Garden, Fried Foods, Goodbye Job and Hello Peace.

Some garden photos!

We had a nice weekend. We ate entirely too much! Friday night Tim fried some fresh zuchinni to go with some orange marinade chicken he grilled. Delicious. Sunday afternoon we had homemade fried onion rings. Oh my, they were too good and I ate too much. That is the most fried food we have eaten in so long.

I will get some crafting pictures to share. I have been trying my hand at embroidery and I am loving it. I had fun working on some granny squares with some scrap yarn.

When we moved from Alabama I left behind a really good job. I was an Executive Administrative Assistant for various VPs in the Defense and Aerospace industry. I had a 40 to 45 minute commute in traffic that could make even the best of folks cuss like a sailor. I learned when you got that promotion working with VPs that your job was directly related to them....so if they decide to leave or change positions you are left working to figure out where you stay or go. I got so tired of that. I hate to complain because the Good Lord took such good care of me and my family with that job and the insurance it provided. Plus I worked with some of the best people and friends of my adult life. I moved up quickly and that job was a true blessing. But it seem to just run it's season and I had no problems leaving it behind. My health problems added to this as well.

I knew I was stressed, but just recently I realized just how stressed. Days like today are gifts to me. I accomplish my tasks at a comfortable pace. And no more traffic! This move has had some problems and things we didn't plan, but I am so thankful to be here. Tim's family is the biggest blessing. I am an only child and Tim has 4 sisters! They are fun and hilarious with some of the cutest kids you can find. Tim's Mom and Dad are like my parents and treat me like one of their own. Tim's daughter, Lucy, is a sweetheart and I love being able to get to know her better. Tim is always thanking me for wanting to move "home". But I want to thank him for helping me find a new home.

I love this little old house and I love, love the huge shade trees in the front yard. and we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel as far as remodeling goes. I just need to remember how blessed I feel on these days that are so peaceful. I would like to find a part time job. But right now I couldn't imagine having to support a VP no matter how much money they paid me.

I hope your Tuesday is a peaceful as mine today.

Kim

Around the yard

Some views around the yard in heat that I did not sign up for when I moved NORTH! My husband was laughing while asking me this morning if I thought the state of Illinios didn't have summers? My reply: Not like Alabama summers!!! Ok, I will shut up about the heat now.....

I didnt' have the ability to hang clothes out until I moved here. And I love it. The poles are old and rusty so I planted some morning glories and I am now training them up the poles.

My pictures of the garden just didn't capture it as I would like. Tim is much better at photography than I. He will be home later this evening, so I will get hime to take some garden pictures this weekend. But here is one showing the corn.

My tree face......that sounds like a medical problem...I have a bad case of tree face!

Say goodbye Kim....Goodbye Kim

(Happy Friday!)

Kim is alive and well......

I knew I had been quiet for awhile, but I didn't realize just how long! While taking Pepper out for her morning "walk" I thought I really need to take an updated picture of the garden. Which then brought me around to blogging. You know how you start on one thing and then while in the middle of that one thing you go off on other things....

I went to the picture files and the next thing I knew I had been looking through pictures and almost an hour went by! Then I decided until I can get a garden photo later today, I would share some older pictures I ran across this morning.

The picture above is my son and I nearly 3 years ago on a 3 day cruise to Kozumel Mexico. The food was wonderful. They had this chocolate dessert that was pure sin.

My daughter and her husband on their wedding day last November. I love this picture.

My daughter. I wish the picture was better, but you can still see how beautiful she is......if I do say so myself. :o)

The weather here in Carlyle has been HOT. I told Tim I clearly made it known that I was leaving the hot behind in Alabama. I hate this type of heat. It looks as if I brought it with me. I hope to see cooler days soon.

I have been crocheting, painting, sewing, reading and entertaining Pepper.

I am currently once again reading Sense and Sensibility. I love that story and I love the movie as well. I would be embarassed to tell you how many times I have watched the movie. Willoughby is very dashing, but I have always preferred Colonel Brandon.

I am off to get some laundry done I will return soon with garden pictures.

Have a great day! Kim

Been A While

Hey!, It's been a while since I was on here so I thought that I would check in and let you know what has been going on here at the Crimson Kitchen. The garden is really looking great! We have pickling cucumbers coming on strong along with regulars, the corn is starting to tassel, the Zucchini is looking great along with the tomato plants. It looks as though there will be a bountiful harvest this year. I will try to get pictures this weekend but no promises as I just got in this very evening. It has been a long week, I had to go to Orlando Fl. to unload then down to Miami to reload. I feel wrung out and put away wet.

The house is coming along, a little slow but coming along. I got most of the kitchen cabinet doors hung and Kim painted them one last time. Most of the hardware is on them and we are hoping to get the counter top paid for in July. We are kinda in a holding pattern as the floor has got to be installed before we trim out the kitchen and dinning room so we are saving up money for that. Once that is done then it will be time to call Sean our carpenter back and finish it. Then it will be time for the living room.

Well thats about all for now. Look here later to see if I got the camera out and updated this post.
Peace
Tim

Cooking and Growing

Well, we are finally cooking in the kitchen. We don't have a sink or counter top yet but we are making do with a little plywood for now.

Here are a couple of shots of the walls in the dinning room. Just imagine a gloss white chair rail running across between the red and the gray.

This one is showing up a lot brighter than it really is, the one above is closer to the real color.

What a difference a week makes in bean production huh?

The sweet corn has survived the onlought of the rain.

We have one tomato plant that is just going wild. I don't know why but I like it.

Cucumbers after a week. I am going to build a trellis for them to climb next weekend.

Zuchinni

Garden Pictures

Well, this weekend we finally got the garden weeded, tilled again, and planted. The shot below is of the water tower a block from our house. It was getting ready to storm and I thought the contrast was perfect for a picture.



























Here is a shot of our bush beans that are coming up. We planted four rows of them.


























We have one lonely eggplant.

This is Flat Leaf Parsley, Basil, and Watermelon in the background. I intend to put a chickenwire fence around the Watermelon after it gets running to keep it penned in and under control.

We have eleven Pepper plants, California Wonders and Some Yellow Bells.

This is Zuchini in the foreground and Cucumbers in the background. The Cucumbers I intend to build a verticle lattice fence that they can climb on.

This is our thirteen tomato plants. We have Better Boys, Jet Stars, Early Girls, One Roma, and about three cherry.

Last here is our four rows of corn. Its the Yellow and White Variety.

Here is the whole garden shot. We started to see some rabbit encroachment so after I shot this, and while it was raining I cut a 50 foot roll of Two foot chicken wire down the middle using some tin snips to make 100 foot of one foot rabbit fence. If they decide to jump it,,,,well I hate it for them if they are still in there in the morning!

Garden Update

This afternoon I had some time at home due to a meeting and actually had time to work in the garden. I have yet to get the tiller fixed so I turned some soil the old fashioned way, I used a shovel. I sowed four rows of bush beans about ten feet long. Kim planted some Hostas next to the house and the garage, along with some flowers. I started weeding the corn and let me tell you, that is a lot of work. I am having to do most of it on my hands and knees so I wont rip out any more corn plants. Yea, I got two of them as soon as I got started with the hoe. This Friday is payday so I will have the funds to buy some more chicken wire. It seems that the local cottontails are enjoying a corn treat at night. I guess I will use the chicken wire to surround the whole garden until we can get the permanent fence up. I understand that if you are farming and rabbits are eating your crop, they can be considered a varmint and shot. I wonder if that works in town?