Almost at the end of the growing season

I tried my best as keeping the plants alive this year.
Here's what's left:
- Star Jasmine "Jasmine"
- Johnny Tomato
- Blueberry "Jake"
- Jalapeño
- Calla lily "Lily Belle"
- egg plant (no flowers this year)

Since I'm in a 9/10 region (however with low sunlight due to apartments and trees), I'm going to try and get at least one or two tomatoes to ripen.
As I was cleaning today, I forgot that I had tied my tomato plant to another pot's support stick. So as I moved the tomato pot -- SNAP --. Oops, that'd be the strongest of the tomato plant left hanging on the support stick - in another pot. Le sigh. Fortunately there are a few flowers and buds growing still on the main stem line. I kept the broken off stems to see if they'd ripen off the plant. Here's to hoping.
The jalapeño plant was most successful.
I got 1 cucumber this year! Hooray!
The Calla Lily seems to be doing great. I hope she has flowers next year. I saw one for a short time this year. And wow, was it beautiful. Made me appreciate it more.
Star Jasmine finally was blooming flowers after the initial replanting shock. Hooray! I love the smell of star jasmines.
The Blueberry plant didn't grow any Buds this year. I think it takes a few years to start producing. Until then, we'll be patient.
We named the plants this year. It was fun. I think next year we will put name placards on each pot. I think that'd be fun. :-)

Ciao,
LO

P.S. the plants that didn't grow/died/mauled by squirrels are on the green lid. Yep. :-(

The survivors.

Tomato Plant with flowers and bud.

All the plants that didn't make it.

Star Jasmine "Jasmine"

Jalepeno Plant with flower.

Eggplant. Yeah, he hasn't grown much...

Calla Lily "Lily Belle"

Blueberry plant "Jake" - new growth

Garden Update - We have flowers...

Yay! There are flowers on my veggie plants! Praying that the flowers will bud and we'll get at least a few tomatoes, and maaaaybe some bell peppers (not pictured).

My Tomato Plant have flowers!! A few but the yellow flowers are there!

A few Jalapeño Peppers left on the tree - I already picked 3 off that day. 

My Star Jasmine finally bloomed flowers!! :-) 

My Eggplant with no flowers. :-(

I have to say my bell pepper plants were looking pretty good until the hail and a ton of rain was dumped on the plants. :-( I loved the hail and rain, my plants did not. The bells are super droopy right now. I might give it some epsom salt and see if that helps.

Also, dilute your fish fertilizer in water - don't just dump it on the soil and water it. oops. I think the rain washed it all out anyway.

Cucumber update: we only got one cuc this year. I feel more equipped for next year, but wished more grew this year...

I'll have to take a picture of all the plants that didn't make it this year. Also, to not START at the beginning of JULY. UGH.

Happy mid-September!! It's football season! and the final games of Angels baseball is winding down. Hoping for a miracle, buuuuttt it's a long shot. o_O

Hoping to don my boots next week!! Praying more cooler weather. :O)

Ciao bellas,

LO

Quick Gardening update

Just put fish fertilizer on my plants and some compost starter mix in
my compost bin. Here's to forward growth/progress.

Photos soon.

Sent from my iPhone

Disney Gardening

Disney never ceases to amaze me. This is one of the reasons why I want to go to Disney World. They have a International Flower & Garden Festival

Check out this tomato plant!! It produces over a 1,000 tomatoes from a single vine.

Now, seriously, can you imagine having Mickey Watermelons??

And the cute fairy in the Pixie Hollow.

I hope to have a gardening update soon... Happy Gardening!

Ciao,

LO

Coupon Savvy

K, so I've been trying to make an effort to use coupons more and be more fiscally responsible.
Today, trying to be all coupon savvy... I get to the register at Costco, coupons in hand, and before I even get to hand them over with glee -- with over $9 in savings -- the cashier, starts to say something about the coupons. I don't even hear what he says, because at very same moment I look at the coupons that say "VALID FROM AUG 18 - whatever end date" NOOooooo..... I ask with kind eyes, "Could they please work today? Wait, isn't it like a day or two away?" his reply, "Tomorrow. And as the saying goes 'A Day late and a dollar short.'"
I guess I'm going back tomorrow.
Fact: it was my most efficient, fastest, and least crowded Costco Visit - ever. I don't know if I can strike Costco gold like this again... le sigh ...

Another to file away...

Yes, here is another beautiful item to file under - for when I get a house.

Kitchenette
I found this from House of Blessings Blog

The craftsmanship is amazing and lovely!!
As JO would say, "I want it."

That's all for now. :-)

~*LO*~

Patio Garden going through some tough times...

My last update was with most of my sprouts being fairly happy for the most part. The peppers weren't budding so I sprayed my plants with Epsom salt and water. Hopefully this will help...

Now comes the sad patio news, over the past week, the squirrels have attacked my plants at the stem.

SUPER SAD PANDA!! (._.)

Look...

Roma Tomato. And he was doing the best too.

Beef Steak. There were 3 going good.

WwhhhHHyyyYYy squirrels?! Aaahhhh! :-(

Well. On a good note, my peppers are starting to bud.

First Bud.

Fortunately, I'm hoping that this Roma will survive. I have to have at least ONE tomato plant... just one...

"I'm a Survivor! I'm not gunna give up. I'm gunna make it. I will survive."
Thank you Destiny's Child.

Well that's my garden update for today. Praying that more plants will survive.

peace.

LO

Update. finally... Gardening time!!

