Growing well, eating well...

Time for a garden update! (And there is a spinning/yarn/Tour de Fleece update at the end of the post, so if that's what you're here for, feel free to jump ahead!)

My little salad garden continues to thrive this summer. It's very exciting! Some things are finished now...like the spinach, radishes, onions and beets. The lettuce is still hanging on, though I think it will bolt this week. I'm going to resew some spinach and beets and see if they'll grow again.

The tomatoes are doing fabulously!


Look at them! I've been getting a few ripe Sun Golds every day for the past few days. Today I picked five, though honestly, they may have been a little under-ripe. I just can't keep myself from picking them, though...they are soooo good!

The tomatillos...those two plants, along with the two Sun Gold plants, have taken over the world. Seriously. I have never, ever had anything grow as successfully as these two items. No IDEA what I'm going to do with all the tomatillos once they begin to ripen. Want some? ;)

The pepper plants are all producing baby fruits now, though the cayenne peppers look pretty big, but they aren't red yet. Are they supposed to turn red before you pick them? I'm assuming they are since that is what the picture on the little tag showed. Hm. If I can keep the critters from devouring the leaves on all the pepper plants, I should have a nice pepper crop at some point.

And I have little baby cukes on my one cuke vine! The second vine died, thanks, I think, to the overshadowing tomatillos of death. (They also are killing my cilantro, darn it!) And I went down to the big garden last week (I've kind of been ignoring it since the floods did so much damage last month) to find that the one surviving zucchini plant had fruit on it! And already it just proves that one zucchini plant is all anyone really needs. Thankfully, I love zucchini.

The tomatoes down there that survived the floods are still growing, but not well. The tomatoes are really small, compared to most years. It's kind of depressing. The groundhogs have eaten all of the peas (which fared the floods well) and the few broccoli plants that had survived. :::sigh::: A couple of my cuke plants came up down there too, but they aren't doing well. However! There are three HUGE plants that I figured out today are acorn squash! LOL I knew I planted some of those and some melons, but the melons didn't seem to survive. But hey, we'll have plenty o' acorn squash, it seems. The corn is actually growing, better than it's looked some years, really, and there are some huge pumpkin vines growing, so as long as the #@!$ groundhogs leave them alone, we might end up with pumpkins.

Kevin pulled the garlic last week, so we're awash in fresh garlic, and the potatoes should be ready to be dug anytime now.

My salad garden has afforded me some really yummy meals this summer. I've mostly been using the spinach for breakfast, oddly enough, sauteing it and putting it in scrambled eggs or omelets (for me...the kids won't eat it that way).

I make my scrambled eggs with one whole egg and two egg whites for added protein. The veggies vary, but today there was spinach, onion and tomato, along with a hodge-podge of fresh herbs (cilantro, basil, dill and chives, I think...I love my herbs!). And then I throw in a little cheese. Today I used feta. A little too tangy and salty, so I may not do that again. But I like to try new things.

Lunch was guacamole, which I've recently learned how to make...

I've also learned how important it is to use the avocado with a day or so of buying it, lest it turn to brown mush. :P The garlic and cilantro are the only things in the guacamole from our garden. And I like to eat it with toasted pita crisps. Mmm.

Dinner tonight was a little macaroni and tuna salad...


This is a default comfort food meal of mine anymore. I use whole-wheat macaroni, a packet of tuna in water, then I chop up about 2/3 cup of broccoli, a tomato (used my five little Sun Golds tonight!) and whatever other veggies I might want to add (today I tossed in some raw, chopped spinach since I still have some from the garden), and I mix it up with about 2 T mayo and 2 T red wine vinegar dressing. Usually I'll chop up a hard boiled egg white in it too, but I forgot that tonight. I love this dish so much!

Ok, back to growing...

The flowers are also doing nicely, except the petunias that really haven't gotten very big and in some cases have died off all together. But I really don't like petunias much anyway, so I'm not heartbroken. LOL The brown-eyed susans are now blooming like crazy, and they make me very happy!

They're making Nigel happy, too. :)

And lastly, my yarn stash is growing because I'm still spinning for Tour de Fleece! LOL

This is one of three skeins I did for the Creepshow album cover for Team BKG. It is Serendipitous Ewe roving, (some African wool) in the Tulip colorway. I had 8 oz. of roving and got a little over 400 yards of a worsted weight 2-ply, plus about 40 yards of Navajo-plied leftovers. I added some purple curly locks to it as I spun the one single to give it some of the dark from the album cover, but they mostly got lost in the spin when I plied. Oh well. It's still fun yarn!

While I have been spinning every single day, some days its been just barely. I was glad to have a huge block of time to spin today...I watched three whole movies while I spun! One more week of TdF, and honestly...I need a spinning break! I want to get back to knitting! LOL

Inward...

