Brown Thumbs

This is my brown thumb...
I say that because, after showing great potential early on - our blackberry and blueberry bushes seem to have taken a turn for the worse. I don't know what to blame the gale wind or the colony of fruit flies that took up residence in this very pot - but whatever it was, it has killed my hope of having fresh berries ANYTIME soon.

All the green growth that once showed the life on the blackberry plant has since died, and all that remains is this (blurry) bare stick.

As for the blueberries what were once vivacious green leaves have now turned red in color and seem a bit dry (and also blurry.)

On a side note, there are these little green growths through out the pot. What fun Mystery plant as the wind blown our direction? Only time will tell.

About a month or two ago, I transferred the plants from indoor to outdoor. The main reason for this was the colony of fruit flies - still not sure where they came from. But I had also thought that being out in direct sunlight would do them well. Unfortunately, the climate here has not warmed up and has been really windy and rainy. I am sure this did not help them either. But where the two plants we purchased are dieing, new life springs.

Despite this bad luck, Andrew and I decided we might still have a little green in our thumbs, and I had received a few planters as Christmas gifts. So first on the list this morning was our:

At last weeks Evantson Farmers Market - we purchased some tomato plants. For the purpose of finally getting to use this Christmas gift. So began the process.

This is the Topsy Turvey Planter:

This is the Topsy Turvey Planter with tomato plants:

And this is the final product in all its glory. Getting the soil from the bag to the planter was a good lesson in communication for Andrew and I. But eventually we filled the planter and hung the twine on our porch, just as I had imagined it to be. (Did I mention it was raining while we were doing this?

Here is a picture from the inside looking out- just so you can get a better idea.

Next - we also bought a pepper plant from the Farmers Market. This was the only pot we had left. Pepper plants don't get THAT big, do they?

And finally, the last Christmas gift planter: The BuzzyI think we are a little late for Strawberry season, but we had it, so I figured we should use it.
This kit came with everything you need to grow your own strawberries in a hanging basket. Including magic grow moss:

Here is the final product:

The kit also included these three little red pots. I am not sure what they are to be used for as they were not mentioned anywhere in the directions.

Andrew and I are a little concerned about this one, because when we opened the seed packet, we didn't see anything in there (maybe 2 or 3 TINY seeds.) Because of this Andrew relabeled the box the kit came in.

Either way, the kit also came with a guarantee that the strawberries would grow, or they would sent you more seeds, so I guess we have a back up plan.

In case you were wondering Twiggy Jr. Jr. is doing well, despite Fran's best attempts to eat him.

Now onto other non green news. About a month ago we purchased this:

A converter box for our television. After reading about who would need one, both Andrew and I were convinced we wouldn't need one. However after a serious of failed tests, the television channels would switch to digital for the home viewer to see if they were ready or not, I got online requested the coupons and we went out and bought two boxes (for our two TVs.) We picked up a lot more channels and we were enjoying our life in the realm of digital.

Then my tech savvy father came to visit (he brought my mother along too.) He informed me that our televisions are in fact digital and that we wouldn't have needed to purchase the boxes all we needed to do was switch one of our television settings. He also informed me that by just using the television and not the box we would actually get the digital picture, because the box is converting the signal to analog.

It all made sense to me, so last night, after the analog transmitters were turned off, I turned off our converter box, switched the settings on our television, and enjoyed DIGITAL as it was meant to be enjoyed.

Have you ever seen anything more clear? I can't believe it!

The converter box wasn't a complete waste as our VCR/DVD combo will require the conversion if we want to tape anything. Surprisingly I am still in the VCR realm as we do not have cable/TIVO/DVR or whatever other fancy devices are out there. But should anyone need one converter box with remote - we do have one extra.

Here is what we had for lunch: Andrew has dubbed this "The Death Burger"

It's a Boca burger.

Also yesterday, we purchased these:

Andrew has promised me we will go more this year - after all we aren't planning a wedding anymore.

