The Curse of the Black Thumb

I've always known that I don't have a green thumb. This is a fact. I kill almost everything (every plant) I touch. I shouldn't even say almost, because I'm pretty sure every plant I've ever touched is now in plant heaven. Last year I decided to go to a nursery and speak to a professional about my problem. He chose a plant for me that he guaranteed I could not kill. He picked out the potting soil and the pot. He instructed me on how often to water it and how much sun to give it. I took her home, potted her, watered her, and named her Esmerelda. Three weeks later... plant heaven. Rest in peace friend.

So this year I am going a different direction. No more house plants for me. I'm growing vegetables! I've done my research and decided to plant a square foot garden. Apparently this is like vegetable gardens for dummies... definitely necessary in my case. For more info on square foot gardens you can check out http://www.squarefootgardening.com/. Its a real thing, I swear.

Drew and I went to Home Depot and gathered all the supplies to make my lovely garden. I was tempted to buy whatever soil was the cheapest, but the square foot garden insists that you use a very special blend of compost, peat moss, and course vermiculite. Drew won't let me make my own compost (he calls me a hippie), so I bought mushroom compost at the Depot. Who knew you could buy that kind of thing?

Home Depot didn't carry vermiculite (what is that?). So while Drew went home to start building the garden, I went out in search of the last ingredient which would ensure a lovely vegetable garden. I found it at Westlake Ace Hardware. The girl at the counter was chatting me up asking about my project... she'd never heard of vermiculite either. And as I told her about my past experiences with plants, she told me, "It sounds like you've got a black thumb!" WTF?!? I didn't even know there was such a thing. So now I'm out to break the curse! I will have homegrown veggies this summer!

Drew was super helpful! He'll use any excuse to play with his tools. He's my handsome handyman!

I had a really hard time finding gardening tools. I eventually gave up and just used the tiny rake left at our house by the previous owners. I'm pretty sure it is meant for kids, there is a picture of a happy cricket on the handle. Works great for me!

What black thumb?!? I planted cucumbers, bell peppers, and zucchini. Two square feet of each.

I totally cheated and bought some basil that has already sprouted. Surely at least this will grow, right? I don't even have to make it grow. I just have to keep from killing it. Say a prayer!!

So, after all that hard work and planting and searching for vermiculite... it poured rain for like 12 straight hours through the night. I'm no expert, but I don't think that's a great thing for my veggies. Damn thumb.

Jack's Baptism

On Saturday our nephew Jack was baptized. Drew and I were so honored that Brooke and Bryan chose us to be Jack's God Parents/Sponsors.

Jack did great during the service, of course. He's smiled and laughed, even as he had water poured over his head. He's such a blessing on all of us, and I'm so glad to have been part of this special day.

Jack prior to the big moment. He's getting pumped up! He was so brave during the baptism!

Jack with mom & dad. He's got such proud parents!

We are so blessed to have the Clarks as family. I couldn't ask for better people to have in our lives! I feel so lucky to be so close and to get to watch Jack grow up. He changes every time we see him. He's already trying to crawl!



Drew looks so cute holding Jack! He's the coolest baby ever. :)

After the service we went back to Brooke & Bryan's for dinner... lasagna, yum! Brooke made some delish cupcakes too. We had a great time, especially getting to know Bryan's side of the family better. His parents and grandparents were tearing it up on the Wii all night. It was hilarious! Its pretty bad when you have to ask the baby's great-grandparents to quiet down so they don't wake him. :)

Digging in the Dirt

If you look closely, you can see in the picture below that Ari and Mya are actually in different yards. Yep, Mya is in our yard and Ari is in the neighbor's yard. Ari finally learned how to jump our sad excuse for a fence! I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner. In some spots he could have literally stepped over the dang thing. He just didn't figure that out... until now!

So our new summer project will be to build a new fence. Our first step was to dig out all the overgrown bushes, trees, and foilage. When I say "our" I really mean Drew and Brett. Brett was nice enough to spend the evening bush whacking with Drew. As you can see, Ari was a big help too. Mya and I supervised.

Those are daffodils next to Drew. They're highly poisonous to dogs... so a good thing to have around when you have two dogs. Okay, I found this out almost a year ago, and they are just now being dug up. Its not like the dogs ever ate them, right?!

Brett took that bush down! About halfway through, some sort of crazy instinct took over Ari. He started digging like crazy! We all just stopped and stared. The little guy dug a huge hole in a matter of minutes! I was terrified we were going to find the old owner's dead cat down there or something. But no, he was just being a dog I guess.

And here are the dogs, plotting a new way to escape...

Mya is definitely the brains of this operation. Ari would never have thought to jump the fence on his own! She doesn't have the physical capabilities, so she just feeds ideas to Ari. Those dogs are rotten!

Stay tuned for all the fence building fun that's sure to come! :)