I need a break. I don't know if the crazy month+ of hardly being home has finally taken its toll, or if it's been some family drama I've been dealing with, or maybe it's the end-of-school-year anticipation with its associated work...or all of the above?...but I can feel myself shutting down, going inward. Not in a huge, chronic, pathological way. Just in the way that I'm prone to when my body and mind are in desperate need of a time-out to recharge. Right now? I'm there. Oh yeah. 

Whether it is symptom or cure or maybe a bit of both, my turning inward often starts in the kitchen. I crave comfort food. Like cheese bread (bread + sliced cheddar cheese + salt & pepper...into toaster oven until cheese is melty...mmmm), or grits for breakfast. Or macaroni & cheese with tuna and cream of mushroom soup mixed in. Ok, I know it maybe sounds gross, but it actually used to be a recipe on the side of the box, and my dad used to make it for dinner sometimes, and I loved it...warm, squishy goodness. (Come to think of it, my dad used to make me cheese bread and grits, too...must ponder the significance of my favorite comfort foods being dad-oriented! Interesting!) 

Anyway, I rarely eat boxed mac & cheese, but this particular recipe just isn't the same with homemade mac & cheese. No one else in my family likes this version, so on Friday? I made it just for me. And it was good. So good. Mmmmm.

I'm continuing the theme of comfort today. I decided last night that I was skipping church today. That is probably a counterintuitive measure when craving comfort, and I know had I gone, it would have been good. But some Sundays? I just need to be home. I just need the comfort of my house and my family around me, without the need to rush and shower and dress and get out the door. My thought is that God is here as well as at church, and I've always been taught that God meets us where we are (I take that both literally and figuratively). So, here I am, at home, seeking comfort and just being here and still without great expectations on me. And this is good, too.

Since we were staying home, I promised the family that I'd make my special pancakes for them. Breakfasts together as a family are so rare for us, that when it happens, it has it's own comforting effect. Anyway, the pancakes...I've mentioned them before, and they remain noteworthy because they are both healthy and everyone in the house loves them. When I find a recipe like that,* it's a keeper, you know? LOL And weird as it is, I love that this recipe starts out with the toasting of nuts and seeds for a topping (I use sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and slivered almonds). Something about the smell of these things as they heat up in the skillet is just, well, comforting.

So now here I am...it isn't even noon. I was up before nine today, a good hour and a half earlier than most days (it is so odd to me that I'm often up earlier on weekend days than I am during the week...doesn't that seem backwards?), so it feels like it should be much later. But it's nice that it's not. I'm dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, a favorite hoodie and a pair of hand-knit socks for warmth (it's sunny but chilly today!). I'm enjoying my second (or is it my third?) cup of coffee. I have no plans for the day, which is glorious. I'm sure there will be knitting involved, though. Or spinning. ;)

Speaking of knitting...here are some photos of what I've been working on. Made my April charity hat this week (was a little behind!), modeled reluctantly by the boy...

...doesn't he look enthused? LOL But hey...he's 14...he's supposed to look like that, right?

I'm half done with the first of two afghan squares I need to make for myself for the afghan swap afghan...

...being addicted to mitred squares as I am at the moment, it was a no-brainer that I'd make one for myself. 

And of course, there is Caricia...

I am still utterly smitten with both the pattern and the yarn. I'm on my second ball of the handspun now. I love how there is that swath of a deeper golden yellow going through it...that was the start of the new ball, which then faded back to an even lighter yellow than the first section. These color changes make me so happy. I'm through five repeats of the main pattern now. And while it is taking longer to get through each repeat, it is still moving along pretty well. I've only had a couple of small setbacks at this point, and I'm hoping that will be a continuing trend.

As you can see by my progress bars, I've only got six projects in the works right now (amazing!), and two of them are afghans. The Ribbon Lace Scarf and the Cosima sweater are reaching the point of being considered "languishing" projects, but I'm not ready to relegate either to hibernation status just yet. I still need to make the second bamboo sock, but I'm not in a sock mood right now, plus I really want to make that same pattern in a solid colored yarn, which I may do before finishing that particular pair. I am trying to stay focused on the swap afghan and Caricia for right now, because I really want to see both of them finished. Thus, I'm resisting the urge to cast on anything else at the moment. We'll see how that goes.

And with that, I think I'm going to go knit a little. Hope you are having a relaxing, comforting weekend of your own!

*Just a note on the recipe, in case you check it out. I follow the basic pancake recipe as written, but without the apples. Also, I don't use buttermilk, just usually skim or 2%, whatever I have on hand. And I usually add in 1/4 c. of wheat germ to the batter. Total yumminess all around!

Healthy obsession...

If you know me well, you know that what I'm about to say is one of the least likely things you'd ever hear come out of my mouth (or off my fingers): 

My life has been overtaken by my obsession with going to the gym.