While my parents were here we went to the Art Institute.

Andrew got free tickets for all of us, as part of Northern Trust Employee Appreciation.

It was a very lovely time - probably my first time there were I didn't get completely lost and end up in the area surrounding the courtyard. We saw many classic works of art, but also got to enjoy the new modern wing. As part of the modern wing that have an architecture and design exhibit (which is sponsored by Northern Trust.) This was my favorite part of the museum. There was even a model of the building I work in (it was designed by a famous Japanese architect.)

Some other pictorial highlights from my parents visit:
Our home is a five star hotel offering nothing but the finest in air mattress luxury.

Aerial Shot of the W Hotel & Suite

One of our meals: Bison Burgers (from grill master Andrew), potatoes, salad, and strawberries.

Can you believe we fit four around the island? It was a bit tight.

Day Two meal: Steak! (from grill master Andrew) CORN! more salad and more strawberries.

Andrew and I enjoyed having the company - and Fran warmed up to the idea, even coming out and letting my dad pet her (a small miracle in and of itself - both if you know my dad or if you know Fran.)

A Case of the Monday's

Well today did NOT start as I intended. Andrew and I woke early - Andrew made breakfast for us - it is okay to be a little jealous. We ate, got ready, and left for work. I actually got to work a little earlier than usual around 8. This is where it all went downhill, I turned on my computer logged on and opened my email and time entry. Doing so informed me that I was not connected to our network server. So I preformed the CEB IT fix - I restarted.
Second attempt - I couldn't even log in - I thought I was going crazy - I tried my password every which way (and no my caps lock wasn't on!) NOTHING was working. So I called our IT guy. After explaining the situation, he asked me what my IP address was - UM...."I DON'T KNOW I CAN'T LOG ON AND SEE IT - WERE YOU NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO MY PROBLEM?!?!" I don't have the best opinion of this guy - he usually talks down to everyone, and just tries to get the problem solved fast not necessarily completely.
Now I should mention that he was on site, at our offices, on Friday installing a new email server. As an example of getting the problem solved fast and not completely, while he set up every one's email address, he did not set one up for previous accounts to be routed to the new accounts - another woman in the office and I have both gotten married since starting work at CEB, so our emails have changed - since they are our initials. SO...because some clients may only contact me once a year, I may not have thought to send them an update email - so the old email is kept and routed to my new email. Well this wasn't done - so I had to email him Friday afternoon.
Long story short - somehow instead of just changing my email - my user account was changed too. So MDW was deleted from the CEB server and MDB was re-added. All in all it took 4 hours to straighten out. So for those not so great with math, that means I didn't have my work computer until noon! And I had to leave work at 3:30 to get home to be available for the washing machine repairman to come.
So 3:30 rolls around and I head home for the day. The repair man is scheduled to come out between 5-6 (we were originally told someone would be coming out between 8am-2pm Saturday - this turned out to be a miscommunication - which we didn't figure out until 2pm on Saturday.) Andrew also took off a little early as well and joined me at home a little before 5.
The repairman came...at 6pm. I can't complain too much though, he was very nice & very friendly. Andrew thinks he probably gets good tips from the North shore housewives. Hehehe
Anyway, it didn't take him long to figure out that we had a clogged pump - it would more than likely not need replaced - just unclogged. He said that it is usually a quarter or a bobby pin that gets stuck in the pump - but he has also seen things as large as socks get in there! So what was in ours you ask? Place your bets then scroll down.

This is one of Fran's "spring" toys...This is one of Fran's "spring" toys after getting itself stuck in the pump of a front loading washing machine...
We can't blame Fran though. Per the VERY helpful repairman (we asked him a lot of questions) it could only get into the pump through the washer - not just by Fran batting it under the door to the laundry. So, the best we can figure is that it was on the ground near a pile of dirty clothes, and got scoped up with the laundry.