Surprise Tomatoes!

Back in summer of 2012 (probably July-ish) I noticed some cute little sprouts in my compost bin. (At that time, it was a literal bin...a small rubbermaid bin with holes drilled in it. I carefully transplanted the little sprouts into the flower bed. Most of them met their demise by weed-whacker-weilding gardener, but two lived. Of those two, one grew only about 16 inches tall, and the other became a fabulous cherry tomato vine!

 Now, while I originally assumed that this would end poorly for the little guy, as winter was coming, I started to notice how vigorous it was. By mid-November, I found this.
Crazy, right? But it kept on going! Suddenly, tomatoes were ripening every day!

I started to take more care to keep this plant healthy. I already have acidic soil, which the tomato seems to like. It's in a corner of my flowerbed facing south, so it gets lots of sunshine. That particular corner gets warm, even in the winter because it's sheltered from wind but sunny. (We have a window-mounted  thermometer, named Wildly Inaccurate Thermometer, who claims --among other things-- that the temp gets up to the 90's in winter... which I doubt. But that corner is warm.) I have had to throw a few blankets over it when the temperature crept down into the mid-30's at night, just a few times. Thankfully we never had a hard freeze. I hate freezes.

 By January, I started to pull them when they were just starting to turn and let them ripen on the windowsill.

Then Mrs. A told me that if you hang red Christmas ornaments on your vine, it will confuse the birds.

Notice how the (seemingly) nicest, reddest tomato is fake? Well, birds go straight for that and then think "What's up with these tomatoes? I'm outta here!" and the others survive. So now I have been able to let the tomatoes safely ripen all the way on the vine. The question now is, what to do with them all?
I have added them to BLT's (Slobolt lettuce also from the garden), canned for sauces and soups (more on that later), given to friends, family and neighbors, and still they come!  Yay for Surprise Tomatoes!

Fruit Fun!

There are many things I like about this house. One is the fireplace in the office for cold mornings. One is the screened in porch, which is just heaven on a summer night. But out in the yard is another thing: an abundance of fruit trees. Let me give you an idea of what we are working with here. 

Sour Oranges. Not good eating, but pretty good for marmalade.

Tiny sour oranges. Same problem as the big ones, just more of them. We did get some good oranges and some tangerines that were perfect, though. 

Bananas!

So many bananas! I pulled some off the tree and made banana bread. I felt like a pioneer. 

Grapefruits. So delicious!

We ended up with about 50 of them from mid-November to late-December.

Greek platter put together for the Olympics. The mint and the figs grew in my yard. 

 And there were some things that didn't go so well. The papayas that never ripened, for example.
Also, the pomegranates that got all diseased and sad. Gosh I hope those grow better next year.

New Garden!

January 21, 2013

East Yard, AFTER

The temperature outside is currently 70 degrees and it is sunny and wonderful. Although I know it is foolish to believe we are in the clear, I feel Spring coming and I am absolutely giddy about it. I took the advice of many, many books and internet sites and am only planting winter crops, although I want to just put everything in the ground now.  I have put seeds in the garden: sugar snap peas, English peas, green onions, white onions, beets, radishes, lettuce, cress, endive, and parsley. 

I have put sprouts in the garden of garlic, white onion, pineapple, and celery.

And I have several herbs still kicking from last season: spearmint, peppermint, lemon balm, rosemary, chives, oregano, Armenian basil, sweet basil, and cilantro. Of course, there's also my pride and joy: Surprise Tomato! It sprouted in the compost heap in late summer from what I suspect was one of those Nature Sweet tomatoes you buy on the vine. I stuck in in the ground and it just took off running, and has been producing cherry tomatoes all winter.

On my windowsill in the kitchen I have some sprouted garlic and green onion, some chocolate mint from Mom's garden, and some heirloom red onions from a fellow gardener's stock.  There's also a spider plant from my classroom and the ever-present pile of tomatoes ripening. Whew! (And that's not counting the fruit trees that came with the house, but that's another post.) 

Now, other than fruit trees, the garden here was a bit of a mess. 

East Yard, BEFORE

We're still in the process of clearing out the junk we've found in the backyard and pulling weeds and scrubby bushes and such. There was also a decided lack of sunny beds, since our backyard is aimed south and almost all of the beds could pick between morning sun, afternoon sun, or neither, since they were completely shaded by fruit trees. (Did I mention so so so many fruit trees?) 

We added one large raised bed and three small raised beds to extend the space for veggies. 

I'll keep you posted as things grow in. I can't wait!!!

New Year, New Everything!

