Forgive me blog, for I have neglected thee

Well, it's been far too long since I posted something. My only excuse is that a lot's been happening with the end of the school year and my mom doing something to her knee (that was fun, let me tell you!)

But there's been some exciting developments in la casa de Bunny! (The next couple of descriptions will be for The Growing Challenge!)

This was (notice the verb tense - it's now an ex-tomato) my first tomato! Since doing something with only one cherry tomato is, well, silly, I cut it in half and shared it with my mom. We both agreed that it was absolutely delicious. I've since had several more - though, those I incorporated into dinner.

I have to admit I never really put much stock in the 'it tastes better if you've made it yourself' business, but it's so true! I've just recently (within the last year or so) taken to tomatoes and had I had a tomato like this from the beginning, I would have been a convert years ago!

I purchased another tomato plant which I neglected to ask how large it would grow before purchasing. It's also a grape variety, but I had to get a tomato cage ($2.11 at Home Depot - I had it staked before but I saw it leaning out into the open air yesterday and decided enough was enough - good thing the roots are strong!) In the process of putting the cage over the tomato plant, I managed to break off the top - which had several flowers and two lovely teeny tomatoes. I'm kicking myself for not being more careful, but I'm hopeful it'll bounce back.

In better news, my sunflower opened up this past weekend! I wasn't at all sure if it would get enough sun to actually do so, but it has and I'm thrilled. As the plant was free, I wasn't going to be upset if it didn't flower, but it's so pretty, isn't it? It makes me cheerful just to go see it outside.

You can see parts of my homemade trellis there, too (the yellow yarn). As frugal as I am (aka, cheap), I'm trying not to spend a lot more on my garden - I've spent too much already - so when I saw a need for a trellis for the sunflower, as well as two of the cukes and a spare green bean, I eyed the wood leftover from constructing the bunny cage. Yes, I've kept wood in the corner of my living room next to a bookshelf for four and a half years. I knew it'd come in handy some day!

I nailed the two long pieces to the short piece and then stringed the yarn in criss-cross. I then staple-gunned (is that a verb?) the ends of the yarn so it'd have more stability. So far it's working exceedingly well. The cucumbers are clinging to it, it's giving a bit more support to the sunflower and one of the green beans that's next to it has also sent out feelers to use it as well.

The picture to the right shows the trellis a bit better. You can see the beans in the background on my $11 Salvation Army shelf (just needed a bit of tightening of the screws to be really stable). The other yellow flower next to the sunflower is one of the cucumbers. Judging by how many tiny cucumbers I see on it and all its little friends, I'm going to be up to my ears in bread and butter pickles by the end of the summer. (Yay fun gifts!)

I was also able to actually pick six green beans at once (as opposed to the one at a time which, like the first tomato, was eaten by itself). I sauteed them up and again - homegrown is so delicious!


In the Doing Not Thinking Challenge, I have made more progress! My linen cupboard (really just a sectioned off spot in my walk-in closet) has been cleaned out. Watching this video from the ladies of Living on a Dime on how to fold a fitted sheet really helped me make things neat! I also came to the conclusion that not only do I not need six sets of flannel sheets (many with penguin motifs, at that), but I don't need twenty sets of towels, either. I'm just me. I don't go through that many towels before I do a load of laundry! So everything is neatened, refolded, and I've got two big trashbags full of things to go to Salvation Army/Good Will. I'm also keeping up with everything else staying neat as well. It's amazing how much calmer I feel when I'm not surrounded by clutter!