Crazy Weird!

Last night as Bella and I (Noah is no longer my sidekick in the kitchen, he'd rather play with his friends... go figure) were preparing dinner, I began to dice a tomato... and noticed something wasn't quite right. The seeds were sprouting, and some even had the first two leaves! Inside the tomato!! It was so weird, but in a very fascinating sort of way. I guess there is a first for everything. Can you see?

Beautiful

We have had nothing but Beautiful weather the entire week! Is it a sign that summer has finally arrived? I sure hope so, although I wouldn't be surprised if the rain returned again next week. Wait, I take that back, why jinx myself???? I've been told that summer doesn't 'REALLY' start until after the 4th of July weekend here in the Pacific NW.

Here are a few recent garden pictures. HMMM the shade was moving in on me when I took these photos, enlarging them might help you see better. This year I'm most excited about my celery. I read it was too difficult to grow it here. I also read that you shouldn't direct sow... I did and it is growing. I have little celery plants, and when they get a wee bit bigger, I'll try to capture them on my aging digital camera. (It feels like most of my photos are very foggy or blurry, time for a new camera.)

see the baby broccoli? sooooo exciting! Yeah, I know, maybe I need to get out a bit, but seriously...isn't it so cute? I think so.

Today is the First Day...

that our house is on the market!


We have decided to sell and move to Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii.
If you've never seen our house and you'd like to... check it out!

I am so excited, and eager to start the next chapter of our lives! I am also a bit sad...these decisions are never easy ones. I will miss my garden the MOST! Looking at the bright side...I can garden year-round in Hilo.

Wish us luck!

Cousins

Noah and Olivia

A couple of weeks back we ventured on a little road trip to Mount Shasta, California. It was relaxing, beautiful and warm. Noah and Olivia haven't seen each other since we were all in Hawaii more than 3yrs ago, and they were both still toddlers.

Thanks Marci for the adorable photo!

Peeling back the layers of time

Literally.

One side of my bedroom wall had textured wallpaper, which was damaged when our roof leaked a couple of years back. The bald spot has been covered by a fish patch quilt given to Bella when she was born. Today I decided to strip all of the old wallpaper so I can paint it and get rid of my lavender walls. I've never really liked them. It's just not my color.

After patiently removing the first layer of wallpaper I discovered, to my surprise... another layer of wallpaper. Not sure why this was a surprise, I think it's quite common to find several layers when removing wallpaper in an old home. Lucky for me, there where ONLY two layers. I don't think I could have handled another. Under my lavender textured walls, I found brown and white flowers, all over the wall.

Interesting. As I peeled back this second layer, there were also several strands of hair. Gross I know... but I couldn't help but think of the person, whoever he or she was, that took the time to put up this interesting wallpaper. How old is this person now? Where is she/he? I really wonder what year it dates back to. It smelled of old smoke. Amazing how old wallpaper can absorb and hold on to a smell for so long. Then again, I seem to have this keen sense of smell. No one else could smell it.

Peeling away a bit of history, and creating a bit of our own.

Now... what color should I paint the room???

Decisions, decisions.

There is a RESET button? DUH!!

Depending on how long you've reading this blog, you may know that we've had more than a few house issues since moving in two and a half years ago. Most of them occurred 6 months after moving in. It was frustrating and annoying, but we had them fixed, draining our savings account in the process, and moved on. One of the smaller annoyances was the garbage disposal. After a few months of use, kaput, it died. We decided not to fix it. I thought it was due to the fact that I may have accidentally let some rice go down the drain. I assumed the rice turned to sticky glue and ruined the disposal. I was sure of it. Maybe... maybe not.

For nearly two years, our sink has been a real pain. Clogging, and filling up with icky, stinky water when the dishwasher was run. Last week I begged and pleaded for Jaime to do something, anything... just please fix it. He agreed, he has had enough of sticking his hand down the drain, and plunging it.

Step one, research how to replace the disposal. While reading this article from Popular Mechanics, he learned of a RESET BUTTON. Yes, really it is true. After reading the paragraph below, he located our RESET BUTTON, and what do you know? It works. After two years, all we had to do was push the RESET BUTTON located at the bottom of the disposal. We got a good laugh out of this one.

Jamming is so common that every disposer comes with a wrench and an on-board circuit breaker, so don't assume your disposer has failed simply because it stops working. Use a flashlight to check for foreign objects lodged in the perimeter openings of the drum. Remove any obstruction with needle-nose pliers.
If you see nothing obvious, insert the wrench into the motor spline, found at the bottom of the unit, and twist right and left. If the motor spins freely, check that the circuit breaker hasn't tripped and then try the reset button. If these measures don't work, and your disposer's warranty has expired, it's time to replace it.