Six Fours

1. Four places that I go to over and over? Work, Target, County Market (grocery store), Good to Go (fast food restaurant)

2. Four people who e-mail me regularly? Jack R., does work email count?, Joann's Stores, Netflix

3. Four of my favorite places to eat? Mariachi Loco, Good to Go, Yamato, Red Lobster

4. Four other places I would rather be right now? I'm at home in front of my computer, which is exactly where I want to be right now.

5. Four people I think will respond? Mom and Leslie already did. Are Erin or Kari in?

6. Four TV shows I watch? Scrubs, on DVD: Heroes, Weeds (my current evening watch), Buffy,

New House

On October 23rd we closed on the house. We're moved in now and I'm back online. I've posted a bunch of pictures at my Facebook and Myspace pages. (Same pictures and comments at both locations.) I'll get around to posting the best pictures here.

Crazy 8s

8 TV shows I watch
As a note, I don't keep up with any TV. Its not important enough to my to arrange my schedule around it. That being said.. at dinner time, or if its on....
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (do DVDs count)
2. Scrubs (syndicated)
3. The Daily Show (sometimes)
4. The Simpsons
5. Myles of Style (HGTV)
6. Mythbusters
7. Deadliest Catch
8. Venture Brothers

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Yamato (yes, I still consider it my favorite)
2. Red Lobster
3. Good to Go (lunch)
4. Chino Latinos (only been there once, but it was great)
5. Johnny's Steakhouse (Chanel No. 5 is yummy!)
6. Perkins/Denny's (because breakfast is good anytime of day)
7. Joe's Crabshack
8. that Vietnamese place on Reily Road outside Ft. Bragg... I don't remember the name

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Went to work
2. Got lots of good news about the house
3. Had hamburger, tater tot and cream of mushroom soup casserole for dinner
4. Learned another new Excel trick
5. Read more of Bourne Supremacy
6. Played Civ4
7. Surfed the internet
8. Listened to a coworker rant about the government and the economy

8 things I look forward to
1. Closing on the house
2. Painting my walls
3. Going to the Wild Animal Park
4. Having a real yard and garden
5. Getting a dog
6. Having kids
7. Seeing my family
8. Work

8 things I love about Fall
1. Halloween
2. Thanksgiving
3. Leaves changing colors
4. The weather
5. School supplies
6. Nick's excitement about college
7. Daylight Savings Time (gotta love a 25 hour day)
8. Deer Festival

8 things on my wish list
1. Close on the house
2. Get a promotion
3. Get a dog
4. Nick finishing school
5. Nick getting a good job so I can be a SAM
6. Kids -- Penny
7. Set up an art center in the basement
8. Have my family live closer

8 People I tag
I skip this part. Plus, most of the people that read this were already tagged.

Take 5

(Tagged by Kari)
10 years ago I was:
1. Twenty.
2. Living in University Villa
3. In my Junior year of college
4. Spending way too much time roleplaying
5. Putting too much energy into a guy who didn't feel that way about me

5 things on my list today:
1. Work on a proposal for work (done)
2. Try and figure out a new database (still needs work)
3. Watch "Myles of Style" on HDTV (In 5 minutes)
4. Burn 100 calories on DDR (after Myles of Style)
5. Finish my email to Kevenn (before bed)

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Chocolate covered espresso beans
2. Avocados
3. Cherries
4. Strawberries
5. Fresh cheese curds

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy my parents a house on their 100 acre woods
2. Either buy myself a house on their 100 acre woods, or get a nice chunk of land in WI and build there. (I love the climate here.)
3. Travel, a lot
4. Pay off my debts
5. Go back to school

5 places I have lived: (I only get 5?)
1. Ft. Richardson Alaska
2. Eagan Minnesota
3. Eldorado Illinois
4. Perris California
5. Ft. Campbell Kentucky

5 jobs I have had:
1.American Greeting Cards
2. Toys R Us
3. Random BYU jobs
4. Army
5.Administrative Assistant

I tag:
No one, because Kari wasn't even tagged, and my people all have been tagged already.

Is it Fall already?

Labor Day is past, and the temperature has already dropped. Tomorrow has a high of 58. I'm afraid the first frost will be here before I know it. I hope it doesn't happen too soon, because I still have a house to close on and flowers to plant at it. One-hundred tulips, and 100 daffodils worth of flowers to plant.
My first tuber-Dahlia bloomed, and there are more buds on the way. Enjoy!

Playing with Sketch Up

Because I like playing with 3D modeling so much, and because I'm trying to do more Auto CAD projects at work, I decided to put the house we're trying to buy into Auto CAD, and then into Sketch Up.
First I made the house the way it is now. I used Google Earth for the terrain, house position, and rough estimates. I also used the information we had on the house to guesstimate the dimensions as well.




