Maaaybe not my best idea...

A few weeks ago, I got an email at work telling me about a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and I got really pumped.  Fresh out of the ground vegetables once a week?  Yes please!  I signed up, paid the one-time fee, and could not WAIT for my first pick-up day.  I even talked my friend Tracy into signing up too.


So I get my first one and there's collards and all these lettuces in there.  I had NO idea what to do with hardly any of the things that I got.  Except for the strawberries.  Those things are wonderful.  They emailed me a recipe for collards that seemed very simple.  So I told Hunter I would be making collards.  He promptly informed me that he wasn't going to eat them.  I asked if he had ever had collards, and he said yes and that if he didn't like his Nanny's collards then there was no hope for him ever liking them.  But I was undeterred and tried the recipe anyway.  Turns out collards are just gross.  But at least I tried.  I did use the spring mix lettuce in several salads.  Sadly, I ended up throwing a large part of my fresh veggies away.


This past Friday, I picked up my second week.

My goods were placed in a much more aesthetically pleasing way when I got them.

I got cabbage, bok choy, spring onoins, turnips, zucchini, squash, and strawberries.

The strawberries are by far my favorite part!!

I just finished cooking the zucchini and squash, and they are really good.  I have NO idea what to do with turnips or bok choy.  I figured I could make some cole slaw out of the cabbage.  Hunter and I are not huge fans of onions, so I guess until we make a recipe that requires an onion, we'll just let them be.  Unless someone else in Beaufort would like to lay claim on them.

Until we start getting broccoli and carrots and things like that which we eat all the time, then this CSA may not have been my best idea...  But hey, at least the strawberries are amazing!

Gas Lights

For those of you who don't know, I am a freak when it comes to gas lights.  I can trace it back to the summer after my 10th grade year.  A friend and I were on the way to the beach.  I let my friend drive my car, so we're just cruising along and then he says, "Oh, we're kinda low on gas, we'll just stop at the next gas station we see."  So we kept cruising...and cruising...and cruising.  We didn't realize we were in the middle of effing NOWHERE.  So I start to panic thinking we're gonna ruin my car's engine (and I had just gotten her maybe a month before), and he calls his dad and has a plan for his dad to bring us gas from the beach, and it was just a mess.  My heartrate was probably 140 the whole time.  What felt like an eternity later, we find a gas station, and I swear we rolled in there on freakin fumes.  So since then, I usually don't let my gas gauge get below the 1/4 mark, much less to let the gas light come on.


Well, two Saturdays ago, Hunter and I went on a date night to Bluffton, and we took my car since she's so much more gas-efficient.  We were on the way to dinner after doing some tennis-shoe-shopping, and he said, "You're a little low on gas, do you want to get some before dinner or do you want to get it on the way home from work on Monday morning?"  I was pretty darn hungry at this point and we were going to Jim-N-Nicks, which is this delicious BBQ joint.  So I told him that I'd just get it on my way home from work.  Well, on my way to work the next night I'm on the phone with a friend and I see my gas light come on and I freak out.  But per usual, I'm running late to work and can't stop.  I sat there and fretted about it all night at work.  I got gas the next morning on my way home from work and everything was fine.


On the way home from the lake this Sunday, I was getting a little low on gas but this time I okayed the lowness.  Hunter drove his car to go get dinner, and he was aware that his gas light was on.  I tried not to look at it, but about halfway to our destination, I start getting slightly panicky.  And of course, all the traffic lights that we come across are red.  But again, we pull in and we fill up and we're fine.  But we were very close to not being fine.

Hunter has a 24-gallon tank.  He put 23.469 gallons in his tank.  Talk about a close call.


Last night on the way to work, my gas light came on again, although this time it was my fault.  I had been to the oral surgeon to talk about getting my wisdom teeth out and was just rushing around and didn't get gas.  So I told myself that I'd get gas on my way home in the morning because again, I was running late.  Well, I got sent home in the middle of the night because the chaos at work had calmed down.  And I was not about to stop at 2:30 a.m. in Beaufort to get gas and get raped and pillaged.  So I spazzed all the way home.  I calmed down once I got home and slept for a while and completely forgot about it until I went to work out today.  I looked at my car and I was like, "Oh crap!  I hope she starts up!"  So I get in my car, put the key in the ignition, and PTL she started up!  I didn't fill up my tank because I had to go to the closest, more expensive gas station, but I'm sure she would have been pretty darn low.


Kinda pointless stories, but it happened and I thought I'd share.  Today was watering day for my flowers!  Here's an update on that situation:

Fran's arrangement still looking beautiful!

But these are my Lantana!!  They're growing back!!  Hunter says he just needs to get some drill bits and we'll poke some holes in the bottom of this mofo.

Another comparison photo.  My flowers just look so pitiful, still.

Have a blessed Wednesday!  I'm off to work!  Let's hope I'm not late...

Who am I kidding, I probably will be.

Weekend fun and my un-green thumb

Okay, I know I scoffed at my friend Julie when she told me she was starting a blog (and I believe I have apologized, but if not, I'm sorry...), but since seeing hers and realizing how much I enjoy it, I have decided to start my own!  This is pretty much intended for people we know and love that want to keep up with our lives.  But I hope even if you don't know Hunter and me, then you'll still get some level of enjoyment out of it (even if it's through scoffing, which is acceptable).  As my father would say, let's get this shoe on the foot.


So to kick off our blog, I'll tell you we had wonderful weekend at the lake with Hunter's family celebrating Hunter's dad (Steve)'s birthday.  It's always so fun to spend time with them!  We even had time to stop by Hunter's Nanny's house on the way to the lake, which was a nice treat.  Saturday day, Hunter and Steve went to Anderson to do manly-type shopping, while Hunter's mom and sister (Fran and Stephanie) and I went for a walk and then they got to their planting.  Let me tell you, Fran and Stephanie both were blessed with a passion for flowers and plants, and green thumbs like no other.  Aaaaaand I went and laid on the dock in the sun for an hour and a half while alternating between reading, napping, and listening to Disney songs.  I was definitely the most productive, hah.  


Saturday night we went to the Red Minnow in Central for dinner, where we got waited on by a girl from Abbeville, believe it or not.  It was a really cool little place and for dessert, the buttermilk pie was delicious!  Then we made a stop to Lowe's.  Stephanie and Fran wanted to look for some plants, and I had already been complaining that the flowers I had attempted to plant to have on our little balcony at the apartment have died.  I planted them maaaaaybe a month ago.  It's sad.  So Fran offered to pick me out some heat-resistant, drought-resistant flowers.  Which sounded perfect for my completely un-green thumb.  She described some of them as "very hearty"  So I hope we'll be good for each other.


This morning, before we left, Fran very deftly arranged a beautiful flower pot and we transported it back here.  Every time we took a turn or made a sudden stop, Hunter said, "Hold on, flowers!"  It made me laugh.  Anyway, I thought I'd show you the overwhelming sadness that is my flower pot and the magnificent beauty that is Fran's flower pot.  Welcome to Plant Battle: Fran vs. Leah - Day 1.  I wouldn't bet on me if I were you...

 Fran's lovely flower pot.

The pretty colorful flowers there are called Lantana, or so my green thumb guru says.

And here is my pitiful excuse for a flower pot.  I actually had some Lantana in there initially.  But as you can see, it is now dead.

And the two in stark contrast.  Apparently my pot was supposed to have holes to let the water drain, plants don't like sitting in their own water (I can't say that I blame them).

It's on.  Let's see how long it takes me to kill this second flower pot.