Category: Photos

I spend most of my work days daydreaming about being at home. Most of the time, the daydream’s setting is the porch.

Or in the kitchen cooking with the girls while I swoon over my succulents ^_^.

This has been my “thing” lately; well, the weeks I’m kid-less. Free time is spent reading succulent care blogs or Pinning Succulents I eventually want to possess. Or visiting nurseries (like during lunch on Tuesday and after work today) or Home Depot, like on Wednesday night with John (and then he and Jorge ruined my workout by convincing me to eat Wing Stop!!). Gardening just…soothes me.

I never thought I’d get into gardening and then I did when we moved to this house and I planted flower beds everywhere. Then the Great Hail Storm of 2012 hit and ruined it all and then I stuck to my little succulents I’d planted in 2011 when I had the kiddos paint terra cotta pots for them. Just recently I got back into them (succulents are okay with being neglected, but I kind of overdid it, heh) and wanting to grow them myself, from cuttings.

So I searched for succulent propagation blogs and found these two to be really helpful: Life With SarahB and Succulents & Sunshine

So far, I think I’ve been doing pretty well!

This batch were the first little guys to undergo my latest project. I left them in the egg carton so the little cut end would dry up. Not all of them made it =|.

I laid some dirt in the carton, laid them out and began giving them a spritz of water once a day, every day for about 2 weeks.

That little cactus actually hitched a ride from Home Depot to our house when I bought a few other small pots. I hope he’ll grow!

Here are the leaves with their roots and buds almost a month later (I took these photos today):

These are a few little buds that completely propagated on their own. I actually found this Ghost Plant bud propagating on the windowsill!

I put it in a small pot, along with 2 other buds that began to propagate on their own in my large succulent pot:

This little guy overgrew the little pot Emily had painted. I picked up this blue-green-yellow pot at that nursery I stopped at today and transferred him over as soon as I got home.

I added the teeny Ghost Plant that had propagated itself so it can hopefully, eventually fill in that side of the pot. I was happy to see the Ghost Plant had a new sprout on one of the stems, too.

So now I have my first succulent garden that I wrote about 3 entries ago:

I’ve since removed the Baby Toes, which I named Roger, from the pot. It seemed unhealthy when I bought it, but it just never got better and eventually it started shriveling up. I took such good care of my first Baby Toes and now I can’t seem to keep them alive :(.

My Donkey Tail Burrito is also having a bit of trouble. At first I thought it was too hot outside, so I moved the pot to the windowsill and it’s still dropping a lot of “beads”. My String of Pearls was unhealthy when I bought it as well, and doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I’m keeping my fingers crossed though. Maybe neglecting it a bit will help.

I had bought a few succulents here and there for the past couple of weeks. A pink/green Echeveria and a Gollum at H-E-B, a severely over-watered Zebra Haworthia from Valley Garden Center, and then the other few that I bought when John and I went to Home Depot this Wednesday. So I made Succulent Garden #2:

I’m so happy with them. I hope I can keep them all alive. I’m so impatient. I want the sprouts to grow and I want to know the big ones will be ok!

So there you go: a bit of my madness and my current hobby. I’d been in a funk the last weeks of May and early June (no idea why, either, it was just weird), but I’ve been taking this literally lately:

It seems to be working pretty well!

We had a great week with the kids. It started on Sunday evening when we picked them up from the other parents’ homes and took them to the drive-in to watch Maleficent and Transformers: Age of Extinction. We bought tons of snacks and got the cooler, blankets and lawn chairs ready, went on the drive and found a pretty good spot.

They were into the movies, thank goodness, and although the girls and I spent a lot of time in line at the bathrooms (OMG, the lines!!), we had a pretty good time :).

We got out super late, though, and Jorge and I worked the next morning so we got them home and put them all into bed.

This was the 1st year that we’ve gotten to have all 7 kids together for 4th of July, so we were excited :).

Our boss let us out early on Thursday, by noon, so I went straight to HEB to buy all the stuff for the BBQ and s’mores during the fireworks. I wasn’t sure about what type of patties to buy for the burgers, so I called Jorge and asked, even sending him a photo of the beef patties I figured we should take (and that weren’t part of a recent recall). He approved, and I took them.

Got home, made dinner for the kids, Mom, John and Jorge. I got ready and met Alexis at the gym. We didn’t want to miss it since we knew we’d be “bad” the next day. I had all intentions of eating many s’mores hehe.

She didn’t have plans since her hubby would be working, so I invited her and her nephew over for the festivities :).

Jorge and I started the next morning off on the wrong foot; we just argued about who knows what (the sky being blue? Something ridiculous like that, heh). So I was huffing and puffing by the time the kids and I got in the car with Mom to go to Walmart and to visit Gramma. 4th of July is her birthday. Mom wanted to stop by Walmart since she wanted to do some last-minute shopping for her and so I waited in the car with the kids while she and Jaylen got down. Emily wanted to get down too, but I could already imagine the trouble she’d give Mom, so I told her to stay with me. Thus began the Meltdown of the Century. The other 2 kids and I had to endure the wails; she needed a nap BIGTIME. It seemed like Mom and Jaylen were never getting back! When they did, we took off to Gramma’s.

