window box to fork

Well, I don't have pictures of food for you today but something a little better... Food to be! Kari and I repotted some plants last weekend and picked up some seeds and bulbs/roots for planting.

First, my FAVORITE vegetable of all time:


Asparagus!


Kari got a package of asparagus roots that we planted in two different pots. They started out really small as just buds and already these are getting pretty big! They've only been planted for a week so that's huge growth. The package said not to eat the stalks the first season, so I'll get to enjoy some delicious homegrown asparagus next year, if all goes well.


I saw a squirrel checking out the asparagus yesterday and I'm not sure if squirrels eat asparagus, so I yelled "Oy!" to get it to move. I don't know if we'll have to cover the stalks at all to prevent munchers. EDIT: I just saw a squirrel jump down off the roof onto the balcony by the asparagus. The squirrel was eating a cookie, so I think the asparagus will be ok...

Next, our seed box:


Basil!


And my favorite seasoning of all time...


Cilantro! Grow little cilantro seed, grow! I want to eat you!

I'd love some more outside growing space, but we'll just have to wait to see what type of apartment into which I move. Lease is up at the end of May, so it'll be soon.

FY 2008

I know I just posted today - but I thought I'd pass these on in case any of my 5 readers were interested.

I've been reading a bunch of different blogs about being frugal and fiscal responsibility. They have lots of topics and advice. I'm not sure why I'm more interested now than I used to be, but I think it's a good sign for me. Maybe because I'm making (slightly) more money now than I used to or I actually have something to save for (Ireland) or my student loans are looming like big skyscrapers. Either way, I'm trying to be more deliberate with the things I spend my money on. I went a bit off track over the holidays, mostly due to all the cool stuff I wanted to get for my family, but I've been getting back on track and paying off holiday bills. So now during my free time this week I'm going to track my spending for the past few months, work out a budget for now till Ireland that maximizes saving and paying down my credit card (christmas spending and spring book buying mostly...) and after the trip I'll re-examine again to see where the best place to put my money is, and also take stock of my "stuff" aka the things I've acquired which I really don't need - mostly books and dvds - to see where I can sell some of it.

Anyway, here's a few websites I lost myself in for the past few hours:

Wise Bread
Frugal Fag
The Frugal Law Student

Wise Bread probably has the most resources and most varied topics, so that's probably a good place to start if you're interested.

And in case anyone wanted some cool artwork for their living space, the Library of Congress just released a ton of historical photos, photos that have no copyright restrictions. So you can find a few you like, print them out from Target or Walgreens, frame them, and you have some original, historical, interesting artwork. They have lots of photos of women helping the war effort in the 40's - very, very awesome.



Another option is one I've kind of been doing for awhile but Kari really helped out with at Christmas - old calendars. My mom gives me a Dali calendar every year, so whenever a year is over I take the old calendar, cut it up and use the pictures to decorate around the house, fun notebook covers, whatever. Kari gave me a really cool, big, old calendar of Russian iconography, so I marked a couple of months that are especially neat looking. I'm going to hang those up over my couch and in my bathroom, make it look sweet. I'm trying to decide if I should just tape them up or try to find frames/mats/something. They're somewhat odd shaped so that might be harder to work around, but they'll look awesome in frames or mats. I might be able to find something for cheap at Goodwill - I'd rather tape them up than spend a lot of money on something that looks so-so. I'll post a picture once I figure it out.

books, bookcase, beer - my break!

I've finished the first 5 books out of my 50 books to read in 2008, which is a vast improvement over last year. Although, last year I was back at Hamline for J-Term by this time taking my Disability studies course with Reynolds - good class, got an A. I really enjoyed that class and studying disability. I wrote my final paper proposal on the way (dis)ability is constructed in the X-Men movies, a paper I still kind of want to write at some point. Anyway, that's a bit off my original thought process. Here are the five books I've read up to this point:

1. Democracy Matters, Cornel West
2. I am America, Steven Colbert
3. Candy Girl, Diablo Cody
4. Atonement, Ian McEwan
5. Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

Democracy Matters - Pretty interesting, a book I've wanted to read since I accidentally bought it for my Political Economy of Misery class. It was ok, but I might have gotten more out of it if I was reading closely for a class, as opposed to pleasure reading.

I Am America - I like Steven Colbert and the character he plays on tv, which comes through brilliantly in his book. Quick read.

Candy Girl - As it was set in the Twin Cities, I know most of the places she references (which is nice), and the writing style is easy to read. I thought she could have included more about why she got out of stripping, but that's the feminist in me wanting to highlight the mere paragraph where she talks about how sleezy strip clubs influence the way women are viewed by the patrons and by themselves.

Atonement - I'm excited to see the movie and see how Hollywood butchers the story. I liked it overall, although the writing style isn't too much my thing.

Eat Pray Love - Interesting travel book. Her section on India was fascinating, just because I'm not familiar with meditation.

Now I'm going to go stain my bookcase. My grandpa built me a bookcase for Christmas last year, and I finally have the time to sand and stain it this break. I picked a nice antique walnut stain, so it's nice and dark. I'll take a picture when I'm done with it, but it looks nice. It's relaxing to be completing something that's done with my hands, not just my head.

Thursday I'm going to Milwaukee to see Uncle Matt. I'm excited. There will be beer drinking.

Bacher, out!