For what it's worth: February 2012

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Saturday

Bucket of Ashes in the Garden

Hubs cleaned out the fireplace this week.  There was a pretty big bucket of ashes to dispose of.  He spread them in the Iris & rose beds.  Sometime later I stumbled upon a blog in Pinterest about using ashes and am delighted to read it also deters slugs. Wood Ashes in the Garden  The same author uses vinegar to kill weeds.  It's a nice sunny (although a little cool) day so I tested out this method on my rock path. I only had about 1/2 quart of vinegar but the weeds I poured it on last night are brown today, so I  bought 2 more gallons and covered the rest.  Fabulous!

surprise!  Baby Sedum propogated all by itself.
Hubs also dug up an old tree stump and started burning it in the fire pit.  While he was doing that I raked out most of the beds.  I was excited to find the sedum that I was distraught over being broken down last summer has rooted dozens of little plants.  They are such a pretty sight to find under the dry winter leaves.  I knew they were easy to propagate, but wow!  Lesson learned: when a fallen tree limb breaks off the stems & leaves don't fret - leave them where they lie.  Since I purged my kitchen cabinets and have bunches of extra coffee cups; I used them to pot some of the larger sedums and shared them with my neighbors.

Here's a little peak at the Toad House in my garden.  My mom gave it to me and it's one of my favorite garden surprises.  I like adding "garden jewelry" in fun places.

1 kind act:  share plant starters with neighbors.

Friday

S'up?

Friday nights are my favorite. It's usually every man/woman/boy/girl for them self when it comes to supper. BTW - we sup at our house. Some people dine. My high school home making teacher told me supper is an informal meal and dinner is usually a formal meal, often in some one's honor. So, we sup.

Tonight's "sup" (also Texas slang for "what's up") will take advantage of a left over 1/2 loaf of French bread and whatever is in the fridge. That's enough for the two of us...

French Bread Supper

left over bakery bread
butter or olive oil
Italian spices
tomato slices
bell pepper slices
salt & pepper
Canadian bacon, pepperoni, turkey slices
cheese
shredded lettuce
Creamy Italian dressing


  1. Split the loaf of bread in half length wise.
  2. Spread some butter or olive oil over the cut sides.  Sprinkle some Italian spices over the butter/oil.  I use an Italian mix that has parsley, thyme, oregano, garlic powder.  You can use whatever you have.
  3. Toast under the broiler until lightly browned.  Remove from the oven.
  4. If you like your tomato slices toasted like I do, add the tomatoes, salt & pepper then toast a few more minutes.
  5. Add some cheese slices (tonight I'll be using Mozzarella) to the top bread slice and melt it at the same time you grill the tomato.
  6. Load up one side of the bread with ingredients from your fridge.  I love Canadian bacon, pepperoni slices, thin sliced deli turkey.
  7. .Add shredded lettuce.
  8. Top with some salad dressing and the other side of the toasted bread.
  9. Turn on a classic movie and enjoy!

Wednesday

Mud Pies

Some memories stay with you forever. Like the time my dad took me and left my siblings home... to sell watermellons at the Dallas Farmer's Market in the 1950's. Leaning against those summer green melons and watching him slice a big slice of red juicy melon so customers would be enticed to buy one of their own.

My son text me (love today's technology) that he was spending some one on one time with his 4 year old daughter in his backyard making mud pies. Since he works long shifts as an EMT, she struggles with sharing his attention with her younger brother some days. Today was one of those days, so he let her choose an activity for the two of them and it happened to be making mud pies. They made mud pies and talked about some really important stuff, like why dogs stink and what makes a really cool clown. BTW, really cool clowns have red noses and floppy shoes. I didn't ask about the dogs...was TMI for me.

Monday

Bucket of Bubbles

Science was not a strong subject for me. The strong evidence is in my first attemp to make home made laundry soap. It looked like an easy enough thing to do, so when I ran out of laundry soap last week, I picked up the supplies and Saturday I made the attempt. I wish I'd taken photo's so you all could giggle along with me at the mess I made. But alas, I was busy panicking.


Thursday

To blog or Google+; this is a question.  I wonder, is possible to know enough or even keep up with the constant updates and improvements?  It seems every time I connect I find more options or claims to better use of my computer.  I've not quite figured out the Google + thing yet.  It looks to me like a FB competitor?  Is there any confirmtion out there?

FB wants me to go "Timeline" and Yahoo warns me not to click on "Who is searching for me".  I'm starting to feel like an episode in Storyville (ABC's Once Upon a Time on Sunday Night's).  Maybe I'm not really me, but a character cast under a spell oblivious to the obvious.  (love that little play on words :)

1 kind act today:  Help a student complete an hour sheet that should have been turned in yesterday.

Wednesday

Just put a bucket on my head





"I'll think about that tomorrow", Scarlett O'Hara.
1 kind act:  give part of my lunch to someone who needs it.

Tuesday

Valentine sensation out of the bucket

I wonder if St. Valentine knew what a senstion he would stir in our modern world.  Of all the legends out there, I like the one that claims Saint Valentine defied the Emperor Claudius II by secretly performing marriages for soldiers.  And God bless the man who sent the first valentine. 

My hubs started our Valentine celebration last evening with flowers so I made our special week night dinner of steak, asparagas spears, roast corn cobs and gilled red pepper rings.  We were pretty stuffed, so tonight will be dessert night off Pinterest.  I'll be cooking up a beautiful heart pastry pinned from http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/chocolate-raspberry-hearts/4dd3a0d9-b0ff-48f4-98fb-10d24766ff1e
Doesn't it look fabulous? 
PS.  Someone once told me how to remember if it is desert or dessert.  Desserts add pounds to our rear ends, so the word has an added s.  (If you have a Texas accent, S comes out sounding a bit like ass).

1 kind act:  Give a valentine to someone annonomously

Monday

The first bucket - blogging

On my bucket list is starting a blog.  So today I'm pouring the stagnant water out of one of my buckets and putting some words in it to satisfy that goal.  The new goal for the first bucket is to share my thoughts and activities in a way that satisfies myself and might even entertain someone else who may stumble upon my blogs.  The advice I've read about blogging seems to lean toward a theme.  I wonder, can a brain that has so many different interests be a theme?  Perhaps I should sort out my brain in color codes (because I'm a habitual organizer too) or may be I need to paint my buckets and start dropping blog lines into them.  I like it.  My life is not monocromatic, so my buckets won't be either. 
Sometimes I feel a little bit like a bird dog.  Focus...focus...ooo bird... focus...focus...squirrel... 
 I just noticed in the set up that I can choose my location.  I drug the map pin to hover over the general area where I live and the address that showed up is Mt. Calm.  I like it, think I need to move there. BTW, I live deep in the heart of Texas. I also changed the font to Helvetica because when I Googled it I enjoyed all the hype associated with the Helvetica fans.  Who knew a face type could have fans? That just tickles my funny bone. 
I have spent an entire afternoon reading all the links to starting your own blog and I still don't find a link to existing blogs from  other bloggers without leaving my blog.  I keep thinking I'll find something so I don't have to log out and go to the Google search bar.  Maybe someone will read this post and enlighten me on how this is done.  Be kind, don't hurt my fragile feelings...I might have to categorize you in one of my buckets.  Probably the rusty one.
I did search for a bucket photo and found a fabulous one by dondj2 that IS rusty and old and dented.  I pinned it to my garden board on Pinterest.  Yes, I am Pinterest adicted.  It feeds my consuming need to organize things. I may also have discovered I have a bucket fettish and start collecting them.

1 kind act:  Each day look for an opportunity to do one thing for someone else that might be noticed, but usually ignored or let go.