Two Years Later

Two years ago Monday (June 11, 2010), I married one of the best men on this earth.

He is patient and kind and really put up with a lot with me throughout that first year of getting back on my feet/figuring out who I was post-TFA.  He is faith-filled and holds me accountable to mine.  He loves his family and he loves mine.  He treats my brother as if he were his own by blood, which, honestly, it's rare to find people who are even not unkind to him.

God has blessed him with many talents, including the ability to play really awesome guitar, but also humility and the ability to know when and why to share those talents and to whom those talents really belong.

He is truly one-of-a-kind and blessing.  I am so grateful that he's in my life.

Love you, honey!

We celebrated over the weekend at Shenandoah National Park and had a fabulous time.  It was nice, relaxing, and restful.  We were definitely on the younger side of the clientele, though, haha!  We actually stayed right in the park at one of their lodges, Big Meadows Lodge.  Did you know that they had lodges right on the grounds?  I didn't.  

They even had a pub with live music at night (I <3 Appalachian folk music!) and great local brew.  If you are in the area and like semi dark beers, then you need to try the Big Meadows beer.  It's so good.

It was so incredibly beautiful.  We arrived that Friday right around sunset.

This was driving around the next day.

We went hiking, toured Luray Caverns, enjoyed the scenery, and just had a grand time.

I couldn't have asked for more.

An Ode to Slug Death

Dear Slugs,

You are among the most foul creatures that I have encountered.  I have yet to ascertain your purpose.  I hate spiders, but they at least eat things that might otherwise enjoy my veggies.  You are merely disgusting.  And, to add insult to injury, you eat my plants.

What is wrong with you?

After my many hours of labor (and sore legs), you had the nerve to eat my lovely plants.  You killed all of the Lemon/Lime Basil and would have killed the Kitchen King Bean and Sweet Pepper had I not declared war.

Among your many ill qualities is a dislike for coffee grounds.  I liberally applied that to my plants.  You were somewhat deterred.  And yet still damaging my good plants.

I also kindly placed beer outside as a place for you to drown.  Unfortunately, the rain that drew you out also served to displace the beer.

I hate to tell you that I am not that easily defeated.  I have three classes of former students to attest that to you.  Some of them may need therapy.

But that is not my wish for you, Slugs.  My wish for you is Death.

And, thus, you forced my hand.  I did need slug bait (the kind that is wildlife safe and safe around edibles, of course).  I'm sorry, but I'm not 100% organic, props to those of you who are.

Since that day, my plants have thrived.

You were adequately warned.

Slugs, I hope your death was slow.

Love,
ashleigh

Great Garden Experiment of 2012 Update 1

Okay, so I haven't exactly been better with keeping up with the blog...  But hey, June isn't over and at least months haven't gone by since the last post.  I will give myself points. :)  Not that anyone necessarily cares, but I will pretend that they do. ;)  Gotta take what you can get, right?

So, I took a bunch of pictures of my container garden last Friday/today.  I really wish that I had done that from the get-go so that I could really see the progression.  But at least I have some while they're still growing.  And before they're dead.

Here is a note to self for next year on the ever growing list.  I will publish that list at the end of this growing season, so that, A. I will actually remember for next year and, B. If you are interested in gardening, you might learn from some of my mistakes.  I've actually stumbled upon some really awesome blogs that details people's adventures in gardening and crafting (!!).  I'll probably link to some of those at some point if you have any interest.

Anyway, here's a tour of my little garden...  (I am no photographer...these were taken with my little Canon PowerShot from my sophomore (?) year of college.  These are utilitarian at best.)

Here's the view from the front of my house.  You can see I have a LOT of pots!  Also, I have a side bed, where I am attempting to grow some flowers.  I'm not sure that's going to work out so well.  I should have added some compost or proper garden soil to the dirt.  Virginia clay alone isn't exactly nourishing for flowers.

