Ooops!

Hello my lovlies, it's been a while.

I guess I've been finding other ways to waste time, ha. Shall we do a quick re-cap?

* Herb garden: it's a go! I got intimidated by actually developing the soil outside, so I got 2 big terracotta pots and planted the herbs in potting soil with some Miracle Gro. They'll be a week old tomorrow, and they're doing well! The basil, dill and mint have tiny leaves of new development. I'm proud that I haven't killed them....yet.

* Hubby's birthday: Yesterday. He got himself a Blackberry Curve for his present last weekend, but I got him the car charger. I also baked him a birthday cake! Not quite from scratch, but not totally from a box. It was one of those gussied up mix recipes from The Cake Doctor. You take devil's food, throw in a cup of sour cream, oil, water, 4 eggs, and a box of instant pudding. The result is an extremely moist cake. I will never stray from this recipe. It is still just as easy as straight from the box. And I made the icing. Mmm. The best part? I frosted it to look like a basketball! I tinted the frosting orange, frosted the 2 layers, then made some brown frosting a piped it on to draw the lines. He was impressed. I am so Martha. :)

We are leaving tomorrow morning for a trip to visit our respective alma maters for basketball games. UF plays UK, and whichever team wins will probably be the one to go to The Big Dance. Then on to Tallahassee to see them play VA Tech. Hubby booked us a hotel that has an in-room jacuzzi in Tally on Saturday night as a late V-Day/late 6 month anni/birthday celebration, wooooooooo, lol. ;-)

Right now, I am at work. Yesterday seemed like a Friday, so you can imagine what today feels like. I'm not feeling great, but I think it's because I'm one of those psychosomatic nutty people who feels ill the second she finds out she may have been exposed to something (our office manager has either food poisoning or a stomach virus). So I'm alternating working and piddling away time. I was supposed to go help dad move (long story, but he's remodeling the house and needs to move into a rental so they can knock down walls and such at the old homestead) but they moved the move to Sunday (I'll be out of town, darnit, ha) so I'm not sure what is expected of me tonight.

I was going to meet Hubby and his good friend downtown for drinks before they went to the Magic game. I guess that will still happen. (So long as I don't come down with the plague, lol.) Relaxing for a bit with a Mich Ultra or vodka tonic (extra lime, please) would be a nice way to end the day. Then I would simply love to go home and pamper myself with a nice bubble bath and mani/pedi, but I know that's not in the cards. My Zoya polishes came yesterday, so I'm hoping to at least get a chance to swatch them (10 bottles, 10 fingers, sounds perfect!)

Catching Up

Eeeh, it's been a few days. What do I have to share?

* My PMG order came. Toooooo cute. Everything. I love it. Go to www.preppymonogramgifts.com and buy stuff, you won't regret it, lol!

* My Gators, Hubby's Noles and our Magic all lost last night. Booo!

* I am SO ready for our cruise. When is September again???

* I'm hoping this Sunday will be Garden Day.

* Oooh! (This one's good, lol) I had a major epiphany just now. I have always wanted to learn how to knit and crochet. My mom was awesome at crocheting. But I'm a leftie, and I just couldn't learn from watching her. It made my brain short out to try to follow what she was doing and then do the opposite. It's tough to be a Southpaw. There are roughly 2 jillion manuals/videos for righties to learn, but manuals for lefties are severely lacking. As I was studying the cryptic drawings on yet another "teach yourself to knit" site, I realized what I really needed was video instruction. But how? Then, it hit me: YOU-TUBE. So I quickly surfed over there, typed in "teach yourself to knit left handed" and eureka! Videos. We are going to have so many potholders now, lol!

Garden Girl

Let me tell you, one of the biggest things I've looked forward to as a new homeowner has been the prospect of gardening. I'm not sure if I have a green or black thumb; my previous ventures were less than fantastic, but I certainly wasn't going about things right. This time I either have done or am continuing to do my research.

We're getting to the point where I don't think we'll be worrying about frosts/freezes much longer. I'd considered starting my plants from seed, but I don't think it's wise for me to get too adventurous. Since I'm going fairly basic, I think I'll be able to find everything I need at a good nursery around here. That Burpee website sure does make things look tempting!

Like I said, I'm trying not to get super adventurous. I want a fairly basic herb garden and a few veggies. For herbs, I want basil and parsley, since I cook with them a lot. Maybe some chives as well. I also want cilantro and mint. As far as veggies go, I definitely want to try bell peppers (those suckers are expensive in stores!) and cherry tomatoes. As kids, we also grew watermelons, which would be fun to try too. Mom was good with plants, but wouldn't have grown anything too high maintenance. So I feel safe going with her picks--plus I know they'll do ok down here in Florida. (I want okra too, and hear it grows well in our hot summers, but I'm the only one who'd eat it. Hubby won't go near it---same as with most delish veggies. Boooo)

The only thing I'm still confused about is soil prep. I'm sure the staff at the nursery can give me good advise. I know our soil quality in Florida is naturally poor---it's sand. I'm considering container gardening out on the pool patio. That may, realistically, be the easiest way for me to jump into things.

We're busy this Saturday (dentist appointment in the AM, then MIL's retirement party that night) but hopefully on Sunday I'll be able to get out in the yard.

The thought of fresh mint in time for our Derby party makes me happy. Real Southern iced tea and mint juleps for all!