Rain Barrel Update

Well, here they are.  One disguised as a bunch of leaves so it doesn't stick out from it's surroundings and one as a wine barrel.  The wine barrel may get some more touch ups, but for now...they are done.  Had a lot of fun using leaves from around the yard to spray on the 'natural' barrel.  If you click the pic, you can see it more detail.  You will also see more mistakes. :)
Time to try my hand at making fig preserves...

Pics (aka Goal #3)

Here are just a few pics of random things I've taken over the past month or so.  Just to update...

Shroomy in his new home and my new succulent garden.  Still needs mulch/rocks.

Sunny day view of pond and water lily.  

First home brew I got to try and a cool Russell Wright pitcher sent to us by Paul for no other reason than he likes us, I guess.  :)  Thanks, Paul!

Shroomy in all his glory.  How cool is a mushroom gnome???

Awesome retro mushroom containers I found at a garage sale...$10 for the set!  Since I don't really use flour or sugar, I'm not sure what I'm going to put in these (craft supplies???), but I couldn't let them get away!

Three Generations (me, Dee Dee and Mom) 7/27/12.  I really like how colorful we are...hair and clothes!  :)

Rain Barrels

Lon did something completely unexpected and signed us up for a Rain Barrel making class.  It was offered by the Master Gardeners of Hamilton County and for the low, low price of $25/barrel, they provided the supplies and instruction.  We made two.  :)  Next step is painting them.  The paint will keep the sun's UV rays from cracking the plastic, food-grade barrels and it will be fun to do!  (Yes, I'll post pics...even if they don't turn out as the masterpieces I'm imagining.)  Then, of course, we have to finally put gutters up on our garage to catch said rain.  It's been on our project board since we moved in and after the deluge of the past few weeks, we really, really need to get moving on this one.  Weird how most of the country has been suffering through drought conditions and we've had trees uprooting around here due to soaking wet soil and steep hillsides.
Right now I'm baking some fresh blueberry muffins so those yummy blueberries from Jemison, AL don't go bad.  I think I'll be making some fig preserves this afternoon.  Lon is hesitant to try the fresh figs and I can't eat them all myself before they go bad.  Besides...I've never made preserves...should be fun!

40 by 40 (aka Goal #2)

I have just over 8 months until my 40th birthday...what better time to get my butt (and the rest of me) back into some sort of decent shape.  Besides round, that is.  I figure that if I can get rid of 5 lbs per month (that's only 1.25 lbs per week!), then I can drop 40 pounds by my 40th birthday!  I'll be back to my Navy weight   and that was 12 years ago.  Being a nurse, I see everyday what kind of life you can get from hard living and from good living.  We recently had a woman come in who we all thought was probably in her early 60's.  She'll be 80 next month.  That is what you get by taking care of  yourself (or at least that what she told me).  And I've had patients who I thought were easily in their late 50's/early 60's and found out they were the same age as me!  They had not been taking very good care of themselves (by their own accounts and their lab results).  So, today I joined the YMCA.  They have Zumba (which I tried for the first time two weeks ago and LOVED it!), yoga, pilates and a ton of other classes (my preferred way to exercise).  Then of course, they also have machines, weights, track, pool, etc.  But mainly the classes.

By the way, I will not be losing these pounds...when you lose something you can find it again.  I'm dropping these and walking away...quickly.  :D  Blogging about it will make me more accountable, I think.  So as I'm doing Goal #1 of blogging at least once/week, I will also be updating my 40x40 progress.

Thanks, Mom for bringing us fresh blueberries, figs, avocados and tomatoes!  Fresh produce is wonderful and a great addition to my plan.

Two posts, one day.  Jennifer, pick your jaw up off the floor.  :)

(BTW, not my feet in the pic.  My toes are cuter.  Ask Lon.)

I'm baa-aaaack....

Isn't she lovely?  Would love to find the full size poster of this (I see wine bottles in the background!).

First off, please let me apologize for taking off so long from blogging.  I'm lazy, I'll admit it.  Yes, I've been working, but only 3 days/week (you know...the 12-hour shift thing).  We've been taking care of the cabin, but have plenty of down time.  I have no excuse other than...well, just haven't felt like it.  But all that is going to change.  Today.

Goal #1:  Blog at least once per week.
Goal #2:  Drop 40 pounds by my 40th birthday (that will be the subject of its own post.)
Goal #3:  Take more pics (and since I don't take hardly any, but always wish I had, some is more than none.)

Okay...Life Update:
Lon and our friend, Adam, have started brewing beer.  You know we tried the wine thing and enjoyed it (to the last drop).  We will be making some more wine soon, but Lon has wanted to try beer for quite some time.  Well...let me just tell you, they did AWESOME!!!  I got to help bottle and that was a lot of fun.  Capping bottles is way easier than corking wine!

This is our Nut Brown Ale that we bottled first.  Then we bottled the IPA.  Each batch made about 8 6-packs.  After about a week of sitting in bottles carbonating, they cracked one of each and let me try.  Delicious!!!
They just had another Brew Day and we currently have a Black IPA fermenting.  So much fun and it's ready way faster than wine!

Work is good.  Busy, hectic, some days are crazier than others, but they are always...always entertaining.  :)

That's good for now.  Still have another post to well...post.  :)