Poor pitiful neglected blog...

Sorry I haven't posted like in a week or something.  Kevin has been home for the past three days and before that it was the weekend. Any time either of those situations occur at or around the same time, I try to spend as much time as I can with him and together as a family..ah, whatever, I really spend most of my time doing chores and chasing him around making sure he doesn't leave his clothes on the bed when the dirty hamper is like three feet away..seriously! Ok, just a little vent! Sorry! :D

Anyway, I also have been selling a lot of stuff on eBay that we either don't need or no longer use, have too much of, etc. We actually have two storage units FULL of like an entire household of stuff each and I am trying to turn that into ZERO in time for us to purchase a house. Whew! I tell you I have only sold like 5 things in the past 3 weeks and it is seriously a full time job, unless you have everything boxed and ready to go as soon as the listing ends. But that assumes that you KNOW your stuff is going to sell.

One thing that I have to say, though, is since the first thing I sold, Kevin has been super excited about my ebaying. I believe this is due to the fact that I am making money, which is always nice but Kevin in particular really appreciates. I am hoping to turn this into a way to stay home with the kids and go back to school full time.

If you want to check out what I have up for bid, here is a link:
http://myworld.ebay.com/knsconductor1

Here is a pre-trimming picture of the Aerogarden. It is about 3 weeks into it's growing cycle and doing INCREDIBLE!

 I realized just this evening when I was getting dinner ready that the add water light was blinking. So I thought ok well, I'm sure it just needs to be topped off.  UMMMM NO!!! It was bone dry! And still looks this good. I filled the water up and then cut it back, I just hope I did it right.

Tomorrow night I am going to a coupon class that I am extremely excited about. The teacher, Dawn, shows how to use coupons to save MAJOR dinero. I've been clipping for about a month and I have tried one of the transactions she posted on her website, www.caringwithcoupons.com and I hope to reap the benefits soon, plus learn many more tips after tomorrow night. I will let you know! :)

M&M detox...

This is what can happen when an M&M fiend is told no more...

Sorry for the unfocused/blurry pics.  These were taken on my iPhone and it kinda sucks.  Also please ignore the pair of jean shorts on the floor in the last picture.  Our Goodwill pile was near and the addict kinda took his futile aggression out on it.  The jean shorts were the unfortunate victim.

Split my beans & AG updates

My chillay beans soaked up so much water that I had to divide them into two bowls.  I will probably have to split them yet again before I get to my chillay this weekend (I HOPE!)

My AG is doing AWESOME!  Even the little romaine pod in the front is starting to sprout.  There was some dead seed hanging out on top of the sprout so I picked it off and it is starting to do it's thing now. Though I have yet to take off the biodome so I can get a clear picture.

AG7

Salad greens

Baby greens, salad greens & romaine

Mesclun mix

Romaine

Arugula

Mesclun mix

Chillay!!!!

I wanna make some chillay!!  It's cold as smack outside, so it's good weather for it.  So look what I got..

Them is kidney beans soakin'!  Maybe if you're lucky, I will post a chili recipe for you in a few days, but I got to let these bad boys soak for like a whole dern week or else they will still be hard and crunchy in my chillay!!!  And I can't have that cause no one wants crunchy chillay!!

AeroGarden update

So far, so good.  I got a bunch of sprouts.  Though I don't know what is going on with the little romaine in the front middle.  I'll have to keep an eye on that one.  I am not really sure if now that I have taken the biodomes off, I should prune back some of the lower stuff or wait a few more days.  I just don't want to screw it up.  I will be real mad because I am a perfectionist and perfect people hold themselves to a higher standard than all you regular people out there.  HAHAHAHA!!!  Sorry, I couldn't help it.  ;)

Just wanted y'all to know..

That I LUUUURRRRRVVVVEEEEE  CHEESE!!!!  

 I LUUUURRRRRVVVVEEEEE it so much I ate a whole BARREL!!!!  

Ok so for my first REAL post topic

I would like to introduce you all to something that I think is pretty cool so far.

I live in an apartment currently & I'm as far as I know not so green-thumbish.  My mom is a Master Gardener aka anything that has to do with gardening, she is the queen.  If it requires very little watering & very little light then I can usually avoid killing a plant.  But I also really like the idea of growing my own food.  It's healthier & cheaper.  I also have never been scared to break a sweat although my body as of late has a harder time keeping up with my mind.


