Enjoying a green thumb

Even though we got a late start, the urban garden is doing well! We primarily have tomatoes and peppers, but it looks like the watermelon, squash, strawberries and basil are thriving too. I haven't really maintained a garden since I was a young girl.  My grandmother kept two gardens, one at home and one at the lake cabin.  It seemed like she was always out in the garden doing something...now I know why!  It really was a lot of fun to help her pick strawberries, beans, carrots, cucumbers and even help pick the weeds.  I didn't realize just how much work it is to maintain the darn things!! This summer has been such a scortcher so I've been watering the plants twice a day. This week John and I finally got the soaker hose set up on a timer and go figure, it's rained the past two days!! Ha. Nature has a sense of humor.  Anyway, it's nice regardless of the rain.  The cherry tomatoes have been delicious so far and we've got a few super spicy chilis that are turning red...so fingers crossed we'll be makin' salsa soon (in my Ninja of course)!! Here's to the rest of summer and the joy of timers!!

Good little Ninja!

This week I added a cool new toy to my kitchen appliances: The Ninja Pulse Kitchen system.  It's the perfect three-in-one appliance for me.  I've been thinking about trying out juicing but I don't have a juicer.  Also have wanted to make salsa, but don't have a food chopper.  Salad dressings have been a no-go because I don't have a food processor. Those three appliances can take up some serious storage space. SO, you can imagine my excitement when I saw this cool appliance in Target (for a mear $79.99 + $10 gift card for Target)! I've been waiting to use my birthday money from the in-laws on something fun for myself and needless to say, this Ninja fit the bill! So I brought my ninja home and set my expectations low.  I don't like to be disappointed, and let's be honest, the Ninja sets some big claims.  You can use it for: juicing (sort of), chopping, food processing, and it has attachments to process bread dough and cookies. Sounds pretty cool. I really liked the idea that it had three small single serving containers with lids AND it had the large food processor body.  We got home and had a chat.  Little Ninja, if I like what you do, you can stay.  Otherwise, back to Target. 

First I made a blueberry banana fruit juice drink.  It was nicely blended and juicey.  Next I made a homemade frappacino.  Start with coffee ice cubes (5-6) and add 3/4 c. skim milk and chocolate syrup.

Pulse in the single serve container and whalah--frappacino ready to go. Stick a straw in it and I'm out the door.  This is awesome!!

Today I took it to the next level.  I finally made the Dill Salad dressing I've been wanting to make and it chopped the garlic and dill nicely before blending to together into a delicious dressing. Fabulous.  So far so good!!

 Next, I took on project of making dehydrated spaghetti sauce, or pasta bark, for our upcoming Boundary Waters trip.  First cook up some whole wheat noodles.  Add the noodles and marinara sauce to the large Ninja bowl and pulse it out.  I finished pulsing it and it exactly the consistency I wanted.  Good little Ninja!!  You're a keeper. 

Maybe Friday I'll get to try out the dough blades.  Regardless, I'm in love. And the Ninja stays for keeps.

Better late than never!

Yesterday was the first day of summer! And today we finished our patio by planting our urban garden and plants.  J and I were not planning on having so many vegetables, but once we got started planting we realized that we had more room for our garden than we thought! So we planted several types of squash, tomatoes (I transplanted my three plants that were previously in planters), a watermelon, strawberries, several types of peppers and some herbs.  I'm pretty excited to see what we grow. Technically we were a bit late in the planting season, but now that the patio and planting areas are finished we can get a jump start next year and add beans and cucumbers next year.  For now, I plan to nurse my urban garden to fruition.

It's been so amazing to see the patio transformation. J started with a giant dirt pile and brought in limestone rocks from the local crusher yard. The patio is sloped ever so slightly so the water drains into the alley (through the cool drain system J put in).  Before he put in the drain system, we got a huge storm that dropped 8 inches of rain.  So the patio looked like this...

After the drain was finished, J laid the pavers and created our patio.  There were LOTS of pavers to be laid.

Finally, it was time to create the planting areas. J brought in some good black dirt and enriched dirt to mix in with it, so eventually they were built and ready for planting! We're really excited with the final product.

Family time!

As a newlywed and new grad nurse, I've been pretty busy over the past 9 months with work and adjusting to all the changes in my life.  But alas, summer is here and the hubby and I agreed we were determined to enjoy our summer this year.  Part of our summer enjoyment includes some family time. So last weekend we went camping with J's brother and his family, which includes the wife and four kids. It was so much fun! We tent camped at a cart-in site, which required us to walk about 10 mins into the woods to our site, on the North Shore at Tettagouchee State Park. We did lots of hiking to several waterfalls, as well as combed the beach on the North Shore of Lake Superior for agates (the kids are really into agates right now).  We encountered some fun surprises, like crawdads (mostly little guys) and actually found a few agates.

