Graduation 2013

We survived graduation but what a mad house. I am thankful that I wont have to do that again for a long time. Getting pictures was a nightmare and on top of it all as the graduates were walking out the lights failed. Transformer blew at exactly 9 pm. It is pitch black out there on the fairgrounds property. Thankfully most people have a flashlight APP on the their phones and lit up the area but we lost Erin and took us forever to find her. She was upset by then and it took a lot of the joy out of her big day. No family pictures of the happy graduate which sucks but what do you do.

Dinner was a rushed affair at Archie's, the kitchen closed at 10 pm and we put in a last minute order of wings and smack and beer!!! Not what I had planned for dinner but by then we were all starving.

We survived graduation and my baby has her diploma and is headed to college this fall. I am so very proud of her!

I love you Baby!

Change

It has been a very rough year and this month has been the worst, thankfully this past weekend has been awesome and I predict this week will pass quickly and my beautiful daughter will graduate from high school without a hitch.

 (Knock on wood!!)

But even if something unfortunate happens this week to dampen our joy, I know that we will get through it as a family and survive whatever life has to throw at us.

I have discovered just how strong I am over the past year and a half and that I am not to old to change for the better.

I have found so much joy and love in my life that I never could have imagined and all I did was change one thing.

I changed my attitude.

I can not believe that something so simple has had such an enormous effect on my life.

I made a simple choice.

I choose to be happy.

I choose to be flexible.

I choose love and patience and tolerance.

I have learned to let go and have freed myself from anxiety and stress but i have also learned to be more disciplined and found structure and security.

I found my morality hidden under layers of cynicism and indifference.

I have found me again or a better me I should say.

An older wiser and more experienced me who can still love and learn and laugh and make my world a better place for me and the ones that I love!

I will miss you!

Tuesday afternoon our family suffered a great lose, my father-in-law Fred Pate Jr. passed away from cancer. I am blessed to have been able to spend some time with him while he was still up and clear of mind. I am also blessed to have witness the great love that his wife and children have for this man. I will miss the stories that man used to tell with a twinkle in his eye. I will miss his smile and sense of humor. I will miss his deep gruff voice and his laugh. I too love him dearly and will miss him.


 

My Yard - A Garden

I have a black thumb but every year I try to plant something. This year I had the opportunity of time so last month with hoe in hand I started a real garden. With a little help from my children, we managed to dig up a small garden plot where I went crazy and I am now growing beans, squash, cucumbers, carrots, and radishes with the space to grow okra or some mystery tomatoes I found growing in my pepper container. Please ignore the weeds and grass. We used a shovel to turn the soil and its funny how quickly grass roots bounce back.

I see a gas powered tiller in my future maybe for my birthday!




I usually grow tomatoes since I love them, they are expensive and I like to save money. I have not always had good luck however last year I planted cherry tomatoes and fell in love. I have almost always used containers. It is easier to water and keeps the dogs out of them but this year I decided to take a chance and plant a few tomatoes and peppers by the patio. I am still using my containers but I have them spread around the yard where I can maximize the sunshine. I went from 5 plants last year to 11 plus this year. However with more plants and garden means more time spent outside in the yard versus playing on the computer or Xbox. The sacrifices I have to make for my family.......sigh.






I started a lettuce garden last year. I planted in the front flower garden area by the front door and it is doing very well. I have arugula, a red leaf lettuce and several romaine plants I just put in. There are two other greens I have no idea what they are but they are growing like crazy. They have actually bolted and are a little bitter but I hate pulling them up because I like the flowers they produce. I put some basil in a planter and started some cilantro, sage and thyme from seed in a planter by my front door and they to are starting to coming up. I cant wait to have fresh herbs in the house to cook with.I have always loved gardening even though I have experienced massive failures but I would rather try and fail then never try, plus the rewards when you succeed are delicious!!!!

Forks Over Knives

To be vegan or not to be? That is the question of the day.

'Forks Over Knives' is another good movie to watch if your concerned about your health. The documentary makes a lot of sense about the amount of meat products we eat in the United States. Over the last 70 years as meat consumption in the United states has risen so has an alarming increase of obesity, cancer and heart disease. At 47, I am relatively healthy but by medical standards I am morbidly obese. I have worked on changing my diet over the last few years and have eliminated a lot of bad habits including reducing my intake of sugar and adding exercise to my life. In the past few years I have managed to rid myself of a little over 25 pounds. It has taken me years to get this way it will take me years to get it off. I don't trust fast weight lose as it tends to come back plus some. I know this from years of yoyo dieting.

Happily, my sugar levels have become stable but I am still fighting high cholesterol. I have increased my intake of fruits and vegetables but my love of animal products in all forms is undeniable. Beef and chicken are staples in my kitchen and there is nothing better in this world then my husbands grilled beef fillet. Add a baked potato and slather it with butter and sour cream with a side salad covered in a sour cream based dressing. An awesome meal or an epic failure in a nutritious diet?

