Garden Wars: Revenge of the Roses

 You may remember the great rivalry that Bo & Chicken have had over their vegetable gardens.  The previous two years of garden wars have been filled with strategies, blisters, and jalapenos... lots and lots of jalapenos.

Now that Bo has moved to the city, 

and both Chicken and Bo live together. . . 

they've decided that this year's garden war will be fought as a team! 

One for all and all for one!

We've decided to get started with the flower beds and work our way to the garden.  Now there's a few things you need to know about Bo's new yard...

1. It has a crap-ton of flower beds.  Seriously.  No one else on the entire block has a single flower bed, and we have a total of 12 flower beds and gardens.  

2.  The yard is huge!  Not anywhere close the size of her previous yard, but still it's huge.

3.  For some $%^#&@*! reason every single leaf in a 10 mile radius finds itself into one of those dozen flower beds and gardens.  I can not even tell you how angry I am over this.  We both spent hours in September and later in November raking up these rouge leaves and yet this spring. . . they were back!!

That being said, here are some before pictures...

Despite the fact that we have completely different styles when it comes to landscaping and gardening. . .

 And drastically different thoughts about wildlife. . .

Well, despite all of those reasons and more, we were able to work extremely well together.  

We were determined to make our yard shine like the top of the Chrysler building.  

Well, basically that. . . but in a green nature-y way.  

Any who. . . it took 2 days, 5 trips to Lowe's, 2 trips to Garden Ridge, 32 bags of mulch, 4 bags of dirt, 6 piles of sticks/ brush, and 50+ bags of leaves, old mulch, and here are the results.  

(P.S.  I threw in some inside photos too 

because I did some spring decorating inside too.)

Our new sunny bird bath!  

Lowe's accidentally gave me a box that had 2 in it when I only wanted 1

 (and paid for 1).

When I returned the other one, I thought I'd get an "Oh, thank you,"  

since it was a $40 bird bath and would have

been a bad day when they took inventory and found it missing.  

But, no. 

 Instead the lady was more concerned about 

finding out who gave me the box so she could punish them.  

Really.  

Like working retail isn't enough of a punishment,

and I should know (I worked at Lowe's while I was in college!  

You're talking to the Employee of the year here.)

Karma will come back on her someday.  

But, 

I couldn't remember who had brought out the box for me, 

so she had no one to punish.  

For shame (insert winking face here).

The picture to the left may not look like much, 

but it took for #$%&%*ing ever!

Plus, cars kept coming down the alley, 

so my life was slightly in danger the entire time. 

 I also kept getting attacked by a rose bush.

And I was a source of entertainment for a

little girl who kept riding her three-wheel

motorcycle closer and closer, because

her and I were the only 2 active

members in my neighborhood, seriously.

Good Morning Daffodils!

Me-wow!  That is one cool cat!

This may look like another happy flower bed, but it's not.  

That rose you see in the right picture (on the left side of it), 

yeah that rose, 

I've nicknamed it Voldemort 

a.k.a the flower that will not be named. 

I swear, whoever came up with the idea that giving your sweetie pie a rose, 

must have originally thought it up as some kind of revenge 

because those things are horrid!  

I ended up getting poked, scratched, and basically attacked by that thing. 

 I don't know how, but I found a way to get injured by nearly every thorn on it.  

Later, 

when I was passed out on the couch from exhaustion, 

I noticed that my stomach really hurt, 

along with every other part of my body.  

Upon closer examination,

 I had a part of the rose bush caught up in my shirt 

and it had scratched the ever loving hell 

out of my stomach, making it exceeding painful 

to wear clothes for about three days.  

Every time I pass the rose bush I still give it the eye.  

One day rose bush, one day, I will have my revenge!

The trees have buds!  Spring is actually here people!  

Full of seed and waiting for some feathery friends!

Ahhhhh, spring!  My favorite time of year.  

Though, I honestly have to say, this was not my favorite spring cleaning.  

Plus, we only finished the front and side yard.  

The biggest challenge of all is yet to come.