I believe that this is my Bush Big Boy tomato.  I was impatient and took these photos in the middle of the afternoon on a 90+ degree day, so things are looking a bit wilty.  No flowers, yet, but I'm hoping those will come soon.  I actually initially thought this one wasn't going to make it.  There was something of a disaster prior to transplanting that killed most of my seedlings.  But it's doing quite well.  It's surrounded by marigolds (reputed to keep the bad bugs at bay...and mosquitos).  Marigolds are supposed to be an awesome companion plant.  Supposedly their scent confuses the bad bugs and keeps them away from your veggies.  I've also planted another flower with it...I'm trying to remember what, though.  Cosmos, maybe?

My Roma tomato.  Supposed to be good for sauces and canning.  Also planted with marigold and the mysterious flower.  I'm pretty sure I put cosmos in there.  

This is a hanging pot with Right Bite tomato (little cherry type tomatoes), Sweet Basil, and more marigolds.

This is another hanging pot with more marigolds, Lemon/Lime variety Basil (the seed packet had an equal mix, so we'll see what I get), and in the front of the picture you can see that a little Nasturtium seedling is trying to get going.  Nasturtium is also supposed to be a good companion.

This has dwarf Zinnia and Clemson Spineless Okra.  Okra can get HUGE.  But I am a good Southern girl (yes, even in Northern Virginia) and I'm going to attempt some okra.  This is a variety that is supposedly rated for container gardening.  We'll see.

Sweet Basil in a little pot all by its lonesome.  Maybe I'll put some flowers in there too once it gets a little more established.  I like for flowers and veggies to cohabitate.  It makes it a bit prettier (and perhaps my HOA will think so too), but I also get a little bit of fruit for my labor.

Here I have Sweet Pepper.  I got the Carnival Capsicum mix from Burpee, meaning that my peppers might be White, Red, Yellow, Orange, or Purple.  There's a 20% chance of each.  (I'm hoping for purple.)  These should only get to be about 12 inches tall, so they should be perfect for containers.  They are also surrounded by dwarf Zinnia.  Zinnia are also supposed to be good companion plants and they'll protect the peppers from sunburn.

I love this little sign.  I got it at Glory Be in Occoquan.  I love that little place (and Occoquan, which is a little historic town right down the street).  They have all these really cute little countrified accents and I couldn't resist 3 of these little guys.  

Here's more Lemon/Lime Basil.  Let me explain the prolific amount of basil.  Remember those damn slugs?  They kept eating this down to the quick.  Like, I would have cute little basil sprouts one day and they would be completely gone the next.  Dead.  Nonexistent.  Additionally, I was having some problems with germination.  So, in the course of the Slug War of Summer 2012, I may have gotten a little overzealous with the seed application.  I figure that a few will probably dominate the rest and kill them off.  If that doesn't happen, I'll thin them out.  Anyone in need of Lemon/Lime Basil?

Excuse my shadow- the resident photographer was bottling beer from the most recent homebrewing party.  I now have a closet full of Red Ale and Summer Ale.  I'm not complaining.  (See how exciting DIY is?)  

Black Beauty Zucchini.  I grew this last year (this is actually from last year's seed packet- they recommend new each year for ease of germination, but I had 0 problems with this pack) and they did really well.  Zucchini needs a large pot; I think this one is at least 18 inches.  Last year I did two plants in a 16 inch pot, which worked out really well.  Well, at least until I under-fertilized and Mr. Gardener overwatered.  But otherwise, they did quite well.  This is just one large plant, but I did plant a second one in there last week who appears to be thriving.

Cilantro.  Cilantro is heat sensitive and will bolt easily.  As such, I'm going to try successive planting every two weeks.  I just put in new seed today.  We'll see how it goes.

More Sweet Pepper and Zinnia.  You can also see some Nasturtium starting up (to the right).

Petunia.  Doing great in the pot (I have two).  Not so great in the ground. 

Dahlia given to me by my dad.  I have four pots.  This is the first to sprout.  (And the sign says BLOOM, not LOOM.)

I don't know how to flip this in Blogger.  Eventually, I'll learn.  For all the "new and improved" features that new Blogger boasts, I've really found it completely confusing.

