Why I Oughta...

Came home to find my aloe plant had taken a tumble and the pot cracked down around the rim.  The pot was a McCoy and I *think* came out of my Dad's collection.  Bummer. Now...Nat's never been a huge fan of my Aloe plant, but I don't think she had any hard feelings toward the pot.  If she did and there never was a storm, we could have had a "Ralphie's mother breaks the Leg Lamp" type of situation here. " Not a Finger !"

Less than one month ago, I planted a Golden Hops vine on the north side of our house right under a new trellis.  Then we went on vacation for more than a week to Michigan while we were in the hottest part of the summer.  When we came back home, the Hops vine was sad and brittle.  I've since given it a  lot of love (and water!) and we're now seeing it climb right up the center of the trellis. Everything I've read says that we won't get much in terms of a Hops harvest this fall, but in year two, we'll be loaded with some green beauties that my brother-in-laws can turn into a Christmas Ale.

We were in Williams Sonoma yesterday and came across these Brookster Pans.  I consider myself to be someone who somewhat keeps up with baking blogs and the like and I had never heard of these things.  A quick search on the web and it looks like everyone is pointing to the same place that I am - Williams Sonoma where they sell a Brookster mix and - as you can see above - a Brookster pan. So, did W-S create the Brookster?  Are they trying to build something of their own like the Whoopie Pie?  Pretty neat idea, if that's the way this shook out.

The City of Elmhurst came by and marked our tree with a big white "X" signifying that they intended to take our tree down and replace it with some little tiny baby tree. I've been in touch with the Forestry Division of the City of Elmhurst and it looks like we might be able to find a way to move forward without killing the tree.

Hauled in the first *real* tomato that wasn't an early variety or grape/cherry with that very pretty Golden Jubilee .   Those medium-sized red ones are from a plant that The Babe picked out herself called "4th of July" that is breed to ripen early.  Although we didn't get them by the 4th, I blame the fact that I got them in the ground in late May to be the cause, not the plant. Also, our Zucchini plant continues to throw off enormous fruits that we can't keep up with.  I put a few of these outside on our curb with a sign that said "Free Zucchini" and they were snatched up within the hour.  And, those of you with sharp eyes will spot the two cucumbers.  With salads being made around here all the time - and my mom's adoration for cukes - those will be eaten up in short order.  

This is our couch.  And...yes...it is currently located in our garage.  That's a thing, right?  A garage couch?  I hope so.  Because, we bought a new couch for our family room thinking that we'd take this couch downstairs to our recently-finished basement.  Only to find out that it won't fit down the stairs.  Hence, why it is currently sitting in our garage.

There's 20 ounces in a G2.  They list a serving size as 8 ounces.  Meaning there's 2.5 servings per each bottle.  8+8+4=20.   But, somewhere, their calorie math got lost. If there's 20 calories per 8 ounce serving, that leads me to believe that there would be 10 calories per every 4 ounces, right?  So...the first 8 ounces has 20 calories.  The second 8 ounces has another 20 ounces and the last 4 ounces *should* have 10 calories.  That adds up to 50, right? Not according to Gatorade.