Go Big or Go Home

Gardening season is underway in the Teet household. Once again we have been dealt a bad hand by the elements and were forced to replant everything after "The Great Flood". Even with the late start it is all coming up good now and I'm sure we will have an abundant harvest this year.

I never would have pictured myself as a farming Momma thirteen years ago. David has certainly taught me alot. However, we still have very different ideas of how the garden should look. When we were discussing what should be planted this year we decided to maybe downsize a little bit from years past. Somehow that thought was forgotten somewhere between the planning stage and the planting stage. The pictures below show the main part of the garden. I couldn't even fit it all in one picture!

We have tomatoes, corn, purple hull peas, lima beans, green beans, bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, watermellon and cantaloupe. As you can see from the pictures, we kinda gave up on the corn, It was eaten by crows several times and replanted. After staying so wet and replanting it so many times we have let the grass kind of take over. But I should have it all out of there within the next couple of days... if it will stay dry long enough.

"Go big or go home", should be our family motto. If no one sees me around the middle of August don't worry to much. I'm just picking, shelling, freezing and cooking!

Speaking of cooking, I made something the other night that I have never had before. Zucchini bread. A friend of ours brought us some of their zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers the other day. I was so excited to use the recipe's I had found for zucchini bread on Recipezaar! And of course I am always looking for an excuse to use "Lucy". My handy dandy KitchenAid mixer. Yes, I have named my mixer. Some people name their cars, I name appliances. I would name my car too if I had one cool enough to warrant a name. Sadly all I have is the van and the old truck. One day David will build me a cool muscle car and I will come up with an equally cool name for that. Until then I'm stickin' with Lucy.

Anyway, back to the zucchini bread. It turned out great! So moist and sweet, it was delicious when it was still warm and slathered in butter. The kids weren't sure if they were going to like it or not. After all, it did have green vegetables in it. In the end though, the smell coming from the oven won them over and they tried it. It received two thumbs up...

I still have some zucchini left and another recipe to try. This one is for chocolate zucchini bread...sounds good huh? If you find yourself looking for a recipe for zucchini bread I would highly recommend the one I used the other night. It is recipe #3877 on recipezaar.com. "Fabulous Zucchini Bread".

Meandering Mommy?

Meander - what does this word mean? Well, The American Heritage dictionary defines it as; 1. to follow a winding and turning course. 2. To move aimlessly and idly.

So why would I call my blog The Meandering Mommy? To me it is obvious, this word describes me to a tee. My adult life has been filled with so many days spent aimlessly wandering! Don't confuse my point here please. I am absolutely sure of only one thing, that my destination is Christ. There is only one path that leads to Him, the narrow path, and I am on that path. It is the journey through the daily distractions that gives me trouble. My attentions are split between being a wife, mother, teacher, housekeeper, cook, laundress, farmer, veterinarian, chauffeur, and coach. And that is just the things I do for my family. I also harbor a laundry list of interests of my own, which more often than not get pushed to the side. However I usually have at least two or three active projects or ideas being planned....even if they never make it past the planning stage. For example, this week I have again become convinced that I must do something to fix the state of American politics...yes, I am reading a Bill O'Reilly book. Since I have so enjoyed this book, I took a little trip to the library where I picked up a selection of books to whet my very diverse appetite. Lone Cowboy, the life story of Will James. The Wives of Henry VIII, and a cute little grammar book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves; which I must say has me feeling extremely self conscience about my use of punctuation in the above sentences (thanks Lori for the recommendation).

The rest of this week will more than likely be spent reading these wonderful books and maybe making a plan for my election to the office of my choice in 2012. I know, its a long shot, but that is how my mind works. I'll just fit in in between my budding cullinary career and my stints playing the Dove awards (after I finish learning to play the guitar and the piano).

My nights all too often consist of me making my "plan" for what I will do the following day. I am an excellent list maker, I love to make lists and plan things on paper. The problem is, when it comes time to put those plans into action, I don't have a great track record. As a result I am often a meandering mommy, with great intentions, just being swept away by whims and fancy and getting not much of anything accomplished.

I hope that I have explained sufficiently the reason behind the title of this blog. It was not a random choice, rather a little window into my personality. Okay, I have to go make breakfast now...Oh, and train my dog. I borrowed this great dog training tape from a good friend. Who knows, I may start a dog obedience club in the area...anyone interested?