I brought my camera and enjoyed taking a few candid shots, as well as some scenic pictures of our beautiful views. There's really nothing like the North Shore, even if the trip is just a few days.  On Saturday, we went up to road to Wolf Ridge ELC (environmental learning center) for their open house. It was really cool! We did the ropes course, which ends by you taking a zip line back down to the ground, and (excuse my dorky pun) rocked the rock climbing wall. Wolf Ridge has several raptors and a porcupine (very cute!) to check out. We also did lots and lots of hiking (in the pouring rain at times) and some canoeing.  I was surprised at how fearless the younger kids were (1st/2nd graders doing the crazy ropes course and zip line).  It was awesome to see. We brought the dog along and he enjoyed our hiking adventures to the point of being in a stupor by the end of the day from exhaustion!  :) 

Needless to say, it was a great trip.  In a few weeks our family time resumes with my side of the family, as we venture to ND to do some fishing with my dad & brother and play with the nephews!

Summer camping adventures

So as promised, I'm following up with a quick summary of our camping adventure last weekend.  Our dog went camping with us for the first time, which proved to be pretty entertaining.  We camped at Sibley state park for most of the trip and enjoyed some fishing and hiking.  Canoeing is our water vehicle of choice, thus the dog went in the canoe fishing with us.  He actually did really well, probably because he's 10 years old and pretty mellow.  The very first stretch of paddling was challenging because he kept moving from one side to the other and sticking his face in the water, but eventually he calmed down and laid in the middle of the canoe. The fishing was great! We caught largemouth bass, sunfish, bluegills, northern pike, catfish and one walleye!  That's a pretty impressive mix for one trip. We did lots of bird watching, delicious cooking over the campfire and some fabulous hiking.  Overall, I it was a wonderful camping trip and I definitely recommend Sibley state park!  And camping with the dog is pretty fun too :)

Summer is here!

After working a stretch of 7 out of 8 days in a row, I finally had a weekend of summer fun! Before a weekend of camping with the hubby, I had myself a little fun in the kitchen.  First I made my favorite healthy snack for our camping trip: puffed corn trail mix (recipe to follow...it's delicious).

Next I tried a new recipe posted by my friend, Katie, with a few variations in the dressing.  Creamy Quinoa salad was delicious!! My version included artichoke hearts, edamame, cherry tomatoes, raisens, sunflower seeds and feta cheese.  Mmm!

Lastly, I tried my hand at dehydrated watermelon.  It was actually quite tasty! Mind you, it took about 12 hours because it's watermelon, but it was really good nonetheless!

These tasty treats were a great reminder that summer is here! This lovely realization was solidified by my camping adventure with the hubby and pup.  Preview...my 10 year old dog went camping and canoe fishing for the first time in his life.  It was a fabulous trip! Pics and stories to come soon.  For now, enjoy yourself some tasty summer treats  :)

Time flies!

I haven't posted anything for a while! So it's my day off and I thought I'd update on how things are going. The census has been up at the hospital and thus we are BUSY. But things have been good. I feel like I've really been learning a lot lately.  I think several things have been contributing to this. After I returned from vacation, I had a long stretch of 6 days of work. Six days in a row tends to take a toll on me and I dread it, but I think that during my long stretches, I actually learn more and develop my big picture planning skills. I generally have the same patients for most of my long stretch so I get to see a weeks worth of change (good and bad) and help the patient plan ahead. It's pretty cool, especially when I take care of patients who are admitted for scheduled chemotherapy.  I see the patient full circle through their treatments, as sometimes I am the one to admit and discharge them, as well as take care of them during their treatments.  It's pretty cool for me, and I think it helps the patients because they have consistent care throughout their hospital stay.  Anyway, this has happened several times and I really enjoy it. 

There was one other exciting thing that's contributed significantly to my learning of oncology patients.  I attended a workshop about BMT (blood and marrow transplant), which was so cool.  I learned SO much that applies to our patients and the big picture view of their care and (hopefully) cure. Many of our patients will need a BMT and understanding the process, the timeline for transplants, the indications, medications, risks and side effects is a HUGE part of being an oncology nurse.  I feel like so many of the dots were connected after this workshop!  It's amazing what a difference feeling knowledgable in one's work place can do for self confidence.  I still have SO much to learn, but it's slowly coming together. 

That's it for now! I have been spending most of my free time enjoying working in my yard and playing around with photography.  If you want to check out some of my pictures, click here! You'll probably see more photography updates than nursing blog updates in the next few months.  :)