366: Day 79-85

A certain someone will be 18 in a few weeks time (how did this happen?!) so I got some gift bags in preparation. He IS the best.

 

Wille btw was on a school trip to London Monday – Thursday so I started on a project in his room while he was away. Nothing to do with the guitar though.

 

Cooking a new recipe for dinner. Very aware that Wille probably won’t like it involving zucchini. But he LOVED it when we had the left overs when he got home.

 

Went to IKEA after work. We finally have a patio table! And some pots. And some hangers. And some shelves. And some batteries. And then some. How can you (I) can never go to IKEA to buy just one thing?

 

Bonus and Mini spend more time on our neighbors’ decks than in our own back yard. They and I are so over these cold, hard and uneven pink slabs.

 

Love the color and shape of these tulips. Too bad they’re all over the place. Stand straight in your vase dudes!

 

Seriously, Mom, get on with the new yard already!

Comments

[Jo]

IKEA !! it's a communist plot ;o)
Jo xx
Love the tulips btw

[Sophia]

I guess only a few stores around the world can pull this up and IKEA is one of them! I hope soon to see the mysterious project!

[Barbara]

About the tulips: If you really don't like the look of them bowing down in all kinds of directions (I actually LOVE that, haha) you can cut a little slit (just about a cm in length or so) in the stem right under the bulb.
This makes them stay the way they were when you put them into the vase.
Hope it helps!

Greetings from Germany,
Barbara

[Judith]

LOVE the viridiflora tulips. We have some in our front flowerbeds and yesterday while clearing away the winter yuck I noticed they're coming up. Yay!

Bonus might be impatient for the new deck but he does look pretty content out there - maybe he really is over his wanderlust :)

[Hxx]

Filling one of those big blue bags at IKEA is the law! You are not allowed to leave until you have filled at least one with things you did not go in there for.

[Carlos]

Oooh, great tip! Must try next time!

[Emma]

Hi Benita !
Cut tulips actually keep on growing in their vase. My mom always told me to put just 2cm of water in the vase, and no more, so that just the tip of the stems are in water. That makes them stand straight. Yours will straighten up if you do that and if they haven't been in deep water for too long.
Hope it helps. Hags from Germany.

[Carlos]

God, I hope so. I would love not having to ride my bike to the old neighborhood and bother my old neighbors and new owners of our old house ever again. Fingers crossed!

[Emma]

ha ha ha, I meant HUGS and definitely NOT HAGS !

[Carlos]

Haha!

[silke]

it also helps (and is less obtrusive) if you just give them a prick with a needle at the exactly same place. it even gets them straighter again when they're already hanging. ;-)

[Carlos]

I remenber the pin prick trick from Martha now that you mention it. Must try it when I get home!

[Jules]

Hi! I think this is the first time I have commented, but I have read your blog for years - it is great! I bought tulips at the weekend and the trick to get them to stand up is to put a penny in the water - don't ask me how it works it just does!

[Carlos]

With "regular" tulips I do that + leave that wrapper on for a couple of hours after snippig the ends but these parrot tulips seem to have a life of their own :)

[Carlos]

HAHA!

[Carlos]

Will have yo dig into Wille's foreign coin collection then! We don't have any copper coins in Sweden any longer :)

[Gul]

Hej Benita!

I was reading about gardening yesterday there I saw the Rain Water Barrel idea and remembered that you used to collect rain water in old house. Do you plan to do the same here as well?

[Carlos]

I won't, there's no room to keep one since I'm in a row house.

[Erin]

Someone beat me to the comment about the penny! So interesting you don't use copper coins, though. I'm the same way with IKEA, if I go in I must buy at least 10 things. It's becoming problematic!

[homestilo]

The shot of the tulips is lovely. On my way to Ikea now, I hope I can contain myself and buy only what is on my list...

[Julie]

Two people beat me to the penny suggestion. I did wonder if you had copper coins in Sweden--now I know. It does work for me though. Look forward to seeing your Ikea purchases. Have a great week!!!

[Karen]

Care to share the new (zucchini) recipe?

[Account Deleted]

I loved the colors you chose to the gift bags and i think IKEA for you guys is like Tock&stock for me, impossible to leave with just one item!!!

[Kate]

I'm with Karen on wanting the zucchini recipe. :)

And with all the pics of Bonus, I'm wondering is he staying home nowadays, or is he still wandering off to the old homestead?

[Carlos]

It's nothing super exciting , basically just a simple bolognese sauce layered with zucchini in a dish in the oven and cooked for 30 minutes. Very lean, healthy AND tasty!

[Carlos]

I'' just copy my answer to Karen :):It's nothing super exciting , basically just a simple bolognese sauce layered with zucchini in a dish in the oven and cooked for 30 minutes. Very lean, healthy AND tasty!

As for Bonus I do hope his wandering off days are over. He's been staying put for almost four months now so fingers crossed!

[jja]

I didn't like zucchini at all, until my vegetarian friend filled them with 3 sorts od cheese gratine nad baked in oven. With some salad it was great! Have a nice week :-)

[Maddy]

Love the pics, Benita! About Ikea, I am very very lucky to have a store about 5 minutes from my place. Very lucky because out capital city, Canberra, doesnt even have one!
I treat my Ikea as a convenience store: go in there, grab one or 2 things, run out (getting exasperated at the browsing shoppers for being soooo slow!). Last time I was there, I bought some glögg, thinking how you have blogged about it. There was a sign suggesting to serve it chilled, good marketing as the temp was in the high 30's!

[Anne]

Can you belive they are 18!!!? It's just yesterday (ah well...) we were on pram walks. It is so strange, on the day you immedeately gets messages that you can't log into the school net anymore, messages from the bank that you can't access their bank accounts (bummer)... I can still tell her what to do, but she doesn't have to listen. Wait. Everything stays the same in other words. :)

[Carlos]

Haha! True :)
Ge Märthis en kram från mig förresten, jag har helt missat att gratta... bad auntie Benita, bad auntie!

[Teres]

Nyfiken på vad du lagat för gott med zucchini? Tycker att det är så gott men har aldrig använt det annat än att grilla på sommaren.

[Carlos]

Det är detta recept; http://www.tasteline.com/Recept/Kottfarsgratang_med_zucchini
Riktigt gott!

[Anna]

Vad ska hända med ölandsstenen? Jag är på jakt efter ett gäng plattor till ett trädgårdsprojekt och tar dom gärna om du vill bli av med dom...? Bor i Stockholm. Tack för en inspirerande blogg! /Anna

[Carlos]

Det är en granne som tar hand om dem :)

[Amy P]

I have another vote for the pennies! And actually, Canada just announced that they're getting rid of the penny - costs more to make than it's worth. So I better save some!