What I Want for Christmas

I just found out that we can buy composting bins from the city for cheap. I've been wanting to compost for a couple years now but I didn't want to spend $100 on a bin. Now it looks like I don't have to...yipee! I was going to ask for some boots but I think I would rather spend the money and get a compost bin and some trees removed from my backyard. Then I can expand my veggie garden next summer, my soil will be black and beautiful, and my fruit will be abundant.

Isn't it gorgeous? And to think I wanted to get Cole Haan boots. Pfft.

My Garden 2009

I started a little late this year since it was so cold and rainy this winter (yes, I do realize I sound like Paris Hilton when I write this about LA). But it really was colder than normal. The great thing is I think the rain helped my garden this season because everything is in bloom and looks gorgeous. I really can't take too much credit.

I also planted my veggie garden after we got back from Disneyworld. So I am a month behind schedule. My zucchini and pumpkin plants are already bearing fruit, and my cucumber and tomato plants are blossoming. I'm so excited!

We also FINALLY hired gardeners last month. We must have been the only family within a 15 mile circumference that did not have a gardener. Chang would mow the lawn and trim the hedges. I tended to the flowers and weeded. The upkeep was just getting to be too much. After I lost Sam once in the tall grass, I finally bucked up and hired a gardener. We found Sam a couple days later and now he is exhibiting squirrel like behavior. He goes up to random strangers who are eating, and stares them down until they toss food at him.

My favorite rose bush and one of my favorite plants agapanthus (I love the color!). Before they bloomed Chang thought they were weeds and wanted to pull them out.

My mother's day gift in 2008. The hydrangea went through transplant shock and almost died. I've got two more blooms growing.

I love these peppermint colored roses.

Another plant that Chang thought were weeds before they started blooming. He actually pulled out a couple big geranium plants, and Joey freaked out and told him to stop. So he called me out to the backyard and I told him Joey was right to freak out.

I would have so won...

biggest loser! I went jogging Monday through Friday one week and then Monday through Thursday the following week. I also REALLY limited my normal intake. If I craved McDonald's, I went for the grilled chicken snack wrap, as opposed to the crispy chicken that I usually get. I made a lot of salads for dinner and only had pasta twice a week. I tried to replace my usual carb fest with protein, and my potato chips with nuts. Instead of snacking on chocolate, I would eat fruit, but I would eat one fun size bag of M&M's every night so I didn't totally deprive myself (I could never completely give up chocolate).

Well, it worked...I think I lost 12 lbs! The original scale that started it all is on its way back to Australia so I am basing this weight loss calculation on a scale at the YMCA. I am almost back down to my pre-Sam weight which is my goal.

One thing I realized during these last two weeks is I make really bad food choices. I always think, oh, it's just one little cheeseburger, fries and chocolate shake...how bad can it be? But it adds up...hopefully, I'll never go back. And as the summer approaches, I'll probably be outside a lot more gardening which means fresh fruits and veggies from my garden.

And the best thing out of all this? Getting hit on at the gym...he he...that's right baby, still got it!

Pumpkin Patch

I uprooted my zucchini plants last week since they were diseased. I researched the white powdery mold that decimated my veggie garden and it so happens that this mold appears on gourds towards the end of its life cycle. Good to know for next year.

My friend, Rhiannon's mom, and one of my inspirations to start becoming a more serious gardener, told me that she was going to plant pumpkins in her garden for the fall. How cool is that? Apparently, you need to plant your pumpkins now if you want them to be orange by halloween time. So this is on my never-ending list of things to do.

I have always wanted to try to make my own pumpkin pack for baking. I tried once but it was more trouble than it was worth. Maybe if I can grow some smaller pumpkins, it would be easier to boil. I LOVE pumpkin in baked goods--pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin scones, pumpkin bread. Love love love it!

Too Many Tomatoes, So Little Time

I have so many tomatoes in my garden right now that I don't know what to do with them. I wanted to do a marinara or arrabiata sauce but is that really the best thing I can do with them?

Any ideas? I found a Shrimp and Tomato Risotto recipe which I will try for Saturday dinner. I also found a tomato pie recipe which apparently tastes like deep dish pizza (I miss Zachary's Pizza in Oakland--better Chicago-style pizza than the pizzas I've eaten in Chicago). I LOVE tomato bisque so maybe I will make some for myself and the girls with grilled cheese--one of my favorite comfort food meals. I'm not sure if making all these things will use up all my tomatoes.

Okay, this will hopefully be the last post about my garden. I'm sure this is not interesting to anyone else but me.

It was good while it lasted...

My garden is being viciously attacked by a white fungus. I don't know what is going on but I am losing my zucchini. I chopped away half of the stock in hopes of abating the fungal predator but alas, the war rages on. I am waiting for a few more zucchini to grow to maturity before I completely uproot because I would like to make another batch of zucchini bread this summer, but we'll have to see.

