Fantastic Broccoli Salad

I just posted this recipe on Jan CAN Cook and didn’t want you to miss it.  This one’s a keeper, ladies.  ~ Jan

Here’s the quick link…

Garden pictures in late July…

This hasn’t been the best year for my flowers, despite micro irrigation, the extreme heat is taking it’s toll.  We also had rain last night, so things aren’t as perky as they could be, but it is what it is, so on with the show…

The begonias are doing well, despite the heat.  the window box is flourishing, and when I look at pictures of this battered Adirondack chair, I’m reminded of the stain that is sitting in the garage.  I was going to spruce up my chairs, then it got too hot, I lost interest, maybe next year…

Here’s a closeup of that window box.  I’m a big fan of begonias, they're colorful, they tolerate extreme conditions and best of all, they’re cheap!  You get a lot of bang for your buck with begonias, I’ve spent big money on this window box in past years, and the results were no better than they are with the begonias.

And a few years ago, I was so excited about planting balls of flowers, but the thrill is going, maybe this is the last years for the balls of flowers, and maybe not.  This is not the summer to make any long term decisions about what I want to do in the garden.

I bought this statue of a little boy reading a book years ago.  It’s always been a favorite, it’s battered now, too, but I don’t mind the deterioration of it so much.  It’s old, like yours truly, it’s weathered a lot of storms over the years.  I’m a big fan of asparagus fern as well, but never bring it inside, it always drops needles in the house and it’s more trouble than it’s worth to try and winter it over.

Ryan bought me the wind chimes in the left corner of the above picture when he lived on Whidbey Island.  They tinkle and remind me of him.  It always makes me smile, moms do that, smile when they think of their kids…

This was Mother’s birdhouse and her wind chimes.  This birdhouse is ancient, and the chimes are standing the test of time really well.  I like having some of her things around me, it reminds me of what was important in her life and what she enjoyed.  And the older I get, I find I enjoy a lot of the same.  Who would have thought it…

I got the bright idea this year to plant boxwood in two large pots and surround it by impatiens, actually I think it was my friend, Veronica’s idea.  Well, the impatiens grew really large so you don’t see much of the boxies peeking thru, but they will grow, they’re just slow.  The impatiens are pretty droopy this morning, but they will perk up when they dry off a bit.

Another one of those flower balls.  Okay, so they look pretty good, maybe I will keep them next year after all.  Scarlett will think about it next spring!

The herbs need a haircut.  They are not the beauties they usually are, but the rosemary continues to thrive.  And yes, that’s a pot of rabbit manure in front of Butterbean’s rabbit hutch. The pot was hubby’s idea and rabbit manure is the best fertilizer, after all.  It does help to take it out of the pot and put it around the plants, though. 

And then there are the carrots.  If you have a bunny, you have to plant carrots!

They aren’t very big yet, but bun-bun doesn’t care.  That cwazy wabbit goes bonkers every time I pull one.  Sweet little creature…

And this is the way my garden looks this 27th of July, 2012.  It could look worse, considering the heat we’ve had.

The key to organization is containment….

I really do try to practice what I preach, and anyways, if this doesn’t keep me organized, it sure is cute, faux chocolate brown alligator and leopard print, what’s not to love?  I can never find a pad of paper when I’m at the computer, so hopefully this will help and I do love that lining, and I have a matching file box.

Oh, I’m such a cheap date.  $12.99 (TJ Maxx) and I’m a happy girl….

100 year-old Idaho woman on Jay Leno Show

If you need a giggle this morning, give this lady a watch.  She’s not the Fruitcake Lady, there will never be another Fruitcake Lady, but this one is just precious, too.

Her mannerisms remind me so much of my mother, thanks for sending Carlene.  This is a treasure.

Here’s the link…

Whaddya mean there’s no internet?

We’ve had issues for about a month now, intermittent signal, annoying as heck, too!  My neighbor Marti has same ISP as we do, I call her, she always has a connection.  Soooooo, I finally gave it in and called for a technician to come check the lines.

Now, I hate worse than anything, for these guys who have barely started shaving, to come to the house.  This one was a bit older, I’ve had worse, some of them are cocky, too, probably trying to appear knowledgeable so that people won’t notice that they just started shaving.  But anyhoo, this one said we have too much voltage coming into the house.  Too much voltage?  Now that’s a new twist, I haven’t heard this one before.

But the fact that he had to call his supervisor to confirm that this was the problem leaves me a bit skeptical as to how much he really know.  And he spent a lot of time in his truck, I figure that he was probably Googling for answers.  Nevertheless, he took away half our voltage, and for now I’m up and running.

But like I said, it’s intermittent, it may work today and not tomorrow.  He said the hot weather was affecting the cable.  Duh, it’s buried.

But what do I know, I just sit here, looking at the outdoor thermostat, and day after day it  says 99, 100, 101, you know the story, yours does too.  I can’t wait for November, surely it will cool off by then!

Houzz, the best thing I’ve found since Pinterest

If you love decorating, or just looking at beautiful houses, this site is for you!!!!!

Okay ladies, I always share my finds, well actually I didn’t find this one, my friend, Nisha, told me about it, but you all will just love this.

It’s pictures, thousands and thousands of pictures of beautiful rooms like the one above.  There are interior rooms, exterior shots, gardens, all styles of homes, it’s a decorator’s dream.  And the kids rooms are amazing!

For instance, I’m looking at kitchen photos right now,  and they have 98,135 kitchen design photos.   No, that’s not a typo, they have ninety.eight.thousand kitchen photos. You can filter by style if you want, or browse all of the pictures.  You can drill down and just look at breakfast nooks or islands or cabinetry, and much, much more.

I found this picture above by going to the kitchens area, and in the search box I typed, in quotes, “country kitchens” and started browsing.  I saw this picture and I’m like, oh, I love that mural over the stove.  *sigh* a girl’s gotta dream, and I do love roosters!  You can spend hours and hours on this site.  In fact, you will probably be wishing that Jan had never shown you this.  ;o)

After you register with their site, login and then you create your own ideabooks with the photos you like.  I even found a kitchen gadgets area, and of course I was all over that like a hot potato!

So go to houzz.com, sign up and start having fun.  If you have an iPad, there is an app you can download.

Prepare to be amazed at the selections.

~ sez jan gushing at the sheer magnitude of beautifulness…