Well, I recently discovered a product test site called Bzzagent. It's very confusing on the surface, but I'm still learning my way around! Today I got invited into my first test group. It's for product called Smarterer.
I've taken a few quizzes now and I really like it. They have quite a few different quizzes and "challanges" that range from topics like Facebook and Twitter to topics like Php and blogging. The interface is extremely simple to use and I really like how it rates you as you take the quiz with other people. It even allows for you to share your score directly on facebook or twitter :) It's got my recommendation! So I suggest you folks all check it out :)
In other news, Saturday was another larp event. It was cold and windy but everyone had lots of fun. I'm kinda sad at how cold it's gotten and how quickly. Yes, I'm excited for snow, but I don't want to have it in October! My ketchup turned out really nicely :). Sometime this next weekend we're going to try and finish our halloween decorations and carve pumpkins so I'll take some pictures when we're finished for you all!
Things have been crazy around here. I've been running like a headless chicken! The garden is still producing a small amount of produce but is slowly dying off with the light frosts we've been having. Tonight (hopefully) I'm going to try my hand at home made ketchup. Wish me luck folks!
The best part of this time of year here in Michigan however, is the leaves! We joined some friends camping last weekend (we were only able to stay into part of Saturday) and look at the beauties I found on the walk! I really love this time of year. The colors are so vibrant and dazzling. To celebrate, I've made a new coupon for my photography! You can get $5.00 off an order of $10.00 or more at Ashley Di Iacovo Photography by entering the coupon code FALLPROMO . This coupon is only good until October 26, 2011 so take advantage of it while it's around!
As far as outside of photography and cooking goes, things have been just as busy. My knitting group I'm part of has turned into a huge success! (And to think I was so terrified of getting one together) and I love hanging out with each of the girls. Our home has a new resident :) and things are moving smoothly with that as well. All in all, things have been going well it's just been super busy. Until next time folks!
I've been reading Captivating. This book is an excellent read for woman! I can't recommend it highly enough. At one point, they discuss that deep down feeling all woman (at least as far as my knowledge goes) have to "delight and be delighted in". The words were easy to read, but the concept ended up being more difficult to understand. I passed through taking my notes, I'm reading this and keeping a journal with a good friend, and thought no more of it. That was until this past Sunday.
My husband spoiled me and took me out to take pictures this past Sunday. We made our way back out to the Parker Mill Park. If you are in Michigan, you should really visit this park. If you are there during the right time (Sundays 1-5 during the fall it seems) you can get a tour of the mill and see how it worked when it was opened. We were lucky enough to find the mill open. Normally we take our dog with us out on these "Picture walks", but it ended up being a good thing we didn't have him with us this time.
Now, after we visited and went on the mill tour, we once again got rained out. The skies thundered and rain poured on us. I'm really beginning to feel like it's tradition to get rained on when we go out to take pictures. As we, with a few other people, ran under the car bridge (there's a walking path that passes beneath it to get to the other side of the park) we found a heron snacking on the fish the rain was washing down stream. It was amazing! We spent an hour or so under the bridge taking pictures as the storm refused to let up. The majesty the bird had while eating was spectacular. This was the first time I've ever seen a heron before. Once the rain began to lighten up (only slightly) we continued on the path in the rain.
Here are the pictures from my trip
The first thing we found when we arrived at the pavilion, (It's a really neat set up, the pavilion is designed with plants growing on the top.) was a massive rainbow spreading through the nearby trees. Much to my surprise rainbows are in all actuality very difficult to photograph. (I've had very few chances to try and capture rainbows on film to this date). As the rain stilled, my husband reclined and began to write in his journal. I moved to and fro around the small pavilion, called Poppy's Place, taking pictures of spiders and flowers and the beauty surrounding me.
I couldn't help but to drink in each beauty in it's own turn. It was marvelous. It was glorious.
I took my time taking pictures of these little marvels and when I had collected a few, I would return to share them with my husband. Being surrounded by all these little blessings filled me with joy and sharing them with my husband only furthered that. It was then that I understood what the book had been talking about. I felt so happy looking at what was around me and in turn I was even happier sharing it and seeing the joy on my husband's face. I think this is what the book meant. It's hard for me to describe in words, but the fact that I was able to share something so precious to me with him and please him with it as well felt inexplicably good.
I just really wanted to share this with you all :) That being said, my impatience is driving me insane. I can't wait for my Scentsy shipment to be shipped and I'm still waiting for my ion bracelet to be shipped. Overall, I'm disappointed with this purchase. It was free, so that is the plus side still, but when I ordered there was nothing stating a time range before the product would ship out. Normally, this means that the order will be processed and shipped in a few days. Two weeks after I placed the order and had heard nothing, I contacted the company only to very rudely be informed that there is a 10-14 BUSINESS (yes they capitalized it) day processing delay. That in it's own wouldn't be upsetting, but the manner and tone the response was given really soiled the transaction. This Friday will be their fourteen business days, so we'll see if they redeem themselves, but I have this bad feeling I will be contacting them via email once more.
