Why I Oughta...

We saw this little 'nook' built into a model home last weekend and everyone who was down there with us coo'd over it and thought it was 'sooo cute' or 'soooo darling'. It is a really nice touch and one that just takes a little bit of drywall, framing and trim.  Have to think it could be replicated in anyone's house as they're thinking about a basement redesign or basement rehab/construction.

If you're going to Disney World, there are a couple of stressful planning moments.  After you've picked your travel days and your hotels, you get to move on to what Disney calls "Advance Dining Reservations" (ADRs) and your ride reservations (Fastpass+'s). If you're staying onsite at one of Disney's hotels, one of the benefits they give you is that you can make dining reservations (ADRs) at their restaurants 180 days out from your first night's stay.   Disney opens up the reservations at 6 am eastern on your 180 day mark and for a lot of us, that means a mad-dash scramble to try to scoop up as many of the prime reservations as possible.  For most folks, that means places like "Be Our Guest" at the Magic Kingdom and "Chef Mickey's" at the Contemporary Resort and Le Cellier at Epcot.   If you don't get on the Disney website at 5 am central, odds are, you're out of luck.  The reservations get tied up and everyth

Who knew there was a proper way to walk your lawn fertilizer spreader?  I suppose this is kind of common-sense, right?  If you have the spreader opened up all the way, you simply walk back and forth and make turns at the end of the lawn each time.  This is similar to how I cut the grass.  (I actually cut the grass like this about 50% of the time, the rest of the time I do the 'cut from the outside in and walk in a circle with each lap getting smaller' manner.) But, the 'half-rate settings' pattern is A LOT more complex.  You basically overlay a whole additional set of steps on top of the first.

Five years ago today, I posted this photo of the electricians finally wiring up our garage in Elmhurst .  Below is a screenshot from the blog. Really hard to believe that it has been five years since this went in.  Pretty remarkable.  In the photo, we had the old chainlink fence and the arborvitae that we planted are tiny.  And the entire patio area/pavilion off the garage isn't there.  Most importantly...we were just a family of three.  And had a five month old.  Time sure does fly.

Lots of tomato talk around these parts lately, eh?  'Tis the season, I guess.  This is the last of the tomato posts for a bit (until I get them into the ground), but is an important one.  Above is the Apricot Dream Tomato - a orangish cherry tomato. The most important thing about these is buried in the description on the back: The ridiculously huge trusses each have 20-30 oblong cherry sized tomatoes that are super sweet with a Brix rating of 11.5 giving them a candy like sweetness .   Emphasis, mine. I think there are a few missing hyphens in that line, but that's not the point.  The fact that these are an 11.5 on the Brix scale *is* the point. If you follow tomatoes, you'll know that 11.5 is a rare score.   This post talks about the ranges for tomatoes (usually you eat ones that are 6-10's ).  The girls eat cherry tomatoes off the vines each summer and I am guessing if this variety comes in, I'll know their favorite ones:  these sweet Apricot Dreams

I have a long history here on the blog talking about Mr. Stripey tomato plants.  Back in 2010, I posted a photo of one of the huge fruits next to a little baby pacifier .  And two years later, I was contacted by a small Quaker school in Minnesota who wanted to use the photo for their plant sale .  This year, we'll be growing this Bonnie Plants variety from Home Depot.   I grow them almost every year and they're just about the easiest tomato to give away/gift to people.   Be it family or neighbors or just putting them out on a table in the front of the house.  They're always pretty to look at and have a slightly exotic feel to them with the yellow/pink/red stripes.  My sister usually comes a looking later in the summer for some of them when she's having a party and wants to make a caprese salad.   They're stunners for that when you slice 'em open.  A bit watery, but you forgive that when the color pops so much.

When I was shopping with the girls, how could I possibly pass up a variety of tomatoes called "Rapunzel"?!?  Just look at that photo:  I've never seen a plant that grows like that at any of the home improvement/gardening stores.  They're cherry-sized which is the preferred size by Nat and the girls.  I have to think these will be a hit this summer. From TomatoGrowers.com : Just like its fairy tale namesake, Rapunzel puts out long, cascading trusses, each with up to 40 sweet, bright red cherry tomatoes that keep coming all summer long. The long stems are quite impressive when picked fully loaded with tomatoes, which can be enjoyed individually as they ripen.