HiHoRosie's Place

As you know, we acquired a second garden plot. Remember how overgrown it was? Well, we’ve been busy bees – just take a look. Doesn’t it look fab-U-lous?! And in case you haven’t swung by Yardsnacker.com yet, you can see my hubby’s latest garden video update. We spent the holiday weekend working on this – in addition to pulling weeds and planting, hubby did the manly stuff like hauling off many wheelbarrow loads of weeds (there was A LOT!) and grass (our nemesis) and working the huge rototiller (awesome awesome work YS!!). Not to say I didn’t do my fair share of labor but I wouldn’t bank on the tiller and me getting along very well. I’m a wimp. Because the soil is so good to begin with (thanks to the previous gardener) we didn’t have to add anything. Just plant our little seeds. Yippee! So first off we planted corn and various sunflowers. Doesn’t that sound like a happy garden already? We’re still hoping our tomato and bell pepper seedlings reach for the stars quick. I’m excited to...

Thanks again to Annie of Blue Gables for this one: I am a Canna What Flower Are You? "You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that." -- http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/ Well, I suppose this is true. ;) Happy weekend!

**SPOILER ALERT** If you're a fan of American Idol and haven't seen the results show yet read no further as this contains spoilers. Wow! Am I shocked! I was CONVINCED David Archuleta would win American Idol. I figured both Davids had just as many fans as the other but assumed Little David's fans, consisting mainly of teeny-boppers with cell phones on some sort of family plan that includes unlimited texting privledges, would be voting furiously and ultimately place him as the winner. WRONG! I was so surprised it was David Cook who proved to be victorious. I guess I was fooled by Little David's louder fans. I'm not complaining. In fact, I believed both Davids deserved to be in the finals and both deserved to win so I would've been happy either way with the outcome. I have no doubt that David A. will be making great CDs so he has nothing to worry about being #2. You know what's interesting? For my AI poll I put up, you guys predicted the right winner and the...

Over the weekend my lovely friend Ceci (pronounced cess-see) came over for dinner and a movie - her first raw meal and my first raw meal for anyone. She’s been expressing interest in the raw food lifestyle (she picked up a couple of books even) and so was interested in a raw vegan meal experience – Heidi-style. Ha ha! I'd post a picture of us but it's not a flattering one of me (call me vain!). Ceci looks cute but I look like I was trying to eat my chin. I have to admit I was a bit nervous for this evening. Not too nervous because Ceci, I knew, was game for this new adventure. No hesitation whatsoever from her – she’s just like that, open to anything, which I love about her. So even though I knew I had nothing to fear I still did because I hadn’t made anyone a raw anything before. Sure you could count the occasional salad or dip someone’s sampled before but I had committed to making a complete meal for a non-raw friend. Could I pull it off? After learning she loves Mexican ...

…dun dun dun! Okay, so this isn’t about something dramatic or scary but instead about acquiring a 2nd garden plot at our local community park. Yippee! We were hoping for the neighboring plot next to our current one but it was taken (the gardener is/was very slow to start weeding her heavily overgrown plot so we were hoping she’d give up so we could have it – no such luck apparently) so we found another one in the far reaches of the garden area with awesome soil. The previous gardener must’ve brought in some good dirt. :) Before we got started we had lunch – yummy papaya and coocoonuts. Ahhh…so good. The new plot is overgrown but nothing we can’t tackle. I worked on it for a few hours and unearthed all kinds of goodies (whatever is left behind by anyone before is yours to do whatever with – this is both good and bad): old gloves, water wand, binder clips, old tarp…yes, I did say binder clips. Why they were in a garden I have no clue. The previous gardener also left behind several tomat...

It's Wednesday and was in the mood for a meme. I snagged this from Annie of Blue Gables . A - Attached or single: attached B - Best Friend(s): hubby, sis C - Cake or Pie: kinda tough – usually it’s cake but these days it would be a fresh fruit pie (raw style!) D - Day of Choice: Saturday E - Essential Item: smart phone with internet (can you say addiction?) F - Favorite Color(s): always red but with each season, each year there’s a new color I crave and right now it’s turquoise G - Gummy Bears or Worms: bears (I should point out though I wouldn't eat either anymore) H - Hometown: Yorba Linda (even though I only live there for 6 years…I moved a few times as a kid) I - Indulgence(s): chocolate desserts J - January or July: July K - Kids: crack me up! L - Life is incomplete without: family M - Marriage Date: 12/16 N - Number of Siblings: 3, one sister, two brothers. O - Oranges or Apples: either P - Phobias or Fears: fear of the unknown – and creeped out by creepy crawlies! Q - Q...