Then I made the house with really long term renovations and additions. I added a garage and bonus room, plus a huge wrap around porch. I'm still having issues with designating a "front door" which would lead into the living room, instead of the side door with leads into the currently unfinished mudroom, which leads into the kitchen.


My next project will be to plan out my garden, which was my main goal when I put this into Sketch Up in the first place.

Gardening - End of August

Last weekend the temperature dropped a bit, and I realized summer is coming to a close. That also means the end of the growing season. My favorite item at the farmers marker, sugar snap peas, were no longer available Thursday.
I have a few more garden pictures. My dahlia's are creating buds, so those will start to bloom soon, and then the season will be over.
I'm already preparing for next year. I bought 100 tulips and 100 irises and Sam's Club last weekend, for the house (assuming we do get it). I spend time surfing the internet, switching between hgtv.com and seed sites, planning out my garden for next summer, and imagining how we are going to decorate the house. I have to keep telling myself that we'll need to hold off on decorating and major landscaping projects. I have a lot of time to plan.
But until then, here are pictures from my container garden, highlighting a few new plants, and developments in older ones. Enjoy!

Snapdragons.

I'm thinking about adding these to my permanent flower list.
They are overshadowed in this pot though.

My impatiens.
They hadn't been watered in a few days and are looking a bit droopy.
But I did grow them from seed and am very happy with them.


My largest dahlia bloom.
The dahlias were seed dahlia's grown in a greenhouse.
This is a tuber dahlia I planted myself.

Delphinium, grown from seed.

My violas again, grown from seed.

My sweet peppers, grown from seed.
I ate one so far, but they aren't getting very big.



I have no idea what this is, so if you know, please share.
I didn't even notice it growing in the pot until recently. Is it freesia?
I had freesia plants in this pot, but nothing ever happened with them.


Nick's firey hot peppers.


Nick

House Hunting

After making my container garden and enjoying it, I've decided I want more garden. Nick and I have been talking about getting a house for a couple years now, so a couple weeks ago we went house hunting.
We found a place our first day, and put in an offer. Then we had to put in a higher offer because a second offer was presented the next day. Yesterday was our inspection, and now we are moving forward with buying a house.
Its 1800 sf, made in the late 1920s, full basement, almost an acre and in the country. We're pretty excited and are looking at a closing date in October.
Wish us luck and enjoy the pictures.

The side of the house.

This area will be my garden. The property line is along the bean field, and I think the back is where the brownish grass stripe is.

Same spot, but turned around to face the road.

Standing at the end of the driveway, looking across the front yard. I want to keep the privacy bushes; Nick wants to take them out.

Looking at the house from the end of the drive way.


Nick looking at the site of my future garden.

Another view of my future garden.
There's already an asparagus patch and raspberries in there.

Standing at the end of the driveway on the other side of the house.
We'll get rid of the satellite dish and that big tree. The tree is mostly dead, and there's still 3 good ones left in the front.

Same spot looking across the front yard.
Some of the plant life in the front yard. These smaller bushes will go.

Looking at the left side of the front yard, from in front of the porch.

Same spot, looking straight.

Back of the house. This is our septic mound.
My vegetable garden will be on the other side of it.

Looking at the back of the house. The siding is at the top of our to do list.

Look! It's my car.
This is some of stuff behind the house.
Our land stops at the other side of the burn pile, a
nd the green plants on the right of the picture.
I think you can see the property stake above and to the right of my trunk.

Slightly down the driveway.
You can see the canvas shed that I plan to turn into a greenhouse,
peek out from behind the addition, next to the car.

Same spot turned towards the house.
You can see the bottom half of the two story sun room.
As much as I love the concept, that part is sinking, so we may end up taking it out.

The patio, looking across the front yard.

I don't have inside pictures since the people we're buying it from still live there, and were home during the inspection.

Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Running

I decided it is time to start running again. Its only been 6 years and 50 pounds, I can handle it. Right?
So, I spoke to a couple co-workers (who run marathons) about running shoes and feet, and then went out and bought some workout clothes. A week later, today, I was ready to go.

Wow. I can't even run a quarter of a mile anymore.

But I took the first step, and now I need to keep it up.

At least I enjoyed myself and didn't have a heart attack.

Considering myself tagged

I think: way too much.

I know: that I need another vacation.

I want: a house and a huge garden.

I have: cool projects at work.

I wish: I knew what I know now 10 years ago.

I hate: dealing with politics at work.

I miss: my family.

I fear: I won't be able to have kids when I'm finally ready to.

I smell: nothing. Stupid allergies.

I crave: food.

I search: tutorials to learn programming languages, like html for Leslie's blog, and Microsoft Visual basic to make macros in Excel at work.

I wonder: if I'm going to get a promotion.

I regret: my major.

I love: my husband and my family.

I care: about way too many people and things and it depresses me.

I always: take the bus to work.

I am not: tough.

I believe: the US needs to reduce its dependence on oil and ethanol is not the answer.

