First "Fruits" of My Labor In Pictures

Once again, I've gone without posting longer than meaning to. There are a couple of projects that have been keeping me busy, and when there happens to be free time, the last thing my fingers and hands want to do is type. With that in mind, I'll try to keep this post short.

OUR GARDEN
Gram didn't have much of a garden when I lived here four years ago, and I've had some gardening experience in the past, but this was my first major gardening experience. Naturally, Gram told me what to plant (with one or two suggestions from me), when to plant it, and how to plant it. But all of the weeding, pruning, (most of the) watering, feeding, and harvesting was left to me.

Ignore the dying tomato plants on the left!

We're lucky to get any beans with all the plants in there

The first handful of beans

Zucchini pancakes anyone?

Green Bell Peppers

We have jalapenos growing on all three plants!  (I need recipes!)

It's taken a lot to keep this garden growing and I've wanted to give up on it many times. Of course, I have Gram around to make sure I stay at it. This week has been extremely satisfying and for the first time in a long time, I've done something I can be proud of. 

WEEDING THE DRIVEWAY

Our driveway has turned into a jungle of weeds almost since spring came to Illinois in February. My stepdad gave us a "recipe" for a weedkiller without all of the chemicals (one cup of salt for every gallon of vinegar). this managed to kill the weeds but being the lazy person that I am, the weeds didn't get pulled until after they started growing again. So a couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to get it done. However, I did not take into account how sore my wrists and hands would be after weeding consecutive days in a row; and nor how bad my allergies would be afterwards. I hunkered down inside with the windows closed and several doses of medicine that claimed to be "non-drowsy". Liars. Then we had the week-long heat wave during which Gram wouldn't let me work outside. Then my parents were here for a couple of days. All that to say, I had no willpower to return to weeding after things went back to normal. It wasn't until my dad made a comment about how bad it was. It was actually quite a humbling moment for me and I vowed to get back to work on it a little bit each day until it was done. I didn't do a job at getting "before" and after" pictures taken until now.

This section was much worse before the "before" picture was taken.

The "after" picture. The section in the top left corner still needs to be done.

Against my better judgment, I have also been crocheting this week which hasn't helped my wrists and hands recover. I've banned myself from doing either of those things this weekend. Monday is my birthday and it's supposed to be in the mid 90's so I probably won't weed again until at least Tuesday. But it's also satisfying to see our driveway looking better and better!

Until next time,

~Staci~