Friday Things
1. Joseph had a great Easter and continues to be a hilarious, funny toddler (see: half of a plastic Easter egg he kept sticking on his nose!) whoย learns new things each day and never ceases to be super proud of himself โ clapping heartily with each new accomplishment :)
2.ย Are you planning to have a garden this year? Tell me what youโre planting! Iโm thinking just some herbs and maybe jalapeรฑos and tomatoes in pots on the deck.
3.ย I am so frustrated by how awful I am at picking out melons. My mom has told me countless times how to do itโฆ Iโve read a million articles on how to pick perfect melonsโฆ it doesnโt seem to matter. I somehow always pick melons that are rock hard inside. Ugh.
4. Iโm so excited that the Cookies &ย Cups cookbook will be out in less than two weeks! I got a sneak peek of it and there are SO MANY amazing recipes โ Iโll be sharing one next week! Shelly is definitely my dessert soul mate; I swear everything she posts makes me want to run into the kitchen!
5.ย Lions, tigers and bears, oh my! Did you see the video of the lion, tiger and bear that were rescued together as cubs and have since grown up together in an animal sanctuary? (I know, Iโm such a sucker for animal videos!)
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6.ย I LOVE Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry David, so this list of classic Larry David moments had me laughing hysterically.
7.ย This hack on how to maximize kitchen drawer space is genius!
8.ย I shattered the face of my iPhone at least a couple of months agoโฆ well, it was on the kitchen table and Joseph tugged on the tablecloth, and down it went. My contract isnโt up until the fall so Iโm TRYING to survive, but now itโs getting hard to make the screen work it certain places, ugh.
9.ย Oh my gosh, this gallery of gorgeous pantries has me wanting to totally purge and reorganize mine ASAP!
10. TGIF! I hope you have a fabulous first weekend of April!
The best advice I ever received about choosing a melon is to pick one that feels heavy for its size. The advice about waiting until you can smell it a bit is good, too (though, if you can smell it a lot, it may be a bit overripeโฆthe flavor is dispersed to the air and not in the melon anymore), as is the tip about looking for it to be slightly soft, but both of those are subsequent to picking a heavy melon to begin with. Pick up a few so you can compare, if you need to, but a heavy melon is generally a juicy one!
I canโt wait to see what you make!!!
Your son is so precious! Itโs amazing what they can play with! I hope we will be planting a garden this year. If we do, we usually grow zucchini and green beans, and sometimes bell peppers.
Joseph with the plastic nose reminds me of Patch Adams โ love that movie! Itโs so fun when little ones clap when they do something new.
I adore the BLT (bear, lion, tiger). It is my hope to make it over to the sanctuary in the near future. They are my pick for donations on AmazonSmile.
I have a brown thumb, bordering on black, but this is what I am attempting on my small balcony: tomatoes โ Bloody Butcher, Cherokee Purple, German Queen (all heirlooms); peppers โ poblano, anaheim, serrano, jalapeno, green bell; herbs โ basil, thyme, sage, garlic chives, parsley; other โ chinese cabbage, radish, onion, garlic, brussels sprouts, arugila, and maybe spinach.
Your boy is an absolute doll.
oh, and to eliminating drawer clutterโฆIโve taken an old wood shutter, painted it bright red and hung it over the door to my laundry room. This wonโt work in most kitchens, but is perfect for mine. This door is right by my cooking area (who designs these places?). Using S hooks, I hang all manner of utensils that I use on a regular basis. Also have a basket of some sort from Ikea (that hangs nicely from the shutter) that holds smaller things that I canโt hang.
Love the blue Easter egg nose! And those 2 black noses as well :) All 3 of your boys are great! Funny you should mention garden this week. Just yesterday I found my Golden girl out in the garden tugging at the dried, left over bean plants that I didnโt fully pull out last year. This year I plan to plant sugar baby watermelons, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, beans, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, and of course LOTS of basil, cilantro, oregano, and Iโm hoping to start a raised bed of strawberries. All of the fresh produce available is the best part of summer! Have a great weekend!
My daughter shattered her screen for the umpteenth time last week .. ? .. If you have an Apple Store near you they replace it in an hour for $100 for the iPhone 6. Happy April .. โ๏ธ??
I buy melons and stone fruit ahead of time when they are hard/green and wait for them to ripen.
Melon picking- find the one with the least green color on the skin and the most tan. It may look like itโs ready to throw out. A gentle squeeze will yield. It may smell good by the stem but thatโs not the best test. The other day I went looking for cantaloupes in the grocery store while the clerk put a new load out. They were all โgreenโ. I asked where the old ones were. He said the man had cut them in halves to sell. I bought one half and it was to die for. Look for the older ones. But if a squeeze yields a hole, you went too far, skip that one !
The melonsโฆand other fruits and veggies. when you buy stuff from the supermarket they: are picked early from the farm, put in cold trucks and their ripping process gets interrupted. the best way that I have found to pick fruit is to smell it. (a relative (older) of mine likes to eat a peach or nectarine at the supermarket before he buys the whole pound because he got tired of paying for crappy fruit) Anyhow, melons are hard to smell but try, they have a thick skin. also let it sit on the counter for a few days allowing it to continue the interrupted ripping process that it has been under. this will give back some out door time since itโs been cooped up in the cold refrigerators.
Hello! You can bring your phone to you break I fix. They do a great job of fixing/replacing shattered screens etc. I believe they are in every state. I have had to go there a couple of times. :)
Joseph looks so darned cute clowning around, and it certainly looks like heโs in training to developing a well-defined sense of humor! Insofar as picking melons are concerned, if youโre speaking of โwatermelonsโ, I remember my late father picking up a watermelon and knocking on it. Iโm not really sure what he was expecting to find, and I always kidded him and told him that one of these fine days something was going to be knocking right back at him โ LOL! Have a nice weekend, everyone!
My iPhone screen has shattered a couple of times ? and what I always do when that happens is put plastic/cling wrap over it until I get a new phone. The phone works just as well but thereโs no danger of glass getting on your fingers. And my husbandโs screen also shattered recently and we went to the apple repair store and they actually did it for free because it had shattered in a car accident. Hope this helps ?
Iโve heard Apple stores hate to see you leave with a cracked screen, so you might stop by an Apple Store and ask how much to fix it!
Since my 2.5 year old was born and I put phone on top of my car โ which I NEVER do โ my husband and I have used the otterbox defender cases. Theyโre pretty amazing!
Happy April!
8. Check out an iRepair store. My son shattered his iPad glass and they replaced it for about a third of the cost. Totally worth it!
Iโm with ya on picking out a cantaloupe. My advice is if you see that the stem has been cut (rather than slipped completely off)โฆโฆwalk away. The melons have been harvested unripe and are not good. At my house, no one will eat that hard melon!!! Canโt wait for summer fruits.
Oh my those pantries make me so happy!