  There's more dwarf zinnia (in the front).  I really like zinnia, can't you tell?  Plus there were a ton of seeds in the packet and they seemed like they might work as one of the best companion plants for me.  I also have two Kitchen King Garden Bean plants.  I initially was only going to plant one, but when the stupid slugs ate ALL of the leaves off of it, I was betting that it was going to die.  So, I planted a second who is doing quite well.  Then, in just the last couple of days, the sickly bean decided to sprout new leaf growth.  So I guess I'll have two bean plants.

There's also Bambino Eggplant.  It should only grow to about 12 inches.  I got kind of a late start - I ordered the seeds last minute - so I'm still waiting for it to sprout.  I planted a second seed last week, though, since it had been over two weeks.  Hopefully I'll get something.  I wasn't quite as zealous with the planting as with the basil, however.  I'm only but so stupid the second time around.  :)

More zucchini.  It's normal for it to wilt in the afternoon on hot days.  Same setup as the other pot. Plus there's some nasturtium growing in there.  I think it'll look pretty spilling over the pot if I can accomplish it.

Two Bush Champion Cucumbers, Morning Glory (it can grow up on the railing like a trellis), and another Bambino eggplant.  I do have a sprout on this one, so hopefully it'll keep growing.

That's my garden!  Hopefully it'll keep growing and I'll get some nice veggies.  Even though it's a little container crazy, I think it looks cute.  And I've gotten some compliments from neighbors and passers-by.  I'm quite nerdily excited about it.  Hence why it's on the blog when many might not care. :)  

Thanks for reading!  If you made it through all those pictures and description, give yourself a pat on the back!

Introduction to Great Garden Experiment of 2012

Hello there....it's been a bit, I suppose.  I get really good at this blogging thing...until I don't any more.

I am going to attempt to track a few of my crafting projects, as well as my Grandiose Garden Experiment of 2012.  About which I am fairly excited.

So here's the deal.  We bought a little townhouse last year with a postage stamp sized yard in the front and our entire backyard is pretty much deck.  And a cherry tree, which the birds love.  The deck would be awesome, except that we're fairly certain that it was constructed out of "reclaimed" (i.e. one man's trash is another man's treasure) scrap wood.  So, it needs some work.  But that's not at the top end of our continuously growing homeowner's list.

But the reason I am telling you this is not to whine about my house.  I realize it sounds that way.  I actually really, really love my house.  It's perfect for our little, two-person family and will continue to be perfect if and when our family hopefully grows someday.  The reason I'm telling you this is to explain what I'm doing in this gardening experiment.

So we don't really have much backyard to work with, which is not a problem because our house is south-facing, which means that our front yard is way better for gardening than the backyard.  So, I want a vegetable garden, but I also want it to look decent.  So a container garden it is.

Last year, I planted a zucchini, which did pretty well.  Well until Mr. Gardener tried to help and started watering the zucchini twice a day, which caused the fruit to start rotting...  but he was genuinely trying to help.  :)  It did eventually recover.  And I learned some lessons last year, which I'll attempt to apply this year.

I started planting this weekend and I'll track my progress here.

I am getting tired because I am an old lady, so I'm going to wrap up.  Except to say this:

This evening, I came home from the church core team meeting (it's kind of like an advisory council, which I sit on) and I was admiring my peppers (because they were one of the few survivors of a couple of my important lessons that I've already learned this year).  And there were slugs everywhere!

First of all, slugs completely disgust me.  Yuck.  Nasty, spineless ickiness.  So I salted the earth.  Well, actually, I ran inside, yelling at my husband, "I need the salt shaker.  Those damn bitches are in my plants!"

Then I salted the earth.

Then I googled ways to stop slugs and have two ways that I am going to implement.  One is drunk slugs.  I put the lids to little glass jars in the pepper plants and filled them with beer.  The slugs will crawl in to drink the beer and then get drunk and drown.

They also hate coffee grounds.  And plants like them.  So tomorrow morning, guess where my grounds are going?

Dear Slugs,

Give up now.  I will win.

Ask my husband.

