Our Green Thumb Afternoon

A few weekends ago, my loving, adorable, sexy, hard-working husband got a heck-of-a-deal on some plants. I could very possibly screw this up, but I want to say that he got some Leeland cypress tress, as well as some crepe-myrtle trees (my spelling is probably way off, but you get the idea).  One sort of looks like a Christmas tree, and the other...well, ...doesn't.  What an awesome description.

So after he got this awesome, deal of the century they sat lined up near our garage for about 2 weeks straight. So, finally, one hot July day we decided that if we were going to get them in the ground while they were still alive that the time had come.

So we picked locations for them - all 20 in total; and "we" got to work. Wes got the hard job...digging the holes. You see, where we live there is nice soft dirt on top, but just below that surface we get into harder, clay-like dirt. So it is a total B to dig thru. So naturally, I opted out of this task. After all, if I attempted the digging part of the project I wouldn't have been able to gaze upon my husbands shoulder and arm muscles as he worked. And I must tell you...my husband sure knows how to push my buttons and make me mad, but you can forget about all of the negative as you see your hardworking man, and his sexy muscles get to work.

Here he is, in all his sexy natural muscle glory:    

Since Wes was in charge of digging, that left me in charge of putting fertilizer in each hole, and then removing each tree from it's container and plant it.  I'm not going to lie; I had it pretty easy.   Especially considering just how many trees needed to be planted that day. 

I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not yet, but the day we decided to plant the trees it was HOT, HOT, HOT...like Toyota.  (Does anyone remember those commercials?)

I mean, I'm not exaggerating, it was probably 107 degrees with the heat index.  And of course we pick the heat of the day to work in, why you ask - because we're geniuses, and that's what geniuses do.  They pick the hottest day of the year, at the hottest point in the day to go outside and do manual labor.  Mensa - Class of 2010.

So, because of the heat, and because it took me less than 1/2 the time to do my part than it did to dig gigantic holes in rock; I decided to go inside and make us a yummy thirst-quenching beverage.

Let me tell you...when I hit that door and took my first step into the house, I felt like I had just entered Antarctica, and I absolutely loved every second of it.  I think I actually got a chill just from being inside.  But then I whipped up the drinks (Non-alcoholic, of course) and headed back outside to deliver the goods to my hard-working hubby.

Tell me this doesn't look like the most refreshing thing you've ever seen? 

As I brought the drinks out and handed my husband the manly cup to drink from, he didn't thank me, he didn't smile, he didn't stop a beat...he looked and me and said, "Don't tell me you made an alchoholic drink for us to drink while we work out here?!".  "Ummmm, NO!," I said, "Have a little faith in me, it's just a refreshing drink...and you're welcome".  He smiled and gave me that, I like to give you a hard time smile, and said "Thanks Babe, it looks good". 

So, what's in it?  Just a quick little concoction of the simplest, most delicious and refreshing ingredients I always have on hand.

A little something I like to call - 'Simple Refreshing Tree Planting Drink'.  Catchy name, huh?!  I just thought of it.

Simple Refreshing Tree Planting Drink

Ingredients:

- 1 Cute Cup

- Water

- Ice

- All Natural, no sugar added Cranberry Juice

- Lime Juice

- Cut Lemon (My next post will be my trick to cutting the perfect lemons and limes...stay tuned)

Directions:

1. Fill cup with ice

2. Fill 3/4 of the way with water

3. Top with Cranberry Juice

4. Squeeze in a tad of lime juice

5. Garnish with a lemon wedge

I'm not going to lie.  I'm  not sure if it was the heat, or if it was really that good.  But it was the most refreshing thing I've ever put in my mouth.  It had just the right amount of fruit flavor and was so light and refreshing.  Just what the Dr. ordered.

The hubby agreed. 

This is his "agreement" face. 

We finally finished up all of the planting and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon lounging in Will's kiddie pools on the back deck. 

Green Thumb for an afternoon,

-Em

My Inconvenient Life

Almost 2 years, to the day, my wonderful husband and I moved into the house that we personally designed and literally built with our own two hands (Well, OK...HE built with his own two hands -You see, I was pregnant, and wasn't much help during the building process.  I was damn good at scouring the Internet for ideas and pictures of things I wanted to replicate; but the whole building part...I wasn't much help with.)

Anyway, we now live pretty far out in terms of being "in town".  By far out, I mean about 20-25 minutes from "civilization" and delivery pizza.  (Yeah, so I measure distance by delivery pizza...got a problem with it?)  This isn't too bad when you consider some people commute upwards of an hour each way too and from work each day.  But to what we were used to, it was a huge step and a major change.

We went from living in a townhouse that was relatively in the middle of it all - we had our best friends about a mile away, and I could order any take-out or delivery my heart desired.  Not to mention, the mall or a Walgreen's was a hop-skip-and-jump away.  Convenience was no issue in our quaint little town house.  Storage space = ISSUE, Convenience = NO ISSUE.  BUT, all of that convenience came to a screeching halt when we made our big move.  We went from zero lot line, in the middle of everything townhouse living, to 6 acres of grass to mow, no food delivery or restaurants in site, and the sounds of crickets chirping, owls howling, and cows mooing. 

It wasn't until recently that I started to really feel like I had grown away from "it" all.  By "it" I mean our life as we knew it.  I missed the convenience of being with my friends at the drop of a phone call.  You see BH (before house), we had a routine down; two to three nights a week we'd eat dinner with our mile away friends, and we had multiple shows that we would get together and watch on a weekly basis.  Some of our favorites included: Sopranos, Entourage, Grey's Anatomy, and American Idol.  And we'd either cook up something yummy or order convenient already prepared food from pretty much anywhere we wanted.  After all, everything was within minutes and a delivery driver could be to the house in 30 minutes or less.  Take that Rachel Ray!

But as I started to feel sadness towards my old convenient in-the-middle-of-it-all life I saw sat back and really took a look at my "Inconvenient Life".  This is what I saw:

And this:

And lastly, this:

Yeah, I may not be able to order a pizza, or pick up take out and still have it hot when I return home.  And I may not be able to run to Walgreen's in the middle of the night for medicine, or be at a Publix in under 5 minutes.  But yet, even without all of the conveniences of "in-town" living, I wouldn't trade my "inconvenient life" for anything in the world.  We worked so hard to build this inconvenient life for ourselves.  We have a sense of peace and relaxation in our home and seeing my son run across the yard to greet his dad coming in from the yard...well, that just puts things in perspective and puts a big ole' fat smile on my face.  This is our NEW life...our new, improved, inconvenient life.  And when I'm down and out because I'm craving a Papa Johns Cheese pizza with the butter garlic sauce for dipping- I'll gather my family, pack my ass in the car, and take the hike over to our friends house to make the call for the delivery.  Just like we used to do...only now we are sure to pack diapers, wipes, juice cup, snacks, and a kid; not the old standard of a bottle of wine, beer for the men and comfy couch potato clothes.  In fact, did you know that if I call and place the order after 15 minutes in the car it will arrive within minutes of my arrival to their house.  Talk about convenience in our now inconvenient life!!

Constantly craving pizza,

-Em