Our next challenge. . . the backyard!  

God help us all.

Fine Dining Without Class: Gradkowski's

Alysia & Stephen visit. . .

Hello all, I figured it had been about a million make believe years (2 years in real time) since I wrote an entry for Bo and Chicken’s blog so when Stephen told me he was elected Treasurer of the Graduate Student Association I first said “So, what I work at a BANK and WE deal with MONEY all day every day!”

After a confused staring contest Stephen said “….Anyway I was thinking we should go out and celebrate!” to which my mind registered “CHA CHING FOOOOOOOOD!!!”

Now Stephen and I don’t get out all that often, but we do try to go out once a month to a nice place for what we like to call “date night”, but should probably be called “go to a place with big portions so we can stuff ourselves silly and still have leftovers for lunch tomorrow”.

Anyway, we got all gussied up and decided to try a new place called Gradkowski’s since one of Stephen’s Professor’s recommended it. My initial thought on the name was “We’re going to Gradkowski’s and you’re a GRADuate student!” (A real knee slapper I know, I’ll keep the laughs coming!) 

After my tomfoolery was over Stephen explained that Bruce Gradkowski was a Quarterback for the University of Toledo and is currently in the NFL and just got drafted by the Steelers. (Thus ends the extent of my NFL knowledge).

Gradkowski’s is located pretty much on the University of Toledo’s Campus in a newly built strip mall-ish area. There was ample parking to be had and I managed to make it to the front door of the restaurant without tripping on my heels (I saved that for INSIDE the restaurant, so I had an audience).

We had been wise enough to call ahead and make reservations and after we had been seated I was glad we did! The place wasn’t very full when we got there, but it soon filled up completely! We had a great waitress that didn’t even bat an eye when I asked for a glass of water and  a glass of soda. They do serve every drink with 2 small straws so I was double fisting with double barrels! (Insert laugh track here.)

The menu here isn’t large by any means, but it does offer a good amount of selections. 

We decided to splurge and get an appetizer of Pesto fries. 

They came out very quickly and were delicious!

(Pictured above, my stomach was faster 

than my hand to reach for the camera, 

hence the partially eaten plate)

There were a couple of dishes on the menu that involved Pesto so it was easy to eliminate them as choices since we didn’t want to get pestoed out. (Fun Fact: Urban Dictionary defines Pestoed as smashing something in a brute sexual manner). [Memo to self: do note site Urban Dictionary as a source for a fine dining review].

After we had snacked away on the delicious pesto fries we finally made our minds up for dinner. Stephen selected the Parmesan Encrusted Salmon. (So classy!)

And I selected the Seafood Sicilian. (Not Pictured is me triumphantly thrusting my fists in the air for not only selecting a classier sounding dish, but a cheaper one at that!)

                                                                                   It’s gotta be classy…it has capers in it!

Of course we bypassed ordering the $20 burger that was on the menu and included foie gras and a fried quail egg on top of it amongst other ingredients that were too classy* for this couple (*by too classy I mean too expensive and it had mustard on it and I DO NOT do mustard, no matter how fancy it is).

Poo on YOU Grey Poupon!

While we waited for our food we enjoyed the ambiance of the restaurant. There were several flat screen TV’s broadcasting the latest on the Final 4 and décor was very tasteful. It was almost a mix between old and new Italian. The only thing that was weird was the 20 era’s music that was playing.

How can you listen to that type of music and not picture people dancing like this??

We received about 15/20 minutes after ordering and it was still steaming hot when it came to the table. They say we eat with our eyes, and my eyes were thoroughly nourished!

Iron Chef America judges might critique this plate for the butter ball being slightly askew, I consider it a very delicious and artery clogging form of  avant garde art.

Ring, Ring! Hello eyeballs? You’re welcome!

Dinner was a heavenly feast. I didn’t realize the pasta was going to have some heat but it was a delicious surprise! (P.S. DO NOT DIRECTLY BITE INTO A CAPER just so you can “see what one tastes like” they were not made for that!'

