadn't been inside for awhile there! :) It is a great new complex - loved it!

What Men Grow in the Garden

My husband's gardening efforts this year have been pretty focused on peppers - specifically hot peppers! This is a little it of his harvest! He wants to find and plant the "ghost pepper" for next year - but I'm a little hesitant with out nosy chihuahua who likes to eat things out of the garden. Hmm? We'll see. :) Maybe if he plants it in it's own special pot and keeps it up out of chihuahua reach.

Why plant cherry tomatoes if you don't like them?

I get asked this a lot actually - why plant cherry tomatoes if you don't like to eat tomatoes?
Yes, shocker to some of you maybe, but common knowledge to anyone who knows me well-enough. I am quite the culinary conundrum - loving ketchup with a passion and eating my fair share of tomato soup but turning my nose up to any sort of fresh tomato slice whether in my salad, crunchwrap or otherwise - don't like the taste of tomatoes. And P.S. I am picky eater - trying to slowly get myself out of this habit but somethings just stick (but hey, I do like steamed and grilled asparagus and steamed brocolli now! baby steps!) so I know there is hope for me yet.

But anyway, back to why I plant cherry tomatoes even though I won't eat them and my husband eats a total of two before he's sick of them himself.

1. Well, because, for one, they are pretty - just look at them!
2. And two I like salsa and tomato sauce and the like and am hoping that one day my hubby or I (but primarily my hubby) will make of these things with our tomato surplus instead of giving it all away to coworkers, family and friends.
3. And three, I LIKE giving things to family, coworkers and friends! It's fun! :)
4. And four, I like the idea of tomatoes, mozzarella and balsamic vinegar - the dish looks amazing and seems like it would taste good - but just haven't worked up the gumption enough to make it - plus don't have any balsamic vinegar in our pantry.

Web Finds Wednesday!

Corn & Zucchini Quesadillas

Zucchini Nachos

How to Sew a Rolled Hem with a Serger

Free Summer Desktop Wallpaper

Homemade Hummus Two Ways

5 Green Ideas For a Naturally Clean Home (How to clean your coffee pot & more!)

Zucchini Fries

Zucchini Bread

Garden Update: Late August

I can't bring myself to take any pictures of our garden in it's current state. Sigh. We planted so early so of course we had the height of our growing season early and now, yup, it is all ending early. So the garden looks pretty wilty, crinkly, brown and dying.

We still are harvesting quite a bit of goodness, but it just looks less than pretty.

• Still getting a few yellow summer squash - but they are significantly smaller than what we were getting a few weeks ago.
• A few good onions!
• Lots and lots of cherry tomatoes!
• And the most marvelous cantaloupe I've ever tasted! Ate it with a spoon the insides were so ripe and soft - ah...marvelous!

Planting Weeds In My Garden

Spent a good part of Sunday afternoon weeding the flower beds at my church. And while out there I meet this little guy! :)

I kept noticing these striped caterpillars - like the one above but much smaller, and I knew that they looked kinda like Monarch butterfly caterpillars but they where tiny. They were consistently on these awful viny weeds and I thought that Monarchs only ate milkweed and with no milkweed in sight I just kept picking them off so they could live and crawl off somewhere else and not be mashed and smothered in my weed pile.

On the final garden bed, lo and behold there was milkweed and with caterpillars (meet little guy in pic above) on it! So, I dug some up and took it home to plant in my backyard, caterpillars and all! :) Now, I just need to explain to my hubby why I need to go out and find more milkweed to plant.

After some research I learned that I was supposed to take the tiny plants because milkweed doesn't like to be transplanted but smaller plants tend to handle it better and I am sure I damaged the taproot on this one. So, now to be able to supply my two new pets with ample food (and to encourage more in the future) I am going to have to go out and find some baby milkweed plants (pretty sure we have some growing in the vacant field/lot next to our community).

So if you see me and a shovel out in the field here soon, don't be surprised! :)



But back to the title of my post, yes, there is now milkweed growing on my backyard. :)