Labor Day Staycation - part 2

This year we decided to try something new, a staycation during the week my husband took off work.
{It was Labor Day week. I try not to pre-broadcast our plans too much, you know, burglars and all....}
Now, we've stayed home before, that's nothing new - but we just stayed home.
This time we decided to do some more local day trips, and a little overnight getaway, nothing too big or expensive. And nothing too overwhelming for an 1 and a half year old. 

Here's part 2:
Read part 1 {here}

Labor Day Staycation - part 1

This year we decided to try something new, a staycation during the week my husband took off work.
{It was Labor Day week. I try not to pre-broadcast our plans too much, you know, burglars and all....}
Now, we've stayed home before, that's nothing new - but we just stayed home.
This time we decided to do some more local day trips, and a little overnight getaway, nothing too big or expensive. And nothing too overwhelming for an 1 and a half year old. 

Here's part 1: 

Tie dye day, again!

Today we have a fun craft planned at my house, tie-dye! 

So, while I am busy with that today, I wanted to give you a look back at our tie dye day from 2 years ago (almost to the day...weird). Look for a follow-up post from today soon. 

The tie-dye shirts:

http://amyemu.blogspot.com/2011/07/tie-dye-day-shirts.html

And the cupcakes: 

http://amyemu.blogspot.com/2011/07/tie-dye-day-cupcakes.html

(Ps- posting from the iPad = not ideal, so sorry for any formatting issues there may be) 

Southwest Salad

One of my favorite summer dishes is Southwest Salad. 

Heck, I make it year round, we just tend to eat salads more in the warmer months. 

For us, it is inspired by our love of restaurants like Chipotle and Qdoba.
{My husband goes for the ginormous burritos, I opt for a massive salad.}
So, this is a way for us to fill that desire, while staying home, and on budget.

Garden Update

A few weeks ago I posted about a project we had completed at our house : building a garden!

 Remember?

 So I had a nice big box of dirt in the yard.
I planted some plants in the garden, and some in pots on my deck.
Then I started some seeds.

And now that they have sprouted, I've begun transplanting them into the garden as well.
(The ones that survived the raccoon attack)

My deck plants are doing great, too.

Plenty of herbs sprouting.

Some of the tomato plants are starting to flower.

And we even have our first strawberry.

I think we will be having plenty of fresh food this summer!

What time is it ...

(Tool time. )

No, it's plant your garden time.

This past weekend my husband, bro-in-law, and dad-in-law worked on building us (me) a raised bed garden. And it's quite nice. Yesterday I put some plants in it, and I have some seeds to start and transplant.  I can't wait to have lots of veggies & fruits growing at home. So healthy, and it will save us so much money. I'm thinking about buying some berry bushes too, if there is space for them.

We have very hard, rocky, red clay soil; so we decided to build a raised bed garden instead.

To build our garden we used 8 3"x3"x8' lawn timbers, some rebar, and 24 bags of top soil.

We picked up some plants and a bunch of seeds.

And I planted.

And I prepared to plant some more.

And, as a bonus, I created a square-foot garden planting chart. You can use it to plan out your garden, and keep track of what is planted where. 

Click to view larger, then save .jpg file to your computer.

I included a 4'x8' lattice on the materials list. This is optional (obviously), depending on what you decide to plant. We didn't pick one up, but, I may do a 2'x8' one, if the cucumbers, melons and squashes do well (give them something to climb).

An un-wanted visitor

Everyone in my family has some wildlife critter they love. I like all the critters, but I especially like (most) birds. Sure, they nest in your trees and poop on your car - but, they're pretty good otherwise, and they sound pretty. {Side note : I don't like black birds, crows, vultures ... you know, the ugly birds}

I have been leaving out a dish of sunflower seeds for my little cardinal couple to snack from, since cardinals love sunflower seeds, and I enjoy having them on my deck to snack. However, something must have tipped off Mr. Squirrel to the free food supply. Now, I don't mind squirrels, as long as they are nice to my bird friends, and don't chew anything on my car - we're cool. Hubby, however, calls squirrels rodents with bushy tails, and considers them to be the rats of woodland critters. He views them as evil little things, and doesn't want me encouraging them to hang around our house (aka: stop feeding them). I've only seen Mr. Squirrel once on the back deck, and my presence didn't stop him from filling up, he was quite comfy snacking.

Now, please ignore the audio (Or, just mute your computer) - I held my hand over the mic/speaker so you wouldn't hear our TV noise in the background.

I also got to see the Cardinal Couple eating together for once. They are so cute!

Peach Sauce

I happen to love peaches in the early summer. Specifically, I love white peaches. They are so juicy and sweet! So, I had 3 who were starting to get a little to soft to eat - what to do, what to do?

Peach Sauce!

It's pretty idiot proof to make, really. I use the recipe from Our Best Bites' Strawberry Sauce (also delicious) and just use peaches instead. I'd love to try this with pineapple sometime too.

Literally follow the directions step-by-step, just with peaches :) yum!
It's good on ice cream, or cake, or a spoonful in a glass of tea or lemonade (or to just eat).

Peach Sauce, still warm.

On a side note : I leave the skin on the peach, I figure, if I'm going to blend it anyway why not pack in those nutrients. If you want a slightly "chunky" sauce, I'd remove the skin, since it won't be blended as smoothly.