The portions might not look very big from these pictures or we underestimated how many fries we actually ate, but we did end up with leftovers from our meal.

One of my favorite things about this restaurant is that they box up the leftovers for you and bag them up. They even marked the containers with the date. One more thing about these containers, they are dishwasher safe and microwave safe, seriously they are the nicest take out containers I’ve ever had. I actually washed mine out and plan to re-use it they are THAT GOOD!

 WHAT’S THE FINAL VERDICT?

We would definitely visit Gradkowski’s again in the future! It’s not an everyday place to eat since our entire meal was about $50 for the two of us, but it offered us a pleasant night out with a great atmosphere, wonderful food and we got to steal glances at Bruce Gradkowski himself! 

All in all a great place to visit and the staff couldn’t have been friendlier (well they could have, but then it would have been borderline creepy). For sure stop by and check this place out and make sure you save some food to take home so you can use the wonderful containers. (I should be a spokesperson for these things seriously!)

Double Blog: What does it mean?

It all started when Chicken found 11 fortune cookies in Bo's kitchen . . .

Chicken:  I was hungry and looking for a mid-day snack when I came across  11. . . count them ELEVEN fortune cookies.  Who has 11 fortune cookies in their kitchen?
Bo: I do.  Well, I did.
Chicken:  So, I opened all of the cookies and laid all the fortunes out on the table.


1. Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
2. You are soon going to change your present line of work.
3.  Opportunity will soon knock.  When it does, answer the door!
4. You will always get what you want through your charm and personality.
5.  You will be fortunate in everything you put your hands to.
6. Your present plans are going to succeed.
7. Today is a perfect day to give that special person a gift.
8.  The star of riches is shining upon you.
9.  You will be showered with good luck.
10.  Man is born to live and not prepare to live.
11. Courtesy is contagious.


Chicken: These fortunes are pretty lame.


Bo: But they wouldn't be lame if we put them all together and made The Ultimate Fortune!


So this is how a challenge was issued; a challenge to take these 11 mediocre fortunes and combine them into 1 Ultimate Fortune. 

Ashes:  And I shall judge the awesomeness 

of this Ultimate Fortune when it is complete.

Bo's Ultimate Fortune:

Today, be prepared to live; because you will be fortunate and opportunity will knock.  When it does, use your charm and personality to practice random acts of kindness on Man; then you will be able to get what you want- and you will be able to change your present line of work.  Then your plans to give that special person a gift of ‘The Lucky Star of Riches’ will succeed.  When you return home you will be showered with senseless acts of beauty and contagious courtesy.

Chicken's Ultimate Fortune:
Don't practice random acts of senseless violence (except when playing the newest Assassin's Creed) and your opportunity will be fortunate presents of the perfect star of good luck prepared by a contagious charming special man.   Yes, fear not the darkness, make the sacrifice for the greater good; because love, liberty, and time are the fuels that should drive you forward.

Bo: Hang on a minute!  That sounds an awful lot like. . .
Chicken: No dice Bo!  Judge away Wonder Woman!

Ashes: I like it. Quality writing with a sprinkle of pop culture. I give it two bullet proof bracelets up! The only problem I have with this is that there are no fortune cookies to eat. *Womp Womp*

Bo: But wait, who's the winner?
Chicken: Yeah, who's the winner?
Ashes: I am always the winner no matter the challenge; fore I am Wonder Woman!
Bo: That doesn't seem fair to me.

Chicken: Of course it's fair.  Wonder Woman wins fair and square and I come in second place because of my awesome sword!
Bo: (face palm)

I swear I didn't steel the Sword of Griffindor! 

See Midnight Movie Magic:  Harry Potter 7 Part 2

from 7/15/11 for more Potter-tastic fun!

Luke, I am Your Blogger- Part 1

Hello Muddah,
Hello Faddah,
I am blogging. . . while sitting in a lounge chair on the deck munching on carrots and enjoying an ice cold Cherry Coke. . . ahhhh, refreshing!

