Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[Henrietta23]

Me neither! That is why when I see a "plain old box" of a house transformed I am amazed.

My daughter taught me that those "featureless" houses I used to dislike so much are really like a blank canvas for the creative mind. No features to get in the way of YOUR imagination!

I'll just have to kick it into high gear and come up with some time and money!

Went blueberry picking after church with a group of 5 friends. We had a great time. Nice relaxing conversation, and I've got 5 quarts of berries and already have a pie in the oven. Mmmm! They may not have grown on my own bushes but they're local and my fingers are stained purple.

 

[Farmfresh]

Yeah - purple fingers!

How many went in your mouth while picking? When I am in the berry patch it is usually two (or three) in the mouth and one in the bucket.

 

[Henrietta23]

Yeah - purple fingers!

How many went in your mouth while picking? When I am in the berry patch it is usually two (or three) in the mouth and one in the bucket.

Sounds about right. The farmer told us to try a berry from each bush so we could see if we liked that variety. We translated that to a berry from each branch!
My pie is cooling. I don't think I can wait much longer!

 

[Henrietta23]

Well, despite all assurances from the America's Test Kitchen website my pie was still soupy. But the flavor was great. Tart but not too tart. Oh well, I guess I will just have to try again!
I found a large (2 gallon?) Anchor Hocking glass canister with a lid at Walmart for $13. Just what I needed to actually start my pickles!
After I pick DS up from gymnastics camp Mom is taking us out for sushi for my birthday. DH is taking me out for dinner. We were going to go to the shore for lobster but the weather is supposed to be absolutely awful so we're going to stick closer to home instead. I won't have to cook at all today if I don't want to!
Our friend with all the ideas for DS's Indiana Jones bedroom came over with his wife to meet the puppy yesterday. He was so funny. Went down to the room with a measuring tape and clipboard. He has some wild ideas, like a 3-D stone wall made from foam and arches over the doorways. I just hope we finish the project before DS has a new obession!

 

[Dace]

Indiana Jones huh? My friend's son is obsessed with IJ. A rock wall sound pretty awesome, how nice that you have a creative person to help you pull it all together!

So tell me about your pickles? I am pretty good with refrigerator pickles, gave up on canned pickles and would like to try pickling in a crock.

 

[Henrietta23]

I don't think I've made pickles in 20 years. I'm going to try one of the dill recipes from here. I don't care for sweet pickles personally. I'll let you know how it goes! The cucumbers came from the farmers market. I've got two on my one surviving cucumber plant that are about a half an inch long. Sigh.......

 

[Farmfresh]

Hen

I usually plant cucumbers with a great fail rate, but this year I planted a heritage climbing cucumber from Baker Creek seeds http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Cucumber/Japanese-Climbing

I planted it in a big tub at the back of my house and am trellising it up over a window that never gets any shade.

This picture was taken earlier this month and now it is taller that the window and covered with little baby cucumbers which I can watch grow from my bedroom! I am so excited! I just love cucumbers and pickles (even though I am not good at pickles just yet)

Maybe you should try this variety next year.

 

[Henrietta23]

Wow, those look great! I've got mine in a big pot on the deck with hopes of trellising them similarly. They just got off to a really rough start with our spring weather. I think I will try that variety next year though. These were a pickling variety I think. I'd have to look at the package to be sure exactly what they're called.
Lunch was delicious. My mother gave me a gift card to Kohl's so I went poking around afterwards. Their table top hydroponic garden thingy was on sale from $199 to $49.99 but of course they were all gone! Man! So I put the card aside for fall clothes.

 

[Henrietta23]

Well, my birthday lobster turned into birthday fajitas! Oh well. It wouldn't have been nice at our favorite lobster place with all this rain. We're supposed to get almost 3 inches tonight. One more day I won't have to water the "garden".
After dinner we went to Borders since they were nice enough to send me a 15% off coupon for my birthday. They actually had one copy of Nourishing Traditions on the shelf so I grabbed it. I also got a $3.99 Peanuts book off the bargain shelves and had the joy of listening to my 7 year old son reading me classic comic strips all the way home. All in all not a bad birthday at all.

 

[Henrietta23]

I have baby beans on my Wren's Egg pole bean vines!! And a few tiny cucumbers too. I may actually get something edible from my yard (actually my deck in this case) this year! Very exciting!
Had tea with two good friends this morning. We planned this to discuss our unhappiness with our weight and eating habits. So we listened to each other describe what we are unhappy with, what we think gets in the way of being happy about it and what we can do to change it. It was a great way to organize my thoughts about changes I want to make beyond where I've gotten to already. I want to cut out even more of the processed foods, reduce refined sugar intake, etc.
We had this tea after I went to yoga class (taught by one of the friends I had tea with) for the first time in over a year. I had to stop for a while last June because I had injured both quadricep muscles to the point where an orthopaedic physician's assistant warned my I was in danger of separating them from the bone. Yikes! Anyway, once I stopped I never went back until today. I took it easy and I feel stretched but not sore so I guess I did a good job.
The other friend happens to be a therapist so even though we weren't doing therapy she helped us organize our thoughts and our plans. We're going to meet in 3 weeks for a check in. We're hoping the accountability helps us keep on track.
With Dace as my inspiration I've been trying to broaden DS's food intake. He's eaten salad two nights in a row. He'll eat a lot of different cooked vegetables but never salad. I just didn't give him a choice. I didn't give him a huge portion either. Last night was just some romaine lettuce and carrot chunks. Tonight I added some red bell pepper. He turned his nose up at that. Tough! He ate one piece and made a face. Well, there were three more chunks on his plate. When he thought I wasn't looking he snuck another bite of pepper. I caught him! He LIKED it! Instead of romaine lettuce we had baby spring mix so he ate beet greens and arugula! I can't say he loved it but he didn't gag and die like he'll sometimes try to tell me he will. I've turned a deaf ear to it. Now that DH is on board and also knows to ignore that talk he's doing much better. When I first offered him blueberry pie he said, "I don't like it." Well, it had been at least a year since I'd made one so I had him try one bite. Granted this wasn't an overly sweet pie so I wasn't surprised when he puckered up a bit. He asked if he had to eat it all. I had him take two more bites. I guess by then he'd gotten used to the tartness because he cleaned the plate.
Hoping to pick more blueberries tomorrow. I've got some in the freezer and some in the dehydrator. I still want to do jam. We're supposed to have another gorgeous Saturday so I might pull it off!