more growth in the garden

My hanging garden is growing even more. The cucumber plant is almost to the ground, 4.5 feet long, and the tomato plant is growing in a very defined U-shape. And... BOTH have blossoms, finally. I was wondering if I had really gotten a tomato plant or if it was just going to be a vine. Hopefully by the end of June I'll start having some veggies.



Lydia continues to be entertaining. She's a little particular about how her blanket and her doll are arranged when she goes to sleep, though. In addition to what you can see in the video, I also inadvertently laid down the doll with her hand very slightly under the blanket another time, and when Lydia laid down, she noticed it, and had to correct it before she could go to sleep.


She also is learning how to spell. Well, not really, but she's trying. She brought me one bib today that said "let's do lunch" on it, and I let her know that's what it said. A minute or so later, she brought me a second bib. This one said "puppy love" on it. Lydia pointed to the words and said, "R-E-E-R-E... lunch!" She was so pleased with herself.

grinding some grain, flax seeds to be exact

I "inherited" a Magic Mill from my grandmother (she's still alive but we've been "claiming" some of her things that she doesn't use anymore w/ her knowledge and permission). I remember her milling flour when I was a child and so I asked mom if grandma still had the mill b/c I wanted it. (Grandma and Grandpa have a wheat farm.) They did and I got to take it home. :) It still works and Mom was even able to find the instruction manual. It was missing a part but I was able to order it online. (The instruction manual is copyright 1980 to give you an idea how old this thing is.)

Anyway. I finally used it today for the first time, but not for flour. I wanted to make some "grainy" banana nut pancakes (like w/ some oatmeal and cornmeal and flax and whatnot in there) and usually, I would grind some flax seeds in the coffee grinder. But the coffee grinder has been used for coffee since the last time I ground a grain in it, and some of the coffee "sticks" in there b/c of the oil content and I didn't want coffee-flavored pancakes. So I decided to try out the mill for my flax.

It turned it into flour. It was very noisy, like a very loud vacuum cleaner. A little bit of "smoke" came out while it was operating, and I thought it was the motor smoking, but it when I sniffed the smoke, I decided it was a little bit of flax dust. Then when I turned it off, I heard it "whine" as the grinding mechanism slowly came to a stop. It took about 10 seconds for the noise to completely stop after I cut the power.

But it was fun and I can't wait to grind another grain sometime. I have a whole bucket of wheat that Grandpa sent me home w/ too.

breaking out the recipe books

Before I left Missouri, one of the moms from our local group mentioned to me that down here in Texas is a grocery store called "Central Market." She said it's like Whole Foods except bigger and better. (I'd never been to a Whole Foods either). So today was hubby's day off, and we went to check out this store. Mostly to look at the prices, since it's hard to find the right balance of easy to prepare food, healthy food, and economical food. I wasn't disappointed with the prices.

WOW oh WOW was I impressed with the store though. Every corner I turned, I was amazed. I don't know if any of you know what an asian pear is, but usually I see them the size of peaches. The ones here were the size of grapefruits. And in the produce section, there were so many things that just aren't in your typical grocery store. Everything was beautiful and undamaged and fresh. The other departments in the store impressed me just as much.

Now, though, I feel like I need to go through my recipe books again and make better plans of what to eat. More vegetables, better snacks, etc. For a while I've been heavy on the "easy to prepare" leg of the food stool, with "economical" a close second. It's really time to make a change. Now all I need is time. Anyone have any they can spare? :)

babbling moving baby

First off, WOOHOOO my home internet is finally back up. It arrived on Tuesday. So glad I don't have to traipse out to the library anymore. :)

I had a nice visit with my family, even though it was a little hectic. Both my sisters work, so my mom watches all 3 of my nephews, and they're all 3 and under. It wouldn't be so bad, but the 3.5 yr old and the 13-month old are... "lively" shall we say. I honestly don't know how my mom does it, or how much longer she'll be able to do it. The situation is wearing on her emotionally and physically. Lydia was of course a hit. Her cousins interacted a little more with her on this visit than last time, now that she'll interact back a little.

While I was out of town we went to my mom's parents for a couple of days too. Mom asked me if there was anything in Granny's kitchen that I wanted, and mentioned that my sister was taking the green glasses. I thought about it for a moment, then made my decision. I told Mom that I wanted her wheat grinder if she still had it. She did. :) I was excited. Grandpa even gave me a big container of wheat too (straight off of his farm). I need to fashion some sort of filter for it though b/c the filter is missing, but the instruction book still exists. :) I can hardly wait to try it out, but first I need to get settled after being gone for so long.

Here's a new video of Lydia. I took this a few days after she learned how to babble. Of course for the video she only says "Ba. . . . . . ba" instead of "babababababa", but oh well.



Poor thing has been sick off and on this week, with a stomach bug. She had it on Tuesday and then I thought she was better and then today she got sick again, so I don't know what's going on. I did take her to the dr today just to make sure it wasn't anything more serious. He gave me a bottle of pedialyte and had me feed an ounce to her to "see if she'd keep it down." Well she did, but when she gets sick it's way after she eats, not right after. Anyway she is acting like her normal self, and the dr said that she looks nice and hydrated, so that's good. I just hope she kicks this thing soon.