Much Needed Words from a Friend

Yesterday was my first day of full-time teaching at my school. Last week I had 3 subjects that I taught, this week I have picked up all of the subjects. I was pretty nervous yesterday knowing I had the class all day, teaching every minute! When I walked into my classroom yesterday morning, my cooperative teacher had a card with a bag of M&M's on my desk (she knows how to get to my heart!). I opened it to find a precious and encouraging card that she had made. I had to take a picture and post it; the card really sweet and thoughtful. The card couldn't have come at a better time. It is just what I needed as I headed into my 4th week of student teaching. I have been blessed with such a wonderful mentor and friend as my cooperative teacher, she is fabulous!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mine grows organically, in a box! Yes, that is correct - an EarthBox Growing System. My agricultural-intelligent father discovered this wonderful method of growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers. I ultimately control what goes into our bodies by growing plants in our Earth Box.

I recently inherited my grandparent's Earth Box. As I was unsure what to do with this empty box, I quickly emailed Dad. He was able to tell me exactly what I needed; he even went as far as ordering the products for me: Growing Media, Fertilizer, and Dolomite. I sat down last Sunday evening in our screened in porch and put the Earth Box together. See below:

Soil, Dolomite, Fertilizer, EarthBox, Seed

If you notice, there is a black tube in the top left corner of the EarthBox - this is the tube you put water into the planter and it keeps a water reservoir at the bottom of the box for the roots of the plants. The black cover is a mulch cover that prevents fertilizer from being washed away.

Once I completed the setup of my EarthBox, I planted my zucchini (Squash Sure Thing hybrid) seeds.

I only planted a few seeds on one side of the planter. I have seed for spinach, but am going to wait until my zucchini plays out to plant the spinach - it is more of a Fall vegetable anyways. In the meanwhile, I have some Poppy flower seeds to plant to add some color. I am hoping they'll produce well so that I can have some homegrown flowers in the house!

Drum roll please....

For the exciting news - I planted the zucchini less than a week ago and I saw the first sighting of the plant today!

You may be asking what happened to the bottom right

hand corner of my EarthBox... her name is Birdie.

www.earthbox.com

Fire Hazard

Just another day at the firehouse...

Saving lives, one passy at a time!

Aidan James Howard, August 2010

She is...

This post is dedicated to my strong, amazing, and nurturing mother.

I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for her, I love her.

She has had a year of changes, pain, and happiness - and she is still as beautiful as ever.

I love you like the rock...

Kate

Jewelry Tree

My sister Amy had a grand idea. She is what I call my "jewelry" sister, whereas Emily is my "design" sister. I wonder what they call me?

It's probably best if I didn't know...

For keeping Aidan this coming Friday, Amy bought me this gift. Not sure why she feels she has to buy me a gift to do something I absolutely love, but I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings. This originally was made to hold photographs from Pier 1 Imports. But she, being the creative jewelry sister, decided it'd be great to hang jewelry!

I love the idea. Here is a picture of some of my duds hanging from it. Much better than the shoebox I had my jewelry in, getting all tangled.

Thanks sis!

Pepsi is Good, But Coke Rocks

Greg told me a very interesting story yesterday; a story I thought was a joke at first. For those of you who do not know, Greg works in sales at Pepsi. Friday he went on a few special missions; one of which could have turned out very bad. He arrived to a certain store around 7:30am, near Pendleton and Lamar. Now, if you're from Memphis - you probably just cringed. If you are not familiar with Memphis - just picture the show 'Cops.'

So, anyways, he arrives to the front door of this "convenient store." I use the quotations because the only convenient thing about this store was that it was attached to a run-down house. It was something he had never seen before, but knew he had to get this done for a guy who was out of town. As he walked to the front door, he noticed a padlock. He knocked a few times then finally looked in the window and tapped to get anyone's attention. All of the sudden he saw this head pop up slowly from behind the counter. Greg pointed to the Pepsi logo on his polo and said he was with Pepsi. No one really seemed to care.

Greg went around to the side of the building - well, make-shift store - and found a door that looked ajar. He was a bit hesitant but creeped the door open and made it known he was there - not to scare anyone. Before he knew it, the door hit a pair of feet that were poking out of a sleeping bag. Once his eyes got past the sleeping (or dead) man he had hit with the door, he realized there were 8-10 people sleeping on the floor behind the store's counter. One of the men poked his head up and said, "is you da po-leece?" The dude looked like he was high as a kite. Greg said people were poking up like wack-a-mole! He quickly turned around and said forget it. They definitely needed more than what Pepsi could offer.

Imagine if he'd gone in saying he was the Coke guy ...

"...is you da po-leece?"

Update:

After further investigation - the owner of the store had forgotten to lock the door, allowing several squatters to come in and sleep that night.

Soap Opera

I like to share items that I buy and am super happy with...

This is a MUST buy from Target - a great kitchen hand-soap.

It smells delicious and is so soft on your hands.

I find myself washing my hands over and over at the kitchen sink.

CALDREA Olive Oil Hand Soap

Made with Natural Essential Oils of Coriander and Cedarleaf