Yes. Really. I go four or five days out of the week for at least an hour. Thursday and Sunday are the only days I definitely don't go, but when I'm not there, I'm thinking about being there. I want to be there. I love it there. I love the hour-long kickboxing and martial arts classes wherein I push my body to the point of exhaustion and leave feeling so incredibly good. And on the drive home, I'm already looking forward to the next time I'll go back. I love breathing hard and feeling my heart pump and the sweat running off me (and in general, I really hate the feeling of sweating). I love learning the new things I'm learning there, and I love finding that I can do things that I didn't think I could possibly ever do. I love the environment, the people, everything about it. I love what is happening to my body as a result of this experience. In two short months, I've come to feel better in my body and about my body than I have at any other time in my entire life. 

Obsess much? Yeah. :}

See now, the downside to this obsession is the risk of completely burning myself out. This I know from past experience with other things. But somehow, this all feels different. I mean, I've struggled with my weight and with living a healthy lifestyle my whole adult life. I've tried so many things, but nothing stuck. Nothing clicked. Nothing interested me long enough to really made a lasting difference. Not so this time. Rather than my interest starting to wane after a couple months, I feel it continuing to build. I'm holding my breath and almost afraid to say it, but it seems that maybe I've finally found the right thing for me, in the right place, at the right time.

So here I am, after eight weeks of this crazy adventure, 19 pounds lighter, feeling insanely good about myself, and praying that it never ends. 

ETA: I feel compelled to clarify: when I started doing this, it was largely because I wanted to get off my arse and do something active. And this is active! However, at this point, my enthusiasm for it is as much (if not more) for the learning as it is for the fitness benefits. And I'm pretty sure it is going to be my passion for learning that motivates me to continue with it all in the long term.

Finishing...

Yes! I'm finishing things! First, I finished my MIL's birthday sweater, finally! Here it is, modeled by my daughter, who is taller but otherwise smaller than my MIL...will hopefully get a picture of it on its intended wearer soon...

And, since I stated my goal of trying to finish up some of my other lingering UFOs this month, I jumped on the finished sweater momentum and finished up the second half of my second Heart Throb sock...this was the first one...

The girlie put in a bid to have these socks as I was making them, so I'll get a picture of them on her feet tomorrow, when there's good light (and when she's awake, LOL).

(And this officially brings my WIP count down to twelve! But who's counting? Oh yeah...me.)

I'm also starting things, though in this case, it has nothing to do with fiber or knitting. Tonight was my first night of American Freestyle Martial Arts lessons. I already mentioned that I started taking kickboxing classes back at the end of November, and I love them. The gym I'm going to also offers boxing classes and the American Freestyle classes. So! I'm going to take both. Seriously...I love this gym. I could live there. It makes me very happy to go there. (You have no idea how freaky it is for me to say this about an athletic-oriented activity...this is definitely a first.) And I love taking these lessons there. So. New experiences! Gotta love 'em! :)

Quickie...healthy stuff...

Just wanted to share this: for dinner tonight (well, Tuesday night...it's past midnight), I made salmon (broiled with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and dill) and a big panful of roasted veggies like Crazy Aunt Purl posted about a while back. Oh. My. Goodness. The veggies were wonderful! You can probably do it with any combination of hearty veggies -- I used two sweet potatoes, two red potatoes, one butternut squash, two big carrots, half a sweet onion and two cloves of garlic, tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. It was just SO GOOD, and with the salmon, it fit right in to one of my intentions for this year (see, I told you they'd crop up), which is to continue creating and eating healthy meals. It was also a very color coordinated meal...lots of yellows and oranges and that salmon-y pink color. Not a green thing in sight. LOL (Well, the dill....)

ETA: Now it's going on midnight again, and I can say this was one really healthy eating day! For breakfast I made myself some quinoa porridge, which I love but often forego in favor of something faster, like instant grits or a whole wheat bagel. The only thing I don't love about the porridge is that every damn time I make it, it boils over and makes a mess. It doesn't matter how closely I watch it, it does it. :::sigh::: Then I made another spinach-ricotta pie for my late lunch/early dinner today. Mmm. This stuff is awesome, and I've got leftovers for lunch for the next few days, too. 

It occurs to me now that I ate no meat today. I'm not a non-meat eater on a regular basis because, admittedly, I do love me some carnivorous fare, but I fully enjoy good-tasting meatless meals too. 

On top of this, I'm trying, once again, to add more fruits to my life. I am not good at eating fruit and I have no idea why. I love still-green bananas, and I love dried prunes (yes, I do!) and raisins (which I put in my grits, and that probably will make any number of southerners want to pass out), and in the summer I adore blueberries and good strawberries when I can find them. But the fruits available in the winter just don't really float my boat. (I know, you can still get strawberries and blueberries in the dead of winter in this day and age, but when possible, I try to avoid buying produce that had to be trucked thousands of miles to get to the store.) But I bought a crate of clementines the other day (yeah, I know, there goes my local produce thing, since they are a product of...some other country, I think?)...those I do enjoy. And I bought prunes. Might as well stick with what you know you like, right?