Before planting my garden, I treated the ground with liquid gypsium. My soil was clay and not loomy so I knew I had to do some conditioning in order to ensure a modicum of success. I wonder if the soil is changing back to clay which causes bad drainage. This leads to root rot and when the roots stay wet, fungus can grow--like athlete's foot.

In any case, I am willing to uproot my zucchini to salvage my cantelope which we are still waiting for the fruit to ripen.

I have yielded a ton of tomatoes this season. This was helpful during the attack of the killer tomatoes scare this summer. With it, I have made salsa, bruschetta and caprese. If I get enough, I might try to make some marinara or arrabiata.

I am in love with growing vegetables. I can't wait for next season.

My garden

So my pride and joy (aside from my kids) has been my garden. I finally took a few photos...

tomatoes

cucumber

zucchini

cantelope

roses

I still need to landscape the front and there is so much more cleanup I need to do in the back. Once Elysha goes to school with Joey, I plan on gardening more and exercising too. I can't wait!

Ramblings, rants about being a mom...

I made dinner tonight with zucchini that I grew in my garden. It was almost ridiculous how happy it made me to be able to put my own organically grown veggie into my meal. As I stirred my Trader Joe's organic pasta sauce, with my free range chicken and homegrown zucchini, I thought, I am a housewife. And I should have fun with it. Be the best damn housewife out there! I've been doing pretty well with making healthy, minimally processed meals meals. Okay, I confess that my aunt has been cooking for me for three days a week and we used to eat out every weekend. But now I only have my aunt for a day and I have been cooking our meals on the weekends too. So cooking, gardening...I would like to try and make a dress for Joey and Elysha. I think it would be fun and a good memory for us. So we'll see how that turns out...to be continued...

I have also been working out because I am about 15 lbs heavier than normal. Not to brag but with Joey, I was back in a size 0 by 4 months. With Elysha, I was back to a size 0 by 8 months. Granted, things shifted, shrunk, and jiggled, but it happened, with little to no effort. But this time...dude...I don't know if it's cuz I am over 30 or if it is child number 3, but this is so haaaard!!!! I have reduced my food intake (which for those who know me, is like shooting myself in the foot. Scratch that, it is like giving birth without drugs--yup, that difficult and painful). I have succumbed to exercising which is even harder than reducing my food intake. Exercising is so painful that for a month, I couldn't bring myself to do it more than once a week. But after a month of less food and a little exercise, I honestly thought I would just get back into my old clothes. So I was shocked when I jumped on the scale for the first time and saw that I was about the same weight as when I was 38 weeks pregnant!

My one consolation with each workout is an ice cream sandwich. It used to be Diddy Reese each time, but clearly, I need to downgrade to skinny cows. I already have a list of foods that I am going to celebrate with when I put on my pair of skinny jeans when Sam turns one. Yup, I am going to look even better than before because this time, I am going to be toned, muscular, and fabulous!



Picture of us when Elysha was 8 months...and our surrogate son for the day Ryan Kang. Sigh...if only I could squeeze into those jeans today...

Tea for two, two for tea...

Joey asked me to invite her friends over on Thursday for a tea party. I thought, you know, why not? Well, not this Thursday since we're having a small party for Elysha on Saturday (she's turning three!). So in the meantime, I set up a little tea party for the girls. They put on their Korean dresses (hanbok) and poured each other "tea." I even cut a rose from my garden to make their setup fancier (they LOVE Fancy Nancy).

It's official: Sam is HUGE!

I took Sam in to the doctor today for his 6 month check up. He is a little over 20 lbs and he is 27" in height. So he is 95% in weight and 80% in height. He has outgrown his 9 month clothes already. I put a dinosaur T-shirt and camouflage pants on him today. I love it. I think boy clothes are so cute. Of course, if I didn't have a girl, I would be looking at all the pink tulle thinking, I wish I had a girl.

Speaking of clothes, I think it would be fun to make a dress with Joey. Maybe she needs to be a little older but I think it would be fun to go to a fabric store, and choose a fabric and pattern and embellishments. I watched one episode of Project Runway and was totally inspired. It's funny--when I was nursing 24/7 and in no mood to multi-task, I would turn on the TV while I was nursing Sam. For some reason, I would watch Martha Stewart's show or Fine Living Decorating shows. Each time I would watch it, I would think, Dang, I'm not doing that. But one episode of Tim Gunn and fierce Cristiano, I'm inspired to make a dress.

Never, in a million years, did I imagine this to be my life: 3 kids, staying at home, gardening, cooking dinner (occasionally), and stressing out about window treatments. When I imagined my future, I saw various things, depending on at what point in my life: elementary school teacher, magazine editor, book publisher, CTO, full-time ministry...I don't think stay at home mom ever entered my mind. I wanted children and I wanted to be around for them but I thought I would be working. I never saw myself as a girlie girl and yet I have a total princess. I think God has a sense of humor. I am so happy...exhausted...but I feel blessed.