Ready to Begin Vegetable Garden

Pepperoncinis

I'm pretty excited to begin planting my vegetable garden. My garden consists of large pots on the side of my house, so I don't have room to plant a lot of things. I buy already established plants and plant them in big wooden pots. This year I am trying Pepperoncinis. We love these on sandwiches and in salads.

Grape Tomatoes

These are my favorite tomatoes for salads and a quick snack. This will be a first for me also. They are slightly sweet and I like them better than regular cherry tomatoes.

Roma Tomatoes

This will be my third year growing Romas. They are great for cooking tomatoes, bruschetta and capreses salad. I will also grow a regular tomato for sandwiches, just not sure which one yet.

Red Bell Pepper

Last year I grew green and wished all year they were red. So I'm trying it out this year.

Basil

Couldn't cook without it. Easy to grow.

My oldest daughter has also planted some vegetables in pots on her deck. She has a great herb garden with oregano, basil, thyme and sage. She is growing a regular tomato and grape tomato, and a Jalepeno! So far they look great! She gets sun all day.

I so wish I had more room to really grow a big garden. They are a lot of work, but the vegetables taste so GOOD and it is so exciting to watch them grow!

Paris Apartment

Living room

I have found a great apartment in Paris, 5 minute walking distance from Notre Dame. It is two bedroom, newly renovated with new beds and furniture and at a very reasonable price. I used a company called Vacation in Paris. So far they have been very accommodating and nice.

It is very hard to find hotel rooms for 4 in Europe. 3 yes, 4 no. The Handsome Husband always wants to have separate rooms anyway, given the fact that our children are 19 and 21. (Oldest daughter is not going as of now, she is going to Jamaica next week.) After seeing other people having great apartment experiences, I thought I would give it a try. I think it is going to be very cost effective. Already saving $200 a night over hotel rooms.

I don't plan on cooking dinners in this kitchen but breakfast for sure and maybe some lunches. Don't know how much use that coffee pot will get because there is a Starbucks down the street.

(Yes, I looked up the apartment on google maps and got a street view! Crazy, I know). HH loves french coffee, so if a Cafe au Lait is attainable nearby, that is where we will go, but nice to know Starbucks is there!

The bathroom in nice and big.

Bedrooms are off a quite courtyard and have new beds. This was important to me because you can't just change rooms if you don't like it. HH is picky, I always tease him that he is like the princess in the Princess and the Pea!

The girls will have this room and I think it is just right. This will be a new experience for us, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Lisbon, Portugal

Some very good friends of ours have a couple of summer places in Portugal. They offered us our choice for a summer vacation, a week in an apartment on the beach or the villa in the country. We always like to end our vacations with some down time at the beach, so we chose the apartment. We are traveling with young adults, so it will help to keep them busy.

The apartment in on the Lisbon Coast, so we will lay on the beach in the morning and sightsee in the afternoon. This is a combination we love. I've heard so many great things about Lisbon, I'm very excited to go.

Lisbon has a style of architecture of its very own, its called Manueline. The above is an example.

We will visit the Pena Palace.

The Monastery

The Belem Tower

This beautiful plaza and arch.

We will see the Memorial of the Discoveries.

And take these little street cars and the funicular up the steep streets. I can't wait. This will be the second half of a two week trip. The first half will be spent in Paris. We have rented a cute little apartment and plan on seeing it all, including Disneyland Paris! I have been to Paris 3 times, but the longest amount of time was 3 days. I'm looking forward to not having to rush.

1st Spring Bouquet from the Garden

A little freesia, iceberg roses and lavender. I don't know what the big purple flowers are. They sure are pretty. Lots of little star flowers making one big pom pom.

The fushia colored flowers are from my Sweet Pea shrub.

I love spring!

Last night we went to the Segerstrom Performing Arts Center to see Rock of Ages. We were tired and didn't really feel like going, but we are glad we did. The story goes like this: In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small town girl met a big city rocker (sound familiar, Journey song) and in LA’s most famous rock club, they fell in love to the greatest songs of the 80s. It’s ROCK OF AGES, an arena-rock love story told through the mind-blowing, face-melting hits of JOURNEY, NIGHT RANGER, STYX, REO SPEEDWAGON, PAT BENATAR, TWISTED SISTER, POISON, ASIA, WHITESNAKE and many more. The music is loud and head banging. There is a cult like following in the audience. People are singing at the top of their lungs to the songs.

There are lots of scantily clad women doing their best stripper impersonations (this and the music were HH's favorite parts of the show). If your into 80's Rock, this show is for you.

Oh, and American Idol finalist, Constantine was the lead. He always bugged me on AI, but he was decent in this.

Book Share

Heaven is For Real

This is the story of an almost four year old who visits heaven and how he describes it. He has emergency surgery and as far as his stats are concerned, does not die on the table, but he visits heaven. One statement at a time he reveals what he saw when he was there. He starts out with the statement, "I liked it when the angels sang to me". He knows things that he has no way of knowing, he describes things that are backed up by biblical verses and he sits on Jesus' lap. Imagine that!

This book is a quick read, but it really gets you thinking. I have personally always believed in God, Jesus and Heaven, but this takes it from a "faith" concept to a "reality" one.

I liked it a lot and as a christian consider it a confirmation of our beliefs and an uplifting book. 4 stars.