The smart thing would have been to take her home and go back later, but I had a long list of things to get done so I figured she’d calm down. WRONG.

She wailed while we visited with Gramma, until a nurse came in to tell us to keep it down. She said the “family” of a dying patient a few rooms down wanted us to be quiet. I’ve already gotten into it with her before; she was the nurse who so kindly quit sitting Gramma up in her wheelchair because Gramma “didn’t want to”. Grrr. Gramma NEEDS to sit every day or else her pneumonia will relapse. Just seeing her pissed me off, so I gave Gramma a kiss on the head, and grabbed Emmo’s hand and we stomped off. I turned back to the nurse and told her I wanted to make a complaint. There’s been plenty of times that I’ve had to visit Gramma with people howling for water, for their relatives, food, going to the bathroom and they’ve scared my kids but I’ve been understanding. I got that Emily was loud and perhaps there really was a family who asked (I didn’t believe her, though), but the way she told me was rude and condescending. Of course, the one person I had to make the complaint with never became unoccupied (figures) so Emily and I just left. We sat in the car and I was so frustrated I just bawled with her :(.

Low and behold, we get home and Emily falls asleep. Poor thing. I couldn’t even be upset with her, it wasn’t her fault. But I tried making the best of the day and I cleaned, and then we picked up fireworks with all the kids and got back home to start the fire. Alexis got here with her nephew and we prepped the corn on the cobs, chopped veggies and got everything ready. I realized, in horror, that I hadn’t defrosted the darn hamburger patties!! So I start thawing them in water. Jorge walks in and says, “Nooo! Use the microwave!” But it’s too late. They’re all mushy and weird. He stands over my shoulder as I’m pulling them apart (’cause the centers are still super frozen) and patting them back together once they do fall apart. He says, “Are you trying to feed me turkey burgers? ‘Cause they look like turkey burgers. The hot dogs are turkey. (insert suspicious scowl here, heh)” I tell him, “No! They’re beef, hello, I sent you the pic yesterday, remember?” I even walk to the trash to find the packaging, ’cause now I’m wondering if they’re beef, but the package is under way too much junk.

I finally get the patties to look decent and take them out to Jorge. Jorgie walks in and says, “I think those patties are turkey…they keep falling apart. Dad says regular patties don’t do that.”

I go outside and sure enough, they’re falling apart. There were some casualties, but the ones that do make it looked pretty good, and tasted great!

We got all the kiddos lined up and fed and Alexis and I were pretty proud of the “healthy” burger version we made. It was amazing!

We got all the kiddos in the car and Alexis followed us to the same parking lot we went to last year to watch the fireworks. All the kids were well-behaved and patient. It was a nice show :).

We had a pretty “easy” time getting out of the parking lot, considering how crowded it was. It took us about an hour to get home last year!

We got home and we all helped getting the table and chairs out for the fireworks and s’mores. It was such an awesome time with all the kids and family and Alexis :). And nobody caught fire or anything so that’s a plus!

A few days later I’m cleaning up the counter and find an HEB receipt. I crumple it up to throw it, but something tells me I should read it so I do. The first thing on it: “soy patties”!!!

I couldn’t stop laughing. It wasn’t EVEN turkey, it was SOY!! I texted the photo to Jorge and he posted it on Facebook for all to see, buahaha. I guess we ate pretty healthy after all!

This is one of my favorite (and one of the kids’ favorites!) soup. It’s a “skinnier” version as well, so that’s always a plus. I tweaked it a bit, but the original recipe is from the “Cook This, Not That!” recipe book. You can also change the recipe around and use the base for the soup for fish soup, etc.

You’ll Need:
About a tblsp. of olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 tblsp. of minced garlic (we like garlic!)
1 14oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 tblsp. (or more depending on your taste) of chipotle powder
1 48oz. carton of fat-free chicken broth
1-1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped in large cubes
Salt and black pepper for chicken
About 4 white corn tortillas, cut into half-inch strips
Juice of 2 limes
Fresh avocados, cubed
Chopped cilantro, optional

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees (this is for the tortilla strips later.) Heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. Toss in the onion and garlic and cook till translucent. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Remove pot from burner and transfer the garlic and onion to a blender, add the full can of whole peeled tomatoes with juice, and chipotle powder. Puree until smooth.

Return the puree to the pot and carefully add the chicken broth. Bring to a rolling boil. Once boiling, carefully drop your seasoned chicken cubes into the broth mix. Poach the chicken till cooked all the way through, usually around 10 minutes.

Lay the tortilla strips on a baking sheet making sure none are overlapping. Bake until lightly browned and crispy. This usually takes me anywhere from 5-7 minutes; be sure to keep an eye on them!

Pour the lime juice into the soup. Taste your broth and adjust the flavor with salt and pepper if needed. Pour your soup into bowls, topping with the diced avocado, tortilla strips and cilantro. Enjoy!