It’s really all about the ties of family, the strength of love and appreciation for the leaders in our life.

What better way to show you love your mom then by posting old pictures?

There’s Dad in the back.

Uncle Darrin, Grandma Betty, Mom holding Cody.

Bonnie and I front and center. This was 1989.

Hence those glasses. No, kidding. They’re lovely Mom.

Also 1989.

Grandma Betty and Bonnie, Mom and Cody, Grandma List and Charlie, then me.

Nice Barbie.

1991.

Grandma Betty, Mom holding Erin, Grandma List and Cody.

Pretty Mama.

And just to prove I haven’t always been goofy looking:

Aug '85. Almost three years old.

So make sure today that you give your mom a hug, tell her that she means everything to you, and be thankful for what you have.

And that she got rid of those glasses.

KIDDING! <3

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The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.

~Honoré de Balzac

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He’s pretty proud of that garden.

Do you have any special helpers in your garden?

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And that this is what they looked like when I planted them?

Wanna guess what they look like now? No, really. Think about it.

This is Arizona, it’s hot. And as much as I hate to admit it, gardening is a never-ending ‘craft’. You can’t just plant it and forget about it, like you can with most of the crafts I do. I’m not so great at ongoing projects.

Which is why I’m quite tickled (and slightly overwhelmed) that they now look like this:

April 23rd, Box 1

Notice how they’re still pretty much within their beds and you can sort of see all the individual plants.

April 23rd, Box 2

Yeah.

Not anymore.

May7th

It’s a jungle.

Which is awesome, but Holey Moley.

How am I ever going to tame this thing?

I’m really hoping that we’ll get some veggies off of it before the heat makes them go dormant.

Also thinking about putting some kind of shade over it.

I learned awhile back that if the night temps don’t get low enough, it doesn’t matter what I do, the tomatoes will stop fruiting, so hurry hurry little tomatoes.

Heirloom Brandywine Tomatoes

Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes, possibly. Hard to tell in there.

Jalapeño

Crookneck Squash

Green Bush Beans

The cucumbers and honeydew are coming along nicely.

We picked some radishes the other night. I think they were crowded.

And there’s lot of herbs too. Cilantro, Dill, Lemon Thyme, Spearmint, Stevia, Chocolate Basil, Chocolate Mint (I can never seem to pass up all the chocolate ones).

There’s carrots buried in there too.

Maybe next year, I wont pack in so many tomatoes.

How does your garden grow this year?

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Because of said blogs, I’ve realized that I need to pay more attention to decorating my own house.

Thrift stores are a great place for finding one of a kind items, especially if you have an eye for refurbishing or updating things. You have to realize the potential of things, I guess you could say. My husband doesn’t quite get it, so I often get ‘What are you going to do with it?’ or ‘What is it?” or ‘Why on earth did you buy that?’. In general I get kidded for alot of the “decorating” I do.

Recently I had a tough purchasing dilemma. My mom, the boys, a friend and I were at Goodwill, when Mom mentioned there was a really cool green chair near the back but it had some rips in it. I didn’t think much of it. I mean, a green chair, right? As I strolled towards the back… Okay, so as I calmly walked to the back while my kids were fighting like wolverines in the cart, the chair caught my eye.

See what I mean? Would that not have made you look too?

I think I sat on it for a good 20 minutes deciding what to do. It was $25 on half price. Problem was it had rips, like mom mentioned. I even sent a picture to my husband and asked what to do. Sometimes it’s easier to let him decide. He told me sure as long as it was in good condition. Yikes.

This is the seat. It was two smaller rips before my boys noticed it. :S

I just couldn’t pass it up though. I bought it!

I was so upset and angry when they loaded it for me though. The guy loading it put it on a box dolly and drug it across the asphalt, doing even more damage to it around the bottom edges then it had before.

My mom thinks the chair is awesome, but Matt still makes fun of me for it. He just has no sense, right?

The color above is more true to life, and it obviously needs a real home, other than stuffed in my front sitting room. From what we can tell it’s real leather and someone covered it by hand, hence the slightly erratic nailhead trim. But that’s all part of the appeal for me.

I’ve looked into leather repair for it, but honestly I think the little lamb skin on it is perfect. It also helps reduce the stickiness of bare legs against leather that I dread.

So, what do you  think? I LOOVE it!

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I happen to be super blessed in that Cody is staying with us for now. He makes our lives full… full of all kinds of stuff.

Like girl drama. I’m glad I was never that way! Ahem.

And dirty socks.

And he selflessly tutors my two innocent children in ways to get themselves hurt or in trouble.

He’s a fine upstanding example of trouble.

See this?

Tarantula Hawk

Cody pissed it off.

And this normally placid flyer stung him. Ha! Poor guy, just minding his own business when some giant gets all huffy about a sting and douses you in Carburetor cleaner.

Or how about when he tries to show Declan how to ride BMX, like a pro yo.

This is what Declan comes back looking like:

Now, what do you think Cody looks like? After all, Declan was under Cody’s tutelage when this disaster happened.

Are you ready for it?

No really, you should be prepared.

Let’s look at this more closely, shall we?

Click for larger version

Nice huh? And that’s just his face.

This is right before all the scabs came off.

Pretty huh?

I don’t have pictures of the time after that. He still has the scabs on his shins. Probably should have got stitches.

So that’s a very small glimpse of Life with Cody. I wont even go into where I spent my entire Tuesday evening because of him. Stay tuned for more Cody adventures.