Hell's Corner

This is what I would call an action thriller. Unfortunately, I did not like it as much as I have like previous books by David Baldacci with the character Oliver Stone a.k.a. John Carr, former government agent. It just wasn't that exciting. I would give it 3 stars.

Willliam Shakespeare - You know more than you think!

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. (taken from Wikipedia)

^{Learn more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare}

He has had a lasting influence on the spoken English language. A lot of the sayings we throw into our daily language can be contributed to Mr. Shakespeare.

Here is a list of common expressions that we use in everyday life, that were first written by Mr. Shakespeare.

The ones I have heard of and used often are in bold. You may have a different list, but I'm sure you have used many that are listed below.

A countenance more in sorrow than in anger

A Daniel come to judgment

A dish fit for the gods

A fool’s paradise

A foregone conclusion

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

A ministering angel shall my sister be

A plague on both your houses

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

A sea change

A sorry sight

A tower of strength

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio

All corners of the world

All one to me

All that glitters is not gold / All that glisters is not gold

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players

All’s well that ends well

An eye-sore

An ill-favoured thing sir, but mine own

And shining morning face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school

And thereby hangs a tale

As cold as any stone

As dead as a doornail

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods

As good luck would have it

As merry as the day is long

As white as driven snow

At one fell swoop

Ay, there’s the rub

Bag and baggage

Bated breath

Beast with two backs

Beware the ides of March

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks

Breathe one’s last

Brevity is the soul of wit

Budge an inch

Cold comfort

Come full circle

Come the three corners of the world in arms

Come what may

Comparisons are odorous

Conscience does make cowards of us all

Cowards die many times before their deaths

Crack of doom

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war

Dash to pieces

Dead as a doornail

Death by inches

Discretion is the better part of valour

Dish fit for the gods

Dog will have its day

Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble

Eaten me out of house and home

Elbow room

Et tu, Brute

Even at the turning of the tide

Every inch a king

Exceedingly well read

Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog

Fair play

Fancy free

Fatal vision

Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man

Fight fire with fire

For ever and a day

Foul play

Frailty, thy name is woman

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears

Full of sound and fury

Get thee to a nunnery

Give the devil his due

Good men and true

Good night, ladies

Good riddance

Green eyed monster

Hark, hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings

He will give the Devil his due

Heart’s content

High time

His beard was as white as snow

Hoist by your own petard

Hold a candle to

Hot-blooded

Household words

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child

I bear a charmed life

I have not slept one wink

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips

I will wear my heart upon my sleeve

If music be the food of love, play on

In a pickle

In my heart of hearts

In my mind’s eye

In stitches

In the twinkling of an eye

Into thin air

Is this a dagger which I see before me?

It beggar’d all description

It is meat and drink to me

It smells to heaven

It was Greek to me

It’s a wise father that knows his own child

Kill … with kindness

Knock, knock! Who’s there?

Laughing-stock

Lay it on with a trowel

Lean and hungry look

Let slip the dogs of war

Lie low

Like the Dickens

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Love is blind

Make your hair stand on end

Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water

Milk of human kindness

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows

More fool you

More honoured in the breach than in the observance

More in sorrow than in anger

More sinned against than sinning

Much Ado about Nothing

Mum’s the word

Murder most foul

My own flesh and blood

My salad days

Neither a borrower nor a lender be

Night owl

No more cakes and ale?

Not a mouse stirring

Now is the winter of our discontent

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo

O, Brave new world

Off with his head

Oh, that way madness lies

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

One fell swoop

One that loved not wisely, but too well

Out of the jaws of death

Out, damned spot!

Parting is such sweet sorrow

Play fast and loose

Pomp and Circumstance

Pound of flesh

Primrose path

Rhyme nor reason

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

Screw your courage to the sticking place

Send him packing

Set your teeth on edge

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Sharper than a serpent’s tooth

Short and the long of It

Short shrift

Shuffle off this mortal coil

Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em

Something in the wind

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Sorry sight

Spotless reputation

Star crossed lovers

Stiffen the sinews

Stony hearted

Stood on ceremonies

Strange bedfellows

Such stuff as dreams are made on

Sweets to the sweet

The be-all and the end-all

The better part of valour is discretion

The course of true love never did run smooth

The crack of doom

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose

The Devil incarnate

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers

The game is afoot

The game is up

The lady doth protest too much, methinks

The naked truth

The play’s the thing

The quality of mercy is not strained

The Queen’s English

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on

The working day world

The world’s mine oyster

There is a tide in the affairs of men

There’s method in my madness

Thereby hangs a tale

This is the short and the long of it

This is very midsummer madness

This precious stone set in the silver sea, this sceptered isle

This was the noblest Roman of them all

Though this be madness, yet there is method in it

Throw cold water on it

Thus far into the bowels of the land

Tis neither here nor there

To be or not to be, that is the question

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily

To make a virtue of necessity

To sleep: perchance to dream

To thine own self be true

Too much of a good thing

Truth will out

Under the greenwood tree

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

Unkindest cut of all

Up in arms

Vanish into thin air

We are such stuff as dreams are made on

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers

We have seen better days

Wear my heart on my sleeve

What a piece of work is a man

What the dickens

What’s done is done

What’s in a name?

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions

Where the bee sucks, there suck I

While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil!

Who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure

Wild goose chase

Woe is me