Poor Squash plant

Well, I've learned a lot of lessons this year with my garden.

1st lesson:
 Don't plant a squash plant in a high pot.

Why you ask?  Well...my best guest is squash plants like to get really big and apparently from what Ken and his mom told me (long term gardeners) that squash spread out - aka - take up a lot of space.  So I plant this squash in this pot and it grew nicely.  I even had 1 wonderful squash that I ate but as the plant got bigger and the squash started to grow, the heaviness of the squash started snapping the branches of my plant.  I assume the squash planted in the ground in return gets supported by the ground?  Ughh..

So, it died.  The branches kept breaking and all the baby squash shriveled up.  I'm so bummed.  But...... to make up for the loss there, my cucumber plants are really producing like mad.  I've had to have pulled at least 20-30 cucumbers off those plants.  So lets do the math:

1 squash only eaten by Jen (Cody doesn't like and Ken won't eat it)
20-30 cucumbers that Jen, Ken and Cody all eat and enjoy

Winner to the Cucumbers!!!  Sorry poor squash plant.  I won't be trying to grow you next year.  Just don't have anywhere to plant you.

Talked to Virginia

I called my cousin Virginia today to touch base with her to see how she was doing. 

So good to hear her voice.  So glad to hear she is healing.

She told me more about her cancer, how she feels about the entire situation, what the oncologist said, how's she's feeling mentally, physically and emotionally.  Good news is as time goes by, she's recovering nicely and feeling better.  I'm thrilled.  Bad news is all 3 tumors were cancer and now how can she make sure this doesn't happen again??  Oncologist...this question is for you....

It's not my business to tell her details but I wanted to share with everyone that she is doing well and all your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!

My cucumbers are my favorite.  So YUMMY!!!!

My lettuce is okay.  I think I waited to long to cut it.  I may or may not try growing this next year.

Yummy green beans. 

My tomatoes were so ripe and yummy.  I never liked tomatoes before but now I do.  These beat the store hands down!

3 cucumbers, 1 squash and 1 beautiful perfectly shaped strawberry

My garden has been challenging this season but yet thrills me with delight.  I pulled 3 cucumbers, 1 squash and 1 beautiful, perfectly shaped strawberry.   The cucumbers are hard to find.  The leaves are so much bigger than I expected so I have to kind of search under them for ripe cucumbers.  I found 3 today.  And so far, everyone of them (10 total) have been so delicious.  But something I didn't know....cucumbers have little prickers on them.  I keep forgetting to put on my garden gloves when I go looking for them and ouch!!!  Something prickerly gets me.  Is prickerly even a word??  Ha-ha!  The squash is in my mind, perfectly shaped and bright yellow.   The strawberry which I was getting ready to take a photo of got snatched by Cody right off the vine.  I washed it for him and he devoured it.  He loves fresh strawberries and can you blame him?  I must admit, this strawberry plant is producing like crazy for me.  And really nice sized strawberries too.  I have no idea what I did different from last year which yielded pretty much nothing but a different pot and a different spot?  Humm....guess we'll see next year when I buy a new plant.

Anyway, I'm thrilled with my garden.

2 years ago

I can't believe it's been 2 years since I discovered my lump.  I woke up Saturday and realized what day it was.  I was at my mom's house and I guess in a way I was somewhat at peace.

Sometimes it's a bad dream and sometimes it's a harsh reality that weighs on me. 

But whatever the case, everything was normal, life was good and then I found my lump.  The roller coaster to the unknown began.  My life has been changed forever.

Goodbye Virgin hair!!! Hello new/old Jen

For the last 18 months I've been growing my hair out from scratch.   The layers (not created by my stylist) are driving me nuts.  My left side flips up with crazy feathers.  My right side curls under. oh and then the feather flips up a bit.  Then add in my awful natural hair color that is soooooo ugly.  I'm about to go crazy.

YES, I'm THRILLED that I have HAIR,  I'm thrilled that it has grown in as much as it has and yes I'm thrilled that it's gray free.  But it is so out dated.  I look like a 1970's - 1980's mixed mess. So I finally found the time in my schedule to make a hair appointment.   I originally made one last Friday but work was busy and we needed coverage.  Blahh, blahh, blahh.....do these people know a woman needs her hair done???  So finally I made it for today.

GOODBYE VIRGIN HAIR!!!!  CUT, COLORED and VOLIA!!!!  The old Jen is almost back!!!!

I can't tell you enough how happy I am.  I just feel like a new woman.  I feel like I'm beginning to see myself in the mirror and not immediately think, geez I had cancer.  

So I met with Val, my hair stylist and we chatted about cut and color.  I told her I hated the flippy feathers.  That I wanted to bring up my length a bit and I had to get rid of my really weird, mousy, dark brown hair.  I showed her a few photos of some cuts and colors.  We chatted for a bit and came up with a plan.  I have to admit I went a bit conservative with the color.  Since I have "Virgin" hair now, Val wasn't sure how it would pull color.  Which makes sense.  When I started going to Val I had about 15 years of coloring my hair so it was processed over and over and she knew how my hair responded.  But now, it's a whole new ball game.  So we took it easy and slow.

3 hours later.....yes 3 hours.  Did I tell you I needed massive help?  She was done.  My hair was cut (1 1/2 inches off) texturized with a hint of side bang.  We kept the natural dark brown color and she threw in 3 different shades of highlights.  When it was 1st done I told her I liked it but wasn't thrilled with the natural color.  She said if I'm ready for the maintenance, we'll lift the base next time.  But as the day went by, the color looked better to me and that ugly brown seemed to blend in more.  So I'm thrilled.

Can't wait to go home and show Cody.  Then of course tomorrow, showing Ken.  My boys are going to love the new look.  I sure do!   So hello new Jen who looks almost like the old Jen (aka pre-cancer),  WHOO-HOO!