I came into work today to find on my desk some pages ripped from a magazine showing a familiar face staring back at me. My boss told me he brought them in from his wife for me (she’s so sweet!). The pages I’m referring to is an article currently found in the June 2008 Food and Wine magazine featuring lil ms. Ani Phyo ! I don’t think this new issue is available just yet, except for subscribers but when it goes on sale go check it out – she’s on pages 94-99 – it’s mainly recipes but seriously how cool is that?! Go Ani! To have my boss’s wife think of me knowing I’d appreciate this article reminds me how grateful I am to have people in my life who are supportive of my raw food ways. I mean yeah, sure she could’ve kept the article to herself to experiment with these raw food recipes but I like the fact that she shared it with me (ha ha!). My hubby and I have been fortunate to have supportive people around us. I’ve heard of others who are met with criticism, weird looks, and grief becaus...

Well, my head just got bigger thanks to all of your sweet comments on my last post. Let's see, will it still fit through the doorway? Yup - but just barely! In all seriousness, THANK YOU ALL for your kind words. I hope I didn't come across as fishing for compliments but no matter as you managed to make this girl feel good. I'm healed! This blogging group therapy stuff really works! ha ha! My attitude towards writing has changed since I've started blogging, which I think is interesting. I never would've thought I'd be blogging in a million years but hey, here I am. Again, I'm so grateful to all of you, my friends, who've encouraged, supported, motivated, inspired and advised me (and who are just flat out nice - oh and funny is a good trait too). You make this raw journey and everyday life more fun. Now, as you'll notice I changed my template. Cute huh? I loved the last one (thanks finalsense.com) but there were things that I couldn't get to work ...

Prior to starting this blog waaay back in February 2008 (wink) I had absolutely zero interest in blogging. Okay, almost zero interest. My sister and hubby both suggested I should blog but I brushed it off thinking I didn't have anything to write about, let alone anything worth reading. Growing up I used to be somewhat faithful in keeping a journal but life happens, you get busy and forget all about it. Besides, before computers were commonplace in the home, it was a drag writing by hand. My hand got tired and I'd get bored because I wanted my thoughts to be instantly transferred in beautiful legible handwriting to the new page before me but instead my brain moved faster than I could write. Fast forward to present, I started to think about wanting to keep a journal of some sort again but I wasn't going to be using a pen. I've never been a "writer". It's not the medium I've used to express myself and I'm also not the most articulate but I'm no P...

Spring in the Pac-NW has not only sprung, it has EXPLODED! I know it’s May now (unbelievable) but it’s been a real battle here between winter vs. spring, spring of course winning out. The obvious sign of spring springing are the cherry blossoms; they’ve been in bloom for quite sometime but now they’re even more beautiful with the trees fuller. All the other trees I see are green and pretty leafy. I don’t even recall seeing them bud. It’s like all of a sudden, BOOM! Green leaves! Time is just whizzing by don’t ya think? On a side note for any American Idol watchers…what in the world was up with Jason tonight??? I believe he was smoking some funny stuff prior to the show. Did you catch him yawning when the Top 4 came out and were being introduced? And then when performing he seemed a bit more “lively” and all around more goofy too. If he makes top 3 something is seriously very wrong. P.S. That is not my dog pictured - I don't even have a dog . :)

Who knew that I’d ever garden?! Certainly not me. Growing up, my Dad had some sort of garden so it was nice to reap the benefits of fresh, organic produce but my gardening skills were at weed level. I rarely did more than pull those pesky weeds occasionally. Maybe my Dad would say I rarely weeded but I like to think that I helped somewhat (probably complaining with a sour face every time I’m sure). I even remember using his scary rototiller (with his supervision of course) once or twice. It felt like I was jack hammering the dirt! We dug up huge rocks too when prepping for a garden; I also remember trying to wheel the wheelbarrow – too much for me to handle that it would topple over. Ah well, I tried. I’m not known to have been blessed with a green thumb either. Again, occasionally my Mom would ask me to water the indoor plants but she’d have to write it down and post it on the fridge or someplace I’d see it to remember, otherwise, plants start suffering! Poor plants - so many have bit...

… and you can be my cowgirl . Hey, remember that 80’s song? I suppose I should reverse the words when singing it but it’s the song that comes to mind when I see this picture of myself. Okay, so I’m missing the hat, chaps and boots but I’m on a horse! This entry is a wee bit late as this took place last weekend but that’s okay. I still want to blog about it so I can look back on this fond memory. On Saturday, my husband and I went Ocean Shores , on the Washington coast. We had gone there to collect several gallons of sea water for our garden. The sea water is said to be extremely beneficial in mineralizing the soil. I'm sure we could've gone somewhere closer to home to get water (there are numerous lakes around and the Puget Sound ) but what fun would that be?! Here’s a recent article to read if interested in learning a little bit more. When we first got to the ocean I noticed horses available for riding on the beach so of course we had to do that. I haven’t been on a horse si...

Happy May Day! Can't believe it's May already. If you get a chance read this article - it brings tears to my eyes because it's no longer about the game being played, who's winning, who's better but people coming to the aid of another and bringing to light what really matters. I love reading, hearing, seeing true stories like this of any sort (and would like to see more!), where selfless acts are displayed - and I hope to be more aware of my place in this world and help those around me.