I dance: very poorly, and when I play DDR.

I sing: in the car to U2.

I don't always: watch what I say or how I say it.

I write: not as much as I used to.

I lose: too much sleep over nothing.

I win: the award for most patient husband.

I never: smoked.

I listen: poorly. I spend too much time focusing on my response than on what the other person is saying.

I can usually be found: on a computer.

I am scared: of turning 35.

I need: to lose weight.

I am happy about: Nick getting his mohawk back.

Gardening - Some Results

I have tomatoes and strawberries that are ready to eat, and Nick's peppers are on a roll.
I'm a bit disappointed with the amount of food I'm getting. I have quite a few green cherry tomatoes, but at the rate they are ripening, its going to be difficult to have enough for a salad. I don't think I'll do cherry tomatoes again, unless I have about 5 plants going, instead of the 2/3 I have now. (I have 2 in one pot, so neither of them are reaching their full potential. Both pots are producing about the same amount of tomatoes.)

Here's a picture of one bunch. I'm having a hard time with the auto focus on my camera, but I really do like the way the stem reflected the flash.

My strawberries are producing even less fruit. But the one berry I enjoyed so far was delicious. One of the best strawberries I've ever had. I'm sure I'm biased.

I'll probably eat this one tomorrow or Sunday.

The flowers I grew from seed and started late are starting to bloom. I'm not a fan of petunias, but Nick and I decided we'll be growing the violas again next year.

Petunia

Viola

I'll show off Nick's peppers once they are ripe.

My Garden - Peppers and Tomatoes Today

Nick is supportive with my gardening. Which is a good thing, because he didn't see very happy a year ago when my parents brought me my first plants in containers.
Nick has been so supportive, he has his own pepper section in the garden.

Initially Nick picked out a nice pot and planted some Habaneros from seed. He didn't tell me what he was planting.

Nick's original Habanero Fire Pot

A couple days later, I got tired of my flooded and dying pepper plants, so I went to the store and bought my own Habaneros. Oops. (This is how they looked a month ago when I bought them, and the picture was taken today.)

My store bought Habaneros

We realized we were going to have a Habanero overdose, and thought it really was too late in the season to start a plant from seed, so Nick gave me his nice big pot for flowers, and moved some of the Habanero dirt inside.

Nick's Habanero's grown from seed (on left) with our kitchen herb garden.

Nick ended up buying more pepper plants from the store, and put them in yellow pots. So far, so good.

Nick's Yellow Pots of Pepper Spiciness
(store bought plants)

The fruit of success
(store bought plants)

As for my tomatoes, they are doing pretty good (except for the weird yellow leaves). I have baby cherry tomatoes and plenty of blooms.

My Garden - Flowers Today

I've been doing so much planting and container buying since April, that I was afraid Nick would stage an intervention for me. I've slowed down a lot, however I did buy another 18" container at Home Depot today. (I needed to buy something, since they gave me a bag full of sawdust for free.)

The spring flowers died back, so I pulled the rest of my tulips and all my hyacinths and daffodils today (which is why I needed sawdust). Since I had space, I planted the rest of my dahlia's and cannas. They recently started coming up, so I'm hoping these last few plants will grow and bloom later this summer.

All in all, my garden has been pretty successful. A lot of my plants grown from seed didn't make it. Some because I moved out too soon (and then there's the peppers I flooded...) and other because I started them too late (and over thinned them, I think). But since this is my first time gardening, I'm very pleased with my plants.

The garden

Flower Boxes

Pots

One of my day lillies

My impatiens (grown from seed)
They are doing a lot better now that I've moved them outside.

My only blooming iris (And it smells so good)

I've been experimenting with several types of annuals: dahlias (from seed), salvia, portcullis, violas, impatiens, double impatiens. My area is on the north side, but there is still a lot of sun. My impatiens are under the porch. Next year I may put more containers up there and plant more impatiens, but I'm not sure yet. I have a double impatiens in the flower box spot that receives the most shade. I've decided that I'm going to go with violas from my primary annual next yet. It is nice and full, and there is a huge variety of color. I will also look into seed dahlia's. My current seed dahlia's are doing well and so far bloom regularly. I also think I can plant a whole lot denser than the directions advise.

This year's perennials have been hyacinth, tulips, daffodils, irises, dutch irises, day lilies, lily of the valley, cannas, freesia, and dahlias (from tuber). The dutch irises and lily of the valley didn't do anything. I haven't seen any freesia yet either. The day lilies blossoms last just that long, a day. So I've been disappointed. I need to learn about more lilies (such as star gazers) and see about growing those instead. I'm also impressed with my tuber dahlia's. They came up pretty quickly after I planted them. I'll have to wait until later in the season, when they bloom, to make up my mind entirely. But I think I'll be adding them as a staple to go with Irises. (Hint, hint, Cooley's would make a fabulous present.)