You can always grate and freeze the carrots too, and then you can make carrot cake or carrot bread out of them!

Same with the butternut squash, you can either cut it in half, roast it, and you can freeze it in cubes or as a puree, or you can grate it, or you cannnnnn peel it and cube it up but it's SO hard.

Well it is already precut up into cubes. Its a small bag of it. I just have never cooked squash before. And I know I won't eat the whole bag at once. Edit: The bag says it is 5 servings. The bag gives suggestions for microwaving, stove top and roasting. Hmm... Says its ready to eat.

Hmm I didn't think about that for the carrots. Have never made a carrot cake or carrot bread, but if I get more carrots in the next haul I'll try and remember that.

- it's so forgotten I have no idea what you're talking about. :P lol Quinoa is... a grain, I believe. Now I'm going to have to look it up...Ok, according to the oxford dictionary it's the seeds of a plant known as a goosefoot because it resembles a goose's foot. It grows in temperate areas like South America. I have no idea if it's a grain or a grass. I'm sure if I digged a little further I'd find out but I'm just not the adventerous today. :D

Howdy folks. Daughter is going to be home in less than 2 weeks. I don't envy her drive or all her packing but I'll sure make her room a very comfy place to just fall into bed in complete relaxation when she gets home. If I remember correctly, it was a 14hr drive and she stayed the night at a hotel in between so I'm thinking she's going to have me look up one this time, again. What's funny is it was the night of the July 4th (day before) festivities and she called me when she was close to that hotel to have me call them and make sure her room was still booked and it was SO HARD to hear anything b/c of the live band and speaker setup they have up at the community center. The center is part of what became the new high school and there's a senior center on the very end, and right in front of it is the courthouse and police station in a separate building area. Lots of area from the road to the buildings - damn near a field's worth - so the Independence day event they have is pretty big. Best thing - it's less than a mile away from my house and I can walk there, lol.

I think a large majority of the upper and lower mid-west is due for strong storms today, this evening. I repotted some sunflowers that I started later than I'd like, seeded some broccoli for the hell of it in the veggie garden, added more stability to my tomato plants and threw in a couple of branches (trimmed up, of course) next to the snap peas b/c I had no idea they grew SO TALL!!! All of this before the storm/rain as the ground needs another good soaking. Then I'll be able to push in more branches b/c I think the peas get around 7ft, but at least they're not heavy.

Gave the GOOD neighbors a bunch of eggs and then a gallon sized bag of lettuce mix. Apparently the type I got will grow back if you clip the leaves. Good for a salad mix but it's not crunchy - more of the arugula type of mix. Think I'll do some trimming for them this week.

Pinging you but I haven't back read most stuff. Some things I saw were about renting - I'm a long term renter as a single mom of 2 kids. I've been at the house I've been renting for 13 years now. In some ways I have a shit landlord, but other ways I've had exactly what I needed which includes free reign to modify the yard in any way I see fit (or can afford) which includes putting in a chicken coop in the backyard! Quinoa is YUMMY! I often forget about that so I'll have to write it down for my next store trip. :P

I'll be sharing pictures soon. The gardens look AMAZING but the flower garden, except for the baby lilies, haven't bloomed yet. Even the tiger lilies haven't started. I'm thinking I might make an herb garden that runs crosswise of the flower garden, but I might just make another area for that next year. I don't know. I already feel the desire to plant more and make a bigger garden. :D

Is she coming home for good, or just for a long visit ? Ooh that is nice that you can walk down to festivities. I bet you could see the fireworks from your house w/o going anywhere!

It is weird not having gone to the youth group statewide meeting this year, followed by directly going to fireworks sales. I sort of miss it.

Ohh landlords like that are nice. When we rented this house, thats what we were told. We could paint anything, fix up or plant anything in the yard, etc. Just let them know we were doing it if it was something big. We didn't do a lot back then, not until we actually bought the place. Then we did a lot :)

The one year I grew lettuce I enjoyed it, we had a lot of salads. We also grew radishes that year, and carrots. We tried to grow peas (green), I never could pick them when they were ripe. We grew cucumbers, and only had a few that were good. The next year nothing ever got ripe or it spoiled before it was ripe. I probably needed to do something to the soil but never did figure out what, so I gave up gardening.

I am debating calling vs going to the college, to see if they have the forms to fill out for adjusting my financial aid....I prefer going in person as I hate talking over the phone, but I hate to waste my time going there if they aren't ready. [edit] 11am eyeroll So I called, they said, yes the forms are available, in fact you can do it online and print it, so all you have to do is drop it off Ok so I did that, took it in, THEN the lady informs me, oh well our system is down so we won't be able to process this until next week This school needs to get it together already LOL First payment date for fall semester is July 10th. I HOPE they get the stuff figured out by then because I do NOT want to get dropped out of my classes for non-payment - because I'm waiting to see how much financial aid I get - because why should I pay out of my pocket for anything if it is all covered? RIGHT? Sheesh. I mean, I guess I COULD start making payments, and I would get back $ from the school for "over payment" or whatever once the financial aid is actually applied and the excess returned .... but that will be months later.