Our parents have a really big influence on our lives.   The examples they set for us determine part of who we will grow up to be.  The instill in us values that they believe are important and teach us things in hopes that we will be even more successful in our endeavors.

Now, bearing all of this in mind, some of the things our parents do are- well rather comical for a back of better words.  This is the first a series of blogs about the two biggest influences in my life. . . my mom and dad! 

But who to write about first?  Decisions, decisions, decisions.  Well, if you read the title of this entry, then you already know I've decided to go in alphabetical order and without further ado, meet my dad.

My dad is a great guy, and pretty resilient for a guy who raised 4 girls.  My poor dad was outnumbered 5 to 1 since I didn't have any brothers; even most of our pets were female.

He's always worked hard to support his family, was Mr. Fix-It around the house, and tried to teach my sisters and I every sport imaginable (with little success on my part). 

                                                                            My dad, he's the one trying to reach under my car, 
                                                                    attempting to put the serpentine belt back on my car after it slipped off.  
                                                                                    It took lots of 'man hours', but he fixed it!

My dad is also kind of quirky, and it is with much love in my heart that I relate to you some of the quirkiness that is my dad.

Dad at the Movies

Okay, to even start this story I need to tell you a little about my dad's appearance.  He's 6 foot 1 in. and is about as wide as a string bean.  The guy can eat a meal for 4 in one sitting and actually loose weight (an attribute I did not obtain).  We joke and say he's got a bottomless pit for a stomach.

He's also quite astute and picks up on things, especially movie plots;  and I'm talking quickly, VERY quickly, like withing the first 5 minutes of a movie.

When arriving at the movie theater my dad has to have his own personal jumbo size bathtub of popcorn.  Bottomless pit, remember?  

                                           One bathtub of hot buttered popcorn please.

To this day, I honestly still don't know how one man can eat so much popcorn without popping themselves, but he does and saves room for lunch afterwards.  

Before the movie begins, it's great to sit by my dad because he doesn't talk; in fact, the only thing he does do before the movie is work on polishing off his bathtub of popcorn- so he can get a free refill (making every kernel worth every penny).  

Once the movie starts, well, that's another story.   

You see, my dad will talk his way through the movie.  He repeats lines of dialog; not a word, or a few words, but entire paragraphs of dialog. The thing about that is my dad is very loud without trying (an attribute I did get from him).   So when he's repeating the movie dialog, everyone in about a 10 seat radius can hear him.

If you go to the movies with my dad, spoiler alert, he will ruin the ending of the movie at the beginning and sometimes the sequels that haven't even been filmed yet.  

I don't know how he does it, magic or something, but whenever a movie gets started, within the first 5 minutes of it starting, or any given character being on screen, he accurately predicts what will happen to them by the end of the movie.

Here are some real examples. . .
Dad: (munch munch munch) See Bruce Willis' character there?
Bo: Yeah.
Dad: He's dead.  That's why that kid can see him.  He's a ghost.

Audience: (laughter over funny part)
Dad: That lady over there in the white shirt.
Chicken: Yeah.
Dad:  She's going to die when they get there.
Chicken: No way, she's a lead character.
Dad: (munch munch) She's still going to die when they get there.

Dad: That guy there, that you can only see his hands.
Bo: Yeah.
Dad: That's Dr. Moriarty.
On Screen: Blah blah blah blah Dr. Moriarty.
Bo: How did you know that?!?
Dad: It just makes sense.  And that lady there that he's talking to. . .
Bo: Yeah.
Dad: She's going to be killed in the sequel.
Bo: Dad, there may not even be a sequel; this one just came out.
Dad: No, there has to be a sequel and she's going to get killed in the beginning of it.
Bo: How do you know that?
Dad: It just makes sense.  (munch munch)  Did you hear that? 'Dad repeats dialog from film.'  

It is important to remember that my dad is unintentionally loud when he's in a movie theater so everyone within a 10 seat/4 row radius hears these conversations.   I can only assume that they get as mystified as my sisters and I when he ALWAYS accurately predicts endings, sequels' plots, and deaths in movies.  

