The Endless Search

One of the debates that Brian and I have had throughout our marriage is how best to stay healthy and fit. We have tried many things over the last 4 years: running, racquetball, running, hiking, running, lifting weights, running and running. I can't count the number of times we've decided to try running as our fitness routine. I have to admit that I'm the problem for a few reasons.

#1 I have a hard time getting out of bed at 6:00 am on my days off to run.
#2 I don't think just running is very exciting. I prefer running up and down a court dribbling a basketball, or running up and down the field playing football.

SO in our never ending search to stay fit we have decided to try riding bicycles. Brian has a bike that he uses occasionally to get to school and we borrowed my little sister Emilee's bike for me to ride. It's a good thing Brian is an engineer because I think it's been a few years since Emilee has ridden her bike. It was in pretty good condition, but needed some minor repairs.
Brian putting his bike-fixer-upper skills to good use.

Although I was pretty excited, I was also quite worried about that first ride. The reason for my concern? It had been more than 5 years since I had ridden a bike! Of course when I voiced my concern Brian said, "It's just like riding a bike." I wasn't sure if that old adage applied to certified klutzes. But I am proof that it does. I made it back from that bike ride and several others without a scratch.

School Begins One Last Time For Brian

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone. I'm not sure if I'm ready for the rigors of school, homework, papers, tests, etc. I have really enjoyed spending the evenings together with Brian after work, without the worry of homework. Ready or not, though, it has begun.

Exciting news: Brian started his last semester last week. He will graduate with his Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering in December. I think he is excited (I definitely am), though a little nervous about finding a full time job that will support our family. He does have one tentative job offer from the company he did an internship with over the summer. That adds stability and reassurance to that unknown part of our future. He is also planning on looking into other companies and job opportunities as well. I am excited to see what the future holds for us and hoping that I will soon have a reason (full time mommy) to drop down to working only part time.

Not as exciting news: I start school again this week as well. I wish that I could say that I will be done in December with Brian, but alas, that wouldn't be true. I am only one semester behind him, though, and plan on graduating in April. Yippee! (Maybe that is celebrating a little too soon, but I am getting closer to graduation celebration.)

Do we have green thumbs?

Yeah, I have a green thumb! (I think.) This summer we planted our first garden. One of Brian's friends is renting an apartment with a garden spot behind it and offered to let us plant some vegetables there. He and his wife water the garden and we keep it weed free (pretty easy to do because it is so small). We planted zucchini, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, kalarabi (we really don't know what this is or what to do with it) and corn. The garden is surrounded by tall trees on 3 sides and so we were worried that nothing would grow because of lack of direct sunlight. (As I look at these pictures, I realize that the garden looks rather sparse but at least there are green plants growing! As some of you are aware, I have a hard time keeping house plants alive. I think I just need to find a plant that tolerates times of drought (when I forget to water it) and flood (when I remember to water it). Does anyone know of such a plant?)

We were pretty sure the zucchini would grow because everyone knows it is so hardy, but were surprised when everything else did pretty well except the zucchini. We planted 8 plants in the upper right corner and sadly none of them survived. We also planted potatoes in the lower right corner, but our friends forgot where we planted them and planted more zucchini and squash over the potatoes. So we did end up having a few zucchini plants survive. When we dug up a potato plant to see how they were fairing, though, there were only 2 tiny little potatoes.

Our tomato plants did very well and we have enjoyed eating some very yummy cherry tomatoes. The bigger tomatoes are still green, but hopefully will ripen soon. The pepper plant has also produced some pretty big green peppers. The corn is really short and thin, but amazingly enough has a few ears of corn. The ears are only about 4 inches off the ground so we’ll see in a few weeks if they are edible.

Here is the kalabari plant that we don’t know what to do with. It grew really well, but does anyone know how you prepare and eat it?