You say tomato, I say tomahto

My husband Alex is constantly coming up with new ways build a better mousetrap--in other words, to prove he can do something better and cheaper than the commercial industry. He also is convinced he was born to be a vegetable gardener. Those of you who know us both realize this is hilarious, for Alex is a champion procrastinator, and he always has lots of well-intentioned projects he starts, but then they somehow never get finished. Some examples--an end table he had to have because it was "on sale" so he could refinish it the following weekend; an occasional table he got for free the following month to, you guessed it, refinish during the winter; hooks to hang bicycles in the garage to get them out of the way right after we moved in; and speaker mounts for the bonus room. All of these projects? Still awaiting his attention.

In the past he has started tomato plants but I always end up taking care of them--watering, weeding, debugging, and pruning. I swore two years would be the last year for home tomato raising, but this year he wants to try upside down gardening. No, he won't hang upside down while gardening--the plants will grow upside down. Does he buy the commercially available upside down container kits? Nope. He created his own out of an empty, 25lb Purina One bag, one of my pants hangers, and some dirt. Add one tomato plant, and voila! He is already looking up recipes to use his tomatoes in. To try to get him motivated to keep taking care of it, I told him I could raise better, bigger tomatoes the conventional way, i.e. in a pot right side up. The wager was on. But then I found my tomato plant, root ball and all, in the middle of the yard. Thinking the wind had blown it or a tomato plant-loving pelican had grabbed it for nesting material, I repotted it. Two days later, same thing happened. Haley, our Brittany Spaniel, looked very guilty, so I scolded her. Then, two days later, Alex came in from outside and announced "well, I guess I won!". I ran outside, and found the root ball in the yard, an empty pot, and one lone tomato leaf. Meanwhile, his is doing just great.

Personally, I think he trained Haley to eat my plant because he is afraid of my uber gardening skills....either that or Haley is upset about his tomato in her Purina dog food bag. 

Below is where my tomato plant used to live

And here is Alex's ingenious creation

Home again...

Home again...back to laundry and vet appointments and pulling weeds. Back to baking bread for my sweetheart, and going to Mass on Sundays. Back to traffic and 7-eleven big gulps, walking the dogs, emptying the dishwasher, and using tap water without any worries. Back to talking to my daughters, putting together the latest Lydia photos, and going through junk mail. And through it all I am so thankful that God saw fit to send me to another world, to open my eyes to see His beauty in everything, His purpose in all that transpires. God is so good.

Leaving on a jet plane

Well, we thought we were leaving many times last week...for 96 hours we kept getting put on different flight manifests, given different show times (always at least 4 hours before the flight), and for what should be a 4 hour flight it took nearly 5 days. Five days of mud and lugging bags back and forth (and they get heavier every time). Five days of sleeping on a floor or cot or crappy mattress (usually about 2 hours of sleep max). Five days of traveling with the same 20 or so people--but that was actually a good part (except for a couple of incidents where an Army officer got a bit overzealous with his perceived authority). Anyway, here is a picture of me being extremely excited that we may finally (after 2 days) be taking off. Little did I know we'd get stranded somewhere worse...for 2 more days! Next time I have a delayed Delta or United flight, I will laugh at the folks who get impatient when they have to wait for an extra hour!

Kool and the Gang

This is a picture of me and my boss, Mr. Tom Tutt, plus a couple of other co workers, outside our building. I think that is my laundry bag I am holding...not really sure...and I felt like wearing pink that day

Deployed to Afghanistan

One of the biggest reasons I left my old job and took on my new job a little over a year ago was for the challenge, to be needed, to do something meaningful. I love being a part of CENTCOM, I love helping my country, and I love being a part of the military mission again. And when the chance to get more intimately involved with that mission arose, I grabbed it. Took me a week to get here, the place is filthy, the air is so dirty you can actually taste it--I've been to a lot of places, but never ever have I seen a place like this. I am going to have to be more awake and a lot less jet lagged to describe it.

Later--

Drinkable water, talking to my family whenever I want, driving,7 eleven big gulps, my granddaughter's laugh, holding my husband's hand, watching TV, going to Mass, facebook, McDonalds 24/7, roads without concrete barriers and barbed wire, not having to have roommates at the age of 55, clean air, the ocean, a washer and dryer, my own refrigerator, a microwave, a cool breeze, a comfortable chair, being able to turn on the light when I want to because no one else is sleeping, being able to sleep because no one is turning on the light when I am sleeping....

it's the little things you miss when you are gone from home, the little things you wish you had with you that you appreciate all the more

Birthday Girl

I cannot believe it--a year has gone by and Lydia is a year old (well, she will be in 6 days--we celebrated early this past weekend. And boy does that kid love cake!

Disturbing television

I was channel surfing as Alex was snoring in his chair tonight, and found a very disturbing show on TLC--TLC used to be one of my favorite channels. Stands for The Learning Channel--used to have some nice vanilla, safe shows, mostly about home improvment, family, home, style, and cooking. Now there is a show on called "Sister Wives"--wants us to believe that a polygamist who is only legally married to one woamn but "spiritually married" (whatever that means) to three others is perfectly okay. Glorifying adultery...great. I don't really want to "Explore the complex daily life of a polygamist family." ANd putting it on a TV channel called "the learning channel" is an insult to my intelligence and my sensibilities. Polygamy isn't mainstream and shouldn't be treated as such.