First I need a new laptop

I'm putting the dinnerware purchase on hold, more pressing is a new laptop. I find the task of buying electronics to be super overwhelming. Mostly, I don't care about the details, I just want it to do what I want it to do. And be fast. A computer nerd friend of mine gave me some hints of what to look for, but I'm still wondering if his minimum requirements are even what I need? And looking at all the manufacturers websites and "customizing" the notebooks is annoying. Maybe I should just go to a store and look, compare their prices to online prices, and order whatever is cheaper.

Ugh.

What to do with Bubbles?

I was flipping through a CB2 catalogue that came in the mail today and found some dinnerware that I really liked. When I went to look online I was excited because it was marked lower than in the catalogue; but because it's so on sale, they are out of the bowls. So would you A) order the plates anyway and just find some white bowls, it's such a good deal. or B) pass. I'll always be able to find nice dinnerware since I wasn't looking too hard anyway.

Also, how many settings would you order if you were so inclined?

Cooler than California

I totally just ordered this t-shirt:
Iowa: Cooler than California since 2009

Locavore

Can you be considered a locavore if you eat at local restaurants? :-)

Today is my "short day" at work and on my way home, since I hadn't eaten lunch, I stopped and got a California Taco (or Cali Taco for the locals). A while back the dude from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network came to Omaha and highlighted some of our best.

California Taco


Dixie Quicks Magnolia Room
(My FAVORITE place for Sunday brunch, the place you have to take visitors!)


BrewBurgers
(Still never been, a little too far west for me, but I'll make it out there someday.)


Finally, DD&D went to Big Mama's Kitchen, where my volunteers and I ate just a few weeks ago. We all had the Afro Burger and decided we couldn't handle it and would have to order the tamer version in the future.

A post before Vacation

I've been meaning to get this post up. An update on my container garden! It started a few months ago as seeds in my window sill at my apartment. Now I have little green tomatoes and little green peppers on HUGE plants!



Let me take you on a tour...all of these pictures were taken a week ago, so everything is bigger and fuller now!


My Zinnias! Aren't they gorgeous? They were my very first sprouts and they are many different colors and oh so pretty! I love these, and I'll have to plant them every year. I think they would be a cool garden boarder as well.

My tomatoes were also stared from seed in my window sill. I had strawberries sprout, then die because I was impatient and transplanted them too early. My chives and sweet peppers never sprouted.

So at the hardware store I picked up some sweet pepper plants and now I have little green peppers! (Large pot in the middle.) I'm waiting for them to get big and turn red. I love red peppers the best. To the sides, the round pots have carrots I started from seed when I moved here, and the rectangles have sweet peas. The peas are the one plant that seems to have died and probably won't come back. I think they got too much water, not enough soil, and I didn't move them down to the concrete in order to try to vine on the rails until it was too late. They blossomed, I have one pea pod, and now all the leaves are brown. :-( But peas grow quickly too, so I may try to replant. We've been able to eat a few small carrots already, along with the lettuce.



My dianthus that I picked up on a whim - love them, and want to plant more in the landscaping out front next year.

Now the strawberries in the large blue pot. I finally had to go buy a starter plant. I tried several times to start them from seed. And I just recently planted them in here. I was getting frustrated that it was bearing no fruit. But once I got it in its planter, it has now grown, blossomed, and I'm hoping for a few berries when I get home.
Finally, for some reason, herbs have been my biggest challenge. And I always thought herbs were supposed to be easy. The boys and I planted three different ones in this little metal box, and just one is sprouting. I think it's the basil, which besides the cilantro, is the one I really wanted to grow.

Things I can't get to even sprout? Onions and chives. Grr.