Lazy summertime, but getting a lot done at the same time.

How weird is that? I watched tv for about two hours today, yet I still cleaned out the junk drawer, the boys color book cupboard, the shelf above the kitchen sink, the canned goods cupboard, the kid dishes cupboard, the snack cupboard, the top of the refrigerator, and the bulletin board area of the kitchen. AND I cleaned up the garage, cleaned the cement with the push broom, and watered the mums, onions, and the peonies that I hope decide to grow next year. Whew! that was a lot to type! The junk drawer and the coloring book cupboard took the most time. There was so much stuff shoved under there that just didn't belong! I have another box full of stuff for our someday garage sale, and a whole pile of papers that went into the recycling bin.
I use a lot of coupons. I mean, A LOT. I will buy any condiment if it's on sale and I have a coupon that makes it $.50 or less. I should take a picture of the condiment shelf I made today in my garage. My cupboard was so full I couldn't tell what was in there. I have 13 bottles of bbq sauce. Seriously. 5 containers of Miracle Whip. 5 bottles of mustard.
I have a lot of boxed stuff, too, like macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper, stuffing, and boxes of noodles. I wanted to organize that stuff a little, but I couldn't make a shelf in the garage because we could get mice or squirrels or spiders or whatever in there. Our garage kinda sucks. So I moved all of the kid's little plastic plates and cups into the cupboard with all of the adult dishes, and moved the extra boxed stuff onto that shelf. I am really happy with how I can see what we have now.
I did a lot of organizing, too. The top of the refrigerator has been a place that everything is thrown. There were about 6 different chargers for various cell phones, camcorders, whatever just thrown in a pile up there, so I wrapped them all and put twisty-ties around them and put them all in a little box in the cabinet with batteries and extra stuff.
I have a 500 word article review due tonight at midnight and I haven't even found a topic much less an article yet. I really should, but I think I may be putting it off until tomorrow. I started my period today, and I feel awful. I never feel like this. I am crampy and grumpy, and all I want is to eat ice cream and chips and onion dip (separately of course) and sit in the recliner watching Clean House. NO KIDS ALLOWED! But of course, that isn't how it is. I'm sitting at the kitchen table with the breeze blowing in the kitchen window, typing on my laptop.
Hope you all have a good night, I think it's going to be an early one here.

I have veggies!!

My garden is exploding!

Here are the tomatoes.


See the green pepper in there?


My cucumbers are climbing right out of the garden! I had to dig out the chives and transfer them to the area under my living room window because the cucumber vines were strangling them. They have lots of flowers, too!



My single pumpkin plant has a flower! A few more are forming, but they aren't open yet.


The tomatoes are getting big!


Here is a side-view. I'm so glad we decided to do this this year! I'm excited about it!


I even decided to put in a flower bed next to our shitty old garage. We bought some perennial ivy plants because we want to have ivy climb up and cover the wall. (We have siding on the rest of the house and garage, just not this side wall.) After getting the ivy, I had to put in a bed because it's all cement there. Once I built the bed and added the dirt and the ivy, it needed more. Petunias are so pretty, so I bought a flat, and I LOVE IT!! (If you click on the picture, it will enlarge and you can see the ivy better.)


Benny got a new chair for outside, but decided to bring it inside and sit in it ALL the time.


And Todd got...
an EARRING!!!

My tomatoes!!



I've been working on this. I put patio blocks around the garden, and I planted the bean sprouts and banana peppers and a pumpkin.

Luc lost his first tooth!

Todd caught a fish.


Luc caught his first fish.

Todd enjoyed fishing so much, that he kept at it when everyone else was ready to go.

My tomatoes!!

So here is one of the cute little green tomatoes! I took a pic of the other one, but it was too close and blurry.


Here is my pepper plant that has the first flower.


Here are the cucumber plants in front of the peppers and tomatoes.


And this is a big stinky bush that I HATE, but Todd insists we keep. It is so big! I drive a Suburban. You can barely see it behind this monster.

So, I gave my speech. I am not a public speaker. I get so nervous, I feel like my heart is going to explode. So, I got through it (just barely) and got a 90%. Not great, but not bad.
I came home, and guess what I found? Two of my tomato plants each have one little perfect green tomato! Those little tomatoes made me so happy! I take a walk over to my garden whenever I come home; just to take a look. Today and last night, we've had a lot of rain, and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I noticed the flowers were on the tomato plants even before I planted them. Today, I looked closer, and saw two shiny green tomatoes!!! My pepper plants are getting tall and looking so healthy. The cucumbers are low and getting kind of spiky. The chive onions look good, too. So, I'm happy.

I need a topic

I have to give a speech on Wednesday. I have to introduce a (hypothetical) speaker. I can choose anyone; real, dead, fictional. Any thoughts on who I should pick? I hate having to narrow things down like this. It would be so much easier just to be assigned someone to introduce.