Which is it?

So today is Earth Day. And today is "Avatar" Day! (If you didn't like the movie, don't comment...I will block you from my life.) In lieu of both, I am doing a few things.

First, I am buying and watching Avatar. I am enabling the great people of Target to keep their jobs for another hour. This is good for the economy, so there ya' go!

Second, I am doing my part (not by being vegan or composting...baby steps, here) by recycling (thanks to Olathe for recycling curbside pick up), planting a tree (this weekend), using reusuable water bottle (even when I get an iced tea at QT), chewing sunflower seeds (google it, it helps make compost), use resuable shopping bags (almost exclusively, if I remember to take them out of the trunk when I go inside), and of course, not turning on the heat or the A/C until absolutely necessary (don't worry, its not because our heater/AC doesn't work, right Josh?)!

So which is it? I think both. Definitely both! :)

Blog Post Master (at least for now)

Just a heads up to all of you faithful readers...

I posted 4 posts today. Yep, that's right. I am still alive! :)

Hillbilly Josh

So Josh is a nag. No, really... he will nag me to death if I let him. So I usually give in. This happend on Sunday. Josh has been NAGGING me to death about some rifle that he wanted. Not to hunt with, but "just to shoot stuff". Yep, those were his exact words. After hearing this pathetic begging for the past 6 months, I gave in. Here he is (sorry for the dark photo, it was late) sitting on our anniversary swing holding his rifle.

Wait for it...

Yep, pictures of my beautiful girls... playing tug-o'-war with the $18 frisbee (#2) that they got in their stocking this year.
It is finally landscaping season again. I LOVE LANDSCAPING! Well, really, I love Josh landscaping. :) Last year, if you recall, we built our beautiful garden but were too late in the season to actually plant anything in it. This year I was determined to plant some veggies and some herbs. This is step one (#16 in reality) to our garden this year. I dug up the entire "garden" last weekend which consisted of giant Little House of Horrors weeds growing out of the middle of the raised garden. After investigating, it looks like our beautiful little angel dogs had dug up all of the weed block. Stinkers. Anyway, we got back on board and dedicated some real time to getting a real garden going. We ordered some recycled rubber mulch walkways to go in between our plants. We spent all day Sunday mixing in some new potting soil, putting down new weed block, laying our mulch walkways, and planting our veggies and herbs. Next weekend, we will buy more potting soild to cover the rows of plants, add the plant food and the organic vegetable garden weed preventer (PREEN), and add more rubber mulch to the outside of the garden fence. For the time being, a large, unattractive orange fence keeps the dogs from out of the garden.

Also, for our one-year anniversary, Josh's parents bought us a tree to plant in the back yard. Well a year later, we have a spot for it. We went to Suburban Lawn and Garden this past Saturday (in between baseball games, of course) and picked out a beautiful little Dwarf Lilac tree. It is so cute! Here it is in our back yard. :)

Just a picture to show you how adorable my sweet husband is. This was tonight after practice and before dinner. I love that little hat. He was not impressed that I was taking his picture. He may have given me a gesture immediately after this picture to show you how unimpressed he was.

Baseball Widow

Well, it is that time of year again. Baseball season! I LOVE BASEBALL SEASON! But since I love it so much and will rarely and against my will, miss a Falcon Varsity baseball game, my blogging has suffered. I am sorry. I am sure you all have been desperately awaiting the news of my life. Well, here it is...

Many of our games have been cancelled, rescheduled, postponed, or freezing cold. We have had a few that the weather was perfect. Ideal for high school baseball. We have been playing pretty well lately but started off not-so-good. Our current record is 4-5. Below .500 which is not good. Don't tell Josh I told you our record. He will be upset. We are currently on an upswing. We have four games this week (again). Keep your fingers crossed that the rain stays north and we can get them all in!

Tuesday - @ Shawnee Mission South
Thursday - vs. Shawnee Mission West (Josh's dad's school)
Friday - vs. Olathe Northwest (make up game)
Saturday - @ Shawnee Mission North (make up game)

I haven't taken too many pictures this season. By the time I can get to the games, it is almost too dark to take pics so I have only this one to share for now. I will have more...someday when I have a nicer camera.

Coach Perkins giving the kids a talkin' to after a slight win over Leavenworth.

In other, similarly related news: it is also SOFTBALL SEASON! I do actually like softball season too. Luckily for me, Josh is still on the injured list. Unluckily for me, we still go to the tournaments. It is fun to watch and cheer them on. I love my KC Smooth. This is a shout out to Randy and Josh who are relaxing before a delayed game. Can you tell what they've been doing to pass the time? Gotta love softball season!

PS Josh is in the picture too...those are his feet right behind the bag. He can't lay on the ground and get up as quickly as these two with a broken/healing collarbone.

Recipe of the Month - Brandy's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Brandy's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 white onion, chopped nice and little
4 gloves of garlic, minced
2 cans of chicken broth condensed
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 little can of chopped green chilies (I OMITTED THE CRUSHED TOMATOES AND THE GREEN CHILIES AND USED A CAN OF ROTEL INSTEAD)
1 can of water (use a leftover can of chicken broth)
1 can of hominy, drained
1 can of black beans, drained
1 can of whole kernal corn, drained
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon of cumin
splash of oregano
2 boneless chicken breast (cooked - boiled or baked)
corn tortillas

Optional toppings:
cheese
avocado
cilantro
sour cream

Directions:
Brown/sautee the onions and garlic, then add chicken broth, water, crushed tomatoes, green chilies, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil, add corn, black beans, and hominy. Turn to a simmer for 30 minutes. While the soup is simmering, shread or chop the cooked chicken and place in the soup. Cut up the corn tortillas into strips and put into oven and cook until crispy.

SUPER YUMMY! Thanks Brandy for the recipe! We even had leftovers and are having that on a baseball game night reheated! DELISH!

Week Recap

Yep, that's right, another boring post without pictures. Get ready.

This past week was crazy! Starting last Friday night, our game vs. SMN got cancelled. Then Saturday we spent the day at the C team (Freshmen) tournament. Sunday was Easter (duh). We went to church that morning, grocery shopping, yard work, and then dinner at the Perkins' with Grandma and Grandpa Kovach. This was most definitely the highlight of our weekend. We love sitting and chatting with the two of them. They have some very interesting stories!

This week was more of the same. Lots of cancellations due to crappy weather. Monday's game got rescheduled to Wednesday. Tuesday's game got cancelled (no rescheduling yet). Wednesday we sat in freezing cold pouring rain and watched "Monday's game" and we lost! Yesterday we finally got a fairly nice day with a cool breeze. Game on! We played Leavenworth and in a nail-biter we won! Woo hoo! Tonight is versus the Olathe North Eagles. As of now we should have played 9 games. We have played 4 and are 2-2. Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and better playing from our Falcons.

PS If you are still reading this lame post, I will make you happy by taking pictures this weekend and posting a better blog.