Yeah, quinoa is a grain, it's small and fluffy! It's good hot, AND it's good in cold salads. It's a tiny, fluffy little miracle!

The party went well.. aside from it taking an hour to pick up the donuts :/ And then when Lily, Iz and I got home.. ALEX AND EL WERE STILL MAKING NACHO FILLING. Whatttttt were they doing all morning?!

So anyway.. we were running super late. But it was fine, everyone who showed up a little early (a lot!) helped out, and it turned out fineeeeee. Fine. :P It was fine. Haha.

The food was great, though :P

Well I'm glad the party went well. Its always nice when people help when unexpected. Did you get duck donuts? Or just regular donuts like krispy kreme or dunkin? (or whatever regular donut shop there is up there)

Decided to do my persuasive paper on why kids need recess. Figured I needed something more specific to dig into, and something I can get behind. Searched online, bookmarked a couple articles. Trying to put together a proposal and then some sort of outline to get started. Have to turn the proposal in by July 6, And have the video/outline and whatever else is required turned in by July 13. So I'd rather get started NOW. Already turned in the persuasive video observation assignment that is due the 29th lol Still have to watch and send in responses to 5 people's informational speeches. (only 3 other people had posted as of last night) They are all due by Tuesday at noon, and the responses are due by the 29th (Thursday)

How is June almost over??? :o

Waves to ...the tl:dr of my past posts is that I was anxious over something that didn't matter in the long run. As for renting, we've lived here 7 years. We do have a patio but aren't allowed to modify the ground as that makes it difficult for the maintainence crew to cut the grass. Inside our apartment we do everything. We've only had to call maintainence for help once and that's when our upstairs neighbor's washer hook-up literally broke and we had Niagra falls through our laundry area light fixture. The problem was identified and fixed very quickly. So 1 maintainence call in 7 years. Not bad for a pair of cripples. lol The one thing that I do miss is that I can't gardenMy step-dad always had a garden when I was growing up and I wish I could now. Hubby is thinking of getting me one of those indoor herb gardens but I'm not sure where we'd put it.

- If you don't mind me asking, which school are you going to? The school I went to was really bad with financial aid, also. Perhaps it's just the way uni is? I do agree, though, why pay when you can get it covered by pell grants or the like. No need to put yourself so deep in debt if you don't have to. :)

- I'm glad the party went well. The first time I had quinoa was from Target of all places. They had a "Southwest Quinoa Salad" that was really good. It had roasted corn in it, also.

I do have a question... I notice that you gals don't ping each other everytime you respoind to a post. Do you prefer to not be pinged? I ping everyone simply because I ask to be pinged if I'm supposed to respond to a post because my screen reader doesn't pick up the spot where you can subscribe to a thread. I don't want to miss something and everyone think I'm being rude. :D .

No we dont normally ping each other, I for one use the subscribe feature (that you said you cannot use do to the screen reader). I am not going to speak for the others for certain, but I believe they do the same. If it's been a while or I am responding to more than one person I sometimes ping, or at least place names in front of comments. I do not mind being pinged at all however, I figured it was easier for you to do so and that's why you did it. And i ping you since your forum signature said to 😉

I am currently going to Southern Crescent Technical College. I haven't really had any major issues with them until now, and this issue, it's mostly due to the change in income that I am trying to adjust it for. The way the pell works is to use the tax return from 2yrs prior, so had to use one where we filed married/joint. What caused me to lose the pell grant was hubby got income increase. But then he moved out. So my household income decreased, making me eligible again but I had to file income reduction papers at the school and not with the FAFSA since you can't change that once it's been filed for the year.

Nope, we really don't ping each other, but I don't mind being pinged!

Since we're asking questions.. is it best if we ping you even if we're just talking and responding generally, and not like, just to you? I don't want to OVERPING, but I also don't want you to be left out and miss stuff!

Just krispy kreme donutes, Kat! We picked up 6 dozen, only brought 2 home. I was kind of surprised haha. We're down to a dozen now, though :P

I prefer Dunkin over Krispy Kreme 😝

Oh that is a good question to ask about pinging that mieke asked I also would prefer not to leave anyone out of the conversation

Nathan made stuffed peppers for dinner. Not sure how I feel about that but I'm going to try and eat it lol Chicken, cheddar, cream cheese, wrapped with bacon. Edit 705pm Nathan said he won't make them again. I asked why. He said he forgot he doesn't like cream cheese. I died laughing. I think I liked it better than he did I told him next time to just make them w/o the cream cheese

I agree with the other ladies, . Good question that Mieke asked and that we don't ping each other because we use the subscribe feature. I don't mind being pinged but I think some of us just like to open chat and not really be talking to one specific person. Maybe just to get things off our chest in a more open format. :P And for worrying about worrying - I think that's the most basic human attribute there is. :D

Kat - She is done with her contract down there so she is home until she finds her next contract. She's also thinking about going back to school to get her RN license, like her sister, so that she has more options and more pay. Not sure when she's going to start that but I think she's still working things out in her head. She'll take at least 3 weeks off, though.
Unfortunately, she's trying to persist on me getting another damn pool.
That school!! 😠

Man those stuffed peppers sound good! Were they bell peppers? Just trying to picture how they were wrapped with bacon, lol.