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Not too long ago I decided I needed to change things up and order something different. I settled on the Shrimp En Fuego. It’s a lovely combination of Shrimp, Mushrooms and Tomatoes in a spicy cream sauce served over an open baked potato. Yum, huh? It seems that when we eat out, I almost always get something heavy in mushrooms since Matt refuses to eat them.

(Photo by Sarah Caron)

Since we don’t often eat out, I decided I’d try and wing it at home after finding a great sale on shrimp. The Internets weren’t so helpful for a recipe, so I gathered all the tips I could find about it and dived in. I can’t tell you how alike it is compared to Outback’s because I don’t have the option to try them next to eat other, but it turned out really good. Spicy.

Shrimp En Fuego

Serves 4, doubles perfectly

Ingredients:

• 4 Baked potatoes, preferably with the skin salted and oiled
• 1  jar Cheesy Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce (I was lazy and didn’t make my own)
• 1 Tablespoon Chipotle Chili Powder
• 3 tablespoon Chili Garlic Sauce (Commonly called Rooster Sauce, and found in the ethnic food section of most markets)
• 1 pound fresh shrimp (frozen may be substituted, if thawed), deveined and tails removed.
• 1 pound mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 package cherry tomatoes, halved.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Scrub potatoes and poke with a fork a couple times. Rub the outsides with olive oil then roll or rub with medium grind sea salt. Place in oven and cook until desired doneness.
3. When potatoes are almost done, combine alfredo sauce, chipotle powder, and chili garlic sauce in a medium sauce pan. Warm over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
4. If you wish, the amount of chipotle and chili sauce can be adjusted now. I had to keep the spices low or The Hubs and The Boys wouldn’t eat it.
   

   My food photography isn't very good, but you get the idea.

5. While sauce is warming, sauté shrimp, mushrooms and minced garlic over medium high heat until shrimp is pink and mushrooms are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. If you wish, you can add the sauce to the pan of shrimp and mushrooms, mixing everything together, or keep them separate. Place open potato on a plate, layer with shrimp and mushrooms, then sauce with halved tomatoes on top. (It looks better that way. For the ease of feeding my horde I mix everything together.)
7. Don’t forget to turn off the oven.
8. Enjoy!

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So I ask The Internets for help. And also the Arizona Garden Web Forum, which is a great source of information for you local readers.

Click for larger pictures.

Any thoughts? I don’t want to lose this little tree!

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Hasselback Potatoes

Blue Delphiniums

African Daisies

Ridin' like a pro now

So proud of himself

String Eggs. These would make an amazing set of lanterns for the porch.

Polka Dots

Easter Wreath

Peeking Bunnies

Homemade Mossy Easter Baskets

Funny Bunny Hat

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When she proposed Freaky Houses I instantly thought of some of the houses we saw in our house hunting days. Man, what WERE those people thinking? But then I realized I could use some help.

While not really freaky, my loft is… well, helpless is how I would describe it most days.

This is what up see upon coming up the stairs. Notice the blank, the bland, the blah. The main purpose of this room is a media room. Suspended from the ceiling is a projecter which shines on the screen that’s rolled up in the above picture.

Standing at the top of the stairs, here’s the view to your left. That sad little shelf there had good intentions. At the time, we needed something super cheap yet strong enough to hold a receiver and a couple game consoles. Matt and his dad made the shelf, which IS super strong, but there was a measurement mishap. Not everything fits. AND none of the cords are really concealed. Huuuggee pet peeve of mine.

Continuing to the left we have our behemoth couch. You see no laundry. -Jedi Mind Trick gesture- It was purchased for our old house. Maximum seating and small price point were the cause behind this one. It seems very overwhelming, which is surprising considering the room is about 20′ x 15′. End table and coffee table need to be refinished but waiting on that until I have a sense of the room.

This is the view basically standing under the ill-fated shelf. Down the hallway to the left is laundry, craft room, kids bedroom and a bathroom. The door to the right is the master bedroom. That cord should be gone as soon as we get our delivery from NewEgg.com this week.

Here’s a couple panoramas. Click for larger versions.

Normally I would define a few seating areas, throw some rugs and call it done-ish, but there are some special considerations here. It needs to be able to be as dark as possible in the middle of the day; due to the projector, nothing can block your view of the screen and the media devices need to stay close to where the shelf is. They’re hard wired in and out of reach of small people.

This is the screen in full down position. It’s about 2′ from the ground and maybe 3′ from the right wall. That makes it really hard to put anything seating wise along that right wall. I do have a futon that was given to us that would fit, but watching the screen from it would be uncomfortable. And, let’s face it, futons typically ain’t cute. The paint color is from the previous owners, so no need to keep it, per se.

I don’t necessarily have a budget, or a general time frame but a fresh set of eyes on this would be nice. If I know what I want I can start keeping an eye out at swap-meets, thrift stores, etc.

If this was your loft, what would you do?

Please don’t forget to visit Julia and add your own Freaky House Photos.

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Quinalt Strawberries

Sparkler Radishes (Radii?) hiding under the Chocolate Basil

Dill

Bush Beans standing tall

Purple Coneflower Echinacea. Maybe someday. If they feel like it.

Smith & Hawken Birdfeeder

Mushroom Bird Feeder

Pink Polka Dot Plant, Too cute not to include!

White Moonflower

Multicolored Lantana

In the 12th century Macer wrote that merely looking at the Marigold plant would improve the eyesight and lighten the mood.

African Daisy

More African Daisies

Pink Chablis deciding it might be time to come out and play

Purple Alstroemeria

Purple Lilac Vine

What have you got growin’ on lately?

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