Herbs A'Blooming

Breakfast, With Love

For Isma's birthday, I decided to try something new. I grabbed Grandma Vance's cookie cutter, a recipe from Johnny Appleseed Festival circa 1960, and made biscuits. I never knew that I could make biscuits so easily and quickly without Biscuick. Milk, margarine (didn't have shortening), flour, salt, and baking powder, and...voila, breakfast! They went well with the Spanish ham and sausage that I mail-ordered for Isma's birthday present. 

Permanent Resident

Isma and I have started to fill out the paperwork for his green card and work permit. Before we began filling it out on our own, he talked to an immigration lawyer about doing the paperwork for us. It would have been a piece of mind knowing that someone experienced would take care of everything. However, the lawyer fees would be around $2500 on top of the cost of filing for residency. On top of that, the lawyer suggested that we wouldn't have trouble doing it on our own. The first round of paperwork is filled out, we're getting the money order today, and it will be in the mail next week. It will be months before we hear back about the paperwork; I don't remember exactly how much time. Isma heard at Catholic Charities, where he went to get some translation done, that due to new immigration laws an inordinate amount of new immigration petitions were being filed, so hopefully we get ours in ahead of the wave and it won't increase the wait time. We'll keep you updated.

Small Sprouts

First Signs of Life. Arugula sprouts poking through the earth paint a smile on my face.

Our Garden

I love gardens. Fresh peas, lettuce, zucchini, green beans, and cherry tomatoes. The smell of moist dirt. I even appreciate the cherry tomatoes, if only for their color. Food just seems to taste better from ones own garden, even if it is only psychological. A couple months ago, Isma and I went out with a friend to start our very own herb garden sans yard. We bought some metal shelves, two aquarium lights with grow bulbs (the light spectrum plants need to grow), and ordered seeds online. A few weeks later, after a quick trip over to Mom and Dad's to borrow a spade and dirt, we brought our babies home. I was so eager to watch them grow!

Click on the picture to see more photos of our indoor garden.

Icicles

Tenía Isma miedo de que los carambonos hagan daño a alguien.

Así que tomó la oportunidad para jugar con ellos. 

Isma was afraid that our icicles would fall on someone.

So he took the opportunity to destroy and play with them. 

Chula

Doesn't she look funny?

That's it...no deep thought. The picture just makes me giggle.