So, if you are ordering one of these, it might be better to find a different place to order from than http://www.powerbands.tv/ . I most likely won't be ordering from there again.
Well, that's it for now. (At least all I can think of). Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Well, I believe the zucchinis have produced their final fruits. The other thing I learned this week in gardening is that honeydew plants are cousins of cucumbers. So that cucumber disease that I couldn't find a treatment for online spread to my honeydew :( I've gotten a handful of melons, but I don't think I'll be getting many more. The tomatoes are growing well as well as the bell peppers and jalapenos finally started taking off.
The weather around here has been crazy!
This is from a storm near my mother in laws house. We kidnapped her puppies so our little guy would have playmates for a week. It ended up being alot of fun for us and the dogs :) But when we went and picked up the pups, she was going on day 2 of no power. That being said, adding extra puppies to my schedule (it's already been pretty packed) made internet and pictures all but impossible. For the pictures it didn't really matter though. It's been drizzling rain here. No cool lightening or thunder where we live, just rain. I'm sure the garden loves it though!
That being said, I have been working on reading Captivating and taking notes. It's such a good book! Other than that, I've been working on LARP rulebook pieces. I finished a pair of socks. The yarn is really awesome. It's a Hobby Lobby home brand, but it's a wool mix (I tend to be allergic to wool occasionally) that I can wear! They are so nice and soft and warm. I'm going to have to pick up more yarn so I make me some more! My current knitting project is a pair of Norwegian mittens. My hubby picked me up a book called Norwegian Handknits that's full of awesome designs. The only sad part is that it looks like my first pair of mittens will be too small for me. Well, it's a good Christmas gift in the making then, right?
I just got a group of my good friends together and we're making a knitting circle. I'm really excited about this and we're going to meet for the first time next Wed. I hope everything goes well because this will be fun if it does :). One of my friends is going to pick up Letters to Juliet (I think that's what it's called) for us to watch while we craft!
Now, I did want to take a minute and mention this. I've recently discovered Scentsy and the woman who's introduced me to it is super nice. I'd like to take this chance to direct you to her and encourage you to look around. her website is here. She does a scent of the month club to let you sample things and is over all just really nice. I'll let you all know how we like our products (we loved our samples) when they come in!
Well, I know it doesn't seem like much, but besides running around this has been what I've been up to. Today we're getting NomNoms (awesome cupcakes by us) to take to my husband's step brother and I'm sure we'll visit with them all for a little while before coming home. Next weekend we go to the Ren Faire so I'll take lots of pretty pictures to share ^.^ Have a blessed and safe week everyone!
We took a break this past weekend. We've been so busy lately that we have barely even slept (or at least it feels that way). So Saturday, after the cable guy came earlier than expected, we decided to take a day adventure out to Maybury State Park here in Michigan. You can find out more information about the history of the park here. It was simply beautiful!
One of the trails we walked on.
All in all our visit was cut short, but we really enjoyed it. About 20 minutes into us walking the winding trail near where we parked, we started to hear rumblings of thunder. We decided to continue on the shorter trail and head to the car. About 10 minutes later, we came across the site above (near the old water tower consequently) and it started to very lightly sprinkle. We found a pavilion and restroom. As we got our poor puppy, (he was exhausted. He hasn't been on walks like this in a while) something to drink, we waited out for a bit. Once the rain calmed down to a light sprinkle again, we headed to the nearest map. We headed in what we thought was the correct direction and passed a couple walking their large dogs who were very upset to see our little one (he's half Shih Tzu and half *insert crazy name* poodle). We got to the next map (not more than a 5 or 6 minute walk) to discover we had gone the wrong way. As we turned around and headed in the correct direction, the storm began to pick up. The pavilion that we would need to pass again seemed to be our best bet. What did we find when we got there? The couple with the large angry dogs were there (and shooting us dirty looks!). At that point, we knew we were maybe 10 minutes walk from the car. We continued on. As we walked quickly, a crack filled the air. Turning, to our horror we saw a tree branch fall to the ground we were had just passed. The rain was so heavy at one point that it was better for me to remove my glasses and walk than to try and see through them. Our clothes were soaked through (and so was our poor little puppy). At about 8 minutes into our walk, we got to an empty pavilion and waited for the storm to calm down a bit. It was on the outskirts of the walking trails and had no tree cover to speak of. (It was cold). Once it was lightly drizzling again, we continued to our car. I feel bad because we walked by the Rice family picnic sopping wet. My tank top and pants were stuck to me and I felt ashamed to be seen like that. Finally seeing our car and getting there, we discovered my husband had left the sunroof down! (That shows you how little we were expecting the rain and storm when we went in!) All in all, it was a fun, scary, wet experience. Now now, before I get lectured on anything. We are not normally risk takers. The storm was fast and hard hitting. Everyone is safe and fine (Thank God!). I'm excited to go back (on a nicer day hopefully) to take more pictures. With as fast as everything happened, my camera was in it's case to protect it more than it was out to take pictures. As always, what few other pictures I took can be found here.