Love, Ashleigh

New Craft Space

All right, I am admittedly a terrible blogger.  I just can't keep up.  This is one of the many, many things that I say, well if I just set aside time and...and it just doesn't happen.

I think I ought to bring back my planner from college.  I had this awesome/obsessive planner that planned my day in 15 minute increments.  Because truly, I am horrific at time management.  For example, it is 11:27am and by this time I was supposed to have gone to Wegmans (can I just tell you how much I love Wegmans?  I get the whole classy supermarket experience, but pay way less than I would at Safeway or Giant or certainly Harris Teeter.  Win:Win), Target, Ulta and gassed up my car at Costco (because the cheap gas prices pay for the membership).  But what have I done?  Let's see.  I decided to make blueberry pancakes (although I really did cheat and just used "just add water" mix and just added a cup of frozen blueberries) and I finalized my meal plan for the week and created my shopping list on Wegmans.com (because it prints out the locations of all my products, saving me time and temptation from buying things I just don't need).  Saturdays just underscore my need for an ADHD intervention.  Oh, and I listened to music on YouTube.  Although, most of that had a purpose, which I will get to later.  In my defense, I've been battling a headache traveling along the side of my head and down into my eye and the side of my face that no amount of quiet or caffeine has seemed to alleviate. Anyway...

What was I planning on writing about?

Right.  My new crafty space.

So I have a fabulous husband.  I mean really, I do.  Sorry to brag, ladies, but I only speak the truth.

He is way into his hobbies.  And he does have quite a list.  Not that he does all of them all the time, but he sort of flits around between beer making, photography, music (well that one is all of the time and while I am biased, Josh plays kick-ass guitar), etc.  Those are probably the big three, but he's always telling me what else he'd like to get involved in.  So he really does value hobbies, which is sweet.  And I appreciate that he doesn't think that my love of all things crafty is silly or a waste of time.  So for our anniversary, he built me this gorgeous set of shelving/cabinets in our basement followed by a HUGE counter/table.

 Almost finished cabinets...

 Desk in progress...can you believe he designed all of this himself?

 Finished desk (minus lighting and electrical elements)

 HUGE workspace!!  I have never had this much space for my crafts.

I am so excited to use this space.  I just have to finish unpacking/cleaning the basement so I don't feel guilty about my time.

By the way, how do people get everything done?  I feel like I'm just running in circles all the time.  Commute, work, commute, make dinner, clean the house, go to bed.  Do it all again.  And I don't even have kids.  15 minute planner.  ;)  j/k  I just have to prioritize things better and waste less time.  

Easier said than done.  Oh well.

Oh!  And listening to the music.  So the hubby is in a band (classic and southern rock mostly); it's actually one of the outreach elements for our church and they're going to let me sing a song or two with them in the upcoming months, so I was listening to/learning some of the contenders.  So it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Anyway, I think I will go and attempt to accomplish some of those things I was planning on and clean the basement a bit so I can actually craft some again.  :) 

End the R-Word PSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T549VoLca_Q

This made me cry seeing it on TV.  This is something that is so close to my heart.  I don't mind this word when used correctly, as a medical term or in its sense as a verb, but never as a derogatory word.  But people don't understand how hurtful it is as an everyday slang term and that it is, in fact, a slur.  Glad to see more public acknowledgement of that fact.

I'm Back!!! My Year Thus Far in Short Form

Okay, so it has been brought to my attention that it has been some time since I have posted.  This is not untrue and I highly appreciate that someone noticed that it's been awhile.

Things have been a bit busy lately.  Thankfully, though, it's been the good kind of busy.  When I think about this time last year, well, I quickly change the subject in my head...  (finishing up your last year of teaching, getting ready to get married and preparing to move halfway across the country two weeks after your wedding, well...you get the idea).

So here is a short synopsis of my year thus far...(plus a bit of the end of last year).  I will give you details about these later, but here's a good starting point, since I should probably be sleeping right now.  :)

November:
Make the commitment to become a home owner.  Get a real estate agent, pre-approved loan and a realistic picture of what you can actually afford.  Visit lots and lots of houses.

