bits of life


I couldn't ask for more perfect weather. I am a 74 and Sunny girl through and through. And see this little guy here? This is Jack, aka "little", aka "shirt"... well it turns out that he is totally on my page. It has cooled off a bit around here. It's still sunny as heck, but the cool breezes of September have arrived, and that means that Jack can resume his habit of wearing a shirt 24/7...thus earning his nickname : "Shirt". For newer readers, Shirt, real name Jack, is the little ginger chihuahua you see above. He has been a part of our life for a little over 2 years (got him in July 2010).  He's a little mooshball that could spend all day buried under his blankies in his "good boy bed". On most days we will see him for the very first time at around dinner time! I kid you not. He loves to sleep in! Daily, we tell him that he is a weirdo. His brother Carlos on the other hand is our shadow. Never, not for one second, do we have to wonder where Carlos is. He's most likely under foot or sitting right next to us on the couch. His favorite thing is to be haphazardly buried under packing materials as we pack up orders to be shipped. He too is a weirdo. 

Anyway, back to my tale about Little. We noticed that for the past couple of days he's been springing up from bed and running right to the front door. So we let him and Carlos out for their morning constitutional...they trot around the front yard, do their business quickly, and then they zip back up the steps to come inside for their morning "treatie reatie". Only for the past two days Jack does not zip up the steps to come back inside. He watches Carlos go in the house, but decides that he'd rather linger out there in the grass and soak up the sunshine. Yes, he is a 74 and sunny type of guy. No more sleeping in for him...no more quick stop outside. Now he wants to savor the weather! But we can't have him standing out there all day...we have work to do. We had to go out there...grab him...and carry him back indoors. But then guess what happened? He stood in the middle of the livingroom crying and staring at us! Haha! This little boy wanted to go back out! This is the same kid who would usually still be buried under blankets until maybe 5pm! But the sweltering, stifling, summer days are gone now...and he wants to enjoy the weather. Well, we could offer him the next best thing...we scooped him up and placed him in his favorite chair. It's right next to an open window and he can bathe in a little pool of sunshine all day. 




Ok, more fair weather news...these here are our tomatoes. We never got around to planting them in the garden, so we read up on container gardening, and it turns out that the big pots that they're in worked just fine. They were a sort of house warming gift from Aaron's dad. We didn't know what to expect from these plants...didn't know how many tomatoes they'd yield...didn't know if they were getting too much sun exposure...etcetera. We researched them a bit...they're  Ramapo tomatoes, which were developed right here in Jersey at Rutgers University back in 1968. They quickly became a gardener's favorite due to their wonderful flavor, fruit quality, and reliability. But for years they totally disappeared from the market. This is because they are a pretty supple fruit and the commercial produce industry wanted to produce tomatoes that were firmer and shipped better. But local public demand grew and a couple years ago the Ramapo tomato made it's return. And good for us! Although our plants didn't produce a ton of fruit, the ones we got were absolutely deeelish!



I so so love this sign! I've got it hanging in our livingroom. I know it's got a pretty basic premise, but I really feel a connection to all of the references. I feel like I'm a dedicated practitioner of all the things mentioned in the text. You know what I mean?...like, I know these are common things...PB and J...icing on a cupcake...bubbles in my bath. I'm not extravagant...not drawn to the decadent things in life...I'm a lover of simple, common things. And that's why if you are the ketchup to my french fries...you are a big deal! 
If you too can identify, you can purchase this sign where I purchased mine...get one for yourself from  Jenny Elkins



Just in case you can't tell what this is a picture of...it is a screen shot of Doctor Who paused. Me and Aaron decided that we needed some light entertainment that we could get lost in at the end of long days. Well I think we found just ticket...Doctor Who! Yes, you've heard of him. This is the updated version of the show from our childhood. I know I must have some readers who are part of the Doctor Who cult. Me and Aar just started so I can't yet say if we are going to be addicted. We watched the first 2 episodes (2005) last night. And get this...Netflix has 6 seasons available to watch instantly! 

Ok, just thought I'd check in with a little slice of the everyday doings of Everyday is a Holiday. Some of our "off duty" fun. I'd love to hear about what you guys are up to in your downtime moments...you know...the crazy habits of your dogs...your kids...how your garden grows...what tv series gets you through the week...all the meaningless stuff that means so much.
xo, Jenny