Never got any storms and barely got any rain. Crazy weather. Been cloudy nearly every day. At least now I can use some Ortho to spray on the immense thistle I've got growing everywhere. I won't be spraying it anywhere near the gardens, though.

Got a short work week and an extended weekend due to taking days off before and having the holiday off. I am SO looking forward to the break! Maybe I'll take a drive up to the original trail I was going to be on in May and check it out and spend the night if I see a good place to set up. If not, at least it will get me out of the house for quite a while.

The peppers were poblano peppers. He just simply wrapped one strip of bacon around each pepper. It wasn't a tight wrap or anything. (I think I would have used at least two and wrapped it tighter but I don't know what the recipe said and he was following a recipe).

Doesn't your daughter have a boyfriend? Is she leaving him or will they have a long distance relationship....or well I guess it's not my business but I am curious lol

I know you will enjoy having her home! Will she stay with you if she goes back to school or you don't know yet? Tell her she can have a small inflatable pool and she has to put it up and take it down when she leaves lol

Ugh. Noise. Septic truck just came up next door. Guess they are cleaning the septic tank. Dogs barking. Loud truck. No more quiet morning.

Yes, she will be staying home as she goes to school since she'll be paying for it on her own and wouldn't be able to afford a place of her own. She does have a boyfriend in TX and I guess they're going to stay in a long distance relationship. He's already booked a flight up here for the end of July so he can meet her family, since she's already met his. I'm going to have her help me get the house cleaner than it's been in years, lol. (otherwise she'll keep nitpicking at things as I'm not a very orderly kind of person, especially living by myself)

Poblanos would be perfect! I actually haven't seen them at Walmart for some time. Will have to check out the Asian stores for them.

Just sprayed down so much... my hands hurt, lol. Gawd I can't believe all the thistle that's growing in one section of my front yard. Then there's more crap coming over from the neighbors yards, all highly invasive weeds. Dandelions ain't nothing compared to these vines and some other really bad species that's been creeping over. (I forget the name of it now but I'm actually going to have to use Roundup - which I despise - next spring before they bloom or they will take over. I've read about people fighting there's for years b/c it's so invasive.)

I need to do something about poison ivy....and all the baby trees that have popped up. There is probably like 50 baby pines in the graveyard area alone. Tons of little gum trees too I also want to spray the fence line and around the house again (we did it quite a few years ago but now the grass is all up beside the house again) I don't like weed eating lol so a sprayed dead area is easier for me

I found the nasty weed. It hides most of the year so when it shows up late winter, it's already too late. Lesser Celadine At least it's in the opposite side of the yard, far away from my garden and anything nice and that side is full of vines that have come from the neighbors yard and is creeping up the side of my house, so I'll spray a lot of that whole side.
But hey, it's not poison ivy! :P

Gum trees? I'll have to look those up.

I've always called them gum trees. If they aren't actually named that then I have no idea what their real name is. They have 5 sided star/hand shaped leaves, and drop little spikey balls for seeds. I love the leaves but the spikey gumballs are annoying.

OHHH THOSE things!! LOL I hate those little spikey balls! I don't think I ever knew they were sweet gum trees. I was looking up regular gum trees and coming up with koala food. 😂
Great little balls to throw at your brothers, though. Not too much weight so you had to find a bare spot or the head. 😂 😂

lol yes. I remember throwing them at my brothers too. And they threw them at me. Sweet Gum yes. Hahaha there are other gum trees? And koalas feed on them? ok then. I guess I always followed the eucalyptus trees for koalas' belief :P But I am sure they DO eat other stuff as well. Most animals do.

I'm listening to more speeches this morning ... I have two more to respond to. I did three responses Monday. All speeches had to be turned in by noon yesterday. So now there are more to listen to and choose from. Trying to get those in as they are due tomorrow. As is the assignment I already did ;) But that leaves me needing to work on my new proposal and there are a few parts I'm unsure of how to put on the proposal so have to figure that out. Then I'll take a break from that and do the education classes before going back to the new speech. :P

The Australian gum trees are the eucalyptus trees. ;) Before you mentioned the spikey balls and I was looking up gum trees, I was going to say "are you feeding koalas down there?" and wondered if there were native eucalyptus trees in the states. It might be all one word, gumtree or separate but if you Google it, the results show the Australian trees.

Listening to speeches is not how I would want to spend my morning. :P