My Garden

Here is an update on my patio garden. This is all I have left:

I re potted some and pulled other plants out for the garbage, and trimmed.

Notice my sad rosemary Christmas tree plant? (It's the middle pot pictured below) I noticed it was dying indoors during Christmas. I put it out doors and kept it watered and happy in the sun where they like to be, and it kept dying. I got so sad. I finally looked real close at it and realized it was made of 2 plants. 1 of the plants completely died as well as 1/2 the other surviving one and so I cut out all the dead and re potted it into my rosemary pot where my last rosemary was so happy until I killed it. We'll see how it does. So far, so good.

1 of my cactus's rotted so I re potted my 2 baby cactus's into that pot. They somehow miraculously survived my bad watering skills that killed my beloved rosemary plant last summer (which was non existent because I was trying to survive myself while over-working), while I somehow over watered the other cactus? I can't figure out cactus's. All I know is I despise planting cactus's! Owch! 

I am still very impressed at my 3 date palms happily surviving somehow with a tiny bit of dirt left in each pot. I really need to put more dirt into the bottom of each pot. (I have a whole pot of dirt with worms in it in the top picture.)

You might have also noticed the yellow sticks in the pot below the table on the right side? That's my pot of 4 asparagus plants. I decided they don't each need their own pot. I didn't care what they thought. I was sick of their ugly looks too so I cut the tops off. I felt so brutal but I didn't care. They are one of the most ugliest but tastiest plants out there. They finally turn yellow and die off in the winter. Just the last couple weeks they finally went from green to turning yellow. After their rude transplanting and disturbing of their roots, we'll see if they even come back in a month or 2 when it warms up.

 

It has been so warm here this "winter" that I have kept my windows and doors open most of the time. We'll see if it even turns into real winter this "winter".

Afghani Bread

After my mom posted a blog about foot bread, I decided to do the same recipe. I also not having the nigella seeds, no onion seeds and no coriander seeds, used caraway seeds.
Here is Jasna Varcakovic's recipe: She states she doesn't want anyone to post a picture or a recipe from her blog onto theirs without permission, so I will only give you the link to the recipe on her blog to give her credit. http://jasnaskitchencreations.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/afghani-bread.html She has so many fantastic recipes on there!

I kneaded mine about 10 times. I let it rise 1 hour. I used olive oil and had tons of fun poking it. I baked it immediately after I poked it.

My raw dough:

Fresh from the oven:

The temperature converted into Fahrenheit is 428, but I cooked it at 350 like the lady's video below. I found it wouldn't brown. I also figured if the true Afghans cook theirs in a fire oven, why not turn up the heat? So after I noticed it wasn't browning after 8 minutes at 350, I turned it up to 500. After 5 minutes of no browning, I turned it up to 550 (the hottest my oven goes!). It started browning! I let it be for about 5 minutes, and pulled it out fearing if I left it too long it would dry out. It probably cooked about 25-30 minutes total. I learned you need hot hot heat to cook this bread to not only brown it but to cook it quickly so it won't dry out. 

Fluffy soft bread:

 

Me and my husband thought it a little bland, but after adding butter to mine it was better. I also noticed as I ate a piece after it cooled it has much more character in the flavor as it sits. Maybe I needed to add more seeds for flavor? Maybe that's why you need nigella seeds?

 

This lady Nooria Ali calls it Afghan naan even though she uses the same ingredients as in the Afghani bread recipe. It has no oil or dairy like most naan recipes have, so I think she tried to translate it and got the wrong name. I used her techniques with the dough without adding the extra water, but didn't turn my bread over 1/2 way during cooking. She cooks hers at 350. Hers also looks more dry (probably with the longer cooking time?). I'm curious on the flavor the onion seeds give it. I've never heard of eating onion seeds!

This man Haji Niayz Mohammad credits maintaining the right temperature in his oven to keep the bread soft. He also names and describes the different types of bread around the time 1:40 in the video. Saada is the name of the bread I think I just made.

Well, chain reaction, millions of Afghans make it, Jasna made it, my mom made it, I made it, are you?

Eggs not at the zoo

Here is the egg I cooked yesterday: DOUBLE YOLK!!!!!

The lions I saw at the Phoenix Zoo Sunday: They would look away every time I took a picture. The male lion ROARED! I was videoing it and everyone came running! I got home to realize I only took pictures and videos of the lions! I really like lions though...

If only I could figure out how to get the video of the lion roaring on here! It's on my phone. 

 

I also petted a pregnant brown cow. She was sweaty and hot and full of dirt and straw. She kept leaning into the fence to get closer to me to scratch her. Afterwards, my hand matched her coat color and I had to scratch my skin for a while under water with soap to loosen the grime! The zoo worker there told me she likes to roll around in the dirt and be dirty! She told me she's due in March or April so I'd love to go back at that time to see her calf! 

 

They aren't hiring at the zoo. I asked. Maybe some day huh? I'd probably have to move closer though cause it's a long drive there. 15 minutes on the freeway. Not ma thang!

 

Well, hope your day brings you sunshine and butterflies. But because of the time of year, hopefully at least a happy bird or 2 with the sun!

Trisha.

