I choose NOT to agree

For the month of June
I will NOT agree that anyone is a butthead or a jerk or a bitch or a pain in the ass or "insert derogatory word of choice here."
Not only do I choose to abstain from agreeing
I am going to challenge you to change your thinking
Whoever you are
My hub, my best friend, my co-worker, the person in line at the grocery store
Change your thinking, change your life
I believe it's true
Stop thinking your neighbor is a butthead...and they'll stop appearing to be a butthead
The child will not seem like such a pain in the neck if we stop calling him/her a pain in the neck

I'm binding and loosing and I'm hugging...a lot
and you should hug too
So what if you can only start with 2 a day
add one more tomorrow
work your way all the way up to 10 hugs a day
can you do it?
Can you hug your loved ones TEN TIMES A DAY....EACH?
I'm gonna try
And I'm gonna keep telling you to try too
Because it makes a difference
...and change is good :)

Hanging out my shingle...

The Universe has shown me on several occasions just this week that it is time to stop dreaming and just DO.
My goal?
To be recognized and sought after as an esteemed communication and relationship coach in the areas of personal, social and professional relations.

Turns out people recognize this quality in me...and even seek out my skills already so I'm jumpin' in while I work on the "esteemed" part...

So by July 15th I will

• meet with my web designer and outline launch of my website
• make contact with at least 2 potential mentors who can help me create my fee structure
• contact local organizations (churches, community centers, etc.) and book 3 introductory workshops

Ta Da

So let it be written...

So let it be DONE

Trial and Error Gardening: May Update

If you don't know where our garden started...click here and click here to see our humble beginnings...
Unfortunately the eco-friendly pest control we tried on the lawn didn't work, we have more ants than when we started...so I lost that battle...hub gets to pick the next product. I am glad we tried though!

In no particular order...here are update photos from our trial and error container garden.

Don't know if I had bum seeds, or a poor soil mixture but no seedlings emerged :(

These are actually itty bitty strawberries from the strawberry pot you'll see below. They were sour, but the plant is flowering :)

This is the olive tree we planted last year. Somewhere there's a pic of it as a baby, but I can't find the page so I'll add the link later.

Radishes take two. The first pot of radishes was a porcelain pot, the day after they were planted it POURED and the seeds were flooded out...note, it hasn't rained since!

Look closely...there's spinach trying to flex it's muscle

Burgundy Beans

Bush Beans

The rescued Dwarf Banana and it's brother...both doing very well

Honey Berries

Green Onions...they look a little weak to me but they're trying

heh heh...just in case you missed the fennel failure earlier

Green Pepper and Oregano. This is my FAVORITE pot. The peppers are fantastic and I snip the Oregano for dinner daily!

Cubanelles

Patio Tomatoes.
This plant actually looks worse than the original picture. Lost lots of leaves to leaf miners
But the fruit...is FANTASTIC this is a GREAT tomato, very flavorful.
We've harvested a couple of pounds already.

aforementioned strawberry pot

chives...

top hat blueberry

Rosemary (s) the hemispherectomy was a success :)

I'm excited to see the corn barrels successfully producing! Next week I'll thin the stalks to the healthiest specimens

as I mentioned, we've gone weeks without rain so my cilantro bolted...now harvesting coriander and may try to start some from seed. I snapped the picture before I pruned the basil...harvesting seeds from these too because one can NEVER have too much basil!

pole beans!

mint...the other one is still there, just not thriving as much as the one on the left

my 'cut it all the way back and see if it returns' experiment

my new garden cart from the hub :)

Portabello rice bowl

Okay so the pic doesn't look very appetizing but this dish DELICIOUS and made with some ingredients from the yard.

• Basmati (cooked)
• Black beans (drained)
• 3 portabello mushrooms cut in large cubes
• patio tomatoes, gutted and sliced (garden)
• basil leaves (garden)
• oregano leaves (garden)
• 1/2 small wheel of brie
• 2 Tbsp of salted butter
• sprinkled with shredded parmesean

Garden Salsa

This was FANtastic!
All of the main ingredients came from the garden
I added one onion (because ours aren't ready yet)
FRESH is Salsa is the bomb!