I will be adding more fruits and veggies to my daily routine and continue to reduce my intake of meat and dairy. I will never be a vegan or a vegetarian but I see organic soy milk in my future over my cheerios and more vinaigrette dressings on my salads.

Scuppernong Grapes - Jelly Adventures

Hanging Pictures

I have spent the last two weeks of my vacation packing, loading, unloading and unpacking stuff that we have no room for. It is amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 5 years.

Today is my last day of vacation and I am using it to tidy up and give our new dwelling those endearing touches that make a house a home.

I love these old pictures of my children and my husband. It is hard to believe that we were really that young once.

But enough of this for today I am running out of walls and hangers which is bad because I still have boxes of pictures I need to find a home.

Did I mention I love moving.

January's Photo Outing

Not once but twice this month I was lucky enough to be invited on a field trip with my good friend Rachel. She has taken a huge leap in her life and is braving the new world of entrepreneurship with her new business -Fins & Lens Photography - http://finsandlens.com/ .

For her birthday we went to the Morikami Gardens for the zen experience and a photo shoot. We arrived fashionably late and we only had an hour to tour the gardens before the park closed.

Although our time was limited we still took some pretty decent shots as the day turned into late afternoon. I tried to capture the shadows and low light settings and the sun started to set for the day.

The Morikami Gardens are very beautiful even with the large crowds that attended that weekend for the 10 year anniversary festival so we decided to make another trip. Luckily the Gardens were offering a free admissions day so we pulled out our schedules determined that we were free and pinky swore that we would go.

Our second trip was almost a disaster; we arrived early along with the the storm clouds and cold rain but we unloaded our gear and headed into the gardens determined to find zen or at least a good time and a few good pictures before we were frozen and or drenched.

As if the weather wasn't bad enough, our bad luck continued as both of Rachel's cameras malfunctioned. We later found out as the clouds moved off and the sun warmed up the day that her camera seems to have issues with the cold and caused her shutter to stick. We were back in business.

We missed the Bonsai exhibit on our first trip as we walked towards the bridge the security guard chased us off and pointed us towards the exit. We spent a good portion of the morning of our second trip looking at the tiny sculptured trees.

The bonsais were so oddly shaped I had a hard time focusing and this is the only picture I was satisfied with to post so I guess I will keep practicing.

We thought it was odd that we did not see any koi on our first trip in any of the lakes or ponds but apparently they were hiding by the bonsai. These fish are huge and you can feed them if you like. I know the fish don't mind.

We toured the small museum that displayed Japanese culture and heritage and its growth in South Florida.

We found out of the way paths that lead to bamboo fountains

and tranquil beauty.

The gravel paths are shaded with benches to sit at your leisure. The view over the small lake is pretty and conducive to calm and relaxation.

It was an amazing day and I thoroughly enjoyed having Rachel's son Christian with us. What an awesome little boy.

I cant wait for our next photo outing.

Happy New Year!!!!! (Better late than never.)

This year I vow to take more pictures, pay attention to my blog, eat better, exercise more, spend more time with my family and pay more attention to me and my needs.

Invasion!

I have been invaded by these huge bloated little buggers. Caterpillars have made their home on my tomatoes.

I was not alarmed by the few holey leaves I was seeing here and there and when I discovered that it was caterpillars causing the damage to the leaves I removed them quickly. I am trying to stay organic so I am not using pesticides however I did "Google" for a few organic options including a garlic spray.

But apparently I may have waited to long, in just a matter of 2 days my plants have become bare.

The little buggers have become huge which makes them a lot easier to find but they are a lot hungrier.

They are now eating my tomatoes.

Will I ever win?????

Bucket Gardening

I have a lousy time with gardening. My husband swears I have a black thumb. Every spring I plant and something always goes wrong. I have learned by trial and error that vegetables do not fair well in my back yard. Apparently I can't grow grass there either. I have a sprinkler system and I would use it if someone would quit running over the sprinkler heads. I turned on the water last week and flooded the front yard. The weeds seem to like my yard better and I guess some green is better than none at all.

I like to think of myself as determined, a problem solver or what my family refers to as hard headed. My goal is to grow fresh vegetables for my family and I am not giving up so I go back to surfing the internet for ideas. I researched raised garden beds but I knew that idea wouldn't work unless I was able to surround the raised beds with a steel mesh cage. My dogs would not let a little height stand in the way of watering my tomatoes or digging them up in search of the neighborhood mole. There is also the problem of invading nasty looking horned caterpillars. !!Yucky!!

I tried an experiment with Aquaponics last year and had very good success in starting several types of tomatoes, herbs and leafy veggies. I tried to grow these starters in containers and I did have some initial good luck. I was able to harvest about a dozen small cracked fruits off my bushes but my herbs eventually died from lack of attention which means I forget to water them.

I tried something different this year with my aquaponics/aquarium system and took a terrarium approach to gardening. I filled the tank half way and floated Styrofoam rafts in the tank using the aquarium lights as the light source. It works fairly well but only on one half of the tank. I have had a problem with too much moisture on the side of the tank with the filter. I was thinking of using a piece of plastic to cover the down spout but I haven't gotten around to that yet. The aquaponics projects have been fun and a learning experience but it can be complicated and is not the best for growing tomatoes and like vegetables.