Wow. I have been avoiding writing a post for almost a year. I didn't know how to say that I've changed careers and I love it, even though I mourn the loss of my identity as a teacher. I found it hard to say that I'm finally Home when I feel like that's betraying the homes I have loved and the friends I have made for 10 years away from good old Fort Bend County. But being home is good. I love seeing my parents for more than just a weekend at a time. I love that I was able to be by my grandmother's side for the last few months of her life.  I love having a job that I wait eagerly all weekend to get back to on Monday. And I love sinking back into the welcoming arms of the church I've grown up in. I also love my screen porch.







Since transitioning from "Teacher" to "Office Manager of a Law Firm", I have learned an entirely new set of skills but I feel like this is what I was always supposed to be doing. I work with my husband and two other wonderful people and we are helping people. Really, tangibly helping people when they need it. It's pretty damn cool.


Talkie talkie talkie. What I really want to do, instead of reflect on or summarize the past (yikes!) 10 months since I last posted, is jump right into the good stuff. Garden! Cooking! Adorable puppy! I'll try to keep back up with the blog and show you pictures of what I've been up to in the garden and kitchen departments, with some gratuitously cute dog pictures thrown in. Like this one.

Berwyn and new friend Mo hang out on the patio. 

Not a Teacher Anymore

*Written in May of 2012 posted February 2013. I wasn't sure if I should post this. It's not positive, exactly. Well, it is positive, but not about my job at the time. And I hate being down on the job I had because of the wonderful people I know who are still doing it. So I sat on this post for months. But here it is. 

I write this post with very mixed feelings.
This time last year, I had been laid off for budget reasons and was saying an early goodbye to the profession that I chose for myself in 1998. I wasn't ready to go, and was desperately hoping for one more year at PHE. I got my wish, and was brought back in to teach 4th grade.
At this point, after 6 years working daily in public schools (and a total of 14 years of teaching, counting everything), I'm not going to be a teacher anymore.
Back when I was supposed to be getting a transplant by now, Lawyer Man and I created an alternate plan. We would start a business together, with him as the lawyer and me as the office manager, and we would work around my doctor's appointments and ability level to run the practice together. This seemed more doable than teaching, where you can't be immunocompromised and you can't take off a lot and you can't sit down much or pee when you want to. It was clear that after my transplant, my teaching career would be over and a quiet office job would be the new plan.
As this plan took form, we added two more partners to the firm. I gladly resigned my position as equal partner with my husband in favor of getting to be the Mama Bear for all three lawyers. I love the people I'm going to work with and I love the idea of our business, and I am absolutely THRILLED to be moving back to the Houston area (also part of the post-transplant plan... gotta be close to my momma if I'm going to be sick all the time.)
Now that a transplant doesn't seem to be in my near future (may not even be in the 5-year plan), I could continue to teach. The big reason I was leaving teaching doesn't really apply anymore, so I am in a position where I really could keep going. Just put in applications and start working in my home district! Or I could continue with the family business plan, now that it is in motion. Being that I am an organized person, I have been mentally listing reasons to teach versus reasons to quit (regardless of new job). Related to quitting, I also have reasons to specifically be our office manager. Here's what I have.

Stay in Teaching
This is my "calling" and my degree and has been my plan since middle school.
Relatively secure job.
It's all I'm qualified for, from a resume point of view.
Never work on holidays
Summer break (after summer school is out)
I really do love teaching
My coworkers have rocked at every school I've taught at
There are still places like China Spring, where kids want to learn and parents care
Sometimes I get paid to go hiking, listen to mariachis, or visit the symphony
Sometimes I get paid to paint, read fun books, or play Apples to Apples
Fiber Arts Club rocked
Inner-City School Teacher has a way bigger "oh, Damn!" factor than Office Manager
People are surprised when I say I'm quitting teaching, and seem let down
I love kids
I doubt the partners will draw pictures for me
I can have a bulletin board on star paper with a glittery shooting star border in my classroom, but not in my office

Leave the Profession
I might not be an expert at classroom management (or at least, my last group of kiddos was better at foiling my plans than I was at creating them)
There is no correlation between hard work and pay out, despite what we try to tell the kids
Coming home drained with no energy for my family or home
Paperwork (to be completed in my spare time, not on the clock)
In 6 years, I have had three semesters TOTAL where I felt like I was good at my job and I enjoyed it (in three separate school years), I have had 4 semesters where I felt like I was doing a good job but I didn't love it, I have had 5 semesters where I felt like I sucked at my job and I didn't love it.
Teacher ass (or, why do I immediately lose 5-10 pounds every summer and regain it by Christmas?)
The system is broken and I feel so inadequate being unable to serve all my kids the way they need to be
No more lesson plans or grades
No more breaking up fights
If someone says "F YOU! I don't have to do this," then I don't have to work with him
If someone makes a paper airplane out of his test, I don't have to answer for why his grades are so low
If someone stabs someone with a pencil, it's not my fault
If someone cusses at me on the phone, I don't have to thank her for her input
If someone tells me he plans to keep me from doing my job, a specialist won't tell me to buy him stuff to make him like being here.
If someone threatens me, I can file charges, not ask him nicely to keep working.
Feeling totally spoiled to be at a school that allows 35 minutes for lunch