December:
Visit a lot more houses.  Get discouraged (because, you know, that's what I do) and wonder if I will ever find something I love in my price range that doesn't require tons of fixing up (because our budget just doesn't cover that).  Visit a house that looks extremely promising on the internet and leave said house wondering if a dead body is buried in the backyard.  Or the walls.  Or conceivably both.  Still kind of awaiting that call from our agent stating that, in fact, a mass murderer lived there.  Needless to say, that wasn't the house for us.  More on that later.

Find a house that is perfect.  Put in an offer and realize that it's a short sale.  (Tip: short sales are the devil.  Avoid these at all costs.)  Try to not get my hopes up about the house and fail miserably.  Await the bank's counteroffer anxiously.

January:
Still waiting for the bank's response to our offer.  Oh wait, it's $25,000 more than our offer and completely out of our range (plus, in my opinion, way more than it's worth in this market).  Counteroffer the counteroffer.

Bank comes down $5,000.  Still not affordable.  After much deliberation, decide that the bank is stupid and leave their offer.  (House is still on the market, btw.)

Decide not to look at any more short sales and do regular sales or foreclosures only.

Apply for "promotion" at work.  Get "promotion" and become part of the full-time working populace again.  (Details to follow later.)

February:
Find a new house and fall in love.  This is not a short sale.  :)  Put in an offer.

Offer accepted.  Yay!!!  Get home inspection.

Home inspection fairly normal.  Negotiate based on home inspection.  Offer is acceptable to all parties.  Schedule date to sign all the papers.

Have car accident.  My fault.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.  Fortunately, no one was injured and the other person's car was hardly damaged.  My car is all better now.

Pack, pack, pack.  ::Ugh::

March:
Become first-time home owners!!!  Move in with the help of amazing friends.  Unpack, unpack, unpack.

April:
Unpack some more.  Attempting real organization for the first time in my life (will write some posts with tips that have been working for me) and am unpacking slowly to try to actually find a place for everything.

I think something else happened in April...see where my mind has gone?

Oh yeah, I chopped off ten inches of hair and donated it to Pantene Great Lengths.  I am now sporting a pixie hairstyle.  It's taken some getting used to, but I do think I like it.

May:
Decide to apply for new jobs.  Can handle this job (it's so easy, it's not even funny), but continually realize that this is not a permanent solution.  Update resume.  ::HATE::  Revise resume.  Revise again.  Start drafting cover letter.  Decide that writing cover letters might be a good form of torture.  Pull job requisitions.  Get extremely frustrated with the entire process and the fact that a lot of people seem to think that I should just go back to teaching because it would be "so different in a 'normal' school."  Um, thanks to the lack of respect for teachers and the brain sucking thing called No Child Left Behind and the fact that wealthier parents are also crazy, just differently crazy, I'm going to say that this is probably not the case.  But I digress...soapboxes, I know.

Random neighbor hits car and runs.  Not major damage, but my bumper is cracked.  Still need to schedule an inspection for it so insurance company will fix it.  Neighbor kids, however, are awesome and wrote down license plate.  Called police and filed report.  Still awaiting next steps...

Whew... It's been busy.  But good busy.  We're really happy and healthy and we're getting ready to celebrate one year of marriage!

Josh has proven that he is extremely handy since moving into the house.  Maybe he could teach handy husband lessons.  :)

Also, because I'm nerdy, I've decided that I'm going to start my Etsy business, learn to quilt and write some blog articles about organizing and crafting.  I like to use this to update my friends and really just write about everything that's going on (isn't blogging so therapeutic?), but I LOVE tutorial blogs and I would love it if I could eventually be the writer of one of those, too.  Yes, I am boring, but I'd like to think I'm a fun and funky kind of nerdy boring.  Yes, I know that this is definitionally impossible, but, quite frankly, I don't much care. :)

And now, I am going to attempt to go to bed, even though I have had entirely too much caffeine today and am not sure that this is going to be a manageable task.

Goodnight!