So anyway, getting to the point this was my Christmas present this year.

AeroGarden Extra

Kinda looks like a crazy little spaceship or something, huh?  It's actually called an AeroGarden.  It's pretty much a hydroponic garden.  Well, much simpler I think.  Anyway, I saw this it and was like 'Oh, cool!'.  I am a pretty gadgety, grown up toy loving kind of girl so this was really making me 'itch', so to speak.  So I ordered it for my wonderful Kevin to give to me for Christmas.  I often do this to assure I get what I want and because of other reasons, but that is a whole other topic.  I set it up finally after the holidays calmed down on January 5th. 

It was really easy to put together and get rolling.  It has these little pods with I am assuming a seed of  the vegetable or flower of choice.

The label on top tells what the plant is on the inside.

These are the lights that plug up under the hood.  

They are extremely bright when on.  So bright that we need not have the kitchen or dining room lights on at all when these suckers are working. 

Because the pods have to have at least 16 hours of light per day to grow and I am assuming because the makers of the AeroGardens realized just how mega bright these light bulbs really are, there is a timer feature which allows you to set a particular 8 hour period that the lights are off.  This is a very good thing for apartment dwellers because of the smaller space and possible lack of walls to keep them awake at night.

So after everything is inserted and installed, filled up and fertilized, this is what the AeroGarden Extra looks like when it's plugged in, turned on and all the lights are off in the kitchen and dining room.

Please excuse the dishes and random mess..the maid is on vacation this week.   

So I let it do it's thing, checking it everyday to see if anything interesting had happened.  Not so much until I checked on the evening of November 8th, only three short days later.  Lo and behold, what do I see?  A little sprout coming out of about 4 out of 7 of the pods.  AMAAAAAAZING, huh?  Here is one.

The little cap, aka biodome, on top is supposed to be removed once a sprout pops through the hole in the label.  These little biodomes give the seed the perfect amount of humidity and heat to germinate in a hydroponic environment.  HOWEVER I don't want to do that yet because I'm OCD like that.  So far so good.  I will keep you guys updated on the salad greens' progress.

If you are interested in trying one of these out for yourself or you just want to find out a little more about how they work, seed kits, different garden sizes, etc. check out AeroGarden's website.  Just FYI, if you register your AeroGarden and seed kits, this is their guarantee:

Our Quality Guarantee:
We want you to be completely satisfied. If for any reason you're not satisfied with your AeroGarden purchase, just return it within 30 days for a full refund – no questions asked. We guarantee that your seed kits will germinate. If for any reason they don't, contact us and we'll rush you a new kit (or appropriate seed pods). Call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-476-9669 to arrange for a merchandise return or for questions related to our quality guarantee.

Until next time...

Allow me to re-introduce myself..

My name is T!  T to the..ummm..T to th...ok well, that didn't go quite like I wanted it to, but anyway for those of you who didn't know, that was supposed to be a Jay-Z styled introduction of myself.  It's ok though, I never thought I would make a good hip-hop artiste.  Could you see that??  ME?!  Oh well, you probably can't actually 'cause you don't know what I look like so here you go..

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  Aren't I ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!!!!??  Not what you expected, huh?  But for real, this is me, I promise!  Just me in 1983.  I was in kindergarten and that was my favorite shirt!  But it at least gives you some indication as to why I could not ever be a Biggie protege, but maybe a Ziggy protege.  Oh ok FINE!!  I know I'm not really funny!!  Geeez..  I will show you a 'now' picture of me but you better stop scoffing!!

Can you pick me out?  I'll give you a hint..I'm the one in BLUE..  Hahahahahaha!!  The other goobers are my boyfriend Kevin, daughter Madison and son Julian.  We're a cute little family, aren't we?

So anyway, I am starting this blog because I think that I am so awesome that I have extra just falling off everywhere that I should share with the rest of humanity.  No for real, just cause I thought it would be a lot of fun and interesting to discuss stuff on here.  What stuff you ask?  Hmmmm..good question. Well, probably the stuff I like the most since this is MY blog after all.  What?  Oh really??  I mean, you can always start your OWN if you don't like MINE!  I'm just kidding, don't leave.  If you leave, I won't have anyone to read my nonsense. So please stick around.  I promise I will try to make it interesting.  :)