 

Bad Bad Day

I think I have a sinus infection. And my head feels a little like it's going to explode. And the dog did this. And the book I finished ended stupid. I'm having a bad day.  :-(  Oh and I'm wearing pajamas today. All day.

LIKE MY MOLES? Just thought I'd point them out in case you missed them. And to think he only scratched one of them! I blurred my face because I feel foggy there.

I feel like these are first world problems.

I found this video a long time ago. Right after the channel owner posted it, I shared it with all I could. Now I share it to you:

 

I also share this with you because I laughed so hard and every time I watch this I laugh just as hard!

HIS FACE SAYS IT ALL.

Turn the sound up for this one:

This next one either watch it through, or just the part that made me laugh after 59 seconds -the link below will take you directly to that spot (watch after the white cat) or just fast forward to 59 seconds in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tzhyfWHdLo&feature=player_detailpage#t=56

And here, watch at least until you watch the balloon part. The part after is funny as well. *Poor guy* I will admit it starts out boring but the suspense builds. You'll see.

 

Well I can always make myself feel better finding funny things!

I hope you found joy in them as well!

Trisha.

Merry Chrismas!

Have a Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

I will be spending Christmas with family!

AND MY BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He just got back from Afghanistan TODAY!

I am so happy and excited that we are able to spend Christmas with him!

Hope your Christmas is as happy as mine is!

Christmas Is Coming!

Here's my Christmas tree:

And I put lights around my railing:

And I decorated trailer park style: (notice my Nativity Scene? I smashed it all into a little tray.)

The dog is still with us: He lost weight? Hopefully I did too?

I finished my quilt last month:

Here's a close-up:

Life has gone on a lot better since I've posted anything here. I quit my job a few months ago, (YAY!!!!!) and have been retired. I have been recovering from the crippling exhaustion from that job and have been thinking about what I want for my future. I know I definitely don't want to go back to work. I cannot handle it. But how to make money?

 

We have also put an offer in for a new house. It needs a ton of work. It will need to be gutted and redone. Completely. The lady who's selling it doesn't know how to keep a home. She's a hoarder. It has roaches, and daddy long leg spiders. EVERYWHERE. It has no water and she hasn't been living there recently. Every time the water gets turned on, the pipes leak. EVERYWHERE. Um hello? Fix it? She has patch job over patch job all over the ceiling and walls to fix drywall where there have been leaks. Um hello? Fix the pipes instead of the drywall? She inherited it from her mom debt free and decided to take out a loan on the house. Um hello? Fix up the house? Where did the money go? All her belongings look like they where her mother's. So it didn't go there. The house needs new drywall, new paint, new flooring, new kitchen, bug spray, landscaping, foundation strengthening exercises(cause I don't know what you call it), new roof long overdue, new cabinets in the kitchen and baths, new doors and windows, etc... I could go on and on and on and on...

 

It will be a lot of work but I guess I've had enough practice re-doing houses? So I definitely know what to expect. Hopefully it will be finished a lot sooner than the Libby house which is the namesake of my blog: "Hopelessness On Libby." It was on Libby Street. And it took FOR-EV-ER to finish. I gave up hope on that house and deemed it hopeless cause it was perpetually unfinished. I sometimes miss that house because it was all done, right before we moved, the last of it was finished up, but then I remember how long it took to clean and there where just 2 of us and I didn't get along with it because it had bad hopeless memories in it. So I don't miss it after I remember that.

 

The place we are in right now I feel safe here. We have both condos up for sale but the area looks bad, so it sometimes scares off potential buyers. Some reason though it doesn't scare me. I feel safe here. I am surrounded by people all around me and can even hear the neighbor kids through the walls. It's constant community. You get to know all the familiar faces around you and everyone minds their own business except that one lady who walks around and invites herself into your house if your door is wide open, and peeks her head around every corner and is the female version of a very nosy peeping tom. She doesn't speak much English, so you can't find out much about her, but oh boy that one lady. She is sure nosy! But entertaining! She doesn't feel embarrassed at all! I never knew Asian people could be like that!

 

See ya later!

Trisha.

 

 

Kitchen Disruptions

In the process of getting gas lines in, someone is bored.

He has been stuck upstairs while they drywall the kitchen. Instead of just going all the way upstairs, you know- where it's more comfortable, he decided to sit and wait on the stairs to watch as much as he can. Sitting like this this helps him to look more manly than you can imagine.

This is the kitchen before. Gas lines are in, and straps were put up right after this picture was taken.

This is after the dry wall guys left:

Now, do we dare paint and put the kitchen back together? Or are they going to have to rip it all out again to test and inspect the pipe?

 

My kitchen's almost done!

We just found out today that the gas won't be here for at least 6 months!

This is lie after lie we keep getting from the HOA. We were supposed to have gas in February. It's 5 months later! We were supposed to have a dog park in January complete with grass! They didn't fence it in until March, and it's still dirt. We were supposed to have a pool this summer! Well, summers almost over and they haven't even started work on it! They were supposed to have a building stuccoed and painted this year so everyone could vote on the color and style for the rest of the buildings, but they decided to do that next year now. Lot's of empty promises yet we still have to pay the HOA to do nothing but tell us stories.

 

Grumble Grump. We'll just move.

Trisha.