I'd like to imagine that 1.5 years later when 'that' movie's sequel did come out; there were about 30 people who upon seeing it thought
"WT*@#&%!!! How did that guy know that?!?!"

Yeah my dad is quite the character, and you don't even know half the story; there is much, much more to come in. . .
Luke, I Am Your Blogger- Part 2.

Come On Brain, Make a New Blog Title

Sometimes I feel like my brain has taken a vacation and forgot to take me along.  Typically this occurs when I'm super stressed out and it seems like anything that could happen does and it happens all at the same stinking time.   

To try to keep balanced, I try to incorporate at least an hour of "me" time everyday.  Now, typically this "me" time takes place in the evenings before bed.   A large portion of this time is spent reading, but not all of it.  I make sure that whatever I do, it  is something non-work related that I thoroughly enjoy, and since I love technology (and free things). . . I going to share some of my favorite FREE Zen apps with you.

Here are my favorite Zen Apps in no particular order. . .

Zen Space

If you like using a desktop zen garden, this is the app for you.  It's free and you don't have to worry about sand getting all over the place.  It also has sound that you can run while you are in the app.  If you do a good job of keeping things equal, butterflies will start appearing and will flit across the screen.

Hello Flower

This is a really cool app where you can create your own flowers from the inside out.  You can choose your color, shape, and style of each petal.  Here's a few screen shots of me creating a flower.  I've had a lot of fun with this app.

Bubble Wrap

Who doesn't love bubble wrap?  This app is great for those moments when you just need to chill.  It has 2 modes: just pop (which is my favorite) and a timed round when you have to pop an entire page in a set amount of time.  For me, when I'm just trying to chill, a timed game seems kind of counter intuitive;  so I try to stay away from those.

Fluidity

I love, love, LOVE this app!  You can change the color, amount of sparkle, and the consistency of the liquid.  Talk about cool!  This is a very calming app and it let's your mind wander.  I love seeing artistic photos of space, and to me, it's like your creating amazing photos of the stars.

Nature Scenes

As you can see there's a running trend with putting ads at the bottom of the free apps; now this really doesn't bother me anymore.  I think I've built some kind of commercial immunity, and I am pretty good at blocking them out completely.  But, this apps' ads really don't bother me since your not really going to be watching the screen; instead you'll be listening to the calming sounds of the rain.

This app also has a mixer, which is my favorite feature, where you can add and subtract a series of calming sounds to make your own perfect calming background music/sound.   They even have sounds of the city, for those people who miss the sounds of the hustle and bustle of home.  It also has a sleep timer, so you can set the sounds to end at a certain time.  Did I mention this app is free?  

Pond Lite & Pocket Pond
The big difference between these apps is the fish themselves.  
In Pond Lite. . .

You are automatically given these cute colorful koi fish.  You don't have to feed them, just enjoy watching them swim your stress away.  

Pocket Pond . . . is another fish entirely.

In this app you have to feed your fish and clean the filter regularly. If you don't the fish die, I don't use this app often so when I opened it to get some screen shots I found out that not only was my pond full of algae and the filter was filthy, but. . .

. . .all my fish died. 

The sad part is, even though I used my koi credits (given for free as you keep up your tank) to 'purchase' new fish. . . the dead ones stayed down at the bottom as a sad reminder of what was.  On a positive note, my frog was still alive and very hoppy.  

If you are going to be a casual koi fish care taker, I suggest Pond Lite, otherwise you'll end up with a pond full of sadness. . . and a hoppy frog.

Apps aren't the only way I help to melt the stress away; in fact, they are just one of my many tools in my tool box of Zen.  I prefer not to be a homebody, so when I can, I have fun with family and friends, get outside and enjoy the sunshine, draw, sketch, and get all artsy!   These apps are just one way I like to manage stress.  Plus, there are just those times when your 'me' time requires just that; some time just for you and only you.  

To quote Mary Poppins, "A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down," but I think that laughter truly is the best medicine.