Office Manager at PMF
Flexible hours
Work starts at 9:00, not 7:45, and if I work until 5:00 I get paid until 5:00.
Work with my husband, rather than calling him to say I'm staying late again
Firm dinners with the partners and their families
I'm really good at customer service
I'm really good at organization
Kid/dog friendly office
(At least at first) Working from home
(Later) Decorating an office with things that are beautiful and won't be broken, stolen, or graffitied
Allowed to say Damn or Hell at work
Get to dress way sexier because I won't be standing all day, sitting on the floor, or dealing with paint or pre-adolescent boys
"Working Lunch" means lunch out with a client or bringing take-out back to the office, not eating a granola bar over the copier
On that, having a Lunch HOUR
I can go to the bathroom any time I want and I don't have to ask someone to watch two classrooms at once

Green and Gold Casserole

It'll cure what ails ya!

This week has been pretty horrendous. The STAAR (standardized test) started, so two days this week we tested fro most of the day. Then it rained, so no recess for the kids. Let's just say behavior has... suffered. I have been feeling like some down home comfort food so my thoughts turned to the Green and Gold Rice Casserole. It is my family's official funeral casserole (and as we know, Southern funeral food is love in its most tangible form.) In fact, when Gran passed on in 2005, Granby brought this casserole over to my aunt's house. The Green and Gold part, as I understand is also a reference to my mother's high school colors. Go Patriots. However, to truly understand the ties we have to this recipe, I need to explain its origin.


This recipe comes from Amity Presbyterian Church's 1976 Cookbook. This church, in Charlotte, was where my parents met and married and where I was baptized. This cookbook contains recipes from both of my grandmothers, my mom, and all of my aunts (my dad's two sisters and my mom's sister-in-law). I inherited this cookbook from my grandmother and it is full of her notes, check-marks and underlines. (She was very fond of underlining things.) It is the one material thing I have plans to grab if my house ever burns down.

*The person who submitted this recipe is not a relative, but I will forever remember this recipe thanks to her.

Substitutions/Notes: The Kraft Nippy Garlic Cheese Spread might not exist it any more (last time I was able to find it was in college) so I used 8 ounces of Velveeta and a tablespoon of minced garlic. The microwave-steamable broccoli is really convenient. I use the Original Recipe Uncle Ben's Wild Rice box for the hot cooked rice. To add some more protein to this, I added about three cups of chopped, cooked chicken that I had left over from making tortilla soup earlier this week. The chicken is Granby's idea.

This soup makes a 9X13 casserole and reheats well. For funeral food, I usually make it in a disposable foil casserole dish and don't cook it yet or put the onions on. (I send them on the side along with heating directions.)

Now, unrelated commentary: Each week, some organization pays for a "taste" of a fruit and a vegetable for each child at our school (I think the whole district.) They must be served raw and unadorned, which made for a lot of "eww" faces when they gave them leeks. Often, the fruit is well received but the veggie is thrown about the room and squashed into the carpet. You can't entirely blame them for being grossed out. What 10 year old wants to each fresh mushrooms? Or beets? Or red onions? This week the veggie was Red Bell Pepper. Each child got what amounted to about a third of a pepper. This must have cost someone a fortune! I only buy red bell peppers when they go on sale for under a dollar each. Predictably, though I explained the health benefits and deliciousness of these, most kids didn't want theirs. So I got to bring home this:

Anyone know a good recipe for peppers?

Spring!

Back yard picnic!

I am very, very thankful for the extremely mild winter we had. We didn't even have a hard freeze. I never had to wrap pipes! We didn't have a day so cold that water stopped running in the kitchen sink! Our first two winters in Waco were brutal, with $450 electrical bills and missed days of school (which had to be made up by extending the school year.)
Despite what the Groundhog told us last month, we never did get a terrible winter. I kept saying "it's not too bad now, but wait until February!" But the bitter cold never came. Hooray!
Now, what have we been doing to capitalize on this unseasonably pleasant winter? (Real spring doesn't start until March 20.)

Airsoft! 

I have actual strawberries growing that survived all winter.

Berwyn is enjoying playing soccer in the yard.

Super awesome fighter jet kite with tiger stripes and flames. 


Another thing: There's this Blog. Flylady.net. It has all these ideas for how to build routines that keep your house clean. (Like cleaning your sink every night.) It's a pretty intense schedule, and although they mention things like school and work, it's really made for SAHMs. I can't wait to be one and have a morning routine that consists of getting dressed, starting some laundry, and eating a balanced breakfast. Hmm.