It's been a long while since I've posted. Softball season has been over and I'm just getting things back in order from the past three months. Now that softball is over, I've moved on to my garden. woot! :o)

Patio Garden 2011

This year I'm trying a bunch of different types of plants and veggies. I've grown most from seed this year. Starting them in small windowsill greenhouses and then moving them out to the patio when they are big and strong enough. :-) Here's some of what I'm growing:
* Tomato: Beefsteak, Roma, Johnny Tomato.
* Pepper: Jalapeno, Bell, Chili - from our neighbors plant from 2009.
* Pumpkin: Jack O'Lantern, Cinderella, mini-jack.
* Berries: Strawberry, blueberry
* Misc: Cucumbers, Sunflowers, Eggplant and a handful of others in random pots - because they weren't growing in the egg cartons (for a long long time) and I just tossed the dirt into pots...and now they are growing... go figure.

If we are still here next year, I might just officially-officially take over the dirt that's beyond our patio and put a raised garden bed. I dunno... we'll see.
That's all for now.

Thanks for listening!

~*LO*~

Here comes the sun... Doo dooo do dooo

The rain has come and I'm hoping that the rain is done. I have been waiting patiently to plant my garden. I've been trying to follow the sun patterns on our patio and I think the reason why my plants started to grow faster in May was due to the fact that the sun's positioning was much better than it is now. Right now I'm hardly getting any ample amount of sunlight. :-( sad panda - right??
Call me crazy, but I look at places and get I guess you would call it sun-envy. Sun-envy: envious of homes or places of business that get 4+ hours of direct sunlight each day.

One day I'll have a yard with full sunlight and beautiful soil. ... One day.


Happy gardening,

LO

Another to file under - for when I get a house...

I received an email from Plow and Hearth and the most beautiful cupboard appeared.

It is by Plow & Hearth. It is a Large Conestoga Cupboard. Beautiful. Unfortunately, I don't have $1400 to shell out. So, this picture will have to do.

Ciao.

- LO

iPhone cardboard scanner

No kidding. An iPhone scanner made of cardboard. Featured in the Evernote blog - Kyle Koch used Evernote extensively while in school. And here is one of his creations.

Bril.iant.

Peace out geeks,

LO

Cute Crochet idea!

I was going through my google reader and on one of the most unsuspecting blog I found the cutest knitted/crocheted hat!

It's from Kat Von D's younger brother's blog (Michael). I know, right?! So cool.
Side note: I absolutely LOVE watching Kat on LA Ink. What an amazing artist!

Ciao,

LO

PC program featuring Mac computer...oops.

Ok, so iPod Rip allows you to transfer your music from your ipod or iphone to your PC. However, on their home page, it's a mac not a PC, and this program is for just PCs. So, I was a litte confused when I went to open the program that I just downloaded and it wanted to open it in TextEdit. Nice. Here is my photo evidence. ha. enjoy.

iPod Rip's webpage clip

MacBook Pro

PC

Close... but no bananas.

Ciao geeks,

LO

p.s. just watched The Social Network for the first time tonight. I enjoyed it. $65 million, meh.

Prepping for Gardening 2011

It's january and I don't want to get behind the ball on my gardening. I still consider myself a super newbie gardener. I'd say I had a 50% success rate this past season. However, I think I would've had a better harvest if I actually started planting before June. ;-) Armed with more helpful tips and hints from family, friends, books, and blogs - I hope to have a more successful harvest.

Johnny helped me dump out the old soil from the pots and we let them dry out.
We technically only have the concrete to work with, but since the area between the concrete and pond is neglected by our apartment complex, I've commandeered it. :-) so I was thinking to not draw too much attention by the apartment managment, just to toss some flower seeds down, and if anything grows - awesome! And if not, oh well. :-)


Here's to a happy harvest!

- LO

Cleaning Spree with Awesome Tips!

I've been using cleaning detergents for I don't know how long - forever! I saw this post by Corynne and I think I saved the link, emailed it myself, posted it, etc. How great! Home cleaning solutions! Love it.
Then RealSimple sends their weeklyish tips, most of the time they are really great, other times I just skim through their tips. But this one is directly and awesomely related to the "file that under - who knew? home cleaning supplies." There were just six on the landing page of the link... then I saw the glorious "more uses" ... that went on and on!!

So, I've actually been side railed on my cleaning spree from this morning by posting this, but I HAD to get it out. Happy cleaning!


Blessings,

LO

www.realsimple.com

Green Scarf

So here are the two scarves I mentioned. The one on the left (brown and yellow) was finished while we were up in twin peaks and not able to go outside. 

I started the green scarf … gosh, had to be 2006 - before my little boy. It’s been stashed away in my yarn box for a long time now. It’s made it through 2 moves and plenty of box shuffling. I’m just glad it’s DONE! It’s actually quite funny, because with my running joke with my bestie, I don’t give presents to her on time. I’m talking 10, 15, 20 years of not giving gifts on time. Yeah. Way lame of me, but super funny when I gave her a 1997 calendar of her favorite dog breed in 2003. or a pencil with a cute snowman eraser from 1993, and gave it to her also in 2003. It was her 21st birthday and I gave her all the delayed gifts. It was a riot. 
But needless to say… it is finished! :-)

Crocheting and Pasta Making

So I've picked up my crochet hook and pasta maker and have been goin' to town! I'll take some photos of my recent work/food and post them.

We went to Twin Peaks, CA and we were basically snowed in. The rain and snow kept us from driving around town. I didn't mind staying inside. Our room didn't have a TV so we were able to read, crochet, watch movies on our iPad, and have fun as a family. I really didn't miss our TV while we were there. It made time go by so much slower and we got to enjoy doing things we normally don't get to do.

I'll have to pull the photos off my camera and phone and post more.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. Christmas was wonderful and all the events that we got to do with our friends and family was super fun.

Here's to 2011.

Looking forward to 2011, but a little skiddish about it. Don't know why. I guess it's just a lot of the unknown that I shouldn't be worried about.....

Peace.