In regards to the garden, the green bean and cucumber plants are no longer with us :( They produced like troopers though so I'm glad we planted them! We are starting to get some red tomatoes (although for the most part they stay stubbornly green!). Corn is beginning to form in our squirrel planted corn plants and the honey dew is getting larger! We also discovered that the jalapeno plants we thought had disappeared and died actually have baby jalapenos. Hopefully in the next week or so I'm going to take updated garden pictures for everyone :) Until then, Stay safe!
July has come to an end. Kind of sad, isn't it? With August comes the beginnings of harvests and to me (I grew up in Texas *shrugs*) the beginning of school and fall. My mind has been a flutter with thoughts of Carmel apples and pumpkin picking. The rest of me however has been occupied with friends, work, and food preservation! I've made stewed tomatoes, brined pickles, plum sauce, frozen zucchini, frozen green beans, frozen corn, and dried zucchini. Yes, I know it doesn't sound like much but add in my half-brother's passing (rest in peace Jeremy :( ) and all the day to day work I do as a housewife and I'm impressed with my accomplishments.
I think one of the more exciting parts of this past weekend was finding my dehydrator! I've been wanting one, but they add up in cost quickly and I wasn't 100% sure I would even use it all that much. I have fallen in love. We found my dehydrator at a garage sale brand new and never opened for (now get this) five bucks! I was extremely excited to take it out and play with it all day Saturday (we had other errands we were doing while we were garage sale shopping and then guest for dinner). When I finally did get a chance to open it, I pulled it out, read the cleaning instructions and tossed the book aside (not literally). I cleaned it and started slicing some of the zucchini in my fridge to put on there. I looked in my Ball's Canning guide for their directions on zucchini drying and began. After I had started the process, I then took the time to read the instructions for the machine. It was a special edition one (apparently packaged for Wal-Mart specifically) and it came with a starting jerky maker set. I'm not that brave yet, but one of these days I will be!
I got an order for some more of my blushing peach jam! I'm really excited :) I love making it (and eating it). Two jars are ordered and the rest will go in the pantry for now. I still have to find raspberries for it though. When I was out and about picking up tomatoes and things to preserve, each place I went was sold out. I'm going out to look some more tonight.
Things I learned this weekend about food preservation:
1. Two people cutting up 10 lbs of tomatoes goes a lot faster than one
2. About two ears of corn blanched equals a pint bag half filled in the freezer.
3. 5 or 6 hours of dehydrating time seems epic when you are excited and anticipating the process, but in reality it's really not that long.
As for my garden (I really need new pictures up >.>) we went ahead and bit the bulled and pulled our potatoes up. We had the mole living in a burrow in them (it finally made it's way to the garden) and between the June bug problem we had and the hail from the storm earlier this year, the plants themselves weren't looking too spiffy. We got 5-10 lbs of potatoes from our little plants (even with the pulling up early and everything else that happened to these poor guys) and there were still lots of tiny little baby potatoes we could have had if we had let them keep growing. Oh well! We're excited with what we have and I'm planning on turning them into freezer french fries (the kind that normally cost an arm and a leg in a store that you bake in the oven to eat!). We also thinned out our green bean plants. Some of them were looking worn so we went ahead and pulled them up to make room for the ones that aren't as beaten up. The honey dew melons look like little fuzzy green baseballs! I love them! I can't help but rub my fingers over them when I'm out in the garden at least once. I hope it doesn't hurt them! The main reason for the garden work however was that our tomato plants out grew their cages! We had to buy stakes and tie them up over the weekend. I didn't know they would/could do that! I guess we should chalk it up to another lesson learned! Of course, after we spent a few hours in the garden, another severe storm rolled through! Thankfully we didn't get any of the hail they had predicted with it. I still have more pickles to make and a few beans to freeze and the french fries to prepare, but besides that, I think one of the next things I want to try is home made hot pockets! In the Ball's Canning Guide they have directions for making ham and cheese ones, so I'm going to try and adjust it for peperoni ones! Wish me luck folks :)
I don't think there's much else really worthy of posting about (I'm sure after I finish this I'll thing of 101 things I should have said but that's just how it goes) so I'm just going to wish you all a wonderful weekend!
Some of the tomato plants are now taller than I am!
Well, I'm back. I went to a funeral in Texas this last week or so for my half-brother. He will be missed. :( When I came back however, my garden had grown quite larger!
I had to add more growing room for the cucumbers.
My husband and I are starting to think that maybe the "suggested" planting guidelines are a bit inaccurate because everything is just growing everywhere! Is this much growing normal or are we just extra blessed this year?
Baby Honeydews like this are popping up everywhere!
There's lots of catch up work to do in the garden. I think it'll be good for me. I've had quite a bit on my mind and not alot of time to go over each thought. The trip was nice enough, but I had forgotten what a drive it is. On the way home we saw tornado touch down. (We were in the Texas panhandle so we were able to see from far enough away to not be in danger) but that was the most excitement we experienced on the trip.
A growing cucumber. I'm not sure why some of them do this, but I think they are still good to eat.
I've updated my gallery with a few pictures from the trip, so go and check it out!
