I Suck At Zucchini Pie

Karen and I have a vegetable garden. For the second straight year, we decided to grow zucchini since my parents gave us a couple of zucchini plants. Well, this year the zucchini seems like it is on steroids. The plants are huge and the zucchini bountiful.

Needless to say, we have been giving away zucchini to friends and family. And yesterday, we were invited to my in-laws for dinner. The main course: zucchini pie. Yes, our parents have been recipients of this years steroid-infused zucchini plant. Now, I suck at zucchini pie. Luckily for me, my in-laws make a great tasting pie.

Besides Karen, our sixteen month old daughter (Briana), and my in-laws, my friend (Jen) joined us for dinner. Jen happens to live near my in-laws. And it so happens that while Karen, Briana, and my mother-in-law were going for a walk, they stopped by Jen's place. The four of them then walked along the beach together.

I actually was not part of the walk. At that time, I was busy helping my own parents move furniture. My parents are having their floors redone and had asked for my assistance in moving things off the floor. And nothing says stress like trying to tell a 71 year old, known as my dad, to stop lifting heavy objects.

Needless to say, dinner at my in-laws was a welcomed break. And it was definitely good to see Jen. I haven't seen Jen in some time. All in all, dinner was good.

And as a side note, I forgot to mention that I finished reading my second book in three days. That is probably a reading record for me. The book I read was "If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won't)" by Betty White. Karen is a big Betty White fan, thanks in part to Golden Girls of course. So naturally Karen wanted to read the book.

The book was actually pretty interesting. It was definitely a quick read. To me, it seemed like it was just a collection of her thoughts on various topics. In a way, it was like reading her blog, if Betty White had a blog. (For anyone curious, Betty is old school. She prefers to hand write things.)

I think the part that I will remember most is her outlook on loss. Apparently, when she was growing up, her parents explained death to her in such a way that I thought was quite interesting. Her parents told her that once someone passes away, that person now knows the "secret" to what actually happens when they leave this world. I thought it was a neat perspective, particularly having lost my son (Braden) over two years ago. Thanks Betty!

I Suck At Gardening

Karen and I have a vegetable garden. It was not until this year that we added a second vegetable garden because last year we found out that one garden was not enough. The vegetables just got too crowded last year.

So I guess you could say that I suck at gardening. And to be honest, I never really took to gardening until this year. I left the gardening mainly to Karen. This year, I'm still not really into gardening. I do, however, happen to be a little more involved in gardening when it comes to vegetables. After all, vegetable gardens seem to have more of a practical purpose than flower gardens.

And as luck would have it, today we harvested our first vegetable! We got our first zucchini! This year, we have a ginormous zucchini plant, which is possible proof that vegetables are like goldfish: they grow to fit their container.

Needless to say, it was pretty exciting today. And as a side note, we happened to see Karen's name while preparing to watch an episode of "My Yard Goes Disney". For anyone curious, "My Yard Goes Disney" is about people who get their backyards made over by Disney. But it was the show right before that which had Karen's name on it. Apparently Karen moonlights as a Post Audio during her free time. It was random, but it cracked me up.