During my research on youtube, I discovered self-watering containers. Eureka! There was hope for me after all. I proceeded to do a little price checking. I found and purchased 3 small hanging plant containers that were on sale. I also found the large pretty hunter green or terracotta self watering containers that seemed to be the rage but I was not willing to fork out the $50.00 per container price tag. So I went back to researching youtube and I came across several do it yourself containers. I finally decided on what is called the bucket system or "Global Buckets".

Two 5 gallon buckets some pvp pipe and a plastic cup. I like the plastic drive through cups just so I feel like I am recycling. So far, I have made 5 buckets: 1 with my blueberry bush that my husband bought me, 3 tomato plants and the last one is for my basil as soon as its tall enough to transplant. So far my dogs have left the containers alone, there is no sight of caterpillars and I only water the plants every third day or so. The big plus plus is that it is impossible to over water. I think I found the cure to my black thumb back yard gardening problem. I am so excited.

For my next project, I have purchased 2 (two) 50 gallon rubber maid containers I found for $15 each. I'm thinking carrots, radishes and green leafy veggies. I'm on a roll...........

My Girls

It is amazing how quickly my girls have grown. They will soon be adults and I am having some issues. I believe it is called the empty nest syndrome. I cry sometimes when I think about them leaving me but I also cry during sad commercials. They will tell you I am over sensitive but actually I am just a big cry baby.

They are so different my girls so much like myself and my brother. My brother with his white blonde hair and blue eyes and me the brunette with hazels eyes.

Ellie so much like me. She is my twin in almost every way. She is so responsible, very serious, she knows everything and argues her point until you are just tired of arguing and it is easier to just walk away. She has my temper explosive and wrathful yet she is so loving and wears her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see. There is no guile about her. What you see is what you get. She is her daddy's princess.

Erin has my brothers coloring but that is where the likeness ends. Intelligence hide behind those blue eyes and be prepared for a tongue lashing if she is in ear shot of a blonde joke. She will argue that she has to work harder for her grades because no one takes her seriously. She is a goof at times and a trend setter. She can be a cool as a cucumber impossible to know what she is thinking. She is charitable, kind and giving. She is my baby.

I love them both so much it breaks my heart to think that they will soon be grown and will no longer need me. Ellie off to the Navy soon already so grown up. Even though I protest loudly her decision to go into the military, I am still so very proud of her. She is ready to begin a new chapter in her life and I know I can not hold her back. I was on my own at 17 and I remember how strongly I felt about my independence.

However, Erin has a few more years before she can leave and I am kinda feeling sorry for her. I will have to smother her with all my affection and she really hates that.

The Steak House Ninjas

It being our last night in New Orleans my husband wanted to take us all out for a fancy dinner. For several days he asked around trying to find the best steak house in New Orleans. After a few mixed reviews he decided on the restaurant and made reservations. He decided on Dickie Brennan's Steak House in the French Quarter. I think a large part of his decision was based on the delicious food and service we received at The Palace Cafe which is owned and operated by Dickie Brennan, Steve Pettus and Lauren Brennan Brower.

The night started off well. As we were seated, my poor daughter was attacked by "The Ninjas". "The Ninjas" as my daughter called the wait staff. The poor young waiter went to place a napkin in Ellie's lap and she almost jumped out of her chair. He was so embarrassed, he didn't know what to say and he tended to stay away from her side of the table throughout the rest of our meal. I can't say that I blamed him. For the rest of the evening when we weren't eating we made a game of alerting Ellie when a "Ninja" approached the table so she would not jump and scare the poor waiters.

I have to say my hubby made an excellent choice in restaurants. We have been disappointed in the past paying too much for a piece of meat that no amount of steak sauce could save. We were all delighted with our meals. I ordered the chef's special Twin Filets over grits with a spicy garlic sauce. This was a very brave move on my part but I was intrigued by the choice grits served with this entree. Initially I found the reduction sauce over the filet very peppery almost too much but once I added all the flavors together the dish blended perfectly. I love my grits, I eat them with my eggs and my fish regularly but I have never eaten them with beef. I would never think to eat them with a filet. It was an awesome experience and a perfect dish for this old southern gal.

For 90 minutes, we were pampered and fed wonderful food and can't remember a moment during the entire evening when there wasn't something to eat on our table. The bread was warm and crusty. Fred ordered a starter of Portobello Fries. The salads were delicious - no ranch dressing here. And for dessert we had Bananas Foster over bread pudding, I have not enjoyed Bananas Foster since I was a teenager in Miami. I have to admit I was a little disappointed they did not prepare it at the table with the flame but it was very good none the less.

Life seems so dull now that we are back at home. Food doesn't taste the same, its tasteless and boring but after so much good food I see salads and other non-fat dishes in my future for a long time.